Merry Christmas from Psalm 16:11

Our Mission Statement and Psalm 16:11

This advent season, we as a church have sought to actively remember and anticipate Jesus. That is, we have been remembering Jesus’ first advent, the incarnation, when Jesus inaugurated God’s kingdom here on earth through his life, death, and resurrection. And, we have been anticipating his second advent, his bodily return. At that time, Jesus will bring the fullness of God’s kingdom in the new heavens and new earth, and God will dwell with his people forever. Such remembering and anticipating actually go hand-in-hand with our professed mission as a local church. Our mission statement here at Desiring God Community Church reads:

We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.

I want to highlight one particular phrase: for the joy. The pursuit of joy is at the heart of the Christian life. Why? Because as Christians we desire God. And, as our mission statement makes clear, our supreme God is the source of joy. Psalm 16:11 affirms this:

Psalm 16:11 — You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Now, our mission statement implies that we already have a passion for God’s supremacy, since we hope and seek to spread it. Therefore, we already experience this joy that we want others to know. So how did we get to this place of divine joy ourselves? And what does any of this have to do with Christmas? Well, it all comes down to how we “exist” to go about our mission of spreading this passion for God’s supremacy. That is, to understand what our mission statement and Psalm 16:11 have to do with Christmas, we must first answer the following question:

“How did we gain access to the divine joy of Psalm 16:11, the very divine joy we believe comes gift wrapped with a passion for God’s supremacy?”

According to the Apostle Peter, the answer has everything to do with Christmas.

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

In his sermon at Pentecost, Acts 2:14–41, Peter quotes Psalm 16:8–11 and applies it to Jesus. There he proclaims:

Acts 2:25–28—25 For David says concerning him (Jesus), “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

Peter then unpacks what he means in Acts 2:29–32. There, Peter doubles down on his assertion that David penned Psalm 16:8–11 about Jesus, not himself. Indeed, it is impossible for it to be about David because, as Peter notes, David is dead and this Psalm speaks of resurrection. Peter first points out the obvious, “I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day” (Acts 2:29). In light of this, Peter notes that David, being a prophet (Acts 2:30), actually prophesied about Jesus’ future resurrection — “he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:31).

What inspired David to prophesy so boldly? We only need to look at Acts 2:30–31 — “knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ,” (Acts 2:30–31). David prophesied by the power of the Holy Spirit because God had promised that one of David’s son’s would sit on his throne. What does this sitting on the throne have to do with the resurrection? Well, the original context of this oath to David (2 Sam 7:12–16; 1 Chr 17:11–14) arrays the promise with eternal implications and divine glory.

Jesus Fulfills God’s Promise to David

2 Samuel 7:12–13—12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

1 Chronicles 17:11–12—11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.

In his covenant to David, God assured David that he (God) would establish the throne and kingdom of one of his sons forever (2 Sam 7:13; 1 Chr 17:12). Moreover, his son’s kingdom will be God’s kingdom. God said to David, “but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever and his throne shall be established forever” (1 Chr 17:14). Sure of this promise of an eternal eternal king on an eternal throne, David, under inspiration of Holy Spirit, prophetically penned Psalm 16 about the resurrection of one of his future sons, the promised eternal king. And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, unveils the mystery by proclaiming that Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to the eternal throne at God’s right hand, fulfilled David’s prophecy.

Acts 2:32–36 — 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Psalm 16:11 in Light of Acts 2:14–41

In light of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, when we read Psalm 16:11“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” we are reading the prophesied words of Christ, the Son of God, who is risen and reigns on high, joyfully basking in the Father’s glorious presence. And Peter concludes with the promise that those who are united to Jesus Christ by faith “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” as ones “the Lord our God calls to himself.” When we are united to Christ by faith, we receive the Holy Spirit, which means that God has called us to himself. By virtue of our union with Christ, we experience now through the Holy Spirit, and will experience in full at Christ’s return, the same fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore that Jesus experiences now in God’s presence.

DGCC’s Mission Statement, Psalm 16:11, and Christmas

So — to recall our first question — “How did we gain access to the divine joy of Psalm 16:11, the very divine joy we believe comes gift wrapped with a passion for God’s supremacy?” We have access to the divine joy of Psalm 16:11 through Jesus. And, we “exist to spread a passion for God’s supremacy for the joy of all peoples” through Jesus. And — to recall our second question — “What does Psalm 16:11 have to do with Christmas, specifically Jesus’ first and second advent?” Well, consider some New Testament passages.

Matt 1:1 — 1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Luke 2:10–11 — 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Rev 22:16, 20 — 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star”…20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

Jesus is the promised son of David (Matt 1:1; Luke 2:11) who is risen and who reigns on God’s throne forever (2 Sam 7:13; 1 Chr 17:12; Acts 2:25–36). His first coming meant “great joy” for God’s people, because he is the “Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11). And, those united to him by faith receive forgiveness and the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). As a result, they — “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39) — are reconciled to and commune with God. Thus, because of Jesus’ first advent those united to Christ spiritually enter into the joy of God described in Psalm 16:11. And by Jesus’ own testimony, he, “the descendant of David” is “coming soon” to bring us fully into God’s presence (Rev 22:16, 20). So through Jesus’ second advent, we will enter fully into the joy of Psalm 16:11. Therefore, Psalm 16:11 ties directly to Christmas, because through the advents of Jesus God grants us access into his glorious presence where there is “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). So in light of the reality that Jesus is coming soon, we echo Rev 22:20, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” And until that day, we exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God for the joy of all peoples through Jesus.

Merry Christmas from Psalm 16:11.

The Stupidity of Sin

Your sins have kept good from you. (Jeremiah 5:25)

Why do you sin? Why does anyone sin?

Eve sinned by distrusting God and eating the one forbidden fruit in the Garden because she thought good would come of it – she thought she would become like God! (Genesis 3:1-6)

We have similar motivations. We think that God’s way is not the path to true life, not the way to fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).  Like Eve, we think that we can follow an alternate route, a road that will be less onerous, less dangerous, more fun, and more fulfilling. So we reject God – the One Who knows all things, the One Who made us – and in our arrogance head out on the path we think is better, the path of sin.

But that path never leads to joy! That road never leads to fulfillment! At best the choice to follow our own paths results in some temporary ease, a false sense of security, and a passing joy.

In the end, however, as Jeremiah 5:25 tells us, “Your sins have kept good from you.” We choose to sin because we think we gain some good through it. But every time we sin – every time! – we are instead missing out on good!

John Piper summarizes this truth well, “Never, never does God ask you to deny yourself a greater value for a lesser value. That’s what sin is. On the contrary, always, always, God calls us to surrender second-rate, fleeting, unsatisfying pleasures in order to obtain first-rate, eternal, satisfying pleasures.”

The following Scriptures make this point in different ways. Use them to ponder this truth: “Sinning keeps good from me!” Then, remind yourself at every temptation: “Regardless of how it seems, trusting Jesus and His Word is the path to joy – this temptation is the road to sorrow!”

May you fight the fight of faith, and so live to Jesus’ glory and to your greatest joy.

His Paths Lead to Joy!

  • Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (emphasis added)
  • Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
  • Psalm 119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
  • Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
  • Isaiah 35:10 The ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The Goods of This Life Pass Away

  • Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
  • 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world– the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life– is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

The Promise of Rest, the Promise of Judgment

  • Jeremiah 6:16-19 Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’ Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices.”
  • Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
  • Romans 6:20-23 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

What Leads to Abortion?

