Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord

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Topical Scripture: Psalm 33:12

Welcome to the Fourth of July weekend. Last year, over the holiday weekend, Americans spent $6.9 billion on food. We consumed 150 million hot dogs—that’s enough hot dogs to stretch from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. We also ate 700 million pounds of chicken.

In addition, we spent $825 million on fireworks, and we imported $5.4 million of American flags, most of them from China.

As we celebrate the 242nd birthday of this nation we love, I’ve been thinking about a single verse in Scripture. God’s word states: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12).

The word “blessed” means “to be envied, to be so blessed that others want what you have been given.” “The Lord” is Yahweh, the personal name of God himself. We all have some god, something that is our highest priority, something in which we trust above all else. When a nation puts God first, trusts first in the Lord, surrenders to him as King and Lord, that nation is blessed so that it is the envy of others.

This weekend we will sing and hear “God Bless America,” not just at baseball games but at parades, concerts, and across the land. Can God bless America? I’d like us to remember four stories, then see how they impact our story today.

Four crises

Scene one: The children of Israel are on their exodus from Egypt to their Promised Land when they find themselves against the Red Sea. The Egyptian army—the largest and most powerful the world has ever seen—is marching up behind them. The sea is before them. If they go forward, they will drown. If they turn and fight, they will be slaughtered. If they surrender, they will be enslaved again. What should they do?

Scene two: The children of Israel are standing on the edge of the flooded Jordan River. It is fifteen feet deep and as much as a hundred feet across. If they go forward, they will drown. If they retreat, they will return to the wilderness and face enemies on every side. If they stay where they are, they will use up the meager resources available to them and they will starve to death. What should they do?

Scene three: David has been anointed by the prophet Samuel as Israel’s next king. Now he finds himself facing the giant warrior Goliath. The most specific description of anyone in the Bible is devoted to this man, highlighting the crisis David faces. 1 Samuel 17 says he is “six cubits and a span” in height (v. 4), over nine feet tall. Such height is not impossible even today, as proven by a man named Robert Pershing Wadlow. He stood eight feet eleven inches tall at the time of his death on July 15, 1940 at the age of twenty-two.

Goliath’s armor weighs 125 pounds. His spear’s point weighs over thirty pounds. He marches against the shepherd boy with his shield bearer before him to give added protection. If David runs into battle, he will be killed. If he runs away, he will lose face and never be king. What should he do?

Scene four: It is July 4, 1776. Congress has officially adopted a Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. The colonial population is outnumbered three to one by England. Their army never numbered more than 17,000 men, compared with nearly 50,000 battle-hardened British troops. The American navy consists of eight frigates; the British have the greatest naval force the world had ever seen. In other words, the British are the world’s greatest superpower and the Americans seemingly have no chance.

Four responses

What did Moses and the Israelites do at the Red Sea?

Here’s the biblical text:

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses (Exodus 14:21–31).

What did the Israelites do at the flooded Jordan River?

As soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), 16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan (Joshua 3:15–17).

What did David do when facing Goliath?

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled (1 Samuel 17:45–51).

What did the Americans do when facing the world’s greatest superpower in 1776?

Earlier that year, the Second Continental Congress proclaimed March 16 a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer. This was the purpose of the day: “That we may, with united hearts, confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his righteous displeasure, and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness.”

This faith commitment stood on the foundation of others.

When Christopher Columbus set foot on land in the New World, these were his first words: “Blessed be the light of day, and the Holy Cross we say; and the Lord of Verity, and the Holy Trinity.”

The first set of written laws for the New World was the Mayflower Compact, ratified in 1620. Some have called it “the first American Constitution.” John Quincy Adams called it the foundation of the U.S. Constitution. It states that the pilgrims undertook their voyage “for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith.” According to William Bradford, their governor, when they came ashore “they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean.”

Next came the “Fundamental Orders” of 1639, the first written Constitution in the New World. Its preamble states the colonists’ purpose: “To maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess.”

Now, as our first Commander in Chief sought to lead his army to victory over the mighty British forces, this is what he told his troops:

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own. . . . The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. . . . Let us therefore rely on the goodness of the cause and aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions.”

Conclusion

Our four stories illustrate our text: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Let’s be clear: The Lord does not love America more than he loves other peoples. His grace is for us all: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God will bless any nation whose people make him their Lord. In fact, he seeks to offer such blessing today: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 33:18).

But it is also a fact that the first Americans positioned their nation to be blessed. They stepped into covenant relationship with the Lord of the universe. They sought his favor with their faith and their lives. Our first Commander-in-Chief and president did the same.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Can God bless America today? More personally, can he bless you? What challenges are you facing on this Fourth of July weekend? What decisions do you need to make? What problems do you need to resolve? As you stand before your Red Sea, your Jordan River, your Goliath, your superpower, will you trust in him or in yourself?

The American Automobile Association predicts that a record 46.7 million Americans will travel over the holiday weekend. That’s the highest number since AAA started tracking Fourth of July travel eighteen years ago.

Many of them will spend time at a lake or on the beach. There are many to choose from.

There are 307 million lakes in the world. And that doesn’t include the 1,450,000,000,000,000,000 tons of water in the world’s oceans. And that’s just on this tiny planet, one of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in our universe.

And God made all of that. Now, what’s your problem?

Branded By My Stupidity

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Branded By My Stupidity

John 3:9-16

Dr. Jim Denison

What’s the last really dumb thing you did? Mine was just a week ago. I was playing tennis, straining for a backhand, and jammed the end of my racket into my knee. Here’s the funny part. I use a Wilson racket, with a “W” on the end. I hit my knee so hard, part of the “W” was imprinted on the bruise. Branded by my own stupidity.

Later it occurred to me—most of my pain is similarly self-inflicted. Occasionally I suffer through no fault of my own. But usually I can take at least partial credit for my problems.

Here’s the good news: God won’t brand us for our stupidity. He’ll forgive every sin we confess, wipe the slate clean, and grant us his gracious mercy.

But here’s the bad news: I believe in his grace so much that it is easy for me to take it for granted. It is easy for me to continue to sin, knowing I can confess whatever I do wrong and be forgiven. It is easy for me to lapse into a life which misses the joy of Jesus, the power of the Spirit, the purpose for which I am made, a life in which I presume on the grace and mercy of God. I don’t want to live that way. Neither do you.

There’s a remedy for our problem. It’s called the “doctrine of the atonement.” We’ll discover the three non-negotiable steps to eternal life. We’ll see what it cost God for us to be forgiven and saved. We’ll learn why this doctrine is the most important in all of Christianity for those of us who are branded by our own stupidity.

Accept the uniqueness of Jesus‘ life

Our text begins: “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man” (v. 13).

“No one.” No exceptions or contradictions. “Ever,” without conditions or loopholes. Except the “Son of Man,” Jesus’ favorite title for himself. Only he has gone into heaven, and then come from heaven to earth. Jesus and Jesus alone.

On the eve of his crucifixion he said it again: “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (John 16:28).

He was not just a prophet or priest, not just a religious pioneer or spiritual teacher. He was and is God come to earth: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2). He is God.

No other religious prophet or leader ever made this claim, because none came from heaven to earth. Not Moses, or David, or Isaiah; not Buddha or Mohammad or Confucius; not Socrates or Plato or Aristotle. No other religion even claims that their founder came from heaven to earth.

The first step to eternal life is to accept this fact, to accept the divinity, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Believe that he is Lord, for only then will you make him your Lord. Only then will you trust the salvation he came to give. In a pluralistic world which believes that all roads lead up the same mountain, accept the uniqueness of Jesus.

One of my friends here at Park Cities is especially acquainted with my directional handicap, the fact that I seldom know north from south or the right direction from the wrong. In compassionate encouragement he gave me a cartoon the other day. It pictures one boy saying to another, “We went just about everywhere on our vacation. Then my dad finally asked for directions.” I’m grateful for such empathetic support.

Jesus didn’t need directions. He knows where he is taking us. He is the only person in human history who has been where we all want to go, and can take us there now.

On a trip, the only truly reliable guide is the person who has been where you are going. It’s even better if he will then take you there himself. And Jesus will.

Perhaps the most famous words C. S. Lewis ever wrote are these: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (Mere Christianity 55-6).

Admit the necessity of his death

Jesus continues: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up” (v. 14).

“Lifted up” refers to his crucifixion to come: “‘I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die” (John 12:32-33).

Note that he said, “the Son of Man must be lifted up.” This was not an option, the tragic end to an otherwise remarkable life, just one way the story could have turned out. This is why he came, and what he must do.

On the Sunday before his death he said, “What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour'” (John 12:27). He chose to die: “I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:17-18).

Why? Why was it so important that Jesus die? And that he die in this way?

Isaiah predicted his death and its purpose: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed…He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:5, 12).

He knew that he would bear our sins on his sinless soul. He knew that our sins would separate him from his Father for the only time in eternity. He knew that on the cross he would cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, quoting Psalm 22:1). And he came anyway, for us.

The Bible says, “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). From the beginning of biblical history, the payment for sinning against a holy God has been death. That’s why the Old Testament prescribed specific sacrifices for specific sins—a dove, a bull, a sheep, and so on. The logic was this: the sinner brought his sacrifice, a perfect animal which was incapable of sin. The priest took the animal from the sinner, laid it on the altar, and slaughtered it. The Lord in his grace transferred the guilt from the man to the animal. If the animal had committed sin, it would have to die for its own transgression. Because it was innocent, it could die for the one who was guilty.

In exactly this way, Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). If there were another way to heaven, Jesus would not have died on the cross for us. If pluralism is right, and all roads lead up the same mountain, Jesus would not have died on the cross. Buddhism cost Buddha nothing; Islam cost Mohammad nothing; Confucianism cost Confucius nothing; Christianity cost Jesus Christ everything.

If we don’t understand the necessity of Jesus’ death, we will not accept the results of that death in our lives. If we think we can save ourselves, or that all faith is the same, or that we’re good enough for God, we’ll refuse the gift which Jesus died to give us.

Understand that if Jesus had not died on the cross for your sins, you would have to die for them yourself. Your sins would separate you for eternity from a holy God. His death is the only means of your life.

So accept the divine uniqueness of his life, and admit the necessity of his death for your sins.

Ask for the gift of eternal life

Now we are ready for the third essential step to eternal life: ask for the gift Jesus died to give. Ask him for the gift of eternal life. Here is the result of his atoning sacrifice: “that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (v. 15). But we must ask for this gift to receive it.

“Everyone” contains no exceptions or qualifications.

“My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40, emphasis mine).

According to ministers who know, Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian strongman and corrupt dictator, became a believer in prison. According to ministers who know, Jeffrey Dahmer, the horrific cannibal who was murdered in prison, trusted in Christ as his Lord shortly before his death. They are part of the “everyone.”

