Church attendance is down in many Christian churches. There are a number of reasons for this, but I blieve the main reason lies in the hearts of individual believers. People are simply putting other things before their commitment to serve God. I think it is important to address this, because I believe that church attendance is key to maintaining our salvation.
So I want to offer the following Bible study as a way to encourage you to attend church. Your attendance shouldn’t be to please me, but because you have identified yourself with Jesus.
Hebrews 10:23-25
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
I want to take this passage of scripture and break it down so we can get at what the scripture is speaking to us.
Hebrews 10:23
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Let us hold fast to our confession of hope. As Christians we have hope in Jesus. Jesus has promised us eternal life. He has promised us heaven. The wonderful thing about this is that heaven is promised to us, not because of what we have done but because of what Jesus has done. In Buddhism, there is the idea of Karma: That your karma affects what happens to you after you die. Karma says that how we live in this lifetime will affect where we go as we wait to be reincarnated. Karma tells us which level of hell we are assigned to and the life we will have when we are reincarnated. It is all based on how we live. But you and I know that we have all done things that are wrong. We have all damaged other people and we have all violated guidelines for righteousness. So if it is up to us we can never achieve heaven. The Buddha cannot change our Karma; he can be no help to us as we go through our lives. It is dependent on us. There is no hope in that. The bible tells us that we all fall short. It tells us that there are none righteous. That includes me and it includes you. So in that belief system we will be doomed to repeat life over and over with no hope of entering heaven. But in Jesus we can have hope because he has died for us. In a way he has changed our karma. Heaven isn’t dependent on us, it’s dependent only on what Jesus has done and us confessing faith in him and repenting.
If we’re Christians we believe that Jesus paid a price for our sin. We need to hold fast to that confession of faith, because it is the basis by which we will be judged. That phrase “hold fast’” means to grab a hold of it and not let go. How do we do that. We can hold fast by doing things that will increase our faith in Jesus. Or doing things that build faith.
1. Prayer. Prayer strengthens our relationship with Jesus. Think of it like this: If you have a friendship with someone but you never speak to that person or spend time with them what happens to the relationship. It will begin to break down, because there is nothing to strengthen that relationship.
2. Read your Bible. As you read the Bible you see the faithfulness of God demonstrated over and over. You can see the prophecies that have been fulfilled. When Jesus was born that was the fulfillment of more than 300 prophecies. As you see his faithfulness and the truth of prophecy you can realize that you can believe God. God never changes he is just as faithful today as he was in Biblical times.
3. Go to church. The Bible in Romans 10:17 tells us that, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Hearing the word of God strengthens faith.
These things will help us to hold fast to that confession of Faith.
Let’s now examine verse 24 of our text:
Hebrews 10:24
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
This verse speaks of being an example. We are to consider each other in an attempt to stir up love and good works. Let’s face a fact here, people are watching our lives. What do other people see when they watch your life? Is what your doing stirring up love and good works? Is your life an encouragement to others to do the will of God?
This is the real issue. We are not alone in our salvation. There are other people involved in our destiny and the will of God for our lives. We look at other Christians to understand how to live and to act as a Christian and other people look at our lives. Someone else fulfilling his or her destiny in Jesus may be dependent on our example. All of us are examples to someone else. We are definitely an example to other people in the church, but beyond that friends and families gain their understanding of Christianity from watching us. Does your example demonstrate the importance of living out the will of God? Can someone who isn’t saved look at your life and see how important Jesus and your salvation are to you? Do they see you talking about Jesus, maybe even confronting them about Jesus, but don’t see you placing any importance on being in church? Because believe me they are forming their opinion about Jesus from watching how you live.
In the last verse of our text we read this:
Hebrews 10:25
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
This verse simply tells us that we should attend church. Through our attendance we are exhorting (encouraging) one another. We build our faith and we help to build someone else’s by church attendance. This is vital if we want to have the faith to endure until the end. I’ve been preaching a number of sermons, recently, on faithfulness. Faithfulness is a sign of our faith. But if we’re not there to hear them how can we be stirred up to love, good works and faith.
Finally, we must understand the purpose of the church. The purpose of the church is to reach the lost for Jesus. In a number of cases that means friends, families and coworkers. Our goal is to reach them as well as neighbors. We are placed in this place to reach people in Taoyuan City. That’s what this church is placed in this city to do. But we lose momentum when people don’t faithfully attend church.
When we don’t attend church:
1. We send a message to our friends and families that church isn’t really important to us. We are telling them that church is just a place where people gather, like a social club, but that there is no power to change lives there.
2. The Bible establishes that God has chosen the foolishness of the message preached to save those that believe (1 Corinthians 1:21). If we don’t attend church we miss God’s chosen method of salvation and change.
3. When we don’t attend and someone we have invited does, then the only connection that they have to the church is missing. They have come because of the relationship they have with you. They are likely to not come back because you have let them down.
Assembling ourselves together builds bonds between us: Bonds that will help us to weather the attacks of the enemy. It is important to us to come together as a fellowship of believers:
1. To build up each other’s faith.
2. To strengthen our own faith.
3. To develop relationships that will help us to reach our own personal destiny in the will of God.
4. To hear the word of God preached, God’s method of change and salvation for us.
An excellent question to ask yourself is this, “Is my salvation important to me, or are there other things that I have placed before my relationship with Jesus?”
The rich young ruler asked Jesus what must I do to inherit eternal life? The question is what thing shall I do to go to heaven. Jesus answers him in an interesting way. He begins to list off commandments: Specifically, the commandments that deal with our relationships with other people. And the ruler tells him, “Cool, I’ve done these things since my youth.” Then Jesus tightens up a little bit, he says, “There’s one thing you need to do still, sell everything you own, give it to the poor, take up your cross and follow me.” Jesus isn’t saying that you have to be poor to be saved. But what he’s doing is focusing on the issue in this man’s life; his possessions. He’s saying if you value something more than your relationship with Jesus, you can’t inherit eternal life. He says that in another way in the Luke 14:
Luke 14:26-27
26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.27 “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
That word hate doesn’t mean what we take it to mean in our generation. It only means to love less. So what Jesus is saying is that we can’t be his disciple if there is something we put before Jesus. Jesus wants to be first in our lives. If we are going to call him Lord, we need to treat him like he’s our Lord.
This letter is intended to encourage you and exhort you to be an active part of the church. It is not intended to condemn anyone. I want to see you get the most from your relationship with God and I’m concerned that some of you are putting other things before your relationships with Jesus. I understand about work commitments and I understand about family commitments. But I really want you to focus on what is keeping you from church.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Bethesda: The House of Grace
Many of us can look at our lives, the things we came out of, and see what it is that Jesus has done for us. We can look at our lives before Jesus and see what we had made of them. We can look back and see what the sin that we had allowed to enter our lives had done to us. If you’re a Christian today, you sit in church changed and set free, by His grace and mercy. Today I want to share with you a moment of grace and mercy from the Bible.
John 5:1-13
1After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. 10The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” 11He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’” 12Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
The House of Grace
The word Bethesda in Hebrew means House of Grace. It is probably named that because of the grace, or mercy, shown to the ill and lame who were healed in the pool. Bethesda had five porches. Five is the number of grace; in the same way that six is the number for man and seven is the number of completion, or perfection.
So here at the pool of healing we see Jesus with a man who is afflicted: A man who has suffered his affliction for many years. This is the place where he meets Jesus; the place where he has that one encounter with Jesus that makes him whole; that sets him free of his afflictions. He has suffered this affliction for thirty-eight years and in one moment of time his affliction is swept away. In one encounter with Jesus his suffering ends. It takes place right here, at the pool of Bethesda. It’s interesting that this meeting took place here at the pool. It didn’t happen on the streets of Jerusalem. This man didn’t meet with Jesus, on his own, some place. He met with him here at the “House of Grace.”
There is a House of Grace in our lives, as well. There is a place where we can meet with Jesus and the pain and suffering or our affliction can be taken away in a moment, just like the man at the pool. Our affliction may be a physical affliction that requires physical healing, but it is also a spiritual affliction. We can have an encounter with Jesus that frees us, in one moment, of the affliction of sin. The House of Grace in our times is the local church. The local church is the place where you can have an encounter with Jesus that will set you free. At the altar of repentance you can meet Jesus and be transformed. Through His death on the cross He has made it possible for our sin, our affliction, to be taken away. By His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
He is the Angel of the Lord that stirs the water and brings healing. We meet with Him at a place like this where He transforms us, in a moment of time, and heals us of our transgressions and afflictions.
Entering Into the Pool
In order for this man to be released of his affliction he had to enter the pool. The Bible says in verses three and four of our text
John 5:3-4
3In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
After the water was stirred up, the first one who entered into the pool was healed. You have to submerge into the House of Mercy to be healed. But how many people do you meet that tell you they’re Christians; they tell you their believers, but they have no home church? How many people have you met that have a long list of churches that they’ve attended but not a church to which they’re committed? The problem is that they’ve spent their lives on the fringes. They’ve never been willing to put themselves into God’s method of transformation for their lives, which is to lock into a church. They’ve never allowed themselves to be immersed into God’s will for their lives. They’ve been around the church but aren’t willing to ground themselves in God’s word. Because of their unwillingness to step into that they continue in their affliction.
I used to know a man, who asked me about my church. He wasn’t interested in the church’s doctrine. He asked me about how many people attended. He asked about fellowship opportunities. He told me that he played softball at his church. But he shared with me that he didn’t think they would ask him that year. He said he hadn’t attended church lately. Actually, he didn’t attend at all, he just played softball with them. He had the aura of church attendance, but in fact, didn’t attend church at all. There was no change in his life. He continued to live the way he lived before: His wife was ready to leave him his life was a mess. He was still caught up in his affliction because he was on the fringes. He never immersed himself into the pool of healing.
What do we see in our text? On the porches there was a multitude of people. There were a lot of people on the fringes. They see the power of God manifested in the lives of those who enter the pool. They see the miracles, they see the transformation, and they want those things to take place in their lives but they never make it into the pool. They aren’t aggressively seeking the miracle, they’re hanging around the pool, they’re close to the pool, but…
It makes me think of the woman with the issue of blood.
Luke 5:25-29
25Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.
This woman aggressively sought healing. The Bible says she, “suffered many things from many physicians.” She was looking for a cure, when she heard about Jesus. She knows that if she can reach Him she can be healed. So she’s willing to risk arrest.
She had an issue of blood, so she was unclean. She was required to walk the streets and call out, “Unclean.” She could touch no one. But here she is, she pushed her way through a throng of people to reach Jesus. She had to press past maybe hundreds of bodies to get next to him. She wanted to touch him; she wanted to enter in; she wanted to be made well.
She could have stayed on the fringes. She could have waited for Jesus to notice her. But she risked it all, she went to Him to be healed and set free. The question is, “Are you willing to allow God to stir up the waters of life in you? Are you willing to step in and immerse yourself in the will of God/
The man in our text tells Jesus, “I have no one to place me in the water and when I come down someone gets there before me.” But he wasn’t aggressive about reaching the water. He could have set his cot right at the water’s edge, so when it got stirred up he could roll off the cot and into the water. If you really want it you’ll be at the edge of the water ready to dive in at the first sight of movement not back up in the fringes or on the porches. "Oh look the water’s moving, quick, someone carry me to the pool. Oh, it stopped, oh well maybe next time.”
In order to be healed of the affliction you must immerse yourself. You must enter into the will of God for your life. It’s not going to happen until you take the step, like the woman with the issue of blood, and aggressively seek God’s miracle for your own life. You must enter into the pool with a desire to be healed and transformed, and then God can work with you, and change you.
Continuing in Sin
Finally, let’s take a look at Jesus’ final comments to this man at Bethesda.
John 5:14
14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
Jesus is admonishing that if he continues in sin a worse thing can happen to him. You know, you can attend church and lose your salvation. After this kind of encounter you can’t continue in sin, because something worse can come upon you. Understand tis, just because his grace is upon you, you can’t continue to sin and rely on that grace. That’s not how grace is intended. Grace is intended to give us a fresh start, a new beginning. We abuse grace by accepting grace and continuing to sin.
Romans 6:1-2
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
What’s interesting here is that as this man sat on the fringes, Jesus came to him. In this moment we see a snapshot of His grace as He reaches into this man’s life and gives him the healing he desires. We can see the same snapshot of grace as Jesus reached into our lives and brought healing and transformation to us. He desires that all of us have an opportunity to be cleansed and healed. He wants to use us as instruments of His grace to reach out to others.
But there is a warning here to us that we can fall from his grace, by continuing to sin. How valuable is your salvation to you? How valuable is the free gift that was given to you in the moments of Jesus’ death and resurrection? Are you willing to put to death the “Old Man of Sin”? Or do you esteem so lightly the grace that was given through His suffering that you would put Him on the cross once again? Is there sin you are unwilling to give up?
I know a man who was saved about 25 years ago. Throughout his life God changed him and showed him much grace and mercy. But he continues to smoke. In fact, the day I met him and he found out that I was a Christian he told me, “I know God is going to deliver me from smoking, but he’s going to do it in His own time.” Well, the fact is, that God’s time is now. But God couldn’t deliver him from smoking until he took the first step and put it down. The problem was he wasn’t willing to put off the old man of sin. Then he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I told him, “Look man, God is trying to get a hold of you right now. This is what God is doing to get you to lay that stuff down.” His reply was interesting,, “I already have cancer, now, so why quit.” I was sad to attend his funeral.
In our text Jesus is warning us that if we continue in sin, “a worse thing can come upon us.” We need to take our salvation seriously. He paid for that gift of grace with his life. He willingly gave his life and it cheapens his death by continuing in sin and letting that grace abound.
It is like when somebody gives you something of great value and you don’t take care of it because you paid nothing for it. Are you that way with your salvation? Do you care so little about it that you don’t guard it and ensure that you never lose it? That you don’t work to keep it healthy?
Pastor Glen Cluck once said, “If you live your l;ife like you could lose your salvation, you probably won’t.” In other words if you are aware that your salvation could be lost and live with that awareness, then you will do what it takes to preserve it.
Here is a fundamental truth for life: We need to enter into the House of Grace and submerge ourselves in it. We need to dive into the will of God, so that we can receive the promise of mercy and spiritual healing. Total immersion in the will of God is what does it.
