Baptism On Monday

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Baptism on Monday

Matthew 28:18-20

Dr. Jim Denison

A couple of weeks ago, the Dallas Morning News carried one of the strangest stories I’ve seen in a while. It seems that Beverly Mitchell of Douglasville, Georgia came home from 2½ weeks in Greece to find a stranger living in her house. Beverly Valentine broke in with a shovel, ripped up the carpet, took down the owner’s pictures and replaced them with her own. She had the electricity switched over to her name, and moved in a washer, a dryer, and a dog. She was even found wearing some of Ms. Mitchell’s clothes when she was apprehended. Just because someone is living in a house doesn’t make it theirs.

Just because you and I are in church today doesn’t mean we’re in Christ. We can be faithful attenders; we can serve on committees and sing in the choir; we can give through our various missions offerings, teach Bible studies and preach sermons, but still be lost spiritually. And we can be baptized and just get wet.

The most misleading and misunderstood symbol of salvation in a Baptist church is baptism. Many people think that baptism makes them a Christian. Many of our guests don’t understand why we baptize the way we do. Many of our members don’t really know what baptism means, either. And many of us can miss the present-tense relevance of an act we experienced years ago.

So let’s discuss baptism today: who, why, and so what? What does the subject have to do with the unified missions emphasis we have just concluded? With our church and her ministries? And with your life and faith today?

What does the Bible teach?

Here are some important biblical passages on our subject:

The risen Christ said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Peter exhorted the Pentecost crowd, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). With this result: “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (v. 41).

When the Ethiopian met Philip, “The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?’ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him” (Acts 8:34-38).

When Peter met the Gentile Cornelius and his family, “Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.’ So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:46-48).

When Lydia became the first European convert, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home” (Acts 16:14-15).

After God sent an earthquake to free Paul and Silas from their Philippian jail, “The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds, then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family” (Acts 16:29-34).

In Corinth, “Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8).

Paul wrote to the Romans, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4).

He instructed the Colossians, “In Christ you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12).

What does the biblical data tell us?

Fact one: baptism follows faith.

In the Great Commission, “make disciples” precedes “baptizing them.”

At Pentecost, “those who accepted his message were baptized.”

The Ethiopian heard the gospel before he was baptized by Philip.

Cornelius received the Spirit before he was baptized; Lydia responded to the gospel before she was baptized; the Philippian jailer responded to the gospel before he was baptized.

We do not find a single person in the Bible who was baptized before he or she came to personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Fact two: baptism is for anyone who comes to Christ.

Children can be baptized, if they have trusted in Christ. With the Philippian jailer, after Paul and Silas “spoke the word of God to him and to all the others in his house,” they baptized them (Acts 16:32). Crispus “and his entire household believed in the Lord” before they were baptized (Acts 18:8).

Anyone who is old enough to be a “disciple” (Matthew 28:19), who has chosen to follow and obey Jesus as their Lord, is old enough to be baptized. But he or she must come to Christ first.

No other requirements exist. No denominational affiliation is necessary; no feelings or actions must be demonstrated first.

Fact three: baptism is by immersion.

“Baptize” comes from the Greek word baptidzo, which means “to dip.” It is found in ancient literature to describe the act of dipping a cup under water, or washing clothes. It simply means to “immerse.”

After Jesus was baptized, he “went up out of the water” (Matthew 3:16). At the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, “both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:38-39).

According to Paul, baptism pictures the fact that we are “buried with him through baptism into death” and raised with him to new life (Romans 6:4). We have been “buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God” (Colossians 2:12).

What does our church believe?

What does all this mean to us today? Baptism is not only the most confusing thing Baptists do—it can be my most dangerous occupational hazard.

In our first church, for instance, I was baptizing one Sunday night. The water heater broke, and the baptism water was freezing. The tallest man I’ve ever baptized was scheduled for that night, and insisted on going forward. He was OK until I got his face under water. Then he started flailing around; he reached up, grabbed me by the neck, and dragged me completely under water with him. That was memorable.

In Midland I jokingly told the congregation one morning that if anyone ever got mad at me, they should poke holes in my waders. That night, they leaked. But I maintain it was a coincidence. A staff member thought it would be funny to pour a cup of cold water in my waders one Sunday. And on it goes.

There was a small boy who was baptized in a glass baptistery. He mistakenly went out the ladies’ side. As the pastor baptized the next person, he swam around him while everyone watched. Baptism is a hazardous activity.

And a confusing one as well. The Catholic tradition has historically viewed baptism as the removal of inherited original sin. Other traditions baptize infants as a way of dedicating them to the Lord.

Baptists see baptism as an act of obedience, following Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit.” And we see baptism as an act of proclamation, making public our faith so that others can follow our example in trusting Christ as their Lord. As Jesus was baptized publicly, so we baptize publicly. The first Christians immersed in lakes and rivers. Now that we have church buildings, we use them for the same purpose.

If someone wishes to join our church from a different baptism tradition, we welcome them with joy.

We do not suggest that believers’ baptism by immersion is necessary for their salvation. But we do believe that it is the New Testament model and method. And so we ask those from other traditions to make public their faith in this way. Not to be Baptist but to be biblical.

Not as “hazing to join the fraternity,” or because we believe our denomination is better than others. Believers baptized by immersion in other denominations are welcome to join us without being baptized again.

Not because what was done to dedicate a child to God through baptism was a bad thing. We believe in parental dedications, and celebrate them often. We simply believe that baptism is not the best biblical method of doing this. If you have been baptized as an infant, know that your immersion as a believer in no way invalidates the faith your parents demonstrated when they dedicated you to God. Rather, it completes their dedication as you make their faith your own public commitment.

Baptism is a way of affirming the faith which led to your infant baptism, and making it personal and public yourself.

Conclusion

Now, what is God’s word to those of us who have been baptized as believers by immersion? The Lord wants you to understand why you did what you did. He wants you to know that your baptism did not save your soul—it just got you wet. If you have not asked Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and become your Savior, you need to make that crucial decision today. Baptism tells people you are a Christian—it does not make you one.

And the Father wants you to know that he expects you to live your faith as publicly as when you announced it through baptism. Every day is a baptistery; every person you meet is sitting in the congregation watching to see if you’ll enter the waters of faith. Who is the last lost person for whom you prayed? When last did you speak a spiritual word to someone? Invite someone to church? Invite someone to Christ? Who has been baptized because of you? Who will be in heaven because of you?

It took very little courage for me to be baptized on a Sunday while in high school. It took a great deal of courage for me to make public my faith in high school on Monday. It still does.

I think of Marilyn Davis, the stroke victim who came to Christ and was baptized in our church a few months ago. She covered her tracheotomy when I poured water over her head, because if water got in her lungs she could have died. I think of Sue White, the emphysema patient who was baptized in our church a few years ago. She wore her oxygen down the steps into the baptistery, took it off, was baptized, and put it back on.

I remember a woman I baptized in Cuba. Her husband carried her into the lake, so I assumed she could not swim. After I baptized her I handed her back to him. He picked her up out of the water. And then I saw that she had only one leg.

I think of a teenage girl I saw baptized in Malaysia. Her father told her if she was ever baptized as a Christian, she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage to her baptism.

When last did it cost you something to make your Sunday baptism public on Monday? There is no greater privilege, responsibility, or joy.

Be Right With God- Or Wrong With Everyone Else

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Be Right With God—Or Wrong With Everyone Else

The life and legacy of Moses

Dr. Jim Denison

Exodus 20:1-6

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was the most popular show on television a few years back, with as many as 33.6 million viewers. It looks like a simple game, but I discovered personally that if you don’t play by the rules, you cannot win. At the game’s peak of popularity, its producers advertised a phone number which viewers could call if they wanted to qualify as a contestant.

Out of curiosity, I called the number one night. I knew the answer to the question which the recording asked. But I got flustered and didn’t push the buttons on the phone in the right order. I broke the rules. And so, sadly, I couldn’t play.

When did you last play a game? Chess, cards, golf, basketball at youth camp (a big mistake I made this week)—they’re all the same in one respect: every game requires rules. The rules do not exist to frustrate the players, but to enable the game. Those who make and enforce the rules are not trying to hurt the participants but help them.

In the same way, the Ten Commandments are “rules of the game.” These ten principles tell us how life works, and how to live if we want to live well. They are guideposts along the road, designed to keep us out of the ditch. They are road signs pointing the way home. They speak to life’s most crucial subjects—God, ambitions, religion, stress, parents, enemies, sex, possessions, lies, and lust.

These two weeks, we’ll consider the first four commandments as we learn to relate to God; then we’ll explore the last six commandments as we learn to relate to ourselves and each other. We’ll be vertical these weeks, horizontal the next.

Join Moses on the mountain

The precise location of the mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments remains open to question. A mountain known as Gebel Musa is the place preferred by most historians. It rises to an elevation of 7,363 feet, and forms part of a sandy plateau roughly two miles long and half a mile wide. There is more than enough room for two million people to camp there. The plain is itself some 4,000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea, with the mountain towering another 2,200 feet overhead. It is a huge granite peak, altar-shaped and awesome.

On this mountain or one like it, God inscribed two tablets. He wrote on both sides of each. If these tablets were 27 inches long by 18 inches wide, the 172 Hebrew words of the Ten Commandments could easily have been inscribed on them.

Moses shattered these tablets in rage when he descended from the mountain and confronted the idolatry of the people. God then made them again. Moses eventually laid them in the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred box carried before the people for centuries and eventually placed in Solomon’s Temple.

When the Babylonians destroyed the Temple in 598 B.C., they likely took the Ark and the Commandments it held. Most historians speculate that it is buried somewhere in modern-day Iraq, while some believe that Jeremiah took it to Egypt to prevent theft by the Babylonians and still others believe it is buried somewhere on the Temple Mount. The latter is my guess, believing that the Jews would not have risked traveling with the Ark, or losing it to the Babylonians.

