Tag: Jesus

2 SAMUEL #6: THE SHOCKING PROBLEM WITH HOLINESS

On By Pastor TomIn 2 Samuel, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

This text shows us just how vast is the distance between God and us. It shows how much we need Jesus and just how much God went through in order to bring us back to him.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 2 Samuel Part 6

2 Samuel #6. 2 Samuel 6:1-10

After David defeated the Philistines decisively and captured Jerusalem, he decided that he should bring the Ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, the new capital city of Israel. Remember, the Ark was a wooden box plated with gold, with carved angel’s wings over it. Inside the box were the stone tablets of the ten commandments, and possibly part the staff that Aaron, the High Priest, had used. At this point in time, the Ark would have been about four-hundred years old. If you remember, back even before Saul became the first king of Israel, the Israelites had taken the Ark into battle with them, trusting in the Ark to save them. The Lord was not pleased by this, because they were treating the Ark as if it were an idol, using it the way the pagan people around them used idols. So the Lord let them be defeated, since they were not actually trusting the Lord Himself. During the battle, the Philistines captured the Ark. After this the Lord showed his power to the Philistines, and wherever they put the Ark, trouble came upon them. Finally, they sent the Ark back to the Israelites. That story is told in 1 Samuel chapters 4-6, and we covered it in part 4 of the sermon series on 1 Samuel. The ark ended up at a place in Israel called Kiriath-jearim (also called Baalah of Judah).

Now, a few decades later, David and his elite warriors went to that place to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem. It was on the property of a man named Abinadab. His sons, Uzzah and Ahio walked beside the cart that held the Ark while David and his men celebrated along the way. And then this happened:

6 But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. 7 Then the LORD’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this. So Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God.
8 David was angry because the LORD’s anger had burst out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah (which means “to burst out against Uzzah”), as it is still called today.
9 David was now afraid of the LORD, and he asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark of the LORD back into my care?” 10 So David decided not to move the Ark of the LORD into the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath. 11 The Ark of the LORD remained there in Obed-edom’s house for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and his entire household. (2 Samuel 6:5-11, NLT)

Here we have the two major themes of this text. First is this: God is so Holy, so different and “other” that he is inapproachable. If it means death to touch the mere representation of God’s presence, who can endure his actual presence? This was shocking and horrifying to David. It even made him angry. I think we forget that the Holiness of God is shocking, terrifying and horrifying. It may even make us angry. Why does God behave so inexplicably?

One of the things that makes the Bible unique is that it contains things like David’s response. The story isn’t only that God killed Uzzah. Part of the story is also that this event made David angry and upset. That is a comfort to me, because it kind of makes me upset, also. It shows us that it isn’t wrong for this sort of thing to get our attention, and it isn’t wrong even for it to bother us.

I don’t want us to gloss over this too quickly. Many people read these types of things in the Bible and think they are the first ones ever to be shocked by this sort of thing, or to question God about it. But here is David, shocked and angry at God in the very moment that this happened. It is shocking. If we are not shocked by this, we don’t really get the message. God’s holiness is shocking, terrifying, unfathomable. It should leave us saying, “Well then how could we ever be close to God? How could anyone ever please him?”

So, don’t feel bad if, like David, these kinds of things in the Bible upset you. That’s normal. But don’t stop with simply being upset by it. Pursue it. Ask the Lord to help you understand such things. Let’s pursue it together right now.

One thing we ought to know right away is that David, his men, and the priests were not transporting the Ark the way God had commanded through Moses. Moses was very clear about how the ark was to be moved from place to place:

12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. (Exodus 25:12-15, NLT)

However, David and his men put the ark in a cart. If the Ark had been carried by the poles—as God commanded—no one would have had to worry about it slipping off a cart and falling to the ground. So, in the first place, they were ignoring God’s command, which is never a wise thing to do. We won’t cover the latter part of the chapter until next time, but we see that this error was corrected when they moved the Ark again later. Verse 13 shows us that this second move was accomplished with human beings carrying the Ark by the poles, not riding in an ox-cart. In any case, it does seem that this incident would have been avoided if they had taken God’s commands seriously. When God commanded the Ark be moved this way, it was to protect people from accidentally touching it. We often don’t realize, or perhaps we just forget, that God’s commands are there to protect us.

One of the things that might bother us is that Uzzah himself was only trying to protect the Ark. He didn’t want it to fall on the ground. How can that be such a terrible thing? However, by doing this, there were two assumptions that Uzzah was making. First, he assumed that God himself was incapable of protecting the Ark. He thought it was up to him to protect God’s glory. This reveals a lack of faith. Remember the recent history: The enemies of Israel had captured the Ark, but God used it to show them his glory, and then also he made sure that the Ark was returned to Israel. In spite of that, Uzzah assumed that in this instance, God would not take care of his glory, or the Ark. In other words, he didn’t have real faith in God.

The second assumption Uzzah made is that it would be better for the Ark to touch him than to touch the ground. He thought he himself was more holy and sanctified than the very earth that was created by God. In other words he didn’t really believe in his own sinfulness, nor in God’s complete holiness.

Now, even with that explained, I still think this passage is troubling. I suspect the reason it bothers us so much is because it is about the Holiness of God, and that is not something we truly understand, or even think about much.

Sometimes I think because of the grace given in Jesus, we forget why that grace is so important and so unbelievable. We forget the huge gulf that separated human beings from God. Without Jesus, if we were simply to wrongly touch a representation of a holy God, we could be killed, like Uzzah. There was an irreconcilable gap between us and God. But since Jesus intervened, we no longer live in that situation, and we often forget how serious the problem would be without him.

One question that I hear quite often is, “Doesn’t God just accept us as we are?” Actually, no. If he could do that, there would have been no need for Jesus to sacrifice himself. Well then, can’t God do anything? Why couldn’t he have made it so that he could just accept us?

God can do anything, but the one thing he will not do is change his own nature. God is the most wonderful, glorious, amazing, loving being in all of existence. To change his nature would be to change the very nature of reality, and it would be an unbelievably terrible thing for all creation if God changed his nature. If God changed his nature, there would be no hope that human beings would ever be better than they have been. Hatred, jealousy, strife, murder, rape, torture, selfishness and so on would become eternal, with no hope of any change, ever. So, because of our sinful flesh, God instead chose to sacrifice himself in order to change our nature.

At times, we might be tempted to think, “Are we really so bad? I mean I can be a bit selfish sometimes, but am I really so awful that my very nature had to be changed?” But we often forget that the problem is deeper than our behavior. Individual sins are about what we do, and some people are pretty good at minimizing those—at least the ones that others can see. But Jesus made it clear that sin is not only about behavior, it is also about what is in our hearts. So, he said, for example, that the Law of Moses tells us not to murder. But if we have murder in our hearts, even if we don’t act on it, we are guilty.

21 “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Never murder. Whoever murders will answer for it in court.’ 22 But I can guarantee that whoever is angry with another believer will answer for it in court. Whoever calls another believer an insulting name will answer for it in the highest court. Whoever calls another believer a fool will answer for it in hellfire. (Matthew 5:21-22, GW)

You see, sin is a disease that is passed on genetically to every human being. In some people, that disease has obvious and radical effects. In others, we don’t see much of it on the outside. But every single person carries the disease. The thing that made Hitler such a monster is inside all of us. Most of us don’t let it get so out of control, but it’s there:

20 And then Jesus added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” (Mark 7:20-23, NLT)

Because sin is inside of every human, we would be destroyed by the presence of God. God has to change us before he can welcome us into his presence. Through Jesus, it is the power of God that does the changing, not our own work and effort. Without that work, God’s holiness would destroy us, just like it did to Uzzah.

There is nothing I can think of that really illustrates the holiness of God adequately. But let me take a few tries at it. I’ve mentioned in other sermons about the chemical reaction that occurs when pure sodium is put into water. Sodium is a soft metal, a chemical element. It literally explodes when it comes into contact with water. When you are done reading this sermon, do an internet search for pure sodium and water, and watch a few videos; they are highly entertaining. I found one in which the reaction blows up a toilet. The point is because of the laws of physics and chemistry, sodium cannot exist in its pure form in water. If you bring the two substances together, the sodium explodes. The intrinsic properties of each substance prevents them from being together.

In the same way, sin cannot continue to exist in the presence of God’s holiness. You might say that it, too, explodes. This is because of the intrinsic nature of sin, and of God’s holiness. You might say that if a sinful person touched even a representation of the one true holy God (as Uzzah did) that person would die instantly. That’s what happened in our passage today.

Here’s another illustration. Though we don’t do it any longer, for a number of years we raised goats, pigs, and chickens on our little farm. Except for when we had to bottle feed baby animals, we did not generally allow these animals in the house with us. Think about it for a minute. Why don’t we allow pigs in the kitchen? Why don’t we allow goats to stand on our table and eat with us? Why do we care if they defecate on the table while we eat?

It starts with this – we are other than these animals. They are fundamentally different than us. I think most people would be willing to agree that pigs are not humans, and that goats do not behave according to human standards. Even though goats often stand and poop into their own food trough, and that is quite natural for them, there is something in us that rebels against having a farm animal defecate on the table where we eat. We simply do not tolerate it. It revolts us. This revulsion is deep and instinctive, showing us that the differences between us and our animals are also deep and persistent. We love our animals but we can still be revolted by their behavior. We love them, but we refuse to let their behavior into our home. We must place limits on how and when those animals can be with us.

We do allow some animals in our home – dogs and cats. But part of why we allow this is because we train them to behave according to our standards. Even so, most people still don’t allow dogs or cats to eat food off the table, and certainly they aren’t allowed to defecate on it.

When our dog Mario went out and rolled in manure – as dogs like to do naturally at times – we insisted upon cleaning him up before we let him back in the house. Imagine that instead, after rolling in manure, he decided to try and clean himself up, still having no more than a dog’s understanding of the world. Dogs lick themselves a little bit, but they can’t reach most of their backs, or any of their heads, and they don’t clean themselves even as much as cats do. Mario might lick his own tail a little bit, and then think his efforts should make him acceptable to us, but there’s no way he could actually clean himself well enough to meet our standards. We had to do the work of making him clean. And we were willing to do that work, to make him clean, because we loved him and wanted him to be with us. But he couldn’t be with us while he was covered in manure. Our human nature would not tolerate it. It was unacceptable.

Why can’t we just accept the animals as they are, and allow the goats to defecate in our food, and the dog to come into the house covered in manure? Sometimes it is hard to explain why we can’t allow such things, but we can’t. We are too different.  It is simply not in our nature to accept such things, while it is in the nature of the animals to do such things.

So, because we are born sinful in nature, it is natural for us to behave in ways that God simply cannot accept. Remember, though, it’s not just about what we do. Sin is inside us, even when we behave properly. God’s nature is even more different from ours than a pig’s nature is different from a human’s. Our sin is far worse to God than manure on a dog is to us. The idea of an animal pooping in our food is only a poor reflection of how revolting our sin is.

Our attempts to clean ourselves up are as pathetic as our dog Mario’s attempts. On our own, we don’t even really understand what it is to be cleansed. We need God to do the work of cleaning us up. And he is willing to do that work, because he loves us and wants us to be with him.

Once in a while, our dog would manage to sneak into the house covered in manure. On those occasions  my reaction was swift and shocking. I moved quickly and loudly to keep him from transferring manure to our carpet, or to us. He couldn’t have understood me if I had tried to explain it to him reasonably, so I had to get his attention in a way that might have seemed shocking and horrifying to him.

So it is with God. His response to Uzzah is shocking and horrifying. David became afraid, and even angry, when he saw it, and said, “how can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” Meaning, “how could I ever be close to a God who is like this?”

But what the Lord did for us in Jesus is to give us a new nature. This is one of the reasons I think it is so important to realize that when we are in Jesus, (that is, when we have received him through faith) we are no longer fundamentally sinful. God cannot fellowship with fundamentally sinful beings. He has cleaned us up, changed us in ways we could not change ourselves.

Even though that was still in the future during the time of David, the Lord found ways to communicate that was his plan. And he included even those who lived before the time of Jesus in that plan:

For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. (Romans 3:25-26)

So, if God has taken care of the problem, why is this text in 2 Samuel still here for us, who have trusted in Jesus to do these things for us? Why do we need this part of the Bible?

