There is something about an honest unbeliever that really tugs on my heart. I'm not talking about atheists I'm not sure there are any honest atheists at least there are no consistent ones because anyone who forms words and expects to be understood reveals that they don't believe in the random chance they espouse. They are therefore not honest. If there is no God there can be no words because there can be no meaning because everything is chance: Thus the end of the possibility of communication -even with yourself.
But I digress (as usual) I'm talking about old fashioned unbelievers that know the gospel, know Jesus and what he's done and simply refuse to bow the knee in submission and are honest about it (Kind of like Adam with the fruit in his hand). Now there are plenty of people in the church that refuse to bow the knee in submission but I would call those dishonest unbelievers – they rank right up there on the scale with atheists to me (maybe a little hotter on the furnace room scale).
Anyway, by complete random chance that must have occurred while God was taking a nap or something, I ran across a country punk band called The Devil Makes Three which is for me the epitome of an honest unbeliever band. The name of the album is Do Wrong Right. The essence of the title song is If your gonna do wrong, buddy, do wrong right. I think an unbeliever with that attitude has a lot more hope of finding salvation than a lot of people in church who are doing right wrong. I think the scripture calls that having the form without the power. Or maybe it's saying you'll go but not going or is that burying your talent in the back yard? I get confused.
The church in our generation is full of people who do right wrong which boils down to the fact that they are trying to hedge their bets and so they try to live in the nether world of blandness and safety just enough outward obedience to fake everybody out and only enough 'do wrong' inside your heart or at least inside your house so that no one can see what you're really like.
I think sometimes God has to let the rocks cry out because the human beings that have chosen themselves to be named christian give no witness with their so called lives. The Devil Makes Three may very well be rocks crying out in praise of the truth in these dark times.
In their song Poison Tree they sing:
the roots of the matter run miles deep this is the era of eternal sleep. Please everybody, now but please be advised Nothings going away just because you're closing your eyes. This is the harvest of some rotten seeds There surely isn't any mystery This is the fruit of the poison tree. You better ask yourself what you believe
Old tactics leave you face down on the bricks This new dog knows some terrible tricks Turn the cameras off and it doesn't exist that's a lesson well learned back in 1966.
I see a storm it is coming down And I can feel my bones creak I know you can feel it too But you think that you're, you think that you are all alone.
I wish the people who say they are of the truth understood it as well as some of those that reject it. I wish tht I believed and that I pursued obedience with the heart that some pursue rebellion.
One more quote from TDMT:
Take this pill now and put it on your tongue Keeps you acting just like everyone Keeps you from feeling good, bad, ugly,crazy, dumb It ain't a drug brother I'd give it to my only son. Well, no one's going to get arrested, no one's having any fun. Doctor's orders; you feel your heart beating go ahead and take you one. Now your duller than a singing saw playing uncomfortably numb It's a thorazine work party with free fluoride bubble gum. You wander like a zombie out into the midday sun.
All Hail All Hail To the greatest of sales Everything you've got's got to be sold
All Hail All Hail it's to work or to jail They're closing them doors on the world.
If I could just figure out a way to kick the Thorazine cold turkey I think there might be hope of staying on the path of life for longer than 30 seconds at a time.
With my hand to the plow and the blisters to prove it.
Brad
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter 4-24-11
Last week I spoke about Jesus struggling to walk in obedience to the father. I want to continue on from there this week. It is important that we understand that it wasn't for the cross that Jesus was struggling. He more than likely knew the situation. He knew all the players and he knew he was going to be crucified. His faith wasn't focused on the crucifixion it was focused on the promises of God for after the crucifixion.
The crucifixion is wonderful. It provides for the forgiveness of our sins. The crucifixion is obedience to the law. The law says that sin can be cleansed by the shedding of blood. There is no miracle needed there except for the miracle of the provisions of the law. Except of course Jesus submitting to the will of the father and becoming the sacrifice.
Paul writes in Galatians 2: "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.” You see if all you have is forgiveness of sins then the day after you are forgiven, more likely the minute after you are forgiven you will once again prove yourself to be a sinner. You see forgiveness doesn't turn you into a new creature. Forgiveness alone makes you a debt free dead man. It doesn't make you alive.
When Paul writes "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God; He is beginning to give us a bit of a glimpse in what is really going on. You see the crucifixion didn't just forgive you of your sin. If you are in Christ Jesus from before the foundation of the world then what the crucifixion did was kill you. The old dead you is crucified and done away with. Paul continues with verse 20: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
I want you to understand that our only hope is in the resurrection. If God didn't extend the power to raise Christ from the dead then even though he could have forgiven our sins according to the law we would still be in the grave. Apart from the resurrection we cannot be born again into new life. Because we were dead in our transgressions: Completely dead because of our wages of our debts.
I want you to understand the importance of this. If I were to die today my life insurance policy would be enough to pay off all my debts. That would be a great thing for my children and my wife but it would not bring me back to life. The law is like that life insurance policy it provides the way for me to get my debt of sin paid for. But it doesn't provide a way for me to be brought back to life. There is no provision in the law for bringing a sacrifice back to life. There is no provision for reinstituting a new coveant. That is the extraordinary thing about the rebirth via resurrection: it is totally by faith in the power and promises of God . This is what Jesus was struggling with in the garden not whether he was going to die or not but whether God was going to raise him from the dead. Obedience to the commands of God with out the promise keeping of God means nothing. The cross apart from the resurrection is worthless to restore you to a right covenant relationship to God because you are dead to that covenant relationship.
I think that is a part of what is wrong with the church today we only believe in half the gospel. We only believe in the forgiveness of sins. We don't understand that we have been raised with Christ to new life and because of that we no longer have to be in bondage to the things of death. Most of the church in our day and age is not seeing the power of the resurrection in their every day lives. It is a myth to most of us. We don't get any better we only get forgiven.
Brothers and sisters that is not salvation. Peter on the day of Pentecost said this: "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. ...This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33"Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34"For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET. Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified." Paul writes in Romans 1 was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. And again a few verses later: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And then at the end of Romans he writes: Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And in First Corinthians Paul writes: my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
You see the Good News is meant to be powerful. Powerful enough to forgive you of all your sins but more even more: Powerful enough to raise you to new life NOW. That is where we miss it. We think the new life comes only in glory but the power of salvation is meant to be applied to your life hear and now. If all you have in this life is the forgiveness of sins then you have been gipped in the good things of God. If your God is not big enough to deliver you from the bondage of sin then he is not big enough to give you the forgiveness of sins.
We need to stop settling for pig slop to eat and go home to the father and eat the feast that has been set before us. If the God you serve isn't powerful enough to raise you from the death that is your life what ever that death looks like then you better start praying that God would give you real salvation. The time for games is over. Either this stuff is real or it isn't. Either God is big enough to deliver you from your bondage to sin or he isn't. God is big enough to deliver you from pornography. God is big enough to deliver you from hating your spouse. God is big enough to deliver you from whatever addiction you may be hiding in your heart. God is big enough to save you from yourself. You have to decide if you want to die to that or not. You have to decide if you want to be crucified or not. You have to decide if God is big enough and strong enough to raise you from the death that you so willingly embrace.
I want you to understand that if you are not willing to die you won't be raised from the dead. You can play the game all you want; you can revel in forgiveness all day long but only the resurrection will bring you into new life.
Is your God big enough to raise you to new life, real new life, not the pretend new life where you are still powerless but you pretend to be saved but real salvation? Salvation that is evident not just in your words but in the way your life is changing. Paul is pretty clear on this point: The kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
Saying you are saved and talking about scripture and the things of God is not salvation. Salvation raises you to new life. Salvation releases you from the bondage of sin not just the debt of sin. It is for Freedom that Christ set you free. When are you going to quit wrapping yourself in the chains of bondage? How long until you trust God enough to let him raise you from the death of your own appetites? By the way how is salvation going according to your rules? How is the bondage that you call salvation working out for you? Are those things that you are turning to in order to not feel the pain really turning you into a new creature or are they slowly killing you? Covering pain is not the same as being delivered from bondage.
How long are you going to try to save yourself through suicide? You killing yourself slowly through bondage to sin isn't salvation. Your only hope lies in dying with Christ and being resurrected with him. One without the other IS NOT SALVATION.
Again Paul writes: Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you believe that? Do you have faith that God is faithful to keep his promises and raise you from the death in which you abide? How long are you going to pretend? How long are you going to wear a facade of salvation without truly embracing all that salvation provides?
At the end of 1st Corinthians Paul writes: Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
There it is: If God did not raise Christ Jesus from the dead then lets go home because we have no hope. We are dead in our trespasses and sin. Paul says it clearly: If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. If Christ is not raised from the dead then we are wasting our time and the new testament is a lie. We had all better become Jews if we are going to have any hope at all.
But take hope because Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. or HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
I want you to understand something Christ is going to reign until every one of his enemies is put in subjection to him. That includes the enemies you hide in your heart. This is not a Jackson Browne world where God will just let you slide into heaven. The sins that you keep in your heart, the pet ones that you go to in times of trouble when you don't think God knows what he's doing and that your feeble attempt to save yourself is better then his; that attitude, that idolatry that you keep holding onto in case of emergencies: all of that is going to be subjected to the rule and reign of Christ eventually. Why not make it easier on yourself and give it up now? Why take the risk of possibly forfeiting the promised blessings because you loved the things that bring curses? God keeps his promises and if you refuse to bow the knee to his Lordship you will hear on the last day: depart from me you who practice lawlessness.
This is serious business. Do you trust God enough to save you from yourself? No the real question is do you really want to be saved at all?
The power of the resurrection is there waiting for you to die to yourself so you can be raised from the dead and live life to it's fullest. The choice is yours.
Today is a day of celebration. Our Lord and King sits on the throne ruling and reigning today because he was obedient to the father in all things and God highly exalted him to the position of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He rules and reigns over this planet now even if we can see it or it looks like it isn’t so the scripture tells us he is. By faith we believe in the magnificent new covenant of our God made available to us by the shed blood of Jesus. By Faith WE are raised from the dead, the wages of sin that separate us from God the Father and we will be raised from the dead on the last day. Praise be to God.
Let's pray. Father, pour out your grace upon us. Raise us in your mighty power to new covenant life. Break our bondage to sin and self. Humble us more and more and more until the only thing that is left is Jesus and his resurrection. We ask these things in the power and authority of Jesus Christ the first born of the resurrection, the Alpha and Omega, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May his reign never end until every enemy, even the ones in our own hearts are subjected to his rule and reign. So be it. Amen.
The crucifixion is wonderful. It provides for the forgiveness of our sins. The crucifixion is obedience to the law. The law says that sin can be cleansed by the shedding of blood. There is no miracle needed there except for the miracle of the provisions of the law. Except of course Jesus submitting to the will of the father and becoming the sacrifice.
Paul writes in Galatians 2: "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.” You see if all you have is forgiveness of sins then the day after you are forgiven, more likely the minute after you are forgiven you will once again prove yourself to be a sinner. You see forgiveness doesn't turn you into a new creature. Forgiveness alone makes you a debt free dead man. It doesn't make you alive.