While the Ark is lost to us, the words it contained are not. Imagine it: an obscure tribe of Egyptian slaves plunges into the desert to hide from pursuit, and emerges with a code of ten laws which are still authoritative today, 34 centuries later. A depiction of Moses and these Ten Commandments adorns the courtroom where the Justices of the Supreme Court meet, deliberate, and lead our nation’s legal system. These ten principles are still the foundation stones of moral and legal systems the world over.

We don’t need to find Mount Sinai to live by the words God recorded there. As you study this week’s text and prepare to teach its truth, you join Moses on the mountain of God. And you continue his crucial work of giving the word of God to his people.

Who comes first?

Our text begins, “And God spoke all these words” (Exodus 20:1). What follows is not based on human rules or principles, laws to be changed by the voters or the legislators they elect. The Author of these commandments is “the Lord your God” (v. 2). He is “the Lord,” the Hebrew word YHWH—the holiest name of God, meaning the One who is, who was, and who ever shall be.

And he is “God,” the Hebrew word “Elohim—the typical name for the Creator God of the universe. Note that he is “the Lord your God”—this Deity is personal. No Buddhist would say, “Your Buddha,” or a Muslim “your Allah.” But we can know this God personally, as we might know “your wife” or “your husband” or “your children.” He is the holy Creator of the universe and all time, who is yet our personal God.

What does he want of us? Here is his first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (v. 3). It is categorically impossible to overstate the significance of this statement of monotheism and worship.

Remember that the Hebrews have just come from Egypt, where the people worshiped Ra, Phthah, Osiris, Isis, Horus, the animals, and the pharoahs. And they were going into polytheistic Canaan, the land of Baal, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Molech, and Dagon.

Their own ancestors had made the Tower of Babel, to make themselves God. Joshua had warned them, “Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods” (Joshua 24:3). This would be their tendency as well. In fact, they would make and worship the golden calf even as YHWH was giving this command to Moses on the mountain above.

So God says, “Have no other gods before me.” “Before me” means “against my face,” and requires absolute and unconditional allegiance to God and worship of him alone.

What a shocking surprise!

Before this, everyone knew that the universe was wild and chaotic, a jungle of warring powers: wind against water, sun against moon, life against death. There was a god of the spring planting and another god of the harvest, a spirit who put fish into fishermen’s nets and a being who specialized in caring for women in childbirth; and at best there was an uneasy truce among all these, at worst a battle.

Now along comes this Moses, from an insignificant band of desert wanderers, and shouts that all these processes are one process from a single source, that the obvious many are the unthinkable One. And he shouted it so loud that it has echoed down all time. This was the greatest discovery ever made.

How are you doing with this, his command to have no God but God?

Paul Tillich, the German theologian, spoke of “ultimate concern” as an issue at the heart of all religion. We all have something or someone of ultimate importance to our lives. How do you know what yours is? Three questions may help:

Where and how do you spend your time? That’s the real currency of our day. The average Christian spends ten minutes a day in prayer and Bible study. If I told you I loved my family, that they come first in my life, but only spent ten minutes a day with them, would you believe me? Does your time serve God?

Who are you trying to impress? If you had to choose between pleasing God and impressing your friends, or your girlfriend or boyfriend, or your boss, or your employees, who would you choose? Is it your ambition to please God?

For what would you sacrifice? When was the last time it cost you something significant to follow Jesus? Today, I hope.

How’s your soul with the first commandment this morning?

What comes first?

“Worship” is putting something or someone first in your life. The verb can take any noun as its object. We can worship something made of wood, stone, flesh, paper, or spirit. If that which is first in our lives is anything or anyone but the Lord God, by definition it is an idol. What does God say about it?

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Exodus 20:4). “You” is plural, applying to every one of them and every one of us. “Shall not” is a command. If you and I find that we have an idol in our lives this morning, we must get rid of it, right now.

“Make for yourself” reveals a basic principle for life: if you can make it, don’t worship it. If you can buy it, or sell it, or destroy it, don’t worship it. I would rephrase this statement for our culture: “You shall not make of yourself” an idol. Anything we make for ourselves or of ourselves must not have first place in our lives, or it becomes an idol.

The ancient Canaanites made their idols of wood, sometimes of stone, often covered with some kind of precious metal. They made them in all sorts of forms, which is why the Second Commandment prohibits forms from the sky, the earth, or the seas—everything.

Such idolatry was a huge problem in the ancient world. The Egyptians worshiped idols, as did the Canaanites and the Jews’ own forefathers. The ancient Greeks, the most brilliant civilization of all time, also worshiped gods such as Athena and Zeus—so many, in fact, that Paul commented on the number of idols he found in Athens (Acts 17.22-23). Idolatry was such a problem that there are fourteen different synonyms and words for “idol” in the Old Testament, and the Hebrew Scriptures say more about this commandment than any of the other nine.

Why was idolatry so common? Because every human being is created with a need to worship God.

We each have a “God-shaped emptiness” inside us. As Augustine confessed to God, “you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.”

But it’s hard to worship something we cannot see. So the ancients would make physical images for spiritual gods, seeking to portray divine characteristics such as power, fertility, or glory. In time the means became the ends, and they began worshiping the idols themselves.

This God cannot allow, for he is a “jealous” God (Exodus 20:5a). The word is better translated “zealous,” and points to God’s desire for an exclusive relationship with us. Just as no husband who truly loves his wife could wish to share her with another man, so God will not share us with another god. The term also shows that God truly cares for us, for we cannot be “jealous” or “zealous” about someone unless they matter to us.

Is the Second Commandment law or grace?

God says that he “punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (v. 5b). This is simply a Hebrew idiom, not a mathematical statement. The Bible teaches repeatedly that we must pay for our own sins, not those of others (Deuteronomy 24:16; Jeremiah 31:29,30; Ezekiel 18:1-4).

God is saying that our present-day idolatry has consequences for those who come after us, for they will likely follow in our footsteps. If I worship money, my children probably will, too. If I love Jesus, my family probably will as well.

This is why God says that he “shows love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (v. 6). “Love” is the Hebrew word “hesed,” like “agape” love in the Greek—unconditional, unbreakable. God is not saying that we earn his love when we worship him alone. He is saying that we put ourselves in position to receive this love by his grace. Then we respond by keeping his commandments. Jesus said, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love” (John 15:10); his disciple John said, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands” (1 John 2:3).

We can be idolatrous as easily as the ancient Jews or Canaanites, if anyone or anything becomes more important to us than our Lord. Consider again our three questions related to the First Commandment: where do you spend your time? who are you seeking to impress? for what would you sacrifice? Your answer is your “ultimate concern.” Any answer which comes before your Lord is your idol. Do you have business with the Father on this issue?

How do these vertical commandments affect our horizontal relationships?

Be Your Brother’s Keeper

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Topical Scripture: Genesis 4:1–9

An asteroid larger than the tallest building on earth will fly by our planet next month traveling 67,000 miles per hour. Fortunately, scientists say it will miss us by 2.6 million miles.

Are other asteroids a greater threat to us? NASA has been studying Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) since the 1970s. They have found more than 95 percent of the known category of over 15,000 NEOs. But what about the other 5 percent?

We don’t have to look to outer space to find threats to life on earth. Each day’s news brings more reports of disease and disasters. Especially painful are stories of people hurting other people. Worst of all are the personal stories that don’t make the news but scar our souls.

Where have you been hurt by someone lately? Who has attacked you? Lied about you? Hurt you? Stolen from you? Cost you something important? What do you do now?

Meet yourself

As our text begins, Adam and Eve have become the parents of Cain and Abel. Later in the narrative, both bring offerings to God, but Cain’s is refused. Why? And why does the question still matter?

The problem was not that one was grain and the other blood. The key is in the Hebrew word translated “offering” (minhah): a gift offered to a superior as an expression of gratitude for his goodwill (Alan Richardson). The “offering” is to be given in gratitude, not duty; in worship, not work and routine.

And that’s how Abel made his “offering.” The Bible says, “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead” (Hebrews 11:4).

“By faith” means “through faith” or “as a result of faith.” Abel’s offering was superior to Cain’s, for it was offered in faith, not works. In gratitude for God’s grace, not to earn his favor. It is the difference between the person who comes to church because it is Sunday and it’s his habit or duty, and the person who comes to worship to give back to the God who has given everything to him.

We see what our neighbor gives; God sees the heart which gives it. He “looked with favor” on Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s (v. 4). “Favor” means “grace.” God received by grace Abel’s offering of gratitude, but he could not receive Cain’s offering of self-righteous performance and works.

So, Cain’s attempt to justify himself failed. His performance fell short. He felt himself a failure and became “very angry” (v. 5); the Hebrew says that he “burned.” His self-righteous anger was such that sin was “crouching” at his door (v. 7), a “roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

God warned him: “you must master it” before it’s too late. But he did not. The Bible says that Cain “belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother” (1 John 3:12).

One hurts, and one is hurt. Why? And which are you today?

When you’re Cain

Cain is everyman. We all have an Abel. We all have someone in our lives whom we’ve hurt. Think back to the last time that was true for you. Why did you do it? Why did you repeat that gossip, tell that lie, speak that slander, steal that money or reputation or time, hurt that person?

Remember the sin cycle we exposed last week: Satan starts with your problem or need, questions God’s provision, minimizes God’s punishment, and offers God’s position. So, what’s the problem, the need? What starts the cycle by which we hurt others? Here are the leading candidates. Which is tempting you today?

Revenge. Cain convinced himself that Abel was his problem—if Abel’s offering had not been superior to his own, none of this would have happened. We hurt those who hurt us and feel justified in revenge.

Justice. This is Abel’s fault, and he deserves what he gets. We hurt others, but they deserve it, or so we think.

Reward. Cain wins, Abel loses. We’ll see whose offerings are acceptable, now that there’s only one to give them. We steal to get what we want and justify our action by the belief that they won’t miss it, or that we need it more.