And so are you. So am I. The long arm of God’s grace can reach into the lowest valley and save the worst soul. Even ours.

But we must “believe” in him. The Greek word means to trust personally. The devils believe and tremble (James 2:19). Jesus requires personal trust and reliance upon his grace. It’s the difference between believing that a flu shot is a good idea, and taking one yourself.

This is a gift we must ask for, before we can receive it.

All you had to do to receive birthday presents is be born. I’ve never asked for a birthday present in my life.

But this gift requires our free will. We can choose to reject if it we wish. We must ask for it, if we want it. We must choose to “believe” if we would receive.

When did you ask for this gift? Would you?

Conclusion

Will you accept the divine uniqueness of Jesus today? Will you admit the necessity of his death for your sins? Will you ask for the gift of eternal life he died to give? Then you are the child of God. Your Creator wants you to be his child, even more than you do. He wants you in heaven, even more than you want to be there. He always keeps his promises. And he promises: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (v. 16). Right now, you “have eternal life.” You are the child of God.

Now, what sin and guilt is bothering you today? Where are the tentacles of immorality entwined in your soul? What brand of stupidity are you wearing? Take it to the cross. Nail it there. Leave it there. Ask the One who died for you to forgive you, to cleanse you. And the cross will set you free.

What temptation has found you this morning? What voice is whispering in your ear and luring your heart? Take it to the cross. Nail it there. Leave it there. Remember what it cost Jesus to pay for that sin. And the cross will set you free.

Gymnastics was the claim to fame for Houston Baptist University when Janet and I were students there. Our football team is still undefeated, but also winless. But we were good in gymnastics.

Our best gymnast when I was in college was named Percy Price. He was the only African-American on the team, one of very few on the campus. Racism was more common those days than it is today, and Percy had to endure much. He chose HBU rather than attending a Division I university because our coach, an Anglo named Hutch Dvorak, cared more for him than anyone he said he’d ever known. He was there for him, helping his family, caring for him as a person. They loved each other.

It was the largest gymnastic meet of the year, with top gymnasts from across the country. Percy mounted the high bar to begin his routine. Hutch was standing beside the apparatus, watching, just in case.

Percy was spinning at breakneck speed around the bar. Suddenly, for the only time in his gymnastics career, Percy lost his grip on the bar and was thrown to the hard gym floor, head first. Hutch Dvorak, faster than any of us could react, threw himself under Percy, broke his fall, and took the blow himself. I watched as the black man pulled his injured white coach to his feet, threw his arms around him, and hugged him, tears streaming down his face.

The next gymnast up on the bar also fell. His coach was sitting on the bench, 50 feet away. He was hurt badly.

Which gymnast are you?

Bribing God

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Bribing God

Luke 12:13-21

James C. Denison

The latest Batman movie has grossed $300 million faster than any film in history. I’ve seen it, and was amazed and frightened by Heath Ledger’s Joker along with the rest of the audience. It’s called The Dark Knight for good reason—don’t go expecting a comedy. But while I enjoyed seeing Batman at work, he’s not my favorite superhero.

When I was a boy, I wanted to be Superman, more than anything in the world. I wanted to fly so badly that once, as a boy of six or so, I actually cut out cardboard wings, taped them to my t-shirt, and jumped from the roof of our house. With predictable results, unfortunately. But the reason I so wanted to fly wasn’t just to miss the traffic on the Tollway—it was because I wanted to know what is really “up there.” I still do.

Have you ever looked up into the sky and wondered if this is all there is? If there isn’t something beyond what you can see, more to life than what you can touch and measure?

In the last month I’ve been privileged to study and speak in some beautiful places—from Interlaken and the Swiss Alps to the hill country of Texas. I watched people in Switzerland paragliding from the tops of towering mountains to green meadows thousands of feet below, and decided they were insane.

I’ve eaten German sausage in restaurants where cholesterol was invented. I’ve written Bible studies and sermons for the fall from the porch of a glorious hill country home overlooking majestic sunsets and tree-topped ridges as far as the eye can see.

And through it all, in my deepest soul I sensed that there is something missing, something more. You know the feeling, don’t you? You’ve stood before paintings produced by artistic genius and felt that they were not enough. You’ve heard concerts where world-class orchestras played some of the greatest music ever composed, and felt that something was missing. You’ve read literary masterpieces or seen great movies and sensed it in your spirit. You’ve watched a sunset and known there was something beyond. In our deepest being, we sense that this is not all there is. Don’t we?

I’ve come today to ask some momentous questions. According to Jesus, your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. Why not? In what does it consist? Let’s walk through his parable, then learn why it is God’s word for us this morning.

Are you living for creation?

A “crowd of many thousands” has gathered to hear Jesus (Luke 12:1). One of them shouts out to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (v. 13).

The law was clear: two-thirds of the estate to the older brother, one-third to the younger (Deuteronomy 21:17). This dispute didn’t require a rabbi but a judge, so Jesus replied, “Man [better translated ‘Sir’], who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” (v. 14).

On its surface, the question seems simple enough. But Jesus knew somehow there was more to the story, that greed was the true motive here. Perhaps the man wanted his part of the estate before their father died, or their mother passed away, or their family’s needs had been met.

So Jesus said to “them,” not just “him,” addressing the entire crowd: “Watch out!” The Greek is strong: “Take cover!” or “Look out!” For what? “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (v. 15).

“Greed” translates “covetousness” in the original, the sin of coveting. The basic theological definition is choosing to sin for material gain. “Greed” is one of the so-called “seven deadly sins,” because it leads to all sorts of other sins. People steal out of greed, and lie, and manipulate, and kill.

By contrast, Jesus’ life lesson is simple: “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Such a statement was shocking to their culture, as it is to ours. Jesus knew he had to prove his point, so he told them a story.

It starts this way: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop” (v. 16). In this particular year, his land yielded even more than they expected.

Now he had a problem: “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops” (v. 17). If his grain was not put under shelter, it would mold and be useless. He has already filled his normal storage silos, and has nowhere else to put his crops.

Imagine you’re the CEO of an oil company which makes a discovery so large you have nowhere to store all your oil or gas. Or you’re Tom Hicks and the Rangers have finally found a pitching staff, so more people are coming to games than the stadium will hold. Or we suddenly start seeing bigger crowds than our Sanctuary and Great Hall and gymnasium can accommodate. What would we do?

We’d do what he did: “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods” (v. 18). Nothing unusual in this, just good business sense. So far, so good. But then comes the almost-inevitable result of such financial prosperity: “I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years'” (v. 19a). That’s true. He has enough grain, enough money in the bank as it were, to live and prosper for years to come. But then he says to himself, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (v. 19b). The Greek literally says, “keep on resting, eat and drink when necessary, and be merry always.”

In all his calculations for his prosperous future, our rich farmer has forgotten one simple fact. For any of us, it can be true that “this very night your life will be demanded from you” (v. 20a). When it is, “who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (v. 20b). Not you.

When we bank on the present and ignore eternity, we are a “fool” indeed. The parable can apply to us all: “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (v. 21).

All we can see is but a means to all we cannot see. The only safe way to handle the present is to use it for the eternal. Your “grain” may be money, stock, land, a house, cars, clothes, degrees, abilities, whatever you possess. It can all be gone today, unless it was used for God.

Are you living for the Creator?

“A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”—that’s the point of Jesus’ story. Why must he make it? Why must he remind us that possessions are temporal while life is eternal, that we must use the visible for the invisible, the material for the eternal?

The point would seem obvious. Despite all our medical advances, the mortality rate is still 100 percent. “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27), the Bible bluntly reminds us. We know that “the world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). You’ve heard the saying: there are no U-Hauls attached to hearses or pockets in burial shrouds.

Yet we live as though it were not so. Western culture measures success by possessions and prosperity, and always has. The golden rule is simple: the one with the gold makes the rule. “The one who dies with the most toys wins,” the t-shirt proclaims. If religion can help us succeed in life, so much the better. If praying and reading the Bible and going to worship will lead to the blessing of God, they’re sound investments.

Religion has always functioned this way in the West, going back to the ancient Greeks. They were the first to divide the soul from the body, “religion” from the “real world.”

They didn’t love their gods. No one wanted to live for Zeus or Apollo; no one wanted to know Poseidon or Athena more personally. You worshiped the gods to placate them so they would give rain for your crops and children for your family. You built the largest altars you could afford, to bribe their favor and prosperity.

I’ve seen the foundations of the Zeus altar at Pergamum, larger than this Sanctuary. I’ve walked beside the colossal Parthenon in Athens, built to give Athena a home so she would favor their city. From then to now, religion in the West has been a means to an end—salvation from hell, reward in heaven, and prosperity on earth. The more you go and give and pray, the more God will bless you. Religion is a way to bribe God so he will give us what we want.

Our culture has made prosperity the end and God the means. But what we can see and own and spend is not enough for our souls. It never is.

Consider Ruth, a single mother in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, who began buying $5 worth of Illinois lottery tickets every week. She said that she needed these periodic “doses of hope” to counter her occasional feelings of depression. Then the miracle happened: Ruth won $22 million.

She was beside herself with joy. She quit her job wrapping gifts at Neiman-Marcus and bought an 18-room house, a Versace wardrobe, and a robin’s-egg-blue Jaguar. She sent her twin sons to private school. Strangely, however, as the next year went by, her mood became more and more depressed. By the end of that year, her expensive new therapist diagnosed her as having a case of dysthymic disorder, or chronic depression (Authentic Happiness).

Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, who wrote about Ruth, is the former president of the American Psychological Association and the author of twenty books in his field. His research indicates that once a person has the basic necessities of life, added money adds little or no happiness. He concludes: “Materialism seems to be counterproductive: at all levels of real income, people who value money more than other goals are less satisfied with their income and with their lives as a whole….” He finishes his sentence, “although precisely why is a mystery.”

There was no mystery to Jesus. He warned us: Life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. Bribing God by doing religious things doesn’t work. The reason is simple: we were not made that way. We were made for personal, intimate relationship with our Maker.

God made us to walk in the Garden of Eden at his side, to work with him in tilling and keeping the world he made, to partner with him in service and love him in worship. He made the world as a necessary means to that end, as a place for us to live while we live for him. But we sinned, and everything changed. We were supposed to use creation to worship the Creator, but now we use the Creator to worship creation.

But bribing God doesn’t work. Making religion a means to our end, using religion to build bigger barns so we can rest, eat, drink and be merry is a dead end. There is no joy or fulfillment or significance in such faith this morning. And there is judgment tonight.

Conclusion

So what do we do? Jesus said that we should be “rich toward God” (v. 21). What does that mean?

