Through Many Tribulations We Must Enter the Kingdom of God

(This sermon on Acts 14 was preached on March 1, 2009. The audio will be posted at this link.)

There is more suffering in the true Christian life than you ever thought you could handle.

There is more joy in the true Christian life than you ever thought possible.

Those are the two main points of Acts 14. We’ll come back to them. But now: Suppose you knew you were about to die. What would you say to those remaining behind?

When the Apostle Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he knew he was about to die by execution. Recall that Timothy grew up in Lystra (Acts 16); Paul met him there for the first time in the visit recorded in today’s passage (Acts 14). Near the end of his life, he wrote:

You . . . know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,  11 persecutions, sufferings– what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.  12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,  13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,  15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Paul says “Timothy: Follow me as I follow Christ – and following Christ means suffering. Everyone who lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And you know very well what happened to me in your hometown.”

As described in today’s text, Paul suffered horribly in Lystra – and he had the scars to prove it. Timothy too will suffer if he continues in the faith.

But Timothy is not to respond to this prediction of future suffering with fear! Instead, Timothy is to take encouragement from Paul’s own suffering. Paul says: ‘You will suffer – like I have suffered. So you must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus! – like I was strong in His grace. You must continue – because you know me and my faith (and the faith of your Mom and grandmother), and you know the Word – this Word that makes you wise to salvation, and thoroughly equips you to suffer and endure.”

As we saw last week:   We must continue in the WORD – we must learn it, lean on it, love it. THIS is God’s revelation to us – and we will never get through times of suffering without it

But 2 Timothy is a letter neither of sorrow in suffering, nor of simply endurance through suffering. Paul shows himself to be full of joy in suffering. He goes on to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.”

Suffering – yet joy.

Just so in Acts 14: Tremendous suffering. And tremendous joy. (more…)

Salvation By No Other Name

(This sermon on Acts 4:1-22 was preached on 11/2/2008. The audio is available here.)

Can a person be saved apart from calling on the Name of Jesus?

Last week we looked at Acts 3. Peter and John go to the temple to pray. There they encounter a lame man, a beggar asking for money. God heals him through Peter. This man is more than 40 years old; he has been begging for a long time, and  thus is well known at the temple.  The people are astonished.

Peter takes the occasion to proclaim the Gospel, saying,

And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man- whom you see and know- strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all. Acts 3:16 NET

Peter makes four things clear:

1) Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises

2) His listeners are in the covenant!

3) They are murderers: They deserve to be cut off from God’s covenant people

4) They have a choice: If they call on the Name of Jesus, they will be saved.

So Peter is saying that this man was healed by the Name of Jesus, that this healing is a picture of spiritual salvation, and that there is spiritual salvation in that Name.

But could there be salvation through any other name or in any other way?

While Peter doesn’t directly answer that question in chapter 3, he does provide us with hints:

  • He calls Jesus the author of life in verse 15. Could there be another author?
  • He calls Jesus the promised Christ, the promised Messiah.
  • He says Jesus is the descendant of Abraham through whom all nations are to be blessed
  • He says Jesus is the prophesied Prophet like Moses – and that those who don’t listen to Him must be cut off from God’s people.

All these hints suggest that there is salvation through Jesus alone. But the question remains: Could there be some alternative way, some means perhaps for those who are not descendants of Abraham, who aren’t part of God’s covenant people?

In our day, as in the time of Peter, there are many who believe there is no existence past death, and thus no salvation. But the majority of people then and now believe in an existence after death; they even believe that there will be rewards and punishment meted out for what we do in this life. Many believe in a coming judgment (though most reserve that judgment for terrible people unlike themselves), and a coming salvation for all who are sincere, who try, who are regular participants in religious activities of any kind.

In this country today, a large number believe in this salvation by sincerity. They reject as repulsive the idea of a God who would condemn sincere adherents of any religion. They say, “I could never worship a God who would condemn such people!”

But the question is not: what you are willing or unwilling to believe. You are not the judge. You are not the authority.

