A Christmas Gift to Yourself

Advent and Christmas celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world.

But why did He come?

The Apostle Paul tells us: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

That’s the truth about Jesus. He came to glorify God through the salvation of rebels.

But that truth only helps us if we acknowledge a second truth: I am among such rebels. So the Apostle continues by stating that he is the foremost of sinners.

We must know who Jesus is.

And we must know who we are.

Only by acknowledging and responding to those truths do we reap the benefits of Jesus’ coming into the world.

Jesus’ great ancestor David elaborates on such self-knowledge in Psalm 86. Let’s learn from him four truths we need to acknowledge about ourselves.

David was among God’s people, chosen by His grace. The four truths will be true of us also if we are in Christ Jesus, having come to God by grace through faith.

First: David knows that he is God’s poor, needy servant.

We see this in Psalm 86:1, 2, 4, and 16. Indeed, in Psalm 82:16 David calls himself not only a servant but the “son of your maidservant.” He is saying, “I’m like the son of Your household slave, born into your household, and thus having no inheritance, no assets, and absolutely no social standing apart from You. I am completely dependent on You.”

Now, David was king! He ruled! He had riches! People would bow down before him!

And yet he sees himself rightly as only a servant of God, one who can accomplish nothing on his own, one whose very purpose is to do the will of God.

Do you see yourself that way?

Second: David depends on and desires God

Psalm 86:4 says David lifts up his soul to God.

Now, other than when reading Scripture, I have never used the phrase “lift up my soul.” I doubt you have either. While it’s a fairly common phrase in the Old Testament, what does it mean?

Deuteronomy 24:15 is helpful in this regard, for the phrase is translated differently in that verse. Speaking of a poor and needy hired servant, Moses commands:

You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin. (emphasis added)

“Counts on” translates the same phrase we saw in Psalm 86:4, literally “lifts up his soul.” He desires those wages. He depends on those wages to be able to buy food that evening.

From this verse and elsewhere we can see that to “lift up your soul” to something is to desire and to depend on it.

So David in Psalm 86:4 is saying: “Bring joy to my whole being, for my whole being depends on and desires you!”

Thus both the first and second truths emphasize David’s dependence on God. This second adds the element of delight in God, of desiring Him.

Third: David knows that He does not know God’s way.

Psalm 86:11: “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth.”

Again, David is king, he is seen as wise – but he acknowledges that he cannot walk in God’s truth apart from God teaching him. He can’t live rightly, fulfilling the purpose of His creation, apart from God. He needs God’s guidance. He depends on God’s revelation, His instruction, His torah.

Fourth: David knows He is beloved by God

David speaks of God’s steadfast, covenant, unfailing love in Psalm 86:5, 13, and 15. Psalm 86:13 is personal: “Great is Your steadfast love toward me.”

While we don’t recognize it in most English translations, Psalm 86:2 makes a similar point. In the ESV, this verse begins, “Preserve my life, for I am godly.” That almost sounds as if David is saying, “Preserve me because I’m such a good guy!”

However, the word translated “godly” has the same root as the word translated “steadfast love.” The word used in verse 2 refers to a person who both receives and loyally returns such steadfast love. So we might paraphrase the verse, “Guard me, O Lord, for You have put me in covenant relation with You; I am loved by You and You enable me to return loyal love to You.”

Do you know these truths? Do you know you are poor and needy, dependent on God? Do you see Him as your desire and delight? Do you acknowledge that should you try to forge your own path apart from Him, you will inevitably go astray, harming yourself and others? And do you know that if you are in Christ, you are loved with a love beyond imagining?

David knew those truths. He generally lived by those truths – and when he didn’t, he exemplified what happens when we fail to live by those truths.

Give yourself the greatest Christmas gift possible: Acknowledge who you truly are, and who that baby in the manger truly is. Repent before Him. See Him as your delight.

And then bask in the love made possible by Christmas.

[This devotion is taken in part from a section of the December 8 sermon. The sermon audio is available at this link.]

A Midnight Kiss

The middle of the night. I’m wide awake, with Beth beside me. Sleep is not returning. Thinking about my sweet wife, thanking God for her, I lean over and kiss her lightly on the forehead.

What value was in that kiss?

She had no idea I kissed her. Indeed, I tried hard not to disturb her sleep. The kiss was brief; my lips barely grazed her.

