Fight Fear With Faith

Written by

Fight Fear With Faith

John 6:5-21

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: true faith in Jesus will defeat every fear we face

Bill and Vonette Bright were hard at work on the UCLA campus, seeking to win students to faith in Christ. But results were mediocre, and their supporters feared for the future of this ministry. Then, in 1951, a 24-hour prayer chain for UCLA was started in Los Angeles churches. The day was divided into 96 15-minute periods, with people praying around the clock for the students on the campus.

Following the inauguration of this prayer movement, in the first evangelistic meeting at a particular sorority house, over half the women present indicated they wanted to know Jesus Christ personally. Evangelistic meetings followed with various fraternities, sororities and athletic teams, with similar responses. Hundreds of students came to saving faith in the Lord Jesus, including the most outstanding student leaders on the campus. And Campus Crusade for Christ was born.

Are you afraid for your future? Are your results mediocre? Are your dreams stagnant? Is your purpose dim? Are your finances low? Is your health poor? You may be faced with overwhelming problems, but it’s always too soon to give up. If Jesus can use a small boy’s lunch to feed 5,000 families, then walk on a stormy sea to rescue terrified fishermen, he can help you today. But we must do what the Brights did—we must go to Jesus in faith. Not to earn his power, but to receive it.

“Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered, and there was nobody there.” Let’s learn how to answer the fear knocking at your door today.

Refuse to be discouraged (vs. 5-7)

As this week’s miracle begins, we find Jesus on the “far shore” of the Sea of Galilee (John 6:1) at “a town called Bethsaida” (Luke 9:10). This town was situated on the northeastern tip of the Sea of Galilee, near the fords of the Jordan (Barclay 201). It was known as Bethsaida Julius, to distinguish it from Bethsaida of Galilee to the west.

Skeptics have claimed a contradiction between Luke 9.10, which places this miracle at Bethsaida, and Mark 6.45, which records that after this miracle “Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida.” But Mark’s account refers to the western Bethsaida of Galilee, not the Bethsaida Julius which was the location of our story; cf. Robertson 96, Bruce 746, Barclay 201.

It was springtime, with the Passover near (John 6.4). A considerable time has elapsed since the close of John 5, from a month (if the “feast” of John 5.1 was Purim) to more likely a year (if the “feast” was the previous Passover). Jesus has been extremely busy in his public ministry, and has come under much attack from the authorities (cf. 7.1, “Jesus went around Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life”).

And so our Lord wanted time alone with his disciples for teaching and rest. However, the crowds did not cooperate: “a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick” (v. 2). So he withdrew to this remote location. But they could follow him around the shore of the Sea, so that “Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him” (v. 5).

They were 5,000 men in number (v. 10), not including their families (Matthew 14.21: “The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children”). Philip’s estimate of the money required to feed them (v. 7) would indicate that as many as 10,000 were present in total (Bruce 747).

With their arrival, the only miracle (except the Resurrection) to be recorded in all four Gospels began. Jesus spent the day with this persistent crowd, “teaching them many things” (Mark 6.34). More specifically, he “welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing” (Luke 9.11).

Now the hour was late, the location remote. The crowd has been with Jesus all day, with no food or supplies. Jesus’ disciples urged him to send them away to find their own food (Matthew 14.15, Mark 6.35-36, Luke 9.12). But he was unwilling to feed spiritual hunger while ignoring the physical. And he saw in the need of the multitude a spiritual opportunity for one particular disciple.

So Jesus said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” (v. 5). Did he ask Philip for help because he was from Bethsaida? No, for Andrew and Peter were from this town as well (John 1.44). Did he need his help? No: “He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do” (v.6). He knew already how to meet this need. But Philip did not.

Here was an opportunity for faith. A chance to believe that the One who had turned water to wine could feed this crowd as well. An opportunity to trust the Healer of the nobleman’s son and the Bethesda paralytic. Philip could have asked Jesus what he wanted done; he could have found the resources at hand and delivered them to his Master; at the very least he could have prayed.

Instead, he gave up: “Philip answered him, ‘Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!'” (v. 7). In the Greek, 200 denarii. A denarius was a Roman coin worth 18 cents (Rienecker 231), the usual pay for a day’s labor (Robertson 98); 200 would be payment for eight months of work. Even then, the people of the crowd would have only “a bite” (a detail only John supplies).

If Philip had been the only follower of Jesus present, the story would likely have ended here, with the words of a discouraged disciple. Disheartened by a need greater than he could meet, frustrated by a request he could not possibly honor, Philip responded with fear rather than faith. He was not the last.

The devil was holding a garage sale. All his tools were displayed, with prices attached: greed, bitterness, lust, gluttony, and the rest. Off to the side was an unmarked tool, worn more than any other, its price the highest of any tool. A visitor asked the purpose of this device, and the devil replied, “That’s discouragement. It’s worth more than any other tool I own because it works on nearly every human, and no one knows it is mine.”

You may feel that the Lord, or the crowd, wants more than you can give. You don’t have enough time, or energy, or money, or strength to meet your needs. But Jesus does. Heed Winston Churchill’s most famous speech: “Never give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never. Never. Never. Never.” Refuse to be discouraged. Fight fear with faith.

Bring Jesus all you have (vs. 8-13)

If Philip stands for discouragement, Andrew stands for faith. Already he had brought his brother Simon to Jesus (John 1.40-42). Now he continues his “invitational evangelism” ministry by finding and bringing to Jesus a small boy—and his even smaller lunch (v. 8).

Andrew had more faith than Philip, but not by much: “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (v. 9). “Boy” translates the Greek for a very small or young “lad” (Rienecker 231). His mother had made him a lunch which contained “barley,” an inferior kind of bread (Robertson 98) much despised by the cultured (cf. Ezekiel 13.19). His barley was in “loaves,” not the bread loaves we use but round, flat sheets of bread. A fried tortilla is probably the closest our food comes to the boy’s, though I have eaten “flatbread” like his in Israel.

With his flatbread were “two fishes,” small, sardine-like fish caught by the thousands out of the Sea of Galilee. They were salted and used as a kind of topping for the bread; Morris calls them a “tidbit” (344). It was not much, but it was all the boy had. And he gave it—all of it—to Jesus.

So we find in Andrew the faith to bring the boy to Jesus, and in the boy the faith to give all he has. Now we find the disciples acting in faith as well: “Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down'” (v. 10a). The disciples were to arrange the gigantic crowd for a meal to come, “in groups of hundreds and fifties” (Mark 6.40). Jesus had them so arranged so that the stronger would not prevent the weaker from receiving the food he would give (Bruce 748). But he asked his disciples to do the work.

Here we find the divine-human partnership on display again. The One who could feed this crowd with a small boy’s tiny lunch could certainly have organized the ones he would feed. But the disciples could do this. And so he asked them to step out by faith, so he could respond in power. They were to ask a hungry crowd of some 10,000 to organize for a lunch which did not exist. They were to face the questions and skepticism of an unruly mass of people. They were to step out in faith, trusting that Jesus would follow.

And the crowd had to exhibit similar faith. They were to “sit down,” “fall back” or “lie down” in the Greek. This was the position for a feast, reclining at table. Jesus would give them more than they could hold in their hands. This would not be a “fast food” meal, but a feast. And somehow they believed it would be so: “There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them” (v. 10b).

Andrew could refuse to bring the boy he found, or take him to Jesus. The boy could hold back his lunch, or give it. The disciples could dismiss the crowd, or organize them. The crowd could refuse in skepticism, or recline in faith. If any had not responded with obedience, Jesus could not have performed his miracle.

But all did. With this result: “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish” (v. 11). He “gave thanks,” the usual Jewish practice before eating a meal (cf. Deuteronomy 8.10: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you”).

The Synoptics say that Jesus “blessed” the food (Matthew 14.19, Mark 6.41, Luke 9.16). (Here we find the Christian custom of “returning thanks.” We do not “say the blessing”—we ask for it from God.) Jesus spoke the traditional words of a Jewish mealtime prayer: “Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, who causes to come forth bread from the earth” (cf. Barclay 203). We are to respond in kind for every blessing from God: “Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5.20).

Once he gave thanks, Jesus then “distributed to those who were seated” through his disciples. When was the food actually multiplied? For the sake of efficient distribution, probably as it was given out. And so Jesus’ faith had to become that of his disciples, as they continued his miracle by distributing it to the crowd. Imagine their delight and surprise as the tiny lunch continued to grow until those who were seated had “as much as they wanted” (v. 11). The Greek is the imperfect active tense—they were continually fed until they wanted no more, until “they had all had enough to eat” (v. 12a).

Note that Jesus did not give them the delicacies they might have wanted, but the food they needed. The barley and fish spread were still what they were, but they were enough to fill every person. In fact, Jesus gave the crowd far more food than it was accustomed to receiving, as the typical first-century peasant seldom had enough food to eat all he wanted. Jesus always meets our needs according to his riches in glory (Philippians 4.19). Not always our wants, but always our needs.

And the miracle was not finished: “he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten” (vs. 12-13). The “pieces that are left over” were the peah, food left behind for those who had served the meal (Robertson 99, Barclay 203), something like a waiter’s tip today.

These “pieces” were not fragments left from the crowd’s meal, but the pieces of bread and fish broken by Jesus and distributed (Robertson 99). Jesus insisted that “nothing be wasted” of God’s supply. To this day the Jews possess a deep reverence for bread as the gift of God. When traveling in Israel, my tour groups are always warned not to toss bread to the birds on the ground or the fish in the Sea of Galilee, for this would be a sacrilege.

So the disciples “gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten” (v. 13). Their “baskets” were “stout wicker baskets,” not the soft and frail ones used earlier for the feeding of the 4,000 (Mark 8.8; Robertson 100). All four Gospels record these baskets as kophinoi (we get “coffin” from this word). These would be the baskets carried by itinerants as they traveled a great distance on foot. We would use backpacks for the same purpose today.

And the tiny lunch with which Jesus began became enough to feed his disciples as well, with more in abundance. The “baskets” they used were large enough that Paul could escape from Damascus in one (Acts 9.25; Hovey 149). And they were “filled” with food, much more than a man could consume in one meal. Jesus met their needs with his abundance. He always does.

Where do you need such provision in your life today? To receive his best, give him yours. Bring Jesus all you have. Surrender your abilities and ambitions, your talents and gifts, your time and resources. Make him Lord of your days and goals, plans and dreams. “Offer your body as a living sacrifice” to God (Romans 12.1). As every part of the lamb was laid on the altar, give every dimension of your life to Jesus as your Master.

Refuse to divide your life into the “sacred” and the “secular.” Step out of the compartments which separate Sunday from Monday, religion from “real life,” faith from practice. Give Jesus all you have. It may not seem like much, but if it is your best, God will do his best with it.

So bring others to Jesus, as Andrew brought the boy. Bring your resources and talents, as the boy brought his lunch. Follow Jesus’ leading in your life by faith, as did the disciples and even the crowd. Recline at your table when there is nothing to eat. For a feast is coming.

Trust the grace you cannot earn (vs. 14-15)

If you saw a person do such a miracle, how would you feel about him? Here was the crowd’s response: “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world'” (John 6.14). Why this reaction?

The Jews were taught to pray daily that the Messiah would come soon, even that day. Jewish girls learned to pray each night that they might be the mother of the Messiah. The people expected a political leader who would overthrow the hated Romans and reestablish the nation of Israel to her place of prominence in the Kingdom of God. Now here was one who could do miracles no man had ever accomplished before. Perhaps he would be the king and ruler they longed to see. John the Baptist had asked Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11.3). Now the crowds begin to believe that they have the answer.

They thought of the coming Messiah as “the Prophet.” Moses had promised the people, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18.15). Peter quoted this prophesy as fulfilled by Jesus (Acts 3.22), as did Stephen (Acts 7.37). The Jews came to identify this coming Prophet with the Messiah, as when they asked John the Baptist, “Are you the Prophet?” (John 1.21). They now believe this Prophet-Messiah to be in their midst; “the people are on the tiptoe of expectation and believe that Jesus is the political Messiah of Pharisaic hope” (Robertson 100).