John 5:1-13
1After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. 10The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” 11He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’” 12Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
The House of Grace
The word Bethesda in Hebrew means House of Grace. It is probably named that because of the grace, or mercy, shown to the ill and lame who were healed in the pool. Bethesda had five porches. Five is the number of grace; in the same way that six is the number for man and seven is the number of completion, or perfection.
So here at the pool of healing we see Jesus with a man who is afflicted: A man who has suffered his affliction for many years. This is the place where he meets Jesus; the place where he has that one encounter with Jesus that makes him whole; that sets him free of his afflictions. He has suffered this affliction for thirty-eight years and in one moment of time his affliction is swept away. In one encounter with Jesus his suffering ends. It takes place right here, at the pool of Bethesda. It’s interesting that this meeting took place here at the pool. It didn’t happen on the streets of Jerusalem. This man didn’t meet with Jesus, on his own, some place. He met with him here at the “House of Grace.”
There is a House of Grace in our lives, as well. There is a place where we can meet with Jesus and the pain and suffering or our affliction can be taken away in a moment, just like the man at the pool. Our affliction may be a physical affliction that requires physical healing, but it is also a spiritual affliction. We can have an encounter with Jesus that frees us, in one moment, of the affliction of sin. The House of Grace in our times is the local church. The local church is the place where you can have an encounter with Jesus that will set you free. At the altar of repentance you can meet Jesus and be transformed. Through His death on the cross He has made it possible for our sin, our affliction, to be taken away. By His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
He is the Angel of the Lord that stirs the water and brings healing. We meet with Him at a place like this where He transforms us, in a moment of time, and heals us of our transgressions and afflictions.
Entering Into the Pool
In order for this man to be released of his affliction he had to enter the pool. The Bible says in verses three and four of our text
John 5:3-4
3In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
After the water was stirred up, the first one who entered into the pool was healed. You have to submerge into the House of Mercy to be healed. But how many people do you meet that tell you they’re Christians; they tell you their believers, but they have no home church? How many people have you met that have a long list of churches that they’ve attended but not a church to which they’re committed? The problem is that they’ve spent their lives on the fringes. They’ve never been willing to put themselves into God’s method of transformation for their lives, which is to lock into a church. They’ve never allowed themselves to be immersed into God’s will for their lives. They’ve been around the church but aren’t willing to ground themselves in God’s word. Because of their unwillingness to step into that they continue in their affliction.
I used to know a man, who asked me about my church. He wasn’t interested in the church’s doctrine. He asked me about how many people attended. He asked about fellowship opportunities. He told me that he played softball at his church. But he shared with me that he didn’t think they would ask him that year. He said he hadn’t attended church lately. Actually, he didn’t attend at all, he just played softball with them. He had the aura of church attendance, but in fact, didn’t attend church at all. There was no change in his life. He continued to live the way he lived before: His wife was ready to leave him his life was a mess. He was still caught up in his affliction because he was on the fringes. He never immersed himself into the pool of healing.
What do we see in our text? On the porches there was a multitude of people. There were a lot of people on the fringes. They see the power of God manifested in the lives of those who enter the pool. They see the miracles, they see the transformation, and they want those things to take place in their lives but they never make it into the pool. They aren’t aggressively seeking the miracle, they’re hanging around the pool, they’re close to the pool, but…
It makes me think of the woman with the issue of blood.
Luke 5:25-29
25Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.
This woman aggressively sought healing. The Bible says she, “suffered many things from many physicians.” She was looking for a cure, when she heard about Jesus. She knows that if she can reach Him she can be healed. So she’s willing to risk arrest.
She had an issue of blood, so she was unclean. She was required to walk the streets and call out, “Unclean.” She could touch no one. But here she is, she pushed her way through a throng of people to reach Jesus. She had to press past maybe hundreds of bodies to get next to him. She wanted to touch him; she wanted to enter in; she wanted to be made well.
She could have stayed on the fringes. She could have waited for Jesus to notice her. But she risked it all, she went to Him to be healed and set free. The question is, “Are you willing to allow God to stir up the waters of life in you? Are you willing to step in and immerse yourself in the will of God/
The man in our text tells Jesus, “I have no one to place me in the water and when I come down someone gets there before me.” But he wasn’t aggressive about reaching the water. He could have set his cot right at the water’s edge, so when it got stirred up he could roll off the cot and into the water. If you really want it you’ll be at the edge of the water ready to dive in at the first sight of movement not back up in the fringes or on the porches. "Oh look the water’s moving, quick, someone carry me to the pool. Oh, it stopped, oh well maybe next time.”
In order to be healed of the affliction you must immerse yourself. You must enter into the will of God for your life. It’s not going to happen until you take the step, like the woman with the issue of blood, and aggressively seek God’s miracle for your own life. You must enter into the pool with a desire to be healed and transformed, and then God can work with you, and change you.
Continuing in Sin
Finally, let’s take a look at Jesus’ final comments to this man at Bethesda.
John 5:14
14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
Jesus is admonishing that if he continues in sin a worse thing can happen to him. You know, you can attend church and lose your salvation. After this kind of encounter you can’t continue in sin, because something worse can come upon you. Understand tis, just because his grace is upon you, you can’t continue to sin and rely on that grace. That’s not how grace is intended. Grace is intended to give us a fresh start, a new beginning. We abuse grace by accepting grace and continuing to sin.
Romans 6:1-2
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
What’s interesting here is that as this man sat on the fringes, Jesus came to him. In this moment we see a snapshot of His grace as He reaches into this man’s life and gives him the healing he desires. We can see the same snapshot of grace as Jesus reached into our lives and brought healing and transformation to us. He desires that all of us have an opportunity to be cleansed and healed. He wants to use us as instruments of His grace to reach out to others.
But there is a warning here to us that we can fall from his grace, by continuing to sin. How valuable is your salvation to you? How valuable is the free gift that was given to you in the moments of Jesus’ death and resurrection? Are you willing to put to death the “Old Man of Sin”? Or do you esteem so lightly the grace that was given through His suffering that you would put Him on the cross once again? Is there sin you are unwilling to give up?
I know a man who was saved about 25 years ago. Throughout his life God changed him and showed him much grace and mercy. But he continues to smoke. In fact, the day I met him and he found out that I was a Christian he told me, “I know God is going to deliver me from smoking, but he’s going to do it in His own time.” Well, the fact is, that God’s time is now. But God couldn’t deliver him from smoking until he took the first step and put it down. The problem was he wasn’t willing to put off the old man of sin. Then he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I told him, “Look man, God is trying to get a hold of you right now. This is what God is doing to get you to lay that stuff down.” His reply was interesting,, “I already have cancer, now, so why quit.” I was sad to attend his funeral.
In our text Jesus is warning us that if we continue in sin, “a worse thing can come upon us.” We need to take our salvation seriously. He paid for that gift of grace with his life. He willingly gave his life and it cheapens his death by continuing in sin and letting that grace abound.
It is like when somebody gives you something of great value and you don’t take care of it because you paid nothing for it. Are you that way with your salvation? Do you care so little about it that you don’t guard it and ensure that you never lose it? That you don’t work to keep it healthy?
Pastor Glen Cluck once said, “If you live your l;ife like you could lose your salvation, you probably won’t.” In other words if you are aware that your salvation could be lost and live with that awareness, then you will do what it takes to preserve it.
Here is a fundamental truth for life: We need to enter into the House of Grace and submerge ourselves in it. We need to dive into the will of God, so that we can receive the promise of mercy and spiritual healing. Total immersion in the will of God is what does it.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Identifying with Jesus: The Shepherd
I recently read a history book about one of America’s Generals. This man fought in America’s Civil War that resulted in the end of slavery in America. After the Civil War he fought Indians in the United States Cavalry. These are mounted horse soldiers. His career culminated in a battle called the battle of the Little Bighorn, (a river in the northwestern United States.) against an overwhelming army of Sioux Indian Braves. 225 soldiers willing to fight to the death for General George Armstrong Custer followed him into this battle. The Battle is known as Custer’s Last Stand. Why were these men willing to follow Custer into a battle that would result in the death of every single man?
They followed because they identified with the courage and ideals of their leader. They bought into his vision. Many of his men loved him and they dressed like him, they affected his mannerisms. Their identity with him led them to follow him and obey his commands.
Identity is a powerful force. When we identify with the vision of the leader, we’ll follow without reservation. This happens in military organizations all over the world. It happens in Fire Departments, Police Departments, and just about any aspect of life that you can imagine.
It should happen in the church of Jesus Christ, as well. We should buy into His vision and willingly follow our leader and shepherd: Jesus Christ. I want to continue with my series, “Identifying with Christ.” I believe that the keys to life change and deliverance lie in identifying with Jesus.
John 10:14-16
.14 “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.15 “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.16 “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Jesus Knows his Followers And We Know Him
Sheep calling contests are common in the Palestine. Several flocks of sheep are placed in an enclosure and mixed together. Then shepherds whistle a distinctive tune; some call or shout in a peculiar manner. Some shepherds use a pipe with a particular pitch. Each shepherd’s signal is understood by his own sheep and they respond immediately. They make their way through the crowded enclosure to where their shepherd is waiting. The shepherd who collects a given number of sheep in the shortest time is the winner.
Why do the sheep respond to their own shepherd’s peculiar signal? They respond because they know and trust their shepherd. They know he brings them to food and water, that he protects them from wolves and lions. He has even rescued from death and injury. So, they recognize his call and respond. This is the way we should be with our shepherd: The one who has rescued us from the danger of sin and saved us from spiritual death. Jesus is our shepherd and as His flock we should know and trust Him.
A good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows which are stubborn and which are compliant. He knows which ones tend to wander. He has to know and understand each one in order to keep them safe and within the fold.
The same is true of Jesus. He knows His followers. He knows what’s going on in our minds and hearts. He understands our attitudes and behavior. He’s a good shepherd; He knows His sheep. The Bible tells us He knows us intimately.
Matthew 10:29-30
29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
God knows how many hairs are on our heads. He knows what makes us tick. He sees what’s in our hearts. Have you ever known someone so well that you could understand how he or she would react to something? You could guess what decision they would make. That comes from knowing someone really well. You understand their personality. You know how they think, how they will feel about something. That is being able to see their heart. You can see the good things in their personality and their character and you see the bad. You see their heart.
The Bible tells us that God looks at men differently than we look at men. God doesn’t look at the outward he sees the character of the man. We make judgments about people by what they look like don’t we? That girl is beautiful and has a nice smile; she must be a nice person. That guy’s big and good-looking; he’s probably a good leader.
That’s how we think, but it isn’t how God thinks. He knows us well. He sees our hearts. The amazing thing is that even though He sees what’s deep inside. He sees the things that we even try to hide from ourselves and He still cares for us. He cares enough that He gave His life for us. That’s the ay a shepherd acts, he gives his life for his sheep.
John 10:11-13
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.12 “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.13 “The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
This scripture tells us something about Jesus’ character. He’s like a shepherd that gives his life for his sheep. It speaks of His faithfulness. He faces danger and death for His sheep. This is what Christ has done for us. He has given his life. It wasn’t taken from Him…He gave it.
It’s interesting to watch shepherds as they work in the Israel. We don’t really see shepherds much in Taiwan. But in Israel the shepherds lead the sheep, they walk before them in front of them and the sheep follow them. They crowd around the shepherd and stay close.
We should be like those sheep wanting to be closer, not following because we have to, but because we wnant to be near Him. That’s why the sheep press in on the shepherd like that…they want the comfort that comes from being near him. They don’t just go to the shepherd when there’s trouble. They go to him and follow him all the time.
But people are different, aren’t they? Most of us only come to Jesus when there’s trouble in our lives. When things are going well we don’t see the need. Have you noticed that? When things are going well in people’s lives, they become hit and miss about church attendance. When we have the things we need or want, we give those things precedence over the one who provides them for us. I can’t begin to tell you how many women I have known that prayed for a husband then as soon as they found a boyfriend they gave up all their ministry and disappeared from church. When we get what we want, suddenly we’re not crowding around the shepherd anymore. Things are safe, there’s no apparent danger.
The shepherd understands the needs of the sheep. He provides for those needs. He leads them to food and water. He protects them from danger. He looks out for their well-being. Someone who understands your strengths and weaknesses is in a better position to meet your needs and to protect you…from yourself. In order for jesus to be qualified to be the shepherd He must understand us; and he does.
Hebrews 4:13-15
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
No creature is naked to Him. He sees all of us. He sees beyond the image we project to the world. He knows our hearts and He can sympathize. That word sympathize means He can enter into the feelings of another. In other words He knows what it’s like to be us. There’s compassion in that. He wants to see our needs met.
In Matthew Chapter 8, a leper comes to Jesus and he says, “If you will, I can be cleansed.” In the New King James Version, Jesus replies. “I will…be cleansed.” But look at his response to that statement as it is presented in the Weust Expanded New Testament. (A type of Amplified version of the Bible.) “I desire it from all of my heart.” That’s how Jesus feels about meeting our needs. He desires it from all of His heart. He knows and understands our needs and desires to see them fulfilled.
We Follow Willingly
The sheep in our illustration follow the shepherd closely. They gather around him. They walk close to him. They respond to his voice. That’s a picture of how it should be for us to follow Jesus. The problem is that we miss this idea. We think we can be independent of the shepherd and still see him meet our needs. There are few of us who give ourselves completely into the care of the shepherd. I know two women that are about the same age, both unmarried.
One of them is looking for a husband. She’s desperate. She sees herself getting older and there’s no man in the near future for her. But that’s what she prays for. God bring me a man. She had been saved about 8 years and there weren’t any men for her yet. So she became angry with God and left the church.
The other woman has told me she’s waiting for God. She gets lonely sometimes but she isn’t desperate for a husband. She says she’ll get married when God brings a man for her and says, “This is Him.” Her whole philosophy is to wait for God and God’s guidance.
The second one is the one who has given herself completely into Jesus’ care. She follows closely by the shepherd, listening for His voice, looking to see where He will guide her. And do you know what? Time after time I have seen God move in her life, meeting her needs. That’s how a shepherd works in the lives of his sheep. But do you know what the key is? It’s the surrender of her own will to follow the will of the shepherd.
Look at your own relationship with Christ. Are you pressing in to be close to Him? Or are you lingering out on the fringes? Are you looking for the shepherd to guide you, or are you making your own decisions? Are you surrendering your own will to follow the will of the shepherd?