As I mentioned earlier, I spent a week of my study leave teaching at a conference in Switzerland. During one of the evening worship services, I had an epiphany. I really did. I cannot tell you who was preaching or what he was preaching about. But as he spoke, God spoke to me.

I had been thinking all week about the state of the church in the West. Many of the pastors and church leaders I taught that week came from churches across Europe, working in places where the Christian movement is weak at best. I had talked that day with a pastor in England who told me that there are 250,000 people in Great Britain who claim “Jedi Knight” as their official religion. In England, four times more Muslims go to mosque on Friday than Christians go to worship on Sunday. Many other places on the Continent are suffering in similar ways.

What is the answer to the decline of the church in western Europe and much of America, I wondered. Why is the church advancing so powerfully in Communist China and sub-Saharan Africa, in Latin and South America, in South Korea and Australia? Everywhere that church is a movement, not a building; where Christianity is a lifestyle, not an institution; where faith is an adventure, not a religion?

In the midst of my contemplation, while the preacher was preaching, I heard the Spirit speak simply and powerfully to my spirit: It’s all about Jesus. Christianity is about Jesus. It’s about knowing him and making him known. It’s about loving him and following him and helping other people follow him.

As simple and basic as that sounds, it’s the essence of biblical Christianity. It’s about him. Wherever the Church knows and lives that truth, the Church is building the Kingdom of God on earth. Wherever it is not, it is not.

We come to worship to bless him, not so he will bless us. We read and pray so we can know him and serve him, not so he will serve us. It’s not about us—it’s about him.

I know how basic that sounds. But let me ask you: why did you come to worship today? Why do you teach your class, or sing in the choir, or serve as a deacon, or work on a committee, or go on a mission trip, or read and pray and give? Why am I preaching this sermon? In our innermost being, what motivates us today?

Our lives do not consist in what we possess, but in the One who possesses us. Are we here today to bribe God, or to bless him?

Broken and Spilled Out

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Broken and Spilled Out

Genesis 30:22

Dr. Jim Denison

Today is Mother’s Day. Every one of us has had a mother, obviously; however, we don’t all see her in the same way. For instance, there was a little girl who, when shown the wedding pictures of her parents, asked her father, “Daddy, is that the day you got Mom to come and work for us?”

Then there was the teacher who had just given her second-grade class a lesson on magnets. She asked a little boy, “Now, my name starts with an ‘M’ and I pick up things. What am I?” The boy replied instantly, “A mother?”

But my favorite story has to do with a poor mother who was concerned about her eldest son’s use of profanity. She asked her pastor for advice, and he told her that each time her son cussed, she should slap him. Bad advice, to be sure.

The next morning as her sons came to the breakfast table she asked them what they wanted to eat. The eldest said, “I want some ‘blankety, blank Post Toasties.’” His mother slapped him as hard as she could. As he sat dazed on the floor, she turned to the younger son and asked what he wanted to eat. He said, “Well, I sure don’t want any Post Toasties!”

This is a good day, for mothers need all the encouragement they can find. That’s what Anna Jarvis thought when she decided upon her mother’s death in 1905 to make a day in her memory. She copyrighted “Mother’s Day” with the U.S. Patent Office, then wrote governors, state legislators, congressmen, and even the president. Finally, in 1914 President Wilson signed a proclamation making Mother’s Day a national observance.

Upon her death in 1948, a wreath of 43 carnations was placed on Anna Jarvis’s grave, because in that year 43 countries celebrated Mother’s Day. Why carnations? Because they were her mother’s favorite flower.

Anna Jarvis had the right idea for our culture, but also for our souls. For mothers have the single greatest influence on their children’s eternal souls. That is the simple point I want to make today.

The contents are what matters

Our text finds Rachel in dire straits. Her husband loves her, but she has borne him no children. Her sister and even their maids have given him ten sons together; she has none. So she prays, and prays more fervently, and prays still more intently. And finally her prayer is answered.

Fourteen years after she and Jacob were married, she gives him a child, a son. She knows immediately the source of her blessing, for she names him “Joseph,” which means “The Lord adds.” God gave her this child. And she would love him until the day she died giving birth to his brother, Benjamin. The Jewish people venerate the place of her birth to this day.

Rachel’s story illustrates well the relationship of motherhood to pottery. The first fact: the contents of the clay vessel are its value.

A clay vessel is a means to an end. The contents of the pot are what matters, not its form or appearance. Pots are as valuable as they are useful.

We are to judge them by their function, not their appearance. They may be beautiful, but cracked or dirty on the inside, and thus of no value. Or they may be common on the outside but clean and holy on the inside, so that their contents are valuable and pure.

So with mothers. Your eternal value lies in the souls of your children. Not in your status in the eyes of your society, your possessions or appearance or achievements. Your greatest value as a mother is the soul of the child given to you.

The second fact: the vessel seldom knows the ultimate result of its work.

Water poured from the clay pot grows flowers the pot never sees. It helps thirsty people the pot never knows. Its use extends far beyond the pot which held it.

Rachel never knew that her oldest son would one day save his brothers and his nation. She died never knowing that he would be second in all of Egypt, and the most famous son of her family and people. She never knew the eternal significance of the life she gave to the world.

You will likely never know the eternal significance of the souls entrusted to your care, either. But God does.

And the third fact: the vessel is the first influence upon its contents. Its purity or contamination is directly transmitted to that which it holds. So with mothers and their children.

Rachel was faithful to God, and God was faithful to her. She was Joseph’s first spiritual influence. She prayed to have Joseph, a fact we never find about Jacob or the rest of his family. She loved him when his brothers were jealous of him. She was his first model of spirituality. Mothers usually are, for better or for worse.

Mothers have the single greatest influence on their children’s eternal souls. That’s my point. Let’s see if it holds up across biblical history and life today.

A pattern across time

First, some biblical stories.

Consider this text: “On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist’” (Matthew 14:6-7). Her mother implicated her daughter in one of the worst crimes in Scripture.

Consider Ahaziah, the ancient king of Israel, and this statement: “He too walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done” (2 Chronicles 22:3-4). This mother’s son suffered a violent, ignominious death for the sins she taught him.

But there are good examples of our point as well. Moses, for instance, was raised in the pagan culture, traditions, and religion of Egypt. And yet because of his spiritual mother, he never forgot his God or his people, and one day led them to their Promised Land.

Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was fervent in prayer, trusting God for a son. She gave that son back to the Lord. And he became Israel’s last judge, first prophet, and great spiritual leader.

Mary was but a teenage girl, probably in the seventh grade today, when the angel Gabriel asked her to risk her family, her future, her marriage, and her life in becoming the mother of the Messiah. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). And it was.

Paul said to young Timothy, “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).

Is it not true that what their mothers were, their children became?

Does the pattern continue across history?

The mother of Nero was a murderer, as was he.

Of the 69 kings in France’s history there have been only three who were truly loved and respected by their subjects—the only ones reared by loving mothers.

Sir Walter Scott’s mother was a woman of education and a great lover of the arts. So was he.

The mother of George Washington was known for her integrity of character, as was her son.

The mother of John Wesley was remarkable for her intelligence, piety, and abilities, so that she has been called the “mother of Methodism.” Through her son, she was.

Abraham Lincoln said, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Dwight Moody testified, “All that I have ever accomplished in life, I owe to my mother.” Charles Spurgeon agreed: “I cannot tell how much I owe to the solemn words of my good mother.”

W. R. Wallace said, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” Was he right spiritually?

Lincoln said, “I remember my mother’s prayers, and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all of my life.” Later he observed, “No man is poor who has a godly mother.”

G. Campbell Morgan was one of the greatest preachers of the last generation. He had four sons, all of whom were preachers. The youngest son, Howard, was considered a great preacher as well. Someone once asked him, “Howard, who is the greatest preacher in your family?” Howard had a great admiration for his father and looked right at him; then, without a moment’s hesitation, he answered, “My mother.”

John Newton’s mother prayed for her wayward, sinful son every day. Finally he came to Christ, and later wrote Amazing Grace, the most beloved hymn of all time. We have it because of his mother.

Do you believe that mothers have the greatest spiritual influence in their children’s lives? Lincoln, and Morgan, and Newton did.

The poet made our point well:

Because she understood me better farThan I myself could understand;Because her faith in me, like a guiding star,Steadied my feet, and strengthened heart and hand;Because her cheer and tender sympathyWere strewn along the stony path she trod;Because of her underlying love for me,I better comprehend the love of God.

Conclusion

Does your mother today deserve your gratitude for her spiritual influence upon your life? Not all do across Scripture and history, of course. Does yours? Have you thanked God for her? Have you thanked her?

Have you been given the privilege of being a mother? On this Mother’s Day, would you renew your commitment to the spiritual life and eternal soul of the one entrusted to you? Would you pray for him or her right now? Would you ask God’s help and wisdom in shaping the eternal clay put into your hands? Would you make that eternal soul your highest priority as a mother?

There’s a metaphor from our potter series which seems especially appropriate for us today. It is taken from the wonderful story of Jesus’ last days, when Mary “took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair” (John 12:3). This was actually twelve ounces of one of the most expensive perfumes of their day. To do this with our perfumes today would cost in excess of $450.

She broke the clay vessel and poured its contents out unto her Lord. In the very same way, God has given every mother the privilege of pouring out the child given to her, unto God. Listen to this song about that event—may this be your commitment to God this day. Would you give your most precious treasure, that which God has given to you, back to him, right now?

One day a plain village woman,Driven by love for her Lord,Recklessly poured out a valuable essence,Disregarding the scorn.And once it was broken and spilled out,A fragrance filled all the roomLike a pris’ner released from his shackles,Like a spirit set free from the tomb.Broken and spilled out just for love of You, Jesus;My most precious treasure lavished on Thee.Broken and spilled out and poured atYour feet in sweet abandon;Let me be spilled out and used up for Three.Lord, You were God’s precious treasure,His loved and His own perfect Son,Sent here to show me the love of the Father;Yes, just for love it was done.And though You were perfect and holy,You gave up yourself willingly.You spared no expense for my pardon;You were used up and wasted for me.Broken and spilled out just for love of me, Jesus;God’s most precious treasure lavished on me.Broken and spilled out and poured atmy feet in sweet abandon;Lord, You were spilled out and used up for me.In sweet abandon, let me be spilled outand used up for Thee.

Buddhism and Christianity Today

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Buddhism and Christianity Today

Dr. Jim Denison

Historical background:

Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.) is the founder of Buddhism. He lived in nobility and wealth until he was 29 when, shortly after the birth of his son, he came to despair the meaninglessness of his life. And so he renounced his life of royalty and lived the life of a wandering seeker for some six years.

First he tried Hindu metaphysics, then adopted the life of an extreme ascetic. But neither provided the answers he was seeking. Finally Gautama admitted to himself that he was a defeated man; in this moment, he later claimed, he experienced his “enlightenment.” This caused him later to be called the “Buddha” (“the Enlightened One”). This was his experience of “nirvana” or deliverance.

