A VISION OF A GOD WHO IS SO HAPPY THAT HE SMILES AND SINGS OVER YOU!

"On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion;let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach." Zephaniah 3:16-18

Did you know that God is the happiest being in the universe? Did you know that God is happy when He thinks about you and the work He is doing in, to, through, and over your life? Do you believe this? Perhaps if you did, it might launch your life into dimensions and levels of joy and delight previously unknown in your experience. Do you know that God loves you so much that He actually sings when He thinks of you?

We desperately need a sharpened biblical focus of whom God is and what He is really like. Because, when we know the truth, the truth sets us free! One of the reasons our witness to God’s reality is minimal is because our understanding of God’s reality is minimal. Like J.B. Phillips said earlier this century,” Your God is to small.” Oh how diminished God can often be by our little or ignorant understanding of Him! What we need is a big picture of a great God who is utterly committed to happily demonstrating His greatness in doing us good.

"I will never stop doing good to them…I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:40-41)
"Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)

Oh dear reader, do you see the majesty of God and the splendor of God overflowing with enthusiastic, joyful, omnipotence over you? J.I. Packer writes, "The people who know God, think great thoughts about God." He desires you to experience this magnificence as the explosion of God’s joy, happiness, and pleasure towards you.

This week I desire simply to lift up God’s singing voice over you and magnify His supreme beauty, majesty, goodness, greatness, and happiness!

Let me give you a little background to this stupendous statement that the prophet Zephaniah makes from God to you.

According to Zephaniah 1:1, "The word of the Lord came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi . . . in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah."

Josiah had begun to reign in Judah about 80 years after the northern kingdom of Israel had been swept away by the Assyrian invaders. During those 80 years the southern kingdom of Judah had not learned the lesson of the northern kingdom, and sank deeper and deeper into sin and rebellion against the law of God. In the 18th year of Josiah's reign Hellish the priest found in the Temple a copy of the book of the law that had been ignored for decades. When he read it to the king, Josiah was broken. He humbled himself before the Lord and rent his clothes and wept (2 Kings 22:19).

Over the next thirteen years Josiah led an amazing reformation in Judah based on the law of God. He renewed the covenant between God and his people (2 Kings 23:3). He took all the vessels of Baal and Asherah out of the Temple and burned them in the fields of Kidron (23:4). He deposed the idolatrous priests (23:5). He broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes (23:7). He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun (23:11). And he re-instituted the Passover that had been ignored since the days of the judges (23:22).

These were the days of Zephaniah according to 1:1. So when we read this little book we can picture it as part of the call for reformation that Josiah was pursuing. No doubt the prophet and the king teamed up to try to draw the people back to God. most of the book is a warning and a prediction of the coming judgment in wrath upon the nations. . Why was God's wrath so kindled? Because God had ceased to be a practical reality in their lives. At the end of the book a great ray of hope bursts through. It seems that in spite of the worldwide outpouring of his wrath God is going to do two great acts of mercy described in Zephaniah 3:9-20.

1.God is going to cause a global awakening so that people from all the nations turn to him. In verses 9-20, a global awakening with people from all the nations calling on the Lord and serving him.

2. The other act of mercy in these verses is the revival and purification of his people Israel. He is going to remove the proud and leave only a people who are humble and lowly, who trust in the name of the Lord. (Verses 11-12). The last word is the promise of a worldwide turning to God and a revival of true faith among his people Israel. "At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes," says the LORD" (verse.20).

So when when we read Zephaniah 3:17, " The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.", we know that it refers not only to all believing Jews but also to all of Gentiles who have become heirs of the promise through faith in Christ, the seed of Abraham.
From this amazing verse I want to give you a new, fresh way of seeing your God as the singing, happy God. God does not do you good out of some constraint or coercion. He is free, and in his freedom he overflows in joy to do you infinite, inimitable, incomparable, good. He rejoices over you with loud singing.

I was thinking about this. When I am happiest in my life I sing. What is in my heart, the joy, the delight, must be expressed. And there is no more completion of my joy than to sing it out! Sometimes a give a live performance of my joy when I get into the shower and sing my heart out because I am so happy. When I am driving my car with the windows up and I end up at a stop light, people can see me with a big grin on my face, singing in my joy. When I think of the girl I love, I love to sing songs to her. Most of all, when I gather together with other Christians, I love to stand, lift my hands, and sing my heart out to God. I cannot think of anything that expresses when I am happy inside more than singing.

Now imagine that magnified many more times and think of what Zephaniah says of the happiness that God has over you that causes Him to sing! Please slowly, openly, prayerfully read this verse again and apply it to your life at this moment. Put your name in it.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over _______(Put your name there to make this a personal promise to you) with gladness; he will quiet _______(Put your name there to make this a personal promise to you) by his love; he will rejoice over _______(Put your name there to make this a personal promise to you) with loud singing.