Imagine a friend comes over to your house, and while you are doing something else, he notices a bill open on your table. He decides to pay it for you. If that was a thirty-dollar phone bill, you’d be grateful, but not wildly so. It would be really sweet of him to pay that bill, and you’d thank him, and it would be a fairly restrained thankfulness. But imagine instead, he paid your mortgage. Not your monthly payment, but the whole mortgage—all $200,000 that you still owe on your house. That would be an entirely different kind of situation, with an entirely different level of thankfulness. Texts like this one in 1 Samuel Six show us just how much God has done for us, of how overwhelmingly thankful we ought to be.

I think we can view this text with three thoughts: First, we often need to be reminded of God’s precious holiness. God has not changed. He is still as holy now as he was then. When we understand his greatness, his “other-ness” it should lead us to be in awe of him. Scripture says in several places that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (e.g. Proverbs 9:10 & 15:33; Psalm 111:10). We need to relearn that God is awesome, powerful, and that without Jesus we are incapable of interacting with him on our own terms.

Second, we need to remember how truly horrible and unacceptable our sin is. If you imagine how  revolting it would be to eat food in which pigs have defecated, you are only beginning to think of how horrible our sins are to a holy God. Our sins keep us from fellowship with God. Imagine your dog covered in manure, standing on your  table, pooping in your food. Would you hug that dog before getting him off the table and cleaning him up? Our sin is worse than that for God’s holy nature.

Third, we need to remember how amazing God’s grace is. He came as a human so that he could take our sin upon himself. He sacrificed himself to make us into new people who can now fellowship with God. He didn’t just pay a phone bill, he paid off our entire debt. And then on top of that, ensured that we will never owe anything again, and on top of that, he has piled blessing after blessing. When we know the size of our debt, the huge gap that was between us and God, we can begin to be appropriately thankful.

Thanks to Jesus, we can have God’s presence in our lives. He has done the work to clean us. He has changed our nature so that we are not destroyed by God’s holiness if we get close to him.

21 Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, GNT)

Let’s thank him and praise him right now! Next time we will consider what all this means for worship.

ADVENT #3. THE JOY OF DECREASING

On By Pastor TomIn Advent, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

John the Baptist shows us how we can prepare for Jesus. First, we lean into the truth that every good thing we have originated from God, not ourselves, because even our very selves came from him. Second, we allow our life to be about Jesus, rather than ourselves. He must become the hero of our life’s story. Third, we allow the life of Jesus to gain greater and greater power within us, while we surrender ourselves to him.

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For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

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22 Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people.
23 At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism. 24 (This was before John was thrown into prison.) 25 A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing. 26 So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.”
27 John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. 28 You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ 29 It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. 30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
31 “He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! 33 Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. 34 For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. 36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” John 3:22-36, NLT

As we prepare to celebrate the time when Jesus first came to earth, and also for the time when he will return, this little passage from John gives us some practical advice for our preparations.

We need just a bit of background here. During the years before Jesus began his ministry, John the Baptist was a major figure of influence for first century Judaism. Thousands of people made the difficult, expensive and dangerous journey from Jerusalem to the Jordan valley to hear John preach. Even decades after his death, there were people who practiced their Jewish religion explicitly as followers of John the Baptist. To make it simple: John the Baptist was a Big Deal.

John’s followers knew he was a big deal, so they were upset when they saw that John’s cousin, Jesus, was also becoming a big deal. It isn’t hard to picture a note of complaint or bitterness in their words. They are upset, and they feel that Jesus should not be so prominent. It should be John, they think.

Jesus said at another time that John was the greatest man who had ever been born (Luke 7:28). Here, John’s response to his disciples shows us some of his greatness. He makes three basic points.

First, John says, no one receives anything unless it has been given to him by God. He means that he himself received his ministry from God. It isn’t his, it comes from God. Because it isn’t his, he does not feel either the need, nor the right, to hold on to it. He also means that Jesus is gaining followers because that is God’s plan. He and Jesus are on the same team, and God the father is the coach of both, calling the plays. Jealousy and rivalry have absolutely no place. It isn’t John’s team – it’s God’s.

Next, John tells his followers that they ought to know better. After all, he’s already told them that he personally is not the messiah, and he has already explicitly pointed his followers to Jesus as the messiah. In fact, John was so emphatic about pointing them to Jesus, that they remembered it when they came to complain to John. They identify Jesus as “the one you testified about (3:26).” John clarifies his position even more now. He explains that he is “the friend of the bridegroom,” not the bridegroom himself.

For the average first century Jewish person, the best day they ever experienced was the day of their own wedding feast. The people were dust-poor, with little hope for anything to change. But on her wedding day, for once in her life, a woman was (along with her bridegroom) the center of attention. She didn’t have to work. She got to wear the most beautiful clothing and jewelry that her family could afford. She got to eat as much wonderful food as she could hold. The same was true of course, for the men on their wedding days. In fact, the bride and groom usually wore some sort of “crown” indicating that for that day, they were the “king” and “queen.”

In Jewish culture, the friend of the bridegroom made many of the arrangements involved in the wedding, including making sure the bride got there. But the wedding is not about the friend. The center of the wedding, what it is all about, is the bridegroom and the bride. John also adds that a wedding is a joyous occasion, and he is in fact joyful that Jesus, the main guy, the bridegroom, is finally there and the celebration is soon to begin. He is happy that Jesus is getting more followers. Basically he is saying to his disciples, “shame on you. It isn’t about us – it is about Him.”

Finally, John offers one of the statements that shows him to be a great man. He says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That is one of the greatest declarations of faith in the New Testament. It shows that John believes Jesus is who he claims to be. He trusts him to the point of giving up his entire life’s work and mission, which he has been focused on since before he was even born. He is so committed to Jesus that he will let his own life and work diminish so that the Life and Work of Jesus can shine in greater and greater measure.

There are no punctuation marks in ancient Greek, and precious few paragraph divisions, so it is a bit tricky knowing who spoke the next section (3:31-36). My best guess is that John the Baptist spoke verse 31 because it seems to go with what he is saying. Jesus is supposed to increase, he (the Baptist) is supposed to decrease. This is because Jesus is from above, and is above all. He speaks in heavenly terms, unlike John the Baptist, a mere human, who must use earthly terms.

In my opinion, John the gospel-writer adds the next section, reiterating what he heard Jesus say to Nicodemus: Jesus is from heaven, and speaks eternal, heavenly truths, because all the fullness of God the Father is in him too. The one who accepts Jesus has eternal life, and the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

So, what does all this mean for you and I, during Advent this year? Why does it matter what John the Baptist said? How does it affect us? I think the same three points that John the Baptist made must become reality to us, in our lives.

First, we have nothing that has not been given to us. If you receive any benefit from my preaching or writing, I guarantee you, it didn’t come from me. It comes from the Lord. I have nothing to offer anyone that is worthwhile, except what the Lord has given me. The same is true of you. You have nothing worthwhile that did not come from God. I guess what I’m saying, is that we need to get over ourselves. Once we have accepted Jesus, we play on God’s team. It isn’t our team. I’m reminded of the time Joshua, leading the people of Israel, came upon a man with a drawn sword. Joshua asked him:

“Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied. “It is as commander of the Lord’s army that I now come.” (Joshua 5:13-14)

Get off your own side and onto God’s. God is the commander here. All the resources that you think are yours, are not. They come from God. Use them accordingly.

Second, you aren’t the bridegroom (neither am I)! In other words, this life is not about you. This is all about Jesus. We can rejoice with him, and be filled with his joy, but this isn’t our moment, our life – it is his. He is the main figure in this drama. He is the bridegroom. We are the joyful friends, yes – joyful with his joy. Applying this to Christmas, maybe I need to stop trying to get something out of this season, and instead, simply rejoice about how Jesus is glorified during this time of year.

I think this is one of the keys to joy – stop making yourself the central figure in your life. Or, maybe you need to stop making another person the central figure in your life. The way to joy is to allow Jesus to be the protagonist in your life’s story. Let him be the main character. Let him be the one that the story of your life is about. I think it is much easier to sustain joy when your life is not about you, and it isn’t about your kids or spouse or any other human being either. Joy surprises us when we let Jesus be the main character in our life’s story. Think of it this way: it can be hard to be joyful at a friend’s wedding if you are mainly thinking about yourself. After all, someone else is the center of attention. But when you accept that your place is not at the center of attention, and if you are thinking about your friend and the joy that is in his life at the moment, you find it easy to rejoice, and the whole wedding can be a wonderful experience, even though you are neither the bride nor the groom.

Third, and this follows from the other two, let your own ambitions, desires and troubles decrease in importance, as the Life and Work of Jesus increase in your heart. What John the Baptist expressed about the influence of his ministry, is supposed to be true for all of us, about our lives. My hope and prayer is that the older I get, the less people see of Tom and the more they see of Jesus. I don’t mean I want to lose my uniqueness and personality. God gave me those. But he gave them to me so that Jesus could express his life through me in a unique way. Paul says it like this:

I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:19-21)

He says something similar in Colossians 3:1-4.

So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Our true life is hidden right now, kept for us with Jesus in heaven. In the meantime, his desire is to increase his life in and through us. He wants to tell the story of His lifethrough our unique gifts and personalities (given to us from above). The story gets more and more clear as we allow our self-centered-ness to decrease and His Life to increase.

Now, when John the Baptist put this into action, it upset some of those around him. They didn’t understand. Maybe he was getting too fanatical, too religious. He gently explained to them, but he didn’t let those voices of opposition stop the Life of Jesus from increasing in him. We need to follow his example. A lot of voices will object to you if you start living out these three truths. But don’t let them dissuade you, scare you or stop you.

What is your life all about right now? Making a living? Staying a afloat? Having fun? It may even seem like something noble, such as, “raising my kids,” or “being a good husband.” Those are great. Don’t stop striving for them. But they can’t be what your life is about. You won’t find joy that way. Your life is supposed to be not the story of you, but the story of Jesus, told through your uniqueness. John the Baptist was a great man because he recognized this, and lived it. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can be great in that same way. It may be one of the best ways we can learn to prepare for his return.

ADVENT 2024 #2. AN ADVENT PRAYER

On By Pastor TomIn Advent, Podcast, psalms, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Join me this week in an approach that is different from my usual teaching. Let’s pray through Psalm 25 together.

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Advent really has three main purposes. First, it helps us remember and celebrate how God came into the world as a human being, two thousand years ago. The church-term for this is “the Incarnation.” The second purpose of Advent is to help us look forward to the time when Jesus will return to the earth, bring history to its conclusion, and bring us into the New Creation. In fact, if you happen to come across this message during some other time of the year, it can still be relevant to you, because in a very real way, we are always living during advent. Since we are waiting for Jesus to return, every day and every year is, in a sense, during advent.

You might say the first purpose is about the past, and the second is about the future. But Advent is also about our present. Advent reminds us to receive Jesus into our daily lives, here and now.

Psalm 25 is one of the readings for the second Sunday in Advent this year (technically, it is part of the Sunday evening lectionary). Psalm 25 is really about the third purpose of Advent – receiving Jesus into our lives in the present. There are also themes in this psalm of waiting for God with anticipation.

Normally, I like to do what is called “expository preaching.” If you’ve heard two or more of my sermons, you’ve probably heard my expository preaching. It’s what I do about 90% of the time. This time, I feel like the Holy Spirit was asking me to step outside my comfort zone, and take a different approach. So, rather than my normal approach, I want to invite you to pray this psalm with me, and reflect upon it during this season of waiting and expectation. If you sometimes struggle to pray, I recommend praying with a psalm, like we are about to do here. If you struggle to come up with words, or know what to say when you pray, using scripture to pray could be very helpful. Since we are using the very words of the Bible, we can also know that our prayers are on track.

I encourage you to listen to the sermon this time, even if you normally read it. I’m not sure the written version captures this as well, although it may be better for some people.

I encourage you, after reading this message, to go back through the psalm yourself, and pray it your own way. Consider doing that two or three times this week as part of your prayer life.

