Every morning I spend precious time with my Lord in reading and praying His Word. I have been blessed this week in reading the book of Haggai. This little book has strengthened my faith and has brought me such comfort during a very trying time of my life. As a result, I thought that I would devote the next few weeks to gleaning some of the precious truth's from this small but powerful book.
"In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest." (Haggai 1:1)
In 586 BC the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and took most of the Jews into exile. About 50 years later Cyrus, the Persian, took Babylon, and brought the Babylonian Empire to an end. The next year (538 BC) he allowed 50,000 Jews to return to their homeland under the leadership of a man named Zerubbabel and rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. All of this was owing to the sovereign hand of God fulfilling the prophecies of Jeremiah (Ezra 1:1). There they found shocking devastation. Nothing had changed since the defeat some 50 years earlier. Immediately the returnees set about to rebuild the temple in about 536 B.C. They re-laid the foundation amid a great celebration (see Ezra 3 for details). Then suddenly the Samaritans (who hated the Jews) began to oppose them. After all, the Samaritans had no reason to want the temple rebuilt or for the Jews to return to prosperity.
Because of their constant opposition, the Jews stopped the rebuilding the process and never got started again. After all there was plenty of other work to do—they were trying to restart a nation from scratch. As the years passed slowly but surely Jerusalem came to life again. Homes were built, stores opened, commerce established, fields planted, crops harvested, and life began to resemble something of a normal pattern. There was only one problem. The temple foundation still lay in ruins—overgrown with weeds. Every time the Jews passed it, it stood as a mute reminder of their failure to take care of God’s house. Sixteen years pass.
Now we come to the summer of 520 B.C. Enter Haggai, about whom we know nothing except what is in this book and a few verses in Ezra. God raises him up to deliver four brief messages in five months—from August to December, 520 B.C. When I say brief, I mean really brief. The whole book is only 38 verses long. You can easily read it in less than 10 minutes. The message of this little book is clear: It’s time to finish rebuilding the temple. The way Haggai motivates the Jews to build the temple of God has a powerful application to our own efforts to build our lives and our Church.
Haggai’s words are blunt, plain-spoken, direct, and vivid. He pulls no punches and wastes no words. In my mind, Haggai is the foreman of the Old Testament. I see him with a hardhat and a tool belt walking around the construction site giving orders left and right. He has only one goal in mind: Get that temple rebuilt and do it now!
The first lesson of Haggai: God Speaks to Misplaced Priorities- “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt” (Haggai 1:2).
The book begins with the Jews simply making excuses. They truly intended to build God’s house, but they just had not got around to it yet. They were frozen by fear, stifled by selfishness, and paralyzed by presumption. They were afraid of the Samaritans so they selfishly built their own homes-and not just simple houses, but luxuriously paneled buildings, and then presumptuously claimed to know better than God when the temple should be rebuilt.
The problem was not building homes, taking care of families, etc.; the problem was perspective and priorities. Perspective in that they lost focus on what was important to God; priorities in that they put building homes as their first priority, the driving force and vision for their lives. Thus they did all of these things with no regard to the most important thing; the temple of God which is in ruins. Instead they are full of excuses.
Let’s think of some excuses they might have offered for their delay: God wants us to take care of our own families, doesn’t He? The job is too big. We’ll never finish it. Not our fault so it’s not our job. Someone else will do it if we don’t. We need to pray about it some more. I don’t think we need a temple anyway. The time just is not right. Our motives are good, but we’re just too busy! They were looking for a better time and an easier time. But the result was the same in every case: delay, delay, delay.
Someone reading this story might wonder why the temple was so important. Just remember that in the Old Testament the temple represented God’s presence on earth. Just as in the New Covenant you and I are called the temple of the Holy Spirit and the church is also called the temple of God. Thus God’s reputation was at stake in the rebuilding. The pagans would draw wrong conclusions if the temple were never rebuilt. They would assume that the Jews did not care about their God. How could they if they left his temple in ruins?
At the same time the Jews were also teaching their children that God does not matter by the way they put their energy into lesser things, even good things, at the expense of God’s greater thing. As a result, they were saying and manifesting thus drawing attention to the reality that self enhancement and self preservation and ease, comfort, and security were the priorities of their lives. Oh how we see that we demonstrate to our children, our spouses, our neighbors, and the world who and what is most important to us by how we spend our time, our money, and our energies. Thus rebuilding the temple was a major issue to God—and should have been to the people.
So God responses to the procrastination of the Jews by asking His first question- “Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:3-4)
God hits the jugular! He gives a reality check on how He has seen the past 16 years of indifference and misplaced priorities. God was accusing His people of having plenty of time for themselves while pleading a lack of time for Him. It was an accusation of having plenty of time and money to spend on their comfort and pleasures while claiming to not have enough for God and His work and service. The people were prospering. How could it be that they were unable to get involved with God and the work He had given them to do? It showed where their heart was. In short, their priorities were wrong. Any priority that puts anything above or over God is idolatry. God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3); He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Indifference to the spiritual growth and spiritual prosperity of your life and our Church and its mission is always a sign of failure to love God and is utter foolishness.
God’s asks a second question in verses 5–6 and 9-11 He challenges these attitudes and excuses with a second argument-with a reality check of what their lives looked like because they did not put God first:
"Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes… You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors."”
God gives them and us the great challenge: Consider your ways. It is found five times in this book; twice here in chapter 1(verses5, 7), and three times in chapter 2(verses15, 18). In a certain sense, this is the message of the book and God’s message to us . To consider means to stop long enough in your busy schedule to evaluate your life in the light of God’s Word. God asks, “What is the return of your time, energy, money, activity put in other things over Me? Of building your lives instead of building your souls? Of building your houses but neglecting building God’s church?
Here we come to a sobering reminder that what happens in your heart effects every other part of your life. Because the people had pushed God out of the center of life, they were now suffering in every other area. They had fields without produce, action without satisfaction, labor without profit. Fruitless toil, fleeting riches, unsatisfied hunger. This is the Law of the Unproductive Harvest. I do not know any passage that better describes the busyness yet ineffective activity of our own times. Like the rat in the cage, spinning but getting nowhere; frustrated, dissatisfied, empty. It happens to us over and over until we learn to put God first in our lives.
Why would God do this? He allows us to suffer the results of our wrong choices in order to get our attention, to convict of sin, and to lead us back to repentance, and put first things first! We can't pass over this lesson easily. It's for us, too. If you devote yourself to sowing and eating and drinking and clothing yourselves and earning wages, but neglect your soul and your ministry in the body of Christ (both of which are the New Covenant temple of God, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17), you will live in constant frustration, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, emptiness, and discontentment.
To be continued...
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
THERE IS ALWAYS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!
"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.” Daniel 1:1-2 ESV
Today the school where our church is located has made a decision that has put allot of pressure on the church that I pastor. The beginning of the book of Daniel brought me comfort today in regard to this trial. Perhaps it will bring you comfort as well.
The beginning of the Book of Daniel describes a historical situation. "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it." Daniel begins by relating the events of the book to the deliverance of King Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hands. The interesting thing about this beginning of the book of the book of Daniel is as in so many other historical situations, appearances were deceiving.