Can you imagine what it would be like if you could hear God singing? The truth is that God smiles and His heart sings with delight over you.

When I hear this singing I stand dumbfounded, staggered, and speechless that he is singing over me- one who has dishonored Him so many times and in so many ways. He is rejoicing over my good with all his heart and with all his soul (Jeremiah 32:41)! He virtually breaks forth in song when He thinks about us!

God’s unbridled joy in this passage reminds me of a good musical. I’ve watched enough to know how you get this feeling when a song is about to break out? The interaction builds, the characters look into each other’s eyes, and you just know somebody is going to start singing. And sure enough, somebody does!

That is the feeling I get in this text. God is looking over His people (You!) and He can’t help but break into song. He doesn’t closet Himself away in a shower or in His car like I do, however. In full view of the angels, or anyone who is watching, God lets out a praise-filled chorus.

Can you feel the wonder of this today? That God is rejoicing over you with loud singing?

In your guilt
"No," you say, "I can't, because I am too guilty that God should rejoice over me." But will you not believe verse 15: "The Lord has taken away the judgments against you!" Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord exults over you with loud singing today, even though you have sinned? Can you not feel that guilt and condemnation has been lifted because He bruised His own Son in your place, if you would only believe?
In the midst of your trials
"No," you say, "I can't because I am surrounded by enemies, and obstacles beset me on every side. There are people who never let me believe this. There are people at work who make me miserable if I make God my treasure. There are people in my family who reject me. I have friends who want to drag me down. " But will you not believe Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord is a mighty one who will save" and verse 19: "Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors;" and verse 15, "He has cleared away your enemies"? Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord is doing everything He needs to do for you to enjoy Him and love Him? Can you see that no enemies are too strong for God? That nothing can stop Him who exults over you with loud singing?
When God seems distant
"No," you say, "Still I can't because he is a great a holy God and I feel like he is far away from me." I am small and insignificant, a nobody. But will you not believe verse 15: "The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;" and verse 17: "The Lord, your God, is in your midst"?

He is not far from you. God is personally present to all who come to Him and believe in Him. HE IS GOD! Say it to yourself, HE IS GOD! What shall stop God from being close to me if He wants to be? HE IS GOD! The very greatness that makes Him seem too far to be near, is the very greatness that enables Him to do whatever He pleases, including being near and close to me.
Has he not said for that very reason in Isaiah 57:15, “For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Has he not said in Rom 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord exults over you with loud singing?

When you feel shame
Still do you say, "No, because I am enslaved to shame. I have been scoffed at and threatened and manipulated and slandered. Inside this cocoon of shame even the singing of God sounds faint and far away and indecipherable." But again I ask dear reader, do you not know that God Himself promises at the end of verse 19: " I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth"? Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord rejoices over you with loud singing? And let yourself awaken to the wonder that the Lord, the King of kings, rejoices over you with gladness and exults over you with loud singing.

Oh what a singing, happy God you have! Listen to these words:
Isaiah. 62:5, “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”
Psalm 35:27, "The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant."
Psalm 149:4, For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. ”
Psalm 147: 10-11, "His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love."
God is singing over you right now! Can you hear Him? oh do not let the discordant cacophonies of the world, your flesh, and the devil drown out the sweet ineffable melody that God is singing over you! Do you love hearing this sweet sound? Oh that we might believe it and savor it and bring it to our minds again and again until it is our very nature to feel its truth and thus do what the prophet Zephaniah encourages us to do in verse 14,
Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!

What an appropriate response to this blog today! Because God allows Himself to be moved, we have the opportunity to move Him. Yes, in a way we can make Him happy, joyful, and bring out a song from His lips. We can bring this out of God when we delight in Him, treasure Him, believe in Him, love Him and are happy in Him.

A prayer

Oh God, my hope, my heavenly rest, my all of happiness below, Grant my importunate request, To me, to me, Thy goodness show; Thy beatific face display, The brightness of eternal day. Before my faith’s enlightened eyes, Make all Thy goodness pass; thy goodness is the sight I prize; Oh might I see Thy smiling face; Thy nature in my soul proclaim, Reveal Thy love, Thy glorious name.” Charles Wesley

Singing in joy over His joy over me,

Pastor Bill

GODLY SORROW, THE WAY TO BE HAPPY, EVEN WHEN WE ARE SAD

One of the most meaningful sermons that I have ever read is Jonathan Edwards sermon titled The Pleasantness of Religion . I love that sermon! I wrote a blog on you can read from March 6, 2007 called JONATHAN EDWARDS AND THE PLEASANTNESS OF RELIGION where I discuss in detail the lessons from his sermon. There was something particularly Edwards stated that has had a profound effect upon my understanding of joy and sorrow in the Christian life. He said that there were three necessary sorrows in the Christian life:

1. The sorrow of repentance over sin
2. The sorrow of self denial from sin
3. The sorrow of bearing reproach for the name of Christ because of righteousness

I need to hear this because there has been much sorrow in my life these past few years and I know many of you have had sorrow in your life as well. Edwards reminds us that there are actually sorrows in our life that are both a necessary part of being a Christian and the doorway to true lasting joy.