Power. Nietzsche called the “will to power” the basic drive in human nature. Sometimes we hurt people just because we can. Cain was older and presumably stronger than Abel, and he could kill his brother, so he did. The “golden rule” in our fallen world is simple: the one with the gold makes the rules. We don’t even know why we did it. We just wanted to, and we could.

We’re all susceptible. We’re all Cain. When last did you hurt someone for these very reasons? G. K. Chesterton was asked to write an essay under the title, “What’s wrong with the world.” His submission: “Dear sir: In response to your question, ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ I am.”

The first step to stopping a sin like Cain’s is understanding why you’d commit it. The first step to stopping the sin cycle is understanding where you are being tempted to hurt today. Which serpent is whispering in your ear right now?

When you’re Abel

Now let’s reverse things. You’re Abel—you’ve been hurt, and you’re tempted to respond with revenge, justice, reward, or power. You’re ready to perpetuate the sin cycle. What should Cain have done before he killed his brother? What should we do when Cain hurts us? Let’s remember the answer to the sin cycle we discovered last week, and apply it here.

First, be honest about your pain.

Listen to your life. Don’t cover up your hurt, or excuse it, or pretend it didn’t happen. You really were the victim of slander, or gossip, or theft. Identify the person who hurt you, and why he did it. If you won’t admit your pain and your desire for revenge, justice, reward, or power, you’ll react before you can respond. You’ll say or do something which you’ll regret for a long time. Remember that you cannot unring a bell. Be honest about your hurt today.

Second, trust God’s provision.

Know that he knows and cares: “The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground'” (v. 10). Your Father knows that you are hurt, and by whom. You may think that no one knows the injustice you’ve suffered, but One does. He knows when you have been hurt, and by whom, and why. Any father hurts with his children, our Father most of all.

Third, respect God’s punishment.

God acted for Abel: “Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth” (vv. 11–12).

I looked up the subject of divine vengeance this week and discovered ninety-one biblical references. Here’s one example: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them” (Deuteronomy 32:35).

Before Paul quoted this verse, he instructed us, “Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:17-19).

There are certainly times when God uses the legal system to bring about his justice. That’s why we have laws dating back to the Ten Commandments and punishments in place to fit the crime and deter its recurrence. We are to give the person who hurt us over to God and his justice.

Last, give God his position.

Be sure he’s Lord of your heart and life, whether he is Lord of those who have hurt you or not. You are not responsible for them, only for yourself. Don’t let their sin cause you to sin. Don’t let their slander draw you into slander. Be sure you are right with God, and humble before him. Know that there but for the grace of God go you. You may not have done what they did, but you have probably done things they’ve not thought of doing. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All who seek God are saved by God’s grace (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). As you give the one who hurt you over to God, be sure he is on the throne of your heart as well.

And when you cannot do this, ask God to help you. Jesus said to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44). If you cannot pray for those who have hurt you, pray for God’s help to pray. And it will be given to you.

Conclusion

Corrie ten Boom’s story is familiar to most of us. Her family was taken by the Nazis. She was forced to watch her sister Betsie’s slow death in a concentration camp. Of all her family, she alone survived the Holocaust.

In The Hiding Place she tells how it all came back one unexpected evening: “It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there—the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.

“He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,’ he said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!’

“His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often . . . the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

“Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

“I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

“As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When he tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself” (The Hiding Place).

Today we have met the first human question in the Bible: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” What is your answer? Who is your brother today?

Becoming a Man after God’s Own Heart

Written by

Becoming a Man After God’s Own Heart:

The life and legacy of David

Dr. Jim Denison

1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22

Scholars find some 1,181 different men named in the Bible. Of all these, only one is described by God as “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22).

What an unusual choice! Consider what everyone knows about David:

•The youngest son of his father

•Overlooked by his father when the prophet came for a visit

•Ridiculed by Saul and Goliath

•Rejected by Saul, his life endangered

•Bathsheba

If this man could be “after God’s own heart,” there’s hope for us all. But we must do what he did. We must seek God as he sought him, and engage in the spiritual disciplines which forged his soul.

Do you want to know God better than you know him today? More intimately and personally? Do you want greater assurance that he hears and answers your prayers, and that you hear his Spirit’s voice in your soul? Do you want the Bible to be more alive in your life, its light more a guide for your decisions and future? Do you want to know that you are fulfilling God’s purpose for your life and work? In short, do you want to know God as David knew God? This study is for all of us who do.

Let’s get acquainted with the man who will be our guide for the study. Then we’ll follow where he leads us, until he leads us home.

Seven facts about David

“David” apparently comes from the Hebrew verbal root d-w-d, “to love.” So his name probably means “beloved,” apparently by God.

Attractive: “He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features” (1 Samuel 16:12). “Ruddy” apparently means red-haired.

Athletic and courageous: “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:34-36).

“Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground” (1 Samuel 17:49).

A great soldier: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Survived as a guerrilla leader in the Judean wilderness before Saul’s death (1 Samuel 22-25).

“The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, ‘You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.’ They thought, ‘David cannot get in here.’ Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David” (2 Samuel 5:6-7). This action united the southern and northern tribes under his rule.

Because of his wartime success, “God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood'” (1 Chronicles 28:3).

Artistic: A harpist and musician of known reputation (1 Samuel 16:15). A great poet (cf. Psalms 8, 19, 23). A convincing actor (1 Samuel 21:10-15).

A spiritual man: Samuel told Saul, “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command” (1 Samuel 13:14). “David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life–except in the case of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:5).

Sinned horribly: Speaking of the future king, Moses warned that “he must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:17). However, “after he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him” (2 Samuel 5:13).

The king was not where he should have been: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1).

Ease led to lust: “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her” (vs. 2-3a).

Lust led to adultery: “The man said, ‘Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?’ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home” (vs. 3b-4).

Adultery led to pregnancy: “The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant'” (v. 5). Pregnancy led to deceit (vs. 6-13). Deceit led to murder (vs. 14-17). Murder led to further deceit (vs. 18-27). Deceit led to exposure by God and the death of their child (2 Samuel 12).

Repented with genuine contrition (Psalm 1).

His life before the throne

He grew up on his father’s farm at Bethlehem, the youngest of eight sons (1 Samuel 16:10-11). Their family was traced to Perez, Judah’s son by Tamar (Ruth 4:18-22; Genesis 38). Ruth was David’s great-grandmother and a Moabitess. Thus see the challenges in his background.

•He worked as a shepherd defending the flock (1 Samuel 17:34-36).

•He was chosen by the prophet Samuel to succeed King Saul, but his election was kept quiet (1 Samuel 16:12-13).

•He became the king’s harpist and court musician (1 Samuel 16:14-23), then returned to the farm (1 Samuel 17:15).

•He journeyed to the front lines in the war with the Philistines, and killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:25-53).

•His victory won the admiration of Jonathan and the people, but the jealousy of Saul (1 Samuel 18:1-9).

David was then compelled to flee for his life into the Judean wilderness (1 Samuel 19).

Jonathan aided his escape (1 Samuel 19:4-7). During their conflict, he spared Saul’s life twice (1 Samuel 24:1-15; 26:1-20).

His life on the throne

At Saul’s death, David’s tribe of Judah named him their king; he reigned seven years in Hebron (2 Samuel 5:1-5). At the death of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul, David became king of all Israel (2 Samuel 5:3).

Military exploits:

•He captured Jerusalem and made it his capitol (2 Samuel 5:7).

•He brought the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:1-11; 1 Chronicles 15:1-29).

•He defeated the Philistines and enlarged the kingdom (2 Samuel 8, 10).

His sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 51).

Family struggles, including Absalom’s rebellion against him (2 Samuel 15-18).

Last days:

•Prepared to build the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:5, 14; 29:2).

•Appointed Solomon as his successor (1 Kings 1:11-39; 2:1-9).

His death: “He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor” (1 Chronicles 29:28).

Conclusion: lessons for souls today

Where we’ve been is no indication of where we’ll go.

In the depths of the Great Depression, Charles Darrow found himself out of work and out of money. He was an engineer with years of experience but no job. He and his wife were barely surviving. One evening, they made up a little game to take their minds off their troubles. They drew a circle on a piece of cardboard, and, recalling a fun visit to Atlantic City, marked the circle with the names of its streets. Charles carved little houses and hotels out of pieces of wood, and they called their game “Monopoly®.” In 1935 they sold the game nationally and became millionaires.

Do you know why “Formula 409®” is so named? The developers experienced 408 failed attempts before their final product was created.

Edmund McIlhenny operated a sugar plantation and saltworks in Louisiana before the Civil War. When Yankee troops invaded his area in 1863, he fled. Two years later he returned to find his plantation in ruins. McIlhenny fell into deep despair. Surveying his once-prosperous plantation, the only undamaged part he could find was a small plot of hot peppers to add to his meager dinner, thus inventing Tabasco® Sauce. One hundred years later the McIlhenny family still produces it.

Material power is no assurance of spiritual strength. We can find many instances of people who had it all and lost it all in Scripture and life today.

Staying close to God is the key to a life lived well. One of the greatest creeds of a life committed to God was written by an African martyr:

I am part of the “Fellowship of the Unashamed.” I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I’ve stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by his presence, lean by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, or slow up ’til I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go ’til He comes, give ’til I drop, preach ’til all know, and work ’til He stops.

And when He comes to get His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me—my colors will be clear.

Becoming a Man after God’s Own Heart

Written by

Becoming a Man After God’s Own Heart:

The life and legacy of David

Dr. Jim Denison

1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22

Scholars find some 1,181 different men named in the Bible. Of all these, only one is described by God as “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22).

What an unusual choice! Consider what everyone knows about David:

•The youngest son of his father

•Overlooked by his father when the prophet came for a visit

•Ridiculed by Saul and Goliath

•Rejected by Saul, his life endangered

•Bathsheba

If this man could be “after God’s own heart,” there’s hope for us all. But we must do what he did. We must seek God as he sought him, and engage in the spiritual disciplines which forged his soul.