​1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

Yes, Lord, I do!

2 O my God, in you I trust;

 let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me.

I trust you, Lord, but not as much as I should. Please help me to trust you more.
Lord, please protect my loved ones, and me, from the Evil One, and from all the forces of evil.

3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Thank you for this promise, Lord. Help me trust it, and cling to it.

4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.

Lord, please increase my desire to know your ways. Let me live moment by moment in your truth. Give me patience to wait for you, and for your promises. I wait for your salvation to come to those I love who are not following you right now.

6 Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!

Even after receiving you, I continue to sin. I confess my self-centeredness, my pride, my gluttony. Please forgive me! I trust that you do so, not because I deserve it, but because of your goodness to me, and to the world, through Jesus.

8 Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.

Help me Lord to be humble enough to be taught by you, and led by you. Help me to be humble even when I see others around me who are not, and who still seem to succeed. Teach me to live in your ways, day by day.

10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For your name’s sake, O LORD,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.

And thank you, Lord, that you forgive me because it is according to your nature. Your forgiveness is not contingent on me in any way. I praise you for that!

12 Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
13 His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.

Lord, do instruct me to choose the things that you choose. Please do let my soul abide in well-being. Help me to trust these promises even when I don’t see them.

14 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.

Thank you, Lord! I receive this promise!

15 My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

Lord, keep my eyes fixed on you.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.

Lord you know my troubles. My daily pain, my lack of self-discipline, my concern for my family, and the future. I lay all my troubles in front of you. Be gracious, O Lord!

18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

Yes Lord! I agree with all of this, with your Word. Forgive me, deliver me, guard me. Do all those same things for my loved ones.

21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles.

Thank you, Lord that your promises to Israel are also promises to all who trust in Jesus. Give us hope and patience as we wait for you this advent season. You see what a crazy and dangerous place the world is right now. Come soon, and redeem your people. Protect us as we wait. Let the uprightness and integrity of Jesus guard our hearts, minds, and bodies. AMEN.

SERENITY PRAYER #12: SUMMARY AND APPLICATION

On By Pastor TomIn Podcast, Religion, Serenity Prayer, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment
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To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Serenity Prayer Part 12

  This week I just want to do a brief summary of the lessons on the Serenity Prayer. We’ve talked about a lot of things, and while I don’t expect everyone to connect with everything, I also trust that at least some things have been helpful in your journey with God. As I quickly go through the lines of the prayer, I’d like to ask you to consider these questions:

  1. What is one new or refreshed way of thinking about my life in Christ that I have seen through this study?
  2. What is one practice, habit, or discipline in my life in Christ that I have begun to practice or would like to begin practicing after this study?
  3. What is one area we talked about that I’d like to know more about, whether in this group, or in my own personal times of studying God’s Word?

            Ok, let’s walk through the lines as we did week by week. And if your most important takeaways were different from what I summarize here, I think that may well be a good thing. We serve a God who speaks to us both as a community and as individual children.

God, grant: The character of the God we pray to shapes the way we pray and how we expect Him to answer. And we recognize our dependence on God, not just for our salvation, but for our day-to-day sanctification.

The serenity to accept the things we cannot change: Life is outside our control, and that’s not only ok, it’s actually good. We can turn to the God who is in control and trust Him as we learn to accept life on life’s terms. We also recognize the truth that we are limited beings, not gods ourselves.

The courage to change the things we can: Living faithfully means doing hard things and costly things at times. We operate in trust that God is at work, and that He will give us what we need to make the changes in ourselves that He is asking us to make. We set aside fear-based decision making and the need to blame others and bravely face what we can do something about.

The wisdom to know the difference: We look for wisdom from God, not from ourselves. That wisdom will come through His Word, through Christian community, and through our time in prayer. It will generally be found in humility and peace.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time: We don’t stay trapped in the past, or live in anxiety about the future. We try to pay attention to what God is doing in our lives right now and respond to Him in the present. We enjoy what He has given us today for our daily bread more than we focus on what we had in the past or hope to have in the future.

Accepting hardships as a pathway to peace: Hardship and suffering are part of the normal Christian life. We can fight against that reality, or we can look for ways to accept what we have and find contentment in the presence of God with us in the middle of the pain.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as we would have it to be: Jesus was able to live a holy and righteous life of perfect submission to the Father in the middle of a very broken and sinful world. If we want to navigate this world well, as He did, we need to adopt the same tools of prayer and acceptance.

Trusting that He will make all things right: Trust does not just mean agreeing with an idea, it means taking actions that show that idea. And God gets to determine what “right” looks like. If that doesn’t match our definitions, we choose to trust Him and revise our definitions.

If we surrender to His will: Choosing to follow Jesus means I die to my self and give control of my life to Him. I don’t have to like His will. I don’t have to understand His will. I choose to give up my rights to Him and obey His will.

That we may be reasonably happy in this life: There are things about living God’s way that work even in this life. They won’t give us perfect happiness, but happiness is not really our goal anyway; it is a by-product of having good and God-centered goals for our lives.

And supremely happy with Him forever: Following Jesus is ultimately not about this life anyway. It is about life in a kingdom that is coming and will last forever. We live in all these ways (because God makes it possible for us to do that) because we believe that our lives after the resurrection are going to be incredible in union with Christ. We are learning to live now in ways that will make sense then.

Before we pray the Serenity Prayer together one last time (at least in this study), let me share again the questions I asked at the beginning.

  1. What is one new or refreshed way of thinking about my life in Christ that I have seen through this study?
  2. What is one practice, habit, or discipline in my life in Christ that I have begun to practice or would like to begin practicing after this study?
  3. What is one area we talked about that I’d like to know more about, whether in this group, or in my own personal times of studying God’s Word?

And now let’s pray.

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as we would have it to be.

Trusting that He will make all things right if we surrender to His will – that we may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever.

SERENITY PRAYER #11: SUPREMELY HAPPY IN THE LIFE TO COME

On By Pastor TomIn Podcast, Religion, Serenity Prayer, SermonLeave a comment
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This is what we are doing as Christians: We are trying to learn, by the power of the Holy Spirit, what the language of the kingdom of God is, what its culture is like, how to function in an environment that is foreign to much of what we experience here on a day-to-day level. But in doing that, we are becoming more and more fit for the life that God has waiting for us when He comes again to re-create the heavens and the earth in full reconciliation to Him and full submission to His rule. Much of what we have been praying throughout this study is a part of that training for eternal life. And alongside that training, the tools that we need to keep us going until then.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Serenity Prayer Part 11

And Supremely Happy with Him Forever

1 John 3:2-3; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Revelation 7:16-17; Revelation 21:3-5

            Here we are at the end – and we are going to finish by talking about the end, although I might question whether what we usually refer to as the end (or the last days, or the finish) is really more of a true new beginning. We’ll talk about that as we move through the last phrase of the Serenity Prayer: “And supremely happy with Him forever.” First, let’s pray.

            Last week, we talked about being reasonably happy in this life, and hopefully we realized that our reasonable happiness in this life is tied to our confident expectation that we have something beyond this life. While we live in the present moment, we live as those who are anticipating a meaningful future. The events of this world, from the beginning of time until the end, are not just random, and they are not just a cycle that we are destined to endlessly repeat. As Christians, we believe that history is heading somewhere – that there is a final destination, not only for us, but for all of creation. And this is where we find ultimate happiness.

            The idea of deferring pleasure is not a new one, but it is one that we increasingly struggle with in our culture, and I include the church in that. We can gratify so many of our desires so quickly and so easily – at least in part – that we can easily forget the value of having both to work and to wait for something meaningful. It’s easy to put something in the microwave, or have it delivered, or take the shortcut. And so, things that require sustained discipline in one direction in order to gain a reward have become less common than maybe they once were (or maybe that’s just what all of us say as we get older). But most of the meaningful experiences and changes in my life have come because I have believed that continuing to practice good, healthy, and holy things will eventually produce results that surpass what I can get from a microwave. Much of what the Serenity Prayer has been calling us to is a practice of good, healthy, and holy things now that will benefit us some in the present, and even more so in the life to come.

            Let me be clear: our efforts toward living the life God calls us to live are not in any way the means by which we enter the life of the kingdom. We enter the life of the kingdom by invitation of the King, which He has extended to us in the death and resurrection of His Son. And, there are things we can and should do in order to participate in that kingdom life – not only in the future, but now. As we looked at the Beatitudes last week, I hope that connection came through. What Jesus calls His followers (us) to do in the Beatitudes is to live in line with the life that we are receiving now and will fully enter into when He returns in triumph. We are being trained, equipped, and fitted for the life that is to come – the life that is unending, the life of perfect fellowship with God in all His fullness. And that way of living won’t necessarily make sense now. It will often go against the things that bring temporary worldly success in any field. But we aren’t living for this world. We are living now for the next.

            The closest analogy I can think of for this is preparing to live in a foreign country with a very different culture. My wife Jayme and I were blessed to live in Prague, the capital of Czechia, for three years, and we’ve gotten to travel extensively to visit missionaries from our church across the world. Many of the things we do to get ready for another culture are of little to no value in this one. Before we left for Prague, I spent a lot of time beginning to learn the language. How valuable do you think that was in Nashville, Tennessee? Not very. And knowing the history and geography of the Czech people didn’t do me much good here. Neither did learning how their public transportation system works, or what the established churches in that country were like. We put considerable time and effort into things that only really helped when we moved to that new country. Oh, there was a place here or there when some of that knowledge came in handy in the US. But for the most part, if we had never gone to Prague, the vast majority of that time, energy, and money would have been for nothing.

            And this is what we are doing as Christians. We are trying to learn, by the power of the Holy Spirit, what the language of the kingdom of God is, what its culture is like, how to function in an environment that is foreign to much of what we experience here on a day-to-day level. But in doing that, we are becoming more and more fit for the life that God has waiting for us when He comes again to re-create the heavens and the earth in full reconciliation to Him and full submission to His rule. Much of what we have been praying throughout this study is a part of that training for eternal life. And alongside that training, the tools that we need to keep us going until then.

            What is that eternal life going to be like? The most important part of it is contained in this line of the prayer. We will be “with Him.” That is the most meaningful and satisfying aspect of the kingdom life that God is preparing us for (and preparing for us). That we will be “with Him.” That we will walk in deep, fulfilling, intimate relationship with our Creator: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As I introduced the lesson today, I said that what we usually refer to as “the end” might better be described as the true new beginning. What do I mean by that? Let’s look back to the beginning – the first three chapters of Genesis.

            When God created the universe, how did He describe it? It was all good, right? Until He got to people – then it became “very good.” “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:27-28) Man and woman worked together in the garden to exercise the authority God had given them to rule together over all creation. Adam later shows that authority by giving names to all the animals – that was part of his job. Did you realize that there was work to do in Eden? Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” And later in the chapter, Eve joins him. Yes, after the fall, work becomes cursed because of sin, but in the beginning, it was not so. Adam and Eve worked together in harmony to take care of the world that God had entrusted to them. And they were in harmony not only with one another, but with God Himself. We don’t know how long things lasted that way, but until the fall, creation functioned in perfect order with all the pieces meshing together under the Lordship of God.

            And that beautiful picture is what is coming again for us. In Ephesians 1, as Paul is describing what it means to be a saint, a faithful one in Christ – a Christian – he shares one of the mysteries of what God is doing. Ephesians 1:9-10, “And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one Head, even Christ.” God is coming to renew all creation and bring back the Garden of Eden – only this time with no serpent waiting in the wings! A day is coming when Jesus will emerge to exert the authority He already has over all powers and principalities, purifying the earth and all creation, and then reigning over the new heavens and the new earth along with us. We (humanity) are going to be given our old jobs back – we will rule over a sanctified and re-created world alongside Jesus!