So the value was not in communicating to her my love.

As related in her 1974 book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, at six years of age Annie Dillard would take pennies and place them in random places, so that others would have the gift of finding them. She didn’t want to know who found the pennies. And she didn’t want anyone to know she put them there. She simply had joy thinking about the little delight others would have in finding pennies.

Similarly, I didn’t want Beth to be aware of the kiss. But dissimilarly, I wasn’t looking forward to a joyful surprise I wouldn’t witness. The act was sufficient in itself.

Why?

Expressing love in ways that others see surely is valuable – God does that all the time, in provision of good gifts, in reconciling us to Himself through Jesus, in millions of other ways. When we show others genuine love, we are shining forth with the image of God. It is good for others to see that image. We are fulfilling a purpose of our creation.

But there is value in kissing Beth even if the act goes unnoticed. For God does that all the time also. In distant galaxies, on far planets, in the depths of the sea, in the tiniest cell – God is at work. Yes, He often acts in ways that bring Him praise. But He also works in ways that are unseen, yet similarly display Who He is. And we cannot know all those works. He just does them. Again and again. He displays Who He is – for Father, Son, and Spirit alone to see.

There’s a saying: Character is what you are when no one is looking.

God displays His character when no one else is looking. When no one else can possibly look.

Do the same. Show who you are in Christ. Love when no one is looking. Shine forth with His image every minute of every day.

And if you’d like to hide some pennies, that’s good too.

 

The God of Desperate Circumstances

[In the August 4 sermon on Psalms 75 and 76 (available soon at this link) we considered also the story of the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib threatening Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah, as recorded in Isaiah 36 and 37. The following devotion is taken from the concluding sections of a sermon preached in 2012 on that passage. You can listen to that sermon in its entirety  here.]

What is the difference between God and a genie who does for you whatever you wish?

You remember the story of Aladdin rubbing his lamp, causing a genie to appear who will grant his every wish.

What is the difference between God and a genie like that?

For many, there is no difference. The question many ask is simply: What’s the equivalent of rubbing the lamp? What words do I have to say or what rituals do I have to perform to get God to do for me what I want?

But biblically there is a huge difference.

God says: “Know Me. Trust my promises – particularly My promise of a Redeemer. Love me with all your heart. Follow me. Take up my yoke and learn from me. Hope in me. Depend on me. I will be God to you, you will be My people.”

When we have that sort of faith in Him, amazing benefits come to us. But note: He promises that by His mighty power we will accomplish His purposes – not that we will wield His power to accomplish our purposes.

When we face desperate circumstances, we naturally wish for an all-powerful genie who will perform our will. But time and again God has used His people’s desperate circumstances to bring them to repentance, to deepen their faith, and to advance His plan.

We see that in the case of the King Hezekiah when the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib attacks the Kingdom of Judah. As recorded in Isaiah 36 and 37, an Assyrian official comes to Jerusalem and calls out within the hearing of its residents, telling them not to trust in Hezekiah, not to trust in their God. For the Assyrians have conquered nation after nation, and no god has been able to resist them.

Hezekiah earlier has tried to protect the country through alliances with other nations – but now, driven to his knees by desperate circumstances, he prays an extraordinary prayer of dependence on God (Isaiah 37:16-20), which concludes:

O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.” (Isaiah 37:20)

God then slaughters the bulk of the Assyrian army during the night. Sennacherib retreats home and, in due course, is assassinated.

What principles can we draw out for ourselves today concerning the desperate circumstances we face?

There are many; we will only consider three:

First: Desperate circumstances are a gift from God

Hezekiah needed desperation to quit leaning on his own understanding. As long as there was another possible source of hope, it seems as if the king would hold on to that alternative. But to Hezekiah’s credit, when all these other sources failed, he did not sink into despair but fully trusted in the Lord God.

We too often need to become desperate before we fully trust in Him. In my own life I’ve seen this time and again: In 1982, when I almost destroyed our marriage; in 1995, holding baby Joel in my arms, wondering if he was dying; in 2007 when we experienced a crisis at DGCC, and I wondered if this church was dying. In two of these crises, I called out to God in repentance; in all three, I cried out with tears, trusting in His promises.

I would never volunteer to suffer again the deep pain of those times. But I am so thankful to God for what He accomplished through them.

What are your desperate circumstances?