The bible speaks of godly sorrow. Paul writes to the Corinthians:

"For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:8-10).

The apostle Paul says that there two kinds of grief, worldly grief, and godly grief. What makes for a kind of grief that is pleasing and good to God.? At least two things govern what makes sorrow good in our experience. One is the cause, the other is the outcome. There is godly sorrow that arises out of sin. The cause of godly sorrow for our own sin is the spiritual perception of its moral ugliness, of its rebellion against God and all that is good, not just its negative consequences. Oh how often have I been sorry for the consequences of my action rather than sorry over my actions, or even deeper, sorry over the motives of my actions. But Godly sorrow sees sin as morally repulsive. This disgust is owing to our spiritual preference for the things of God and our hunger for the truth and beauty of God. Therefore our sorrow for sin is rooted in our utter love of God. So sorrow over sin this is a signal, a sign that we delight in God, love Him, and cherish Him. That is what makes the sorrow good.

Paul says that the default response and outcome of good godly sorrow for sin is repentance. Repentance is simply a change of mind about sin and God and a change of direction away from sin and back to Him, and by returning back to Him "in his presence is the fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11). True repentance includes sorrow for sin and extends it to a deeper experience of salvation which invariably leads to inexpressible joy (1 Peter 1:8). This causes us to pursue a life that delights in God above all sin. Therefore enjoying God is the outcome of what makes the sorrow and repentance good.

But what about sorrow that is not for our own sin, but for the way we are sinned against or the way we are hurt by calamity and loss? that kind of sorrow is also a part of life. Jesus sorrowed like this. For example, when he saw the Pharisees murmuring about his healing on the Sabbath, “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5). And in the garden of Gethsemane, he said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch” (Mark 14:34).

Jesus’ sorrow was not owing to his own sin, but to the sins of others. This is the way it is with the Holy Spirit as well. Paul calls us to put sin out of our lives so that we do not grieve the Spirit: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:29-30).

In the same way, believers embrace godly grief not only for our own sins but for the sins of others and for the pain that loss brings us. For example, Jesus says in regard to those in the kingdom who grieve over the sins of others, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:7).Peter speaks of our grieving over trials: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). Paul speaks of our grieving over lost loved ones: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And Paul refers to his own grief over the lostness of his kinsmen: “My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart" (Romans 9:1).

Nevertheless Paul makes the astonishing statement in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that what marks his life and should mark ours as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Perhaps there are those of you reading this right now who resonate in your own experience what the apostle Paul was speaking of. Only a Christian can actually be happy and sad at the same time. I call it happy sadness or sad happiness. It seems so paradoxical, but oh what a precious experience for the believer!

This is what makes our sorrow godly. I do not glibly claim that this experience is simple or that we can even put it into adequate words, what it means to be joyful in sorrow; but in our experience we know it can ring true. Much like the Macedonian Christians, who in loss of property, persecution, extreme hardship and poverty, "their abundance of joy...overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part"(2 Corinthians 8:9-10).

I think we all who are believers understand and have experienced this. When I lost all that mattered to me and weeping with sobs of inconsolable grief with all the loss I can certainly tell you that did not look like joy. Indeed was not joy in its complete fullness, as we will know it when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

But, the joy that has manifest and endured through my sorrow is the foretaste of a future joy in God which I hope. Jesus Himself, who suffered incomparable grief and loss, was sustained by “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). This does not mean that he felt in the garden or on the cross all that he would feel in the resurrection. But it does mean that He hoped in it and that this hope was an experienced foretaste of that joy.

I have learned that true joy does not come in the experience of sorrow in itself . Is it no wonder why so many of us have a huge disconnect when some preacher or Christian glibly tells us to rejoice when we are so sad, hurt, broken, lonely, grief stricken, and depressed. They expect us to put on a happy face and find joy somehow in the sorrow itself. At least for me, it always has been unrealistic, shallow, it has never worked, nor is it helpful. But I have learned a secret; joy in sorrow can only come in the anticipation of future joy.

When I am suffering I have many times looked to Jesus and my future hope in Him and His promises and His grace to lift me with joy out of and above my present sorrows and it constantly has for brought joy to me.

