Winning the War for Your Soul

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Winning the War for Your Soul

Ephesians 6.10-12 / John 15.1-8

Dr. Jim Denison

American ground troops are now at war in Afghanistan. Most of us think this is just like the Gulf War ten years ago. Most of us are wrong. This time our troops are equipped with global positioning systems, advanced night vision equipment, weapons with laser sights and thermal imaging capabilities, and computerized fire control systems. Our ground forces are backed by attack helicopters and airplanes. And they are able to launch ground attack weapons from pilotless aircraft.

The right weapons are essential to victory in war.

As with the military, so with the soul. You are engaged in a spiritual war, and you must have and use the right weapons to win. My job today is to teach you how.

Understand spiritual warfare

First we need to know what the Bible teaches about spiritual warfare, then we can learn the practice of spiritual victory. You need these facts.

One: you are in a war. Every day Satan fights against God, and there is no middle ground. If you are on God’s side, you are Satan’s enemy. And so “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

Satan wants your soul. If you’ve given it to Jesus, then he wants your witness, your ministry, your life. You are in a war.

Two: you must choose the right weapons. To win this battle you must “put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (v. 11). You cannot win a battle without the right weapons. I’ll show them to you momentarily.

Three: these weapons are employed through prayer. “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests,” Paul orders. Further, “be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (v. 18). Paul knows that we have spiritual power when we are connected with the Spirit in prayer.

Four: you must stay close to Jesus every day.

This battle is being waged against us every day. And so we must “remain” in Jesus—the word means to abide, to stay connected with, to stay close to. Then Jesus promises that you “will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Only when you stay close to the General can you win the battle. And then you will “bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (v. 8). The patience, kindness, and goodness we’re studying in Sunday school today are yours only when you stay close to Jesus, their Source.

Victory begins when we recognize we’re in the battle, and we choose to win it in the Spirit. Make that decision with me, right now.

Choose submission over self-reliance

Now let’s get practical. How do we defeat Satan’s attacks on us? By knowing what they are, and using the right weapons in defense. The classic spiritual disciplines, practiced by believers for centuries, are our tools in this war. Let’s learn how to employ them.

The first strategy of Satan is self-reliance. In Scripture and personal experience this is always so.

He tempted Adam and Eve to be as gods, knowing good and evil.

He tempted Jesus in the wilderness to use his own power for his own glory—whether turning stones to bread, impressing the crowds by jumping from the temple, or worshiping Satan in return for earthly glory.

Satan tempts me with self-reliance every day. To write a sermon and ask God to bless it; to solve a problem in my own ability or experience.

Am I alone here? Where is the enemy tempting you with self-reliance today? Where are you trusting your abilities more than prayer and Scripture to solve your problems and succeed in your abilities?

The spiritual discipline we need when tempted to self-reliance is submission. Submission to God’s will physically and relationally. We do this in two ways.

First by fasting. When we abstain from food for spiritual reasons, we submit our bodies to our souls. We submit our appetites to God’s control. Regular fasting is crucial to spiritual health.

Second, by accountability. Every Christian needs someone to whom he or she is accountable spiritually. Someone who knows your problems, stands with you, prays for you, is honest with you. Someone to expose your self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

The more your spirit resists submission today, the more you need this discipline. It is essential to my soul, and to yours.

Choose solitude when distracted

A second tool of the enemy is distraction. Using circumstances to take your eyes from the will of God. At Caesarea Philippi, Peter tried to push Jesus away from his resolve to die on the cross. And Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23). Satan loves to use good things to distract us from God things.

Busyness is one of his most effective distractions, in life and in ministry. I still remember the conviction I felt years ago when I first read these words in a commentary: “Perhaps the ministry was never busier than it is now. Hundreds of men are hoarse from continual speaking, and are wearied out with running here and running there. If things slow down, we evolve yet another type of meeting. And when this new and added wheel is spinning merrily with all the other wheels, there may be no spiritual outcome whatsoever, but there is a wind blowing in our faces; and we hot and sticky engineers have a comfortable feeling that something is going on” (Arthur John Gossip, John, in The Interpreter’s Bible, 8:716).

This satanic tactic works well with me. Running from meeting to meeting, finishing one message just in time to start another. Taking little time to be with God, because I’m so busy working for him. How well is distraction working against you?

The weapon to use in defense of distraction and busyness is the spiritual discipline of solitude.

Mark 1 records an extremely busy day in the life of our Lord: preaching in the synagogue, healing Peter’s mother-in-law, teaching the disciples, then healing the townspeople until late in the evening. And so the next morning, “while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (v. 35).

He needed time away, time alone with his Father. So do I. So do you. Time with God every morning, and an extended time for your soul every week or so.

If you’re too busy for solitude, you need solitude most of all.

Choose simplicity when you’re suffering

Another weapon Satan uses is suffering. As he attacked Job, so he attacks us. He causes suffering, and he uses suffering. Then in our hurt, we are tempted to turn from God. Job’s wife speaks for us all: “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).

Where is Satan using suffering in your life? Job loss? Family struggles? Health problems? Discouragement and despair? By no means is Satan the cause of every problem in our lives, though he causes some. But he can use every one of them against us, if we let him.

The spiritual discipline for suffering is simplicity.

Richard Foster, in Celebration of Discipline, helps us to understand simplicity: if we realize that all we have is a gift from God, to be used for him and shared with others, then we will live simpler lives (pp. 88-9). Health, money, success, anything suffering can take from us was a gift from God, to be used for him and others so long as it was on loan to us. We are not what we make or possess. We are the loved children of God. Nothing else matters eternally.

Are you suffering great loss right now? The harder it is to let it go, the more you must. Simplify your life to the essentials which no suffering can take from you, and victory is yours.

Choose Scripture when you’re tempted

Finally, there is the satanic strategy of sin. Rejecting the word and will of God. Jesus says that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He is a sinner, and he tempts us to sin every day.

The devil does this in two ways. On the front end he says, “This is no big deal. Everyone does it.” Then after we commit the sin he says to us, “You’re a terrible sinner, not worthy to serve God or anyone else.” He corrupts us then condemns us. We’ve all been there.

The weapon against sin is the spiritual discipline of Scripture. Daily time with God in his word, so we know his will clearly and can find his counsel on the problems and temptations we face.

First, to know what God says about the sin before we commit it. God has spoken to every temptation we can face.

Second, to know what God says about the sinner after we commit it. He is clear about our need for confession and repentance, his promise of forgiveness, and his plan to restore and use us in his Kingdom.

If you’re not practicing the daily discipline of Scripture, you’re exposed to Satan’s most vile strategies. And if you don’t think you need this discipline, you of all people need it most.

Conclusion

Where are you being tempted right now? What strategy is the enemy bringing against your soul? Which disciplines will you practice today?

God offers us in his Spirit the victory over spiritual attack and temptation daily. His Spirit lives in every Christian. Go to him for help when Satan attacks you with self-reliance, distraction, suffering, and sin. In him is your victory. And only in him.

The Russian rabbis told the story of Isaac, son of Yekel, living in Krakov. Isaac was a very poor man whose family was often hungry. One night in a dream he saw the distant city of Prague, with a certain bridge and a treasure buried beneath it. The dream recurred vividly every night for two weeks. Finally he decided to walk to Prague to see for himself.

After several days on the road he arrived in the city, found the bridge, and went beneath it to look for the treasure. Suddenly a soldier grabbed him and started questioning him. What was he doing prowling under the bridge? Being an innocent man, he told the truth: he was looking for a treasure he had dreamed was underneath the bridge.

The soldier roared with laughter: “You stupid man! Don’t you know that you cannot trust what you see in dreams? Why, for the last two weeks I myself have dreamed that far away in Krakov in the house of a Jew named Isaac, son of Yekel, there is a treasure buried underneath the stove in his kitchen. But wouldn’t it be the most idiotic thing in the world if I were to go all the way there to look for it? One could waste a lifetime looking for a treasure that doesn’t exist!” Still laughing, the soldier gave Isaac a kick and let him go.

So Isaac, son of Yekel, walked back to Krakov, to his own home, where he moved the stove in his kitchen, found the treasure buried there, and lived to a ripe old age as a wealthy man.

Where will you find your treasure today?

Women And The End Times

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Women and the End Times

2 Timothy 3:1-9

Dr. Jim Denison

As a public service announcement, I’m here to remind all gentlemen that this Saturday is Valentine’s Day. Here’s the story.

