How to Live on 24 Hours a Day

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How to Live on 24 Hours a Day

Dr. Jim Denison

Matthew 25:1-13

Thesis: To live fully in the Kingdom of God,

we must be ready for the King to return today

In the Middle Ages, people had no concept of time as we experience and measure it. Mechanical clocks were not available to the vast majority of people. Most did not know what year it was, or even what century they lived in. If only we were so lucky.

Campbell’s Soup has discovered that people will not use microwave meals if they take longer than six minutes to prepare. McDonald’s reports that their typical customer spends seven minutes eating one of their meals.

We are busy people. No wonder: every day in America,

•the Smithsonian adds 2,500 items to its collections

•we purchase 45,000 new cars and trucks, and wreck 87,000

•20,000 people write a letter to the president

•dogs bite 11,000 citizens, including 20 mail carriers

•we eat 75 acres of pizza, 53 million hot dogs, 167 million eggs, 3 million gallons of ice cream, and 3,000 tons of candy. We then jog 17 million miles in an effort to burn it all off.

Time is our most precious commodity. Winston Churchill spoke for us all: “Curse ruthless time! Curse our mortality! How cruelly short is the allotted span for all we must cram into it! We are all worms.”

Our concluding study of Jesus’ parables will help us deal with time, the greatest pressure we face. The central truth of our Lord’s story is simple: to live fully in the Kingdom of God, we must be ready for the King to return today. As we will see, such a lifestyle is the best way to redeem the time we have, to achieve significance with each day and hour, to use time for eternity. If we live prepared for Jesus to return each day, we’ll live in the will and blessing of God. And one day, we’ll be right.

Meet the players in the drama

Jesus is seated at the Mount of Olives with his disciples. This is the last afternoon of his public ministry (Broadus 498). His disciples have asked him, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” (Matthew 24.3). Matthew records Jesus’ answers to that question with the narrative and stories of chapters 24-25. And so the parable of this week deals with the future and its impact on the present.

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom” (Matthew 25.1). “At that time” points us to the previous parable, the story of the servants and their returning master (Matthew 24.45-51). That story ends with this warning: “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (vs. 50-51).

Now Jesus finds another way to emphasize the urgency of preparing for the Kingdom to come. Here the kingdom “will be like” virgins with lamps. This is the future tense (unlike the parable of last week) because it deals with future events (cf. Hagner 728). The kingdom is not like the virgins themselves, but like their situation in Jesus’ story.

The virgins are ten in number. A. T. Robertson, the eminent Greek scholar, sees “no special point” in this fact (196). But most commentators disagree. Broadus quotes Lightfoot: the Jews “delighted mightily in the number ten” (499). The frequency of the number in Jewish tradition and literature is interesting: there are Ten Commandments, ten talents (Matthew 25.28), ten pieces of silver (Luke 15.8), ten servants, ten points, and ten cities (Luke 19.13-17), an instrument of ten strings (Psalm 33.2), at least ten families needed to establish a synagogue, and ten persons for a funeral procession (Lenski 963; cf. Josephus, War 6.9.3). At the very least, their number signifies a complete assembly. The problem some will face this night is not due to any lack of friends within their group.

They are virgins “who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom” (v. 1). The “lamps” here were not the tiny clay vessels mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 5.15, the so-called “Herodian” lamps. Rather, they were torches with a wooden staff and some sort of dish or container on top. In this container was placed a piece of rope or cloth dipped in oil (Bruce 299; Broadus 499). The same word, lampas, is found in John 18.2, “They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons”; and Revelation 8.10, “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky.”

The text states that the torch-bearing attendants “went out to meet the bridegroom” (v. 1). And so the virgins are part of a wedding, one of the greatest festivities in an ancient Palestinian village. The bride, groom, and guests were excused from most religious responsibilities. Scholars forsook the study of the Torah to attend. This was a great and holy festival (Johnson 555).

The event in our parable represents the third stage of matrimony in ancient Israel. First the couple was engaged (usually when the bride was very young), then they were “betrothed” for a year (during which they were considered to be married legally but lived in separate homes). Finally came the “marriage,” when the couple was given to each other (cf. Rienecker 73).

Following the marriage ceremony itself came a feast which lasted seven days (cf. Judges 14.12; Genesis 29.27, “Finish this daughter’s bridal week . . .”); it was shortened to three days if she was a widow. At the end of this week, the bridegroom came for his bride, conducting her from her father’s home to his own. This final marriage procession always occurred in the evening. Friends accompanied the bridegroom, and others stayed with the bride until her groom came for her, then processed with her to her new home (Barnes 264).

These streets were utterly dark at night. Every person walking them was expected to carry a torch, and those in the marriage procession were especially required to do so. Their torches lit the way for the new couple, and joined in their celebration.

And so these ten virgins have gathered at the home of the bride, torches in hand, waiting to “meet the bridegroom” when he comes for his new wife. Who might he be?

In the Old Testament, the bridegroom clearly represents the Lord: “your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth” (Isaiah 54.5); “As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62.5); “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land now sown” (Jeremiah 2.2).

But the Lord Jesus turned this metaphor to himself. When John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus why his own followers did not fast he replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast” (Matthew 9.15). And so Jesus means the bridegroom in the present story to represent himself (cf. France 350).

John the Baptist understood this connection: “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” Then speaking of Jesus he said, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3.29-30). Paul saw Christ as the divine bridegroom as well. Writing to the Corinthian believers: “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him” (2 Corinthians 11.2).

The bridegroom is Christ. Who is the unnamed bride in the story, attended by the ten virgins? Paul has already pointed us to the answer in likening the church to the bride of Christ, the “one husband.” John saw the “wedding” of Christ and his church: “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21.2). Verse 10 describes her as “the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

So the bridegroom is Christ; his bride is the church. Who, then, are these virgins? They do not represent the church, despite attempts over the centuries to make them so. As we will see, some are not admitted to the feast which represents eternity with God in heaven (vs. 10-12). But anyone who is the child of God is his forever (cf. John 3.16, 2 Corinthians 5.17).

The virgins must not be spiritualized. They are illustrations within Jesus’ story, placed there as a warning to us. But a warning of what?

Keep your torch lit

Five of the virgins in our story were “foolish” (from the Greek word moros, or “moron”) and five were “wise.” There was no third category in the story, as there is no third category in our lives regarding the parable’s main lesson.

What makes five foolish and five wise? Not their appearance. All ten have come to the same marriage; all are now in the same house, awaiting the same bridegroom and the processional which they will join. All are wearing clothing appropriate to the occasion. All have come with torches.

Here is the issue, the “hinge” of the parable: “The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps” (vs. 3-4). A torch soaked with oil would only burn for 15 minutes or so (France 351). So the wise attendants brought “jars,” flasks made of leather, metal or clay which contained oil for resoaking the cloth on the torches (Carson 513; Beare 482; Robertson 196). The foolish attendants did not. We’re not told why, because no reason could justify their failure.

“The bridegroom was a long time in coming” (v. 5a). This was not at all unusual in the historical context of the story. He might be preparing his home for his new wife, or he might be paying the bills for the marriage feast. And so the attendants “all became drowsy and fell asleep “(v. 5b). The Greek is picturesque: they “dropped off to sleep” and then “went on sleeping” (Robertson 196), illustrating the two stages of sleep (Bruce 300). (Robertson’s comment is unkind but true: “Many a preacher has seen this happen while he is preaching” [196].)

So the bridegroom, the Christ, has been delayed. Those awaiting his return are asleep. In the same way, followers of Jesus will “sleep” until his return: “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15.20; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4.14, Acts 7.59-60, 1 Thessalonians 5.6).

But finally the groom arrives: “At midnight the cry rang out, ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'” (v. 6). This “cry” is sudden, loud, jarring (Robertson 196; Broadus 500)). The watchman has seen the bridegroom on his way, coming for his bride. Jesus has already warned his disciples that his return would be swift when it occurs (Matthew 24.27, 37-41). So the one who sees the bridegroom coming calls the attendants to “Come out to meet him!” The phrase suggested a party going out to meet someone or forming his escort (Keener, IVPNTC 357; cf. Robertson 197).

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps” (v. 7). They “trimmed” their lamps by tailoring the cloth, soaking it with fresh oil, and lighting it (Broadus 500; Robertson 197; Rienecker 73). Now the crisis comes: “The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out'” (v. 8). Their torches had enough oil on the cloth to light them, but not enough to sustain the flame.

This is inexcusable—bringing their lamps was the whole reason they came to the bride’s home. Their one purpose was to light the procession for the bridegroom and his new wife, to form the parade which would usher them to their new lives. Without burning torches they would not be distinguished from strangers who have no right to be admitted to the feast. And they would dishonor the bridegroom and his bride (Broadus 500).

So they ask for oil from the five who were wise enough to bring it. These five prove further their wisdom: “No, there may not be enough for both us and you” (v. 9a). This reply in Greek does not actually employ a direct negative, and could better be translated, “We are afraid that there is no possibility of there being enough for us both” (Robertson 197; cf. Plummer 345). And they are right. No attendant would bring more oil than she would need for the procession.

So the wise advise the foolish: “Go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves” (v. 9b). In a little village celebrating a wedding, everyone would be awake. Shops would be open. Oil would be available. And it would appear that the foolish attendants succeeded in buying what they needed, for they later appeared at the door of the bridegroom (v. 11; cf. Hagner 729; Johnson 557).

But it is too late: “while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut” (v. 10). The bridegroom arrived suddenly, as he will: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15.51-52). Jesus’ return will be swift: “as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24.27; cf. 37-41).

The attendants who were waiting with the bride and prepared for his coming joined his processional. Their lighted lamps led the way. The entourage went to the groom’s home for the wedding banquet. “And the door was shut”; the Greek order is emphatic, “shut was the door” (Lenski 969). The door to a Palestinian home was usually in the middle of one side of the house, leading by a passage under the second story to the inner court. All the other rooms opened to this court. And so when the outer door was shut, the entire home was cut off to the outside world (Broadus 500).

Jesus has the authority to close this door one day: “These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (Revelation 3.7, quoting Isaiah 22.22). Now the promise made earlier by Jesus is no longer open: “knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7.7). This is the opposite of Revelation 3.20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” If we do not open the door to him, one day he must close it to us.

Finally the other attendants arrive: “Sir! Sir! Open the door for us!” (v. 11). But the groom must reply, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you” (v. 12). They have missed the most critical element of the Jewish wedding, the moment in which the bride was brought into the groom’s home under the wedding canopy (Keener, BBCNT 117). There can be no excuse for such an insult. Surely no part of the bride’s processional would commit such an outrage. By their actions they have disqualified themselves from the honored place which had been theirs. And so the groom does not know them. And they cannot enter his home.

Here is the moral of the story: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” Whenever we meet “therefore” in the Scriptures we must ask what it is “there for.” Here the connection is obvious: we must ever be ready for the Christ to return for his bride, the Church. We must be watching every moment of every day. “Keep watch” is a command, not a suggestion.

He may return this hour, or this moment. Jesus may return before you finish reading this commentary, or before you teach the lesson it supports this week. Repeatedly the word of God warns us that it is so: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24.36); “No man knows when his hour will come” (Ecclesiastes 9.12); “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come” (Matthew 13.33; cf. Luke 12.35-40).

If Jesus visited our tiny planet once, he can visit it again. The last recorded words of our Lord say it is so, “Yes, I am coming soon!” (Revelation 22.20). And John can answer, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Can you?

Serve the King now

Jesus’ compelling story makes crystal clear the fact that you and I must serve Jesus today. No one can predict the day or hour when the King will return to his Kingdom. And so no one can afford to wait a moment to prepare for his arrival.

I remember the furor caused by Edgar Whisenant’s bestseller, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Thousands gathered in Korean churches on October 28, 1992 to await the return of Christ as predicted by Lee Chang-rim, founder of the Mission for the Coming Days church. Many followers sold their homes, abandoned their families, and turned over their assets to his church. Harold Camping predicted that Christ would return between September 15 and 27, 1994. Lester Sumrall wrote in his book I Predict 2000 A.D. that Jesus would return in that year to reign from Jerusalem from 1,000 years. So far, every prediction made in the course of Christian history has been wrong.