To their minds, such a Messiah must be the king of Israel. He must destroy the Roman throne and replace it with his own. And the people must join in his revolt. But our Lord knew what they were about: “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (v. 15). They “intended to come”—the leaders have probably already started their movement (Robertson 100). They plan to “seize him” (the literal Greek), a violent word of force (Rienecker 232).

They would force him to the throne in place of the hated Romans. They thought they had such power over the One who had just performed a mighty miracle in their midst. They believed they could control the God who turns water into wine, heals sickness and paralysis and hunger, the One who would soon walk on stormy waters and later raise the dead.

The Lord was blunt: “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill” (Psalm 2.6). This King needs no help in ascending to his throne.

So we smile at the futility of their agenda. But then we realize it can be ours as well. Have you ever given to God in the unstated, perhaps unconscious belief that your service to him obligated his to you? If we teach a class, or sing in the choir, or lead a committee, or give financially, or write curriculum or preach sermons, perhaps God will bless us in return. If we have enough faith in God, perhaps our trust can earn his help. We don’t think out loud in these ways, but who has not considered them in his or her heart?

Noted pastor and preacher R. A. Torrey writes a chapter in his classic The Power of Prayer under the title, “Praying in the Name of Jesus Christ.” Here he relates this story: “In Melbourne, Australia, as I went on the platform one day at the business men’s meeting, a note was put in my hands. This note read:

‘Dear Dr. Torrey:

‘I am in great perplexity. I have been praying for a long time for something that I am confident is according to God’s will, but I do not get it. I have been a member of the Presbyterian Church for thirty years, and have tried to be a consistent one all the time. I have been Superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty-five years, and an elder in the church for twenty years; and yet God does not answer my prayer and I cannot understand it. Can you explain it to me?'”

Dr. Torrey relates his answer: “I took the note with me on to the platform and read it and said, ‘It is perfectly easy to explain. This man thinks that because he has been a consistent church member for thirty years, a faithful Sunday school superintendent for twenty-five years, and an elder in the church for twenty years, that God is under obligation to answer his prayer. He is really praying in his own name, and God will not hear our prayers when we approach Him in that way. We must, if we would have God answer our prayers, give up any thought that we have any claims upon God. Not one of us deserves anything from God. If we got what we deserved, every last one of us would spend eternity in hell. But Jesus Christ has great claims on God, and we should go to God in our prayers not on the ground of any goodness in ourselves, but on the ground of Jesus Christ’s claims.'”

Jesus would not surrender his agenda to theirs: he “withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (v. 15b) to pray (Mark 6.46; cf. Matthew 14.23). “Again” refers back to v. 3, “Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples” (Hovey 150). The crowds kept our Lord from his intended time of solitude with his Father, but only temporarily. He met their need, and then his own. He returned to the Lord of grace, to seek his grace for his own heart and soul.

What fear is knocking at your heart’s door today? Do not answer it with your own abilities, or finances, or status. Or with your Sunday school service, or religious activities, or spiritual commitments. Go to the God of grace. Ask him to help you, not because you have earned his support but because he wants to give it. Not out of your merit, but in your need. Appeal not to his justice but to his love. When you do, you will fight fear with faith. And faith will win.

Call to the one calling you (vs. 16-21)

Fear came knocking one last time on this remarkable day. “When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum” (vs. 16-17a). Jesus had sent them to Bethsaida of Galilee (Mark 6.45), but they set sail for Capernaum instead. Perhaps his disciples disobeyed him, but more likely, they intended to land at Capernaum and walk the distance to Bethsaida (Bruce 750).

“By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them” (v. 17b). The literal Greek paints a more graphic picture: “darkness now had come and not yet had come to them Jesus.” We sense the foreboding as it builds. It was night, and the disciples were alone in their boat on the open water. Night time is always more dangerous on the Sea of Galilee. A natural wind tunnel northwest of the Sea amplifies storms and winds as they sweep from west to east, so that sudden storms are frequent on the water. When night comes, the air cools and falls even more rapidly through this canyon to the Sea, 600 feet below sea level (Tenney 73). Fishermen would not go to sea at night unless the need was great, for the risk was equally large.

Now their worst fears were realized: “A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough” (v. 18). “Grew rough” translates “were roused,” meaning to become awakened or aroused thoroughly. Matthew adds that their boat was “tortured” by the waves (Matthew 14.24, literal translation).

The disciples had no choice but to continue trying to make land. They “had rowed three or three and a half miles” (v. 19a), halfway across the Sea (Rienecker 232). It was the fourth watch of the night, between three and six in the morning (Matthew 14.25), and they have been hard at work all night. They were in the middle of the water, fighting a deadly storm with failing strength. Then things appeared to get much worse: “they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified” (v. 19b).

Why? They thought Jesus was an apparition, a ghost (Mark 6.49, Matthew 14.26). First-century superstitious sailors believed that when they were about to drown, the ghosts of sailors who had already died on that part of the water would appear. The disciples were weary and discouraged, but now they became frightened for their very lives. How often have you seen a person walking on water to you? How would you feel if you were literally in their boat?

His words to their fear are his words to yours: “It is I; don’t be afraid” (v. 20). “It is I” translate the literal words, “I am.” This is God’s name for himself (Exodus 3.14), a name so holy that no Jew would dare speak it. The scribes who copied Scripture placed the vowels for a different name (Adonai) below the consonants for this name (YHWH), to remind their readers that they were not to pronounce this most sacred of all words. But here a Galilean peasant carpenter not only spoke this name, he spoke it of himself.

As well he should: “[God] alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea” (Job 9.8). Only the One who created these seas could walk on them. Now he commands, “Don’t be afraid,” literally “stop fearing.” In his presence, all fear must flee.

And so, “they were willing to take him into the boat” (v. 21a). Terrified, exhausted sailors welcomed their Master into their midst. With this result: “immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading” (v. 21b). When Jesus boarded their boat they had been miles from shore (Mark 6.47), but the instant he joined them, he brought them safely home. As he will us, one day.

In the darkness, as their fear mounted, the disciples could not see Jesus, but he could see them. Darkness hid him from them, but not them from him. As he drew near, their fear kept them from recognizing him. But he walked across a storming sea to stand with his frightened followers. As he walks the distance from heaven to earth, from eternity to time, to stand beside us today.

When fear knocks, how does faith answer? By refusing to be discouraged, no matter how overwhelming the need appears to be. By giving Jesus our lives and best gifts, and trusting him to use them in meeting our need however he will. By depending on his grace, not our merit. And by calling out to the One who is already calling to us. When fear knocks and this faith answers, faith wins. Every time.

Years ago, a friend gave me a page copied out of a devotional book he had been reading. I don’t know the name of the book, but have kept the story with gratitude. It appeared in the Congressional Record and tells of a 19-year-old G.I. who was awarded a medal for bringing in a large group of Japanese prisoners, single-handed, during World War II. Here is his account:

“I want someone to know that I don’t deserve that medal. It happened this way. I was captured by the Japanese, with five of my pals. We were marched through the jungle with bayonets at our backs. I had to see my comrades one by one killed and mutilated. I said the 23rd Psalm. I said the Lord’s Prayer. Die I must, but I determined not to let my captors see my fear. Trembling from head to foot, marching in mud up to my ankles, with a bayonet sticking in my back, I began to whistle the way I used to when I was a small boy, and had to go through a dark street. So I whistled, ‘We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; He chastens and hastens His will to make known; the wicked oppressing cease then from distressing; sing praises to His name, He forgets not His own.’

“Suddenly I became aware that someone had joined me in my whistling—it was my Japanese captor! He, too, was whistling the hymn. Soon I felt his gun fall back into place. He walked beside me then, and suddenly I jumped when, in perfect English, he said to me, ‘I never cease to wonder at the magnificence of Christian hymns.’ And a few minutes talk revealed that the Japanese soldier had learned English in a mission school to which I had contributed in my Sunday school days. The Japanese boy spoke of war and how the Japanese Christians hated it. We both agreed on the power of Christianity, and what would happen if people really dared to live it; and then we began to talk of our families and our homes. Finally, at the suggestion of the Japanese, we knelt in the mud and prayed for suffering humanity around the world, and for ‘His peace that passeth understanding’ among all men on earth.

“When we arose, he asked me if I could take him back as a prisoner to the American headquarters. He said that it was the only way that he could live up to his Christianity, and thus help Japan to become a Christian nation; and on the way back he found in various foxholes other Japanese Christians, and they too joined me. I shall never forget the hope and joy that came into their eyes as my friend unfolded to them, one by one, how we found each other, and why and where they were being taken. All the way back we talked of the Christian religion. When we neared camp, by mutual agreement they put on poker-faces and somber looks, and I, gun in hand, marched them into camp. So you see I don’t deserve a medal for the most wonderful experience of my life.”

What tune are you whistling today?

Final Preparations

Written by

Final Preparations

Joshua 5:1-12

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: We can win spiritual battles only when we are prepared spiritually.

Goal: Identify disciplines by which we are prepared for spiritual warfare today.

In John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character is appropriately named Christian. Early in his pilgrimage, Christian arrives at the House Beautiful, where he is taken to the spiritual “armory.” Here “he saw all kinds of equipment for soldiers in the holy war: swords, shields, helmets, breastplates, effectual prayer, and shoes that would never wear out.” He was told that “the Ruler of the hill had enough of this equipment to furnish every person who desired to resist evil in his progress to the promised land. No matter how great the number who needed such equipment, there was enough for all.”

That’s good news, for every Christian needs this equipment to win the spiritual battle which comprises life on this fallen planet. The warfare for which Joshua and his people would prepare in this week’s text was no less real than the spiritual war your class will face on Monday. While the Israelites faced armies which knew of their presence and wanted to destroy them, our enemy is just as real, and even more deadly than theirs.

Satan is still a roaring lion, seeking to devour us (1 Pt 5:8). If you knew an enemy were crouching, about to attack you as you read these words, would you want to be ready? What would you need to be prepared? The requirements God made of his people in Joshua 5 made no sense in military terms, but they were essential to spiritual victory. They still are.

Trust your body to his purpose (vs. 1-9)

Our text begins with good news: the Amorites and Canaanites in the Promised Land have heard about the miracle of the Jordan, and “their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites” (v. 1). Now is the perfect time to attack. Any military commander would seize such an advantage. In warfare, it is always best to strike first and immobilize the enemy.

So the Lord gave Joshua and his people a command to do exactly the opposite. God knew that military strength and human resolve would never be enough to defeat the enemies of his people. They must stay yielded to him in body, soul, and spirit. He began their final preparations with the physical surrender represented by the ancient rite of circumcision (vs. 2-3).

Circumcision was practiced by a variety of nations across the world. In biblical times it was a custom in Moab, Ammon, and Edom as well as Israel. Egyptians performed the rite either at puberty or in preparation for marriage. Scholars suggest several reasons for the widespread practice: sanitation, a tribal mark, and a kind of blood sacrifice which sealed a religious covenant.

Even though the events of our text occurred during the Bronze Age, when bronze implements were common, the Lord directed his people to use flint knives. In so doing, they preserved ancient customs and employed a safer medical procedure (cf. NavPress p. 58). But such an action would immobilize the fighting men of the army and render them subject to attack from their enemies.

So why would the Lord require such strange obedience?

Circumcision began as a covenant between God and Abraham, and was required of all his male descendants (Genesis 17:10-14). The practice served as a symbol for spiritual purity, so that sinful lips were considered “uncircumcised” (Exodus 6:12), as were forbidden fruit (Leviticus 19:23) and disobedient ears (Jeremiah 6:10). Foreigners were “uncircumcised in heart and flesh” and would thus “desecrate” God’s temple (Ezekiel 44:7, 9).

The “hearts” of the people must be circumcised (Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 10:16), an action God must initiate: “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live” (Deuteronomy 30.6). We must participate in this discipline as well: “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it” (Jeremiah 4.4).

This rite was never a guarantee of relationship with God. Rather, it indicated the faith upon which such a relationship is based (Romans 4:9-12). For Christians, baptism is our circumcision (Colossians 2:11-15), the sign that we have entered into God’s covenant community. Today circumcision is performed for medical or family reasons, not spiritual. For believers, “circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Romans 2.29). Paul summarized: “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts” (1 Corinthians 7.19; cf. Galatians 5.6).