For 800 years, the Romans held an event each mid-February during which young men drew the names of teenage girls from a box; the girl would become his sexual companion for the next year. Understandably wanting to change this practice, Pope Gelasius around A.D. 496 changed the lottery to draw the names of saints to emulate during the rest of the year. Many young Roman men were not pleased.

To encourage support, the pope named his event for St. Valentine, a martyr who was beheaded in A.D. 270. The emperor had forbidden his troops to marry, so Valentine performed their weddings in secret. He was sentenced to death, and fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer while awaiting execution. He sent her a farewell note signed, “From your Valentine.” And a tradition was born. One you’re supposed to continue this week.

Today we’ll talk about women in the Bible and in Christian faith. And we’ll talk about the end times. I can’t imagine two more controversial or practical subjects.

Be holy in unholy days (vs. 1-5)

First we deal with the “last days”: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days” (v. 1). “Mark this” means “pay attention to this”—it’s an imperative, a command. We must know what follows. Know what?

In the “last days” there will be “terrible” times, literally “grievous” or “dangerous” times. This is the word used of “violent” demoniacs (Matthew 8:28) and by Greek writers of an “ugly” wound.

When will they come? What did Paul mean by the “last days?” It may surprise you to know that the Jews divided history into two categories: the “former” days before Messiah comes, and the “latter” or “last” days after he arrives. And so, in this era after Jesus’ advent, we are in the “last days.”

At Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy about the “last days” and said they were fulfilled with Jesus (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28-32).

Hebrews 1:2: “…in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

James 5:3: “You have hoarded wealth in the last days.”

1 Peter 1:20: “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

1 John 2:18: “Dear children, this is the last hour….”

Paul tells Timothy to “have nothing to do with them” (v. 5), indicating that this period included his son in the faith. And in verse 6 he begins to describe those who are misleading others in the “last days,” using the present tense: “They are the kind who worm their way into homes….” Clearly Paul’s warnings about the “last days” have to do with Timothy’s present circumstances. And with ours.

Even though the Messiah has come, these “last days” are “terrible.” Paul lists eighteen reasons, painting a complete picture of the culture of his day. Read through the list and ask yourself which of these God finds within your heart today.

Here are the priorities of the last days: “lovers of themselves,” “lovers of money” (v. 2), and “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (v. 4). According to a recent Time magazine article, pornography online has increased 1800% since 1998. Nearly one in five movie rentals is a pornographic film. Hollywood produces 400 feature films a year; the porn industry makes 11,000. One in four American adults admitted to seeing an X-rated movie in the past year.

Here are the ways these people treat others: boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited (vs. 2-4).

Here is their deception: “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (v. 5a). They are even in the church. They look and act godly, but “deny,” refuse and thus do not produce, its power. You can know them by the degree to which God uses them.

Last Sunday’s Super Bowl was one of the best games in the history of the event. Tragically, all anyone is discussing is its horrendous, scandalous half-time show which culminated in obscenity seen by a billion viewers around the world, many of them children. What are Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia saying about our nation this week? What are we to do with such a culture?

Paul says, “Have nothing to do with them” (v. 5), literally, “turn away from these.” The Greek has the strongest possible condemnation in it—avoid them with horror. Do not be like them. Choose to be holy in an unholy day.

His injunction does not mean that we withdraw from attempting to influence the world. Salt is no good in the saltshaker, or light under the basket. I once saw a poster which pictured a ship at sea, sails billowing in the wind, speeding through white-capped storm-driven waves, and the caption: “Ships in the harbor are safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”

Rather, he means that we are to change the world without allowing it to change us. A ship in the water is a good thing; water in the ship is a bad thing.

How do we keep water out of the ship? By keeping the Spirit in control. By asking him to empower, cleanse, and fill us every morning. By communing with God in prayer, Bible study, and worship. By staying so close to Jesus that the world must come through him to get into us.

These are the “last days,” and will be until Jesus returns. That could be tomorrow, or in a thousand more years. But this could be your last day or mine. So be conformed to the image of Christ. Be holy in unholy days. What steps should you take first?

Be gracious with each person you meet (vs. 6-9)

A nurse writes, “During the second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: ‘What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?’ Surely this was some kind of joke. How would I know her name? I handed in my paper leaving the last question blank. Someone asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. ‘Absolutely,’ said the professor. ‘In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care.’ I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned that her name is Dorothy.”

To be holy in unholy days, be gracious with each person you meet.

Those in the church who “have a form of godliness but deny its power” have done the opposite, as they are victimizing the church.

They dominate “weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires” (v. 6b). As a result, they are “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (v. 7). They are fascinated by the heresies advanced by these deceivers, and so unable to see the truth of God’s word.

Paul mentions Jannes and Jambres, the names given by Jewish tradition to the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses. Like them, they “oppose the truth” and are “rejected” in the faith (v. 8). One day “their folly will be clear to everyone” (v. 9).

There is some place in your heart and mine where we can be deceived and attacked like this. Some place, some secret sin and shame, some area of spiritual or moral weakness where the enemy has a foothold. Expect such deception wherever you are weakest and most susceptible. And stay close to Jesus when it comes.

Paul’s reference to “weak-willed women” raises another issue for us today, the larger question of women in the Bible. The bestseller The DaVinci Code states, “The power of the female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred, but it posed a threat to the rise of the predominantly male Church, and so the sacred feminine was demonized and called unclean. It was man, not God, who created the concept of ‘original sin,’ whereby Eve tasted of the apple and caused the downfall of the human race. Woman, once the sacred giver of life, was now the enemy” (p. 238). What should we believe in response?

First, understand that Paul is by no means condemning all women here. Rather, he is dealing with a specific problem already in existence in Ephesus, where a specific group of women have been victimized by these deceivers. Because they are “loaded down with sins,” they are more easily swayed or influenced by evil desires.

It is possible and even likely that the apostle is specifically addressing former temple prostitutes. The shrine of Diana was there, the pagan goddess of fertility. Thousands of women were employed as temple prostitutes. The Christian church was willing to help them when no one else would, so that many came to Christ and their faith family. But they are still dealing with their sins and guilt, and are victims now of deceivers.

Whatever the historical context, the apostle is not describing women in general, or summarizing the larger biblical picture. How did Jesus relate to women?

Our Lord spoke to a Samaritan woman when no one else would (John 4).

He befriended an immoral woman no one else would welcome (Luke 7:36-50), decidedly not Mary Magdalene.

He commended a widow’s offering at the Temple (Luke 21:1-4).

He cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2), and called her and others to be his disciples.

What was their status in the Scriptures?

Miriam was a prophetess (Exodus15:20), as were Deborah (Judges 4:4) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14).

The New Testament cites Anna (Luke 2:36) and Philip’s “four unmarried daughters who prophesied” (Acts 21:9).

Paul cautioned a woman to cover her head when she “prophesied” in the church (1 Corinthians 11:5).

Paul recognized Priscilla as the leader of the church in Rome with her husband Aquila (Romans 16:3-5).

He commended Euodia and Syntyche as his “fellow workers” (Philippians 4:2-3).

And he listed Junias as “among the apostles,” the highest level of leadership in the early church (Romans 16:7).

Conclusion

Remember that the resurrected Christ chose to appear first to Mary Magdalene, and to send her to the disciples with the news of Easter as the first evangelist in Christian history (John 20:17). Remember that Paul’s first convert in Europe was Lydia, one of the leading citizens of Philippi; she soon established the church which met in her home (Acts 16:14-15, 40).

And remember Paul’s instruction to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29).

Choose to be holy in these unholy “last times.” Stay so close to Jesus that deception cannot “worm its way” into your soul. And choose to be gracious with each person you meet, for every person you know is the created child of God. This is the simple word of God for us today.

The greatest among us will be such servants.

I read this week of one bitter cold Virginia evening, where an elderly man waited on a path by a river, hoping for someone on horseback to carry him across. His beard was glazed with frost and his body numb before he finally heard the thunder of horses’ hooves. Anxiously he watched as several horsemen appeared. He let the first pass by without making an effort to get his attention, then another and another.

Finally, only one rider remained. As he drew near, the old man caught his eye and asked, “Sir, would you mind giving me a ride to the other side?” The rider helped the man to his horse and, sensing he was half-frozen, decided to take him all the way home, several miles out of his way. As they rode, the horseman asked, “Why didn’t you ask one of the other men to help you? I was the last one. What if I had refused?”

