Covenant Marriage by God’s Design

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Topical Scripture: Genesis 2:18–25, Ephesians 5:21–33

A friend shared with me these “reasons to be a man”:

  • Phone conversations are over in thirty seconds flat.
  • You know stuff about tanks.
  • A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
  • You can leave the motel bed unmade.
  • You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
  • Wedding plans take care of themselves.
  • Your underwear is $10.00 for a three-pack.
  • Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
  • If another guy shows up at the party in the same outfit, you might become lifelong friends.
  • You are not expected to know the names of more than five colors.
  • You can “do” your nails with a pocketknife.
  • Christmas shopping can be accomplished for twenty-five relatives, on December 24th, in forty-five minutes.

It’s all true.

We’re learning how to live in ways God can bless. Last week we talked about God; today we’re going to talk about men and women. Last week was vertical; this week is horizontal. To live a life blessed by God, we must live in daily commitment to Jesus as Lord, and in daily covenant with each other.

Clearly, our marriages need encouragement today. A “covenant” relationship can revolutionize your marriage, your dating relationships, your friendships, and your own sense of identity, purpose, and joy. Let’s learn how to experience covenant relationships today.

Relationship as contract

Nearly every relationship in our culture today is contractual in nature. The simplest dictionary definition of a contract is “a promise enforceable by law.” The contract requires the mutual assent of two or more persons. If one of the parties fails to keep the promise, the other is entitled to legal recourse.

Our children’s teachers have a contractual obligation to be qualified in the subjects they teach, and to teach those subjects. Our political leaders have a contractual obligation to fulfill the responsibilities they have assumed. The people painting your house have a contractual obligation to do what you are paying them to do. If they don’t want to complete the job, or you don’t want them to, you have contractual recourse and steps to consider. The relationship can be ended at any time by mutual consent or through legal process.

This is the view our society has taken of marriage as well. Our culture is convinced that marriage, like all other relationships in our society, is negotiable, subjective, and arbitrary. It’s a contract which can be ended at any time by either partner.

Relationship as covenant

This contractual view of marriage and relationships is completely contrary to God’s word and will. In the beginning of human history, God had made Adam, but not Eve. Then our Maker said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18).

“Helper fit for him” points to a superior who helps an inferior, a stronger person helping a weaker person. Man needs woman, and woman needs man. We are each other’s “helpers” in life. We are each made differently; we need each other.

Man’s need was so urgent that God performed a special, miraculous creative act to meet it (vv. 21–22). Adam certainly approved of the result: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘Woman,’ because she was taken out of Man” (v. 23).

With this result: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (v. 24). Even in that perfect, pre-fallen Garden of Eden, man’s life was not complete alone. So, God gave man his soul mate, the person who completed him, the one who made his life complete, fulfilled, and joyous. He still does.

And he intends the man and woman to live in covenant with each other. A contract is conditional; a covenant is unconditional. A contract can be ended by either party for just cause; the covenant is unending and eternal. A contract is based on human expectations and performance; a covenant is based on God’s will and kept by his power. And that is the relationship he intends for a husband and a wife.

How to live in covenant

So, how do we live in covenant relationships? Ephesians 5 provides the guidelines we need.

The text begins: “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). “Submit” translates the word for a voluntary decision to serve. It is in the middle voice in Greek: “choose to place yourself in submission.”

Not the submission of an inferior to a superior, but the choice to support and serve on the part of an equal. It is an ongoing, present-tense commitment, made not just for the wedding but for all the years of the marriage. And it is a commandment, not an option. How do we fulfill it?

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord” (v. 22). Your husband’s greatest need is encouraging support, to know that he is respected. You are the person whose respect he needs most. When you submit to him, encourage him, and support him, you meet his heart’s cry and fulfill your God-given role in his life and heart.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church” (v. 25). Your wife’s greatest need is loving security, to know that she is cherished and wanted. You are the person whose love and admiration she needs most. When you love her, finding ways to express your attraction, gratitude, and commitment to her, you meet her heart’s cry and fulfill your God-given role in her life and heart.

What does every marriage need? One expert summarizes: “Men are motivated and empowered when they feel needed. Women are motivated and empowered when they feel cherished.” Every marriage needs encouraging support and loving security.

This is God’s intended covenant for your marriage, and for your other relationships as well. The men you know need your respect before they need anything else. The women you know need your appreciation and security before they need anything else.

Jesus stands ready to love them through you, if you will stay in his Spirit and power. If you will live in constant communion with him. If you will surrender your marriage and relationships to him, he will fulfill his covenant in and through your life.

Are there circumstances by which this covenant can be broken biblically? There are three. This is the subject of another message, but we’ll survey them briefly here.

First, if an unbeliever abandons a believer. “If the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances” (1 Corinthians 7:15 NIV). If you are married to a non-Christian who refuses to stay in the marriage, you are not obligated to that person.

Second, if one of the partners commits adultery, sex outside of marriage. Jesus said, “I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9).

I believe a third biblical condition to be abuse, whether emotional or physical, which threatens life and future. The sixth commandment is plain: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). James 2:11 adds: “For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

Life comes first. Sometimes we must choose between commandments. When Corrie ten Boom and her family were harboring Jews, and the Nazis came looking for them, the ten Booms had to choose between lying and murder. If we must choose between a destructive, threatening, abusive marriage and life, we choose life.

Sometimes divorce is the lesser of two terrible options. But even when there is abandonment, adultery, or abuse, divorce is the last resort, to be considered only after there has been every effort made to restore the relationship. Only when one partner refuses to continue the process toward healing.

I am convinced that God can heal every marriage whose partners want their marriage to be healed. And he will give you not a better marriage but a new marriage. Not a better home but a new home. A home built on the covenant commitment which he will empower by his grace.

Jesus told us about a foolish man who built his house on sand, and a wise man who built his house on rock. The same storms came against them both. The first fell; the second stood firm (Matthew 7:24–27). The difference was not their materials, architect, or builder, but their foundation. If your home and relationships are built on any foundation other than the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you have built on sand. And the storms are coming.

Conclusion

When Jesus is Lord of your covenant relationship, one and one makes three. A man, a woman, and the Lord; two people and their God. That’s the way to hope, help, and joy.

So, which is your marriage: a contract between two people or a covenant with God? What about your friendships at school, or relationships at work? What practical steps can you take to move from contract to covenant this week?

First, commit to the marriage or relationship. Decide that divorce is not an option. There will be times when that commitment to your covenant is all that gets you through a hard place and time. But it will.

Second, determine to meet the needs of your spouse or friend. It’s not about you. Your husband needs encouraging respect and support; your wife needs nurturing love and security. Look for ways to provide it. Refuse to undermine it.

Make an inventory of anything that could harm your relationship. Ask a friend to pray with you and hold you accountable in areas where you struggle. Seek professional help if necessary.

And be proactive in meeting the other’s needs. John Gottman of the University of Washington says, “In couples that stay together, there are about five times more positive things said to and about one another as negative ones. But in couples that divorce, there are about one and a half times more negative things said than positive.” Look for ways to meet the other’s needs.

Third, verbally commit to your covenant together. Pray together that God would protect you and strengthen you from any attack of Satan. He hates everything God has created, including your marriage and family. He will do all he can to attack and undermine your commitment to each other.

Marquis Clarke, a Christian mother and blogger, made this simple but powerful vow: “I want my life and my marriage to look less like the world and more like Christ.” Do you?

Covenant Renewal

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Covenant Renewal

Joshua 24:1-33

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: We find peace only in the gracious covenant of our Lord.

Goal: Respond to God’s grace with obedience.

Years ago, an artistic competition was announced on the theme of “peace.” Beautiful paintings were entered—a pastoral landscape, with sheep grazing contentedly; a warm fire blazing in a rich wooden study; a tranquil sunset over a calm ocean.

But the award-winning submission was different from all the others. The artist pictured Niagara Falls in all its roaring, cacophonous power. The viewer could nearly feel the mist in his face, the wind in his hair, as the water rushed over the rocks in a thunderous torrent. At the edge of the painting, the artist rendered a slender tree branch, and on that branch a tiny bird nest. A bird sat in that nest, perched over the falls, gazing into the sky with contentment. The picture’s caption was simple: “peace.”

The bumper sticker has it right: Know God, know peace; no God, no peace.

In all the recorded years of humanity, historians can find only four years where there was no conflict raging somewhere on the globe. We cannot produce peace. But we can receive it at the hands of the Prince of Peace.

Respond to the graceful initiative of God (vs. 1-13)

One last time, Joshua assembled the elders and leaders of the nation into a kind of national congress (v. 1). His purpose was a covenant renewal ceremony, his last gift to this nation he had led so capably across so many years.

Such ancient ceremonies typically began with a recitation of the history of the people. And so Joshua recounted their experience from Abraham to the present. But with a theological theme: every provision they had experienced had come from the hand of their gracious God, by his initiative and mercy.

So it was with Abraham, himself part of a pagan family. By his grace God took Abraham from that place of idolatry and gave this childless, elderly man “many descendants” (v. 3). Abraham did nothing to earn such favor from the hand of his God.

Next the Lord sent Moses and Aaron to lead his people from Egyptian slavery to their freedom. The plagues which freed them and the miracle of the Red Sea which preserved them were again his gifts, in no sense the result of their work or merit.

When the nation came to the Amorites east of the Jordan, God conquered them. He refused the curse of Balaam, and blessed his people instead. He led them across the flooded Jordan River, gave them the conquered city of Jericho, and brought them into military victory they did not earn.

In summary, “I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant” (v. 13). Nothing they could see was theirs except from the hand of their gracious Lord.

Were Joshua to stand before our congregation this weekend, he could make exactly the same speech. Every breath we draw comes from our Creator; every birth is his gift; every salvation is by his grace. Our church was birthed in his heart before it was dreamed in ours. Our buildings and ministries are led by his Spirit and prospered by his mercy. He receives our worship only because he is a God of love. He guides our Bible study and obedience by his grace.

The peace we seek can come only from God’s hand and his heart. We can do nothing to earn his favor.

Let us resolve to refuse the subtle temptation to believe we have earned the peace and prosperity we know today. R. A. Torrey once told of receiving a note from a Presbyterian elder. The man complained that God was not answering his prayers, even though he had been a faithful elder for many years, a Sunday school superintendent, and a recognized church leader. Torrey came to the heart of the problem: the man was praying in his merit. He thought that his religious works had earned an audience with God. He was wrong.

Is the same subtle temptation present in your life and ministry? Is it possible that some of us teach or preach so that God will bless us in return? That we expect him to answer our prayers and meet our needs because we do this work in his Kingdom? The covenant to which God calls us in renewal this day is one based on his grace, not our goodness. And on no other foundation.

Everything you do should be motivated by the grace of God, as we will discover next.

Choose the obedience which comes from gratitude (vs. 14-18)

Now Joshua called his people to “fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness” (v. 14). No partial obedience, this. “All” faithfulness requires that we give God Monday as well as Sunday, our private thoughts as well as our public actions. If he is our King, and we are in covenant with him, then every moment of every day is his. Every dollar belongs to him. Every relationship is to be governed by his word and will.

For the Israelis, such a commitment meant that they must abandon every false idol (v. 14). This was to be a conscious, intentional decision, made carefully and definitively (v. 15a). Joshua offered them his model: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (v. 15b), perhaps the most famous statement in the book bearing his name. Would to God that you and I provide such an example for those whose spiritual lives we influence.

