For Such a Time as This

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For Such a Time as This

Esther 4

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: every believer has a unique and crucial ministry

Persuade: to stand for God when you are called to do so

Who are some of your favorite biblical characters? One of mine is Hathach. We’ll meet him in this study.

We meet with the most famous statement in Esther: “Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (4.14). Your position is just as much the choice of God as hers, and just as crucial to the Kingdom.

What job does God have for you? There are three in this chapter—yours is one of them.

Mordecai’s role: some initiate (1-3)

“When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly” (v. 1). These were Jewish expressions of grief and mourning.

What were his other options? He could have asked forgiveness of Haman for himself and the nation. Or he could pretend not to be Jewish, or at least publicly so.

Now Mordecai “went only as far as the king’s gate” (2a). This was the last place a Jew would want to be in these days. Haman could have him killed instantly, ahead of the massacre. So why did he go there? He went so Esther could know. And God arranged things so that she did.

Someone must initiate ministry, especially in a crisis. God must give the vision, the direction to someone. Be willing to be that someone. You may think you are not qualified, or have too much in your past. Consider these men called by God to lead ministries: Moses the murderer, Joshua the old man, the disciples, Paul the persecutor. And there are others.

The church’s job is to help you find and fulfill your ministry. We exist not to initiate ministries for you to support, but to help you do yours. If you could do anything to serve Jesus, what would it be? “For such a time as this,” God calls some to lead in ministry. Are you one?

Hathach’s role: some serve (4-9)

Now, before we get to the main hero of the chapter and the story, let’s not overlook someone used by God in crucial ways: Hathach, “one of the king’s eunuchs” (v. 5). Here’s his story.

Mordecai “went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it” (v. 2). He was not allowed near the palace itself. So Esther’s “maids and eunuchs” told her about him and his distress. But she had no idea why he was grieving so. She sent him clothes, but he would not wear them. This was obviously serious.

She “summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why” (v. 5). There were probably hundreds of eunuchs guarding and serving the queen and the harem. Why him? His character, honesty, and trustworthiness must have somehow impressed her.

So Hathach goes out to Mordecai, receives the entire story, and hears his request that he “urge her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people” (8).

Now, what are Hathach’s options? If Haman hears of this, what will he do to him? He’s not a Jew. He can clearly say, “This is not my battle.” Or he can serve faithfully. He “went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.” If he had not, the story would have been very different.

Some lead, some serve. Service is just as crucial as leadership. Who has most impressed you with Christ? Someone who served you. In my case, it was a gentleman in Houston, TX, Julian Unger, who answered God’s call to a bus ministry.

When he followed the Holy Spirit’s leadership in establishing a bus ministry for College Park Baptist Church more than 30 years ago, he could not have known the Kingdom impact of his obedience. Every door in the community opened to bus ministry workers was opened to the word of God. Every child and teenager who heard the gospel through that ministry heard God’s love. And every person influenced for the Lord through that bus ministry has been a spiritual descendant of his faithfulness.

When I opened our apartment door in August of 1973, I had no understanding of God’s love. I assumed a “Christian” was a good person who believed in God. Our family had attended worship services very few times in my life, and I had no interest in “religion.” If Julian Unger and his fellow worker, Tom McGrady, had not come to me, I would never have gone to church. I would today be one of the millions of Americans who are spiritually lost, destined for an eternity separated from God. I will spend eternity in heaven because they were faithful to God. And so will hundreds and thousands of others.

Martin Luther King: “Anyone can be great, because anyone can serve.” Anyone can serve God and his people. In a crisis, God calls some to serve “for such a time as this.” Are you in their number?

Esther’s role: some obey sacrificially (10-17)

Now Esther knows the situation, and has a dire problem. No one can go to the king without his invitation. Law required death for the person doing so. And she has not been invited to the king for 30 days. With one exception: He could extend his gold scepter to spare the person’s life.

Mordecai’s reply is one of the most famous paragraphs in all the word of God: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (vv. 12-14).

Mordecai helped Esther realize her situation was as bad as his and the other Jews. Only her uncle/father could speak to the queen with such honesty. God will preserve the Jews, but she will miss his blessing and help. This is why she is in the position which is hers.

What is your position in life? You are there for such a time as this.

Esther’s responded courageously: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (vv. 15-16).

Esther got spiritual help from others. And she joined them in fasting and seeking God passionately. Then, she followed through by going to the king, risking everything.

We cannot win spiritual wars alone. Satan loves to isolate us. At the first sign of need, get others praying for you and with you. We must prepare for the battle. Esther knew to spend three days in preparation. And we must be willing to lose everything for Christ. Nothing matters as much as faithfulness to him.

“So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions” (v. 17). And the plot proceeds to its climax.

Who has God used greatly in your life. Did that person lead, serve, or sacrifice? Julian Unger and Tom McGrady used greatly by God in my life. Will someone describe you and me in the same way one day?

For Whom Should You Vote?

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For Whom Should You Vote?

John 3:1-8

Dr. Jim Denison

My title may have caused some of you to wonder if I’m going to endorse a presidential candidate today. I could do that if I wanted our church to lose its non-profit status, and if I wanted to violate the church-state separation essential to Baptist theology and American religious life. So I don’t think I will. Besides, I have another election in mind. One with even larger significance than the debates and campaign of these days. One which will effect every one of us long after the 2004 election is history.

We’ll hear today from two candidates, each presenting his own spiritual platform and hoping for your personal vote. Two of the wisest men of all time, engaged in a debate as current as this week’s news.

Meet the candidate for “good”

Our first candidate is described by his contemporaries as a short, squat, ugly little man with strangely-staring eyes. He is also considered by his peers to be the wisest man who ever lived. Historians usually trace our entire Western culture back to him. You know him as Socrates. He will speak to you now.

Good morning, and thank you for your invitation to speak today. I have but one point to make: your happiness depends on you. You can discover life’s highest value, its greatest good. You can learn all you need to know to accomplish your goals, to fulfill your dreams, to become what you were put on this earth to be. You can do it.

Here’s how: know thyself. The unexamined life is not worth living. But by examining yourself, by correct thinking and learning, you can become anything you want to be. There is an objective Good, and you can know it.

My student Plato put it this way: by right thinking you can escape this world of shadows and know the world of perfection. His student Aristotle claimed that by the right use of logic and reason, you can know that perfect world.

Those who followed them disagreed as to the best way to know the Good, but they all believed that you can do it.

In my ancient world, one group said that ceasing our desires is the way to happiness, while another movement disagreed, claiming that pursuing right pleasure makes us happy. Still another movement claimed that objective knowledge doesn’t exist, so if we’ll cease to seek such knowledge we’ll be happy. Yet another told us to align our lives with Reason and Fate to find happiness.

Many since my time have added their opinions. Immanuel Kant said duty for duty’s sake is the purpose of life. Friedrich Nietzsche told you that the will to power is basic to human fulfillment. Most of your American scholars believe that the greatest good for the greatest number of people produces happiness.

But we all agree: you can choose to be happy. You can accomplish your goals and fulfill your dreams. You can do it.

Abigail Adams, wife of your second president, said it well: “To be good and to do good is the sum of human purpose.” Your Thomas Jefferson may have said it best: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” You have a right to be happy. And you can seize that right, fulfill that dream.

Most of your countrymen agree. Ninety three percent of you say that you are your own determiner of moral truth. Most of you know that humanity is basically good, that we may sin but that doesn’t make us sinners. We’re good, and we can know and do the good. To be good and to do good is the sum of human purpose.

If your religion helps you to be good and do good, all the better. If coming to church, reading the Bible, praying, doing church work helps you be a better and happier person, by all means be religious. Of course, you know that your faith is just your faith. You have no right to force your beliefs on anyone else. So be tolerant, be good, and do good. This is the sum of life.

Meet the candidate for God

Now let’s meet our other candidate, a Jewish businessman, political leader and scholar named Nicodemus. He is one of the most dynamic and successful people we’ll find anywhere in the biblical world. An astounding resume, Exhibit A for “success” as our culture defines it. Let’s hear from him.

I am pleased to address you today. Our moderator was kind, but accurate. I did actually have everything my society and yours deem important for success. I was everything my opponent wants you to be. Here’s my story.

I was powerful—in fact, I achieved more power than it is possible to possess in your society today.

My name meant “conqueror of the people.” Clearly my parents envisioned great power for their baby boy. Imagine naming your infant son Napoleon or Alexander the Great. I was born with a gavel in my hand, bred for success, raised to conquer.

And I fulfilled my parents’ wildest dreams and fondest hopes. How many of you want your son or daughter to be President of the United States? A member of the Supreme Court? A Senator or Representative? I did all that and more.

As your Bible says, I was a “member of the Jewish ruling council” (v. 1). This group was known as the Sanhedrin—70 men who constituted the Supreme Court of our nation. We possessed ruling authority over every Jew anywhere in the world. We were the court of final appeal. Even the High Priest was subject to our rulings.

If your nation had one ruling body which combined the power of the Supreme Court and the House and Senate, and possessed authority over the president and the military, that body would be our Sanhedrin. And I would be one of its members. There was no more powerful position in all the land. If power can find God, I should have found God. And yet I didn’t.

I was also one of the wealthiest people in our nation. After Jesus’ tragic assassination, I donated 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes to help bury his crucified body (John 19:38ff.). This was the kind and amount of burial material normally used only for a king, and a very expensive gift.

I was part of the Jewish aristocracy, a very wealthy man. If your Forbes magazine had run a profile on Israel’s wealthiest men, my picture would have been in the article. Probably on its cover. If wealth can find God, I should have found God. And yet I didn’t.

And I was spiritual. One of the most religious men in our nation, in fact.

I was a “man of the Pharisees.” There were never more than 6,000 of us in ancient Israel. Our name meant “Separated Ones,” and that’s what we were—separated from all ordinary life to keep every detail of the Jewish law. The dietary codes, Sabbath regulations, everything. We were the Marine Corp of ancient Israel, the holiest men on earth in the eyes of our culture.

And I wasn’t just any Pharisee. I was “the teacher of Israel” (v. 10), a special kind of religious scholar, the man who taught other Pharisees their theology. Dean of the School of Theology, you would call me.

You can find no more religious man in all your Bible. If religion can find God, I should have found God. And yet I didn’t.