When Paul writes "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God; He is beginning to give us a bit of a glimpse in what is really going on. You see the crucifixion didn't just forgive you of your sin. If you are in Christ Jesus from before the foundation of the world then what the crucifixion did was kill you. The old dead you is crucified and done away with. Paul continues with verse 20: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
I want you to understand that our only hope is in the resurrection. If God didn't extend the power to raise Christ from the dead then even though he could have forgiven our sins according to the law we would still be in the grave. Apart from the resurrection we cannot be born again into new life. Because we were dead in our transgressions: Completely dead because of our wages of our debts.
I want you to understand the importance of this. If I were to die today my life insurance policy would be enough to pay off all my debts. That would be a great thing for my children and my wife but it would not bring me back to life. The law is like that life insurance policy it provides the way for me to get my debt of sin paid for. But it doesn't provide a way for me to be brought back to life. There is no provision in the law for bringing a sacrifice back to life. There is no provision for reinstituting a new coveant. That is the extraordinary thing about the rebirth via resurrection: it is totally by faith in the power and promises of God . This is what Jesus was struggling with in the garden not whether he was going to die or not but whether God was going to raise him from the dead. Obedience to the commands of God with out the promise keeping of God means nothing. The cross apart from the resurrection is worthless to restore you to a right covenant relationship to God because you are dead to that covenant relationship.
I think that is a part of what is wrong with the church today we only believe in half the gospel. We only believe in the forgiveness of sins. We don't understand that we have been raised with Christ to new life and because of that we no longer have to be in bondage to the things of death. Most of the church in our day and age is not seeing the power of the resurrection in their every day lives. It is a myth to most of us. We don't get any better we only get forgiven.
Brothers and sisters that is not salvation. Peter on the day of Pentecost said this: "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. ...This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33"Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34"For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET. Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified." Paul writes in Romans 1 was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. And again a few verses later: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And then at the end of Romans he writes: Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And in First Corinthians Paul writes: my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
You see the Good News is meant to be powerful. Powerful enough to forgive you of all your sins but more even more: Powerful enough to raise you to new life NOW. That is where we miss it. We think the new life comes only in glory but the power of salvation is meant to be applied to your life hear and now. If all you have in this life is the forgiveness of sins then you have been gipped in the good things of God. If your God is not big enough to deliver you from the bondage of sin then he is not big enough to give you the forgiveness of sins.
We need to stop settling for pig slop to eat and go home to the father and eat the feast that has been set before us. If the God you serve isn't powerful enough to raise you from the death that is your life what ever that death looks like then you better start praying that God would give you real salvation. The time for games is over. Either this stuff is real or it isn't. Either God is big enough to deliver you from your bondage to sin or he isn't. God is big enough to deliver you from pornography. God is big enough to deliver you from hating your spouse. God is big enough to deliver you from whatever addiction you may be hiding in your heart. God is big enough to save you from yourself. You have to decide if you want to die to that or not. You have to decide if you want to be crucified or not. You have to decide if God is big enough and strong enough to raise you from the death that you so willingly embrace.
I want you to understand that if you are not willing to die you won't be raised from the dead. You can play the game all you want; you can revel in forgiveness all day long but only the resurrection will bring you into new life.
Is your God big enough to raise you to new life, real new life, not the pretend new life where you are still powerless but you pretend to be saved but real salvation? Salvation that is evident not just in your words but in the way your life is changing. Paul is pretty clear on this point: The kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
Saying you are saved and talking about scripture and the things of God is not salvation. Salvation raises you to new life. Salvation releases you from the bondage of sin not just the debt of sin. It is for Freedom that Christ set you free. When are you going to quit wrapping yourself in the chains of bondage? How long until you trust God enough to let him raise you from the death of your own appetites? By the way how is salvation going according to your rules? How is the bondage that you call salvation working out for you? Are those things that you are turning to in order to not feel the pain really turning you into a new creature or are they slowly killing you? Covering pain is not the same as being delivered from bondage.
How long are you going to try to save yourself through suicide? You killing yourself slowly through bondage to sin isn't salvation. Your only hope lies in dying with Christ and being resurrected with him. One without the other IS NOT SALVATION.
Again Paul writes: Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you believe that? Do you have faith that God is faithful to keep his promises and raise you from the death in which you abide? How long are you going to pretend? How long are you going to wear a facade of salvation without truly embracing all that salvation provides?
At the end of 1st Corinthians Paul writes: Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
There it is: If God did not raise Christ Jesus from the dead then lets go home because we have no hope. We are dead in our trespasses and sin. Paul says it clearly: If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. If Christ is not raised from the dead then we are wasting our time and the new testament is a lie. We had all better become Jews if we are going to have any hope at all.
But take hope because Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. or HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
I want you to understand something Christ is going to reign until every one of his enemies is put in subjection to him. That includes the enemies you hide in your heart. This is not a Jackson Browne world where God will just let you slide into heaven. The sins that you keep in your heart, the pet ones that you go to in times of trouble when you don't think God knows what he's doing and that your feeble attempt to save yourself is better then his; that attitude, that idolatry that you keep holding onto in case of emergencies: all of that is going to be subjected to the rule and reign of Christ eventually. Why not make it easier on yourself and give it up now? Why take the risk of possibly forfeiting the promised blessings because you loved the things that bring curses? God keeps his promises and if you refuse to bow the knee to his Lordship you will hear on the last day: depart from me you who practice lawlessness.
This is serious business. Do you trust God enough to save you from yourself? No the real question is do you really want to be saved at all?
The power of the resurrection is there waiting for you to die to yourself so you can be raised from the dead and live life to it's fullest. The choice is yours.
Today is a day of celebration. Our Lord and King sits on the throne ruling and reigning today because he was obedient to the father in all things and God highly exalted him to the position of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He rules and reigns over this planet now even if we can see it or it looks like it isn’t so the scripture tells us he is. By faith we believe in the magnificent new covenant of our God made available to us by the shed blood of Jesus. By Faith WE are raised from the dead, the wages of sin that separate us from God the Father and we will be raised from the dead on the last day. Praise be to God.
Let's pray. Father, pour out your grace upon us. Raise us in your mighty power to new covenant life. Break our bondage to sin and self. Humble us more and more and more until the only thing that is left is Jesus and his resurrection. We ask these things in the power and authority of Jesus Christ the first born of the resurrection, the Alpha and Omega, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May his reign never end until every enemy, even the ones in our own hearts are subjected to his rule and reign. So be it. Amen.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Commissioning a Symphony in C
Morning everyone,
It seems that God has been pruning trees in middle Tennessee this year. The empty lot next to my house has lost three rather large trees in the last couple of weeks and I lost one the night before last. Some time during the night it came crashing down upon my neighbor’s house. Very little damage thankfully but it is wrapped up in hot power lines and nobody seems to be in a hurry to get it taken care of.
The tree was an old Black Walnut that was probably older than I am. I realize that is not old for a tree but it is a comparison anyway. I would have counted the rings but there weren’t any. The tree was hollow inside. Now it was still alive in a technical sense, I guess. It was putting forth leaves, it was creating oxygen which is a good thing but it hadn’t produced any walnuts in a long, long time.
That reminded me of a lot of things. One of them was the parable of the tree that wasn’t producing fruit. "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"
Somewhere around that same time Jesus became hungry and saw a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered.
I can’t help but think of the church. We produce a lot of leaves but for the most part inside we’re hollow. Who knows when the last time was we produced any real fruit. I’m not talking about evangelism I’m talking about the fruit of obedience. We spend all our time witch hunting for bad theology and slicing up any one who is even remotely suspicious while at the same time we nurture our hatred like it was our way to salvation. Contrary to popular opinion good theology doesn’t save you, bad theology doesn’t send you to hell. It is lawlessness that keeps one out of the presence of God and lawlessness alone.
Keeping with the tree motif Jesus said: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
Hatred is lawlessness whether it be toward the theologically incorrect, homosexuals, muslims, or conservatives. I remember reading Francis Schaeffer’s lament about how in the 20th century fight against liberalism and the gutting of the pillars of the faith the church didn’t love well at all. We haven’t learned much over the last century. We still don’t love well. When I say that I mean we don’t keep the law very well. We prefer shock and awe devastation be poured out on our perceived enemies and in doing so we are practicing lawlessness.
Bad Theology and obedience trumps Good theology and lawlessness every time. The way the modern day Pharisees and Sadducees treat each other reminds me of a song by Cake called: Commissioning a Symphony in C. One verse says:
You’re sitting there thinking your thoughts
They are not about what is but what is not
You are sitting there breathing in your breath
You are seldom breathing life but mostly death
Living is not the goal of the tree of the church, producing leaves is not the goal, producing oxygen is not the goal: producing fruit is the goal.
Lawfullness is all that matters. Love your neighbors. Love your enemies. Do justice and love mercy. If you love me KEEP my commandments.
Now, if we could only remember what they were.
Wondering just how hollow I am,
Brad
It seems that God has been pruning trees in middle Tennessee this year. The empty lot next to my house has lost three rather large trees in the last couple of weeks and I lost one the night before last. Some time during the night it came crashing down upon my neighbor’s house. Very little damage thankfully but it is wrapped up in hot power lines and nobody seems to be in a hurry to get it taken care of.
The tree was an old Black Walnut that was probably older than I am. I realize that is not old for a tree but it is a comparison anyway. I would have counted the rings but there weren’t any. The tree was hollow inside. Now it was still alive in a technical sense, I guess. It was putting forth leaves, it was creating oxygen which is a good thing but it hadn’t produced any walnuts in a long, long time.
That reminded me of a lot of things. One of them was the parable of the tree that wasn’t producing fruit. "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"
Somewhere around that same time Jesus became hungry and saw a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered.
I can’t help but think of the church. We produce a lot of leaves but for the most part inside we’re hollow. Who knows when the last time was we produced any real fruit. I’m not talking about evangelism I’m talking about the fruit of obedience. We spend all our time witch hunting for bad theology and slicing up any one who is even remotely suspicious while at the same time we nurture our hatred like it was our way to salvation. Contrary to popular opinion good theology doesn’t save you, bad theology doesn’t send you to hell. It is lawlessness that keeps one out of the presence of God and lawlessness alone.
Keeping with the tree motif Jesus said: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
Hatred is lawlessness whether it be toward the theologically incorrect, homosexuals, muslims, or conservatives. I remember reading Francis Schaeffer’s lament about how in the 20th century fight against liberalism and the gutting of the pillars of the faith the church didn’t love well at all. We haven’t learned much over the last century. We still don’t love well. When I say that I mean we don’t keep the law very well. We prefer shock and awe devastation be poured out on our perceived enemies and in doing so we are practicing lawlessness.
Bad Theology and obedience trumps Good theology and lawlessness every time. The way the modern day Pharisees and Sadducees treat each other reminds me of a song by Cake called: Commissioning a Symphony in C. One verse says:
You’re sitting there thinking your thoughts
They are not about what is but what is not
You are sitting there breathing in your breath
You are seldom breathing life but mostly death
Living is not the goal of the tree of the church, producing leaves is not the goal, producing oxygen is not the goal: producing fruit is the goal.
Lawfullness is all that matters. Love your neighbors. Love your enemies. Do justice and love mercy. If you love me KEEP my commandments.
Now, if we could only remember what they were.