When I first met Janet’s parents in Houston, I was immediately impressed by a plaque hanging on their dining room door. It contained the words of Joshua 24:15. I soon discovered that her parents lived by these truths. They were not just a motto for their house, but a commitment for their lives. Can others say the same of us?

The people admitted their absolute dependence on their God (vs. 16-17). And they renewed their pledge to the covenant which had brought them this far (v. 18). Theirs would be a life of obedience. But that obedience would be their response to grace.

For much of my Christian life, I wrestled with the relationship between faith and works. I knew that I was saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). What, then, is the role of works in my salvation? Eventually I came to understand that the work I do for the Kingdom is to be my response to the goodness of God, not my effort to earn such blessing. I serve because God loves me, not so that he will. I work because I am accepted by him, not so I will be. You and I minister the word of God because God has ministered it to us. Our obedience is to be motivated only by gratitude for such grace.

This motivation is the only means to peace in ministry. If you are working to become someone of merit and significance, you can never do enough. There is always another class member who needs your attention, love, and concern. There is always another lesson to prepare, another event to arrange, another visitor to call. If we are driven by performance to become people who matter, we will be driven to unrest and distress.

On the other hand, if we do our ministries out of love for the One who loves us, we can rest in his grace and guidance. We will do that which he asks of us, in the power he provides. He will get the glory, and we will be blessed by his grace. Gratitude leads to peace. All other motives rob it from us.

Live in covenant by the power of God (vs. 19-27)

Joshua next responded to the enthusiasm of the people with a realistic warning: “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God” (v. 19). He was exactly right. Their history was filled with failures to follow this covenant. The ten northern tribes would eventually lose their identity to Assyria; the southern would lose their land for 70 years to Babylon. And in AD 70 the entire nation would be taken by the Romans. All because they could not keep this covenant of obedience.

Neither can we keep ours. You and I cannot stand against the enemy in our strength. We fight a spiritual war, and must have spiritual armor and weapons (Ephesians 6:10-18). Civil war soldiers would stand no chance against modern weaponry. Only when we fight in the power of the Lord can we have his victory.

The people renewed their commitment to obedience (v. 22), and Joshua marked their covenant with decrees and recorded laws (vs. 25-26). A written witness to a covenant was typical in the ancient world, something like a legal contract in our culture. He set a large stone as a marker to remind the generations to come of the decision transacted on this soil and day (v. 26). But it would take more than this stone to keep them faithful to their God.

What step is the Father asking you to make today? Where is there sin to confess, obedience to render, ministry to give? Do so in his strength. Ask for his power. Admit to him that you cannot follow him unless he sustains your steps and guides your heart. Ask him for his provision and purpose, in humility. Walk on your knees. And you will walk into the Land he promises his faithful children.

Conclusion (vs. 28-33)

Joshua came to his end, as all mankind must. Eleazar, his faithful partner and priest, died and was buried as well. Joseph’s “bones” (actually his mummified corpse; cf. Genesis 50:26) were brought to their final resting place. And the nation would step into uncharted waters, a future found only in the providence of their God.

It is said that after Alexander the Great died, his generals consulted their maps to determine their next steps, only to discover to their dismay that they had marched off of them. Their general knew where he was going, but they did not.

Our General knows the way to the Promised Land, for now and for eternity. Choose to live in covenant with the second Joshua, and you will find in his grace the peace of mind and heart which is his gift to us. This gift comes only from his hand. He is waiting to give it to you.

Covenant Restored

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Covenant Restored

Joshua 8: 1-35

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: We must seek God’s will for each battle we fight.

Goal: Learn why and how to seek God’s will daily.

One of the most common questions I’ve been asked in 20 years of pastoral ministry has been: how can I know the will of God? We need his will for specific decisions—vocational opportunities or problems, family issues, financial commitments. We need his will for our relationships. We need his will for the use of our time, talent, and treasure. Nothing is more important to the follower of Jesus than that we know and follow the will of God for our lives. So how can we find this will each day?

Frederick Buechner was right: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” He has an overarching will for our lives, a purpose for our existence. Stephen Covey distinguishes between the compass (our values, vision, principles and mission) and the clock (our commitments, appointments, activities). We want God’s will for both.

When we find and fulfill that will, we can follow Jim Elliot’s advice: “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” You and I will live with purpose, fulfillment, and significance only to the degree that we live in the will of God. So again we ask: how can we find this daily will?

Review all the ways God has led his people to this point. At the Red Sea, Moses held up his shepherd’s rod and the waters parted. At the flooded Jordan, the priests stepped into the water before it stopped. At Jericho, the army marched around the city walls. Now they would embark on yet another strategy, one of the most ingenious in war literature.

What’s the point? We must seek God’s will each day, for that day. His plans for yesterday may not be his plans for today. The way we cross the Red Sea may not be the way we cross the Jordan. We will defeat Ai differently than we defeated Jericho. Only when we live in this day, seeking God’s will for this moment, can we find and fulfill that will.

Norman Vincent Peale used to illustrate the point this way. He and his wife had a summer house, to which they would often arrive at night. A rough path of stepping stones led from the parking area to the house. Their flashlight would not illumine the entire path, just the stones directly before them. But when they stepped on each stone as the light revealed it to them, they reached their house safely. Let’s learn how to find that next stone.

Seek God’s will for this moment (vs. 1-2)

Francis Schaeffer was right: God is there and he is not silent. Hundreds of times the Bible records the words, “the Lord said to….” He speaks through his creation, his word, our worship, his Spirit. Just because we do not hear him does not mean he is not speaking. Radio and television waves fill the room where you are reading these words. You will not hear them unless you are “tuned in” to their frequency. The problem is not with them but with you.

In our text, the Lord began with yet another word of personal, direct encouragement to his general: “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” He repeated the message for emphasis, an early example of Jewish parallelism. Three times already he has given Joshua such verbal support (1:3-5; 3:11-13; 6:2-5). But never was this encouragement more needed than now.

When we sin, we often feel shame and discouragement more than courage and hope. After the first military defeat in their history, Joshua and his people needed to know that the Lord was still with them, that they were his covenant people and heirs to his promises and provision.

His word not only encouraged their spirit, but also guided their next step: “Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai.” Not the 3,000 dictated earlier by human wisdom (7:3). Not led by the priests, as at the Jordan. In a moment he will show Joshua how to use this army victoriously.

They would march with this assurance: “I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land” (v. 1b). It is already done—the battle is won. Now that Joshua and his people are walking in the covenant will of God, their victory is assured. They could have won this victory earlier, but their sin hindered the power of God. Now the king, his people, his city and his land would be theirs.

With this change from the Jericho strategy: “you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves” (v. 2a). If only Achan had waited! God’s will is always determined by the need of the moment. Now they would need this sustenance as they proceeded further into the land.

They would go with this military gambit: “Set an ambush behind the city” (v. 2b). God has a will not only for our needs, but also for our service. We must ever remain flexible to his purposes. We never change the message, but we must always examine the means.

Martin Luther set Protestant theology to familiar melodies, including barroom tunes, creating what we now sing as “traditional” hymns. The organ was divisive when first introduced to sacred worship, as it did not use human breath and was not sanctioned by the New Testament. The Sunday school was a novelty in the early 18th century. Many of us remember when churches did not have a “youth ministry.”

90% of the changes in human history occurred in the 20th century, 90% of those in the last decade. We currently possess 3% of the information which will be available to us by the year 2025. And so we must seek God’s will for this moment.

Carlyle’s advice is worth following: “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly in the future, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” Augustine added: “God will not suffer man to have a knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity, he would be careless; and if understanding of his adversity, he would be despairing and senseless.” I know I would.

We want to avoid the “paralysis of analysis.” George MacDonald speaks for us all: “Doing the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about his plans.” Even God cannot help me with that which does not exist, and “tomorrow” does not exist. It is not a reality but an expectation nowhere promised by the word of God. So seek God’s will for this moment, and he will reveal it to you. He wants you to know his will more than you do. If you’re unclear as to the next step to take, don’t step until you know his will. In his time, in his ways, he will light your path. One step at a time.

Prepare for the battles to come (vs. 3-13)

Now we find the paradox of God’s will: we do not live in the future, but we prepare for it. We are to be sure that we are in his sovereign will and purpose with this day. And we are to seek his will as regards the preparations we are to make for the future. We need his guidance, for each day and each event of our lives is a spiritual conflict. There are no exceptions.

The apostle Peter knew whereof he spoke: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We are to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:10, 12).

Joshua’s coming war was no more real than ours. The God who guided his preparations will guide ours as well. In this case, Joshua was led to select the right people: 30,000 of his “best fighting men.” They were shown the right timing: at night, when they would not be detected by their enemy. They were directed to the right location: behind the city, not far from its walls (v. 4).

They were given the right strategy: advance on the city, drawing the army of Ai out to battle with a feigned retreat. Then those stationed behind the city would be free to attack it. The resulting fire would signal Joshua’s troops to begin their own offensive against the surrounded and ambushed army. When all was ready, “Joshua spent the night with the people” (v. 9). They were in danger in this valley. But in every valley, their Lord and ours is with his people (Psalm 23:4).

Now came Joshua’s advance. The army marched 15 miles from Gilgal to the front of Ai, setting up camp to the north. 5,000 lay in ambush to the west of the city, between Bethel and Ai. The rest of the 30,000 who had been chosen earlier were probably stationed still further back, to prevent retreat when Joshua’s forces reversed and attacked. And the rest of the army was likely stationed further north of the city, where the king of Ai could not see them. This rough sketch may help to visualize the theater of war:

N

The remainder of the Israeli army

Bethel

Joshua and his men

The remainder of The 5,000Ai

the 30,000 troopstroops

Joshua would begin the attack with the small contingent which had camped with him in sight of the king of Ai. The king would send his men to repel what he thought was an assault identical to the one they had defeated earlier. All was in place.

Once we know the will of God, we must do whatever that will requires of us in preparation for its fulfillment. Noah was told to build an Ark when it likely had never rained, and spent 100 years in preparation for that day. Moses and his people made their preparations for the Passover before the death angel visited Egypt. Elijah prepared the altar before God sent the fire (1 Kings 18). Solomon built the Temple before the glory of the Lord would fill it. Jesus blessed the small lunch provided by the boy before he used it to feed the multitude.

James warned us: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25).

Before you step into the battle which is before you, be sure your heart and plans are prepared in the will of God. Is there a place where you are disobedient to his word? Grieving his Spirit? Unprepared for his next step in your life? To know the will of God, first we seek it for this day. Then we seek it for the preparations we must make for tomorrow.

The victory goes to those who saw it before it ever transpired. At the opening of Disneyworld in Orlando, Walt Disney’s widow was told, “It’s a shame Walt never saw this day.” She quietly replied, “He did.”

Stay obedient to the plan of God (vs. 14-29)

We are right with the Father for today. We are prepared for the next step as he has revealed it to us. Now we must take that step, always a decision of faith. Spiritual obedience always transcends the empirical evidence at hand. Always.

Joshua has divided his army, so that the 30,000 cannot help their general if he is overrun in battle. The Ai army has defeated them before; will they lose to them again? Their leader is in personal jeopardy; will he be defeated or worse?