The best example I can give is when my father went to war twice in Vietnam when I was a little boy. He was gone for over a year each time. Whenever I would get sad, scared about him getting killed, or lonely about his absence, I would think about his future return, and the thought of his return would bring me present joy in my sorrow. So I was able to be sorrowful but rejoicing at the same time.

The fact is that we groan here in this life and in this world, waiting for the redemption of our bodies and for the removal of all our sins (Romans 8:23). This groaning and grieving is godly if it is molded by our joy in hope of future glory (Romans 5:2-3). The delight is subdued by all the pain, but it is there in seed form. It will one day grow into a great vine that yields wine of undiluted delight.

So let us learn to embrace whatever sorrow God appoints for us with joy.

Let us not be ashamed of tears. After all, God says that He keeps our tears in a bottle "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.Are they not in your book? " (Psalm 56:8).

Let us sow our seeds in tears and do our work in tears.
"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping,bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy,bringing his sheaves with him."(Psalm 16:6-8).

Let the promise encourage you in your present sorrows that joy will come with the morning "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

Let us learn to be looking not only at our sorrows, but looking to Jesus and remembering his kind, merciful, and loving nature and promises in order to be,
“sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” (2 Corinthians 6:10)

Let us through our tears, the comfort, and joy God brings us, serve others in their sorrow by giving them comfort and joyful hope. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

May God help you to sustain and shape your grief with His joy, His power, and His goodness this day and every day in your present sorrows.

Sorrowful but always rejoicing,
Pastor Bill

MERCY AND THE RELIEF OF HUMAN MISERY

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 ESV

This past week over 58 million views have taken place of Jason Russell's video about the murderous African warlord Joseph Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children for exploitation as soldiers and sex slaves

There is so much suffering in the world today. My heart aches when I think about Germans killing Jews during World War II (6 million); Turks killing Armenians, 1914-1915 (1.5 million); the Khmer Rouge killing Cambodians, 1975-1979 (2 million); Saddam Hussein's troops killing Iraqi Kurds, 1987-1988 (100,000); Serbs killing Bosnian Muslims, 1992-1995 (200,000); Hutus killing Tutsis, 1994 (800,000); Americans killing unborn children, 1973-present (40 million). Not to mention the 60 million people killed by the Communist regime mainly under Stalin. There were others.

Add to this the suffering owing to natural disasters like the tropical storm in November, 1970 that killed about 400,000 people in Bangladesh, or the earthquake of Gujarat, India in January, 2001 that killed 15,000, or the AIDS epidemic in Africa that has taken the lives of 2.5 million people or the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December 2004 that killed 165,708 in Indonesia alone, probably 250,000 worldwide or the massive earthquake and Tsunami in Japan last year that so far has reported over 19,000 deaths.

Add to this the one billion people do not have safe water to drink. Sixteen thousand children die every day from hunger related illnesses. Almost eighteen million children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.

Then add the sadness and pain of molestation, abuse, abandonment, hate crimes, unemployment, injuries that cause permanent disabilities, divorce, broken dreams and hearts, hopelessness, homelessness, poverty, and death of those close to you and the eventual death of your own family.

I have deeply contemplated the massive amount of great, global, local, and personal suffering that there is in this world. When I think on these things, it makes me tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, ordinary, shallow, untroubled American life.

I am thankful for the promises of eternity like Revelation 21:4,"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." But in the mean time I believe the church and myself need to magnify the mercy of God by doing all that we can to relieve human misery!

For example, it says in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

How does that work? He says that there are people that we should care about who are imprison and mistreated. We tend to forget them. So he says, “Remember!” And he says: “As though with them” and “since you have a body.” So how does it work? It works like this: You have a body and sometimes it hurts. When it hurts, remember that there are people right now who are being mistreated, who are hurting much more than you. Imagine yourself in their shoes, and treat them the way you would want to be treated

Galatians 6:10 puts it like this: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The “especially” is because there is the added delight of affirming in them what God has already done in saving them. So in the massive suffering that goes on all around us we are carried by two motives: on the one hand, the desire to confirm and honor the Christ-exalting faith of a brother or sister who is suffering by giving them relief and help; and on the other hand, the desire to waken Christ-exalting faith in suffering unbelievers by giving them relief and help in Jesus’ name and with Jesus’ gospel.

Consider two teachings of Jesus. First, the teaching of Matthew 25:31-46, the great judgment when Jesus comes and separates the sheep and the goats and sends one group of people to hell and the other to heaven. Verse 46: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

What’s the difference between these two groups? The difference Jesus focuses on is how they treated his brothers, that is his disciples. And the issue is alleviating the suffering of others in the world: Verse 35ff: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger [refugee] and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then in verse Jesus explains how they were touching him: “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me.’”