Do you want to know God better than you know him today? More intimately and personally? Do you want greater assurance that he hears and answers your prayers, and that you hear his Spirit’s voice in your soul? Do you want the Bible to be more alive in your life, its light more a guide for your decisions and future? Do you want to know that you are fulfilling God’s purpose for your life and work? In short, do you want to know God as David knew God? This study is for all of us who do.

Let’s get acquainted with the man who will be our guide for the study. Then we’ll follow where he leads us, until he leads us home.

Seven facts about David

“David” apparently comes from the Hebrew verbal root d-w-d, “to love.” So his name probably means “beloved,” apparently by God.

Attractive: “He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features” (1 Samuel 16:12). “Ruddy” apparently means red-haired.

Athletic and courageous: “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:34-36).

“Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground” (1 Samuel 17:49).

A great soldier: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Survived as a guerrilla leader in the Judean wilderness before Saul’s death (1 Samuel 22-25).

“The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, ‘You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.’ They thought, ‘David cannot get in here.’ Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David” (2 Samuel 5:6-7). This action united the southern and northern tribes under his rule.

Because of his wartime success, “God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood'” (1 Chronicles 28:3).

Artistic: A harpist and musician of known reputation (1 Samuel 16:15). A great poet (cf. Psalms 8, 19, 23). A convincing actor (1 Samuel 21:10-15).

A spiritual man: Samuel told Saul, “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command” (1 Samuel 13:14). “David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life–except in the case of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:5).

Sinned horribly: Speaking of the future king, Moses warned that “he must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:17). However, “after he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him” (2 Samuel 5:13).

The king was not where he should have been: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1).

Ease led to lust: “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her” (vs. 2-3a).

Lust led to adultery: “The man said, ‘Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?’ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home” (vs. 3b-4).

Adultery led to pregnancy: “The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant'” (v. 5). Pregnancy led to deceit (vs. 6-13). Deceit led to murder (vs. 14-17). Murder led to further deceit (vs. 18-27). Deceit led to exposure by God and the death of their child (2 Samuel 12).

Repented with genuine contrition (Psalm 1).

His life before the throne

He grew up on his father’s farm at Bethlehem, the youngest of eight sons (1 Samuel 16:10-11). Their family was traced to Perez, Judah’s son by Tamar (Ruth 4:18-22; Genesis 38). Ruth was David’s great-grandmother and a Moabitess. Thus see the challenges in his background.

•He worked as a shepherd defending the flock (1 Samuel 17:34-36).

•He was chosen by the prophet Samuel to succeed King Saul, but his election was kept quiet (1 Samuel 16:12-13).

•He became the king’s harpist and court musician (1 Samuel 16:14-23), then returned to the farm (1 Samuel 17:15).

•He journeyed to the front lines in the war with the Philistines, and killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:25-53).

•His victory won the admiration of Jonathan and the people, but the jealousy of Saul (1 Samuel 18:1-9).

David was then compelled to flee for his life into the Judean wilderness (1 Samuel 19).

Jonathan aided his escape (1 Samuel 19:4-7). During their conflict, he spared Saul’s life twice (1 Samuel 24:1-15; 26:1-20).

His life on the throne

At Saul’s death, David’s tribe of Judah named him their king; he reigned seven years in Hebron (2 Samuel 5:1-5). At the death of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul, David became king of all Israel (2 Samuel 5:3).

Military exploits:

•He captured Jerusalem and made it his capitol (2 Samuel 5:7).

•He brought the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:1-11; 1 Chronicles 15:1-29).

•He defeated the Philistines and enlarged the kingdom (2 Samuel 8, 10).

His sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 51).

Family struggles, including Absalom’s rebellion against him (2 Samuel 15-18).

Last days:

•Prepared to build the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:5, 14; 29:2).

•Appointed Solomon as his successor (1 Kings 1:11-39; 2:1-9).

His death: “He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor” (1 Chronicles 29:28).

Conclusion: lessons for souls today

Where we’ve been is no indication of where we’ll go.

In the depths of the Great Depression, Charles Darrow found himself out of work and out of money. He was an engineer with years of experience but no job. He and his wife were barely surviving. One evening, they made up a little game to take their minds off their troubles. They drew a circle on a piece of cardboard, and, recalling a fun visit to Atlantic City, marked the circle with the names of its streets. Charles carved little houses and hotels out of pieces of wood, and they called their game “Monopoly®.” In 1935 they sold the game nationally and became millionaires.

Do you know why “Formula 409®” is so named? The developers experienced 408 failed attempts before their final product was created.

Edmund McIlhenny operated a sugar plantation and saltworks in Louisiana before the Civil War. When Yankee troops invaded his area in 1863, he fled. Two years later he returned to find his plantation in ruins. McIlhenny fell into deep despair. Surveying his once-prosperous plantation, the only undamaged part he could find was a small plot of hot peppers to add to his meager dinner, thus inventing Tabasco® Sauce. One hundred years later the McIlhenny family still produces it.

Material power is no assurance of spiritual strength. We can find many instances of people who had it all and lost it all in Scripture and life today.

Staying close to God is the key to a life lived well. One of the greatest creeds of a life committed to God was written by an African martyr:

I am part of the “Fellowship of the Unashamed.” I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I’ve stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by his presence, lean by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, or slow up ’til I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go ’til He comes, give ’til I drop, preach ’til all know, and work ’til He stops.

And when He comes to get His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me—my colors will be clear.

Beginning Well

Written by

Beginning Well

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Dr. Jim Denison

William Barclay once wrote, “A man will never become outstandingly good at anything unless that thing is his ruling passion. There must be something of which he can say, ‘For me to live is this.'”

I believe passionately in the truth of those words. As we begin a new year, let’s define our “ruling passion.” Let’s ask Paul what it should be. As he looks back over years now gone, we look ahead to the year just beginning. And he can teach us how to begin well.

Define your life purpose

Shalom. I am Saul of Tarsus, known to you as Paul the Apostle. My hometown of Tarsus, located in the southeastern corner of what you call Turkey today, was a cosmopolitan city. Here I learned Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew, and the cultures both of Rome and of my Jewish faith. Here God prepared me for my life purpose, far more than I knew at the time. He has done the same for you.

Our family traced its descent to the tribe of Benjamin, from which our first king arose. In his honor, they named me Saul.

From birth I was taught the faith of our fathers, so that my life purpose was defined early: to be a Pharisee, a “Separated One,” one of the elite in our nation who kept themselves from all common life so that they might obey the smallest details of our Law. I was taught by Gamaliel himself, the finest scholar in our faith. Again, God would use this training to help me as I wrote half of what you call the New Testament.

Even the great tragedy of my life was used for his purpose.

When the followers of Jesus the Nazarene began preaching that he was the risen Lord and Messiah, I was convinced they were misleading our people into idolatry and blasphemy. And I would stop them.

It was AD 33 as you reckon time. Armed with legal letters of extradition from the Jerusalem authorities, I made my way north to Damascus, where a nest of these “heretics” was at work. As with others before them, I would drag them from their homes to prison and death.

Then my sin became my salvation. About noon I saw a bright light from heaven and heard a voice say, “Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?” The voice identified himself as “Jesus of Nazareth,” and told me to go into Damascus where I would be told all I had been assigned to do (Acts 22.6-11).

This was the turning point of my entire life. This Jesus must have been resurrected, as the Christians preached. If he was raised from the dead, he must be God, as he claimed. He must be Messiah. He must be Lord. He must be my Lord!

I was blinded by his light until a Christian named Ananias prayed for me and I recovered his sight. Immediately I began preaching the gospel of this Christ, until the religious authorities drove me from Damascus.

I would spend the next three years sorting it all out. Jesus made clear to me that I was called to the Gentiles, the cursed pagans I had spent my entire life despising. This would be my life purpose: to bring Christ to as many Gentiles as I could.

Finally I met Peter in Jerusalem, and was called to the Gentile church in Antioch of Syria. And from there, my Messiah would call me to the world.

Looking back, I can see how God defined my purpose and used my past to prepare me for my future. Can you see how he has done the same for you?

Take Christ to your world

All across my life’s work, God has given me partners in his purpose. I began with Barnabas, a good and godly man. We traveled through what you call the First Missionary Journey together. Beginning on his native island of Cyprus, we sailed north to what you call central Turkey.

In Pisidian Antioch I preached in the Jewish synagogue; nearly the entire city gathered the next week to hear the word of the Lord (Ac. 13.44). The religious authorities expelled us from their city, but not before multitudes were saved and filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

In Iconium to the east we preached boldly, and God worked signs and wonders through us (Ac. 14.3). But again the authorities plotted our deaths.

In Lystra, just to the south, the people actually thought we were pagan gods. But again the religious leaders turned them against us; they stoned me and dragged me out of the city for dead. But God revived me, and I would not leave their city until they heard the gospel from me again.

Then we traveled further east to Derbe, where we preached the good news and won a large number of disciples.

Along the way, I received word that some of our new converts in the region were being led into legalism. And so I wrote the letter you call Galatians, standing firmly for salvation through grace alone.

Barnabas and I returned to the churches we had founded, appointing leaders in each until we set sail for Antioch. And I learned that God’s purpose will always create persecution. Expect God’s enemies to oppose you. But know that your God is greater.

Later God called me back to the churches I had founded in Galatia.

Barnabas returned to Cyprus with his cousin John Mark, while I departed with my new partner, Silas.

When we arrived back in Lystra I met a young disciple named Timothy whose his mother and grandmother had nurtured him in the word of God. He became my “son in the faith” for the rest of my life.

Together we strengthened the churches of Galatia, then traveled west to Troas, on the western coast of your Turkey. Here Luke the doctor joined us. He would be my personal physician for the rest of my ministry. With him, our missionary team was set. God will always give you people to help you accomplish his purpose for your life.