Joshua and his contingent attacked, then retreated according to God’s plan. Then he held high his javelin, signaling the attack from the ambush. As with Moses’ rod of old, God used a stick in the hand of his man to bring himself glory. As the text makes clear, the ambush was successful beyond all expectations: all of Ai was captured, without a single recorded Israeli casualty. Such perfection is impossible in human strategy. But it can be the gift of God.

The people killed the pagan, idolatrous inhabitants of Ai, kept the plunder for themselves, burned the city, and executed the king publicly. They likely stoned him to death, as the Jews did not execute people by hanging them from ropes. They then impaled his corpse on a tree or pole as a public example. Finally they buried his corpse beneath a large pile of rocks (v. 29), in obedience to the word of God which forbade leaving a body hanging overnight (Deuteronomy 21:23).

Note that if any part of the army had disobeyed this plan, all would have been lost. If Joshua and his contingent had not retreated, the Ai army would have been in the city when the ambush occurred. If the ambush had not been effected, Joshua’s troops could not have trapped their enemy. Total, consistent obedience is essential to the victory God intends to give his people.

Said the poet:

For want of a nail, a horse was lost;

For want of a horse, a rider was lost;

For want of a rider, a message was lost;

For want of a message, a battle was lost;

For want of a battle, a war was lost.

Every follower of Jesus is crucial to his body, whether we are his hands or feet, his eyes or ears (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Which part of your body are you ready to sacrifice today? What don’t you need?

I was invited to church by two men who asked me to ride their bus to church the following Sunday morning. If that bus had broken down in August of 1973, I might not be writing these words today. A mechanic had as must to do with my conversion as a minister. Your obedience to God’s plan for your life is crucial to the spiritual growth of those you teach. And to your own soul as well.

Stand on the word of God (vs. 30-35)

Joshua knew that guidance is first of all a relationship with the Guide. And so he concluded the battle of Ai with another altar, built to the glory of the One who had given them the victory.

He built the altar of stones of uncut stones according to the word of God (Exodus 20:25).

Then he gathered the people according to earlier instructions given by Moses to the people (Deuteronomy 11:26-30), stationing half before Mount Gerazim and the other half before Mount Ebal. It has been noted that these mountains comprised land not yet subdued by Israel, at least in the recorded history of their conquest. Some suggest that the Gibeonite treaty described in chapter 9 led to the peace made apparent by the narrative of 8:30-35, so that the present text actually follows chronologically the events about to be narrated. Nothing in the text forbids such an interpretation, as the writer nowhere indicated that he would be bound by strict chronology in telling the story.

It is also possible that events not recorded in the book of Joshua led to the conquest required by the nation’s peaceful stance before Gerazim and Ebal. And it is entirely possible that the peoples in this part of the land, seeing the conquest of Ai and Jericho before, chose to join Israel rather than fight them. They would then be part of the “aliens” referenced as part of “all Israel” (v. 33).

Here Joshua led the assembled people in burnt offerings in atonement for their sins (see Leviticus 1:1-17) and fellowship offerings as voluntary acts of worship and community (see Leviticus 3:1-17; 7:11-18). He knew that their military victory did not guarantee their spiritual health. They must stay obedient to the word of God for their souls as well as their nation.

Now he copied the “law of Moses” on stones covered with plaster, according to the regulation of Moses (v. 32, cf. Deuteronomy 27:2-4; the syntax indicates that the stones were specially prepared earlier). From these words Joshua then read: “There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them” (v. 35).

We don’t know if Joshua read only the Ten Commandments, a section of Deuteronomy, or the entire book. But the entire nation heard every word he read. The mountains formed a kind of natural amphitheater where his voice carried to every person in the family of Israel.

The point was clear: the nation would stand on the word of God. They would follow that word into their future, together. Every member of the children of Israel was equally obligated to this word, equally privileged to obey its truth, equally charged with its obedience.

It is of course the same with us. God’s will never contradicts his revealed truth. You will never be led by God into a course of action which is contrary to Holy Scripture. To walk in his will, you must stand on his word.

Conclusion

What battle is before you this week? Have you consulted the Lord to find his plan for waging it? Or are you planning to do what you have always done? Someone has defined “insanity” as doing the same thing while expecting a different result. The “seven last words of the church” are always the same: we never did it that way before. What if this were the motto of Israel in Joshua 8?

So how do we determine God’s will for the present moment? We begin by seeking it; even God cannot give us what we will not receive. We have not because we ask not (James 4:2). But when we lack wisdom and ask for it from God, he will give “generously to all without finding fault” (1:5). We prepare for the steps before us, as the Father leads us. We stay obedient to his plan, no matter who opposes it. And we stand continually on his word, for it is the armament which always win spiritual victory.

Along with these steps from Joshua 8, some practical guidelines may help you. Jim Pleitz, former pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church, suggested these questions years ago; I’ve kept them in my “God’s will” file, and share them with gratitude.

Personality test: will doing this make me a better or worse Christian?

Social test: will it influence others for better or worse?

Practical test: will the results of my doing it be desirable?

Universal test: if everyone did it, would society be improved or degraded?

Scriptural test: does the Bible endorse or condemn it?

Stewardship test: will this constitute a waste of talent or goods?

Missionary test: will it enhance or harm my influence?

Character test: will it harm or help my moral stamina?

Publicity test: would I be willing to have my fellow Christians know it?

Family test: will it bring dishonor or embarrassment to my family?

Common sense test: does it agree with ordinary common sense?

Financial test: will it rob me of my ability to do my part in supporting the financial needs of God’s kingdom?

Fairness test: is it honest? Is it a demonstration of the Golden Rule?

Know that God wants you to know his will more than you do. Seek it for this day, this moment, this battle. Ask him to guide you through scripture, prayer, worship, circumstances, and the influence of others. Ask him to open and close doors of opportunity. Determine beforehand to do whatever he reveals. As you seek his will for today, preparing for tomorrow, obeying all he reveals through his word, the victory will come. And it will exceed any expectation you had any right to hold.

Fred Rogers was interviewed near the end of his life and remarkable career. He closed this way: “I think God is at the junction of every choice we make, and knows the consequences before we do, and is with us as they unfold. You know, when I decided to look for work in television, I couldn’t possibly have known how I would be used. I’ve simply tried to be open to the possibilities God has made available to me.”

When we stay open in this way, God is able to move us into his plan. As we seek him in prayer, he molds us to his purpose. Henrietta Mears, the education director at First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California, was enormously influential in the lives of Billy Graham and Bill Bright. She once said, “If I throw out a boat-hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.” And only he knows the full significance of that will for us.

The most popular biblical commentary in the English language is undoubtedly William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible series. While preachers the world over own its volumes and read them with great appreciation, myself included, few know how they came to be.

The Church of Scotland’s Publications Committee had been tentatively experimenting with the idea of commentaries on selected books of the Bible. One or two had already appeared in print. Then William Barclay received a call from the Committee’s Publishing Manager, Rev. Andrew McCosh, a long-standing friend and former fellow student of Dr. Barclay. “We’ve been rather let down in our planning,” said McCosh. “Could you help us out, Willie, and do a commentary in a hurry on one of the books of the Bible? That will fill the gap and give us time to look around for someone really good.”

In response to the need of the moment, Barclay wrote his Daily Study Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. It was an immediately, tremendous success. He was invited to follow it with another volume, then another. And so the 17 volumes were written. I’m looking at my copy as I write these words, with great gratitude.

What “books” does God have in mind for you?

Crowds Change Nothing- Disciples Change the World

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Crowds Change Nothing–Disciples Change the World

Matthew 21:1-11

Dr. Jim Denison

Eugene Colvin was one of our church’s most popular members. Eugene struggled with cerebral palsy his entire life. He was in a wheelchair by the time I met him. But that chair could not contain his spirit or his joy. All of us remember his smile, his laugh, and his love for Jesus.

Eugene’s memorial service was this past Wednesday. Chris Elkins, one of Eugene’s dearest friends, delivered the message. He quoted Aaron Colvin, Eugene’s father, who once described what it was like to be the father of a son with physical challenges. Aaron said, “It’s like taking a trip to Italy and ending up in Holland. You didn’t plan to be in Holland. But you learn that there are good things about Holland, and you learn to appreciate them.”

Chris used that metaphor throughout Eugene’s service, with this point: we’re all in Holland. None of us intended the hard parts of our lives. We didn’t plan to have cancer, or financial struggles, or a divorce. We’re all in Holland, and need to make the best of it while we’re here. But one day we can live in Italy, if we have a ticket to go there.

So, how do you make the best of Holland? And how do you get to Italy? Not in the way you may think. Hold that thought, and take a trip to Holland with me.

The question of the cross

The date is Sunday, April 12, in the year AD 29. A trip which looked like it would arrive in Italy ended in Holland. Jesus could have entered Jerusalem unnoticed, mingling with the more than two million who jammed the city streets for the Passover. Better yet, he could have stayed in Galilee where the authorities would neither notice him nor care.

But he didn’t. His Triumphal Entry was the very best way to ensure that he enraged the religious leaders with the “blasphemy” of the adoring crowds; that he frightened the Roman authorities into thinking he would start an insurrection, and made himself a marked man. Palm Sunday forced Good Friday. In fact, it guaranteed it. So, why did Jesus do it?

Why did the Son of God exchange heaven for earth, a throne for thorns, a crown for a cross? Why did he ride a donkey to his death? You know the conventional answer: to pay for our sins. But why? Why did he have to pay for our sins?

Last week, a reader of my daily e-mail essays replied with this question: “Why the blood? Why didn’t our loving Father in heaven just forgive us? Why did he require a sacrifice? Why can’t we just pray to God and ask for forgiveness, and as our loving Creator, he grants it.

The requirement for blood sacrifice is his. I just don’t understand why an all-powerful God can’t directly forgive us. This is a question I have had for twenty-five years.” It’s an excellent question, indeed.

If I back into your car leaving church today, you can forgive me without requiring that someone die. If my children disobey me, I can forgive them without requiring a blood sacrifice. Why cannot the God who is love (1 John 4:8) do the same? Why did Jesus choose to ride into Jerusalem in a way which ensured that the authorities would arrest and execute him? Why did he have to die? Let’s work on this very important question for a moment.

Understand God’s dilemma

Since God is love, he wants a loving and personal relationship with us. But love is a choice, a decision. So God had to give us freedom of choice, so we could choose to love and worship him. Of course, we inevitably misuse this freedom, and sin results. Why is this such a problem?

Because God is also holy. In fact, the Bible calls him “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). And a holy God simply cannot allow my sin into his perfect paradise.

One germ contaminates a sterile hospital room and threatens the patient. One speck of dirt is enough to infect a surgical wound; one malignant cell is enough to produce terminal cancer.

Sin separates us from a holy God, leading to spiritual death now, physical death eventually, and eternal death separated from God in hell. That’s why the Bible teaches that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Death, separation from God, is the inevitable consequence of sin, since God is holy.

So the sin which results from my misused free will must be removed before I can enter God’s perfect presence in paradise. But why cannot God simply do this for me, as a mother pulls muddy shoes off her toddler’s feet before letting him into the house?

Because God faces a dilemma you and I do not share. Since God is holy, he must also be just.

You and I can forgive those who injure us without requiring that the law be kept, its consequences fulfilled. I can back into your car, and you can choose not to call the police, fill out an accident report, and see to it that I receive a ticket and have to pay a fine. Such is the demand of justice, but you can choose to waive the law and simply forgive me.