To be perfectly frank, I was good—in fact, better than good. I was Billy Graham meets Warren Buffett meets Chief Justice Rehnquist. If my opponent is right, if we can be good and do good in our own efforts, our own power and wealth and religion, I would be living proof. But all my good wasn’t good enough. So I came looking one day for help from the Rabbi I now serve. You should ask his help as well.

Cast your ballot

Now, before you vote for the candidate of your choice, I’d like to offer some concluding remarks. As a teacher of God’s word, I need you to know what it says about the election you’ll decide this morning.

I know that our culture votes for Socrates: we’re good people who can be good and do good. We haven’t hurt anyone, we try to be tolerant and helpful and moral. Humanity is basically good. And we’re included in that optimistic assessment.

But God says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Raise your hand if you’ve never sinned, if you’re the exception.

OK, we all make mistakes. Surely we’re better than most of the people we hear about in the news. But listen to God’s word: “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10).

So I’ve broken God’s law. What does that mean? “The payment for sin is death” (Romans 6:23), for “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). Our sins have separated us from God, so that we cannot get into his heaven.

Like Nicodemus, we need to repent of our sins. The word means to “change,” to admit them, to ask God’s forgiveness, to refuse to continue them. Unless you’re perfect, God requires repentance rather than self-righteousness. Unless you’re perfect, good isn’t good enough with him.

I know that our culture votes for Socrates: whatever you believe is fine so long as your faith is tolerant and helps you to be a good person.

“In God We Trust,” our money says. Eighty seven percent of us say we believe God exists. Ninety one percent of American women pray, as do 85 percent of American men. We believe in God.

But listen to his word: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons do that—and shudder” (James 2:19). Three times in the gospels, demons call Jesus the Son of God. Every demon believes in God.

And everyone in hell will, too. Here’s the future for all who believe in God but do not trust in him: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). On that day, every person on this planet will know that there is a God, for they will stand before his throne personally.

You can vote for Socrates, and try to become everything Nicodemus was before he met Jesus. Or you can vote for Nicodemus and become everything he is today—the born-again child of God, with purpose and joy on earth and eternal reward in paradise.

Conclusion

Our church wants to help you make the right decision. As I told our Sunday school teachers this morning, and our choir, deacons, trustees, and staff in recent weeks, the Lord has made clear to me that our highest emphasis this fall must be on knowing that we know Jesus. We will give every attender a personal opportunity to have the assurance of his or her salvation. This is “job one” in these months, our God-given responsibility and privilege together. You’ll be hearing much more on this subject in coming weeks.

For today, I invite you to go to the same Rabbi who helped Nicodemus. You can believe what he heard: “You must be born again” (John 3:7). You can ask this Rabbi to forgive your mistakes and failures and sins. You can repent of your self-righteousness, of seeking enough power and wealth and knowledge to be happy and successful. You can be born-again, today. You can know that you know God.

Now we’ll cast our votes. This morning’s election isn’t about who lives in the White House, but who lives in God’s house. No absentee ballots will be accepted. This decision is for eternity. Vote wisely.

Forgiving is for Giving

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Forgiving is for Giving

Dr. Jim Denison

Matthew 18:21-35

Thesis: We must forgive others to receive the forgiveness of God

Americans lead the world in the consumption of aspirin, and in physical problems caused by stress. By the year 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.

Why are so many people discouraged or depressed? One psychologist said recently that 90% of the problems his clients face can be reduced to two issues: grief over failures of the past or fear of failing in the future. We desperately need to learn to be forgiven, and to forgive. This is the food and shelter of the soul.

Here is the paradox of forgiveness: we are to give what we have received, or we cannot receive it. Jesus’ parable explains why both statements are true. And it shows us the way to give and receive the forgiveness which will liberate your heart from the prison of legalism and bring the joy of grace to your soul.

Ask an honest question

Our text opens with an honest question, and a surprising answer. First Peter’s query: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18.21).

Peter was being generous. The rabbis recommended that we forgive not more than three times (cf. Rabbi Jose ben Jehuda: “”If a man commits an offence once, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a second time, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a third time, they forgive him; the fourth time they do not forgive”; quoted in Barclay 2.193). They deduced the limit of three from the book of Amos, where God repeatedly cites condemnations of the various nations “for three transgressions and for four” (cf. Amos 1.3, “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . . .”). It was thought that man could not be more gracious or forgiving than God (Barclay 2.193).

So the fisherman thought he was being gracious, but we wonder what prompted his question. Earlier in Matthew 18 Jesus taught his disciples to go directly to the brother who sins against them (v. 15). Perhaps these words prompted in Peter’s mind an unresolved conflict. We don’t think of him as an abstract philosopher given to speculative inquiry. Probably he had someone in mind for his question.

Whether he did or not, we do. With whom are you at odds today? Who comes to mind first when the subject of forgiveness is mentioned? What person is to be the focus of your response to this parable?

Count the debt you owed

Your first step in forgiving that individual is to realize how much God has forgiven you. Jesus answered Peter’s question: “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18.22). The Greek can be translated as “seventy times seven,” but “seventy-seven” is more likely the correct rendering. (Genesis 4.24 records Lamech’s vow to avenge himself on others “seventy-seven times.” The Hebrew there is clearly “seventy-seven,” as is the Septuagint which translated it into Greek; cf. France 277, Broadus 390.)

Jesus’ meaning is clear: we are never to stop forgiving. There is to be no limit. No loopholes. No contingencies. But this seems an impossible request, so Jesus showed us why it is not. What follows is the most famous parable on forgiveness in all of literature.

The hero of our story is the king. The king has vast holdings, and is owed a vast debt: “ten thousand talents” (v. 24). A talent was the highest unit of currency in the ancient world, and ten thousand the highest Greek numeral (France 277). And so this would be the largest financial amount Jesus could name. The Attic talent was $1,200 in our currency; the larger Roman was $500; the Hebrew, Assyrian, and Babylonian ran from $1,550 to $2,000. If Jesus had in mind the Hebrew talent, this figure would range from $15 million to $20 million (Lenski 712).

As large as this amount seems, it grows astronomically when compared with typical revenues in the first century. The total income of the province containing Idumaea, Judea and Samaria was only 600 talents; the total revenues of Galilee was only 300 talents (Josephus, Antiquities 11.4). By comparison with incomes of the day, the debtor in Jesus’ parable owed more than America’s entire national debt!

Was such a debt even possible in Jesus’ day? Or are we to take the story as intended fiction? Historians believe that one of the richest Oriental despots could rule such a large province that his finance minister could owe tax returns of this size over time (France 277, Barnes 189, Broadus 391, Keener BBCNT 95). Whether Jesus alluded here to a fact of history or not, the spiritual implication is clear.

In the parable, the king is God. Jesus stated that his parable concerns the “kingdom of heaven” (v. 23), where God is king. Only a king of great power could have such debtors (Bruce 242). And only a king of great grace could forgive such a debt. No human being could or would do what Jesus’ king did. And what he still does.

The king was well within his rights to sell the servant to pay the debt (v. 25). Exodus 22.3: “A thief must certainly make restitution, but if he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for his theft.” It was illegal to sell a man for a sum greater than his debt (Carson 407), but nothing prevented the king from selling the man for a sum less than what he was owed.

In Jesus’ story the king also resolved to sell “his wife and his children” (v. 25). During the time of Nehemiah the people sold their own children to slavery to pay their debts (Nehemiah 5.4-5); a wife of one of the prophets complained to Elisha that her deceased’s husband creditor “is coming to take my two boys as his slaves” (2 Kings 4.1). However, Jewish custom prohibited the sale of women and children (Keener IVPNTC 292), and Nehemiah condemned such a practice (Nehemiah 5.9). The king’s decision to sell the children to pay the debt indicates that Jesus probably meant a pagan king in the historical context of his parable.

Now the servant “fell on his knees before him” (v. 26a), continuous action in the original Greek, indicating an ongoing act of homage and supplication (Broadus 391). “Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything” (v. 26b), the man begged. He was foolish to think so. No person could pay back such a huge debt. But still we try. Still we make religion a way to repay the debt we owe to God. Still we worship, and give, and serve out of obligation, to earn the righteousness God can only give.

Here’s the vertical axis of the story: “The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go” (v. 27). He was “filled with compassion” for his woeful servant. He “forgave the loan,” as the Greek puts it. In v. 32 the master made clear that this was a “debt”; here he chose to see it as a loan he could forgive.

Think of it: a debt you could never possibly repay, forgiven with a word. Completely cancelled. The slate wiped clean (1 John 1.9). Your sin buried in the depths of the deepest seas (Micah 7.19), where God remembers them no more (Isaiah 43.25).

How much has God forgiven you? Take Peter’s suggestion of seven sins as a start, per day. This comes to 2,555 per year. Over 70 years, a person who sinned at this rate would have committed 178,850 transgressions against God. Be honest—do you sin against God by omission and commission, thought and action, less than seven times a day? More?

A priest in the Philippines carried in his soul the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had confessed this sin to God but still had no peace about it. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and claimed to have visions in which she spoke directly with her Lord. The priest was skeptical. To test her he said, “The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.” The woman agreed.

A few days later the priest asked her, “Did Christ visit you?” “Yes, he did,” she replied. “And did you ask him what sin I committed in the seminary?” “Yes.” “Well, what did he say?” “He said, ‘I don’t remember'” (Leadership vol 85, p. 68).

To forgive the person with whom you have issues today, first remember how much God has forgiven you. And how much he has forgotten.

Consider the debt you are owed

Now consider the debt this person owes you, in the light of what you owe God. In Jesus’ story the forgiven servant found a fellow servant who owed him a “hundred denarii” (v. 28). A denarius was a silver Roman coin worth about 18 cents today, the workman’s daily wage in Jesus’ day (Rienecker 55). This was a not insignificant debt, as it was equivalent to a man’s salary for 100 days (thus the NIV text note calling this “a few dollars” is misleading; Boring 382). But the contrast between the two debts could not be more stark.

A hundred denarii could be carried in a man’s pocket. The ten thousand talents would require 8,600 carriers, each with a sack of money weighing 60 pounds. Walking a yard apart, they would form a line five miles long (Barclay 2.194). The second debt is one six-hundred-thousandth the debt of the first (France 277). This is the relation of the debt owed us to the debt we owed God.