Here I saw a Macedonian man in a vision, calling me west to what you call Greece and Europe. We followed the vision. And your history would never be the same.

Perhaps you know of my work in Philippi: Lydia, the first convert in Europe; my beating and imprisonment; the earthquake which set us free; our jailer’s salvation.

We traveled by foot southwest to Thessalonica, where I preached for three weeks until the religious authorities ran us out of town.

Next to Berea, where those who heard me searched the Scriptures to see if what I was saying was true. And they believed.

On to Athens, where I won philosophers at the Areopagus to Christ. Then to Corinth, where I met with Priscilla and Aquila and stayed a year and a half. The synagogue ruler came to Christ, with many others. Finally we sailed eastward, where I stayed briefly in Ephesus, then returned to Jerusalem and back to Antioch once more.

And from Antioch I set out on my third missionary journey, traveling through Turkey and the churches we built there to Ephesus, the “Light of Asia.” God led me to stay there two years, the longest anywhere in my work.

First I spoke boldly in the synagogue for three months.

After I was rejected there, I rented the lecture hall of Tyrannus, speaking each day from 11 AM to 4 PM, when the hall was available. In this way, all the Jews and Greeks in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord (Ac. 19.10).

The sick were healed, the demoniacs cleansed. Those who believed burned their pagan scrolls, valued at 50,000 days’ wages. And the word of the Lord spread widely.

Then came the famous riot, started by a silversmith who made idols to the pagan goddess Diana. God used the city clerk to quiet the crowd and protect me. And I learned again that God’s power will always accomplish God’s purpose.

I continued on into Macedonia, your Greece, taking a collection for the starving Christians back in Judea. When it was done, I returned to Jerusalem despite the warnings of prophets who predicted I would be imprisoned and persecuted. But they were right.

Trust God’s protection for his purpose

The Jewish leaders soon arrested me on the false charge of bringing a Gentile into the Temple. The crowd started beating me, and would have killed me if the Roman commander had not arrived. He arrested me, and I preached the gospel to this mob under his protection.

The authorities brought charges against me, but the Lord spoke to my heart in the night and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome'” (Ac. 23.11). More than 40 of the Jews formed a conspiracy to kill me, but my nephew heard of their plans and saved my life.

I spent the next two years imprisoned in Caesarea, north of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean coast. I wrote several letters of your New Testament, preached the gospel to Governor Felix and his wife Drusilla, then Portius Festus after him, along with King Agrippa and his wife Bernice.

Finally I exercised my right as a Roman citizen, and appealed to Rome. And so Rome kept me safe from my enemies all the way to her capital city. We were shipwrecked, but spared. I was under house arrest in Rome, but free to minister the word. I wrote more of your New Testament. And I took Christ to “the uttermost parts of the world” (Ac. 1:8).

I was finally released. I took the gospel westward to Spain, back to Crete, to Miletus, Colossae, and back to Ephesus, Philippi, and the city of Nicopolis. I learned that our lives are not done until our purpose is fulfilled.

Finally Nero ordered my arrest and imprisonment, this time enchained in the cold, bleak, lonely Mamartime dungeon. Luke only was at my side (2 Tim. 4.11). The end was at hand. Nero’s henchmen would take me from the dungeon to the Ostesian Road. There I would bow near a pine tree; as was the custom for Roman citizens, they would behead me and bury my remains nearby. But my death was my greatest victory.

Conclusion

I knew my death was imminent when I wrote in what you call 2 Timothy, “I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure (v. 6). For Christians, death is merely a departure to life.

When the end came, I could say in victory, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (v. 7). Can you make the same statement? Then I could rejoice, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day” (v. 8). And to you.

Here is what I learned across thirty years of serving Jesus as my Messiah:

God has a purpose, a passion for our lives. Mine was to take Christ to as many Gentiles as I could. What is yours?

God will give us the preparation, the people, and the protection we need, so long as we are faithful to his purpose.

We can expect persecution and opposition, but our God is greater. And our death is departure to eternal reward.

Are you living in his purpose for your new year? Are you fighting your good fight, finishing your race, keeping your faith? Well?

Believing is Seeing

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Believing Is Seeing

Galatians 6:7-10 / Mark 8:11-26

Jim Denison

New Year’s celebrations are the most universal of all holidays. Every religion and culture has its version. The Babylonians started this tradition 4,000 years ago. Their new year’s party lasted for 11 days, if you can imagine. Their most popular new year’s resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment. If I have borrowed your tractor, I resolve to return it this week.

Have you made any new year’s resolutions? Has God made any for you? Is there anything you know he wants you to do as 2008 begins?

Is there a person you know you should forgive? Someone’s forgiveness you know you should seek? Sin you know you should confess and stop?

Do you know a non-believer you should try to bring to Christ or church? Is God asking you to make a new time commitment to his service? A new financial commitment to his Kingdom?

My problem with God’s will is seldom that I don’t know what to do–it’s usually that I don’t want to do what I know I should. Mark Twain spoke for me: it’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me–it’s the parts of the Bible I do. I always know more than I do. I suspect you’re the same way.

Paul assured the Galatians that if they would “sow to please the Spirit,” living in the Spirit’s guidance according to God’s will, then “at the proper time, you will reap a harvest if you do not give up.” If we do what God wants, we’ll be glad we did. We can trust God’s will even when it’s hard. We can believe that God knows and wants what is best for us, even when he asks more than we want to give.

I’ve heard that all my Christian life, and so have you. If someone could help me believe it when it’s hard, I’d be grateful. When my faith is tested this year and I don’t want to do what I know God wants–when I don’t want to give or forgive, to refuse sin or submit to his will. Why should I pay a price to follow Jesus? Why should I believe that I’ll reap a harvest if I do not give up? Why should you?

Why to trust God today

This episode in Mark 8 was so important to Jesus’ work that it was recorded in all four gospels. It begins: “The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven” (v. 11). The word translated “sign” means a miracle which proves that a prophet is from God.

The Pharisees wanted Jesus to make specific predictions for the future and then fulfill them, thus proving that he was who he said he was. This he would not do for them. He knew that such signs would do nothing to convince those who will not be convinced. They would not be persuaded, because they had already decided not to believe.

Why is this story in all four gospels? As a warning to us. If we ask God to prove himself before we will trust and serve him, we’ll never trust and serve him. If we wait for him to prove that his will is best for us before we’ll follow it, we’ll never follow it.

What more can he do than he has done to convince us of his reality and character? He created the world, then gave us his law and prophets to show us how he wants us to live. But we refused them, so he sent his Son to become one of us that we might be one with him. But we rejected and crucified him. He raised him from the dead and exalted him to heaven, but we can’t prove that today. What more would we like God to do before we’ll follow him unconditionally?

He could appear to us today in this Sanctuary, but would you trust your senses? Would you believe tomorrow what you saw today? Would anyone else believe your story? Let’s say I told you that God appeared to me yesterday and revealed to me that he wants us to start a Sunday morning worship service in the Cotton Bowl. What is your first reaction? What about the weather? Who will come? How much will it cost? How can we be sure God is in this? My testimony to God’s miraculous vision wouldn’t be enough for you, would it? If you reported such a vision this morning, I’d be just as skeptical. How can you use natural means to prove a supernatural experience?

There is only one way God could prove his reality and power to every person in the human race, and that would be to return to this planet in unmistakable power and divine glory. This he will do on the day when he ends history. When he does, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). On that day, seeing is believing.

Until he returns, believing is seeing. The only way to prove that God’s will is best for our lives is to follow that will. The only way to know we can trust a person is to trust them; the only way to be sure that a job is right for us is to take the job; the only way to prove that we’re ready to have children is to have them. The only way to be sure that we should do whatever God asks of us this year is to decide that we’ll do what he asks of us.

In the meanwhile, it helps to remember that what God has done in the past, he can do again in the present.

When the disciples got into the boat they worried over the fact that they had only one loaf of bread. This even though Jesus had already fed 5,000 families with five loaves and two fish, and 4,000 families with seven loaves. Now they were repeating the doubts of the Pharisees, when the very Bread of Life was in the boat with them. What he had done in the past, he could do again. If he fed the crowds, he could feed his disciples. He still can.

Where do you need the power of God today? Do you need him to be your Great Physician? If he could heal the sick and raise the dead, he still can. Do you need him to redeem your circumstances? If he could calm the stormy seas, he still can. Do you need him to direct your steps and guide your decisions? If he could lead his followers into the mightiest movement in spiritual history, he still can.

But he can lead only those who will follow.

He is doing miracles and signs and wonders all over the world today. The church is multiplying everywhere except in Western Europe and America, everywhere except in cultures where seeing is believing and we want proof before we will trust. The ten largest churches in the world are all located outside the United States.

God goes where he’s wanted. He leads those who will follow. He shows his power to those who already believe in his power.

With God, believing is seeing. We must step into the Jordan River before it will part. We must march around Jericho before it will fall. We must follow God into the lions’ den before his angels can stop the lions’ mouths. We must go into the fiery furnace to know that God can protect us from the flames. We must leave our boats and nets before Jesus can make us fishers of men.

Believing is seeing. Today, on this first Sunday of 2008, Jesus is asking you to follow him without question and condition. To go out not knowing (Hebrews. 11:8). To “sow to please the Spirit,” believing that in due time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up. To surrender this year to God before it begins. How do we do that this morning?

How to trust God today

Our text ends with a story which is found only in Mark’s Gospel. It begins: “some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him” (Mark 8:22). Jesus took him by the hand and led him outside the village. He spit on his eyes, practicing the medicine of the day. Then he healed the man and told him to go back home by himself. What he did for this blind man, he’ll do for our blind minds today.

How do we trust the future to God? Go where he leads you, a step at a time. We are as blind to the future as this man was to the present. Jesus took his hand and led him a step at a time. He will do the same for us. So pray first. Give the day to him before it begins. Pray before your decisions. Pray when you’re tempted. Pray when you’re hurt. Pray when you begin a conversation. Pray when you begin a worship service. Pray as you listen to a sermon. Seek his hand and help for each step as each step comes.

