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Imagination Remixed

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Imagination Remixed

Colossians 1:15-20

James C. Denison

This morning we’re going to try perhaps the strangest experiment you’ve seen attempted in this Sanctuary. You may not feel up to this. But those of you who do: while sitting in your pew, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this, draw the number “6” in the air with your right hand. Could you do it? Neither could I. I have no idea why.

The older I get, the less I understand.

Last Monday, computer engineers announced the invention of a chip which will do a trillion calculations in a second. It took me 10 seconds just to write out one trillion and count all the zeroes it requires.

Cosmologists measure space in “light years,” the distance light travels in a single year. That’s 5,865,696,000,000 miles. Here’s my question: how do they know? When I turn on a flashlight, I haven’t the first clue how to measure the speed of the light it produces. Do you?

The cosmos bewilders me. But it’s no challenge for its Creator.

In the first century, Caesar was Lord. His power was absolute. His armies seemed omnipotent and omnipresent. To worship and serve a Galilean carpenter before the ruler of the world was subversive and foolish. A person could lose his job or his life that way.

To worship and serve that carpenter at a sacrifice seems equally foolish today. You and I have gone as far with Jesus as we can go at our present level of sacrifice. So it is with every area of your life. Your portfolio or annuity is all it can be without further investment. Your marriage is all it can be without further commitment of time and energy and passion. You have gone as far at work or school as you can unless you make further sacrifice of time and energy. William Barclay was right: we progress in life in proportion to the fare we are prepared to pay.

Why pay a higher fare to follow Jesus? Why take the next step, whatever it costs? Let’s ask Paul.

Make Jesus your only God

Our text comprises one of the most exhaustively studied paragraphs in all the New Testament. One commentary in my library (O’Brien, Word) devotes 71 pages to it. This is a single sentence in the Greek, probably one of the earliest hymns in Christian worship. It begins with this phrase as the title of all that follows: Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (v. 15a). These six words capture the very essence of the Christian faith. This truth claim changed the world. This is the heart of our hope today. Why?

The Bible teaches that “no one has ever seen God” (John 1:18). The Lord told Moses, “No one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20).

You cannot look at the sun for more than a second or two without significant damage to your eyes; I read this week that you’d have to get as far away as Neptune or Pluto before you could stare at it for as long as you like.

So it is with the holy God of the universe. Sinners cannot be close enough to him to see his face, or they must perish.

But Jesus is his “image” (icon in the Greek), the exact representation or “mirror image” of God.

Many European cathedrals include ceilings which are exquisite works of art, but they are too tall to be viewed comfortably. So pitched mirrors are placed on the floor; by looking down, we can look up. By looking at Jesus on earth we can see God in heaven.

However, in Greek the word also shares in the nature of that which it reflects. A mirror is not a person, though it reflects one. But Jesus is God, not just his reflection. He is “God made visible.”

None of this is politically correct speech today. We’re supposed to be sincere in our beliefs and tolerant of all others. Saying that Jesus is God, the only final revelation of God, the only way to God, is viewed as intolerant in the extreme.

When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6), he violated our cultural insistence on inclusion and pluralism.

When Peter announced, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), he committed the same transgression.

But here it is: “Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.” Buddha or Confucius or Mohammad never made such claims. But when the High Priest said to Jesus, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God,” Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say” (Matthew 26:63-64). Upon such testimony he was sentenced to die for blasphemy (v. 65). The Roman administrator Pliny the Younger recorded in AD 112 that Christians “sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ as to a God.” Paul agrees. And that’s just our first phrase.

Make Jesus your only King

Jesus is the only God–our text makes that fact clear. So what? Why does this claim matter? Because this God is also the only King. He wants to be your only King today. Paul proves it six ways. First, Jesus is “the firstborn over all creation” (v. 15b).

Paul does not mean that Jesus was “firstborn” in the sense that he was born in time. I was the firstborn of my family, born on May 20, 1958. By contrast, Jesus has no birth date: “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Jesus could say, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).

Paul means that Jesus rules creation, as the firstborn rules the family. The firstborn male was the leading heir of the Father. He had the greatest responsibility in the family. Under the Father, he is the ruler of all that is.

How do we know? Because Jesus is the one through whom “all things were created” (v. 16a). John 1:3: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

He alone made all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. He rules all that, because he made all that. A biologist told God he could have made a better world than God did. God told him to prove it. The man bent down and scooped up some dirt. God said, “Get your own dirt.” Jesus rules all things, because he made all things.

And now he is the one through whom “all things hold together” (v. 17).

He is God; he is God over the world; he is God the creator of the world; he is God the sustainer of the world. He has a lot of sustaining to do today.

Your planet is spinning on its axis at 1040 miles per hour. The earth is spinning around the sun at 66,600 mph. Our solar system is moving around the Milky Way galaxy at a rate of 558,000 mph. And the Milky Way is moving through the universe at 660,000 mph. I get dizzy just being on one of those spinning rides at Six Flags. Jesus is holding our entire universe together, right now.

Jesus not only holds the universe together–he holds the Church together as well. He is “the head of the body, the church” (v. 18a).

He is the “head” in the sense of the ruler, the leader, the one in charge. He told his disciples, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). The Church belongs to him. This church belongs to him.

You are sitting on Jesus’ pews. You are the body of which he is the head. I am not your employee–I am his. So are you. We together serve a single King.

Jesus is the only God, the ruler, creator, and sustainer of the universe and the church. How do we know? Because he is “the firstborn among the dead” (v. 18b).

He was the first in human history to be resurrected. Lazarus was resuscitated but died again. Jesus will never die again. And because he lives, we will live also.

His resurrection changed human history. It proved Jesus’ divinity. It sparked the explosion which propelled the Church across the world. It was the event which marked time and eternity. It proved in history the truth of all that Paul is teaching today.

As the risen One, Jesus is our only redeemer: God chose “through him to reconcile to himself all things” (v. 20). Jesus’ death makes it possible for us to be “reconciled” with our holy God and creator. God could not be holy or his heaven perfect if he permitted my sins in his presence. The debt I owed had to be paid. This Jesus paid on the cross for me, and for you.

If he had not done this, we would still be in our sins. We cannot worship him perfectly or serve him completely. What was your last sin? It would be enough to keep you out of heaven. By God’s grace, it is not.

Conclusion

So we learn today that Jesus is our only God and our only King. He is the “image of the invisible God,” the God of heaven made visible on earth. He is our only King, for he rules the creation he made; he sustains the universe, leads his Church, defeats death, and redeems his people. Jesus alone does all of that, for every one of us.

Now, what’s your problem? What is your next step in worshiping this God and serving this King? What price have you been unwilling to pay? Where does he want more of your time, more of your abilities, more of your money, more of you? What service is he asking you to render? What witness to give? What sin to refuse? What forgiveness to ask or offer? Why haven’t you taken that step and paid that price?

He is the only God there is–his word and will are perfect. Does he not deserve your obedience?

He is the only King there is–as he makes, rules, and sustains the universe, so he will sustain and help you. Does he not deserve your trust?

He is the only Redeemer there is–as he rose from the grave for you, so he has made you one with your Father in heaven. Does he not deserve your best?

This is the dot before the line, a blink before eternity begins. The best way to prepare for heaven is to do now what God rewards forever. The most fulfilling and joyful way to live on earth is to do now what God rewards forever. Because whatever it costs to follow Jesus fully, he more than repays eternally.

I heard that point powerfully made last Tuesday at the Dallas Christian Leaders’ Prayer Breakfast. Dr. Ken Blanchard, famous author of The One Minute Manager and other bestsellers, was the fascinating speaker. Trying to convince us to sell out for God and lead like Jesus, he told a story he heard from John Ortberg, a marvelous pastor in California.

John grew up close to his grandparents. He and his grandmother loved to play Monopoly together. Except that his grandmother always won. She was vicious. She had everything and he had nothing, every time. After she won she’d always say, “John, some day you’ll learn to play Monopoly.” He wanted more than anything to beat her.

Then a new kid moved next door. This kid was a genius at Monopoly. John played every day with him, learning all his new friend knew. A few weeks later, his grandmother came for another visit. John challenged her to a game of Monopoly. She accepted gleefully. He beat her terribly. Got every property–left her nothing–wiped her out. When the game was done, she grinned at her grandson and said, “John, you’ve learned how to play Monopoly. Now I’m going to teach you a lesson about life: when the game is over, it all goes back in the box.”

Let us pray.

Inheritances

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Inheritances

Joshua 13:1-17:18Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: the battle is not over until the victory is won.

Goal: Identify God’s greatest calling on your life, and commit to its complete fulfillment

This is the story of four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done, so Everybody was asked to do it. Anybody could have done it but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. Consequently it wound up that Nobody told Anybody so Everybody blamed Somebody.

The church is its people. We do our ministry through our members as they are empowered for mission and service. We can only inherit the spiritual victory God intends for our church when Everybody does what he and she can do. Let’s learn how to be an army whose troops all fight and win.

Assess the challenges (13:1-7)

The first step in any military strategy is to define the enemy. Determine his strengths and weaknesses. Plan not just for what he will probably do, but for what he is able to do. Define your own opportunities and obstacles. Assess the challenges, before you go to war.

One challenge facing Israel was clear and immediate: “Joshua was old and well advanced in years” (v. 1). The leader of the nation and its army was probably around 90 years of age by this time. Time was of the essence for him, and for the people he was called to lead. The longer they inhabited the land without conquering it, the more likely they would assimilate its pagan theology and practices.

And there was still much land to be taken (vs. 2-5). Joshua and the army “took the entire land” in principle (11:23), but much still remained to be inhabited and controlled. They were living between the D-Day when they entered the land miraculously and the V-Day when the land God promised Israel would be fully theirs.

Some of the remaining lands to the north would be conquered by the Lord himself (v. 6) and given to the nation (v. 7). God will never allow us to face an enemy we cannot defeat with his help (1 Corinthians 10:13).

In winning the spiritual battle for the souls of our community and beyond, we first assess the challenges and opportunities which are before us. What obstacles stand between you and complete obedience to God’s call on your life? Are there sins to be confessed? A step of faith to be taken? Surrender of your finances, time, or abilities?