At this point the first servant had a choice. He could give to the second the forgiveness given to him. Or he could stand on the rights his king refused and require what his king forgave. He chose poorly: “He grabbed him and began to choke him” (v. 28). This was a legal “citizen’s arrest,” permitted in ancient Israel when a man owed money to another. The second servant repeated to the first the exact words (in Greek) he had spoken to the king: “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back” (v. 29).

But the first servant had the second thrown into prison until he repaid his debt (v. 30). He chose law over love. He showed that his heart had not been changed by the forgiveness he had received. He proved the maxim, “We pardon in the degree that we love” (Francois del la Rochefoucauld, quoted in The Pastor’s Story File, April 1986, 8). He was within his rights, but he was wrong.

You can make the same decision with that person who owes a debt to you. You can refuse to forgive, choosing instead to punish. You have that right. But you’ll be wrong.

Frederick Buechner comments perceptively on “anger”: “Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back—in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down in yourself. The skeleton at the feast in you” (Wishful Thinking [New York: Harper and Row, 1973] 2). The rest of Jesus’ parable proves that he’s right.

Choose grace

Private sin never remains so. The old truism is true: sin will always take you farther than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay. In our story the first servant thought his injustice would go unnoticed, but it never does. The other servants were “greatly distressed” (“exceedingly grieved” in the Greek) and told their master “everything that had happened” (“every single detail” in the Greek; Broadus 392) (v. 31).

Now the master must give to the first servant what that servant gave to the second: “in anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed” (v. 34). Grievous debts were punished in the ancient world with torture in prison (France 277-8). Now the servant who required that he be repaid what he was owed, must repay what he owes. With this conclusion from Jesus: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (v. 35). Not just externally but internally. Not just for the moment, but permanently. Not out of obligation but choice. As a commitment of life.

Is this a parable of works righteousness? Is Jesus teaching that we must earn God’s forgiveness by giving it to others? Not at all.

Biblical forgiveness is pardon. It is not excusing what was done to you, or pretending it didn’t happen. It is not justifying the behavior, or ignoring its consequences. To forgive is to pardon, as when a governor pardons a criminal. The governor does not pretend that the crime did not occur; he or she instead chooses not to punish as the law permits. The sentence, though rightfully imposed, is not carried out. (See Lewis Smedes, Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve [New York: Pocket Books, 1984] for a brilliant analysis of this theological fact.)

This is precisely what the king does earlier in the parable. He does not pretend that no debt is owed, or excuse the mismanagement or criminality which produced it. He doesn’t ignore the enormous consequences of such a fraudulent act. He doesn’t overlook the debt, but instead chooses not to punish the debtor. This is what God has done for each of us in Christ: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8). Now we “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6.18). Now we are commanded to “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4.32).

To earn forgiveness? No—to receive it. It is a simple fact that forgiveness must find a forgiving heart, as a seed its soil. If I will not forgive your debts against me, I show my heart to be cold, hard, calloused. I see myself as a man owed, a person treated unfairly. I am living within the worldview of legalism, a prison made of laws. Wrongs must be made right, crimes punished, criminals convicted.

In such a worldview, my crimes must be punished as well. If I am unwilling to forgive you, it is likely that I am unwilling to be forgiven by God. I am most probably living in a world of works, where I must pay my debts even while I require you to pay yours.

Even if I am willing to be so hypocritical as to require punishment from you while expecting forgiveness for myself, I cannot experience such pardon from God, for I have not done what I must to receive it. To be forgiven by God I must admit that I am a sinner. I must confess the deep and grievous nature of my sin. I must say with David, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51.4a). When I see my sins as God does, their enormous size and horrific nature appalls me and I admit to him, “you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” (v. 4b).

When I see my sins in this way, I see your sins in their light. I realize how small are yours and how extreme are mine. I realize how little you owe me and how much I owe the Lord of the universe. And I must forgive you, for I have been forgiven by him.

So if I will not forgive you, I have not received forgiveness from God. For if he has pardoned me, I must pardon you. If he has forgiven me the national debt, I must forgive you anything you could owe to me. If I will not pardon you, it can only be because I have not been pardoned.

So give grace to receive it. Receive grace to give it. Choose to pardon the person whose sins hurt you, because you have been pardoned by the One your sins crucified. Forgive not seven times, or 77 times, but every time. Because every sin you confess to God will be forgiven. Start today.

Copernicus, the great astronomer, lay dying. A copy of his great book, The Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies, was placed in his hands. But he was not thinking of his brilliant scientific discoveries or the universal acclaim they won him. His mind was on a far higher plane.

As one of his last acts, he directed that this epitaph be placed on his grave: “O Lord, the faith thou didst give to St. Paul, I cannot ask; the mercy thou didst show to St. Peter, I dare not ask; but Lord, the grace thou didst show unto the dying robber, that, Lord, show to me” (The Pastor’s Story File, April 1986, p. 1). Every person can come to God under these terms. And every person can give them to others. Even us. Even now.

Forgiving Is For Giving

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Topical Scripture: Matthew 18: 21‒35

A man named Dave Chernosky was asleep in the house in Aspen, Colorado, where he was staying with his twelve-year-old twin children. He heard a commotion in the kitchen and went to investigate. A four-hundred-pound bear was standing in front of the refrigerator. He had opened drawers and cabinets and thrown stuff around the room.

Chernosky was able to coax the bear out into the garage, but the animal became spooked when Chernosky raised the garage door and came back into the house. The bear then struck Chernosky on the side of the head and the back. Doctors later told him that the bear’s claws just missed his eye and carotid artery.

Chernosky was able to scramble away and scream at the bear to leave, which it did.

Let’s make his story relevant to us. You may not be facing four-hundred-pound animals today, but there are bears in your kitchen, nonetheless. Their claws may be words as well as actions. They can hurt you just as deeply as any bear, in ways we can see and in ways we cannot.

One of the great tragedies of this pandemic is that it is taking so much focus from our other problems. Patients are not getting treated for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems as they should be. The same can be true in our relationships. If you were struggling with your marriage or family, the pandemic probably has not made things better. If you are dealing with people who have hurt you at school or work, the pain probably persists. You may have people from your past whose “claws” still hurt you today.

In our series, “Hope for Hard Times,” let’s look for hope for the relational pain we all feel. Before we turn to this week’s parable, name your “bear.” Name the relationship you most wish could be better, the person you need to forgive or seek forgiveness from. Now, let’s listen as Jesus speaks to the bears in our emotional kitchens with healing truth.

Consider the debt you owe

Our text opens with an honest question, and a surprising answer. Peter asks Jesus: “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (Matthew 18:21).

Peter was being generous. The rabbis recommended that we forgive not more than three times. So the fisherman thought he was being gracious. Jesus’ answer must have shocked him: “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times” (v. 22). The Greek can be translated as “seventy times seven,” but “seventy-seven” is more likely the correct rendering.

Jesus’ meaning is clear: we are never to stop forgiving. There is to be no limit. No loopholes. No contingencies. But this seems an impossible request, so Jesus showed us why it is not. What follows is the most famous parable on forgiveness in all of literature.

The hero of our story is a king who has vast holdings and is owed a vast debt: “ten thousand talents” (v. 24). A talent was the highest unit of currency in the ancient world, and ten thousand the highest Greek numeral. As a result, this would be the largest financial amount Jesus could name. If Jesus had in mind the Hebrew talent, this figure would range from $15 million to $20 million.

For context, the annual revenue of all of Galilee was only three hundred talents a year. In comparison with incomes of the day, this debtor owed more than America’s entire national debt!

The king was well within his rights to sell the servant to pay the debt: “Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft” (Exodus 22:3 NIV). It was illegal to sell a man for a sum greater than his debt, but nothing prevented the king from selling the man for a sum less than what he was owed.

However, in Jesus’ story the king also resolved to sell “his wife and his children” (v. 25). Jewish custom prohibited the sale of women and children, and Nehemiah condemned such a practice (Nehemiah 5:9). The king’s decision to sell the children to pay the debt indicates that Jesus probably meant a pagan king in the historical context of his parable.

Now the servant “fell on his knees imploring him” (Matthew 18:26a), continuous action in the original Greek, indicating an ongoing act of homage and supplication. “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything” (v. 26b), the man begged. He was foolish to think so. No person could pay back such a huge debt. But still we try. Still we make religion a way to repay the debt we owe to God. Still we worship, and give, and serve out of obligation, to earn the righteousness God can only give.

Here’s the vertical axis of the story: “Out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave the debt” (v. 27).

Think of it: a debt you could never possibly repay, forgiven with a word. Completely cancelled. The slate wiped clean (1 John 1:9). Your sin buried in the depths of the deepest seas (Micah 7:19), where God remembers them no more (Isaiah 43:25).

How much has God forgiven you? Take Peter’s suggestion of seven sins as a start, per day. This comes to 2,555 per year. Over seventy years, a person who sinned at this rate would have committed 178,850 transgressions against God. Be honest—do you sin against God by omission and commission, thought and action, less than seven times a day? More?

To forgive the person with whom you have issues today, first remember how much God has forgiven you. And how much he has forgotten.

Consider the debt you are owed

Now consider the debt this person owes you, in the light of what you owe God. In Jesus’ story the forgiven servant found a fellow servant who owed him a “hundred denarii” (v. 28). A denarius was a silver Roman coin worth about eighteen cents today, the workman’s daily wage in Jesus’ day.

This was a not insignificant debt, as it was equivalent to a man’s salary for one hundred days. But the contrast between the two debts could not be more stark. In fact, the second debt is one six-hundred-thousandth the debt of the first. This is the relation of the debt owed us to the debt we owed God.

At this point the first servant had a choice. He could give to the second the forgiveness given to him. Or he could stand on the rights his king refused and require what his king forgave. He chose poorly: “Seizing him, he began to choke him” (v. 28). This was a legal “citizen’s arrest,” permitted in ancient Israel when a man owed money to another. The second servant repeated to the first the exact words (in Greek) he had spoken to the king: “Have patience with me, and I will pay you” (v. 29).

But the first servant had the second thrown into prison until he repaid his debt (v. 30). He chose law over love. He showed that his heart had not been changed by the forgiveness he had received. He was within his rights, but he was wrong.

You can make the same decision with that person who owes a debt to you. You can refuse to forgive, choosing instead to punish. You have that right. But you’ll be wrong.

Choose grace

In our story the first servant thought his injustice would go unnoticed, but it never does. The other servants were “greatly distressed” (“exceedingly grieved” in the Greek) and told their master “all that had taken place” (v. 31).