Surrender is the key to many of the locked doors in your life. It’s the key to real change in your life. It’s the key to deliverance. It’s the key to God’s provision. Without willingly surrendering yourself into his care those doors will remain closed.
I want you to think about that statement for a moment. When you turn your will over to His will and you begin to follow closely. You will see that His ways are not like our ways. As you endeavor to live His way and to think like He would think, His thoughts will become your thoughts and you will act accordingly.
Now what does that mean? You will find yourself looking at the world, not from your carnal, selfish way of thinking, but from His way of thinking. You will then respond with actions based on His way of thinking. Christians often talk about being “Born Again” but being born again comes from taking different actions than you took in your old way of thinking.
This is where deliverance springs from, you’re dependent on Jesus for direction and protection. Too many times we turn to sin for comfort. We mistake lust for the love that we’re searching for. We mistake the feeling of drugs and alcohol for the joy and happiness that we’re seeking. By following Jesus for direction and protection we can experience real love and know true joy and happiness.
If we follow Christ He will bring us to places of provision. That’s what a shepherd does. He provides food and water for the sheep. He is the provider. If we follow Jesus He will see that our needs are met. The sheep that follow the shepherd have surrendered their lives to the shepherd. We also need to surrender to our shepherd and follow willingly, wherever he leads us.
What does it mean to Follow Him
John 10:3-5
3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.5 “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
The sheep in this scripture are listening for the voice of the shepherd. They listen for that one voice. They don’t answer to just any call. They listen and respond only to His call.
There are so many people who go to this church and that church. They go looking around, shopping around for a church that will satisfy their needs. They aren’t listening for the call of the shepherd in the place where they are, they’re answering every call. This is a dangerous behavior. There is no surrender there. It’s still a carnal, selfish way of thinking. “I’ll find out what’s the best thing going!”
John Chapter 6 tells of a story of people that are not surrendered. They’re still looking to have their own needs met. They’re looking for Jesus to be they want Him to be, instead of surrendering their lives and following Him.
Jesus has just fed 5,000 men and their families on a young boy’s lunch. The people begin to follow Him because of that miracle. They are looking to keep their bellies full. They’re looking to have carnal needs met. But Jesus begins to tell them that He’s the Bread of Life; that following Him will give them Eternal Life and they reject that. They aren’t looking for spiritual food. They are looking for a messiah that will meet their physical needs and so they turn away from Him.
Jesus turns to the 12 disciples and asks them, “Do you want to leave, too?” Peter answers for them all and says, “To whom would we go? You have the words of Eternal Life.” Peter has surrendered his will to Jesus. He is following Jesus closely. He’s not bouncing from man to man, looking for a Messiah that fits his picture of a messiah. He’s following his shepherd.
You can see the change in Peter as you read through the New Testament. He changes from Simon, the brash, prideful, compulsive fisherman to Peter, the leader of the first century church. How did he change? He surrendered to the will of the shepherd.
There is one last point I want to make; that is that Peter shows evidence that he follows Jesus by asking the question, “To whom would we go?” We show evidence of our surrender through the following of his commands.
John 14:21
21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
He who loves me follows my commands. The sheep are guided by the command of the shepherd and they follow and have affection for the shepherd.
My daughter has a cat. When she leaves to go somewhere that cat sits by the door and waits for her to come home. When she does he sits in her arms and rubs his face against her. He doesn’t do that with the rest of us only her. There is affection that he has for her. He follows her everywhere. Where you find Emily you’ll find the cat. That cat will hear Emily’s voice and run in that direction, not the rest of us. This is what Jesus says about the sheep. The sheep follow him, they know his voice, and they follow only him
If you love Jesus you will follow His commands…willingly…even the ones you don’t want to follow. If you identify with Jesus as your shepherd, you can see real change in your life. You can experience deliverance and you can know real joy.
They followed because they identified with the courage and ideals of their leader. They bought into his vision. Many of his men loved him and they dressed like him, they affected his mannerisms. Their identity with him led them to follow him and obey his commands.
Identity is a powerful force. When we identify with the vision of the leader, we’ll follow without reservation. This happens in military organizations all over the world. It happens in Fire Departments, Police Departments, and just about any aspect of life that you can imagine.
It should happen in the church of Jesus Christ, as well. We should buy into His vision and willingly follow our leader and shepherd: Jesus Christ. I want to continue with my series, “Identifying with Christ.” I believe that the keys to life change and deliverance lie in identifying with Jesus.
John 10:14-16
.14 “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.15 “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.16 “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Jesus Knows his Followers And We Know Him
Sheep calling contests are common in the Palestine. Several flocks of sheep are placed in an enclosure and mixed together. Then shepherds whistle a distinctive tune; some call or shout in a peculiar manner. Some shepherds use a pipe with a particular pitch. Each shepherd’s signal is understood by his own sheep and they respond immediately. They make their way through the crowded enclosure to where their shepherd is waiting. The shepherd who collects a given number of sheep in the shortest time is the winner.
Why do the sheep respond to their own shepherd’s peculiar signal? They respond because they know and trust their shepherd. They know he brings them to food and water, that he protects them from wolves and lions. He has even rescued from death and injury. So, they recognize his call and respond. This is the way we should be with our shepherd: The one who has rescued us from the danger of sin and saved us from spiritual death. Jesus is our shepherd and as His flock we should know and trust Him.
A good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows which are stubborn and which are compliant. He knows which ones tend to wander. He has to know and understand each one in order to keep them safe and within the fold.
The same is true of Jesus. He knows His followers. He knows what’s going on in our minds and hearts. He understands our attitudes and behavior. He’s a good shepherd; He knows His sheep. The Bible tells us He knows us intimately.
Matthew 10:29-30
29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
God knows how many hairs are on our heads. He knows what makes us tick. He sees what’s in our hearts. Have you ever known someone so well that you could understand how he or she would react to something? You could guess what decision they would make. That comes from knowing someone really well. You understand their personality. You know how they think, how they will feel about something. That is being able to see their heart. You can see the good things in their personality and their character and you see the bad. You see their heart.
The Bible tells us that God looks at men differently than we look at men. God doesn’t look at the outward he sees the character of the man. We make judgments about people by what they look like don’t we? That girl is beautiful and has a nice smile; she must be a nice person. That guy’s big and good-looking; he’s probably a good leader.
That’s how we think, but it isn’t how God thinks. He knows us well. He sees our hearts. The amazing thing is that even though He sees what’s deep inside. He sees the things that we even try to hide from ourselves and He still cares for us. He cares enough that He gave His life for us. That’s the ay a shepherd acts, he gives his life for his sheep.
John 10:11-13
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.12 “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.13 “The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
This scripture tells us something about Jesus’ character. He’s like a shepherd that gives his life for his sheep. It speaks of His faithfulness. He faces danger and death for His sheep. This is what Christ has done for us. He has given his life. It wasn’t taken from Him…He gave it.
It’s interesting to watch shepherds as they work in the Israel. We don’t really see shepherds much in Taiwan. But in Israel the shepherds lead the sheep, they walk before them in front of them and the sheep follow them. They crowd around the shepherd and stay close.
We should be like those sheep wanting to be closer, not following because we have to, but because we wnant to be near Him. That’s why the sheep press in on the shepherd like that…they want the comfort that comes from being near him. They don’t just go to the shepherd when there’s trouble. They go to him and follow him all the time.
But people are different, aren’t they? Most of us only come to Jesus when there’s trouble in our lives. When things are going well we don’t see the need. Have you noticed that? When things are going well in people’s lives, they become hit and miss about church attendance. When we have the things we need or want, we give those things precedence over the one who provides them for us. I can’t begin to tell you how many women I have known that prayed for a husband then as soon as they found a boyfriend they gave up all their ministry and disappeared from church. When we get what we want, suddenly we’re not crowding around the shepherd anymore. Things are safe, there’s no apparent danger.
The shepherd understands the needs of the sheep. He provides for those needs. He leads them to food and water. He protects them from danger. He looks out for their well-being. Someone who understands your strengths and weaknesses is in a better position to meet your needs and to protect you…from yourself. In order for jesus to be qualified to be the shepherd He must understand us; and he does.
Hebrews 4:13-15
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
No creature is naked to Him. He sees all of us. He sees beyond the image we project to the world. He knows our hearts and He can sympathize. That word sympathize means He can enter into the feelings of another. In other words He knows what it’s like to be us. There’s compassion in that. He wants to see our needs met.
In Matthew Chapter 8, a leper comes to Jesus and he says, “If you will, I can be cleansed.” In the New King James Version, Jesus replies. “I will…be cleansed.” But look at his response to that statement as it is presented in the Weust Expanded New Testament. (A type of Amplified version of the Bible.) “I desire it from all of my heart.” That’s how Jesus feels about meeting our needs. He desires it from all of His heart. He knows and understands our needs and desires to see them fulfilled.
We Follow Willingly
The sheep in our illustration follow the shepherd closely. They gather around him. They walk close to him. They respond to his voice. That’s a picture of how it should be for us to follow Jesus. The problem is that we miss this idea. We think we can be independent of the shepherd and still see him meet our needs. There are few of us who give ourselves completely into the care of the shepherd. I know two women that are about the same age, both unmarried.
One of them is looking for a husband. She’s desperate. She sees herself getting older and there’s no man in the near future for her. But that’s what she prays for. God bring me a man. She had been saved about 8 years and there weren’t any men for her yet. So she became angry with God and left the church.
The other woman has told me she’s waiting for God. She gets lonely sometimes but she isn’t desperate for a husband. She says she’ll get married when God brings a man for her and says, “This is Him.” Her whole philosophy is to wait for God and God’s guidance.
The second one is the one who has given herself completely into Jesus’ care. She follows closely by the shepherd, listening for His voice, looking to see where He will guide her. And do you know what? Time after time I have seen God move in her life, meeting her needs. That’s how a shepherd works in the lives of his sheep. But do you know what the key is? It’s the surrender of her own will to follow the will of the shepherd.
Look at your own relationship with Christ. Are you pressing in to be close to Him? Or are you lingering out on the fringes? Are you looking for the shepherd to guide you, or are you making your own decisions? Are you surrendering your own will to follow the will of the shepherd?
Surrender is the key to many of the locked doors in your life. It’s the key to real change in your life. It’s the key to deliverance. It’s the key to God’s provision. Without willingly surrendering yourself into his care those doors will remain closed.
I want you to think about that statement for a moment. When you turn your will over to His will and you begin to follow closely. You will see that His ways are not like our ways. As you endeavor to live His way and to think like He would think, His thoughts will become your thoughts and you will act accordingly.
Now what does that mean? You will find yourself looking at the world, not from your carnal, selfish way of thinking, but from His way of thinking. You will then respond with actions based on His way of thinking. Christians often talk about being “Born Again” but being born again comes from taking different actions than you took in your old way of thinking.
This is where deliverance springs from, you’re dependent on Jesus for direction and protection. Too many times we turn to sin for comfort. We mistake lust for the love that we’re searching for. We mistake the feeling of drugs and alcohol for the joy and happiness that we’re seeking. By following Jesus for direction and protection we can experience real love and know true joy and happiness.
If we follow Christ He will bring us to places of provision. That’s what a shepherd does. He provides food and water for the sheep. He is the provider. If we follow Jesus He will see that our needs are met. The sheep that follow the shepherd have surrendered their lives to the shepherd. We also need to surrender to our shepherd and follow willingly, wherever he leads us.
What does it mean to Follow Him
John 10:3-5
3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.5 “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
The sheep in this scripture are listening for the voice of the shepherd. They listen for that one voice. They don’t answer to just any call. They listen and respond only to His call.
There are so many people who go to this church and that church. They go looking around, shopping around for a church that will satisfy their needs. They aren’t listening for the call of the shepherd in the place where they are, they’re answering every call. This is a dangerous behavior. There is no surrender there. It’s still a carnal, selfish way of thinking. “I’ll find out what’s the best thing going!”
John Chapter 6 tells of a story of people that are not surrendered. They’re still looking to have their own needs met. They’re looking for Jesus to be they want Him to be, instead of surrendering their lives and following Him.
Jesus has just fed 5,000 men and their families on a young boy’s lunch. The people begin to follow Him because of that miracle. They are looking to keep their bellies full. They’re looking to have carnal needs met. But Jesus begins to tell them that He’s the Bread of Life; that following Him will give them Eternal Life and they reject that. They aren’t looking for spiritual food. They are looking for a messiah that will meet their physical needs and so they turn away from Him.
Jesus turns to the 12 disciples and asks them, “Do you want to leave, too?” Peter answers for them all and says, “To whom would we go? You have the words of Eternal Life.” Peter has surrendered his will to Jesus. He is following Jesus closely. He’s not bouncing from man to man, looking for a Messiah that fits his picture of a messiah. He’s following his shepherd.
You can see the change in Peter as you read through the New Testament. He changes from Simon, the brash, prideful, compulsive fisherman to Peter, the leader of the first century church. How did he change? He surrendered to the will of the shepherd.
There is one last point I want to make; that is that Peter shows evidence that he follows Jesus by asking the question, “To whom would we go?” We show evidence of our surrender through the following of his commands.
John 14:21
21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
He who loves me follows my commands. The sheep are guided by the command of the shepherd and they follow and have affection for the shepherd.
My daughter has a cat. When she leaves to go somewhere that cat sits by the door and waits for her to come home. When she does he sits in her arms and rubs his face against her. He doesn’t do that with the rest of us only her. There is affection that he has for her. He follows her everywhere. Where you find Emily you’ll find the cat. That cat will hear Emily’s voice and run in that direction, not the rest of us. This is what Jesus says about the sheep. The sheep follow him, they know his voice, and they follow only him
If you love Jesus you will follow His commands…willingly…even the ones you don’t want to follow. If you identify with Jesus as your shepherd, you can see real change in your life. You can experience deliverance and you can know real joy.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Identifying with Christ: Putting Off the Old Man
On August 6, 2008 ten members of a notorious motorcycle gang were arrested in a pre-dawn raid. They were charged with attempted murder and weapons charges. These charges were brought after a fight with members of the “Hell’s Angels” motorcycle club in a bar in Newport Beach, California. The man called, “The Chief” stated on his Myspace page, “We’re not your normal motorcycle club, some people say we’re too good for the bad guys and too bad for the good guys.”