January 22 marked the 49th anniversary of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision that overturned limitations on abortion in almost every state. Since that time, about 60 million unborn children have been aborted in this country.

Three years after that decision, I was a 20-year-old junior at Davidson. I professed Christ, but thought I knew better than Scripture what was right and what was wrong. I had been in a relationship for more than a year with a young woman – let’s call her Susan. We were involved sexually –that was one area where I thought my moral judgment was superior to Scripture. But I thought – if we are involved this way, we should be responsible and make plans for what we would do should she become pregnant. So I told her: Should that happen, we can get an abortion in Charlotte.

Susan said something like: “I don’t want to get pregnant. We’ll be careful so there’s little likelihood that I’ll get pregnant. But should that happen- I want to keep our baby.”

She said: “Our baby.”

I had thought of the possible pregnancy as

  • inconvenient,
  • unsettling,
  • a distraction from our plans,
  • a problem we would have to deal with.

And Susan said: “Our baby.”

She rightly saw that possible pregnancy as the beginning of a life – the life of our child. I, that potential child’s father, had planned to do away with him or her. That is: had planned to kill him or her. If – as Jesus says – a man who lusts after a woman has already committed adultery (Matthew 5:27-28), surely the man who would have advocated abortion, who planned to pay for an abortion, is already guilty of it. I am guilty.

I’m sad to say that that sobering moment in 1976 did not lead to an immediate change in my actions or in my attitude. But her statement did plant a seed that eventually sprouted and grew to a horror over abortion.

I tell that story to make clear: I’m guilty of this evil. If you have had an abortion or if you have advocated for an abortion, I share your guilt. Indeed, the message of this sermon is: All of us are guilty of what leads to abortion. The same factors that influence mothers to abort their children, the same factors that lead fathers to want their children aborted, influence all of us, tempt all of us to assert our autonomy and reject the God of the universe.

We guilty sinners have only one hope. And that one hope is a merciful and gracious God Who sent His Son to die for guilty sinners like us so that we might believe in Him and so be saved. We need to believe this Gospel. And we need the light of God’s Word to shine its truth on us, clarifying our thoughts, laying bare the lies, the falsehoods that lead us down the path to destruction. I pray that God would do that now, even in this sermon.

Three headings today:

  • Abortion Kills a Person
  • What Leads to Abortion?
  • What Does God Say?

Abortion Kills a Person

For many years abortion advocates argued that the fetus (and of course they deliberately use that technical-sounding term Instead of “baby” or “child” or “infant” – words matter) is just a lump of tissue, part of the mother’s body, and thus has no more moral standing than your appendix. Such statements are less prevalent now, in part because of the advances in ultrasound technology – we now can see these little ones only a handful of weeks after conception.

But thousands of years before ultrasounds, God made clear in His revelation: That “fetus” is a person, is a human baby. We’ll note three ways He does that this morning (we could add more).

First: Scripture uses the same word for children before and after birth.

As noted, those who advocate abortion consciously use “fetus” to distinguish that supposed lump of tissue from a baby. The authors of Scripture – and thus God Himself – use the same word in both Hebrew and Greek. Check it out. Genesis 25:22 refers to Jacob and Esau in the womb by the same Hebrew word used for Moses after he is born in Exodus 2:2. In the New Testament, Luke 1:41 refers to John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb by the same word used of Jesus after He is born in the next chapter (Luke 2:12).

Second: John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb.

That’s what the angel Gabriel says (Luke 1:15). Your appendix cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit. A lump of tissue cannot respond to the presence of the incarnate Son of God (also in utero) as the unborn John the Baptist does in Luke 1:41.

Third: David – and all of us – were sinners the moment we were conceived.

David writes, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5 ESV). Or, as the NET renders that verse: “Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.” As the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 5, sin entered the world through Adam, and all of us inherit that sin, then add to it. An appendix cannot be a sinner.

So, yes: Unborn children are human persons. Scripture makes that clear. Abortion kills a person.

What leads to abortion?

Listen to the following statements. Do they sound familiar?

  • “My body is mine – I can do what I want with it!”
  • “As long as I’m not hurting someone else, who are you to tell me what is right and wrong?”
  • “I know who I am. Only I can know who I am. I know what I need to do to fulfill who I am.”

These are all claims to autonomy, to independence, to self-sovereignty. Though people rarely refer explicitly to God in such statements, implicitly they are saying, “My body is mine, not God’s;” “God can’t tell me what is right and wrong;” “God can’t tell me who I am, what I need to do to fulfill who I am.”

You can see how such attitudes lead to abortion:

  • “My uterus is part of my body – I can do what I want with it.”
  • “This fetus is part of my body – I know it’s right to get rid of it.”
  • “I know that having a baby now would not fulfill my identity, so I will do away with it”

Some who make statements like these then proceed with abortions, apparently with no qualms. Some are even proud of their abortions. Others go into abortion with many qualms and misgivings, thinking, “I’m trapped – all options are terrible, all seem bad – but abortion seems the least bad.” Or, someone with a church background who in the past has thought abortion to be wrong might think, “I can’t follow what God says because it’s too hard, too painful, too disruptive.” While even others are more like my 20-year-old self, not pondering the issue at all, just assuming abortion to be the responsible, right action.

But, you see, both those with qualms and those who are unthinking are, like those with no qualms, rejecting God’s sovereignty and asserting their autonomy. They are acting as if there is no God ruling over them, as if they are not created, contingent beings.

This attitude leads to abortion. This attitude leads to almost every sin. It’s often unstated. It’s often not even conscious. But when we reject what God says and choose our own path, we say by our actions, “You do not rule me, God. I rule myself.”

What Does God Say?

We could look at many specific statements from Scripture to combat this attitude. In a bit, we will look at a few. But the primary, most powerful argument against this attitude, comes from the overarching story of the Bible. Here’s a summary:

God created mankind for a purpose: To glorify Him by trusting Him, depending on Him, and enjoying Him forever. But the first man and the first woman rejected that purpose by asserting their autonomy. They acted as if they knew better than God what was in their own interest. So believing Satan’s lie, they rebelled against God. All of us since then, throughout history, are infected with that rebellion.

God would have been just, He would have been righteous to destroy all humanity after that initial rebellion. Instead, He instituted a plan – a plan to create a new, redeemed, perfected humanity that would fulfill His purpose.

He promised that a descendant of the first woman would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15). Later He chose one man, Abram, out of this rebellious world, and promised that through his descendant God would bless all the families of the nations (Genesis 12:1-3). Although his descendants, the Hebrews, are rebellious themselves century after century, od continues to carry out His plan faithfully. He shows them that sin and rebellion necessitate a death if justice is to be done. Eventually from His people He raises up a king, David, and promises that this man’s descendant will rule over an eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace (2 Samuel 7:12-16, Isaiah 9:6-7). Indeed, He promises that a suffering servant will take on himself the just punishment for the people’s rebellion (Isaiah 53:4-6).

The people clearly show that they cannot fix themselves. God’s plan, God’s action alone can fulfill His purpose for humanity. They are dependent. He is sovereign.