Wondering just how hollow I am,
Brad
Monday, April 18, 2011
foundation seriese finale 4-17-11
Since we are coming up on Easter in a week or so I thought I would deal with a passage that leads up to the crucifixion and that is Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane found in Matthew chapter 26. I’ll start with verse 36:
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41"Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46"Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!"
I know that most of the time that I have heard sermons on this passage they have usually focused on making me feel guilty for not praying enough but I want to look at it from a different perspective. I want you to see with new eyes the struggle that Jesus had with refusing to do sin. Too often we come to passages like this and are told that Jesus was grieving over the lost, he was sad because people were lost but that is not what this passage is about at all. Jesus was deeply grieved; he was falling on his face in prayer because he didn’t want to do what God had called him to do. He didn’t want to die on the cross, he didn’t want to die to himself, he didn’t want to do what God had called him to. He prays ‘God please if there is another way to get this done let’s do it. Please, I don’t want to do this. I will if I have to but I don’t want to do it.’ And then he resigns himself to praying not my will by yours be done.
He is grieving and struggling over this so much that Luke tells us that an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.
I want you to understand that this is to be our example when it comes to walking in the commands of God. We don’t have to want to do it. We may not want to walk in obedience but we must pray that God’s will be done in our lives and we must pray until he strengthens us into obedience. The law of God is given to us to humble us. It is given to us to bring us to Christ so that we may rely on him for the strength to be obedient.
It is my prayer that God would stir up in each and every one of you a longing for obedience that will force you to fall upon your face and grieve because you know you can’t do it on your own. If you are delusional enough to think that you can somehow walk the way of obedience on your own strength then you had better be checking your pulse because you must be dead.
In my own life I have begun to accept some more discipline in my life and I have begun to walk and pray in the mornings; in saying that, I want you to understand that I do not do these things with a happy face or with a happy heart. I do not like learning to be disciplined. Lately I have been putting one foot in front of the other with much unhappiness. I walk in silence for the first few minutes because I’m rather aggravated. Why do I have to be disciplined? Why do I have to be spending time praying and walking when I could be asleep like everybody else? That is how my prayer time usually starts. I often times want to just stop and say that’s enough but then I become aware that I am 6 blocks away from home and unless I want to just sit down in the middle of the road the rest of the day I am going to have to keep walking. Every day I have to make a choice when the alarm goes off. Rarely do I just jump out of bed singing a happy song and going out with a smile on my face. I dread dying to myself. I hate dying to myself but that is our call as God’s people. You see one of the costs of being a Christian is dying to yourself, your will, your desires and pleasures and beginning to embrace the ways of God and his word. It’s not fun. It’s not easy but it is necessary if you are going to make it to the finish line.
You see Jesus could have lost the whole thing right here. He could have said no to the cross. He wanted to say no to the cross. He wanted to say no so badly that he sweat drops of blood trying to get God the Father to change his mind. He didn’t just say “oh it’s God’s will” and go on his merry way. He knew what God’s will was and he didn’t want to do it. Here is our example. He didn’t want to do what God had asked but he knew that if he was to finish the race and cross the finish line he was going to have to bow his knee in submission to the will of God the father. He was going to have to learn obedience right here right now. It didn’t make any difference that he had been obedient for 33 years. One sin was all it took to make him just like the first Adam.
I know we don’t like to think this way about Jesus. It is usually at these times that we go into sovereignty of God mode and say Jesus couldn’t have sinned. But if he couldn’t have sinned he couldn’t have been our savior because he wouldn’t be like us. The scripture tells us that we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses; one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. That sounds like a glorious thing to be tempted and not sin.
But here in Gethsemane we see what that looks like. Here Jesus is being tempted with the worst temptation he has to face. Satan in the wilderness was nothing compared to choosing to die in obedience to the will of God. He is agonizing over whether or not he is going to be obedient. He is having doubts, yes doubts about the will of God. He is grieving over what he must do. He is broken and burying his face in the ground in agony over the choice he has to make. He has to die to himself before he can die for us and here is the pivotal point. An angel is sent to minister to him and yet even after that he struggles so much over this decision, he is in so much agony and praying so fervently; that His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
Oh that we would struggle so diligently with sin. The writer of Hebrews says in Chapter 12: For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; 6For those whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. 7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
We get a glimpse in the garden of Gethsemane what Godly discipline looks like and feels like. And at the same time perhaps we can get an understanding of why the first Adam refused to submit to the growing up process. IT HURTS.
Here is Jesus who is without sin: A man who has managed to make it 33 years without sinning and two days before he dies he has to learn to submit himself to the father in an ultimate, knock down drag out that will determine all of history.
If Jesus had to struggle this much against sin why should we expect our struggle with sin to be any better? I gripe and moan about having to be disciplined and all I have to do is get up and pray every morning; I just have to get up and go to work every day; I just have to give up my Novocains and face the world as it really is. I don’t have to worry about going to the cross. In the midst of all these things I haven’t sweat drops of blood trying to do what’s right and die to myself. Nine times out of ten I don’t even given it much thought. I just end up doing what is the easiest at the time. Apart from the grace of God dying to myself would never cross my mind.
Left to myself I would not be disciplined. Apart from the grace of God I would not get up in the mornings to walk and pray. I made it fifty years without doing it why start now? Because God is giving me the grace to become disciplined. He is showing his love for me by causing me to stop being undisciplined. He’s been doing it for years but it seems so mundane that it’s easy to forget that it is the grace of God at work. He has over the course of my life transformed me from a slacker who wanted to be poor and let the government pay his way into a man who goes to work every day. Maybe that’s not a big deal for you but it’s a big deal for me. There is a part of me that would rather be homeless than disciplined and there was a time when that struggle was much stronger than it is now. There is a part of me that would like nothing more than to be high once again so that I don’t have to feel the pain of everyday life. But that is a million times weaker than it used to be. And I am thankful for that outpouring of grace.
The grace of God poured out upon my life has slowly, very, very slowly transformed me from being undisciplined to being more disciplined but I’ve got a long way to go. I am a blessed man to be able to see the blessings of walking on the path of life unfold in my life. You see that is a part of the promises of God: humble yourself before God and do his will and he will bless you beyond measure. That is exactly what happened to Jesus. We see him here struggling to not give in to temptation. Struggling so much that he sweats drops of blood. When he gets done praying he knows what has to be done and he’s made up his mind to do it. So he goes and gets the disciples wakes them up and says, “guys it’s time to go. The one who is going to betray me is here. And then Judas shows up with the roman soldiers. In the midst of prayer he yielded his heart to the father, he submitted his will to the will of God. He said God do whatever you need to do with me. It’s ok. I trust you. And then he got up to face the struggle: He went to his death because he knew that was what God required of him and he trusted God to keep his covenant promises of blessing for obedience.
You see in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28: 1"Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2"All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God. That statement is followed by a list of blessings and one of those blessings is that The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe and do them carefully, 14and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
You see this is what Jesus was doing in the garden praying; He was trying with all his might to observe the command of God carefully; he was sweating drops of blood in a struggle to not turn aside from any of the words God had commanded him to do.
By the grace of God he was successful and we are told the result of that obedience in Philippians chapter two starting with verse 8: He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 14Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
I have a lot to learn about not grumbling or disputing in my struggle against sin but at least I am struggling. That’s a move in the right direction. I am learning to do that more and more because I understand that obedience is not only accompanied by the blessing of God but obedience is the sign to myself, to those around me, and to God that I am not running the race in vain, that I am not wasting my time. I’m trying to run the good race because I want to cross the finish line and hear God the father say: “well done my good and faithful servant.” I’m proud of you son. You did a good job. Enter into my joy. I long for that day. I long for those words to enter my ears. And because of that promised joy I press on with hope in my heart because I know without a doubt that God keeps his promises. It is my prayer that you all would find that same hope in the goodness of God and his faithfulness to keep his promises.
Let’s pray.
Oh Father. Thank you for your goodness towards us. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to humble ourselves before you and walk in your will instead of ours. Teach us to be like Jesus and fight the good fight against the things that call out to each one of us to get off the path of life. Cause our feet to walk faithfully in your ways. Grow us up until we look and act like Jesus in every area of life. In his power and authority we ask these things. Amen.
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41"Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46"Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!"
I know that most of the time that I have heard sermons on this passage they have usually focused on making me feel guilty for not praying enough but I want to look at it from a different perspective. I want you to see with new eyes the struggle that Jesus had with refusing to do sin. Too often we come to passages like this and are told that Jesus was grieving over the lost, he was sad because people were lost but that is not what this passage is about at all. Jesus was deeply grieved; he was falling on his face in prayer because he didn’t want to do what God had called him to do. He didn’t want to die on the cross, he didn’t want to die to himself, he didn’t want to do what God had called him to. He prays ‘God please if there is another way to get this done let’s do it. Please, I don’t want to do this. I will if I have to but I don’t want to do it.’ And then he resigns himself to praying not my will by yours be done.
He is grieving and struggling over this so much that Luke tells us that an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.
I want you to understand that this is to be our example when it comes to walking in the commands of God. We don’t have to want to do it. We may not want to walk in obedience but we must pray that God’s will be done in our lives and we must pray until he strengthens us into obedience. The law of God is given to us to humble us. It is given to us to bring us to Christ so that we may rely on him for the strength to be obedient.
It is my prayer that God would stir up in each and every one of you a longing for obedience that will force you to fall upon your face and grieve because you know you can’t do it on your own. If you are delusional enough to think that you can somehow walk the way of obedience on your own strength then you had better be checking your pulse because you must be dead.
In my own life I have begun to accept some more discipline in my life and I have begun to walk and pray in the mornings; in saying that, I want you to understand that I do not do these things with a happy face or with a happy heart. I do not like learning to be disciplined. Lately I have been putting one foot in front of the other with much unhappiness. I walk in silence for the first few minutes because I’m rather aggravated. Why do I have to be disciplined? Why do I have to be spending time praying and walking when I could be asleep like everybody else? That is how my prayer time usually starts. I often times want to just stop and say that’s enough but then I become aware that I am 6 blocks away from home and unless I want to just sit down in the middle of the road the rest of the day I am going to have to keep walking. Every day I have to make a choice when the alarm goes off. Rarely do I just jump out of bed singing a happy song and going out with a smile on my face. I dread dying to myself. I hate dying to myself but that is our call as God’s people. You see one of the costs of being a Christian is dying to yourself, your will, your desires and pleasures and beginning to embrace the ways of God and his word. It’s not fun. It’s not easy but it is necessary if you are going to make it to the finish line.
You see Jesus could have lost the whole thing right here. He could have said no to the cross. He wanted to say no to the cross. He wanted to say no so badly that he sweat drops of blood trying to get God the Father to change his mind. He didn’t just say “oh it’s God’s will” and go on his merry way. He knew what God’s will was and he didn’t want to do it. Here is our example. He didn’t want to do what God had asked but he knew that if he was to finish the race and cross the finish line he was going to have to bow his knee in submission to the will of God the father. He was going to have to learn obedience right here right now. It didn’t make any difference that he had been obedient for 33 years. One sin was all it took to make him just like the first Adam.