The question is: Who is God? What has He revealed about Himself? Who are you? Where do you stand before Him? Is there any way you can be put right with Him?

In this passage, Peter gives one of Scriptures’ most powerful statements about the exclusive nature of salvation in Christ. There is one way of salvation, and one only. Salvation comes through believing in Jesus. That’s it. Those who don’t believe in Jesus are lost. But anyone may believe. And all who believe are saved. (more…)

Sovereignty, Responsibility, and Boldness

(This sermon on Acts 4:23-31was preached 11/9/08. The audio is available here.)

Imagine that you are engaged in a personal ministry. You are confident that you are following God, and it seems that you are having some success. Then, suddenly, there’s a huge obstacle in your path,

  • It might be a failure on your part,
  • It might be a rejection or betrayal by former colleagues,
  • It might be a financial barrier,
  • It might be opposition, or threats from others.

How do you respond?

In Acts 4, that’s the situation Peter and John and all the apostles find themselves in.

Jesus was killed just a few months ago. That itself had seemed to be the end of their hopes. But God raised Him from dead. Jesus opened their eyes to Scripture and to His own prophecies to see that the crucifixion had to happen, to see the role of Christ’s suffering in God’s plan. The apostles now know that Jesus is living, active, still at work.

He then sent the Holy Spirit on them with power at Pentecost, baptizing them and filling them for their special task. These apostles saw three thousand saved that day – and they themselves baptized every one. They’ve seen more come to faith day by day.

Then God worked through Peter and John to heal a man who was lame from birth. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached; once again, thousands more were saved.

It would be understandable if, at this point, the apostles thought, “Wow! Look at God work! What success! Everything is just going to get better and better!”

But things didn’t get better and better.

As we saw last week, the Jewish authorities arrest Peter and John. They threaten them, warning them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. Peter speaks boldly in their presence, saying there is no other name by which men must be saved, saying that they cannot but speak about what they have seen and heard, saying they must obey God rather than men. But the Jewish authorities just threaten all the more. They release Peter and John, but make their point absolutely clear: “If you continue to speak in the name of Jesus, watch out. We’re here. You know what happened to Jesus. If you love your families, if you want to see your children grow up, you had better keep quiet.”

This is the first serious challenge to the young church.

Put yourself in their shoes: These are not supermen. They have families, worries, and cares. If they are put to death, there are no food stamps, there is no welfare, there is no social security for their children. They must be facing a strong temptation to be quiet. Satan undoubtedly tempted them in these terms: “Think about how many are already saved! Let’s just teach them. Let’s just live together and enjoy each other, be family to each other. We can stop this proselytizing. For it’s this speaking in public that will get us in trouble. Indeed, maybe this is a sign from God –we’ve been spreading the Gospel, and we’ve had our success. Now maybe we’re supposed to stop and focus on deepening our joy in Christ.”

Imagine what would have happened if apostles had done that. That would have been the end of the church. Or, possibly, the church would have been a tiny enclave, a minor sect within Judaism. In other words, that would have been disastrous.

So how do the apostles fight this temptation? How can we, facing our own obstacles, fight the temptation to quit, to change, to adapt in ways that destroy our ministry?

Peter and John fight in four ways that are applicable to us:

  • Acknowledge your weakness
  • Know the truth
  • Trust the truth
  • Ask for God’s enabling (more…)

Prayer and Mission

The mission statement of this church is: “We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.” How can we be used by God to fulfill such a huge mission?

Isaiah 55:6-7 answers the question:

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Fred and I believe this is a clear call for Desiring God Community Church in 2009: Seek the Lord! Call upon Him! God invites us to do so, saying whoever seeks, finds!