I like the bumper sticker which says, “Jesus is coming. Look busy.” That’s good advice. Be ready now. Michael Green: “‘Too late’ is a terrible verdict. The job has been lost; it is too late now to say you will try harder. The divorce has come through; it is too late now to make amends. The examination starts today; it is too late now to prepare for it. And those terrible words are never more awesome than when applied to the parousia. Make sure you don’t miss the party! That is what Jesus means. Readiness is the key” (Green 261).

William Barclay is right: “There is no knell so laden with regret as the sound of the words too late” (321). He quotes Tennyson’s poem to make his point:

Late, late so late! and dark the night and chill!

Late, late so late! but we can enter still.

Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.

No light had we; for that we do repent;

And learning this, the bridegroom will relent.

Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.

No light: so late! and dark and chill the night!

O let us in, that we may find the light!

Too late, too late: ye cannot enter now.

Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet?

O let us in, tho’ late, to kiss his feet!

No, no, too late! ye cannot enter now (in Barclay 321).

A sundial was once inscribed with the cryptic message, “It is later than you think.” The sundial at Johns Hopkins University reads,

The only hour upon thy hands

Is the hour upon which the shadow stands.

Austrian composer Franz Schubert was working on his “Unfinished Symphony” when he died suddenly at the age of 31. Frank Grasso, conductor of the Tampa, Florida Synphonette Orchestra, suddenly died as he was directing the last number of a concert. It was Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony.” We’re all playing in that orchestra. Be ready for the concert to end today.

How? By serving the Lord Jesus now. This we must do for ourselves. No one else can make us ready for Jesus to return. No one else can serve him in our place. As the foolish virgins discovered they could not borrow oil, so we cannot borrow a relationship with God. Others cannot give it to us. They can urge us to obtain this “oil” ourselves, but they cannot give their to us (cf. Plummer 345; Barclay 320-1; Green 261).

Make certain that you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, that you have confessed your sins to him and trusted him with your life and eternity. Then use this present moment, this present hour, to fulfill his will for your life. And you will have all the time you need to accomplish that will.

I like the poster which says, “There are always enough hours in the days we give to God.” Paul Tournier was right: “God has given each of us enough time to do what God wants us to do.” Oswald Chambers’s approach to the future was simple, and profound: ‘Trust God and do the next thing.”

This moment is all there is. Leonardo da Vinci observed, “In rivers, the water you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes: so it is with time present.” In the words of theologian Paul Tillich, “Now is the moment when eternity touches time.”

To redeem the time, to use this most precious commodity well, give every hour to Jesus. Make him your King as you serve in his Kingdom. And when he returns, the glorious riches of that Kingdom will be yours. Whatever obedience costs you today will be more than rewarded tomorrow.

C. S. Lewis was profoundly right: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.'” Which kind are you?

How to Love Our Enemies

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Topical Scripture: Matthew 5:43–48

Richard Steve Moser III of Cincinnati went to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles last year to get his driver’s license renewed. The problem was, he claimed to be a Pastafarian, otherwise known as the satirical “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.”

He thus insisted on wearing a spaghetti colander on his head for his photo. When the government agency refused, he claimed religious discrimination. The American Humanist Association has taken up his cause.

Some of the “enemies” we face are of our own making. For instance, scientists are paying people $3,300 to be infected with the flu for research purposes. Others are not: A retired soldier lost his medical alert dog in Arlington when she was stolen from his house.

And some people are making headlines for making good choices. Actor Matthew McConaughey made the news this week when he helped served Thanksgiving dinners for firefighters battling wildfires in California.

Last week I asked you to name the person who hurt you most deeply or most recently. We learned from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount what not to do: we are not to return hate for hate, hurt for hurt.

This week, we learn what we are to do.

Love on purpose

Jesus begins: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (v. 43).

“Love your neighbor” is a familiar biblical injunction. We find it as early as Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” “Neighbor” comes from “nigh-bor,” one who is “nigh” or near. Loving our neighbor is a basic and familiar Christian ethic.

But were Jesus’ hearers really taught, “hate your enemy”? In fact, they were. The Jewish rabbis considered fellow Jews their neighbor. Everyone else, the Gentile world, was not, and was in fact their spiritual enemy. The Gentile world would corrupt them with its defiled food, customs, and paganism.

Here we find basic humanity exposed. It’s easy to love those who like us and are like us. It’s hard to like those who are not like us and do not like us. It’s human nature to love our neighbor and hate our enemy.

Now Jesus takes his stand: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (v. 44).

This statement has no parallel in the Jewish tradition or literature. No religious teacher in world history ever defended such an ethic.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred while practicing these very words, said about them, “The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus” (The Cost of Discipleship, 164).

This is the action which makes our love both real and possible.

Jesus expanded these words by saying, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27–28). When we pray for our enemies, our love becomes real. It moves from sentiment to substance, from feeling to action. It takes wings and grows feet. It becomes practical and tangible.

And when we pray for those who persecute us, our actions produce feelings. We act out love, and eventually feel love. It’s a process which takes time, but it works.

Such forgiving love in action reveals our spiritual genetics: “that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (v. 45).

God blesses both the evil and the good. Sun shines and rain falls on the unrighteous and the righteous. And we’re glad, for we’ve all been evil and unrighteous.

A father should love his children, whether or not they love him; and so God loves us. A sibling should love his sister or brother, whether or not they love him; and so should we. Such love shows us to be our Father’s children.

Otherwise we are no different from the children of the world. The tax-collectors, the most despised people in Israel, love those who love them. The pagans destined for hell greet those who greet them. It is human nature to love those who love us. It is divine nature to love those who do not.

Such selfless, forgiving love fulfills the purpose for which we were created: “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (v. 48).

“Perfect” is the word teleios. In this context it means to achieve the purpose for which we were intended. In this sense a screwdriver is “perfect” if it does its job. It is not “sinless”—it may have nicks on the handle and paint on the blade. But if it turns the screw it was meant to turn, it is teleios.

What is our intended purpose? Jesus made it clear: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. God is love (1 John 4:8), and he has created us to love as he does, to forgive as he does, to love our neighbor because we love our Father and to prove we love our Father by loving our neighbor.

And so selfless, forgiving love is the purpose for which we exist. Now, how do we learn to give it?

Love in practice

Dr. Everett Worthington edited a defining book on forgiveness, titled Dimensions of Forgiveness: Psychological research and theological perspectives. When he began his research, he had no idea how much he would need its results personally. On New Year’s morning of 1996, his elderly mother was found beaten to death with a crowbar and a baseball bat. His advice is both professionally informed and personally compelling.

Dr. Worthington suggests five steps towards forgiveness. In examining them while preparing this message, I was amazed by their parallel to Jesus’ words in our text. They form the acronym REACH.

“R” stands for recall. Recall the hurt, as objectively as you can. Admit the reality of the pain you have experienced. Do not deny it, pretend it doesn’t exist, or excuse the person who caused it. Think about the person who hurt you most, as realistically as possible.

Jesus begins at the same place: “Love your enemies” (v. 44). Not “love if you have enemies.” He knows that we do, and that we know who they are. He warned us: “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Where is yours? Who caused it? Think about the person, and especially what that person did, the specific actions which injured you. Recall the hurt in all its reality.

“E” stands for empathize. Try to understand why this person hurt you, from his point of view.

Jesus tells us to “Love our enemies,” using the unusual Greek word agape. This word was employed very seldom in the Greek world prior to Christianity. The common Greek words for “love” point to sexual, family, or friendship love.

Agape is far more. It is selfless, sacrificial, the love which puts the other person first with no thought of reward. The love which cares for the other, however they feel about us.

How do we do this? “A” in Dr. Worthington’s acronym stands for giving the altruistic gift of forgiveness.

Jesus tells us to “pray for those who persecute us.” His words are present tense—do it even while they are persecuting us. This is the act whereby genuine forgiveness always begins.

Such prayer surrenders the right to get even with the person who hurts us but gives them over to God instead. Such prayer enables us to see this person as God does, as a weak, fallible, complicated human being like ourselves. And such prayer begins the process of wishing for their welfare.

Note that praying for our enemies does not deny justice. Nowhere does Jesus teach us that forgiveness suspends the consequences of evil actions. The legal process which governs human affairs and nations must proceed. To forgive means that we pardon personally—we give up our right to punish this person ourselves. We no longer want revenge and vengeance for ourselves. We trust this person into the hands of God and that justice which is fair and right.

“C” stands for public commitment to forgiveness. Dr. Worthington’s clients write a “certificate of forgiveness,” a letter of forgiveness to the offender. They write such forgiveness in their diary or tell a trusted friend what they have done. They make public their pardon for the one who has hurt them.

Jesus makes clear that our forgiveness must be equally public. This is our witness, proof that we are children of a forgiving Father. Such forgiveness separates us publicly from the tax-collectors and pagans of our day. It shows the world that we belong to a God of grace.

“H” stands for the final step, to hold onto forgiveness. Every time the pain returns, we take these steps again. We recall it, we empathize with the one who hurt us, we forgive altruistically through prayer, and we commit to such forgiveness. As we do so we become “perfect,” fulfilling God’s created purpose for our lives. We love as he loves. We make Jesus’ love real through our own.

Conclusion

Let’s recap: Recall the person and the specific hurt you felt. Empathize in selfless love. Be altruistic through prayer, surrendering your right to revenge and placing them in God’s hands. Commit definitely and publicly to pardon and reconciliation. Hold this commitment firm every time the pain returns to your heart, the anger to your soul.

In short, do for others what Jesus has done for us. Give to others that which he has given to you. And he will help you give it.

Corrie ten Boom, the Holocaust survivor who lost her entire family to the Nazis, knew firsthand that forgiveness is such a process. She likened it to letting go of a bell rope. When you’re pulling on the rope which rings a bell, and you let it go, the bell keeps ringing for a while.

But if you keep your hands off the rope, the bell will begin to slow and eventually stops. She says that forgiveness is not something we feel, but something we do. It is letting go of the rope.

This is what Jesus did for us. Now he invites us to pay forward his forgiving grace.

For whom do you need to let go of the rope today?

How to Move the World

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Topical Scripture: Acts 12:1–5

Archimedes, who died in 212 BC, was the first scientist to recognize the power of the lever. He once famously said, “Give me a place to stand and rest my lever, and I can move the Earth.” We will learn today how to use that lever.

Oswald Chambers noted: “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.

Billy Graham added: “In the morning, prayer is the key that opens to us the treasures of God’s mercies and blessings; in the evening, it is the key that shuts us up under His protection and safeguard.”

Prayer is the lever which can move the world. Here’s how the lever works.

Hold a prayer meeting (vv. 1–4)

As Acts 12 opens, it is the early part of AD 44 and we find the infant Christian church in yet another crisis. King Herod, grandson of the Herod of Jesus’ birth, is ruler of the Jews. And he wants to placate and please them. Thus, he beheads James, one of their leaders. Then he arrests Peter, the chief of the apostles, intending to kill him as soon as the Feast of Unleavened Bread passes. Jews by the tens of thousands will be in Jerusalem. Herod won’t miss this chance to impress his subjects.

So, he seizes Peter and turns him over to four squads of four guards each (v. 4). He’s probably heard of Peter’s earlier escape at the hands of the angel (Acts 5:18–21) and wants to avoid a repeat fiasco. The apostle was likely imprisoned in the fortress Antonia, northwest of the temple area, where Paul would later be confined as well (Acts 21:31–23:32).

Four soldiers are with him at all times—two chained to his body, and two to guard the door. Not to mention the soldiers stationed at the main door to the fortress or others patrolling the area. This is the highest security Rome can muster.

What does the church do? Organize a mob and storm the prison? Circulate a petition to get the names of leading Christians in Jerusalem to request Peter’s release? Take a collection to bribe Herod for his freedom?

They hold a prayer meeting.

Could anything be more ridiculous and fruitless? Imagine praying for a man so securely incarcerated, so near execution. Suppose a family and friends kept vigil outside Huntsville, while their loved one was being readied for execution, praying for him to escape. How would we view their prayers?