Following his enlightenment, he chose to become a missionary to others. He gave seven weeks to preparation, then traveled to Sarnath, near Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus. Here he preached his first sermon and began his career of disciple-making which would last until his death in 483 B.C.

Original or “hinayana” form of Buddhism

This form of Buddhism denounces Hindu asceticism, mysticism, and speculation. Gautama’s teachings are collected as the Doctrine of the Middle Path: the Three Basic Principles, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Noble Path. This is the original form of Buddhism, known as Hinayana Buddhism, Southern Buddhism, or Theravada.

The Three Basic Principles are the following:

Anicca–nothing is permanent, including human personality.

Dukkha–sorrow is implicit in all life and experience.

Its source is our desire, clinging to the illusion of individual existence.

We cannot gain what we want, and we cannot escape what we dislike. This condition produces the inner frustration and external conflict which create misery and suffering.

Anatta–the doctrine of “no soul,” a focal concept of Buddhism. We are made of five aggregates:

Physical body

Sensations

Perception (ideas)

Consciousness

Thought.

These are held together by an intangible “thread of life.” At “death” the five aggregates (“skandas”) separate from each other. They never come together again in the same combination, although each individual skanda will unite with four other skandas to create a new human life. Thus there is no unique soul dwelling in or as a body. This endless cycle is called Paticca-samuppada.

Buddhism therefore also rejects the Hindu concept of reincarnation. There is the rebirth of skandas in ever-differing combinations (karma), but no migration of a soul-entity from one body or likeness to another. Final salvation (nirvana) comes when none of the component skandas ever again unites with others to form a new life.

The Four Noble Truths are the following:

All suffering is inevitable.

The origin of suffering is desire and craving–especially the desire for separate, individual, everlasting existence.

The extinction of suffering is achieved through the elimination of all desire.

The way to the destruction of all desire is the Eightfold Noble Path.

The Eightfold Noble Path (Magga):

Right understanding

Right thoughts

Right speech

Right action

Right livelihood

Right effort

Right meditation

Right concentration

This Path is believed to break the fetters that bind us to life, and thus to suffering. When these fetters are all broken, we achieve nirvana.

The development of the “Sangha” (congregations) of monks:

These are not priests or intermediaries between god and humans, but rather persons who have given themselves totally to the Eightfold Noble Path. This kind of total commitment is necessary to achieve enlightenment. Thus the Hinayana way (“little vehicle,” or “few they be who are saved”).

The Hinayana canon: the Tipataka (“three baskets”), written in Ceylon in the Pali language about 25 B.C. The “Teaching Basket” contains the alleged teachings of Gautama; the other two “baskets” contain rules for monks and psychological principles.

Zen: a variation of Hinayana

This variation appeared in China in the 6th century and has grown widely since the 13th century, and is especially popular in Japan. It teaches concentrated contemplation, by which adherents hope to achieve enlightenment (santori). It also stresses immediacy, with little emphasis on logic, words, or letters

Zen emphasizes the possibility of enlightenment here and now and uses simple beauty as an object of meditation, in seeking to be enlightened.

Mahayana form of Buddhism (from the north: “Mahayana” means “large” or “wide is the gate and all may pass through it”). This group split from the Hanayana about one hundred years after Buddha’s death.

Almost infinite in variety

Modifies Buddhism so as to open it to all persons, as opposed to the strict monastic lifestyle of those seeking enlightenment through the Hinayana approach

Is today the principal form of Buddhism in China, Korea, and Japan

No canonical scripture; its classic document is the Lotus Sutra (“Lotus of the Good Law”)

Emphasizes heavily the Bodhasittvas (“wisdom beings”); these persons are on their way to final enlightenment, but delay for the purpose of helping others until all are enlightened; can appear as an apparition or in a ghost-like body

Has developed highly ornate religious symbols and buildings

Is Buddhism for the masses, with much lower spiritual and moral standards than the Hinayana

One example: Japanese Mahayana Buddhism, from China by way of Korea five centuries after Christ; one popular form involves a Bodhisatva whose features are seen all over Japan; she is the compassionate Kannon, with a female form said to be modeled on a 8th century empress of China.

In America, the three most popular forms of Buddhism are the following:

Zen

Soka Gakkai, called Nichiren Shoshu in America. This 13th century zealous Japanese leader taught chanting and immediate spiritual experience; his movement has grown from a few thousand in 1945 to 20 million worldwide, and is especially popular in the United States.

Pure Land–looks back to a Bodhisattva named Amitabha, or Amida Buddha, who long ago accumulated such a vast store of merit during his progress toward salvation that he vowed to bestow on all who trusted in him an assured rebirth; the only requirements are perfect faith and sincerity and simply repeating, “Hail Amida-Buddha.” This movement, popular in Hawaii, asserts the reality of a life after death, thus the necessity of a self or soul.

Ultimate reality: “dynamic atheistic void” (Woodfin 155)

Ultimate reality is understood from within the Hindu’s Brahmanistic perspective, but is in a constant state of change and process; any questions about the beginning and end of the world and time are mere idle speculations.

The Buddha discouraged his followers from deifying him; now, however, the Hinayana Buddhists have deified the very one who denied the existence of God.

One such prayer:

“Oh, thou, the Buddha, the supremely awakened one, the most honored one, here are we gathered in thy presence with deepest reverence and adoration in our hearts. We place our whole trust in thee, in thy teaching and in thy order, and we do earnestly resolve to be good Buddhists, and follow the holy path thou has shown us, so that we may, like thyself, attain the happiest and the most peaceful realm of Nirvana” (Young Buddhist Handbook [Bureau of Buddhist Education: Buddhist Churches of America, 1966] 53-54; quoted in Woodfin 155-6).

View of humanity: “anatta” (there is no self)

Nothing can be called the self in the sense of an unchanging, abiding substance or being.

Man or woman is but the name given to the place where the different parts of existence flow together.

Central focus: “dukkha” (life is suffering, due to desire)

Suffering is dukkha–the concepts of pain and sorrow and also the ideas of impermanence or lack of wholeness.

Chanda–legitimate desire; for example, when one walks down the street and desires to put one foot before the other.

Tanha–desire coupled with anxiety, greed, fear, envy, or anger.

Concept of salvation: the renunciation of all anxious desire

Includes even the desire for that which is good for ourselves.

Supreme example is the Buddha, who postponed his own nirvana experience so that he might show others the way to enlightenment.

Ultimate destiny: “Nirvana” (the obliteration of all individual consciousness, especially all conscious desire)

The Buddha’s claim:

“Nibbana have I realized, and gazed into the mirror of the Dhamma, the Noble Truth, I am healed of my wound; Down is my burden laid; My task is done;

My heart is utterly set free” (Theragatha, canto X; quoted in Woodfin 159).

He described this experience for his monks as follows:

“Monks, there exists that condition wherein is neither earth or water nor fire nor air: wherein is neither the sphere of infinite space nor of infinite consciousness nor of nothingness nor of neither-consciousness-nor-unconsciousness; where there is neither this world nor a world beyond nor both together nor moon-and-sun. Thence, monks, I declare is no coming to birth; thither is no going [from life]; therein is no duration; thence is no falling; there is no arising. It is not something fixed, it moves not on, it is not based on anything. That is indeed the end of all” (Udana 80, quoted in Woodfin 159).

Nirvana is thus nothing like our heaven; it is a “psychological condition of peace in which the self-asserting ego has been annihilated and one is liberated from those cravings which make human existence a self-defeating circle of assertion and anxiety”; it is “a realm of meaninglessness and personal oblivion” (Woodfin 159).

It is an event, not a personal experience. It is the breaking of the endless round of rebirths into conscious existence which Hinduism teaches.

Most modern Buddhist groups teach that this state can be achieved in our earthly existence. “Parinirvana” is a higher state which can be reached only after we die. For the Buddhist, this is the ultimate, eternal end.

Buddhism today

Over 300 million profess to be Buddhists in one tradition or another. In Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, the population is almost exclusively Hinayana Buddhist. The entire population of Tibet and Mongolia is Buddhist, of a form peculiar to that region alone (“Vajrayana”). There are Buddhist groups in every country of the world.

In recent decades Buddhism has been undergoing a dramatic revival, working in missionary activity as it has not done in many centuries. Note that the dominant religion of Hawaii is Buddhism; this is the first time that any religion outside of the Judaeo-Christian tradition has dominated in any state in America.

Examples:

In 1950 the two major divisions of Buddhism (Theravada [Hinayana] and Mahayana) united into the World Fellowship of Buddhists.

Buddhists of Sri Lanka have developed a Missionary Training College where Buddhist monks spend five years in training for missionary work among the English-speaking and Hindu peoples of the world. Here funds are solicited for the spread of Buddhism among “the heathen of Europe.”

The Shin sect in Japan alone maintains 150 missionaries on the American continent.

Reasons for appeal to the West today

Buddhism addresses the problem of suffering, and promises peace of mind and heart. It is compatible with current existentialist philosophy and psychoanalysis; offers a “self-made” way to achieve personal enlightenment.

It offers an ascetic spirituality which contrasts well with the dominant materialism of western culture.

Building On Purpose

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Building on Purpose

Luke 10:38-42

Dr. Jim Denison

I read this week an unusual list of instructions, purportedly written for those traveling the jungle regions of South America. The title: “What to Do If Attacked by an Anaconda.” The instructions are as follows:

If an anaconda attacks you, do not run. The snake is faster than you are. Lie flat on the ground. Put your arms tight against your sides and your legs tight against one another. The snake will come and begin to nudge and climb over your body. Do not panic. After the snake has examined you, it will begin to swallow you from the feet end. Always from the feet end.

The snake will now begin to suck your legs into its body. You must lie perfectly still. This will take a long time. When the snake has reached your knees, slowly and with as little movement as possible reach down, take your knife, and very gently slide it into the side of the snake’s mouth, between the edge of its mouth and the snake’s head.

Be sure your knife is sharp. Be sure you have your knife.

The events of this day are larger than any anaconda, and fortunately, far more exciting. Our faith family will begin today the largest and most expensive building project in our church’s history: a three-story garage for 750 cars, built beneath a three-story Community Life Center.

When our project is completed we will have the space we need to continue growing our preschool, children, and youth ministries; to gather in greater numbers for adult Bible study, fellowship events, and large weekday ministries; to reach more of our community than we have ever been able to reach before.

But how do we keep from being swallowed? How can we be sure to keep the main thing the main thing, to remember our purpose as we “continue the vision,” to keep our eye on the reason why we are stepping into this exciting chapter of ministry together? Where are life’s circumstances threatening to swallow you personally, to distract you from your purpose and calling in the will of God?