Now the master must give to the first servant what that servant gave to the second: “in anger his master delivered him over to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt” (v. 34). Grievous debts were punished in the ancient world with torture in prison. Now the servant who required that he be repaid what he was owed, must repay what he owes.

With this conclusion from Jesus: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (v. 35). Not just externally but internally. Not just for the moment, but permanently. Not out of obligation but choice. As a commitment of life.

Is this a parable of works righteousness? Is Jesus teaching that we must earn God’s forgiveness by giving it to others? Not at all.

Biblical forgiveness is pardon. It is not excusing what was done to you or pretending it didn’t happen. It is not justifying the behavior or ignoring its consequences. To forgive is to pardon, as when a governor pardons a criminal. The governor does not pretend that the crime did not occur; he or she instead chooses not to punish as the law permits. The sentence, though rightfully imposed, is not carried out.

This is precisely what the king does earlier in the parable. He does not pretend that no debt is owed or excuse the mismanagement or criminality which produced it. He doesn’t ignore the enormous consequences of such a fraudulent act. He doesn’t overlook the debt, but instead chooses not to punish the debtor. This is what God has done for each of us in Christ: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Now we “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:18 NIV). Now we are commanded to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

To earn forgiveness? No—to receive it. It is a simple fact that forgiveness must find a forgiving heart, as a seed its soil. If I will not forgive your debts against me, I show my heart to be cold, hard, calloused. I see myself as a man owed, a person treated unfairly. I am living within the worldview of legalism, a prison made of laws. Wrongs must be made right, crimes punished, criminals convicted.

In such a worldview, my crimes must be punished as well. If I am unwilling to forgive you, it is likely that I am unwilling to be forgiven by God. I am most probably living in a world of works, where I must pay my debts even while I require you to pay yours.

Even if I am willing to be so hypocritical as to require punishment from you while expecting forgiveness for myself, I cannot experience such pardon from God, for I have not done what I must to receive it. To be forgiven by God I must admit that I am a sinner. I must confess the deep and grievous nature of my sin. I must say with David, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4a). When I see my sins as God does, their enormous size and horrific nature appalls me and I admit to him, “you are justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (v. 4b).

When I see my sins in this way, I see your sins in their light. I realize how small are yours and how extreme are mine. I realize how little you owe me and how much I owe the Lord of the universe. And I must forgive you, for I have been forgiven by him.

So, if I will not forgive you, I have not received forgiveness from God. For if he has pardoned me, I must pardon you. If he has forgiven me the national debt, I must forgive you anything you could owe to me. If I will not pardon you, it can only be because I have not been pardoned.

Conclusion

So, name the “bear” in your kitchen, the person who has hurt you. Now give grace to receive it. Receive grace to give it. Choose to pardon the person whose sins hurt you, because you have been pardoned by the One your sins crucified. Forgive not seven times, or seventy-seven times, but every time. Because every sin you confess to God will be forgiven. Start today.

Copernicus, the great astronomer, lay dying. A copy of his great book, The Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies, was placed in his hands. But he was not thinking of his brilliant scientific discoveries or the universal acclaim they won him. His mind was on a far higher plane.

As one of his last acts, he directed that this epitaph be placed on his grave: “O Lord, the faith thou didst give to St. Paul, I cannot ask; the mercy thou didst show to St. Peter, I dare not ask; but Lord, the grace thou didst show unto the dying robber, that, Lord, show to me.”

Every person can come to God under these terms. And every person can give them to others. Even us. Even now.

Four Words Which Changed My Life

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Four Words Which Changed My Life

Revelation 7:9-17

Dr. Jim Denison

A friend once sent me some advice from kids. It gives us a sense of what mothers must deal with: Never trust a dog to watch your food (Patrick, age 10); When your dad is mad and asks you, “Do I look stupid?” don’t answer him (Michael, 14); Never tell your mom her diet’s not working (Michael, 14); Stay away from prunes (Randy, 9); When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair (Taylia, 11); Never allow your three-year-old brother in the same room as your school assignment (Traci, 14); Don’t sneeze in front of mom when you’re eating crackers (Mitchell, 12); Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac (Andrew, 9); If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse (Naomi, 15); Never try to baptize a cat (Eileen, 8); Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat (Joel, 10); Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time (Kyoyo, 9).

This morning I am going to give mothers and the rest of us the best advice I know. The greatest solution to the challenges you face in raising your children and dealing with your problems, whatever they may be. The greatest help for the rest of us, wherever we need God’s help most. My advice takes only four words to state. It is going to seem paradoxical in the extreme, the last thing you’d think you should do when you need help and hope. But it is the key to living for Jesus, serving him effectively, and experiencing his power where you need it most this morning.

To get to that advice, first we need to set the stage.

Joining Jesus in heaven

We’re looking for pictures of Jesus in the Book of Revelation. We’ve seen him on his throne in divine majesty; we’ve watched him open the word of God in omnipotent power. Now we watch heaven worship him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The DaVinci Code says that in early Christianity, “Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet…a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal” (p. 233, emphasis his). Let’s see if John agrees.

“There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” (v. 9).

This was the standard four-fold division of the peoples of the world. Today we might say, every nation and state and race and language. Despite the racial bigotry which was rampant in John’s time. In heaven’s worship of Jesus, everyone is included. Rich and poor, priests and people, sinners and saintly Christians–we’re all here.

We are “wearing white robes” (v. 9a). These refer to priestly robes as well as victory robes such as the Roman generals wore. Why are they white? Because “these are they who have come out of the great tribulation: they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (v. 14). As every mother knows, blood on a garment is one of the hardest stains to remove. But not this blood: Jesus’ blood has bleached out all the stains of sin in our lives. His forgiveness has removed them forever.

We are “holding palm branches” in our hands (v. 9b). These were used by the Greeks and Romans as victory signs at the Games, like our gold medals today.

If Jesus is your Savior and Lord, you’re in this crowd. You’re one of the saints of the ages, joining the angels of all eternity. You’re wearing the white robes of salvation and holding the palm branches of victory. This is our future with Jesus.

What will we be doing?

“And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb'” (v. 10). We are engaged fully in the worship of Jesus. We are loving him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.

We will do this forever: “They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple” (v. 15a). This is not Sunday morning in heaven, but Tuesday evening. This is our eternal joy, and privilege, and delight.

What will Jesus be doing?

“Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat” (v. 16). Why not? Because “the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (v. 17). He will be the Shepherd of his sheep, leading us to green pastures and still waters. He will wipe every tear from our eyes, as he comforts and protects us forever.

When those in heaven worship Jesus, they are blessed by Jesus. When they honor him, they are honored by him. When they give him their highest praise, even though they have come through “great tribulation” (v. 14), he gives them his highest blessing and reward. Those who worship Jesus experience the presence and power of God.

Finding Jesus on earth

What does this scene in heaven have to do with mothers and the rest of us on earth? Let’s keep exploring. In Isaiah 43:21, God says that we are “the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” We were created to praise God. That’s what we’ll do in eternity, and what he wants us to do now.

So worship is how we experience his presence and power today.

Psalm 22:3 teaches that God inhabits the praises of his people.

When Daniel was in danger of losing his job and his life, “Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10). And God spared him in the lion’s den.

When Israel was going to war, with the very future of the nation at stake, “Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever'” (2 Chronicles 20:21). The result? “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against [their enemies] and they were defeated” (v. 22).

When Paul and Silas were beaten in Philippi and thrown into prison, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25). The result? “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose” (v. 26). And the jailer and his family were converted.

We experience God’s power and help when we worship him. Worship connects our souls to his Spirit. Worship elevates Jesus to the throne of our hearts. Worship surrenders our lives to his Lordship and thus to his power, hope, and help.

Now, what does that fact have to do with the challenges mothers face, and the rest of us with them?

The large majority of mothers say it’s harder to be a mother today than it was 20 or 30 years ago. You worry about the perennial issues: your family’s health and happiness, the choices your children are making with their lives, meeting their needs.

But today those challenges are exacerbated in a world where pornography is just a computer click away, where premarital sex is accepted and even expected by our culture, where alcoholism is an epidemic among young people, where terrorism and safety concerns are higher than they have ever been in our nation’s history.

You’re fighting these battles for your families, but there’s not enough of you to go around. According to the Pew Research Center, your top five problems are (1) not having enough time for yourself; (2) controlling outside influences upon your family; (3) balancing work and family; (4) not having enough money; and (5) stress on your marriage.

Seventy percent of mothers with children under the age of 18 work outside the home. That’s up from 45 percent just 20 years ago. But you earn 72.7 cents for every dollar earned by men. There’s just not enough of you for all you must do today.

And in our culture, you’re judged by the success of your efforts. Your children are judged by their popularity, their grades, their success in athletics or other activities. Your husband is judged by the money he makes. You’re judged by the house you own, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, by your appearance and social status. You’re supposed to balance all that while meeting your family’s needs, every day of your lives.

Conclusion

And so we come to the four words which changed my life, the four words which were the key to the presence and peace of God for my soul, the four words which put me in position to receive all that God wants to give. The four words I neglect and pay the price in frustration and defeat. The four words I remember and experience the victory they bring. A dear friend in Atlanta first taught them to me many years ago, after a life-changing encounter with their truth. I’ve tried never to forget them since. Here they are: it’s not about us.

Your culture makes it all about you. It’s all about your hard work and effort to meet your family’s needs, to help your kids succeed, to make your husband happy and fulfilled, and to meet your personal needs along the way. But it’s not.

It’s not about you. You don’t have to do this by yourselves. You don’t have to do this the best that you can and hope for the best. It’s not about you.

Your job is to love Jesus. With him at the center of your day, your priorities will be in order. You’ll have his peace in the midst of your hectic days. You’ll have his wisdom as you try to guide your children. You’ll have his strength as you wrestle with work and finances. You’ll have his love for your husband and your family. You’ll find your significance and worth as a person, not in your temporary possessions and appearance and social status, but in his incredible love for you. Your first job is to love Jesus.

And then your job is to bring your children to Jesus. To lead them to worship him, honor him, love him. To join them at his feet each day in surrender and worship. Your success is the result of this simple question: Do you love Jesus? Do they?

If you children love Jesus as you do, would that be a good thing? Fathers, I’ll ask you the same question. Sons and daughters, I’ll ask you that about your friends and colleagues. Is your life about you or him?