When Nehemiah returned to this same land some eight centuries later, on a mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and reestablish the nation after Babylonian captivity, his first step was to assess the challenges facing his people. He later recorded his strategy: “I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on” (Nehemiah 2:11-12). He proceeded to inspect the Dung Gate, the Fountain Gate, the King’s Pool, and the Valley Gate (vs. 13-16).

His investigation complete, he made his report to the leaders of the nation: “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace” (v. 17). Then Nehemiah followed the bad news with the good: “I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me” (v. 18a). With this result: “They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work” (v. 18b).

When we assess the challenges and opportunities before us, we know how to begin the campaign which will lead to victory. What temptation is challenging you today? What is keeping you from taking your next step in fulfilling God’s Great Commission for your life?

Trust God’s promises (13:8-33)

Before Joshua could lead his people further west into the lands intended for them, first they must settle the lands assigned to tribes east of the Jordan. The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manassah had been promised this land by Moses (Numbers 32:1-42). But these tribes were required to fight with the rest of Israel in conquering the lands to the west. They had kept their promise to this point; now God would keep his to them.

Understanding the tribal structure of Israel at this point in her history requires a bit of work. The “twelve tribes” were originally the 12 sons of Jacob, with Reuben the oldest and head of the brothers. What follows is a brief description of the rest of the story, including lands to be given each tribe in coming chapters.

•Reuben sinned against his father (Genesis 35:22; 49:3-4), thus losing the double inheritance which was to go to him. His tribe eventually settled east of the Jordan River.

•Thus Jacob gave this double inheritance to Joseph, the spiritual head who had saved their family in Egypt. Jacob adopted Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh as his own children and promised them equal inheritance (Genesis 48:5). Manasseh split into two half-tribes, one on each side of the Jordan. Ephraim would locate west of the Jordan, just south of the western part of Manasseh.

•Simeon and Levi were born next, but both shamed the family at Shechem (Genesis 34). Jacob thus decreed that they would be scattered among the nation, and they were. Simeon received cities within Judah (Joshua 19:1-9).

•Levites rejected idolatry at Sinai, so that God made them his special inheritance (Exodus 32:25-29). They had no single land, but were scattered and would be supported by the rest of the nation.

•Judah was next in birth order, and was thus made the head of the nation (Genesis 49:8-12). This tribe received the first and largest allotment of land west of the Jordan, located in the southern part of the nation and west of the Dead Sea; eventually the kings of David’s line came from Judah, as would the Messiah.

•Gad was given land to the east of the Jordan, located between East Manassah to the north and Reuben to the south.

•The other tribes were given land as chosen by lot (Joshua 18:8-10): Dan on the Mediterranean coast, west of Ephraim; Benjamin between Judah and Ephraim; Issachar to the north of West Manasseh; Zebulun to the north of Issachar; Asher on the coast, at the northwest border of the nation; and Naphtali to the east of Asher.

The two and a half tribes who were given land east of the Jordan had kept their promises to fight for Canaan. Now they received what had been promised to them by God, so their people could settle the land and prosper. Levites were scattered among them, as they were across the nation (v. 14). Their soldiers would continue the fight for Canaan until all was conquered; then Joshua would release their armies back to these lands (Joshua 22).

When we step into any spiritual battle, we have only one foundation upon which to stand: the sure and certain word of God (Matthew 7:24-27). We have only one “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Name the temptation or obstacle which stands between you and spiritual victory. Then find a promise in the word of God upon which to stand, with which to fight. Know that God’s word is always kept. His promises never fail. And his word will never lead you where his grace cannot keep you.

Claim what is yours (ch. 14)

Now the armies of Israel were ready to complete their conquest of their land. Their inheritances would be “assigned by lot” (v. 2), thus by God (Proverbs 16:33: “The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord”).

Each territory is described at a length appropriate to its tribal significance. Thus Judah (the royal line of David) is discussed thoroughly. Then the tribes of Joseph are defined; they so dominated the northern kingdom that Ephraim became one of its names. The last to be given such special treatment is Benjamin, the tribe of Saul, Israel’s first king.

Now Caleb steps to the front, one of the greatest heroes in Joshua and all the word of God. Remember that he was one of the twelve spies sent by Moses into the Promised Land; only he and Joshua brought back a faithful and courageous report (Numbers 13-14). The Jewish leaders rejected him and his report, forcing him to wander with them across the 40 years of the wilderness.

Now here he is, 85 years old, coming to Joshua to claim what is his: “I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then” (v. 11). He has the strength needed for the stress ahead.

How does he know he will be successful? He claims God’s promise: “Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day” (v. 12a). He trusts God’s power: “the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said” (v. 12b). He is relying not just on his own strength, but on the Lord’s provision. And he follows God’s purpose: “Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly” (v. 14).

How did he win his land? His obstacle was great: “Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites” (v. 15). In Hebrew, he was “the great man,” their founder or first leader (their George Washington). But God’s power was greater: “From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites—Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai—descendants of Anak. From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher)” (15:13-14). His brother Othniel then took Kiriath Sepher, and won Caleb’s daughter Acsah in marriage (v. 15). God’s people, fighting in God’s power against God’s enemy according to God’s plan, will always have God’s provision.

If God has called you to a task in his Kingdom, he has already given you the promises, power, and purpose you will need to win the victory which will glorify him. There may be giants in the land, but the Lord is greater than his enemies or yours. And age is no issue.

Gandhi led reforms in India until his death at age 78. Voltaire struggled for human rights past the age of 80. Michelangelo worked actively to his death at 89. Pablo Picasso painted prolifically to his death at age 91. Pablo Casals, perhaps the greatest cellist of all time, played and taught to his death at 96. Frank Lloyd Wright, asked which of his architectural works he would select as his masterpiece, replied, “My next one!”

Fight until you win (chs. 15-17)

If the rest of the nation had fought as did Caleb, the entire land would have been theirs. And much of the grief which would dominate the coming centuries would have been prevented.

However, three times in chapters 15-17 we find victories unfinished, promises unclaimed:

•”Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah” (15:63).

•Ephraim “did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labor” (16:10).

•”The Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region. However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely” (17:12-13).

What was the result? Baalism continued in the nation, as the Canaanites seduced the people of Israel with their pagan gods (cf. 1 Kings 18, Elijah’s battle with 950 prophets of Baal and Asherah).

Eventually such idolatry would force God to bring judgment against the ten northern tribes by Assyria, and the southern tribes by Babylon. Most of the clans who received their inheritance in these chapters no longer exist, having been assimilated by their foreign conquerors. Judaism worldwide has never recovered the political and spiritual strength she knew before these Canaanite deceptions led her into idolatry and immorality.

Cancer always starts small. But it always grows. We must fight until the battle is won. We can accept no compromise with sin and Satan. None.

And when we continue the fight, God gives us his victory. After the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, the world assumed that persecution would further reduce the size and strength of movements such as Christianity in the country. But we were wrong. Leslie Francis, an Overseas Missionary Fellowship director based in Hong Kong, said that the ensuing “spiritual awakening” within the intellectual community in China “has no historical parallel in Chinese history.” He described two separate incidents in which newly-converted professors shared the gospel with their students during classes. In both cases, over half the audience professed Christ publicly. Some missiologists estimate that the Church in China has grown 10,000 fold in this generation.

In his inaugural speech as president of the Russian Republic, Boris Yeltsin said that “spiritual liberation of the individual” is part of “the foundation for the revival of our state” and that “religion has a special place in this process.” Many of us never thought we’d hear Russian leaders speak so spiritually. Now Buckner Orphan Care International is working in orphanages across this formerly-closed nation. I never dreamed that I would be privileged to share the gospel with some of these children, but God has given our church just this privilege. Churches and missions are spreading across the land. Some predict that the Russians will soon be sending missionaries to us.

Our spiritual war is not finished until we have assaulted the gates of hell wherever they are found in Dallas and around the world. So long as a single person in our city has not been given a realistic opportunity to be converted, churched, and discipled, we are not done. Much of the land still remains. What part can you see today?

Conclusion

To take the land before us, we must assess our challenges with realism and honesty. Then we trust God’s promises of power, provision, and purpose. We claim what is ours. And we fight until the battle is over.

What part of this army is God’s post for you? Where are you called to the front lines? Is he asking you to sacrifice financially? To help lead organizationally? To join the battle spiritually?

In the fall of 1620, a brave group of pioneers set sail for the New World. Their two month voyage on the Mayflower was filled with storms, tempests, and challenges. In December of that year, 102 survivors landed. Half died during their first winter and year on our soil. The next fall, those who were left planned a service of memorial and sorrow for those who had died. But in surveying all they had inherited from their Father, their sorrow turned to gratitude. And Thanksgiving was born in warriors for their faith, men and women willing to take the land given them by their Lord.

Two centuries later, the nation forged by those pioneers faced its greatest days of peril. In the midst of the Civil War which threatened the very survival of the Union, President Abraham Lincoln issued a “Thanksgiving Proclamation” which made this Thursday’s observance an annual tradition for our country. Here is that proclamation:

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subject to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justify fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins; to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

In the midst of war, there can be peace in every heart which receives the blessings of God with gratitude.

Introduction to the Book of Joshua

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Introduction to the Book of Joshua

Dr. Jim Denison

Joshua before Joshua

The man known as Joshua was first named Hoshea (Numbers 13:8, 16), which means “salvation.” Later Moses changed his name to Joshua, meaning “the Lord saves” or “the Lord gives victory.” “Joshua” and “Jesus” are both derived from the same Hebrew word Yehoshua. The similarity of their names and work is striking—both led God’s people to salvation by conquest over the enemies of the Lord, establishing the possibility of eternal rest in the providence of the Father.

As the NavPress commentary makes clear, Joshua served a critical role in the early chapter of Israel’s history as a nation. When the people crossed the Red Sea, they met the Amalekites in their first military battle, and were led by Joshua to victory (Exodus 17:8-16). Joshua quickly became Moses’ understudy and disciple, sharing his experience atop Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:9-13) and in the tabernacle (Exodus 33:7-11).

After Moses led the nation to the edge of the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb were sent with ten other tribal representatives to spy out the land. Only they reported favorably; the nation shrunk from their heritage in fear, and their generation was forced to wander in the desert until they died. Moses then led them again to the boundary of the land, where he was taken to heaven. Leadership of God’s people now rested humanly in the hands of Joshua.