            Sometimes our images of heavenly life have more to do with movie depictions or even favorite hymns than they do with Scripture. And granted, Scripture doesn’t give all the details I would like (probably because I couldn’t understand them anyway), but John tells us this:

 “2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

In living as God’s children now, we are being prepared for something even more that will be revealed when we see Him (Jesus) as He is. Paul makes a similar point at the end of the great love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13:

 “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

            I want to make one more point about the life that is waiting for us before connecting back to the Serenity Prayer. I have often heard the Christian life described in terms that I will summarize like this: “Say a prayer with these words. Now you will go to heaven when you die instead of hell. Just hang on until then.” I think that is well-meaning. I think there is truth in it. And I believe it is a woefully inadequate picture of what God intends as we live this life in anticipation of the one to come. John, after describing the transformation waiting for us as children of God, then says, “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.” Knowing the transformation that is coming when we are raised into our new bodies in the new creation does not lead John to say, “So just hang on until then.” No, he calls us to purity because we know what’s coming and we want to be preparing for it! And Paul’s statement about the full knowledge that awaits us when we see God clearly is at the end of a long chapter encouraging us to live lives full of very practical love. So, our trust that Jesus is coming for us is intended to shape us now!

            And what we’ve been talking about for the last several weeks is also intended to do exactly that. Accepting the things we cannot change is an acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty in anticipation of His ultimate rule. Courageously changing what we can moves us and, hopefully, those around us, closer to the kingdom life that is coming. The peace that accepting hardship is intended to lead us to is the peace that comes when Jesus overthrows all enemies once and for all. And every time we surrender to His will, we become a little closer to what we will be in the resurrection. We move further into the identity that God the Father has given, is giving, and will give us in His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

            And in other ways this prayer helps us move well through things now that will no longer be a part of life in the resurrection. Some of the hardships we have to accept now will not be allowed into the kingdom where:

 “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:16-17)

We will no longer need to take this sinful world as it is, because Satan will be overthrown, and God will descend from heaven to live with His people:

 “3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more deathor mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ 5 He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:3-5)

We will still take the world as it is, but the world will finally be as God would have it to be, and we will get to enjoy Him and His Presence forever.

            This is why we practice the things we’ve been studying for the past several weeks, as well as all the Word of God teaches us about the way to live: because we believe a new and better life is coming. And in that hope, we choose to do things that are often difficult and painful in this life, because we no longer think of this place as our permanent home. Ultimately, we don’t live in Prague, or Lebanon, or Antioch, or Carthage. We are citizens of heaven. And we are called to live as those who know that one day, we will be supremely happy in our home.

We will wrap up next week with a summary of the Serenity Prayer. I hope that God has used this to shape your lives in some of the ways that He has shaped mine. Let’s close again this week with the Serenity Prayer. Please join with me as we pray this prayer as a community together.

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as we would have it to be.

Trusting that He will make all things right if we surrender to His will – that we may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever.

May God empower us this week to live this life in confident hope of the even better life to come. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

SERENITY PRAYER #10: REASONABLY HAPPY IN THIS LIFE…

On By Pastor TomIn Podcast, Religion, Serenity Prayer, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment
Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

What kind of happiness should Christians desire? How does that come into our life as we follow Jesus? What does the bible say about the happiness of those who follow Jesus?

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Serenity Prayer Part 10

Matthew 5:1-12; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Imagine with me for a moment that you are talking to a friend or relative you haven’t seen in several years. It may be at a family get-together, or a friend’s wedding, or a high school class reunion. You talk for a few minutes about life, catching up on the events of the last few years, and then the other person asks you a question: “Are you happy?” How would you respond? What does it mean to be happy – even reasonably happy? This week, as we continue to meditate on the Serenity Prayer, we will take a look at that question. But first, let’s pray.

            Over the last several weeks, we have been asking God for several things: serenity, courage, wisdom, the ability to be present and enjoy this moment, acceptance, trust, surrender. And now we finally get to the end result. What is it that we are hoping all these things produce in our lives? There are probably several right answers to that question, but the Serenity Prayer provides an answer connected to happiness – reasonable happiness in this life, and supreme happiness in the life to come. Next week we will talk about our happiness in the life to come, but this week we are focused on the here and now – what does it mean to live a life that is reasonably happy?

            One of the first things we need to confront is one of our culture’s idols. Our culture has idolized happiness. It has become a critical – maybe the critical – way to evaluate any decision. If you do X, will it make you happy? I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t consider happiness at all, but it needs to be way down the list. Too many people have walked away from callings, responsibilities, marriages, and even God Himself because they didn’t feel like they were happy where they were. I’m not saying this to heap coals of guilt on anyone who has made those decisions in the past – I’ve made some of them myself. If that’s a part of your story, grace upon grace to you – God is faithful to forgive. But if we want to live the life that God is giving us through Jesus Christ, if we want to walk out what He has been offering us as we pray this prayer, we need to make decisions moving forward that are not primarily directed toward our happiness.

You see, happiness is actually not an aiming point. It’s not a goal. It is, instead, a byproduct of pursuing the right aims, of moving toward the right goals. If we set out to find happiness, it will almost certainly elude us. But if we set out to find the things that God is calling us to, if we set out to live the life He is offering us, then at least at times, we are going to encounter happiness along the way. Not always – as the prayer says, we are “reasonably” happy in this life. Something more and better is ahead of us, and we will talk about that next week. But in the meanwhile, we can expect to have some measure of happiness in this life – particularly if we are looking for something else.

            What should we look for? Well, I am going to point us to the Beatitudes: Jesus’ first public teaching in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus’ disciples gather to listen to Him in what we have come to call the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus begins by telling them what the good life looks like. In most translations, these beatitudes begin with the word “blessed.” And frankly, I generally like that, because of what I’ve already said about how misplaced our pursuit of happiness can become. But the handful of translations that choose the word “happy” to begin these statements aren’t doing a bad job either. I’m not a Greek scholar, but I’m fairly well-trained in the language, and it’s a valid choice for the Greek word makarios. But what does it mean to say that Jesus begins by speaking the blessing of happiness over His listeners?

            Let me detour for just a minute here. I’ve spent this year reading through the Bible with three close friends, and one part of my intention in doing that is to listen to the whole story with fresh ears. In doing that, there are some words that I’ve recognized that I may have a more partial understanding of than I’ve thought. It is ridiculously easy for us to bring our own meanings to the text of the Bible, and so I’ve been asking the Holy Spirit to clarify the meanings of some key words based on how God is using them in telling His story. And I’d like to do that with “happy” in the Beatitudes. If we start with our definition of happiness and try to make what Jesus says fit into it, we are probably going to miss at least some of what He is saying. But what if we start by saying, “Jesus is about to teach us what really brings happiness,” and then let that shape how we understand what happiness is and means, and how it functions in our lives? I think if we do that, we may come closer to realizing that reasonable happiness in this life. Let’s read this text. (Matthew 5:1-12) As I read, I’m going to intentionally use the word “happy” in place of the familiar “blessed,” (as the Good News Translation does).

“1Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
3 “Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Happy are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
7 “Happy are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Happy are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Happy are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10 “Happy are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

            Obviously, we could do an entire series on the teaching of Jesus in these verses. But for our purposes, I want to focus on just two of them, and help us see how understanding what Jesus is saying about happiness in those two verses can help us understand what it will mean for us to be reasonably happy in this life, and how it may challenge our internal definitions and desires for happiness. And I believe what we discover in those two examples can probably be applied to the others as well with time, meditation on God’s Word, and prayer.

            Of all the statements Jesus makes here, the one that seems most counter-intuitive if we think in terms of happiness is verse four, “Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” As I tend to define it, happiness and mourning are almost polar opposites. If I am mourning, then I have lost something – or more likely, someone – that I did not want to lose. I am grieving that loss. And this is where I believe we need to begin to redefine our picture of happiness. Is Jesus calling us to be happy because we have experienced loss? No. Why does He say we can be happy? Because we will be comforted. Paul talks about this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14,

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

Neither Paul nor Jesus is telling us that we should not be sad (although that false message has crept into some aspects of American Christianity). What they are both telling us is that our sadness is different, and even includes a dimension of happiness, because we believe that our mourning isn’t the final answer.

 There is a strong connection here to what we have talked about in the last two weeks, “Trusting that God will make all things right if we surrender to His will.” Why can our mourning bring us to happiness? Because we believe that God is able to make things right. That doesn’t mean we sit back in our loss and do nothing. Think about the three parables of loss in Luke 15. A sheep is lost, a coin is lost, a son is lost. The shepherd who lost his sheep goes looking for it in the countryside until he finds it. The woman who lost her coin turns the house upside down until she finds it. And what about the father who lost his son? Well, he doesn’t go looking. Finding people and restoring relationships with them is more complicated than chasing down a sheep or a coin. But the father was watching as he waited. Even watching and waiting can be active in the kingdom of God. And what happens in each of these parables when what has been lost is now found? They have a party! The anxiety, fear, and frustration of the search has been replaced by joy that spreads through the whole neighborhood! A part of what Jesus calls us to in this Beatitude is to believe, even as we mourn, that a party is coming. And to let that belief bring us some modicum of happiness, even as we mourn.

That blend of happiness and pain is obvious in another of the Beatitudes: “

11 Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.”

Let this sentence challenge how you (and I) have been defining happiness. If happiness is primarily a product of my circumstances, then this sentence makes no sense. I don’t enjoy being insulted, excluded, lied about, and left out – not to mention the more physical persecutions and punishments that were waiting for many of Jesus’ listeners that day. If happiness means feeling good about what is happening in my life because I’m getting what I want, then I couldn’t possibly be happy in the middle of this kind of response from people around me. But what if I have been learning to accept hardships as a pathway to peace? What if God has been teaching me how to accept with serenity the things I cannot change? Because my ability to change what someone thinks of me or how they treat me is pretty limited. If I make it my goal in life to ensure that no one says anything evil about me, then I’d be better off going down to the beach and yelling at the tide to keep it from coming in. But what if I learn to accept life on life’s terms? To surrender to God’s will that allows me to suffer in these ways, and trust that He will make it right…eventually?

            And that’s what Jesus goes on to say in the next verse: “12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” How do we find happiness in the middle of persecution? One, we recognize that a day is coming when God will make this right. We are confidently hoping to enjoy the Presence of God forever (what reward could be greater?) And two, we see that we are finding our place among the people of God. This is what has always happened for people who are devoted to God and committed to Him above everything else. Whether we are going around making prophetic proclamations or not, when we live as citizens of the coming kingdom, we are setting ourselves up to be mocked, scorned, and ridiculed. And the good news is, we are in good company! The painful opposition we face is the same painful opposition the faithful people of God have almost always faced.

            I believe if we took the time, we would see the same theme running through each of the Beatitudes: that we can be reasonably happy in this life because we trust that living as citizens of the heavenly kingdom is a part of our learning to live the eternal lives that God is preparing for us and preparing us for. Now, it won’t “work” in this world. We will see other people accumulate more wealth, get more honor and recognition, satisfy desires that are not kingdom-oriented, benefit from stirring up conflict, and get what they want in the short term. And at times, that will be painful for us. But we can find reasonable happiness in knowing that God is the one who will ultimately be responsible for our well-being, and we are preparing ourselves for eternal life with Him by living now in ways that really don’t work in the kingdom of this world, but will work admirably in the kingdom of heaven that has begun to break into this world, and will eventually, when Christ returns, overwhelm it.

            Now, that is only going to produce reasonable happiness. We aren’t going to be ecstatic and bubbly all the time – honestly, I wonder about the well-being of people who come across that way. But we also aren’t dragging around with our faces cast to the ground, morosely hanging on until Jesus comes back. And our ability to be reasonably happy is connected to our willingness to surrender, as we talked about last week from Philippians 4. Paul was able to be reasonably happy because he had learned to accept life on life’s terms – to experience contentment in whatever circumstances God had given him as he lived out his calling in a broken, sinful world. Paul could see Jesus at work in the circumstances of his life, whether they were good or bad, and because Jesus was at work, Paul could engage his life as a child of God. The abundant life that Jesus promises us in John 10 isn’t just coming one day in the resurrection. It has already begun. And since it has already begun, we get to experience, at least in part, the joy that will one day be ours forever.

            It’s probably been obvious as we go through the message today that we can’t really talk about our reasonable happiness in this life without talking about our supreme happiness in the next. They are inextricably connected – our happiness here is rooted in the happiness that is to come. And we’ll talk about that more next week.