We see the very same teaching in Mathew 10:42, “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” In other words, Jesus says that true Christians try to alleviate suffering of other Christians because they are Christians, and that’s one of the main ways that your Christianity is shown to be real.

James explains how this fits with faith as the way of salvation: James 2:15-17, “If a brother or sister [a disciple!] is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Jesus point is that if we don’t ever bear the fruit of practical love toward brothers and sisters, the least of them, our faith is dead and we are not saved.

Unbelievers should get our mercy to alleviate their suffering as well. In fact Jesus was very strong on this matter. He said that if we only love those who love us, if we only do good to those who do good to us, we are no different than unbelievers. So yes, show mercy to your brothers and sisters when they suffer; this is what true families do. But if you only love your family, if you only sacrifice to relieve the suffering of your family, you are no better than an unbeliever.

Listen to Luke 6:27-28,31-36 where Jesus says,

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. . . . But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."

I am praying that we will reflect and ask God to show us ways that our lives can count for the relief of suffering in our churches, communities, and the world. Seeing suffering and experiencing suffering has a way of making us wake up to the endless suffering of people all around us.

There are three dimensions to ministering mercy and compassion to others suffering:

1.We see distress
2.We respond internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress
3.We respond externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress
Do you see how they all fit together in sequence? It does not do any good to see suffering, feel compassion towards thse who suffer, and not do anything about what you see and feel, if it is within your ability and means.

Oh reader, you have one life. One very short life. "Only one life, will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." Does not the suffering in this world seem inexplicable to you? Does it not break your heart and grieve you? Is not the great global, local, and intensely personal suffering a call to magnify the mercy of Christ by how we respond? Shall we not then live our lives,and prepare for heaven, by opening our eyes, our hearts, our lives, our time, our money, our energy, and our resources to relieve suffering (now and forever) for the glory of Jesus?

I pray that we may receive the grace to cause us to love and live our lives open, aware, and willing to relieve suffering for the glory of Jesus.


Pastor Bill

THE PURSUIT OF AN UNWAVERING RESOLVE

Last week I looked for the first time at DVD's of my family and marriage from the late 80's and early 90's. They brought many smiles to my face as well as inconsolable tears. These films were over 20-23 years old. I am 23 years older now, my wife is gone, my kids have all grown up and have their own lives and families, and a big chunk of my life as I once knew it is over, never to return. I looked at my present life and how strange and different it all is now. I realized that if the Lord tarries or He grants me more years that 23 years from now I will be 83. Wow! No wonder why James tells us that our "life is but a vapor"(James 4:14).

So what do I want to do with the remaining days that I have on this earth? How do I live in the reality that my time on this earth will end sooner rather than later? What if today is the last day I have? I found myself going back to the night of April 11, 2009 when the Lord spoke to me about my life and in sober reflection and deep earnestness I made decisions on the my purpose, direction, lifestyle, and to not waste my life. They are called My Resolves.

I wanted to give you an encouragement and a challenge for you to do something this week that I believe can give you a real sense of purpose and a compass for how you spend your days on this earth. The writers of scripture frequently encourage us to be resolved, to be determined to live with uncompromising faithfulness, to have our eye be singular, our soul steadfast, and our will to be strong.

I am so thankful for the influence of godly men and women in my life. I am especially grateful for Jonathan Edwards. When Edwards had only been a Christian for a year, at the age of eighteen he began to write the Seventy Resolutions of His Life. These would set the course of Edwards for the rest of his life. He strove to follow these till the day of his death on March 22, 1758 at fifty-five years old.

John Piper says of Edwards that "there was a single-mindedness that governed his life and enabled him to accomplish amazing things." He firmly resolved himself to love and serve Jesus Christ with all his ability and all of God's help. Jonathan Edwards started at the front end of his life with a these resolutions that were designed to direct his life journey as a Christian and remained with him till the day he died. These were a set of guidelines, a system of checks and balances that he would use to chart out his life-his relationships, his conversations, his desires, and his activities. I would strongly encourage you to read them and gain inspiration. you can read them broken down into themes here at http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards

The apostle Paul speaks much about being resolved in his life:

“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)
“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." (Philippians 1:20)
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)

He also regularly exhorted others about being resolved:

“When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast resolve” (Acts 11:23).
“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way” (Romans 14:13)

The Greek word translated "resolved" means to plan or will or purpose to do something; in these cases, something that is of eternal value. I think it is so important to have a compass that points the way for your life like Daniel. "But Daniel resolved in his heart not to eat the king’s food…" (Daniel 1:8).