Here’s a better question: how would God?

Where are you in jail this week? Where is someone you love? Have you prayed yet? Have you asked others to join you? Have you held a prayer meeting? Will you?

Pray as they prayed (v. 5)

Suppose you call fellow believers to join you in intercession. What now? Let’s make the example of our text the model we follow: “Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (v. 5). R. A. Torrey’s classic The Power of Prayer and the Prayer of Power contains an investigation of this verse which we will follow in our study.

Pray together

Luke notes that “the church” was earnestly praying for Peter. By now the followers of Jesus number more than five thousand men, not counting women and children (Acts 4:4). They were scattered across the larger area (Acts 8:1), but news of Peter’s impending execution would travel quickly across the region. Luke is careful to note that the house to which Peter would go following his release was “where many people had gathered and were praying” (v. 12). But this was not “the church” in total. All who knew Jesus were calling on him, together.

Imagine having five thousand families praying for you. Jesus promised great power in response to such unity: “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:19–20).

Two horses working alone can do the work of two. But two horses pulling together can do the work of forty working alone. There is more power in praying together than the world knows. With this lever we can indeed move the earth.

With whom will you pray this week?

Pray with intensity

They were “earnestly praying” for Peter, as should we. The Greek is in the continuous tense; they were still praying in the morning when Peter escaped and came to them. Thus, they prayed all night. “Earnestly” pictures a runner straining for the finish line. There is work in intercessory prayer, hard labor.

Paul informed the Colossians of one who was engaged in such work on their behalf: “Epaphras . . . is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you” (Colossians 4:12–13). Jesus himself furnishes our best example: “Being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

For whom will you pray with intensity this week?

Pray to God

It seems redundant that Luke would write, “the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (emphasis mine). To whom else would they be praying? Actually, the options are several.

We can pray to impress each other with our eloquent words or pious faith. When you lead in public prayer, isn’t it hard not to pray to the people instead of to God?

We can pray to ourselves in a kind of meditation or contemplation. We can allow our minds to wander and daydream so that we are not praying at all. Shakespeare makes one of his characters lament, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

Or we can pray “to God.” We can enter the presence of the Lord Almighty. We can find ourselves kneeling before the throne of the God of the universe, the Creator of all that exists. We know when we are praying to God and when we are praying about him; when we are connected with him, our spirit is one with his spirit. Here is true power—not in our prayer, but in the One to whom we pray.

Will you connect with God this week?

Pray specifically

Again, it seems redundant for Luke to write, “the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (emphasis mine). For what other purpose would they be together? Again, the options are several.

We can meet to be seen meeting. We can meet to “get something out of the service.” We can meet to pray generically (“Lord, heal all the hurting and save all the lost, and forgive all our sins”). Or we can pray specifically.

We ask God to “be with us” when he already promised he would be (Matthew 28:20). We ask him to “bless us” when we wouldn’t know what that meant if he did. If we would pray specifically, telling God our actual need and asking him for particular answers, he would know how to answer us. And we would know when he did.

This is how God wants us to pray: together, with intensity, to our Father, specifically. This lever will move the world.

Expect God to answer (vv. 6–19)

The night before Peter was to be executed, he was asleep between two soldiers (v. 6), an indication of the peace of his soul. Then suddenly God’s angel came, and everything changed. He woke Peter up, removed his shackles, led him out of prison past two sets of guards, and set him free.

Then Peter knew that God had indeed spared his life. He went immediately to the prayer meeting at the home of John Mark’s mother. Because the early church was so large, they had to meet in many homes. This was apparently the house church with whom Peter worshipped. He knew they had been praying for him, so he went to show them the answer to their intercession.

And then, in one of the humorous ironies of God’s word, they couldn’t believe it was really him. The servant girl was so excited at hearing his voice that she left him exposed on the street while she told the rest of the crowd. Imagine you’re standing by the locked door, with Roman guards probably by now scouring the streets in pursuit. Your faith is still being tested, this time by your friends.

Meanwhile, the church couldn’t believe the girl’s testimony (v. 15). Here is proof that fallen people can still pray in power. Their faith was less than it should have been, as ours usually is. Is your typical response to a miraculous answered prayer one of calm expectation or shocked surprise? Finally, they came to the door, let Peter inside, and praised God together.

When you pray as these people prayed, expect God to move as God moved. This lever opens prison bars, sets prisoners free, and moves the world.

Conclusion

Christians hold in our hearts the lever which can move the world. Will you use it this week?

I am convinced that every believer needs a personal prayer ministry and notebook. Develop a list of lost and unchurched people and pray for them by name. Make a list of other people for whom you will pray daily. List other less urgent needs for each day of the week. Write down your requests, and document God’s answers. When I began keeping such a notebook, my prayer life was revolutionized.

Pray personally, and collectively. When coals stay together, they stay lit. When they are separated, they grow cold. We need each other.

A few years ago, a group of missionaries were camping at night on a hillside. Bands of robbers were common in the area. The missionaries were carrying money, and feared attack. After praying, they finally went to sleep.

Months later, the leader of one of the robber bands was brought to the mission hospital for treatment. While there, he asked the missionaries if they still had the soldiers who guarded them that night. “We intended to rob you,” he admitted, “but were afraid of the twenty-seven soldiers.” When the story got back to the church supporting these missionaries, someone remembered, “We had a prayer meeting that night, and there were twenty-seven of us present.”

How many are here today?

How To Pray For America

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How to Pray for America

Matthew 9:35-38

Dr. Jim Denison

It was 1945. Spencer January, a lifetime resident of Dallas, Texas, was a soldier in the U. S. Army’s 35th Infantry Division, 137th Infantry, Company I. They were pushing through the Rhineland region of West Germany toward the Elbe River to meet the Russian troops.

On March 9 the American troops were ordered to move into Ossenburg, Germany, where a factory that had once manufactured soap was now producing gun powder and other war products. As Spencer and the rest of Company I were cautiously making their way through a wooded area, word came that the company ahead of them had been hit hard and they were to replace it.

When his company arrived at the scene, Spencer was appalled at what met his eyes. Only a handful of badly wounded soldiers, hiding behind a stone house at the edge of the woods, had survived. Straight ahead a 200-yard stretch of open field, bordered on the far side by thick woods, was covered with the bodies of dead American soldiers.

Three nests of German machine guns had mounted the fierce assault. To try to cross that flat, open field meant suicide, yet there was no other road into the town. As the order was given to advance, Spencer prayed desperately, “God, you’ve got to do something.” Thinking of his wife and tiny son back home, he pleaded, “Please, do something.”

Their advance began. Just as the soldier at the front took his first step, something to the left caught their eye. A cloud, a fluffy white cloud, appeared out of nowhere and settled on the ground, completely obscuring the Germans’ line of fire.

Taking advantage of this miraculous turn of events, Spencer and his fellow soldiers bolted into the clearing and ran for their lives. Safe in the sheltering woods on the other side, his heart pounding in his ears, Spencer hid behind a tree and watched as the last American soldier raced to safety. He will never forget what happened next: the instant the last soldier scrambled to safety, the cloud vanished!

The Germans, thinking they still had the American soldiers pinned down behind that stone house, radioed its position to their artillery. Within minutes the house was blown to bits.

But that’s not the end of the story. Two weeks later a letter arrived from Spencer’s mother back in the States. “Son, what in the world was the matter on such and such a day,” she asked, pinpointing the very day and time that Spencer and Company I had faced such grave danger.

“You remember Sister Tankersley from our church? Well, she called me that morning and told me that the Lord had awakened her at 1:00 in the morning and said, ‘Spencer is in serious trouble. Get up now and pray for him.’ Sister Tankersley said she prayed for you until 6:00, when she had to go to work. She told me that the last thing she prayed before getting off her knees was, ‘God, whatever danger Spencer is in, just cover him with your cloud.’”

Andrew Murray said, “Most churches don’t know that God rules the world by the prayers of his saints.” John Wesley was even more specific: “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” And E. M. Bounds claimed, “The church upon its knees would bring heaven upon the earth.”

The best way to know Christ is in prayer. We know any person best by spending time with him or her, talking together, listening to each other, being with each other. So it is with Jesus. The more time we spend together in prayer, the more we grow to know him and be like him.

This focus is especially urgent for this patriotic day, because the greatest gift you and I can give our nation is to pray for her. To pray for her leaders, her people, her spiritual life and God’s divine blessing.

So today we’ll look at the life of prayer, and focus that life on our nation and her needs this day.

See something

Our text finds us in the midst of the Galilean ministry of Jesus. Matthew tells us that he went “everywhere,” to all the villages in this northern part of the Holy Land. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, records the fact that there were no less than 204 such villages in the time of Jesus. Jesus goes to them all, teaching, preaching, healing. Touching their lives. And when he does, he sees something.

He sees that they’re “fainting”—the Greek word originally meant to be flayed or skinned. Here it means that they are distressed, hassled, worried. They’re “scattered”—cast down, wounded, lying around. Abandoned by their shepherds.

And seeing their enormous pain, their terrible need, he is moved with “compassion”—this is the strongest word in the Greek language meaning pity and tenderness to the depth of one’s being. They’re hurting, abandoned, lost, and he feels their pain and suffering. He sees their need.

And so he calls his disciples to pray.

The life of prayer begins with the need for prayer. If we don’t think we need to pray, we won’t.

Do you need God’s help with your marriage? Your kids? Your parents?

Do you need his guidance for your future? Your job? Your money?

Does our church need God’s power for our future? Our ministry? Our people? Or, are we self-sufficient enough that prayer is an activity we practice, not a relationship we need?

Does America need us to pray? Beneath the surface of our prosperity and blessing, is there a deep chasm of need and pain? In a country where half our marriages end in divorce, where suicides are higher than ever in our history, where teenage pregnancy is at an all-time high, were drug and alcohol abuse now starts in our elementary schools? Do we need to pray for our country?

Pray something

Jesus sees their crushing need, and so he says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field” (v. 38). “Ask.” In the King James, “Pray ye therefore.”

And here we come to the problem of prayer. When there is so much to be done, so many needs to be met, why pray? Why not just go? They know what to do, and they have Jesus’ example of how to do it. Why pray?

I cannot speak for any of you, but I will confess to you that this has been a problem of mine for years. Why pray?

My problem looks like this: does my prayer convince God to do something he would not otherwise do? If so, then am I talking God into doing the right thing? Am I more good than he, and must convince him to do what is right? On the other hand, if my prayer does not change God and his work, then why pray?

I know that some say, “Prayer doesn’t change God, prayer changes me.” It’s true that prayer changes me, but what do we do when what needs changing is not us? A child to be healed? A lost person to be saved? A nation in need?

If I pray, do I convince God to do something good? If I don’t, why should I pray? Do you see the problem?

James said that we have not because we ask not (James 4.2). I think one of the chief reasons we don’t ask more urgently, pray more passionately, is that we’re not sure why we should. Why it matters. Why it changes things. And when we do pray, we’re not sure our praying really makes a significant difference.

We pray for rain, but do we bring our umbrellas? We pray for healing, but do we really believe it will happen?

A young man concerned about his preaching once asked Spurgeon why he was seeing so few respond to his sermons. Spurgeon asked, “Well, you don’t expect someone to come every time you preach, do you?” “No, of course not.” “That’s why they don’t,” Spurgeon concluded.

This is even more true of praying. The obvious problem of prayer is that the modern church does so little of it. The underlying problem is that we’re not sure why we should.

Here’s the answer which has helped me enormously: prayer doesn’t change God, it positions me to receive what he already wanted me to have. When we ask God to move, we give him permission to move. When we ask him to heal us, we admit that we need him to heal us and we want him to. Then he can.

Every parent here knows what it’s like to want to help your children more than they will let you. You can solve their math problems, or fix their toys, or help them decide where to go to school, but they must let you. Their request for help doesn’t change your heart, but theirs. Then you can give what you already wanted them to have.

This is why we pray: to know God. To know his heart, his mind, his Spirit. And to receive from him what he already wanted us to have. Not because our prayer earns God’s favor—it simply receives it. It receives what Almighty God, our heavenly Father, wants us to have.