Do you start the day in prayer and Scripture and worship? Do you make your decisions by asking how this will honor Jesus? Do you speak with him throughout the day? Does his opinion matter more than those of your friends and even your family? Would he say you worshiped him yesterday? Will he say you worshiped him tomorrow?

Loving Jesus is the key to his power and help, wherever you need them most. Then, if you love Jesus and help your children love Jesus, when they are before the throne of Jesus one day, they will spend eternity thanking him for you.

Last Thursday morning I met a truck driver delivering materials to the new building. He needed to know where to park until the building opened. In the course of our conversation I asked him about his faith, and he assured me that he had asked Jesus to forgive his sins and be his Savior.

Then he asked me something. He had recently seen a quiz and wanted to try it on the Baptist preacher. He said that 80 percent of children answered the quiz correctly, but only 17 percent of adults. Here it is: What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, and if you eat it, you’ll die? The answer: “nothing.”

Nothing is greater than God. That’s true in heaven, where Jesus is being worshipped this moment. Is it true for you?

Freedom Is Never Free

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Freedom Is Never Free

Matthew 9:35-10:1

Dr. Jim Denison

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.–That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Thus begins the most famous document in American history. Its 57 signers would have been executed for treason if the nation created by this treatise had lost its War of Independence. The 57 signatures appear beneath these words: “for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” They knew that freedom is never free.

On this July 4th weekend, we give thanks to the God who has given us freedom to worship him. We give thanks for those who secured the right to such freedom of worship, those visionaries who birthed the concept of a free church in a free state.

And with those courageous signers, we want to pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. We want to carry forward the torch they have passed to us. We want to be worthy of their sacrifice and trust. We want to serve the cause of freedom as they did. We want to give our children and grandchildren the same example of courage and honor that we have inherited from those who have gone before us.

Jesus will show us how.

Giving thanks for our freedom (Matthew 9:35)

Our text finds us in the midst of the Galilean ministry of Jesus. Matthew tells us that he was free to go “everywhere,” to all the villages in this northern part of the Holy Land. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, records the fact that there were no less than 204 such villages in the time of Jesus.

Our Lord saw that they were “fainting”–the Greek word meant to be flayed or skinned. They were “scattered”–cast down, wounded, lying around, abandoned by their spiritual shepherds. And so he was moved with “compassion”–a very strong Greek word meaning pity to the depths of one’s being. They were hurting, abandoned, and lost, and he felt their pain and suffering. He saw their need. And he was free to teach, preach, and heal to meet it. Free to minister as God led him.

Such freedom to teach, preach, and heal is still ours today. A free church in a free state is the most significant Baptist contribution to America’s history and political worldview. The state must not regulate the church in our work and service. And the church must not ask the state to support or accomplish our ministry.

John Leland was a Baptist minister and one of the foremost proponents of religious freedom in the infant United States. For instance, he once wrote, “Government has no more to do with the religious opinions of men, than it has with the principles of mathematics.” He continued: “Let every man speak freely without fear, maintain the principles that he believes, worship according to his own faith, either one God, three Gods, no God, or twenty Gods; and let government protect him in so doing.”

On Sunday, May 16, 1920, Dr. George Truett stood on the east steps of the national capitol in Washington, D.C. There, as part of the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting in that city that year, he was asked by the Baptist churches of Washington to address the subject, “Baptists and Religious Liberty.”

Dr. Truett’s address fills 24 pages of manuscript. Of all he said on that remarkable day from the nation’s capitol, I quote only this paragraph:

“That utterance of Jesus, ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s,’ is one of the most revolutionary and history-making utterances that ever fell from those lips divine. That utterance, once for all, marked the divorcement of church and state. It marked a new day for the creeds and deeds of men. It was the sunrise gun of a new day, the echoes of which are to go on and on and on until in every land, whether great or small, the doctrine shall have absolute supremacy everywhere of a free church in a free state.”

John Leland and George Truett were right. We celebrate today the privilege of a free church in a free state. The freedom to go where we wish and minister as God leads us. Let us worship today our God of freedom, in thanks for this free nation we love.

Exercise your freedom to pray (Mt 9:37)

Oscar Dellet is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Camaguey in central Cuba. Our church has worked in partnership with Oscar for some five years now. He has preached for me in Dallas and I have preached for him in Cuba. His is the first name on my prayer list each morning. He is a remarkable visionary, courageous leader, and true man of God. I love him and trust him with my life.

Several years ago Oscar was visiting our church, and came to my home one evening for dinner. During the course of the evening, America’s religious history became the topic of conversation. Oscar told us that he had studied American history in great detail. He knew that while many of our Founding Fathers were godly Christians, many were not. He knew that while many of the colonists were very faithful Christians, many were not. “Why, then, has God so blessed America?” he asked. “For this reason: so America’s churches can bless the world.”

I have thought a great deal about that Cuban pastor’s assertion, and am convinced that he is right. God has blessed our nation with freedom and prosperity, so our churches would be free to bless and prosper the churches of the world. Jesus called his first disciples to use their freedom in the same way: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (vs. 37-38). You have freedom to worship and serve God–exercise that freedom first in prayer.

God has richly blessed the world whenever America’s Christians have prayed. The First Great Awakening began in colonial America, and swept the western world with revival. The Second and Third Great Awakenings began in our nation as well, leading to reform and reformation across western civilization. If we will exercise our freedom to pray for our nation, God will use our prayers to touch the world.

As we pray for our nation and her leaders, we join John Adams in his intercession, now framed in the White House: “May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” And we claim God’s word to Solomon, one of the wisest of all men and rulers: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Exercise your freedom to give (Matthew 10:1)

Jesus next led his disciples to answer their own prayer: “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (Mt 10:1). And he sent them to give what he had given them.

God has determined to finance his Kingdom work through the faithfulness of his people. He could have done it another way, but he did not. We are his partners in the gospel, his hands and feet on earth, his body. He lives as fully through us as he did through his own flesh 20 centuries ago. As we work, he works. The more we serve him, the more we know him. And the more we make him known.

Will you give today so that our church can extend his love to more of our lost and dying world? To the 114,000 living within three miles of our church who are in no church today? To the one million in Dallas who are spiritually lost, to the 174,000,000 in America who need Jesus?

Celebrate your freedom to worship and to pray, by exercising your freedom to give. More than you can spare, to the God who spared nothing for us all.

Exercise your freedom to go

We are free to worship, free to pray, free to give, and free to go. Jesus called the Twelve to himself, then “these twelve he sent out” (v. 5). Our lost community will no longer come to us, so we must go to them.

Alvin Toeffler, in his influential The Third Wave, described America at her founding as a “first wave” culture. Agriculture dominated our economic and social lives. Families on the farm were the norm. In a “first wave” culture, churches are small, rural, and family-centered. They dot the landscape across the country, serving those who will come to them from their immediate community. To this day, the average SBC church has 220 members and 70 on Sunday morning. And all in the community knows that’s their church, and they go to it.

With the Industrial Revolution came the “second wave.” People moved from the country to the city, from farms to factories. Here was birthed “second wave” churches–institutions, programs, buildings, budgets. Megachurches, those averaging more than 2,000 per weekend, have grown from 50 in 1980 to more than 880 today.

But in the last generation, the Technological Revolution has moved us into the “third wave.” Now information is available anywhere to anyone. We no longer need the big city or big factory–we can work from our homes as we wish. After Vietnam and Watergate, we no longer believe in Big Government. Our culture has bought the idea that absolute truth does not exist, that sincerity is all that matters.

And so in the last generation, despite the explosion of megachurches, overall church attendance has remained flat in our country. And the number of Americans who profess no faith at all has quadrupled since 1991. They will not come to us, so we must go to them.

Now we are back where Jesus started–going through our towns and villages, teaching, preaching, and healing. The most patriotic thing you can do for your country is to serve your Lord. Find and use your spiritual gifts. Reach out to your neighbor. Look for ways to share his love in yours, his truth in your witness. Exercise your freedom to go. And the generations to come will be as free to worship, pray, and give as we are today.

Our faith is one generation from extinction. And on the edge of a great spiritual renewal for our time. The choice is ours.

Conclusion

Will we exercise the freedom purchased for us by those who birthed our nation? Will we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor? We are free to pray, to give, and to go. But freedom is never free. It costs our lives, and rewards our service now and in eternity.

In 1921, a soldier who had died in France during World War I was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. A massive marble tomb was placed on the site of the original grave in 1932. An inscription on the walls of the tomb reads, “Here rest in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.” On Memorial Day 1958 two other unknown soldiers, one from World War II and one from the Korean War, were also buried in the tomb. On Memorial Day 1984 a soldier from the Vietnam War was interred, though he was later identified through DNA testing and buried by his family.

The poet W. H. Auden, thinking of these unknown soldiers, asked pointedly, “To save your world, you asked this man to die; Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?” Freedom is never free. It cost more than 1.5 million American men and women their lives. It cost Jesus his cross.

What price will you pay?

Freedom is Never Free

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Topical Scripture: Judges 2:6-16

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Independence Day is always a deeply moving experience for me. I love the flags on display, the parades, the concerts. Each year our nation looks to our birth with gratitude, so we can look to our future with commitment.

And we remember that freedom is never free.

Edward Gibbon explained the fall of the Roman Empire this way: “In the end, they wanted security more than they wanted freedom.” It has been noted that “following the path of least resistance is what makes rivers and men crooked.”

By contrast, Andrew Jackson observed that “one man with courage makes a majority.”

As we continue our exploration of Judges, we come today to a time when one man made a majority that saved his nation. On the Sunday before America’s Independence Day, it seems appropriate that we remember such courage and its value for our nation. And that we choose it wherever we need the power of God today.

Prepare as though everything depended on you

I once heard a preacher describe his work this way: prepare as though everything depended on you, then preach as though everything depended on God. First, we’ll explore Gideon’s preparations, and learn their practical lessons for us. Then we’ll discuss God’s response, and the ways he still works today.

As the story begins, “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands” (Judges 7:2). When was the last time a general faced this problem? Imagine a pastor saying to his staff, “We have too much money for our programs this year.” Or a mission leader saying to missionaries, “We have too many people for that mission field.” Yet that is precisely what God said to what must have been an astounded Gideon.

Remember the size of their foe: “The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore” (v. 12). No wonder the place where the Hebrew army camped came to be known as the spring of “Harod” (v. 1), a word which means “timidity” in Hebrew.