Jewish males were to be circumcised when they were eight days old. However, none in Joshua’s army had been so initiated into the covenant community. God would not allow this ceremony while the disobedient generation wandered in the wilderness. They were no longer part of his covenant nation. But now their descendants had proven their faith in God at the Jordan, positioning themselves to receive God’s covenant of grace. Their circumcision sealed the nation’s renewed relationship with their Lord.

The men remained at camp until they were healed physically (v. 8). Then God made a strange statement: “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” (v. 9). Perhaps the circumcised Egyptians saw their previously uncircumcised former slaves as reproachable. God’s words may also be interpreted as indicating that the Jewish nation would have been destroyed by God if they had refused this act of sacrificial faith, leading to reproach by the Egyptians.

Or this statement by the Lord may be intended to recall the reproach which began in Egypt, as the people eventually forsook the Lord and were forced into the wilderness. The crossing of the Jordan now symbolized their death and rebirth, and their circumcision constituted them as the children of God.

In their circumcision, the Jewish people surrendered themselves physically to God. They chose to trust him for military protection, yielding themselves to an act which rendered them defenseless against their enemies. They accepted significant physical pain as a way of committing themselves to their God. In the same way, our Lord calls his people today to physical surrender as a means to spiritual victory. Our bodies must be yielded to God as “living sacrifices” before we can know his “good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1, 2). Only when we belong fully to God can he use us fully.

Is your body yielded to the Father? Does he have control of that which you consume? The ways you use your physical resources? Your appearance and public witness? Such surrender always comes at a price. But Jim Elliott, the martyred missionary, was right: he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Trust your future to his providence (v. 10)

From physical sacrifice, the Lord next called his people to spiritual sacrifice. For the first time in a generation, they would observe their most holy tradition: the Passover.

Israel crossed the Jordan on the 10th day of the month Abib, the first month in the Jewish calendar. On that very day, 40 years earlier, the people had selected their first Passover lambs (Ex 12:1-5; cf. NavPress 60). On the 11th of Abib the men were circumcised, and rested until the 14th. Then came the day of Passover, 14th Abib.

As you will recall, this was the climactic event which created the Jewish nation. God’s death angel “passed over” the Jewish households who had painted the blood of a sacrificial lamb over their doorposts. By this act, the Lord freed his people from Pharaoh and began their history as a people. The Passover feast would forever be observed for seven days, concluding with the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23.5-6).

But the disobedient generation failed to observe this celebration, or were refused by God. Now, for the first time since Egypt, God’s people would again remember his Passover grace. On twilight of the 14th day of Abib, the lamb was slaughtered and eaten in accordance with Passover regulations (Exodus 12.5-8). Their celebration marked the fact that they were once again the covenant people of God.

The circumcision ritual just performed made personal the people’s commitment to God; this Passover observance made the same commitment on a communal level. The entire nation could participate in Passover on a level only males could share in circumcision. In so doing, the nation remembered all God had done for them, and claimed his promises for all he would do in leading them to their Promised Land. They renewed their spiritual commitment to their Creator and Redeemer.

Jesus is now “our Passover lamb” sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5.7). He was “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13.8). The Lord’s Supper now represents Passover for the followers of Jesus, as we remember his death on our behalf. One day we will celebrate this Supper with the Lord Jesus himself (Revelation 19.9), taking bread and cup from crucified hands. In the meanwhile, we use the Supper as they used the Passover meal: to look back so we can look forward.

Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard was right: “We live life forward, but only understand it backward.” When we remember all God has done to prove his love for us, we are encouraged to trust him for the future we cannot see. And we prepare spiritually to trust him as he leads us into that future by faith.

Before we can walk fully in the will of God, we must believe this will to be for our best. God needs a “blank check” from us. He will not reveal his purpose as an option for our consideration, but a command for our obedience. Only when we yield ourselves spiritually to him can we follow him to victory. When you cannot see what lies ahead, trust the One who can. Has he failed you yet?

Trust your needs to his provision (vs. 11-12)

The people faced one last preparation before they could take the land promised them by their Lord. They have surrendered their bodies as living sacrifices; they have remembered God’s grace so they could trust his providence. Now they must learn to yield their needs to his provision. They would enter a land which would resist them at every turn. Only when they believed that God would meet their daily needs, could they step into this war with faithful confidence.

“Manna” was provided by God for his people during their wilderness wanderings (Exodus 16.13-36). This frost-like substance met their physical needs during those years when they had no means of material sustenance. The wilderness through which they traveled was and is a dry, arid environment which could never have supported the millions who comprised the nation.

Why did the manna stop now?

The day after their first Passover in a generation, they ate grain from the land rather than manna from heaven, and the manna stopped. The spiritual lesson of the manna was simple: “to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3). Now they were in that position addressed by Moses before his death: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you” (Deuteronomy 8:10). Now they would learn to trust God to meet their needs from the land which was theirs.

Imagine living each day by sustenance provided miraculously from God for that day. You cannot store ahead for the future (Ex 16.20), except as the Lord directs (v. 23). You can own no guaranteed investments, have no promised salary and benefits, receive no assured monetary support. Your only provision is manna from heaven. Actually, this is your exact position today. Not one of us is promised tomorrow. No economy is immune from catastrophe, no job beyond crisis, no investments safe from loss. In a very real sense we all live on manna from the hand of God. Whether this provision comes from the earth below or the heavens above, all we have is the gift of our Father.

And our Father promises that he will continue to meet our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). We can do all things through the One who sustains and strengths us (v. 13). We can be content in every circumstance, confident of his provision (vs. 11-12).

Sometimes God heals us medically, and sometimes miraculously. But both come from our Great Physician. Sometimes God provides for our financial needs through our work, and sometimes by the grace of others. But both are his gifts to us. Sometimes God guides us through our reason and study, and sometimes through providential events. But both are his hand in our lives. Sometimes we live on grain grown from the earth, and sometimes on manna fallen from the skies. But both are his grace.

To step into the spiritual battle which is before you this day, decide now that you will trust the provision of your General and Father. Know that he will meet your every need as you walk in his will. Because he will.

Conclusion

When did you last experience a true victory in your spiritual life? A lost soul won to faith in Christ, a discouraged believer brought back to trust in the Father, temptation defeated, God glorified? When last did the Holy Spirit use and empower you in a life-transforming way? It was because you made the preparations required of Joshua’s people in this study’s text. When we do not see such victory, it is because we have not made such preparations. God can only bestow his gifts to those in position to receive them.

This study requires sacrifice and consistent commitment of us. But the favor and power of God are worth all they cost us in preparation. C. S. Lewis was right: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

We can have the slum or the sea. The choice is ours.

Find the Rainbow in Every Storm

Written by

Topical Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31

These are challenging times. The stock market has been more volatile than in years. Winter weather alerts were extended to twenty-eight states. A new storm system caused 185 accidents last Monday in Iowa; winter weather has pummeled much of the Northeast.

The New England Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski’s home was burglarized while he was away at the Super Bowl. Clearly, no one is immune from calamity today.

A friend once sent me this encouraging note:

If you have the inner strength to:

  • Start the day without caffeine
  • Be cheerful and ignore aches and pains
  • Resist complaining about your troubles
  • Understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time
  • Overlook the times when loved ones take things out on you
  • Take criticism and blame without resentment
  • Face the world without lies and deceit
  • And conquer tension without medication . . .
  • Then you are most likely the family dog.

I was in a doctor’s office recently and found this note posted to his receptionist’s desk: “Lord, so far I have been good. I haven’t complained about anything or griped at anyone. I haven’t lied, cheated, or stolen. I haven’t had bad thoughts, or been guilty of greed, pride, or anger. But in a moment, I’m going to get out of bed, Lord, and I’m going to need all the help I can get.” That’s my prayer as well.

You and I are fallen people living in a fallen world. Success is not the avoidance of problems but learning how to redeem them. It is not a race run without stumbling, but a race completed by those who get up when they fall down. A famous CEO said on the news, “Leadership is solving problems—nothing else.” Faith is not the absence of fear—it is the decision to act when we’re afraid. It is learning to find the rainbow at the end of the storm.

Does a flood have you running for cover today? Are you camped out on an ark, trying to survive? Swimming in a rainstorm that won’t end? Why did this happen to you? How could God be loving and allow this, or even cause it? What do you do now?

We’re not the first to ask our questions, of course. But someone was. Let’s ask him for help today.

Meet Noah

Our story picks up from last week: “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (v. 8). “Favor” is the Old Testament’s word for “grace,” God’s love for his creation. He wanted to give this “favor” to all of mankind, but they would not accept his mercy. As we will soon see, they rejected every opportunity for salvation.

On the other hand, Noah positioned himself to receive such grace. Note that Noah “found” this favor—he did not earn it. Here’s how he “found” it: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (v. 9). His righteousness did not earn God’s favor, but it put Noah in position to receive what God wanted to give. He was by no means a perfect man—remember his drunkenness in Genesis 9. But he responded to God’s grace, for himself and his family. So can we.

Noah built his Ark for a hundred years in the face of ridicule and rejection: God “did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others” (2 Peter 2:5). Across these hundred years Noah did all he could to warn others. But everyone excepting his own family rejected his message and the grace of God.

And so, a flood obliterated all human life on the planet, except for Noah’s family, and every living organism (presumably excepting fish, which are not mentioned). This is the record Genesis has left us.

Did the Flood really happen?

You remember hearing about Noah’s Ark when you were a child. Colorful pictures of a wooden boat with a tent-like roof, smiling animals parading two-by-two, an elderly, benevolent grandfather watching over the scene with his family. The stuff of nursery walls and church preschool rooms. A nice children’s story.

Is there a fact behind the fable? A real, universal flood? A real ark? I took seven pages of notes on this subject in preparation for today’s message. To summarize them:

There are fossil deposits around the world which seem to indicate a catastrophic event which caused massive, nearly instantaneous death, probably by flooding. Skeletons have been found in fissures located in hills 140 to 300 feet in height, cemented by calcite which must have been deposited under water.

Historians have found 213 different flood traditions in cultures from all over the world. While there are marked differences in the details, all record a universal flood of cataclysmic proportions.

Noah’s Ark has been found to utilize exactly the right proportions for surviving such an event. The 70,000 individual animals and species on board would comprise no more than 50 percent of the available space, leaving room for people, food, and provisions.

And the Flood was clearly divine in origin and end: “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth” (Genesis 6:7); “God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth and the waters receded” (Genesis 8:1).

If God created and ended the Flood, could he not superintend all that transpired in connection with it? Could he not transport the animals, keep them alive, and restore their habitats when they disembarked? Could he not return the earth to its antediluvian function so as to further his creative purpose for the Flood’s survivors?

Why the Flood?

A second, more difficult issue is raised by the Flood: how could a God of love do this to his creation? Why would a God who is love (1 John 4:8) send the Flood which would wipe out nearly all of humanity? And why would he include the rest of his creation, animals and life forms which are obviously innocent of sin?

Consider these facts.

One: humanity was given an opportunity to accept his grace.

Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” to the world for the century he spent building the Ark.

Two: death is inevitable for sinners, whether it comes “naturally” or by divine intervention.

God’s word is blunt: “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Death comes to all who sin, for “the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Three: The Flood is not the only time in the Bible when God was forced to send his judgment against sinners.

The children of Israel were instructed to destroy the Canaanite civilizations which inhabited their Promised Land; Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to ashes as well. If we cannot accept the Flood as divine in origin, we must discount much of the biblical description of God’s wrath and judgment against mankind.

Four: those who refuse to accept such judgment must obviously reject the doctrine of Hell.

And yet the eternal destiny of those who refuse God’s forgiving grace is taught clearly and consistently in Scripture. Critics of the Flood judgment eliminate much of God’s word with their rejection.

Five: the death of “innocent” animals and other life forms killed in the Flood was the necessary result of God’s judgment against humanity.

There was no physical way to kill only humans. All other animals would have died eventually, some in just a few days or hours (cf. the insects).

So, what can we learn from this tragedy?

