What Changed At Pentecost? (Part 2)

Last week we considered how the Holy Spirit’s work was similar both before and after Pentecost. We noted that the Spirit has always been the source of life for those who believe; has always engendered a love for the character of God, and thus for His Law; has always been constantly with those who believe; has always enabled obedience in those who believe; and has always enabled perseverance in those who believe.

But there are major difference in the Spirit’s work after Pentecost. We will list five, although we will consider the first two together.

1) There is a New Extent to the Spirit’s Work

2) There is a New Entrance into God’s Covenant People

Consider: Before Pentecost, what proportion of the Israelites had been made alive by the Holy Spirit? How many loved God’s law?

Praise God, some did. Those who did, did so by His grace. But the people as a whole were stubborn. Rebellious. Hardhearted. The people as a whole broke the Covenant – again and again. Only a remnant was faithful. Only a remnant had the Spirit.

Jesus then lives and fulfills God’s covenant perfectly – He is the only completely faithful Israelite. He is the remnant. He is faithful Israel.

Now, after Pentecost, others can become part of faithful Israel by identification with Him.

God cleanses them in Christ, as prophesied in Ezekiel 36:25. This cleansing is the new entrance into Israel, into God’s covenant people. You do not have to be born into the covenant to be in the covenant. United to Jesus by faith, you become part of the faithful remnant. Christ is the Israel of God, and since you are in Christ, you are in Israel.

Thus, after Pentecost the extent of God’s people cuts right across every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. As Joel prophesied and as Peter quotes in his Pentecost sermon, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32). Young, old, rich, poor, master, slave, Jew, Gentile, black, white, educated, uneducated – all who say, “By nature I am an object of God’s wrath. In failing to glorify God, I have violated the purpose of my creation. I deserve His punishment. But I believe that Jesus lived the perfect life, fulfilled the Covenant, and died on behalf of all who will trust in Him. I do trust Him. He is my Savior, my Lord, my treasure – Father God, will you shower me with your mercy? Will you give me your Spirit?”

All who turn to Him in that way are saved. That’s the new entrance into His covenant people. That’s the new extent of the Spirit’s work.

3) There is a New Power for Witness

At Pentecost, 3000 people come to faith. Nothing similar had ever occurred. Two thousand years later, what started as a believing community of a few dozen covers the globe. That is evidence of a new power.

Now, in the first sermon on Acts 2, I distinguished between the pouring out of the Spirit on all believers – that is, the baptism of the Spirit or the sealing of the Spirit – and the filling of the Spirit. Filling is a special anointing for a particular task. At Pentecost, the disciples are both baptized and filled.

It is good and right for us to pray for a special filling, a special anointing for witness. But we can have confidence that the Spirit is in every believer, always empowering us for witness. Because of the change in entrance into God’s people and the change in the extent of the Spirit’s work, we invite others into God’s covenant people differently than the Israelites. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, we are now entrusted with a message of reconciliation. We are God’s ambassadors – God makes His appeal through us: Be reconciled to God! Surely that happens only by His Spirit.

So, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us to raise the spiritually dead.

Think of the Great Commission in these terms:

Matthew 28:18-20 [Jesus says:] “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me  (There’s the power). Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, (There’s the new extent and the new entrance) baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus says, “I, the one with all authority, am with you always – so you have the power to disciple all nations – even those held captive by false religions for centuries and centuries. My Holy Spirit will enable you. I will open doors, break down barriers, and bring nations to Myself.” This is the new power for witness post-Pentecost.

I believe this is how we should understand John 7:38-39. Jesus says,

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Rivers of living water will flow out of the hearts of believers in new ways after Pentecost. He’s not saying no one previously had had the Spirit working in his life. Rather, Jesus here speaks of this new power for witness that will flow through believers. His followers will speak and live out these truths by the Spirit’s power in such a way that thousands and then millions will come to faith.

So there is a new extent, a new entrance, and a new power for witness. Those are all dramatic changes. The last two changes represent a difference in degree compared to what was true prior to Pentecost; the Spirit’s earlier work increases many-fold. Furthermore, these last two changes will be true to a greater or lesser extent in different individuals. Some Old Testament saints reflect these truths in powerful ways. But after Pentecost, many more live out these truths.

4) A Deeper Intimacy with the Spirit

We said that before Pentecost, the Spirit was with believers. But as described in Romans 8, this intimacy deepens considerably after Pentecost.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:15-16)

These pictures of adoption, of being in God’s intimate family, are hinted at in the Old Testament, but become central to the teaching of the New. We can call the Holy God, the One in Whom is no darkness at all, our Daddy! For He loves His people with a tender love, an intimate love. He knows us and delights in us.

We can rejoice, post-Pentecost, in this deep intimacy.

5) Additional Power for Living

We noted that before Pentecost, the Spirit enabled obedience and perseverance in His remnant. But this is true to a much greater extent post-Pentecost.

Think of the disciples. They certainly believed in Jesus before Pentecost. But they give no evidence of power to live out His truths. Instead, they are fearful, hiding behind locked doors.

At Pentecost, all that changes. They are bold. Forceful. They no longer bicker over who is the greatest.

Jesus’ comments in John 14 and 16 help us to see that this difference is not accidental. The Spirit’s coming changes them from the inside. Jesus tells them:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18, emphasis added)

Do you see the distinction Jesus makes? Now the Spirit dwells with them. He had to do that, for they could not believe apart from His work. But there is a change coming. An order of magnitude difference. The Spirit will be in them in a new sense post-Pentecost. And we see that change in the book of Acts.

Jesus says something even more striking a short while later:

I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7)

That is: “The Spirit won’t come and be in you until after I go away and send Him. His presence in you is more important than My presence beside you.”

These verses help us to see that the Spirit’s granting us power to live is heightened after Pentecost. No one could ever live a life pleasing to God apart from His power. But that power is more pervasive and more prevalent in this age. The disciples themselves show that clearly.

What, then, is the bottom line?

Consider, then, all these changes – all the privileges and power we have today. If believers during Old Testament times loved God so much, lived such faithful lives, and accomplished so much by His power – how much more should we!

He gives us power to become what we were created to be: Healed, accomplished, useful, complete; living in His love, witnessing to His grace. He enables us by His Spirit to be loving, to be generous, to be patient, to be kind. He gives us the responsibility to bring others into His family – and He gives us the power to fulfill that responsibility.

Do you believe Him? Do you trust Him? Have faith in Jesus – and His Spirit will live in you.

[This is an edited, shortened excerpt from the sermon ”What Changed at Pentecost?” preached 10/19/08. The audio is available here. Part 1, last week’s blog post, is here. The two previous sermons on Acts 2, “The Promise of the Father” and “The Crucified is Both Lord and Christ” are also relevant. John Piper’s sermon “How Believers Experienced the Spirit Before Pentecost” is another helpful resource on this topic.]

What Changed at Pentecost? Part 1

Acts 2 describes the events of the day of Pentecost. Before the day ended, God had saved 3,000 people. But if God saved 5,000 people tomorrow, Pentecost would still be a far more important day.

Why? Why should we consider Pentecost to be one of the most important days in the history of the world?

Most Christians would answer: Pentecost is important because on that day the Holy Spirit came. But we know the Holy Spirit was active prior to this day. So what changed? And why is this change so important?

Let’s look at this by, first, considering how the relationship of the Holy Spirit to believers is the same before and after Pentecost. Next week we’ll consider how that relationship changes on this momentous day.

How is the relationship of the Spirit to Believers Similar Before and After Pentecost?

Five ways:

1) The Spirit gives life to those who believe

This statement is true of all believers of all time

Consider Ephesians 2:1-5, one of the most important biblical passages describing salvation:

You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Paul makes clear that he is not speaking only about the readers of this letter, for he says we are by nature objects of God’s wrath. That is, God, as the moral authority of the universe, must mete out punishment in response to our sinful nature, not only our sinful deeds. And since this holds “for the rest of mankind,” this is true of all men everywhere at all times since the Fall. No one is able do anything on his own to change his being under God’s wrath.