Camels were the desert tanks of the ancient world. Bands of marauders on camelback were too fast and strong for foot soldiers; such an advantage was the main reason the Midianites had become so oppressive over Israel (cf. Judges 6:3–5). Picture a vast army filling an entire valley, its tanks as numerous as sand on a seashore, and you’ll get a sense of Gideon’s problem. Any wise general would want all the men he could muster in attacking such a foe.

But the outcome of the battle was not in question, for God had already promised, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together” (Judg. 6:16). In question was whether his people would learn something significant from the victory they were about to gain. Whether they would return to their pattern of sin and its tragic consequences or learn to trust in the one true Lord once and for all. Whether they would follow Gideon or follow God.

The Lord’s motive was clear: he would work “in order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her” (Judges 7:2b). God will not share his glory. To allow us to trust in anyone but him would be to encourage idolatry. His glory is always to our good.

So he instructed Gideon to reduce the size of his army in two ways. First, he was to release any of the men who “trembles with fear” (v. 3), reducing the 32,000-member force to 10,000. Such fear would discourage the rest of the army: “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his brothers will not become disheartened too” (Deuteronomy 20:8). And such numbers would take the glory from God.

But still the army was sufficient to believe that it won the victory in its own strength, so the Lord required a second test. He led them to the spring of Harod; those who “lapped with their hands to their mouths” were to stay, while those who knelt at the water and drank with their mouths were dismissed (Judges 7:6). The former were more ready for battle, with one hand at their sword. The latter were on their hands and knees, easy victims for attack. This second reduction left Gideon with three hundred soldiers, who picked up the provisions and trumpets of the others (v. 8).

I stood at this very spot the last time I was in Israel. The area is unprotected and susceptible to assault. The very act of leading an army, already reduced by 66 percent, to this unsafe place where they could be reduced by another 97 percent, was implausible in the extreme.

From Gideon’s example we learn to listen to God before we act for him. His ways are not our ways, nor are his thoughts our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).

And we learn to be obedient with today and trust God for tomorrow. Nothing of Gideon’s preparations made any military sense. To dismiss 22,000 fearful soldiers was bad enough, but to release 9,700 men who were ready to fight to the death was to commit battlefield suicide. But if Gideon had not obeyed the Lord’s direction, God would not have given him the victory.

Obedience is always the key to understanding. We stand up to Pharaoh before God defeats his armies. We step into the Jordan River before God stops its flood. We march around Jericho before it falls. We trust God in the lion’s den before he stops the lion’s mouth. We praise him before the fiery furnace and meet him in its flames. We must get out of the boat before we can walk on the water to Jesus.

Who are your Midianites? What battles are you facing this week? Have you listened to God? Have you obeyed God? If so, you’re ready to fight on his side. And he hasn’t lost a battle yet.

Fight as though all depended on God

Now Gideon and his tiny army were ready for battle. They were outnumbered beyond belief. But they had the high ground at the hill of Moreh, so that “the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley” (Judges 7:8). And they were prepared to attack “at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard” (v. 19). The Jews divided in the night into three “watches”: sunset to 10 p.m., 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and 2 a.m. to sunrise. So, the Midianite army would have just gone to sleep when the battle began. The strategic advantage was Gideon’s.

These decisions did not cause the rout of the Midianite armies, however. A crucial strategy was giving each of the three hundred men a trumpet to blow and an empty jar with torches inside to hold (v. 16). The “trumpet” they used was a ram’s horn, a very loud instrument (cf. Exodus 19:13, where a single horn was loud enough to signal to the entire Hebrew nation that it was safe to approach Mt. Sinai).

The fact that the entire original army of 32,000 needed only three hundred trumpets indicates the strength of their sound. An opposing army hearing such a loud blast, right on their camp, would obviously assume a much larger force than Gideon’s army possessed.

Like the trumpets, the torches were carried only by a small number of troops in a conventional army. They made it difficult for the soldier to wield a sword or shield and exposed his position to enemy attack. Nighttime hand-to-hand battles were more effectively waged in the darkness as well. A large number of torches would be counterproductive to the army’s success.

What torches the army required were kept in clay jars, so they would remain lit but their flames low; in this way the army could creep up in the night undetected. When they broke the jars, the sudden flames surrounding the Midianite camp would be a second indication of a massive army on their perimeter.

Note that the Hebrew army held their torches in their left hands and their trumpets in their right hands (v. 20a). They had no sword or shield in hand when they began their battle, only the sword of their mouths: “they shouted, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon'” (v. 20b). Gideon’s army was reduced by 99 percent, and those who remained for the battle were completely unarmed. Has any army ever waged a more unconventional battle?

What was the result? The entire Midianite army was routed. They had no time to light their own torches and were too far from Gideon’s to see those around them. And so, they attacked each other in the night, probably assuming that the Hebrews had run into their camp and were at their side (v. 22). Not to mention a likely stampede on the part of the frightened, massive camel herd.

Those who escaped the camp slaughter fled into the Jordan valley, where they could have retreated to the south, crossed the river, and regrouped. So “Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites” (v. 23). These tribes were located in the area of the battle and could join in the military pursuit. Clearly an army of 300 could not defeat the Midianite forces in open terrain, but the reassembled Israelite battle forces were sufficient to the task.

Still the Midianites had a lead on their pursuers, so Gideon sent messenger to the hill country of Ephraim to the south, calling them into the battle (v. 24). Ephraimite soldiers got to the Jordan ahead of the Midianites and cut off their retreat. When the fleeing Midianite soldiers got to the place they thought would be safe, they found themselves opposed by an army which now possessed the numbers to defeat them (v. 25).

Meanwhile, Gideon and his army of three hundred were not finished with their unlikely victory. They crossed the Jordan further north, pursuing the Midianites who had fled that way (Judges 8:4). They found the remaining enemy force of 15,000 men, fell upon the unsuspecting army, routed them and killed their kings (vv. 10–12, 21).

What was the final military tally? The Midianites lost more than 135,000 men (Judges 8:10), defeated by an army which began their assault with 300 in number. The Midianite threat against Israel was destroyed, finally and forever. All because one man was willing to prepare as God directed and fight as God empowered. And God was glorified by one of the most stunning, unlikely victories in military history.

Conclusion

What army has you outnumbered today? Where are your class members fighting against long odds? Have you been defeated by temptation, discouraged by hardship, or isolated by loneliness?

Listen to God and do as he says. Make your preparations to be used by his Spirit and for his glory. Then step into the battle, trusting him to keep his promises. Whatever he has said, he will do. Wherever he has called you, he will go before you.

A torch and trumpet in the hand of a soldier of God will defeat an army of swords and shields, every time. “One man with courage makes a majority.”

Just be sure you’re the one.

From Good To Great

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From Good to Great

Acts 9:1-6

Dr. Jim Denison

On April 17, AD 29, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. On Easter Sunday he rose from the grave, and the rest is history. History we continue today. But so much has changed since then.

I read this week about a car remote now available. It will start your car from a quarter-mile away so the air conditioner will cool the car before you have to drive in the Texas heat. My first car didn’t have an air conditioner. My second car’s air conditioner worked great until it got hot outside. Much has changed.

The movie Phone Booth is popular these days. I’ve neither seen it nor recommend it. But it’s ironic that phone booths in real life are disappearing quickly, as the newspaper recently reported. Said the article: “It’s as if the movie Speed was about a runaway stagecoach.”

So much has changed since that first Easter Sunday. But so much has not.

We’re still afraid of death, even more so with terror alerts. Lincoln Continental has produced a $140,000 Town Car which can stop an AK-47 and block a grenade. BMW has a car which can be hermetically sealed in a gas attack. Full-metal jackets can be put on Cadillac Escalades and Hummer H2s, for $30,000 to $350,000. Breathing masks are common in Hong Kong and Toronto.

Much has not changed. We still want our lives to have meaning, significance, and purpose. But where do we look for them?

Refuse the seduction of secondary success

Let’s consider the wrong answer first. Woodrow Wilson said, “Many men are seduced by secondary success.” Words worth pondering.

My sermon’s title comes from a recent business bestseller: Good to Great. Says the author: “Good is the enemy of great.” Good schools prevent great schools; good government prevents great government; good lives prevent great lives. The seduction of secondary success.

I fear that God feels the same way about our society today. There was a time when we needed religion to give life meaning and significance. But in the last century, Darwinism taught Americans that we don’t need religion to explain our natural lives and world. Freud taught us that we don’t need religion to explain our emotional and psychological lives. Science and medicine have all the answers, or soon will. So what’s left for church?

Today we use religion to serve us. We use the spiritual to make us feel better about our secular lives, to give us peace, to help us get ahead. To meet our needs, to serve our agenda, to help us find success.

We’re not the first: “Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (v. 1).

“Breathing out” means that “murderous threats” were the air he was breathing, the atmosphere in which he was living. Why?

Because “Lord’s disciples,” to his mind was a malignant tumor which must be removed from the soul of Judaism. He would be the surgeon who would save his people and their faith from this malice.

So he went to Damascus, 150 miles to the north, walking from here to Waco. He held in his hand “letters,” extradition warrants to bring any Christians he might find in Damascus back to Jerusalem for trial and execution. And he was on his way.

This man desperately wanted a life of significance. He could see the high priest personally; can you get an appointment with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? He was a Pharisee, the elite corps of Judaism; a scholar trained by Gamaliel, their finest theologian.

But it wasn’t enough. Now he would be known as the man who saved Israel from these malicious Christians. He would do this for God. He would achieve greatness in the eyes of his fellow Pharisees. He was seduced by secondary success, but didn’t know it.

He’s not the last.

Harvard psychiatrist Robert Coles has written a fascinating exploration titled The Secular Mind. In it he quotes the poet William Carlos Williams, who knew a woman born in Italy who raised her family in America. She “told me a few weeks ago that it’s become different going to church here than it was when she was in Italy and when she first came here. She used to sit there and talk to God, and try to figure out what he wanted, and try to please him. Now, she says, she mostly thinks about what’s going on in her life, in her kids’ lives, and she asks God to make it better.

“She said to me, ‘It used to be I prayed to God, that I would learn what he wanted from me, and how he wanted me to behave…but now I pray to God that he help us with this problem, and the next one—to be a Big Pal of ours! It used to be, when I prayed to God, I was talking to him; now… I’m only asking him to help out with things'” (103).