The elderly man said, “I’ve been around awhile son, and I know people pretty well. When I looked into their eyes and saw they had no concern for my present condition, I knew it was useless to ask. When I looked into your eyes, I saw kindness and compassion.”

At the door of the elderly man’s house the rider resolved, “May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others.” With that, Thomas Jefferson turned and directed his horse back to the White House.

Who will ride on your horse this week?

Words That Changed the World

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Words That Changed the World

Romans 6:15-23

James C. Denison

We will begin in a rather strange way today. I need to ask you to stand to your feet, please. Now, would you please turn and face the back of the Sanctuary? Now, would you turn and face forward again? Now would you be seated? Why did you just do these strange things? Because of words. Because of the power of spoken words. Because words change the world.

They always have. Listen to these:

“The Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of the Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire…Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands…Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.'”

Who spoke those immortal words, rallying a nation and world to fight Hitler and win the freedom of billions?

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood…I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together…When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Who spoke those immortal words, calling a nation to civil rights and liberty and justice for all?

Today I offer you others, seven words which will change your world if you only believe them and choose to live in the light of their truth. Seven words which are the promise and power and hope of God Almighty for every fallen, struggling, discouraged soul on earth. Seven words which are your Maker’s gift to your soul today. Let’s believe them and claim them together.

Are you free?

Imagine being a Christ-follower living in the Rome of Paul’s day. Idols to the worship of Caesar stand at every corner of every street. Altars venerating Zeus and his pantheon of decadent pagan deities are at every side. 1,300,000 people are crowded into the largest city known to humanity, more than half of them slaves, most living in multi-storied tenements without running water or sanitation. According to Cicero, only 2,000 people in the entire city own property. History has never known a city more corrupt in its personal ethics. Unwanted children are thrown out with the trash and left to die. Every kind of sexual immorality is licensed.

Yet the Apostle can say to these Roman Christians, a struggling and often-despised minority, many of them slaves and former slaves: “though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted” (v. 17). You received the gospel of the living Lord Jesus and it transformed your lives.

With this staggering result: “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (v. 18). “You have been set free from sin.” This is the past tense in Paul’s Greek, completed action, a “done deal.” This is the gift Christianity alone in all human history and world religion can give.

These words would change the world. They ushered in an era of grace, whereby we no longer needed to fear the irrational wrath of the gods or placate them with our rituals. They offered us an intimate, personal relationship with the living Lord of the universe. They promised us the forgiveness of our sins and the eternal salvation of our souls. They became the message which spanned the globe and sparked the greatest spiritual movement in human history. “You have been set free from sin.”

No other religion can make such an offer. Buddhists desperately seek to live by the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Noble Path, striving to cease their wrong desires and thus end their suffering. Hindus seek oneness with this fallen world and hope for release only through reincarnations to come and future reward for present works. Muslims are convinced that obedience to the Five Pillars of Islam is the only way to find peace in this world and reward in the one to come.

It was not much different for me when I became a Christian as a high school student. Go to Sunday school on Sunday morning, followed by church where you sing hymns and sit through a sermon. Put money in the plate, paying your spiritual bill just as you pay your electric bill. Come back for the same on Sunday night. Don’t forget Tuesday night visitation, Wednesday night prayer meeting, Saturday morning bus ministry and youth Bible study. Read your Bible and pray every morning, and be good all day long. “What you are is God’s gift to you–what you make of yourself is your gift to God.” Jesus saved your soul from hell–religion and morality are how you repay him.

Try harder to do better. Is it working? Josh McDowell’s latest book, The Last Christian Generation, documents that in the last 12 months, 93 percent of America’s non-Christian youth lied to a parent; 93 percent of America’s Christian youth did the same. 85 percent of America’s non-Christian youth lied to a teacher; 83 percent of America’s Christian youth did the same. 76 percent of America’s non-Christian youth cheated on a test; 74 percent of America’s Christian youth did the same (McDowell 17).

“You have been set free from sin.” Have you? Yes, Satan tempts us to be our own god. Yes, sin affects every part of our lives so that “total depravity” is very real for us. But God forgives every sin we confess to him, and remembers them no more (Isaiah 43:25). He has released us, for grace is greater than guilt. Now “you have been set free from sin.”

Will you choose freedom?

These words changed the world. When will they change yours? When you choose to be who you already are: “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (v. 19).

“Offer” translates the Greek word for laying a sacrifice on an altar. “The parts of your body” describes every dimension of your life, every part of your being. You once chose to give them “in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness” before you chose to follow Jesus. “Now offer them in slavery to righteousness.” Now choose to enslave them to the holy God of the universe.

And what will happen? He will lead you to “holiness”: “now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (v. 22).

You cannot make yourself holy, but God can. You cannot give yourself eternal life, but God can.

“Eternal life” has to do with quality, not just quantity–“the life that lasts forever,” beginning now. You can live in the intimate presence of God today, not just in heaven. You can worship him with unspeakable joy now, not just in paradise. You can experience his life-changing power now, not just in glory. You can live victorious over temptation and free from sin now, not just in eternity.

You see, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 23). Sin pays a wage, the “death” you have earned. God gives by grace the “eternal life” we could never deserve–starting here, today, now.

But God the Savior can save only what you entrust to him. God the Great Physician can heal only what you put in his hands. God the Good Shepherd can lead you to green pastures and still waters only if you will follow. God the Bread of Life can feed your mind and nourish your soul only if you will receive what he offers. God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords can be your King only if you will be his subject.

Conclusion

“You have been set free from sin,” God promises. But you must leave the prison. You must stop trying to break down the bars which bind you, the chains which enslave you, the enemies who have captured and imprisoned you. Your key doesn’t open this lock. Your self-sufficient, self-reliant strength cannot overcome these enemies. There is only One liberator who can set you free. Only One who has defeated the warden of the prison, shattered its bars and broken its chains. Only One.

When he began his public ministry, that One came to his hometown synagogue to preach. He opened the scroll to the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19, quoting Isaiah 61:1-2). Then he rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and said to the astonished congregation, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21).

“You have been set free from sin,” but only when Jesus sets you free. When last did you let him? When last did you “offer the parts of your body” to him? When last did you lay every part of your life on his altar? Your past failures and victories, your present problems and joys, your future fears and hopes?

What temptation have you not defeated? What guilt have you not purged? What hurt have you not forgiven? What chains are binding your soul? Name them and give them to him this morning. Believe that his grace is greater than all your sins. Believe that his power is greater than the enemy’s gravest temptations; that he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). And it will be so.

On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered another of the “words that changed the world.” Standing at the Berlin Wall, he proclaimed, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” “I am a Berliner,” and announced, “Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.”

He could not know that some five years later, the government of East Berlin would rebuke his words by constructing what they intended as a masterpiece of Communist engineering and an eternal sign of their superiority over Kennedy’s rhetoric and vision. Their Fernsehturm or “television tower” would stand some 1,200 feet above the ground, the third-tallest building in Europe. It would show the world the greatness of the Communist achievement and vision.

But they did not know that when they unveiled their monstrous tower, the sun would strike what they built and reflect a giant cross over Communist East Berlin. Scandalized, they covered their tower with non-reflective paint, but on the next clear day the sun blazed its cross again and does so to this day.

And those Communist officials could not know that at that very place, beneath that cross, a demonstration would begin on November 4, 1989 which would lead to the collapse of their Berlin Wall five days later. Beginning within sight of the place where Mr. Kennedy stood on that fateful day.

And so President Kennedy’s message proved prophetic: “Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.” His words changed the world. But his vision of freedom from enslavement was fulfilled under the cross of Jesus Christ. It still is.

“You have been set free from sin.” Are you?

Working as God Works

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Scripture: Matthew 9:1-8

Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. It is also the end of hot dog season. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, hot dogs are consumed most often between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

I had no idea there was such a thing as the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, so I visited their website. There I learned the answer to a question that has vexed me for nearly all my life: Why do they sell hot dogs ten to the package but hot dog buns eight to the package?

It turns out, hot dog buns are baked in clusters of four in pans designed to hold eight rolls. In 1940, however, when hot dog manufacturers began packaging their product as they do now, they chose the ten–pack formula. Why the hot dog makers and hot dog bun makers cannot collaborate on this is beyond me.

By the way, the council estimates that Americans eat twenty billion hot dogs a year, averaging around seventy per person.