If you agree that America needs God’s favor, God’s power, God’s help, then you must ask. Not to change God, but us.

Do something

Here’s the outcome: “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (10:1). After they prayed, they received God’s power. His power to heal, to preach, to minister. Luke’s version tells us that they went through these towns, preaching the gospel, healing everywhere. They were given power which literally “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6 KJV). Power for ministry all across their nation. But the power to touch their nation came from the power of prayer.

I once heard Chuck Swindoll say at a Texas Baptist Evangelism Conference, “You can do great things for God after you pray. But you cannot do anything for God until you pray.” He’s right. When we pray we will receive God’s power. Power to work, to witness, to minister, to evangelize. Power to touch America. Power to touch the world.

Jonathan Edwards, the leader of one of America’s Great Awakenings, was asked the secret. He said, “Promote explicit agreement and visible union of God’s people in extraordinary prayer.” Andrew Murray explains why: “The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to the world’s evangelization in history.”

Do you agree?

What’s your prayer life like today? How close are you to Jesus right now? How committed to the life of prayer, of communion with him? Is prayer an activity or a relationship for you?

Do you pray regularly for your country? For your president and other leaders, as Scripture commands us? For the salvation of our people?

And are you willing to be part of the answer to that prayer? By beginning where you are, with the people you know and the needs you can touch today? By helping hurting friends, and showing them Jesus’ love in yours? By telling them that God loves them?

Conclusion

We begin the life of prayer by deciding to make Christ our personal Lord and Savior. We ask him in prayer to forgive our mistakes and take charge of our life. I invite you to make that commitment right now.

Then we determine to enter into the life of prayer, more fully and intentionally than ever before. This is how we know Christ. This is how we make him known to our nation, by his power. I invite you to make this commitment with me today.

Take this moment with me, and tell Jesus that you want to know him better. That you want to practice the life of prayer even more earnestly. That you need his power for your life and your nation, right now. Pray for your president and your leaders. Pray for God to intercede for the needs of our people. Do what Jesus asks his disciples to do: “Pray ye therefore.” God is waiting to hear from you, right now.

How To Pray For Your Kids

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How to Pray for Your Kids

Matthew 6:9-15

Dr. Jim Denison

Today we celebrate with our graduates and their families as they near a most significant achievement and milestone in their lives. In light of the occasion, I thought an exit exam might be helpful for us all. Let’s see if we are as educated as those we celebrate this weekend.

How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years.

Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador.

In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November.

What is a camel’s hair brush made of? Squirrel fur.

What was King George VI’s first name? Albert.

Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand.

How long did the Thirty Years War last? 30 years.

Perhaps more education is in order for us all.

This weekend we celebrate academic growth, but also spiritual. While our schools help our children to grow intellectually, we are responsible for helping them grow spiritually. So how can we pray for our kids?

As we return to the Sermon on the Mount, we find today the most famous prayer in human history. Let’s ask Jesus to teach us to pray for our children, whatever their age; for anyone we love; and for ourselves as well.

Praying through the week

Sunday: pray for their salvation.

“Our Father”—not “the” or even “my,” but “our.” The prayer begins with the promise of a personal relationship with the family of God. Note that Jesus was the first Jewish rabbi in history to address God as his personal abba or father. Now he invites us to do the same. And so our first prayer for our children is that they enter the family of God, that they become the children of God. We pray first for their salvation.

Pray for them to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord, early in life: “from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

Parents often ask me how we know when our children are old enough to trust in Christ. Here’s the short answer I give: when they know they need to become a Christian. Not just when they want to be “saved,” or to join the church or be baptized. When you sense that the Holy Spirit has convicted them of their sins, that they need to be forgiven and saved. The Father loves them even more than you do; he’ll help you know when the time has come. In the meanwhile, pray every day for their salvation.

If your children are Christians, thank God for their salvation and pray for them to live this week in a way which pleases their Father in heaven.

Monday: pray for their spiritual growth

“Hallowed be thy name.” Pray that they would hallow or honor God in all they do. This is to pray not just for their spiritual salvation, but for their spiritual growth. As they begin another week at school, pray for them to enroll in Jesus’ school of spiritual discipleship and growth again this week as well.

Pray that they would want to know the Lord personally: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (Ephesians 1:17).

Pray for them to grow closer to God each day: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16).

Teach them to pray and to study Scripture. Model spiritual growth for them with your Bible study and prayer life. Pray with your kids. Read Bible stories to them. Share God’s word together. As you feed them physically, feed them spiritually.

Tuesday: pray for them to live in God’s will

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” His Kingdom comes wherever his will is done.

Pray for them to be yielded to the Spirit of God: “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). This is a daily command and need for our souls.

Ask God to reveal his will to them: “We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9); “That you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10).

Pray for them to be yielded to all the ways God reveals his will: to those in authority over them (Romans 13.1), to parents (Ephesians 6:1-2), to Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).

Pray for them to seek God’s will first: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Pray that this becomes a reflex for their spiritual lives.

Wednesday: pray for their practical needs

Give us this day our daily bread

Pray for their needs this day and week—physical, emotional, relational, spiritual: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

Be specific. Keep a prayer list for them, and teach them to keep one as well.

Thursday: pray for their moral purity

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

That they will hate sin: “Let those who love the Lord hate evil” (Psalm 97:10).

That they will be caught when guilty: “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71).

That they will live in repentance and purity: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).

That they will stay pure until marriage: “Flee from sexual immorality…You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18, 19-20).

Friday: pray for their future guidance

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

That they will be protected from Satan in each area of their lives: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15; “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”; “Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

That they desire the right kind of friends, be protected from the wrong kind: “My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them” (Proverbs 1:10); “I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way” (Hosea 2:6).

That they marry the person God has for them: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Saturday: pray for their service to God

Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”

That they will be single-hearted in devotion to Jesus: “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1-2).

That their lives will lead others to Christ: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ” (Philemon 6).

That they would fulfill God’s purpose for their lives: “We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12).

Conclusion

Of course, we cannot lead others further than we are willing to go. So on this Sunday after Easter, would you make a fresh commitment to the risen Christ as Lord of your personal life? Do it for your family, your Father, and your own soul as well.

And begin to pray in this way, each week. Make these prayer commitments the habit of your life and soul.

You may have read that the nations of the world are working together to construct a new lid on Chernobyl, the Russian nuclear reactor which went ballistic in 1986 and released more radioactive material into the atmosphere than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. It was the worst nuclear disaster in history. The “sarcophagus” constructed to contain the damage is now cracking and will fail. $768 million will be spent to build a new cover for the reactor, one which will protect the world from its radiation for another 100 years.

You and I live in a fallen world. Our children need our prayer cover as much as the world needs Chernobyl’s. Start building it, today.

How to Stand for God

Written by

How to Stand For God

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Dr. Jim Denison

Revelation 10-14

Seals, trumpets, and signs

I. Seven seals (6.1-8.1):

A. White horse of conquest (6.2)

B. Red horse of war (6.3-4)

C. Black horse of famine (6.5-6)

D. Pale horse of death (6.7-8)

E. Altar of slain faithful (6.9-11)

F. Great earthquake of the wrath of the Lamb (6.12-17)

Interlude—the sealing of the 144,000 (ch. 7)

G. Silence in heaven for “about half an hour” (8.1)

II. Seven trumpets (8.2-11-19):

Interlude: the angel with incense, the prayers of the saints (8.2-5)

A. Hail and fire—1/3 of earth burned up (8.7)

B. Huge mountain thrown into the sea—1/3 of sea to blood, 1/3 of

its creatures killed, 1/3 of its ships destroyed (8.8-9)

C. Great star fell on 1/3 of the rivers, turning water bitter (8.10-11)

D. 1/3 of sun, moon, stars struck and turned dark (8.12)

E. First woe: Abyss opened, scorpions released to attack all without

the seal of God (9.1-12)

F. Second woe: four angels released to kill 1/3 of mankind (9.13-21)

Interlude: the angel with the little scroll (ch. 10), two witnesses (11.1-14)

G. Praise of God by heaven and the 24 elders (11.15-19)

III. Seven signs (12.1-14.20)

A. The pregnant woman (12.1-2, 5-6, 13-17)

B. The red dragon which wars against her (12.3ff)

C. The beast out of the sea (13.1-10)

D. The beast out of the earth (13.14-18)

E. The Lamb and the 144,000 (14.1-5)

F. The three angels condemning Babylon and calling for faith in God

(14.6-13)

G. The harvest of the earth by the “son of man” and his angels (14.14-20)

The angel and the little scroll (Revelation 10)

The purpose of this interlude: to answer the perennial question of the martyrs. Those who suffer and die for Jesus will not die in vain; their pain is known, and their victory assured. The purposes of God “will be accomplished” (v. 7), despite current appearances.

The angel’s identity: “Another mighty angel”—cf. 5.2, “I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice….” The rainbow above his head signifies God’s pledge never to destroy the earth again with a flood (Genesis 9.8-17), using symbols from Ezekiel 1.26-28. His legs “like fiery pillars” recalls the pillar of fire which guided (Exodus 13.21-22) and protected (Exodus 14.19, 24) the Jews during the exodus and in the wilderness. He stands both on sea and on land, showing that his message is for all of creation and all the world. By taking his stand on earth, he moves the focus from heaven (4.1) to earth.

His “little scroll”: Not the same scroll as in chapter 5, which was intended to reveal its contents; this scroll is to be eaten by John. Some see this as the vision of chapter 11, others as a second revelation which begins with chapter 12. In the Ezekiel context (cf. 2.8ff), it seems most likely that this is a general commission to preach a message of judgment for sin and condemnation upon Rome (Summers 161-2).

The thunders which accompanied him: “The voices of seven thunders spoke” (v. 3). Their voices were legible, so that John was about to write down their messages. Then he was prohibited from doing so by “a voice from heaven” (v. 4).

In Revelation, thunder is typical of warning (cf. 8.5, 11.19, 16.18). Elsewhere they are a premonition of judgments of divine wrath. But here they are not to be recorded, because there is no more warning: “There will be no more delay!” (v. 6).

His oath: He “raised his right hand to heaven” (v. 5), a practice in Jewish oath taking (cf. Genesis 14.22-23, Deuteronomy 32.40). He “swore by him who lives for ever and ever” (v. 6), encouragement to those facing martyrdom. He promised that “the mystery of God will be accomplished” (v. 7a). And he connected this “mystery” with the message of the prophets (v. 7b).

His gift to John: John asked for the little scroll, and was told to eat it (v. 9), symbolic of grasping fully its contents. It was “sour” in his stomach, indicative of hardship and suffering to come. But it was “sweet as honey” in his mouth, showing that it is ultimately good news for John and his people (cf. the scroll in Ezekiel 3.3, “It was in my mouth as sweet as honey”).

Applications

God and his message are sovereign over the world, appearances notwithstanding today.

We are to speak as God speaks to us, and to be silent where he commands it. We are to announce the full counsel of God’s message—both the bitter and the sweet. We are to tell people of sin and judgment, as well as salvation and grace. The bitter makes the sweet relevant. We must be willing to sacrifice our comfort to obey Jesus.

The two witnesses (Revelation 11)

The reed for measuring the temple (1-2): The “reed” was a bamboo-like cane which often grew to a height of 20 feet and was an excellent and typical measuring rod. John was not to measure the outer court of the Gentiles (approximately 26 acres in size).

This is clearly symbolic in nature, as the actual temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. But dispensationalists see this as a promise that the temple will be rebuilt for or during the “Great Tribulation.” Many are engaged in efforts to bring about this rebuilding even now.

Dr. John Newport sees this temple as reference to the church during the Great Tribulation—its existence and protection. It seems to me that the vision shows us that the real temple of Jesus Christ is indestructible: the believer in the church (cf. 1 Corinthians 3.16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”).

The assault on the holy city (v. 2): Their assault would last 42 months. When the Syrian tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes (168-165 BC) assaulted Jerusalem, his desecrations lasted for three years. This may be the meaning of the vision.