He would prove faithful to his calling. He would lead the nation miraculously across the Jordan, victoriously at Jericho and across Canaan, and strategically in dividing the land among the tribes. At the book’s end, he would challenge the people spiritually even as he had led them militarily.

At the book’s beginning, Moses was described as “the servant of the Lord,” and Joshua as his “aide” (1:1). At its end Joshua was granted the same title as his mentor: “the servant of the Lord” (24:29). His courageous faithfulness earned him such tribute.

Joshua the book

Setting and theme: The book opens with Israel on the edge of the Promised Land, camped on the eastern shore of the Jordan River. It ends with the people in possession of that land which will be the focus of divine activity and revelation from this point to the coming of their Messiah. And Joshua is the central figure and leader in this story of conquest and celebration.

The name of the book: The Hebrews used the first words of a book to constitute its name, thus calling our text “Now After the Death of Moses.” Those who translated the Hebrew into Greek (creating the Septuagint), three centuries before Christ, named the book “Joshua” in honor of its leading character. When Jerome later produced the Latin Vulgate, he expanded the book’s title to “The Book of Joshua.” And so it remains today.

Authorship: The book of Joshua does not name its author. In this it is similar to other Old Testament histories, all of which are named for their leading character rather than an identified writer. While Paul tells us who wrote Philippians, Joshua does not tell us its author’s name. As a result, questions regarding authorship are not crucial to understanding the book. And one authorship theory should not be defended as more “biblical” than another.

As the NavPress commentary notes, Jewish tradition claimed that Joshua wrote all of the book bearing his name except the descriptions of his and Eleazar’s deaths at the end (Josh 24:28-33). Modern opinion ranges from the belief that Joshua was alone responsible for the book to assertion that he had nothing to do with its composition, which occurred some eight centuries after the events the book describes.

Here is “internal evidence” (facts found within the book) which helps us form a position on this issue. We know that Joshua was himself literate, given that he carved the law onto stones (8:32) and later “recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God” (24:26). We find eyewitness accounts within the book, such as 5:1: “Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over . . .” (italics added). These facts, added to early Hebrew tradition, argue for Joshua as the author of most or all of the book.

Joshua 15:63 also contributes to an early authorship position: “Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah.” The men of Judah defeated the Jebusites later (Judges 1:8), and still later, David made the city his capital (2 Sam 5:6-10). But these events obviously occurred after Joshua was written, arguing for authorship at a time when the events transpired.

However, Joshua 4:9 suggests that an editor worked with the book after the events recorded had occurred: “Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day” (italics added).

My own belief is that the book was written primarily by Joshua, and that it was later edited by his followers into the form we have today, including an account of his death. But given that the book identifies no author, the issue is not foundational to the trustworthiness of Scripture or our interpretation of this text.

The nature of the book: Joshua is written as prophetic history. Like other books of biblical history, this is an interpretive narrative. The author’s purpose was not to detail or describe every event which occurred during the years encompassed by his work. Such would be no less possible then than today. Imagine writing a complete and exhaustive history of just this day in your life. All history is interpretive, by virtue of the sheer fact that what we include and exclude is the product of our own subjective purposes and biases.

So with the book before us. The author’s purpose was to show us how God kept his promise to his covenant people. Against all odds, fighting entrenched opponents who were defending their homeland and civilization, this band of former slaves came to possess one of the most fertile and politically significant regions in all the world. The author selects and interprets those events which tell his story most effectively.

And so this literature must be interpreted according to its authorial intent. In each passage we will seek to discover and apply the purpose intended for that text. Each week you will find another way to glorify the God who is the true Hero and Conqueror of Joshua, and of life and history today. Truly “history” is still “his story.”

The conquest and the love of God

The book of Joshua presents most readers with a troubling question: how can a God of love command his followers to destroy an entire nation of people? The Canaanites had lived in their land for centuries before Joshua and his people came to claim it for themselves. While some in Canaan fought against God’s people and were destroyed as a result (cf. the battle of Ai, 8:14ff), others mounted no armed aggression against Israel. The people of Jericho, for instance, retreated inside their city walls and mounted no attack against the Jews. Nonetheless, following divine orders, the Israeli soldiers “destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” (6:21).

The God of Joshua also required a similar kind of wrathful judgment against his own people when they sin. Following the battle of Jericho, a soldier named Achan took in plunder “a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels” (7:21). This in direct disobedience to the divine command that “All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury” (6.19).

For this sin, the Israeli army was defeated in the first battle of Ai. When Achan admitted his disobedience, he and his family were taken to the Valley of Achor where they were stoned to death and then burned (7:25).

Such vengeance sounds very little like the God who is love (1 John 4:8), the One who would send his own Son to die on a cross in place of our disobedient race. How are we to reconcile the first Joshua with the Second? Four facts may help your class.

First, the Promised Land belonged to God before the Canaanites established temporary residency there. It had always been his plan to give this land to the descendants of Abraham: “In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here” (Gen 15:16a). The Lord did not take from them that which was “theirs”—he reclaimed that which was his according to his foreordained purposes.

Second, the Canaanites lived in wicked rebellion against the will and purposes of God. The Lord had predicted that Abraham’s descendants would claim the land when “the sin of the Amorites” reached its “full measure” (Genesis 15:16b). This “full measure” of sin was attained by the Canaanites in the generation leading to the Jewish conquest.

Moses warned his people about these sins they would encounter upon entering the Promised Land: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead” (Deuteronomy 18:10-11). He stated that anyone who practices such sins is “detestable to the Lord,” and explained that “because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you” (v. 12). Those who were conquered by Joshua and his armies were not innocent victims, but wicked sinners who received the judgment their transgressions had warranted.

Third, the blood retribution practiced by ancient tribal culture required the Jewish armies to destroy not only the soldiers of their enemies, but their families as well. So long as one member of a family remained, that person was bound by cultural law to attempt retribution against the enemies of his people. Such unrest and hostility would have persisted throughout the nation’s history, with no possibility of peace in the land. What appears to be genocide was actually the typical way wars were prosecuted.

Fourth, in these formative early years of Israel’s history it was imperative that the people be kept from the influence of sinners without or within their nation. The holy God who gave them their land would uproot them from it if they rebelled against him (Deut 28:63-68). This warning came to pass centuries later at the hands of Assyria and then Babylon, and ultimately in the national destruction wrought by Rome in the first century after Christ.

And so God had to bring severe judgment against Achan, lest he and his family spread the cancer of their disobedience within the nation. And he ordered his people to destroy all they found within Canaanite civilization, lest it continue to tempt them to disobedience and eventual destruction. We find similar severity during the formative years of the Christian movement in God’s judgment against Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).

God does not change. But his purposes are fulfilled in different ways at different times in redemptive history. Justice required retribution against the sinful Canaanite civilization. And his salvation plan required a purified nation through whom he could bring the Messiah of all mankind. When Christ came, Joshua’s leadership of conflict and conquest was fulfilled.

Now we are taught to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors (Matthew 5:44). Not because God has changed, for such love proves that we are “sons of your Father in heaven” (v. 45). Rather, because such love expresses his grace toward us and all mankind.

Why study Joshua now?

Joshua is a perennial favorite for Bible study groups, given its exciting stories of conquest and faith. Crossing the Jordan River miraculously, parading around Jericho, and watching the sun stand still are experiences worthy of any Sunday school literature.

I never enjoy teaching a class without expounding a specific text of Scripture. And so let’s close this introduction to the book of Joshua with a brief exploration of its first two verses: “After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.”

Moses was the foundational and formative leader of the nation. He was her first prophet and guide, leading her people from four centuries of Egyptian slavery to the edge of their Promised Land. Israel had seen God do remarkable miracles through Moses: bringing plagues upon the entire Egyptian nation, parting the Red Sea and destroying the mightiest army the world had ever seen, and receiving the very words and Commandments of God by his divine hand. Truly, “No one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” (Deuteronomy 34:12), until the Lord himself descended in his Son.

Now Moses is gone. If colonial America lost George Washington their military hero, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams their political leaders, and Benjamin Franklin their man of wisdom, all in one moment, they would be in no greater peril than Israel when the book of Joshua opens. The very future of the nation rests humanly with him.

But Joshua has the very resource which empowered his mentor and hero: the word and will of the Lord God Almighty. God makes clear that the nation is his, their future is secure in his hands, and their destiny is sure. He will give them their land and their dreams. He will keep his promises and make them his own.

This same Lord now stands ready to guide and empower all who follow him by faith. What purpose has he assigned your life and work? What enemies are you to defeat in his power? What land are you to possess for his glory? What does he intend you to do next to fulfill his will for your life?

If your dreams are large enough to be accomplished without fear or faith, they are not large enough. God intends to do through us that which is beyond our ability. He will not share his glory. And so his call is always to that which will bring him honor, as he demonstrates his power and grace through our lives and work.

As you know, our church has been working toward a capital project of historic significance. “Continuing the Vision” has been motivated by a statement I first heard from my friend John Haggai: “Let us attempt something so great it is doomed to fail unless God be in it.” I am convinced that is God’s intent for our church, and for each of our personal lives and ministries.

At the beginning of the book which bears his name, Joshua faced a life purpose he could not accomplish without God. Let’s join him, for that is the very best place to be.

Invest With The Best

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Invest With the Best

Matthew 5:1-3

Dr. Jim Denison

A good friend recently sent me my favorite new story. It seems that a couple from Minneapolis decided to go to Florida for a long weekend during a particularly icy winter. Their job schedules required the husband to fly down on a Thursday, with his wife to follow the next day.

Upon arriving, the husband checked into the hotel and then sent his wife an e-mail back in Minneapolis. However, he accidentally mistyped her address. Meanwhile, in Houston a widow had just returned from her minister husband’s funeral. She checked her e-mails, read the first message, and fainted. Her son rushed into the room, found her on the floor, and saw this message on her computer screen:

“To my loving wife, from your departed husband: I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything is prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was. P.S. Sure is hot down here!”

Surprise is not always a good thing. But sometimes it’s a great thing. Cancer which further tests can’t find; a final exam at school which is cancelled; an investment which exceeds all forecasts. Happiness in surprising places.

