Tag: hope

Categories
Gospels and Acts Scripture

Genesis 45

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Genesis 45

1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

21 The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. 23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Some may be disappointed that we’re still in Genesis as we enter Advent.  What does this have to do with Christ and the nativity?  What can this Old Testament history minister to you?  By God’s grace, I pray that you won’t be asking that question at the end of our time together this morning.

Before we get into Genesis 45, we need to back up just a little bit and remember that the chapter markers weren’t inspired and a beautiful story is broken up here.  Genesis 45 opens with Joseph overwhelmed with tears at Judah’s offer to be a propitiation for Benjamin.  Judah, Leah’s son, has promised his life for Rachel’s son Benjamin.

Joseph tells his servants to leave him alone with his brothers.  Joseph, up to this point, had been speaking through an interpreter and he suddenly blurts out in the Hebrew language “I am Joseph!  Is my father still alive?”

This is not happy news for the brothers.  Whatever grief they had over their sins is magnified.  They’re stunned.  They’re terrified.  They are so overcome with grief and fear at this point that they cannot speak.

This is not an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical where a chorus of joy breaks out because brothers are reunited.  This is real life and the brothers are terrified that a man with the power of Pharaoh has just been revealed to be the brother they plotted to murder and then sold into slavery.

This is it.  This is the end.

Joseph has every right to exact vengeance and has the power to carry it out.

But Joseph has compassion upon them and draws them close.

“Come near to me.”

“I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”

Joseph does not excuse their sin.  He calls it for what it was.  They sold him into slavery in Egypt.

What next?  What do they deserve?  By strict justice do they deserve Joseph’s kindness?  Do they deserve his love for them?

But Joseph is kind to them.  He is kind in a way that is surprising and he comforts them with this truth:

“Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

Joseph explains that the famine is going to last for five more years and then tells them again:  “…God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.”

Clearly, his brothers sold him into slavery.  They were certainly in the chain of events that led to Joseph being in Egypt.  Yet, as much as they were responsible for their sin in selling Joseph into slavery, they were not the only actors on the scene of history.

God was at work.

In fact, Joseph makes it more emphatic as to how he got where he was when he continues to explain and says:  “So it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

What Joseph is reminding the brothers of is God’s control of all things.  They ought to have remembered it in the story of their great-grandfather Abraham.  They ought to have heard it from their grandfather Isaac.  Surely they witnessed God’s control of all things in their father’s life and in their own experience.

This is God’s providence.  Providence is a word rarely used today because most people act as if history moves along aimlessly.  Yet providence is the truth that God controls all history and has a purpose in it.

Some are afraid to think of God being in control of all things.  Some will say that this makes him the author of sin or that it relieves men of responsibility for their actions.  But Scripture will have the last word.

God is in control of all things.  The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.  God knows the beginning from the end not because he looked down the corridors of time and saw how it would all turn out but because he ordained it all.

Men may try to twist this truth to escape the judgment of their wickedness and place the blame upon God for ordering history but God will have none of it.  Men are responsible for their actions and cannot shift blame upon God for sin and disobedience.

Whatever schemes men can think of, amidst all the tumult of an earth filled with sin and death, God overrules the counsels of men.  God does, by the hands of wicked men, what he has decided to do in history.  The sin belongs to Joseph’s brothers and so does the whole blame belong to them for their sin.  Yet God works wonderfully through their means and, from their impurity, brings forth his perfect righteous will and plan.  His method of acting here is secret, far above our understanding and Joseph does not give any more explanation as to the how of God’s overruling other than to state it.

Some have said that God’s Providence is like the language of Hebrew itself.  It can only be read backwards.

Joseph understands he is where he is, by God’s hand, to save the world and to preserve a remnant.  Looking back, he can see the sins of men clearly.  He can even recount his own sins.  But Joseph can also see how God interposed to prevent the evil of others who wanted to injure him.  Not only that, but Joseph can see how God turned every wicked design into good.

This is why Joseph uses this argument about God’s control as a source of comfort.  “God sent me here…” is Joseph’s argument.  He is able to reflect on the goodness of God and the undeserved favor he has been shown.  Even though Joseph himself is a sinner, God has overruled human history for his benefit and the benefit of his brothers.  Joseph is able to embrace the men whose dishonor God had covered with His grace.

This comfort reminds the brothers of God’s goodness.  All is not ruined.  All is not destroyed.  Whatever man has plotted to destroy, God has overruled to His righteous ends.  God’s goodness overwhelms all schemes and all hurts.  God’s goodness heals and they fall on each other’s necks and weep.  Not only has the plan of God saved a remnant from starvation, and the world along with it, but God has ordained the events so that the brothers would learn to love one another for the first time in their entire lives.

“Hurry!”  Joseph tells them.  He orders them to tell Jacob everything they have seen and heard.  There is no time to lose as the famine is severe and Pharaoh has given the fat of the land for Joseph’s family to live upon.

As you may recall, the whole story of Joseph began with fine clothes.  In verse 22, Joseph sends them back to their father with rich clothes.  The one despised for his rich garment blesses his brothers with rich garments and gifts to await them upon their return.  Their rich garments and the carts of Pharaoh are to serve as evidence to Jacob that Joseph is still alive.