Every Christian who is going to really grow, progress in their sanctification, and not waste their life needs to be resolved. To be resolved is to strive for and pursue a God-centered, God-ward; God-intoxicated; God-centered, God-driven; God-exalting; God-entranced life. To be resolved teaches me the importance of keeping myself regularly accountable to God, to others, and to myself in this so noble pursuit. Finally, to be resolved makes me prayerfully dependent upon my Lord Jesus Christ to help me by His grace to live out and fulfill my resolves. Otherwise I know in my corruption and weakness they will never happen for me.

The apostle Paul himself prayed for God's help to enable the Church of Thessalonica to fulfill every good resolve. “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. “(2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)

You will not be able to be complacent and stay the same in your life if you write down a series of resolves. In the light of scripture and Edward’s resolutions I prayerfully came up with some resolutions for own my life on April 11, 2009. I would like to give them to you to inspire you to write down your own. I read these regularly to set my course and to keep myself accountable. May they bless and inspire you.

I, Bill Robison, RESOLVE:

1. To pursue and promote the glory of the Lord in my words, deeds, thoughts, desires, and all of my decisions.

2. To forsake all sin in thought, motive, and deed and to live a holy and godly life·

3. To pursue my supreme happiness in God.

4. To not waste my life but make the most of every precious moment of my God given time

5. To live passionately for God with all my might,.

6. To pursue humility before God and man

7. To be ever growing deeper in my love for God and for my fellow man

8. To make frequent and careful inquiry into the condition of my thoughts, heart, and my life.

These I am resolved to do wholeheartedly, and yet aware of my sinful weakness, I humbly ask my God for His merciful grace to enable me to keep these resolves from this night forward until the day of my entry into eternity with my Savior Jesus Christ.

No matter where any of you are in your lives, none of us has arrived. There is so much more spiritual maturity yet to be realized. There is so much more that God can do in and through us. I pray that what I have shared would serve as a strong motivation for each of you to live not for self but for the glory of God.

Would you be intentional to write down your own resolves? I use the word intentional because I believe that it is a discipline that we must practice in order to become a regular practice in our lives. I challenge every one of you to make an effort to incorporate this into your life this week. Watch what begins happening in the kind of person you become. This week I pray that you would take the time to ask yourself before God:

• How do I want to live?



• What is my purpose in life?



• What kind of person do I want to be?

Ask God to help you follow Paul’s example. Ask for God for the grace to give you a desire to grow, to give you a set of resolves for your own life, and for the power to live out these resolves every day.

Resolved to not waste one more moment of my life but to live firmly resolved for His glory, others benefit, and my joy,

Pastor Bill

MOVING AWAY FROM COMFORT TOWARDS OTHERS NEEDS THROUGH THE GOLDEN RULE Part 3

“So [or: therefore] whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12


I've been writing about moving away from seeking our own comfort and instead beginning a lifestyle of moving towards the needs of others by living the Golden Rule as taught by Jesus. So how do we live out the Golden Rule? How do we move away from seeking our own personal comfort to pursue moving towards the needs of others?


Notice that our Lord considers that the Golden Rule is applicable "whatever". Some translations use "in everything." In other words, it is to be a constant reminder in every setting we face, in every relationship, in every demand upon us that we are to "treat people in the same way you want them to treat you."


So Jesus is saying, “In the light of what I’ve just said about the Father’s love and care for you, do unto others as you would have them do to you.” But let me add a paraphrase, “Do unto others as God has done to you.” How has God done to you? Oh for our memories to be refreshed and our eyes to see what the Father has done and is doing! Every good gift has come to you from the Father above. Treating others the way you want to be treated involves an amazing, profound, supernatural change in the way you make choices. I don’t have to be enslaved and fearful, anxious, selfish, greedy, miserly, or withholding anymore. For what we would want others to do to and for us God has already done and is doing in Christ!


Has God shown you grace? Give grace! Has God cared for you? Care for others! Has God loved you? Love others! Has God forgiven you? Forgive others! Has God been generous with you? Give generously! Has God met your needs? Give to others needs! Brothers and sisters, people as designed by God to receive from us what we have received from Him and to expand and enlarge our joy in Him. In short, we are to give freely give to others-through every practical means available-whatever we have found and received from this generous God. The inflow of God’s grace to you becomes of the outflow of God’s grace through you towards others!


Is it no wonder why the scriptures say things like, “We love because He has first loved us?” “Freely you have received, freely give.” “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” “The love of God has and is being continuously poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”


In summary, there are five keys to living out the Golden Rule:

1. Remember how has God treated you, how He has met and will meet your needs.


We were created to know much about God, we were created to feel much for God; and we were created to live much for God. A deep and growing biblical knowledge of God and Christ and the cross and salvation and faith and all the promises for us in Christ can give freedom to move away from our selfish desires for comfort, ease, and security from this life. Therefore, you need to fall on your face and plead that God would open your eyes to see the compelling glory of Jesus Christ.