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. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

“But God!” Only He could change our condition. He makes us alive; He enables us to believe; He cuts through the blinding fog so that we might see Him.

There has never been anyone saved by any means other than by God’s grace through faith. This is true before Pentecost and after Pentecost: The Spirit gives life to those who believe.

2) The Spirit gives love for the character of God, and thus for His Law

The Law is a reflection of the character of God, helping us to know Who He is. So the one who loves God must love His Law.

This is one of the New Covenant promises in Jeremiah 31: That His people will have His Law written on their hearts. There will be an inner change, not only external obedience to rules.

But while Jeremiah 31 is not fulfilled until after Pentecost, there are those in the Old Testament who have a similar inner change – who have the Law on their hearts, who love God’s Law. Consider the following verses:

  • Isaiah 51:7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law.
  • Psalm 119:97  Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
  • Psalm 119:18-19   Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!

Note that in Psalm 119:18-19, the psalmist acknowledges that this love for God’s Law is God-given.

So before and after Pentecost, God engenders love for His character, for His Law, in the hearts of people.

3) The Spirit is constantly with those who believe

This is clearly true after Pentecost, as it is another of the New Covenant promises contained in Ezekiel 36:27: “I will put my Spirit within you.”

But hear what David says:

Psalm 139:7-10  Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

David is not only saying, “God is everywhere.” He is also saying, “No matter where I go – even if I am being rebellious, trying to flee from You – You are with me, leading me, holding me.”

So the Spirit’s presence with believers was real before and after Pentecost.

4) The Spirit enables obedience in those who believe

Again this is obviously true after Pentecost; it is the Spirit that bears the fruit of love, joy, and peace in believers (Galatians 5:22-23). And Ezekiel had prophesied that God would “cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

But before Pentecost, David says, ‘He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:8)

Or as the author of Psalm 119 writes:

Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways. (Psalm 119:35-37 NAS)

The Spirit enabled obedience in believers before and after Pentecost.

5) The Spirit enables perseverance in those who believe

Once again, this is clear after Pentecost; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 and many other passages teach this truth.

But consider the perseverance in faith of Old Testament characters. We have already seen from Ephesians 2 that faith is a gift of God. In Hebrews 11, the author lists many Old Testament characters who display extraordinary faith. After summarizing the difficulties they endured, he concludes:

Destitute, persecuted and mistreated– the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith (Hebrews 11:37b-39a)

This is extraordinary perseverance. And it is the result of Spirit-given faith.

The Spirit has always been at work. No one would ever believe, ever obey, ever persevere apart from the Spirit. As Jesus says in John 15:5, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” He was speaking to his disciples, using present tense, before Pentecost. And His statement is therefore true of all men, of all times.

Next week: How then does the relationship of the Spirit to believers change after Pentecost?

[This is an edited, shortened excerpt from the sermon ”What Changed at Pentecost?” preached 10/19/08. The audio is available here. The two previous sermons on Acts 2, “The Promise of the Father” and “The Crucified is Both Lord and Christ” are also relevant. John Piper’s sermon “How Believers Experienced the Spirit Before Pentecost” is another helpful resource on this topic.]

The Moon is Always Round: Faith in the Goodness of God After Losing a Child

[On the April 26 edition of the “Life and Books and Everything” podcast, Kevin DeYoung conducts a wide-ranging interview with Westminster Seminary professor Jonathan Gibson – author of several books, including Be Thou My Vision (which I recommended recently) and an excellent children’s book, The Moon is Always Round. DeYoung prompts Gibson to tell of the personal tragedy that led to the writing of this book. This excerpt begins 41 minutes into the podcast – Coty]

When Ben was about three, we were living in Cambridge [England]…. He loved to look up at the moon at night. So we would always hold him up at the window and look for the moon and say, “What shape is the moon, Ben?” He’d say it’s a crescent moon, half moon, three-quarter moon. Then I’d say, “What shape is the moon always?” And he would say, “The moon is always round.” I told him to say that. And then I’d say, “What does that mean?” And he would say, “God is always good.”… Even when you can’t see the whole of the moon, the moon is always round; even when you can’t understand all of God’s goodness in a certain situation in life, God is always good.

But little did I know that six months later it would be quite providential….  We were expecting our daughter, Leila, and she was due on the Lord’s Day, 20 March 2016. But on the Lord’s Day 13 March, … she departed this earth…. We woke up and Jackie said there’s something not right, so we went to the hospital and had the scan and confirmed that there was no heartbeat…. Our world fell apart…. We had always heard of these situations of … late-term … still birth, but … all of a sudden were thrust into it. Leila was still born four days later on St Patrick’s day, 17 March.…

We brought Ben to the hospital to meet her. We spent the afternoon with her and I drove him home that night…. In the car out of nowhere – he’s three and a half – he says to me from the back seat, “Daddy, will Mommy ever grow a baby that wakes up?” See, he had held Leila – he saw that she was just very still, eyes closed. I said, “Ben, I don’t know, but let’s pray that she does.” And then he said, “Why isn’t Leila coming home?” And I said, “Well, because Jesus called her name and she went to Him.” And he said, “After she’s been with Jesus for a few days, will she come to us?” And I said, “No, Ben, when you’re with Jesus you don’t want to go anywhere else.” And then he said, “Does she not like us?” And I said, “No, she does like us, she just likes Jesus more…. We’re going to have to go to them one day. She’s not coming back to us.”… And Ben said, “Daddy, why isn’t she coming home?”… I said, “Ben, I don’t really know why, but … you remember the moon? What shape is the moon, Ben?” And he said, “The moon is always round.” And I said, “What does that mean?” He said, “God is always good.” And I said, “Tonight, Ben, it’s hard to see the moon at all really, but we’ve got to remember that God is good and He has His reason why Leila’s gone to heaven.”…

It was actually quite a joyful day to meet Leila – nine months expectation. To meet her, to hold her…. We could see God’s goodness and giving us a daughter. We got to meet her, name her. But then there was this other half of the moon I couldn’t see…. I couldn’t believe the profound conversation I’d had with Ben in the car…. I just decided to start writing this kid’s story…. So hence was born the book The Moon is Always Round….

At her funeral, … Ian Hamilton had this throwaway line where he said Leila’s was a glorious testimony. She pointed us all to God, she pointed us all to another world. And then he … said, “Leila the evangelist.” That’s what we call her. We hear quite often throughout the year letters, emails from people who have been blessed by that book who’ve sadly had similar experiences, and we just always think Leila the evangelist, she being dead yet speaks….

They did an autopsy afterwards and found nothing wrong with her. Fifty percent of stillbirths are a mystery to the medical profession….

So good has come out of it. The moon is always round. The Lord has used our sore providence to minister to others. We still miss her greatly. We just had our sixth anniversary of her not being with us….

Each person’s valley is their valley and I think that’s what people need to respect and be aware of…. With a still birth you get to meet them, you get to hold them, you get to see who they look like. You carry their little body in a white coffin into church, you put that body in a grave. In that sense it gives them great dignity…. On my books … it says I have four children, and Leila’s one of those four…. One of the great pains for a parent is we all love to talk about our children, we love to put photos up of them on Twitter, Facebook, email them to people. But nobody gets to see your stillborn child, and that’s a great sadness…. You think I’ve only got three children. I have four children. I held my daughter.