We read in verse 2, “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.” There is something stupendous here. Actually, God Himself was as in charge of the overthrow of Jerusalem. In fact, it was Jehovah who had brought on the destruction, sending it as a punishment for his people's sins. It says that "the Lord gave Jehoiakim into his [Nebuchadnezzar's] hand." Behind all that is happening in verses 1-2 is the Lord who “gave.” Or to say it another way, the Lord was controlling all the events that took place. It was not so much Nebuchadnezzar took as the Lord gave.
The opening verses, you see, give us a picture of history from two perspectives. There is history and there is HIS STORY. There what is going on in the horizontal level of time and space and there is what is going on in the vertical level in eternity. There is man working and there is God working. The first verse gives you a blow-by-blow account of the event, but the first words of the second verse explains to you the meaning behind and under the events. The first verse may look like the God of Israel has fallen prey to the false gods of Babylon. The second verse makes it clear that even the exile itself has been done by the determinant counsel of God. Nebuchadnezzar really wanted to take over Jerusalem. God determined from the very beginning of the world that Nebuchadnezzar would take over Jerusalem. There is a God in heaven and He is in complete control. We read in Daniel 4:17, 25,32 that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will”
The name of God used here is the name “Adonai” which speaks of God being master, owner, and in control. That revelation should cause us to change our views about how we see people, circumstances, governments, environments, and how God does things through us. We tend to focus on cultural, environmental, political, personal barriers to be able to get anything done. God is still in control even when everything around us seems to argue otherwise! Whenever events look bleak and hopeless it's always important to remember that two stories are being told at the same time in any set of circumstances. There's the story in front of the curtain. And there's the story behind the curtain. There's what I see and feel right now in the trial over our church's use of the school where we meet. Then there is what God has yet to unfold in this situation. There is more than meets the eye!
Dear friend, who you see in control of your life has everything to do with how you respond to the circumstances of life. When you see God behind the curtain ruling over your circumstances it becomes, as John Piper puts it, “The strong wood of the tree that keeps our lives from being blown over by the winds of adversity. It is the rock that rises for us out of the flood of uncertainty and confusion. It is the eye of the hurricane where we stand with God and look up into the blue sky of his mastery when everything is being destroyed. ‘When all around gives my soul gives sway, this is all my hope and my stay’.”
IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM DANIEL 1:1-2
1. There are no interruptions for God. The Westminster Confession says in its opening lines of Chapter III: “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” Since that is true, Daniel will see that there is opportunity in what we think are interruptions that is all part of the plan of God. No matter how big the problem God's power, grace and sovereignty are bigger. Daniel moved out of the realm of interruption and walked through the door of opportunity. Read on in Daniel and you will see how God uses this captivity to work thin and through this young man named Daniel. We can too! The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:16 to be “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Jonathan Edwards asked the question frequently in his resolutions that he would see every situation and circumstance as an opportunity to glorify God. The God of Daniel 1 teaches us that there is nothing incidental in human life and there is nothing accidental in human life. As Warren Wiersbe said, “There are no accidents, only appointments.”
2. God provides the supernatural environment For Daniel and for us, our life situation is not too big for God’s power. They do not paralyze him. He is available for every situation from Babylonian captivity to schools restricting you.
3. Your circumstances have great potential The question of my life is not how difficult things are, how many barriers there are, or how many things or forces seem to be working against us. Life’s problems and detours are God’s interstate highways. He is using your present to glorify and show Himself even as He did in Daniels time. .
4. Look beyond your limitations The real question is “Are you willing to be used of God where He has planted you?” “Are you willing to believe him and depend upon him?” "There is a God in heaven..."Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:28, and it was that God in heaven who sustained Daniel and the people while in captivity that He planned and purposed. Daniel could not have imagined the plans God had for him: from prime minister of the court; to interpreter of dreams; to prophet, teacher; and a lifelong voice for God among pagan people.
My Prayer In Response to my trial and the God of Daniel 1:
Oh sovereign God. You rule the heavens, the earth, time, and eternity. There is nothing that happens that You don’t turn for Your glory and our good. Thank You that no matter how bad things are, no matter how foolish my choices, You can turn them all for good. Thank You that You have plans and purposes far beyond my comprehension for my good and Your exceeding glory. Help us to see behind the most frowning providence's your smiling face. Enable us to trust that nothing will thwart Your purposes. So we pray, Father, let Your kingdom come, May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus Christ’s sovereign name. Amen!
Pastor Bill
Today the school where our church is located has made a decision that has put allot of pressure on the church that I pastor. The beginning of the book of Daniel brought me comfort today in regard to this trial. Perhaps it will bring you comfort as well.
The beginning of the Book of Daniel describes a historical situation. "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it." Daniel begins by relating the events of the book to the deliverance of King Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hands. The interesting thing about this beginning of the book of the book of Daniel is as in so many other historical situations, appearances were deceiving.
We read in verse 2, “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.” There is something stupendous here. Actually, God Himself was as in charge of the overthrow of Jerusalem. In fact, it was Jehovah who had brought on the destruction, sending it as a punishment for his people's sins. It says that "the Lord gave Jehoiakim into his [Nebuchadnezzar's] hand." Behind all that is happening in verses 1-2 is the Lord who “gave.” Or to say it another way, the Lord was controlling all the events that took place. It was not so much Nebuchadnezzar took as the Lord gave.
The opening verses, you see, give us a picture of history from two perspectives. There is history and there is HIS STORY. There what is going on in the horizontal level of time and space and there is what is going on in the vertical level in eternity. There is man working and there is God working. The first verse gives you a blow-by-blow account of the event, but the first words of the second verse explains to you the meaning behind and under the events. The first verse may look like the God of Israel has fallen prey to the false gods of Babylon. The second verse makes it clear that even the exile itself has been done by the determinant counsel of God. Nebuchadnezzar really wanted to take over Jerusalem. God determined from the very beginning of the world that Nebuchadnezzar would take over Jerusalem. There is a God in heaven and He is in complete control. We read in Daniel 4:17, 25,32 that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will”
The name of God used here is the name “Adonai” which speaks of God being master, owner, and in control. That revelation should cause us to change our views about how we see people, circumstances, governments, environments, and how God does things through us. We tend to focus on cultural, environmental, political, personal barriers to be able to get anything done. God is still in control even when everything around us seems to argue otherwise! Whenever events look bleak and hopeless it's always important to remember that two stories are being told at the same time in any set of circumstances. There's the story in front of the curtain. And there's the story behind the curtain. There's what I see and feel right now in the trial over our church's use of the school where we meet. Then there is what God has yet to unfold in this situation. There is more than meets the eye!
Dear friend, who you see in control of your life has everything to do with how you respond to the circumstances of life. When you see God behind the curtain ruling over your circumstances it becomes, as John Piper puts it, “The strong wood of the tree that keeps our lives from being blown over by the winds of adversity. It is the rock that rises for us out of the flood of uncertainty and confusion. It is the eye of the hurricane where we stand with God and look up into the blue sky of his mastery when everything is being destroyed. ‘When all around gives my soul gives sway, this is all my hope and my stay’.”
IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM DANIEL 1:1-2
1. There are no interruptions for God. The Westminster Confession says in its opening lines of Chapter III: “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” Since that is true, Daniel will see that there is opportunity in what we think are interruptions that is all part of the plan of God. No matter how big the problem God's power, grace and sovereignty are bigger. Daniel moved out of the realm of interruption and walked through the door of opportunity. Read on in Daniel and you will see how God uses this captivity to work thin and through this young man named Daniel. We can too! The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:16 to be “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Jonathan Edwards asked the question frequently in his resolutions that he would see every situation and circumstance as an opportunity to glorify God. The God of Daniel 1 teaches us that there is nothing incidental in human life and there is nothing accidental in human life. As Warren Wiersbe said, “There are no accidents, only appointments.”
2. God provides the supernatural environment For Daniel and for us, our life situation is not too big for God’s power. They do not paralyze him. He is available for every situation from Babylonian captivity to schools restricting you.
3. Your circumstances have great potential The question of my life is not how difficult things are, how many barriers there are, or how many things or forces seem to be working against us. Life’s problems and detours are God’s interstate highways. He is using your present to glorify and show Himself even as He did in Daniels time. .
4. Look beyond your limitations The real question is “Are you willing to be used of God where He has planted you?” “Are you willing to believe him and depend upon him?” "There is a God in heaven..."Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:28, and it was that God in heaven who sustained Daniel and the people while in captivity that He planned and purposed. Daniel could not have imagined the plans God had for him: from prime minister of the court; to interpreter of dreams; to prophet, teacher; and a lifelong voice for God among pagan people.
My Prayer In Response to my trial and the God of Daniel 1:
Oh sovereign God. You rule the heavens, the earth, time, and eternity. There is nothing that happens that You don’t turn for Your glory and our good. Thank You that no matter how bad things are, no matter how foolish my choices, You can turn them all for good. Thank You that You have plans and purposes far beyond my comprehension for my good and Your exceeding glory. Help us to see behind the most frowning providence's your smiling face. Enable us to trust that nothing will thwart Your purposes. So we pray, Father, let Your kingdom come, May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus Christ’s sovereign name. Amen!
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
THE HAPPY DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN
“Delight yourself in the Lord" (Psalm 37:4); “Serve the Lord with gladness" (Psalm 100:2);
“Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4)
My favorite place in the whole world is the tropical island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. I was fortunate to have lived there for a year from 1972-1973 and have been a regular visitor ever since. I never get tired of the sights, smells, and sounds of this little island paradise. When the plane approaches the airport, I cannot help but notice the deep greens (my favorite color) and the amazing contours of Kauai’s landscape. Then there is cool breeze of the trade winds that bring the tropical smell of Plumeria flowers greeting me as I step off of the airplane. The ocean is so warm and deep blue bursting with sea life. I can never get enough of surfing Hanalei Bay, sitting on my surfboard letting my eyes survey its breathtaking beauty and grandeur. Drive to the end of the road on the North Shore and you cannot help but be captivated by what is known as “Bali Hai” and the majestic Napali Coast.
But my favorite thing of all about Kauai is to watch the glory of the Hawaiian sunset at the end of the day. When the sun goes down and reaches the horizon you can for a split second see a green flash of light before the sun disappears. The after sunset is amazing with its palette of color and beauty that goes on until the darkness steals its glory. I have witnessed many sunsets alone but my greatest joy has been when I have been able to watch the sunset at Tunnels Beach with my wife. As we sit together on the white sand beach surrounded by palm trees overlooking the blue ocean stretching out to the horizon, the sun begins its descent at the end of a wonderful day spent together. As the sun sets over the horizon we say to one another, “Wow! Isn’t this awesome? This is so beautiful. Can you believe the colors? Look, it’s getting more colorful by the minute. Praise God!” Somehow the joy of our experience is enriched and completed by expressing it one to another.
In our sharing the experience of that sunset, neither of us had to talk or coach or persuade ourselves into appreciating the view. We have never once said, “We ought to enjoy this" or "Shouldn't we appreciate this and say something about it?” There was absolutely no sense of duty in our enjoyment and communicating its worth to one another. All we had to do is see it and savor it for what a Kauai sunset is: beautiful, breathtaking, and glorious! And the greatest joy was expressing our joy one to another!
How much more joyful is a life lived before the face of the beautiful living God! To see Him is to savor Him and to savor Him is enjoy him by glorifying and praising Him. That is why the key to Christian living is being happy in God. It is God’s aim and it is my duty to be supremely happy in God! Psalm 144:15 says, “Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!”
The duty of Christian living is a “peculiar” duty. Webster’s dictionary describes “duty” as “obligatory tasks, conduct, service, or functions that arise from ones position as in life or a group. The service required or a moral or legal obligation”. But God looks at duty in a different way. Tragically most of us have been taught that duty, not delight, is the way that we serve and honor God. But we have not been taught that delight in God is our duty! John Piper calls it “the dangerous duty of delight”. Being satisfied in God is not an optional add-on to the real stuff of Christian duty. It is the most basic demand of all. It is the foundation of living in God’s world.
"Delight yourself in the Lord" (Psalm 37:4) is not a suggestion but a command. So are: "Serve the Lord with gladness" (Psalm 100:2); and "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil. 4:4).
Jonathan Edwards taught that the essence of glorifying God is when He is shown to be most beautiful and valuable by His people enjoying him above all things. “True religion, in great part, consists of holy affections.”
Loving and cherishing and honoring and delighting in God come alive when our affections are fully engaged. The heart of man is a desire factory where the battle rages for joy in all God has for us in Christ. So the peculiar duty of the believer is to pursue maximum joy in God alone.
C. S. Lewis said that "it is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can." The peculiar duty of the Christian is an inward duty to “delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4) and to “be glad in the Lord, and rejoice” (Psalm 32:11).
Consider the analogy of a wedding anniversary. Mine is on June 1. Suppose on this day I bring home my wife Debi’s favorite country bouquet. When she meets me at the door I hand her the flowers, and she says, "O Bill, they're beautiful, thank you," and gives me a big hug. Then suppose I hold up my hand and say matter-of-fact, "Don't mention it Deb; it's our anniversary, I’m supposed to do this, it is required of me, it’s my duty." What happens? I'm sleeping in another bedroom that night! How does my wife feel? Perhaps she feels like dumping the bouquet on my head! Is this exercise of duty a noble thing? Does my wife feel loved and valued by me? Hardly! Not if my heart’s not in it. Flowers given by duty are a contradiction in terms. If I am not moved by a spontaneous affection for my precious wife as a person, the flowers do not honor her. In fact they belittle and demean her. They are a very thin covering for the fact that she does not have the worth or beauty in my eyes to kindle affection. All I can muster is a calculated expression of marital duty.
But when I bring my wife that bouquet of country flowers, and she asks me why I gave them to her, the answer that honors her most is, “Because nothing makes me happier than to do this for you, I love you so much!” “It is my duty” dishonors her. “It is my joy” honors her. If I take my wife out for the evening on our anniversary and she asks me, "Why do you do this?" the answer that honors her most is, "Because nothing makes me happier tonight than to be with you."
There it is! A peculiar duty. How shall we honor God in worship? By saying, "It's my duty"? Or by saying, "It's my joy"? But for some people -- most people -- the word "duty" is not a happy word. It tends to sound oppressive and burdensome. So it doesn't sound then that God is very loving. That he doesn't have our best interest at heart. How do God’s glory and our duty to delight in Him work together? How do you bring glory to an all-sufficient, perfect, infinitely beautiful, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, overflowing God? Let me give you illustrations from ordinary life.