2. Ask God to open your eyes to needs all around you, to open doors, to help you to do what left to yourself you cannot do, and to launch you into moving away from comfort and towards need.


“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5) “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” (1 John 3:15)


3. Look around and see the needs around you.

4. Use your imagination


How would you like others to treat you? How can you respond to the need? Imagination is a Christian duty. You can't apply Jesus' golden rule without it. Jesus, unlike others in his day, did not say “Don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you.” He said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” That is even more radical, because it means that we are to become creatively proactive in our relationships—we must imagine ourselves in their place and imagine what we would like done to us. Compassionate, sympathetic, helpful love hangs much on the imagination of the lover.

5. Be available to let the inflow of God’s love be released into an outflow of freely giving to others what God has given to you

O my brothers and sisters, if God is your Father through the price that Jesus paid with his own blood, and if you trust him to give you freely and sufficiently everything you need to live on this earth for His glory, the answers to those questions and many more will shape your life into a life moving away from your own quest for comfort and towards others need rooted in the faith that your Father will give only good things through Jesus to those who ask. May Christ will become increasingly precious to you. May God encourage you and enable you by his Spirit to build your life on the mercies of God revealed in Jesus Christ that God graciously pours in you to meet your deepest needs. Receive these mercies. Entrust your life to them. Embrace them for the forgiveness of your sins and all the help you need to live a life of generous mercy, grace, and move your life away from comfort and towards need doing to others what God has done to you!


Pastor Bill

MOVING AWAY FROM COMFORT TOWARDS OTHERS NEEDS THROUGH THE GOLDEN RULE Part 2

“So [or: therefore] whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12

Last week I wrote that Jesus demands from us a radical new way to live, to move away from the pursuit of our personal comfort, and instead, to move towards others needs. We find this in His profound calling for His followers in one of the most famous verses in the Bible. We know it as the Golden Rule: a name given to this passage around the 17th century. If Jesus commands this, then something unbelievably powerful and earthshaking and reconstructing and overturning and upending will have to happen in our souls. Something supernatural. Something well beyond what self-preserving, self-centered, self-enhancing, self-exalting, self-esteeming, self-advancing, fallen human beings like me can do on my own.

When it comes o relating to others, what does fallen sinful man naturally do? What is their code of relationship? "Do to others as they do to you - treat them as they have treated you." Or "Do to others so that they will do to you." Or “Do unto others before they do unto you." Or "Do unto others and split." Or “Do unto others who can somehow benefit me in my doing unto them”. Or "Do to others but I expect to be reciprocated by you. (I’m keeping score here)" Or “Do unto others what you would like to receive for themselves. (Like the man who bought his wife a ping pong table for Christmas. Honey I was only thinking of you!) The most dangerous view of all comes out of religious performance, works, duty oriented Christianity which says, "Do to others so that God will do unto you” But Jesus said it plain and simple, "Do to others what you would have them do to you."

The main thing I want you to see is that the word "so" at the beginning of verse 12 implies three things:

1) You can’t live the Golden Rule—treat others the way you would like to be treated—without experiencing the truth of verses 7-11, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" What I mean is, without the deep confidence that your Father has given you and will give you every good thing you really need.

2) If you really experience the truth of verses 7-11; the assurance that your heavenly Father meets all your real needs; you will have the inner freedom and desire to live the Golden Rule: to do the good to others that you would like them to do for you.

3) The reason the Golden Rule fulfils the law and prophets is that it assumes the love of the Golden Rule in verse 12 is all flowing from faith in the work of the love of Jesus Christ on the cross to ransom us by his blood and secure for us God’s mercy and everlasting Fatherhood.

All of that is implied in the word so—

SO...

1) If you really treasure your heavenly Father who meets all your needs by only giving you what is good for you, then you can live for others.

2) If you really treasure your heavenly Father who meets all your needs by only giving you what is good for you, then you will live for others.

3) If your living for others flows from trusting in your Father through the Messiah, Jesus, who paid your ransom and forgave your sins, then this kind of life fulfills all that the law and the prophets were aiming at and frees us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

In other-wards, all the things that we long for and need: joy, happiness, hope, love, security, safety, fulfillment, and significance is found in God alone through Christ who freely, generously, joyfully gives us all we need and satisfies us heart, soul, mind, and strength; and with that great discovery-that God is the never ending bread of life and living water, and provider of all good gifts –the way we love others is forever changed. I am free!