Know that, amidst all the genuine pain and sorrow, those desperate circumstances are a gift from God.

Remember our Lord Jesus’ desperate circumstances. On the night of his betrayal, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Amidst that genuine pain and tremendous sorrow, He voluntarily went to the cross, where God the Father poured out on Him all the punishment you and I deserve for our rebellion.

Those were desperate circumstances. And God glorified His Name greatly through them. Indeed, God made it possible for you to come to Him through Jesus’ pain.

In a similar way: All of our desperate circumstances are a gift of God.

Second: God sometimes calls us to put ourselves in desperate circumstances.

In general, there is nothing wrong with planning to avoid disasters. For King Hezekiah, there generally would have been nothing wrong with making alliances and strengthening Jerusalem’s defenses. But it was wrong for Hezekiah to prepare for the Assyrian invasion in these ways when God had said, “I will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes” (Isaiah 10:12). God called Hezekiah to step out in faith, to step out in way that other kings would not, to take steps that would lead to desperation.

And He often calls upon us to do the same.

So you see: Sometimes desperate circumstances simply come upon us, as in my case with baby Joel’s medical issue. Other times we must walk right into them, as in the case of Jesus and the cross.

Knowingly placing yourself in desperate circumstances is hard for everyone, but perhaps especially hard for Americans. Many of us grew up with parents who taught us prudence and emphasized security.

But know: the way of faith, the way of holiness, the way to God’s greatest glory may well require us to voluntarily take big risks.

Third: You are here to bring glory to God among the nations

Imagine that after hearing the Assyrian threats, Hezekiah finds a golden lamp. Upon rubbing it, a genie pops out, saying, “Your wish is my command.” Hezekiah replies, “Kill tens of thousands of the Assyrian soldiers this night.” The genie does so, and Sennacherib retreats.

Is there any difference between that story and the biblical account?

There is a profound difference!

  • The point of the biblical story is not that Jerusalem was saved.
  • The point of the biblical story is not that Hezekiah was smart or lucky.

The point of the biblical story is given in that concluding line of Hezekiah’s prayer: God is a great King, and His Name must be glorified among all nations.

Just so with us.

My friends,

  • you are not in this world so that God can give you the easiest life possible.
  • You are not in this world to collect the most toys.
  • You are not even in this world to do what you think will help others the most.

You are in this world so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that He alone is God, that Jesus alone is worthy of praise, that Christ alone is worth more than all else in this world.

And that’s the message that will help others the most – even as you express love for them in a multiplicity of ways.

So how will you fulfill that purpose?

What is God asking you to do to bring this about?

In particular, What is God asking you to do that makes no sense? That is: That makes no sense unless Isaiah’s vision of God is true, that makes no sense unless Scripture is indeed God’s revelation of Himself.

He is faithful. He is loving. He guides every step of His people. He is King of all nations. He will glorify His Name among all the peoples – through you and me, through His people, often through our desperate circumstances.

So what’s your role in bringing that about?

How must you step out? What desperate circumstances must you face?

How will You glorify His Name?

When Prominent Christians Fall

Josh Harris announced recently that he is no longer a Christian, and he and his wife are divorcing.

The fall of prominent pastors should not surprise us; there have been many such falls over the last few decades. But unlike many of the others, Josh Harris was not a health, wealth, and prosperity preacher. He had not raised suspicions by amassing a personal fortune. He gave every appearance of teaching God’s Word faithfully.

How should we react?

In addition, let us remember two biblical truths, and then ask a question:

First biblical truth:  We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the “spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians 6:12). And the chief of these spiritual forces “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Second biblical truth: We do not have the power in ourselves to fight this lion. If we gallantly go out to take him on in single combat, we will be overcome and devoured. Instead, the Apostle exhorts us, “Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:9, emphasis added).  As the Lord God says, “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” (Isaiah 7:9).

This leads to the question, however: Faith in what?

We all know the right answer: Faith in God. Faith in Jesus.

Many will go deeper in their answer: Faith in the penalty paid by Jesus’ death on the cross. Faith that God is for His people, for their joy. Faith that He is working all things together for His glory and the good of those people.

Yes, in the American evangelical church we know the right answer. But I fear that we quite often grasp for something else to hold on to. Something else to believe in. Something else to trust.