“Makarios” is Greek for that happiness which transcends every circumstance of life, a deep inner joy which nothing in life can give or steal. A constant sense of well-being, purpose, and significance. Happiness no matter how hot the summer becomes, or how long your in-laws stay, or what happens in Iraq or Dallas, with the economy or your family. This is to be “blessed.” This is true success. It is found in the most surprising places you can imagine.

Choose Jesus’ world-view

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus said. Before we discover what he meant by this paradox, let’s first learn why he said it.

The world Jesus inhabited was characterized by three big words. They were pluralistic, worshipping a multitude of gods. They were relativistic, with no unified or objective definition for right and wrong. And they were self-actualized, depending upon themselves for survival and success.

Is our world any different?

Are we pluralists? Conventional wisdom now says that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all worship the same God, and that no one religion is right or wrong. The title of Diana Eck’s new book makes the point: A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation. Do you truly believe Jesus’ claim, “no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6)? Most don’t.

Are we relativists? Since the 1960s we’ve been told that we’re a “mosaic,” coagulated groups rather than united individuals. There’s no right or wrong, just what’s right or wrong for you or for me. Do you truly believe that the Bible is the complete truth on abortion, homosexuality, or any other ethical issue? Most don’t.

Are we self-actualized, self-reliant? Nine of ten Americans believe in God, but one in four seek his help in worship each week. For every problem there’s an expert to solve it, from personal physical trainers to specialized counselors to on-line nurses. Americans crowded into churches after September 11, but now we’re back to “normal.” For what problem in your life are you relying completely upon God this morning?

This is not the world Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount. As we will discover across these weeks, Jesus was not a pluralist: there is only one God, and only one way to him. He was not a relativist: there is only one way, truth, and life, and he taught it. He was not self-actualized: success and happiness are not human achievements but God’s gifts.

We can be “blessed” only if we choose his world-view, only if we adopt his values and priorities. Only if we learn his rules for living, his keys to true success. The Beatitudes give us those keys.

Seek the “blessing” of God

“When Jesus saw the crowds, Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them” (v. 1).

This “mountainside” is known today as the “Mount of the Beatitudes,” a beautiful spot overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Here Jesus “sat down,” as the Jewish rabbis did, their students standing around them in deference and attention. We still speak of a professor’s “chair” for this reason.

He began to teach “them,” his disciples. These Beatitudes and the Sermon which follows them presume that their hearers are already Jesus’ disciples, his followers. This is not the plan of salvation, or it would be works-righteousness. That’s religion, not relationship. Here we discover not how to be saved but how to live like it, how to live out the personal relationship with Jesus given to us by God’s grace through the cross.

Here are keys to true success, how to be “blessed” by God. And the first is crucial to all the rest. You will be “blessed” so that you are happy beyond all circumstances when you are “poor in spirit.” So what does this mean?

“Poor” here means to be as poor as a beggar. This is not the Greek word for an impoverished person (penes) but the word for absolute and abject poverty (ptochos). This is the person who has absolutely nothing—no food, no clothes, nothing at all.

“In spirit” shows us the kind of poverty Jesus means. John Stott: “To be ‘poor in spirit’ is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty, indeed our spiritual bankruptcy, before God. For we are sinners, under the holy wrath of God, and deserving nothing but the judgment of God. We have nothing to offer, nothing to plead, nothing with which to buy the favor of heaven” (p. 39).

The New English Bible renders the phrase better than any other translation: “Blessed are those who know their need of God.”

Why? “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“The kingdom of heaven” is the place where God rules, where his will is done, where he is King.

Only when we know how much we need God will we make him our King. Our one and only King, refusing pluralism. Living by his rules and morals, refusing relativism. Depending upon him for our success and significance, refusing self-dependence.

If we will not admit how much we need God, we’ll be king and God will not.

This is the foundational issue to all genuine success, joy, peace, happiness in life. Who is king, you or God? Are you poor in spirit, or not?

When we are king, church is a Rotary Club with a Bible study, part of the culture but nothing more. We attend church in the same way that we attend other civic or charitable functions. We are religious in the same way that we are Republicans or Democrats—our faith is a compartment of the lives we control. But we are king.

Then Christianity exists to help us succeed. To give us peace and happiness; to help us with our problems; to help us accomplish our goals and fulfill our ambitions. But we are king.

But when we are poor in spirit, we trade in religion for relationship with gratitude. We worship God not so he will bless us but because he has. We read Scripture and pray not to impress God but because we do. We give our time and money not to pay our debt to God but because Jesus already has.

When we are poor in spirit, we admit that we don’t know how to live our lives and make our decisions, so we always pray first. We ask God first. We put God in charge of our problems and ambitions, our struggles and our dreams. We become subjects of the King, seeking every day to do his bidding and fulfill his will.

When we are poor in spirit, we recognize every day that it’s not about us. What matters is building the Kingdom of God, leading other people to make Jesus their King, helping people follow Jesus. Everything we do is a means to this end, when God is our King.

So here’s the question: are you “poor in spirit”? When last did you admit to God that you don’t know how to live your life, and put him at the controls? What’s the last important decision you gave to him first? The last problem you trusted to him in prayer? The last time you did what he said, even though you didn’t understand? Would an objective observer say that God is your King or you are?

Conclusion

Our Beatitudes series is entitled “keys to true success.” Material success requires excellent investments. In an unpredictable, changing world, investing with the best is crucial. Since September 11, for instance, investments in most airlines, hotels and restaurants, and insurance companies have been difficult. Investments in defense companies and security-technology firms have been extremely profitable.

May I urge you to invest your life with the best? Decide today that you want God to be your Lord, your boss, master, ruler. Choose to be “poor in spirit,” admitting how much you need him. Refuse the pluralistic, relativistic, self-reliant culture which surrounds you, and choose to live with him as your King.

What’s in front of you today? What decision? What problem, what issue, worry or burden? Would you be poor in spirit about it today? Would you, before you leave this place today, yield your life in absolute and utter dependence upon God? If you will, you’ll be in the kingdom, you’ll walk in the kingdom and you will experience the kind of makarios, the kind of blessing God yearns to give. But can’t give unless you’ll depend on him. Would you be blessed by God today? Would you be poor in spirit today?

Jesus was. In fact, of all the individuals who have lived in all of human history, has anybody been more dependant upon God than Jesus of Nazareth? Dependent upon God for his miraculous birth. Dependent upon God for his preservation from the wicked clutches of King Herod? Dependent upon God all across his ministry for every meal he ate, every day he lived, the clothes he wore, the places he slept. Absolutely, totally yielded to God for the words he spoke, the ministry he performed, the life he lived. So unconditionally yielded to God that in the Garden of Gethsemane, he could say, “Not my will, but thine be done.” Totally dependent upon God.

Now the world didn’t call him blessed, did it? In fact in the words of the well-known hymn, the writer says, “He was born in an obscure village the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village, he worked in a carpenter’s shop until he was 30 years of age. Then for three years he was an itinerate preacher. He never owned a home. Never held an office. Never wrote a book. Never traveled more than 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of those things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials, but his own.

“While he was still a young man, the tide of public opinion turned away from him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to the cruelty of his enemies. Put through the mockery of a trial. Crucified between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his cloak, the only piece of property which was his on the earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave to the pity of a friend.”

Makarios? Blessed? Only in every way. Blessed by God with a miraculous birth. Blessed by God with divine providential protection from the time of his birth to the time that his life had come to its end.

Blessed by God with words he would teach which would stand the test of time and resonate across the halls of mankind for 20 centuries. Blessed by God with miraculous power to perform feats which still amaze us today. Blessed by God with the courage to stand before hypocritical accusers and forgive his crucifier. Blessed by God to be able to shout in joyous victory at the moment of his death.

Blessed by God to be raised from the dead to be seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Blessed by God across 20 centuries to watch his followers grow from 12 to 2 billion. Blessed by God to be the leader of the column of progress across all of human history so that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings put together that ever reigned have not influenced the life of man on this earth as has that one, solitary life.

Blessed, because he was poor in spirit.

Would you like to be blessed today?

Is COVID-19 the Judgment of God?

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Topical Scripture: Luke 12:35-50

When the COVID-19 pandemic began last March, a prominent church where I live put up a billboard that drew citywide attention: “Is the coronavirus a judgment from God?”

As part of my work, I am often interviewed by Christian radio stations around the nation. This is the most common question I’ve been asked over these months.

I understand the question. In Luke 21, Jesus predicted that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (v. 10). Russia’s president recently stated that his navy would be armed with hypersonic nuclear strike weapons that would be difficult for the US to track and intercept. Experts say that the risk of military conflict with China is higher than ever.

Jesus added, “There will be earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (v. 11). We have seen earthquakes in California this week. The coronavirus “pestilence” has taken more than seven hundred thousand lives. Experts say it has put 265 million people at risk of famine. “Terrors” from heaven include Hurricane Isaias that has battered the East Coast this week.

Jesus added, “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you” (v. 12). China is persecuting Christians in unprecedented ways, including posting pictures of President Xi and demanding that believers worship him.

However, my purpose today is not to predict the return of Christ, an event about which our Lord said no one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36). Rather, my purpose is to help us be ready when the Lord comes for us or we go to him. I cannot tell you when eternity will begin for you, but I can tell you that you are one day closer than ever before. And I can tell you that you have only today to be ready.

In our series in Jesus’ parables titled “Hope for Hard Times,” we come this week to his most urgent story. Let’s walk through it together. We will find some very practical principles for living in pandemic days. Then we will decide whether or not to apply them to our lives, today.

A parable of urgency

Our parable begins, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35). “Stay dressed” is literally, “keep your loins girded,” a reference to the outer robe of the day. Such robes were difficult to move quickly in, so people would gather them around their waist if they were preparing to run.

Jesus’ words translate a present tense imperative that could be translated, “Be always dressed, beginning now!” We are to be ready for service whenever our returning master comes, clothed for work with our tools at the ready, fully prepared.

We are to “keep your lamps burning” so we can leap into action at a moment’s notice. Lamps in Jesus’ day burned olive oil and were difficult to light, so prepared servants kept their lamps lit and filled with oil (cf. Matthew 25:1–10). The fact that they were needed points to a late hour of the night. Nonetheless, these servants will be ready when their master returns.