With that said, let’s close again this week with the Serenity Prayer. I hope you’ll join with me as we pray. As I mentioned earlier, I have changed the wording to make it a communal prayer.

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as we would have it to be.

Trusting that He will make all things right if we surrender to His will – that we may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever.

May God teach us to experience reasonable happiness this week as we wait for Him. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

SERENITY PRAYER #9: If I Surrender to His will…

On By Pastor TomIn Podcast, Religion, Serenity Prayer, SermonLeave a comment

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

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If I Surrender to His Will

2 Timothy 3:16-17; Daniel 3:16-18 Philippians 4:11-13; Matthew 26:39-44; John 5:19

As we get close to the end of the Serenity Prayer, last week and this week are really where the rubber hits the road for me. I can rightly ask God for all kinds of help with the serenity, courage, and wisdom I need to live in the present, enjoy the moment, and accept the hardships that come with life. But if I don’t trust Him, as we talked about last week, my ability to receive those gifts and put them into practice is going to be very limited. And if that trust in God doesn’t lead to my surrender to His will, as we will talk about this week, then I am risking a life of idolatry. What do I mean by that? Well, let’s pray together and then find out.

            This phrase – if I surrender to His will – has two parts. We’re going to start with what I consider the easier one first and then tackle the harder one. If I am going to surrender to God’s will, then obviously I have to know what His will is. But it won’t take long to realize that there are lots of different opinions on what God’s will is, and on what He must want. Some of those contradict each other, so they can’t all be right. If I want to know God’s will, how do I do that? How do I sort through the competing claims to understand what God wants in my life?

            Let’s start with the foundation – if you want to know God’s will, begin by reading the Bible. And I would say, the whole thing. Learn the whole story, from creation to re-creation. And continue to read it again and again and again. God has revealed so much about His character, His desires, and yes, His will for us in the inspired Scripture.

 “16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

God has revealed Himself to us thoroughly in His Word, particularly when we read it as believers who are united with the Word who was made flesh and filled with the Spirit of God. And while the Bible does not typically contain answers about which job we should take, or which car to buy, or whether to choose this restaurant or that one for dinner (or to stay home instead), God does use His Word to lay out the parameters for His will as we make daily decisions.

            I like the analogy of a football game (for those of you who are not football fans, I do apologize, but the analogy really works). In the Bible, God has laid out the dimensions of the field, defined what is out of bounds, and set a general framework of rules for the game. But that does not tell us who should play which position, what style of offense and defense we should play, or whether or not to go for it on fourth and two. God’s specific will for us has to be worked out in the context of our lives – think of Him as the head coach in this analogy – but His specific will is going to be revealed somewhere within the background of the playing field He has already set in place. We play the game of life as He designed it to be played.

            You may feel like I’m spending a lot of time on something that should be obvious, but I can tell you that in over 20 years as a pastor, I’ve found that sometimes people are certain God is wanting something that He has already told us He does not want. I’ll give an old example from my days on the mission field. The pastor of the most dynamic, vibrant church in town came before the congregation and announced that God had told him to divorce his wife because she was not sufficiently supportive of his ministry. Not because she had broken their marriage vows. Not because she had abandoned him, or was abusing him, or was caught in addiction and refusing to get help. But because she had a different picture of church ministry than he did. I can tell you that while I’ve had to wrestle with some difficult and convoluted marriage dilemmas over the years, there is nothing in the Word of God anywhere that allows a Christian man to divorce his wife in order to further his ministry. It’s just not there. And while that is a dramatic and obvious example, I could list many others over the years of people who believed God was leading them to do something that He clearly was not. We need to know well the revelation of God in Scripture so that we can identify the times when our ideas about what God might want come into conflict with what He says there. “Did God really say…?” is the oldest trick in the book – and if we know the Book, we have a better chance to recognize that.

            The next thing I believe we need in discerning the will of God is community. Even when I know what God says in His Word, I find it easier than I’d like it to be to justify, manipulate, or otherwise finagle the words of Scripture to find a verse that I can pull out in support of what I want. That’s where I need God to build a healthy church family of people around me who know me and love me well enough to help me discern what it is that God wants. We talked about this some when we talked about wisdom in week four, but I don’t think we can say it enough. God has always put His people into communities, large and small, so that we can listen, pray, talk, and discern the will of God together. We are designed to live the Christian life in community – it is inherently a team sport, not an individual one. And often the ideas that I have in my head about what it is that God wants sound much different when I say them out loud to a trusted brother or sister. I can fool myself into thinking that God wants what I wish He wanted; when I bring other people into the picture, they can often see much more clearly. In fact, if I could change one thing about the Serenity Prayer, I would change it from an individual prayer to a corporate one. And since this is just a prayer that someone wrote, not Scripture, I actually can do that, and in fact, when I pray at the close of these last few lessons, I will pray the prayer communally – “we” instead of “I.”

            Third, look at what God is doing in your life. What doors is He opening? Which ones has He shut? What gifts and resources has He given you? And as Henry Blackaby describes in Experiencing God, look back over your shoulder. How has God used you in the past? What are the marker stones He has laid down in your history? How do the circumstances of your life inform what God may be asking you to do (or to stop doing)?

            And finally, pray. I don’t mean wait until the end to pray – pray throughout this process. Pray as you read the Word of God, and ask God to show you what He wants you to see. Pray as you talk about your decision with brothers or sisters, and ask God to highlight things that are said that can point you in the right direction. Pray as you look at your circumstances, and ask God to bring things to mind that can be directional markers. And pray as you process all those moving pieces of community, history, and what is in your own heart – processing them against the backdrop of God’s eternally accurate and valid Word.

            At the end of all that, as we said in the discussion on wisdom, you may still not have certainty, but your odds of honoring God with your decisions have gone up tremendously. And you have come to know Him better as you have spent time seeking His will. Now comes the hard part: surrendering to that will.

            Surrender is not a word that immediately conjures up lots of positive associations in our mind. It’s connected to things like this: give up, lose, defeat. We place a high value in our culture on winning, hanging in there, succeeding. So why do we have this word in the middle of our spiritual lives that indicates that we are not enough? That we have to quit? Well, it’s a matter of what we are quitting. In order to surrender to God’s will, what we have to give up is our own will – our right to decide for ourselves what we will do and how we will do it. In C.S. Lewis’s book, The Great Divorce, Lewis says this: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’” God has given us free will. We have the ability to make choices. But He has given us that ability so that we can, in turn, offer it back to Him. We can decline the option to make our own decisions and, instead, surrender that option back to the One who gave it to us. Let’s look at the three examples of this from Scripture.

            Our first example comes from the Old Testament book of Daniel. It’s a familiar story. In Daniel chapter 3, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar sets up a golden image and decrees that at its dedication, everyone in attendance must bow down and worship the golden image. Three of the officials in attendance were captives from Judah: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. We know them better by the names the Babylonian officials gave them: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When everyone else bowed down to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol, those three refused. They were brought before the king and given a chance to “repent” of their defiance – they got another chance to bow. Now, in this case, discerning the will of God was not particularly challenging. It was pretty obvious to godly Jews that worshipping other gods was a significant part of what had gotten them exiled in the first place. These three men knew what God’s will was. But their response of surrender is impressive, and an excellent model for us to imitate. Here is their reply: “

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18, NLT) 

This is what it means to trust that God will make all things right if we surrender to His will. It includes the acknowledgement that God’s will may not be what we want. The three men wanted to live. They were confident that God had the ability to preserve their lives, and they hoped that He would. But even if He did not, that changed nothing about their obedience, their surrender to His will. If obedience to God meant death, then they would take it and trust that His will for them was still good. After his attempt to kill them by burning them to death in a great furnace, even King Nebuchadnezzar grasps what they are doing and why (at least for a little while). In Daniel 3:28, he says, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.” The three young men gave up their ability to direct and protect their own lives because they trusted that whatever God did, it would be better than choosing their own will over His.

            These three men faced a literal, concrete idol. But idolatry comes in many forms. At its heart, idolatry is placing anything other than the One True God at the center of our lives, our wills, our decision-making. Most of us are not going to bow down to a golden image any time soon – but what are the powers and principalities that may sneak onto the throne of our lives? Where do we bow to our comfort? Our security? Our longing for life to follow the plans we have made? Or even our desire to exercise the right we have to make decisions for ourselves? That, too, can be an idol, and place us at the center of our own lives. We are not the center, and we are not designed to be the center. God, and only God, can occupy the throne – anything else is idolatry.

            Now, surrendering to God’s will is not always a matter of life or death, like it was for the three men in Daniel (at least not immediately). Sometimes, it is simply about accepting the direction God has for our lives, even if it makes our lives more difficult. You’ve noticed by now how interconnected the lines of this prayer are. Surrendering to God’s will may mean accepting the hardships He allows as a pathway to peace. Paul talks about this type of surrender in Philippians 4:11-13, Paul says,

 “11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”

In this passage, Paul is in the middle of thanking the Philippians for the support they’ve recently sent him. He’s glad to get money, clothes, food, or supplies that will make his stay in prison more bearable for him. At the same time, he is not insisting that he must have these things in order to be okay. If God’s will allows Paul to be in prison, he will accept it. If God’s will sets him free, he will accept it. Paul trusts God enough to give up his freedom, his position, his status, and even the meeting of his daily need for food, if God’s will allows him to be in those situations. He has thoroughly let go, quit, resigned, and surrendered his will to the will of his Master, Jesus.

            And it is Jesus who most clearly illustrates for us what it looks like to surrender His will to the will of His Father. We see it clearly in the garden. Three times, Jesus asks His Father to take away the cup of betrayal and execution if it is possible. And each time, after He expresses the passionate desire of His heart, He ends His prayer by choosing to surrender His will to the will of His Father. (Matthew 26:39-44) But this act of surrender on the eve of His death was nothing new. In fact, Jesus had lived His entire life in surrender to the Father. As early as 12 years old, He is saying to His parents (in response to their frantic search for Him) that His priority is to be about His Father’s business. Even though it creates tension with the Jewish expectations of a twelve-year-old boy, Jesus was already laying down control of His life and giving it to His Father. This continued throughout His ministry. John’s gospel highlights this with multiple mentions of the way Jesus paid attention to the timing and leading of His Father. Nothing happens in the gospel until the time has come. And John makes it clear that the time does not come when others want it to, or even when Jesus Himself wants it to, but when the Father knows it is the right time. He highlights this in Jesus’ discourse with the Jewish leaders in John 5. When they challenge Jesus’ actions of healing on the Sabbath,

 “19 Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.’” (John 5:19)

How total is this surrender! Everything Jesus does, He does by looking to the Father and taking direction from Him. He says it again in verse 30:

 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is just, for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me.” (John 5:30)

Jesus’ life is not lived for His own benefit or at His own direction; it is lived at the direction of the Father and to please Him. And His language echoes what He will say to His disciples in John 15:5,

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Our lives will not bear fruit if we live them out of our own will, but when we live them in union with Jesus, when we surrender to the Father’s will as He did, then incredible things can happen! And also, lots and lots of mundane, boring things that very few will see or value, but that surrender brings glory to God just as much as the dramatic gestures. In fact, don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s only important to surrender to God in the big moments. Our decisions in those big moments are shaped by the quiet, day-to-day decisions we have made to give up the right to live life the way we want in order to live it as God has directed us to live.

            As we close, please remember that this is all a prayer. I am not encouraging any of us to try to work harder to surrender or force ourselves to give up. That is largely fruitless, at least it has been in my life. Instead, I am asking us to pray that God will do this for us. If I am going to surrender to His will, it will be because His Holy Spirit is at work in me empowering me to surrender. That’s an odd phrase – getting the power to give up power – and I believe it is absolutely vital to living the life that God has for us in Christ Jesus. It’s time for us to raise the white flag, admit that we have failed to run our own lives well, and we will fail again, unless God takes our lives and our wills into His hands and we surrender them to Him – day by day, hour by hour, decision by decision. And when we do that, we can trust Him to bring about what is Good.

With that said, let’s close again this week with the Serenity Prayer. I hope you’ll join with me as we pray. As I mentioned earlier, I have changed the wording to make it a communal prayer.