At the beginning I discussed the experience of my wife and myself observing a Hawaiian sunset. If you want to glorify a beautiful sunset, you don't feel a burden to work to improve it. You simply enjoy it. You love it. You talk about it excitedly to your friends. Or suppose you are hiking at Yosemite in the winter time and arrive at Summit Meadow, a huge, breathtaking, snow covered meadow surrounded by a conifer forest. How do you glorify the excellence of the meadow? By looking intently all around you, taking it all in, by enjoying the view, and by thinking and saying “wow this is awesome!”
In other words if it is your duty to glorify something infinitely beautiful and wonderful, that is no burden. It is a joy and a pleasure. In fact when you take from it pleasure, you demonstrate that it's a treasure. Or suppose your duty was to glorify someones generosity. I recently had someone take me all expenses paid to the Mentawai Islands off of Sumatra in Indonesia. The generosity of this person was overwhelming. How have I glorified that quality in him? Not by trying to pay him back. That would turn his kindness into a business transaction. It would treat his free gift like a trade. Tit for tat. That would not glorify the wealth of his generosity. No, the way to glorify their generosity and their kindness is to be lavish and genuine in my appreciation, gratitude, and thanksgiving. And that is no burden. When I received this generous gift I did not groan under the duty to feel thankful. It was a pleasure not a hardship to profusely thank him and feel such gratitude towards him.
God created us for His glory. Therefore the peculiar duty of every man and woman and child is to live for the glory of God. What a wonderfully peculiar duty it is! And the wonderful thing is that this duty is not a burden. It is freedom and joy. You glorify God's beauty and excellence by loving it and delighting in it. You glorify God's provision for your thirsty souls by drinking and being satisfied in Him alone. You glorify God's bounty and generosity and kindness and grace by overflowing with gratitude. It is there spontaneously. It is not consciously willed. It is not analyzed in terms of an appropriate response. It is not decided upon. It comes from deep within, from a place beneath the conscious will.
Eric Liddell, the great Christian missionary and Olympic athlete, was once asked why he ran. He said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." What an amazing duty God has given us! “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Our duty is our very delight! When we fulfill our “peculiar” duty, God gets much glory and we get much joy. We come into His presence with joyful singing from the heart and if someone asks us why we can say like Eric Liddell, “I run to give God pleasure and worship God my treasure because it gives me so much pleasure.”
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
THE DIFFICULT DOCTRINE OF THE LOVE OF GOD Part 2
Last week I mentioned that there is much ignorance and misunderstanding about the love of God both outside the church and inside the church. The unbeliever has a very different conception of the love of God than a Christian. If they believe in God, they generally tend to believe that He is a loving, benevolent being; but tend to not believe in his holiness, justice, wrath, sovereignty, or providence. I also mentioned that sometimes the love of God is reduced in Christian circles to something that is less and easier and simpler than it really is.
The Bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. So we discussed…
1. The Peculiar Love of God the Father for His Son
2. God’s General and Providential Love for His Creation
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
Finally,
5. God's love is sometimes said to be directed toward his own people in a provisional or conditional way-conditioned on obedience. Often times it is spoken in Christian circles that “God’s love is totally and always unconditional.” Is that statement true? In one sense yes, but in another sense no. You might say, “It depends”. How does God love unconditionally?
We saw last week that there are at least two ways or contexts that God loves unconditionally:
• He loves His people with electing love unconditionally. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4-5). He does not base this election on foreseeing anyone’s faith. On the contrary, our faith is the result of being chosen and appointed to believe, as Acts 13:48 says, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Romans 9:16 says, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
• He loves His people with regenerating love before they meet any condition. The new birth is not God’s response to our meeting the condition of faith. On the contrary, the new birth enables us to believe. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been [already!] born of God,” (1John 5:1). “[We] were born, not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
So there is one sense in which God’s love is totally unconditional but there is another sense that scriptures teach God’s love is sometimes conditional. In short, there is a context to God’s unconditional love and there is a context to God’s conditional love. Unconditional love is not a saving love that he has for everybody. Else everybody would be saved, since they would not have to meet any conditions, not even faith. But Jesus said everybody is not saved (Matthew 25:46). It’s not the love that justifies sinners since the Bible says we are justified by faith, and faith is a condition (Romans 5:1). It’s not the love of working all things together for our good because Paul says that happens “to those who love God” (Romans 8:28). It’s not the love of the most intimate fellowship with the Father because Jesus said, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:21). And James said, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Not unconditional. It depends upon certain things. This means that there is a precious experience of peace, assurance, harmony, and intimacy that is It’s not the love that will admit us into heaven when we die because John says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). And faithfulness is a condition.
D.A. Carson says, “It is part of the relational structure of knowing God; it does not have to do with how we become true followers of the Irving God, but with our relationship with him once we do know him.” Jude exhorts us to "keep yourselves in God's love," (v. 21), leaving the unmistakable impression that someone might not keep himself or herself in the love of God. Now this is different than God’s providential love; God's yearning love, nor is it His eternal, elective love. BUT, The Lord commands His disciples to remain in his love (John 15:9), adding, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love" (John 15:10).
Carson draws an analogy,
Although there is a sense in which my love for my children is immutable, so help me God, regardless of what they do, there is another sense in which they know well enough that they must remain in my love. If for no good reason my teenagers do not get home by the time I have prescribed, the least they will experience is a bawling out, and they may come under some restrictive sanctions. There is no use reminding them that I am doing this because I love them. That is true, but the manifestation of my love for them when I ground them and when I take them out for a meal or attend one of their concerts or take my son fishing or my daughter on an excursion of some sort is rather different in the two cases. Only the latter will feel much more like remaining in my love than falling under my wrath.
This conditional love is taught throughout the scriptures. God says that He shows His love "to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). “From everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him . . . with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts" (Psalm 103:9-11, 13, 17-18). This is the language of relationship between God and His covenant people.
So is God’s love conditional, unconditional, or both? Carson says, "God's love is unconditional in the fourth sense, with respect to God's elective love. But it is certainly not true in the fifth sense: God's discipline of his children means that he may turn upon us with the divine equivalent of the "wrath" of a parent on a wayward teenager. Indeed, to cite the cliché "God's love is unconditional" to a Christian who is drifting toward sin may convey the wrong impression and do a lot of damage. Such Christians need to be told that they will remain in God's love only if they do what he says."
We must declare that God loves all men in his providence and in His saving stance towards the whole world. But we also must declare that God particularly loves His elect in a way that is different than the whole of mankind. God's election and calling are totally unconditional (Romans 9:11; 11:5-6; Ephesians 2:5). Finally, we must say that the enjoyment of all the benefits of that election and calling in its effect upon our lives is conditioned upon certain things like forsaking sin, faith, obedience, and pursuing intimacy with Jesus Christ.
The incredible thing is that in love God is the initiator and the enabler of our ability to meet these very conditions (Philippians 2; 12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 4:19). So the conditions are there and real and we are responsible, but we do them with God’s enabling. We must understand this or our faith will be fragile, shallow, and weak.
So there is a sense that God loves everyone the same and another sense that it is not true. There is a sense that God’s love is unconditional and there is another sense that His love is totally conditional. Obviously, then, it is very important for us “to know and to understand what passages and themes to apply to which people at any given time.”