Invite Jesus into your home

Jesus’ words to Martha are God’s words to us today: “…only one thing is needed” (v. 42). We somehow believe that is true. Our culture is fascinated with life purpose in these days.

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People was a best-selling book and movement in the 80’s and early 90’s, similar to Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life today.

I remember often Winston Churchill’s statement to the House of Commons in June of 1941: “I have but one purpose, the destruction of Hitler; and my life is much simplified thereby.” Every time I think of his words, I am moved and challenged by them.

In my study are inscribed words from Abraham Maslow which I quote often: “An artist must paint; a poet must write; a musician must make music, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”

What purpose will give your life true meaning?

As our text begins, we find Jesus on his way to Jerusalem and the cross; he will die in four months. He stops at Bethany, a village two miles east of Jerusalem. Here Martha lives with her sister, Mary, and brother, Lazarus; their home is his when he is in Judea.

This family was so prominent that many friends would later come even from Jerusalem to console them on the death of Lazarus. Now, on this occasion, Martha “opened her home to him” (v. 38), meaning that she received him as her honored guest.

Martha’s name meant “lady of the house,” and she certainly lives up to it here.

She is making the preparations necessary for proper hospitality in the ancient Middle East—cooking food (without electrical appliances), cleaning the home, preparing the furnishings for the meal to come. All of this is good and necessary.

But Martha soon confuses ends with means. She becomes “distracted” by all her preparations—the word means to be “drawn around with anxiety” which shows on her face and in her soul. She thinks more about her food than her guest; she becomes consumed with the meal and forgets the Master for whom it is intended.

Mary, her younger sister, makes no such mistake.

She had been helping with preparations earlier, but now has “left” Martha (v. 40) and “sat at the Lords’ feet listening to what he said” (v. 39). Homes of their culture were often furnished with flat chairs about two feet tall, covered with soft material and cushions. We imagine Jesus sitting on one such chair, perhaps cross-legged, while Mary sat on a rug on the floor before him.

She “sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said” (v. 39). This is the position of a disciple before the teacher (we speak of “sitting at the feet” of a great person still today). It was extremely unusual for a Jewish rabbi to take on a woman as his student and disciple, but Jesus did so here with Mary. In the same way, he invites you to his feet today.

Note that Mary was not only in his presence, she was present with him. You are in his presence now; are you present with him? Are you listening to what he wants to say to you?

In so doing she has “chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (v. 42). “Better” refers to the best dish on the table, which is fellowship with Jesus.

Now Martha sees her younger sister at Jesus’ feet instead of in her kitchen. So she “came to him,” words which actually mean “she exploded into the room at him.” She “flew off the handle,” or “lost it,” with Jesus, and demanded that he send Mary back into the kitchen.

Making demands of the Lord of the universe doesn’t usually go well for us. It didn’t for her.

Jesus replies, “you are worried (internally divided, distracted, anxious) and upset (externally and visibly agitated, in tumult) about many things” (v. 41). This is the inevitable result of putting second things first.

“Only one thing is needed”—not the dishes but the dish, not the many but the one.

The point is not the meal, but the Master who attends it. The point is not the menu and the food, but the One who shares them in their home. This event is not about Martha, it is about Jesus. It is not about her culinary skills and homemaking artistry, but the Lord of her home. Her preparations are a means to the end of communion with the Lord.

How to choose the “one thing”

Last week I received a book in the mail from God. Its human instrument was the author, a spiritual retreat director named Fil Anderson. Fil directed the silent retreat in Atlanta which was so significant in my life seven years ago. I had no idea he had written a book. In the note he enclosed, he reminded me of our retreat together, and of the sermon I preached afterwards to our congregation. I sent a copy of the sermon to him at the time. He found it the day before, reread it, and felt impressed to send his book to me. Listen to the title: Running on Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers. God wrote it for me. And for you.

In the book Fil tells some of his own story. He confesses that he had been “hooked on approval,” to use Brennan Manning’s term. In a chapter titled, “Confessions of a Recovering Work Addict,” he admits, “My life was filled with doing things for God rather than pursuing intimacy with God” (p. 5). Later he admits, “…my activity determined my identity” (p. 7). He speaks of being “addicted to the powerful drug of recognition” (p. 59, of “my addiction to work and busyness” (p. 102). He was so busy working for God that he had forgotten how to walk with God. He was “running on empty.”

What happened to change things? First, he discovered his true identity.

Fil, once a Young Life staff member, says, “A major cause of the frustration and confusion that characterized my life was that I looked in the wrong places for the answer to whom I am. I looked to high school students involved in my ministry and wore myself out being the best friend they had ever encountered in order to hear them praise me as a good friend. I looked to the staff and volunteers I worked alongside and did all I knew to do to gain their respect and approval. I looked to my wife and kids to tell me I was the best husband and dad a person could ever hope for. I looked to my extended family and closest friends to tell me I was a godly man, so I did whatever I felt was necessary to gain their approval.

“Yet identity, my identity, is something that only God can give me. Only the Inventor can give to the invented its identity, significance, and ultimate purpose” (pp. 64-5).

Fil came to discover his God-given identity: that he is the child of God, loved completely by his Maker and Father. That all his busyness could not make God love him any more. That all his failures could not make God love him any less. That his pretending to be more than he was, his pretending to be someone of significance and value, was killing his soul. He quotes a “wise, old preacher who said, ‘Be who you is, because if you ain’t who you is, you is who you ain’t'” (p. 64).

Second, he discovered the source of spiritual power: sitting at the feet of Jesus. Giving God time to work on his soul. Fil learned that he is not responsible for the health of his spiritual life—God is. His only job is to put himself before the Lord, so the Holy Spirit can do his work. Daily prayer, Bible reading, worship, solitude, weekly worship with his faith community—these were the means by which God filled his tank and healed his soul.

He had been Martha, consumed with preparations and busyness. He learned to be Mary, consumed with Jesus. So can we. So must we.

Conclusion

Martha’s work and preparations were essential to the meal and event of this day. All the work which is before our congregation is essential to the next chapter of our history and ministry. Every shovel turned today, every cubic foot of dirt removed tomorrow, every yard of concrete poured, every nail driven, every wall erected will advance the Kingdom of God. Every program we move and reorganize for these months, and every shuttle we ride to come to worship and ministry here, will be our investment in God’s future for our lives and our congregation. These are historic, God-sent, Spirit-directed days. The future is as bright as the promise of God.

As we make all our preparations, though, let’s make them at the feet of Jesus. Let’s remember that we are not called to build buildings, but the Kingdom; that this is not about us, but Jesus. That he is the Master of this meal, the guest of this home, the Lord of this church. That he is the church’s one foundation. That we do this for him, in his power, for his glory.

Let’s apply that same fact to our personal lives and service. Every hour we spend this week is to serve him. Every client or customer you see, every friend at school, every family member you serve, every soul you touch, is eternal. Let’s do it for him. Let’s surrender our plans and programs, our work and worth to Jesus. Let’s find our identity in his love, and put our souls where he can fill and feed them each day this week. Let’s work like Martha, while we worship like Mary. And we will glorify Jesus together.

Fil tells of a friend I presume to be Australian. He writes, “Over the years, every time I would encounter John Staggers, a dear friend, he would grab me by the shoulders, look deep into my eyes, and ask the same question: ‘Mate, is Jesus enough for you today?'”

What is your answer this morning?

Can Christians Kill?

Written by

Can Christians Kill?

James C. Denison

The Most Interesting Man in the World turns out to be a 72-year-old actor named Jonathan Goldsmith. He’s a Jewish guy from the Bronx (the accent is fake). His mother was a model, his father a track coach. He’s made a career in television, usually as the guy who gets killed. He’s also sold waterless-car-washes and done network marketing.

In real life he once rescued a stranded climber on Mt. Whitney, saved a drowning girl in Malibu, and sailed the high seas with his friend Fernando Lamas. He says, “I love the old philosophers,” and adds, “I have a large library. I am not a die-hard sports fan. I love to cut wood.”

Real life is seldom what you see in the movies. It’s the same with Christian faith. Most Baptists can tell you about the time when asked Jesus to forgive their sins and become their Savior and Lord. When I did that, nothing happened. I felt no weight lifted from my chest and saw no bright lights. Worst of all, my questions didn’t go away. I still had his questions; I’m still asking them today.

Let’s wrestle with one of the hardest questions there is. Can Christians kill? We will look at war, the death penalty, euthanasia, abortion and murder.” When I put together essays I’ve written on these subjects over the years, they came to more than 40 pages. I’ll do my best to condense all of that down so we can wrestle with these crucial subjects together.

I think through these discussions we will learn that we are to be “pro-life,” not just “pro-birth,” seeing all life as the miraculous creation of God.

War

Donald Rumsfeld’s book, Known and Unknown, discusses his experience with war during the Bush Administration. The former Defense Secretary has been traveling the media circuit promoting it. In interviews he has often been asked about the decision to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of the war in Iraq to this point:

4,433 U.S. troops killed

32,000 U.S. wounded

More than 100,000 Iraqis killed

War costs exceed $900 billion.

In WWI, 39 million people died (30 million civilians). In WWII, 51 million died (including 34 million civilians) Since WWII, approximately 150 wars have killed an estimated 16 million people.

What does the Bible say on the subject of just war?

Jesus was clear: “Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39). However, his words had to do with personal slander, not self defense or war.

We find warfare throughout the Old Testament, from Egypt’s armies pursuing Israel at the Red Sea to the Jewish conquest of Canaan, to Assyria’s destruction of the Northern Kingdom, Babylon’s conquest of the South, and the Persians, Greeks and Romans.

There is no question that God commanded his people to go to war in Canaan. For instance, at Jericho they followed the order of Joshua, God’s anointed leader: “Every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” (Joshua 6:20-21).

Is warfare still God’s will for us? What does Christian theology teach us for such a time as this? For most of Christian history, the “just war” theory has been extremely helpful. Used for sixteen centuries, the theory states that war is justified when it meets these criteria:

Just cause —a defensive war, fought only to resist aggression.

Just intent—fought to secure justice, not for revenge, conquest, or money.

Last resort—all other attempts to resolve the conflict have clearly failed.

Legitimate authority—military force authorized by the proper governmental powers.

Limited goals—achievable, seeking a just peace.

Proportionality—the good gained must justify the harm done.

Noncombatant immunity—civilians protected as far as is humanly possible.

By these standards, would our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan be “just”? Here are the factors to must consider:

These wars would respond to aggression on the part of our enemies.

They would be fought to secure justice for the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan.

All other diplomatic attempts to resolve the crisis have failed.

Our leaders followed proper political processes.

We must know how these wars will neutralize the threat of future aggression and bring about lasting peace in the region.

The good gained must justify the suffering and death caused by war.