Joseph warns them as they go not to quarrel along the way in verse 24.  They were still coming to grips with healing grace.  They were going to have to explain that their brother was still alive in Egypt.  Blame shifting might occur and then arguments over who was most guilty.  Instead of excusing their own sin in the matter, they needed to be reminded by their brother of God’s control.  This was a time for repentance and the remembrance of God’s goodness.

Years of mistrust are evident as Jacob refused to believe the news that Joseph was still alive but when he saw the gifts that Joseph sent with them, Jacob’s heart revived.

This story is so authentic.  Jacob doesn’t care how rich Joseph is.  Jacob doesn’t care about Joseph’s position in Egypt.  Jacob doesn’t even mention that he fears the famine.  His heart has been broken for years over a son he thought dead and all he wants is to see his son.

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

Pastor Kittredge is fond of saying that, if you cannot see God in the everyday things of life that your faith is bound to be shaken when real suffering occurs.

We’re prone to think of the sun rising or a storm cloud passing or the seasons changing as the laws of nature.  Yet, they are God’s laws and the works of creation are seen throughout Scripture as a source of praise unto God.  Even in Revelation 14:7, we are going to “…worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Do you thank God that the sun rose today?  Do you see God in the regularity of the created order?  Do you thank God for the rainbow in the sky as a token of His covenant with all flesh?

Yet, as we look around us, there are plenty of things that tell us that things are not as they should be.  Pain, suffering, death are all around us.

These are not present because God is powerless over them.

This series is called The Genesis of Grace and Grace in Genesis.  Why?  Because only two chapters of Genesis didn’t require grace but everything after Genesis 3 has been grace.  In Chapter 3, Adam sinned against God and plunged all of mankind into death and sin and misery.  History should have stopped that day as God’s holiness and justice demanded that he destroy the creatures that raised their hands against Him in cosmic treason.

But God promised a Seed that would crush the head of the serpent and Providence has been God’s stage for the history of redemption.  Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now Joseph.  History unfolded as God ordained it.  Grace in the midst of the sin of His creatures.

The story will continue.  A remnant will be preserved.  Israel and his descendants survive starvation and history unfolds until a child is born in Bethlehem.

As we enter the season of Advent we need to be reminded that this is not a season where we celebrate Jesus’ birthday as if Jesus stands in need of us to wish him a happy birthday every year.

Rather, this is a season where we remember that all human flesh stood in utter need of a Savior.  We had been plunged into sin and misery by our first parents.

We were enemies of God and alienated from our purpose as creatures.

The history of the Bible recounts the deeds of men:  men and women used and being used, men and women suffering at the hands of the powerful, the weak are oppressed, and the wicked seem to flourish.

But God, all along, reminded His saints that He controls it all and is preparing a Seed that will deliver the captives.

And one quiet night, a poor man and his pregnant wife came to Bethlehem and very God of very Gods veiled himself in human flesh and was born in a feeding trough.  God became man that we might taste sin and death and misery no longer.  He came to die for His own.

He was to be the Seed that would crush the head of the Serpent.  He was to be the Seed promised Abraham as God walked between the two halves of the sacrifice alone.  He became the perfect lamb that God had promised Abraham when He held back Abraham’s arm from slaying His son.  He was to be Jacob’s ladder that connected heaven and earth.

All of history, all of God’s plan, had been a stage upon which to bring the Man forward and in to our view.  God had heard the cries of a Job, the cries of an Abraham, and the cries of a Joseph during the long, dark years.  He had heard the prayers of His Saints and their suffering and provided a final answer in the person and work of Christ.

Men had intended only to sin.  Men intended only to destroy but God had brought all of human history to His answer:  Christ would redeem men to Himself and provide the meaning and purpose of history.  Philosophy could not solve the mystery of God’s answer to the problem of evil and human misery.  Only God could provide the answer and His final Word was Immanuel:  God with us.  His final answer was Jesus:  God saves!

This is what Joseph saw dimly from afar.  This is what allowed him to forgive his brothers.  He understood that human sin was to be answered by the grace of God.  Whatever man had purposed to completely destroy in his folly and darkened thought, God would overrule and bless through.

And so, Beloved, as we just celebrated a national day of Thanksgiving and enter Advent, do you have joy in your heart for all the many ways God has blessed you this year?  You have life, prosperity, kids, job security, friends, and a Church family.  If this is a season of rejoicing for you then thank God for your rejoicing.

Yet this season is a time of suffering for many as well.

As you consider God’s control of all things, do you yet feel sadness and brokenness at the hard providences that have afflicted your life?  Have the sins of others left deep scars on your soul?  Does mental or physical anguish afflict you?

Do you cry out at night, in the dark, wondering “…when will suffering end?”

This is the Body of Christ.  This is an outpost of the Kingdom of God.  We do not ask you to be anything more than a needy sinner.  We don’t demand anything more of you than a willingness to be ministered to this season.  Don’t smile for our sakes.  Don’t tell yourself to be happy because the world expects it.