What is this “something else”? Gimmicks. Tools. Techniques. Ways of doing church. Methods of presenting the Gospel.

And most of all: Heroes. Idols. Prominent people we admire.

The early prominence of Josh Harris after writing a book in which he gave advice which he had not yet lived out is symptomatic of this problem. Rather than rightly seeing that book as having value to the extent that it pointed us to scriptural truth, many latched on to I Kissed Dating Goodbye as the answer, as the solution to a sex-crazed, hookup youth culture.

And so we in the evangelical church lunge from fad to fad: “Here’s the answer!” “There’s the answer!” The latest movement, the latest evangelistic technique, the latest denominational program; the latest book, the latest music, the next great film, the next great preacher, the methods of the latest megachurch: This will be the key! This will open people’s hearts! This will lead to thousands coming to faith!

Get this: No pastor, no evangelist, no tract, no movie, no gospel presentation, no great argument, no new way of “doing church”, no outreach method, has ever brought anyone to Christ. For, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (1 Corinthians 5:17). No person can do that. Only God creates. “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). Only God can perform such a transplant. You and I cannot.

Now, God may well use a pastor, an evangelist, a tract, a movie, or a particular Gospel presentation as the occasion for performing that miracle.

But the power is not in the method. The power is in the Spirit working through His Word.

Remember, as John the Baptist said to those impressed by their ancestry, “God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). He doesn’t need our techniques. He doesn’t need our gimmicks. He certainly doesn’t need our celebrities.

The point is not to throw out all the books and films, the tracts and techniques; neither is the point to ignore prominent Christian teachers. On the margin some of these are useful tools. Check them out biblically; search the Scriptures to see if they accurately communicate truth. They may help in some circumstances.

But the power is in the Word. The power is in the Spirit. The power is in God. He will complete His plan. He will fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea.

So rather than jumping from fad to fad, from technique to technique, from the newest greatest book to the next newest greatest book, look to that Word! Obey its commands; cultivate its mindset.

And then, friends, the Christian life is not faddish, and really is not complicated: Believe in God. Believe also in Jesus (John 14:1). Delight in Him. Depend on Him. Love Him. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ deeply from the heart. Love your neighbor. Love and be faithful to your spouse. Raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Do not neglect meeting together. Sit under the faithful preaching of the Word. Let the Word dwell in you richly. Pray without ceasing. Speak the Gospel. Make disciples of all nations. Spur one another on to love and good works. Give cheerfully. Put on the full armor of God.

Yes, we have no strength in ourselves to resist Satan, our enemy. But by God’s grace we can be firm in the faith, not seeking something to hold on to other than Him, but holding firmly to Him and His Word.

Our Lord promises, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). And we can endure, for He also says, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

So take this occasion of the fall of a prominent man to commit yourself to enduring in faith to the end. And so endure, according to His Word, by God’s grace, as given through His people.

To Desire God

[This devotion is based on one section of the July 21 sermon. Audio will be available at this link soon.]

We call ourselves Desiring God Community Church. Verses 25 and 26 of Psalm are therefore central to who we aspire to be:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Think of what these verses tell us concerning, first, this present life, and, second, our future life.

In this present life, we have many desires: We want security; we want joy and satisfaction; we want a sense of accomplishment, to feel like we have some importance; we want to be loved and cared for. And to the extent we have attained the objects of those desires, we don’t want to lose them. We don’t want to lose our strength, or our friends, or our family members, or our other joys.

Yet our bodies are weak and eventually wear out; in the vicissitudes of life we are always at risk of losing what we have; in addition, many of our desires are never fulfilled – and then, even when we attain what we think we desire most, so often we remain unsatisfied, longing for that unarticulated something that is still missing.

The psalmist recognizes this. Left to his own resources, his flesh and heart fail. His body loses strength and his thoughts and affections grasp for what he does not have. No matter what he might have, no matter what he might have attained, eventually he is dissatisfied and disgruntled.

But as he comes into the sanctuary, as he worships (Psalm 73:17), he sees God for Who He is. He encounters the reality of the one true God – and that reality strengthens and changes him.

He sees that today, in the midst of whatever trials and difficulties God’s people might face, God Himself is the strength of our hearts:

  • He lifts us up
  • He enables us to fight temptation
  • He listens to our cries
  • He comforts our souls
  • He answers our prayers
  • He accomplishes His work through us.