So, at exactly the right time, God sent His Son Jesus into the world. He alone of all those born to women was not infected with sin from conception. He alone of all humanity loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength every minute of every day. He alone of all humanity loved every person He encountered as He loved Himself. Thus He alone of all humanity did not deserve to die for His own sins.

Fulfilling God’s plan, rebellious humans then killed Him, nailing Him to the cross. Through that act, God fulfilled the promise of a suffering servant dying for the sins of His people. God then raised Him from the dead, exalting Him to His right hand, where He reigns until He returns to crush Satan’s head and to conquer all rebels, establishing His promised eternal kingdom. God then sent His Holy Spirit to open the eyes of rebels, to bring us to faith in Jesus, and to empower us to go to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation to speak this Gospel. God thereby is fulfilling His promise to Abram that some from every people group will believe. We see that great fulfillment in Revelation 7:9-12.

That’s the story of the Bible.

It’s not the existentialist story of courageous men and women looking inside themselves, deciding who they are, and boldly striking out on their own to fulfill their purpose.

It’s a story:

  • of man’s inability and God’s ability,
  • of man’s evil and God’s goodness,
  • of our moral darkness, and God’s moral light,
  • of man’s repeated failures, and God’s continual faithfulness,
  • of man’s dependence on God for anything good and God’s grace in showering us with undeserved goodness.

That overarching story shows clearly that the lies that lead to abortion and other sins are indeed lies. Only God can tell us what is right and wrong. Only God can tell us how to fulfill our purpose. We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to Him by right of creation – He made us for Himself – and by right of redemption – He gives us life when our rebellion deserves death.

Although we can draw those conclusions from the overarching story of the Bible, as promised, now let’s look at some specific texts that counter the three primary lies mentioned above. Having seen the big story, the specific statements become that much more powerful.

First Lie: “My body is my own.”

The Word: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Your body is not your own. Your body belongs to God.

Second Lie: “Only I can decide what is right and wrong for me.”

The Word: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

The Hebrews word translated “heart” refers not only to desires, but to the entire inner self, including the mind. This verse tells us that we cannot think straight. Our moral sense fails, again and again and again. We rationalize and justify all sorts of evil. The story of the Bible brings this out hundreds of times. Thus Proverbs 28:26: “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered [by God].” (The word translated “mind” in this verse is the same word translated “heart” in Jeremiah 17:9). Similarly Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Think of walking along a trail and coming to a fork. The trail to the right looks easy, while the trail to the left looks exceptionally challenging. The trail to the right seems better – but God tells you what you can’t know on your own: There is great danger around the corner of the supposedly easier trail. Will you believe Him?

Third Lie: “Only I can forge my identity. God’s way would hinder me from becoming who I really am.”

The Word: Isaiah 48:17: “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” (emphasis added). He has to teach us to profit, to teach us what will be to our good. Indeed, that’s why He gives us commandments: Deuteronomy 10:13 (NET):  “Keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving you today for your own good” (emphasis added). His commandments are not arbitrary. Nor are they simply His preferences, for His good. His way, His road, is the road to life – as Isaiah 55:1-3 tells us:

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live (emphasis added).

Far from hindering you from becoming who you really are, God’s way is the way to true life, to true joy, to true fulfillment.

So we’ve seen both from the overarching story of the Bible and from specific texts that the attitudes that lead to abortion and other sins are all lies. They are falsehoods. They lead in the end to sorrow, to failure, to death, to destruction.

Instead of such arrogant, rebellious attitudes, Scripture tells us:

  • Come to God as little children;
  • Submit to His wisdom, His strength;
  • Delight in your dependence on Him.

As Jesus says in Matthew 18:3: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” So the Psalmist writes:

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.
O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore (Psalm 131).

When we become like children, we come to God acknowledging that we don’t know what is best for us. My three-year-old grandson Simon apart from his parents’ intervention would eat nothing but fruit. Similarly my 7-month-old grandson Shepherd would gobble up watermelon, even though it gives him hives. They need loving guidance; they need restrictions; so do we all. God graciously gives us such guidance in His Word – through its overall story and through specific texts.

Conclusion

As you know, the Supreme Court is considering a case that could overturn Roe v Wade. I pray that that happens. But while that would reduce dramatically the number of abortions in many states, abortions would continue – and would probably increase – in other states. And all the other sins that flow out of the attitudes that lead to abortion would continue as before.

Our hope is not in a Supreme Court decision. Our hope is in God – in His mercy, in His grace, in the power of the Gospel through the Holy Spirit. So I ask you:

  • Have you had an abortion?
  • Have you advised someone else to have an abortion?
  • Would you – like me – have argued for abortion or had an abortion in case of an unplanned pregnancy?

Confess that to God – and to a strong Christian. Jesus died to take on Himself the punishment for that sin – if you throw yourself on God’s mercy. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). You can be clean before a holy and righteous God. Confess. Trust Him. A broken and contrite heart He will not despise (Psalm 51:17).

And I ask you:

  • How has this cultural obsession with autonomy affected you?
  • How have these same attitudes led you into sins other than abortion?

The exhortation to you is the same: Confess. Repent. Throw yourself on God’s mercy. Identify those wrong attitudes – those wrong attitudes that bombard us every day in this culture. Turn from them. Become like a child before God, basking in His love, crying out to Him in your pain, submitting to His wise counsel. Come to the Father through the sacrifice of the Son by the power of the Spirit. God redeems rebels:

  • Rebels who acknowledge they are children before God
  • Rebels who acknowledge they are dependent on God
  • Rebels who know that true life is found only in Jesus.

I’m a sinner. From the moment I was conceived I have been a rebel. So please join this rebel. Come to God. And know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Bruised and broken by the fall;
If you tarry ’til you’re better,
You will never come at all.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him. (Joseph Hart, 1759)

[This sermon was preached January 23, 2022. The audio is available here.]

Delighting in the World Without Being an Idolator

An idol is any person, power, object, or spirit that you rely on instead of God for satisfaction, security, accomplishment, or honor. So how can we delight in the world around us – last night’s moonrise, friendships that last for decades, clear crisp days abounding in fall colors, and so many more – without their becoming idols: the source of our satisfaction, our joy?

In “Meditation in a Toolshed,” C.S. Lewis provides us with an image that helps answer that question:

I was standing today in the dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.

Then I moved so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.

John Piper uses this image to understand the opening verses of Psalm 19, explaining how we can avoid making an idol of the beauty of the heavens:

We can say that when we ‘look along’ the heavens and not just ‘at’ the heavens, they succeed in their aim of ‘declaring the glory of God.’ That is, we see the glory of God, not just the glory of the heavens. We don’t just stand outside and analyze the natural world as a beam, but we let the beam fall on the eyes of our heart, so that we see the source of the beauty—the original Beauty, God himself.

This is the essential key to unlocking the proper use of the physical world of sensation for spiritual purposes. All of God’s creation becomes a beam to be ‘looked along’ or a sound to be ‘heard along’ or a fragrance to be ‘smelled along’ or a flavor to be ‘tasted along’ or a touch to be ‘felt along.” All our senses become partners with the eyes of the heart in perceiving the glory of God through the physical world.

Rather than an idol – with our adoration focused on the object – we look along the object and adore the source of its beauty.