The Flood warns us against sin and its consequences. For instance, consider Jesus’ warning: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left” (Matthew 24:36-41). From Noah to today, we have known that sin leads to death, and that no one is safe from God’s judgment.

God will never end humanity in this way again: “Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11). The Flood has made clear the effects of sin. Its purpose has been accomplished. Now we die individually for our sins, rather than collectively.

While the earth will not be destroyed by flood, it will come to its end one day: “Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some of you understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:8-10).

We must be ready today: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Peter 3:11-14).

Those who awoke on the morning of Noah’s Flood did not know that their last day had dawned. When you woke up this morning, you had no such expectations for this day, either. Neither did those who died on 9/11. Neither will those who are living when the Lord returns and the world as we know it ends.

You may go to him today, or he may come for us all. We are one day closer to the end of history than we’ve ever been before. I don’t know that history will end today. But I don’t know that it won’t. And neither do you.

Conclusion

Noah’s Ark can be yours today. Just as Baby Moses was saved in an ark (the word for “basket” in Exodus 2:3 is the same as Noah’s “ark”), so you can be saved in the “ark” of Jesus’ grace. Note that only one door was available to all who entered Noah’s Ark. In the same way, there is only one way into the ark of our salvation: Jesus Christ our Lord (John 14:6).

Why only one door? Because only one is needed. Every animal and creature could fit through Noah’s door, just as every human on this planet can come to God through Christ. To come to God through Christ, you need only ask Jesus into your life. If you will confess your sin to him and make him your Lord, he will make you God’s child today.

And if he is, he will never leave you or forsake you. The end of Noah’s story is good news for us all: every storm ends with a rainbow. Whether you can see it or not. We’ve read the end of the Bible and know its outcome: we win. The sin which led to the Flood is nailed to Jesus’ tree. The wooden Ark led to a wooden cross. The rainbow of God’s mercy extends to the rainbow of Jesus’ love. There’s hope for us all.

A friend once sent me a true story titled, “Billy Graham’s New Suit.” In January of 2000, leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina invited their favorite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon given in his honor. He initially hesitated to accept because of his health struggles of recent years, but the civic leaders assured him, “We don’t expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you.” So he did.

After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham stepped to the rostrum. He looked at the crowd and said, “I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century.

“Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of each passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his other pocket. It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat by him. He couldn’t find it. The conductor said, ‘Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.’ Einstein nodded appreciatively.

“The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, ‘Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry. I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one.’ Einstein looked at him and said, ‘Young man, I too know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.'”

Dr. Graham continued, “See the suit I’m wearing? It’s a brand new suit. My wife, my children, and my grandchildren are telling me I’ve gotten a bit slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. Do you know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to immediately remember the suit I’m wearing. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am, I also know where I’m going.”

Is there a rainbow at the end of your storm?

Find the Rainbow in Every Storm

Written by

Topical Scripture: Genesis 9:8-17

You and I are fallen people living in a fallen world. Success is not the avoidance of problems but learning how to redeem them. It is not a race run without stumbling, but a race completed by those who get up when they fall down. A famous CEO said on the news recently, “Leadership is solving problems—nothing else.” Faith is not the absence of fear—it is the decision to act when we’re afraid. It is learning to find the rainbow at the end of the storm.

Does a flood have you running for cover today? Are you camped out on an ark, trying to survive? Swimming in a rainstorm that won’t end? Why did this happen to you? How could God be loving and allow this, or even cause it? What do you do now?

We’re not the first to ask our questions, of course. But someone was. Let’s ask him for help today.

Meet Noah

“Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (v. 8). “Favor” is the Old Testament’s word for “grace,” God’s love for his creation. He wanted to give this “favor” to all of mankind, but they would not accept his mercy. As we will soon see, they rejected every opportunity for salvation.

On the other hand, Noah positioned himself to receive such grace. Note that Noah “found” this favor—he did not earn it. Here’s how he “found” it: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (v. 9). His righteousness did not earn God’s favor, but it put Noah in position to receive what God wanted to give. He was by no means a perfect man—remember his drunkenness in Genesis 9. But he responded to God’s grace, for himself and his family. So can we.

Noah built his Ark for a hundred years in the face of ridicule and rejection: God “did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others” (2 Peter 2:5). Across these hundred years Noah did all he could to warn others. But everyone excepting his own family rejected his message and the grace of God.

And so a Flood obliterated all human life on the planet except for Noah’s family, and every living organism (presumably excepting fish, which are not mentioned). This is the record Genesis has left us.

Did the Flood really happen?

You remember hearing about Noah’s Ark when you were a child. Colorful pictures of a wooden boat with a tent-like roof, smiling animals parading two-by-two, an elderly, benevolent grandfather watching over the scene with his family. The stuff of nursery walls and church preschool rooms. A nice children’s story.

Is there a fact behind the fable? A real, universal flood? A real ark? I took seven pages of notes on this subject in preparation for today’s message. To summarize them:

There are fossil deposits around the world which seem to indicate a catastrophic event which caused massive, nearly instantaneous death, probably by flooding. Skeletons have been found in fissures located in hills 140 to 300 feet in height, cemented by calcite which must have been deposited under water.

Two hundred and thirteen different flood traditions have been found in cultures from all over the world. While there are marked differences in the details, all record a universal flood of cataclysmic proportions.

Noah’s Ark has been found to utilize exactly the right proportions for surviving such an event. The seventy thousand individual animals and species on board would comprise no more than 50 percent of the available space, leaving room for people, food, and provisions.

And the Flood was clearly divine in origin and end: “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth” (Genesis 6:7); “God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth and the waters receded” (Genesis 8:1).

If God created and ended the Flood, could he not superintend all that transpired in connection with it? Could he not transport the animals, keep them alive, and restore their habitats when they disembarked? Could he not return the earth to its antediluvian function so as to further his creative purpose for the Flood’s survivors?

Why the Flood?

A second, more difficult issue is raised by the Flood: How could a God of love do this to his creation?

Bill Moyers expresses this perplexing question well: “I would suggest that this is why a lot of people today cannot abide the Bible, or the faith, and they can’t come to terms with a God who would do this. We cannot avoid the question of God here because what God has done, so to speak, is to wipe out everybody in New York City—eight million people, except for the eight people sitting in this circle—because God’s unhappy with them.”

Why would a God who is love (1 John 4:8) send a Flood which would wipe out nearly all of humanity? And why would he include the rest of his creation, animals and life forms which are obviously innocent of sin?

Consider these facts:

One: Humanity was given an opportunity to accept his grace. Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” to the world for the century he spent building the Ark.

Two: Death is inevitable for sinners, whether it comes “naturally” or by divine intervention. God’s word is blunt: “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Death comes to all who sin, for “the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Three: The Flood is not the only time in the Bible when God was forced to send his judgment against sinners. The children of Israel were instructed to destroy the Canaanite civilizations which inhabited their Promised Land; Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to ashes as well. If we cannot accept the Flood as divine in origin, we must discount much of the biblical description of God’s wrath and judgment against mankind.

Four: Those who refuse to accept such judgment must obviously reject the doctrine of Hell. And yet the eternal destiny of those who refuse God’s forgiving grace is taught clearly and consistently in Scripture. Critics of the Flood judgment eliminate much of God’s word with their rejection.

Five: The death of “innocent” animals and other life forms killed in the Flood was the necessary result of God’s judgment against humanity. There was no physical way to kill only humans. All other animals would have died eventually, some in just a few days or hours (cf. the insects).

So, what can we learn from this tragedy?

The Flood warns us against sin and its consequences.

For instance, consider Jesus’ warning: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left” (Matthew 24:36–41). From Noah to today, we have known that sin leads to death, and that no one is safe from God’s judgment.

God will never end humanity in this way again.

“Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11). The Flood has made clear the effects of sin. Its purpose has been accomplished. Now we die individually for our sins, rather than collectively.

While the earth will not be destroyed by flood, it will come to its end one day.

“Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some of you understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:8–10).

We must be ready today.

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Peter 3:11–14).

Those who awoke on the morning of Noah’s Flood did not know that their last day had dawned. When you woke up this morning, you had no such expectations for this day, either. Neither did those who died on 9/11. Neither will those who are living when the Lord returns and the world as we know it ends.

You may go to him today, or he may come for us all. We are one day closer to the end of history than we’ve ever been before. I don’t know that history will end today. But I don’t know that it won’t. And neither do you.

Conclusion

Noah’s Ark can be yours today. Just as Baby Moses was saved in an ark (the word for “basket” in Exodus 2:3 is the same as Noah’s “ark”), so you can be saved in the “ark” of Jesus’ grace. Note that only one door was available to all who entered Noah’s Ark. In the same way, there is only one way into the ark of our salvation: Jesus Christ our Lord (John 14:6).

Why only one door? Because only one is needed. Every animal and creature could fit through Noah’s door, just as every human on this planet can come to God through Christ. To come to God through Christ, you need only ask Jesus into your life. If you will confess your sin to him and make him your Lord, he will make you God’s child today.

And if he is, he will never leave you or forsake you. The end of Noah’s story is good news for us all: Every storm ends with a rainbow. Whether you can see it or not. We’ve read the end of the Bible and know its outcome: We win. The sin which led to the Flood is nailed to Jesus’ tree. The wooden Ark led to a wooden cross. The rainbow of God’s mercy extends to the rainbow of Jesus’ love. There’s hope for us all.

A friend sent me a true story titled, “Billy Graham’s New Suit.” In January of 2000, leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina invited their favorite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon given in his honor. He initially hesitated to accept because of his health struggles of recent years, but the civic leaders assured him, “We don’t expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you.” So he did.

After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham stepped to the rostrum. He looked at the crowd and said, “I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century.

“Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of each passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his other pocket. It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat by him. He couldn’t find it. The conductor said, ‘Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.’ Einstein nodded appreciatively.

“The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, ‘Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry. I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one.’ Einstein looked at him and said, ‘Young man, I too know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.'”

Dr. Graham continued, “See the suit I’m wearing? It’s a brand new suit. My wife, my children, and my grandchildren are telling me I’ve gotten a bit slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. Do you know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to immediately remember the suit I’m wearing. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am, I also know where I’m going.”

Is there a rainbow at the end of your storm?

Finding Joy in Strange Places

Written by

Finding Joy in Strange Places

Luke 10:1-24

Dr. Jim Denison

Americans lead the world in consumption of aspirin, and in physical problems caused by stress. Depression is a very real issue in our country and culture.

More than 35 million Americans take Prozac. By 2020 depression will likely be the world’s second-most disabling disease, after heart disease. The World Health Organization already ranks depression as first in prevalence among females and fourth overall.

Uncertainty about our political future has sent stocks tumbling and consumer confidence sliding. Many are pessimistic about our financial future over the coming months. Many are discouraged.

And the upcoming holidays make things even harder for many. 41% of Americans say they find the holidays stressful. There are entire ministries and psychological support groups which exist to get people through the holidays. Family, finances, and time pressures are hard, and those who have experienced the loss of a loved one have an especially difficult time.

We all need joy, especially in these days.

Where can we find true joy, a deep-seated sense of tranquility and serenity in the face of challenging times? In the unlikeliest of places, from a subject which typically causes us more fear and angst than joy and delight. As we begin a three-week emphasis on global missions, ministry, and evangelism, I wish today to make this single point: your greatest joy will be found in sharing Jesus with others. Your greatest sense of significance, purpose, and fulfillment is waiting for you, right here. Let’s see why this is so, and what this fact means for your life and mine.

How the first evangelists found their joy

Jesus is coming near the end of his earthly ministry, and has now set his face towards Jerusalem and the cross. But there is one last group of cities and peoples he has not yet touched—the Jews and Gentiles who live to the east of the Jordan river, outside Israel itself, the area called the Trans-Jordan. Self-respecting Jews would not go over there. But Jesus did.

On his way, he sent seventy of his followers ahead (v. 1). Why seventy? Because there were seventy nations among the Gentiles, according to Genesis 10. One per nation, figuratively.

He “sent” them—this is the word for “apostle,” one sent with the authority of another and on his behalf.

He sent them “two by two,” because we are to do ministry together.