Others see this as a reference to the 70th week of Daniel (Daniel 9.27), divided into two equal parts. Some further interpret this period as the first half of the “Great Tribulation.” If this is the case, the vision could have little reference to John’s first-century context and needs. In apocalyptic language, this may simply refer to a limited period of unrestrained wickedness.

The identity of the two witnesses (vs. 3-12): Given the nature of their work (“power to shut the sky so that it will not rain” and “power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want”), most have identified them as apocalyptic references to Elijah and Moses. If so, the vision is identifying the present-day persecutions of God’s people with those they have always experienced, even under their greatest prophets and leaders.

Others (cf. Larkin) see the “two witnesses” as actual figures who will appear in the future.

B. H. Carroll (continuous-historical school) identified them as the apostasy of the church (he makes the 1,260 days correspond to 1,260 years), and these preachers as forerunners of the Reformation and witnesses of the true gospel.

The dispensational approach typically refers these events to the period following the “rapture,” and argues that the temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt and Moses and Elijah will be returned to minister there.

Their work and its results: They preach with great effectiveness for 1,260 days (42 months x 30 days each), apparently the same period as the assault of verse 2. This period probably corresponds to the early success of the apostolic movement.

They are killed by “the beast that comes up from the Abyss” (v. 7), a reference to demonic opposition to their message and ministry. They are mocked by their enemies, but only for 3 ½ days. This is probably a reference to the Roman persecution which attempted to end the apostolic movement of Christian faith.

Then they are returned to life (v. 11), as “terror struck those who saw them.” They are returned to heaven (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4.17, “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air”). This shows that the Roman opposition to the gospel will not succeed, and that faithful witnesses will be rewarded eternally.

The earthquake which follows (v. 13): God often uses earthquakes to bring judgment; cf. Ezekiel 38.19: “In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.” 7,000 are killed; the rest acknowledge the God of the heavens.

The seventh trumpet: praise in heaven (vs. 15-19): “Loud voices” praise God, for the kingdom of the world has now become the kingdom of Christ, and “he will reign for ever and ever” (v. 15). The 24 elders join their praise, for “the time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets” (v. 18). The Holy of Holies is opened, the ark of the covenant is seen, and lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm respond (v. 19).

Applications

God will redeem our suffering for his glory. Jesus will one day make the kingdom of the world his kingdom, and he will rule it forever. We must be willing to sacrifice our lives and our reputations for Jesus.

The first two signs: pregnant woman and her war with the dragon (ch. 12)

The “great and wondrous sign” of the pregnant woman (vs. 1-2): Some see this vision as a reference to Mary, given that her son is the Messiah (v. 5). The symbolism shows how God exalted and would protect her. Others see this as reference to the church and her members.

The red dragon who assaults her (vs. 3ff): Herod tried to kill her child in Bethlehem. Here we see the satanic origin of this attack, and of all others against Mary and the followers of her Son (cf. Job 7.12, Psalm 74.14, 89.10, Isaiah 27.1, 51.9, Ezekiel 32.2).

He has “seven heads,” “ten horns,” and “ten crowns,” showing his power and universal sovereignty over the nations of men; this is another reference to the demonic power resident in the Roman Empire’s attacks on Christianity. Against such power, the existence of the church must seem perilous, indeed. This is most likely a reference to Domitian, the demonic and insane persecutor of Christians during the writing of Revelation.

The child who is exalted: He will “rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” Cf. Psalm 2.9, fulfilled finally in Jesus’ Second Coming: “Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter.’ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty” (Revelation 19.15). He is “snatched up to God and to his throne” (v. 5) in his resurrection and ascension.

John may be using popular legends to show powerfully the identity and victory of Jesus. The Babylonians told of the overthrow of the wicked sea monster Tiamat by the young god of heaven Marduk, the child of Damkina, the earth mother. The Persians and Egyptians had similar stories.

The Greeks told of the birth of Apollo: his mother, the goddess Leto, reached the time of her delivery, but was pursued by the dragon Python who sought to kill both her and her unborn child. The island of Delos welcomed her, where she gave birth to the god Apollo. Four days after his birth, he found Python at Parnassus and killed him in his Delphic cave (cf. Newport 230-1). If these tales are in John’s mind, he uses them masterfully to show how Christ is the real Lord of the universe.

The woman’s protection: During the 42 months of persecution she will be protected in “a place prepared for her by God” (v. 6). She is “given the two wings of a great eagle so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert” (v. 14). Lindsey sees this as a reference to the United States military, perhaps the 6th fleet in the Mediterranean.

Satan tries again to attack her with a river, but “the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of its mouth” (v. 16).

It is interesting to note that Mary lived with John in the hills above Ephesus, where their persecutors could not find and attack them.

If this is a reference to the church in general, it is a promise that Satan cannot destroy us. Cf. Justin the Martyr, “You can kill us but you cannot hurt us.”

The war in heaven (vs. 7-9): This is not the original war of Satan against God, but the enemy’s renewed (and perhaps final) attempt to overthrow the Lord. Michael, the fighting angel, and his forces war against Satan. Once again he is defeated and “hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (v. 9).

The faithfulness of God’s people (vs. 10-12, 17): The “accuser” (the meaning of “Satan” in Hebrew) has accused us before God day and night. But we can overcome him “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (v. 11). We must not love our “lives so much as to shrink from death” (v. 12), for then we will be rewarded eternally.

We should expect persecution to continue, for “the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (v. 17). Jesus warned us, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you” (John 15.20). But in Christ we will overcome.

Applications

Satan is a defeated foe. He tries four times to defeat God and his people, and fails each time: he attacks the “woman,” her Son, the Lord, and his followers. But God is triumphant, as his people will be. We must be willing to sacrifice our lives for Jesus (v. 11). Then Satan can have no hold on us.

Next two signs: beast out of the sea and beast out of the earth (ch. 13)

The “beast out of the sea”: Has ten horns, seven heads, and ten crowns on his horns, on each a blasphemous name (v. 1). Lindsey sees this as the ten nations of the European Common Market, and its economic power as represented by that financial entity.

He resembles a leopard, with feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion (v. 2). This shows his vicious power to make war. The dragon gives the beast “his power and his throne and great authority” (v. 3), showing the demonic power behind Domitian’s rule.

He has a “fatal wound” which had been healed (v. 3). Some see this as the Antichrist of the “end times” (though that title is nowhere used in Revelation). But 1 John 4.3 says, “every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” 2 John 7 adds, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”

Response: “The whole world was astonished and followed the beast” (v. 3). Men worshipped the dragon as a result, and the beast as well (v. 4).

Blasphemy: “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose named have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (v. 8). This beast exercises authority for 42 months (v. 5). He blasphemes God and makes war against his people (vs. 6-7).

So, “This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints” (v. 10). The reference makes it problematic to claim that Christians will not be present during the period in history described by this text.

The “beast out of the earth” rises to accompany the first beast: He has “two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon” (v. 11). (Given his Christ-like outward appearance, Calvin and Luther identified him with the pope and thus the Roman Catholic Church.)

His purpose: he “made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed” (v. 12). There was a council created in Asia Minor to enforce state religion, and is most likely referenced here (Summers 178).

His work: He performed “great and miraculous signs” (v. 13). This caused people to set up an image in honor of the first beast (v. 14). He was “given power to give breath to the image of the first beast” (v. 15). He forced everyone to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, without which he could not survive economically (vs. 16-17).

His number: 666 (v. 18): This number can be calculated by anyone who “has insight” (v. 18a). It is “man’s number” (v. 18b). Many schemes and solutions have been proposed, using numeric equivalents for letters of various languages (“gematria”). For example, “Nero Caesar” in Hebrew would be “Nron Ksr”; the Hebrew numeric equivalents would add to 666 (N=50, R=200, O=6, N=50, K=100, S=6-, R=200). There was a common belief in John’s day that Domitian was Nero returned from the dead, so this number would identify the Emperor.

By this system, Euanthas and Lateinos (the first Roman ruler) have been suggested as well. Hitler could be identified, if the English alphabet has numerical equivalents beginning with A=100, B=101, etc. Other schemes have made Henry Kissinger’s name equal 666, and even Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Most likely, the vision uses 6 as the evil number, just short of perfection (7). The number six stated three times would be the “unholy trinity” of the red dragon and his two beasts, corresponding to the Holy Trinity (symbolized as 777). Anything elevated to the third level in Hebrew thought is made to be of the highest degree; thus this is ungodliness to the highest (or lowest) level.

Applications

Satan is deceptive (cf. 2 Corinthians 11.13-15: “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And it is no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve”). He will use any means to coerce people to follow him.

We must be willing to sacrifice for Jesus.

The last three signs: Lamb, angels, and the harvest of the earth (ch. 14)

The “Lamb” now stands before John on Mount Zion. Jesus is the “Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13.8). He fulfills the Paschal lamb of the sacrificial system, dying one for all of humanity (cf. Hebrews 10.10: “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”).

He stands on Mount Zion, the fortress of the pre-Israelite city of Jerusalem which was captured by David and made his capital (cf. 2 Samuel 5.7; Psalm 48.2-3, Joel 2.32); in Revelation, it stands for the heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God and his people.

With him are the 144,000 (cf. Rev 7.4): Some see these as reference to the actual Jewish tribes, the faithful Jewish remnant. Others claim that Jews will all be included in heaven. Jehovah’s Witnesses see these as those in heaven by God’s reward for their faithful service on earth through JW ministry. Most see this as symbolic of all the faithful believers living through tribulation.

They sing a new song, keep themselves pure sexually, and live with blameless morality. This is not works-righteousness, but the result of a heart and soul which seek Jesus passionately and sacrificially.

Three angels follow with proclamation (vs. 6-12): The first proclaims the “eternal gospel” (v. 6), the only time “gospel” is used in Revelation. He calls the earth to “Fear God and give him glory” (v. 7).

The second pronounces, “Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries” (v. 8). Babylon represented all that was vile to the Jews, and is the typical symbol in Revelation of Rome and her Empire (cf. 1 Pt 5.13, “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark”). “Fallen” is the “constative aorist,” “which looks upon the entire process of Rome’s fall as one momentary act of falling. So certain is the fall in the mind and purpose of God that it is looked upon as already having taken place” (Summers 181).

The third warns the populace not to take the mark of the beast (emperor worship), lest they be “tormented with burning sulfer in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” (v. 10).

And so “patience endurance on the part of the saints” is required (v. 12). With this promise: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on…they will rest [the word means to be “refreshed”] from their labor [the word means “great adversity”], for their deeds will follow them” (v. 13).

We are reminded of Jesus’ promise, “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5.11-12).

The earth is now “harvested” or judged (vs. 13-20; cf. Is 63.1-6): The “son of man” on a cloud “swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested” (v. 16). Another angel (Jewish tradition identifies Gabriel with this task) with a sharp sickly “swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath” (v. 19).

Cf. Joel 3.13, “Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!”; and Jesus’ words, “The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels” (Matthew 13.39).

The wine rose as high as horses’ bridles “for a distance of 1,600 stadia” (v. 20)—about 180 miles, approximately the length of Palestine.

Applications

God rewards his faithful. He will punish the wicked. We must be willing to sacrifice morally and endure patiently for Jesus. Like John, we are called to speak God’s words. They will be both sour and sweet, but they are urgent and essential.

Such obedience will cost us everything we have, but it will lead to blessing and reward such as only God can give. Satan’s worst forces will be destroyed, as Rome was, and “we win!”

How to Stay in Love with God

Written by

How to Stay in Love with God

Revelation 2:1-7

Dr. Jim Denison

Sometimes the honeymoon ends too quickly. And sometimes it never starts.

I read about this classified ad: “For sale—Wedding dress. Never been worn. Will trade for .38 pistol.”

I heard about the man who was determined to marry a certain woman. He began writing her a love letter every day, then three a day. In all he wrote her more than 700 letters—and she married the postman.

What do we do when love grows boring? When the new wears off of our faith, or our family?

One third of all married Americans say they are now or have had an affair. Nearly half of all Americans say there is no reason to ever be married. Only 32% say they would stay in a bad marriage for the sake of the kids. 53% say they would cheat on their spouse, given the opportunity.