We see even more than the psalmist from our side of the Cross:

  • He sent His Son to die for us
  • He reconciled us to Himself through that death
  • He provides us in Christ with life and breath and everything pertaining to life and godliness
  • He works all things together for our good and His glory
  • He loves us as His own precious possession in Christ, hearing our prayers and giving us Himself.

So if we have Him – what else should we desire?

But note: When the psalmist says, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you,” he is not denying that he has the desires detailed above – for joy, satisfaction, health, accomplishment, or love. Rather, he is saying:

Now that worship has sobered me, I see: There is no joy apart from You, there is no satisfaction apart from You. I do not deserve, I do not earn anything good in this life – indeed, I only deserve and earn Your judgment on me. But worshiping You among Your people has made clear to me: Everything good in this life is an undeserved gift from you – life and breath and everything. If I have You, I have the source and fountain of all good. So there can be nothing I desire on earth apart from You.

That’s true now, in this present life. What about in eternity, in our future life?

The psalmist says these same truths hold even then, even in heaven: “Whom have I in heaven but You? … God is … my portion forever.”

That is, my great inheritance – what I can look forward to receiving – is God Himself.

What do you look forward to in heaven? There is an overflowing abundance of good promised to God’s people: Bodies that don’t grow weary and never wear out; reunion with loved ones who are in Christ; the opportunity to get to know giants of the faith who lived centuries before (or after!) us; knowing all of God’s people made perfect, without any sin, without even any wrong desires; all the goodness of material prosperity without selfishness or smugness.

Yet all that abundance of good cannot compare with the greatest good of knowing God, of knowing Jesus (John 17:3). God Himself is not only the source of all those other goods, but the One to Whom they all point. He opens the way for us to come to Him, He brings us to Himself in and through Christ, and He rejoices in us in Christ for all eternity. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him (Romans 11:36). Jesus Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14), and in heaven in Him we have the true peace, the true shalom, of being part of God’s beloved family forever.

So the psalmist speaks this precious truth that we today can see even more clearly: Now and for all eternity, God’s people have Him – and in Christ, life-giving relationships with one another, with ourselves, and with the created order. All of that is true shalom.

Do you have this peace? Can you say with the psalmist, “Earth has nothing I desire besides You”? Do you recognize that far and away the greatest joy in eternity is knowing God?

Worship Him – and so desire Him above all else. In this way – and only in this way – will you find your greatest joy.

 

Humbling Human Arrogance

Humbling Human Arrogance by Coty Pinckney

[This devotion is taken primarily from the third section of the July 21 sermon, “The Reasonable Foolishness of Christ Crucified.” Audio of that sermon will be available soon at this link.]

The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
Isaiah 2:11

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3-4

God promises to humble all human arrogance. He will show Himself to be the only Being worthy of praise, as the Father exalts the Son, the Son exalts the Father, and the Spirit exalts both Father and Son. We must humble ourselves, therefore, if we are to be part of the summing up of all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10), when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5, the Apostle Paul shows how God’s humbling purposes have been manifested in his readers’ experience. He asks:  Who is part of this church? Who has come to faith in Christ crucified?

If coming to faith were dependent on our being able to figure God out on our own, then you would have to be at least reasonably bright to be saved. Indeed, those who are of high intelligence would then be over-represented in the church.

Alternately, if you were able to get into the family of God the way many get employment – through connections, networking, and influence – then you would expect to find that most saved people come from prominent backgrounds.

In either of those cases, there would be some basis for our boasting:

  • “We are in the church because we’re smarter than those folks outside!”
  • Or, “We are here because of our ancestry, because of how important our families are!”

But Paul tells the Corinthians (and us): Look around. What do you see? Are the believers especially intelligent? Are they predominantly from prominent families?

No. Not many of the Corinthian believers were wise by the world’s standards; not many were born to privileged positions. Instead, God chose and called predominantly those who seem foolish, those who seem weak, those who are not honored, even those who may seem deplorable – to humble the supposedly wise and strong and influential. This is in accord with what Jesus prays in Luke 10:21:

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

God is the active agent in salvation. And He chooses not primarily the most intelligent, not primarily the most prominent – why? 1 Corinthians 1:29: “So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” That’s the bottom line. God humbles us – who, sinful as we are, need to be humbled. And He exalts Himself, He exalts Jesus the Son – the One worthy of all exaltation.