God does not have that luxury. He cannot be completely holy without being also completely just. And justice requires that the law be kept, that its consequences be enforced. For him to be holy and just, the consequence of sin must be fulfilled. And that consequence, that result, is death–spiritual, physical, and eternal death. Complete separation from a holy God who lives in a perfect paradise.

There is seemingly no way out of this dilemma. God could remove our freedom, so we cannot sin; but then we could not worship and love him, defeating our purpose and reason for being. God could choose to allow us into paradise with our sins, but then he could not be holy. God could choose not to enforce the consequences of our sin, but then he could not be just.

That’s the problem God solved on Palm Sunday.

Accept God’s answer

There was only one possible, logical way out of this dilemma.

If God is holy, he must find a way to remove our sin before we can enter his paradise.

If he is love, he must find a way to remove our sin which does not cost our death.

If he is just, he must find someone to remove our sin who has not sinned himself. If the person who pays the penalty for our sin is himself a sinner, he can pay only for himself. Only a person who has been given complete freedom, and yet has never sinned, can pay the consequences of sin for the rest of us.

As you know, there has been only one person in all of human history who met the necessary qualifications.

Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are” (Hebrews 4:15a). He faced Satan himself, and endured the worst temptations known to humanity.

Yet he was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15b). He never failed his Father, not even once.

As a result, he could die in our place: “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Now God’s justice is satisfied, for the consequence of sin has been paid. His holiness is satisfied, for our sins can be removed from us. And his love is satisfied, for we can be forgiven.

And that is why Jesus chose to ride a Messianic donkey into Jerusalem, stirring the crowds, offending the religious authorities, and frightening the Roman officials. That is why he chose to parade publicly into the one city where his enemies were waiting to arrest and execute him. That is why he rode a donkey to a cross. Because there was no other way. Because that is what it took for us to be in heaven with his Father and ours.

Conclusion

How do we respond to such love?

Louis Slotin was working on a uranium experiment at Los Alamos, New Mexico when the uranium came together, filling the room with a dazzling blue light. He tore it apart with his bare hands, saving the lives of seven other people in the room. He died in agony nine days later.

When the Chernobyl nuclear plant melted down, one helicopter pilot made dozens of flights to dump sand and concrete over the reactor. He helped saved the lives of millions, but died of radiation sickness.

The Nazis were murdering Jews in their gas chambers. One distraught mother refused to part with her baby. A simple woman known as Mother Maria pushed the mother aside and took her place.

Father Maximillian Kolbe was a Polish priest imprisoned at Auschwitz. When a prisoner was sentenced to the starvation bunker, the priest died in his place.

You and I are those scientists, those Chernobyl residents, that imprisoned woman and that condemned man. Jesus’ death has given us life. How do we respond to such love?

We accept it. That’s how you get from Holland to Italy, from death to life, from earth to heaven. Join the crowds who celebrated the coming of the King. Welcome him into your city and your heart. Salvation cost God his Son, and that Son his life. Would you accept such a gift as this? Do you have your ticket to Italy?

Accept his love, and then share his love. That’s how you make the best of Holland while you’re here. Step from the worshiping crowd to the serving disciples. Tell the story you have heard this day. Invite someone to the Easter celebration next week, and the week after. Tell the story of such amazing grace. Show a hurting person that grace in yours. Share his love. Make the best of Holland, every day that you’re here.

But be warned: stepping from the crowd to the disciples, responding to such sacrificial love may cost you. In fact, it should. Giving a donkey, a robe, a palm branch is enough, if it is your best. Give him your time, your tithe, your talents. Give more than you can spare. Return his sacrifice with your own. Not so he will love you, but because he does. Not so you can be forgiven, but because you are. Not so you will matter to God, but because you do.

And the more you give, the more you receive. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. The greater the joy, the peace, the purpose of your life. The more it costs you to serve Jesus in Holland, the more your life counts while you’re here. Crowds change nothing; disciples change the world. Which will you be this week?

On Monday I was privileged to eat lunch with Ron Scates and Skip Ryan, my dear pastor friends from Highland Park Presbyterian and Park Cities Presbyterian. We were discussing the persecuted Church around the world, and the joy which believers experience when they suffer for Jesus. And Ron made a profound point which I must share with you today: “When Christianity is easy, it is hard. When Christianity is hard, it is easy.” Hear it again: crowds change nothing; disciples change the world.

What will Palm Sunday cost you tomorrow?

Crown the Right King

Written by

Crown the Right King

Genesis 11:1-9

Dr. Jim Denison

We’re replacing our church’s outdated phone system these days, an event which reminds me of a story. The major was promoted to colonel and received a fancy new office. As he entered it for the first time, sitting in the nice new chair, a knock came at the door. He said, “Come in,” then quickly picked up the telephone as a corporal walked in.

“Just a minute,” the colonel said to the corporal. “I have to finish this telephone call.” Then the colonel began speaking into the mouthpiece: “Sorry about the interruption, General. Yes, sir, I will take care of that. Yes, I’ll call the President after I finish talking with you, General.”

The colonel ceremoniously put the telephone down, turned to the corporal, and said, “What can I do for you?” The corporal replied, “Well, colonel, I just came in to connect your telephone.”

Pride is the genesis of all our sins. “You will be as God” is the first temptation in human history (Genesis 3:5), and the heart of all the others. We build our Towers of Babel that we might “make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).

But the opposite results. Pride turned Adam and Eve against each other. Cain felt himself inferior to his brother, so he murdered him. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery for the same reason. The religious and secular authorities crucified Jesus out of jealousy for their own power and status. Whenever we try to supplant God, we end up scattering ourselves over the earth.

What was your last problem with someone? Was pride in the middle of it? In what way do you feel isolated, alienated, “scattered” from those you care about? Mother Teresa said the greatest epidemic of our Western culture is not AIDS or leprosy but loneliness. Today we’ll find its cure.

Diagnose the problem

But first we must be clear about the problem theologically. The Scriptures use several words for “pride.” At their heart, they all mean “to be lifted up.” Pride is good when it lifts up God, when we glorify him and tell him that we are proud to be his children. Pride is good when it lifts up others, when we tell our children that we are proud of them.

Pride is sin when it lifts us up, when we exalt ourselves over God and others. When we put our personal agendas ahead of loving God and our neighbor; when we live to impress people with ourselves more than with God; when we define success by popularity and possessions more than by obedience to God and service to others, we build our own Tower today. If I am teaching this message to impress you with myself, I’m laying bricks for my own Babel.

Why is such self-exaltation and self-promotion such a sin?

It supplants God: “Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2).

It causes us to hurt others, to make them a means to our end: “In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises” (Psalm 10:2); “Pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence” (Ps. 73:6). When we come first, everyone else comes second and is a means to our end.

It hurts us: “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2); “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Pr. 16:18). Self-reliance always leads to failure, for we are failed human beings.

And so it leads to the judgment of God, at Babel and in Dallas: “Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin!” (Pr. 21:4).

Why do we put ourselves before God and others?

The “will to power” is the basic drive in human nature. We all want to be God, to be “president of the universe” (Claypool).

Pride and power are the expectations of our culture. How does our society define success? Performance, achievement, drive, initiative. The “self-made man.” When last was a truly humble person elevated as a role model for our youth? We are to be driven, perfectionistic, prideful, or we are not a success.

Most of all, pride covers our perceived inadequacies. We know our failures and weaknesses. Rather than admit them, we compensate for them. We act in prideful ways, to convince others that we are what we pretend to be.

Who is susceptible?

Religious leaders: “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector'” (Luke 18:11).

Religious people: Job is described at the beginning of the story as “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). Yet he later claimed, “I am pure and without sin; I am clean and free from guilt” (Job 33:9). If it happened to Job, it can happen to us.

Followers of Jesus: Paul chastised the Corinthian Christians, “Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you” (1 Corinthians 4:18).

Churches: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17).

Anyone who believes that he or she is not.

Study the disease

Next we come at the issue biblically. What do we do with this alienating, isolating impulse which has created an epidemic of loneliness in our world? Let’s walk through our story together.

Our text begins, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech” (v. 1a). We are now six generations from Noah; as many as 30,000 people are alive on the earth. They have “one lip” and “one speech” so far, as we might expect.

“As men moved eastward,” out into the uninhabited world, “they found a plain in Shinar and settled there” (v. 2). This is the flatlands between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, in the heart of modern-day Iraq. The area was especially fertile in those days, so that grain harvests typically yielded 200- to 300-fold, and palm trees grew all over the land. They had no enemies as yet, and so did not need to settle in mountains where they could protect themselves. So this was a perfect location.

“They said to each other” (v. 3a), no exceptions or dissenters. “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly” (v. 3b), literally “burn them to a burning,” making them stronger than sun-baked bricks. They used “tar for mortar” (v. 3c), a kind of bitumen found throughout the region which literally glued the bricks together. Millions of these ancient bricks have been found; they are typically a foot square and two to three inches thick, and are perfect for building tall structures.

They had this purpose in mind: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves” (v. 4a). Today we still use their phrase “make a name for ourselves.” We already “have” a name, given by our parents. We “make” a name by our own efforts and success. In this way we seek to leave a legacy, a permanent mark on this world, lest we be “scattered over the face of the whole earth” (v. 4b).

Remains of their tower still exist. It was designed to be approximately 300 feet square at the base, with seven levels of decreasing size, and was intended to reach 290 to 300 feet in height. Think of a football field cubed, and you’ll have the idea. It was by far the largest building in the ancient world for generations.

But compared to the greatness of God it was so tiny that he had to “come down” to look at it (v. 5).

He knew that such pride would lead only to further rebellion and destruction, so he chose to “confuse their language” and defeat their plans (v. 7). And then he “scattered them from there over all the earth” (v. 8), the very thing they tried to prevent by their own egotistical actions.

He could have crushed them, destroyed them with fire, or devastated them with disease. This was an act of grace, to keep us from hurting ourselves further.

As a result, the place is called “Babel” (from which we get “Babylon”), an ironic word play. The Assyrians used the word for “gate of god”; the Hebrews used it for “confusion.” Whenever we try to build the former, the latter results.

Accept the cure

Finally, we consider the issue practically. How does our story help us with our problem? It suggests these clear steps.

First, refuse self-exaltation:

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil” (Pr 3:7).

“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Pr 26:12).

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight” (Isaiah 5:21).

“The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know” (1 Cor. 8:2).

Know that everything which tempts you to self-exaltation is the sin of pride. As Oswald Chambers says, avoid anything which puts you in the position of superiority. You’re only building a Tower of Babel, and your plans will be defeated.

Second, see yourself as the valuable child of God: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ…If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26, 29). When you know your worth before God, you won’t be so motivated to seek it from us.

Bill Glass, the former NFL star and now prison ministry leader, says that the most common denominator behind bars is the absence of a father. We each need to know that our father loves us, that he likes us, and that he wants us. Your Father loves you, likes you, and wants you. Don’t measure yourself by the size of the towers you’re building, but the God who loves you.

Third, seek to glorify God in all you do. When we seek his glory, we cannot seek our own at the same time. J. I. Packer was right: it is impossible at the same time to convince you that I am a great preacher and that Jesus is a great Savior. Measure your success today by the degree to which other people think more of God because of you. Ask how you can glorify him with your abilities, gifts, resources, and accomplishments. How can you turn someone toward him this week?