Jesus continues: “And be like men who are waiting for their masters to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him when he comes and knocks” (Luke 12:36). Feasts after a wedding could last as long as a week, so the master’s return home could not be predicted with accuracy. It could be any day or night.

Nonetheless, his servants are to be ready to open the door “at once when he comes and knocks,” ready every moment of the day or night.

Verse 37: “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.” It was most unusual in Jesus’ day for the master to serve the servants, but that is how this master will reward those who are faithfully ready for his return.

Verse 38: “If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!” The Jews had three night watches (sunset–10 PM, 10–2 AM, 2–6 AM; cf. Judges 7:19). Assuming the wedding banquet began during the first watch, the master could return any time between 10 PM and 6 AM. As a result, his servants were obligated to stay awake and ready all night long.

Jesus adds: “But know this, if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into” (v. 39). Typical homes of the period had mud brick walls a thief could “break” or tunnel through, but the process took time and was loud. Thus, unlike a thief picking a lock and entering a home quietly, thievery in their day happened when the owner was gone.

So with our Lord’s return: “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (v. 40). “You” is plural, referring to all believers. “Be ready” is a present tense imperative, translated, “Be constantly on the ready.” “The Son of Man” is Jesus’ favorite designation for himself. “Is coming” shows that his return is certain. “At an hour you do not expect” shows, however, that the timing of his return is known only to him.

To summarize: we are servants of a Master. Our Master is coming back. He wants us to be ready when he returns, knowing that he could come any time, even now.

What does this parable say to us in these pandemic times?

How to be blessed by our Master

Let’s consider two biblical applications.

One: Our job is not to predict our Lord’s return but to be ready to meet him.

When I am asked if the pandemic is God’s judgment, my answer is “yes” and “no.” We are living in a fallen world that is suffering as a result of the original sin (Romans 8:22). In this sense, hurricanes, earthquakes, and natural diseases are God’s judgment on sin.

But I do not see the pandemic as a specific judgment initiated by God. Biblical judgments through disease are supernatural in origin, as with boils in Egypt and the “pestilence” in Revelation. COVID-19 seems to be naturally occurring, like flu, smallpox, etc.

Also, biblical judgments are against specific sins and sinners, from Pharaoh’s obstinacy to Herod’s idolatry. No specific sins caused this virus. Nor are those affected by it more sinful than others. It originated in Communist China but has spread across the world.

And such speculation keeps us from the practical response the pandemic illustrates: we are all mortal. We are all dying. We must all be ready for eternity.

If it were today, would you be ready?

Two: To know God, serve God.

In the parable, the master serves those who were serving him. This is an astounding description of our true Master. In Jesus’ day, masters often had many servants. However, they never served their servants.

But our God does.

There is a divine-human partnership at work in the world. As we work, God works. As we share our faith, meet human need, and serve in other ways, we experience God in ways we cannot otherwise know him.

This principle contradicts two cultural lies that are popular today.

The first is that God, if he exists, is removed and distant from the world. Many see him as a kind of deistic clockmaker who made the world, set it on his mantle, and now watches it run down. They are convinced that science has disproved biblical miracles and that the creator is irrelevant to his creation.

However, as Jesus’ parable shows, the master is intimately engaged in the home he owns. He is at work through his servants and in their lives.

This leads to a second cultural lie: that religion is to be divorced from the “real world.”

Just as our God is at work today, so we are to be at work today. We are to “go” into the world to make disciples of all nations. We are to feed the hungry and care for the sick. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus in his world.

In fact, when we serve God, we meet God.

If a farmer is at work in his field, the best way to experience a personal relationship with him is to join him at work in his field. As Henry Blackaby noted, to experience God we need to find where he is at work and join him.

And as we serve Jesus, we experience Jesus. In fact, the more we serve him, the more we experience him.

How fully would he say you are serving him today?

Conclusion

The best way to live every day is to live every day as if it were our last day; to forgive those we need to forgive; to seek forgiveness from those we need to seek forgiveness from. To serve those we can. To obey God’s word and will as fully as if he were watching us, because he is.

This way of living redeems even pandemic days. It calls us to reach out to those who are hurting physically, relationally, or financially. It calls us to grieve with those who grieve. It calls us to be the presence of Jesus in the world until Jesus returns to the world.

And living every day as our last day is the best way to be right with the One who is coming for us all.

In one of the churches I pastored, I preached one Sunday morning on the theme of judgment and the need to be ready today. That night, after our evening service, an elderly couple in the church stopped me to thank me for the morning message. They told me that they took it to heart, spending time that afternoon praying and being sure they were ready to meet God.

The next day, the wife died of a heart attack. The following day, I received a thank-you note from her in the mail. She had written it Sunday afternoon and put it in her mailbox in case she did not see me that night. She died on Monday; I received her note on Tuesday; and I read it in her memorial service on Wednesday.

We are one day closer to eternity than ever before. Are you ready?

Is God Fair?

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Is God Fair?

Hebrews 12.25-29

Dr. Jim Denison

Some children wrote questions for God, including these: “Dear God: Instead of letting people die and making new ones, why don’t you just keep the ones you have? Johnny.”

“Dear God: I read the Bible. What does ‘beget’ mean? Nobody will tell me. Allison.”

“Dear God: Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? Norma.”

“Dear God: Did you really mean, ‘do unto others as they do unto you’? Because if you did, then I’m going to fix my brother. Love, Darla.”

We have many questions for God. But none is more pressing than ours today: is God fair? How can God be fair when a fifteen-year-old kills two innocent high school students and wounds eleven more? How can God be fair when an American submarine crew makes a mistake and kills nine Japanese fishermen? How can God be fair and allow so much that is not fair?

If God were only fair, this would be a better world, we say. Let’s see if that’s true.

Consider these facts

Let’s begin with the facts of our text. First, God speaks to us: “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks” (v. 25a).

More than 300 times in Scripture, God speaks to his people.

Mother Teresa said that at the beginning of her spiritual life she spent 90% of her time talking to God, and 10% listening to him. At the end of her life it was the reverse.

He spoke from Sinai in giving the Ten Commandments: “At that time his voice shook the earth” (v. 26).

He has spoken in his word: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1).

And now he speaks most fully in his Son: “In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:2). God is not an apathetic deity, removed from our lives and fears and problems. God speaks to us, every day.

Second, we must obey what he says (v. 25b).

The Jews at Sinai refused to obey what God said to them, and so died wandering in the wilderness far from their Promised Land (cf. Hebrews 3:16-19). The author says, “they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth” (v. 25a).

Now Jesus speaks to us, and we must listen: “how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?” (v. 25b).

Have you ever refused to obey God? Refused to obey his word? His Spirit’s urging in your life? His will for you?

Third, God will judge our obedience.

Verse 26 is clear: “At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.'” This is a quote from Haggai 2:6-7, the promised judgment of God.

He will do this to separate that which can be “shaken” from that which cannot (v. 27).

We will each stand before God in this judgment: “If any man builds on this foundation [Christ] using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

God will judge our obedience to his word and will.

Last, we must approach God with reverent gratitude.

But despite our failures and sins, “we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (v. 28). This is by God’s grace. So we must be “thankful,” the NIV says. The Greek says: “let us live in this grace,” or “let us be grateful.”

We are to come to God in reverent gratitude because of what he has done for us, and because of who he is: “Our God is a consuming fire.” This quote from Deuteronomy 4:24 evokes the purity of God, his power, his justice and judgment, his awe and righteousness.

And so, because of his grace and because of his purity and power, we must approach God with reverent gratitude.

Friedrich Schleiermacher, the most famous theologian of his day, defined religion as a “feeling of absolute dependence.” While religion is certainly more than a feeling, it is at least this.

Remember Isaiah before God: “Woe is me! I am ruined!” (Isaih 6:5). Remember Jeremiah before God: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child” (Jeremiah 1:.6). Remember Peter’s response to seeing Jesus’ miraculous power: “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). Remember John’s response to the risen Lord: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17).

If his best friend on earth, and his leading disciple, and two of his greatest prophets had to come to God in reverence, awe, and humility, what of us? When did you last come to him in this way? Not flippantly, or easily, but in deep awe and reverent worship?

If God were fair in judgment

Now, in light of these facts, let’s address our question. Is God fair? Well, if God were fair, what would happen to us when we stand before him in judgment one day?

Scripture is clear: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). What would happen to you and me then, if God is truly fair?

Let’s think about that question for a moment.

We know that a hospital operating room must be absolutely sanitary for surgery to be successful.

When I visit someone in an isolation room at the hospital, I must wash my hands and face, and put clothes over my clothes and hair, so that I don’t bring germs into the room which could kill the patient.

In Rio Rancho, New Mexico, chips are fabricated for computers in rooms larger than three football fields. The technicians spend their shifts encased in GORE-TEX “bunny suits.” Workers also wear helmets which pump their expelled breath through a special filter package. Powerful pumps in the ceiling replace the air in the lab eight times a minute. All so computer chips will be clean enough to work.

Of course, God’s heaven is perfect, more pure and perfect than any computer lab or hospital room. The God who is a consuming fire must have a perfect realm for himself. What happens if he lets us in his heaven with sin in our lives?

Please raise your hand if you’ve never lied. If you have never stolen something, or acted out of ego and pride, or lusted after someone, or broken another of God’s laws. If God were fair, what would happen to us at our judgment?

Jonathan Edwards’ most famous sermon was titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Preached to his congregation at Enfield, Connecticut, in 1741, its words still haunt us today. Here are some of his closing statements:

“O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.”

He’s right. If God were fair, what would happen to every one of us at our judgment? Where would we spend eternity?

Thank God, literally, that he’s not fair. His Son died in our place, to pay the price for our sins and failures, so that we could be spared from hell and given heaven with God. His perfect, innocent Son died for our crimes. That wasn’t fair.

Now because of Jesus “we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (v. 28). A kingdom we did not earn or deserve. That isn’t fair.

If you have not received this salvation, you have the opportunity to do so today. The opportunity billions do not have—precious souls who live in the third of the world that has never even heard of Jesus, that has no access to the gospel. You are no better than any of them, but you hear it. That isn’t fair.

If you have received this salvation, this gift doesn’t make you better than others, just forgiven. This isn’t fair. Have you thanked God? Our text is clear: “let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (v. 28). Today.