Doug Kelly wrote to me whenever Leila died. He had a still birth, a sixth child, and he wrote to me, “You have just been given the strange stewardship of a quiet grief.” I’ve never forgotten that line. I have friends at seminary here, … and their daughter is six years old and I’ll often look at their girl and I’ll think, wow, Leila would be running around with her…. But she’s not here. So it’s this hidden grief that’s very hard to articulate at times, but it’s very real. And the encouragement I give to people is: If you know someone who’s lost a stillborn child, ask them their name…. Just to ask them their name and use their name in conversation if you’re talking about the child. Don’t just talk about the baby they lost or we’re sorry for your loss… Say, “We’re sorry Leila died.” … Be personal and talk about them like they’re actually a real person, because they are….

Look up in the sky. You can’t see the moon tonight. You see just a sliver, but it’s not any less round, it’s not any less brilliant than it always is.

[You can watch and listen to Ben – several years older – read the book at this link.]

 

Be Confident Because of God’s Passion for His Glory

Is God’s passion for His glory an encouragement to you?

Scripture tells us again and again that God is determined to magnify His fame; all peoples must recognize His holy character. Isaiah 48:9-11 is particularly explicit:

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

The New Testament is just as clear. We are to do good works for the glory of the Father (Matthew 5:16). Lazarus was sick and a man was born blind for the glory of God (John 11:4, 9:3). We could list a hundred other examples.

Upon seeing this truth, many become uneasy. For we do not like people who magnify their own glory. Such people are uncaring and inconsiderate, self-absorbed and self-promoting. Do we really want to follow a God like that?

The prophet Samuel helps us to see that we need not have such uneasiness. Indeed, God’s passion for His glory is the basis for our hope!

Recall the setting of 1 Samuel 12. No Israelite has served as king in the years after God brought His people out of Egypt. Instead, God Himself has been their king. Yet the people have asked God to make them like other nations, providing a king for them. God acquiesces; following God’s instruction, Samuel anoints Saul king. The prophet lets the people know, however, that their request is a rejection of God, and thus is sinful.

The people therefore ask:

“Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” (1 Samuel 12:19)

Samuel responds:

“Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.” (1 Samuel 12:20-22)

This expanded paraphrase attempts to highlight Samuel’s logic:

You indeed have sinned. You deserve God’s judgment; indeed you deserve His rejection. But remember how you became His people! He did not choose you because you were obedient or powerful; He made you His people because it pleased Him to do so. That has not changed! He promised that you are His – and He is faithful to His every promise, for He is passionate for His glory. He always acts consistently with His character, so that His glory might be displayed in all the earth. Therefore, acknowledge your sin – and then serve the LORD with all your heart! You belong to Him – so repent! Worship Him! Don’t turn away from Him, turning aside to other gods, or to anything else that you think might benefit you! None will! You belong to Him! In Him alone will you find joy and fulfillment and peace! So serve Him alone.

Friends, God’s reputation is all wrapped up with His forgiving and perfecting His people – that is, all who come to Him through Jesus. It is God’s good pleasure to act this way, and thus to display His mercy, grace, love, and justice to the entire created order. God’s passion for His glory is thus for our good, for our joy (unlike the passion of any human for his own glory).

So delight in the God-centeredness of God – particularly when you sin! He will never forsake His people, for His great name’s sake.

The Power of the Resurrection

[From D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1 (Baker, 1978), excerpted from p. 399-422. These chapters are based on three sermons on Ephesians 1:19-20 preached in 1954; audio of those sermons is available online: first, second, third.]

[The resurrection] is the proof, beyond every other proof, of the fact that every obstacle and hindrance and enemy set in our path shall be overcome. The raising of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is proof positive and absolute, that even the ‘last enemy’ has been conquered and defeated….

Whatever may be true of our experience, whatever may be true of the world and its darkness, whatever may be true of the seeds of decay and of illness and of death that are in our bodies, and howsoever great is the power of the last enemy, we can be certain and confident of this, that nothing can prevent the carrying out of God’s purpose with respect to us. There is no power that can withstand Him; there is no might or influence that can match Him, there is no possible antagonist that can equal Him. The mightiest foes, the devil, death and hell have already been vanquished, and the resurrection of Christ is the proof of it….

Do you realize the exceeding greatness of His power in you? Do you realize the energy of the strength of His might that is already working in you? And do you realize that because it has begun it will continue, and continue until you will find yourself ‘faultless and blameless, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing’ in the presence of God?…

It is most important that we should realize that the Apostle is praying here, not that the Ephesians may have more power, but that they may come to know the greatness of the power of God that is already working in them…. We are not Christians and cannot be Christians apart from this mighty working of the power of God…..

The most urgent practical question for every Christian is this: Are we aware of the fact that the almighty power of God is working in us? Do we realize that we are what we are solely and entirely by the grace and the power of God? Do we realize in our own personal lives and experiences that it is this exceeding great power of God that accounts for everything in the Christian life? I press these questions again because I am convinced that the main trouble with most of us is our failure to realize the greatness of the salvation into which we have been brought, and which we enjoy together.…

Somehow or another we do not grasp the idea of this mighty working of God in salvation. Far too often we think of it solely in terms of forgiveness. We think of the Christian life as just a matter of knowing that we are forgiven, and then our living the Christian life as best we can…. When we come to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, do we realize that it was the greatest manifestation of the energy of the strength of God’s might that the world has ever known. According to the Scriptures nothing but the almighty power of God could have raised Him again from the dead, and exalted Him to the high position where He is at this moment at the right hand of God. We forget that He was ‘declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead’” [Romans 1:4]….

Nothing but the power of God can make us believers. But it is also by this selfsame power that we continue in the Christian life. It takes the same power which enabled us to believe to enable us to continue at all in the Christian life. We would not be able to stand for a single hour in the Christian life were it not for this power of God that is working in us….

If you have the life of God in you, if He has started ‘a good work’ in you, He will not give it up, He will bring it to perfection. If you will not be led by Him, you will be driven; if you refuse to be enticed and attracted, you will be chastised. God wills our perfecting, and he will stop at nothing less. The work will go on, the power of God will continue to be exercised in us until we are faultless…. He wills that we should be holy and without blemish in His presence.

Is there anything more important for us than to know all this? We are in the hands of God, and He is working in us. He has given us the power to believe, He is working in us now, fashioning us, molding us, bringing us to perfection. We cannot escape it, we are in His hands and He will go on with the work. Blessed be his name!

Oh that we might know this more and more, and realize the high privilege of our calling, the marvel, the miracle of this new life which is all from God, and which is all by God. My comfort, my consolation, my strength, my assurance, is to know that God is working in me; and that He will never cease to work in me until I stand before Him in glory.

Cultivating a Thankful Heart

How important is gratitude to God?

The Apostle Paul commands us, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Gratitude is thus central to our becoming what God intends us to be. But we easily fall into ingratitude, focusing on what God has not given us as opposed to what He has.

Consider these seven categories of items, from the past and in the present, for which we should express thankfulness to God:

1) Salvation, in all its parts

We were by nature children of wrath, but God being rich in mercy made us alive in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:3-5). That salvation is completely undeserved; it is all a gift, all by His grace (Ephesians 2:6-9). In Christ Jesus we have complete forgiveness through His sacrifice on the cross, and thus have access directly to God the Father. He adopts us into His intimate family and has His Holy Spirit dwell in us. He transforms us more and more into the likeness of Jesus.

2) Obvious Other Gifts

God sometimes grants us pleasures, joys that are clearly unexpected gifts from Him. Here’s one from my life:

I was a competitive distance runner for almost 25 years. As a 37-year old In 1993, I ran a small town Thanksgiving Day 5k in Massachusetts that I should have won. But I limped home third, showing no guts and little speed. I was disgusted with myself.

The next day I got up before sunrise to run a five-mile loop. Looking at the thermometer, I almost got back into bed – it was 7 degrees, the coldest morning so far. I forced myself out of the house, just planning to go through the motions.

And then God gave me the gift. After a mile or two, I found myself running with tremendous freedom, with smooth form, with considerable speed, soaking in the beauty of the sunrise over the mountains.