Christ’s call is not a call to look within for strength.  Christ’s call is not a call to pick yourself up by your boot straps.

Christ’s call is simply this:  Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Cast your cares upon Him.  Cast your grief upon Him.  Cry out earnestly and honestly to Him telling Him that this world is broken and the waves of its misery continue to crash against you.

God has provided the answer to the pits and white spaces of this life and that answer is Christ.

It is not purposeless.  It is not hopeless.

Don’t believe what your heart tells you.  Your life is not ruined.  You will not forever grieve.  You have not forever wrecked anything.  Christ has solved the biggest problem there is by granting peace with God for those that fall at His feet because they have come to the end of themselves.

Beloved, be thankful.  You heard me right.  Be thankful to God.

Be thankful even in your present grief.  Come to me after the Service and allow the elders and me to pray with you.  Allow the elders to comfort you.  Let us embrace you and weep with you over your sadness.  Let us be reminded together that God has promised an end to this present suffering as we groan in the time before Christ finally puts all under His feet.

One day, maybe not in this life, but one day all will become clear and you will see the tapestry that God has woven, for Christ’s sake, which will make all things clear.  For the time being, let’s walk together with God’s Word as a lamp unto our feet, and take each faltering step together.

You are not a stranger.  You are not defeated.  You are Christian!  You have been bought with a price.  You are God’s child.  Hear the Apostle Paul as He summarizes God’s glorious plan of history for His own:

Romans 8:18-25

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:31-39

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;  we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Categories
Epistles Scripture

A Ready Hope (1 Peter 3:13-17)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

1 Peter 3:13-17

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

As we continue in our expositional series through the Books of the Bible, we come to the First Peter. Many times in the Epistles, the authors will tell their audience why they are writing the letter. When Peter begins, however, he doesn’t explain why he’s writing to the Saints scattered around Asia Minor. As the letter develops, though, it becomes much clearer that the Epistle was written to encourage believers in their faith and to persevere in it. I pray that you may find that encouragement, as well, today.

More than a mere nice encouragement, though, Peter is giving the encouragement to readers who are facing real trials and real persecution ““ including death ““ and he is giving them words that are supposed to give them hope and strength and the ability to stand firm in the midst of persecution. The word hope occurs five times in First Peter and occurs in the passage we just read from 1 Peter Chapter 3.

It is interesting, as you read through this book, that the need for this hope is set against the suffering that Christians not only experience but are bound to experience in this life. Christians endure suffering in a world that is not their own. They are strangers in the world and, because of this, they are rejected by it. They are scorned by the world and experience suffering because they bear Christ’s name.

From the first to the last portions of the letter, Peter instructs believers to be holy and to avoid evil He wants believers to understand that there is something more to suffering than merely putting up with it but, more importantly, he wants to remind people that suffering is an expected part of the Christian life. In business, it is illegal to perform what is called “bait and switch”, that is to say that you cannot lure people to your business promising them a car for $10,000 and then, when they’re ready to by, you reveal that the price is really $20,000. It’s illegal and we know why because it is dishonest. But the promise of the Christian life is that we will suffer. It’s not a matter of if we will suffer but whether we are prepared for it. One thing is for sure and that is that we should not be surprised by suffering. Also, if there was no hope beyond it then suffering would just be pointless.

Hope is what makes suffering worthwhile. The Apostle Paul compares the suffering in the creation to the pains of a woman in labor. Look, ladies, the only reason that labor is exciting is that there’s a baby at the end of it. Imagine if you just experienced the incredible pain of labor constantly and you had no expectation that it would never end and that there would be no joy, no baby, at the end of it. Probably the saddest stories I’ve heard are of women that go through labor to give birth to stillborn children. All that pain and, at the end, only grief.

So the question for you, Christian, is this: what hope is it that you are supposed to be ready to give a defense of? After all, the apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has given us each a command and it is this: “”¦always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence”¦.” Well, I’m asking you Christian: what is your hope?

This is a really serious question because, when sorrow comes, when persecution comes and when suffering more painful than child labor comes along, what hope are you clinging to that will sustain you? It is very sad to me, indeed, but it does not surprise me to hear more and more of people whose faith is shipwrecked because of the death of a child or a loved one or some other horror that awaits in this wicked world. I’m saddened but the reason I’m not surprised is how weak and pitiful the message of hope that I hear out of the mouths of Christians these days. Beloved, our hope is powerful but you have to have that hope in your bloodstream or the house of your belief is built on sand. The waves of sorrow in this life will crash against that house and wash it all away. I truly believe that when great persecution begins against the Christian Church in the United States that many people’s houses will crumble because they do not hear enough of the glorious hope that has to be the bedrock of their souls to withstand the suffering that the world will bring. In fact, the very way many of us have been trained to express our hope to others shows how poor our hope really is. I believe our hope can be much stronger and that is the goal of this passage.

What do I mean? Have you ever heard somebody witness Christ this way: Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Have you ever been taught that a personal testimony is supposed to be something like: I used to beat up my wife and my kids but then I accepted Jesus into my heart and now I don’t do that anymore.