So rather than boast in ourselves, we are (1 Corinthians 1:31) to boast in Jesus, in the cross. For it is because of God and His great plan that we are in Christ Jesus and therefore receive God’s wisdom in the Gospel – righteousness, holiness, and redemption through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Then in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, the Apostle Paul tells us that even he – capable as he was of wowing folks with his intellect – did not do that. He didn’t think, “Ok, I’ll get their attention with my rhetoric, draw them in with my learning, then convince them with my powerful arguments.” Why not? He tells us in verse 5: “So that your faith might not be based on the wisdom of men” – not even on the wisdom of the Apostle Paul!  – “but on the power of God.”

Paul did not want to make disciples of Paul. He wanted God to make disciples of Jesus as he preached and lived out the Gospel. If he was drawing attention to himself, he was undercutting the Gospel, not faithfully proclaiming it.

So as the Holy Spirit performed that mighty miracle in Corinth – the same miracle He has performed in so many of our hearts:

  • removing our hearts of stone and replacing them with hearts of flesh
  • circumcising our hearts
  • opening blind eyes to see the beauty of Jesus
  • granting faith and making of each changed person a new creation

God the Father was glorified. God the Son was honored. And these new believers could see: Paul was just a messenger. He was just an ambassador. The honor, praise, and thanks goes to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Human arrogance was humbled. God was shown to be all in all.

That is our goal and desire within Desiring God Community Church:

  • To humble our own natural arrogance
  • To stifle our own inclination to boast
  • To honor the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as worthy of all praise and glory

Yes, the cross, the Gospel, God’s entire plan seems foolishness in the eyes of those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18). But when we behold our God,

  • When we see Him for Who He is
  • When we see Him as the only being worthy of worship
  • When we see the goal of the Father to exalt the Son He loves
  • When we see Jesus dying for the glory of the Father
  • When we glimpse the coming marriage supper of the Lamb, and our own joint role as Bride of Christ

Then we see: This all makes sense. This is all perfectly reasonable. I was blind, thinking the cross was foolishness. I was arrogant, thinking I could figure God out. But now I see: He alone is to be exalted. I bow before Him and gladly give Him the worship and honor He deserves.

 

God’s Power – For What?

Why do you need God’s power? When you pray that others might be empowered by God, what outcome do you have in mind? The completion of some great task? Effective witness of the Gospel to thousands?

Surely there are times when we should pray for such outcomes. But consider the Apostle Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1. He makes a number of requests for that church, yet especially asks that they might be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father” (Colossians 1:11-12a).

Paul himself is under arrest when he writes (Colossians 4:18). The natural reaction to such circumstances would be to chafe at these bonds, to be annoyed at the limitations on his freedom and ministry – even to be bitter and angry towards God for this experience of suffering.

But he rejects this natural reaction. He endures to the end. He rejoices always in the Lord. He gives thanks in all circumstances.  He does all this by the power of God working in him.

Having fought this battle against temptation in his own life through dependence on God’s power, he prays that the Colossians might do the same. Let’s walk through this part of his prayer:

  • He prays that they would be strengthened not just with a bit of power, but with “all power.” This fight is so important – and the adversary tempting Christians to despair, to anger, to frustration, is so powerful – that we need great power, all power to resist.
  • To accentuate the extent of the power, Paul asks that we be strengthened with power “according to His glorious might.” That is, in accord with the great power of God Himself. That is the mightiest power possible!
  • He prays that God might strengthen us with this power so that we would live out “all endurance.” He asks that we be able to bear up under whatever trials, sufferings, or setbacks we might experience.
  • Furthermore, he prays that we might be strengthened to all “patience” or “longsuffering.” Confident in God’s sovereign control, we know that He is working all things together for His good and wise purposes. Even in the valley of the shadow of death we wait patiently, eagerly anticipating God’s turning to the good what evil men and malevolent spiritual forces mean for harm.
  • In addition, he prays that we would exhibit joy as we endure patiently. We are not gritting our teeth, saying, “I can get through this, I can get through this!” By His power, we like the Apostle rejoice in the Lord always, in all circumstances.
  • Finally, he prays that we might maintain an attitude of thankfulness. Whatever our circumstances, we are always recipients of undeserved gifts. Every breath we breath, every calorie we consume, every minute we live is a gift of God. By His power we can continue to recognize those gifts even in the midst of horrible suffering.