Deputy District Attorney, Erik Patterson said, “They are a violent street gang, because they carry on a pattern of criminal gang activity.”
This doesn’t seem particularly unusual, does it? It seems to happen with great regularity. But, this motorcycle club is a ministry for an international church. These men claim to be born again Christians. The problem is that while they may have prayed and received Jesus, they have never changed. They continue to look and act like outlaw motorcyclists.
This is a case of mistaken identity. We have a tendency to look and act like those with whom we identify. What changes us is when we begin to identify with Christ; when he becomes the role model for us.
Ephesians 4:17-24
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.20 But you have not so learned Christ,21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
With Whom Do You Identify
In December of 2007 a young boy was found living in a wolf’s lair in Kaluga, Russia. He was what is called a “feral child.” That’s a child who has lived in the wild. He wasn’t raised by loving parents; he didn’t speak Russian; he didn’t understand how to act like a human being. He was raised by wolves and all of his responses were as a wolf would respond.
In other words, he identified with wolves. He lived and acted like a wolf, he responded to contact with people with grunts, growls and snarls. Because of that identification with wolves, he was for all practical purposes a wolf.
In our illustration about the motorcycle club we see men who identify with the lifestyle and culture of outlaw motorcyclist, so they act like outlaw motorcyclists, even though they proclaim to be Christians. The same is true of this feral child, he identifies with the “culture” of the wolf pack so he acts like a wolf. But the Bible tells us that there should be a change that takes place in us, as we become Christians. We should no longer remain in sin. We should no longer walk as the world walks.
Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
We are called to change. We are called to be different. But how many of us like change? How many think it’s easy to change? Change never comes easy it’s always difficult.
In the United States for years there has been a push to switch to the metric system. America remains on the “English” system of measurement: Miles, not kilometers; Fahrenheit, not Celsius. Why? Because people find it too difficult to change and learn a new system.
Change within the church is just as difficult. People still identify with who they were prior to salvation. I’ve met many young men who came out of a background of gang membership, but they remain caught up in the fashion, the language and the music of the gangs. In other words they are still caught up with the identity they had before Jesus.
But look at what the scripture says, “you have not so learned Christ.” A Christian group that is arrested for attempted murder and other crimes has not learned to identify with Jesus. Identification is the key to transformation. Learning Christ is to identify with Christ. The scripture goes on to say:
Ephesians 4:21-22
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
If you have been taught by Him then put off the “old man.” In other words stop being who you were and become like Him.
But many people have justifications for remaining the same. I can more easily reach people like me, if I’m like them. The Pastor of this motorcycle club makes that argument. He said, “Bikers can relate to me. I don’t push myself on them. I build friendships and they come to Jesus.” But where does it stop: In the Barroom…In the knife fight…in the courtroom?
This is a good time for us to examine ourselves. With whom do you identify? We all had an identity before we got saved. What’s your identity now? Do you still identify yourself as before or do you identify yourself as a follower of Jesus now? The way you know the answer to that question is by how other people identify you. If someone was to describe you to someone else what would they say about you? He’s a hippy… he’s an intellectual…he’s a biker…he’s the wolf boy. Or would they say, “He’s a Christian?
With Whom Do Others Identify You?
Before I got saved I had a lot of problems. I acted in certain ways that were wrong. I actually recognized that what I was doing was wrong, and dangerous for me. That it was causing damage to me, but you know I couldn’t stop.
I couldn’t stop because I began to buy into the idea that “This is who I am.” I began to identify with my behavior. I figured I would always be that way. But things changed for me because I allowed myself to “learn Christ.” It was His power through my identification with Him that caused the changes in me.
Identification with others is something we all long for. It’s a apart of being accepted. But the problem with identification is that it can be a tool that Satan can use to keep you from the change that Jesus requires.
Ephesians 4:22-24
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
So there is the change that’s required. It’s more than saying, “I’m a Christian now,” and attending church occasionally. The call is for change, we need to, “put on the new man.” Look at this:
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
“I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness.” Think about this for a moment, to whom is Jesus speaking?
Mark 16:17
17 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
So, those who say things like, “have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name,” are Christians. So, why does Jesus say, “Depart from Me you who practice lawlessness?” He says that because there’s no change. They’re still sinners. God recognizes them by their fruit.
What fruit are you producing today? Your fruit is what shows in your life. Are you still at odds with everyone? Are you still angry and hurtful? Are you looking to forgive or are you looking for revenge? That’s the fruit that shows in your life.
Most of us aren’t botanists. We don’t know what a pear tree looks like or the difference between a pear tree and apple tree. But we can recognize a pear and we know what it looks like compared to an apple. So if we come upon the tree with fruit then we will recognize what kind of tree it is.
If someone comes up to me on the street, they may not know I’m a Christian. If some just walks up and sees me they may just think I’m an “old guy.” But if they saw the church, and the changes that have taken place in my life: In other words, if they saw the fruit in my life, they would be able to recognize it.
Where does the fruit come from? It comes as we learn Christ…as we identify with Him…as wee try to be like Him. This should be the goal of every follower of Jesus that we would be like Him. And you may ask what He was like when He was on the earth.
Acts 10:37-38
37 “that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
He went about doing good. Are you doing good, or are you still causing problems for everyone else? Who are you identifying with?
The Pharisees told Jesus they were sons of Abraham. They identified themselves with Abraham. But Jesus told them if you identify with Abraham they you would do the works of Abraham. Then he tells them He identifies them with Satan because they act like Satan.
John 8:44
44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
If Jesus were here to day with whom would He identify you? That would depend on how you live.
Put Off the Old Man
Each of us carries our old selves into our new lives. There was a radical group in America in the 1970’s that robbed a bank and killed a woman, then tried to blow up two LA Police Cars. One of the people in that group went underground. She moved to Minnesota, married a doctor, changed her life and hid from the Police for 25 years, until she was arrested. She was a completely different person but the problem was that she took her crimes with her. Eventually, someone recognized her and tipped off the FBI and she got arrested. She couldn’t escape who she was.
Wherever she went she took her old self with her. But we have an opportunity, as far as God is concerned, to be new people. We have an opportunity to lay aside the sin that was in our lives when we got saved and become new creatures. That’s why it’s called being born again.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
If you identify with Christ; if you are “in Christ,” then you are a new creation. You become a new person. But the problem is that you can take the old person into the new life and make the new creation just like the old one.
I got saved as I began to recognize the problems I had in my life. I needed a second chance, and when I got it I decided hat I would do whatever it took to make a new life. I did what was necessary in order to change. Why would you cry out for a second chance at life and then make the new life just like the old life.
Sometimes we want to continue certain parts of the old life. So we dress the same, talk the same, and hang out with the same people. But the danger in that is that eventually we can wind up the same.
Some people have difficulty escaping the old life. They constantly flit back and forth between salvation and sin. When I got saved I knew I had to make some wrong things right. I had to confront the things I’d done to people and make it right with them. Some people see those things as too difficult and their past chases them and they can’t outrun it.
That’s why we need to make a commitment to be like Jesus. We need to commit to doing whatever is necessary to be like Him. Do you realize the more you hear of the word of God the stronger your faith becomes. The more you immerse yourself in the Bible the more you understand what it means to be like Christ. The more you associate yourselves with the people of God the more you will identify with what it means to be a Christian.. These things will help you to identify with Christ and put off the old man.
Deputy District Attorney, Erik Patterson said, “They are a violent street gang, because they carry on a pattern of criminal gang activity.”
This doesn’t seem particularly unusual, does it? It seems to happen with great regularity. But, this motorcycle club is a ministry for an international church. These men claim to be born again Christians. The problem is that while they may have prayed and received Jesus, they have never changed. They continue to look and act like outlaw motorcyclists.
This is a case of mistaken identity. We have a tendency to look and act like those with whom we identify. What changes us is when we begin to identify with Christ; when he becomes the role model for us.
Ephesians 4:17-24
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.20 But you have not so learned Christ,21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
With Whom Do You Identify
In December of 2007 a young boy was found living in a wolf’s lair in Kaluga, Russia. He was what is called a “feral child.” That’s a child who has lived in the wild. He wasn’t raised by loving parents; he didn’t speak Russian; he didn’t understand how to act like a human being. He was raised by wolves and all of his responses were as a wolf would respond.
In other words, he identified with wolves. He lived and acted like a wolf, he responded to contact with people with grunts, growls and snarls. Because of that identification with wolves, he was for all practical purposes a wolf.
In our illustration about the motorcycle club we see men who identify with the lifestyle and culture of outlaw motorcyclist, so they act like outlaw motorcyclists, even though they proclaim to be Christians. The same is true of this feral child, he identifies with the “culture” of the wolf pack so he acts like a wolf. But the Bible tells us that there should be a change that takes place in us, as we become Christians. We should no longer remain in sin. We should no longer walk as the world walks.
Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
We are called to change. We are called to be different. But how many of us like change? How many think it’s easy to change? Change never comes easy it’s always difficult.
In the United States for years there has been a push to switch to the metric system. America remains on the “English” system of measurement: Miles, not kilometers; Fahrenheit, not Celsius. Why? Because people find it too difficult to change and learn a new system.
Change within the church is just as difficult. People still identify with who they were prior to salvation. I’ve met many young men who came out of a background of gang membership, but they remain caught up in the fashion, the language and the music of the gangs. In other words they are still caught up with the identity they had before Jesus.
But look at what the scripture says, “you have not so learned Christ.” A Christian group that is arrested for attempted murder and other crimes has not learned to identify with Jesus. Identification is the key to transformation. Learning Christ is to identify with Christ. The scripture goes on to say:
Ephesians 4:21-22
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
If you have been taught by Him then put off the “old man.” In other words stop being who you were and become like Him.
But many people have justifications for remaining the same. I can more easily reach people like me, if I’m like them. The Pastor of this motorcycle club makes that argument. He said, “Bikers can relate to me. I don’t push myself on them. I build friendships and they come to Jesus.” But where does it stop: In the Barroom…In the knife fight…in the courtroom?
This is a good time for us to examine ourselves. With whom do you identify? We all had an identity before we got saved. What’s your identity now? Do you still identify yourself as before or do you identify yourself as a follower of Jesus now? The way you know the answer to that question is by how other people identify you. If someone was to describe you to someone else what would they say about you? He’s a hippy… he’s an intellectual…he’s a biker…he’s the wolf boy. Or would they say, “He’s a Christian?
With Whom Do Others Identify You?
Before I got saved I had a lot of problems. I acted in certain ways that were wrong. I actually recognized that what I was doing was wrong, and dangerous for me. That it was causing damage to me, but you know I couldn’t stop.
I couldn’t stop because I began to buy into the idea that “This is who I am.” I began to identify with my behavior. I figured I would always be that way. But things changed for me because I allowed myself to “learn Christ.” It was His power through my identification with Him that caused the changes in me.
Identification with others is something we all long for. It’s a apart of being accepted. But the problem with identification is that it can be a tool that Satan can use to keep you from the change that Jesus requires.
Ephesians 4:22-24
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
So there is the change that’s required. It’s more than saying, “I’m a Christian now,” and attending church occasionally. The call is for change, we need to, “put on the new man.” Look at this:
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
“I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness.” Think about this for a moment, to whom is Jesus speaking?
Mark 16:17
17 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
So, those who say things like, “have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name,” are Christians. So, why does Jesus say, “Depart from Me you who practice lawlessness?” He says that because there’s no change. They’re still sinners. God recognizes them by their fruit.
What fruit are you producing today? Your fruit is what shows in your life. Are you still at odds with everyone? Are you still angry and hurtful? Are you looking to forgive or are you looking for revenge? That’s the fruit that shows in your life.
Most of us aren’t botanists. We don’t know what a pear tree looks like or the difference between a pear tree and apple tree. But we can recognize a pear and we know what it looks like compared to an apple. So if we come upon the tree with fruit then we will recognize what kind of tree it is.
If someone comes up to me on the street, they may not know I’m a Christian. If some just walks up and sees me they may just think I’m an “old guy.” But if they saw the church, and the changes that have taken place in my life: In other words, if they saw the fruit in my life, they would be able to recognize it.
Where does the fruit come from? It comes as we learn Christ…as we identify with Him…as wee try to be like Him. This should be the goal of every follower of Jesus that we would be like Him. And you may ask what He was like when He was on the earth.
Acts 10:37-38
37 “that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
He went about doing good. Are you doing good, or are you still causing problems for everyone else? Who are you identifying with?
The Pharisees told Jesus they were sons of Abraham. They identified themselves with Abraham. But Jesus told them if you identify with Abraham they you would do the works of Abraham. Then he tells them He identifies them with Satan because they act like Satan.
John 8:44
44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
If Jesus were here to day with whom would He identify you? That would depend on how you live.
Put Off the Old Man
Each of us carries our old selves into our new lives. There was a radical group in America in the 1970’s that robbed a bank and killed a woman, then tried to blow up two LA Police Cars. One of the people in that group went underground. She moved to Minnesota, married a doctor, changed her life and hid from the Police for 25 years, until she was arrested. She was a completely different person but the problem was that she took her crimes with her. Eventually, someone recognized her and tipped off the FBI and she got arrested. She couldn’t escape who she was.
Wherever she went she took her old self with her. But we have an opportunity, as far as God is concerned, to be new people. We have an opportunity to lay aside the sin that was in our lives when we got saved and become new creatures. That’s why it’s called being born again.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
If you identify with Christ; if you are “in Christ,” then you are a new creation. You become a new person. But the problem is that you can take the old person into the new life and make the new creation just like the old one.
I got saved as I began to recognize the problems I had in my life. I needed a second chance, and when I got it I decided hat I would do whatever it took to make a new life. I did what was necessary in order to change. Why would you cry out for a second chance at life and then make the new life just like the old life.
Sometimes we want to continue certain parts of the old life. So we dress the same, talk the same, and hang out with the same people. But the danger in that is that eventually we can wind up the same.
Some people have difficulty escaping the old life. They constantly flit back and forth between salvation and sin. When I got saved I knew I had to make some wrong things right. I had to confront the things I’d done to people and make it right with them. Some people see those things as too difficult and their past chases them and they can’t outrun it.