And let God do something he’s never done before in your life. This was one of the few times he healed a man privately, not publicly. It was the only time in the gospels when he healed a person not instantly but gradually.

Let God lead you where you’ve never been, in a way you don’t understand, to do something you’ve never done, and he’ll lead you to a future you cannot imagine. You will reap a harvest if you do not give up. This is the guarantee of God.

Conclusion

So, what have we learned today? There will come a time in this new year when you won’t want to do what you know you should. You won’t want to follow God’s word and will. You will want to give in to temptation and sin. You will want God to prove that his way is best before you pay a price to follow it. So will I. Some of us are there today. All of us will be there soon.

When that day comes, remember three facts.

One: You cannot prove God’s will is best until you follow it. Don’t make the Pharisees’ mistake. Your relationship with God, like every relationship in your life, requires a faith commitment which transcends the evidence. When you do what you know you should, you’ll know why God was right all along.

Two: What God has done, he can still do. Don’t make the disciples’ mistake. When you need bread, ask the One who fed 5,000 families to feed you. When you need sight, ask the One who healed blind eyes to heal yours. He can do all he has ever done, but only for those who will follow where he leads.

Three: Jesus wants to guide you every day, but you must submit to him every day. Learn from the blind man. Take Jesus’ hand right now. Know that self-reliance is spiritual death. Tell him that you’ll go wherever he leads, whenever he calls, whatever he asks. Will it cost you something to follow God unconditionally this year? Of course it will. Will it cost you more not to?

Mother Teresa knew what it was to serve God at a price. I recently discovered a creed she wrote, and have made it my New Year’s Resolution. I invite you to join me. It goes like this:

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

As Mother Teresa proved, when we live only for God, believing is seeing. This is the word of the Lord.

Ben Franklin Was Right

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Ben Franklin Was Right

Luke 17:11-19

Dr. Jim Denison

You and your fellow Americans consumed 45 million turkeys over Thanksgiving, eating 525 million pounds of turkey meat. I thought you should know something about the meal you just consumed, so I looked up turkey facts in preparation for today’s message. Here is what I learned:

Turkeys spend the night in trees. They fly to the ground at first light and feed until mid-morning.

They start gobbling before sunrise and continue through most of the morning. Males make a gobbling noise to attract females; females make a clicking sound.

Their field of vision is 270 degrees. The wild turkey has excellent hearing. A turkey can run up to 25 miles per hour and fly for short distances at up to 55 miles per hour. However, domesticated or farm-raised turkeys cannot fly.

A mature turkey has around 3,500 feathers. The Apache Indians considered the turkey timid, and wouldn’t eat it or use its feathers on their arrows.

The male is called a “tom,” the female a “hen,” and the baby a “poult.” Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the United Stated, but Thomas Jefferson opposed this idea. It is believed that Franklin then named the male turkey the “tom” to spite Jefferson.

Turkeys contain L-tryptophan, an amino acid which produces sleepiness. The sleep-inducing effect explains the Cowboys’ first quarter of the game last Thursday.

What is your favorite holiday? According to all the surveys, Christmas is America’s first choice. Yet it may surprise you to learn that it was not celebrated until 336 A.D., and did not become popular in America until the 1860s. And no one is sure when Jesus’ birth actually occurred. It is observed on December 25 because early Christian leaders wanted to replace Saturnalia, a popular pagan holiday observed on that day.

In fact, most of our holidays are not found in Scripture.

Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Fourth of July, Presidents’ Day, Groundhog Day—none are in God’s word. Even Easter, the most significant day in human history, is not treated in the Bible as a specific holiday but a daily celebration.

The holiday which comes in last in popularity for Americans is Thanksgiving. Only two percent rank it their favorite. Would you? God does.

It is a glorious and wonderful thing to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We should do so every day. But Thanksgiving is the one observance which is commanded by our Lord, absolutely mandated by the Scriptures: “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5.18). Thanksgiving is the will of God.

Why is thanksgiving so important to God? How can it be more important to us? Today’s message teaches this simple fact: thanksgiving is the key to the presence and power of God. The power you need for your life and problems today. Our story will show us how to use that key this morning.

Text

Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem and his death and resurrection when they encounter “ten men who had leprosy.”

Leprosy in the Bible could be Hansen’s disease, a bacterial disease which affects the nerves and upper respiratory tract, producing skin lesions and damaging skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. But the word also applied to a large variety of skin ailments such as psoriasis.

Fearing contagion, people isolated lepers from society (Leviticus 13:45-46; Numbers 5:2-4), so they lived together for protection and provision of needs.

They had apparently heard of Jesus’ healing ministry, including his compassion for lepers (Luke 5:12-15), so they stood at a distance and called to him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (v. 13).

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” This was the action required of a leper who had been healed of his leprosy, so the priest could certify him to be clean and allow him to rejoin society. In other words, he asked them to believe that they were healed and act accordingly. When they received his healing power through such faith, “they were cleansed.” Faith does not earn the blessing of God, but it is needed to receive such grace and mercy.

Then “one of them,” the Samaritan, did three things:

He praised God with a loud voice.

He threw himself at Jesus’ feet. This was an admission that he was now his Lord.

He thanked him. By crediting him with his miraculous healing, he was acknowledging him as God.

Jesus responded: “Rise and go; your faith has made you well” (v. 19). It has “restored” him or “made him whole.” The nine were healed physically; the thankful Samaritan was healed spiritually and completely.

Thanksgiving makes us whole.

Why I join the nine

Self-sufficiency is the enemy of Thanksgiving.

In our story, the nine took the actions which led to their healing. Jesus did not touch them—this was their work. It’s easy to think that I have earned what I have, that my prosperity is the result of my hard work. But it’s not so.

If we were to shrink the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, that village would contain the following: 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western hemisphere, and 8 Africans. 52 would be female, 48 male. 6 would possess 59% of the world’s wealth. 80 would live in substandard housing; 70 would be unable to read; 50 would suffer from malnutrition. Do you know how many would have a college education? One. How many would own a computer? One.

Did you deserve to have physical abilities and not challenges? To be born in America and not North Korea? To have parents who would love you and not abuse you? To have the privileges and opportunities you enjoy today? When was the last time you thanked God for the circumstances and provisions you enjoy each day?

Busyness is the enemy of thanksgiving.

The lepers had much to do. They needed to be examined by the priests and readmitted to society. Then they had to find their families, begin life with them again, find and begin jobs—in short, do all the things which would reinitiate life. They were too busy to return and give thanks to Jesus.

It’s easy for me to be the same way. We are busy people, aren’t we? Have you heard of Sink Eaters Anonymous? It’s a support group for people who are so busy, they eat most of their meals while standing over the kitchen sink to speed things up. I once heard about an executive who ate his lunch while making his way through the line in the company’s kitchen—when it came time to pay, he was finished with his meal. I confess to you that my first thought was admiration.

When was the last time you made time for thanksgiving to God?

Spiritual ignorance is the enemy of thanksgiving. In our text, only one was “made whole.” The others missed all that God had for them.

I don’t give thanks because I don’t realize how much I need to. What are the benefits of gratitude?

Why join the one

Thanksgiving is required by Scripture. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to give thanks not “for” all circumstances, but “in” them. Jesus in Garden sweat drops of blood; on the cross he cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The Bible does not say that all things are good, but that God works through all things for good (Romans 8:28).

Why is thanksgiving required in all things?

Thanksgiving leads us into the presence of God. Psalm 100: we “enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”

The “gates” of the Temple were the first entry point; the “courts” were the area where worship was given. When we worship the Lord, giving thanks to him, we are able to enter past the gates and into the courts of the Almighty. This is how we enter his presence, and experience his power. This is how we meet with God. In this way and no other. Thanksgiving unlocks the gates of heaven. It is their only key.

The “songs of ascent” were sung for just this purpose. Psalms 120-134 were sung by the people as they ascended to Jerusalem (2500 feet above sea level) from the valleys below and then up the steps to the Temple. Some of these steps remain—the very steps on which Jesus climbed. They are fascinating—the builders constructed them with two normal steps, then a long step; two normal steps, then a long step. The result was that the people were forced to go slowly and reverently, thinking and praying and praising as they went.

They literally came into the courts of God with thanksgiving.

Praise leads to the power of God.

Is Thanksgiving a holiday or a holy day for you? Is it an annual event or a daily experience? When you see who God is, and what he does in the past, present, and future, can you hold back your thanks and praise? Does he not deserve our attitude of gratitude, thanksgiving as a daily experience and lifestyle? This is how you experience God, in all his holiness and power, grace and glory. This is the one holiday God requires.

Better Than Pokémon

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Better Than Pokémon

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Dr. Jim Denison

Pokémon was invented in 1996 in Japan by Satoshi Tajiri. It was launched as a video game in the United States last year. Since that time, it has made $1 billion in America and $6 billion worldwide. This week it made headlines in USA Today, and was the cover of Time magazine. Mike Luckovich, cartoonist for the Atlanta Constitution, captured the craze well: “When a Fad Turns Dangerous,” with a spokesman for the Federal Reserve saying, “Alan Greenspan remains unavailable. He’s trading Pokémon cards.”

What if you knew to invest in Pokémon two years ago?

Well, I have an even better investment strategy to present to you today.

This missions month, our focus has been on changing a changing world. I want us to close the series by examining the cost of changing a changing world. I want to give you some straight talk from God’s word on the subject, and show you the incredible investment strategy our Father offers us today.

God’s word presents three basic reasons why we should invest our possessions in his kingdom. Let’s explore them for ourselves.

God has given us everything we have (1)

First, Paul claims that everything we have has come from God. He talks about the “grace” God has given the Macedonian churches, and claims that everything they have comes from him. Let’s examine this idea for a moment.