Is our hope really about how much our lives have been improved since Jesus came into our hearts? Is it really? I know you might want to say it is but please stop and think about it for a second. What happens when the storm of sin and misery comes and our life falls apart around us? Then how are we supposed to “testify” of the wonderful things that God has done? What if our hope is nothing more than how good our life is going and our joy and hope is that things will be just like today but only better? Americans are particularly prone to this because we have such happy lives with very little poverty and want. It’s easy to mistake our material happiness with real hope.

Also, let me ask you another question: just because Jesus makes you happy, what difference does that make to me? I have Muslim friends that tell me how fulfilled their life is since they began reading Muhammad. I have Mormon friends that are convinced that their heart is most happy because they prayed a prayer in the Book of Mormon and received a burning in the bosom. Buddhists will “testify” of the inner peace that comes from within when you meditate on the sound of “one hand clapping”.

So the question for the “shopper” of meaning in life is: which one should I choose for happiness and hope? After all, aren’t we told that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere? Aren’t we told that we have to have faith in something?

Beloved, our hope is not that we have hope. Our hope is not that we have faith. Our hope is not that we once we were sad but now we’re glad. Our hope is much more meaningful. The hope that we’re commanded to share points to something beyond ourselves. Our hope makes a claim on men’s lives that they have to pay attention to. If Christianity is just something that made my life nice then that’s good for Rich Leino but what difference does that make to Steve Jones? Works for Rich, he might say. But, what if our hope was not in ourselves but was fixed upon something else?

But wait, Rich, this is what we’ve grown up with. You can’t be serious. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love stories of men who were heroin addicts and they prayed to God for deliverance and, Presto!, they never craved the drug again? What about the alcoholic that prayed to God and, Glory!, they instantly hated alcohol and never craved a drink again in their lives? We love those stories. We want to parade them out as our Gospel “superstars”. Look how powerful the Gospel is because they’re happy now and delivered from sin and misery!

What about those stories, though? What about the thousands of others that have prayed to God for instant delivery from addiction after becoming a Christian and the delivery isn’t instant? What about the man that struggles with the same sin regularly and cannot conquer it and cries out to God that he doesn’t want to sin that way anymore? I thought the Gospel was supposed to be about how happy I am so why isn’t this working for me?! Why do I still struggle with my sin? But the majority of Christians have left such men in their misery and passed them by and run to these “superstars” and say: “This is the Gospel. Happiness. Health. Victory.”

But, oh, what about the poor sinner? Nobody goes to the Scriptures any more and hears Paul crying out in agony:

Romans 7:18-24

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Paul had a Gospel answer to that question. Paul had a hope that didn’t point to himself. Paul didn’t answer that question by thinking of Peter or Elijah or some other hero who lived a good life and got good things that came. Paul, one of the greatest evangelists that ever lived, knew that his hope was fixed on something more firm. Remember, beloved, that Paul prayed three times to be delivered from an affliction of the flesh and the answer from the Lord was “my grace is sufficient for you.” Do we have a hope that can trust in that answer?

Years ago there was a prominent man that was brought to all the typical large Evangelical meetings. His testimony was all about how perfect his life was now. He had once been a practicing homosexual. He was miserable in that life but, one day, he “found Christ” and prayed that he would be delivered from his sin. Now he was a happy man with a beautiful wife and children. As usual, he was brought around like a display of what Christianity offers.

The only problem is that men make for bad objects of faith. Because they’re not God, they end up disappointing those that place their trust in their lives. The man ended up falling greatly, left his wife, and went back into his homosexual lifestyle. The Evangelical community didn’t have much use for him then. Their object of hope had failed so they had to find another superstar to place on a pedestal.

Why is it we need to hear from sports figures or from the Power Team how happy Christ makes them? Maybe, just maybe, some of that will rub off on us and we can be super-successful too. Maybe our hope is that we’ll get everything good in life.

But, beloved, this is not the hope that Peter is talking about. Life is not going to give you everything you want and when you go placing your hope in how you or others have been changed then you will always be disappointed and you will never have any real testimony to share.

Well, I’m tired of talking about what our hope isn’t and you’re probably tired of hearing it so let’s just get to it. This, and this alone, is our hope. This is what can stand the trial. This is what another man cannot ignore when you share. This is what should make you be able to withstand the shame and persecution of the world. This is what should set you apart and make you blameless before the world for your conduct:

1 Peter 1: 3-12

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things into which angels long to look.

I don’t mean to sound like a grade school teacher when I remind you of this but our hope is Christ. Our hope is Christ. Our hope is Christ. Our hope is not how we feel about what Christ has done. Our hope is what Christ has done. Our hope is in a God that saw us in our great need, our death in sin and misery, our hatred of Him. He saw us in our despair and sent His Son into the world.

Beloved, the prophets of old used to pore over the Word of God longing, longing, longing to understand the mystery that was going to be revealed. What is this Messiah being spoken of? Who is this? The Rabbis were absolutely baffled. This Messiah is sometimes referred to as a man and sometimes referred to as God. Oh, how they longed to see what has been revealed in Christ Jesus.