Labor Day is known for more than hot dogs, of course. It’s the annual day for us to honor the 160 million people who are either full or part-time workers in our nation. We celebrate their labor by giving them a day free from labor.

Here’s the good news: The God whom we worship today never needs a Labor Day off. Scripture promises: “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).

When we go back to work on Tuesday, we can ignore the fact that he is working in the world, separating Sunday from Monday and “religion” from the “real world.” Or we can resist his work in the world, rebelling against the King of the universe as he works to extend his kingdom on earth. The best option, of course, is to join him at work. How do we partner with the God of the world in the work of our days?

Use your influence for God’s glory

Matthew 9 finds Jesus on his way back to Capernaum from Gadara, a region on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum is his adopted home town, where he lives in the home of Simon Peter.

This was never a large city, numbering 1,500 inhabitants at most. But it was one of the most significant towns in Galilee, for five reasons.

First, it was a thriving business center. The town stood astride the Via Maris, the international trade route connecting Damascus and Mesopotamia to the north with Caesarea Maritime (the major seaport in Israel) and Egypt to the south. Caravans made their way through its streets daily. A large number of coins and imported vessels from Syria, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, and Cyprus have been found here.

Second, Capernaum was home to a thriving fishing business. Nearby springs and the Upper Jordan River feed into the Sea of Galilee, making this part of the lake especially vibrant for fish even today. There was a large fish market here, exporting dried fish across the country. Peter’s home, the largest yet discovered in Capernaum, attests to the financial significance of this industry.

Third, Capernaum was a major agricultural center. Standing on the plain of Gennesaret, it enjoys abundant rainfall and a warm climate. Olives, dates, and citrus were grown here in abundance. Giant millstones and olive presses found in the area attest to its agricultural vitality.

Fourth, the city was an important political center. It was a major port of entry into the region of Galilee from the north, serving as a customs station and military outpost. A military garrison included a centurion and detachment of troops (Matthew 8:5–9) as well as a Roman bath with caladium, frigidarium, and tepidarium.

Fifth, Capernaum was an important religious center. The largest synagogue yet discovered in Israel was located on the highest point of the town. It served as Jesus’ “home church,” where he taught regularly and performed miracles.

Jesus grew up in Nazareth, forty miles to the west. He could have based his ministry in Jerusalem, the religious capital of Israel. But he chose Capernaum, one of the most influential cities in all of Galilee. He chose a place where he could reach Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, slaves and free.

Paul did the same thing, choosing to begin his ministry in the West in Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of the district. He spent the most time in Ephesus and Corinth, two of the cultural centers of the Roman Empire. He spent several years in Rome itself.

In the same way, God has given us a Kingdom assignment that includes a place and a time for our lives. He wants us to use our influence for his glory. What resources, gifts, and abilities has he entrusted to you? How are you using them for his glory and our good?

Bring hurting people to the Great Physician

Our story continues: “And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed” (v. 2a). Luke gives us a clue as to the location of the house: “Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem” (Luke 5:17). This must have been a big house.

Since Simon Peter’s home is the largest yet discovered in the city, it seems likely that this miracle occurred there. Luke continues: “Some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus” (vv. 18–19).

This man obviously could not make his way to see Jesus, so his friends brought him. They climbed up to the roof, most likely a flat structure, and set aside the “tiles” there to make an opening. Then they lowered their friend down on ropes and set him before Jesus.

Our text continues: “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven'” (Matthew 9:2b). Does this mean all sickness is associated with sin? Absolutely not. In fact, this is the only time in all the Gospels when Jesus associates sickness with sin.

The response from the crowd was disappointing: “And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming'” (v. 3). The paralytic most likely had not sinned directly against Jesus. For him to forgive the man’s sins was therefore something only God could do. The scribes considered Jesus’ claim to be blasphemous in the extreme.

So our Lord responded: “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Rise and walk?” But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—’Rise, pick up your bed, and go home'” (vv. 4–6). He proved his divine status by his divine omnipotence.

With this result: “And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men” (vv. 7–8).

We are not surprised by Jesus’ power to forgive sins or heal bodies. We are not surprised by the religious authorities’ reaction and rejection of our Lord. But we should take note of the surprising initiative of the friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus.

They are the unsung heroes of our narrative. Without their work on behalf of their friend, the paralytic would not have been laid before Jesus. They did what they could, and God did what he could.

This is the divine-human partnership in a single text. Noah builds the ark, then God closes the door. Moses extends his staff, then God parts the Red Sea. Joshua and the priests step into the Jordan River, then God stops the flood. The people march around Jericho, then God destroys the city.

Peter preaches at Pentecost, then the Spirit falls and three thousand are saved. Paul follows God to Philippi, then the Lord brings the gospel to the Western world. John worships Jesus on “the Lord’s Day” while imprisoned on Patmos, then Jesus gives him the Revelation.

As we work, God works. If we seek to lead people to Christ in all we do, God will use all we do.

We can bring paralytics to Jesus in all kinds of practical ways. I know a CEO who has a Bible present on his desk where people can see it and who is known for praying before making decisions. I know a business owner who leaves Christian literature on tables where people wait for service.

One of our ministry’s board members uses his conference room for early morning Bible studies to which all are invited but none are required. Another member of our board uses his leadership position in a significant service club in Dallas to bring ministers before the group to pray before events and to speak when appropriate.

I once served on the board of a secular business that tithed its income to ministries. Not only did the leaders tithe from their personal income—the company itself tithed. From the gross, not the net. This was a powerful witness to employees, customers, and the community.

God has paralytics for us to bring to Jesus. If we will ask, he will direct us and use us for eternal good.

Conclusion

Where is God working on this Labor Day weekend?

Philip Yancey: “I have observed a pattern, a strange historical phenomenon of God moving geographically from the Middle East, to Europe, to North America to the developing world. My theory is this: God goes where he’s wanted.”

Do you want him to work as you work? Then ask him to use your influence for his glory. Look for ways you can make your faith public and your compassion clear. God has entrusted paralytics to you. Now he wants you to entrust them to your Lord.

One last point from our story: if you’re a paralytic, Jesus is ready to heal you. He’s ready to forgive your sins, to meet your needs, to redeem your suffering and show you his love. You can come to him today, knowing that he will never turn you away.

Last weekend, I got to be with all of my grandchildren. One had a birthday party (he’s now two years old), and the other two were invited. It was one of the great days of life. It’s been well said that being a grandparent is the only thing in life that’s not overrated.

We spent much of the day at a public park. And we spent every minute of that day watching our grandchildren. We were never more than a few feet from them. They never left our sight. We did all we possibly could not to let anyone hurt them or anything happen to them.

As I was playing with my granddaughter, loving her and loving every moment with her, the thought occurred to me: my Father in heaven loves me even more than this.

He loves you the same way. Bring your paralysis to him and your paralytic friends to him as well. As you work, he works. This is the invitation, and the promise, of God.

Worship Is A Verb

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Worship Is a Verb

Isaiah 1:10-20

Dr. Jim Denison

One of the more famous Abraham Lincoln stories is told about the time when he was keeping store in Salem, Illinois, and had a beautiful gun prominently displayed so all his customers would see it. The little plaque under it said that it was made from the finest Swedish steel, its stock from the best black walnut wood, all crafted by a world-famous

gunsmith. It was beautiful, and its price was very reasonable.

On the next rack was an old long barrel Kentucky squirrel rifle made from ordinary gun steel. It stock was just an ordinary wooden stock. Its gunsmith was competent but by no means famous. But its price was much higher.

One day a farmer in the market for a new gun noticed the shiny new rifle on display. He asked Abe, “Why is that good gun so cheap and the other gun so high?” Honest Abe replied, “That gun won’t shoot. The other one will.” Then he picked up the squirrel rifle, sighted a squirrel-sized object a hundred yards away, and hit it dead center. The farmer bought the squirrel gun.

Some time later a rich farmer was decorating a room in his new country estate. He needed a gun for show over the fireplace mantle just under the heads of three big game trophies. The fancy gun was perfect for the purpose. It couldn’t shoot, but that was all right. It was just for show.

Worship is a lot like those two guns. Some is for real, the rest for show.

Sometimes our worship is a thing, an end in itself, a show, a religious event and observance and habit—worship as a noun. Sometimes worship is an action, a relationship—worship as a verb. The kind of worship which makes God your King, which empowers your life and your service.