Basking in the depth and wisdom of God’s love,
Pastor Bill
The Bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. So we discussed…
1. The Peculiar Love of God the Father for His Son
2. God’s General and Providential Love for His Creation
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
Finally,
5. God's love is sometimes said to be directed toward his own people in a provisional or conditional way-conditioned on obedience. Often times it is spoken in Christian circles that “God’s love is totally and always unconditional.” Is that statement true? In one sense yes, but in another sense no. You might say, “It depends”. How does God love unconditionally?
We saw last week that there are at least two ways or contexts that God loves unconditionally:
• He loves His people with electing love unconditionally. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4-5). He does not base this election on foreseeing anyone’s faith. On the contrary, our faith is the result of being chosen and appointed to believe, as Acts 13:48 says, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Romans 9:16 says, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
• He loves His people with regenerating love before they meet any condition. The new birth is not God’s response to our meeting the condition of faith. On the contrary, the new birth enables us to believe. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been [already!] born of God,” (1John 5:1). “[We] were born, not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
So there is one sense in which God’s love is totally unconditional but there is another sense that scriptures teach God’s love is sometimes conditional. In short, there is a context to God’s unconditional love and there is a context to God’s conditional love. Unconditional love is not a saving love that he has for everybody. Else everybody would be saved, since they would not have to meet any conditions, not even faith. But Jesus said everybody is not saved (Matthew 25:46). It’s not the love that justifies sinners since the Bible says we are justified by faith, and faith is a condition (Romans 5:1). It’s not the love of working all things together for our good because Paul says that happens “to those who love God” (Romans 8:28). It’s not the love of the most intimate fellowship with the Father because Jesus said, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:21). And James said, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Not unconditional. It depends upon certain things. This means that there is a precious experience of peace, assurance, harmony, and intimacy that is It’s not the love that will admit us into heaven when we die because John says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). And faithfulness is a condition.
D.A. Carson says, “It is part of the relational structure of knowing God; it does not have to do with how we become true followers of the Irving God, but with our relationship with him once we do know him.” Jude exhorts us to "keep yourselves in God's love," (v. 21), leaving the unmistakable impression that someone might not keep himself or herself in the love of God. Now this is different than God’s providential love; God's yearning love, nor is it His eternal, elective love. BUT, The Lord commands His disciples to remain in his love (John 15:9), adding, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love" (John 15:10).
Carson draws an analogy,
Although there is a sense in which my love for my children is immutable, so help me God, regardless of what they do, there is another sense in which they know well enough that they must remain in my love. If for no good reason my teenagers do not get home by the time I have prescribed, the least they will experience is a bawling out, and they may come under some restrictive sanctions. There is no use reminding them that I am doing this because I love them. That is true, but the manifestation of my love for them when I ground them and when I take them out for a meal or attend one of their concerts or take my son fishing or my daughter on an excursion of some sort is rather different in the two cases. Only the latter will feel much more like remaining in my love than falling under my wrath.
This conditional love is taught throughout the scriptures. God says that He shows His love "to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). “From everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him . . . with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts" (Psalm 103:9-11, 13, 17-18). This is the language of relationship between God and His covenant people.
So is God’s love conditional, unconditional, or both? Carson says, "God's love is unconditional in the fourth sense, with respect to God's elective love. But it is certainly not true in the fifth sense: God's discipline of his children means that he may turn upon us with the divine equivalent of the "wrath" of a parent on a wayward teenager. Indeed, to cite the cliché "God's love is unconditional" to a Christian who is drifting toward sin may convey the wrong impression and do a lot of damage. Such Christians need to be told that they will remain in God's love only if they do what he says."
We must declare that God loves all men in his providence and in His saving stance towards the whole world. But we also must declare that God particularly loves His elect in a way that is different than the whole of mankind. God's election and calling are totally unconditional (Romans 9:11; 11:5-6; Ephesians 2:5). Finally, we must say that the enjoyment of all the benefits of that election and calling in its effect upon our lives is conditioned upon certain things like forsaking sin, faith, obedience, and pursuing intimacy with Jesus Christ.
The incredible thing is that in love God is the initiator and the enabler of our ability to meet these very conditions (Philippians 2; 12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 4:19). So the conditions are there and real and we are responsible, but we do them with God’s enabling. We must understand this or our faith will be fragile, shallow, and weak.
So there is a sense that God loves everyone the same and another sense that it is not true. There is a sense that God’s love is unconditional and there is another sense that His love is totally conditional. Obviously, then, it is very important for us “to know and to understand what passages and themes to apply to which people at any given time.”
Basking in the depth and wisdom of God’s love,
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
THOUGHTS ON THE DIFFICULT DOCTRINE OF THE LOVE OF GOD
I have recently read D.A Carson’s profound little book called The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. The title might surprise you because almost everyone believes in God that God is a loving God. He says that what makes it difficult is that when a bible believing Christians speaks of the love of God, they mean something very different than what is meant in our surrounding culture. They may believe in a God of love but not in justice, sovereignty, holiness, wrath, or providence. In short, the love of God is purged of anything that seems uncomfortable. It has been sanitized, democratized, and sentimentalized.
Sometimes the love of God is reduced in Christian circles to something that is less and easier and simpler than it really is. Christian culture makes statements that misrepresent or reduce God’s love with declarations that are only half or partially true or true in a particular context such as “God’s love is totally unconditional” or “God loves everybody the same”. I have found that some Christians can get really upset when these particular platitudes are challenged.
But the fact is that the bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. John Piper says, “It is so important that we let the Bible define what it means by love in any given passage. We should not bring all our assumptions about love and make the Bible mean what we think love must be.”
1. The Peculiar Love of God the father for His Son
First, there is God’s love for his Son and the Son’s love for the Father. John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” In John 14:31, Jesus says, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”
God’s love for the other members of the Trinity is different from his love for us because there is no sin to be overcome. If God loves us, he loves us in spite of our sin. God the Father does not love the Son in spite of anything. Everything about the Son is infinitely worthy of love.
2. God’s Providential Love for His Creation
Second, God loves his creation and sustains it with his care, even for the use of his enemies. For example, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalms 145:9). Or in Matthew 5:44-45 Jesus commands us, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So God’s love moves him to provide rain and sunshine where it is not deserved. Jesus calls it an example of love for his enemies, and an example of how we should love our enemies.
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World The apostle John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God loves the world by sending his Son and opening the door of eternal life to anyone who believes on him. So, we can say to every human being “God loves you. And this is how he loves you: He gave his Son to die, so that if you would believe, your sins would be forgiven and you would have eternal life.”
John Piper says, “There are no limits to this offer: It goes out to all people of every ethnic group and every age and every socio-economic category and, best of all, to every degree of sinner—from the bad to the worst. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever”—indiscriminate and universal—“believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
But this is where the love of God becomes difficult. When we try to use this expression of God’s love to cancel or negate another expression of the love God—which is what many people do with this verse. This is a great sadness and robs the church of one of her great treasures.
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
But the most precious experience of the love of God has not yet been described. This is the love of God that moves him to go beyond the free offer of the gospel and choose a people for himself, bring them to himself in faith, and make with them personal everlasting covenant. In each case, God loves his chosen ones in a way that He does not love others. You could call this God’s electing love, or God’s regenerating love, or God’s covenant love. With this love, God does more than offer. He overcomes rebellion and resistance so that these loved ones receive the offer. This can be seen in several ways.