But seeking Him means more than saying, “God, help me!” Note what the prophet says MUST accompany our seeking the Lord: Forsaking our wicked ways and wrong thoughts, repenting and returning to the Lord. We all need this regular examination of our own hearts, this regular turning to God, this taking account of where we are before Him. (more…)

Preach the Gospel to Yourself

[I have been reading Jerry Bridges’ book The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress, 1994, 2006). He hits hard at the idea that we must appropriate the Gospel for ourselves every day, confessing our sins and turning to the cross. This is a necessary part of the turning to God in fasting and prayer that Fred and I have been calling us to over these last two months. Here are excerpts from chapter 3 of the book, “Preach the Gospel to Yourself.” I commend the entire book to you; for more information – and to read the preface and chapter 1 – follow this link – Coty]

The typical evangelical paradigm is that the gospel is for unbelievers and the duties of discipleship are for believers. But the gospel is for believers also, and we must pursue holiness . . . in the atmosphere of the gospel. To do that, however, we must firmly grasp what the gospel is and what it means in practical terms to preach it to ourselves every day. . . .

The single [Bible] passage . . . that most clearly and completely explains the gospel is Romans 3:19-26. A minister friend of mine calls this passage “The Heart of the Gospel.” So if we are going to preach the gospel to ourselves every day and learn to live by it, we need to understand Romans 3:19-26. . . . (more…)

The Best Valentines Gift

Today is Valentines Day. What gift are you giving?

For those of you who are married: Do you want to give your husband or wife the greatest possible gift?

Let me tell you what that is: The greatest gift you could possibly give to your spouse would be to commit to living out your role as a Christian wife or a Christian husband by the power of the Spirit.

The book of Ephesians tells us how to do this. And the lessons begin not in chapter 5, but right at the beginning of the book.

The church, Christ’s bride, is chosen in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight (1:4). But He doesn’t say, “I’ve chosen you – so go make yourself worthy of Me!” Far from it. He Himself does the work to make us holy and blameless: He redeems us by His blood, thereby forgiving our trespasses (1:7). He even stamps His seal on us, giving us the Holy Spirit Himself; He guarantees that we will be holy and blameless, for He is the One who will transform us into Christ’s bride (1:13-14).

In chapter 2, Paul explains more of what this involves. We, on our own, were far from looking like an attractive, potential bride. Indeed, spiritually we were dead, decomposing, stinking, repugnant. We were naturally the objects of God’s judgment and wrath, not His love (2:1-3). But God loved us even in that disgusting state and united us to Christ, the giver of life. He raised us with Him, and even seated us with Christ on His throne in the heavenlies, the spiritual realm, so that He might show all just how rich His grace is (2:4-7).

Given that we deserve judgment but received mercy only because of God’s grace, and given that He chose us so that we might be holy and blameless, how should we then live? As new men, not as old men! We are made alive in Christ – yet we still live in this world and are tempted to behave like we did before. But knowing who we truly are, we are to put off that old, disgusting self. For those old ways of living are deadly; indeed, they are death. Instead, since we are children of God, act like it! We are “to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:24). You were once darkness, but now are light! Walk in the light, not in the darkness (5:8)! Take care, consider the way you walk – for it indicates who you are (5:15)!

How are we to do that while still living in fallen bodies in a fallen world? Only by tapping into the same power that made us alive in Christ: that is, by being filled with the Spirit, every minute of every day (5:18). For being filled with the Spirit is not an emotional experience (though joy should accompany any true filling). The Spirit empowers us to live as children of light.

The key test for whether or not we are filled with the Spirit comes in marriage. For marriage reflects the very relationship between Christ and the church that the entire book of Ephesians describes (5:32). In marriage, we have the opportunity to live out before the world what Christ has done for us: Giving us grace that we don’t deserve, loving us when we are unlovable. We then can model the unity, love, headship and submission, and perfection that characterize the relationship of Christ to the church.

For wives, the test is: When your husband is unlovable and harsh and demanding and deserving of wrath, do you nevertheless submit to him in everything (5:22-24)? And not only do you submit – do you also maintain an inner attitude of respect (5:32), even when you think he is wrong, even when you think he is misguided? Will you model the perfect, spotless Church in her response to Christ?