And what’s true horizontally is also true vertically. Only 27% of Americans participate in worship regularly. Only one in ten of us believe in each of the Ten Commandments. It takes 39 Baptists a year to lead one person to Christ. Across all denominations, it takes 85 church members one year to lead one person to Jesus.

How do we stay committed to the ones we love? Horizontally and vertically? How do we continue to love God with our heart, soul, and mind? How do we continue to love our neighbor as ourselves? God’s word has the answers we need.

Today we’ll look at our vertical relationship with the God we love. Next week, we’ll explore our horizontal relationships with the people we love.

Losing our first love

We need to go to ancient Ephesus, to study the two letters in Scripture written to them. One came from the Apostle Paul, the other from the Lord Jesus. Both deal directly with our issue.

Let’s begin with a brief tour of the city.

Ephesus was located on the western coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). It was often called Lumen Asiae, “the light of Asia.” This was the wealthiest city in Asia Minor, with the greatest harbor and most lucrative trade routes in that part of the world.

Her ruins are spectacular even today. A massive theater, holding 25,000 people. Ornate marble temples to the various Roman emperors; a gargantuan Library of Celsus; marble even in the public latrines.

Her chief claim was the Temple of Diana. 425 feet long by 225 feet wide, with 127 columns, each 60 feet high; 36 of these columns were covered with gold, jewels, and carvings. The Greeks said, “The sun sees nothing finer in his course than Diana’s Temple.”

And the church here was magnificent as well.

Their congregation was probably founded by Aquila and Priscilla; they were later joined by Paul, who preached here more than two years. Timothy pastored the church, as did Apollos. And John the Beloved Disciple pastored this church, and is buried in the city. Church councils were held here in later centuries, bringing Christians from across the world.

Jesus commends this congregation in wonderful ways.

First, he applauds their actions (v. 2a): he knows their “deeds” (the word means activities) and “hard work” (the word means toil or sweat). He commends their “perseverance” (the word means to endure with steadfast courage despite all opposition).

Second, he compliments their theological integrity: “I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false” (v. 2b). Later he commends them for rejecting the Nicolaitans (v. 6), an early cult of heretical, self-indulgent behavior.

Irenaeus, bishop of Antioch, wrote them just a few years after this letter arrived. He said that they were so well taught in the gospel that no sect could gain a hearing there. This is a congregation filled with hard-working, Bible-believing Christians.

But they have a problem. A spiritual malignancy is growing in their hearts; left unchecked, it will destroy them. “You have forsaken your first love,” Jesus tells them (v. 4).

“First” here means “first in time.” They have forsaken the One they loved first when they became Christians—the Lord Jesus. This church has gotten so busy with the work of the Lord that they have forgotten how to walk with the Lord. They are consumed with “doing,” and have lost “being.” They have fallen out of love with Jesus.

Enemies of the heart

How does this happen? How do we fall out of love with God, and with other people? The Ephesian story is ours as well.

First, time makes love boring.

It’s been forty years since these Christians have first trusted in Jesus, first heard his word and responded to his love, first knew the thrill of sin forgiven and life changed.

Their faith is now routine. Their worship is set and standard; their prayers are learned; their work is organized and efficient. And the same thing happened to them that happens to our churches, our marriages, our relationships: time makes love boring.

The fastest-growing churches are five years old and younger. Past that, churches almost always plateau in growth and energy. The hardest time for marriages is between ten and fifteen years. The kids are well along in school; careers are established; finances are steady. And we get bored, and trouble starts.

What about your faith? Are you settled into a routine, a tradition? Be careful—time can make love boring.

Second, busyness makes love secondary.

They’re hard at work—toiling, persevering, enduring. Jesus commends them for all of this. But they’re so busy working for Jesus, they’ve forgotten Jesus. They don’t love him any more—they’re too busy serving him.

How easily this happens to us. So busy with our kids, work, church. We spend time together, but not really. Not quality time, just for each other. We’re too distracted, too busy, working too hard. And love burns out.

What about you? Are you really busy serving Jesus? Committees, work, Bible studies, activities? Then watch out—busyness can make love secondary.

Third, success makes love complacent.

They’ve been at it, long and hard. And so these believers have built the greatest church in all the Christian world. By every standard they’re a success. And this is their problem.

Success always pushes us toward complacency. We’re doing so well, we must be right. My wife and I don’t fight, the money’s good, the kids are successful, all is well. But it may not be.

So many men say to counselors, “I had no idea my marriage was in trouble.” They’re successful at their work, their church, and they think, their homes. And they get complacent.

How successful is your faith? Can your love grow old? If you say it can’t happen, it’s probably already started.

Are you in Ephesus today? I’ve been there as well.

I’ve found myself preaching because it was my work. Not because I loved Jesus, but because I served him. It’s not that I didn’t love Jesus, but loving him was not the reason I was preaching. He was my employer, and the church was my job. I was preaching because it was Sunday. I was reading the Scriptures and praying because they were my daily obligations, like taking out the trash or cleaning up after a meal.

And I know I’m not the only person here who’s been to Ephesus. A Sunday school teacher prepares and presents her lesson because it’s her responsibility. She took this job and she’ll see it through. She loves the Lord, but he’s not really why she’s teaching today. It’s just her job at the church.

A choir member comes to rehearsal so he won’t be asked, “Where were you last week?” A committee member grumbles on Sunday afternoon, wishing she hadn’t agreed to serve again but going to the meeting anyway to keep her word. A father sits in church because it’s Sunday morning and his family expects him to be there. A woman puts money in the offering plate as though she’s paying another bill. They’ve lost their “first love.”

This is a process. We lose our gratitude for what Jesus has done for us and begin serving him out of obligation. We come to church for what we can receive, not for what we can give. We make time alone with Jesus into a routine, a habit, until that’s all it is.

We begin to serve our work. We want to impress people with our hard work and our integrity. When we do so, we assume we’re impressing Jesus as well. But we’re not.

Anyone in Ephesus today?

Staying in love with God

So, how do you stay in love with God? Three words are important here.

First, remember. “Remember the height from which you have fallen!” Remember when you loved Jesus first, and most of all. Remember when you came to church because you were excited to worship God; when you read the Scriptures and prayed out of gratitude for such a privilege. Remember when your faith was new and joyous.

Think back to the time when you first began to follow Jesus. How did your faith feel? How excited were you to be a Christian? How new was everything? Remember what it was like to be in love with your Lord.

Next, repent. The word means to change. Make a strategic plan for your soul. Determine what you’re going to do to make your love for Jesus real again. Act into feeling; don’t wait for the feelings to start. Spend an hour listening to Jesus, or a day walking with him. Decide what you’re going to change, to return to him as your first love.

Insanity has been defined as doing the same things but expecting a different result. Decide to make a change in your lifestyle. Change your heart and your life.

Last, act. Do this now: “Do the things you did at first.” The Greek is imperative here. Do something now. Make your decision today. Take your first step now. This is crucial. The cancer is spreading, the heart is dying. Act now.

Conclusion

Hear the warning of Jesus: “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” We know from Revelation 1:20 that the “lampstand” represents the church. Christians are the light of the world, so the church which holds us up is the lampstand.

Theirs is secure, well-funded, successful. Their future is bright—of this they are sure. But Jesus is not. He is clear: if they do not love him, they are not a church. And they will not have a church.

This is the most dire warning to any church in the New Testament. Their glorious church and their city will die, unless they fall in love with their Lord again.

What happened? Did Ephesus repent? Did her believers return to Jesus as the first love of their lives? Was their church restored to greatness? No. In fact, today there is no Ephesus and no Ephesian church. There are only ruins—ruins of her stadiums, her temples, her theatres. Ruins of her church. The lampstand has gone. Of all the churches in Revelation, she was the greatest, and now she is gone.

Remember the Temple of Diana, the pride of Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? 127 columns, each 60 feet high, stupendous in their majesty. What is left? Just one. Because this church lost its first love.

If you’ve lost your first love, it’s not too late for you, yet. The next step is yours.

How To Win Over Worry

Written by

How to Win Over Worry

Matthew 6:25-27

Dr. Jim Denison

An Arabian sultan grew displeased with his chief servant and ordered him beheaded. On the execution block, the man turned to his king and said, “If you will spare my life one year, I will teach your white stallion to talk.” The king was shocked by such a ridiculous promise, but loved his stallion more than all his other possessions. “What happens if you do not keep your promise?” he asked. The servant answered, “Then you may boil me in oil.” The king gave his servant the year he requested.

A friend of the servant watched all this. As the man descended from the execution platform he told him, “You’ve lost your mind. Being beheaded is much better than being boiled in oil. What are you thinking?” The servant smiled and said, “Much can happen in a year, my friend. The king might grow ill and die. His enemies might kill him. I might become ill and die. The horse might die. And who knows? The horse may learn to talk.”

In other words, don’t worry. But it’s hard, isn’t it?

Billy Graham writes: “Physicians tell us that 70 percent of all illnesses are imaginary, the cause being mental distress or worry. In reading hundreds of letters from people with spiritual problems, I am convinced that high on the list is the plague of worry. It has been listed by heart specialists as the number one cause of heart trouble.

“Psychiatrists tell us that worry breeds nervous breakdowns and mental disorders. Worry is more adept than Father Time in etching deep lines into the face. It is disastrous to health, robs life of its zest, crowds out constructive, creative thinking, and cripples the soul” (Unto the Hills, 52).

What is your greatest worry at this moment? What does Jesus want you to do with it?

Do not worry (v. 25)

Verse 25 begins, “Therefore I tell you.”

“Therefore” connects to what has just come: none of us can serve two masters. We will hate one and love the other. We cannot serve both God and Money (Matthew 6:24). You cannot have two gods.

“I tell you”—Jesus is now speaking with full rabbinic authority. This is the divine word of God himself. Not Dr. Phil or Dr. Laura or Time or Newsweek. This is the holy word of Almighty God.

What does he tell us? “Do not worry.”

The Greek word means “to divide the mind.” To serve both God and Money. To live for us and for God. To be spiritual and secular, carnal and godly. To focus our lives on our material needs and problems, and on our heavenly Father as well. To live as though we are responsible for our lives, while believing that God is.

Such a person is “a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (James 1:8). Unstable in thoughts, words, decisions, actions, life.

Jesus’ words are a command, an imperative. If you are worrying, you are breaking the word of God. They are best translated: “Stop worrying.” What are you worrying about this moment? Stop it, says Jesus Christ.

They are in the present tense, a continual action. Do this not some of the time, but all of the time. And this is a decision, something we can do. You can choose not to worry, or the Lord would not ask you to.

Jesus means these words to apply to every dimension of our lives, even what we will eat, drink, or wear, the things we must have to survive. Don’t worry about your next paycheck, your health, your safety. We all have problems, anxieties, burdens. But Jesus is clear: don’t be anxious about them. Don’t be burdened, stressed, weighted, discouraged. Every time you worry about anything at all, stop.

In light of the clear word of God, such worry is a sin against the word of God. As we will see in a moment, it is a sin against the providence of God, for he has led us where we are. It is a sin against the provision of God, for he will meet our needs. It is a sin against the temple of God, for it damages our bodies and lives. It is a sin against the witness of God, for it distorts his all-sufficient grace and love in our lives.

A priest met a beggar. “God give you a good day, my friend,” he said. The beggar answered, “I thank God I have never had a bad one.” The priest said, “God give you a happy life, my friend.” “I thank God,” said the beggar, “I am never unhappy.” The amazed priest asked, “What do you mean?” “Well,” said the beggar, “When it is good weather, I thank God; when it rains, I thank God; when I have food, I thank God; when I am hungry, I thank God. Since God’s will is my will, and whatever pleases him pleases me, I am happy always.” The priest looked at the beggar in astonishment. “Who are you?” he asked. “I am a king,” said the beggar. “Where is your kingdom?” The beggar answered quietly, “In my heart.”

Trust the provision of God (v. 26)

Stop worrying about any anxiety, any burden, any fear, any problem. Why? Because of the provision of God.