I know we don’t like to think this way about Jesus. It is usually at these times that we go into sovereignty of God mode and say Jesus couldn’t have sinned. But if he couldn’t have sinned he couldn’t have been our savior because he wouldn’t be like us. The scripture tells us that we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses; one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. That sounds like a glorious thing to be tempted and not sin.
But here in Gethsemane we see what that looks like. Here Jesus is being tempted with the worst temptation he has to face. Satan in the wilderness was nothing compared to choosing to die in obedience to the will of God. He is agonizing over whether or not he is going to be obedient. He is having doubts, yes doubts about the will of God. He is grieving over what he must do. He is broken and burying his face in the ground in agony over the choice he has to make. He has to die to himself before he can die for us and here is the pivotal point. An angel is sent to minister to him and yet even after that he struggles so much over this decision, he is in so much agony and praying so fervently; that His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
Oh that we would struggle so diligently with sin. The writer of Hebrews says in Chapter 12: For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; 6For those whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. 7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
We get a glimpse in the garden of Gethsemane what Godly discipline looks like and feels like. And at the same time perhaps we can get an understanding of why the first Adam refused to submit to the growing up process. IT HURTS.
Here is Jesus who is without sin: A man who has managed to make it 33 years without sinning and two days before he dies he has to learn to submit himself to the father in an ultimate, knock down drag out that will determine all of history.
If Jesus had to struggle this much against sin why should we expect our struggle with sin to be any better? I gripe and moan about having to be disciplined and all I have to do is get up and pray every morning; I just have to get up and go to work every day; I just have to give up my Novocains and face the world as it really is. I don’t have to worry about going to the cross. In the midst of all these things I haven’t sweat drops of blood trying to do what’s right and die to myself. Nine times out of ten I don’t even given it much thought. I just end up doing what is the easiest at the time. Apart from the grace of God dying to myself would never cross my mind.
Left to myself I would not be disciplined. Apart from the grace of God I would not get up in the mornings to walk and pray. I made it fifty years without doing it why start now? Because God is giving me the grace to become disciplined. He is showing his love for me by causing me to stop being undisciplined. He’s been doing it for years but it seems so mundane that it’s easy to forget that it is the grace of God at work. He has over the course of my life transformed me from a slacker who wanted to be poor and let the government pay his way into a man who goes to work every day. Maybe that’s not a big deal for you but it’s a big deal for me. There is a part of me that would rather be homeless than disciplined and there was a time when that struggle was much stronger than it is now. There is a part of me that would like nothing more than to be high once again so that I don’t have to feel the pain of everyday life. But that is a million times weaker than it used to be. And I am thankful for that outpouring of grace.
The grace of God poured out upon my life has slowly, very, very slowly transformed me from being undisciplined to being more disciplined but I’ve got a long way to go. I am a blessed man to be able to see the blessings of walking on the path of life unfold in my life. You see that is a part of the promises of God: humble yourself before God and do his will and he will bless you beyond measure. That is exactly what happened to Jesus. We see him here struggling to not give in to temptation. Struggling so much that he sweats drops of blood. When he gets done praying he knows what has to be done and he’s made up his mind to do it. So he goes and gets the disciples wakes them up and says, “guys it’s time to go. The one who is going to betray me is here. And then Judas shows up with the roman soldiers. In the midst of prayer he yielded his heart to the father, he submitted his will to the will of God. He said God do whatever you need to do with me. It’s ok. I trust you. And then he got up to face the struggle: He went to his death because he knew that was what God required of him and he trusted God to keep his covenant promises of blessing for obedience.
You see in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28: 1"Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2"All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God. That statement is followed by a list of blessings and one of those blessings is that The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe and do them carefully, 14and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
You see this is what Jesus was doing in the garden praying; He was trying with all his might to observe the command of God carefully; he was sweating drops of blood in a struggle to not turn aside from any of the words God had commanded him to do.
By the grace of God he was successful and we are told the result of that obedience in Philippians chapter two starting with verse 8: He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 14Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
I have a lot to learn about not grumbling or disputing in my struggle against sin but at least I am struggling. That’s a move in the right direction. I am learning to do that more and more because I understand that obedience is not only accompanied by the blessing of God but obedience is the sign to myself, to those around me, and to God that I am not running the race in vain, that I am not wasting my time. I’m trying to run the good race because I want to cross the finish line and hear God the father say: “well done my good and faithful servant.” I’m proud of you son. You did a good job. Enter into my joy. I long for that day. I long for those words to enter my ears. And because of that promised joy I press on with hope in my heart because I know without a doubt that God keeps his promises. It is my prayer that you all would find that same hope in the goodness of God and his faithfulness to keep his promises.
Let’s pray.
Oh Father. Thank you for your goodness towards us. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to humble ourselves before you and walk in your will instead of ours. Teach us to be like Jesus and fight the good fight against the things that call out to each one of us to get off the path of life. Cause our feet to walk faithfully in your ways. Grow us up until we look and act like Jesus in every area of life. In his power and authority we ask these things. Amen.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
War, huh, what is it good for?
The uncomfortable middle: I still remember john Wimber talking about the need to live in the uncomfortable middle – the tension of being truly biblical. Most people tend to sacrifice truth in their pursuit of being truthful. The uncomfortable middle is a hard place to be for me. I’m the kind of guy that prefers to go headlong into whatever it is I’m thinking about at the time. The path of destruction that I see when I turn around and look at my life is exhibit A for proving that.
I used to think that the middle was the place of compromise – how committed to the truth can you be if you don’t drain every drop of blood from its veins? But I am learning that my theology is not more important than the word of God. If the whole word of God is not informing my theology then I’m not truly committed to the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I’m committed to my own ideas of what the truth is.
We are near the 150the anniversary of the end of “THESE United States of America” and the beginning of “THE United States of America.” We see the end results of that uncivil war all around us. Like most of the wars fought on this planet it was a war based on half truths with both sides believing they were pursuing the truth, biblical truth; one pursuing the end of slavery as an ungodly institution, the other insisting that they were being biblical in their buying and selling of human beings.
The south was right about slavery being an acceptable biblical practice. They were wrong in believing that what they were doing was biblical slavery – they were in fact co-conspirators in kidnapping – a Capitol offense.
The north was right in condemning the practice of Kidnapping for profit that was going on at the time. They were wrong to call it slavery and to think that war was going to stop people from wanting to sell themselves into slavery.
Welcome to the uncomfortable middle. Scripture is clear: Every human being is a slave. You are either a slave to wickedness or you are a slave to righteousness. Mankind can never be autonomous or independently free that is impossible for created beings- only God is independent. That being said human beings have been given the option of serving death their whole lives or placing their feet on the path of righteousness and serving life.
For the most part since “THESE” became “THE” we have as a people chosen to be slaves of death. We are rushing toward that slavery and bondage at breakneck speed these days. We choose to remain slaves to death because of the perks of not having be responsible and the promise that God doesn’t really know what he’s talking about that we were given in the garden by a talking snake.
The lovers of the bondage of death hang on to that promise by a thread. The spinners of truthful lies make death sound so full of life that it hard to see it for what it is. They make life seem like unbearable bondage, responsibility and duty a curse and a pox. The folks on Madison Avenue make death look so good in the pictures. Hollywood makes it seem so wonderful on the big screen. Music Row makes It sound so good flowing out of our ipods and stereos (people still have stereos don’t they?).
It seems so good that we go to war all over the world to force people into the freedom of death, or if you prefer you can call it mob rule, or better yet democracy. It is democracy that got us into this mess in the first place: two creatures telling one creator what they were and were not going to do.
So much for the uncomfortable middle. So much for the truth. So much for life.
But I hear the call of freedom in the slavery of righteousness. The sweet , wonderful, peaceful , slavery of being a creature that is no longer at war with his maker. You see I’ve finally begun to understand that when it comes to God and his word Edwin Star had it right when he sang: War! Huh, Good God y’all What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again.
Our only hope is to end our war against God and his righteousness. We can’t win it. Righteousness will be victorious in the end. We will all be in submission to the law of God in the end either willfully or unwillfully, as a friend and brother or as an eternal footstool, so why not choose life and submit ourselves as Prisoners of War to the Commander and Chief of God’s army that we may find ourselves smack dab in the uncomfortable middle where freedom is found in submission, life is found in giving up death and victory is found in defeat. It is the place where God is sovereign and man is responsible and the word of God is the path of life.
I long to be there; I pray to be there. I will not be satisfied until the grace of God causes my feet stay on the path of life 24/7 and my freedom is fulfilled in submission to the word of God in every jot and tittle.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
I used to think that the middle was the place of compromise – how committed to the truth can you be if you don’t drain every drop of blood from its veins? But I am learning that my theology is not more important than the word of God. If the whole word of God is not informing my theology then I’m not truly committed to the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I’m committed to my own ideas of what the truth is.
We are near the 150the anniversary of the end of “THESE United States of America” and the beginning of “THE United States of America.” We see the end results of that uncivil war all around us. Like most of the wars fought on this planet it was a war based on half truths with both sides believing they were pursuing the truth, biblical truth; one pursuing the end of slavery as an ungodly institution, the other insisting that they were being biblical in their buying and selling of human beings.
The south was right about slavery being an acceptable biblical practice. They were wrong in believing that what they were doing was biblical slavery – they were in fact co-conspirators in kidnapping – a Capitol offense.
The north was right in condemning the practice of Kidnapping for profit that was going on at the time. They were wrong to call it slavery and to think that war was going to stop people from wanting to sell themselves into slavery.
Welcome to the uncomfortable middle. Scripture is clear: Every human being is a slave. You are either a slave to wickedness or you are a slave to righteousness. Mankind can never be autonomous or independently free that is impossible for created beings- only God is independent. That being said human beings have been given the option of serving death their whole lives or placing their feet on the path of righteousness and serving life.
For the most part since “THESE” became “THE” we have as a people chosen to be slaves of death. We are rushing toward that slavery and bondage at breakneck speed these days. We choose to remain slaves to death because of the perks of not having be responsible and the promise that God doesn’t really know what he’s talking about that we were given in the garden by a talking snake.
The lovers of the bondage of death hang on to that promise by a thread. The spinners of truthful lies make death sound so full of life that it hard to see it for what it is. They make life seem like unbearable bondage, responsibility and duty a curse and a pox. The folks on Madison Avenue make death look so good in the pictures. Hollywood makes it seem so wonderful on the big screen. Music Row makes It sound so good flowing out of our ipods and stereos (people still have stereos don’t they?).
It seems so good that we go to war all over the world to force people into the freedom of death, or if you prefer you can call it mob rule, or better yet democracy. It is democracy that got us into this mess in the first place: two creatures telling one creator what they were and were not going to do.
So much for the uncomfortable middle. So much for the truth. So much for life.
But I hear the call of freedom in the slavery of righteousness. The sweet , wonderful, peaceful , slavery of being a creature that is no longer at war with his maker. You see I’ve finally begun to understand that when it comes to God and his word Edwin Star had it right when he sang: War! Huh, Good God y’all What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again.
Our only hope is to end our war against God and his righteousness. We can’t win it. Righteousness will be victorious in the end. We will all be in submission to the law of God in the end either willfully or unwillfully, as a friend and brother or as an eternal footstool, so why not choose life and submit ourselves as Prisoners of War to the Commander and Chief of God’s army that we may find ourselves smack dab in the uncomfortable middle where freedom is found in submission, life is found in giving up death and victory is found in defeat. It is the place where God is sovereign and man is responsible and the word of God is the path of life.