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as we would have it to be.

Trusting that He will make all things right if we surrender to His will – that we may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever.

May God give each of us the gift of surrender this week. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

SERENITY PRAYER #7: TAKING THIS SINFUL WORLD AS IT IS

On By Pastor TomIn Podcast, Religion, Serenity Prayer, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Jesus has better things to do than try to directly fix all the places and patterns of sin in the world. He is, instead, focused on establishing a people who will be different, who will respond differently. Trying to make the world live differently is not a healthy response to its sinfulness. Instead, Jesus lives differently Himself, and He calls us to do the same.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Serenity Prayer Part 7

Taking, as Jesus Did, this Sinful World as It Is, Not as I Would Have It to Be

John 17:9-16; John 19:10-11; Matthew 22:16-21; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13

            I don’t know if you’ve noticed it this week or not, but the world is a wreck. We are surrounded by news around the world about wars, revolutions, economic collapse, famines, droughts, floods, earthquakes, disease. And sometimes things nearer to home aren’t any better. We experience painful losses, misunderstanding, betrayals, and disappointments on a somewhat regular basis. It is not hard to sing with Andrew Peterson that the world is broken, that the shadows deepen, and that all creation is groaning. But that same song (Is He Worthy?) also calls us to recognize that there is something else going on, and because of that, to move beyond despair into hope. Jesus did that. And this week, as we continue our journey through the Serenity Prayer, we will focus on the line, “Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it to be.” Let’s pray as we begin.

            Maybe I’m stating the obvious, but it seems to me that if we want to take this sinful world as Jesus did, we should probably look at how Jesus (and His earliest followers) responded to the world. The brokenness of the world is nothing new. In fact, the description I gave as we began is a loose paraphrase of what Jesus says in Mark 13 and Matthew 24 as He prepares His followers for what is coming. And, in truth, that description has applied to much of the world for much of the time. Not all of it at once, of course, but some part of it almost anywhere at almost any time. And Jesus was describing the brokenness largely in physical terms. What about the brokenness of sin: murder, rape, theft, racism, abortion, sexual sin in all its diverse forms, deceit, treachery, greed? We encounter at least some of these almost daily, and others at all-too-frequent intervals. So did Jesus. The world of His day was one where the Jewish people lived in a relatively insignificant province of the Roman Empire, which was not a good place to live unless you were part of the handful of wealthy and powerful ruling families, or at least connected to them. So how did Jesus deal with the brokenness and sin of the world around Him?

            Let’s look at two stories where Jesus encounters the sinful world and see how He deals with it.

            We will start with the most direct encounter between Jesus and a representative of the sinful world He lived in – His trial before Pontius Pilate. Jesus has already stood trial in front of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Leadership Council), and now He is in front of the person who wields the power of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was known for many things – most of all, the willingness to exercise power in whatever form was necessary to get the job done. Pilate was no exception to that rule. According to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, Pilate eventually lost his governorship after slaughtering a group of Samaritan archeologists. Josephus and another first-century Jewish historian, Philo, also record separate incidents where many Jews rioted over Pilate’s decisions regarding images of Caesar, shields with inscriptions of Caesar’s divinity, and the use of the temple treasury to fund an aqueduct. This was not a good and godly ruler. We know his decision about the execution of Jesus was based on political expediency, not justice. He couldn’t afford another riot and the political fallout from it. So, when Jesus, the Son of God, is face-to-face with this unjust, callous manifestation of the sinful world, how does He respond? Let’s read Mark 15:1-5

“15 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied.

3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” 5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.”

            If there was ever a time when Jesus could have demonstrated His power over the sinful world, this would appear to be it. He is in front of a corrupt political leader. He is there because of bogus charges. And Pilate’s only concern is how to get out of this with as little damage as possible. And what does Jesus say about the injustice of this? About the hypocrisy of the accusations? About His own innocence? Virtually nothing. His only statement in the synoptics is a short sentence: “You have said so.” He doesn’t admit to being the king of the Jews (because in the sense Pilate means it, He isn’t); He doesn’t deny it (because in a deeper sense, it absolutely is true). Jesus is not surprised by political corruption or the abuse of power by pagan authorities. He takes this world as it is – broken, sinful and a mess.

            John records another sentence of Jesus when He is on trial before Pilate. 

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:11)

I’m not going to get into the different ideas about who “handed Jesus over” to Pilate today – but I am going to highlight that Jesus recognizes that even though Pilate is misusing the power that he has in Jerusalem, he only has that power because God above has allowed it. This connects back to what we talked about last week: that part of accepting hardship is recognizing the sovereign power of God to intervene, and trusting that when He doesn’t, He is still at work. Jesus has already asked the Father if there is another way and accepted that this path is the path of His Father’s will. In one sense, Pilate is just a bit player in the great drama of redemption that is unfolding. And while Jesus would be accurate to point out all that Pilate is doing wrong, He has more important things to focus on. He is taking the world of the Roman Empire, and its power over Jerusalem, as it is, even though that is not how He would like it to be.

            Let’s look at a less well-known example of Jesus recognizing the sinful world and choosing to do nothing directly about it. In Luke 9, Jesus is pivoting toward the crucifixion. Everything from that point forward is pointing toward Jerusalem. And as He begins that journey, He encounters the sinful world. Luke 9:51-56

“51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village.”

            Jesus is moving toward His death. The path takes Him through a Samaritan village, and He sends people ahead to prepare a place, but they are rejected by the Samaritans living there. Part of what Jesus is facing here is racial prejudice – the Samaritans and Jews were regular enemies (which is what makes the story of the Good Samaritan so offensive to its original hearers). It is unfair and not right that He can’t stay in the village. And two of His apostles, James and John, see the unfairness of it and jump to their master’s defense. They are ready to bring the wrath of God down on this village. They seem to me to be quite excited about the prospect, in fact. And Jesus, rather than approving of their fiery judgment or correcting the village, rebukes them! That must have been quite a shock. Not the first or last time Jesus shocked His followers, but still…why isn’t He ready to destroy those sinners? Instead, He just goes further on the journey, and hopefully (the text doesn’t tell us), gets a better welcome there.

            What do those two stories show us? If I could sum it up in a sentence or two, I might put it like this: Jesus has better things to do than try to directly fix all the places and patterns of sin in the world. He is, instead, focused on establishing a people who will be different, who will respond differently. Trying to make the world live differently is not a healthy response to its sinfulness. Instead, Jesus lives differently Himself, and He calls us to do the same. In John 17, as Jesus is praying for us, He acknowledges that we are still in the world, and will be subject to the evils of the world – we will experience the world’s hatred, in fact. But He explicitly says that He is not asking the Father to remove us from this sinful world, but to protect us so that we don’t give in to the ways of the evil one while we are surrounded by the sinful world. He is calling us to a different life (John 17:9-16).

            Now, an important side note here: we are talking about how to engage the sinful world as it is – not ignoring sin in ourselves or the people of God. Jesus does directly and firmly address the sin within Israel, almost always directing it at the most Godly and religious people. You can read Matthew 23 for a clear example of that. But this week we are not talking about taking sin in the church as it is – we are talking about taking the sinful world as it is, as Jesus did. And Jesus saved His confrontations of sin for God’s people, not the world at large.

If we go to Paul for a moment, he is really clear about the distinction between our response to sin in the world and sin in the church. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 follows Paul’s direct statement to the church at Corinth that they were wrong to tolerate a man having an affair with his stepmother and needed to put him out of fellowship. And he goes on to clarify:

“9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sisterbut is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Paul is about as clear as he could be here. He does not expect Christians to cut off all relationships with sinful people – that would certainly make evangelism difficult, wouldn’t it? At the same time, he is drawing a hard line about tolerating sin in the church. And I do want to point out here that Paul’s list includes more than sexual immorality, and it can be worth thinking about how we deal with unrepentant sinners in lots of different categories – but that’s for another series of sermons, I think. The point I want to be clear on here is that, of course, we deal with sin among people who are committed to a life of following Jesus as Lord – but we don’t hold those outside the church to the same standard. We take, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is – full of people and systems and structures that are opposed to the ways of God.

So, what can we learn from Jesus’ responses to Pontius Pilate and the Samaritan villagers? After all, most of us are unlikely to be sent to a kangaroo court in the middle of the night because our Messianic claims are making us too popular, or denied a place to stay while walking from one village to the next. We’d have reservations at a hotel or AirBnB ahead of time. Where and how are we likely to encounter this? And how can we respond?

I may step on your toes some at this point. If I’m wrong, forgive me. If I’m right, please listen! I am convinced that as American Christians, we spend way too much time and energy trying to make the world not be sinful when we would be better off focusing on tending the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives and our own communities. One of the places where I believe I see this most often is in the way we interact on social media. We condemn non-believers for acting like non-believers – how else do we expect them to act? I don’t like it any more than you do when people do or say outrageous things about Jesus Christ, but He put up with much more than that and chose to save His confrontations for the sin in Israel (and now, in us). Let me give you one concrete example of what I mean from this summer’s Olympics. Were there some offensive things done and said around the Olympics? Absolutely. Pagan things were exalted, and it should not be that way. But pagans do pagan things (around a contest that was pagan in origin to begin with). And me posting about my offense on Facebook doesn’t feel like the way Jesus responded to the pagan injustice of his day, or the way Paul tells us to. Again, I may be wrong, or only partially right, but I think it is at least worth considering the possibility that it is God’s job to defend us against the world, not our job to defend Him.

I think a Christ-like response to the sinful world begins with acknowledging that it is, in fact, a sinful world, and will be until the True King comes for His Bride. We don’t like it. We don’t approve of it. And we certainly should not cooperate with it. But we do need to accept that it is a fact, and then ask God how to respond to the evil that exists without being consumed by it or drawn into using the methods of the world to fight the world. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Paul goes on to list the weapons of righteousness, which are very similar to the fruit of the Spirit, and he finishes by exhorting us to pray. Our main weapon in the battle against the sinfulness of the world is not social media posts, or protests, or better laws, or better politicians. All those may have a right time and place. But our main weapon is prayer, and living the life of Jesus in spite of the world around us that will not understand what it is that we are doing.

I am under no pretenses that this will be easy, and I am deeply aware that prayer often feels weak in the face of worldly power. This is one of the most difficult and challenging places for me to accept that Jesus’ way of living is best, even when it feels ineffective. As I was writing this sermon, I got a call from a family at church. I am currently furious about what I see as a deep injustice being done by an insurance company that could endanger the well-being of children in a family I care about deeply. I honestly want to go break something (or worse, someone). If I thought I could fix this by calling down fire from heaven, I would be very tempted to give that a try. But the first thing I need to do is acknowledge, this world is full of sin and brokenness. God has allowed this to happen. How does He want me to respond to this sinful world in this moment?

I don’t have all the answers to that yet, but I know it begins with prayer. I prayed for the person who called. I prayed for the medical people involved. I prayed for the insurance agency. I prayed for the whole family and everyone else who will be involved. And I asked a few others to pray as well. Now, God may also provide some steps for me to take in this situation. There may be actions that I will need to take with serenity, courage, and wisdom. But first and foremost, I need to seek my Father’s face and listen for His voice. That’s where the answers will be – whether I like them or not.

It strikes me that this is one reason Jesus was often withdrawing to pray. The sinful world puts lots of pressure on us, either to conform to it and its ways, or to respond to it in ways that don’t bring anyone closer to the kingdom of God. If I am going to be able to respond to this family’s situation in the manner of Jesus, I will need to continue to spend time with my Father and pray.

With that said, let’s close again this week with the Serenity Prayer. I hope you’ll join with me as we pray.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it to be.

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will – that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever.

Next week’s phrase, “Trusting that He will make all things right” is one that strikes me as a key to this whole prayer, and indeed as something that is at the heart of the Christian way of life. Until then, may God protect you from the evil one as you walk through this sinful world this week.