If God were fair in life

We’ve thought about God’s fairness with our judgment before him one day in heaven. What about his fairness with respect to our lives today on earth? Why isn’t God more fair here? Why does he allow pain and suffering and disaster in our world? Some of the principles from last week still apply:

Some suffering comes from the natural world, not from God.

Some comes from the enemy, not from God.

Some comes from our own wrong choices, not from God.

In such a world as this, think about the way things would be if God were always fair.

If God were fair, he would never help us with our problems, never forgive our sins, never redeem our suffering, never strengthen us as we go through it, never intervene miraculously, never walk with us in our pain. If he were fair.

If God were fair, we’d get caught every time we sin. A ticket every time we speed; jail for every law we have ever broken; public exposure for every private sinful thought; no pardon from anyone we ever hurt or wrong.

If God were fair, no one would hear the gospel twice until every person has heard it once. I heard the gospel in the seventh grade, at a Christian concert to which a friend invited me. I didn’t understand it, and didn’t accept it. If God were fair, there would have been no bus ministry three years later, no knock at my door, no invitation to church, no explanation of the gospel, no salvation, no sermon today. If God were fair.

Think about the sins you’ve committed which no one else knows, which God has pardoned and forgotten. What if God were fair? Think about the mistakes you’ve made for which there has been little or no price to pay. What if God were fair?

Think about the multiple opportunities God gave you to hear his gospel. Are you better than people living in Saudi Arabia, with no access to God’s word? Think about the freedom you have to worship him today. Are you better than those who live in Communist China or Afghanistan? Think about the prosperity you enjoy. Are you more deserving than starving souls in Ethiopia? Think about the health your children enjoy. Are they more deserving than AIDS babies in Africa? What if God were fair?

Conclusion

Do you wish God were fair, or are you glad he isn’t? If you’re grateful for his grace, have you told him? Did you come to worship today with “reverence and awe”? Will you tomorrow?

A dear friend gave me a profound theological thought Wednesday night after prayer meeting: “I prove my love to God by my obedience. Not my words, my obedience. I love him to the degree that I obey him.”

If God has been not fair but gracious to you, would you obey his word? Would you worship him with reverence and awe every day this week and beyond?

Well?

Is God Green?

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Is God green?

Climate change and the Scriptures

Dr. Jim Denison

Global warming is one of the most divisive subjects of our day. Some allege that the entire issue is overblown. Others claim that it is the most crucial moral and practical issue of our time. What are the facts behind the debate? What does the Bible say to this critical subject?

Learning the vocabulary

“Weather” refers to the atmospheric conditions on a given day; “climate” describes these conditions over an extended period such as a decade or more. The “weather” can be good today, but the “climate” can change in ways which are frightening.

“Climate change” is used synonymously with “global warming,” but the National Academy of Sciences says that “climate change” is becoming the preferred term. Rising temperatures are the best known symptom of the issue, but they are not the entire problem.

“Climate change” refers to any significant change in measures of climate (temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or more). It may result from:

Natural factors, such as changes in the sun’s intensity or slow changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun

Natural processes within the climate system, such as changes in the ocean and its circulation

Human activities which change the composition of the atmosphere (such as burning fossil fuels) and the land (such as deforestation, urbanization, desertification).

“Global warming” refers to an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface, contributing to changes in global climate patterns. Most people use the phrase to refer to increased emissions of “greenhouse gases.”

“Greenhouse gases” have been produced over the last 200 years. Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide. Farming practices and land use changes produce methane and nitrous oxide. Trees remove carbon dioxide, replacing it with oxygen; deforestation lessens this effect in the atmosphere. As a result, greenhouse gases have risen significantly. They prevent heat from escaping to space, similar to glass panels of a greenhouse.

The “greenhouse effect” helps regulate the Earth’s temperature. Without these insulating gases insulating the Earth’s surface and trapping solar energy which would otherwise escape into space, temperatures would be about 60 degrees colder than they are now and life could not exist. However, the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have enhanced this natural greenhouse effect, causing the Earth’s average temperature to rise.

“Ozone” (also called trioxygen) is a molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is found near the ground and also in the upper atmosphere. Its primary significance for climate change and health has to do with its ability to absorb ultraviolet light and energy. It is produced in the atmosphere when ultraviolet light interacts with oxygen.

The “stratosphere” or “ozone layer” exists between six and 31 miles above the ground. In general, the ozone layer is thinner near the equator and thicker toward the poles, and it varies with season, being thicker during the spring and thinner during the autumn in the northern hemisphere. The ozone layer filters out ultraviolet light from the Sun which would be harmful to most forms of life. If the entire ozone layer were compressed to the pressure of air at sea level, it would be only a few millimeters thick.

Has there been global climate change?

Climate change has occurred throughout the Earth’s history. Changes in the Earth’s orbit and tilt are thought to have led to the Ice Age around 21,000 years ago. Between 900 and 1300 AD, the planet was relatively warm. Cooling of the Sun led to a “little ice age” in the 1400s to 1800s, where global temperatures were cooler than normal. Volcanic eruptions emit aerosols and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Aerosols contribute to short-term cooling, but they are soon dissipated. For instance, an eruption in Indonesia in 1815 lowered global temperatures by as much as five degrees.

Volcanoes also emit carbon dioxide. For two-thirds of the last 400 million years, CO2 levels and temperatures were much higher than the present. However, human activities now emit 130 times as much CO2 as volcanoes.

We are now in the third climate change period of the last 2,000 years, and by far the most significant. Beyond dispute, the Earth’s temperature is climbing. According to data from NASA and NOAA, the Earth’s average surface temperature has risen by about 1.2 to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last century. The eight warmest years on record since 1850 have all occurred since 1998; the warmest was 2005. Temperatures at many individual locations were higher in the last 25 years than at any period of comparable length since AD 900.

What has caused global climate change?

“El Nino” is the strong warming of the Pacific Ocean near the equator; this occurs every two to seven years. Recent El Nino events have been very strong, contributing to record-setting temperatures. We’re not sure how much human-induced climate changes might affect El Nino, or the reverse.

Variations in the Earth’s orbit and tilt, and in the Sun’s heat, have caused climate changes over the Earth’s history. But except for the Ice Age, none brought anything like the devastation we are now seeing. And the human contribution to this crisis is beyond dispute.

The ozone layer

The ozone layer can be depleted by nitric oxide, hydroxyl, atomic chlorine, and atomic bromine. Concentrations of chlorine and bromine have increased significantly in recent years due to the release of large quantities of chlorofluorocarbons (called “freons”) and bromofluorocarbons (called “halons”) into the atmosphere. They rise into the stratosphere, where they interact with ozone molecules and break them down.

“Freons” were invented in the 1920s, and were used in air conditioning units, as aerosol spray propellants, and in cleaning electronics. They also occur as by-products of some chemical processes. No significant natural sources have ever been identified for these compounds; they are almost entirely manmade. A single CFC molecule takes 15 years to reach the upper atmosphere, where it stays for a century and destroys up to 100,000 ozone molecules. When the effect of these gases was finally understood in the 1980’s, they were phased out and have not been produced in large quantity since 1996.

By this time, however, ozone levels over the northern hemisphere were dropping by four percent per decade. Over the north and south poles, much larger seasonal declines have been observed; these are called “ozone holes.” The Antarctic ozone hole has increased dramatically; recent ozone levels have dropped to as low as 33% of their pre-1975 levels. As these holes increase in size, more ultraviolet radiation is permitted to reach the Earth’s surface. Skin cancers are on the rise, plants are damaged, and plankton populations are reduced. UV rays reaching the Earth’s surface also interact with automotive emissions, producing ground-level ozone.

Global warming

Since the Industrial Revolution, “greenhouse gases” have risen significantly in our atmosphere: carbon dioxide by 36%, methane by 148%, and nitrous oxide by 18%. The United States, with five percent of the world’s population, produces 60% of the world’s carbon dioxide.

Human activity has caused concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane to be higher today than at any point in the last 650,000 years. Carbon dioxide accounts for 60% of total greenhouse gases; its level has been increasing by more than 10% every 20 years. If it continues to grow at current rates, its level in the atmosphere will double or even triple in this century. Most of the global warming average is a direct result of this activity.

What will happen in the future?

Scientists predict an average global temperature increase of 3.2 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, and even greater warming thereafter. Human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continue to climb, and remain in the atmosphere for decades. These temperatures will not change uniformly across the globe; polar temperatures are expected to rise even faster than in other places, causing significant melting of the polar ice caps. As the oceans warm, even more CO2 is released into the atmosphere, accelerating the problem.

The current warming trend is especially significant as it is proceeding at a rate unprecedented in the past 1,300 years. The last Ice Age saw temperatures drop nine degrees, allowing massive ice sheets to reach as far south as the Great Lakes and New York City. No one knows what an increase of seven degrees would do to the planet, as such a phenomenon is unprecedented in recorded history.

What will happen to nature?

Hotter temperatures will cause a 40% drop in California’s avocado production over the next 40 years.

The ash tree, from which baseball bats are made, is in danger of disappearing, due to a combination of killer beetles and global warming.

The Pine Bark Beetle, once controlled by cold winter temperatures, is killing entire Christmas tree forests in British Columbia.

Rising water temperatures could cause rainbow trout to disappear from the Appalachian mountains over the next century.

Indonesia estimates that 2,000 of its tropical islands could disappear by 2030 due to rising sea levels.

Russian bears, unable to hibernate due to hotter winters, are attacking more people.

Rising ocean temperatures are killing the food supplies of gray whales.

Giant squids are invading the hotter waters off California and even Alaska.

In Antarctica, an ice shelf larger than Rhode Island collapsed into the sea in 2002. An ice chunk the size of Manhattan broke off a Canadian ice shelf in 2005.

Since 1850, the number of glaciers in Glacier National Park dropped has dropped from 150 to 26. Within the next 25 to 30 years, it is likely that none will be left.

The Mediterranean Sea is becoming much more salty and stagnant, due to faster evaporation and rising temperatures. Many of the sea’s plant and animal species are in jeopardy, as is the fishing industry in this part of the world.

The Great Barrier Reef will disappear within decades as warmer, more acidic seas bleach coral.

Sea levels will rise. There are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. If all glaciers melted today, the seas would rise 230 feet.