And so our society comes to church on Easter and other Sundays to keep religious tradition, to be spiritual, to get God’s blessing, to ask God to “help out with things.” Why did you come this morning? Why am I preaching this sermon?

Experience the Easter encounter

Now comes the most famous conversion in Christian history.

It was “about noon,” Paul would later say (Ac 26.13).

He saw “a light from heaven.” Later he would describe it as “above the brightness of the sun” (Acts 26:13). In other words, a miracle, not a natural phenomenon.

It “flashed around him.” The Greek is clear: this happened specifically to Paul. God had his spotlight on him, as he has it on each of us today.

Then Paul “heard a voice”—the Greek means that he heard with understanding.

The others heard the sound but did not understand it or see anyone (v. 7). This call was specifically and personally for Paul, as is God’s call for each one of us. No one else can hear God’s will for you. God speaks a “language of the heart” which you alone can understand.

He knew it was God: “Who are you, Lord?” “Lord,” kurios, God and King. Then came the shock that would change his life forever: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” “I am Jesus”—he is alive. His church is his body “whom you are persecuting.”

And this “Lord” had a purpose for him: “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (v. 6).

Here is the moment of decision, the crisis of life and soul.

Commentator William Barclay: “There is all of Christianity in what the Risen Christ said to Paul…Up to this moment Paul had been doing what he liked, what he thought best, what his will dictated. From this time forward he would be told what to do. The Christian is a man who has ceased to do what he wants to do and who has begun to do what Christ wants him to do” (71, emphasis his).

Remember what the Italian grandmother said: “‘It used to be I prayed to God, that I would learn what he wanted from me, and how he wanted me to behave…but now I pray to God that he help us with this problem, and the next one—to be a Big Pal of ours!'”

Paul would do what God wanted him to do. God would no longer be a means to his end, but his life a means to God’s. And you know the results.

This morning you and I face the same decision. What will you do with the risen Christ?

Religion as a means to your end? Easter worship as a tradition to make you feel good or spiritual? Christianity to help you with your problems, to help your life succeed?

Or will you “go into the city” and do as you are told? Will you make the risen Lord the Lord of your every day? Will you meet him every morning in Bible study and prayer, to get your directions for the day? Will you serve him in witness and ministry? Will you worship him each Sunday and each day?

Will it be God for you, or you for God?

Meet him today

We know what we should do, that the risen Lord should be our Lord every day. But someone is saying this morning, I have plenty of time. I can do this later.

My friend and fellow church member Robert Riggs was a reporter in Iraq during the war. He was embedded with a Patriot missile battery. One day, two fighter pilots on a bombing run to Baghdad picked up the Patriots as Iraqi surface-to-air missiles, and launched two missiles at them. But a technician inadvertently pushed a switch which caused the Patriot battery to project its radar signature 75 yards to the north, so that’s where the missiles landed. That’s why Robert is still alive.

The Bible says, “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). No one is promised another day.

Someone else says, It’s too late. I’ve done too much wrong—God can’t use my life.

Robert gave me the story of James Kiehl, one of the soldiers baptized in the desert of Kuwait on March 12, before the war began. He told Robert his life had been anything but spiritual, that he had made many wrong choices. Before he left, his stepmother told him he was facing a crossroads, and he needed to make the right decision. There in the desert, a fellow soldier led him to Christ. Robert told me the change in James’ life was immediate and joyous. His baptism in that hole dug in the desert and filled with bottled water was a true celebration. James was a member of the 507th Maintenance Company which was ambushed—the same unit Jessica Lynch and the five POWs who were found and released were members. James fought, but was killed. He’s in heaven today. And God is using his life and story this morning.

If God could use Paul, the murderer of Christians, it’s not too late for you.

Someone else says, I cannot serve Jesus. I don’t know how. I don’t have opportunities. It’s too hard.

My friend and fellow church member Abraham Sarker came to the United States as a Muslim, seeking to convert others to Islam. Through a series of miracles, he came to faith in Christ. His father disowned him back home in Bangladesh, and put out a warrant for his arrest should he ever return. A few months ago Abraham and his wife Aimee went back anyway. And Abraham led his father to Christ.

The same Lord who commissioned us to “make disciples of all nations” also promised, “I will be with you always” (Matthew 28:20).

And someone else says, I don’t need God’s help. I’m doing just fine. You have all the Jesus you want. Christianity is a part of your life, like a Rotary Club. Are you saying that even though the Almighty Lord of the universe has a plan for your life, you don’t need to follow it? That you can do better with your life than your Creator, the God whose Son died to pay for your sins and rose on Easter to give you eternity in paradise?

Paul aspired to be the man who helped first-century Judaism remain pure. God aspired to make him the man who would change the world. Whose plan was better?

Conclusion

Now the risen Christ has come to Dallas, and to you. His spotlight is on you. His Spirit is calling your name. Will it be God for you, or you for God? Your life may be good this morning. Will it be great?

As you know, NBC reporter David Bloom died in Iraq on April 6 from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 39. Last Wednesday his colleagues paid tribute to his professional success. But there’s more to the story.

Two years ago, Bloom came to a personal relationship with the risen Christ, and started a very real faith journey. In Iraq, he had been listening each day to Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest. That day he heard the reading from April 5, which closes, “Every human being can get through into the presence of God now because of what the Son of Man went through.”

Moments later he climbed out of his tank, took a few steps, and collapsed. His last words were this e-mail he had just composed to his wife Melanie: “Here I am, supposedly at the peak of professional success, but I could, frankly, care less. It’s nothing compared to my relationship with you and the girls and Jesus. I’ll tell you Mel, I am at peace.”

He went from good to great. So can you.

From Virtual To Reality

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From Virtual To Reality

Revelation 22:1-5

Dr. Jim Denison

Historians will call this era the “technological revolution.” It’s an amazing time. For instance, just in time for Christmas, a fashion student in England has developed a way for Internet shoppers to feel clothes through their computer screens. Since 40 percent of all clothes bought online are returned by dissatisfied customers, there must be a better way, or so she theorizes.

With the help of her technology, soon you’ll be able to use your mouse to test the thickness of fabric by lifting up its edge and dropping it. You’ll be able to stretch garment and watch it return to its original shape. You’ll be able to stroke the fibers of a garment to test their quality. It won’t be the real thing, but it’s the best we can do.

Christmas is a little like virtual reality, an image you can see on your computer screen but aren’t sure is really there. We all have the picture in mind: a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger protected by his peasant teenage mother and her carpenter husband. Shepherds watching, Wise Men coming. But how do we know it’s real, or that it’s relevant?

We can’t go back in time, and even if we could, how could we know that this child is really God in the flesh? He is supposed to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the ruler come to his realm. But his kingdom doesn’t seem to have changed much since his visit.

We’re still plagued with hurricanes, earthquakes, disaster and disease. The oppression of the Roman Empire is replaced by the global war on terror. Ancient diseases gave way to the Black Plague, which has given way to AIDS and the threat of avian flu. People live longer, but they still die. Global warming is producing 15 million acres of new desert every year. Each year we consume 160 billion gallons of water more than is being replenished by rain. A third of the world lives on $2 a day; a billion people live on $1 a day.

How did Advent really change anything? How is Christmas more than virtual reality to your soul, your marriage, your problems? It’s a good question, and the most relevant issue we can discuss today.

The Final Advent is coming

As you know, the bad news of the Bible comes early, with the fall of mankind in Genesis 3. Because Adam and Eve refused the word and will of God, they were cast out of paradise.

And the Lord said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So God drove our first parents out and “placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22, 24).

With this fall of humanity into sin, everything changed. Satan became the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Jesus called him “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).

Scripture teaches that Satan now holds the power of death (Hebrews 2:14) and “leads the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9). He has “blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He is a liar and the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

The reason our world is plagued with disaster and disease, suffering and sin, is because Satan is its god. The present fallen world has rebelled against its true King and is now the unlawful kingdom of the devil.

At the first Advent, the Son of God came into this fallen world to begin an insurgency, an underground movement to overthrow the “god of this age” and return the world to its rightful King. If Jesus is your Lord, you have joined his resistance. You are operating behind enemy lines, participating in a revolution against the unlawful, demonic ruler of this fallen world. This because of the First Advent coming of the Son of God.

At the Second Advent, the Spirit of God came into the world to empower the soldiers in this army of God. To give us the leadership, protection, and courage we would need to assault the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18). If we will confess whatever is wrong between us and God and ask the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives each day, Pentecost will come for us every morning. Christmas will be real; the Son of God will make our lives his manger. We will be a living nativity, the presence of Christ in the world. The Spirit of God will use the people of God to build the Kingdom of God.

Then one day, at the Final Advent, the King of Kings will return to claim this world as his own.

Here’s what will happen on that day: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:11-16).

He will throw Satan and all who serve him into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). He will make a new heaven and a new earth to replace the world corrupted by sin and Satan (Revelation 21:1-5).

When the Final Advent comes, you and I who were barred from the tree of life will be banished no more: “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2).

“No longer will there be any curse” from sin and Satan and death (v. 3). “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him” in the eternal Kingdom of God (v. 4). Because of sin, no one can today see the face of God and live (Exodus 33:20). But on that day “they will see his face, and his name will be on their forehead” (Revelation 22:4). And with God we will “reign for ever and ever” (v. 5).

Get ready today

When will the Final Advent come? Only God knows.

Mark 13:32-33: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Be on guard! Be alert ! You do not know when that time will come.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-3: “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

Luke 12:40: “The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

No one but God knows when Jesus will return. We must be ready every day, for it could be any day. This is the clear teaching of God’s word.

Jesus may come back for us all today. Or you and I may go to him, stepping through death into life eternal. Either way, our time is short. Jesus was clear on this: “I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20). If right now you’re thinking, “I have plenty of time, this doesn’t apply to me,” know that you are deceived and wrong.

The early Christians were sure about this.

They didn’t have our programs or property or professionals. They did not have the Scriptures in printed form or the status we enjoy in this country. But they had the one thing we have lost. They had the urgency and focused passion which come from knowing that Jesus could return today. That just as his first Advent came without warning, so his second will come when we do not expect him. Just as Christmas was a real event which changed history, so the Second Coming is a real event which will end history.