All that I loved about running was encapsulated in that effort.

Then God gave me another gift – I wrote about that run. Unbeknownst to me, eight months later I would suffer a knee injury that would prevent me from ever running like that again. But our Lord prompted me to write in part in order that I would have that reminder for the rest of my life of His gift of running.

I wrote, “I am most thankful not for the years of races, not for the hard training, not for any speed I may have, but for this Thanksgiving Friday run.” (You can read my write-up here.)

What obvious gifts are you thankful for?

3) Clear Answers to Prayer

God involves us in accomplishing His purposes via prayer in part so that we will give thanks to Him when He answers: “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (2 Corinthians 1:11).

So remember what you pray for – and give thanks when He answers!

4) What We are Tempted to Think We Produced or Obtained Ourselves

Let me just list several examples to prompt your reflection:

  • Spouses
  • Children
  • Jobs
  • Income: “It is [God] who gives you the power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18)
  • Homes
  • Health and Fitness
  • Skills and Abilities
  • Education
  • Christian virtues: faith, obedience, perseverance, even the desire to follow Him (Psalm 119:36)

5) What We are Tempted to Think We Deserve

Again, here are some possible examples:

  • Life – He created us
  • Breath – He sustains us
  • Sleep – “He gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2)
  • Daily provision – food, health care, peace
  • A functioning government – While it is easy to see flaws in our government, very few people in the history of the world have lived under a better government than ours.

We recognize all the items in these first five categories as good. The problem is that we often don’t acknowledge them as from God, and so we fail to give Him thanks.

The last two categories are different:

6) Gifts that We Easily Overlook

We are tempted not to notice these gifts – instead, we often complain when we don’t encounter them. Examples:

  • An efficient customer service agent
  • A courteous driver
  • Electricity when it doesn’t go out
  • Police who do their jobs effectively and professionally
  • The church members who aren’t up front – who prepare the Lord’s Supper, who put up signs, who clean the church, and do so many other tasks

What do you benefit from that you overlook? Thank God – as well as the people involved.

7) Always and for Everything by Faith in God’s Future Grace

The seventh category brings us to Paul’s statement that we should give thanks “in all circumstances,” or, as the Apostle says in Ephesians 5:20, “always and for everything.” That implies that we should thank God for trials and difficulties – even for the results of sin.

So we should rightly thank God for:

  • Tragedies
  • Deaths
  • Disappointments
  • “Negative” answers to prayer – when the sick are not healed, when the door to a job or a ministry or marriage is not opened, when a relationship is not reconciled, when a war is not

How do we give thanks for these?

We do not thank God for the sin, the sorrow, the pain, the suffering. But we do thank Him that He is working out His purposes even through such hardships.

Remember what our Lord says in Luke 11:11-12: “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”

A good father doesn’t refuse to give his child something good, and never gives his child something harmful. But when a good father’s two-year old asks for a cookie he may well give him an orange. We – spiritual two-year olds that we are – often struggle to see how what God gives us serves His purposes. But if we are in Christ, whatever He gives us is for our good and His glory.

Sometimes we get a glimpse of how God is at work, as Paul did 2 Corinthians 1:8-9:

We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Paul discerns one way God worked through that difficult trial – He highlighted Paul’s dependence on Him. God undoubtedly was accomplishing millions of other objectives simultaneously; as the Apostle says elsewhere, “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways” (Romans 11:33). Though Paul doesn’t see those millions of accomplishments, he is able to thank God for this one good result of his trial – for this one way this difficulty was an egg and not a scorpion.

So when in the midst of trials and difficulties, look for ways that God may be at work. Ask Him to show you a glimpse of what he is accomplishing.

However, even when we pray for such glimpses, oftentimes we fail to discern any good that results from the evil we experience. How do we thank God “always and for everything” then?

Thank God that He promises that:

  • He is at work – even when we can’t see how
  • He has not given us a scorpion
  • He is sustaining our faith in the midst of the trial
  • He provides in His Word and in church history accounts of others in similarly terrible circumstances – and those worked for the good of His people and the glory of His Name.

I encourage you to cultivate a thankful heart by considering these seven categories. Identify and thank God for one example from each, whether recent or from your past. Thank Him for:

  • One aspect of salvation
  • One obvious gift
  • One clear answer to prayer
  • One good you are tempted to think you earned or produced
  • One good you are tempted to think you deserve
  • One gift you easily overlook
  • One difficulty that considered by itself is not good

You may want to do the entire exercise in one sitting. Alternately, perhaps it would be more beneficial to pick one category a day over the course of a week. In either case, then share these thanksgivings with someone else. Ask him or her to do the same.

Continue to remind yourself that any good, any pleasure, any delight, all health, all wisdom, all knowledge, any growth, any improvement, any Christlikeness comes from God – and they are ours only because of Jesus.  Apart from Him, either the entire human race is destroyed under God’s wrath, or we live in a Genesis 6:5 world: “Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (NIV).

So cultivate a thankful heart. Give thanks always and for everything. Express that thanks to God and to one another.

And so fulfill the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

[This devotion is based on part of the March 27 sermon, “Give Thanks in All Circumstances.” You can listen to that sermon via this link.]

Have You Created a Designer God?

[This week I was reminded of these words written by J.I. Packer in 1958:

“If the human mind is set up as the measure and test of truth, it will quickly substitute for man’s incomprehensible Creator a comprehensible idol fashioned in man’s own image; man wants a god he can manage and feel comfortable with and will inevitably invent one if allowed…. Once people reverse the proper relationship between Scripture and their own thinking and start judging biblical statements about God by their private ideas about God, instead of vice versa, their knowledge of the Creator is in eminent danger of perishing.”

I elaborated on these ideas in a September 2003 sermon on Habakkuk 2:18-20. Here is an edited, shortened version of that sermon – Coty]

Imagine that you are two years old. If you haven’t spent much time with two-year-olds, let me remind you of some characteristics of this age:

  • Two-year-olds believe the world revolves around them (one doesn’t have to be two to believe this! But virtually all two-year-olds think this way.)
  • Two-year-olds have a hard time confusing needs with desires. “I want those gummy bears!” becomes “I need those gummy bears!”
  • Two-year-olds’ desires quickly become commands: “I need those gummy bears!” becomes “Give me those gummy bears right now!”
  • Two-year-olds don’t have a clue about what they really need. During my six years of parenting two-year-olds, I never heard one say, “Daddy, I really need a good night’s sleep tonight. Could I go to bed early?”

With these reminders, now imagine that you are two years old. And imagine that you can choose whatever type of parent you want – a Designer Parent. What type of parent will you choose?

Let’s assume that as two-year-olds go, you are quite wise. So you identify that you need a parent who will provide food, shelter, and care.

As a rare, wise two-year old, you also recognize that you don’t know everything. You choose a parent who will be able to teach you.

Third, you definitely want a parent you can trust – a reliable parent who will never let you down.

So far this doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

But every two-year old would choose this fourth characteristic: You want a parent you can control. You choose a parent who does what you want. Yes, you do want a parent who can teach you facts – when and if you want to learn. But you don’t want a parent who will control you, who will override your will.

What would be the outcome of allowing two-year-olds to design their parents?

Disaster would result.

But we live in a culture that encourages spiritual two-year olds to design their own gods. And when given that opportunity, most people act exactly like the physical two-year olds: they design a god who will work for their good, who can teach them something about the future, whom they can trust – but most of all, whom they can control.

But, friends, the God of the universe – the One and Only Living and True God – is not controllable! He promises to work for the good of His people, He is entirely trustworthy, He leads us into all truth – but our God does whatever HE pleases. He is not our genie, He is not at our beck and call – instead, He is sovereign, He rules over all.