So, pray this way for one another. Pray for strength according to God’s mighty power, so that we might have all endurance and patience with joy, always with an attitude of thanksgiving. God is pleased to answer such prayers – so that we, individually and corporately, might be conformed more and more to the image of His suffering yet conquering Son, to the glory and praise of the Father.

The Father’s Great, Secondary Love for His People

The June 30 sermon (available soon at this link) included as a heading, “God’s love for us is secondary to His love for His Son.” Let me expand on that point here, explaining why this is good news for all of God’s people. Indeed, this is the best news possible.

Consider Ephesians 2:4-7, part of one of the most well-known passages in Scripture. Here is that passage with some modifications. Without looking at the Bible, can you figure out what is different?

But 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 — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up and seated us in the heavenly places, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us. (Ephesians 2:4-7, modified)

How does that sound? Does that version capture the essential truths of the Gospel?

Many professing Christians act and think as if it does. But actually it greatly distorts Paul’s message, for it leaves out both the goal of salvation and the means. Paul actually wrote the following (underlining what was left out):

But 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— by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

Five times in that short passage the Apostle highlights that our salvation is in Christ, for Christ, and because of Christ. We cannot leave out Christ without grossly changing his meaning. The church, redeemed humanity, is the Father’s love gift to the Son (John 17:6, 24). As Paul has already said in Ephesians, the Father’s purpose and plan is to unite all things in the Son (Ephesians 1:10); the Father has put all things under Him and then given Him as head to His people, the church (Ephesians 1:22).

So our salvation is not an end in itself. Nor is it the high point, the goal of God’s plan. Our salvation is part of God the Father’s great plan to sum up all things in the Son, to exalt His Name, to show what He is like.

And this indeed is the best news possible. The Father’s love for His people is an expression of His eternal, perfect love for the Son. The Father incorporates us into the Son; He therefore looks upon us with the same delight and favor with which He looks at the Son. He is well pleased with us because He is well pleased with the Son. He will never change His love for us because He will never change His love for the Son.

So don’t fall into the common error of thinking of salvation as all about us. Don’t ever leave out the Son when thinking of the Father’s love for us.

Instead, exalt the Son! Praise Jesus! Know that if you are in Him, you are eternally secure in the Father’s love for the Son. And that is the greatest love of all.

 

God’s Regret and Ours

On Sunday June 2, we considered the seemingly contradictory statements that God is not a man that He should have regret (1 Samuel 15:29) and that He regretted making Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11). In the sermon (available soon at this link) I highlighted three reasons that we humans regret our past actions:

  1. First, we make sinful decisions. Sometimes we make the decision knowing it is wrong; other times we do not realize the decision is sinful until later. In either case, we may come to regret the decision itself.
  2. Second: We make unwise decisions. Given the information we have at the time, we should have made a different decision.
  3. Third: We make decisions that, given the information available at the time, are right and wise, but then unexpected events occur that make us wish we had made different decisions. A trivial example: Driving home recently from an evening bike ride in Concord, I checked Google Maps, which told me the quickest way home was via I-85 and I-485. But on the way home I discovered that the Harrisburg exit on I-485 was closed for repaving, so going on that route took much more time than the alternative. I regretted making that decision – though given the information available, it was the right decision.

God is not a man, and thus He does not regret in any of those three ways. He never does wrong. He is all-wise. And He knows all things, even the end from the beginning, so nothing surprises Him (Isaiah 46:9-10 among many other verses).

But what about the case of Saul? This first king of Israel played a role in God’s great plan of redemption. Saul’s sin was no surprise to God, no new information. For it was always God’s plan for the Messiah’s kingly ancestors to be from the tribe of Judah, David’s tribe, not from the tribe of Benjamin, Saul’s tribe (Genesis 49:10). In the event, all events happened according to God’s plan. In that sense, God did not regret making Saul king.

So in what sense does God regret? What does the statement in 1 Samuel 15:11 mean?

God hates sin. He hates the sin itself, as well as the pain the sin inflicts on those around the sinner. So God hates Saul’s rebellion against Him. God hates Saul’s fearing the people instead of fearing Him. God hates the impact these sins had on the nation in that day. In that sense, He regrets making Saul king.