The Wall Street Journal recently described a mythical conversation between God and a biologist, competing with each other to see who could best create life. God said, “Let’s start the way I did, with dirt.” The biologist said “fine” as he reached down for some dirt. God said, “No, get your own dirt.”

The Bible claims, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). In other words, he alone is creator, and thus owner. And the second law of thermodynamics agrees: we can neither create nor destroy what exists. All we can do is move God’s creation around a little. It all belongs to him, by rights of creation.

Now, let’s be as honest as possible about this idea. You work hard for your money, your possessions, your accomplishments. So do I. But did we earn the abilities we possess? The opportunities which have come our way? The privilege of being born in America instead of Ethiopia or Haiti? The health we enjoy today?

This week’s Newsweek quoted a grocer in Turkey after the latest earthquakes: “We are just glad to be alive. It makes you realize how little material things mean.” He’s right. All we have, including our very lives, comes by the grace of God.

And so, giving to God is simply returning what was already his. Tithing is a little like Christmas shopping when our boys were small—Janet and I would give them some of our money so they could buy us a present. So with God.

This text is not about how much money we’ll give to God—it’s about how much of God’s money we’ll keep for ourselves.

God expects us to give to him (2)

Paul’s second fact is just as blunt as his first: God expects us to give to him. Giving is not an optional “extra credit” for God’s people. This is “Faith 101,” basic, essential. No matter our circumstances. Listen to verse 2: “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”

What’s going on here?

“Trial” translates the Greek word for a weight which grinds us down. At one time their area had been rich, but the Romans seized their gold and silver mines, throwing them into a severe depression.

They are in extreme “poverty”—the word describes a person who has nothing at all.

But their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters in Jerusalem are facing a famine. And so Paul set out on his third missionary journey to take a collection from the Gentile churches to help them. He saw this as bringing the two sides of the church to unity, and even fulfilling the prophecy that after the Messiah arrived Gentile gifts would come to Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3; 60:5-7; Micah 4:1-2).

So now these impoverished Macedonian Christians have given “even beyond their ability” (v. 3), because they wanted to: “They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints” (v. 4). Paul didn’t beg them to help—they begged him.

They did not give out of guilt, as though they were repaying God for their salvation.

They did not give out of greed, for what God might give them in return. This is no “health and wealth” gospel.

They gave out of gratitude for God’s grace in their lives. They knew full well what Jesus has done for them: “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (9).

And so “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will” (v. 5). Out of their rock-bottom poverty, in gratitude. If they could, so can anyone.

This is why Paul now challenges the Corinthian Christians to do the same. They had begun their own collection the year before, but failed to complete it. Soon the Macedonians would be through Corinth, on their way to present their offering to the Jerusalem church, and they would expect the Corinthians to have their collection ready to take as well. Time is short. They are called by God to give.

So with all God’s people today. No matter our circumstances, everyone can give. God wants us to give what we can, not what we cannot (12). He wants equality of sacrifice, not necessarily amount (13-15).

And his standard is still the tithe. Abraham tithed to God (Genesis 14:20), as did Jacob (Genesis 28:22) before there was a Law; so this is not legalism. Leviticus 27:30 calls for a tithe from all God’s people; so this is not optional. Jesus commends tithing in Matthew 23, as does Hebrews 7, and early Christians expected all to tithe. So, this is not merely an Old Testament requirement. God expects his people to tithe.

C. S. Lewis said it well (as usual): “I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare…If our charities do not pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them” (Mere Christianity).

God expects us to give sacrificially.

God needs our gifts (6-7)

So God’s word calls us to “excel in this grace of giving” (v. 7). Because God has given to us, and we want to respond in gratitude. And because God needs what we can give.

This is where my mind has been changed. I used to believe that God calls us to give of our time, talents, and possessions only for our sake—not for his. After all, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all creation is his. What does he need of mine?

But this week as I have immersed myself in this subject biblically, I have come to see that God has limited himself at the point of our obedience. From the very beginning, he created a kind of “divine partnership” with us. He has chosen to make our hands his hands, our bodies his bodies, our resources his own. All across Scripture, God needs his people to give to him obediently, that his Kingdom might be built on earth.

God called Cain and Abel to make sacrifices to him, and Abel’s was pleasing to him (Genesis 3:4). All across the Old Testament, God’s people are called to present sacrifices to him, and when they are brought in faithful obedience they please him.

God needed a Noah to build an ark. He who has power enough to flood the entire earth surely possesses the ability to build a boat. But he chose to limit himself here to human obedience and partnership.

God needed an Abraham through whom he could create a nation. He had the physical ability to do so without Abraham, but he limited himself to human obedience and partnership.

All across the Scriptures this is so.

Think of Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David and the kings, Isaiah and the prophets. God needed someone to do what each one did. He has the ability to do it all himself, but he chooses to use us.

Turn to the New Testament. Jesus called men to help him “fish for men”; he called Saul to reach the Gentiles; he called John to receive his Revelation. If he had found no one to do each job, how impoverished would our world be today!

And so with our text. If these Corinthians do not give, the Jerusalem Christians will suffer as a result. God’s Kingdom would be limited. God needed what they would give.

God could have found another way to finance his Kingdom work than through the gifts of his people. There are other options. For instance, Siesta Telecom of Sarasota, Florida has announced a deal with the Vatican to sell Pope John Paul II phone cards. Each card will carry a photograph of the pope, a copy of his signature, and a blessing. The Vatican will receive $1 per card.

Somehow I don’t see such a scheme in our future. God’s plan for his church is still his church.

The average church member in America gives 2.5% of his or her income to God through the church. If that were true for us, and we all began tithing, our ministry budget would increase by $24 million per year. Think of what we could do to feed the hungry, care for the homeless and the sick, sponsor missions ministries around the world, and reach our community. God needs what we will give.

I once saw a cartoon where a man says to God, “Why don’t you do something about all the hunger and suffering in the world?” And God replies, “I was just about to ask you the same question.”

Conclusion

Why give to God? I’ll close by asking some of our members to answer the question. I don’t want to know what a single member of our church gives, so I asked our finance office to speak with some of the largest contributors in our church, asking them why they give as they do. Here are some of their answers:

“I give because I believe the Bible clearly teaches that we should at least tithe. A tithe is a minimal response. Our church, which is the bride of Christ and for whom he died, should be our primary channel for furthering the Lord’s kingdom.”

“God commands it in his word. And God doesn’t give any exemptions based on how much money you make. For this reason, I believe that the tithing system that God has established is extremely fair. If I believe in and am committed to a ministry—like the church—why should I go turn over every stone looking for a cause to give my money to? Hasn’t God placed a ministry right in front of my eyes that I should give to?”

“Our lifetime experience is that 90% after the tithe is literally more and better than 100% would be absent the tithe.”

“God wants me to do it. It makes me feel good.”

“My wife’s family had instilled in her the habit of giving to the church. When we married, this became a natural habit that we have continued for forty-three years. We cannot imagine not giving to the church; it plays such a pivotal role in our lives and the community.”

“Tithing is commanded. It predates the law and is New Testament as well as Old (Luke 11:42). How can we say we trust God with our souls if we don’t trust him with our money?”

“My parents taught me that stewardship is an attitude of the heart, mind and soul, and it became more real to me as I understood that such persistent love could only come from the Father. Jesus is my Savior; whatever I have belongs to him. I think it was Jim Elliot who said: ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.'”

Why invest your resources sacrificially in God’s Kingdom? Because everything you own is his already; he expects you to give sacrificially to his work on earth; and he needs what you can give.

Is this the best investment strategy you’ll ever find? The creator and owner of the universe says it is. Will you agree with him?

Beware Of the Serpent

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God’s Power for God’s Purpose

Beware of the Serpent

Dr. Jim Denison

Acts 4:32-5:16

One of Aesop’s fables tells the story of a lion who tailed a herd of oxen but could find no way to attack the young calves he saw as prey. Each time he drew near, the full-grown oxen circled around their young, horns at the ready. The lion could not hope to succeed against such strength. So he devised another strategy. He hid near the herd and whispered gossip and accusations unseen. Soon the oxen were divided into smaller groups of accusation and slander. And it was easy for the lion to attack the splintered herd.

God’s word warns: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Peter 5:8-9). This lion always attacks God’s people at the point of unity. He’s a spiritual economist, seeking the maximum damage for the minimum effort. And he knows that if he can divide us, he can defeat us.

Jesus prayed for his followers across history, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21). Let’s learn to join his prayer this week.

Earn the enemy’s wrath (Acts 4:32-37)

A group of pastors were gathered at a conference. Heated debate arose around a point of theological interpretation. In the midst of all the arguing, one wise pastor turned to the man at his side and said, “I’m sure glad we’re just the decoys.” His friend asked what he meant. He clarified: “While we’re here arguing and drawing the enemy’s fire, it’s the people back home in their prayer closets who are doing the real work of the Lord.”

The pastor’s sentiment is a welcome endorsement of the ministry of prayer, but a bit naïve. The enemy knows well who his real enemies are. And he always attacks those who attack him. If you and your class are not facing temptation and spiritual adversity, it may be that you’re doing little which threatens Satan. And so, odd as it seems, a valuable spiritual principle is to live so as to earn the enemy’s wrath. Then you know you’re in the will and purpose of God.

Here’s what we can do to please our Father and anger our enemy.

Value the family of God (v. 32)

Verse 32 is proof that apostolic Christianity was miraculous in origin: “All the believers were one in heart and mind.” Remember that they had come from fifteen different languages and cultures (cf. Acts 2:8-11). The ancient world was notoriously tribal in nature, as extended families and homogeneous cultures learned to depend on none but themselves. To live in harmony across racial and language barriers was unique in their time, counter to centuries of learned behavior.

But such unity was their daily experience. “All” the believers, with no exceptions, “were one in heart and mind,” united in their emotions and their intellect, their feelings and theology. The unity amidst diversity which characterized them immediately after Pentecost (Acts 2:44) had only grown in strength and depth.