I long to be there; I pray to be there. I will not be satisfied until the grace of God causes my feet stay on the path of life 24/7 and my freedom is fulfilled in submission to the word of God in every jot and tittle.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Foundation series # 33
I want to begin today by saying how blessed I was by your response to last week’s sermon. The fact that many of you went home and continued to discuss the issue of Sabbath brings gladness to my heart; Not only that, but some of you are praying and asking God to give you direction as to what you should do about this whole issue of the Sabbath laws. I could ask for nothing better than for you to be thinking and praying through the ramifications of the word of God with your families; unless of course it would be that you begin to implement the word of God in every area of your life with your families. You all are a blessing from God to me.
I said last week that we were getting to the end of the foundation series and after the response from last week and looking over the content of the rest of Nehemiah which is mostly more lists, I decided to jump over most of it and go to the last chapter and start with verse 15 which deals again with the concept of Sabbath.
In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the Sabbath day? 18"Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath." 19It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. 20Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21Then I warned them and said to them, "Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you." From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. 22And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your loving kindness. 23In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. 25So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26"Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 27"Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?" 28Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. 29Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 30Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task, 31and I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits Remember me, O my God, for good.
Basically, this chapter is saying the same things that we talked about last week. I want to spend some time developing these themes in more depth. I want to begin by sharing my heart with you. I know it seems sometimes that I say these crazy things off the wall things. It’s true. But the reason that I say them is because more than anything I want to walk on the path of life. I mean the point of the Sabbath is not, not working. The point of the Sabbath is rest. The focus of the Sabbath is not God, the Sabbath was not created as a worship day. In fact, God rested on the very first Sabbath. He didn’t go to church. Jesus very clearly said: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
I believe my heart is pressing toward the Sabbath not because I want you to be in bondage but because we live in a culture that doesn’t know a thing about resting. The concept of Sabbath is for us, for our good. It is not meant to be bondage.
I’m beginning to understand that what has developed over the years in what we traditionally call a Sabbath is totally unbiblical. In fact most of it evolves not from scripture but from Jewish tradition, unbelieving religious tradition. We must understand that Jesus kept the Sabbath in the right way. The Pharisees got so angry with him over the Sabbath because he was revealing their unbelief in everything he did on the Sabbath.
I want us to spend some time in the New Testament trying to get a grip on what the Sabbath is really supposed to look like. The book of Hebrews chapter four says this: 1Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS"; and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST." 6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS." 8For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I want you to see that this passage about rest begins by talking about entering rest by faith and it gives us examples of people who went to church but did not have faith and because they had no faith they did not enter into rest.
Notice that it says that we who believe enter that rest, it is present tense. Look what it says starting in verse 9: So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. There is a Sabbath rest it is waiting for us. It could also be said that there is a Sabbath rest reserved for us. Christ has that rest now as we see in verse 10: For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. God completed his works and then he rested. Christ completed his works and then he rested.
But we haven’t completed our works yet have we? Ephesians 2:10 tells us we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. We are in the midst of our work. We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who works in us. Yes Christ is our rest, he is also our salvation and our righteousness but we are called to work out our salvation, we are called to do righteousness. We are called to work.
Verse 11 in Hebrews tells us that we should be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. We are called to work hard to enter that rest. It doesn’t say that we have it yet it says that we are to be working toward that rest that has been provided for us. We must work hard at keeping the faith so that we don’t die in the wilderness without receiving the rest.
You see the Sabbath is meant to be a reminder that it is not going to be like this forever. We will not always be fighting against sin. We will not always be tempted with death. There is a day coming when we will rest in life. We will enter into the joy of our master and rest from these works. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever work again. Jesus is resting from his work of redemption but now he is busy ruling and reigning. We are still working out our redemption with fear and trembling. If you think the way your life is now is as good as it gets well, I’m sorry for you. The promises of God are bigger and better than anything any of us has received yet.
Because we are not finished with our works yet, because we have not finished the race that is set before us then I believe that the Sabbath is still valid for us. Again it is not the bondage that we see in the Pharisees. We must continual remember that the Sabbath is given to us, for us, to be a blessing to us. It is to help us get a better taste of real life.
Let’s get a better picture of what the Sabbath is supposed to look like by going to Matthew chapter 12. 1At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath." 3But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5"Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6"But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7"But if you had known what this means, 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8"For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 9Departing from there, He went into their synagogue.
10And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"--so that they might accuse Him.
11And He said to them, "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12"How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand!" He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
I want you to understand that Jesus’ understanding of the Sabbath law was the first thing that made the Pharisees want to kill him. Sabbath is not meant to be bondage. It is meant for our good and our refreshment.
What we see in this passage is that Jesus and his disciples were walking through the grain fields. They are already in trouble with the Pharisees on that one because walking more than about a half mile was considered a sin. Here they were walking through farm land. Then they go so far as to harvest grain and eat it as they walk.
Now from my perspective the first thing that I think of is, hey these guys are stealing from someone’s field. That’s not their food. But I have to realize that my thoughts are not God’s thoughts. And I am reminded of Deuteronomy 23 verses 24 and 25: "When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket. "When you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain.
The disciples are being lawful here. They are doing what is allowed in scripture and the Pharisees are jumping all over their cases. You see they are trying to use one piece of the law against another piece of the law not to exalt God but to exalt themselves. You see this is why it is so important that you know what the word of God says because there are many false prophets out there who would like nothing better than to put you into bondage with the word of God. But the word of God is meant to keep you FROM bondage.
In Matthew Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are condemning the innocent. I want you to understand that I spent most of my formative years in that type of environment. I would say that if you grew up in the Baptist church you probably did too. We spent so much of our time adding to the scripture trying to define what godly was in our own eyes that we wrapped ourselves in bondage.
I remember when I first discovered that the law of God applied to me and I remember the sense of freedom that it brought to me. All of the piddly little rules that I have been trying to keep were washed away and I was freed to actually begin to enjoy life. I want you to understand that the law of God gives you a scary amount of freedom. It’s scary because it makes you have to think. It makes you have to be responsible. The law doesn’t give us a list of specific definitions of what work is. It doesn’t define work. It gives us the freedom and responsibility to figure that out for ourselves with in some broad perimeters. The law says work 6 days and rest one. It doesn’t define work or rest. Maybe you don’t think that a guy who sits around all day and draws pictures for comic books is work. But guess what you don’t get to define what work is. God has created as many different types of work as there are people and if you can find a way to make a living of doing what you love to do then go for it. The scripture gives you that freedom.
You have the same freedom with rest. The scripture simply says don’t work on the Sabbath. It clarifies work a little bit by including buying and selling as work. But that’s about it. Isaiah 58:13 and 14 says this: If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, 14Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
I want you to understand just how the Pharisees were abusing the word of God. This is the passage that they use to say that you cannot travel on the Sabbath. Do you see that in that passage? The call of this passage is to stop doing what is right in your eyes and start doing what is right in God’s sight. I think those who say you can’t have fun on the Sabbath are doing the same thing that the Pharisees were doing. The Sabbath is given to us so that we may rest in God our Redeemer and Lord. It is to remind us that our will apart from him is the path of death and unrest and that our pleasure is to be found in walking in those things that God finds pleasing. Our work doesn’t save us. Buying and selling 7 days a week is not what we need to do to get our economy back on track. Learning to walk on the path of life is our only hope. The Sabbath is about learning to trust the promises of God. If you can’t trust God enough to rest from making money or spending money one day a week how much do you really trust God?
Let’s pray. Father let your word mold us and make us to act, and think and feel and do everything according to your will. Save us from ourselves. Deliver us from the desire to be in control. Let doing what pleases you become what pleases us. In Jesus’ name I ask these things. Amen.
I said last week that we were getting to the end of the foundation series and after the response from last week and looking over the content of the rest of Nehemiah which is mostly more lists, I decided to jump over most of it and go to the last chapter and start with verse 15 which deals again with the concept of Sabbath.
In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the Sabbath day? 18"Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath." 19It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. 20Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21Then I warned them and said to them, "Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you." From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. 22And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your loving kindness. 23In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. 25So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26"Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 27"Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?" 28Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. 29Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 30Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task, 31and I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits Remember me, O my God, for good.
Basically, this chapter is saying the same things that we talked about last week. I want to spend some time developing these themes in more depth. I want to begin by sharing my heart with you. I know it seems sometimes that I say these crazy things off the wall things. It’s true. But the reason that I say them is because more than anything I want to walk on the path of life. I mean the point of the Sabbath is not, not working. The point of the Sabbath is rest. The focus of the Sabbath is not God, the Sabbath was not created as a worship day. In fact, God rested on the very first Sabbath. He didn’t go to church. Jesus very clearly said: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
I believe my heart is pressing toward the Sabbath not because I want you to be in bondage but because we live in a culture that doesn’t know a thing about resting. The concept of Sabbath is for us, for our good. It is not meant to be bondage.
I’m beginning to understand that what has developed over the years in what we traditionally call a Sabbath is totally unbiblical. In fact most of it evolves not from scripture but from Jewish tradition, unbelieving religious tradition. We must understand that Jesus kept the Sabbath in the right way. The Pharisees got so angry with him over the Sabbath because he was revealing their unbelief in everything he did on the Sabbath.
I want us to spend some time in the New Testament trying to get a grip on what the Sabbath is really supposed to look like. The book of Hebrews chapter four says this: 1Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS"; and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST." 6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS." 8For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I want you to see that this passage about rest begins by talking about entering rest by faith and it gives us examples of people who went to church but did not have faith and because they had no faith they did not enter into rest.
Notice that it says that we who believe enter that rest, it is present tense. Look what it says starting in verse 9: So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. There is a Sabbath rest it is waiting for us. It could also be said that there is a Sabbath rest reserved for us. Christ has that rest now as we see in verse 10: For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. God completed his works and then he rested. Christ completed his works and then he rested.
But we haven’t completed our works yet have we? Ephesians 2:10 tells us we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. We are in the midst of our work. We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who works in us. Yes Christ is our rest, he is also our salvation and our righteousness but we are called to work out our salvation, we are called to do righteousness. We are called to work.
Verse 11 in Hebrews tells us that we should be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. We are called to work hard to enter that rest. It doesn’t say that we have it yet it says that we are to be working toward that rest that has been provided for us. We must work hard at keeping the faith so that we don’t die in the wilderness without receiving the rest.
You see the Sabbath is meant to be a reminder that it is not going to be like this forever. We will not always be fighting against sin. We will not always be tempted with death. There is a day coming when we will rest in life. We will enter into the joy of our master and rest from these works. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever work again. Jesus is resting from his work of redemption but now he is busy ruling and reigning. We are still working out our redemption with fear and trembling. If you think the way your life is now is as good as it gets well, I’m sorry for you. The promises of God are bigger and better than anything any of us has received yet.
Because we are not finished with our works yet, because we have not finished the race that is set before us then I believe that the Sabbath is still valid for us. Again it is not the bondage that we see in the Pharisees. We must continual remember that the Sabbath is given to us, for us, to be a blessing to us. It is to help us get a better taste of real life.