He sent them to “every town and place” because everyone matters to him. 2 Peter 3.9 is clear: God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

“Where he was about to go.” We are “advance men” for Jesus. Our job is simply to get people ready to meet him.

Now comes the good news: “The harvest is plentiful” (v. 2). Jesus saw the harvest when he was up in Galilee (Matthew 9), and in Samaria as well (John 4). And now with these Gentiles across the Jordan River. Everywhere he looked he saw a harvest ready to be reaped. So should we.

Keith Parks, the former head of the International Mission Board, has said that more nations are open to the gospel today than at any time in Christian history.

We hear stories of 28,000 conversations every day in sub-Saharan Africa; of 20,000 a day in Communist China. South Korea had perhaps not a single Christian a century ago; now the nation is one-third born-again.

Closer to home, we see a hunger for spirituality beyond any in memory. Television shows such as the one on Genesis this week, movies, newspapers and books and magazines all focus on spiritual things regularly.

George Barna’s surveys indicate that one-fourth of those who do not go to church would come if only someone would invite them. Imagine 25,000 lost people here next week—Jesus does.

So what are we to do about this harvest field, just waiting to be reaped?

Pray first: “Ask the Lord of the harvest …” We can do much for God after we pray, but nothing until we pray.

Then go (v. 3). This is Jesus’ command, addressed in the second person plural to every Christian. No exceptions, no options.

Go in his power. We are “lambs among wolves,” and our only protection is in staying close to our Shepherd. Do not depend on your own resources such as a purse or bag or sandals (v. 4a). Do not be distracted by others (4b).

Go wherever you are welcome (v. 5). Build relationships—”eat what is set before you” (v. 8). They would be Jews in Gentile homes, offered non-kosher food. Eat it—make friends—build relationships.

Meet the needs you find: “Heal the sick who are there” (9a). Earn the right to tell the good news of God’s love, by showing them your love.

Ultimately, tell them about Jesus: “The kingdom of God is near you” (9b). Tell them about Jesus. Invite them to enter his kingdom, through faith in him as Savior and Lord. Wherever you go, the Kingdom and the King go as well. Invite them to Jesus.

Will everyone come? No: “when you enter a town and are not welcomed …” (v. 10). We will be rejected by some. But they do not reject us—they reject our King: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (16).

When we share our faith, we feel as though we are on trial and the one with whom we are speaking is the prosecutor, trying to show us how wrong we are. In truth, Jesus is on trial. Satan is the prosecutor; the Holy Spirit is the defense attorney; the person with whom you are speaking is the jury. You are simply a witness, called to the stand to tell what you know. You may be the first witness, and leave the courtroom without a verdict; you may be the last witness, and watch the jury decide for Jesus. But he is on trial, not you. Just tell what you know.

And you will have joy. Unspeakable joy. Great joy: “The seventy returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name'” (17).

They have joy such as they had never known, because they stepped out of their security and comfort and took a stand for the Lord. They have become ministers and missionaries, and their joy knows no bounds.

And Jesus replies, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (18). When we take the light of God’s love into our dark world, we attack Satan himself. We assault the gates of hell, and Satan falls. We can defeat the enemy himself, in the power of Jesus.

Jesus shares their joy (21). And he tells them how blessed they are: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see” (23). Why? Even David and Solomon didn’t get to do this; even Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Daniel did not get to do this. You and I have the incredible privilege of telling the world about the Savior. There is no greater joy than doing so.

To summarize: see the harvest all around you; care about those you meet; meet their needs as you can; tell them about Jesus, in his power and authority; and expect joy when you do. Great joy.

How we can find our joy

But I hear your response: I can’t do this. Sharing the gospel, ministering to people, being a missionary in Dallas and around the world is for other people. I don’t know how, I don’t know where to start, I can’t do it. If this is the place where true joy is found, I’ll have to live without it.

Not so.

Across biblical history, what men and women did God use most? Jacob, a deceiver; Rahab, a harlot; Moses, a murderer; Matthew, a publican; Peter, a coward; Paul, a murderer as well. Do you see a pattern? Can God use you?

Augustine was a notorious womanizer, a profane man, before he opened the Scriptures, was converted, and became the greatest theologian after Paul in Christian history. Dwight Moody was a nearly illiterate shoe salesman who came to Christ and preached to 100 million people. William Borden was heir to the Borden dairy fortune, but gave it all up to go to India as a missionary. He died before reaching his destination, but left behind a scrap of paper on which he had written the words, “No reserve, no retreat, no regrets.” Can God use you?

Manuel Noriega, Panama’s notorious strongman, became a Christian in jail and told the world. Jeffrey Dahmer, the infamous serial killer, was converted and growing spiritually before he was murdered in jail, according to the Church of Christ minister who was discipling him. Alice Cooper, one of the most decadent rock stars of the ’70s and self-proclaimed incarnate witch, has become a Christian. He is friends with theologian R. C. Sproul, and has taught a Sunday school class. He still wears scary makeup, but his songs now speak about Christ and his faith.

John Grisham has sold more than forty million books, but says that his commitment to Christ at the age of eight in a Baptist church in Arkansas was “the most important event in my life.” Can God use you?

Do you feel the joy of Jesus in your heart today? You can. If you will stand for Jesus, tell others of Jesus, serve people in Jesus’ name, you can.

I have begun calling our first-time guests each Sunday afternoon, because I was not doing enough personal evangelism. And I have found a joy in regular witnessing and ministry such as is found nowhere else.

This week I’ve spoken with many of our members who have discovered the secret of joy. A couple who has sacrificed financially to help impoverished Christians in difficult places, and cannot stop talking about the joy they feel. A man who started a Bible study for his unchurched friends, and says he’s found the greatest joy you can know. Members who have visited the sick and the shut-in, and talked about the privilege and the blessing they have received. A member who has been inviting her neighbors to our community ministries, and cannot describe fully the joy she feels.

A dear friend has been dealing with very difficult physical problems. A few weeks ago she told me about a new neighbor of hers, someone for whom she had been burdened and praying. Just a few days before her surgery this week, God moved her to go to that friend’s apartment and pray for her. Facing great problems herself, she found in serving others the joy of Jesus. So can we.

Conclusion

Where can you begin?

During these weeks of unified missions emphasis, you can give financially to help get the gospel to the whole world—use the envelopes provided, ask God what he would have you do, and do it. And you’ll find his joy.

You can give food and money for food through our hunger drive, using the bags we are providing through your Sunday school.

You can be part of Christmas projects with Buckner Children’s Home, the S.T.E.P. Christmas store, our Habitat for Humanity house, and other Sunday school and missions ministry projects.

And you can begin to pray for lost people you know. Your unchurched friends will come with you to church during Christmas if they will come during no other season. Next week we’ll give you a tool kit of concerts, events, and services you can use. Today, take the Bible marker we have provided. Write the name of four lost or unchurched people you know. Commit to pray for them by name every day through the Christmas season. Ask God to help you step out of your security and comfort, and invite them to church with you.

And you’ll have the joy of Jesus.

Karl Meninger was a world-renowned psychologist; his lectures were packed wherever he spoke. At one academic seminar, during a time for questions, a graduate student asked Dr. Meninger what he would prescribe for a depressed or discouraged person. Everyone prepared to take notes of what they were sure would be a profound academic answer. Dr. Meninger’s reply: “I’d tell the person to leave his house, walk across the street, knock on his neighbor’s door, and ask what he could do to help.”

Would you take the first step today?

Finishing Well

Written by

Finishing Well

Matthew 5:13

Dr. Jim Denison

John Bisagno was for many years pastor of the historic First Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. When he was 20 years old and about to finish college, he was having dinner at his fiancée’s home one night. His future father-in-law, Dr. Paul Beck, had been in ministry for many years. After supper, as the two were talking, Dr. Beck gave John his observation: only one in ten who begin in vocational ministry at the age of 21 are still active in ministry at age 65.

John couldn’t believe it. He went home and wrote on a blank page of his Bible the names of 24 young men who were his peers and contemporaries. He considered them to be the future great preachers of his generation. 23 years later, only three remained in the Lord’s service.

In the Christian faith, and in life in general, it’s not how you start that matters. It’s how you finish.

Think of famous preachers and evangelists in this generation who are now fallen from effectiveness. Think of pastors in our city who have suffered similar fates.

Think of CEOs of major corporations who are now in disgrace. World renowned athletes who have faded to obscurity. Celebrities once famous for their singing abilities, or acting careers, or literary achievements, but now are forgotten.

On the other hand, we have all known pastors and preachers who finished well. Executives who retired in financial and moral success. Athletes and celebrities who kept their character. Role models for us all.

We all want to finish well. To be remembered as women and men of God, people who could say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). At our funeral, we want the pastor to be able to quote these words about us. We want to live well, and finish well. How is this done?

Today Jesus continues his famous Sermon. Let’s listen in.

Know that it could happen to you

“If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” “If” in the Greek language assumes that this could easily happen. Jesus knew that what he is about to describe could occur in the lives of his followers, even his first disciples, the apostles. If to them, certainly to us.

“Loses its saltiness”—pure sodium chloride cannot decompose. However, the salt in use among Jesus’ people was impure, taken from the shores and marshes of the Dead Sea. When it decomposed, all that was left was white powder. It looked like salt, but it had none of its power or effect.

So it is with Christians who trusts appearance over reality. Those of us who think they are fulfilling God’s purpose by looking Christian, attending Christian events, acting in Christian ways around other Christians. The only test of salt is whether or not it works. Not how it looks, but what it does.

Note that Jesus’ words are in the present tense, literally “if the salt is tainted.”

It does not matter if it had been salt at one time, if it had originally fulfilled its purpose.

A shaker filled with salt may have been in perfect condition last week, but that doesn’t matter to the restaurant patron today. If it is wet, lumpy, or corrupted today, it’s no good. All that matters is that it does its job now.

No matter what I have done for Jesus in the past, or plan to do for him in the future, all that matters is my current usefulness to him. This is the only issue.

Any believer can fail God. If you think it can’t happen to you, it has likely already started.

The Bible is sometimes misquoted to say “Pride goes before a fall.” It actually says, “Pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). Every time.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, world-renowned scholar of Scripture, made this his prayer every day: “Lord, keep me from pride.” When did you last make his prayer yours?

Find and fulfill your purpose

So what exactly does it mean for the salt to “lose its saltiness?” The Greek word means to lose its power, its effect, to fulfill its purpose no longer. What is our purpose? What is God looking for in our lives?

When I taught at Southwestern Seminary, my students always wanted to know what would be on the test, and especially the final exam. You need to know the questions you’ll be asked as well.

Here they are. First and foremost, do you know Jesus personally?

Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). We must ask Jesus to forgive our mistakes and be Lord of our lives. Only then can we have a personal relationship with him.

Otherwise we will one day hear the most horrifying words in all of eternity: “I never knew you. Away from me!” (Matthew 7:23). You can only spend eternity in God’s paradise if you know his Son personally. Do you?

Here are the rest of the questions God will ask you when you stand before him:

Did you discover your gifts for ministry? God created you uniquely in his image. Now he has given you spiritual gifts to be used in serving him. What are yours?

Did you use these gifts to fulfill the service for which he intended your life? If so, in what ways? What is your ministry?

As a result, did God use you to bring others to Jesus? He will ask you one day, “Who did you bring me?”

As we saw last week, “You (plural) are the salt of the earth.” And the one definition of success for salt is simple: does it do its job? Not how beautiful its container might be, or how much of it there is. Did it do what it was created to do?

What happens if our salt does not fulfill this purpose?

“How can it be made salty again?” Jesus asks. There is no substitute for salt. If we don’t do our job, no one and nothing else can do it for us.

“It is no longer good for anything….” There is absolutely, without qualification, no good use for bad salt. It is just useless white powder.

“…except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Thrown out the window into the streets. In the ancient world, this was how trash was disposed of. They had no concept of germs or the spread of disease. So they threw their trash out the window into the street. And street sweepers would eventually clean it up.

Note the irony: a Christian who does his work of preserving, purifying, and seasoning the earth is the most valuable of all people. A Christian who does not is of no value at all.

And we will spend eternity with the consequences of such a lifestyle.