They proved their unity not by words but works: “No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had” (v. 32b). This early economy was not an endorsement of “socialism” or “Communism,” despite such claims in the last century. The apostolic Christians possessed no such notions. Rather, these first believers had no one but each other. Their Jewish families likely disowned them for rejecting the traditions of their elders. The Romans wanted nothing to do with them. They lost jobs, houses, and community. They were forced to share all things in common.

Such unity is our most powerful witness, as Jesus made clear (Jn. 13:35; 17:21). Justin the Martyr quoted the astonishment expressed by enemies of apostolic Christianity: “How you love each other!” I was won to Jesus more by the love I saw in his people than the theology I heard expressed by his leaders. Every father is pleased when we love his children. And the enemy is angered by such unity.

Testify to the resurrection of Jesus (v. 33)

Works and words are the two “wings” of genuine witness, two sides of the same coin. Which of your arms would you rather lose? I have long admired the statement attributed to St. Francis: “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” But I also know that we must use words for our works to be effective spiritually.

Salvation requires words: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Paul’s consequent question makes the point: “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (v. 14).

The apostolic Christians knew that their witness required both unity of example and power of speech: “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all” (Ac. 4:33). They were under compulsion: “we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Ac. 4:20). Their conviction was clear: “We must obey God rather than men!” (Ac. 5:29).

When we are willing to testify with courage, we will receive “much grace.” God’s purpose will never lack God’s power. We must show others why we love each other so much, so they can know how to experience such love in their own lives. And the enemy is angered by such courage.

Help those who are hurting (vs. 34-35)

As more and more people came into the faith, the social and financial needs of the first Christians continued to grow. They would not yet pay for their faith with their lives (though this strategy of the enemy would soon be initiated). But their lives were changed in dramatic and difficult ways by their commitment to Christ.

Despite the economic hardships which many faced, “There were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:34). Why? Because those who had means shared with those who did not. This development shows that not all the first Christians were impoverished before coming to faith (as Barnabas’s example will soon show). Christianity appealed to hearts and souls across the social spectrum. And all responded as they could.

Here is a basic principle of Christian stewardship: not equal gifts, but equal sacrifice. God judges us by our heart condition more than our financial ability: “if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12).

Those with means “put it at the apostles’ feet,” trusting its distribution to the Christian leaders, “and it was distributed to anyone as he had need” (Ac. 4:35). We do not give to the church, but to God through the church. And God directs his people as to the best use of his resources.

Here is the best way to help hurting people: give all you can, trusting God to use what you give in the most effective way. How much should you give? C. S. Lewis was right: the best answer is that we should give more than we can spare. God is pleased with such sacrifice. And the enemy is not.

Set an example others can follow (vs. 36-37)

Barnabas is one of my favorite figures in the Bible. I’m not the first to feel that way. No Barnabas, no Paul. If someone had not done what Barnabas did, Saul of Tarsus would have stayed in Tarsus. And our New Testaments would be missing thirteen books.

His name means “Son of Encouragement.” It would be honor enough to be given that name at birth. But his fellow believers, after witnessing first hand his character and priorities, assigned it to him (v. 36), even higher praise. He was a Levite, descended from the priestly tribe and thus a man of great significance within Judaism. He was a wealthy landowner, so much so that he could sell a field and give the money to the apostles (v. 37). But he sacrificed such social status to follow Jesus. And others would follow his example, most notably the apostle Paul.

If those in your class were to follow Jesus on the same level of sacrifice they see in you, would the Father be pleased? Would the enemy be angry?

Stand boldly against sin (Acts 5:1-11)

Satan’s attack came in the same way it usually does: at the heart and unity of this family and army of faith. Ananias and his wife Sapphira pretended to give the Lord all they made from a land sale. They were wealthy enough to have land to sell, and devious enough to attempt to use that sale to advance themselves within the church. Both Ananias and Sapphira were culpable; she lied about their action even more directly than he is quoted as doing (v. 8). Both were confronted by Peter, and both paid for their sin with their lives.

Ananias and Sapphira are as infamous in the New Testament as Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old. Let’s consider briefly the two most common questions this story raises in most minds.

First, why did God punish their sin so severely? After all, they were benevolent enough to give some of the proceeds of their sale. Their only sin was deception in lying about the entire amount. Had they sold the same land for the same price and given the same amount, but with public acknowledgement that their gift was not the total land price, their gift would have been received with gratitude. Such a gift is far more typically the way we give to God today than is Barnabas’s action. Nowhere does the Bible require us to give everything we make from possessions we sell.

Their only sin was one of appearing to be more benevolent than they really were. Is this sin not repeated consistently in the church today? A teacher gives the impression that he has studied more than he has, and quotes a commentary as though the words were his own. A preacher delivers a sermon prepared by someone else as if it were his. A person is given more food than her family needs, and shares some with a neighbor as though she prepared it herself. A family makes a large contribution to our capital campaign, using an unexpected inheritance but giving the impression that the gift is their own sacrifice.

Deceptive benevolence is an easy sin to commit. And among all the wrong things we can do, most of us would see this crime as fairly benign. Those who would stone Stephen to death in two chapters were not punished as severely as this husband and wife. Saul of Tarsus participated in the persecution of multitudes of Christians, and was never punished by God. Why so severe a penalty for these? If this was the proper consequence of their sin, why is it not the result of such deception today?

Ananias and Sapphira were punished for their deception with death, for one reason above all others: theirs was a cancer which would have crippled or destroyed the Christian movement. Their deception would not have stayed secret for long. Those who bought their land would likely make the sale price public or available, and the sale itself was a matter of public record. The church would eventually know that two of its honored donors had lied about their gift and motives.

As a result, the public witness of the church would have been impugned in the larger community. The credibility and integrity of the apostles and their leadership in this process of benevolence would have been undermined or destroyed. And such deception, left unpunished, would have encouraged the same sin in the hearts of others. If they could deceive the Spirit, he is not truly Lord. Soon reverence for God and trust within the family of faith would be lost, and their community would be fractured.

The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was nothing less than a ploy of Satan to attack the unity and heart of the church (v. 3). Left unchecked, this cancer would have spread throughout the body of Christ. As it was, the punishment Ananias and Sapphira faced led to the opposite result from that intended by the enemy: “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events” (v. 11).

One other question is common with regard to this story: how did Peter know of their sin? It is of course possible that he had access to the public records regarding their sale, though nothing about such knowledge is suggested in the text. The answer is found in one of the most significant statements about the Holy Spirit to be found in all the Scriptures.

In speaking to Ananias, Peter exposed the plot of Satan as a lie “to the Holy Spirit” (v. 3). Then he concluded, “You have not lied to men but to God” (v. 4). Later he asked Sapphira, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” (v. 9). When we deceive the Holy Spirit we deceive God, for he is the “Spirit of the Lord.” Here is proof of the absolute divinity of the Holy Spirit. He is God the Spirit, equal part of the Triune Lord.

And it seems clear from the text that this Holy Spirit revealed the sin of Ananias and Sapphira to Peter. He made the apostle a spiritual oncologist, revealing to him the cancer before it could spread further. In so doing, he made clear to all that he sees every heart and motive, and will stop at nothing to keep God’s people pure. The “great fear” which seized the whole church was not a fear of Peter’s omniscience, but of God’s.

Expect the power of God (Acts 5:12-16)

The result of Peter’s courage and the church’s resultant fear of the Lord came quickly. The leaders performed more miraculous signs and wonders; the congregation grew in unity and numbers; crowds gathered with their sick, and “all of them were healed” (v. 16). And the Kingdom moved forward, having weathered the attack of the enemy and emerged in victory.

One question sometimes arises with this paragraph. Verse 13 documents that “no one else dared to join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people,” but the next verse says, “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” Is this a contradiction?

Several options exist in clarifying the context. “No one else” could mean “no other imposters” such as Ananias and Sapphira, having seen what happens to those who sin against God’s people. Luke could mean that “no one else” joined the believers as they met in Solomon’s Colonnade unless they first came to faith in Christ. He could mean that those who met in Solomon’s Colonnade were so feared by the people that even those coming to faith in Christ were afraid to join them in their meeting.

Or Luke could be describing the growth of the church chronologically: (1) the episode with Ananias and Sapphira led to “great fear” in the church and community (v. 11); great miracles followed (v. 12); the community was afraid to join them (v. 13); then “more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number” (v. 14). There is no contradiction in the text, only a different context than is ours today.

But the same Spirit and the same power which enabled their church to explode in growth now lives in us, and wants to do the same through us.

Conclusions

Three applications of this week’s study are clear. One: we should live and serve so as to incur the wrath of Satan himself. We are to assault the very gates of hell (Matthew 16:18). We do so when we love each other, stand boldly for the risen Christ, meet each other’s needs, and set a godly example for the family of faith. If Satan isn’t attacking us, perhaps we’re not threatening him.

Two: every sin grieves the Lord and leads eventually to death (Romans 6:23). God’s warning to Eve in the Garden (Genesis 2:17) still applies to every sin and transgression. Sometimes the consequences of our sin are less obvious at first than they were for Ananias and Sapphira, but they are no less real. The truism is nonetheless true: sin will always take is further than we wanted to go, keep us longer than we wanted to stay, and cost us more than we wanted to pay.

Three: every secret is known to the Lord. Every motive, every thought, every word of gossip or slander uttered in confidence, every transgression. We must “keep short accounts” with God, spending time often in confession and cleansing. The Holy Spirit can use us to the degree that we are holy. Then he will work through us as he did through the Jerusalem church, to the glory of God.

Is your class a threat to the enemy? Is he attacking your class or church at some point of unity in response? Do you need to confess an act or spirit of deception or divisiveness? Peter warned us that the devil is a “roaring lion” (1 Pt. 5:8). And lions only roar when they are about to attack.

There’s no time to lose.