Last, value humility as the path to God. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who know their need of God, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:3; cf. NEB). Martin Luther was right: “God creates out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.” Ask God to help you stay humble before him, surrendered to his will, seeking his glory alone. Every day of his life, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones prayed the same prayer, “Lord, keep me from pride.” When last did you make this your prayer?

Conclusion

We’ve considered our subject theologically, biblically, and practically. Let’s close not with our heads but our hearts. In England I had the opportunity to stand in a number of elevated pulpits, as is the style on the Continent. I was reminded of the young preacher just out of seminary, climbing the steps to the pulpit for his first Sunday in his first church.

Head held high, notes and Bible in hand, he was proud and dignified. But he tripped on the last step, Bible and notes flying. He tried to shuffle them back into order, but he was too embarrassed to think. He tried to preach his sermon, but stammered and stuttered. Finally he quit, shoved his disheveled notes into his Bible, and descended the steps, head down.

An elderly woman on the first pew said to him, “Young man, if you’d gone up the steps the way you came down, you’d have gone down the way you went up.”

C. S. Lewis, as usual, says it better than I can:

“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

“If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed” (Mere Christianity 114).

D-Day and V-Day

Written by

D-Day and V-Day

Romans 7:14-25

James C. Denison

What’s wrong with me? My parents had every right to ask that question all the years I was in their home.

Not all my discipline problems were intentional. When I showed Lamar Daniels my Cub Scout fire-starting abilities in a nearby field, I didn’t know I was starting a two-alarm blaze. Or that the baseball I hit in the street would smash a neighbor’s car windshield.

But when I used my new Cub Scout pocketknife to dig holes in a neighbor’s hose, I knew that was wrong. When I melted crayons in my first grade teacher’s hair, I knew that was wrong. When I locked a girl in the coat locker over lunch in the fourth grade, and scattered chalk dust into the window air conditioner so that it coated the classroom, I knew that was wrong.

My parents were two of the most honest and moral people I’ve ever met. They raised me better than that. Why did I do these things?

Did the arsonists who started the California wildfires know what they did was wrong? Why did they do it?

Why did you do the last thing you knew you shouldn’t? Is there any hope for the human race? Any hope for people who call ourselves Christians? If the holy God of the universe lives in us, why aren’t we more holy? If we are really the children of a perfect Father, why do we do the things we do?

Can we do better? Can we live the kind of godly lives we all know we should? Can we ever find victory over temptation and weakness and sin? The promise of God’s word today is that we can. It is my privilege to show you how.

Admit your total depravity

As you know, D-Day in World War II came on June 6, 1944 at the Battle of Normandy. V-Day, Victory Day, came in Europe on May 8, 1945, and in Japan on August 15. Between D-Day and these V-Days, the war raged on, but victory was in sight. The enemy was on the road to defeat, but was not yet destroyed.

In spiritual terms, I’ve often heard that you and I live in the same period of time. D-Day came with the death and resurrection of Jesus. V-Day comes with his return. In the meanwhile, we must fight the enemy every day. We will win some battles and lose others, but the ultimate victory is certain. V-Day is on the way.

I no longer believe that. I now know that V-Day, like D-Day, has already come for Christ-followers. We can have total victory over sin and Satan today. We don’t have to do the things we do, ever. V-Day can be this day. How?

In theological terms, we’re dealing with the topic of “total depravity.” Theologians mean by this that every part of us is affected by sin. Your mind, your emotions, your attitudes and feelings as well as your action. Not just what you do, but who you are. You are not a good person who sometimes does bad things–you are by nature a bad person who often does good things. So am I. It is our nature to sin. Depravity has affected every dimension of our lives.

Romans 7 gives the most honest expression to this fact in all of Scripture.

Paul is writing as a believer when he says that he is “sold as a slave to sin.” He belongs completely to it. What he wants to do, he does not, “but what I hate I do” (v. 15)–this is “sin living in me” (v. 17). He wants to do what is good, “but I cannot carry it out” (v. 18). This is an ongoing problem: “the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing” (v. 19). More specifically, “it is sin living in me that does it” (v. 20).

In his “inner being,” Paul loves doing the word and will of God (v. 22), but there is “another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members” (v. 23).

The apostle is trapped between the two, caught in the spiritual crossfire with no way out. He can do well one day and sin another. He can step forward in faith but then backward in defeat. “What a wretched man I am!” he admits (v. 24a). “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” he cries (v. 24b). If this is true for the greatest apostle in Christian history, what of us?

Paul is simply stating what God’s word says of us all. All of us have sinned and come short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

King David lamented, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:2-3).

The first step to winning the battle against sin is admitting that you cannot win it. You can fight temptation and sin for a while, but don’t you inevitably lose?

Preachers used to speak of “besetting sins,” those temptations to which we are especially and individually susceptible. Yours may not be mine, and mine may not be yours, but we all have them.

Charles Finney, in a famous sermon preached in 1845, made this list: temper, worry, coveting what we do not have, greed, dishonesty, falsehood, laziness, slander, gossip, envy, jealousy, prideful ambition, overeating, overdrinking, vanity of appearance, and sexual lust.

Are any of these living in your soul? What temptation continually plagues you? What sin do you find yourself struggling to defeat? Start there. Begin by admitting your total depravity, your absolute inability to gain total victory in this battle.

Claim your total victory

“Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Paul cried (v. 24b). Here’s the answer, the incredible good news for us today: “Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25). He will say it again in Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Why? “Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (v. 2).

When Jesus died for us, “he condemned sin in sinful man” (v. 3). His death killed the sin nature. He defeated sin and destroyed the reign of Satan. He broke the chains which enslaved us and won us total victory. Not just one day–this day. Not just when he returns–when his Spirit comes to live in each of us.

The same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and defeated sin forever now lives in us. The same Spirit who enabled Jesus to live without sin in total victory now lives in us. The same Power who brought him victory has come to bring us victory. V-Day is now ours.

So, how is this victory to be ours?

First, receive the Holy Spirit. You do this when you ask Jesus to forgive your sins and become your Savior and Lord. We speak of Jesus “coming into our heart,” but it is actually his Spirit who enters us at salvation. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). When you received Christ, you received all of God there is.

Second, submit to the Holy Spirit. The Bible commands us to “quench not the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). The Spirit is a gentleman. He goes where he is wanted. He will not make you holy without your permission.

If you try to fight this battle in your strength, you cannot have his. He cannot drive the car unless you give him the wheel. He cannot remove the tumor unless you let him operate. He cannot fight this spiritual battle if you insist on using human weapons.

So “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Begin every day by surrendering that day the Lordship of the Holy Spirit. Pray through your plans, problems, and dreams for the day. Give them intentionally to his direction and control. Ask him to take charge of you yet again, and know that he will.

Psalm 91 begins, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust'” (vs. 1-2). A shelter is no good unless you’re inside it; a fortress is no help until you run behind its walls. If you will “rest in the shadow of the Almighty,” you will know his strength and help and hope.

Why do so many Christians live like the rest of the world? Because we’re trying to live with worldly power and human strength. Self sufficiency is the enemy of the power of God. Submit to the Spirit.

Third, live in the Holy Spirit. Jesus was plain: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). What does it mean to stay attached to the vine, to the Spirit of Jesus living in us?

We depend on him. The branch depends completely on the vine for its life and strength. We read the Bible and pray not to fulfill religious duties but to get the power we must have to go another day. The spiritual life is not an added elective for those who have time for religious hobbies–it is the fuel and food without which we die.

We rest in him. We trust that he is flowing and working through us. Nowhere does the Bible say how it feels to abide in Christ. We trust that when we are close to him, he is close to us. We trust his presence and power.

And we expect fruit to result in our lives. The “fruit of the Spirit” are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Each is the opposite of the sin which so plagues our lives. The branch doesn’t have to try harder to make more fruit–so long as it stays connected to the vine, its fruit is inevitable. Expect fruit when you are close to Jesus.

If you don’t see such fruit, don’t try harder to produce it. Instead, get right with God again.

If you struggle with loving someone who has hurt you, don’t try harder to forgive them–get back to Jesus. If you have lost your joy, don’t try to find it–find Jesus. If you’re not at peace, don’t try harder to feel peaceful–go to Jesus. If you struggle with patience as I do, don’t try to be more patient–get back to Jesus. If you battle self-control issues, don’t try harder to do better–take them to Jesus.

Depend on him, rest in him, and expect his character to show in yours.

Conclusion

And his victory is yours. It is actually possible to live today in total victory over Satan, temptation, and sin.

There is no sin you must commit. The Bible is clear: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Jesus has never lost a battle to Satan, and he never will. If you believe in D-Day but have not yet found V-Day, the fault is not his. You’re trying to win this battle in your strength, but you cannot. You may even have given up on total victory, believing that it is simply your lot in life to live with spiritual defeat and frustration. That’s a lie of the enemy. Jesus won total victory over total depravity. Now that victory can be yours.

To sum up this message in a single verse: “Submit yourselves…to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Submit and you can resist. Resist, and you will win. It’s that simple. Today can be your V-Day. The choice is yours.

Daniel W. Whittle was born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts in 1840. A major in the Civil War, he was wounded at the battle of Vicksburg. After his recovery, his meeting with D. L. Moody changed his life and he was eventually called into ministry.

Major Whittle was one of the noted preachers of his day, but became even more famous for his hymns. He wrote more than 200 hymn texts expressing every dimension of the Christian life. One of my favorite was written in 1893. Listen to its words:

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine,

Living with Jesus a new life divine;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.

Never a battle with wrong for the right,

Never a contest that He doth not fight;

Lifting above us His banner so white,

Moment by moment I’m kept in his sight.

Never a trial that He is not there,

Never a burden that He doth not bear,

Never a sorrow that He does not share,

Moment by moment I’m under his care.

Never a heart-ache, and never a groan,

Never a tear-drop, and never a moan;

Never a danger but there on the throne,

Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

Never a weakness that He doth not feel,

Never a sickness that He cannot heal;

Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,

Jesus, my Saviour, abides with me still.

Moment by moment I’m kept in His love,

Moment by moment I’ve life from above;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.

Amen?

Dancing With the Devil

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Dancing With the Devil

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

James C. Denison

You may know that Miller Cunningham, our Pastor of Worship, drives a pickup truck. I read in this week’s Dallas Morning News that it’s a good thing our church isn’t located in Frisco. They have a city ordinance prohibiting all trucks from parking overnight in the street or driveway, charging $50 per violation. If we start charging Miller for parking in front of the church, we could make some serious money.

That’s not the only strange news in the news.

I read that the Dallas City Council is considering a variety of ways to close the budget deficit. One idea is to rent idle police patrol cars to businesses which would park them in front of their stores to thwart thieves, at least the really dumb ones. Perhaps we should put police lights on Miller’s pickup to protect the church.

I learned that laparoscopic surgeons who played video games were 27 percent faster at advanced surgical procedures and made 37 percent fewer errors than nongamers. Next time you’re having a procedure, ask whether or not the surgeon is good at Guitar Hero. If the surgeon hasn’t heard of the game, keep looking.

And I learned that singer Phil Collins divorced his third wife, agreeing to pay her $46.76 million. His second wife got $34 million; his three divorces have cost him a total of $84 million. Marrying Phil Collins is now a Fortune 500 business.

We live in a strange and troubled world. The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan; suicide bombings continue in Iraq; now Russia is on the world stage with its military action in Georgia. We are arming Poland, and Russia threatens reprisals. Pakistan’s leadership is in chaos. Not to mention the continued turmoil regarding Palestine, or government repression in China.