That’s why we need to make a commitment to be like Jesus. We need to commit to doing whatever is necessary to be like Him. Do you realize the more you hear of the word of God the stronger your faith becomes. The more you immerse yourself in the Bible the more you understand what it means to be like Christ. The more you associate yourselves with the people of God the more you will identify with what it means to be a Christian.. These things will help you to identify with Christ and put off the old man.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Three Portraits of Promise
The Bible is full of promises: The promise of everlasting life: The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven: The promise of Salvation, and many others. But there is one promise that holds great fascination for us as Christians. This is the one that we really want to believe: The promise of asking and receiving.
God has promised that what we ask for we will receive. So why does it sometimes seem that we ask and God doesn’t hear our prayer? There is no response, at all! Have you ever experienced that?
You pray something like, “God please save my friend. Bring him to You; to a place of salvation so that he can put away his sin and begin to serve you.” But year after year he continues to be an unrepentant sinner. Or, you pray for a financial breakthrough and yet you still continue to struggle financially. Or, you ask God to restore something that has been lost and it seems like that thing is gone forever.
Where is the promise? Where is the answer to prayer? “What’s up God, I have faith, I’m praying, I’m living for Jesus, but I’m not seeing the things I’m praying for.” We all feel like that sometimes and it leads to a type of spiritual confusion. Jesus gives us a view of how God looks at prayer and I want to share that with you today.
Matthew 7:7-8
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
So there it is! That’s the promise: Ask and it will be given to you.
John 14:13-14
13 “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14 “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Whatever you ask will be given to you; whatever you ask in My name I will do it. These are pretty powerful promises. Jesus says that if we ask anything in His name he will give it to us. But then, why doesn’t it always seem like that? We read this an we’re encouraged to ask, “God give me the desires of my heart.” But sometimes it seems like God isn’t even listening, much less answering that prayer and we think, “Maybe God is angry at me, that’s why he isn’t hearing me.” But it isn’t like that. Or we think God is unkind, He’s aloof, and He’s not interested in my needs. But that isn’t true. Jesus uses three parables to instruct us in the way God views our prayer and His desire toward us. Let’s look at those parables.
In the first parable, Jesus paints a picture for us of a God who seems uninterested in our needs.
The Parable of the Persistent Friend
Luke 11:5-8
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;6 ‘for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;7 “and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?8 “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
In this parable, God is portrayed as the friend. He is the one we come to with our need, “Friend, give me three loaves.” But we’re confused by His reaction. There is urgency to our need; we see that because we are asking at midnight. It must be an emergency. Have you ever gone to neighbor at midnight and asked to borrow a cup of sugar? No, you would only go and wake up the neighbor at that time if there was an urgent need. So this man comes to his friend in urgent need. The friend seeing that need tells him, “I can’t do it now.”
What is this parable saying? Is it saying that God is unconcerned about our needs? Is it saying that God doesn’t want to be bothered with our petty little problems? We read this parable and we see God as a God that says, “Don’t bug Me.” This is what confuses us, how can God on the one hand say, “Ask and you shall receive,” and on the other hand say, “Don’t bug Me!” The answer is found in the very next verse.
Luke 11:8
8 “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
That word persistence means to request with urgency. So this parable is saying that the friend didn’t respond to the simple request, but did respond to the urgency of the need. What it is saying is that the man continued to knock; he became troublesome. “You don’t understand this is urgent. I must have something for this traveler.” Because of that urgency the friend got up and gave him all that he needed.
God is like that. He isn’t a spiritual gumball machine; where you put in a quarter and turn the prayer crank and God spits out a gumball blessing. But God will repond to the urgency of the need. Everyday I pray for people to come into the church. I pray that God will bring those who need salvation, those who will respond to the call of God, those with a desire to hear and live out the word and will of God; and the church has grown, God brings people almost every service. The church is growing.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
God brings the increase…God answers prayer.
The Parable of the Unjust Judge
Luke 18:1-5
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.3 “Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’4 “And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,5 ‘yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”
In this parable we see the Judge, and this widow comes to him and asks him to avenge her of her adversary. Some enemy is tormenting her. That woman is a picture of us. An adversary torments us; someone who seeks to destroy us; to destroy what God is doing in us. That adversary’s name is Satan. Satan literally means adversary or enemy.
So this woman brings her complaint to the judge and he refuses her.
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
Finally he says, “I will avenge this woman, just to get her off my back.”
What is interesting about this parable is that Jesus assumes that we’re praying. Because God’s people are a praying people, Jesus assumes that we pray. His intent with this parable is not that we pray, but that we remain steadfast in our prayer; that we contend in prayer for relief.
Luke 18:6-8
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.7 “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?8 “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
This is an unjust judge and even he responds to this widow. How will God, who is a righteous judge, respond when we cry out and contend for relief. God doesn’t want us to be tormented. Look what Jesus says to Peter, when Satan comes against him.
Luke 22:31-32
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.32 “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Jesus prayed for him that his faith not fail. Now look at the last verse of the text and look at the interesting question it asks, “When the Son of Man returns will He really find faith on the earth?” Faith is the key: Faith in the sense that we can trust God; but also faith in the sense of being faithful. He is looking for us to steadfast, reliable, loyal…
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
…that we continue even in the evidence that isn’t seen. Will He find faith in you?
These are the keys to seeing prayer answered: Praying with a sense of urgency; in urgent, persistent need and praying in faith; remaining until you see the promise answered; faithful, steadfast contending in prayer. That’s when you’ll see God pour out his blessing.
The Parable of the Good Father
Finally, the third thing I want to show you is that God desires to bless us. He wants to meet our needs, “Ask and you shall receive: Whatever you ask, in my name, I will do it.” This is what leads us into confusion. That God has said I want to bless you but we don’t immediately see a response to the prayer. But God does want to bless.
Luke 11:9-13
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.10 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.11 “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?12 “Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
There is a picture of God here. It is in the picture of the father who wants to give good things to his children when they ask. What this is saying is that human fathers are sinful, just like everyone else. They can have evil lurking inside. Let’s face facts we are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the Glory of God. But even in that state we want to meet the needs of our children. We still want to give good things to our children. How much more, God, who is righteous?
God has adopted us.
Romans 8:15
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
God, who has made us co-heirs with his son, how much does He desire to meet our needs?
That word “abba” expresses warm affection, a sense of intimacy. It is like the word “Daddy.” That’s the relationship that’s portrayed, a sense of confidence in the love of the father. That confidence is there because we know that he is there for us. My children never have to question whether or not I love them. They can see it in the things I do for them; going to work, sheltering them, providing for their needs. God does all this and much, mush more. He even sent his only begotten son to suffer and die for us, to redeem us from our sin and win us back to a relationship with Him.
God is our Heavenly Father, that name alone denotes the relationship. Sometimes our earthly fathers will let us down, even walk away from us, but our Heavenly Father desires to pour blessing into our lives.
Sometimes, though, we don’t see the blessing until we look back, from the place of blessing. Even though, it may not be what we had in mind when we prayed, maybe it didn’t fit the picture of what we wanted; we can look back and see that God had the best thing in mind for us. The blessing is there. God is a God who desires to bless like a father who loves his children. God is like that.
God has promised that what we ask for we will receive. So why does it sometimes seem that we ask and God doesn’t hear our prayer? There is no response, at all! Have you ever experienced that?
You pray something like, “God please save my friend. Bring him to You; to a place of salvation so that he can put away his sin and begin to serve you.” But year after year he continues to be an unrepentant sinner. Or, you pray for a financial breakthrough and yet you still continue to struggle financially. Or, you ask God to restore something that has been lost and it seems like that thing is gone forever.
Where is the promise? Where is the answer to prayer? “What’s up God, I have faith, I’m praying, I’m living for Jesus, but I’m not seeing the things I’m praying for.” We all feel like that sometimes and it leads to a type of spiritual confusion. Jesus gives us a view of how God looks at prayer and I want to share that with you today.
Matthew 7:7-8
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
So there it is! That’s the promise: Ask and it will be given to you.
John 14:13-14
13 “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14 “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Whatever you ask will be given to you; whatever you ask in My name I will do it. These are pretty powerful promises. Jesus says that if we ask anything in His name he will give it to us. But then, why doesn’t it always seem like that? We read this an we’re encouraged to ask, “God give me the desires of my heart.” But sometimes it seems like God isn’t even listening, much less answering that prayer and we think, “Maybe God is angry at me, that’s why he isn’t hearing me.” But it isn’t like that. Or we think God is unkind, He’s aloof, and He’s not interested in my needs. But that isn’t true. Jesus uses three parables to instruct us in the way God views our prayer and His desire toward us. Let’s look at those parables.
In the first parable, Jesus paints a picture for us of a God who seems uninterested in our needs.
The Parable of the Persistent Friend
Luke 11:5-8
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;6 ‘for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;7 “and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?8 “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
In this parable, God is portrayed as the friend. He is the one we come to with our need, “Friend, give me three loaves.” But we’re confused by His reaction. There is urgency to our need; we see that because we are asking at midnight. It must be an emergency. Have you ever gone to neighbor at midnight and asked to borrow a cup of sugar? No, you would only go and wake up the neighbor at that time if there was an urgent need. So this man comes to his friend in urgent need. The friend seeing that need tells him, “I can’t do it now.”
What is this parable saying? Is it saying that God is unconcerned about our needs? Is it saying that God doesn’t want to be bothered with our petty little problems? We read this parable and we see God as a God that says, “Don’t bug Me.” This is what confuses us, how can God on the one hand say, “Ask and you shall receive,” and on the other hand say, “Don’t bug Me!” The answer is found in the very next verse.
Luke 11:8
8 “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
That word persistence means to request with urgency. So this parable is saying that the friend didn’t respond to the simple request, but did respond to the urgency of the need. What it is saying is that the man continued to knock; he became troublesome. “You don’t understand this is urgent. I must have something for this traveler.” Because of that urgency the friend got up and gave him all that he needed.
God is like that. He isn’t a spiritual gumball machine; where you put in a quarter and turn the prayer crank and God spits out a gumball blessing. But God will repond to the urgency of the need. Everyday I pray for people to come into the church. I pray that God will bring those who need salvation, those who will respond to the call of God, those with a desire to hear and live out the word and will of God; and the church has grown, God brings people almost every service. The church is growing.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
God brings the increase…God answers prayer.
The Parable of the Unjust Judge
Luke 18:1-5
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.3 “Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’4 “And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,5 ‘yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”
In this parable we see the Judge, and this widow comes to him and asks him to avenge her of her adversary. Some enemy is tormenting her. That woman is a picture of us. An adversary torments us; someone who seeks to destroy us; to destroy what God is doing in us. That adversary’s name is Satan. Satan literally means adversary or enemy.
So this woman brings her complaint to the judge and he refuses her.
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
“Will you avenge me of my enemy, today?” “No!” “Fine.”
Finally he says, “I will avenge this woman, just to get her off my back.”
What is interesting about this parable is that Jesus assumes that we’re praying. Because God’s people are a praying people, Jesus assumes that we pray. His intent with this parable is not that we pray, but that we remain steadfast in our prayer; that we contend in prayer for relief.
Luke 18:6-8
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.7 “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?8 “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
This is an unjust judge and even he responds to this widow. How will God, who is a righteous judge, respond when we cry out and contend for relief. God doesn’t want us to be tormented. Look what Jesus says to Peter, when Satan comes against him.
Luke 22:31-32
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.32 “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Jesus prayed for him that his faith not fail. Now look at the last verse of the text and look at the interesting question it asks, “When the Son of Man returns will He really find faith on the earth?” Faith is the key: Faith in the sense that we can trust God; but also faith in the sense of being faithful. He is looking for us to steadfast, reliable, loyal…
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
…that we continue even in the evidence that isn’t seen. Will He find faith in you?
These are the keys to seeing prayer answered: Praying with a sense of urgency; in urgent, persistent need and praying in faith; remaining until you see the promise answered; faithful, steadfast contending in prayer. That’s when you’ll see God pour out his blessing.
The Parable of the Good Father
Finally, the third thing I want to show you is that God desires to bless us. He wants to meet our needs, “Ask and you shall receive: Whatever you ask, in my name, I will do it.” This is what leads us into confusion. That God has said I want to bless you but we don’t immediately see a response to the prayer. But God does want to bless.
Luke 11:9-13
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.10 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.11 “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?12 “Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
There is a picture of God here. It is in the picture of the father who wants to give good things to his children when they ask. What this is saying is that human fathers are sinful, just like everyone else. They can have evil lurking inside. Let’s face facts we are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the Glory of God. But even in that state we want to meet the needs of our children. We still want to give good things to our children. How much more, God, who is righteous?
God has adopted us.
Romans 8:15
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
God, who has made us co-heirs with his son, how much does He desire to meet our needs?
That word “abba” expresses warm affection, a sense of intimacy. It is like the word “Daddy.” That’s the relationship that’s portrayed, a sense of confidence in the love of the father. That confidence is there because we know that he is there for us. My children never have to question whether or not I love them. They can see it in the things I do for them; going to work, sheltering them, providing for their needs. God does all this and much, mush more. He even sent his only begotten son to suffer and die for us, to redeem us from our sin and win us back to a relationship with Him.
God is our Heavenly Father, that name alone denotes the relationship. Sometimes our earthly fathers will let us down, even walk away from us, but our Heavenly Father desires to pour blessing into our lives.
Sometimes, though, we don’t see the blessing until we look back, from the place of blessing. Even though, it may not be what we had in mind when we prayed, maybe it didn’t fit the picture of what we wanted; we can look back and see that God had the best thing in mind for us. The blessing is there. God is a God who desires to bless like a father who loves his children. God is like that.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Faith to Hear From God
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible. What a true statement that is. We have seen this type of faith before.
It’s the faith of Abraham, that this descendents will number the sand on the seashore. It’s the faith of Sarah that she will have a child at 90 years of age. It’s the faith of the centurion that Jesus will heal his servant. It’s the faith of the woman who pesters Jesus for her demon-possessed daughter. It’s the faith of Mary as she hears from an angel that she is to be the mother of the Christ. It is also the faith of Joseph as he looks at his pregnant fiancé and makes the decision not to put her away. This is the kind of faith that believes the incredible.