The second chapter of Habakkuk addresses this issue. The chapter begins by contrasting the proud one with the righteous one who lives by faith. God then pronounces five woes on the proud one, in each case giving us an example of how not to live by faith. The first four lessons are:

  • True satisfaction comes from God alone;
  • True security comes from God alone;
  • True accomplishment comes from God alone;
  • True honor comes from God alone.

All these “woe’s” have a common structure: the proud one aims to fulfill a good, God-given desire, but he goes about pursuing that desire through evil means. God then issues an appropriate punishment, leading to a lesson about living by faith.

The fifth woe, Habakkuk 2:18-20, brings us to two-year-olds. We will first look at the proud one’s goal and means, then his punishment, and finally the lessons for living by faith.

18 “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols. 19 “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it. 20 “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.” (New American Standard)

The Goal: To Know the Unknowable, to Control the Uncontrollable; the Means: Idolatry 

Why does the proud one want to have anything to do with an idol?

Because the proud one knows that some things are out of his control. He thinks, “Disease, natural calamity, or my revengeful opponents may be around any corner.  I don’t know what tomorrow might bring! I’ve managed pretty well so far in accomplishing my objectives – but I need some additional power to ensure my position.”

And so he turns to an idol. This is the means he uses to accomplish his purpose. What is an idol?

An idol is any person, power, or spirit that you rely on instead of God for satisfaction, security, accomplishment, and honor.

Note: these are the goals of the first four woes! In effect, the proud one is relying on himself in pursuing those goals – thereby making an idol of himself. Here in the fifth woe, he realizes he needs some additional power to secure his position, and so he turns to a physical idol. But we commit idolatry whenever we rely on something other than God to meet these objectives.

What are the goals of the proud one in verses 18 and 19? There are four:

  • Profit: He wants a “god” who will be on his side, who will work for his benefit.
  • Teaching: The Hebrew word used in verses 18 and 19 has the same root as “Torah”, the word for God’s teaching to Israel, the Law. The proud one wants a “god” who will explain confusing things in this world, who will predict the future, who will instruct him on the best way to live in this world.
  • Trust: The proud one wants a “god” who is reliable, who will never leave him unprotected, who is powerful enough to preserve him from harm.
  • Control (note the proud one calls to the idol, “Awake! Arise!”, or as the NIV renders those verbs: “Come to life! Wake up!”): He wants a “god” who is at his beck and call, a “god” who will act as the proud one wants, a “god” who will profit him according to his desires.

Do you see the inherent contradiction here?

In order to profit us in all circumstances, in order to be worthy of our trust, this “god” must be all-powerful.

In order to be our teacher, this “god” must know more than us – particularly about the future, things unknowable to us. Indeed, if we are to trust him in all circumstances, he must be able to predict the future with complete accuracy.

Yet we want to control this “god”! Yet if we could control him, he would not be all powerful; if we could tell him how best to meet our needs, he would not be all knowing.

So the necessary conclusion: There are no gods like this.  Indeed, there cannot be gods like this. We want an all-powerful god who is under our control. That is a logical impossibility.

Thus, the proud one aims to profit himself, to have a teacher for himself, to have someone to trust – all of these goals are God-given, and God Himself is the only answer for these desires.

Yet the proud one rejects the one living and true God, because that God is out of his control. So the proud one opts instead for a pseudo-god he can control, an idol.

The Punishment: Futility

For the first four woes, God’s punishments are logical and just: the plunderer is plundered, the house the proud one builds for security cries out against the builder, accomplishment disappears, honor turns to disgrace.

For this woe, there is a twist. God does not state an explicit punishment. Instead, the punishment is implicit. What is it?

Look at the terms used to describe the idol in verses 18 and 19:

  • “Speechless”
  • “Mute” or “silent”
  • “Teacher of falsehood.” Or “teacher of lies”. Question: How can a mute teacher teach falsehood? Such a teacher can only tell you what you already know. So the falsehood taught by the idol is actually the lie of the idol’s maker, the false promise of support and wisdom from the idol.
  • “No breath at all inside it.” The Hebrew word for “breath” is also the word for “spirit,” so this phrase can be translated, “No spirit at all inside it.”

So what is the proud one’s punishment? If your teacher is speechless, if one in whom you trust has no breath, no spirit, then he also has no power – and thus you have no protection. In the end, relying on an idol is only relying on yourself. You will get no profit. As the Psalmist says,

Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them. (Psalm 115:8)

Will become like them in what sense? Dead, powerless, helpless. This is the punishment. Futility.

Lessons for Living by Faith

God gives us an explicit lesson in living by faith in Habakkuk 2:20:

But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.

Do you see the contrasts between the true God and idols?

  • There is no breath or spirit in the idol, but the Lord is really present in His holy temple
  • The one who makes the idol speaks to it, he commands it – yet the idol is mute. In contrast, the true God of the universe is the one who speaks – and before Him, we fall down silent.

With these thoughts in mind, let us draw out two lessons for living by faith:

(1) Living by faith means we receive commands from God; we do not give him commands.

This is a hard lesson, isn’t it? We so much want to be in control. We really do want that genie in the bottle. Like the two-year-old, we really think we know what is best for us and what is best for those we care for – and God doesn’t seem to bring that about!

As Mr. and Mrs. Beaver explain to the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

“Is [Aslan]—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver…. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Our God is not safe. Our God is not tame. Our God is not under our control. Our God does things that we cannot comprehend, that we cannot fathom. But our God is good. He works for the benefit of His people – so let us acknowledge that we are less than two-year-olds in our understanding compared to His; let us acknowledge that He knows infinitely more than us; and let us therefore bow before Him.

(2) Living by faith means relying on the God Who is with us.

The Lord is in His holy temple. (Habakkuk 2:20)

Where is that temple today?

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)

If this is true – then why rely on any idol? God is not only with His people at the center of their country in a physical building – God Himself, Jesus Himself is in you! If you belong to Him, if you have repented and come to faith in Him, then you have the gift of God’s Spirit as a down payment of all the blessings God will give you in the future.  And Jesus lives in you.

So on whom should you rely for satisfaction, security, accomplishment, and honor? The God who is in you! And if He is in you, if He loves you more than you can imagine, if He has already given you the gift of infinite cost – His own Son’s death – then how will He not also along with Jesus freely give us all things?

As Isaiah says:

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” (Isaiah 48:17-18)

He is the one who teaches us! He is the one who profits us! Listening to Him leads to well-being that flows and flows and flows like a river, that keeps breaking over us like waves at the beach! His love and goodness toward us never end. When God offers us His very presence within us – is it really too much for Him to ask for us to yield all control to Him? Is it really too much to ask that we value Jesus, love Jesus, put Jesus first in our hearts?

Conclusion

So, my friends: Where do you place your trust during the tough times in life? To whom do you turn when

  • People let you down,
  • When illness strikes,
  • When you lose your job,
  • When death hits those you love?

The world today offers you a zillion false gods. The world today offers you ways to discern the future, whether through horoscopes or economic forecasts. And many around us have set up such idols in their hearts. But none work. All in the end are the same as relying on yourself.

So do you trust the God of the universe?

Do you give yourself completely to the One Who gave His Son completely for you?

Do you trust in Jesus Christ and in Him alone – for salvation first, and then for all good things in your life: satisfaction, security, accomplishment, and honor?

Do you turn yourself over to His hands, saying, “God, I know I can’t control you! I know I am less than a two-year-old before you. Your understanding, no one can fathom. So, Lord, I trust you; I believe you are indeed working all things together for the good of those who love you, even when that doesn’t look to be the case. God! Make me yours completely!”

So trust in God through Jesus Christ! And keep trusting in Him, turning away from idols and false hopes! For trusting in God is a never-ending task. We must turn to him day by day by day by day by day, leaning not on ourselves but on God’s goodness, power, and faithfulness.

“The Lord is in His holy temple – Be silent before Him, all the earth.”