Early Christians knew this fact. And so they lived in the daily expectation of Jesus’ imminent return. They wanted to be found doing what they would be doing if they knew Jesus were coming back that day. They wanted everyone they knew to be right with God, today. They had a passion for missions and evangelism, for they knew the time was short. They wanted to live holy lives, ready to stand before the judgment of God, for they knew that it could be today. They wanted to be found serving the King of Kings when he returned to his Kingdom. So should we.

The only reason Jesus has delayed his return is so as many as possible can be ready. Listen to Peter’s explanation: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some 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. 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” (2 Peter 3:9-12).

Don’t let his delay fool you. We have no way to know if Jesus will wait another thousand years, or come this afternoon. And we have no way to know if we will go to meet him today. Your next car ride could end your life. This could be your final Christmas. In a congregation this large, it probably will be for some of us. It could be me, or you.

So we are not to speculate about Jesus’ return, but work hard to be ready for it. Then one day, it will come. Just as he came to earth at Christmas and ascended to heaven after Easter, just as the Spirit of God came at Pentecost, so the Son of God will come again to earth. His second coming is as real as his first.

Conclusion

You have seven days to be ready for Christmas, for the First Advent of God. But you have only today to be ready for his Final Advent. John could say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). Can you?

Do you have business with the returning King today? Have you been faithful in managing his possessions, on loan to you for a short while? Do you need to seek or share forgiveness with someone you know? To use your time for his purposes, your talents for his glory? Are you ready to meet your King today?

Even if he delays for another generation, being ready today is the best way to live today. The most effective, fulfilling, joyful way to live on this fallen planet is to live for your Father and King. To refuse the god of this age for the God of all ages. To be ready to see Jesus is the best, most exciting, most significant way to live today.

The longest funeral of my life occurred more than 20 years ago when I was pastor of New Hope Baptist Church while teaching at Southwestern Seminary. A former pastor of the church came back to preach the graveside service of one of our elderly members. It was a hot July day. I was wearing a dark wool suit. The service went on and on, and I grew more and more delirious. Some people dying of thirst in the desert have mirages of an oasis and spring; I had the mirage of this service finally ending.

Then the retired pastor told a story I’ll never forget. He talked about the death of his own elderly mother. She had been in a coma in the hospital for days. The family took shifts in her room. It was the pastor’s turn to stay the night. It was 3:00 in the morning–he could see the digital clock. His mother had not stirred or spoken for days. Suddenly she sat up in bed with such a noise that it startled him. She called out in the darkness, “It’s Jesus! Can’t you see him? He’s here!” She stretched her arms toward the sky. And in that moment, the pastor said he heard a sound as clearly as you hear my voice today–the rustling sound of wings, of angels’ wings. And she was gone. Jesus had come again for her.

One day you’ll step on ground and find it celestial. You’ll breathe new air and find it heavenly. You’ll hear new music and find it angelic. You’ll feel a touch and find it God’s.

What if it were today?

Gaining What You Cannot Lose

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Gaining What You Cannot Lose

Colossians 1:24-29

Dr. Jim Denison

“The End of the Spear” is the current movie which retells the 20th century’s most powerful missionary story. Fifty years ago, on January 8, 1956, Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, and three other American missionaries were killed by spear-wielding tribesmen in the Ecuadorian jungle.

Nate Saint’s sister and Jim Elliott’s widow subsequently lived among the tribesmen, leading many to Christ. Nate Saint’s son Steve consulted on the movie; Steve’s son and his family presently live among the tribe. Then and now it is a stunning story: how five men would leave secure and prosperous careers, risking their lives to tell a tribe they had never met about God’s love in Christ.

We are a risk-averse culture. A recent Wall Street Journal reported on the growing cryogenics movement, where people arrange to have their bodies frozen in liquid nitrogen so they can be brought back to life in the future. The article profiled one man who has left $5 million to himself. Such “personal revival trusts” are becoming more and more common.

Most of us like to avoid risk and find security and comfort where we can. 2005 may have been the hottest year on record, but we have air-conditioned houses and cars, and even car seats. There may be a drought, but we have sprinkler systems; traffic may be a problem, but we have our car navigational systems; crime may be a threat, but we have our car and home security systems. No society in history has had it easier in terms of daily comfort and security than we do.

Today’s sermon in a sentence is therefore somewhat counter-cultural: we will experience God’s blessing and power to the precise degree that we sacrifice to obey him. No risk, no reward; great risk, great reward. When we’re done, I’ll ask you this one question: when last did it cost you something to serve Jesus? Why should you pay that price this week?

Paul’s choice

Saul of Tarsus had it made. The prize student of Gamaliel, he was a Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford valedictorian all in one. He was headed for a life of sheltered rabbinic study and prestige. Then he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and changed his loyalty to Christ.

But he could have kept his lifestyle. He could have been an unnamed and unknown scholar and scribe for the infant Christian movement, showing the Jewish authorities and scholars how Jesus fulfilled Scripture and warranted their faith. But that was not God’s call on his life. God wanted this former Pharisee and Gentile hater to be his “apostle to the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:7-8), to take his word to the Colossians and people like them around the world.

Now that’s a different story.

He would have to live in the pagan Gentile world, where his Jewish sensibilities had never allowed him to go before. Imagine a Civil War doctor in the KKK whose practice was now confined to African slaves.

He would have to take the gospel to the Roman Empire, confronting their emperor worship and military might. Imagine a call from God to evangelize the dictator and military leaders of the Communist party in North Korea.

He would have to take the gospel where it had never been before, speaking to people who had never heard of the Law or the name of “Jesus Christ,” planting churches where none existed. Imagine selling computers to a remote tribe which has never even known electricity.

The cost to Paul would be high: “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move, I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).

Which brings us to the Colossians.

Paul is continuing to share the afflictions of Christ on earth for the sake of his body, the church (v. 24). What Jesus had suffered, Paul now suffers.

He has been commissioned by God to present the word of God in its fullness, whatever the personal cost to Paul (v. 25). He has been instructed to explain to them “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (v. 27).

He would “proclaim” (teach) and “admonish” (correct and confront sin) “everyone” to present “everyone” fully mature in Christ when he returns. He would not stop until everyone was ready to meet Jesus. None would be outside his work or burden.

To this end he would “labor” (to work to exhaustion) and “struggle” (strive and exert, like a runner trying to cross the finish line or a football player struggling to cross the goal line).

But here would be the good news, and the point of our conversation today: “struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (v. 29). As we work, God works. Only when we work, does God work. God empowers us to the exact degree that we are serving his purpose with our lives, in his fear, and for his glory.

He cannot empower that which does not glorify him, extend his Kingdom, or love his people, if he is holy and righteous.

He cannot fail to empower all that obey his purpose, if he is faithful and Father.

For his purpose we have his power. Without his purpose, we have none of his power. Great risk, great reward. No risk, no reward. His purpose, his power.

Our choice

Now let’s make this personal. Do you know God’s purpose for your life? Paul knew he was to be God’s apostle to the Gentiles, and was willing to pay any price to fulfill that calling. As a result, he had God’s power, and the Father is still using his ministry today. Nate Saint and his friends knew they were called by God to the tribespeople of Ecuador. They had God’s courage, and he is still using them today.

Do you know God’s call on your life? Determine it today.

First, trust Christ as your Savior. Paul’s call began on the Damascus Road, when he gave himself to Jesus. Ask him to forgive your sins and become your Lord. Give your life to him.

Next, choose to walk in his word and will daily. Paul spent three years in isolation, seeking to understand God’s word and call on his life. Only then did he begin his public ministry. Surrender the day when it begins; connect with God through his word in prayer and worship; confess when you sin; stay in his will for today.

Now seek his overarching call on your life, his ministry for you. Learn your spiritual gifts. Pay attention to open doors and opportunities. Listen to the Spirit as he speaks to your heart. Attend to the ways he uses other people to encourage and guide you. Know that he wants you to know his call more than you want to know it.

Get with God until you can complete the sentence, “My ministry is ____________.” Give that crucial decision all the time it requires.

Know that God’s call will come at a price, and be rewarded with his power.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

“Just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Corinthians 1:5).

“On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:18-20).

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:17-18).

“But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13).

“If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name” (1 Peter 4:16).

“The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter5:10).

Determine to be faithful to his purpose, and expect his power. Do you experience his power? If not, you’re not in his purpose. If you’re in his purpose, count on his power. So, what is God asking you to do at a risk? Is there a call from God you have not been willing to obey? What is the risk/reward ratio for that opportunity to sacrifice for your Lord?

Are you standing strong for Jesus at school, or afraid of what your friends might think? What are you risking? People who do not follow Jesus and don’t want you to follow him may reject you. But they’ll see Christ in you, and perhaps be drawn closer to him. You’ll avoid everything they want you to do which God does not, and that’s all to your good. And you’ll have the power and joy of God for your soul.

Are you standing for Jesus at work or in the community? What are you risking? You may in fact lose money or your job, or status in your society. But God promises to meet your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). He’ll use your witness for eternity, and give you his power for your obedience now. He always pays his debts and more.

Are you obeying Jesus with your money and means, your time and abilities? What are you risking? What will it cost you to forfeit the blessing and power of God in your life? What will you gain if your money and time and life belong to the God who made the universe and loves you at the cost of his own Son?

Conclusion

The most famous statement to come from the 1956 missionary martyrdom was this sentence later found in Jim Elliott’s journal: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Last Monday we held Jarman Bass’s memorial service in Ellis Chapel. There I retold one of my favorite stories. It concerns an elderly man, a lifelong resident of the island of Crete. He was a fervent loyalist to his country, a nationalist to the core. When it came time for him to die, his sons carried him out of his stone cottage and laid him on the land of his beloved Crete. He scooped up a handful of its soil, and was gone.

He approached the gates of glory, but the attending angel asked what was in his hand. “Crete!” was the reply. “I go nowhere without it!” The angel told him he would have to leave his dirt outside to enter the perfect Paradise. He refused, and sat down beside the wall outside of glory.

A week went by, and one of his oldest friends, now a resident of heaven, came outside to urge his friend in. But he refused to give up his dirt, and stayed where he was. Another week passed; the soil drew dry and dusty, and began to trickle through his worn and calloused fingers.

Then his dear little granddaughter who had gone to heaven just the year before came out. “Grandpa,” she said, “the gates open only for those with open hands.” He thought about that for a while, then stood up and dropped the dirt in his hand. He took her hand in his. They walked through the gates into glory. And inside was all of Crete.

God’s power comes to those who fulfill God’s purpose. What’s in your hand today?