“Look at the bird of the air,” Jesus continues, probably pointing to birds flying around them on this hillside beside the Sea of Galilee. Look in your mind at the birds resting in the trees on our church campus right now.

Notice that they do not sow, reap, or store. Jesus is not saying that they don’t work, just that they don’t worry about their work. He prohibits not work but worry.

Why don’t they worry? Because “your heavenly Father feeds them.” Perhaps some were feeding just then. God Almighty cares about them.

“Are you not much more valuable than they?”

If your father would feed your pet bird at home, won’t he feed you? If God gave us life, can we trust him for all that life requires?

Jerry Clower, the Baptist comedian, told about a mother of 16 kids living near a construction project. One day half a dozen of them were playing near it, and one of them came screaming home: “Momma, come quick!” Momma ran over there to find that one of her kids had fallen into a barrel of roof tar. It wasn’t hot; there was no danger; but this boy was the most awful mess you ever saw in your life. Momma thought about it and said, “You know, it would be easier to have another one than to clean this one up.”

How many times has our Creator been in position to say that of us? But he doesn’t. In fact, he sent his only begotten Son to die for you, to pay for your every sin, to purchase your place in his paradise. Now, won’t he take care of you today?

I stood in line at a museum once to touch a moon rock. It felt just like any other rock. But my Father made it. And me. And you.

So trust the provision of God.

Here is the word of God for those who are hurting today: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:18-19); “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you” (Isaiah 43:2); “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9); “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat” (Isaiah 25:4); “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3): “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

Here is what he says to the tempted: “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).

To the tired: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6.9); “My dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

To us all: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

Trust the provision of God for your life today. Here we encounter the difference between faith and trust. We have faith in God; do we trust him? Do we trust his will to be for our best? Do we trust that when we follow him he will lead us well? That he will meet our needs? That he will make our lives to be fulfilled and significant?

Dr. Baker James Cauthen resigned from the faculty of Southwestern Seminary and the pastorate of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Ft. Worth to take his family to China in 1939, in the midst of war. His explanation was simple: the safest place in all the world to be is the center of the will of God. Do you believe that?

Spend your life in the purpose of God (v. 27)

So refuse to worry, but trust the provision of God. Jesus continues: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (v. 27).

The question can be translated, “Who of you by worrying can add a single inch to his height?”

Anxiety achieves nothing. It cannot add even a little time to our life span or height. In fact, it may shorten them.

So don’t focus your life on your daily needs, but on God’s eternal purpose for your life. And your daily needs will be met as a result, along the way. We will always have the provision of God, so long as we fulfill the purpose of God. His will never leads us where his grace will not sustain.

Robert Louis Stevenson said: to be what we are and to become all that we are capable of becoming is the supreme end of life. To have his provision, trust his purpose today.

It has been said that not one person in a thousand learns the art of living today. It is also true: all of God there is, is in this moment. So go beyond faith to trust. Trust his will, his purpose, his direction for your life, so that you might experience all that God has for you.

Dr. Cauthen, before he left for China, said to his friend Bill Howse: “Bill, many people are making a lot out of what we are trying to do, but for us it’s simply the will of God. It’s such a good feeling that I can say that if our ship is bombed in Hong Kong harbor and we never set foot on Chinese soil, I will have a sense of completeness because I will have been doing the will of God for me.” Can you say that today?

Richard Baxter’s advice is still valuable: “Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of; in nothing on which you might not claim the blessings of God; in nothing which you could not review with a quiet conscience on your dying bed; in nothing which you might not be safely and properly doing if guests surprise you in the act” (John Haggai, How to Win Over Worry, 110).

To know the provision of God, fulfill the purpose of God. This is God’s cure for worry. It works every time.

Conclusion

Are you in that purpose this morning? Are you trusting this provision? When was the last time you trusted God sacrificially? What is the issue worrying you right now? What will you do with it today?

Dr. Bill Hinson was the longtime pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston. I read this week his account of his father’s death. His father came to faith late in his life, primarily through Bill’s influence. The day he had his fatal heart attack, Bill was away taking his college finals. They called and he came, wrecking his car in his haste, but he didn’t make it. His father’s last words, repeated over and over and over, were, “Go get Bill, ask him to hold my hand and help the hurt.” Bill said he was overwhelmed with guilt over being late. He told God he would have given ten years of his life to be able to hold his father’s hand. Finally God began helping him to see that as long as he lives there will be hands to hold and hurt to help.

With this difference. It’s not that we hold our hurting father’s hand. It’s that our heavenly Father holds ours. Are you holding his?

How You Can Change Your World

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How You Can Change Your World

Acts 3:1-10

Dr. Jim Denison

A new series of New Testaments has just been released for evangelistic purposes. It profiles well-known athletes who talk openly about their faith in Jesus. For instance, the football issue profiles Dallas Cowboys tackle Chad Hennings, who says, “God showed his great love for us by sending his Son, Jesus, to die for us. That love is available to us just for the asking. And that love is the answer to life. The more I live, the more I find that fame is not the answer. Neither is social status or money. The things of this world will fail you. People will fail you. Christ is constant. That’s where you can put your faith and trust. He loves us no matter what, and he will give us the strength to handle whatever comes our way.”

Other Christian football players profiled include Greg Ellis, Kent Graham, Danny Kanell, Aeneas Williams, Tony Boselli, Jason Sehorn, Herschel Walker, Reggie White, Brent Jones, and Trent Dilfer.

Christian basketball players include A. C. Green, Hersey Hawkins, Nancy Lieberman, Kevin Johnson, Mark Jackson, and Mark Price. Christian baseball players and managers include John Wetteland, Johnny Oates, John Smoltz, Tony Fernandez, Orel Hershiser, Keith Lockhart, Felipe Alou, Brett Butler, John Olerud, and Joe Girardi.

Today we conclude our week of prayer for global missions with a very simple point: God can use anyone. He can give every one of us a sense of fulfillment and significance, and use us in ways which have eternal impact on our world. Any one of us.

I want to show you that it’s so, biblically and personally.

Unlikely evangelists

Our text opens with Peter and John on their way to the Temple at the time of prayer, 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Here they meet with a beggar, a man born lame, now over forty years old (4:22). Laid there daily, to beg from those who go by. The same steps, the same gate, the same ritual, even the same beggar, week after week, day after day. The same helpless situation, year after year.

Of all the people in the crowd who could help this man, they would be the least likely, wouldn’t they? They have no money to give him—”Silver and gold I do not have” (v. 6). They have no medical expertise to offer him. But it turns out they have something better. Something every Christian in this sanctuary has to offer the crippled and hurting people who surround us today.

Our text says that “Peter looked straight at him, as did John” (v. 4). The Greek word means to stare with intense purpose. Others looked, but Peter and John noticed; others heard, but they listened; others rushed by, but they stopped. Why?

They see the need. This is where all ministry begins. No seminary degrees required. No special gifts or abilities are needed. No sin or failures in our lives exempt us. Every one of us can do this.

Next, they trust the name: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (v. 6). Not in their name—they have no power to help him. Not in the name of the Temple, for it cannot heal; not in the name of religion, for it cannot restore; not in the name of their faith, for it is not his. In the name, person, authority of Jesus Christ, and in no other. Because no other can help.

They know that Jesus can heal this man, that he can meet any need and solve any crisis. Do you know that?

Finally, they touch the hurt. Many in their day believed that people with physical handicaps were somehow under the judgment of God. This is unbiblical and wrong, but it was their popular theology. So, you don’t touch a person like this, lest you become contaminated spiritually.

But: “Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up” (v. 7). Peter actually “grabbed” the man, the Greek says. He got involved personally. Again, no special skills, training, or background are needed. Any one of us can who will.

And here’s the result: the man is instantly healed, physically. And spiritually: “he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.”

And he becomes a powerful and remarkable evangelist himself: “When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him” (vs. 9-10).

Peter, John, and this now healed crippled man make perhaps the most unlikely evangelistic association in Christian history. And among the most joyful. Because God can change our world, and use us to change the world.

Can God use hurting people?

Is this still true? Can God really use anyone who wants to be used, no matter our background, pain, mistakes, or circumstances? Can God use hurting people?

Perhaps you saw the USA Today story about Eddie Timanus. He is a sports writer for USA Today, can hit a 70-mph fast ball, play football and beach volleyball, and recently won $70,000 and two cars on Jeopardy after five straight wins. He also happens to be blind. Does pain or disability disqualify anyone in life?

Or with God? Peter denied he even knew Jesus, three times. Did God use him here, and for the rest of his life?

I’ve discovered personally this fact: hurting people can best help other hurting people.

When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, the people who most encouraged her and us were cancer survivors.

When my sister-in-law went through a divorce, the people who most encouraged our family were those who had experienced such a tragedy themselves.

Linda Sharp was my friend in college. I attended her father’s funeral after his death to cancer, and then six months later, her sister’s funeral after she was killed by a drunk driver. When my father died, she helped me more than anyone else.

And I’ve seen it in ministry as well.

Ondie Brum was a convicted felon who came to Christ in a state penitentiary. Now he has a ministry with prisoners across the state.

Walter was my student at Southwestern Seminary; he told our class one day about the year when his wife and four of his children died. Then, with tears in his eyes, he said to us, “God is still on his throne.”

A lady came to our contemporary service in Atlanta; the next week she brought her former female lover; and the next week she brought her entire AA support group.

How many of us are hurting? Can God use us? And change our world with the joy and satisfaction of helping others, as we change the world?

Can God use successful people?

On the other hand, can God use successful people as well?

Paul was the most brilliant scholar of his generation, with the equivalent of a Harvard Ph.D. and facility in three languages and cultures. As a result, he could speak with great effectiveness to synagogue rulers, brilliant philosophers, Roman officials and governors, and even Caesar himself. Can God use successful people?

What about people of business success?

Bob Buford was a very wealthy cable executive who scaled back his business to found Leadership Network, Inc. This ministry today brings together hundreds of executives and Christian leaders from around the world. Bob’s book, Half-Time, has changed thousands of lives.

What about people successful in sports?

Tom Landry was interviewed on the Cowboys’ retrospective which aired a few weeks ago. Then player after player, coach after coach, were interviewed regarding his influence on their lives. I especially remember what Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson said: “When he was my coach, I rejected everything about the man—his morals, lifestyle, and Christianity. But today I try to emulate him in every way I can.”

Payne Stewart wore a “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelet when he won the U.S. Open, donated $500,000 recently to a Christian ministry in Orlando, and had an eternal impact on his fellow golf professionals and the larger sports world.

Can God use successful people? And change our world with the joy of helping people, as we change the world?

Can God use “secular” talents?

One last question: can God use so-called “secular” talents for spiritual purposes? Does all ministry have to be done on the church campus, by people with so-called “spiritual” gifts?

Biblically there’s no distinction between the “secular” and the “sacred.”Dr. Luke became Paul’s personal physician after coming to Christ in Antioch. Matthew the tax-collector used his scribal abilities to record the Sermon on the Mount and four other teaching discourses of our Lord.

There’s no “secular” place where God cannot work. The Dallas Morning News recently told the story of Patrick Murphy, the former Trappist monk who is now a management consultant. His purpose: to help business people, including top executives, find their souls. People magazine recently told the story of Charles Bolin, a graduate of Golden Gate Baptist Seminary and current chaplain at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He is ministering to hundreds of people—employees, dancers, dealers, and gamblers—people who never go to anyone’s church. He claims he’s going where Jesus would go. He’s right.

And there’s no “secular” talent God cannot use. I think of Ethel Childress, the classically-trained musician who founded “Creative Hearts,” a ministry to disadvantaged children in the area of our Atlanta church. In a year she reached sixty families for Christ.

I remember Scott Condra, the banker with a love for outdoor hiking. His Atlanta Outdoor Adventures brought hundreds of people into God’s creation, where he shared the gospel freely and effectively. Jason McCranie was a brilliant graphic artist and computer technician whom God used to make possible our contemporary service in Atlanta.

Do you have a talent, an ability you’ve never considered using for the Kingdom of God? Can God use it? And give you the joy and fulfillment of helping people? Can God use you?