Matthew 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
The Faith to Believe
Our text takes place at an amazing time in history. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of the most ancient of prophecies. This is the fulfillment of the scriptures that a redeemer is to be born. Was he really born on December 25th? Probably not. Did it really take place? Without a doubt! Every Christian knows the truth of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, because we have the benefit of the Bible. We can look backwards through history and see what has already taken place. We can see what Jesus did in life.
But think about Joseph for a moment. He didn’t have the benefit of history to understand what’s taking place at this moment. He’s only seeing the woman he has pledged to marry, and she’s pregnant, and he knows that he’s not responsible. Can you imagine what must have gone through his mind? What would you have thought?
This is the woman that he’s chosen to marry. Being pregnant before marriage brought huge disgrace to your family, and your future husband. It isn’t like today where you rarely meet someone who gets married before starting a family. This is serious stuff. This is a huge blow to Joseph.
Deuteronomy 22:23-24
23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,24 “then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
This is what Joseph is seeing when Mary comes up pregnant. He’s thinking that she hasn’t protected her virginity. We get a glimpse of his character that he didn’t have her stoned, that he was looking to put her away, or divorce her, quietly.
But his thoughts and actions are not thoughts and actions of faith. His thinking is that she has committed adultery. His thinking is that he’s going to divorce her. He’s not thinking that she is the vehicle by which God will bring his promised redeemer into the world. But then God speaks to him and he’s convinced.
Blaise Pascal French mathematician and philosopher once said, “It is the heart that senses God, and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceptible to the heart and not to reason.”
He recognizes God because he has a heart for God. What if you had found yourself in the same place? Would you be able to hear from God? Maybe God has spoken to you but you didn’t recognize God’s voice.
Have you ever wondered why people get so nervous when you say something like God spoke to me last night? I remember in the 2000 election George Bush said, “God has called me to the presidency.” And the press freaked out. President Bush recognized the call of God, because he has a heart to hear from God and the press didn’t because they don’t have a heart to hear from God.
Joseph’s heart is tender toward the voice of God, and that’s how we should be. God speaks to us in different ways. He can speak in a vision or a dream.
Joel 2:28-30
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
Or he can speak through his word…the Bible. Or through a man of God, the question is are you able to hear from him? Joseph heard from God…and he had to hear from God and believe in order that the prophecies could be fulfilled.
Jesus was to be born into the house of David. Joseph was in the lineage of David.
If you look at the beginning of Matthew Chapter 1 you will see the lineage of Jesus. From Adam to Noah; from Noah to Abraham; from Abraham to David; Follow it all the way down to verse 16
Matthew 1:16
16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
Mary wasn’t in the lineage of David, Joseph was. So Joseph had to accept Mary and Jesus, mother and child so that Jesus would fall into the lineage of David. I’m sure at first this was a difficult thing to accept.
What about you? Has God ever called you to something difficult, and your response was, “That’s not God, if it was God it wouldn’t be so hard.” I’ve seen people turn down a calling to preach because of the hardship it would put on their family. They said it wasn’t the right time. The economics of the situation weren’t advantageous. It’s too hard right now. I wonder if they will ever get the opportunity again. Pastoring is a call from God, but those men’s hearts weren’t tender to the voice of God at that moment and they missed the call. What would have happened if Joseph’s heart wasn’t tender to hear from God? What would have happened if Joseph missed the call of God on his life?
What are you hearing from God these days? To what is God calling you? What would happen if you miss the call of God on your life? Look at Esther for a moment.
Esther 4:14
14 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
God will do what He must do to bring to see His plan play out. He will bring it about through some other person or some other means. But who knows if God has orchestrated the events in your life to put you in a place to bring His plan to fruition. For Esther to go to the king and plead for the Jews was dangerous and difficult, but she’d heard from God so she did it. Have you ever heard from God? Would you recognize the voice of God if he spoke to you? What is hardest for us to remember is that God calls us, to salvation and to his will for his purpose and not our own.
Answering the call of God has never been easy. Moses had to face his fears and go before Israel and Pharaoh in order to live out his call. Gideon had to go to battle against an entire army with 300 men in order to live out his call. Joseph had to put away his fears and the reproach to be man God called to be the father of the incarnation of God on earth. Do you think God’s call will be easier for you than it was for these men? Do you think it will come without sacrifice; without risk?
I have a friend that was a missionary, right here in Taiwan. He originally went to the mainland of China to preach. He was in the city of Guang Zhong for a number of years. But the secret police infiltrated his church and one day he received a call from his employer that he needed to come to the school immediately. He was called there for questioning and possible arrest. He had two small children, he had a wife and he and his wife were ordered to appear. He didn’t know what would happen. It was very possible that he would be put in prison, possibly tortured maybe even executed. His wife faced the same fate. He was in the will of God. Maybe God needed his martyrdom to do something he wanted to do. He knew that this moment was a possibility when he left America. But he took the risk to be in the country. He took the risk for the call of God.
Standing By Your Faith
Matthew 2:13-15
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Joseph hears the voice of God once more and again he responds to God’s words spoken in a dream. This time he is called to abandon his comfortable life and go into Egypt to protect what God is doing. At this point there is no visible danger. The Magi have come but Herod isn’t angry…he isn’t having babies killed yet. But this dream tells him to get up and go, because the king will come after him. Look at verse 16.
Matthew 2:16
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
It was after Joseph left that Herod went off. After Joseph had gotten Jesus safely out of the way. He left right after the dream. He’d seen no evidence of danger but he left on the words of a dream; he left on faith. He left all that he had had, his carpentry business, His home, who knows what else. Faith is taking action when there’s no visual evidence that action must be taken. Faith is taking action even when you can’t see that the action you take is the best course of action.
How many things do we do on faith every day? We fly on airplanes, that’s something we do on faith. Faith, that the plane is in good condition; that the pilot knows how to fly it: That the Air traffic controllers won’t make a mistake. All of these things are a step of faith aren’t they?
We can easily have faith in men, but it’s more difficult to have faith in God isn’t it? Why is that?
We can get on an airplane without fear because we have seen airlines fly millions of miles without accidents. There is visual evidence that air travel is safe.
There is not always visual evidence of God’s call. Sometimes we have to just believe that God has called us. Sometimes we are going to doubt that calling when we don’t see anything happening right away.
When I pioneered my first church I believed that I was where God wanted me. That Riverside is the city that God had given to me. But then nothing happened. For the first 6 weeks we didn’t see any visitors. That’s when doubt began to creep in.
What went through Joseph’s mind when he abandoned his home and went to Egypt? Maybe there was some time that passed before Herod started killing babies. Maybe Joseph had a hard time establishing his trade in Egypt. I wonder if doubt began to creep in. I wonder if he got discouraged and wanted to go home. He was there for a while before Herod died. But he stood by the dream, didn’t he? He stood by what he was sure was the call of God, even through the difficulty. Do you think that once we have answered the call that everything will go smoothly? “Hey it’s God’s will…it’s all gravy from here.” What happens when you’re called on to struggle to protect God’s will?
I am amazed by men who are called to pioneer churches and quit after a couple of years. “I wasn’t seeing what I wanted to see.” I wonder what they went out expecting. Did they think there would be no struggle? Did they think that the Devil wasn’t going to just hand over the city? “Oh, God called you? My mistake, here it is.”
The thing that kept me going for a number of years was my pastor saying, “In the first couple of years what God is doing in the man is more important than what he’s doing in the church.” What is it that builds character in men, blessing or adversity?
Sometimes what God is doing isn’t apparent. Sometimes you have to continue on without any evidence that God is doing anything at all. You have to have faith that it was God who called you in the first place. Joseph packed it all up and left in the dead of night, because he was sure that it was God who had called him in the first place, and it became necessary to protect what God was doing. Sometimes God needs us to take an action to see His plan come to fruition. We need to be sensitive to the Voice of God and faithful to act when we hear His voice. This is also a step of faith.
Being a Part of the Plan of God
Matthew 2:19-23
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.”21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Once more Joseph is called in a dream. Once more he acts on his faith that it is God calling him. Many times in the Christmas season Joseph is the forgotten man. We see him in the “nativity Scene” but he’s in the background. Mary gave birth to Jesus, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes. The Shepherds are gathered around, they heard the cry of the angels. The wise men are there with their gifts and their adoration. Even the animals are looking in. But Joseph is kind of lost in the scene; he’s a bystander.
But it is Joseph’s faith that saw the plan of God through. It is his faith that gave fulfillment to the prophecy. Every time God spoke he responded in faith, and made a decision that resulted in the plan of God being fulfilled.
God gives us the ability to be a part f his plan by speaking to us and then allowing us make a decision to act in faith and move his plan forward. That should give us pause, shouldn’t it? It should require us to stop and prayerfully consider any decision we make. Is it a decision I’m making in faith? . Will it advance the plan of God or not?
It is interesting that each dream mentioned a specific prophecy. 1) You shall call His name Jesus. 2) My Son shall be called from Egypt. 3) He shall be called a Nazarene. Joseph must have understood the prophecies concerning the messiah, so he could understand whether or not the dreams were from God. Like Joseph, we have to prepare ourselves to hear from God. We must study the scriptures to recognize God’s character so we’ll recognize God. Joseph must have heard God’s voice before, so he recognized it as the voice of God. He was a good Jew, he must have prayed.
Finally, look at Daniel’s life for a moment. We’ve heard the story of Daniel interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. The king had a dream, he didn’t remember the dream, but it disturbed him. So he called his wise men to tell him what the dream was and what it meant. They couldn’t tell him the dream or the interpretation so he was going to kill them all. So they came for Daniel and Daniel asks for more time:
Daniel 2:13-19
13 So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 14 Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon;15 he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel.16 So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation.17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
God brought clarity through prayer. A lot of the time our faith is based on our relationship with God: The stronger the relationship, the stronger the faith. God has a plan and a purpose that he is trying to fulfill. Often it is up to us to act in faith and move the plan forward. Sometimes it involves difficulty, sometimes we have to fight to protect it, and sometimes we have to act in a way that will cause it to come to pass. So we want to be sure our actions line up with the will of God. We can become sure that they do if we will pray and seek God for direction. Once we make a decision we need to e committed to seeing it through. These are actions of Faith. These are decisions that will move the plan of God forward. Joseph lived this out, because he was a man of faith.
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It’s the faith of Abraham, that this descendents will number the sand on the seashore. It’s the faith of Sarah that she will have a child at 90 years of age. It’s the faith of the centurion that Jesus will heal his servant. It’s the faith of the woman who pesters Jesus for her demon-possessed daughter. It’s the faith of Mary as she hears from an angel that she is to be the mother of the Christ. It is also the faith of Joseph as he looks at his pregnant fiancé and makes the decision not to put her away. This is the kind of faith that believes the incredible.
Matthew 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
The Faith to Believe
Our text takes place at an amazing time in history. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of the most ancient of prophecies. This is the fulfillment of the scriptures that a redeemer is to be born. Was he really born on December 25th? Probably not. Did it really take place? Without a doubt! Every Christian knows the truth of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, because we have the benefit of the Bible. We can look backwards through history and see what has already taken place. We can see what Jesus did in life.
But think about Joseph for a moment. He didn’t have the benefit of history to understand what’s taking place at this moment. He’s only seeing the woman he has pledged to marry, and she’s pregnant, and he knows that he’s not responsible. Can you imagine what must have gone through his mind? What would you have thought?
This is the woman that he’s chosen to marry. Being pregnant before marriage brought huge disgrace to your family, and your future husband. It isn’t like today where you rarely meet someone who gets married before starting a family. This is serious stuff. This is a huge blow to Joseph.
Deuteronomy 22:23-24
23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,24 “then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
This is what Joseph is seeing when Mary comes up pregnant. He’s thinking that she hasn’t protected her virginity. We get a glimpse of his character that he didn’t have her stoned, that he was looking to put her away, or divorce her, quietly.
But his thoughts and actions are not thoughts and actions of faith. His thinking is that she has committed adultery. His thinking is that he’s going to divorce her. He’s not thinking that she is the vehicle by which God will bring his promised redeemer into the world. But then God speaks to him and he’s convinced.
Blaise Pascal French mathematician and philosopher once said, “It is the heart that senses God, and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceptible to the heart and not to reason.”
He recognizes God because he has a heart for God. What if you had found yourself in the same place? Would you be able to hear from God? Maybe God has spoken to you but you didn’t recognize God’s voice.
Have you ever wondered why people get so nervous when you say something like God spoke to me last night? I remember in the 2000 election George Bush said, “God has called me to the presidency.” And the press freaked out. President Bush recognized the call of God, because he has a heart to hear from God and the press didn’t because they don’t have a heart to hear from God.
Joseph’s heart is tender toward the voice of God, and that’s how we should be. God speaks to us in different ways. He can speak in a vision or a dream.
Joel 2:28-30
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
Or he can speak through his word…the Bible. Or through a man of God, the question is are you able to hear from him? Joseph heard from God…and he had to hear from God and believe in order that the prophecies could be fulfilled.
Jesus was to be born into the house of David. Joseph was in the lineage of David.
If you look at the beginning of Matthew Chapter 1 you will see the lineage of Jesus. From Adam to Noah; from Noah to Abraham; from Abraham to David; Follow it all the way down to verse 16
Matthew 1:16
16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
Mary wasn’t in the lineage of David, Joseph was. So Joseph had to accept Mary and Jesus, mother and child so that Jesus would fall into the lineage of David. I’m sure at first this was a difficult thing to accept.
What about you? Has God ever called you to something difficult, and your response was, “That’s not God, if it was God it wouldn’t be so hard.” I’ve seen people turn down a calling to preach because of the hardship it would put on their family. They said it wasn’t the right time. The economics of the situation weren’t advantageous. It’s too hard right now. I wonder if they will ever get the opportunity again. Pastoring is a call from God, but those men’s hearts weren’t tender to the voice of God at that moment and they missed the call. What would have happened if Joseph’s heart wasn’t tender to hear from God? What would have happened if Joseph missed the call of God on his life?
What are you hearing from God these days? To what is God calling you? What would happen if you miss the call of God on your life? Look at Esther for a moment.
Esther 4:14
14 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
God will do what He must do to bring to see His plan play out. He will bring it about through some other person or some other means. But who knows if God has orchestrated the events in your life to put you in a place to bring His plan to fruition. For Esther to go to the king and plead for the Jews was dangerous and difficult, but she’d heard from God so she did it. Have you ever heard from God? Would you recognize the voice of God if he spoke to you? What is hardest for us to remember is that God calls us, to salvation and to his will for his purpose and not our own.