A. God’s Love Shown in Choosing of Israel
“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” (Deuteronomy 10:14-15).
The point here is that God did not just offer to be Israel’s covenant God; he chose Israel. He took them from all the people. He didn’t negotiate. He freely and sovereignly and unconditionally chose Israel.
The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
The amazing point here is that when Israel is contrasted with other nations, they are not distinguished because of any merit or loveliness in themselves, but simply on the basis that God loves them! God’s love is directed towards other nations. Obviously, this way of speaking of God’s love is different than the other ways that God’s love is spoken of. They did not choose him. He chose them. And he calls this love. It is a love that goes beyond an offer. In a similar fashion, the apostle Paul says that “Christ loves the church.” (Ephesians 5:25).
B. God’s Love Through the Gift of New Birth
We see this kind of love in God’s raising us from spiritual death and causing us to be born again. In John 3:8, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, being born again happens to us at the Spirit’s will. We don’t control the wind, and we don’t control the Spirit. He comes and goes with his regenerating power as he pleases.
John 1:12-13 puts it this way, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
This is called love—great love—in Ephesians 2:4-5: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (cf. “great mercy” in 1 Peter 1:3). This is “great love” that goes way beyond offering to spiritually dead people that if they will believe, they will be saved. This love conquers our deadness. It gives new life, and brings us to faith, and unites us to Christ—all in one sovereign instant.
C. Jesus’ Particular Love for His Chosen Sheep
This is clear in John 10:25-26. Jesus says, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.” So we don’t first believe in order to be a part of Jesus’ flock; God makes us part of Jesus’ flock in order that we may believe. This means that when Jesus says in John 10:11, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” In John 10:16, Jesus looks beyond the present fold of believers and says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.” And John 11:51-52 says he died to gather them. He died in order to bring his chosen sheep to faith. John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear my voice [that’s how you can tell they are sheep] and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Why do they come? They come because the Father has chosen them and gives to Jesus. John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” They come because God draws them. John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:65: “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Piper asks the question, Why doesn’t everybody believe the good news of John 3:16, “Whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”? Why don’t people come? Jesus answers in John 3:19-20, “This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light.”
The more amazing question is: Why do any of us come? Why do any of us receive Christ as the supreme Treasure of our lives? And the answer is: There is a greater love than the love of John 3:16. It goes beyond offering eternal life and actually creates it in your heart.
Finally John Piper says, “Those of you who believe on Christ, God wants you to know yourself loved, not only with universal love of John 3:16, but also with his death-conquering, hardness-removing, rebellion-eradicating, sight-imparting, faith-creating, personal, individual, invincible covenant love of which we are absolutely undeserving.
Oh may we become biblical in our understanding of God’s love. More than that, may we savor this Trinitarian love, this providential love, this salvation offering love, and this sovereign, electing, covenant love. It is to be received, absorbed, and felt. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”.
To be continued…
Pastor Bill
Sometimes the love of God is reduced in Christian circles to something that is less and easier and simpler than it really is. Christian culture makes statements that misrepresent or reduce God’s love with declarations that are only half or partially true or true in a particular context such as “God’s love is totally unconditional” or “God loves everybody the same”. I have found that some Christians can get really upset when these particular platitudes are challenged.
But the fact is that the bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. John Piper says, “It is so important that we let the Bible define what it means by love in any given passage. We should not bring all our assumptions about love and make the Bible mean what we think love must be.”
1. The Peculiar Love of God the father for His Son
First, there is God’s love for his Son and the Son’s love for the Father. John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” In John 14:31, Jesus says, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”
God’s love for the other members of the Trinity is different from his love for us because there is no sin to be overcome. If God loves us, he loves us in spite of our sin. God the Father does not love the Son in spite of anything. Everything about the Son is infinitely worthy of love.
2. God’s Providential Love for His Creation
Second, God loves his creation and sustains it with his care, even for the use of his enemies. For example, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalms 145:9). Or in Matthew 5:44-45 Jesus commands us, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So God’s love moves him to provide rain and sunshine where it is not deserved. Jesus calls it an example of love for his enemies, and an example of how we should love our enemies.
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World The apostle John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God loves the world by sending his Son and opening the door of eternal life to anyone who believes on him. So, we can say to every human being “God loves you. And this is how he loves you: He gave his Son to die, so that if you would believe, your sins would be forgiven and you would have eternal life.”
John Piper says, “There are no limits to this offer: It goes out to all people of every ethnic group and every age and every socio-economic category and, best of all, to every degree of sinner—from the bad to the worst. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever”—indiscriminate and universal—“believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
But this is where the love of God becomes difficult. When we try to use this expression of God’s love to cancel or negate another expression of the love God—which is what many people do with this verse. This is a great sadness and robs the church of one of her great treasures.
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
But the most precious experience of the love of God has not yet been described. This is the love of God that moves him to go beyond the free offer of the gospel and choose a people for himself, bring them to himself in faith, and make with them personal everlasting covenant. In each case, God loves his chosen ones in a way that He does not love others. You could call this God’s electing love, or God’s regenerating love, or God’s covenant love. With this love, God does more than offer. He overcomes rebellion and resistance so that these loved ones receive the offer. This can be seen in several ways.
A. God’s Love Shown in Choosing of Israel
“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” (Deuteronomy 10:14-15).
The point here is that God did not just offer to be Israel’s covenant God; he chose Israel. He took them from all the people. He didn’t negotiate. He freely and sovereignly and unconditionally chose Israel.
The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
The amazing point here is that when Israel is contrasted with other nations, they are not distinguished because of any merit or loveliness in themselves, but simply on the basis that God loves them! God’s love is directed towards other nations. Obviously, this way of speaking of God’s love is different than the other ways that God’s love is spoken of. They did not choose him. He chose them. And he calls this love. It is a love that goes beyond an offer. In a similar fashion, the apostle Paul says that “Christ loves the church.” (Ephesians 5:25).
B. God’s Love Through the Gift of New Birth
We see this kind of love in God’s raising us from spiritual death and causing us to be born again. In John 3:8, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, being born again happens to us at the Spirit’s will. We don’t control the wind, and we don’t control the Spirit. He comes and goes with his regenerating power as he pleases.
John 1:12-13 puts it this way, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
This is called love—great love—in Ephesians 2:4-5: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (cf. “great mercy” in 1 Peter 1:3). This is “great love” that goes way beyond offering to spiritually dead people that if they will believe, they will be saved. This love conquers our deadness. It gives new life, and brings us to faith, and unites us to Christ—all in one sovereign instant.
C. Jesus’ Particular Love for His Chosen Sheep
This is clear in John 10:25-26. Jesus says, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.” So we don’t first believe in order to be a part of Jesus’ flock; God makes us part of Jesus’ flock in order that we may believe. This means that when Jesus says in John 10:11, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” In John 10:16, Jesus looks beyond the present fold of believers and says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.” And John 11:51-52 says he died to gather them. He died in order to bring his chosen sheep to faith. John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear my voice [that’s how you can tell they are sheep] and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Why do they come? They come because the Father has chosen them and gives to Jesus. John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” They come because God draws them. John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:65: “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Piper asks the question, Why doesn’t everybody believe the good news of John 3:16, “Whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”? Why don’t people come? Jesus answers in John 3:19-20, “This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light.”