Glory! It has burst upon the scenes of human history. There is no mystery remaining. There is no more wondering about what Messiah would do. There is no more anticipation of the saving work of a gracious God. All has been fully revealed in the person and work of Christ Jesus.

Our hope is that a real man named Jesus Christ came as the Son of God come down from heaven ““ God and man. Fully God so that He could obey the demands of the Law that no man could obey and so God obeyed it for us. And He came as fully man so He could represent us as our Priest who took the wrath of God upon Himself.

You see, beloved, our feelings can change. Our circumstances can become painful. We can be experiencing human suffering on a level that would make the birth of a child seem easy by comparison. But Christ’s work has been accomplished. It is fact. He died a death on a Cross to put away the curse of sin and death for everyone who believes. By placing my faith in Him, I am united to Him in His death and resurrection and I know that my victory over the grave is assured.

And so I have hope. I have hope when things are going well around me. But when suffering has come, I’ve had the Cross of Christ to look to for hope. When Anna was born, she had suffered multiple strokes and was severely anemic. I watched as my helpless little child gasped for every breath. Life has a way of coming into laser sharp focus when you think you’re about to lose a child just moments after the unspeakable joy of their birth. But I knew then how Job could say: though He slay me will I trust in Him! I had faith in a God that, through the tears of horror, I knew was my great Savior and would trust Him no matter the outcome. Glory be to God that Anna is well but that result was not certain from the beginning and we have no guarantees in this life that more profound suffering might await. Are we firm in our hope to withstand it when it comes?

We also have the Cross of Christ to look to in order that we may be empowered to obey our Savior out of gratitude. That Cross ought to transform our lives in a way that makes us different from the world. We can put up with the shame for Christ’s sake and live a life that honors the Savior who purchased us.

And so, because of that life, someone is bound to ask you or me, what is it that makes your life different?

Please, please after all of this, I hope that your answer isn’t merely that Jesus makes you happy and He can make somebody else happy too. I pray that you will learn to testify of what Christ has done to save sinners. I pray that you will testify of His life, of His work, and of His sacrifice for sin. Don’t have them look to your life, but at the life of Christ. Then turn to the man who is asking and tell him of his need for a Savior that takes away sins and testify of Christ as the only remedy for their sin. That is a hope that can never fade away or tarnish. That is a hope that demands a response from everyone. That is a hope that can sustain. Our hope is either in Christ or it is worth nothing at all.

Let us pray.

Categories
Epistles Scripture

True Religion (James 1:1-27, 2:14-17)

James 1:1-27
James 2:14-17

As we continue in our series through the Word of God we come to the Epistle of James. Scholars agree that the writer is the brother of Jesus (Matt 13:55). James became the leader of the Church at Jerusalem after the departure of Peter in Acts 12:17. He was the spokesman at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:13-21), and was a “pillar” to whom Paul reported his missionary experience (Gal 2:2,9, Acts 21:18-19)

Notice is verse 1 how James introduces himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never in this epistle does James “drop names”. What do I mean? Well, James grew up with Jesus. He was His brother. If there was anyone who could rightfully call Jesus his brother and be proud of it, it was James. He could say, “Yeah, I remember when I was growing up with Jesus”¦.” Isn’t that the way of the world? James is a humble man ““ a bondservant of Christ. No confidence in the flesh but simply confidence in Christ.

In verse 2, James begins with a very strange command: “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials”¦.” Another way of stating that is to consider it pure joy. Perhaps some of his readers thought that James was some guy out of touch with reality living safely in Jerusalem but, surely, James was not unaware of the trials around him. He had witnessed the death of Stephen and the persecution that followed. There is something more behind these words.

The Christian does not have a command to pretend like everything is OK and pretend there is no grief or suffering in the world. Yet, we understand that God stands behind every trial and test. We keep our trust in our heavenly father for we know that he sends us trials to test our faith and we know He is in complete control of every situation.

The joy spoken of is pure because it looks beyond the present circumstances that might cause some real grief even as Christ wept with those who wept. Yet behind that grief is the knowledge that God is working together all things together for the good for His saints. We also understand that the trials are a refining process.

And so, in verse 4, we are instructed to persevere so that our faith will be mature and complete. This is not something that can be rushed. It’s not something that can be produced by simple steps or 40 days of purpose. It’s something that is lived out in the day-to-day life of the believer who trusts and rests in the work of the Cross. It is laying hold of that truth at 5 in the morning when our mind is groggy and we’re in a bad mood. It’s found in these times and not merely our times of ecstasy or things that we enjoy in our worship experiences. True Christianity is lived out on the ground as we mature in the faith.

Another way of saying “mature” is the word “complete”. In the name of Jesus, Peter healed the lame man who sat begging at Solomon’s Colomnade. The account in Acts 3:16 notes that the beggar was given complete healing. The man’s feet and ankles became strong so he could function as a complete human being with no handicap.

And so we’re supposed to mature and James continues naturally by noting: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him”¦.” For God is a generous God. What are we to be asking for? Wisdom. God always grants that request. James is saying: “I know some of you won’t admit it but you need wisdom.” Beloved, you and I need wisdom for wisdom is what we’re after. This is not about being proud. Men and women never want to admit they lack anything but we need wisdom for it is a treasure. Wisdom is not mere knowledge though it surely must include knowledge. Wisdom is the ability to have eyes to see things as the Scriptures see them ““ to have a heart that rightly interprets everything around us and not as the world does.