Answering the call of God has never been easy. Moses had to face his fears and go before Israel and Pharaoh in order to live out his call. Gideon had to go to battle against an entire army with 300 men in order to live out his call. Joseph had to put away his fears and the reproach to be man God called to be the father of the incarnation of God on earth. Do you think God’s call will be easier for you than it was for these men? Do you think it will come without sacrifice; without risk?
I have a friend that was a missionary, right here in Taiwan. He originally went to the mainland of China to preach. He was in the city of Guang Zhong for a number of years. But the secret police infiltrated his church and one day he received a call from his employer that he needed to come to the school immediately. He was called there for questioning and possible arrest. He had two small children, he had a wife and he and his wife were ordered to appear. He didn’t know what would happen. It was very possible that he would be put in prison, possibly tortured maybe even executed. His wife faced the same fate. He was in the will of God. Maybe God needed his martyrdom to do something he wanted to do. He knew that this moment was a possibility when he left America. But he took the risk to be in the country. He took the risk for the call of God.
Standing By Your Faith
Matthew 2:13-15
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Joseph hears the voice of God once more and again he responds to God’s words spoken in a dream. This time he is called to abandon his comfortable life and go into Egypt to protect what God is doing. At this point there is no visible danger. The Magi have come but Herod isn’t angry…he isn’t having babies killed yet. But this dream tells him to get up and go, because the king will come after him. Look at verse 16.
Matthew 2:16
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
It was after Joseph left that Herod went off. After Joseph had gotten Jesus safely out of the way. He left right after the dream. He’d seen no evidence of danger but he left on the words of a dream; he left on faith. He left all that he had had, his carpentry business, His home, who knows what else. Faith is taking action when there’s no visual evidence that action must be taken. Faith is taking action even when you can’t see that the action you take is the best course of action.
How many things do we do on faith every day? We fly on airplanes, that’s something we do on faith. Faith, that the plane is in good condition; that the pilot knows how to fly it: That the Air traffic controllers won’t make a mistake. All of these things are a step of faith aren’t they?
We can easily have faith in men, but it’s more difficult to have faith in God isn’t it? Why is that?
We can get on an airplane without fear because we have seen airlines fly millions of miles without accidents. There is visual evidence that air travel is safe.
There is not always visual evidence of God’s call. Sometimes we have to just believe that God has called us. Sometimes we are going to doubt that calling when we don’t see anything happening right away.
When I pioneered my first church I believed that I was where God wanted me. That Riverside is the city that God had given to me. But then nothing happened. For the first 6 weeks we didn’t see any visitors. That’s when doubt began to creep in.
What went through Joseph’s mind when he abandoned his home and went to Egypt? Maybe there was some time that passed before Herod started killing babies. Maybe Joseph had a hard time establishing his trade in Egypt. I wonder if doubt began to creep in. I wonder if he got discouraged and wanted to go home. He was there for a while before Herod died. But he stood by the dream, didn’t he? He stood by what he was sure was the call of God, even through the difficulty. Do you think that once we have answered the call that everything will go smoothly? “Hey it’s God’s will…it’s all gravy from here.” What happens when you’re called on to struggle to protect God’s will?
I am amazed by men who are called to pioneer churches and quit after a couple of years. “I wasn’t seeing what I wanted to see.” I wonder what they went out expecting. Did they think there would be no struggle? Did they think that the Devil wasn’t going to just hand over the city? “Oh, God called you? My mistake, here it is.”
The thing that kept me going for a number of years was my pastor saying, “In the first couple of years what God is doing in the man is more important than what he’s doing in the church.” What is it that builds character in men, blessing or adversity?
Sometimes what God is doing isn’t apparent. Sometimes you have to continue on without any evidence that God is doing anything at all. You have to have faith that it was God who called you in the first place. Joseph packed it all up and left in the dead of night, because he was sure that it was God who had called him in the first place, and it became necessary to protect what God was doing. Sometimes God needs us to take an action to see His plan come to fruition. We need to be sensitive to the Voice of God and faithful to act when we hear His voice. This is also a step of faith.
Being a Part of the Plan of God
Matthew 2:19-23
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.”21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Once more Joseph is called in a dream. Once more he acts on his faith that it is God calling him. Many times in the Christmas season Joseph is the forgotten man. We see him in the “nativity Scene” but he’s in the background. Mary gave birth to Jesus, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes. The Shepherds are gathered around, they heard the cry of the angels. The wise men are there with their gifts and their adoration. Even the animals are looking in. But Joseph is kind of lost in the scene; he’s a bystander.
But it is Joseph’s faith that saw the plan of God through. It is his faith that gave fulfillment to the prophecy. Every time God spoke he responded in faith, and made a decision that resulted in the plan of God being fulfilled.
God gives us the ability to be a part f his plan by speaking to us and then allowing us make a decision to act in faith and move his plan forward. That should give us pause, shouldn’t it? It should require us to stop and prayerfully consider any decision we make. Is it a decision I’m making in faith? . Will it advance the plan of God or not?
It is interesting that each dream mentioned a specific prophecy. 1) You shall call His name Jesus. 2) My Son shall be called from Egypt. 3) He shall be called a Nazarene. Joseph must have understood the prophecies concerning the messiah, so he could understand whether or not the dreams were from God. Like Joseph, we have to prepare ourselves to hear from God. We must study the scriptures to recognize God’s character so we’ll recognize God. Joseph must have heard God’s voice before, so he recognized it as the voice of God. He was a good Jew, he must have prayed.
Finally, look at Daniel’s life for a moment. We’ve heard the story of Daniel interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. The king had a dream, he didn’t remember the dream, but it disturbed him. So he called his wise men to tell him what the dream was and what it meant. They couldn’t tell him the dream or the interpretation so he was going to kill them all. So they came for Daniel and Daniel asks for more time:
Daniel 2:13-19
13 So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 14 Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon;15 he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel.16 So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation.17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
God brought clarity through prayer. A lot of the time our faith is based on our relationship with God: The stronger the relationship, the stronger the faith. God has a plan and a purpose that he is trying to fulfill. Often it is up to us to act in faith and move the plan forward. Sometimes it involves difficulty, sometimes we have to fight to protect it, and sometimes we have to act in a way that will cause it to come to pass. So we want to be sure our actions line up with the will of God. We can become sure that they do if we will pray and seek God for direction. Once we make a decision we need to e committed to seeing it through. These are actions of Faith. These are decisions that will move the plan of God forward. Joseph lived this out, because he was a man of faith.
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Monday, July 12, 2010
Riding in the Wheelbarrow
There is a story of a famous tightrope walker who came to Niagara Falls and stretched his rope across the thunderous currents from Canada to the United States. Before the breathless multitudes, he walked, then ran, across the falls. He did the same blindfolded, with drums rolling. Then, still blindfolded, he pushed a wheelbarrow across the falls. The crowds went wild, and the aerialist shouted to them, “Who believes I can push a man in this wheelbarrow across these falls?”
A gentleman in the front waved his hands, shouting, “I do! I believe!”
"Then,” said the walker, “come and get in the wheelbarrow.”
To no one's surprise, the man’s intellectual assent failed to translate into personal belief. In other words he had seen the proof that it could be done but didn’t have the faith to get in to the wheelbarrow himself.
If you’re Christian that’s spent any time at all witnessing to people, you have probably come upon people who just do not believe. I’ve had people tell me, “I just can’t believe that.” That’s why the Bible tells us that the Gospel is foolishness to them that perish. But to those of us that are saved it’s the power of God.
Paul preached to the Greeks about the Unkown God, but when he began to speak of the resurrection, there were those who refused to believe.
Acts 17:32
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”
Those that mocked were the ones who were unable to believe what was preached. There is no doubt that we have all encountered people like that. They don’t necessarily ridicule you, and they don’t have any argument as to why it’s wrong or unbelievable. They just can’t believe it. You tell them what the Bible says and they say, “Oh…well I just don’t believe it.”
But guess what…unbelief isn’t confined to sinners. There are Christians who don’t believe. Maybe it’s a little subtler, but it’s there nonetheless. Obviously, we believe in Jesus. We wouldn’t be Christians if we denied the Christ, but there are aspects of our salvation with which we struggle. Do you believe that Jesus can heal the sick? Do you have faith that Jesus can heal you? If so then why do you still suffer with sickness?
It’s a pretty common thing that we have faith that God can heal others but we don’t have faith for ourselves. That’s a symptom of unbelief. In this post I want to examine that.
Luke 24:13-33
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,20 “and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.22 “Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.23 “When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.24 “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!26 “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
Unbelief isn't Just for Sinners
In our text we see two men walking to Emmaus. They are obviously disciples. They have spent time with Jesus. They would have recognized Him if their eyes had not been restrained. They had heard His preaching and, no doubt, knew Him and believed Him to be the Messiah.
And yet just as obviously they didn’t believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. If they believed that He had risen from the dead, why were they sad. Another translation said they had faces “full of gloom.” A third one says “faces drawn with misery.” These are not men who expected that Jesus would rise from the dead. They’re not saying, “See this proves it. Who else but the Son of God could rise from the dead.” Instead threy’re saying, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”
The resurrection of Jesus is fundamental to Christian Theology, even to the Gospel itself.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
According to Paul, this declaration that Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead on the third day is the Gospel by which we are saved. Think about this for a moment. If Jesus had died and remained in the grave, His death would have been no different from any other Martyr from any other belief system in the world. He would have left us nothing better than a philosophy to live by. But it is His resurrection that puts weight behind his death. We can be redeemed from sin because God, Himself, paid the price for it. His resurrection is proof of who He was.
Thomas Jefferson went through his Bible and he removed every reference to miracles. He removed the changing of water to wine, the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, the calming of the storm, the Gadarene demoniac, all of them. And in doing this he also had to remove the resurrection of Christ. So his Bible ended with the crucifixion, Jesus forever on the cross. He has denied the supernaturality of Jesus, that God is able to transcend our abilities. Jesus is no longer God in his Bible he is only a man. He has reduced the scriptures to a philosophy. By doing this he removes God’s ability to redeem us, and we are forever stuck in our sin, because that redemption in itself is miraculous.
Thomas Jefferson considered himself a believer in God. Otherwise he never could have written about rights given to us by the Creator in the Declaration of Independence, and yet, because of his unbelief, he has reduced Jesus to a mere mortal, by discarding the miracle of resurrection.
These two men were followers of Jesus. They were there when Mary Magdalene came and told them what Jesus had said outside the tomb that morning. And no doubt they thought like Peter and the others when they called them “idle words.”
Do you believe that God will provide for all your needs? So you never worry how the bills will get paid? Do you believe that God can heal the sick? How about Cancer? We can all have faith for backaches, but Cancer's different, right? The point that I’m making here is that there is an element of unbelief that is apparent in the lives of most believers. Many times it is that unbelief that keeps us from seeing the faithfulness of God. Our unbelief doesn’t inhibit God from being faithful, but it restricts our ability to accept God’s provision. If we don’t have faith that God will be able to deliver us from whatever tribulation that we are enduring, then we will seek for ourselves some other method of deliverance. We’ll go looking for our own answers. If we do that without God’s counsel the chances are we will make it even worse. Look at this:
Joshua 9:14-16
14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD.15 So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. 16 And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them.
The Israelites were in the battle for the Promised Land. God had sent them to destroy those who lived in that land so that they could live there and serve God in peace. But there was an element of unbelief here.
No doubt they were tired of fighting. It was natural that they’d be looking for allies as they faced the inhabitants of the land. But they did it without God’s counsel. They looked for deliverance on their own and they short-circuited what God was trying to do. Think of all the things Israel endured at the hands of its enemies in the Promised Land. These were the Ammonites the enemies of God throughout Israel’s history and all of this trouble could have been avoided if they believed that God would deliver the Promised Land into their hands: If they hadn’t looked for deliverance on their own.
The men on the road to Emmaus are Christians, the people of God. Joshua and his men were the people of God. All of these suffered unbelief, and we are also susceptible to that. All Christians occasionally suffer from doubt and unbelief.
We Have a Responsibility to Overcome Unbelief
Do you realize that unbelief is contagious? We can catch it from each other. Jesus warns his disciples about this in Mark 8:15
Mark 8:15
15 Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
What is Jesus talking about here? He’s talking about unbelief.
Mark 8:16-21
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?19 “When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”20 “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.”21 So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”
Jesus is reminding them of the miracles that he did in their presence: That he fed the five thousand and the four thousand and had leftovers. These were powerful miracles and yet the Pharisees kept asking for a sign that He was the Messiah. The Pharisees didn’t believe and here in this moment He's warning the disciples that they also are suffering from unbelief.
But it interesting, the word he uses here. Leaven. Leaven is basically yeast. It’s used to make bread rise, but it can also cause infection. Unbelief is an infection that can grow in us and spread to others. Unbelief doesn’t come from God and unbelief can spread to the whole group.
If you have ever kept an aquarium you are no doubt familiar with the disease Ick. Ick is a disease where the fish gets a number of small white lumps on their body and eventually they die. The thing about Ick is that it is extremely contagious. By the time you notice the disease on one fish it has often spread to all the others in the tank. And if you are not careful to eradicate it, it will kill all the fish.
It’s the same with unbelief. It’s extremely contagious. If one has it, it will spread to others. Look at our text in verse 23 and 24:
"When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.24 “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.
Mary Magdalene and the other women go to prepare the body of Jesus. He meets them in the Garden and tells them to go tell Peter and the disciples what she has seen.
Luke 24:8-12
8 And they remembered His words.9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
Peter doesn’t believe them when they tell him, so he goes to look for himself. And when he finds the tomb empty, he marvels, “Gee I wonder what happened to the body.” But Jesus had told him what was going to happen in Luke Chapter Nine.
Luke 9:20-22
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one,22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
But Peter doesn’t believe and his unbelief will no doubt be transferred to the others. He’s the leader; it is human nature for them to trust his judgment. If I have an interpretation of some event, and I talk to someone I trust, someone in authority over me, and they have a different interpretation of that event, I’m going to question my own interpretation. It’s human nature.