The more amazing question is: Why do any of us come? Why do any of us receive Christ as the supreme Treasure of our lives? And the answer is: There is a greater love than the love of John 3:16. It goes beyond offering eternal life and actually creates it in your heart.
Finally John Piper says, “Those of you who believe on Christ, God wants you to know yourself loved, not only with universal love of John 3:16, but also with his death-conquering, hardness-removing, rebellion-eradicating, sight-imparting, faith-creating, personal, individual, invincible covenant love of which we are absolutely undeserving.
Oh may we become biblical in our understanding of God’s love. More than that, may we savor this Trinitarian love, this providential love, this salvation offering love, and this sovereign, electing, covenant love. It is to be received, absorbed, and felt. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”.
To be continued…
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
DON'T WASTE YOUR TRIALS!
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 121:1-8 ESV
Two years ago, John Piper was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The evening before his surgery, he wrote a brief article to his church family entitled, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” It was very insightful. Here is what John Piper wrote,
“I believe in God’s power to heal—by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. Cancer is not wasted when it is healed by God. He gets the glory and that is why cancer exists. So not to pray for healing may waste your cancer. But healing is not God’s plan for everyone. And there are many other ways to waste your cancer. I am praying for myself and for you that we will not waste this pain.”
And then, John Piper gave ten ways in which you can waste your cancer. He elaborated on each of these ways with a paragraph. For the sake of space, I’ll only give you his points. Here are John Piper’s ways to waste your cancer....
1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.
9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
This is my heart for you as I write this blog this morning. This year has not been an easy year for most of us as we reach its half mark. As we all face our unique struggles and difficulties and temptations, and an uncertain future; I don’t want to waste my trials nor do I want for you to waste them. Rather, I want for us to see and experience that as Psalm 121:1 says, “our help comes from the Lord” and not merely from your own means. I want for you to resolve to put your trust in the LORD through your trials, so that you don’t waste the difficulties that the LORD brings upon your life this year but instead to put your trust in only in Him.
We could easily take the Spirit of John Piper’s words regarding cancer and adapt them generally into “trials” :
1. You will waste your trials if you do not believe it is purposefully, intelligently, intentionally, and sovereignly designed for you by God.
2. You will waste your trials if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
3. You will waste your trials if you seek comfort from the experiences of others, rather than from the help that God gives.
4. You will waste your trials if you refuse to think about death.
5. You will waste your trials if you think that seeing your trial end, finding relief, or escaping it, is more important than cherishing Christ.
6. You will waste your trials if you spend too much time thinking about your trial and not thinking about God.
7. You will waste your trials if you let it drive you into solitude and isolation instead of deepening your relationships with others in service, care, manifest love, and affection.
8. You will waste your trials if you grieve as one who has no help and is all alone.
9. You will waste your trials if you treat sin as casually as before.
10. You will waste your trials if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and supremacy and the glory of Christ.
This is my desire for my life and how I handle adversity. I am ruthlessly and radically preaching to myself, Robison, DON’T WASTE YOUR TRIALS! This my heart for all of you: Don’t waste your trials and difficulties and struggles and hardships that come upon your life. Rather, use them to display your trust in the LORD for His glory and your heaven graced joy!
Pastor Bill
Two years ago, John Piper was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The evening before his surgery, he wrote a brief article to his church family entitled, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” It was very insightful. Here is what John Piper wrote,
“I believe in God’s power to heal—by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. Cancer is not wasted when it is healed by God. He gets the glory and that is why cancer exists. So not to pray for healing may waste your cancer. But healing is not God’s plan for everyone. And there are many other ways to waste your cancer. I am praying for myself and for you that we will not waste this pain.”
And then, John Piper gave ten ways in which you can waste your cancer. He elaborated on each of these ways with a paragraph. For the sake of space, I’ll only give you his points. Here are John Piper’s ways to waste your cancer....
1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.
9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
This is my heart for you as I write this blog this morning. This year has not been an easy year for most of us as we reach its half mark. As we all face our unique struggles and difficulties and temptations, and an uncertain future; I don’t want to waste my trials nor do I want for you to waste them. Rather, I want for us to see and experience that as Psalm 121:1 says, “our help comes from the Lord” and not merely from your own means. I want for you to resolve to put your trust in the LORD through your trials, so that you don’t waste the difficulties that the LORD brings upon your life this year but instead to put your trust in only in Him.
We could easily take the Spirit of John Piper’s words regarding cancer and adapt them generally into “trials” :
1. You will waste your trials if you do not believe it is purposefully, intelligently, intentionally, and sovereignly designed for you by God.
2. You will waste your trials if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
3. You will waste your trials if you seek comfort from the experiences of others, rather than from the help that God gives.
4. You will waste your trials if you refuse to think about death.
5. You will waste your trials if you think that seeing your trial end, finding relief, or escaping it, is more important than cherishing Christ.
6. You will waste your trials if you spend too much time thinking about your trial and not thinking about God.
7. You will waste your trials if you let it drive you into solitude and isolation instead of deepening your relationships with others in service, care, manifest love, and affection.
8. You will waste your trials if you grieve as one who has no help and is all alone.
9. You will waste your trials if you treat sin as casually as before.
10. You will waste your trials if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and supremacy and the glory of Christ.
This is my desire for my life and how I handle adversity. I am ruthlessly and radically preaching to myself, Robison, DON’T WASTE YOUR TRIALS! This my heart for all of you: Don’t waste your trials and difficulties and struggles and hardships that come upon your life. Rather, use them to display your trust in the LORD for His glory and your heaven graced joy!
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
THE SUBSTANTIAL AND SIGNIFICANT LIFE
How do you live? Are you really living or are you existing? Are you living your life fully, passionately, purposefully, and expectantly? Or are you wasting your life living far beneath what God created and redeemed you for? Why are you alive? Why were you made? What kind of purpose did God have for you and me as He designed the universe and the part that you and I play in His eternal design?
Oh friend, God has made you with the highest creaturely purposes in mind : To see His glory, to savor his glory, and to show His glory. God says in Isaiah 43:7, "Everyone who is called by My name…I have created for My glory..." God has purposed for us to fully enjoy and display the His glory. Paul caught this vision and said in 1 Cor. 10:31, "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." This means that your life is radically and wonderfully significant. God has planned for a very substantial life both here on earth and for eternity.
This is why we were made:"All things were created by him and for him" (Colossians 1:16).
This is why our bodies were redeemed: "You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body"( 1 Corinthians 18-20).
This is why we bear fruit: "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit" (John 15:8)
This is why we pray: "Whatever you ask the Father in my name I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13).