Global warming will increase significantly if the ice caps melt. They reflect sunlight into space, further cooling the earth. If they are gone, the Earth will absorb more heat and warm more quickly.

Over the past century, the number of hurricanes which strike each year has more than doubled.

What will happen to our health?

The World Health Organization estimates that 150,000 people are killed every year by climate-change-related issues.

Canadian doctors say smog-related deaths could rise by 80% over the next 20 years.

Heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems are expected to rise, as atherosclerosis develops much more quickly in a warmer environment.

A Harvard study in 2004 showed that higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will lead to higher rates of asthma attacks, especially in children.

The World Health Organization has identified more than 30 new or resurgent diseases in the last decades, fueled by global climate change. As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing disease and plague. Known as the “deadly dozen,” these diseases include yellow fever, Lyme disease, plague, avian influenza (bird flue), babesia, cholera, Ebola, intestinal and external parasites, red tides, Rift Valley fever, sleeping sickness, and tuberculosis.

What will happen to the nations?

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon charges, “Amid the diverse social and political causes, the Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change.”

A group of 11 former U.S. military leaders released a report in April charging that the 1990s war in Somalia stemmed in part from national resource shortages caused by global warming.

A report done last year by the British government showed that global warming could cost the world up to 20% of its annual Global Domestic Product.

A study by the Global Development and Environmental Institute at Tufts University found that ignoring global warming would cost $20 trillion by 2100.

What can you do?

Many people and countries are taking steps now to reduce greenhouse emissions and slow climate change. They are reducing their dependence on fossil fuels, increasing the use of renewable energy, expanding forests, and making personal lifestyle decisions which improve the environment.

Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced significantly through a number of simple steps:

Replace your five most frequently used lights with energy saving bulbs; if every American household did this, we would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the emissions from 10 million cars.

Buy energy efficient appliances and products.

Replace air filters regularly, and have heating and cooling equipment serviced. Replace old models with high efficiency units.

Seal and insulate your home.

Use green power, including solar panels.

Reduce and recycle trash, and buy recycled products.

Use a push lawnmower and mulch clippings.

Use water efficiently. Water your lawn in the early morning; service leaky faucets and toilets (a leaky toilet can use 200 gallons of water a day).

Tune your car; inflate your tires properly (this can save up to three percent on gas); use public transportation; consider buying a hybrid vehicle.

What does the Bible say about the environment?

The world belongs to its Creator: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters” (Psalm 24:1-2). How does he intend his creation to be managed?

We begin with the instructions in Genesis:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so (Genesis 1:26-30).

The key words in the text are “rule” (“have dominion,” v. 26) and “subdue” (“keep under,” v. 28). Both identify man as the ruler or “king” of nature. Since he is created in God’s “image” and “likeness,” he is God’s representative on earth. Oriental kings were expected to care for their subjects (cf. Ps. 72:12-14), upholding law and justice for all.

Genesis 2 is God’s commentary on Genesis 1: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (v. 15). “Take care of it” (shamar) is literally “guard” in the Hebrew; the word means to superintend and protect in all ways.

The Old Testament is very specific regarding the obligations inherent in this stewardship. For instance:

Plants may not be cut down in war (Deuteronomy. 20:19-20).

The land is to be laid fallow in the seventh year so that it may “rest” and feed wild animals (Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:2-7).

Cattle are to be allowed a Sabbath rest (Deuteronomy 5:14).

Newborn animals must not be removed from their mother in their first week of life (Lev. 22:27-29).

Oxen are not to be muzzled while at work (Deut. 25:4).

Proverbs 12:10 is specific: “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”

One day our planet will be destroyed: “The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). On that day, God will replace the current earth with “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1). But we don’t know when this day will come: “A day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:8-9).

In the meanwhile, we are under biblical mandate to manage God’s creation well, to “keep” and protect it. Such environmental engagement is part of our witness to a culture which is increasingly conscious of this priority. Our work to preserve God’s creation is the best way to ensure that future generations will be sustained and healthy.

This is a crucial moment in the history of our planet. How will you help?

Is God In Charge? Sovereignty and Freedom

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Is God in charge?

Sovereignty and freedom

By Dr. Jim Denison

As I write this essay, we are in the midst of an economic crisis which many experts consider to be the most serious since the Great Depression. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, the latter characterized as a “downward spiral” in last week’s National Intelligence Estimate report.

The geopolitical situation continues to degenerate, with Russian ascendancy in Eastern Europe, Iranian pursuit of nuclear capability, Syria’s decision to reestablish diplomatic relations with Lebanon, and the ongoing Palestinian problem.

Do you sometimes wonder if God is in charge of this fallen world? Does everything happen according to his intention? If not, how can he be the sovereign Lord? If so, do humans have free will?

Am I free to write this sentence, or are my fingers essentially an extension of God? Are you free to read this essay, or was your “decision” to do so actually predetermined by the Lord?

Such questions push us into the muddy waters of sovereignty and freedom, Calvinism and Armenianism. Did God purpose the crises of these days? If he did, what kind of God is he? Are humans free? If he did not, how can he be Lord?

Let’s wade through this theological swamp, and see if we can find firm ground upon which to stand. The next time you face crisis or suffering, you’ll need that place for your soul.

Everything is determined by God

John Calvin (1509-64) was a lawyer before he became a Christian (not to say that lawyers can’t be Christians—that’s just the order it happened for him). And so he brought an insistence on logic and consistency to his new faith. His Institutes of the Christian Religion are still fundamental to the movement known as Reform theology, promoted especially in America by Presbyterian churches.

“Five points” as later detailed by the Synod of Dort (1618-19) are typically seen to summarize Calvinist theology:

Total depravity: the fall of Adam and Eve affected every part of us, our minds and our wills

Unconditional divine election: we can do nothing to earn our salvation

Limited atonement: Christ died only for those “elected” or chosen by God for salvation

Irresistible grace: the “elect” will always accept the grace of God

Perseverance of the saints: those who receive salvation can never lose it

As you can see, the five points begin with letters which make a “tulip.” A “five-point” or “tulip” Calvinist is a person who accepts each of these assertions. Some theologians opt for four or less. Those who believe in all five points maintain that God’s will cannot be defeated if he is God. In other words, if he wants one of his creatures to be in heaven, that person will be in heaven. They add that if God is sovereign over the future, he must know what choice we are going to make regarding salvation in Christ.

Most people hear this theological position and immediately respond that it’s not fair for God to choose some people to go to heaven and the rest to go to hell. Calvinists reply that if God were fair, no one could be in heaven, since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). In other words, none of us deserve to go to heaven; all salvation is by God’s grace.

The critic then answers that while none of us deserve heaven, it is unfair for any to be chosen unless all are chosen. None of us deserve a vaccine for bird flu, but if one is developed it would be unfair for only some to receive it. And the debate continues.

Our choices are our own

Joseph Arminius (1560-1609) believed that God made us to worship him, but noted that worship requires a choice. If someone drags you to a church service against your will, it’s unlikely that your worship will be joyous. God wants us to use this freedom to choose to love and worship him. But those who make that wise choice retain their freedom. And so they can later choose against him. They can be “saved” and later “lose their salvation.” You can choose to be married and later choose not to be, or choose to read this book and later change your mind.

This approach accepts “unconditional divine election,” the idea that we don’t deserve for God to forgive our sins and give us salvation. But as you can see, it doesn’t accept much else in the tulip. John Wesley and his followers were greatly influenced by Arminius’s position, and helped popularize it through the Methodist movement.

Getting to the heart of the problem

Since I began struggling with this issue back in college, a middle way has made the most sense to me. Walk with me through the “tulip” again. T = total depravity, the idea that sin affects every part of our lives so that we are incapable of meeting God’s perfect standards or earning a place in his perfect heaven. The Bible seems to teach clearly that all of us have in fact sinned, and that this sin affects every part of our lives. Paul spoke for me, and I would guess for you as well:

“I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:21-24).

I can think of no part of my life which is untouched by sin. My body is decaying by the day. My mind and emotions can run in all sorts of ungodly ways. So I’m forced to be a T Calvinist.

U = unconditional divine election, the idea that salvation is God’s gift of grace, not earned or deserved by sinful humans. I know that I did nothing to earn my relationship with God except ask for it. When I became a Christian at the age of 15, I had been going to church only for a few weeks, didn’t even own a Bible, and had not yet given a dollar to the offering. I had made no changes in my life to line up with expected morality.

Paul seemed to believe that we’re all like I was, no matter how many church services we attended before trusting in Jesus: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). So I’m a U Calvinist as well.

But now we run into trouble. L = limited atonement, the idea that Jesus died only for those who would trust him as their Savior and Lord. I understand Calvinist logic: God knew who would trust in his Son, and would not “waste” his death on those who would not accept his love. If I invite our entire staff to our home for Sunday lunch but know only six can come, my wife will not set out food for the rest.

But where does the Bible require this logic regarding Jesus’ atonement? Jesus suffered the same death, whether it was for eleven original disciples or two billion Christians today. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son . . .” (John 3:16). I’m not sure limited atonement is wrong so much as I wonder if it’s irrelevant.

I = irresistible grace, the idea that those chosen by God for salvation will in fact accept his gift. This is the heart of the issue, so we’ll get back to it in a moment.

I am quite willing to be a P Calvinist, accepting the “perseverance of the saints” without question. Once I was “born again” as the child of God, it is impossible for me to go back to my condition before that event. My sons will always be my sons, whether they like it or not. Whether they feel like it or act like it or not. Once they were born as my sons, they are forever stuck in that condition.

The Arminian believes that I still possess the freedom to choose to reject Jesus, but I disagree. I no longer possess the freedom to be unborn, or to choose different parents, or to be African American rather than Anglo American. Some choices are simply not available to me. The choice to rewind the tape and return to my pre-conversion state is among them.

So my problem is with I Calvinism. Is God’s grace irresistible? I thought I made a free choice on September 9, 1973 when I asked Christ to be my Savior and Lord. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe I would have accepted his grace eventually, even if not on that day. I cannot know for certain in practical experience—I cannot reverse time and refuse salvation on that day in 1973 to see what happens next.