And yet, Saul is part of God’s perfect plan – as Judas and his betrayal of Jesus is part of God’s perfect plan. God uses even the sinful acts of sinful men to accomplish His righteous purposes (Acts 4:27-28, Revelation 17:17). God did not sin, He did not make an unwise decision, He was not surprised by what happened. He was always working out His perfect plan.

Consider the following analogy, which I think comes as close as possible in human experience to this type of regret:

Imagine that you and your spouse have a daughter, whom you raise in the faith. You are diligent, loving, grace-filled parents. When the time is right, you teach her about God’s good plan for sexuality and how it is for His glory and our joy to delay sexual relations until marriage.

And yet when she is in her late teens she comes to you, confessing her sin and telling you she is pregnant.

You love her. You weep with her. You pray with her. You meet with the young man. After prayer and further counsel from others, they decide to marry. Your daughter gives birth to a baby girl.

Though there are struggles in the marriage, in the end by God’s grace it is solid and strong. They are good parents. Your granddaughter is a delightful young girl who brings great joy to her parents and to you.

Do you regret the pre-marital sex?

Yes. Your regret of the pre-marital sex is similar to God’s regret for Saul’s kingship. The act was sinful, as the couple harmed themselves and were rebellious against their Creator and Savior.

And yet God used this sin for good for all involved. You can rejoice in God’s plan, in His superintending of all events, even while you regret the sin that initiated those events.

God does not change His mind. He does not look back and see how He could have managed events better. He is all wise. So trust Him, and be confident that in His sovereign reign He is working all events together – even sinful acts that in some sense He regrets – for His glory and His people’s good.

(Thanks to Bill Teal for helping me to think of this illustration during our service discussion and prayer time Tuesday morning. We’d be delighted if you would join us and participate in the discussion: 6:30am Tuesdays, Panera Bread, J.W. Clay Blvd, University City. )

God the Father’s Love for You

God’s love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent His One and Only Son into the world
so that we might live through Him.
Love consists in this:
not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(1 John 4:9-10 Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Do you believe in God’s love? Not just in love as an attribute of God, an essential part of His character – but, do you believe in God’s love for you?

Back in December, we celebrated the incarnation: God taking on our form in Mary’s womb; the little baby laid in a stable’s feeding trough being God-in-the-flesh.

We sang this truth back then and rejoiced – but do we understand its implications?

In 1 John 4:9-10, the apostle John helps us to understand one key implication: The incarnation and sacrifice of the Son display the love of God like nothing else.

In His great plan of redemption, God determined to create for Himself a people for His own possession, children in His family, a Bride for His Son, those over whom He will rejoice with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17). The Son left His glorious throne, came to life as an apparently illegitimate son to a poor couple in a Roman backwater, lived a perfect life, yet died penniless, exposed, and naked on a cross – the most shameful death of his day. He did this – for you – if you will only believe in Him, trust Him, and treasure Him. He did this so that you might be His treasure, His joy.

So the seventeenth century scholar John Owen comments on John 16:26b-27a (“I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you”), saying the disciples, while assured of Jesus’ love for them, doubted the Father’s love:

Saith our Savior, “Take no care of that, nay, impose not that upon me, of procuring the Father’s love for you; but know that this is his peculiar respect towards you, and which you are in him: ‘He himself loves you.’ It is true, indeed (and as I told you), that I will pray the Father to send you the Spirit, the Comforter, and with him all the gracious fruits of his love; but yet in the point of love itself, free love, eternal love, there is no need of any intercession for that: for eminently the Father himself loves you. Resolve of that, that you may hold communion with him in it, and be no more troubled about it. Yea, as your great trouble is about the Father’s love, so you can no way more trouble or burden him, than by your unkindness in not believing of it.” So it must needs be where sincere love is questioned.

Or, as R.J.K. Law renders the end of that paragraph:

The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to Him, is not to believe that He loves you.

God has demonstrated His love for us unmistakably in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of His Son. So do not grieve God the Father through disbelief in His love! Reflect on the incarnation, contemplate Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection – and believe that God the Father Himself loves you.

(The John Owen quote is from Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (1657), Part 1, Chapter 3; the entire work is available online for free at this link. R.J.K. Law’s excellent paraphrase and condensation of this work is published as Communion With God (Banner of Truth, 1991). Another paraphrase and condensation by William Gross (2003) is available online for free via this link).