But, as verse 6, notes many of us are double-minded in the Church. We’re “hedging our bets”. We’ll try on religion as long as it helps us out. We’ll add Christianity and Scriptural principles to our lives to complement the other parts that we have all worked out. We’ll go to God when it suits us and we can’t work things out on our own. James reminds us all that this will not work. You receive nothing from the Lord in such cases. You receive no wisdom because you have not begun with the fear of the Lord. In fact, if Christ is just an option for you then you have not even received salvation for faith requires a recognition that we are utterly lost without Christ as our only hope. In fact, Paul states that, if Christ be not raised then your religion is vain. The Scriptures say that there are two options here: Either Christ is raised or He isn’t. If He is raised then believe upon Him but if He is not raised then the Word of God commands you this in 1 Cor 15:32 ““ “If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE.” If you don’t believe that Christ is raised then you’re wasting time that could be better spent on a Sunday morning.

But don’t fear, double-mindedness does not mean that we never doubt or suffer unbelief. Our faith in Christ need not be perfect ““ that’s the reason we have a Savior to begin with. One of my favorite stories is when the father of the epileptic pleads with Christ to heal his son in Mark 9. Christ asks him if he believes. The father answers with emotion: “Lord I do believe: help me overcome my unbelief!” That is my daily cry. I know that if I hold on to the feet of Christ as a beggar then my faith never needs to be perfect as long as I am always looking to Christ for my hope and salvation. But I can never view that as simply an option. It is the only way or it is no way at all.

And so, throughout the rest of Chapter 1, James encourages us all to trust, to believe, to persevere in believing throughout trials. We need to understand that God brings us these trials to cause us to grow even as a son is disciplined by his father so that he’ll mature as a man. Paul notes that a man, in fact, hates his son if he doesn’t discipline him and reminds us that God’s refinement of us is proof that He loves us. We need to stop being convinced that we’re mature to begin with so we can view the trials and the suffering that He sends our way as a sign that God is not with us or doesn’t care.

In fact, as James notes in verse 13, many will even blame their sin upon God. You see, the sinful human heart will always reason like this: “God is in control of everything, He knew this would tempt me to sin, He allowed the temptation to occur, I sinned, and so it’s God’s fault.”

Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden when God asks them who told them they were naked. Adam says to God: “The woman YOU GAVE ME brought some fruit”¦.” Yeah, that’s right God, I was fine, I had all my ribs and I was asleep when you made her. It’s her fault but, really God, it’s YOUR fault.

This attitude is as old as mankind and it still doesn’t work. We’re responsible for our own sin. We need to look to God for strength to endure temptation and, in fact, that He would make us wise so that we don’t walk into temptations.

Faith that is born from above must persevere to the end because God has born it within us but we must exercise the faith given us. We must be those who are never content to trust in ourselves or consider ourselves too strong for temptation. We must be learning to hate our sin and fleeing from situations that lead to sin. Our hope is to be eternally blessed as our perseverance perfects our faith until, to the end, we reach the goal. The goal isn’t that we’ve ever clung to Christ and never let go of His life.

But James warns us not to deceive ourselves and think that we can just be playing around with sin and that it won’t affect us. Our problem is that we don’t consider, enough, how horrible sin is and we even deceive ourselves that we deserve the occasional sin because we’ve been good for a while. Beloved, you haven’t been good enough for the last minute to deserve heaven. We need to realize that if not for Christ we have no hope. And so, we should not be deceived that we can just start leaving the things that Christ loves and embrace all the things that God hates in this world. If we do so then eventually we prove to everyone that Christ does not abide with us, for if He did, then we would bear His fruit. So James warns us all that we stay away from sin ““ this is something the true believer will always do because true believers fear the things that God tells them to fear.

James reminds us all where this is all flowing from in verse 18: “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”

Everything we’re talking about here is something that we’ve been born to do. We’ve been re-created by God for this work. It is a fruit of the Christian life. It comes naturally from a Christian. It is only because sin yet abides that we are conflicted and sometimes view what ought to be natural as un-natural but a Gospel-transformed life, a born again life, ought to be seeking this type of transformation.

And so it should never be a burden for us to live according to this Word. It should be sweet to us. So I have to ask myself why it is that I don’t view these next verses as sweet sometimes: “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

Over the past couple of weeks, after everything that has been going on in this Church, I prepared this message and then I started studying these verses and knew, right away, that I had come up short. I’ll always come up short but my problem is that I sometimes don’t even pursue these things. I am too quick to speak and too slow to listen. I am quick to anger.

But this is not a recipe for self-improvement. It drove me to Christ to beg of Him for wisdom ““ to beg of humility. You see, I believe in this Christ, I believe that He will give me the very thing that He is demanding of me because I’m united to Him by faith in His finished work. I begged of Christ that I would love this kind of demand on my life and be transformed by it. I need to live this out too but it will only be lived out when it is a fruit of my heart. And so I trust and in my trusting, I strive.