 

Quenching the Spirit, Despising Prophecies

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20)

How do we quench the Spirit? How do we despise prophecies?

Many answer that question by assuming the Apostle Paul is saying “Do not quench the Spirit or despise prophecies in your worship services.” For the Apostle does warn against that in 1 Corinthians 14.

But the context of 1 Thessalonians is quite different from the context of 1 Corinthians. Paul had to correct several problems with worship services in Corinth, but he says nothing explicit about worship services in Thessalonica. Instead, he focuses throughout the letter on living our entire lives in light of Jesus’ return. Indeed, in chapter 5 he is moving towards the climax in verse 23:

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Thus, we should understand Paul’s exhortations as:  “Do not quench the Holy Spirit in all your life; do not despise prophecies in all your life. In this way be prepared for Jesus’ return.”

There are undoubtedly implications for worship services in these commands. But there is no reason to limit the application to that setting.

To understand Paul’s exhortations we also need to clarify the meaning of prophecy.

Most biblical prophecies are not predictions about the future. Rather, prophecies are words of God spoken or written by men through the Holy Spirit. By that definition, all Scripture is prophecy.

We see this through 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:19-21:

All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Peter explains how these God-breathed words become written:

We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention [note that Peter is referring to a description of the transfiguration recorded in the Gospels] …  knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (emphasis added)

So all Scripture is prophecy and all Scripture results from the work of the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, all that Paul taught the Thessalonians – whether in person, or via a letter – is prophecy:

Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. (1 Thessalonians 1:5, emphasis added)

Furthermore, some of what Paul said prophetically was a direct exposition of the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel accounts. For as argued in the January 9th sermon, in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 Paul declares to his readers “by a word from the Lord” what Jesus says in Matthew 24.

So prophecy includes all of Scripture as well as all teaching and preaching and counseling of the truths of Scripture.

How then are we tempted to quench the Holy Spirit and to despise prophecies in our lives? What is Paul warning us against?

We can despise prophecy, quenching the Holy Spirit, in at least three ways:

1) Not listening to the prophetic Word in a worship service.

The word simply goes in one ear and then out the other. We are distracted. We think of what we will do in the afternoon, or focus on the cute baby sitting in front of us, or correct the speaker’s grammar or pronunciation.

2) Listening and agreeing to the prophetic Word, and then living as if we never heard it.

We may even call out, “Amen!” We may congratulate the speaker on a wonderful exposition. But if we do not live out those truths, we have despised prophecy and quenched the Spirit.

3) Similarly, reading or hearing biblical truths outside of worship services, and then failing to live out those truths.

A friend may provide us with biblical counsel, which we ignore. Or we may read the Word at 6am – and then by 7am completely forget what we read.

These are all ways we despise prophecy and quench the work of the Holy Spirit through His Word.

What then is the opposite of despising prophesy and quenching the Spirit?

Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

When we are Bible-saturated, when the Word permeates all we do, when the Holy Spirit takes that prophetic Word and teaches us, corrects us, reproves us, and trains us in righteousness, sanctifying us completely, setting us apart for God and using us to advance His purposes – then we avoid despising prophecy and quenching the Spirit.

Thus this passage has little to do with whether or not someone should stand up in a worship service and give a spontaneous word from God. Whether or not such activities occur in our worship services, we are all tempted to quench the Spirit and despise prophecies in these three ways.

So the Apostle’s point here is broader than his point in 1 Corinthians 14. Indeed, his point here is foundational. He says, “As you live in these last days, live by the Spirit-inspired Word. Walk by the Spirit as He leads you by God’s Word. The Word must dwell in you richly as the Spirit opens up the Word, bringing to mind what you have read, enabling you to apply what you know. That is the only way to become what God intends you to be, the only way to be the church, to be salt and light, to be His ambassadors to this fallen, sinful, hurting world.”

May we all live by God’s Word by the Spirit’s power day by day, hour by hour. May we remember what God has revealed, and may that Word dwell richly in us. May we pray that the Holy Spirit would enable us to apply that Word to our thoughts, attitudes, and desires, and so may we be transformed by the renewal of our minds.

In this way may we be ready for our Lord’s return, holding fast the prophetic word and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

[This devotion is based on part of the 2/20/22 sermon. The video of that service is available at this link; the audio of the sermon will be available at this link shortly.]

 

What Do We Need to Know about End Times and Why Do We Need to Know It?

What do we need to know about end times and why do we need to know it?

Revelation speaks of end times more than any other book of the Bible. There’s an interesting promise at the beginning of that book:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3)

The last chapter repeats the promise: Jesus is speaking:

“Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (Revelation 22:7)

Who receives the blessing? Who will be blessed by reading, hearing, and keeping what is written in book of Revelation?

  • EVERYONE who reads, hears, and keeps these words,
  • EVERYONE in the first century, when the book was written,
  • EVERYONE during the Middle Ages,
  • EVERYONE at the time of Luther and Calvin,
  • EVERYONE today:
  • EVERYONE who reads hears and keeps these words IN WHATEVER CENTURY.

That implies: These teachings are helpful to all believers in Jesus of all times. Furthermore: that means that the book of Revelation specifically and biblical teaching on end times in general are not primarily concerned to give a timetable of future events. For how would a believer in 100AD be blessed by a timetable of events more than 2000 years in the future? Indeed, how could any reader of the book keep the words of the prophecy if they were primarily giving a timetable?

Instead: Biblical teaching on end times is given so that today we might live to God’s glory, rejoicing in Him, whatever our circumstances.

With that in mind, consider 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2. Paul has just explained that when Jesus returns, all believers from all time will be with Him forever, in new bodies. Then he writes:

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Paul says they need read no more about times and seasons. Why? For they already know what they need to know. They already are aware that Jesus will return unexpectedly. Jesus had said, “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven” (Matthew 24:36). Paul had evidently taught them that in his short time in Thessalonica.

And yet, despite that clear statement of our Lord, despite Paul’s statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:1, many Christian teachers have declared over the years, “Jesus will return on such and such a date.” Why? Because we’re curious. We want to know what God has not revealed to us. And friends, God is under no obligation to satisfy our curiosity.

He does not tell us when Jesus will return. Any person who says he or she knows that date is either a liar or is self-deceived.

Now: in Matthew 24 and elsewhere, Jesus does speak of precursors, signs that indicate the end is near. We are to pay attention. But these are generic enough that all Christians over the centuries have been able to see at least some of them in events during their day. Thus they serve to keep all believers of all time ready for His return.

So today we want to examine 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, asking the question the question above: What do we need to know about end times and why do we need to know it?

Our outline is simple:

  • What do we need to know?
  • Why do we need to know it?
  • What do we NOT need to know?
  • Humility With Firm Convictions

What do we need to know?

In the two previous sermons on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, we’ve seen that Paul makes several rather simple points about end times. Let’s highlight four of them – four truths that Paul must think are important for us to know.

1) Jesus will return.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

2) All those in Christ, from all times, will be with Jesus forever.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16b-17)

3) The time of Jesus’ return is unknown; it will be sudden.

4) Jesus’ opponents will be destroyed

The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:2b-3)

It’s not complicated. We can summarize Paul’s teaching in this passage on end times succinctly:

At an unknown future time, Jesus will return suddenly. He will raise the dead in Christ and gather them to Himself together with all living believers, and they will be with Him for all eternity. At the same time, He will overwhelm and destroy all who continue to rebel against Him.

You need to know at least those four truths. Why? Because each of those truths has an impact on you today.

Why do we need to know it?

These truths help us today in at least three ways. We learn the first from other passages; we can see the second and third in today’s text.

1) To warn those who are self-deceived about salvation

Consider these three passages:

Jesus dictates to the church in Sardis:

“You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. … Wake up!… If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. (From Revelation 3:1,3)

Hebrews 10:26-27:

“If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire
that will consume the adversaries.

Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Judgment is coming – and those who are part of the visible church, thinking they are saved when they are not, are in the most dangerous position of all. For they hear the call to repent and think, “That doesn’t apply to me!”

This truth about the final condemnation of professed believers serves today to warn us, to cause us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. And that is a blessing today.

Now, understand: The point is not: “All professed Christians, fear judgment! Every time you sin, doubt your salvation!” The point is rather: Believe in the Lord Jesus! And keep believing in Him! See Him as Savior, Master, and Treasure! Repent when you sin! Delight in Him more than in all world has to offer! Seek to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him, to enjoy Him! Then you can look to His return with eager expectation, rather than with a fear of impending judgment.

That’s the first reason we need to know these truths.

2) So that today we might be sober

Recall from last week that 1 Thessalonians 5 speaks twice of being sober:

  • So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:6)
  • But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

Last week we emphasized that we are sober when we think clearly about the truths God teaches us in His Word. To be sober is to have our minds shaped and renewed by His Word so that we see the world as it really is rather than as it appears.

What do we need to think clearly about?

At least four big questions:

a) Who is God?

He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is Creator of all. He is the sovereign ruler of all. He is working all things together for the glory of his Name and the good of His people. He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, but He will by no means clear the guilty.

b) Who is man?

Made in God’s image. The pinnacle of His creation. But we are fallen, sinful, and rebellious. God the Son, however, took on flesh, and lived the life we should have lived. He died as a sacrifice, paying the penalty for our sins. If we believe in Him, the benefits of that death accrue to us: we are God’s beloved children, precious in His sight, forgiven, accepted, and redeemed.

c) What about unredeemed mankind?

Many among the unredeemed will attack God’s people, threatening them, persecuting them, mocking them, even killing them. Yet God will open the eyes of some of them, bringing them to Himself (as He did with the Apostle Paul). The rest of the unredeemed will face sudden destruction and eternal punishment. So don’t fear them. They have no power against God.

d) What about the topics that dominate most men’s thoughts?

Consider politics, accomplishments, technology, entertainment, money, and possessions. Realize that all will be destroyed. Only what is done for God’s glory will last.

We must think clearly about those big questions. Biblical teaching on end times is vital in this regard. For the truths that we need to know about end times teach us:

  • That God is indeed king now and forever
  • That His opponents who look so powerful have no ultimate power
  • That His people who look so weak are strong in Him
  • That He fulfills every promise, every purpose.

So: Why do we need to know these truths about end times? First, those who are self-deceived about salvation can be warned. Second, so that we think soberly about these big questions. Third:

3) So that we can live rightly today

Scripture highlights both right thinking and right acting. This basic teaching on end times helps with both.

Today, when we all have email and cell phones, it’s hard to imagine knowing someone will return, but not knowing when. If a loved one is to be an hour or two late, we expect to be informed.

But try to put yourself back a couple of hundred years. Imagine your husband or father must leave home. He’s not sure how long the journey will take. He may be gone only weeks, but it could drag on to years. Yet he promises: “I will return. Expect me. Have confidence in me. Trust me. Be ready for me.”

Night after night. Month after month. Year after year, you look. Every day you are prepared. Ready. Expectant.

When one day leads to another and he does not return, you are tempted to discouragement, tempted to give up hope. But you persevere, remembering his promise: “I will return.”

Then one day – a day that seems like all the others – the door opens: There he is! You run to him, embrace him, hug him, kiss him! He has come – just as he said.

These basic teachings about end times are like that husband’s promise. They help us persevere in hope today so that right now we can live in light of his return.

Our passage highlights three aspects of right living:

a) As our story emphasizes, we are to be ready for Jesus’s return every day (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

b) We are to live today for Him

Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9)

He has destined or appointed us to obtain salvation. That’s the purpose of our existence – to glorify Him. He has given us, He has dressed us with, the breastplate of saving faith and effective love as well as the helmet of the hope of salvation. Fitted out with such faith, hope, and love, He has destined us for joy with Him. So live like that today! Your life is about Jesus! You have no good from Jesus! So live for Him.

c) Live with Him today

[The Lord Jesus] died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:10, emphasis added)

The basic truths about end times tell us we will live with Him for all eternity. So begin eternity now! Live that out now! He is with you today. His Spirit indwells you. So glorify and enjoy forever the God who is with you.

What do we NOT need to know

Go back to 1 Thessalonians 5:1:

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware [and then Paul reminds them of these basic truths] (emphasis added)

Neither Paul nor Jesus nor John nor Daniel sets out clearly the exact order of events in the last days spoken of in these different passages. Neither Paul nor Jesus nor John nor Daniel sets out clearly the details of those last days or the details of what the new heavens and new earth will be like.

Why?

Because we only need to know what will help us live to God’s glory today.

As stated earlier: God doesn’t care about satisfying our curiosity. He cares about glorifying Himself through His people. He cares about conforming us to the image of Jesus. He cares about our joy in Him

So we can have attitude of David in Psalm 131:

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Meditate on what He has clearly revealed. Trust Him to fulfill those clear promises. Live today for Him and with Him. Your following Him does not depend on your discovering what He has not clearly revealed.

Humility With Firm Convictions

Before concluding, let me address a wider, related question: How do we teach and lead on controversial topics, those that Bible-believing Christians disagree on?

My point is not: “Only teach and emphasize what all Bible-believing Christians agree on.” For we disagree on some vitally important matters.

We should have convictions, as Paul says when speaking of such disagreements:

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14:5)

I have no problem with those who convictions about end times teaching go well beyond the basic outline we emphasized today.

But we all must have humility, so that we give grace to one another, so that we are able to listen to one another, to test what each is saying.

Let me make a confession – I am not perfect! Maybe some of you have noticed that! I am not Jesus, so I am not perfect. Thus, I know some of my theology is wrong – I just don’t know what. If I did, I would change it.

So it is right to have strong convictions and to listen – to my fellow elders, to you all, to others today, to other teachers across the centuries.

If I’m teaching on a topic which is in dispute, I must test my interpretation to see if it is idiosyncratic. If so, I need to check it more thoroughly by seeing how it meshes with the context of the passage and with the entire storyline of Scripture. I need to interact with other interpreters who come to different conclusions.

If after that checking I’m still convinced my unusual interpretation is correct, how should I preach? As if anyone who disagrees is a heretic? No. I may well say something like, “I’ve become convinced this passage is saying X. Consider if that might be helpful for you.”

On this morning’s controversial topic: In my opinion, it is an error to require all members of a church or even all elders to agree on a particular interpretation of the timing and order of events. For such details are not the main point of any biblical passage that teaches on eschatology, and the application of those passages to our lives today do not depend on one interpretation on those issues. Indeed, to focus on timing and order distracts from main application point of those passages.

So, yes, study the Scriptures and have firm convictions. And be humble, recognizing that some of your firm convictions are wrong.

Conclusion

Peter tells us that God has granted us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) – that is: everything we need to live today to His glory, everything we need to be redeemed, to be incorporated into His body, His church – everything we need to rejoice in Him always, to depend on Him, to serve Him, to be His ambassadors.

But He has not granted us everything that will satisfy our curiosity.

He assures us: Jesus will return. All in Jesus from all centuries will be raised with Him forever. He will return suddenly, without warning. He will destroy His enemies.

  • Focus on those truths.
  • Live today in light of those truths
  • Trust Him today to return at exactly the right time

All that happens today is preparatory, one further step along the road that leads to the new heavens and new earth, one further advance toward Jesus’ return.

He is coming back.

Are you ready – today?

[This sermon was preached 2/13/22. The audio is available at this link.]