Why would an all-loving, all-powerful God allow such a world? Why would he allow you to face the struggles and pain you face today? This morning we’ll explore Satan’s role in current events and in your life and problems. What we discover may lead you to a victory you’ll win in no other way.

Explore the parable

Our story begins: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field” (v. 24). Jesus is standing in the fields of Galilee, near the Sea of Galilee, surrounded by farms and farmers who illustrate precisely his parable. One may have been sowing seed at this very moment, so that Jesus pointed to him as he told the story.

Unfortunately, an enemy did what enemies often did and still do in the Middle East: “while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away” (v. 25). This crime was so common that the Romans had laws punishing those who committed it.

The “weeds” to which Jesus referred are called “bearded darnel.” They are poisonous to humans, causing dizziness and sickness. But it is impossible to detect them until the harvest time comes: “when the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared” (v. 26).

In the meantime, the owner must simply let the weeds grow. The enemy “sowed weeds among the wheat”—literally “over” or “throughout” the wheat. If the man pulled up the weeds, he would pull up the wheat as well (v. 29). But when the harvest comes, the weeds will be burned and the wheat gathered into the barn (v. 39).

Now, what does the story mean to us?

Who is the “man”? “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man” (v. 37), Jesus’ favorite self-designation. He tells us that the “field” is the world, while the good seed signifies “the sons of the kingdom” (v. 38a).

Who is the enemy? “The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil” (vs. 38b-39). Satan and his demons prefer to work under cover of darkness, while people are not watching or preparing for their attack. We cannot keep our enemy from sowing his seeds in our field, no matter how diligent we might be.

Satan sows his weeds throughout the field, all over the world. We are naïve if we do not expect his attacks. Satan “entered Judas, one of the Twelve” (Luke 22:3); he “filled” Ananias’ heart and caused him to lie to the early church (Acts 5:3). Wherever God plants his seed, Satan plants his weeds.

But God has the last word. He knows the weeds from the wheat. He will burn up the former and shelter the latter.

Revelation 19:20: “The two of them [the beast and the false prophet] were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”

Revelation 21:8: “the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Malachi 4:1-2: “‘Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.'”

Do battle with the enemy

So we know that Satan is right now sowing his “weeds” among the “wheat” of God’s people and Kingdom. What is the relevance of Jesus’ story to events occurring around us? To your temptations and troubles? What should we do about Satan today?

First, admit his reality. I was shocked to read a recent Barna survey which discovered that only 34 percent of Baptists believe Satan is a real, literal being. Their research included all Baptists, not just Southern Baptists, but is still frightening. It is actually higher than the general public, according to recent surveys. Most people see Satan as a mythological or symbolic figure, a cartoon character in red tights gripping a pitchfork or a leftover from Puritan days.

Let me ask you: when did you last think about the devil, before this sermon? When last did you pray for protection from him, or worry that you might be tempted by him, or think about his role in world events? Why is this? We live in a naturalistic, materialistic culture. We measure things by test tubes and empirical investigation. It’s hard to care much about a being you’ve never seen, or felt, or experienced. Add our revulsion at “fire and brimstone” sermons and puritanical scare tactics, and it’s easy to see why we don’t think much about the devil any more.

Satan, for one, is delighted with such confusion. If your doctor says that you have cancer but you deny the existence of the disease, you’re more likely to die from it. Satan is very real, and he is working right now wherever God is working. Even here. Especially here.

Second, see his work in the world. Jesus warned us: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). In John 8 he added, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (v. 44).

Wherever you find theft, murder, destruction, or lies, you are seeing Satan at work. He probably sowed his weeds at night, so that you could not see him in the field. But when you see the darnel, you know the devil has been there.

You only have to read the news. For instance, Satan is happily at work in the escalating destruction and death in Georgia. Russia says that Georgia provoked the conflict by attacking the capital of South Ossetia. Georgia says that Russia invaded their sovereign territory and is launching a permanent occupation. Some historians are worried that Russia may be testing the resolve of the West, and may extend its reach to Ukraine next and even Poland.

The United States just signed a treaty with Poland allowing us to place defensive missiles there. Russia says that this is an act of aggression. They note that these missiles are only 115 miles from their soil, approximately the distance from Cuba to the U.S., and remind us of the Cuban missile crisis. Will the situation escalate further? Yes, if the enemy has anything to do with it.

Satan is busily sowing weeds in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan. He wants discord and destruction in the Middle East, and in your work and school and family. Of course humans cooperate. There is not a devil behind every bush. But when Satan steals and kills and destroys, the fault is not with God. Wherever someone steals and kills and destroys, you know you are seeking the enemy’s handiwork.

Third, expect his attack in your life. He sows weeds especially where God sows wheat. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan “the god of this age”; John 12:31 describes him as the “prince of this world.” You and I are living in a world dominated by the devil. We are soldiers stationed on enemy soil, living in an occupied country. And Satan knows we’re here.

He lied in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve about the authority of God’s word; expect him to do the same to you. Whenever you hear a voice calling into question the trustworthiness or relevance of Scripture, know that you are hearing from the enemy.

He tempted Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the church about their possessions and offering. Whenever you hear a voice tempting you to lie, to manipulate the truth, to say something that is less than completely honest, to put things in a way which benefits you but is not truthful, know that you are hearing from the enemy.

He prompted Judas to deny and betray Jesus. Whenever you are tempted to be silent about your Lord, to refuse a courageous stand for your Master, know that you are being manipulated by Satan himself.

The closer you are to God, the more of a threat you are to Satan. If you’re thinking that this message is irrelevant to you, guess why.

Last, fight with the power of God. Remember that Satan is a defeated foe. His destiny is the lake of fire. Meanwhile, your Father promises that he will allow no temptation without giving you the strength to defeat it (1 Corinthians 10:13). The moment the enemy appears in your life, stand on that promise. Assume the victory which it guarantees.

So resist him in God’s strength: “Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Peter exhorts us: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

Do it now. It will never be easier to refuse sin than when it first appears in your mind or heart. Don’t fight back with your strength or resolve. Give the temptation or struggle immediately to your Father, and ask him for his power and victory. Then they will be yours.

Never give up. You are in this battle until you go to God or God comes to us. Satan tempted Jesus at the beginning of his ministry and at its end. He will tempt you until you are with the Lord. Every time the temptation strikes or the struggle returns, give it to your God. Discouragement is of the devil. Guilt is of the enemy. But grace is greater than all our sin.

Conclusion

Where has the tempter found you today? Is he sowing weeds of deception and manipulation in your soul? If you’re dancing with the devil, he will eventually want to lead. He will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Every time.

But victory is yours in the power of God, now and for eternity. Take your temptation to Jesus. Run to him now. Ask for his wisdom, or encouragement, or resolve, or courage, and they will be yours. Then take the advice found on my favorite t-shirt: “The next time Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.”

Why do you need this message today?

Darth Vader Doesn’t Wear Gray

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Darth Vader Doesn’t Wear Gray

Matthew 16:13-20

Dr. Jim Denison

As everyone in the so-called “civilized world” knows, the final Star Wars movie opened this week. The first Star Wars movie, made back in 1977, used 360 visual effects; the last episode has 2,151. The six movies have sold $9 billion in merchandise to date. Darth Vader even made the cover of Time magazine.

I’m not giving away any of the plot to tell you that in the world of Star Wars there is good and there is evil. The Emperor is bad; the Jedi are good. Darth Vader doesn’t wear gray. In the “real world,” of course, things aren’t so simple.

Last week, tattoo professionals attending their convention in New York City complained that tattoos have gone so mainstream that they have lost their “artistic value.” Individual expression rules the day.

A middle school girl in Oregon made the news after hugging her boyfriend in a hallway and getting detention for violating the school’s no-hugging rule. The parents of the students involved are the ones most upset–they don’t understand how school administrators have the right to force their ethics on their children.

In a world of gray, what are we to do with black-and-white passages such as this week’s text? In truth, if we cannot answer that question, we cannot understand the origin and essence of the Christian faith. Let me explain.

What Jesus claimed

The scene is one of the most dramatic locations on earth. Standing 1150 feet above sea level, the massive rock outcropping is the largest I’ve ever seen, gray with streaks of metallic brown, flat and imposing. I will never forget standing on that rock at Caesarea Philippi as long as I live.

As I stared in awe, I could feel the religious significance of the place.

Just a short distance away stood the brilliant white marble temple built by Herod the Great as an altar to the worship of Caesar, hence the name of the place, “Caesarea.”

Beneath our feet was that cavern where the Greeks said Pan, their god of nature, was born. And so I knew that Greek and Roman gods were worshiped here.

Scattered around the place were fourteen temples to Baal, the Canaanite fertility god, where the Syrians worshiped.

Somewhere below was one of the origins of the Jordan River, the holiest river in all the Jewish faith, the water Joshua and the people walked through to inherit the Promised Land. On this gigantic rock, standing in the midst of temples to every kind of god known to his culture, a Galilean carpenter asked, “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And the Galilean said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” What “rock”?

Was it Peter? No, Jesus said in the Greek language, “You are petros” [small pebble], “and on this petra [giant boulder] I will build my church.”

Was it Peter’s confession of faith? Many think so, but I don’t think Scripture teaches that God builds his church on our faith. Our faith is too fleeting, too weak, to be the foundation of his kingdom on earth.

I think Jesus pointed to himself when he said, “On this rock I will build my church.” 1 Corinthians 3:11 is clear: “no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The church, and this church, is built on the foundation which is Jesus himself. Our lives and eternal lives, our future destinies, all depend on him. Not on Caesar, or Roman gods, or Canaanite idols, or the Jewish traditions. On him alone.

Such is the consistent claim of God’s word:

When Jesus stood on trial for his life, the high priest challenged him: “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). His answer sealed his fate: “Yes, it is as you say” (v. 64).

Earlier he had told his opponents, “‘My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working.’ For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:17-18).

Later he claimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

When Peter was threatened with his own execution if he did not stop preaching the gospel, he replied, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Let there be no mistake: Jesus believed himself to be the only way to his Father. The apostolic Christians held the same conviction. They did not die by the multiplied thousands for announcing that Jesus was a great moral teacher, or that his message was but one of many ways to the same God, or that sincerity is spirituality. They died for the conviction that Jesus is the only rock upon which eternity stands.

Remember again the most famous words C. S. Lewis ever wrote:

“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).

What the world believes

But we live in a different world now. Relativism is the ethos of our day, the idea that all truth is relative and subjective. Everyone “knows” that our minds process our sense data, and the result is “knowledge.” However, your senses and mine may experience the data differently. Your mind may process your experiences differently. And so words do not describe reality, only our version of it. There can be no objective truth claims, only subjective experiences. It’s fine if Jesus is your way to God, but don’t insist that he must be mine.

The second word for our society is pluralism: different religions are roads up the same mountain. They’re all worshipping the same God, just by different names. A recent poll revealed that 64 percent of Americans believe all religions pray to the same God. Believing that your faith is the only way to God is the kind of intolerance which led to 9-11. It’s fine if Jesus is your rock, your road to God, but don’t make the rest of us travel it.

And pluralism typically leads to universalism, the idea that everyone is going to heaven, no matter what they believe. Only two percent of Americans are afraid that they might go to hell. Sixty two percent say it doesn’t matter which God we believe in, so long as we’re sincere. We’re all on the road to God, whatever we might believe about him.