SERENITY PRAYER #4: WISDOM

On By Pastor TomIn Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment
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To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

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James 3:13-18

            Brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome back for another look at the Serenity Prayer and how God can use it in our lives as part of His work in transforming us into the image of Christ. Two weeks ago, we talked about serenity – the ability to accept with peace and confidence the reality that life is sometimes difficult and painful. Last week, we talked about courage and the need at times to take action in response to those circumstances. This pretty naturally leads to the question, “How do I know when to serenely accept something and when to courageously take action to change it?” And this week, we will look at at least a partial answer to that question. We are going to talk about asking God for the wisdom to know the difference.

            What does it mean to have wisdom? We will look to the Biblical text in just a minute, but before we do that I want to distinguish between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is information, facts, data. These days, you can learn in five minutes on your phone what would once have taken hours at the library to look up. Is that good or bad? Probably some of both. But my point here is that some knowledge is pretty easy to obtain. How much did it rain in London yesterday? Who holds the world record for the 100m dash? When was Louis the 14th King of France? How can I get to this address? But having information and knowing how to use that information – those are two different things. Wisdom is more concerned with the second.

            For instance, knowledge can tell you where you can purchase a certain piece of equipment for your home or business, how much it will cost, even how long the warranty will last. But it takes wisdom to know if now is the right time to make that purchase. And particularly when it comes to human relationships, knowledge may be important, but wisdom is far more helpful in navigating those relationships. So, one way to look at wisdom is by saying, “How do I use the information and tools that I have?” And as Christians, we are asking, “God, how do You want me to use the information and tools that You have given me in order to bring You glory?” This includes the tools of serenity and courage – things that He has been giving us in response to our prayers.

Wisdom is something that appears to be pretty high on God’s radar for us. The Bible is full of references to wisdom and descriptions of wisdom, including entire books of the Old Testament like Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Several of the psalms also connect with that theme of wisdom. But I want to start with a New Testament reference to wisdom. The book of James, traditionally assigned to James the brother of Jesus, is clearly influenced by his knowledge of the Jewish wisdom tradition. As with most of the New Testament, the Jewish background that prepared the way for the Messiah takes on new depths once Jesus has come and paved the way for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So, while the language that James uses would have been very familiar to his readers, who were primarily early Jewish Christians, he is adding depth to their understanding now that the Messiah has been revealed. In some ways, this is similar to what Jesus was doing with the law when He preached the Sermon on the Mount – building on a foundation that God has laid in Israel and taking it farther than Israel had dreamed it could go.

            Let’s look at one of the passages in James that describes wisdom. We’re going to read from James 3:13-18.

“13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

            There’s a lot packed into these six verses. If God gives us wisdom, what is it going to look like? One of the first attributes James mentions is humility. There’s one place where the difference between knowledge and wisdom comes sharply into focus. I love the way C.S. Lewis describes humility in Mere Christianity at the end of the chapter The Great Sin, which is about pride:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

Honestly, I’m tired of hearing Christians – myself included – go on and one about how smart we are, how we have the right answers to everything, and how everyone ought to just stop and listen to us. We may have the right knowledge – but in that case we are still lacking in wisdom. And that can be hard when I do, in fact, have some right answers. But James is right to point us to humility as a key component of wisdom. If my response to a situation is built on how good it is going to make me look, or boosting my ego, that solution is not based in wisdom (at least, not in Godly wisdom). One of the most brilliant Bible professors I ever knew, a man who was fluent in multiple ancient languages, the contexts in which the passages were written, and the history of their interpretation, would often begin his answers to a difficult theological question by saying, “I might be wrong, but it seems to me…” His humility was profound.

            James goes on to talk about the dangers of envy and selfish ambition. Paul says almost the same thing in Philippians 2:3. He is calling the church in Philippi to imitate Christ in unity, and he also makes the connection between humility and selfish ambition:

“3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

Am I seeking to get my own way in a situation? Am I trying to make sure I come out ok? Then I am probably not operating in wisdom. James associates that kind of wisdom with disorder, wickedness, and even the demonic. So, what is Godly wisdom like? We’ve already talked about humility, and the important role that it plays. Let’s look at a few more of the characteristics James mentions

            Full of mercy and good fruit. Mercy is so central to God’s character. And wisdom will often call on us to show mercy to others rather than demand what we may deserve in a situation. Our responses are to be full of the attitude that God has toward us – rich in mercy, slow to anger, and desiring repentance where there has been wrong. Wisdom, like love in 1 Corinthians 13, is not self-seeking and does not keep a record of wrongs. And I think James is intentionally connecting this to good fruit. Merciful actions toward others will often result in good fruit – and especially when we are engaging other believers. Of course, sometimes we don’t see that fruit until years later, if ever. But wise choices on our part should be ones that open doors to good outcomes in the lives of the people we are engaging.

            Impartial. Wisdom doesn’t play favorites. If we use the information or influence we have to steer the outcome of a situation toward what we want (instead of seeking what God wants), we are operating in that realm of competition to get what I want – we are engaging like the world does. James goes on in the next verses (which start chapter 4) to talk about how the world fights for what it wants, but that is not God’s way for us. And it can be so easy for me to convince myself that what I want is really what is best anyway. That’s why I need God’s wisdom – and in just a few minutes we will talk about some ways to help us sort through our own agendas, needs, and preferences to hear the wisdom of God more clearly.

            Sincere. Wisdom is honest in its dealings with others. Wisdom does not play the game of pretending to believe one thing so that we can manipulate a situation to get what we want out of it. God’s wisdom doesn’t need to be sneaky and deceptive in its dealings. When we are behaving wisely, we mean what we say, and we follow through on it as best we can. No promising one thing while intending to deliver another.

            And finally, peace. Wisdom leads to peace. Now, what is James, as a Godly Jew, thinking of when he uses his word for peace? The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom.” We often use “peace” to describe a situation where there is an absence of conflict. We sent the kids to their separate rooms so that we could have a little peace. But shalom is deeper. Shalom is not just an absence of conflict – getting everyone to put down their weapons. Shalom describes a situation where the conflict has gone away because the causes of the conflict have been appropriately and healthily dealt with. In other words, the peace that is a part of Godly wisdom is not just accepting whatever happens, no matter if it is right or wrong (that is not the serenity that we have been asking God to give us). But this peace is the peace that comes when things are well-settled. And that may actually require some healthy conflict in order to get to a place of real peace. Wisdom will move in the direction of peace – eventually. But wisdom does not always mean just doing what it takes to “keep the peace.” With God, things often are more difficult in the short-term, but He is looking toward a very long end – eternal even – and He is willing to have conflict now to bring true and lasting peace.

            My wife and I have had our struggles over the years with doing this well. I’ll give you one example that may seem small, but it points to a bigger problem. When we first started dating, I really wasn’t good at remembering flowers for special occasions. Well, one time I brought her some chrysanthemums. And she was so glad that I bought her some flowers that she made a big deal over them, and I decided that must be her favorite flower. For the next ten years or so, any time I got her flowers, I bought chrysanthemums. It turns out, those weren’t particularly her favorite. But she didn’t want to upset me or discourage my flower-buying, so she didn’t say anything. And I thought all was well until she eventually told me the rest of the story. Now I sometimes buy her chrysanthemums, but I also buy roses, or lilies, or whatever I see that makes me think of her. And in that small area of our lives, we are closer to shalom. But we only got there when she took the risk – found the courage – to bring up an area that could have caused conflict. By the way, there are much more significant examples of conflict in our marriage over the years – I just decided to tell a simple one.

            Okay, there’s several of the attributes of wisdom. But, in addition to praying, what else can we practically do to help us make wise decisions? Here are three things that I have found helpful in making wise decisions.

            First, slow down. Yes, some decisions have to be made in the moment, but even then, there is rarely a time where I am faced with a significant decision, and I can’t take a moment to breathe and ask God for help, rather than simply react. This is especially true for me when I’m feeling strong emotions about whatever is going on where I need wisdom. Alcoholics Anonymous has a great line for me to remember: “We pause when agitated or doubtful and ask for the right thought or action.” If I want wisdom, I generally need to stop, take a breath, remember that God is running the universe, not Wade, and see what He has to say.

            And most of the time, I don’t have to make a decision on the most important things in that moment. I usually have time to stop, to think, to pray. And what has become really important for me is having trusted friends that I can ask for input. When I am facing a difficult decision, it is easy for me to be blind to my pride, selfishness, hidden agendas, and mixed motives. And taking my own advice about what is wise has led me to some of the stupidest decisions of my life. When I talk to my wife, my fellow pastors, my most mature friends, and others, I can gain a perspective on the situation that is not skewed by what I know I want. And I am much more likely to receive the wisdom that God has for me.

             About two years ago, Jayme and I were trying to make a difficult decision about how to handle a situation with our children. We both stopped and prayed. We took time to think about it. And after months of doing that, we were still in different places about what God wanted us to do. So, we came together to Tom and Kari and laid out our perspectives as best we could. Jayme (my wife) and I agreed ahead of time that we would trust Tom and Kari and take their advice. I didn’t like their answer. They agreed more with Jayme. And we have followed their input since then. I still don’t know that I like it – but I agree that it was wise to listen to them. Involving other people takes courage, because I am surrendering my right to be in charge and trusting that God will use His people to help me.

            Here’s a different example, also family-related, where getting input from the Holy Spirit through other believers has led me towards the serenity to accept something I can’t change instead of the courage to change something. I run into this with my kids regularly. They have a problem. I have an answer. And my answer is probably right. But one of the wisest pieces of advice I’ve ever been given – and this applies to more than just my children – is, “Wade, stop answering questions that people aren’t asking you.” Wow! That requires a lot of the humility James talked about. I have to stop thinking of myself as the fount of information and answers and trust that God is at work in the situation, and sometimes the wisest thing for me to do is Shut Up! I don’t like that. And it may not always be the perfect answer – but it is often a good one.

            And that’s suggestion number three. Some of us, including me, can get hyper-focused on making sure we have the wisest answer, and then we get bogged down and don’t do anything because we are not completely sure which way to go. I am convinced that God is more interested in the long process of developing relationship with Him than He is whether we get a specific decision exactly right. So sometimes, we pause, we take input, and then we make the best decision we can, trusting that even if we got it wrong, God is able to work with us and in us and around us to bring things back on course. He certainly did that with the history of Israel. And He has certainly done that with me.

            So, when do we accept a thing we cannot change, and when do we courageously act to bring change? We ask God for wisdom. We look for answers that lead to humility, mercy, and true peace. We take a breath, ask others for help, and take action trusting that God can work in our imperfect decisions.

I’ll close again this week by praying the Serenity Prayer, and if God leads you, please feel free to join me in learning and praying this prayer.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as a pathway to peace.

Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it to be.

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will – that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever.

Well, now we have gotten through the more familiar part of the Serenity Prayer. Next week we will start into the less-known part. May God bless you with serenity, courage, and wisdom until we talk again next week.

1 SAMUEL #27: DARING DEEDS BY DAVID

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Bible, Bible Teaching, Jesus, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment
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Saul had abused his power and mistreated David in several despicable ways. But David’s main complaint was that Saul was cutting him off from worshipping in God’s sanctuary, and from God’s people. Even so, once again David refrained from harming Saul when he had the chance. In this incident David reminds us that we need fellowship with God’s people. He also shows again what Jesus is like: he does not treat us as our sins deserve, but instead showers grace on us unconditionally.

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1 SAMUEL #27. 1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 26;1-25

Often when I teach through the Bible, I am looking for tightly focused themes and messages in each passage. That works pretty well when we encounter the teaching genre in scripture. But often, when we get to narrative history, I feel like each passage is a box of chocolates: a lot of variety, a few surprises, but all of it is sweet.

I want to point out again David’s precarious situation. He was trying to lead and support 600 men who couldn’t stay in one place. In fact, they couldn’t stay in any civilized place, because the king had declared David an outlaw, under a death sentence. He was dependent upon gifts from friends and strangers. He was also vulnerable to those same people if they chose to betray David and his men. We don’t know for sure how long David lived this way, but it was certainly years – maybe even as long as a decade.

One of the reasons I like to point this out is because many churches and popular preachers seem to suggest that if you have faith in God, everything will always go well for you. By implication, if things do not go well with you, it must be because you don’t have enough faith, or you are not righteous enough. David was an imperfect human being, but he did live in faith. In fact he had a great deal of trust in the Lord, and always repented from his sins, and was willing to humbly learn to do better.