Conclusion

I’d like you to meet someone who proves that God can use us, each of us. Marian Osteen has grown up in Park Cities Baptist Church, and recently spent two years serving as a missionary in Nicaragua.

Dr. Denison: Marian, tell us a little about yourself.

Marian: I grew up here in North Dallas and I have been going to Park Cities Baptist since I was four years old. I graduated from Lake Highlands High School and went on to Texas A&M where I studied education.

Dr. Denison: How did you get started in missions?

Marian: I grew up learning about missions through Mission Friends and through G.A.s, and that interest was furthered when I was a youth under Jeff Warren. I went on some wonderful mission trips and loved those memories. During my time at Texas A&M God just really just showed me the importance of reaching the lost and having a concern for them.

I heard about the Journeyman Program through word of mouth. I hadn’t seen any signs or anything and I found out more about it and found myself at a conference in Virginia. There were binders of jobs listed all around the world for all different fields. I looked at the ones for teachers and I ended up putting my top three choices. My first choice was to be a teacher in Managua, Nicaragua at an English-speaking, Christian school there. A couple of weeks later I got a letter that said I had been assigned to my top choice. In August 1997 I headed out to Managua and I just returned back this summer. I was there for two years teaching third-graders.

Dr. Denison: What did you see God do in Nicaragua?

Marian: God is doing amazing things in Nicaragua, using all different sorts of people. There are mission teams from all around the United States going there every week or monthly, especially after hurricane Mitch a year ago. That was a huge devastation on the country. With widespread flooding, thousands lost their homes. Many were killed. God has used that to bring people there to rebuild houses, to build churches. God is using different people from all walks of life.

I was fortunate enough to go to two churches every Sunday. One was an English speaking, international Christian fellowship and one was a Spanish speaking church. At the international fellowship, I got to know missionaries from all around the world. One was a woman named Saundra who was climbing the corporate ladder in Florida and she ended up deciding to come to Nicaragua. She was starting feeding centers, training pastors to bring nutritious food to children and families.

Another woman was Helen from New Zealand, who was in her late sixties. Her husband died two years ago and she’s working to reach women of the street, prostitutes. She is meeting them and loving them and sharing the Gospel with them. Another man is Dr. Weckter—he and his wife and three kids are there. He is a college professor and is very highly educated. He is training pastors and working with the business class there. So God is using all different types of people.

Dr. Denison: What would you say to people who think God cannot use them to change their world?

Marian: I kind of went through that. I was speaking my English and could barely get around in the marketplace. God showed me that He wanted me there to teach third grade. Of course, I could be doing that in Dallas, but He had called me to Managua. I was obeying him daily and counted it such a privilege to teach my ten third graders Bible every morning and to pray with them.

There’s one student in particular named Jacob. He was such a precious child, but he had been acting out some and it came time for me to call his mom and have a conference with her. I knew that things were not too great at home. Every morning Jacob would pray that his father in Canada would become a Christian and that his Mom would stop saying bad words and stop drinking.

When I was about to have this conference I was pretty angry at this woman because she would come home late at night and she wouldn’t spend time with Jacob and his two-year old sister. I asked the other teachers to please pray for me that I would love her right where she is. So, she came after school in her stylish suit. She’s young and beautiful. We sat down. As she started to talk I realized what a hurting person she was and this overwhelming, supernatural love came over me. I almost felt a physical warmth for her. I just loved her so much and I had never felt that much love for a complete stranger.

I asked her at the end of our conference if I could pray for her and her family. I held both her hands and we bowed our heads and the Holy Spirit gave me words. When we raised our heads she had tears streaming down her face. The Lord was calling me to reach out to some of the mothers of my students. There were three that he put on my heart in particular. I had them over for dinner and some of them invited me over dinner. God really used my willingness to be friends with people I wouldn’t have ordinarily been friends with.

Before I left Nicaragua, Indiana, Jacob’s mother, couldn’t understand why I wanted to leave and why I was moving back to Dallas. She said that she really wished she had met me earlier. I don’t have a dramatic testimony where she came to the Lord and completely changed her life. But I do know that God is working in her life and that there are people there whom He has placed and as long as they are obedient to what the Spriit tells them to do, then Indiana will come to know the Lord.

So it comes to a very simple prayer, Isaiah’s prayer: “Here am I; send me.” Will you pray that prayer, right now?

How Your Church Can Change the World

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How Your Church Can Change the World

Acts 13:1-5

Dr. Jim Denison

Stan Parks, son of Keith Parks, the former president of the International Mission Board, is a missionary to Indonesia for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He is here today to share with us how what God is doing in Indonesia and how our church is involved.

The point is simple: through the Parks family, our church has touched Indonesia, a country 9,421 miles away.

I cannot touch Indonesia from Dallas. I cannot touch the world with the incredible good news of God’s love and compassion. But we can! And we should, for their sake and for ours as well.

The eminent psychologist Dr. Karl Menninger was lecturing to a packed hall of graduate students. During the time for questions, one asked Dr. Menninger what he would prescribe for a depressed person. All pens were at paper, ready to record a brilliant diagnostic and treatment strategy. Dr. Menninger smiled and said, “I would tell the person to leave his house, cross the street, knock on his neighbor’s door and ask how he could be of help.”

An upset and angry college student came for counseling to Dr. George Truett at First Baptist Church of Dallas. He was ready to abandon his faith. Dr. Truett listened to his problems, then asked him for a favor. The young man agreed. Dr. Truett gave him the name of a person in the hospital who needed a visit, and his room number. “I just don’t have time to make the visit. You make it for me,” he said. The young man agreed. He became interested in the person’s troubles, eventually put his own to the side, and left that hospital room a new man.

340 million people worldwide are considered depressed today. Loneliness, purposelessness, a lack of meaning and direction is pervasive in our culture today. Mother Teresa was right: loneliness is an epidemic.

But it doesn’t have to be so. We can walk across the street and help someone in greater need than ourselves. Antioch of Syria was the city least likely to become the greatest church in Christianity. If they could, so can we. Here’s how, in very practical terms.

Follow Jesus personally (11:19-21)

Antioch of Syria was the third-largest city in the Roman Empire, with a population of half a million people.

Situated 300 miles north of Jerusalem, the city was founded in 300 BC by Nicanor I, who named it for his father Antiochus. In 64 BC it became the Roman capital of Syria. Today it is the city of Antakya in modern-day Turkey.

Antioch was a city of great beauty and sophistication. Unfortunately, it was known the world over primarily for its corruption and decadence. The cult of Artemis, five miles to the south, practiced all kinds of sexual immorality and temple prostitution. Every kind of illegal activity was found there. If you crossed Las Vegas with Sodom and Gomorrah, you’d have Antioch.

It is amazing that this city would have the greatest church in early Christianity. We can never give up on any city, including Dallas.

What happened is this.

Persecution had scattered believers out of Jerusalem (v. 19). These first missionaries preached only to fellow Jews. But then some courageous believers from the island of Cyprus and the African town of Cyrene came to Antioch and began to preach to Gentiles.

Remember how Jews hated Gentiles, and considered them firewood for hell. These unnamed first missionaries set aside their prejudices and gave the gospel to these cursed Gentiles. And in this way multitudes in Antioch came to Christ. Among them was Luke the physician, author of Luke and Acts.

Later Peter would preach here; in fact, there is still a church building where he first preached in Antioch. In short, “a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (v. 21).

To be a church like Antioch, of course we must first follow Jesus personally. We must accept him as our personal Savior and Lord. You can only give to others what you have received personally. Have you accepted the amazing gift of his miraculous grace and love? No matter what you’ve done, or how you’ve struggled, you can. You may be in Antioch, but you can. This is naturally where we start.

Love each other (22-24)

Now, the Jerusalem church sends Barnabas to check out what’s happening in this Gentile, notoriously immoral city. When he arrives, he witnesses a miracle. Not only are thousands of Gentiles becoming Christians, but the Gentiles and Jews there are one family in Christ.

According to Galatians 2:12, they were eating together, taking the Lord’s Supper together, and worshiping together. This was unheard of! But Jesus had told them, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). They proved they loved Jesus by loving each other.

So with us. We cannot reach our city and world unless first we reach out to each other. Controversy within a church or denomination will always hinder missions without. Satan always attacks first at the unity of the people.

On the other hand, a loving family of faith is our best witness in a hurting world. If you want to go across the street to help a neighbor in need, start in your pew, your Sunday school class, your choir, your church family. Who needs you today? How can you love Jesus by loving them?

Remember the old rabbinic story about the man who visited hell and found a long banquet table covered with food, surrounded by starving people. They held long wooden spoons, too long to feed themselves. Then he was shown heaven—the same table, food, spoons. But in heaven they fed each other.

Share his love with those you know (25-26)

Now they begin to witness to their immediate community, their Jerusalem. Here’s how it happens.

Barnabas travels one hundred miles north to the town of Tarsus, to find Saul. He knows God has called him to reach the Gentiles, so he brings him to Antioch. Together they disciple the church for an entire year. As a result, these believers begin to demonstrate the character of Jesus.

They take on his morals, his character.

They begin to demonstrate his compassion to those they know.

As a result, their community comes to call them “Christians,” which means “little Christs,” or “imitators of Christ.” They see Jesus in them.

It’s said, “The light that shines farthest shines brightest at home.” This is true of our lives, and our church.

I became a Christian because I wanted what the Christians had. Do people want what they see in your life? Who can you touch this week? A new neighbor? A lonely student? A struggling colleague? The waiter you see often at the restaurant? The person working at the cleaners, or the grocery store? I drive a 1991 car, so I know the dealership service manager well. To whom could you “cross the street” and help?

Give to reach the world (11:27-29; 13:1-5)

Now at last this Gentile church begins to reach outside its immediate community to the larger world. They do this through the “three P’s” of missions support: possessions, people, and prayer.

First they impact the world through their possessions. Prophets warn them of a coming famine in Judea; it actually occurred there between AD 45 and 48.

So, these Gentile converts, who were not reached by Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, nonetheless, reach out to them. They take a financial offering, using their possessions to help people in need. Even though famine will come to them as well, they give their possessions, sacrificially.

Can we do this? Of course. This is what the world missions envelope is for. Every one of us has something we can give to touch the world.

Next they give their people. The story continues in chapter 13: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'” (v. 2). Even though they are the founding pastors and teachers of the church, and seemingly indispensable to their future. At great sacrifice.

But they respond: “after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (v. 3). The church gives its possessions and people to the world.

Could some of us go? Could one of us be the next Barnabas or Saul?

And finally, their prayer commitment. Note that they “fasted and prayed” for them (v. 3). They began what became a lifelong spiritual commitment to support this global mission effort. Any missionary will tell us that the most important way we can help is to pray.

Can we pray? Specifically and passionately?

The result of their possessions, people, and prayers is the beginning of the global missions movement which takes the gospel to the entire world. Paul will lead three missionary journeys, and each one will originate in Antioch. Each time he will return to this church for their help and support. Each time they will send him out with their prayers and help.

And one church will touch the world.

Conclusion

Today one quarter of the world, 1.2 billion people, have never even heard the name “Jesus Christ.” And three out of four do not know him as Lord. Over 3,000 people will die without Christ in the time it has taken me to preach this sermon.

Do you need to cross the street today and help a neighbor in need? For her sake, and for yours? Start by giving your life to Jesus; then find someone here to help; then someone tomorrow; and give your possessions, life, and prayer commitment to touch the world. For we really can touch it, together.

Chuck Morris is someone none of you know, but thousands of people are in heaven because of him. Chuck was the pioneer missionary in East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo; the rest of the island is part of Indonesia. I spent a summer there doing missions and followed Chuck. Then came the pivotal day of the entire experience.

It was a clear Saturday morning. I was sitting on the bed of our small room, talking with Chuck as I packed. He asked me if I was open to missions ministry. I told him I would go if God opened the door. He looked at me, pointed his finger at me, and said, “Never say you’ll go if God opens the door. Say you’ll go unless God closes the door.”

Has God closed the door to us? Clearly not! Our church can touch the world. Now, what if our global mission depended on you?

It does.