This is why we do all good deeds: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
That is why we exist - to show and display the glory of God. The apostle Paul passionately pursued this purpose. In one of the the apostle Paul's purpose statements he says in Philippians 1:20, "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. "
To magnify or glorify God, in common language means to make God look as He truly is. We may think, “Christ is the Almighty God, Creator of the universe. How can I possibly magnify, exalt or glorify Him?” Think of Him as being a distant star. It may be more brilliant than our own sun, but to the human eye, it is just a dim speck in the night sky. To many in this world, Christ is that way. He is the very splendor of God, brighter than a billion suns. But the world doesn’t see Him that way. So God has purposed that the believer is to be a telescope to bring the truth about Christ into view for the unbeliever. Through us, Christ is magnified to a skeptical, unbelieving world. The calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is. The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way in your life and in your death that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God. Led us catch this purpose and it will revolutionize the kind of questions we ask in our daily lives.
Your life is all about God. That is the meaning of being human. It is our created nature to make much of God. It is our glory to worship the glory of God. When we fulfill this reason for being, we have substance; we have purpose; our lives have meaning. There is weight and significance in our existence. In short, we don't waste our purpose, we don't waste our lives!
To not to fulfill this purpose for our lives is as John Piper puts it "to be a mere shadow of the substance we were created to have. Not to display God's worth by enjoying him above all things is to be a mere echo of the music we were created to make. It is to be a mere residue of the impact we were created to have."
There is no greater tragedy than this. this is a meaningless, empty, utterly wasted life! Piper says,
"Humans are not made to be mere shadows and echoes and residues. We were made to have God-like substance and make God-like music and have God-like impact...when humans forsake their Maker and love other things more, they become like the things they love - small, insignificant, weightless, inconsequential, and God-diminishing."
Psalmist 135;15-18 says, "The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there any breath at all in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, Yes, everyone who trusts in them".
This is radical! This is the kind of truth that can awaken us from our shadow like/echo like existence and bring us to be the light and beautiful music to a blind and deaf world we were made to be.
Or, as John Piper says, it can do this:
"Think and tremble. You become like the man made things that you trust: can't speak; can't see; can't hear. This is a shadow existence. It is an echo and residue of what you were meant to be. It is an empty mime on the stage of history with much movement and no meaning."
Piper challenges us all to "be not shadows and echoes and residue."
Oh reader, be not mere shadows and echoes and residue; be the light and the music and the substance of the worth, the beauty, the preciousness, the treasure, the supreme value of the glory of God! You were made for this and you were redeemed for this. I pray this for all of you who say from the heart, “Jesus is Lord.” Whether you realize it or not, when you confess Jesus as the Lord of the universe, you sign up for significance beyond all your dreams. I mean businessmen, homemakers, students. To belong to Jesus is meant for you to live in such a way as to bring honor to Christ, to boldly proclaim Christ, and to magnify and worship Christ. This is your purpose ordained by God for His glory and your soul’s satisfaction and delight!
There will always be a serious or mild sickness in your soul until you embrace this calling. Listen to J. Campbell White, the first secretary of the Layman’s Missionary Movement in the early 1900’s. This movement was born among businessmen who were captured by a holy ambition to get behind what God was doing in the massive Student Volunteer Movement. Here is what the main leader among laymen said: “Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards."
What is the purpose for which God has eternally planned for you and me? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That is the only life worth living.
"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24) .
May you fulfill Christ's desire to see His glory, so that you might savor His glory, in order to fully live your created and redeemed and called purpose, to show His glory among the nations,
Pastor Bill
Oh friend, God has made you with the highest creaturely purposes in mind : To see His glory, to savor his glory, and to show His glory. God says in Isaiah 43:7, "Everyone who is called by My name…I have created for My glory..." God has purposed for us to fully enjoy and display the His glory. Paul caught this vision and said in 1 Cor. 10:31, "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." This means that your life is radically and wonderfully significant. God has planned for a very substantial life both here on earth and for eternity.
This is why we were made:"All things were created by him and for him" (Colossians 1:16).
This is why our bodies were redeemed: "You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body"( 1 Corinthians 18-20).
This is why we bear fruit: "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit" (John 15:8)
This is why we pray: "Whatever you ask the Father in my name I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13).
This is why we do all good deeds: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
That is why we exist - to show and display the glory of God. The apostle Paul passionately pursued this purpose. In one of the the apostle Paul's purpose statements he says in Philippians 1:20, "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. "
To magnify or glorify God, in common language means to make God look as He truly is. We may think, “Christ is the Almighty God, Creator of the universe. How can I possibly magnify, exalt or glorify Him?” Think of Him as being a distant star. It may be more brilliant than our own sun, but to the human eye, it is just a dim speck in the night sky. To many in this world, Christ is that way. He is the very splendor of God, brighter than a billion suns. But the world doesn’t see Him that way. So God has purposed that the believer is to be a telescope to bring the truth about Christ into view for the unbeliever. Through us, Christ is magnified to a skeptical, unbelieving world. The calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is. The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way in your life and in your death that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God. Led us catch this purpose and it will revolutionize the kind of questions we ask in our daily lives.
Your life is all about God. That is the meaning of being human. It is our created nature to make much of God. It is our glory to worship the glory of God. When we fulfill this reason for being, we have substance; we have purpose; our lives have meaning. There is weight and significance in our existence. In short, we don't waste our purpose, we don't waste our lives!
To not to fulfill this purpose for our lives is as John Piper puts it "to be a mere shadow of the substance we were created to have. Not to display God's worth by enjoying him above all things is to be a mere echo of the music we were created to make. It is to be a mere residue of the impact we were created to have."
There is no greater tragedy than this. this is a meaningless, empty, utterly wasted life! Piper says,
"Humans are not made to be mere shadows and echoes and residues. We were made to have God-like substance and make God-like music and have God-like impact...when humans forsake their Maker and love other things more, they become like the things they love - small, insignificant, weightless, inconsequential, and God-diminishing."
Psalmist 135;15-18 says, "The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there any breath at all in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, Yes, everyone who trusts in them".
This is radical! This is the kind of truth that can awaken us from our shadow like/echo like existence and bring us to be the light and beautiful music to a blind and deaf world we were made to be.
Or, as John Piper says, it can do this:
"Think and tremble. You become like the man made things that you trust: can't speak; can't see; can't hear. This is a shadow existence. It is an echo and residue of what you were meant to be. It is an empty mime on the stage of history with much movement and no meaning."
Piper challenges us all to "be not shadows and echoes and residue."
Oh reader, be not mere shadows and echoes and residue; be the light and the music and the substance of the worth, the beauty, the preciousness, the treasure, the supreme value of the glory of God! You were made for this and you were redeemed for this. I pray this for all of you who say from the heart, “Jesus is Lord.” Whether you realize it or not, when you confess Jesus as the Lord of the universe, you sign up for significance beyond all your dreams. I mean businessmen, homemakers, students. To belong to Jesus is meant for you to live in such a way as to bring honor to Christ, to boldly proclaim Christ, and to magnify and worship Christ. This is your purpose ordained by God for His glory and your soul’s satisfaction and delight!
There will always be a serious or mild sickness in your soul until you embrace this calling. Listen to J. Campbell White, the first secretary of the Layman’s Missionary Movement in the early 1900’s. This movement was born among businessmen who were captured by a holy ambition to get behind what God was doing in the massive Student Volunteer Movement. Here is what the main leader among laymen said: “Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards."
What is the purpose for which God has eternally planned for you and me? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That is the only life worth living.
"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24) .
May you fulfill Christ's desire to see His glory, so that you might savor His glory, in order to fully live your created and redeemed and called purpose, to show His glory among the nations,
Pastor Bill
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