Doing to others what you would have them do to you is moving from comfort toward need as Jesus Christ has moved from His comfort towards your need. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." (I John 3:16) Jesus has given us the motivation, the desire, the provision, and the power to care for others by revealing to us the Father's heart and the Father's provision. We are freed to care for others because God has revealed His care for us. Knowing that our needs have been met by the Father and will be met as we ask, seek, and knock frees us to reach out to help meet the needs of others. Being recipients of the father's love frees us to love. You have a Father in heaven who, because of Christ’s work, only gives his children what is good for them.

Therefore, love people persistently. Treat them the way you would like to be treated. Your Fathers’ blood-bought care for you is the spring of your moving from comfort towards need. If you experience him as this kind of Father, you will love people like this.

To be continued next week: HOW DO WE LIVE THE GOLDEN RULE?
Pastor Bill

MOVING AWAY FROM COMFORT TOWARDS OTHERS NEEDS THROUGH THE GOLDEN RULE

“So [or: therefore] whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, toward the end of Beethoven's life, an unknown musician made a small altera­tion in the construction of the harpsichord that subsequently altered the whole development of western music. Before his time most of what we call piano music was composed for that instrument, but because of its design the music itself was quite limited. The strings of a harpsichord are plucked by a small hook, producing a sound even in intensity and similar to that of a harp. In this change the hook was replaced by a hammer, so that the string was struck rather than plucked. This minute alteration made all the difference mu­sically, for the dynamic range of the instrument was greatly in-creased. The harpsichord became a piano. And the way was paved for the dramatic and thrilling compositions of Rachmaninoff, Schu­mann, Brahms, Liszt and Chopin. The development of music then revolved to a large degree around the piano, just as it had previously revolved around the organ during the Baroque era.

This story illustrates the dynamic kind of change that God desires to bring into your life. Jesus demands from us a radical new way to live, to move away from the pursuit of our personal comfort, and instead, to move towards others needs. We find this in His profound calling for His followers in one of the most famous verses in the Bible. We know it as the Golden Rule: a name given to this passage around the 17th century. But first we must see…

I. THE ROOT OF CHRIST’S TEACHING

The first word is key here in verse 12. In the ESV, it is “so.” “So whatever you wish that others would do to you . . . .” Other translations use ‘therefore”. I think “therefore.” is a stronger translation of the Greek word oun. They mean the same thing. That’s a very important word. The word “so” or “therefore” is used 1039 x’s in scripture. There is a whole worldview in that word. When Jesus says, “So . . .” He is saying: The life I am calling you to live (in verse 12) is built on something. It doesn’t come out of nowhere. It has roots. It has a foundation. Christian living has roots. It has foundation. It has causes and grounds and reasons. And that is no small thing! Because of all the truth about God as our heavenly Father therefore we are to build our practical lives on this. Jesus moves us from the foundation to application in our relationships with people with the word “therefore.”

This great ‘therefore’ flows from what Jesus just said in verses 7-11, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! ". Our Lord’s teaching on the greatness of the Father and the nature of the Father goes before what Jesus is about to say and supports what Jesus is about to say. This great vision of the reality of God our Father, this powerful truth leads somewhere-moving away from comfort and towards need. I know that there are those who see so little of the greatness of God and beauty of Christ in this that it simply has little or no affect upon how they live. What God does to us, for us, and in us in His Fatherly provision, the meeting of our needs, and our trusting prayerful love back to Him, is meant to be the truth, the foundation, the source of power, freedom, and the launch-pad for living the kind of life that Jesus is about to say to us. So Jesus says, “Because of the Fathers love, mercy, kindness, care, grace, and generous provision in giving me only good things to meet my needs, therefore, you are to live this way.”

Christian living is built on something! O reader build your lives on the greatness and goodness of God. Let us say, Because of the greatness and goodness of God towards me in Christ I will live the life of moving away from my seeking comfort and will move towards others needs.

II. THE ESSENCE OF CHRIST’S TEACHING

So where does the word so or therefore lead us? Keep the Golden Rule: “So [or: therefore] whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” This verse really is a good commentary on Matthew 22:40, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There he says that the law and prophets hang on this commandment and the first commandment to love God with all your being. Here He says that this is the law and the prophets. In other-wards, loving people and doing unto others what you would wish that they do to manifests visibly and publicly and practically what the Old Testament is about. They fulfill the law and prophets by making the aim of loving God visible. Loving God however is invisible. It is the internal passion of the soul. But it comes to expression when you love others. So loving others is the outward manifestation, the visible expression, the practical demonstration, and therefore the fulfillment of loving God and therefore what the Old Testament is all about.

So there is a sense that loving your neighbor and doing unto others is the visible goal of the Word of God. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:5, “The goal of all teaching is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Loving our neighbors is based upon our love for God and is the overflow and outflow of it so that people “see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)

To be continued...

Pastor Bill