Let’s get a better picture of what the Sabbath is supposed to look like by going to Matthew chapter 12. 1At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath." 3But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5"Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6"But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7"But if you had known what this means, 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8"For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 9Departing from there, He went into their synagogue.
10And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"--so that they might accuse Him.
11And He said to them, "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12"How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand!" He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
I want you to understand that Jesus’ understanding of the Sabbath law was the first thing that made the Pharisees want to kill him. Sabbath is not meant to be bondage. It is meant for our good and our refreshment.
What we see in this passage is that Jesus and his disciples were walking through the grain fields. They are already in trouble with the Pharisees on that one because walking more than about a half mile was considered a sin. Here they were walking through farm land. Then they go so far as to harvest grain and eat it as they walk.
Now from my perspective the first thing that I think of is, hey these guys are stealing from someone’s field. That’s not their food. But I have to realize that my thoughts are not God’s thoughts. And I am reminded of Deuteronomy 23 verses 24 and 25: "When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket. "When you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain.
The disciples are being lawful here. They are doing what is allowed in scripture and the Pharisees are jumping all over their cases. You see they are trying to use one piece of the law against another piece of the law not to exalt God but to exalt themselves. You see this is why it is so important that you know what the word of God says because there are many false prophets out there who would like nothing better than to put you into bondage with the word of God. But the word of God is meant to keep you FROM bondage.
In Matthew Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are condemning the innocent. I want you to understand that I spent most of my formative years in that type of environment. I would say that if you grew up in the Baptist church you probably did too. We spent so much of our time adding to the scripture trying to define what godly was in our own eyes that we wrapped ourselves in bondage.
I remember when I first discovered that the law of God applied to me and I remember the sense of freedom that it brought to me. All of the piddly little rules that I have been trying to keep were washed away and I was freed to actually begin to enjoy life. I want you to understand that the law of God gives you a scary amount of freedom. It’s scary because it makes you have to think. It makes you have to be responsible. The law doesn’t give us a list of specific definitions of what work is. It doesn’t define work. It gives us the freedom and responsibility to figure that out for ourselves with in some broad perimeters. The law says work 6 days and rest one. It doesn’t define work or rest. Maybe you don’t think that a guy who sits around all day and draws pictures for comic books is work. But guess what you don’t get to define what work is. God has created as many different types of work as there are people and if you can find a way to make a living of doing what you love to do then go for it. The scripture gives you that freedom.
You have the same freedom with rest. The scripture simply says don’t work on the Sabbath. It clarifies work a little bit by including buying and selling as work. But that’s about it. Isaiah 58:13 and 14 says this: If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, 14Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
I want you to understand just how the Pharisees were abusing the word of God. This is the passage that they use to say that you cannot travel on the Sabbath. Do you see that in that passage? The call of this passage is to stop doing what is right in your eyes and start doing what is right in God’s sight. I think those who say you can’t have fun on the Sabbath are doing the same thing that the Pharisees were doing. The Sabbath is given to us so that we may rest in God our Redeemer and Lord. It is to remind us that our will apart from him is the path of death and unrest and that our pleasure is to be found in walking in those things that God finds pleasing. Our work doesn’t save us. Buying and selling 7 days a week is not what we need to do to get our economy back on track. Learning to walk on the path of life is our only hope. The Sabbath is about learning to trust the promises of God. If you can’t trust God enough to rest from making money or spending money one day a week how much do you really trust God?
Let’s pray. Father let your word mold us and make us to act, and think and feel and do everything according to your will. Save us from ourselves. Deliver us from the desire to be in control. Let doing what pleases you become what pleases us. In Jesus’ name I ask these things. Amen.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A breath, a vapor, a mist
Cool breaks down and then burns up
Hot gets old and ends up lust
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
Accident random or sovereign plan
Leaves you with freak or worthwhile man
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
Written on your heart you refuse to read
Everywhere you look you refuse to see
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When that breath’s done there’ll be hell to pay
Unless someone paid it for you there ain’t no other way
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
Hot gets old and ends up lust
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
Accident random or sovereign plan
Leaves you with freak or worthwhile man
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
Written on your heart you refuse to read
Everywhere you look you refuse to see
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When that breath’s done there’ll be hell to pay
Unless someone paid it for you there ain’t no other way
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
When it slips through your fingers will you even be missed?
Life is a breath, a vapor, a mist
Ob la di Ob la da
Morning,
I don’t know if you remember or not but a couple of years ago I had a tree planted in my front yard. I was worried back then that it would never live but it did. I was glad about that. It’s been a year now, well, 11 months since we had 14 inches of rain in two days here in Nashville and while you heard about the floods; what often gets over looked is the fact that after the flood we had one of the worst droughts we’ve had in a while. The tree in my yard survived the flood but by the end of last summer the leaves turned brown, withered and then refused to fall to the ground.
The tree has been a vivid picture of the fragile nature of life for over six months now. Of course in the back of my head I tried to not just give up on it. It’s not like I want it to die or anything. But I am not an optimist by any stretch of the imagination. I have had fleeting thoughts of trying to figure out the best way to pull it out of the ground.
At the same time I’ve also been going up to it occasionally and checking for a pulse. I didn’t find one in February, or the first couple of weeks of March. I mean I saw potential buds but they had been there all winter. I pulled off some seeds that were still clinging to the limbs that were all shriveled and black and I planted them in a pot to check for life. Grass grew in the pot but not much else.
I poured some miracle grow on the ground. If anything needed a miracle it was this tree. I kept coming back to look but I could never really tell if there was change or not – a bud looks like a bud to me if it isn’t budding. The end of March came and one day last week my wife said she thought she saw some green. I went out and looked and, well, it could have been green. I didn’t remember seeing green before but I wasn’t 100% sure that it was green. It could have been a pale shade of brown. But my wife mixed up a gallon of miracle grow and poured it around the tree – just to be safe.
I’m pretty sure she is amused with my attempts at plant management. She certainly got a kick out of me planting azaleas with a reciprocating saw a few weeks ago. (It beats cutting roots with an axe). She calls me Red Green from time to time.
I’m not going to bet my paycheck on it or anything but I think when I looked at the tree this morning that it is alive. It was as if last summer it went into a prevent defense and just shut down in order to survive the winter. It soaked up the winter rains. It soaked up the miracle grow. It soaked up the prayers I prayed for it. And when it was ready; it began to show its life again.
I know a lot of people like that. They’re living life and every thing seems to be going well and then something happens and they shut down. To protect themselves; they shut down and though they appear to have stopped living they may simply be repairing the damage that was done and storing up supplies before they go back to life as it was.
Now, not everyone makes their way back. Some just turn bitter and die even while their heart keeps beating. But looking dead, looking broken, looking dysfunctional doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. It is possible to recover from the fall, or the mutiny as I like to call it. It is possible to soak up the miracle grow and blossom from death into life. I like to think that is a picture of my life: A Hopeful start crushed by a million things which forced me to dig deep to find nourishment. To the outside world it probably looks like I’ve been dead or going backwards for the last twenty years but I think I’m feeling my roots soaking up nourishment. I think I’m feeling the miracle grow starting to feed my broken limbs. I think it may be time to start budding. I want to bud. I’m tired of hibernating in a casket.
Maybe Desmond and Molly Jones got it right: Obla de Obla da life goes on Rah!. Life goes on. Death goes on. Where your feet go determines the destination. You can’t walk on the path of death and expect to live. Because, contrary to popular opinion ideas do have consequences but more than that actions have consequences. Good ideas that stay trapped in your head lead to death. It is not knowing that brings life but doing: Repenting leads to salvation, not thinking about repenting. Changing from disobedience to obedience is all that matters. The intent to change paves the road to death.
I am praying that my winter hiatus is over and that I’m not delusional when I think I see green beginning to appear on the limbs of my heart. It’s time to be an example of life to a dying world and those struggling to stay alive. Somebody has got to prove that there is life after birth.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
I don’t know if you remember or not but a couple of years ago I had a tree planted in my front yard. I was worried back then that it would never live but it did. I was glad about that. It’s been a year now, well, 11 months since we had 14 inches of rain in two days here in Nashville and while you heard about the floods; what often gets over looked is the fact that after the flood we had one of the worst droughts we’ve had in a while. The tree in my yard survived the flood but by the end of last summer the leaves turned brown, withered and then refused to fall to the ground.
The tree has been a vivid picture of the fragile nature of life for over six months now. Of course in the back of my head I tried to not just give up on it. It’s not like I want it to die or anything. But I am not an optimist by any stretch of the imagination. I have had fleeting thoughts of trying to figure out the best way to pull it out of the ground.
At the same time I’ve also been going up to it occasionally and checking for a pulse. I didn’t find one in February, or the first couple of weeks of March. I mean I saw potential buds but they had been there all winter. I pulled off some seeds that were still clinging to the limbs that were all shriveled and black and I planted them in a pot to check for life. Grass grew in the pot but not much else.
I poured some miracle grow on the ground. If anything needed a miracle it was this tree. I kept coming back to look but I could never really tell if there was change or not – a bud looks like a bud to me if it isn’t budding. The end of March came and one day last week my wife said she thought she saw some green. I went out and looked and, well, it could have been green. I didn’t remember seeing green before but I wasn’t 100% sure that it was green. It could have been a pale shade of brown. But my wife mixed up a gallon of miracle grow and poured it around the tree – just to be safe.
I’m pretty sure she is amused with my attempts at plant management. She certainly got a kick out of me planting azaleas with a reciprocating saw a few weeks ago. (It beats cutting roots with an axe). She calls me Red Green from time to time.
I’m not going to bet my paycheck on it or anything but I think when I looked at the tree this morning that it is alive. It was as if last summer it went into a prevent defense and just shut down in order to survive the winter. It soaked up the winter rains. It soaked up the miracle grow. It soaked up the prayers I prayed for it. And when it was ready; it began to show its life again.
I know a lot of people like that. They’re living life and every thing seems to be going well and then something happens and they shut down. To protect themselves; they shut down and though they appear to have stopped living they may simply be repairing the damage that was done and storing up supplies before they go back to life as it was.
Now, not everyone makes their way back. Some just turn bitter and die even while their heart keeps beating. But looking dead, looking broken, looking dysfunctional doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. It is possible to recover from the fall, or the mutiny as I like to call it. It is possible to soak up the miracle grow and blossom from death into life. I like to think that is a picture of my life: A Hopeful start crushed by a million things which forced me to dig deep to find nourishment. To the outside world it probably looks like I’ve been dead or going backwards for the last twenty years but I think I’m feeling my roots soaking up nourishment. I think I’m feeling the miracle grow starting to feed my broken limbs. I think it may be time to start budding. I want to bud. I’m tired of hibernating in a casket.
Maybe Desmond and Molly Jones got it right: Obla de Obla da life goes on Rah!. Life goes on. Death goes on. Where your feet go determines the destination. You can’t walk on the path of death and expect to live. Because, contrary to popular opinion ideas do have consequences but more than that actions have consequences. Good ideas that stay trapped in your head lead to death. It is not knowing that brings life but doing: Repenting leads to salvation, not thinking about repenting. Changing from disobedience to obedience is all that matters. The intent to change paves the road to death.