Life is too challenging to face without this power. You don’t have to go it alone. Your Father in heaven wants to empower you when you’re weak, to comfort you when you’re lonely, to guide you when you’re confused, to forgive you when you fail.

The Christianity I learned to follow told me that life is supposed to be hard, faith a struggle, sin a constant battle.

But I was wrong. Paul sang hymns of praise at midnight in a Philippian jail, and encouraged the Philippian Christians to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). John met the risen and exalted Christ even on the prison Alcatraz called Patmos. Nero inspected the remains of martyrs fed to lions and crucified as human torches, and found smiles on their faces. God intends the Christian life to be filled with triumphant joy.

And so it will be for us, if worship is a verb. Only when our worship is a verb, is it acceptable to God. Only then is it received in the throne room of heaven. Only then does it transform our lives and give us significance and joy. Only when worship is a verb. Let’s learn how to make it so.

Worship as a noun (vs. 10-16)

The Judeans of Isaiah’s day provide the best picture in Scripture of worship as a thing, an end in itself, a noun. They show us that this kind of worship can be only show, and still involve every element we will employ today.

They presented gifts, a “multitude” or “vast number” (v. 11a), corresponding to our offertory and tithes and offerings.

They presented to the Lord their “burnt offerings” (v. 11b), rams or fattened animals consumed by the fire at the altar.

But God calls their gifts “meaningless offerings” and commands that they stop bringing them (v. 13a).

They presented themselves in public worship, the “trampling of my courts” (v. 12). The people were crowding into the Temple. We would say that church attendance was at an all time high. But God tells them to stop.

They presented public acts of worship:

They employed incense (v. 13), frankincense, sweet incense burned in worship.

They marked the New Moons (v. 14), special sacrifices they made each month.

They observed the Sabbaths, their weekly worship festivals.

They kept “convocations,” solemn meetings and special times of fasting.

They remembered the “appointed feasts”—Passover, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Every element of Jewish worship is included in these two verses, nothing excluded. Zealous public worship. But what does God say of it? He calls them “evil assemblies” (v. 13), “a burden to me” (v. 14).

They presented prayers (15-16a):

The people “spread out your hands in prayer,” and offered “many prayers” (v. 15).

But God would not look upon their hands, for they were “full of blood” (v. 15b) from sin; he would not listen to their “many prayers.”

Their worship was sacrificial, popular, and zealous, including every element of Jewish tradition and “many prayers” as well. But God rejected it at every point. When our worship is intended to impress each other rather than our King, for public show rather than personal submission, the expression of proud people rather than broken hearts, he always will. If our hearts are wrong with God, our worship cannot be right.

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).

“Hear, O earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law. What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me” (Jeremiah 6:19-20).

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).

“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring me choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:21-24).

Worship as a verb (16-20)

Until Isaiah’s people were right with God in their hearts, they could not be right in their worship. Neither can we.

So, what do we do?

Get honest with God (v. 18a).

“Come now,” urges the Lord. He is the shepherd calling his sheep to himself, inviting them, welcoming them, urging them home.

“Let us reason together”—the words in the Hebrew mean, “Let us argue it out.” Be honest before the Lord. If you’re angry with him, tell him so. If you’re frustrated by his will, or feel that he hasn’t answered your prayers, or believe that he has let you down, say so to him. He already reads your mind and knows your heart this moment. Tell him how you feel, honestly.

As you do so, you will see yourself as God sees you. When Isaiah came to God after Uzziah had died, there was undoubtedly tragic grief and bitter frustration in his heart. Uzziah was Isaiah’s cousin, as well as the best king the nation had known in generations. How could you allow his death? Why would you cause it or permit it? He came to God in honesty.

And when he was honest with God, he became honest with himself. He saw that the “unclean lips” were his own, that the heart and soul which needed to be cleansed and changed belonged not to God but to himself.

Early one morning, a commuting businessman was walking from his car to the subway when a passing taxi splashed water on his trousers. In the early dawn light, it didn’t look too bad. But as he came closer to the lights of the subway station, the stain appeared a little worse, so he tried to brush it off. When he stood at the station, in the full glare of its fluorescent lights, he realized that he needed to go home and change his clothes.

The evil one likes to turn down the lights of our morality slowly, so that our eyes adjust to the darkness. The first step in every Twelve Step program is the same: admit you are powerless over sin, that you cannot defeat it in your own strength. It’s the first step to worship God accepts, worship as a verb. Get honest with God.

Next, believe God can change you (v. 18b).

His promise is clear and remarkable: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be as wool” (v. 18b).

Here the stained fabric is not just covered but cleansed and changed. “They shall be,” not just “they shall look like.” Scarlet will become snow white; crimson will become wool.

You and I can change our behavior, but only God can change our heart, our personality, the essence of who we are. Only he can remove our desire to sin, and replace it with a desire to be godly. Only he can lift the yoke of addiction, the burden of repetitive moral failure, the shame and guilt of our closeted skeletons and sinful past. Only he can change us. But he can.

I know a man who murdered his wife, who is now a minister of the word. A Satanist high priest who is now a preacher. A convicted drug trafficker who is an evangelist. Believe God can change you, and he will. And your worship will please him.

Repent in obedience (v. 19).

We come to God in honesty, believing that he will forgive and change us. But now we must be “willing and obedient” (v. 19). Willing to repent; obedient to the word and will of God.

How? Twelve Step programs tell us to make a “searching and fearless moral inventory” of our lives. Take paper and pen today, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything wrong between you and God, or you and one of his children. Write it down. Admit it to God and to yourself. Ask his forgiveness. Go the people you have harmed, if it is in their best interest for you to do so, and ask their forgiveness as well.

Where your life is out of the will and word of God, correct your course. Change your direction. Ask God to help you, and he will. And your worship will honor him.

Do it now (v. 20).

But you must do this now. We have only this day, this moment, to take these steps, to get right with God. If we “resist and rebel,” we will be “devoured by the sword” (v. 20). For Judah, this warning came true literally, as their armies and nation fell to the armed might of Babylon. For you and me, we are devoured by the sword of sin, of moral failure, and of Satan. We are at war with the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is the only way to victory. The only way to worship as a verb.

Conclusion

Sin leads to death. Always and inevitably. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15). Physical death is its result. So is relational death when we sin against others; marital death when we sin against our spouse. There is emotional death, financial death, spiritual death, and eternal death. Sin leads to death. It is cancer of the soul.

And it keeps us from worship which God accepts. We can go through the pretense of public worship, as did the people of Isaiah’s time. But God will not receive our worship, and we’ll just go through the motions.

And so we will make a time for confession each week in worship. And I urge you to make such a time for your soul every day. Get honest with your Father; believe he can change you; repent in obedience; do it now. And your worship will put God first. It will please your Father, and transfuse your life with the joy of Jesus Christ.

We’ll begin today. Will you accept the invitation of your King?

Wrestling With Grace

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Wrestling with Grace

Isaiah 55:1-7

Dr. Jim Denison

The best picture of grace I have discovered outside Scripture was made powerfully real to me nearly ten years ago, when I attended a Broadway theater production of Les Miserables. I will never forget the emotions of that night.

You remember the central scene from Victor Hugo’s novel, one of the most famous in all of literature. Jean Valjean, the convicted thief, has stolen silver from the bishop who took him in, but he was caught with the pieces in his possession. The gendarmes brought him to the bishop so he might press charges. Instead, the bishop told the soldiers that he had given Jean the pieces. Then he gave him his two silver candlesticks as well, his most valued possessions.

The soldiers freed him. Then the bishop said to him in a low voice, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to what is evil but to what is good. I have bought your soul to save it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”

And so it was. Jean Valjean would be a changed man, and he would help to change the world. Changed by the power of grace.

How long has it been since God’s grace changed your life? Since you experienced his grace in a new, empowering, transforming way? Is your Christianity routine and comfortable? Is your God predictable? Then you need to wrestle with grace.

I’ve been in such a match with God all week. Sometimes the sermon flows from the text, but not this time. In this sermon God has been wrestling with my mind and heart all week long. But I now believe I have a message from him for us. A message about the transforming truth of grace.

Admit your need of grace

God’s word for us begins with the invitation of grace: “Come.” The Hebrew word shows that the one calling is concerned for the needs of those he addresses. Think of a doctor calling the next patient into the room, or a benevolence worker calling the next client into the food pantry or the overnight shelter.

Can you “come” to his grace?