C.S. Lewis elaborates on this idea at length in Letters to Malcolm. The author writes a letter to a friend who had influenced his view of the world around him. Anything in the world – including any pleasure in the world – is no idol if we look “along” it, up towards God Himself. This quotation helps us to do just that:

You first taught me the great principle, ‘Begin where you are.’ I had thought one had to start by summoning up what we believe about the goodness and greatness of God, by thinking about creation and redemption and’ all the blessings of this life’. You turned to the brook and once more splashed your burning face and hands in the little waterfall and said: ‘Why not begin with this?’

And it worked. Apparently you have never guessed how much. That cushiony moss, that coldness and sound and dancing light were no doubt very minor blessings compared with ‘the means of grace and the hope of glory’. But then they were manifest. So far as they were concerned, sight had replaced faith. They were not the hope of glory; they were an exposition of the glory itself.

Yet you were not – or so it seemed to me – telling me that ’Nature’, or ‘the beauties of Nature’, manifest the glory. No such abstraction as ‘Nature’ comes into it. I was learning the far more secret doctrine that pleasures are shafts of the glory as it strikes our sensibility. As it impinges on our will or our understanding, we give it different names-goodness or truth or the like. But its flash upon our senses and mood is pleasure….

I have tried, since that moment, to make every pleasure into a channel of adoration. I don’t mean simply by giving thanks for it. One must of course give thanks, but I mean something different. How shall I put it?

We can’t – or I can’t – hear the song of a bird simply as a sound. Its meaning or message (‘That’s a bird ‘) comes with it inevitably-just as one can’t see a familiar word in print as a merely visual pattern. The reading is as involuntary as the seeing. When the wind roars I don’t just hear the roar; I ‘hear the wind’. In the same way it is possible to ‘read’ as well as to ‘have’ a pleasure. Or not even ’as well as’. The distinction ought to become, and sometimes is, impossible; to receive it and to recognise its divine source are a single experience. This heavenly fruit is instantly redolent of the orchard where it grew. This sweet air whispers of the country from whence it blows. It is a message. We know we are being touched by a finger of that right hand at which there are pleasures for evermore. There need be no question of thanks or praise as a separate event, something done afterwards. To experience the tiny theophany [that is, ‘manifestation of God’] is itself to adore.

Gratitude exclaims, very properly: ‘How good of God to give me this.’ Adoration says: ‘What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations [‘flashes of brilliance’] are like this!  One’s mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun.

If I could always be what I aim at being, no pleasure would be too ordinary or too usual for such reception; from the first taste of the air when I look out of the window–one’s whole cheek becomes a sort of palate – down to one’s soft slippers at bedtime….

One must learn to walk before one can run. So here. We-or at least I-shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. At best, our faith and reason will tell us that He is adorable, but we shall not have found Him so, not have ’tasted and seen’. Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight‘ in the woods of our experience.

So I encourage you: Notice today something particular in the world around you – something pleasurable, beautiful, encouraging. By all means, thank God for it. But then look along the beam, up the beam, back to its source. And so adore the source. In doing so, you not only guard yourself against idolatry. You also fulfill the purpose of your creation.

[The Piper quote is from p. 185-186 of When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy (Crossway, 2004). In addition to the link provided, the first C.S. Lewis excerpt is published on p. 212-215 of God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics (Eerdmans, 1970). The second, longer C.S. Lewis quote is from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1963-64), chapter 17, p. 88-93. For a longer exposition of this idea, see the April 6, 2014 sermon “Enjoying What God Richly Provides”  text audio.]

To Desire God

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

When Your Heart is Not Right

If our hearts are not right, should we avoid worshiping God publicly?

In Malachi’s day, the priests and the people were going through the motions of worship, yet all the while despising His Name (Malachi 1:6), thinking, “What a weariness this is!” (Malachi 1:13). So God says:

Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors [of the temple], that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 1:10-11)

God is great. And He is working together all the events of history to culminate in the grand, eternal, joyful worship of His Name by all peoples.

Worship today, in this age, is to foreshadow that final, glorious worship. But our perfunctory, going-through-the-motions worship does not do that. Instead, such obligatory worship degrades Him. Rather than the deserved honoring of the One who is holy, mighty, loving, and just, such worship makes Him look like some rich person who is not too bright, whom we need to fool and puff up so he’ll grant us what we really want. For we don’t want Him. Why should we? We just want what He will give us.

So God proclaims through Malachi that He would rather we not worship at all. He would rather board up the temple and cease all sacrifices. Today He would rather close the churches, disperse the choirs, and cancel Sunday School. We must halt any so-called worship that in effect distorts and dishonors His Name.

That leads us back to the opening question. We might think that we should apply this passage to ourselves individually, in saying, “I’m angry with God. I’m annoyed with Him. If I can’t get my heart right in time, I should just stay away. That’s what He would want. I shouldn’t be a hypocrite.”

But that is not what the passage implies. Indeed, the book of Malachi was written to change the hearts of those engaged in perfunctory worship. He deserves true, joyful worship – moving from perfunctory worship to no worship at all doesn’t solve the problem.

Rather, after recognizing that our hearts are in the wrong place, we must ask Him to change us: to change us through His Spirit working directly on us, through His Word showing us who He is, and through the songs, Scriptures, prayers, and preaching of our worship. We must beseech Him to enable us to see His greatness, to encounter His love, to be overwhelmed by His grace and justice. We must beg of Him to lead our hearts to respond rightfully to His revelation of Himself.

And time and again God graciously grants such requests.

So having a hard heart is not a reason to avoid worship. Rather it is a reason to seek His face, a reason to beg Him to change your heart. May He use our worship services to that end among us.

 

Two Kingdoms: Our Rebellion Destroys True Pleasure

Consider once again the “Two Kingdoms” Gospel presentation:

Here is a truth I have come to know.  God created the world as His Kingdom, and all was very good. But Satan rebelled, desiring worship that only God deserved. He set up his own kingdom, at war with God’s kingdom of light. The first man and woman, deceived by Satan, chose to rebel also. Since then, all of us have joined that rebellion against our rightful king.

Satan’s kingdom is the kingdom of darkness. He deceives people, saying, “You don’t have to serve me, just serve yourself!” Yet as we serve ourselves, we end up destroying all that is good, even all true pleasure. That is Satan’s goal.

God’s kingdom of light has overcome the kingdom of darkness. For God sent Jesus to earth to live as man should live. Jesus then died on a cross, suffering to pay the penalty we deserve for our rebellion. But God raised Him from the dead, showing that Jesus has authority even over death and the kingdom of darkness. Jesus will reign forever and ever.

God commands all men to turn from their rebellion against Him. He invites all of us to leave the kingdom of darkness and to become citizens of the Kingdom of light. We must turn from our selfish ways and acknowledge that Jesus is our rightful King. We must let Him tell us what to do. By God’s mercy on account of the cross, we can receive His forgiveness and escape from the kingdom of darkness, gaining love, joy, and peace in the Kingdom of light forever.

We live in this little bubble called life for 70 to 80 years. When it pops, we join whichever king we served for all eternity. Which king are you serving?

In a series of blog posts, we are looking at different key points in this presentation. Today: The destruction of true pleasure as we rebel against God and serve ourselves.