I am praying that my winter hiatus is over and that I’m not delusional when I think I see green beginning to appear on the limbs of my heart. It’s time to be an example of life to a dying world and those struggling to stay alive. Somebody has got to prove that there is life after birth.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Foundation series #32 4-3-11
We are getting close to the end of our foundation series. Today we are picking up in chapter 10 of Nehemiah starting with verse 8: Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, 29are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes; 30and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
I want to make a couple of comments about this passage. When it says that they separated themselves from the peoples of the land it doesn’t mean that they didn’t have interaction with unbelievers or that they didn’t do trade with unbelievers. The fact that Deuteronomy tells us that they were able to charge interest to unbelievers tells us that it was ok for them to have relationships with unbelievers. Unbelief doesn’t wear off on you. Sin doesn’t come from outside you. It comes from the lust in your own heart that desires to leave the path of life. Notice how they are to be separating themselves from the unbelievers: they separate themselves TO the law of God.
You have to make a choice to stay on the path of life regardless what those around you do. You have to decide whether you want to live or die, be blessed or be cursed. That is the only separation that matters. If you have come to Christ and entered into communion with him then you have entered a covenant relationship with him and you have taken on yourself a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to do all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes. I know that’s something that is not talked about in our day and age but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
You have made a covenant with God and if you break that covenant you will receive covenant curses; Now, if you are truly in Christ and not pretending, then Paul tells us that those curses turn out to be the discipline you need to grow up. If you are only pretending in your faith then the covenant curses will lead to your destruction. God is not mocked and you will reap what you sow whether belief or unbelief, obedience or disobedience.
Notice that they also made a promise not to let their children marry unbelievers. Even if the potential spouse of your children goes to church you need to be involved enough in your kids’ lives to make sure that to the best of your ability you are aware of the spiritual condition of your children’s potential mates. I know that our culture doesn’t go for that kind of stuff and it makes us look weird but it is the eternal fate of their soul that you are concerned about as well as ensuring the best chance possible for your children to stay on the path of life.
Now comes the hard part of this chapter, at least for me: As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
This is where the rubber hits the road. Are we willing to give up buying and selling on Sundays? Are we willing to stop going out to eat on Sundays? Are we willing to not go shopping or not go to the movies? Would that include not watching TV since tv stations are creating revenue by showing commercials? These are the things that we need to be asking ourselves. Are we serious about keeping the law? Notice here that it didn’t say pass laws to keep the unbelievers from being able to buy or sell on Sundays. If unbelievers want to break the law and come under curses, that’s their business. It is not our job to police the unbelievers.
It is our job to police our own hearts and I confess that I am guilty of this. What that means is more than anything is that I am guilty of poor planning. I’m not thinking ahead. I go out to eat after church because I haven’t planned to eat anything else. I buy gas on Sunday morning because I didn’t fill the tank on Saturday night. I buy a tea in the mornings because that’s what I always do and I don’t have anything at home or I don’t take the time to make it myself.
What not buying or selling anything on the day of rest means is that I have grow up a little bit more. I have to be responsible enough to prepare. That’s something I’m not good at.
Now keeping a day of rest doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything on the Sabbath it means you have to be prepared. If you want to go for a ride on the Sabbath then fill your tank with gas the day before and plan a trip you can take on one tank, or carry a spare tank with you. If you want to watch a movie then you need to rent it on Saturday. If you want to watch a game on Sunday maybe you should record it. I’ll be honest with you if we can commit ourselves to just not buying or selling on our day of rest then that’s a big thing in our culture.
We each need to decide if we want to walk on the path of life or not and well the Sabbath, a day of rest, a day of not buying or selling is one of the pieces of the path of life.
I want you to understand that breaking the Sabbath laws are the very thing that caused God to send Israel into Babylonian captivity; one year for every year they refused to have a sabbatical year.
You see I’m afraid that taking a day of rest is just the tip of the iceberg. God expects us to let the land rest for an entire year once every seventh year. But also in that seventh year he expects all debts to be forgiven. He expects everybody’s financial situation to be balanced once every seven years. I realize that the first response to such ideas is: are you crazy? I realize that we have all been raised in a country were business is Lord, where banking is Lord. We have been taught to trust the grocery store to always have food and therefore we can allow ourselves to only think short term. We have in fact for the most part learned to live two weeks at a time. We live from paycheck to paycheck. God expects us to plan. He expects us to think long term. He expects us to figure out a way to keep his laws.
You see all of this goes back to the idea of separating yourselves from the lawless, and the unbeliever. We are to live differently.
I’m not making any of this up. It’s right here in the word of God you have to decide if it is worth it to try to figure out how to do it or not. 99.99 percent of the church in the world, not just our country, has decided that God doesn’t mean what he says when it comes to these laws. God doesn’t know what he’s talking about, these things can’t be applied in the modern world.
You want to know something? Every generation since these laws were given has said the same thing. I’m not sure that these laws have ever been kept by the people of God. I know these people here in Jerusalem said they would keep them but it’s easy to forget what you promised to do in six years. I’m pretty sure we have no record in the bible of them keeping these laws. But that doesn’t mean I’m saying we don’t need to keep them rather I’m wondering what kind of blessings would God pour out on a people that actually figured out how to do this in their community and tried to implement it?
To say it can’t be done is to call God a liar. To say it could only be done in ancient times is to say that God didn’t know what the future was going to be like.
This really is where the rubber hits the road. We have to decide how to live. As I am working to develop a publishing company in my spare time am I going to be willing to figure into my business plan short term debt and a sabbatical rest for my employees and myself every 7 years? I’ve never thought like that before. What kind of trust does it take to take a year off from making money? What kind of forethought and planning does it take to live off of last year’s income trusting that God will provide double in the sixth year so you can be taken care of.
You see the real question in all of this is how much do you trust God to take care of you. The historical answer is NOT MUCH AT ALL.
As I’m thinking of all this I wonder about Jesus and the fact that he kept the law perfectly, How did he keep these laws in the midst of a culture that refused to do so? We have no record of that but unless this book is a lie he had to have kept these things to be perfectly obedient.
I’m not demanding anything of you this morning. I am simply laying out the word of God and leaving the choice to you what are you going to do with these verses? I guess I am asking something of you. I’m asking you to seek God and ask him how he would have you live. Again if you look back on the course of history God never forces people to keep the law but he does keep his covenant promises. Eventually cultures pay the price for disobedience. And because it is eventually and not immediately, more often than not, we are willing to lay up covenant curses for our great grandchildren because WE won’t have to suffer through them. Isn’t that what is going on now? We are reaping the destruction of our great grandfathers’ refusal to walk according to the word of God.
I will say this out loud, though I should probably just keep my mouth shut. Since I wrote this early in the week God has stirred my heart to be a guinea pig for you. I am going to try and commit myself to working out these Sabbath laws in my own life and in my publishing company. I’ve been racking my brain about how to do that the last few days and it has reminded me that the word of God, the law of God is meant to be applied to our lives. Well, that takes work, it takes thought, it takes effort and more than anything it is risky. To even think about going against the grain of what is considered normal is to risk ridicule and even harassment. But it’s time that somebody started taking the law of God and the promises of God seriously and I might as well put my head on the block.
So I’m trying to think through all of this and what it will look like fleshed out in the real world. I am going to put it together in a plan and when I get it done I will make copies for everyone and we can talk about it and discuss it. And as it gets implemented then we can talk about that too.
Let’s move on to the topic of providing for the body of Christ, the church starting in verse 32: We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moon, for the appointed times, for the holy things and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. Let’s put this in dollars so we can understand it better. The passage doesn’t say but to make it at the high end we will call this a shekel of gold. In doing some research I found that 3000 shekels were the equivalent of a single talent. In Babylon a talent was weighed at 67 pounds. In our day and age 67 pounds of God is worth just over a million and a half dollars. That kind of puts the parable of the talents in a new perspective doesn’t it?
What that means for this passage is that every family contributed about $172 dollars a year to provide for the needs of running the temple. Notice it wasn’t a percentage everybody paid the same flat rate unlike the tithe which was 10 percent.
Then to supply fuel for the priests and other workers in the temple they cast lots, or in our terms they drew straws and the one picked had the responsibility of supplying wood among the priests, the Levites and the people so that they might bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers' households, at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law; 35and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually, 36and bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. 37We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. 38The priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. 39For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil to the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers and the singers Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.
I want to try and look at all of this from a new covenant perspective and I think that is something that often times gets over looked in our day and age. You see the old testament temple is a picture of the church – we are the temple of the Holy Spirit now. The people back then could not be the temple because the work of Christ had not been completed, sin had not been atoned for and the Holy Spirit could not and still cannot, abide in sinful man. With the coming of Christ and the completion of his work we are now able to be born again and cleansed from our sins so that the Holy Spirit can and does abide in all who believe. That is a wonderful thing but it should cause us to think differently about the Old Testament passages that refer to the temple.
The fact that we spend so much time and money building and maintaining physical church buildings tells me that we do not understand the concept of temple or the body of Christ in scripture. The building is not to be the center of all we do; the house of the Holy Spirit is to be the main focus. In the Old Testament they had to go where the Holy Spirit was. Now the Holy Spirit is with those who believe wherever they go. The building is no longer to be the focus of the people of God. It is simple a place where the people assemble to be ministered to and be equipped to do the work of advancing the kingdom of God in every area of life the other 6 days of the week: The building is no longer holy the people are.
The tithes and offerings then should be spent on the things that provide the spiritual care and the maintenance of body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit: Solid teaching, preaching, those things that facilitate the building up of the body of Christ. Sure some of that goes to the buildings in which those things take place but the emphasis should not be on the physical facilities but on the true temple of the Holy Spirit: the body of Christ.
We are still called to tithe but the use of the tithe is different now than it was under the old covenant because things have changed. Perhaps it is time for us to rethink how we as a corporate body gather and spend money. What are the responsibilities of the church? I have heard some say they long for us to start a school. That would certainly be in keeping with the responsibilities of the church. Others have pondered the idea of an interest free bank for the congregation to help eliminate the slavery of usry in our midst. I think for too long we have gone with the status quo in determining what the church should do. But I don’t think the status quo has a clue what a biblically based church should look like and function like. We only know the traditions of the last 200 years.
I want to propose that each of us seek God in his word, read the books of the law, read the New Testament, and the prophets and see what causes God to bless his people and what causes him to discipline them. Then I would have us to ask Him to show us what that should look like in the real world in the 21st century. How can we be what god wants us to be in such great measure that he opens the flood gates and bless us by expanding his kingdom, his rule and reign in our midst. That’s what a kingdom is you know: a Kingdom exists anywhere that the King’s rule is respected and obeyed. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of living in the Kingdom of Satan everywhere I go. I want to live in the Kingdom of God, under his rule and reign in every area of my life because that is where real life is and I want to have the opportunity to live just a little bit before I die.
Let’s pray. Father, I am asking a lot of both you and the people that I am given charge over. I pray Lord that if the things that I am saying are not according to your will that you will silence me and not allow me to speak in this pulpit or anywhere else – take my voice away from me. I realize in asking that I am asking you to take my life if I am not pleasing to you and walking according to your will because words really are my life. I pray Lord that if you let me continue to speak that you would also change our hearts and attitudes so that we may fall in love with your law and obey it with our whole hearts. It is our only hope in this world. Pour out your gracious mercy and bring us to repentance. In Jesus’ power and authority I ask these things so be it. Amen.