“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

With this result: “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

You and I will spend eternity with the rewards or loss of rewards Jesus will give us in response to our obedience to his purpose for our lives. So it is no accident that the word Jesus used for “loses its saltiness” also means to be foolish or moronic. Put bluntly, we are spiritual fools not to fulfill the purpose for our lives intended by our all-wise, all-loving Father. He created us and knows what will fulfill us better than we do. And he will judge our obedience to his purpose, with eternal results.

We are foolish if we live for the 70 or so years we have in this world while ignoring eternity. And so when we cease to be spiritual salt we become spiritual fools.

I don’t enjoy telling you that. But Jesus said it. And I must be true to his word. You will spend eternity with the consequences of what you do with this word today.

Jesus is not here teaching that a Christian who fails to do his job loses his salvation or God’s grace. We are always the children of God, whether we live like it or not. But if we refuse to fulfill his will for our lives, we are of no use to him.

Jesus can restore us and use us. He did so with Moses, and David, and the disciples. But we must return to our purpose before he can. And even when we do, the consequences remain. We can remove a nail from wood, but the hole is still there. The lost days or years are still lost. The damage is done. And the salt has lost its purpose until we return to it.

Conclusion

It comes to this: the Christian who lives and finishes well is that person who uses his or her gifts, for God’s glory. You are uniquely made and gifted. But you must use these gifts, and use them for the glory of God. Only then will you finish well.

It is crucial that we find and utilize the spiritual gifts God has given to each of us.

In recent weeks the Father has made clear this fact to me: he can use us best when we operate in our gifts. Not our abilities, but our gifts. Salt is not pepper. It is only useful when it does what it was created to do.

The good is always the enemy of the best. Satan loves to distract us by all the things we could do, keeping us from that we must do. That which we can uniquely do for God’s Kingdom. Use your gifts.

But use them for God’s glory. If Satan cannot distract us from our unique gifts, he’ll deceive us into using them for ourselves rather than our Lord. And then, though we start well, we’ll not finish well. Ask Adam and Eve, who lost Eden; Moses, who lost the Promised Land; King Saul, who lost his Kingdom; David, who lost his family. Use your gifts, but for God’s glory.

Do it now. None of us knows where the finish line is located. If we would finish well, we must live well. Today.

In 1946 the National Association of Evangelicals published an article on men who were “best used of God” in that organization’s five-year existence. At the top of the list was Chuck Templeton. One seminary president called this young evangelist “the most gifted and talented young man in America today for preaching.” Many were certain he would be the heir to D. L. Moody and Billy Sunday, the next great American evangelist.

Templeton started well—very well. But eventually he turned his intellectual gifts to himself rather than his Father. He lapsed into academic arrogance and agnosticism. The last book he published before his death last year is titled Farewell to God.

Years ago, when Chuck Templeton began his crusade ministry, he eventually developed a preaching partnership with another young evangelist. A man the 1946 article never even mentioned. The son of a North Carolina farmer named William Franklin Graham, known to his family and small circle of friends as Billy.

It doesn’t matter how you’ve started in the Christian faith. You may have had a great beginning, or a rough one. You may have fallen on your face again and again. What matters in the most important race of your life is how you finish.

The next step is yours.

First Things First

Written by

First Things First

Matthew 22:34-40

Dr. Jim Denison

Football season begins today. The best definition of football I’ve heard came from an English visitor’s first impression: 22 men in desperate need of rest, being watched by 70,000 people in desperate need of exercise.

And the math only gets worse. The NFL estimates that 100 million people watch by television some part of a football game on any given Sunday. Watching the 1,643 people who made NFL rosters this year. By my calculation, that’s a ratio of 60,864 fans per player. Watching every mistake, every penalty. Every fan sure he could do it better.

No wonder the coaches look that way on the sidelines. You’ve heard the old adage, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you.” They believe it.

We can afford to be spectators in some areas of our lives. But not with our souls. You and I will each stand personally before the God of the universe one day, to give account for the years he gave us to live. There are only two questions on that final exam. Two commitments which give our lives purpose, significance, and joy; two commitments which give our eternity reward and delight. We’ll remember them and pledge ourselves to them anew in these weeks together.

Let’s begin where Jesus began, putting first things first: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (v. 37). We need to remember what worship is, what it isn’t, and why it matters so much to our God and to our souls.

What is worship?

Let’s understand first what worship is, as God sees it. It’s not what our culture thinks it is, or even what many church attenders think it is. We’ll see what it’s not in a moment—see what it is to God.

Worship is “love.” This is how the first commandment begins: “Love the Lord your God.” Love is a verb, not a noun or an adjective here. It requires doing, not just attending, watching, or believing in. You haven’t worshipped by attending church, listening to a sermon, singing hymns, or giving money. You’ve only worshipped when you’ve loved, adored, honored. Worship is love.

Worship is loving God: “Love the Lord your God.” Worship is about God, not us. It’s not about what we “get” from the hour, but what we give to God. You are not the audience, and we are not the performers. God is the audience of One, and you are the worship performers. Our job is to help you do your job, to be worship “coaches,” to lead you to love God today.

I am grateful for every scripture which stands over your heads as you worship God today. If I could add any words to our architecture, I would put over the doors as we enter to worship, this statement: “It’s not about us.” Worship is loving God.

And worship is loving God in every way a human can love.

With all our “hearts.” The word refers to our emotions, our senses. You need to feel love for God today.

With all our “souls.” The word means the life force itself, that which gives our bodies life, our very essence. Not as a peripheral matter but as your highest purpose and value today. You need to love God passionately today.

With all our “minds.” We are to have no ungodly thoughts, or songs, or movies, or television shows, or books in our minds. We are to think about our faith, to study God’s word, to engage intellectually in the worship of God.

This is every way a human can love: emotionally, passionately, intellectually. Is this your worship experience? Make it so today.

And make it so this week. Mark’s version adds that we are to love God with all our “strength” (Mark 12:30). This means to love God with our actions, when the worship hour is done. Nowhere does our text limit itself to church or Sunday worship. God measures our love for him not just by Sunday, but by Monday. By whether or not we love him tomorrow as we say we love him today. He’s looking for Monday Christians, Monday worshippers.

Did you know that you can love God in the same way you love anyone else who matters to you? You can spend the day with him—talking with him, thinking about him. Tell him how you feel, what you’re thinking. Thank him for the good things you experience, for “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Ask him for what you need, and praise him for what he gives. Spend the day with Jesus. Love him. Worship him. This is his first commandment, his first expectation for your life and mine. For every day.

So we can identify what worship is not:

Performance—by me or by us. God has called us to help you worship God, but you are the performers. Don’t evaluate worship today by my performance, but by yours. That’s how God measures our worship today.

Entertainment. Worship is to be exciting and encouraging, but we are not in the entertainment business. We’re not here to impress you—you’re here to impress God.

Therapy. God helps us as we worship him, but our first purpose is to worship him. Interestingly, we get far more out of worship when we come not for us but for him. When we worship for his sake more than our own.

Evangelism. Evangelism results from worship, as people see Christ in our joy. But we don’t evaluate worship by how many public decisions get made at the front of the church. God evaluates it by how many hearts adore him all across the church.

About us. Remember INAM—it’s not about me. Write it over your heart every time you enter this place. Worship is about loving God. Every day.

Why does worship matter?

So why make such a deep and costly commitment as this? Why does God put this commandment first, for his sake but for ours as well? Why make this your first priority in life? For these reasons.

First, God made us for worship. This is why we were created. It’s why he gave us free will—so we could choose to worship him. Love must be a choice. God made us to make this choice.

The old Westminster Catechism was right: “man’s chief end is to worship the Lord and enjoy him forever.”

I read Henri Nouwen’s book, Making All Things New, this week. See if these words make sense to you as they do to me: “Beneath our worrying lives…something else is going on. While our minds and hearts are filled with many things, we wonder how we can live up to the expectations imposed upon us by ourselves and others. We have a deep sense of unfulfillment. While busy with and worried about many things, we seldom feel truly satisfied, at peace, or at home. A gnawing sense of being unfulfilled underlies our filled lives…To be bored, therefore, does not mean that we have nothing to do, but that we question the value of the things we are so busy doing.”

The only antidote to our bored, unfulfilled, restless souls is daily, personal worship and love for God. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in him.” He was right. God made us this way.

Second, God empowers us when we worship. When did God empower Isaiah to go for him, Daniel to face the lions, the first Christians to witness at Pentecost? When did God shake the doorposts in Jerusalem and the prison bars in Philippi? When did Jesus reveal his heavenly splendor to John and to us? In worship. The power to serve God is found in worshipping God.

If you want God’s power for your life and purpose, you must worship God every day. That’s how he empowers us.

Third, God uses us after we worship. After we love God we can love our neighbor. Calvin said, “It is impossible for the love of God to reign without producing brotherly kindness among men.” When we have met God, we can meet people in his name.

Last, God deserves our worship. We love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:10). He created and redeemed us, and made us a place in his perfect heaven forever. He watched his Son die on our cross, to save our souls and purchase our salvation. He gave everything for us. He deserves our worship.

Dr. W. L. Steiger was on a World War II ship in a submarine zone. Their ship was carrying 10,000 soldiers. One morning he and the captain were looking at the sunrise through their binoculars. Here is what he says happened next: “Suddenly each of us saw the white wake of a torpedo headed straight for our ship…We could not dodge it; we had no room or time to move our ship out of its path. The Captain turned to me, thinking of those boys still asleep in the ship, and said, ‘This is it!’

“There was no way out—this was the end. Then suddenly something happened which none on our ship had considered. There was a destroyer riding to our port, battling the waves. Suddenly the skipper of that small ship saw the same thing that we saw from our bridge—that torpedo headed straight for our midships. That young skipper shouted down the tube to his engine room, ‘All engines ahead flank!’ and headed his destroyer straight into the path of that torpedo. She took its full impact and sank in ten minutes with most of her officers and crew. He was my best friend, that young skipper. He knew when he gave that order that he and his crew would be lost, but he didn’t hesitate a single second.”

And Dr. Steiger has never forgotten that sacrifice. He told the story everywhere he could, to everyone he could. The story of the man who died for him.

That’s your story and mine today. Our Friend deserves our best worship.

Conclusion

So we’re going to give such worship to him, together. The finest single example of biblical worship is found in Isaiah 6. Here we find each of the elements of genuine, passionate love for God. We’ll do together what Isaiah did, and meet God as he met God.

First, “Isaiah saw the Lord.” How? The Scriptures say that we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise (Psalm 100:4). See God on his throne in heavenly glory. Feel the warmth of his love for you. Hear the angels and the saints of the ages as they surround him with their praise. Lift your voice and your heart to him. Worship him with us today. You will meet God. And he will meet you.

The remainder of the service follows Isaiah 6: from adoration to confession, to cleansing, to surrender, to service. And finally we sing together, “All to Thee”. Make this your heart’s commitment to your loving Father, today. And tomorrow.

Fish or Foul?

Written by

Fish or Foul?

Matthew 13:47-50

James C. Denison

Now that the Democratic presidential primaries are finally over, I can declare my allegiance. I am for Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. At least that’s what their campaigns apparently believe. I am fascinated by politics. I’ve read biographies of at least 20 presidents, and follow elections with great interest.

When this year’s process narrowed to those three, I went to their websites and signed up for email alerts. Since doing so, I have been given approximately 240,486 opportunities to donate to their campaigns. Every message I receive is sent personally to me and thanks me for all my support for their campaign. Even though I’ve done nothing but read their emails and delete them.

This summer we’re seeking a more intimate relationship with God by studying Jesus’ parables, short stories which lead us personally into the kingdom of heaven.

Last week we learned from the parables of the treasure and pearl that making God our King is a wise decision, an investment worth all it costs and more. This week we learn that knowing him as our King and Lord is not what the world thinks it is. It’s not what you may think it is. We’ll study no more surprising parable this summer than the story which is before us today.

A net for all fish

It begins: “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish” (v. 47). Literally, “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to what happens when a net is cast into the sea.”

One kind of fishing net was the amphiblestron, a circular apparatus with lead beads around the circumference and a rope tied in the center. The fisherman standing in his boat would see a fish or school of fish swimming beneath him, and would quickly throw the net over them. The weights would pull the net through the water, catching the fish. The fisherman would then pull them into the boat. Here the fisherman chooses the fish he wishes to catch.