A Picture of Mao in Hell

[Sunday February 6 we consider 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, which says in part: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” Randy Alcorn’s book Safely Home attempts to describe what this destruction looks like. The book tells the story of Ben Fielding, a high-powered corporate executive in a multinational firm with factories in China, and Li Quan, Ben’s college roommate whom he locates after twenty years and visits. Expecting Li to be a successful university professor, Ben instead finds that his Harvard-educated friend is a strong believer in Jesus, a leader in a house church, and – because of persecution – a locksmith’s apprentice. Li Quan’s faith, the persecution that he encounters, and Ben’s reaction to that persecution form the structure of the novel. Alcorn is not trying to write great literature; instead, he is trying to communicate biblical truth in a way that is engaging, interesting, and accessible. By that standard, this book is excellent. Alcorn is a reliable interpreter of the Word, and uses the medium of the novel to teach:

  • the reality of persecution today;
  • how to fight the fight of faith in the midst of suffering;
  • the reality of the spiritual world around us;
  • the nature of heaven;
  • the nature of hell

After reading the first hundred pages, I found myself praying more regularly and more fervently for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. That alone makes reading Safely Home worthwhile. I strongly recommend it.

Below find Alcorn’s picture of Mao Zedong – the founder of the People’s Republic of China – in hell. Read it – and weep – and witness – Coty]

Where is my palace? Where are my servants? Does no one know who I am?

The vast, cold darkness cut into his face. It felt like intense frostbite, burning his skin.

I was the most powerful man in Zhongguo. I created the People’s Republic. I was the revered father of my country. They worshiped me. I was god! He waited, listening to the silence. Cannot anyone hear me?

His voice disappeared into the great dark void. It did not echo, for there was nothing for it to echo off. It was immediately absorbed into infinite nothingness. His words went no farther than his blistered lips.

A parade of untold millions marched inside his mind’s eye. His sentence was to relive the suffering of each of his victims. He had been here over twenty-five years. Every minute of those years he had relived the sufferings he inflicted on others. Every torture his regime inflicted he now received, one after the next after the next. Eventually, perhaps, they would start over, so the millions he had already endured were but the first installment. The pain was unbearable, yet he had no choice but to bear it. There was no escape into unconsciousness – no drug to take, no sleeping pill, no alcohol. That which he had laid upon others was now laid upon him – endlessly, relentlessly.

He longed to pluck out his eyes, to keep from seeing what he saw, to puncture his eardrums to keep from hearing the wailing misery, to pull out his tongue to keep from tasting the awfulness he had legislated. But he had no ability to destroy himself. He had no control now over his destiny, no power over himself or others. There was no one he could command to fix the situation, no one to prepare him an eight-course meal to assuage the eternal hunger, no one to do his work, no one to punish for their errors. No one to salute him, cower at his voice, or bow heads in his presence.

Where is everyone?

Misery loves company, and he had long sought the consolation of others. But all others were still on earth, secure in heaven, or confined to their own private hells at distances immeasurable.

The aloneness was stifling. He could hear nothing but his victims’ cries, feel nothing but their pain, see nothing but their blood, taste nothing but their vomit, sense nothing but their torture. He had only himself. He could not enjoy his own company, for he saw himself as he really was. It was an ugly sight, revolting beyond comprehension.

He felt a burning. A fury welled up inside him. Anger and bitterness, unfocused hostility, frustration leading him to lash out. But there was no one to lash out at. No incompetent aide, no dissident, no Christian pastor, no helpless peasant. No one to beat or shoot or hang or starve. No one to cower in fear at the power of the great chairman, architect of the Republic. No one to shine his shoes or rub lotion upon his burning feet.

Grief and rage warred within him. His hell was a growing cancer, gnawing at him, eating away at him, devouring him. He was like a bush that burned yet was not consumed, so the burning could never stop.

He had come to death entirely unprepared – and now it was too late to prepare. If the torture was not enough, a sickening feeling of foreboding had gripped him from his first moments here. He had hoped it would subside, that he would get used to it. He hadn’t. It only got worse.

He could see now through all his rationalizations. His arguments against belief in a Creator had never been intellectual ones, as he had claimed. By rejecting a Creator he thought he could rid himself of a Judge. But it had not worked. His atheism had been the opiate of his soul and the executioner of uncalculated millions. But now his comforting atheism could no longer exist, even for a fleeting moment, for he had been forever stripped of the power to deny reality.

He had lived his short todays as if there were no long tomorrows. He had believed the lie that all were accountable to him and he was accountable to none. He had believed the lie that death would slip him into eternal unconsciousness. He knew now – how well he knew – the curse of always being awake, ever alert, unable to allay his suffering with a moment’s sleep or distraction.

The winds of hell blew upon him. On them floated sounds of laughter and joy from a place far distant. These voices were torture. Many he recognized as belonging to Christians he had persecuted, worshipers of the Carpenter he had murdered. He relived what he had done to them, this time on the other end of the cattle prod. By the time he had died, while he and all he stood for were in decline, they and all they embraced were in ascent. They had beaten him. Their King had dethroned him even in the other life – how much more in this one.

As they celebrated in their far-off realm, at first he had imagined they were cursing him, celebrating his demise. He thought of them as his eternal enemies who would forever speak of what a great foe he had been to them. But he had come to realize something far worse. They did not curse him. They did not relive his great campaigns against him. No. They simply did not think of him at all. He was unimportant. Insignificant. In the eternal scheme of things, he did not matter.

Not matter? How dare they ignore me! Don’t they know who I am?

He had said, “I want there to be no God; I want nothing to do with him.” His atheist’s prayer had been answered. The everywhere-present God had chosen to withdraw his presence from this single place, turning it into a cosmic desert. This was a ghetto of massive proportions, yet so small it could slip through a single crack in the tiles of heaven. It was located in some distant and empty place, never to be feared or even stumbled upon by the citizens of Charis. His life, with all his supposed accomplishments, was but a puff of smoke, dissipating into nothingness.

Stop what you’re doing and listen to me! Stop or I will… I will…

No power to give meaning to a threat. No reason to be listened to. And no one to hear him.

Thirst without water to quench it. Hunger without food to satisfy it. Loneliness without company to alleviate it. There was no God here. He’d gotten his wish. On earth he’d managed to reject God while still enjoying his blessings and provisions. But it was excruciatingly clear now that God was the author of good. Therefore the absence of God meant the absence of good. He could not have it both ways, not here. No God, no good. Forever.

He had wanted a world where no one else was in charge, where no order was forced upon him. He had finally gotten it. He had secretly wondered if there was something beyond death, but if he went to hell, he’d fully expected to rule there. Yet there was no king, for there were no subjects. Only one prisoner – himself – in eternal solitary confinement.

He missed the sound of laughter. There was no laughter here, nor could there be, for laughter cannot exist without joy or hope. An awful realization gripped him. There was no history here. No story line. No opening scene, no developing plot, no climax, no resolution. No character development. No travel, no movement. Only a setting of constant nothingness, going nowhere. Excruciating, eternal boredom. Nothing to distract him from the torment of the eternal now.

He had charmed his friends and cheated his enemies, but death he could not cheat, hell he could not charm. This nameless, ever-shriveling man writhed in terror. Faced with his own deeds, punished by them, he was receiving in himself the penalty for what he had done. He longed for a visit from a foreign dignitary, delivered by a courier, a request for an audience in his illustrious presence. But no. He knew now none would ever come, or even want to. He could not return to Beijing – and knew Beijing itself would soon be gone, a flower withered in a summer’s wind. Perhaps it was gone already.

No one to fear him. No one to revere him. No one to hear him. No one to think about him.

He who had claimed to be savior was forever without a Savior. Ignored and insignificant. Empty and embittered and regretful. Without a following. Without a heart. Without a hope.

Forever, time without end.

[From Safely Home by Randy Alcorn (Tyndale House, 2001), p. 327-330. The first chapter of the book is available online. Visit www.epm.org for more resources from the author, or to order the book. Note that all royalties from its sale are used to help persecuted Christians and to spread the Gospel in their countries.]