Make no mistake: if this conventional wisdom is right, Jesus was wrong. The Bible was wrong. The first Christians were wrong.

If the world is gray, if good and evil are only the subjects of Star Wars movies and fairy tales, then we need to change a few things around here. We need to take down the painted glass window over the baptistery with its Great Commission mandate to “teach all nations,” because we have no right to do so. We need to remove “Night Cometh” from the clock tower, and the cross over those words, lest they offend someone.

If your neighbors and friends who are good, moral people but haven’t trusted Christ as their Lord–if they are going to heaven along with the rest of us, if the gospel is not truth but only opinion, if the Bible is only a religious diary and Jesus only one way among many, then the church is only a social agency. Our missions and evangelism ministries are a waste of time and money. As Paul said, “We are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

But Jesus, and his word, and his first followers weren’t wrong. Relativism is wrong. To claim there is no absolute truth is to make an absolute truth claim. Everyone I know believes that the Holocaust is wrong, and that terrorism is wrong, and that AIDS should be cured. Absolutely.

Pluralism is wrong.

If Buddhists are right, you and I will one day experience Nirvana after multiple reincarnations, and we will cease to be. If Hindus are right, we will be absorbed into Brahman and cease to exist individually. If Muslims are right, we will spend eternity in heaven or hell based on our obedience to the revelation of Allah as given in the Koran. If the Orthodox Jews are right, we will be judged on the basis of Torah. If any of these is right, the others are by definition wrong.

No other religion believes the deception of pluralism. Muslims are doing all they can to convert the world to Islam. Hindus and Buddhists are actively seeking to spread their worldview to as many as possible. Darth Vader and the Jedi are not different roads up the same mountain–they are very different mountains.

Universalism is wrong. God’s holy word is clear: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

Conclusion

So the ignorant must be told. A third of the world has never had a chance to hear the only news which can save our souls from hell for heaven. We must redouble our efforts to pray for missions, to give to missions, and to go as missionaries.

The informed must be won.

Every person you will meet this week stands without excuse. They have access to the truth of God’s word. They have heard of God’s Son. They will spend eternity in either heaven or hell.

And you are the Bible they will read, the Jesus they will meet. Their relativism and pluralism and universalism keep them from coming to hear me, so they must hear you. You have the only cure for their eternal cancer, the only hope for their hopeless hearts.

For whom are you praying by name? When last did you tell someone of your faith? Invite them to something spiritual? Tell them of God’s love in yours? To believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and to refuse to tell those who need to know him most, is not to believe it at all. It’s practical universalism.

And Jesus must be Lord of all. He is not only the only way to life eternal, he is the only way to life present. He came to give us life to the full, now. His Spirit wants to fill us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). But he can give only what we will accept.

So begin each day at his feet. Start the day in his word and worship. Seek his will first. Pray before you act. Submit to his Lordship. And you’ll build each day on the only rock which will withstand the storms of life.

I was reading about the Golden Gate Bridge this week, one of the engineering marvels of its day. It was completed in 1937, at a cost of $35 million. It stands directly over the San Andreas Fault, and yet it can withstand an earthquake measuring 7.0 in the Richter Scale. Why?

Its two great cables contain enough strands of steel wire to circle the globe three times. The concrete in its piers would pave a five-foot wide sidewalk from New York to San Francisco. But the cables and the concrete are not the secret to the bridge’s great stability.

The secret is simple. Every part of the bridge, from the concrete roadway to the steel railings and cross beams, is related ultimately to two great towers and two anchor piers. The towers are deeply imbedded into the rock foundation beneath the sea. In other words, the entire bridge is totally committed to its foundation.

So must we be. Each of us. In the midst of the earthquakes and storms which surround us, stand on the rock. Invite all you know to join you. This is the invitation, and the command, of God.

Deacons

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God’s Power for God’s Purpose

Deacons

Dr. Jim Denison

Acts 6:1-7

The date was Monday, March 11, 1991, and the president of the United States was desperately trying to prove that he was somebody. President Bush was visiting Anthony Henderson’s school, and sat down beside Anthony to read him a book. Suddenly Anthony asked, “Are you really the president?”

Mr. Bush was surprised by the question. “You mean you didn’t know that? How can I prove it to you?” He showed him his driver’s license, but the boy wasn’t convinced. He showed him his American Express card, then a picture of his grandson playing baseball, then pointed to the black limousine outside. But nothing worked.

The picture in USA Today told the whole story: Anthony sitting with a puzzled president, examining his American Express card. Wondering if he’s really somebody or not. We all want to be somebody special.

Jesus taught us how: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15). We are special to the degree that we are servants—to the degree that we serve our Lord and his children.

When Dr. Herbert Howard came to Park Cities in view of a call to be pastor in 1948, he preached a sermon entitled Everybody’s Somebody. It became famous. The church asked him to preach it each year. I have listened to it with great gratitude and profit.

This week we’ll learn how to preach it ourselves.

Find a need (Acts 6:1)

Today we travel back in time to A.D. 35 and the greatest crisis which would confront the first Christian congregation: “the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food” (v. 1). What was the problem?

Some in the first congregation were from Palestine, and spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. Others were from the Hellenistic world, so they spoke Greek. Many of these had become Christians at Pentecost, and stayed in the city. Others of them had moved to Jerusalem to retire.

The Jewish people had long cared for their widows, since they had no one else to help them. When a woman married, her father no longer bore responsibility for her support; if her husband died, his family was no longer responsible for her. And employment options for first-century women were extremely limited, as you might guess. So the Jewish people took a daily collection for their needs, called the Tamhui or Table, and a weekly collection every Friday as well, called the Kuppah or Basket.

If someone left Judaism for Christianity, he or she forfeited this support system. So the apostles took it over. However, the church had outgrown the care the apostles could provide. And these families not from Palestine became convinced that their widows were being discriminated against. They “complained”—the Greek word means to “murmur” or “grumble.”

This was a very serious state of affairs. Not only could widows starve to death if the church didn’t act, but the fragile racial coalition which was early Christianity was in danger of failing. And this splintering of the Christian movement would doom it.

Service begins with a need, something we can do, a person we can help. Ask the Lord to break your heart with what breaks his. Ask him to make you aware of those around you and their needs, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. And he will.

Meet the need in the Spirit (vs. 2-6)

The apostles were the leaders of the church, so that responsibility for meeting this crisis fell to them. They quickly “gathered all the disciples together” (v. 2), not just the 120 or the larger leadership of the church. Here we find early evidence for congregational governance, and indication of the seriousness of the situation. How would they resolve the challenge?

Know your gifts and calling

The apostles began with what they knew: “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables” (v. 2). Their statement in no sense minimized the severity of the situation. “Wait on tables” conjures in our minds the picture of a restaurant waiter or waitress. But their words were literally “serve the tables.” “Tables” were the means by which they distributed the daily food offerings. The word is plural, indicating that several distribution centers were used. This fact may explain the need for “seven men” (v. 3).

The apostles knew their calling in the Spirit was to the “ministry of the word of God.” And they knew they could not serve the word and serve the tables both. They must choose. So must we. God will call us to meet those needs which are within our gifts and ministry. If you find a need which does not match your calling, find someone whose calling it does match. A dear friend once helped me with this statement: “Their need does not constitute your call.” Our call is first to be obedient to God and his larger purpose for us, then to meet needs as a means of answering that call.

If you do something which is not within God’s calling for you, you cannot fulfill the purpose he does intend for your life. And you prevent the person who is called to that task from answering the word and will of God. So know your gifts and calling, and match them to the needs which you find.

Respond in the direction and wisdom of the Spirit

The apostles knew they were not called to this particular ministry, so they knew God would call others who were: “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word” (vs. 3-4).

“Choose” translates the Greek, “look you out,” or “seek out.” The church was to nominate “seven” men; some suggest that this number was chosen for its Hebrew significance as a symbol for completion and perfection (cf. the seven-fold Spirit of Revelation 1). A more practical reason may well be that the Jerusalem church may have been gathered in seven house-churches, and each needed someone to help that cell group minister to its own.

They were to find seven “men.” There is no clergy-laity distinction here or anywhere else in the Bible. Their only qualification: they must be “known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.” “Known” means “to have the reputation for.” In other words, their lives and witness were to give testimony to the fact that they are filled with the Spirit and wisdom. They must have proven it. Paul later made the same requirement of “deacons”: “They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons” (1 Timothy 3:10).

To be “full of the Spirit” means to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, to be submitted to his leadership and will. This is God’s command for us all (Ephesians 5:18), our daily surrender of heart, soul, mind and strength to his guidance and power. We are to confess every sin he brings to mind, ask his cleansing and forgiveness, and consciously turn our lives and work over to his will. This is to be a lifestyle, a continual process and experience.

When we are “full of the Spirit” we will also be “full” of “wisdom”—a particular gift and skill which brings about the efficient and effective accomplishment of a ministry task (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8). “Wisdom” is a gift of the Spirit, and the result of the Spirit’s control of our lives. Those called to the task of leading the church in caring for its widows would need the Spirit’s guidance, and the wisdom and skill which the Spirit alone could produce.

Then the apostles could “give our attention” to prayer and the ministry of the word—the Greek means “devote ourselves exclusively to.” These would be the first priorities of the spiritual leaders of the church, in this order. We must listen before we speak.

The “whole group” affirmed the apostles’ leadership as from God (v. 5), another indication that the earliest church governance was congregational in nature. And so they nominated seven men. Stephen, the first on the list, was considered by early church tradition to have been among the Seventy-two sent by Jesus to minister to the Samaritans (Luke 10:1-24). Philip would become an evangelist as well (cf. Acts 8:5-40 and 21:8, where these men were still called “the Seven”).

The only other name on the list to be described in Scripture beyond his name was “Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.” He was a Gentile who became a Jew and then a Christian. He was from Antioch, the Gentile city which would soon become the missions headquarters of the apostolic movement (Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-3).

Commentators note that all seven men had Greek names and thus may have represented the Greek side of the church, since it was the group which first raised the problem leading to their selection (6:1). But others point out that it was common in the first century for people to bear Greek names even if they were from Hebrew background and culture.

The apostles prayed (v. 6), indicating that the selection of these men was ultimately up to God. They then “laid their hands on them,” continuing the priestly act of conferring blessing and endorsement for ministry. Some believe that only the apostles performed this function, and see their action as indicative of a specialized clergy and even an apostolic succession (the Catholic model). Others suggest that the Greek grammar connects the “whole group” (v. 5) to the act of laying on hands. Acts 13:3 is a clear example of congregational “ordination,” where the entire church fasted and prayed for Barnabas and Saul, laid hands of blessing on them, and sent them to their global ministry.

The church saw the need to be met, and the Spirit called and empowered those intended by God to meet it. This is precisely the process God still uses in advancing his Kingdom and building his church. Where has the Spirit called you to serve?

Expect Kingdom results (v. 7)

The Spirit’s strategy led to two significant results. One changed apostolic Christianity; the other impacted the Church from then to now.

The word of God spread

First, “the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith” (v. 7). The word of God “spread,” a Greek tense which indicates an ongoing and continual process, not occasional spurts and starts.

The number of disciples in Jerusalem “increased rapidly,” literally “multiplied.” This was always God’s plan for reaching the world. Remember the math: if you were the only believer in the world today and you won me to Christ; tomorrow we two won two more; the next day we four won four more, and so on—in 31 days more than eight billion (more than the world’s population) would be Christians. You say, “I can’t win one a day.” Could you win one a year? In 31 years the entire world would follow Jesus. That process started here.