Only if you are “thirsty”—the Hebrew word means to be desperate for water. Are you thirsty for living water, for the Spirit of God? The psalmist said, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 46:1-2). How long since you felt this way about your relationship with God?

Only if you “have no money”—the words mean to be so impoverished that you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. Do you know that you are this spiritually poor before God? That your money is no good with him, that you have no merit to earn his favor? Or do you think you deserve his grace?

The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Are you proud before God? In your own eyes?

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who know their need of God, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:3). Do you know your need of God? How long since you knelt before the holy God of the universe in broken humility and admitted your need of his grace?

His “wine and milk” are “without money and without cost.” That which we can buy with the currency of our works and merit is “not bread,” and it “does not satisfy.”

But we are self-sufficient and self-reliant. We are willing to work for God, but we want to be in charge. We’ll donate some of our time to the church, some of our money to pay its bills, some of our energies to spiritual activities like worship, Bible study and prayer. We are willing to help God. We don’t like admitting that he doesn’t need our help, that in fact we need his. Desperately.

Think of recent box office successes: Diane Lane takes matters into her own hands and finds meaning in her life in “Under the Tuscan Sun;” the Rock saves the day and defeats each and every one of the bad guys in “The Rundown;” and on it goes.

The classics are the same theme. “Star Wars” made famous the phrase, “Use the force, Luke.” This “force” is impersonal, something for us to use, in our own decision and initiative. Indiana Jones continually saves the day through courage and pluck. Scarlett O’Hara makes a new life for herself after the Civil War destroys her beloved South and Rhett leaves for good. Remember her defiant vow, fist in the air: “I’ll never go hungry again!” And so on.

In wrestling with this text, God has shown me how much of his grace I have missed by my works. By trying to become a person of significance and value through my efforts and sacrifice. God can give only to those with open hands. The first step to a life of grace is admitting how much we need such grace.

Receive what only grace can give (vs. 2b-5)

What does God want to give to those who will receive? To those of us who will humble ourselves before him and admit that we need his help? What can we have only by grace?

First, grace gives salvation of our souls. When we listen to him and eat what he offers, “your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Then “your soul may live” (v. 3a). We enter “an everlasting covenant,” a relationship which God will never break. And once we become his children we will be his children forever.

But only when we accept the grace of God. If you’re trying to save your own soul, you are lost. No church attendance can remove your sins. No religious acts or traditions can make you right with God. No success or status in the world can purchase a relationship with God. Do you remember the day you received this grace? Or are you still trying to earn it?

And second, grace gives significance to our lives (vs. 4-5).

We will be his “witness to the peoples.” Nations and people we do not know will be affected by our faith and faithfulness. People will want what we have, when our lives are transformed by the grace of God.

He will “endow you with splendor,” with his joy and peace, the fruit of his Spirit, the power of his might in your life.

But only when you are humbled before him, submitted to his will as your King. When you try to achieve eternal purpose and spiritual significance through your own work and self-reliant initiative, you cannot be used by God to fulfill his eternal purpose through your life. We cannot earn what he can only give.

An apprentice carpenter does not know how to build a mansion. If he will not listen to the architect and his supervisor, his efforts will more likely ruin the house than construct it.

A beginning chemistry student does not know how to perform advanced laboratory experiments. If he will not listen to his professor, he will more than likely blow up the lab than advance science.

I do not know how to speak words which will change your soul and accomplish eternal good. If I will not listen to God, yielded to the grace gift of a message from his word and Spirit, but rely on my own study and education and ability, I will fail. I cannot earn what he can only give.

You do not know how to use your work, your relationships, your church ministry to accomplish eternal or spiritual significance. If you will not listen to God, yielding to the grace gift of his leading and empowering, but rely on your own abilities and resources, you will fail. You cannot earn what he can only give.

So what do we do?

Seek the Lord—go to him by faith; “call on him.”

Do it now, “while he may be found, while he is near.” We have only this moment to receive his grace.

Forsake your “wicked” ways; the Hebrew refers to sins of character. Refuse “evil” thoughts which result from wicked character.

Instead, turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on you. Your God will “freely” pardon you; the Hebrew means to give in abundance, over and beyond all we might expect. He will “pardon” you—the word means to refuse to punish. Biblical forgiveness does not pretend we did not sin, or excuse our behavior, but chooses not to punish it. This is the gracious act and love of our Lord.

Such a life of broken humility and yielded obedience positions us to be used by God for significant purpose, to be empowered by his Spirit, to accomplish that which eternal. Salvation and significance come only when we yield to his grace.

Conclusion

We respond to such grace in worship by praise and adoration. Not to receive his favor, but because we already have. Not to earn his love, but because he already loves us. Not to be people of worth, but because we already are. Out of gratitude for his grace.

And we respond to such grace through the week by staying submitted to him as our King. By admitting that we must have his guidance, direction, and power for our every word and step.

I have learned this week that preaching is more about listening than it is speaking. More about seeking his word and obeying his prompting than it is about my study and preparation.

A young pastor’s sermons began to glow with a kind of fire and power which became the talk of the community. Someone asked him where he got his messages. He pointed to a worn-out patch of carpet beside his desk and said, “There.”

When we remember the grace of God in our salvation, we will respond with adoration and worship, trusting him for our salvation and significance. How can we do otherwise?

Father Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest sent by the Nazis to Auschwitz. In July of 1941, a man escaped from his Barracks 14. As punishment, ten prisoners were chosen to die in the starvation bunker. They would receive no food or water. Their throats would turn to paper, their brains to fire, until finally their suffering ended in a horrible death.

One of the ten began grieving loudly for his wife and children. Suddenly there was a commotion in the ranks. A prisoner had broken out of line, calling for the commandant—cause for execution.

The prisoners gasped. It was their beloved Father Kolbe, the priest who shared his last crust of bread, who comforted the dying, who heard their confessions and fed their souls. The frail priest spoke softly and calmly to Nazi Camp Commandant Fritsch: “I would like to die in place of one of the men you condemned.” He pointed to the weeping prisoner grieving for his wife and children.

Fritsch compared the two; this priest indeed looked weaker than the man he had condemned to death. He looked at his assistant and nodded. Father Kolbe’s place on the death ledger was set. The men were made to remove their clothes, then herded into a dark, windowless cell. “You will dry up like tulips,” sneered one of their jailers. Then he swung the heavy door shut.

As the hours and days passed, the camp became aware of something extraordinary happening in the death cell. Past prisoners had spent their dying days screaming, attacking each other, clawing at the walls. But now, coming from the death box, they heard the faint sounds of singing.

On August 14, 1941, there were four prisoners still alive in the bunker, and it was needed for new occupants. In the light of their flashlight, the Nazi soldiers saw Father Maximilian Kolbe, a living skeleton, propped against one wall. His head was inclined a bit to the left. He had a smile on his lips, his eyes wide open, fixed on some faraway vision. He did not move. The Nazi doctor gave lethal injections to the first three prisoners, then to Father Kolbe. In a moment, he was dead.

Today visitors to the starvation bunker at Auschwitz find on its floor, next to a large spray of fresh flowers, a steady flame. It is burning today. It will burn forever.

If you were that man for whom one died, how would you respond to his grace?

Writing Acts 29

Written by

Writing Acts 29

Acts 1.1-8

Dr. Jim Denison

This morning we have an unusual Scripture passage—the entire book of Acts. Don’t worry—we won’t be reading the text past lunch. For the rest of January we’ll be discussing themes within the Apostolic Christian movement, the church of the Book of Acts. And so today we’ll overview the entire twenty-eight chapters, then decide how we wish to write chapter twenty-nine.

Here’s the question we need to ask throughout: what was their passion? Why did they do what they did?

No movement is successful without a passion, a galvanizing, catalytic purpose which drives and motivates us. Light diffused is a bulb—focused, it’s a laser. What was their passion? What should ours be?

Drawing the blueprint

Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16.18). The book of Acts tells us how he did it, and is still doing it today.

The Master Carpenter knows that a building has three requirements: an excellent blueprint, a strong foundation, and an effective structure. So Jesus first draws the blueprint in his last words on earth. You know them well.

The purpose of the church is clear: “You will be my witnesses.” We “will be” his witnesses—this is not optional. This is our reason for being.

The people is clear: all believers. “You” is plural—not just Peter or James or John; there is no clergy in the book of Acts. This is the life purpose of each Christian.