So if there are a gropup of people, and Mary comes with this news they are going to look to see what is the leader’s reaction. If he doesn’t believe then what will be the result? Most likely the others won’t believe either. These men were there when Mary came and gave her account. Remember they said, “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb." They heard the report and saw Peter’s reaction. They still didn’t believe later in the day when they were on the road to Emmaus.
Peter heard Jesus say, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day,” and he didn’t believe and here’s these two men on the road to Emmaus that were with him and they didn’t believe either. Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe there’s an influence at work here. Maybe Peter’s unbelief is rubbing off on them. They even make this amazing comment, “Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.” “This is the third day after his death and there’s no proof that he’s risen from the dead, we can’t even find his body.” That’s what they’re thinking. No wonder Jesus calls them slow witted, they ARE slow witted. Unbelief restricts our ability to see the truth for what it is. Sometimes it even causes us to aggressively seek to keep that truth from other people.
For example, if you honestly examine the arguments of Evolution you must be struck by the lack of evidence of its truth. There are a number of holes in the proofs of evolution. For one thing there is not one documented proof that men evolved from apes. All of the so called missing links have been proven to be hoaxes or errors. And yet this belief is so powerful that it is taught in the school not as a theory but as fact. How many times have you been called ignorant because you don’t believe it? There is an aggressive campaign to keep the creation spoken of in the Bible away from our children. Believers of Evolution are so convinced that the creation story of the Bible is false that they fight to keep it out of the schools…A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
The Antidote to Unbelief
Luke 24:30-32
Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
What was it that brought these men back to faith? What was it that convinced them of who he was? Jesus in the meal takes the role of the father. It was the Jewish custom of the time for the father to ask the blessing over the meal. The father is the spiritual leader of the household. Here is Jesus assuming that role. He is the spiritual leader of the group. The scripture says in that moment their eyes were opened. They recognize His authority in that. When I go to lunch with my pastor I always defer to him to ask the blessing over the food. It’s natural because it's a recognition of his authority in my life. Jesus is taking that authority in this situation. If we extend this to give Jesus real authority over our lives then we will overcome unbelief, as well.
As children we all believed our teachers when they taught us something in school, didn’t we? Why? We believed them because of their authority in that subject. If Jesus has authority in your life then His actions will carry weight with you. As children we learn from our parents for the same reason, they have authority in our lives.
When my children were very small they asked me endless questions, many of them that I couldn’t possibly answer. “Daddy, why does that man want to drive a red car?” I couldn’t possibly know that. But if I'd just made up an answer they would have believed it. They would have taken me at my word, on faith. God has given us His word in the Bible. If you give the word of God authority in your life then the answers to unbelief will be found there, because you will take God at His word, by faith.
Secondly, look at what these men said, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” Their faith was re-ignited by the spoken words of Christ. There is an impartation that takes place when words are spoken.
I once had a roommate who wrote little notes to himself on his bathroom mirror. Things like, “You are going to make wise decisions today”, “You are a creative and intelligent engineer.” And the idea behind these notes was that he would read them aloud to himself. The words would be spoken. It was called affirmation.
It’s the same when we hear the words of the Gospel spoken. Faith comes by hearing. Unbelief is dispelled by the spoken word of God. It is an affirmation of our faith. Prayer, for the same reason, strengthens faith. We pray aloud. It is an affirmation of our belief in God.
The problem with unbelief is that it destroys our ability to receive from God because it is a rejection of what God tells us is the truth. We make God a liar and what’s that? It’s sin. We need to do what’s necessary to increase our faith, like the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus to be healed. Jesus told him, “If you believe he can be healed.” The father prayed a prayer right there on the spot. He prayed, “I believe, Lord help my unbelief.” That should be our prayer as well.
A gentleman in the front waved his hands, shouting, “I do! I believe!”
"Then,” said the walker, “come and get in the wheelbarrow.”
To no one's surprise, the man’s intellectual assent failed to translate into personal belief. In other words he had seen the proof that it could be done but didn’t have the faith to get in to the wheelbarrow himself.
If you’re Christian that’s spent any time at all witnessing to people, you have probably come upon people who just do not believe. I’ve had people tell me, “I just can’t believe that.” That’s why the Bible tells us that the Gospel is foolishness to them that perish. But to those of us that are saved it’s the power of God.
Paul preached to the Greeks about the Unkown God, but when he began to speak of the resurrection, there were those who refused to believe.
Acts 17:32
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”
Those that mocked were the ones who were unable to believe what was preached. There is no doubt that we have all encountered people like that. They don’t necessarily ridicule you, and they don’t have any argument as to why it’s wrong or unbelievable. They just can’t believe it. You tell them what the Bible says and they say, “Oh…well I just don’t believe it.”
But guess what…unbelief isn’t confined to sinners. There are Christians who don’t believe. Maybe it’s a little subtler, but it’s there nonetheless. Obviously, we believe in Jesus. We wouldn’t be Christians if we denied the Christ, but there are aspects of our salvation with which we struggle. Do you believe that Jesus can heal the sick? Do you have faith that Jesus can heal you? If so then why do you still suffer with sickness?
It’s a pretty common thing that we have faith that God can heal others but we don’t have faith for ourselves. That’s a symptom of unbelief. In this post I want to examine that.
Luke 24:13-33
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,20 “and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.22 “Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.23 “When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.24 “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!26 “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
Unbelief isn't Just for Sinners
In our text we see two men walking to Emmaus. They are obviously disciples. They have spent time with Jesus. They would have recognized Him if their eyes had not been restrained. They had heard His preaching and, no doubt, knew Him and believed Him to be the Messiah.
And yet just as obviously they didn’t believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. If they believed that He had risen from the dead, why were they sad. Another translation said they had faces “full of gloom.” A third one says “faces drawn with misery.” These are not men who expected that Jesus would rise from the dead. They’re not saying, “See this proves it. Who else but the Son of God could rise from the dead.” Instead threy’re saying, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”
The resurrection of Jesus is fundamental to Christian Theology, even to the Gospel itself.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
According to Paul, this declaration that Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead on the third day is the Gospel by which we are saved. Think about this for a moment. If Jesus had died and remained in the grave, His death would have been no different from any other Martyr from any other belief system in the world. He would have left us nothing better than a philosophy to live by. But it is His resurrection that puts weight behind his death. We can be redeemed from sin because God, Himself, paid the price for it. His resurrection is proof of who He was.
Thomas Jefferson went through his Bible and he removed every reference to miracles. He removed the changing of water to wine, the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, the calming of the storm, the Gadarene demoniac, all of them. And in doing this he also had to remove the resurrection of Christ. So his Bible ended with the crucifixion, Jesus forever on the cross. He has denied the supernaturality of Jesus, that God is able to transcend our abilities. Jesus is no longer God in his Bible he is only a man. He has reduced the scriptures to a philosophy. By doing this he removes God’s ability to redeem us, and we are forever stuck in our sin, because that redemption in itself is miraculous.
Thomas Jefferson considered himself a believer in God. Otherwise he never could have written about rights given to us by the Creator in the Declaration of Independence, and yet, because of his unbelief, he has reduced Jesus to a mere mortal, by discarding the miracle of resurrection.
These two men were followers of Jesus. They were there when Mary Magdalene came and told them what Jesus had said outside the tomb that morning. And no doubt they thought like Peter and the others when they called them “idle words.”
Do you believe that God will provide for all your needs? So you never worry how the bills will get paid? Do you believe that God can heal the sick? How about Cancer? We can all have faith for backaches, but Cancer's different, right? The point that I’m making here is that there is an element of unbelief that is apparent in the lives of most believers. Many times it is that unbelief that keeps us from seeing the faithfulness of God. Our unbelief doesn’t inhibit God from being faithful, but it restricts our ability to accept God’s provision. If we don’t have faith that God will be able to deliver us from whatever tribulation that we are enduring, then we will seek for ourselves some other method of deliverance. We’ll go looking for our own answers. If we do that without God’s counsel the chances are we will make it even worse. Look at this:
Joshua 9:14-16
14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD.15 So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. 16 And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them.
The Israelites were in the battle for the Promised Land. God had sent them to destroy those who lived in that land so that they could live there and serve God in peace. But there was an element of unbelief here.
No doubt they were tired of fighting. It was natural that they’d be looking for allies as they faced the inhabitants of the land. But they did it without God’s counsel. They looked for deliverance on their own and they short-circuited what God was trying to do. Think of all the things Israel endured at the hands of its enemies in the Promised Land. These were the Ammonites the enemies of God throughout Israel’s history and all of this trouble could have been avoided if they believed that God would deliver the Promised Land into their hands: If they hadn’t looked for deliverance on their own.
The men on the road to Emmaus are Christians, the people of God. Joshua and his men were the people of God. All of these suffered unbelief, and we are also susceptible to that. All Christians occasionally suffer from doubt and unbelief.
We Have a Responsibility to Overcome Unbelief
Do you realize that unbelief is contagious? We can catch it from each other. Jesus warns his disciples about this in Mark 8:15
Mark 8:15
15 Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
What is Jesus talking about here? He’s talking about unbelief.
Mark 8:16-21
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?19 “When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”20 “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.”21 So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”
Jesus is reminding them of the miracles that he did in their presence: That he fed the five thousand and the four thousand and had leftovers. These were powerful miracles and yet the Pharisees kept asking for a sign that He was the Messiah. The Pharisees didn’t believe and here in this moment He's warning the disciples that they also are suffering from unbelief.
But it interesting, the word he uses here. Leaven. Leaven is basically yeast. It’s used to make bread rise, but it can also cause infection. Unbelief is an infection that can grow in us and spread to others. Unbelief doesn’t come from God and unbelief can spread to the whole group.
If you have ever kept an aquarium you are no doubt familiar with the disease Ick. Ick is a disease where the fish gets a number of small white lumps on their body and eventually they die. The thing about Ick is that it is extremely contagious. By the time you notice the disease on one fish it has often spread to all the others in the tank. And if you are not careful to eradicate it, it will kill all the fish.
It’s the same with unbelief. It’s extremely contagious. If one has it, it will spread to others. Look at our text in verse 23 and 24:
"When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.24 “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.
Mary Magdalene and the other women go to prepare the body of Jesus. He meets them in the Garden and tells them to go tell Peter and the disciples what she has seen.
Luke 24:8-12
8 And they remembered His words.9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
Peter doesn’t believe them when they tell him, so he goes to look for himself. And when he finds the tomb empty, he marvels, “Gee I wonder what happened to the body.” But Jesus had told him what was going to happen in Luke Chapter Nine.
Luke 9:20-22
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one,22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
But Peter doesn’t believe and his unbelief will no doubt be transferred to the others. He’s the leader; it is human nature for them to trust his judgment. If I have an interpretation of some event, and I talk to someone I trust, someone in authority over me, and they have a different interpretation of that event, I’m going to question my own interpretation. It’s human nature.
So if there are a gropup of people, and Mary comes with this news they are going to look to see what is the leader’s reaction. If he doesn’t believe then what will be the result? Most likely the others won’t believe either. These men were there when Mary came and gave her account. Remember they said, “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb." They heard the report and saw Peter’s reaction. They still didn’t believe later in the day when they were on the road to Emmaus.
Peter heard Jesus say, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day,” and he didn’t believe and here’s these two men on the road to Emmaus that were with him and they didn’t believe either. Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe there’s an influence at work here. Maybe Peter’s unbelief is rubbing off on them. They even make this amazing comment, “Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.” “This is the third day after his death and there’s no proof that he’s risen from the dead, we can’t even find his body.” That’s what they’re thinking. No wonder Jesus calls them slow witted, they ARE slow witted. Unbelief restricts our ability to see the truth for what it is. Sometimes it even causes us to aggressively seek to keep that truth from other people.
For example, if you honestly examine the arguments of Evolution you must be struck by the lack of evidence of its truth. There are a number of holes in the proofs of evolution. For one thing there is not one documented proof that men evolved from apes. All of the so called missing links have been proven to be hoaxes or errors. And yet this belief is so powerful that it is taught in the school not as a theory but as fact. How many times have you been called ignorant because you don’t believe it? There is an aggressive campaign to keep the creation spoken of in the Bible away from our children. Believers of Evolution are so convinced that the creation story of the Bible is false that they fight to keep it out of the schools…A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
The Antidote to Unbelief
Luke 24:30-32
Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
What was it that brought these men back to faith? What was it that convinced them of who he was? Jesus in the meal takes the role of the father. It was the Jewish custom of the time for the father to ask the blessing over the meal. The father is the spiritual leader of the household. Here is Jesus assuming that role. He is the spiritual leader of the group. The scripture says in that moment their eyes were opened. They recognize His authority in that. When I go to lunch with my pastor I always defer to him to ask the blessing over the food. It’s natural because it's a recognition of his authority in my life. Jesus is taking that authority in this situation. If we extend this to give Jesus real authority over our lives then we will overcome unbelief, as well.
As children we all believed our teachers when they taught us something in school, didn’t we? Why? We believed them because of their authority in that subject. If Jesus has authority in your life then His actions will carry weight with you. As children we learn from our parents for the same reason, they have authority in our lives.
When my children were very small they asked me endless questions, many of them that I couldn’t possibly answer. “Daddy, why does that man want to drive a red car?” I couldn’t possibly know that. But if I'd just made up an answer they would have believed it. They would have taken me at my word, on faith. God has given us His word in the Bible. If you give the word of God authority in your life then the answers to unbelief will be found there, because you will take God at His word, by faith.
Secondly, look at what these men said, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” Their faith was re-ignited by the spoken words of Christ. There is an impartation that takes place when words are spoken.
I once had a roommate who wrote little notes to himself on his bathroom mirror. Things like, “You are going to make wise decisions today”, “You are a creative and intelligent engineer.” And the idea behind these notes was that he would read them aloud to himself. The words would be spoken. It was called affirmation.
It’s the same when we hear the words of the Gospel spoken. Faith comes by hearing. Unbelief is dispelled by the spoken word of God. It is an affirmation of our faith. Prayer, for the same reason, strengthens faith. We pray aloud. It is an affirmation of our belief in God.
The problem with unbelief is that it destroys our ability to receive from God because it is a rejection of what God tells us is the truth. We make God a liar and what’s that? It’s sin. We need to do what’s necessary to increase our faith, like the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus to be healed. Jesus told him, “If you believe he can be healed.” The father prayed a prayer right there on the spot. He prayed, “I believe, Lord help my unbelief.” That should be our prayer as well.
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