We have seen that sin is not like breaking a speed limit. On a clear day with few cars on the road, we may be able to achieve the purposes of the traffic regulation – safe driving – while speeding. So, if we can avoid getting caught, there is no downside to safely driving above the limit. But breaking God’s Law is not like that. Whenever we sin, we are rebelling against the wise God, our rightful King. We are saying that we know better than He what is in our own best interest. We are acting as if He is not good, not all-knowing – we are acting as if He is limiting our pleasure and fulfillment.

Today, let’s look further at our motivation for sinning: While we think that rebelling against God will bring us pleasure – and Satan encourages us to think this way – in fact, our attempts to serve ourselves end up destroying all true pleasure. Thus, thinking ourselves wise – thinking that we’re smart enough to know better than God how to pursue our greatest joy – we become fools; we destroy all that is good, all that leads to joy.

Why is this the case? Two reasons.

First, because God’s commands are given for our good (Deuteronomy 6:24, 10:13). In following the wisdom of God we find life. As Proverbs 12:28 says, “In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.”

Similarly, in Proverbs 8, Wisdom says

Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. (Proverbs 8:10-11)

She concludes:

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:34-36)

Jesus echoes this claim:

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:8-10)

To choose riches rather than Scriptural wisdom and obedience to God is to lose out. Whatever we desire apart from wisdom leads to less joy, not more. Indeed, true life is found only in following God. Rebellion leads to our hurting ourselves. And so we in effect love death – as we rebel, thinking we are pursuing pleasure, we are rushing headlong into the destruction of pleasure.

Jesus is even more explicit. All others claiming to know the way to God or the path to joy steal and kill and destroy pleasure. They are deceivers – thieves and robbers. But Jesus offers us true life, abundant life, real pleasure. Indeed, later He will say that eternal life is knowing God the Father and Him (John 17:2).

This brings us to the second reason our rebellion leads to the destruction of pleasure. We are eternal beings, and our rebellion has eternal consequences. In choosing to rebel, we often calculate the expected pleasure from sinning against the possible costs. We’ve seen above that even in this life, we actually lose pleasure – the costs far outweigh the supposed benefits. But when we incorporate the eternal consequences of rebellion, the costs pile up higher and higher.

Again, Jesus Himself makes this clear:

An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29)

We all will have a resurrection. The question is: A resurrection to what? To life, or to horrible judgment? A life lived in rebellion against God will inevitably lead to that horrible judgment – the end of any possible pleasure.

Furthermore, the Apostle Paul says that Jesus, when He comes again,

will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 NIV).

Shut out from the only source of goodness, from the only source of joy. That’s where rebels end up. But those who are His, those who are saved by His grace, those who joyfully obey Him, can say with confidence,

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

So, consider:

  • How often do you give in to temptation, thinking this will bring you joy?
  • How often do you think of God as a spoilsport, hindering what will bring you fulfillment and pleasure?
  • How often do you think of God as a taskmaster, giving you a long list of tedious, frustrating rules to follow?

To act or think in these ways is to believe Satan’s lies, to rebel against God, to despise His wisdom and goodness – and ultimately to destroy your own pleasure.

So look to the source of all true life! Bow down before your King – and in that bowing, in that submission, in that worship, you will find fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

Jacob and Joseph: Pursuing Your Greatest Joy

Think of someone you dearly loved whom you have lost. What would you do to have that person back? Would you do anything? Anything?

This is the situation in which Jacob finds himself in Genesis 45 and 46. Imagine the scene: At 130 years of age, Jacob waits nervously for his eleven living sons to return with food from Egypt. For 22 years he has thought that his favorite son Joseph is dead. For 22 years he has mourned him. And much against his will he sent Benjamin, Rachel’s only other child, to Egypt. The sons have been gone for weeks now, perhaps for months. Jacob worries about their return. He sleeps fitfully, and wakes up at night thinking he should never have let Benjamin go. “He’ll never come back! He’ll disappear just like Joseph, and my last connection with Rachel will be gone! I’ll die in misery!”

But this day, he hears the donkeys arrive – his sons have returned! He goes out to meet them, and sees Benjamin right up front. Benjamin! Still alive! But before Jacob can reach him, before he can embrace him, all the sons cry out, “Father! Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!”

Jacob is stunned. “Joseph? Alive? And ruler of Egypt? Is this some type of cruel joke?”

But the brothers tell him the story – all the words of Joseph, as the text tells us. And they must confess their own part in the story – without accusations or argument. When Jacob hears their heartfelt confession and Joseph’s God-centered words – “It was not you brothers who sent me here but God” – Jacob realizes, “Those indeed are the words of my son.”

So he concludes (Genesis 45:28):

“It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Ask yourself: If you were to find out that that loved one you miss more than anything was alive, living a few hundred miles away, wouldn’t you rush there? Wouldn’t you go right away and see that person? That’s what Jacob feels. And that’s what he begins to do.

So Jacob travels with his family until they reach the southernmost tip of the promised land, Beersheba. To keep traveling toward Egypt will mean leaving the promised land. Evidently, Jacob is beginning to doubt the wisdom of that step. Genesis 46:3 tells us he is afraid to go down to Egypt.

What is he afraid of? We can speculate about many possible fears, but he fundamentally fears disobeying God!

The news about Joseph has caused Jacob to remember the greatness of his God. In recent years Jacob has allowed the difficult circumstances of his life to overshadow his trust in God’s sovereignty. But he knew God. He had wrestled all night with God, and in the end clung to Him, not letting go. He knew that holding on to God was more important than any danger he had to face. He knew God was worth more than all else.

And now, God has proved Himself once again to Jacob. God has kept Joseph alive despite Jacob’s years of doubt. God has watched over Joseph and miraculously exalted him in Egypt. Learning of God’s miraculous faithfulness has renewed Jacob’s faith.

But he is faced with a dilemma: Jacob has a strong desire to see Joseph – and would God really save Joseph, exalt him, and not want Jacob to go to him?

On the other hand: God sent Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to “the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). And then after Abraham arrived in Canaan, God told him, “To your offspring I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:7). God had promised Canaan to Abraham and his descendants – not Egypt. Indeed, God had brought Jacob’s mother from far away so that Isaac would not leave the promised land. And in Genesis 31:3 God had told Jacob himself to leave his father-in-law’s house and return to this land: “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

All of these memories would lead Jacob to think that he would be disobeying God, displeasing God, to go down to Egypt. But there is one more memory that would have underlined this danger more than all the others. When Abraham first came to Egypt, right after God told him He was giving him the land of Canaan, a famine occurred in the land. And Abraham did not seek God’s face, but disobeyed God, traveling where? To Egypt! Abraham feared the famine, did not trust God, and left the promised land – leading his wife into danger and almost into disaster (Genesis 12:10-20). Jacob does not want to follow this example.

So Jacob thinks: “I only want to go where God wants me to go. God has shown Himself to be loving and gracious and sovereign and good through bringing my son virtually back from the dead. Should I now presume to leave the land of my calling – the very land God promised to my grandfather and father, the very place he instructed me to enter – when God has shown his power, might, and love so clearly?”

Therefore, Jacob halts before leaving the promised land. He decides that his proper response to the revelation about Joseph is not to go to Egypt – the proper response is to worship God. So he does.

And God calls out to him in a night vision: “Jacob! Jacob!” Jacob is listening, and replies: “Here I am.” God continues:

Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. (Genesis 46:3a)

That is, “I am the God of the covenant. I am the God who brought Abraham out of Ur. I am the God he disobeyed to go to Egypt. I am the God who will bring about the fulfillment of all my promises through your offspring.”

“Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.” (Genesis 46:3b)

God had promised Abraham that he would make him into a great nation (Genesis 12:2). And now he tells Jacob that that promise will be fulfilled through Jacob in Egypt.

“I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” (Genesis 46:4)

In Hebrew, there is a strong emphasis on “I.” We could translate this verse, “I, even I will go down with you to Egypt, and I, even I, will bring you up again.”

God is saying, “Jacob, there is no conflict between following your desire to see Joseph and your desire to serve me. I will fulfill both desires. Go! I am with you! I will bring you back! And your beloved son will be with you until your death. I will not take him away from you again.”

Jacob acts wisely here. He shows a willingness to part with what he wants most on earth to hold on to God. And God gives him both.

Finally, Joseph and Jacob are reunited:

[Joseph] presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” (Genesis 46:29-30)

Jacob last saw Joseph when he was 17, going out to seek his brothers, dressed in his many-colored coat. He’s now 39, dressed in the robes of an Egyptian ruler. But this exalted personage is Jacob’s son! His beloved son! Dead, and now alive!

Jacob is content. Living with Joseph will be a joy; but now even death holds no fear.

Jacob had feared dying in sorrow (Genesis 42:38). Now, through the very trip he didn’t want Benjamin to take, Jacob is reunited with Joseph. He fears death no more.

What a joyous reunion!

Question: Is the reunion with Joseph Jacob’s greatest joy?

Jacob knows that the answer to that question is “No”. At Beersheba he was willing to give up this reunion. For Jacob knew a yet greater joy: The joy of knowing and following the God of the universe. The joy of fulfilling God’s purposes for his life.

Jacob knew this God to be:

  • The good, loving God, who always keeps His promises;
  • The merciful God Almighty who protected Joseph and miraculously exalted Him.

True joy can only be found in obedience to Him. To disobey the source of all good gifts is to seek pain eventually, not pleasure.

So Jacob’s greatest joy is found in following God, clinging to Him. God had granted him the great earthly joy of holding his son raised to life. But he knew: Having Joseph without God is no gain.

What about you? Your purpose in life is to glorify God. Your greatest happiness will come from fulfilling that purpose. We often must give up lesser pleasures to pursue greater ones. The path to your greatest joy can be paved with saying “No” to what seems good. Indeed, Jesus told His disciples:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:34-35)

If instead you try to hold on to what you think you need for joy in this life, you will lose – you will never attain the greatest joy of following Jesus.

As 17th century English pastor William Gurnall says,

A man never comes to enjoy himself truly, in any comfort of his life, till [he is] prepared to deny himself readily in it.

Are you prepared to deny yourself readily every comfort of your life?

God is not stingy – He doesn’t withhold something or someone from you just out of meanness, or to reserve it for Himself. If He withholds something from you, He does that for a purpose. If we give up a highly-desirable joy – even our greatest earthly joy, as Jacob was willing to do – we do so for the much greater joy set before us.

If your possessions, friends, or family members are more important to you than God, if they become idols to you, you will not enjoy them truly. You will not enjoy them fully. Indeed, those very idols will become to you a source of great pain. But if you accept them as God’s gifts to you – which he could easily take away at any time for your good – if you can see them as undeserved presents showered on you by One Who loves you more than you can imagine – then they can be sources of great joy.

Are you – like Jacob – willing to say no to some pleasures in order to pursue your greatest pleasure?

(Parts of this devotion were taken from a sermon, “True Joy and Self-Denial” on Genesis 45:16-47:27, preached November 14, 2004. Both text and audio of that sermon are available. The William Gurnall quote is from The Christian in Complete Armour, (Banner of Truth, 1964; originally published 1662-1665), Volume 1, p. 569.)

God’s Hand At Work

How does God work in our lives? How does He bring us to Himself?

Sometimes He works through a Damascus-road experience: Suddenly, in an instant, an enemy of Jesus becomes His follower (Acts 9).

Other times the work is slow and painful. There are steps forward. Then steps backward.

One such case is Jacob’s first wife, Leah.

Remember the story: Jacob flees from his brother Esau, who wants to kill him for tricking him out of his birthright and his father’s blessing.

Jacob leaves home, using the pretense of going to find a wife from among his relatives in order to get his father’s blessing for the journey. But when he meets his cousin Rachel, he sheds the pretense. This is the girl he must marry!

He agrees with Rachel’s father Laban that he will work seven years for her. When the time is complete, in the dark of the wedding night, Laban sends Rachel’s older sister Leah into Jacob’s tent. In the morning, Laban tells the irate Jacob that he can marry Rachel also the following week – if he will agree to work another seven years.

In this culture, children are vital and sons are especially important. Sons will provide security for their parents in their old age, and will inherit and manage the property. A wife who bears many children – particularly many sons – is highly honored. A wife who does not bear children is in danger of being replaced.

Leah clearly enters this marriage unwanted and unloved. But then, “The Lord opened Leah’s womb” (Genesis 29:31). She bears four sons in short order. Their names tell us what is going on inside Leah’s head.

First, she gives birth to Reuben – meaning, “See? A son!” – saying “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me” (Genesis 29:32).

What does this tell us about Leah? What does she want more than anything else? She wants her husband to love her!

In the booklet, “Marriage: Whose Dream?” Paul Tripp tells the story of a woman he was counseling:

I once was talking with a lady who had been married many years.

She was married to a person who, very honestly, I would have to say was a bad man. He was angry, controlling, and manipulative. He said and did hurtful things. She had dreamed of the ultimate husband, but she certainly hadn’t gotten him. Now she was so embittered by the blessings other women in her church enjoyed that she said she could no longer go to worship. She felt as if God had forsaken her, so much so that she couldn’t read her Bible or pray.

As I listened, I wanted her to understand her identity in Christ. I wanted her to know the love of the Lord; that God is a refuge and strength, an ever‑present help in trouble. So I started reading her passages that spoke of the amazing, abundant love of God, and in the middle of a verse she said, “Stop! Don’t tell me again that God loves me. I want a husband who loves me!”

And she pounded her fist on her chair as she said it.

That woman is seeking God’s gifts, rather than God Himself.

She doesn’t want God’s love. She wants God to provide her with a husband to love her.

Do you see how that is demeaning to God?

God becomes the genie whose gifts give us delight. His presence is not fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Rather, His gifts are fullness of joy.

Isn’t this the case with Leah? She acknowledges God’s hand in giving her a son, and that’s good – as far as it goes. But she does not treasure God. In essence, she doesn’t even treasure the son God has given her. She treasures her husband’s withheld love. And so she’s miserable.

Leah bears two more sons and it doesn’t get any better:

She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. (Genesis 29:33-34)

That attachment doesn’t happen. Sons do not produce the love from Jacob Leah so desires

But finally, with her fourth son, we see a different Leah:

And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she called his name Judah. (Genesis 29:35)

Do you see the difference? She does not see this child as a tool by which she will achieve her desires. Instead, she simply praises God for what He has given.

So ask yourself:

  • Are you more like Leah after the birth of Reuben, or Leah after the birth of Judah?
  • Are you excited about what God’s gifts will enable you to enjoy?
  • Or are you first and foremost simply thankful to God for His gracious gifts?