For husbands the test is: When your wife is unlovable and unresponsive and cold, do you nevertheless love her as Christ loved the church, laying down your personal preferences and desires for her? Will you give up yourself for her? Will you model Christ?

When husband and wife live out these truths, the marriage blossoms. When one partner lives out these truths, he or she is a great gift to the spouse, and becomes a glorious picture to the world of the grace of God.

So yes, indeed: The greatest gift you can give your husband or wife is to commit to living out your role in marriage by the power of the Spirit.

Let me emphasize those last five words: “By the power of the Spirit.” Because if you are like me, you husbands are thinking that you cannot possibly love your wife like Christ loved the church. And you women are thinking that you cannot possibly submit to your husbands in everything. I assure you, all of us struggle with this. Jesus tells us to be perfect as he is perfect. And not one of us is perfect.

But God has promised that His people will become perfect – He will change us and mold us into Christlikeness. Count on that!

Satan will try to say one of two things:

“You’re doing well enough in your marriage, at least better than most others; don’t be fanatical about this – you don’t need to change anything.” But I tell you, don’t be satisfied with a marriage that is less than perfect. Examine yourself. If you are failing to live up to these ideals, confess this to God, and ask Him to change you.

Or Satan might say, “It’s no use. If you could start over, maybe you could make this marriage work. But given your spouse, given all that has happened in your marriage, there is no hope.”

This is a pack of lies. Now, by yourselves you cannot change the habits of relating to each other you have created. “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). If you try to change through depending on your own natural resources, you will fail. But remember these great truths from Ephesians:

You are raised with Christ; you are seated with him in the heavenlies!

You are light; You can walk as children of Light!

You can be filled with the Spirit!

All this is true. By conscious, continual dependence on the Spirit within you, you can forgive your spouse, you can change old, negative patterns of relating to each other; you can live out the ideal Christian marriage.

So let us learn to walk by the Spirit in our marriages, imitating the relationship between Christ and the church.

Husbands, love your wives.

Wives, respect and submit to your husbands.
May that be today’s Valentines gift.

(This is, in part, an excerpt from a longer document on marriage that Beth and I have written. See it in its entirety at this link.)

On Fasting

Do you fast? If so, why? How? To what end?

Fred’s sermon last Sunday turned my thoughts to fasting; Michael Oh’s talk at the Desiring God Pastors Conference, “Missions as Fasting,” deepened those thoughts; the booklet he recommended, A Memorial Concerning Personal and Family Fasting by Thomas Boston (1676-1732) took those thoughts yet further. Consider, then, why, how, and to what end we should fast.

Why Fast?

We can only fast to seek God’s face. Avoiding food or earthly comforts has no merit. The benefit comes only from drawing close to God. And for a sinner deserving of hell to seek God’s face requires searching one’s heart, confessing sin, believing the Gospel, and seeking God’s help in turning from sin. Consider these Scriptures and quotes from Thomas Boston:

  • Psalm 27:8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”
  • Such times are to be set apart from conversing with the world that we may the more solemnly commune with our own hearts to the state of matters between God and us.
  • In vain will we fast and pretend to be humbled for our sins and make confession of them if our love of sin be not turned into hatred, our liking of it into loathing, and our cleaving to it into a longing to be rid of it, with full purpose to resist the motions of it in our heart. . . If we are indeed true penitents we will turn from sin not only because it is dangerous and destructive to us but because it is offensive to God, dishonours his Son, grieves his Spirit, transgresseth his law, and defaceth his image; we will cast away all our transgressions not only as one would cast away a live coal out of his bosom for that it burns him, but as one would cast away a loathsome and filthy thing for that it defiles him.
  • James 4:7-10 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
  • Joel 2:11-13 For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it? 12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

How to Fast?