The power is clear: the Holy Spirit enables God’s people to fulfil his purpose. We cannot convict of sin or save souls. We can only share our witness, trusting the Spirit to use us to bring others to Jesus.

The priority is clear: we begin where we are. They started in Jerusalem because they were in Jerusalem, then moved to Judea, Samaria, and the “ends of the earth.” We plant the seed where we’re standing. We begin with the people we know, then take Christ to our city and world.

In a biography of Alexander the Great, the writer describes the panic felt by the Greek army when Alexander died. They discovered that they had marched off their maps, and had no idea where they were or where to go.

This will never happen to us. Here Jesus gives his followers a map we’ll never march off of—a blueprint we will use until the end of time. It is so simple that any Christian can understand it, and so challenging that we must never think we are finished.

Laying the foundation (1.8-8.1)

Now, blueprint in hand, Jesus begins to lay the foundation. First he settles the leadership of the church to replace Judas: “they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, so he was added to the eleven apostles” (1.26).

Then he empowers his church by his Spirit. We’ll study this event in detail next week, and see how it can happen to us today.

The Spirit falls on the day of Pentecost: “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (2.4). The Spirit empowers them for personal evangelism: “how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?” (2.8); “we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (2.11).

The Spirit empowers Peter for public proclamation, with the result that “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (2.41).

The Spirit empowers Peter and John for personal ministry with the crippled man outside the Temple: “he jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God” (3.8).

The Spirit empowers the first Christians with bold courage: “know this, you and all the people of Israel: “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed…When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (4.10, 13).

The result for the entire church: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (4.31). Then the Spirit expands the church:

The Spirit purifies God’s church from the deceit and corruption of Ananias and Sapphira (5.1-10) and “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events” (v. 11).

He grows their numbers: “more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number” (5.14).

He empowers their witness: “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (5.29-32).

And he gives them great joy even in suffering: “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ” (5.41-42).

The Spirit gives the church more servant leaders, the first deacons. Here’s the result: “The word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith” (6.7). Things are going extremely well in Jerusalem, reaching even the priests for Christ.

But there’s a problem: they’re still in Jerusalem. When the foundation is poured, we must then build the house.

A few years ago a church in west Fort Worth laid the foundation for a new building and completed the frame, then stopped. For a long time it stood that way, a sad reminder that beginning isn’t enough.

This fledgling Christian movement has not done that. Jesus called them to start in Jerusalem, but not to stay there. So far they’ve done nothing in Judea, Samaria, not to speak of the “ends of the earth.” They’re doing well where they are, and are apparently quite content to stay there.

Whenever we’re unclear about our mission mandate and purpose, God clarifies things very quickly. I’ve heard it said, “God deals with us as gently as he can or as harshly as he must.

And so he must use Stephen’s martyrdom and its result in the early church: “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (8.1). Acts 1.8 is fulfilled through Acts 8.1.

Building the church (8.1-28.31)

Now Christianity becomes the first universal faith in human history, transcending local religions and local gods to reach across the globe and across the centuries to you and me today.

We can chart its growth by key statements of the movement’s progress and success. First they expand geographically to Judea, Samaria, and Galilee (8.1-9.31).

Philip evangelizes the hated Samaritans as the first “foreign” missionary, and “When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said” (8.6).

Then Philip reaches the Ethiopian eunuch, the national treasurer of his country (the Alan Greenspan of his day): “both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him” (8.38).

The gospel moves north to Damascus and Syria through Saul’s conversion: “Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God” (9.19-20).

Here’s the result of this expansion: “the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord” (9.31).

Next they move racially across the most dangerous barrier of all: the Gentile world.

Remember that the Jewish people had been taught that God made Gentiles only so there would be fuel for the fires of hell.

Now Peter preaches the good news to Cornelius, a Gentile and, even worse, an officer in the Roman army which occupied and oppressed Israel. Here’s the result: “Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have” (10.47), an astounding admission for a Jewish man to make.

Next, “men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (11.20-21).

Here’s the result of this expansion: “the word of God continued to increase and spread” (12.24).

And now the gospel moves to the larger world, in three separate missionary journeys, the first in religious history.

Paul and Barnabas sail to the island of Cyprus, and “When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord” (13.12).

Then on to Asia, mainland Turkey today. At the town of Pisidian Antioch, the Gentiles “were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region” (13.48-49).

Next to Iconium, where “Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed” (14.1).

But things were not always easy. At Lystra, “some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city” (14.19-20).

At Derbe, “They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples” (14.21).

In chapter 15, the church back at Jerusalem, still the headquarters of the Christian movement, affirms their ministry to the Gentiles. Here’s the summary statement: “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers” (16.5).

On their second journey (15.41-18.22), God calls Paul further west, to Greece and Europe. In Philippi they win Lydia, then the jailer (ch. 16). In Thessalonica, “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women” (17.4).

At Berea, my favorite church in the New Testament, “the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men” (17.11-12).

Even at Athens, capital of the skeptical philosophies of the day, “A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others” (17.34).

In Corinth, the synagogue ruler and his entire family believed, “and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized” (18.8). So, “Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God” (v. 11).

From there to Ephesus, then back to Jerusalem.

During the third journey (18.23-21.17), Paul revisits these churches. Note this result in Ephesus: “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of God…Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas [a year’s salary for 137 men]. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power” (19.10, 18-20).

And from here through Greece and back to Jerusalem.

Finally, the gospel moves to Rome, the “uttermost parts of the earth” (21.26-28.31).

Paul witnesses to the crowd (22.1-21), to the Sanhedrin (22.30-23.11), to Governors Felix (ch. 24) and Festus (25.1-21), and to King Agrippa (25.26-26.32).

Finally he is taken to Rome herself, with this result: “For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus” (28.30-31).

Conclusion

Here’s the point: the plan worked. A tiny movement in far-off Jerusalem has now spread across the known world to Rome herself. My friends, God will do with us what he did with them, if we will make their passion ours.

So, what was their passion? Why did they do it? Why give their lives for this? Why would Peter preach to the very men who crucified Jesus? Knowing full well that they possessed the same authority to crucify him as well?

Why would Philip witness to the despised Samaritans?

Why would Paul, the zealous Pharisee, give his life for the Gentiles? Thrown into prison shackles, beaten and whipped, pummeled unconscious with stones, shipwrecked, finally beheaded—why?

Because of their passion for the lost? For evangelism and missions?

A week ago I would have said that, but then a conversation I had this week changed my mind. This past Monday, a staff minister talked about his passion for his family. He doesn’t have a passion for talking about them, but for them. That’s why he talks about them—because he loves them. That’s true about Jesus as well.

The apostolic Christians’ passion was for Jesus. They loved him so much they couldn’t help loving those he loves. And they wanted others to love him, too.

I used to say that my heart’s desire is to know Christ and make him known. I now believe that statement needs to be changed: to love him and love others to him.

Then we fulfill the two great commandments. Then we make his passion ours. Then we find the “one thing” which makes life meaningful.

How do we develop this passion? We’ll say much more about this in the coming sermons, but for today let’s focus on these simple keys: worship him and serve others.

The more we worship Jesus, personally and with others, the more we love him. And the more we love him, the more we want to worship him.

Mother Teresa, when asked how she found the strength for her work, said, “Spend one hour adoring Jesus, and you’ll have all the energy you need.” She was right.

And we love others through service. A kind word, deed, letter, phone call. Praying for a lost person. Sharing the gospel with them.

And if we don’t feel love, act as if we do. Counselors say it’s better to act ourselves into feelings than to feel our way into actions. If you don’t feel love for a person, spend some time worshiping Jesus and he will warm your heart. If you don’t feel close to Jesus, love someone in his name and you will.

As we develop their passion for Jesus and others, we write Acts 29 today.

Tillie Burgin has long been one of my heroes. She and her family were missionaries in South Korea before the younger son developed a very serious medical condition and they had to return to the States. God called her to be a missionary in Arlington instead. Nearly fifteen years ago she founded Mission Arlington with one Bible study in one apartment community.

Today Mission Arlington reaches over 130 apartment communities and over 3,000 each week. The results in the city have been amazing—drugs and crime are down, and God is at work. The city even named her “woman of the year.”

Tillie works every day from 4 a.m.. until late into the night. She has an energy, a drive which is staggering. Once her son Jim, my dear friend, asked her why she did it. She looked at him for a moment, a tear came to her eye, and she said, “Jim, I just love him so much.”

The Book of Acts Christians would have said, “Amen.”