The other kind of fishing net was called the sagene. This is the word in our text, used only here in the New Testament. We get the “seine” net from this word. This was a drag net, shaped as a square with ropes from all four corners and weights along its bottom twine and floats or corks on the top. It was six or so feet deep, and could be hundreds of feet wide, sweeping as much as a half mile of water in its operation.

It was positioned in the water, and took several boats to operate. The net was let down but held so that it stood up in the water. The boats then rowed through the lake, dragging the net as a kind of cone behind them.

The sagene “caught all kinds of fish,” Jesus said. Everything in the lake was swept into the net–fish, plants, debris. “All kinds” is literally “all races.” The Sea of Galilee is said to contain 54 different kinds of fish. It’s interesting that Jesus’ words can be translated literally, “all races.”

Then, “when it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away” (v. 48). The net was dragged to the shore, where the desirable fish were put into containers or baskets while everything else was thrown away. This process could take several hours. Note that “they sat down” in a considered, deliberate process.

Some “baskets” were filled with water or even lowered into the water, keeping the fish alive for transport to distant markets. Others kept the dried fish which would be sold locally.

“Bad” translates sapra, literally “rotten.” The word describes fish which had died and begun to rot before the fishermen could get to them. But it also describes unclean fish and other materials which have not yet rotted, but they are as bad as if they had.

Fish without scales and fins (such as catfish or eels) were ritually unclean (Leviticus 11:9-12), and thus could not be eaten. And the sagene would bring up all sorts of debris and plant life which would be discarded as well.

Now Jesus makes his point: “This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (vs. 49-50). He issued this warning earlier with the parable of the weeds (vs. 40-42), and repeats it now.

Lessons for all of life

Now, why was this story so shocking to Jesus’ first hearers? What is it meant to teach us today? Let’s begin with the good news: all are welcome in the Church. Everyone is invited and included, even you and even me.

The sagene cannot choose what it will catch. Anything in the lake ends up in its net, and can end up in the Church. This fact alone would be a shock to Jesus’ hearers. To think that cursed Gentiles, half-bred Samaritans, and hated Romans could be the children of God was revolutionary in the extreme. But that’s how it was and is. We are called to make disciples of “all nations,” all people-groups. We are called from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

The Christian global mission was the first multi-ethnic, multi-racial movement in human history, embracing all who would embrace it. From the wealthy like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, to lepers, tax-collectors and prostitutes, the Church welcomed all.

As does God. His word assures us that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), for he wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). If you’re good enough for God, you’re good enough for us. We need to be sharing God’s love with every person we can, in every way we can. No one is outside the bounds of our compassion and ministry. That’s the good news of the Gospel.

Now, here’s the bad news: not all are included in the Kingdom. Not everything in the lake is a fish. Not all fish are “clean.” Some are put in the basket, but others are not. Some will end up in Paradise, but others in the “fiery furnace.”

As Augustine put it, the Church has some that God hasn’t, and God has some that the Church hasn’t. We will all be surprised at those who are in heaven and those who are not. There is a Judgment coming. We leave this to God, but know that it is real. And inevitable.

Universalism says that everyone goes to heaven, regardless of their commitment to Jesus. Except that Jesus said of himself, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).

Pluralism says that there are many ways to God, Christianity being only one. Except that Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And Peter preached, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And the Book of Revelation says, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

The Bible teaches clearly that “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Not today, perhaps, but one day. And we’re one day closer to that day than ever before in human history.

People swim around in the net as if they were free and the net were not real. But George Buttrick, one of the 20th century’s greatest expositors and Preacher to the University at Harvard, said it well: “Day by day the net is being drawn, for the kingdom is an event. By sorrow and joy, by work and play, by testing and pondering, and by the thrust into the world of Christ himself, God draws the net. No man can escape: life is not in our control. Every breath brings us nearer to the shore, every sickness and recovery, every decision made or evaded. Foolishly we imagine that we can slip through the meshes” (Buttrick, IB 421).

Our job is to fish, leaving the sorting to the Judge of the universe. But all the while we draw our nets through the lake, we must know that not all will be kept by God. Who is?

Our question leads to the final life-transforming fact contained within our parable: religion is not relationship. To a society fenced in by the legalisms and rituals of an all-encompassing religious system, this fact must have been a tremendous shock. But the parables of Matthew 13 could not be more clear: God seeks a personal, intimate relationship with every one of us. Look over the chapter with me.

God measures soil not by its appearance but by whether or not it receives the “seed” of the gospel and produces fruit as a result (vs. 1-23). You and I cannot tell wheat from weeds, but God can (vs. 24-30). We learn from the mustard seed and the yeast that God measures faith not by its size but its reality (vs. 31-35). God wants us to put him before all else, selling everything we have to gain the treasure and pearl of a personal, dynamic relationship with himself.

Being in church doesn’t mean that you are in Christ. Being in a lake doesn’t make you a fish. Being in a garage doesn’t make you a car. Being in church doesn’t mean that you are in Christ.

Christine Wicker’s article in last Sunday’s Dallas Morning News has been much discussed this week. “Fewer faithful” excerpts her book, The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church. Her research documents these facts about our so-called Christian nation: only 20 percent of Americans were in any church last week; four percent were in a Sunday school or Bible study class; the number of non-believers in America doubled from 1990 to 2001. Being American doesn’t mean that you’re Christian. And being in church doesn’t mean that you’re in Christ.

The practices of spiritual disciplines and religious observance are valuable only as a means to an end. The Bible is only a book unless you seek God in its pages. Prayer is only words mumbled into space unless they express a heart yearning to know God. Worship is an hour wasted at church unless it you came this morning to connect with your Creator. Did you?

Conclusion

Are you fish or foul? You look like fish to me. If I were the fisherman, you’d all be in my basket. But does the God who looks at the heart see what I see? We’ll spend this summer seeking a more intimate relationship with our Father. But first, as we saw last week, we must want that relationship. Now, as we see this week, we must do whatever it takes to have it.

What is keeping you from passionate intimacy with God? Don’t judge your faith by appearances and religion. Ask yourself these questions: when last did Bible study or prayer change something you did? When last did you leave worship so different that anyone else would notice? When last did you pay a sacrificial price to serve Jesus? When last did you refuse a temptation because you didn’t want to hurt him, or did something simply because you knew it would please him? When last did you spend a few minutes listening to God? When last did you tell Jesus that you love him?

Every day can be an encounter with the living God, or a day wasted for eternity. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was right: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush aflame with God. But only those who see take off their shoes. The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.”

Which will you do today?

Fishing With a Blackberry

Written by

Fishing With a BlackBerry

Mark 1:14-20

James C. Denison

Would you rather be paid cash or a compliment? An article in Wednesday’s news says that each activates the same reward center in the brain. In other words, you feel as good when people same something nice about you as when they give something nice to you. Just for the record, our finance committee would rather you put money in the plate than compliment the ushers.

But that’s not all we want you to do. We want you to give of your time and talents to the cause of the Kingdom as well. For weeks now you’ve been hearing about the “gospel,” the good news that God loves us and has sent his Son to redeem us. We’ve talked about the gospel and us, the gospel and relationships, the gospel and the church, and now taking the gospel to our community.

The trouble is, most of us are uncomfortable talking to other people about our faith. We’re afraid they’ll ask a question we can’t answer and we’ll be embarrassed, or that we’ll offend them. We would like our friends and colleagues and neighbors to know Christ, to understand and believe the gospel, but we feel inadequate to the task. We’d rather trust the professionals, the same way we don’t practice medicine unless we’re a doctor or try to fly a plane unless we’re a pilot. Someone could get hurt.

We know that Jesus called us to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) starting in our “Jerusalem” (Acts 1:8), our community. Some people don’t care about winning the lost, but most of us do. We’re just not sure we can do much to help.

If you want your life to count for God’s Kingdom but aren’t sure how to go about it, you’re the person I’ve been sent to help this morning. I need to answer two questions.

Why does God need you?

Jesus called his disciples to be “fishers of men.” Why? Why do we need to give other people the gospel? Why tell them about Jesus? There are several very honest questions wrapped up in this issue.

First, aren’t the fish fine where they are? Why do they need our boat? Our lake? Our religion?

Our postmodern society believes that the individual is the sole arbiter of truth, the only one with the right to say what is right and wrong. There are no absolutes. We have no right to impose our reality, our values on others. Religion is a private, personal, subjective thing. Except that people make these claims as absolute truths. And to deny absolute truth is to make an absolute truth claim.

But do we really believe that the good people we know who don’t happen to be born-again Christians are going to hell? Your neighbor down the street who works hard, loves his kids, and lives a moral life needs to accept your religion to go to heaven? Your friend at work who believes in God and lives a good life needs more than that?

God says they do. Jesus was clear: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14.6a). Acts 4:12 says that there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. John 3:18 says that whoever does not believe in Jesus is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And there is a heaven and a hell. Jesus claimed, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6b). This is the only way into the “Lamb’s Book of Life.” And Revelation 20:15 warns us, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Just because someone doesn’t believe in hell makes it no less real. I can decide to ignore terrorists, but that doesn’t make them go away.

People need us to find them. You are not imposing your own subjective values on them. Their eternal souls are at stake.

Second, isn’t this a job for professionals?

Many of us enjoy fishing, but we’d never survive if it were our living. That’s why God calls professional “ministers,” right?

Actually, he doesn’t. If this were true Jesus would have called rabbis and scholars to be fishermen, but he didn’t. He called Galileans to reach Galileans, tax collectors to reach tax collectors, fishermen to catch fish.

The idea that “clergy” would do the ministry while “laity” pay their salaries and watch is a third-century invention, not a biblical concept. Ephesians 4:12 says that the job of religious leaders is to equip God’s people for works of service. We’re the coaches–you’re the players.

Third, don’t we have all the fish we need?

Our boat has plenty of fish on board, doesn’t it? We have a bigger boat than nearly anyone else, and the fishermen seem happy. Don’t we have all we need?

The fact is, 85% of church growth today is transfer from church to church, swapping fish from boat to boat. Less than 1% of today’s churches are growing primarily by conversions.

When we last checked, we discovered that there are 114,000 unchurched people within three miles of this “boat.” Not until every person has a realistic opportunity to be saved, churched, and discipled, can we quit fishing.

What does God ask of you?

So God needs you. To do what? To go to the fish, where they are, because most of them won’t come to us. That’s what the men in our text were doing: “casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen” (v. 16).

Fishermen in Jesus’ day used two kinds of nets. The sagene was a trawling net, dragged behind the boat.

The more common was the amphiblestron, a circular net weighted on the perimeter with a rope attached at the middle. As it sank down into the water and closed, it trapped the fish, which were then hauled into the boat by hand. This was the kind of fishing Peter and Andrew were doing. These were the nets being “prepared” and repaired by James and John after their fishing was done.

This was hard, skilled work. When our tour groups were in Israel recently, we took a brief boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. The captain had a net like the amphiblestron, which he cast over the side while we watched. It tangles very easily, and is hard to cast. When it sinks into the water, it is very heavy to haul back. It is not large, so the chances of catching fish on a single cast are small. It would take many casts, throwing and retrieving all day or night, to catch enough fish for a man to support his family.

It would have been far easier for them to fish from the bank, waiting for the fish to come to them. But fishing doesn’t work that way. Neither does fishing for men.

Most non-Christians feel about our faith like we feel about Mormonism or Islam or Buddhism. You probably didn’t decide between coming to Park Cities today or going to a Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall. You’re not really concerned with what Rabbi Stern talked about in his sermon last night at Temple Emmanuel, or what Imam Zia discussed in his sermon at the Irving Mosque on Friday. You’re not going to go to them.

Your non-Christian friends feel the same way about us. How many non-Christians do you suppose are in worship today? Of those who are here, how many do you suppose decided this morning to visit our worship service? They would all be welcome, but not many would come. That’s why we must go to them.

God wants us to go fishing, using whatever technique will catch fish.