Civilians must be protected as much as possible.

All the while we are required to obey Jesus’ order: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45). Have you prayed for al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban today?

The death penalty

“Capital punishment” derives its name from the Latin caput, meaning “head, top or leader.” A “capital” crime is the most serious, a crime at the top of the list. Punishment for such crimes is thus “capital” as well.

Biblical arguments for capital punishment:

“For your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man'” (Genesis 9:5-6).

“If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life” (Leviticus 24:17-18).

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience” (Romans 13:1-5).

Biblical arguments against capital punishment:

The Genesis statement is descriptive, not prescriptive.

Old Testament laws endorsing capital punishment are not repeated in the New Testament.

Paul’s reference to the “sword” deals with punishment, not execution.

God did not seek the death of Cain, Moses, or David.

Retribution:

Abolitionists: enforcing the death penalty brutalizes society; life in prison is a worst punishment than death.

Supporters: the victims of a capital crime deserve “justice.”

Premeditation:

Abolitionists: Since most murders are not premeditated, deterrence is irrelevant.

Supporters: If the law were consistently applied it would have a deterrent effect.

Scripture: “Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again” (Deuteronomy 13:10-11).

The protection of society

A murderer who is executed obviously cannot murder again.

Deterrence: in 2008, the average murder rate for states using capital punishment was 5.2 per 100,000 people; in states without a death penalty it was 3.3 per 100,000. However, another study indicated that each execution decreases homicides by about five.

Discrimination and economic costs (in Florida, $3.2 million per execution, six times the cost of life imprisonment).

DNA testing and execution of the innocent.

My position: Capital punishment for capital crimes is the consistent teaching of the New Testament.

Euthanasia

“Euthanasia” is derived from the Greek word “eu” (well) and “thanatos” (death). It usually means a “good death” or “mercy killing,” and is understood to be the provision of an easy, painless death to one who suffers from an incurable or extremely painful affliction. Such an action is considered proper only when the suffering person wishes to die, or is no longer able to make such a decision.

There are three categories of euthanasia:

“Active” euthanasia occurs when someone acts to produce death (“assisted suicide”). Injecting lethal drugs is an example.

“Passive” euthanasia occurs when the patient is treated (or not treated) in a way which leads to death, but actions are not taken to cause death directly. Withholding nourishment would be an example.

“Letting die” refers to medical actions taken to enhance the patient’s well-being during the dying process, even if these actions hasten death as a result. Discontinuing chemotherapy would be an example.

There are three ways to interpret this issue theologically:

“Holistic” ethicists believe that the body and soul are one. So long as the body is still living or can be kept alive, the patient possesses the same rights to medical treatment as the rest of us.

“Dualistic” ethicists separate soul from body; as soon as brain function irreversibly ceases, the “soul” is gone and the body can be allowed (or caused) to die.

“Vitalist” ethicists believe that physical function is itself sacred. Whatever we think about a “soul,” so long as the body can be kept alive it should be, by any and all means.

I support the “dualistic” view combined with “letting die” medical treatment.

We are created in God’s image to “rule over” his creation (Gen. 1:28). Without the capacity or potential for cognitive ability we cannot fulfill our intended function. The “soul” has departed from the body.

At the same time, the body is the creation of God. Only he has the right to determine when its functions will end. We can take medical actions to alleviate physical suffering, but we should not seek to end life as our purpose.

Please remember that maintaining or ending medical care does not necessarily affect the intervention of God. The Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave after he had been dead four days (John 11:38-44). He does not require medical life support to heal. And if it is his will that the patient not survive physically, no medical means can defeat his purpose.

Abortion

Every year, approximately 40,000 people die on American highways. Every ten days, that many abortions are performed in America. Doctors conduct 1.5 million abortions every year in the United States, more than the total of all America’s war dead across our history.

Since the U. S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in January of 1973, more than 48 million abortions have been performed in America. This is a number larger than the combined populations of Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. Depending on the year, an abortion occurs for every three or four live births in our country.

Abortion is the moral issue of our time. It seems impossible to wrestle with the difficult issues of our day without addressing this crucial debate. Most conservative Christians believe that life begins at conception and abortion is therefore wrong. But are we sure? Is this a biblical fact? If the answer is clear, why have so many denominational leaders taken pro-choice positions? Is there a biblical, cohesive, practical position on this difficult subject?

In 1973, the Supreme Court issued Roe v. Wade, its landmark abortion ruling. In essence, the Court overturned state laws limiting a woman’s right to abortion. Its decision was largely based on the argument that the Constitution nowhere defines a fetus as a person, or protects the rights of the unborn.

Rather, the Court determined that an unborn baby possesses only “potential life” and is not yet a “human being” or “person.” It argued that every constitutional reference to “person” relates to those already born. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees protections and rights to individuals, but the Court ruled that the amendment does not include the unborn.

The Court further determined that a woman’s “right to privacy” extends to her ability to make her own choices regarding her health and body. Just as she has the right to choose to become pregnant, she has the right to end that pregnancy. The Court suggested several specific reasons why she might choose abortion: “specific and direct harm” may come to her; “maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future”; “psychological harm may be imminent”; “mental and physical health may be taxed by child care”; problems may occur associated with bearing unwanted children; and “the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood” should be considered.

Since 1973, four positions have been taken in the abortion debate:

There should be no right to an abortion, even to save the life of the mother. This has been the Catholic Church’s usual position. Last December, the Catholic bishop in Phoenix removed its denominational designation from St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center after hospital staff performed an abortion to save the mother’s life. This was an expression of the first position regarding abortion.

Therapeutic abortions can be performed to save the mother’s life.

Extreme case abortions can be permitted in cases of rape, incest, or severe deformation of the fetus. Most pro-life advocates would accept therapeutic and extreme case abortions.

Abortion should be available to any woman who chooses it. This is the typical “pro-choice” position.

Moral arguments for abortion

No one can say when a fetus becomes a person, so the mother is the most appropriate person to make decisions regarding it.

Abortion must be protected so a woman who is the victim of rape or incest does not have to bear a child resulting from such an attack.

No unwanted child should be brought into the world.

The state has no right to legislate personal morality.

A woman must be permitted to make pregnancy decisions in light of her life circumstances.

Moral arguments against abortion

A fetus is a human life and should be granted the full protection of the law.

Most “pro-life” advocates are willing to permit abortion in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother.

All children should be wanted, so adoption is strongly encouraged as an alternative to abortion. An unwanted child would rather live than die.

Protecting the rights of the individual is the state’s first responsibility.

“Pro-life” advocates want to encourage the health of both the mother and the child, and do not believe that we must choose between the two.

When does life begin?

“Functionalism” states that the fetus is a “person” when it can act personally as a moral, intellectual, and spiritual agent.

“Actualism” is the position that a fetus is a person if it possesses the potential for developing self-conscious, personal life.

“Essentialism” argues that the fetus is a person from conception, whatever its health or potential. It is an individual in the earliest stages of development, and deserves all the protections afforded to other persons by our society.

Can we determine when life begins? Our answer depends on the definition of “life.” A “pro-choice” advocate recognizes that the fetus is alive in the sense that it is a biological entity. But so is every other part of a woman’s body. Some consider the fetus to be a “growth” and liken it to a tumor or other unwanted tissue. Biology alone is not enough to settle the issue.

What about capacity? Many ethicists define a “person” as someone able to respond to stimuli, interact with others, and make individual decisions. A fetus meets the first two standards from almost the moment of its conception, and clearly cannot fulfill the third only because it is enclosed in its mother’s body. Would a newborn baby fulfill these three conditions?

What about individuality? If we view a fetus as a “growth” within the mother’s body, it would be easier to sanction her choice to remove that growth if she wishes. But a fetus is distinct from its mother from the moment of its conception. It is alive–it reacts to stimuli, and can produce its own cells and develop them into a specific pattern of maturity. It is human, completely distinguishable from all other living organisms, possessing all 46 human chromosomes, able to develop only into a human being. And it is complete–nothing new will be added except the growth and development of what exists from the moment of conception.

It is a scientific fact that every abortion performed in the United States is performed on a being so fully formed that its heart is beating and its brain activity can be measured on an EEG machine. At 12 weeks, the unborn baby is only about two inches long, yet every organ of the human body is clearly in place.

Theologian Karl Barth described the fetus well:

The embryo has its own autonomy, its own brain, its own nervous system, its own blood circulation. If its life is affected by that of the mother, it also affects hers. It can have its own illnesses in which the mother has no part. Conversely, it may be quite healthy even though the mother is seriously ill. It may die while the mother continues to live. It may also continue to live after its mother’s death, and be eventually saved by a timely operation on her dead body. In short, it is a human being in its own right (Church Dogmatics 3.4.416).

And note that you did not come from a fetus–you were a fetus. A “fetus” is simply a human life in the womb. It becomes a “baby” outside the womb. But it is the same physical entity in either place.

For these reasons, “pro-life” advocates believe that the U. S. Supreme Court was wrong in deciding that a fetus is not a person entitled to the full protections of the law. Apart from spiritual or moral concerns, it is a simple fact of biology that the fetus possesses every attribute of human life we find in a newborn infant, with the exception of independent physical viability. Left unharmed, it will soon develop this capacity as well. If a life must be independently viable to be viewed as a person, a young child might well fail this standard, as would those of any age facing severe physical challenges.

Biblical considerations

Exodus 21: yatsa (“to come forth”), not shachol (“to miscarry”). Thus premature birth is intended (NIV).

“It was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

“Do not kill the innocent and those in the right, for I will not acquit the guilty” (Exodus 23:7).

Can I Lose My Salvation?

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Can I Lose My Salvation?

1 John 5:9-13

Dr. Jim Denison

On Sunday morning, September 9, 1973, I asked Jesus Christ to forgive my sins and become my Savior and Lord. But when I finished praying, nothing happened. I saw no lights; I felt no weight lift from my shoulders. My first thought was, “Is that all there is to it?”

And my intellectual questions about God didn’t evaporate. I still wondered about creation and science, world religions, why God allows evil and suffering. And so I doubted for many months whether my salvation and faith were real.

Was I alone?

The renowned historian Will Durant mailed questionnaires about the meaning of life to a number of famous people. After reading their answers, he published them in a chapter he titled, “An Anthology of Doubt.” Who hasn’t written in that chapter?

Researcher George Hunter says, “The number one factor in the secular audience today is not guilt but doubt. Secular people doubt the claims of the Gospel, partly because of the plural truth claims confronting people today. They also doubt the intelligence, relevance, and credibility of the church and its advocates.”

And Christians are certainly not immune from such doubts. I was not. You’re not. What do we do when we doubt our salvation or our faith or our God? How can we help others else deal with their doubts? These are precisely the questions this part of John’s first letter was written to answer.