 Even so, for many years, it did NOT go well with David. I just want to make sure that no one reading this ever falls prey to the teaching that if life is tough on you, it is automatically because you don’t have enough faith, or you are a bad Christian or something like that. Sometimes, by our own choices, we do make life harder than it needs to be. But sometimes, life is just hard, for no reason that we can understand. Certainly David had a heart for God and a great deal of integrity, and those did not save him from trouble and hardship.

Also, I want to make sure you don’t believe that you can earn favors from God by being righteous, or saying the right words or having the right kind of faith. We live by God’s grace. If we had to earn God’s favor, no one would ever earn anything good. You don’t understand the gospel if you think you can earn blessings by being righteous, or saying the right things, or having the right kind of faith. David was not the only person in the Bible who had great faith, but a difficult life.

I do want to say, however, that David became the great man he was because of his faith. Sometimes things went very well for him and sometimes they didn’t. But how it was going on the outside was not as important to David as the quality of his relationship with the Lord. And because that relationship was more important to David than anything else, God was able to use him in amazing ways, and also to bless David without David thinking he had earned it.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to receive all of life as blessing, whether or not it looks that way outwardly? If we could do that, it wouldn’t matter much to us whether circumstances were good or bad. We would always be experiencing life as blessing. David was getting there.

In chapter 26, David was still in a time of outward difficulty. But we will quickly see that things were very good with his heart. Once more, the Ziphites betrayed David – the same people who almost got him killed in chapter 23:19. They knew where David was, and they told Saul to come and get him. As far as we know, Saul had left David alone since the incident when David spared his life in the cave. But the Ziphites basically tempted Saul to sin. Having betrayed David once, this group of people probably thought that if David were not killed, he would take retribution on them if he had the chance, so they may have been quite urgent and persuasive in trying to get Saul to start hunting David again.

Apparently, David could hardly believe it, so he took a few men on a reconnaissance mission to see if Saul had really started hunting him again. One of the men he brought with him was Abishai. Abishai was one of the sons of David’s sister Zeruiah, which made him David’s nephew. Abishai’s brother Joab became the commander of David’s armies later on. If you remember, among David’s men eventually there were “the Three” who became outstanding warriors, and then “the Thirty” who were also an elite force of great fighters among David’s other men. Here is what it says about Abishai elsewhere:

18 Abishai, Joab’s brother and son of Zeruiah, was leader of the Three. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them, gaining a reputation among the Three. 19 Was he not more honored than the Three? He became their commander even though he did not become one of the Three. (2 Samuel 23:18-19, HCSB)

Now, for those of you who are Bible geeks, like me, you might find a translation that says Abishai was commander of the thirty, rather than the three. In fact, the translators of the ESV couldn’t make up their minds about this, and older editions read like the HCSB (above) and newer editions have Abishai as commander of the thirty, rather than the three. The problem is that while most ancient texts read like the HCSB (quoted above) two well regarded ancient texts have it the other way, and it seems to make a bit more sense the other way – how could he be chief of the three, if he wasn’t one of the three? This is one of those “major issues” in Bible translation, but of course, it isn’t really that important. What is clear, no matter which way is correct, is that Abishai is one of the greatest warriors alive during David’s lifetime.

Since David was the youngest of ten, it is possible that even though he was technically Abishai’s uncle the two of them might have been basically the same age. It is even possible that Abishai was a little older. They might have spent a lot of time together as boys. At this point, they were both probably in their early or mid-twenties, in the prime of physical power and maybe a little inclined to try something crazy.

The two of them decided to sneak into the heart of Saul’s encampment at night. This was the desert, so the soldiers probably did not have tents. The picture seems to be that Saul chose his sleeping spot, and then the whole army arranged themselves around him, with his bodyguard closest to him and the rest spread around them generally. David and Abishai crept through the entire group of three thousand sleeping men and came to Saul sleeping soundly, along with Abner, the chief of Saul’s bodyguard.

This incident appears somewhat similar to the one in chapter 24. Certainly, the result, and the main point (David sparing Saul) is virtually the same. However, other than that, almost every detail is different. Saul didn’t come alone into a cave where David and his men were waiting. Instead David crept with only one companion into the middle of Saul’s camp. This time it wasn’t Saul almost finding David where he was hiding, it was David finding Saul where he was camped openly. Before, David was passive. This time he initiated the action.

I think that it is no coincidence that this second opportunity to harm Saul was given to David after his interactions with Nabal and Abigail. In chapter 24, we have the record of how David was tested in the cave with Saul, and he passed that test. But with Nabal, he failed. He fully intended to take matters into his own hands regarding Nabal, and was saved from sin only by the wisdom of Abigail. Now, once more, he gets the chance to either take matters into his own hands, or trust the Lord.

It is almost as if the Lord was giving David a chance to see if he really had learned his lesson from the incident with Nabal. It isn’t just a test – obviously, God already knew what was in David’s heart. But David may not have been sure of himself. He may have had times where he thought about the incident with Nabal, and condemned himself, and wished he had behaved differently. The Lord was giving him a second chance, a “do-over.” In the Torah, it says all legal issues must be established by at least two witnesses. Now there were two occasions that “witnessed” David’s commitment to not harm Saul, and to not take matters into his own hands. Those incidents were witnessed by both Saul’s men, and David’s followers also.

Abishai however, did not yet have David’s wisdom. He asked permission to kill Saul with Saul’s own spear. By the way, in one of Abishai’s exploits (recorded elsewhere) he killed three hundred men with a spear in one battle, so he knew how to use that weapon. He’s not just boasting when he says one thrust would do it. It would be all over. The good times could begin. The days of wandering homeless, despised by people around them, in danger all the time, could all be ended by one swift spear thrust. As before, it was a powerful temptation. Who could blame David? In Saul’s mind, anyway, they were enemies. It would be an act of war. It wouldn’t even be David who struck the blow.

But David had learned his lesson thoroughly. He said:

10“As the LORD lives, the LORD will certainly strike him down: either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. 11 However, because of the LORD, I will never lift my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and the water jug by his head, and let’s go.” (1Sam 26:10-11, HCSB)

He saw the battle with Goliath as the Lord’s fight. So now he sees the struggle with Saul. It isn’t his own fight at all, really – it is God’s business, and David trusted God to take care of it in His own time and in His own way.

As morning broke, from a safe distance, David called and awakened the camp. He showed them the spear and the water jug he had taken from Saul’s side. David was young and strong, and he had accomplished an amazing, bloodless feat of arms. So he teased Abner, Saul’s commander for a moment. I get the feeling he was rejoicing in what he and Abishai just did. Maybe he was “crowing” just a little bit. But then, once again he respectfully confronted Saul with his wrongdoing. Like Abigail did with David, so David now did with his king, Saul. He showed Saul he was wrong; he reminded him of true righteousness in God’s eyes – but he did it all with respect. You might say that similar to Abigail’s attitude toward David, David was submissive to the authority of Saul, but he was not subservient or a doormat.

Review the history of abuse Saul has heaped on David: He refused to honor his promises to the conqueror of Goliath. He didn’t reward him with money for killing Goliath, like he had promised to do. He initially didn’t allow David to marry his daughter (as he had promised). Then he made David pay a bride price for the privilege, even though he had promised that killing Goliath satisfied the bride price. He sent David on the most dangerous missions against the Philistines. He threw a spear at him, twice. He tried to have him killed. Then after David fled, several times Saul pursued him with thousands of warriors, to try and kill him.  Even after David spared his life in the cave, here is Saul again, trying to kill him.

But listen to what David’s biggest complaint about Saul is:

For they have driven me from my home, so I can no longer live among the LORD’s people, and they have said, ‘Go, worship pagan gods.’ 20 Must I die on foreign soil, far from the presence of the LORD? (1 Samuel 26:19-20, NLT)

Saul’s worst offense, in David’s eyes, is that he is cutting him off from the people of God. David can’t go and worship at the sanctuary any more. Remember, things were different before Jesus came. God’s presence was in the sanctuary in a special way, and David was denied access to that. This is his biggest concern.

At the end of the discussion, David showed where his trust is:

23 May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and his loyalty. I wasn’t willing to lift my hand against the LORD’s anointed, even though the LORD handed you over to me today. 24 Just as I considered your life valuable today, so may the LORD consider my life valuable and rescue me from all trouble.” (1Sam 26:23-24, HCSB)

He didn’t ask Saul to treat him the way he treated Saul. Instead, he declared that he trusted the Lord to treat him with righteousness and love.

Throughout this, Saul seemed to be full of remorse. But he was remorseful last time too, after David spared his life in the cave. David has learned something important from Saul: Remorse is not the same as repentance. Saul let his emotions rage through him uncontrolled. Sometimes he was full of murderous fury; sometimes he was full of regret and sorrow. But the regret and sorrow did not lead to true repentance for Saul – they were just feelings he had sometimes. So, even though Saul invited David to come back with him, David did not do it. Saul was in God’s hands, but David was wise enough not to trust him.

It’s another great story, and I love it just for the daring deeds and passion and trust in God. But what does it mean for us now? What does the Lord want to say to us through this passage today?

When I read this at first, I am tempted to see it as a reason to admire David and Abishai. Here are two deadly warriors who, between just the two of them, can overcome hundreds of enemies at a time. And now, they seem to be showing us that in addition to a capacity for incredible violence on the battlefield, they can move as silently as stalking cats. But verse twelve paints us a different picture. It says that it was the Lord who made this whole incident possible. It was the Lord who made a deep sleep fall on the entire army. It wasn’t the skill of David and Abishai. This was an opportunity given by the Lord.

David shows that withholding violence takes more courage than doing something violent. With one violent act, his troubles could have been over. It was much harder – it was a much greater deed – to leave Saul unharmed. I think we can all learn from that. Jesus told us to turn the other cheek. It takes a lot more courage to do that than to take matters into our hands, and protect ourselves. It takes courage not to reply with harsh words or gossip when someone hurts us. It takes courage to not repay hurt with hurt.

As we read the Old Testament especially, I think it is helpful to ask: “Where is Jesus in this text?” Remember, David is sometimes a “type of Christ.” What this means is that God used David at times to show the world what the real Messiah (Jesus) is like – to people who would never get the chance to know Jesus in their earthly life.

This passage does show us a little bit of what Jesus is like. Like David, Jesus is a mighty warrior, forever in the prime of life, full of bravery and wisdom; ultimately and absolutely victorious over his enemies.

David held back from harming Saul, who, without a doubt, deserved to be harmed by David. In the same way Jesus holds back the punishment that we all richly deserve. Jesus told us to love our enemies, to pay back evil with good. David did that very thing. Jesus forgave the people who were crucifying him, even as they did the deed.

Here’s something else that I think is very significant. David did not know at the time that the Lord was using him to show the world what Jesus was like. He didn’t realize how significant his actions were. But because he lived in trust and obedience, many people in his generation, and for a thousand years after, had some idea of what the Messiah was like.

We don’t always know when someone has a chance to see Jesus through us. We can’t always tell when the Lord is doing that. Very often the opportunity comes when we least feel like it. There was a huge temptation for David to act precisely opposite of how Jesus is. So in the same way, it may be in our toughest moments that God uses us to show Jesus to the world.

The other thing that speaks to me here is David’s strong desire to worship God with other believers, his desire to be counted among all God’s people. I think today in the Western world, we sometimes forget how important this is. Through Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, so it’s easy to begin to think we don’t need any other Christians to help us. But David had the Holy Spirit, also, and the Spirit caused him to yearn to be in fellowship with God’s people, and to worship with them. Sometimes the way we do church in the Western world is a bit messed up, and it doesn’t really reflect God’s design for church. I have a friend who has several valid criticisms of Evangelicals in America. But my friend takes it too far. He says that he is “in church” whenever he has coffee with fellow Christians, or goes to a barbeque with them, so he doesn’t need to be part of a local church. That is not what scripture says. It is vitally important for believers to be in real community with other believers, and especially to learn the Bible together, worship and pray together, and together renew Jesus’ covenant with us through the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42). David understood how important it was to worship with, and be connected to, God’s people.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?