These men would rather have sat on the shore with a fishing pole in their hand, but that wasn’t the way to catch fish. If you’ve been fishing, you know that you have to go where the fish are and use whatever bait they’re biting. You may rather use artificial lures, since they’re clean and tidy, rather than minnows or worms or shrimp eggs. But what you want to use doesn’t matter–what the fish want to bite is what counts.

We must meet the felt needs of our friends and neighbors if we want to meet their spiritual needs. We must earn the right to tell them about our Lord. Otherwise they’ll feel that we’re imposing our faith and values, intruding in their private lives, being judgmental and intolerant. They must know that we care about them first. As Ken Medema puts it, don’t tell me I have a friend in Jesus until you show me I have a friend in you.

Who needs an encouraging note or email from you? A phone call of support? An offer of help? What can you do to earn the right to tell your neighbor about your Lord?

God wants us to fish with the equipment he has given us for the job.

These men learned to be courageous, tough, strong, resilient in their work, all characteristics they would need in fishing for men. They would face ridicule, slander, torture, prison, and martyrdom for their faith. What they learned in risking their lives on the water they would use in risking their lives for the gospel.

In the same way, God has gifted and prepared you to serve him today. You have experience and expertise he wants to use in his service. That’s why every believer absolutely should know his or her spiritual gifts. We’ve made it easy for you–go to www.pcbc.org and click on “ministries” and then “ministry discovery.” You’ll find forms which will help you identify your spiritual gifts and calling for ministry. They’ll take you less than 30 minutes to complete. Then contact the ministry discovery team so they can help you connect your gifts with a place of service.

I am convinced that every Christian in this room should do this, this week.

And God wants us to define success as a church by the fish we catch for Christ. Not by the size of our boat or number of our fishermen but by the fish we catch. By souls saved and lives changed. By the number of people we help to follow Jesus, the people we reach and disciples we make.

The church is the only organization on earth which exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not yet its members. We can make fishermen happy rather than catch fish, but we will fail our Lord and his purpose for our lives. Or we can make catching fish our purpose, and find the power, joy, and reward of God in our souls and church. The decision is ours.

Conclusion

Now this conversation becomes intensely personal. The church cannot reach the community, any more than a boat can catch fish. You’re the fishermen. You will talk to more lost people tomorrow than I’ll see all week. You’re the one called to go to them, meeting their needs with God’s love, using your gifts and abilities to fish for men. Your equipment may be a BlackBerry or a laptop or a law office or a classroom, but the principle and call are precisely the same.

What kind of fishing is your Father asking you to do? If you had to fill in the blank, “My ministry is ______________,” what would you say? We’ll never reach our community with the gospel until you fill in that blank. And you’ll never be fulfilled and joyous in your Christian faith until you do.

I can attest to that fact personally. I have long believed that every Christian has a call from God, a purpose, a north on the compass, his or her “one thing” to do in the Kingdom of God. Mine was clarified for me back in college during my days in youth ministry.

When I left my first staff job to return to my home church as youth minister, the congregation gave me a set of Barclay commentaries as a going-away present. On my way to my car in the church parking lot that night I opened the first one and found Barclay’s self-description as a “theological middleman.” Lights flashed and bells clanged. I knew then and know today that this is my call–to relate academics to life, study to practice, using the world of scholarship to help the Church reach the world.

On my good days I focus on this call. On my bad days I don’t. Those are the days when I let other people’s need determine my call, when I put people pleasing ahead of God serving.

On my good days I define success by fishing for men, doing what God wants at all costs. And I have found great joy and release and freedom in fulfilling that call. Do you know what I mean?

Following God into an Uncertain Future

Written by

Topical Scripture: Joshua 1:1–9

The coronavirus pandemic presents us with challenges unprecedented in a century. Not since the 1918 flu pandemic have we faced a disease with such a global impact on every dimension of our lives.

As we move into these uncharted days, it is vital that we follow the One who knows where we need to go. He sees the future better than we can see the present. If we will follow him, we will discover that his will never leads where his grace cannot sustain.

To help us, I’d like us to spend the next several weeks with the book of Joshua. Here the Lord met his people on the edge of the Promised Land and led them where they needed to go. These principles are in God’s word because they will do the same for us.

We’ll begin today with two steps that will enable us to hear our Lord’s voice and follow his will. As we study them, let me ask you to identify your greatest concern about the future.

Faith does not mean that we do not face fears. It means that we know where to face with our fears.

Let’s learn how to face our Father together.

Listen for the call of God (vv. 1–5)

Alexander the Great led his armies by the strength of his single focus and indomitable will. After his death, his generals met to plan their future. To their dismay, they discovered that they had marched off their maps. They were in an unknown location, facing an unknown future. They were not the first, or the last.

Listen in the hard places

So it was for Israel as the book of Joshua opened. Moses had died. This was easily the most traumatic event in the young life of the nation of Israel. He had been the “servant of the Lord” (v. 1), an exalted title given only to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Caleb to this point in Jewish history (Joshua would be added to the list at the end of his life and work; cf. 24:29). Now their mentor, guide, and hero was gone and the future was uncertain at best.

The book of Joshua connects its narrative directly to this crisis. Its first word, translated “after” in the ESV, is “and” in the Hebrew. The narrative continues directly from the end of Deuteronomy and the death of Moses. Perhaps the thirty days of mourning for Moses after his death had now ended (Deuteronomy 34:8). But the crisis facing the nation had not.

It has been calculated that the typical adult faces six crises in their life. Not just the routine problems of daily living, but major issues such as death, divorce, and serious disease. If a person graduates from adolescence without trusting personally in Christ, they are typically open to the gospel only during such times of crises. It is then that Christians who have built relationship with the person can show God’s love in theirs.

It is also in such periods of crisis that we can hear the Lord most clearly. He speaks far more than we are willing to stop and listen. But when we know that we need his word and help, that we have come to the end of our own wisdom, we will listen for his voice with desperation and faith. And we will always hear him speak.

So, whatever your circumstances may be, ask God to use them to bring his word to your heart. And he will.

Expect God to speak to you

In the immediate context of Moses’ death, “the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant . . .” (v. 1b). Joyce Huggett wrote a marvelous book titled The Joy of Listening to God. She’s right—whenever we are still enough to hear God’s Spirit speak to us, the result is joy. Whenever we are yielded to the truth of Scripture, to the words of a sermon or Bible study, to the truth contained in a worship song, to the truth of God revealed through human agents and means, there is joy.

So it was for Joshua, even in the crisis of the moment. So it will be for you. But you must expect God to speak to you, if only you will listen. You must tune the frequency of your spirit to his voice.

Seek his will for the now

God does not reveal himself in five-year strategies. You and I have inherited the Western worldview, with its linear philosophy of history. We like to think of history as a line on a page, progressing logically toward some conclusion. But God knows that this day is the only day which exists. His will is first and foremost for the here and now. He speaks to us in the present, about the present.

Joshua needed to know the next step to take. He didn’t need a long-range plan, but a present-tense guide. Not a map, but a flashlight. God gave him exactly what he needed to know, for the moment he needed to know it.

God gave him the who: “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people” (v. 2a). Not just the leaders of the tribes. Not just the army. Not just the priests. Not just some part of the population. The entire nation intended by God to live west of the Jordan River was now involved in the call and purpose of God.

He gave Joshua the where: “into the land that I am giving” (v. 2b). The Jordan is typically only eighty to one hundred feet wide, and not deep. I have baptized several groups there over the years and had no difficulty wading out into the middle of the slow-moving current. But when the spring rains come, the river can flood its larger bed. Where Joshua and his people would be crossing, the river would be more than a mile wide and a raging torrent.

They didn’t know what the Lord already knew—that they would face an insurmountable obstacle which he would lead them across miraculously. We are called to follow God today and leave tomorrow in his hands. He already knows every step he intends us to take.

Next the Lord gave Joshua the what: they would go “into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel” (v. 2c). God had earlier promised this land to Abraham for his descendants (Genesis 15:18–19) and had renewed his promise to and through Moses (Deuteronomy 11:24–25). Now he would bring it to fulfillment.

Our text continues: “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory” (vv. 3–4). The Hebrew tense indicates that the land was already theirs, though it remained to be taken. It already belonged to God, and thus to his heirs. They just had to go and claim it.

God did not give Joshua the long-term plan, but only the immediate next step to take. This is always how we will hear his call. We must be close enough to hear his voice when he calls to us. We are to be faithful to the last word we heard from the Lord. Only then can we hear the next.

Trust his provision for his purpose

God promised them: “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you” (v. 5). To “forsake” meant to abandon, to turn loose of. Imagine a mountain climbing guide, holding the lifeline for a climber who has lost his grip on the mountain. This is precisely our condition spiritually. But our Father will never turn loose of our rope. He will always hold us up until we have climbed to his full purpose and will.

Have you heard the call of God for your life and work? Expect God to speak to you, if only you will listen for his voice. Seek his will for the now, the next step you are to take into his purpose. Trust him to provide for every step of that pilgrimage. Sign a blank check to him. Give him your unconditional commitment to his purpose, whatever it might be.

And you will know what you are to do next in the plan of God for your life.

Choose courageous obedience (vv. 6–9)

The next words Joshua heard from God were a direct command: “Be strong and courageous” (v. 6a). “Be strong” translates a Hebrew word which means to be bound strongly together, to be put together well. To be “courageous” meant to be firm-footed, to take a strong stand, the opposite of shaking or quaking knees.

Why would Joshua need such courage? Because “you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them” (v. 6b). Even Moses did not fulfill this purpose. Their greatest leaders had not brought them to this place of victory. Now Joshua would lead a nation numbering in the millions into hostile territory inhabited by some of the most wicked cultures known to human history. Indeed, he would attempt something so great it was doomed to fail unless God was in it.

What is the secret to such courage? Faithful obedience: “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go” (v. 7).

Obedience was and is the prerequisite for divine power and protection. Such obedience would position them to receive the power and provision God intended to give.

So what is the secret to such obedience? Constant communion: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it” (v. 8a).

“Meditate” in the Hebrew describes a low murmuring sound made by a person contemplating something. We will not simply read the words and leave them on the page, but we will bring them into our hearts and lives.

When you read the word of God, first read its words aloud. Then use all your senses. Imagine yourself in this setting—how it feels to your skin and how it smells, tastes, sounds, and looks. Experience these words fully and sensually. Then ask the Lord for one thing you should do differently because you have spent this time with him in his word. Write down that idea or fact; read it over through the day; ask the Lord to apply it to your unconscious thoughts as well as your intentional decisions.

When you “meditate” on the word of God “day and night,” the result will be “so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (v. 8b). As we commune with God in his truth, we find his help in practicing the faithful obedience which creates courageous strength.

Last, what is the secret to such constant communion? Trusting the presence of God: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (v. 9).

He is “the Lord your God.” Martin Luther believed that the most important single word in the 23rd Psalm is found in its first clause: “The Lord is my shepherd.” Not just the shepherd or even our shepherd, but my shepherd.

Likewise, the Lord is your God. You can go no place that is exempt from his providence and presence. If you will trust him to be present in your life in this and every moment, you can then practice his presence through communion in his word. When you commune with him in his word, you have his guidance to practice faithful obedience. And as you are obedient to his word and will, you will have his strong courage to fulfill that purpose.

As we will see across these weeks, Joshua experienced precisely such strength and courage. He would lead the people to the great military conquest which would create their nation. He would establish them in their Promised Land and make of their roving tribes a permanent and mighty people.

His God will do no less with us.

Conclusion

When this pivotal chapter opened, we found Joshua and the people still mourning the death of their beloved hero and leader. Their future was uncertain in the extreme. Their leadership was unclear, their direction undetermined.

When the chapter ends, the people are one. Joshua is their strong and courageous leader. The people are unified and resolved to follow him into their future. And they will find that future to be as bright as the promises of God.

In these uncertain times, your culture needs Joshua-type Christians today. As we face medical fears and financial challenges, the people you know want to know if you will follow the Lord with your personal obedience and faithful commitment.

They cannot be expected to go further with God than we are willing to lead them. If the people you influence were as close to the Father as you are this moment, would this be a good thing?

Perhaps this text could be as pivotal to your soul as it was for Joshua. The choice is yours.