I hope after all that, we can understand better how James is able to sum up everything so far by saying this: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

At first this may seem strange but, when you understand why widows and orphans are mentioned, then you’ll understand this.

There is a regular pattern that jumps out at you in the Old Testament. It got to be such a regular theme as I taught through the Old Testament this year that I sometimes felt like saying to the class: “Remember what we talked about last week? Here’s another Prophet that is reminding the people of the same thing.”

The pattern is this: Men abandon God in their hearts and God gives them over to idolatry. Because men become idol-worshippers they lose the knowledge of God in their hearts. Because they lose the knowledge of God then they lose the value of the men and women that are created in God’s image. Because men and women no longer have any value, they are things to be used and thrown away when they no longer serve any purpose.

Widows and orphans can’t do anything for us. They were the downtrodden and had no political power. They were destitute among all people because they had nobody to care for them in society. You’re not going to become rich or famous our get any political power from them or by helping them. And so, is it any wonder that those who have the least power in our society, the unborn, can be killed wantonly and without mercy. Society views them as a mere collection of cells. There is no image of God to consider. There is nothing sacred that makes them valuable.

But recreated hearts love the things that God loves and true worshippers of God, people who truly have faith in God, have hearts that are tender to the things that God is tender toward. I read into James 2 because this is completely about what true religion is and what the nature of faith is. It demonstrates whether or not you have the kind of faith that just says you love God and trust God on the one hand but, when the flesh and blood people are around you that God loves, do you love them? If you do not, then you do not love God and you have no faith in God no matter how much you say you love God. This convicts my hearts too brothers and sisters.

James, in fact, warns us all that a faith that just says it loves our brothers but then refuses to do anything to help them proves we have no love for them at all and we have no faith in God and we will not be saved. It’s not the helping of them that saves us. It’s faith in Christ that saves us. BUT, LISTEN, faith in Christ transforms human hearts to love the things that God loves! If you don’t love the things that God loves then you DON’T HAVE FAITH!

Three weeks ago, before everything happened in the Church, I was a mess. It wasn’t because of the situation in the Church though that has been painful for me. It was because my wife and children were away. They were only following me by a week but I missed in the strangest ways. I couldn’t sleep well at night because it was quiet. I woke up sad because there was nobody to hug or hold.

Then Sonya and the kids returned on a Thursday night. I had to get up at 5 am the next morning to get to work but at 4 am I heard James crying out from the next room sweet words: “Daddy!” I got out of bed to find James holding his nose from a nose bleed. Blood dripping on the floor. I took him to the bathroom to clean him up. I was exhausted but what if I had merely said to James: “God bless you little brother, be at peace, I’m sorry you have a nose bleed but I really do love you.” What kind of love would it be if I went back to sleep and left a 5 year old to fend for himself and a bloody nose? Would anyone say that I loved my child? It was not a burden at all, beloved, to clean up that blood. I did it with joy for I had ached for my family and now I had an opportunity to clean up my son. I had an opportunity to love him. It was natural for me to do so because a father loves his son. I didn’t become a loving father because I cleaned up the blood on James’ face. No, beloved, I cleaned up the blood because I was a loving father.

And so we should be toward one another ““ everyone in this Church. If it is hard for you to love the other Saints in the congregation then pray for true trust in Christ. You’re not going to become a Christian because you do things for others. You’re not going to buy God’s favor because you sacrifice for Him. You need birth from above my friends. You need faith in Christ that transforms your hearts and your minds so that loving your brothers and sisters, forgiving them their failings, serving them with joy, is something that flows from you like the love that a father has for His son.

For we are born from above to be like our heavenly Father who was willing to come to those who hated Him and said: “Not because you deserve it, not because you love me, not because you’re nice, and not because of anything that you will ever do for me but BECAUSE I WANT TO BLESS YOU, I am sending my Son into the world to die for the sins of the ungodly. I am sending Him to die for the sins of the ungrateful. I am sending Him to die for the downtrodden that can give me nothing in return.”

And the words of that Gospel penetrated our heart. The words of that Gospel overcame our hate and caused us to love God. And as we continue to trust in that Gospel, even as beggars struggling with unbelief, we can be confident that He will perfect us to the very end if we put our trust in Him.

Let us pray.

Some More on Christian Armour

Some More on Christian Armour –

Look closely at the label to see whether the armour you wear is the workmanship of God or not. There are many imitations on the market nowadays. It is Satan’s game, if he cannot keep the sinner satisfied in his naked, lustful state, to coax him into some flimsy thing or other that by itself will neithe do him good nor Satan harm. Perhaps it is church atteendance, or good works, or some self-imposed penance by which he intends to impress both God and man. Do such impersonators believe in God? Oh, they hope they are not infidels. But what their armour is, or how they came by it, and whether it will hold up in an evil day, they never stop to question. Thus thousands perish who supposed they were armed against Satan, death, and judgment – whenall along they were miserable and naked. These people are worse off tn those who have not a rag of pretense to hide their shame from the world’s gaze.