The way we fast must assist us in achieving the end of fasting: humbling ourselves and seeking God’s face. Such seeking takes time and requires focus. Avoiding food can be helpful; if we don’t eat we have extra time available, and the feeling of weakness that often accompanies not eating can lead to greater humility before God. But for many of us, there are other thieves of our time and focus that are much greater than food: Email perhaps, or the telephone, or text messages, or the internet, or the sports page, or television. Not eating will accomplish nothing if we lose focus and time because of answering our cell phone. Indeed, for many of us, fasting from these other distractions will be more vital for seeking God’s face than fasting from food. The best fast may require putting aside them all.

The time of fasting may last an hour or may last many days; what matters is focused seeking of God.

In my case, the various media are personally my biggest distractions. Therefore, my commitment after these reflections is to fast weekly for at least a half day from all electronic media and phones, and on occasion, to accompany that with a longer fasting from food.

What about you? What distracts you from setting aside focused time with God?

Fast to What End?

While all true fasting begins with confession, repentance, and appropriating the Gospel, biblically many different causes lead to fasts. Furthermore, we can infer from those passages that there are a number of additional valid reasons for fasting. Here are a few:

  • When a major, difficult task looms ahead of you, such as we find in Esther 4:16.
  • When a sin continues to recur. Writes Boston: Set therefore some time apart for personal fasting and humiliation on the account of that very thing that you may wrestle with God in prayer [about] it, and use this method time after time until you prevail against it; else that one thing may ruin you and you will be condemned for it, not because you could not help it, but because you would not use the means appointed of God for relief in that case.
  • When a major decision is in front of you, and you need wisdom and direction.
  • When threatened by dangers.
  • When your heart is hard towards God.
  • When tokens of God’s judgment fall on us or threaten us. These may be against us personally, or against our church, or our country. As Jesus says concerning the tower of Siloam (Luke 13:4-5), such instances should lead us to repentance and, like the Ninevites, fasting could well accompany that repentance (Jonah 3:6-10).
  • In order to heighten our longings for Jesus’ return (Matthew 9:15, Revelation 22:20).
  • When we feel far from God. In Matthew 9:15, Jesus says, “When the bridegroom is taken from them, then shall [my disciples] fast.” Surely this means the disciples will fast after His death and before his resurrection, and that we can fast longing for His return; but it also means that whenever we lose our closeness with Him, fasting and thereby seeking His face is appropriate.
  • Prior to participating in the Lord’s Supper. Paul tells us to examine ourselves prior to participating (1 Corinthians 11:27-29), and such examination is a key part of any true fast. The point of examining ourselves is not so that we refrain from participating if our hearts are unrepentant; the point is to lead us to repentance!

So will you join me in fasting – from whatever distracts you, so that together we might humble ourselves, acknowledge that God would be just in condemning us all to an eternity in hell, acknowledge that we cannot fight sin or pay for sin on our own, seek God’s face, delight in our Savior whose death paid the penalty for our sins, and commit ourselves to walking in the power of the Spirit to the glory of our blessed God?

Preparing to Worship

[For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.]

How do you prepare for corporate worship?

God gave the Israelites extensive regulations regarding how they were to prepare for tabernacle or temple worship; someone who was unprepared was unclean (see the first sermon on Acts 10). Living a normal life in this world could lead to uncleanness; explicit acts of sin were not necessarily involved.

Mark 7, Acts 10, and other passages make clear that the specific cleanliness regulations God gave the Israelites are not binding on Christians today. But those same passages make clear that the picture they provide of the need to prepare ourselves for worship still holds.

So we too must prepare ourselves for worship. How? (more…)

Lincoln’s Logic on Slavery Applied to Abortion

Numerous excellent articles related to abortion have been published in the last week. Some are indexed here. This post by John Piper is especially powerful. Two excerpts:

Lincoln: “You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.”

Piper: “There are no morally relevant differences between white and black or between child-in-the-womb and child-outside-the-womb that would give a right either to enslave or kill the other.”

I’m Holding a Miracle

Check out this video, celebrating God’s gift of life, from conception through development in the womb and to birth. Jason French, who is the author of two of the songs we sing regularly, wrote the music and put together the video. It ends by contrasting the miracle of life with the tragedy of abortion.