Trust God’s word (v. 9a)

Start with his promise: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” We can “know” with absolute confidence and settled assurance that we have eternal life. How?

First, by trusting the Bible, the “testimony of God” (v. 9). Why should you trust it? When doubts come regarding the Bible, what do you need to know?

The Bible is God’s word because it keeps its promises. For instance, the Old Testament makes at least 28 specific predictions about the coming Messiah, each one fulfilled completely by Jesus Christ. As you’ve heard me say before, the odds of Jesus’ fulfilling just eight of these predictions, as calculated by mathematician Peter Stoner, is 1 in ten to the 17th power. That’s a one followed by 17 zeroes. Get the picture in your mind: fill the state of Texas two feet deep with silver dollars, mark just one, and give me a chance to find it blindfolded. The odds are the same as those for Jesus’ fulfillment of just eight of the promises about the Messiah. The Bible keeps its promises.

The Bible is God’s word because it agrees with itself. 66 different books written over 1,500 years by at least 40 authors, with no discrepancies regarding doctrine or faith practice—clear evidence of the trustworthiness of God’s revelation to us.

And the Bible is God’s word because it has been transmitted accurately to us. The ancient world wrote on papyrus, a thin paper which disintegrated in time. So we have no originals of the Bible, or Caesar’s Gallic Wars, or the Histories of Tacitus, or the work of Aristotle, or any other ancient book. But we have copies. How accurate are they?

We have 5,000 ancient Greek copies of the New Testament, and 10,000 in other ancient languages. These copies go back to 40 years after the originals were written.

Compare the Bible to Caesar’s Gallic Wars, with only nine or ten manuscripts, none early than 900 years after Caesar. The Histories of Tacitus were 14 books; only 4½ remain, none closer than 900 years after Tacitus. Of Aristotle’s books, only five manuscripts remain of any one work, none earlier than 1,400 years after Aristotle.

Some scholars estimate that the Greek New Testament we have is 99.2% the original, and the remaining .8% affects no matter of faith or practice.

Trust the Bible because it keeps its promises, it agrees with itself, it has been given to you accurately. Examine your doubts in its light. Find what God says on the subject, and know that it is true. And many doubts will disappear in the light of the word of God.

Trust God’s Son (vs. 9b-12)

So first we trust the Scriptures. Next we trust the Son these Scriptures reveal. Verse 9 continues, “It is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.” Trust God’s word, and trust God’s Son.

Historians says you can. Ancient Roman and Jewish scholars such as Thallus the Samaritan, Pliny the Younger, Seutonius, Mara bar Serapion, Tacitus, and Flavius Josephus tell us that Jesus lived, died at the hands of Pontius Pilate, was believed by the first Christians to be raised, and was worshiped as God. Historians say you can trust in God’s Son.

Former skeptics say you can: C. S. Lewis, the brilliant atheistic literature professor who became the most important popular Christian writer of the twentieth century; Cyril Joad, the atheistic philosopher, converted by the truth of the Christian faith; Sir William Ramsey, the brilliant archaeologist, converted by examining the historical truth of Scripture; Josh McDowell, an intellectual skeptic who was changed by the truth of Jesus and now convinces crowds around the world. Former skeptics say you can trust in God’s Son.

You can experience him for yourself, right now. Verse 11 promises that you can have “eternal life” by meeting Jesus. John 3:36 makes the same claim: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” Whoever—anyone. No matter who you are, what you’ve done, where you’ve been. Anyone.

And verse 13 promises that you can know that you have this life.

A literal translation would be, “We can actually and with full assurance know intellectually and personally that we have eternal life.”

This phrase does not mean that we gradually grow into assurance, but that we can possess here and now a present certainty of the life we have already received in Jesus. You don’t need to wonder if Jesus is real and your salvation secure—you can ask him for yourself, meet with him personally, right now.

Deal with doubts in faith

So we stand on the sure foundation of God’s trustworthy word and his divine Son. Now, when doubts arise about our faith, what practical things can we do?

Be prepared for your doubts. According to C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, doubt is something we must expect to happen to us. The stronger your faith, the more likely you will be subjected to attack by doubt. Doubt is part of Satan’s strategy for paralyzing and crippling your faith and preventing your use by God. The stronger your faith, the greater a threat you are to the enemy. So be prepared for doubts to come not because your faith is weak, but because it is strong.

Be realistic about your doubts. Our doubts and questions about God so often come from asking questions whose answers we cannot understand. We want to know more about the nature of God, or his eternal plan and why this crisis fits into it. But our minds are finite and fallen. We want to know more than we can comprehend. Augustine was right: “If you can comprehend it, it’s not God.”

And remember that faith is a relationship with God, and no relationship can be proven. You cannot prove to me that someone loves you. Absolute, scientific, logical proof for love, friendship, or faith does not exist. As Tennyson wrote, “nothing worth proving can be proven.”

So be realistic about your doubts. Do you question what you cannot humanly comprehend? Are you asking for proof which cannot exist?

Be honest about your doubts. The only doubt which does permanent damage is the one we won’t admit. Isaiah 1:18 in the original Hebrew records God’s invitation, “Come, let’s argue it out.” God knows your questions, your doubts, your struggles. Be honest about them with him.

Be biblical about your doubts. Judge what you don’t know by what you do: God’s word is true, and Jesus is his Son and our Savior. Find the help of God’s word and his Son for your doubt, your question, your problem. Ask a trusted Christian friend to study Scripture with you and pray for you. Don’t let the doubt linger and fester in your mind. Bring it into the light of God’s word, now.

Conclusion

My favorite prayer in the Bible is recorded in Mark 9:24. After a father pleads with Jesus to heal his demon-possessed boy, Jesus says, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (v. 23). And the father exclaims, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” You can pray that prayer today, and Jesus will hear you and help you.

Go to him for the salvation he can give your soul. He will pardon your failures and sins, give you a new start and joyous life, and bring you to heaven when you die. Go to him to start your faith, and to live your faith. Name your doubt, your confusion, your question today. Give it to him. And listen for his answers. Ask him to help your unbelief, and he will.

I studied and taught philosophy of religion at Southwestern Seminary and in other schools precisely because I believe that we need to love God with our minds. We need to ask our questions with honesty, and find the help that Scripture and Christ give us.

I closed every course I taught with a prayer I invite you to share with me now:

From cowardice, which shrinks from new truth,From laziness, that is content with half truth,From arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,O God of Truth, deliver.

Amen.

Canceling the Gong Show

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Canceling the Gong Show

Exodus 20:13

Dr. Jim Denison

From 1976 to 1980, easily the most outrageous show on television was The Gong Show. Remember Chuck Barris, the curly-haired maniac who would “gong” unlucky contestants? He went on to make The Gong Show Movie, which was gonged by critics and viewers alike. But Chuck laughed all the way to the bank, or more specifically to France, where he still lives today.

Unfortunately, his show’s title is still an appropriate description for relationships in America.

A person is murdered in this country every 31 minutes.

In 1990 handguns murdered 10 people in Australia, 22 in Great Britain, 68 in Canada, and 10,567 in the United States.

The national prison and jail population in 1980 was 501,900. For this year the Bureau of Justice Statistics projects it to be 2,014,000.

Recent demographics in North Dallas list crime as the greatest single fear we feel. Two Sundays ago my neighbor’s car was broken into; recently one of our members had her purse stolen from her house; since Wedgwood, we know that even churches are not guaranteed safety.

The problem is not just with our society, but with our personal lives and relationships.

Mother Teresa said that the greatest epidemic in America is not AIDS or cancer but loneliness. Isolated, hurting people, in strained marriages and families and relationships, are all around us. Even today.

Where are you at odds with someone today? When I ask you about the problem people in your life, what person comes to mind first?

God wants to help you with that person, and to help us as a society. That’s why he gave us the sixth commandment.

What not to do

Our text today is very simple. The sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments are each expressed in only two Hebrew words: “No murder, no adultery, no stealing.” Today, “You shall not murder.”

“You” is plural, including us all.

“Shall not” is a present-tense command. Not a suggestion or principle but a law. In the present tense, thus applying today, and tomorrow, and for all time.

“Murder” is the key word here. What does it mean?

This is not the typical Hebrew word for “kill.” This word, ratzah, appears forty-seven times in the Old Testament, each time with reference to premeditated and intentional murder.

This word and commandment does not prohibit us from defending ourselves (Exodus 22:2), accidental killings (Deuteronomy 19:5), involvement in war (Deuteronomy 13:15), or capital punishment (Genesis 9:6).

But it prohibits us from all other killing, for any other reason.

Well and good. But most of us have never killed anyone and certainly don’t intend to. So why waste time dealing with this issue? Why not move on? Well, before we decide we’re free to bypass the sixth commandment, perhaps we should remember what Jesus said about it.

If we are “angry” with our brother we are subject to the same judgment as if we murder him (Matthew 5:22).

If we call him “Raca,” an Aramaic term of contempt, something like “Good for nothing!” we must answer to judgment.

If we call him “fool,” the worst form of contempt in the ancient world, a term which means that he is immoral and corrupt in the extreme, we deserve the same penalty as Jeffrey Dahmer or Adolf Hitler.

Is anyone here today angry with someone? Calling them names? Branding them immoral failures? Apparently there are many ways to “murder.” Why are they wrong?

Scripture gives us at least three reasons.

First, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). And so, to hurt a person is to hurt God. This is like attacking your child or spouse. To hurt Janet or Ryan or Craig is to attack me. And 1 Corinthians 3:17 says that we are the “temple” of God. If I attack your house I attack you. If I attack you, I attack the God who dwells in you.

If we don’t want to hurt God, we’ll keep the sixth commandment.

A second reason harming others is prohibited is that we are to treat others the way we want to be treated. This is the famous Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12), and it’s still the best way to live.

The German Protestant pastor Martin Niemoeller said, “The Nazis came for the Communists, but I wasn’t a Communist, so I didn’t object. They came for Socialists, but I wasn’t a Socialist, so I didn’t object. They came for trade union leaders, but I wasn’t a union leader, so I didn’t object. They came for the Jews, but I wasn’t a Jew, so I didn’t object. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to object.”

If we want to treat others as we want to be treated, we’ll keep the sixth commandment.

A third reason hurting others is prohibited is this: how we treat the person we hold in lowest esteem is how we treat Jesus. In Matthew 25, Jesus spoke of the hungry which weren’t fed, the thirsty not given a drink, the stranger not invited in, the naked not clothed, the prisoner not visited, and said, “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45).

If we want to treat others as we would Jesus, we’ll keep the sixth commandment.

Ways to murder today

We’ve learned why to keep the sixth commandment. Now, let’s look at ways to break it, as Jesus interpreted it. Let’s go from preaching to meddling for a moment.