To most of us, a careful copy of a masterpiece looks quite as good as the original. But when the master himself appears, he can tell in an instant which is real and which the imposter. It is the same with that self-righteous hypocrite who is a pretender to faith and hope in God. Here is a man in glitterin array with his weapon in his hand. With the sharp sword of his tongue he keeps both the preacher and the Word of God at arm’s length: ‘Who can say I am not a saint? Name one commandment I do not keep, one duty I neglect!’ he demands indignantly. Many are impressed by his seeming piety. It takes the Spirit’s discerning eye to expose him because Satan has so cleverly tampered with him already. He must first be disarmed and unclothed of his own filthy self-righteousness, because God’s armour can never be made to fit over the suit he fashioned for himself. On the other hand, the soul that stands naked and humble before God is fully aware of the magnitude of his need for help. Which would you say is easier: to set a freshly broken bone, or to attempt the repair of one that has already been falsely mended?

Oh, pious hypocrite, either deny the name of Christ, whose insignia you only pretend to march after, or throw away the phony armour of self-righteousness and come to Him in true repentance. Do not dare to call anything the armour of God which does not gloriy Him and defend you against the power of Satan.

-William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

[Reformers, Puritans, and a Geek]

Categories
Book Reviews

Ayn Rand: The Failure of Mind as God

From my blog

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was the great white hope of atheists determined to commandeer rationality. Her philosophy, “Objectivism,” was unique in its separation from the sensualists and its rejection of relativism. She did, nevertheless, hold man’s “own happiness as the moral purpose of his life,” and thus hearkens to John Stuart Mill.

Rand was influenced by Aristotle, Aquinas, and Nietzsche; from Aristotle she took the rational premise, “A is A.” She vehemently attacked every type of gnosticism and every form of empiricism, refuting the notion of what she called “the primacy of consciousness.” The primacy of consciousness is the cornerstone of postmodern thought: the notion that man’s conscious perception defines reality. Thus in this arena, Rand and Dabney were allies.

Unfortunately, Rand’s Objectivism is an atheistic system. While appearing rational in its propounding of an objective reality independent of consciousness, Objectivism also advocates that no divine consciousness underlies reality. Perception does not define reality, but neither is there a creator, nor a soul. The human mind is the moving force behind man’s potential, and man’s potential as a fully self-actuated individual is the only object of interest to the Objectivist. Nothing that came before is of any interest at all.

Rand rejected religion, as she did postmodern philosophy, as “evil” and “irrational.” She dismissed religion categorically as irrational because its premise is altruistic. Rand likened the alliance she perceived between church and state to “Attila and the Witch Doctor”–perhaps one of her more compelling insights.

The mind of man, according to Objectivism, is simply here, a priori, the most important thing in the universe, and not to be hindered. There is nothing higher and nothing more potentially rational. “Potentially” is the operative term here; Rand considered virtually everyone outside of her small coterie of followers to be irrational.

Rand was untroubled by any considerations of “where it all came from.” In an interview with Bill Moyers, Moyers asked Rand whether she was not impressed with all the things of creation around her. Her candid response: “Not really, no.” That which did not originate within her mind was unworthy of the further exercise of her mind.

Although Rand faulted Hobbes, her philosophy, as did his, held self-interest to be the bonding force of civilization. Self-interest was the greatest virtue in the Objectivist scheme, and altruism the greatest evil. She differed from Hobbes largely because of her “Benevolent Universe” world view. By what algorithm she reconciled benevolence with a contempt for altruism is unclear. As for the “why” behind the benevolent universe, she would not be accountable. It simply was. Self-existence implies self-existent properties.

Rand’s novels depict heroic humans with godlike brilliance of achievement; they are, in fact, creators. Titanic battles take place between creators and destroyers. Meekness was not the key to the Objectivist kingdom.

Rand, who emigrated from Bolshevik Russia, held strong anti-Communist convictions. The prevailing theme in her novels, as well her nonfiction, is the individual pitted against the collective. While rightly vilifying the unthinking and parasitic collective, Rand wrongly deified the mind. Sadly, she failed to apprehend atheism as the fatal essence of Communism.

Unfortunately, Rand’s scenarios are stage-set after a staunch Calvinist work ethic; but rather than accountability to God for one’s moral parameters, there is accountability only to the “rational self-interest” of her creator-heroes. Nor do her heroes lean toward a Calvinist chastity ethic. And they occasionally find it justifiable to kill someone who gets in their way.

An affair with her protégé undid Rand’s moral credibility, and with it, the credibility of Objectivism as a moral system sustained in self-will. Atheism lost a paragon in which to billet its cause.

Rand was right: Reality is objective. It is not subject to change according to men’s whims or perceptions. But Rand was wrong: Rational self-interest is unavailable to the perception of the natural man. The natural man’s self-interest cannot be rational because the natural man is not rational. He does not seek God because he believes he can live by his own reasoned righteousness. Man’s only true rational self-interest lies in his salvation from sin through belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, Objectivism is a philosophy of self-will, self-interest, and self-undoing.

Ayn Rand was buried, at her own request, wearing her wedding ring, a photograph of her husband placed in her hands.