Unfortunately, Leah does not live day by day in a state of praising God. But at least after the birth of Judah, Leah shows us how to respond to God’s gifts. This is one step to becoming a man or woman of God: Acknowledging God as the source of all that is good in our lives, and praising Him for it.

Not pining after what we don’t have, but rejoicing in the God who is working together all things together for our good and His glory.

For God is behind all that happens – in this story and in our lives. He is behind Leah’s pregnancies. He is behind Rachel’s barrenness.

He is in control.

But like us, those in the midst of the story have a hard time seeing His hand at work.

William Cowper wrote these wise words about such times:

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will. . . .

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.

God moves in His mysterious ways Leah’s life. By God’s grace, she is becoming a woman of God.

The next paragraphs show us Leah still has a long ways to go. Hers is not a Damascus Road experience.

But God in His wisdom is at work, via a long, slow process. Leah has taken an important step.

So consider those you love. Those you have witnessed to – both those who have not come to faith, and those who have professed faith but seem stalled, seem to be floundering.

God moves in mysterious ways. Pray for the sovereign God to continue the process, to guard these loved ones from hardening of heart or making shipwreck of their faith. Trust in His sovereign hand to work all things together for the good of His people – including you! – and the glory of His Name. And then play your role – your role in the sovereign plan of God – so that you yourself might be one of the mysterious ways that God makes your loved one a man or woman of God.

So check, first, your heart: Is God your treasure?

Second, check your faith: Do you trust God is at work?

Third, check your actions: Pray, and consider: What would God have me do in the lives of these I love?

(Parts of this devotion were taken from a sermon, “The Making of a Man of God” on Genesis 29:31-31:55, preached August 29, 2004. Both text and audio of that sermon are available.)

What Do You Want More Than Anything Else?

What do you want more than anything else?

Consider these Scriptures. What do they say we should want more than anything else?

Proverbs 2:1-5: My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.

Do all this: and you will know God!

Isaiah 55:1-3a Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live.

Real life. True life. Rich life. Satisfying life – given as a free gift when we come to God to accept His feast.

Psalm 119:14, 15, 72 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  . . .
The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

God’s testimonies, His precepts, His ways, His law – all these display God’s character, what He is like. Through these, we come to know Him.

So these Scriptures tell us we should want to know God, and to desire like with Him, life in relationship to Him.

That, according to the Scriptures, is the greatest joy, the greatest fulfillment possible – worth more than the greatest fortune.

Do you believe that?

Scripture states that – over and over and over. Do you believe it?

It’s not easy to believe.

The world around us invites us to find joy and fulfillment elsewhere:

  • In money, in accomplishment,
  • In sex, in drugs
  • In fame, in power
  • In self, in pride

But 1 John 5:4 tells us:

Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.

Our faith. Our belief in God and in His revealed word.

We must conquer the world and its lies.

We must fight the good fight of faith – the good fight to believe.

And when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, when we hold on to that truth and apply it to every attitude, every thought, every action, every feeling – when we see all around us in light of the truth:

  • That God reigns
  • That we are rebels
  • That God sent His Son to die on our behalf so that we rebels might be reconciled to Him and so that He might simultaneously fulfill His perfect justice

Then we are in God’s family – we have an identity. Then we have all security. Then we have all joy. Then we have eternal life – not just life without end, but what Proverbs 2 and Isaiah 55 and Psalm 119 hold out as the greatest joy: knowing the only true God.

So: What do you want more than anything else? To know God? That is: To have eternal life?

Take hold of that eternal life – today!

Fight the good fight to believe!

That’s the message of our text this morning, 1 Timothy 6:5-19. And that’s the concluding message in this sermon series, Where Do You Find Identity, Security, and Joy? A Scriptural Understanding of Money, Giving, and Material Possessions

Let’s turn to the passage to see how it beautifully summarizes and extends the truths we have learned these last four months.

1) Fight the Good Fight to Believe

The title of this first section comes from verse 12: Fight the good fight of faith. That is: Fight the good fight to believe that what God says is true.

What does God say in verses 5-11 that Timothy – and we! – must fight to believe?

Three main points:
 a) Believe that Awesome Respect for God is the Greatest Means of Gain

Verse 5 concludes with Paul discussing false teachers who imagine “that godliness is a means of gain.  Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.”

What is the Apostle Paul saying here?

To answer that, we need to know what he means by three words or phrases:

  • Contentment
  • Godliness
  • Gain/means of gain

We spent an entire sermon examining contentment, seeing that it means we are not self-sufficient but “God-sufficient.” We know that God gives us identity, security, and joy. Thus if have Him, we have all that we need.

The second word is “godliness.” The Greek word doesn’t mean what it sounds like, “taking on the character of God.” Rather it means having the right and proper response and attitude to God, given His revealed character. The most authoritative Greek lexicon renders this word, “Awesome respect accorded to God, devoutness, piety.”

One Greek word is translated “means of gain” in verse 5 and “gain” in verse 6. The usual meaning of the word is “means of gain;” I think it makes most sense to translate the word the same way in both verses.

So with that understanding, let’s now try to paraphrase what the Apostle is saying:

These false teachers try to use their fake devotion to God as a means to gain money. The irony is that true devotion – genuine, awesome respect for God – combined with complete satisfaction in Who He is – is indeed the greatest means of gain – not in the currency of money but in a much more valuable currency.

We’ve seen Paul use this idea of different currencies when we looked at 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. The false teachers are using their supposed piety to gain money. We need to see that what we have from God when He is all to us is far, far more valuable than money – so that devotion to Him is the greatest means of gain.

b) Believe that Money Isn’t the Greatest Means of Gain – So Flee from Love of Money!

Paul then explains why money and material possessions cannot be the greatest means of gain.

He makes three arguments to establish these points:

i) “For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world” (verse 7).

That is: You are going to leave this world the same way you entered it: Naked, owning nothing.

And more than that: You will live on after your death in this world. You are an eternal being. The great, great majority of your life will be after your life in this world. So the greatest means of gain must yield eternal benefits, not only benefits in this life. Thus, money cannot be the greatest means of gain, for you are eternal, and money is not.

ii) We see the second part of Paul’s argument in verse 8: “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

As long as we are in this world, we need enough food to keep us alive. We also need some protection from elements. But if we have these plus God – that’s enough. We can then be content, “God-sufficient.” Thus money cannot be the greatest means of gain because we don’t need it for true contentment, we don’t need it for true happiness even in this life.

So we could summarize the first two parts of Paul’s argument like this:

  • Money can’t buy happiness eternally.
  • Money is not necessary for happiness even in this life.

iii) Paul’s third argument: When the desire for money controls us, there are horrible consequences.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.  (verses 9-10)

Paul points out that love of money has negative consequences in this life. We see that all the time, don’t we? Consider former Charlotte mayor Patrick Cannon who became corrupt, violated trust – and has now fallen from his high position to what will certainly be many years in prison. But such dangers are common. Think of the many husbands who, desiring money, have become workaholics, destroying their marriages and neglecting their children – all in the name of providing for their wives and children. That is why the love of money is such a trap, such a snare.

But the greatest danger from loving money is eternal. If the love of money leads you to wander away from the faith, you will suffer for all time. You will remain under God’s wrath. You will have no hope.