Gossip murders the character of those we talk about, exactly as “Raca” or “fool” did in Jesus’ day.

Listen to Leviticus 19:16-18: “Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life” (note the parallelism).

Dr. Laura Schlessinger has a good book on the Ten Commandments. In it she quotes this essay on gossip, sent to her anonymously:

My name is Gossip. I have no respect for justice.I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives.I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age.The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.I flourish at every level of society.My victims are helpless. They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no face.To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become.I am nobody’s friend.Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.I topple governments, wreck marriages, and ruin careers–cause sleepless nights, heartaches, and indigestion.I spawn suspicion and generate grief.I make innocent people cry in their pillows.Even my name hisses. . . .I make headlines and headaches.Before you repeat a story, ask yourself, Is it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary? If not–shut up!

Now let’s consider briefly some other ethical issues the sixth commandment raises. As someone once said of a preacher, “He believed everything he said, but didn’t say everything he believes.” I’ll have to do that today, for the sake of time.

What about euthanasia? This is obviously a larger subject than time allows today, but the sixth commandment is clear: only God has the right to determine when a life should end.

What about suicide? Again, only God has the right to determine when a life is done. Not even the person living that life. Please understand: suicide is not the unpardonable sin. That theology came from the belief that sins must be confessed before one dies, and someone committing the sin of suicide obviously could not do this. But the Bible nowhere says that. Suicide is, however, a great sin, always wrong in Scripture and against the will of God.

What about abortion? Again, this is a far larger subject than time allows today—some time in the future we need to consider a sermon series together on all these various ethical issues. But I would not be truthful with you today unless I told you this: I believe Scripture is clear in teaching that life begins at conception, as when God says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). According to the sixth commandment, then, abortion is, in principle, wrong.

Here’s the bottom line for today: we are to see all people as God sees them, and as their mother sees them. Then we will value them and treat them as we should. Now, how do we do this?

What to do with problem people

Jesus’ commentary on the sixth commandment gives us the help we need.

First, release your anger (Matthew 5:22). When Jesus tells us not to be “angry” with our brother, he uses a very specific Greek word, orgizesthai, which means long-lived, cherished, nursed wrath and anger. This is not thumos, the word for short-lived angry emotions, but the word for anger we choose to hold onto and feed.

Jesus does not tell us not to feel angry, but not to hold onto that anger. We cannot help our feelings, but we can manage them. Luther said we cannot keep the birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from nesting in our hair.

So, refuse to hold onto your anger. Ask God to help you let it go today.

Second, take the initiative to heal (Matthew 5:23-24). To put Jesus’ words in our context, if you are on your way into the sanctuary for worship and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave church, drive to his house, and make things right. Only then should you come in here to worship God.

Not if you have something against him—if he has something against you. Take the initiative to heal the relationship.

Do it now (Matthew 5:25-26). Again in our terms, if someone is suing you and you’re in the wrong, settle before you get to court. It will cost you far less now than then. It will never be easier to make things right than it is today.

Choose to pardon (Matthew 5:38-42).

Jesus’ words relate to an insult, as when someone slaps you on the right cheek with the back of his hand, or a Roman soldier makes you carry his pack for him. You can retaliate, but you only hurt yourself.

Frederick Buechner is right: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is a rapid way to a sightless, toothless world.

To forgive is to pardon. It is not to pretend you’re not hurt, or excuse the hurt, but choose not to punish the one who hurt you. Ask God to help you choose to pardon, for his sake and for yours.

Last, pray for the person (Matthew 5:43-44). This is sometimes the only thing you can do, but it is always the best thing you can do. And it is hard, perhaps impossible, to hurt those we are praying for. Pray for the problem person in your life, today.

Conclusion

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor your father and mother,” she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?”

A boy (the oldest in a family of seven) immediately answered, “Thou shalt not kill.”

He was right.

Changed People Can Change the World

Written by

Changed People Can Change the World

James C. Denison

You and I are living in a day of unprecedented change. Sociologists tell us that 90% of all the changes which have occurred in human history have taken place in the last 100 years; 90% of these have occurred in the last ten years.

For example:

•One out of eight couples married in the United States last year met online.

•More text messages were sent and received today than the planet’s population.

•Today’s New York Times contains more information than a person living in colonial America would encounter in his or her lifetime.

•In 25 years, a cell phone will fit in a blood cell.

•In a few years, a computer will exist with the computational capacity of the human brain.

•By 2045, a $1000 computer will possess the computational capacity of the human race.

Changes are occurring across the political landscape of our day as well. The “Arab Spring” pro-democracy youth-led movement in the Middle East is transforming nations from Tunisia and Egypt to Jordan, Yemen and Libya. I was in Israel in March, and can tell you that the Israeli government is both hopeful and concerned about these changes. Who would have imagined that Twitter, Facebook and text messages could overthrow dictators and change governments?

Small things can produce large changes, a fact Jesus made clear in the Sermon on the Mount:

You are the salt of the earth. But 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. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).

How can your life, influence and resources work to support life in these critical days?

Understand the issue

Let’s begin by exploring this issue. Every year, approximately 40,000 people die on American highways. Every ten days, that many abortions are performed in America. Doctors conduct 1.5 million abortions every year in the United States, more than the total of all America’s war dead across our history.

Since the U. S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in January of 1973, more than 48 million abortions have been performed in America. This is a number larger than the combined populations of Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. Depending on the year, an abortion occurs for every three or four live births in our country.

What is the case for abortion? Five claims contribute to the pro-choice position:

•No one can say when a fetus becomes a person, so only the mother should make abortion decisions.

•The state has no right to legislate personal morality.

•Abortion must remain legal to protect rape and incest victims as well as the health of the mother.

•No unwanted child should be brought into the world.

•A woman must be permitted to make pregnancy decisions in light of her life circumstances. When I studied Roe v. Wade I discovered that this issue was especially compelling for the justices who sided with the majority.

Pro-life supporters such as myself respond to these assertions as follows. First, can we say when a fetus becomes a person? It is a scientific fact that every abortion performed in the United States is performed on a being so fully formed that its heart is beating and its brain activity can be measured on an EEG machine. At 12 weeks, the unborn baby is only about two inches long, yet every organ of the human body is clearly in place.

Theologian Karl Barth described the fetus well:

The embryo has its own autonomy, its own brain, its own nervous system, its own blood circulation. If its life is affected by that of the mother, it also affects hers. It can have its own illnesses in which the mother has no part. Conversely, it may be quite healthy even though the mother is seriously ill. It may die while the mother continues to live. It may also continue to live after its mother’s death, and be eventually saved by a timely operation on her dead body. In short, it is a human being in its own right.

And note that you did not come from a fetus—you were a fetus. A “fetus” is simply a human life in the womb. It becomes a “baby” outside the womb. But it is the same physical entity in either place.

Second, most “pro-life” advocates are willing to permit abortion in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother. Since such cases typically account for only one to four percent of abortions performed, limiting abortion to these conditions would prevent the vast majority of abortions occurring in America.

Third, “pro-life” advocates agree that all children should be wanted, so they argue strongly for adoption as an alternative to abortion. They also assert that an unwanted child would rather live than die. By “pro-choice” logic, it would be possible to argue for infanticide and all forms of euthanasia as well as abortion.

Fourth, “pro-life” supporters do not see abortion legislation as an intrusion into areas of private morality. Protecting the rights of the individual is the state’s first responsibility. No moral state can overlook murder, whatever the personal opinions of those who commit it. The state is especially obligated to protect the rights of those who cannot defend themselves.

Fifth, “pro-life” advocates want to encourage the health of both the mother and the child, and do not believe that we must choose between the two. As the rights of a mother are no more important than those of her newborn infant, so they are no more important than those of her pre-born child.

The stress, guilt, and long-term mental anguish reported by many who abort their children must be considered. The legal right to abortion subjects a woman to pressure from her husband or sexual partner to end her pregnancy. Killing the fetus for the sake of the mother’s health is like remedying paranoia by killing all the imagined persecutors. For these reasons, “pro-life” advocates argue that a moral state must limit or prevent abortion.

The Bible views us as God’s creation from the moment of our conception, so that David could say to God:

For it was you who formed my inward parts;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance

In your book were written

all the days that were formed for me,

when none of them as yet existed (Psalm 139:13-16 NRS).

Engage your culture

The pro-choice position reflects the current “postmodern” worldview which argues that all truth is personal and subjective. In this view there is no such thing as absolute truth (which is an absolute truth claim, by the way). How is this approach to morality working for us?

•America leads the industrialized world in teenage pregnancy. One out of three girls in our nation becomes pregnant before the age of 20, 81% out of wedlock. Forty percent of the births in America take place outside of marriage.

•Homicide is the second-leading cause of death in America for infants.

•Pornography made more money last year in America than Apple, Microsoft, eBay, Amazon, Google, Yahoo and Netflix—combined. Pornography around the world makes more money than all professional sports combined.

•There are 27,900 gangs in America, with 774,000 members. Last year they made $125 billion dollars through illegal drugs.

Abortion is the moral issue of our day. Mother Teresa was right when she told the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994, “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?” Later in her speech she implored the gathering, “Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child.”

How can you and I use our influence and resources for life?

Learning from Jesus’ metaphor of salt and light, first we must choose to connect with our culture. Salt is no good in the saltshaker; light is no help under a basket. How can you use your time, influence and finances to contribute directly to this issue? Can you volunteer to counsel mothers and their children? Can you engage community and cultural leaders in this issue? Can you give financially to help organizations defend and support life?

Second, we choose to serve. Salt disappears in the food it seasons; light disappears as the darkness dissipates. God is looking for selfless servants who are willing to sacrifice of themselves and their resources for children and our future. He is calling us to give more than we can spare in this cause.

Third, we choose to trust. The salt cannot see its influence; the light cannot know the ultimate effects of its work. Great people plant trees they’ll never sit under. You cannot measure the eternal significance of present faithfulness. One life saved may change our culture forever for God’s glory.

Conclusion

You are reading this essay by divine appointment. Before God made the first man and woman, he knew he would make you. Before he created the first hour, he knew he would make this hour. Before he made you, he knew he would call you to become engaged in this cause. 

As you consider the depth of your sacrifice, I would like you to consider my favorite declaration of faith. It is titled, Fellowship of the Unashamed. You can find it online in a variety of versions, attributed to a variety of authors.

The version I treasure was given to me by my friend and mentor, Dr. John Haggai, founder of the Haggai Institute in Atlanta. He received it from ministry contacts in Africa, who received it from the widow of a young pastor martyred in Zimbabwe for his faith. After his death, his family found in his journal these words:

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

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

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

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, or slow up until I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go until he comes, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until he stops. And when he comes to get his own, he’ll have no problems recognizing me—my colors will be clear.

Amen?