Now for the first time in Acts, priests came to the faith, literally a “great crowd” of them. Perhaps they witnessed the church’s practical commitment to its widows and poor, were impressed with such practical faith, and wanted to join this movement of God. These priests would endure much opposition and persecution for their commitment. As Levites, their lands and houses were owned by the nation. This was much like a pastor and his family leaving a church and parsonage with no place to go. Nonetheless they “obeyed the faith” or “were being obedient” (a better translation than the NIV’s “became obedient”). They entered into a lifestyle of discipleship, and never left it.

Note that the widows and their needs are never mentioned again in the book of Acts. Clearly this program of personal ministry worked. It will still work today.

“Deacons” were created

The second legacy of this week’s text was the creation of the office of “deacon.” The Greek word means “servant,” and is found twice in our text: “wait” on tables (v. 2) and the “ministry” of the word (v. 4). Both those who served the widows and those who served the word of God would be diakonia, servants.

There is no indication in Acts 6 that these seven men were understood to be the first to occupy an ongoing office. They responded to a specific need at a specific time. However, the concept of called-out people to serve the needs of God’s people grew in apostolic Christianity, until thirty years later Paul set forth specific characteristics for those who would enter the office of “deacon” (1 Tim. 3:8-10).

Paul would also write to the Roman church, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea” (Romans 16:1). “Servant” is the same word, diakonia, here related to a female. The NIV translates the word “servant,” though it offers the footnote, “or deaconess.” The NIV Study Bible adds the note, “When church related, as it is here, it probably refers to a specific office—woman deacon or deaconess.” Some feel that the “office of deacon” was in full existence by that time, and that Phoebe was thus a female deacon. Others believe that the office was not yet fully developed, or that her role as a “servant” does not necessarily indicate that she was a “deacon.”

The topic of female deacons is further complicated by Paul’s admonition, following the characteristics of deacons, “In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect . . .” (1 Timothy 3:11). “Wives” is actually “women” in the Greek, so that many feel that Paul here refers to female deacons.

Not only is the gender of deacons a question in biblical interpretation. Their evolved role through church history has also been problematic and controversial. By A.D. 250, Cyprian of Carthage and others were suggesting that the “clergy” be separated from the “laity”; the Council of Nicaea affirmed this distinction (A.D. 325). After Constantine the Great legalized the Christian church, he and others began to construct buildings for the clergy and their congregations to use. The medieval church then used the diaconate as the first stage in advancement toward priesthood, and removed the office from the “laity.” As monastic orders took on servant tasks, the “deacons” became more administrative in function.

In the modern era, corporate structures became increasingly important for churches. The pastors became the Chief Operating Officer for many, and the deacons a Board of Directors. Baptists were part of this trend. In 1846, R.B.C. Howell, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, wrote a book called The Deaconship. Here he described deacons as a “Board of Officers” or the “executive board of the church.”

P.E. Burroughs’ book Honoring the Deaconship was used by Southern Baptists from 1929 to 1956. He further defined the deacons’ role as superintending the material holdings and finances of the church, functioning as a board of directors. Harold Foshee’s The Ministry of the Deacon in 1968 was a welcome attempt to return the ministry of deacons to its biblical foundations. He correctly defined deacons as partners and team members with the pastor. Today we find both models in Baptist churches—administrative managers and servant leaders. Our church strongly affirms the latter.

Conclusion

We have studied this week only seven verses, but find within them extremely important and practical principles for God’s people:

We are significant to the degree that we are servants.

We serve by first identifying a need which must be met.

We then engage those God has gifted and is calling to meet this need.

We expect the Kingdom to grow as the gospel is preached through the practice of servant ministry.

You may not be called a “deacon”, but you are called to be a servant by our Lord. You know someone whose needs you can meet in Jesus’ name. Find a need and meet it with God’s love this week.

As a result, you will be able to say, “the word of God spread.” There is no greater responsibility or privilege than this.

Dealing With Doubts

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Topical Scripture: Mark 9:14-29

There is so much we don’t know about the COVID-19 pandemic.

We don’t know when cases in the US will peak or how long they will last afterwards. We don’t know if surviving a COVID-19 infection means we gain long-lasting immunity or if we can become re-infected. We don’t know if the virus will be affected by warmer temperatures in the spring and summer or, if it is, whether we will see a second onslaught of infections in the fall. We don’t know if measures to keep us from infecting each other will work. We don’t know if vaccine and therapy trials now underway will work.

At a time like this, it’s easy to wonder if prayer does much good. We pray for our leaders, for our healthcare providers, for our friends and families and ourselves. But if you’re like most of us, there’s an unstated, perhaps unadmitted doubt in the back of your mind—will my prayers really make any difference? They can fall into the “why not?” category: something that doesn’t cost us anything but a little time and might make a difference. But who really knows?

In my spring sermon series, we are following Jesus to Easter and watching him change lives along the way. Last week, we saw him save Peter from drowning on the stormy Sea of Galilee in response to the fisherman’s prayer, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30). The Greek is really just two words: “Lord, save!”

It’s the shortest prayer in the Bible, and one we can pray any time in any storm.

Today we’ll shift from the shortest prayer in Scripture to my favorite prayer in Scripture. It’s one that I’ve prayed many times over the years. It’s one that you may need to learn to pray in these hard days.

Before we learn it, let me ask you: What questions or doubts or struggles are most on your heart today? They may be about the coronavirus pandemic, but they may be about something else. One tragedy about disease epidemics is that other diseases don’t stop being diseases. People don’t stop having heart attacks and cancer and strokes. People don’t stop having car accidents and marital problems and financial fears.

So, name your fear, your doubt, your worry. Now, let’s learn how to pray my favorite prayer in response.

The plight of a desperate father

Our story follows Jesus’ transfiguration, when he, Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain to the people below. Here, “when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them” (Mark 9:14). These “scribes” were religious leaders, the authorities of the day.

When the crowd saw Jesus, they “were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him” (v. 15). With his usual compassion, he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” (v. 16).

A man in the crowd explained, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able” (vv. 17–18).

Imagine this man in our context, with a son with coronavirus. He has brought him to the doctors, but they cannot help him. His son is getting sicker, and he is getting more desperate.

Jesus said to this grieving father, “Bring him to me” (v. 19). The spirit then convulsed the boy, so that he fell on the ground, foaming at the mouth (v. 20). Jesus asked his father how long this had been happening; the father said, “From childhood” (v. 21). He added, “It has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him” (v. 22a).

Now comes the part we will focus upon today. The father added, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (v. 22b). Jesus replied, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes” (v. 23). Notice that he did not say, “All things are guaranteed,” but “all things are possible.” Our faith does not obligate God, as we will see shortly.

Here is the prayer I am recommending to us today: “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!'” (v. 24).

Why doubts are normal

Doubts are a normal and expected part of the human experience. It is natural to doubt anything we cannot know with certainty. And the more urgently we need to know what we do not, the more deeply we will feel our doubts.

I can doubt that the universe is ninety-three billion light years in size as scientists currently estimate, but my doubts don’t affect my life unless I’m an astrophysicist. I can doubt that Brexit will move forward as planned in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, but my doubts don’t affect me unless I live in the UK or Europe or work in a field directly affected by them.

But if I doubt that God can protect me and my family from coronavirus or heal us if we are infected, my doubts become very real and very personal.

Faith in God is like faith in anyone else in that it is a relationship rather than a scientific experiment. All relationships require a commitment that transcends the evidence and becomes self-validating.

I cannot prove to you that I love my wife or that she loves me. You would have to experience our relationship to know its reality. You cannot prove you should take a job before you take it. You examine the evidence, of course, but then you step beyond the evidence into a commitment that validates itself.

It is the same with our Lord. There will always be dimensions of our relationship with him that transcend certainty and require faith. At such times, doubts are natural and normal.

What should we do with such doubts today?

One: Remember what we know about God.

This father said to Jesus, “I believe” (v. 24a). The Greek word is pisteuo, meaning to trust in, to have confidence in, to rely upon. His faith was not merely intellectual but personal. He had enough faith to bring his suffering son to Jesus’ disciples in the hope that they could help. Even though they had been unable to heal his son, he had enough faith to turn to their master now.

When we face what we don’t know, let’s remember what we do.

Nothing about this boy’s suffering or the coronavirus pandemic changes anything about the nature of God. He is as powerful today as when he created the universe. He is as omniscient today as when he led his people into the Promised Land.

He hears our prayers as fully today as when he heard the Christians praying for Peter in prison and freed the apostle from Herod. He loves us as much today as when he sent his Son to die for us at Calvary.

What have you experienced about God in the past that is relevant today? What prayers has he answered? What needs has he met? What sins has he forgiven? In what way can you say, “I believe”?

Two: Trust God with what we don’t know.

The second part of the father’s prayer is one that may surprise many believers: “Help my unbelief!” (v. 24b). “Unbelief” translates apistia, the opposite of pisteuo. Just as an “atheist” is one who denies theism, so this man’s “unbelief” contradicted his belief.

When we have such doubts, we may think God won’t hear us or help us. But the opposite is true.

Remember Thomas, the disciple who did not meet the risen Christ along with the other apostles and said, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25). When the risen Christ met with them again the next week, Thomas was in their midst.

Did Jesus criticize Thomas for his doubts? Did he condemn or judge him? “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (v. 27). Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28). And according to early tradition, he took the gospel as far east as India.

Thomas was not the only apostle to harbor doubts about the resurrection. In Matthew 28, we read that “the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted” (vv. 16–17).

Did Jesus reject them? Did he expel them from his movement? To the contrary, he commissioned them to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (v. 19). And they did.

The preeminent example of doubting faith is that of our Lord who cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, quoting Psalm 22:1). Of course, we know that Jesus was “without sin” in every dimension of his life (Hebrews 4:15). And we know that his Father met him in his doubts, so that Jesus would soon say, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Like Thomas and the other apostles and our Savior, we can bring our doubts to God. We can tell him where we are struggling and ask for his help. If we don’t have faith, we can ask for faith. We can pray, “Lord, give me the faith to have faith.”

And we can know that he hears us in grace. In our text, Jesus then cast out the demon and healed the boy (Mark 8:25–27). He answered his father’s doubts with a demonstration of his power and love.

He will do the same for us in whatever way is best for us.

Conclusion

This text does not promise that when we bring God our doubts, he will always meet them as we want him to. Our Lord healed this boy on this day, but he did not heal Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” as the apostle prayed he would (2 Corinthians 12:7–8). To the contrary, God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9a).

And Paul could say as a result, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (v. 9b). And he could add, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (v. 10).

It’s been said that God sometimes calms the storm, but he sometimes lets the storm rage and calms his child.

What’s important today is that we know we can bring God our doubts in these days and know that he hears us and loves us. We can trust that he will give us what we ask or whatever is best. We may not understand his answer on this side of heaven, but we will one day (1 Corinthians 13:12).

And we can know that we are loved.

One of my favorite movie lines of all time is in The Count of Monte Cristo. Edmond Dontes has been unfairly imprisoned. He meets a priest who is suffering the same. At one point the priest says to him, “Here is your final lesson—do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, ‘Vengeance is mine.'”

Edmond responds, “I don’t believe in God.”

The priest replies, “It doesn’t matter. He believes in you.”