So we must understand that money and material possessions are not the greatest means of gain. We must fight to believe that, even though we constantly receive messages to the contrary.

c) With Great Effort Put Your Belief into Practice

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith. (verses 11-12a)

First note the way Paul underlines the great effort involved. The word translated “fight” is an athletic term (we get our word “agonize” from this word). Paul is saying, “Make your supreme effort to believe these truths.”

He then tells us how to do that. We make that effort by running away from the love of money, and running after the virtues he then lists. We won’t look at them one by one today.  Just note that they are either aspects of God’s character that we take on (the fruit of the Holy Spirit that Paul describes in Galatians 5:22-23), or our right response to God’s character (such as godliness and faith).

How do you conduct this fight?

  • Through the Word
  • Through worship
  • Through practice
  • Through prayer
  • Through the help of others, through community

This is a key part of living the Christian life: Fighting the fight to believe that what God says is true.

2) Take Hold of Eternal Life

Paul has said “Fight the fight to believe.” Now he says: “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” He is saying, in part, “Live out those beliefs.” But he’s saying more than that. He is also saying,

This is true life. This is true joy. So grasp that today. Jesus came so that you might have life, and have it abundantly. So live out that abundant, eternal life today, as you walk with your Savior and Lord.

We’ll note three ways Paul highlights this:

a) You’ve Professed It

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

God called you to this. – to participate in this eternal life now. And you have acknowledged that calling. You have professed faith in Christ. You have said that you were lost, without hope, justly under God’s wrath because of yr rebellion against the holy God. And yet while you were in this state, God showed his love by sending His Son. And not just sending His Son as a messenger, but sending Him to suffer and die on your behalf. He paid the penalty you deserved – and God raised Him from the dead, showing the penalty paid was sufficient. He sits today at God the Father’s right hand. And He will come again to usher in His eternal kingdom. Having professed that Christ died for you and that you are thus God’s beloved child, take hold of that life today! Remember what you have professed!  Continue in it! Persevere!

b) Live It Out Until Jesus Returns!

So, Paul says, keep holding on to that promise until Jesus appears:

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,  to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,  which he will display at the proper time–he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,  who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.  (verses 13-16)

Paul charges Timothy. What is Paul’s charge?

“Keep the commandment.”

What commandment?

Surely, “Fight the good fight of faith.” Surely, “Take hold of eternal life.”  But really all the imperatives of Christian life are included here. Paul is saying: Follow Christ. Be conformed to the image of Christ. Take on His character. Love with His love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. For this is eternal life. This is the greatest joy. God is the giver of life– so you will only find life in following Him.

Jesus made that good confession just like you – and He suffered for it. But He is at Father’s right hand and will reign forever. You too, act like Jesus: Remain steadfast even through trials, until His return. God will bring that about at exactly the right time. He is the only Ruler, the true Sovereign, the only blessed One, the One who will never die. He is so pure and brilliant we can’t imagine approaching Him – and yet He says, “Boldly approach Me through my Son!” All honor and might are His and His alone, forever.

This is who God the Father is. So how can you ever think that true life would come from anyone or anything else?

Jesus is coming back. And then faith will be sight. We will not have to fight to believe. We will not have to work to take hold of eternal life. It will be perfectly obvious Who the King is, and what He is like.

But until then: You and I can live out eternal life. As author of Hebrews says: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

c) Use Your Riches as a Means of Taking Hold of True Life

Having begun by pointing out that money cannot satisfy, and that the love of money leads to all kinds of evil, Paul concludes by saying: Money can be used to help you take hold of true life.

Note the last clause in v19, which gives the purpose for the entire 3 verses: “so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” Since eternal life is true life, this is the same idea we saw in verse 12: “Take hold of the eternal life.”

Remember, Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). So Paul here is specifically helping those who are rich to know how they can avoid the negative effects of money, and to take hold of eternal life.

Don’t forget: As we have noted before, by the standards of Jesus’ day, of Paul’s day, all of us are incredibly rich. So know that Paul here is speaking about you.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,  thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Paul tells Timothy to give the rich two negative commands, five positive commands, with one result, all working to one goal, one purpose.

We’ve spent time looking at parts of these verses earlier in this series, so we will now just note the flow of Paul’s argument, and then highlight the result and the purpose.

First negative command: Do not be haughty or arrogant because you are richer than others. This is related to Paul’s statement in Romans 12:3: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” Because we rich people have more than others, it is easy to imagine that we deserve more than others. We must take care to avoid that temptation.

Second negative command: Don’t set your hope on the uncertainty of riches. As we saw in the sermon on security, Paul highlights the foolishness of setting your hope on an uncertainty. And all riches are uncertain.

So now the five positive commands:

First positive command: Set your hope on God. He is the solid rock. He is your hope, your strength. And He is always providing for us, doing good for us: He “richly provides us with all things unto enjoyment.” (We spent an entire sermon considering that phrase.)

Second positive command: We rich are to do good. That is, we are to act like the one who richly provides for us.

Third positive command: We are To be rich in good works, not only rich in assets. Here Paul uses the idea of currency again. Wealth in one currency – money, material possessions – makes it easier for us to be rich in another currency – good works. And as Jesus says, our light is to shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Fourth positive command: To be generous. I think the third positive command emphasizes time – since we rich don’t have to spend all our time providing for our basic necessities, we can spend time doing good works – while this fourth positive command emphasizes giving money and material goods.

Last positive command: To be “willing to share.” That phrase is one word in Greek. Like the previous word, it can be translated “generous.” The difference is that this second word seems to be concerned more with the inner attitude. This word shares a root with a Greek word many of you know, koinonia, “partnership for a common purpose.” Think of this word, then, as “characterized by koinonia.” That is, “See your fellow believers as your partners, and live out that partnership, so that you use the grant God has given you to help advance God’s purposes among your brothers and sisters who have fewer resources.”

So those are the two negative commands and the five positive commands.

The Result: We see this in the first part of verse 19. The Holman Christian Standard Bible translates this quite well (and is similar to the King James and New American Standard): “Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the age to come.”

I think the point is this: When we obey these seven commands, we are displaying the character of God. We are taking on His character. We are thereby knowing God better. And this is eternal life – that we may know Him (John 17:3). This is our joy for all eternity, the purpose of eternal life: To know more and more of His infinite goodness and excellence.

So do you see how this is a foundation for the age to come? Become like Him today. Thereby know Him better now. And that’s the joyful foundation for what you will do for all eternity.

That then leads us to the purpose: To take hold of the life that is truly life. To live out eternal life today – to know Him, to live with Him, to love Him, to be loved by Him.

Conclusion

So: What do you want more than anything else?

O, that you would desire to know God! That you would take hold of the eternal life that is knowing God the Father, and Jesus Christ whom He sent!

O, that you would be free from the snare of the love of money, and its consequent ruin and destruction.

O, that you and I might live out what we profess:

  • That we are His children purely by grace through the sacrifice of our Lord
  • That apart from this mercy we would be without hope, objects of wrath
  • That instead we are loved with a love beyond imagining
  • That we are held secure in His arms, and He will never leave us nor forsake us
  • That we have the deepest possible joy – totally apart from any material goods

May we live out this profession through generous giving to God’s glory motivated by sincere concern.

May we – in our interactions with one another, in our interactions with the world – display God’s mercy, grace, and tender care.

May we thereby take hold of the life that is truly life.