I want to make a couple of comments about this passage. When it says that they separated themselves from the peoples of the land it doesn’t mean that they didn’t have interaction with unbelievers or that they didn’t do trade with unbelievers. The fact that Deuteronomy tells us that they were able to charge interest to unbelievers tells us that it was ok for them to have relationships with unbelievers. Unbelief doesn’t wear off on you. Sin doesn’t come from outside you. It comes from the lust in your own heart that desires to leave the path of life. Notice how they are to be separating themselves from the unbelievers: they separate themselves TO the law of God.
You have to make a choice to stay on the path of life regardless what those around you do. You have to decide whether you want to live or die, be blessed or be cursed. That is the only separation that matters. If you have come to Christ and entered into communion with him then you have entered a covenant relationship with him and you have taken on yourself a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to do all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes. I know that’s something that is not talked about in our day and age but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
You have made a covenant with God and if you break that covenant you will receive covenant curses; Now, if you are truly in Christ and not pretending, then Paul tells us that those curses turn out to be the discipline you need to grow up. If you are only pretending in your faith then the covenant curses will lead to your destruction. God is not mocked and you will reap what you sow whether belief or unbelief, obedience or disobedience.
Notice that they also made a promise not to let their children marry unbelievers. Even if the potential spouse of your children goes to church you need to be involved enough in your kids’ lives to make sure that to the best of your ability you are aware of the spiritual condition of your children’s potential mates. I know that our culture doesn’t go for that kind of stuff and it makes us look weird but it is the eternal fate of their soul that you are concerned about as well as ensuring the best chance possible for your children to stay on the path of life.
Now comes the hard part of this chapter, at least for me: As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
This is where the rubber hits the road. Are we willing to give up buying and selling on Sundays? Are we willing to stop going out to eat on Sundays? Are we willing to not go shopping or not go to the movies? Would that include not watching TV since tv stations are creating revenue by showing commercials? These are the things that we need to be asking ourselves. Are we serious about keeping the law? Notice here that it didn’t say pass laws to keep the unbelievers from being able to buy or sell on Sundays. If unbelievers want to break the law and come under curses, that’s their business. It is not our job to police the unbelievers.
It is our job to police our own hearts and I confess that I am guilty of this. What that means is more than anything is that I am guilty of poor planning. I’m not thinking ahead. I go out to eat after church because I haven’t planned to eat anything else. I buy gas on Sunday morning because I didn’t fill the tank on Saturday night. I buy a tea in the mornings because that’s what I always do and I don’t have anything at home or I don’t take the time to make it myself.
What not buying or selling anything on the day of rest means is that I have grow up a little bit more. I have to be responsible enough to prepare. That’s something I’m not good at.
Now keeping a day of rest doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything on the Sabbath it means you have to be prepared. If you want to go for a ride on the Sabbath then fill your tank with gas the day before and plan a trip you can take on one tank, or carry a spare tank with you. If you want to watch a movie then you need to rent it on Saturday. If you want to watch a game on Sunday maybe you should record it. I’ll be honest with you if we can commit ourselves to just not buying or selling on our day of rest then that’s a big thing in our culture.
We each need to decide if we want to walk on the path of life or not and well the Sabbath, a day of rest, a day of not buying or selling is one of the pieces of the path of life.
I want you to understand that breaking the Sabbath laws are the very thing that caused God to send Israel into Babylonian captivity; one year for every year they refused to have a sabbatical year.
You see I’m afraid that taking a day of rest is just the tip of the iceberg. God expects us to let the land rest for an entire year once every seventh year. But also in that seventh year he expects all debts to be forgiven. He expects everybody’s financial situation to be balanced once every seven years. I realize that the first response to such ideas is: are you crazy? I realize that we have all been raised in a country were business is Lord, where banking is Lord. We have been taught to trust the grocery store to always have food and therefore we can allow ourselves to only think short term. We have in fact for the most part learned to live two weeks at a time. We live from paycheck to paycheck. God expects us to plan. He expects us to think long term. He expects us to figure out a way to keep his laws.
You see all of this goes back to the idea of separating yourselves from the lawless, and the unbeliever. We are to live differently.
I’m not making any of this up. It’s right here in the word of God you have to decide if it is worth it to try to figure out how to do it or not. 99.99 percent of the church in the world, not just our country, has decided that God doesn’t mean what he says when it comes to these laws. God doesn’t know what he’s talking about, these things can’t be applied in the modern world.
You want to know something? Every generation since these laws were given has said the same thing. I’m not sure that these laws have ever been kept by the people of God. I know these people here in Jerusalem said they would keep them but it’s easy to forget what you promised to do in six years. I’m pretty sure we have no record in the bible of them keeping these laws. But that doesn’t mean I’m saying we don’t need to keep them rather I’m wondering what kind of blessings would God pour out on a people that actually figured out how to do this in their community and tried to implement it?
To say it can’t be done is to call God a liar. To say it could only be done in ancient times is to say that God didn’t know what the future was going to be like.
This really is where the rubber hits the road. We have to decide how to live. As I am working to develop a publishing company in my spare time am I going to be willing to figure into my business plan short term debt and a sabbatical rest for my employees and myself every 7 years? I’ve never thought like that before. What kind of trust does it take to take a year off from making money? What kind of forethought and planning does it take to live off of last year’s income trusting that God will provide double in the sixth year so you can be taken care of.
You see the real question in all of this is how much do you trust God to take care of you. The historical answer is NOT MUCH AT ALL.
As I’m thinking of all this I wonder about Jesus and the fact that he kept the law perfectly, How did he keep these laws in the midst of a culture that refused to do so? We have no record of that but unless this book is a lie he had to have kept these things to be perfectly obedient.
I’m not demanding anything of you this morning. I am simply laying out the word of God and leaving the choice to you what are you going to do with these verses? I guess I am asking something of you. I’m asking you to seek God and ask him how he would have you live. Again if you look back on the course of history God never forces people to keep the law but he does keep his covenant promises. Eventually cultures pay the price for disobedience. And because it is eventually and not immediately, more often than not, we are willing to lay up covenant curses for our great grandchildren because WE won’t have to suffer through them. Isn’t that what is going on now? We are reaping the destruction of our great grandfathers’ refusal to walk according to the word of God.
I will say this out loud, though I should probably just keep my mouth shut. Since I wrote this early in the week God has stirred my heart to be a guinea pig for you. I am going to try and commit myself to working out these Sabbath laws in my own life and in my publishing company. I’ve been racking my brain about how to do that the last few days and it has reminded me that the word of God, the law of God is meant to be applied to our lives. Well, that takes work, it takes thought, it takes effort and more than anything it is risky. To even think about going against the grain of what is considered normal is to risk ridicule and even harassment. But it’s time that somebody started taking the law of God and the promises of God seriously and I might as well put my head on the block.
So I’m trying to think through all of this and what it will look like fleshed out in the real world. I am going to put it together in a plan and when I get it done I will make copies for everyone and we can talk about it and discuss it. And as it gets implemented then we can talk about that too.
Let’s move on to the topic of providing for the body of Christ, the church starting in verse 32: We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moon, for the appointed times, for the holy things and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. Let’s put this in dollars so we can understand it better. The passage doesn’t say but to make it at the high end we will call this a shekel of gold. In doing some research I found that 3000 shekels were the equivalent of a single talent. In Babylon a talent was weighed at 67 pounds. In our day and age 67 pounds of God is worth just over a million and a half dollars. That kind of puts the parable of the talents in a new perspective doesn’t it?
What that means for this passage is that every family contributed about $172 dollars a year to provide for the needs of running the temple. Notice it wasn’t a percentage everybody paid the same flat rate unlike the tithe which was 10 percent.
Then to supply fuel for the priests and other workers in the temple they cast lots, or in our terms they drew straws and the one picked had the responsibility of supplying wood among the priests, the Levites and the people so that they might bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers' households, at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law; 35and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually, 36and bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. 37We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. 38The priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. 39For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil to the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers and the singers Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.
I want to try and look at all of this from a new covenant perspective and I think that is something that often times gets over looked in our day and age. You see the old testament temple is a picture of the church – we are the temple of the Holy Spirit now. The people back then could not be the temple because the work of Christ had not been completed, sin had not been atoned for and the Holy Spirit could not and still cannot, abide in sinful man. With the coming of Christ and the completion of his work we are now able to be born again and cleansed from our sins so that the Holy Spirit can and does abide in all who believe. That is a wonderful thing but it should cause us to think differently about the Old Testament passages that refer to the temple.
The fact that we spend so much time and money building and maintaining physical church buildings tells me that we do not understand the concept of temple or the body of Christ in scripture. The building is not to be the center of all we do; the house of the Holy Spirit is to be the main focus. In the Old Testament they had to go where the Holy Spirit was. Now the Holy Spirit is with those who believe wherever they go. The building is no longer to be the focus of the people of God. It is simple a place where the people assemble to be ministered to and be equipped to do the work of advancing the kingdom of God in every area of life the other 6 days of the week: The building is no longer holy the people are.
The tithes and offerings then should be spent on the things that provide the spiritual care and the maintenance of body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit: Solid teaching, preaching, those things that facilitate the building up of the body of Christ. Sure some of that goes to the buildings in which those things take place but the emphasis should not be on the physical facilities but on the true temple of the Holy Spirit: the body of Christ.
We are still called to tithe but the use of the tithe is different now than it was under the old covenant because things have changed. Perhaps it is time for us to rethink how we as a corporate body gather and spend money. What are the responsibilities of the church? I have heard some say they long for us to start a school. That would certainly be in keeping with the responsibilities of the church. Others have pondered the idea of an interest free bank for the congregation to help eliminate the slavery of usry in our midst. I think for too long we have gone with the status quo in determining what the church should do. But I don’t think the status quo has a clue what a biblically based church should look like and function like. We only know the traditions of the last 200 years.
I want to propose that each of us seek God in his word, read the books of the law, read the New Testament, and the prophets and see what causes God to bless his people and what causes him to discipline them. Then I would have us to ask Him to show us what that should look like in the real world in the 21st century. How can we be what god wants us to be in such great measure that he opens the flood gates and bless us by expanding his kingdom, his rule and reign in our midst. That’s what a kingdom is you know: a Kingdom exists anywhere that the King’s rule is respected and obeyed. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of living in the Kingdom of Satan everywhere I go. I want to live in the Kingdom of God, under his rule and reign in every area of my life because that is where real life is and I want to have the opportunity to live just a little bit before I die.
Let’s pray. Father, I am asking a lot of both you and the people that I am given charge over. I pray Lord that if the things that I am saying are not according to your will that you will silence me and not allow me to speak in this pulpit or anywhere else – take my voice away from me. I realize in asking that I am asking you to take my life if I am not pleasing to you and walking according to your will because words really are my life. I pray Lord that if you let me continue to speak that you would also change our hearts and attitudes so that we may fall in love with your law and obey it with our whole hearts. It is our only hope in this world. Pour out your gracious mercy and bring us to repentance. In Jesus’ power and authority I ask these things so be it. Amen.
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