Your Utmost For His Highest

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Your Utmost for His Highest

Matthew 5:13

Dr. Jim Denison

A few days ago, the PBS program Frontline presented a special edition entitled “Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero.” The show described ways people have responded to the question, “Where was God on 9-11?” Most of the news was not good.

Marian Fontana, writer: “I couldn’t believe that this God that I’d talked to in my own way for 35 years turned this loving man into bones, and now I can’t bring myself to speak to him anymore because I feel so abandoned.”

Tim Lynston, security guard: “I look at [God] now as a barbarian, and I probably will. And it’s a sad situation. I think I’m a good Christian, but I have a different view and image of him now, and I can’t replace it with the old image.”

Josh Simon, rabbinical student: “There was a God on September 11th who didn’t even mind that God’s own name could be used as the final prayer of a suicide hijacker as he plowed into a building. We needed, and I know I needed, to have another God to turn to at that moment, or there was going to be no God.”

Voices at the program’s beginning: “Religion drove those planes into those buildings.” “If people can kill for God in this way, this is the best reason never to believe in God!”

Why should a hurting world trust God in such times as these? Why should your friends? Why should you? Take a moment. Look around. You’re looking at the answer.

Who is spiritual salt?

“You are the salt of the earth,” says Jesus of Nazareth. Following his Beatitudes, these words begin the most famous sermon in human history. Every single word deserves our attention this morning.

“You:” Jesus’ word is plural, not singular. Whatever it means to be the “salt of the earth,” it means it for every one of Jesus’ followers.

No matter how mature spiritually you may think you are or are not, no matter what you know about your faith, if you are Jesus’ follower you are the “salt of the earth.” You may not know much, but then neither did they at this beginning of Jesus’ ministry with them. If you follow Jesus, you are addressed here. You are included.

No matter what your past has been. These disciples were of no account in the world’s eyes. Simple fishermen. Tax collectors would join their number, and farmers, and prostitutes and slaves. And murderers. God always uses surprising things to do his work. Dust to make Adam, a rib to make Eve. A desert bush to call Moses. A slingshot to defeat Goliath. A baby in Bethlehem to save the world.

No matter what your future may be. Every disciple addressed initially by these words would die a criminal’s death except one, and he was a convicted felon.

We all have something in our life which we think exempts us from being used fully by Jesus. Failures, shame, insecurities, inabilities. But the Bible says, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).

Jesus knew we’d need help believing it. And so his Greek is emphatic, literally translated “You, yes, you.”

“Are:” This is a present-tense statement. It’s true right now, of every one of us.

This is not a status you are to work to attain. You are the salt of the earth, at this very moment. If Jesus is your Lord, you’re in his spiritual saltshaker. This is who you are.

And it’s your nature, not just your location at church or your work during the week. Salt is always salt, no matter where it’s found. Whatever it happens to be doing. Whether it’s sitting in the saltshaker as we are this morning, or part of the ocean, or flavoring a potato. It is always and everywhere sodium chloride, salt.

You are Jesus’ hands and feet: “You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Right now.

“The:” The Greek uses the definite article, so that it can be translated, “You and you alone are the salt of the earth.”

Jesus’ description is true only of us. There are no others. These words are addressed only to his followers. This function cannot be fulfilled by political leaders, or military generals, or economists or business leaders, or doctors, lawyers, teachers, athletes, or musicians.

And not only by preachers, deacons, or staff members. Not only by seminary graduates. There is no clergy/laity distinction in the Bible. Every member has a ministry. Every person is saved to serve. “You will be my witnesses,” Jesus says to us all.

Being “the salt of the earth” is a calling we each fulfill. And we alone.

What does spiritual salt do?

Salt of the earth: So what is it that we each uniquely are? The “salt of the earth.” In first-century eyes, this would be the highest compliment Jesus could possibly pay his followers. Salt was so valuable in the ancient world that it was considered to be worth a man’s weight in gold. The ancients would choose salt over gold. Why?

Salt was the only means of preserving food in the first century.

There was no refrigeration, of course. No way to keep food. During the routine crop failures and economic depressions which plagued them, salted meat and food were all they had with which to survive.

And so we exist to preserve the world spiritually. As the Howard Center Bible study this weekend makes clear, God created the world to be good. In fact, when his creation was done he called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). But human abuse of our spiritual freedom led to the “fall” which changed everything. Now “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

You and I exist to preserve the world spiritually. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The only hope for mankind to be preserved from spiritual, eternal death is the gospel we exist to give the world. The message of the Church is the only spiritual hope of the world. And of your neighbors and friends. For whom are you the “salt of the earth?”

Salt was the primary purification agent in the first century.

Rubbing salt onto meat or food was their only way to purify it so it wouldn’t poison them. Rubbing salt into wounds, as painful as this is, was their only way to cleans the wound so it wouldn’t become infected and kill them. Salt was the penicillin of the ancient world.

Christians are the purification agents of the earth. We are to be examples of purity in all we do. James 1:27 admonishes us to “keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

You know some Christians whose lives are so pure and moral that they encourage you to be pure and moral as well. It is said that when people saw George Truett on a downtown sidewalk, they would stop and stare. There was something about him, a godliness and purity, which caught their attention. And he made others want to be godly and pure as well.

Who is more godly because they know you? For whom are you the “salt of the earth?”

And salt was the chief seasoning for common people.

Most had no access to expensive imported spices. They had no way to make food palatable except with salt.

Christians are the seasoning of the earth. Jesus promised that he came “that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John10:10).

Salt makes you thirsty and seasons what you eat. Who wants the faith they see in you? For whom are you the “salt of the earth?”

How can we be spiritual salt today?

So how do we fulfill our purpose well? It is crucial that we do so. Next week we’ll study Jesus’ warning: “If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men” (v. 13b). None of us wants this. How are we “salt of the earth” effectively today?

First, leave the saltshaker.

Salt does nobody any good in its container. It doesn’t matter how beautiful its container may be, or how many grains of salt it contains. It only matters that the salt does its work. And this work can only be done when the salt leaves the saltshaker and contact that which needs what it can do.

One of Satan’s great strategies is to keep the salt in the saltshaker. Know only Christian friends. Attend only Christian functions. Keep the team in the huddle so it won’t get into the game. All the while, Jesus commands us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18). Be the salt of the earth, in the earth.

For whom are you praying evangelistically? Do you have a list of unsaved friends you’ll bring to the Billy Graham Mission, or to worship, or to a Bible study or a concert or an event? Who is being influenced by your salt?

Bill Hybels is pastor of the largest church in America. But he makes time regularly for his sailing club on Lake Michigan. He never joins a club which contains a Christian. He wants his salt to transform his world. Who is your sailing club? Who is your life touching? How effective is your salt?

Second, stay pure.

Salt is no good when it loses its purity, as we’ll see next week. Nothing can salt salt. When it is impure, it is of no value.

We are to contact our world, or our salt is no good. But we must maintain our purity, or our contact is no good. The Bible says, “Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry…You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other” (Colossians 3:5,7-9). How pure is your salt?

Third, disappear.

When salt does its work, you can’t see it. You can’t find it. It’s gone. Only its influence remains.

John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3.30). The Bible says, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Is your motive in Christian service to be honored, or to honor Jesus? In your career? In school? Mine in this sermon? How selfless is your salt?

Last, be encouraged.

Salt cannot tell whether or not its work has been effective. It does its work, and the rest occurs as it will. Believe that God will use you, and he will. The river touches shores the source never sees. If you will act as the salt of the earth, a very little will change everything.

The first believers “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6, KJV). They didn’t know it, but we do. Be encouraged. You are valuable beyond measure. You are the salt of the earth.

Conclusion

For ten years Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional guide has helped me every day. Its title captures the decision before us this morning: “My Utmost For His Highest.” Your utmost call, your purpose and identity, is to be the salt of the earth. The preserving, purifying, seasoning salt of the earth.

Will you leave the saltshaker this week and contact someone who needs Jesus? Will you stay pure? Will you disappear so Jesus can appear in your life? Will you be encouraged?

The one definition of success for salt is this: it does its job. It performs its purpose. Will you?

Mother Teresa was in New York City to open a new orphanage. A press conference was held at the site. Someone asked the famous nun how she would measure the success of this endeavor. She smiled into the camera and said, “I don’t believe our Lord ever spoke of success. He spoke only of faithfulness in love.”

Do you agree?