The issue is somewhat irrelevant regarding my salvation, since that is a settled matter. But it is much more relevant to the decisions I make in the next minute and hour. It is a crucial question when asked of other events of life such as 9-11 and the Holocaust. I don’t mind being part of God’s “elect,” chosen to accept his irresistible offer of salvation. But I very much mind being the son of a man whose early death was equally determined by God. And living in a world plagued by hurricanes and diseases which that God causes.

So we’ve diagnosed the heart of the problem: do the events of our lives just “happen,” or are each of them caused by God? Are our choices free, or not? The answers will say much about the God who wants us to trust him unconditionally.

The Bible agrees with both sides

Compounding the problem, there are passages in God’s word which seem to support each side of the debate. That’s why the argument has gone on for centuries, and this essay is unlikely to end the discussion.

Consider one of the passages cited immediately by Calvinists: “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Romans 9.18). Paul was referring to Pharaoh’s “hardened heart” during the Jewish enslavement in Egypt. Exodus quotes God as saying, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you” (Exodus 7:3-4). The Bible repeats the assertion: “Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country” (Exodus 11:10).

These statements would seem to end the debate: God clearly “hardens” the hearts of people he does not want to accept his word and will, in this case so he could use the Exodus to liberate his people and show them his power and glory. He chooses some to accept his love and others to reject it. But the issue isn’t so simple.

The same book of Exodus also records that after the plague of frogs ended, “when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said” (Exodus 8:15). Later came the plague of flies, after which “Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go” (Exodus 8:32). So, did God harden Pharaoh’s heart, or was he responsible for his own sin? Both positions seem to be taught by the text.

Again quoting Exodus, Paul reminds us that God said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Romans 9:15). He asks, “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” (v. 21).

He seemed even clearer when he told the Ephesians: “He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will–to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (Ephesians 1:4-6).

At the same time, Paul assured Timothy that God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Peter agreed: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

So which is it? Does God choose only some to be saved, or does he want everyone to be in heaven with him? The biblical answer seems to be “yes.”

We are dealing with an apparent contradiction, what logicians call an “antinomy.” If two statements are both true, we must accept them both even if they appear to contradict each other. It’s actually hard to find a fundamental biblical doctrine which doesn’t qualify. Is God three or one? Was Jesus fully divine or fully human? Is the Bible divinely inspired or humanly written?

It’s possible to ask a question for which there is no answer, committing what philosophers call a “category mistake.” How much does the color red weigh? What color is the number seven? Can God make a rock so big he can’t move it, or two mountains without a valley in the middle, or a square circle? When my brother and I were young children, we would ask our mother which of us she loved the most. She was wise enough to change the subject.

There is a way to resolve the dilemma somewhat. The passages which seem to support Calvinistic irresistible grace at least indicate that God knows what we are going to choose before we choose it. He knew how the clay would turn out, and which of the Ephesians would accept his Son. But knowing is not the same thing as determining. My wife knows that every time we go to an ice cream parlor I’ll get strawberry. She thinks it’s a boring way to live, while I see it as one less problem to solve. The fact that she knows my choice doesn’t mean she makes it.

I know the analogy breaks down—next time I might order cherry just to confuse her. But it doesn’t break down with God. He created time and transcends it. Remember, if time is a line on a page, God is the page. He’s not “looking into” tomorrow so much as he’s already there. You and I are caught in the space-time continuum, but he’s not. He sees tomorrow better than I can see today.

But that doesn’t mean that he’s already chosen what I’ll do when it arrives. I can watch you read these words, but that doesn’t mean I made you read them. Seeing and choosing are not the same. God can see the sermon I’ll preach next Easter, but I still have to write it, unfortunately.

But we still haven’t solved my problem. If God’s omniscience means that he saw the current economic crisis before it happened, that’s one thing. If his sovereignty means that he caused it, since nothing can happen outside his will, that’s something else entirely.

God is so sovereign he can choose not to be

Here’s how I understand the relationship of God’s sovereignty to my freedom: the Lord has chosen to give me free will so that I can choose to worship him. But he knows that freedom isn’t free if it’s determined. So he has chosen to honor the free will he gave me, to limit himself by my freedom.

This decision is in no sense a depreciation of his sovereignty, since he made it himself. My authority as the pastor of our church is not lessened by my decision not to exercise it over every decision we make. If our deacons told me I could not choose the hymns we’ll sing next Sunday, that would be one thing. If I decide of my own volition to allow our worship pastor to make that decision, that’s something else.

God wants us all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) and salvation (1 Timothy 2:4), but not all choose to accept his love. He chooses to honor the free will he has given us, so that we can make this decision in complete freedom. So far, so good.

But what about events which occur without human choice? Hurricanes and earthquakes are obviously not chosen by those they victimize. We can say that natural disasters are the result of Adam’s sin, and we’d be right (Romans 8:22). But they are not the result of your sin and mine. Has God also limited himself regarding the consequences of Adam’s free choice to sin? In other words, has he decided to honor Adam’s freedom by allowing the natural disasters and diseases which it still causes?

If so, why does he sometimes intervene when they occur? He clearly manipulated nature at the Red Sea, the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and his Son’s resurrection from the dead. Jesus healed blind eyes and diseased bodies. According to James, he still does (James 5:13-16).

So it doesn’t seem to me that God’s decision to honor our freedom explains why he allows disasters and diseases which are not its consequence. I understand that God allows evil and suffering which results from misused freedom. And I can accept the premise that he permits nothing he will not use for his glory and our good. But does he cause these bad things to happen? He certainly caused the Flood to devastate the human population, and the Red Sea to collapse on the Egyptian armies. He causes the plagues and destruction recorded in the book of Revelation. Does he cause all that goes wrong in nature?

Does God cause all natural suffering?

I still haven’t answered my question: did God cause the current world problems, or merely permit them? Most of us have done nothing to cause them—we didn’t pass laws to deregulate the banking industry, or issue bad loans, or invade South Ossetia. We didn’t cause Hurricane Ike to devastate Galveston. None of this is our fault. So, is it God’s? You have experienced enough undeserved suffering to ask the question as well.

Here I am helped by the pattern of Scripture on the issue. Whenever God causes natural calamity or personal disease in the Bible, he always explains why. He brought about the Flood because of the rampant sinfulness of humanity, and gave Noah a century to warn the people before the rains came. He initiated the plagues of the Exodus in response to Pharaoh’s sin and to show his people their God’s miraculous power over the mightiest nation on earth.

He sent Joshua to destroy the Canaanites not only to give his people a land but also in response to the wicked sins of those who inhabited it (cf. Genesis 15:16). He raised up oppressors to persecute his people when their sins demanded such justice (cf. Judges 2:10-15). He brought about the demise of the houses of Eli and Saul because of their sins against him (1 Samuel 2:30-36; 13:13-14). Each time, they were warned before judgment fell.

His people were captured by Assyria and Babylon, but not before his prophets had predicted such doom if they did not repent. Because King Herod “did not give praise to God,” “he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God continued to increase and spread” (Acts 12:23-24).

A good father does not punish his children without explaining why. I would not take the car keys from my sons in college and expect them to figure things out on their own. Jesus taught us, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). So I can assume that my Father would not initiate physical death or pain to punish his children without telling us so.

As a result, I can conclude that he did not cause my father’s death as punishment for his sins or mine. At this writing, it has been 28 years since his death. At no point before or since has God given me any indication that sin led to my father’s passing. If our family is being judged for something we’ve done wrong, we certainly haven’t been told what it is.

I am aware of no word from God which warned Galveston to repent before the hurricane struck, or South Ossetia to repent before the Russian army arrived. God can indeed initiate natural disaster and human suffering, but always for a reason. All across the Bible, he told people what it was. Since his nature doesn’t change (cf. Hebrews 13:8), it seems reasonable to assume that he still does.

Suffering for good?

But what of suffering caused by God for the sake of spiritual growth? God required Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, not because he wanted the boy to die but because he wanted his father to trust him unconditionally. He required his priests to step into the flooded Jordan river so he could show them what happens when we trust him completely.

Could it be that God caused my father’s death and all the innocent deaths I have witnessed in order to produce spiritual maturity in those who have survived them? Could he have caused the current financial crisis in order to call us to stronger faith in him? Again, it seems in Scripture that God does not initiate such tests without making clear his intention. He can use anything which happens for our spiritual good (Romans 8:28). But when he intentionally causes suffering for such a purpose, it seems that he notifies those who are to grow as a result.

So I assume that suffering is initiated by God as punishment for sin or motivation for spiritual growth only when he says so. He will not allow us to plead ignorance before him on Judgment Day. If we are intended to repent or grow as a result of something he has caused in our lives, we’ll know it.

Every time I’ve experienced conviction or punishment for sin, the reasons for my suffering were very clear to me. Those times when it seemed obvious that God led me into difficult circumstances for the sake of spiritual growth, I knew what was happening. When I spent a college summer serving as a missionary in East Malaysia, I encountered the loneliest days of my entire life. But I knew going in that it would be so, and that my Father wanted me to learn to depend more fully on him.

So I conclude that God permits natural suffering and death, but only causes it when he tells us so. He did not initiate the innocent deaths I have witnessed, though he permitted them as a consequence of misused freedom or this broken world. He did not cause the economic crisis, though he intends to redeem and use it. I’m grateful that my Father does not cause suffering in capricious ways, that he does not initiate innocent pain or death without a redemptive reason.

We live in a fallen world

God created our planet and allows it to function according to the laws of nature. Even in the Garden of Eden, a fall from a tree would have hurt. Since the fall of creation, natural disasters and diseases are part of life. God allows them to occur in the same way he would have allowed Adam to cut himself on a rock. But they’re not his fault or choice.

In the same way, my father’s heart disease was not caused by God but by our fallen world. A baby’s death was not her fault but Adam’s. Hurricane Ike was caused by atmospheric conditions which were affected by the Fall. God permitted what he could have prevented, for reasons we’ll not understand fully on this side of eternity. But he did not initiate them.

I’m aware that critics may question the difference. If God permits what he could prevent, isn’t he as liable as if he caused the suffering in question? If I allowed a child to fall from a crib when I could have stopped him, I would be as guilty as if I had pushed him. If God permitted my father’s heart disease when he could have prevented or healed it, isn’t he as culpable for it as if he caused it?

Perhaps he’s culpable, but he’s not capricious. He does not cause pain without a perfect reason. And he does not initiate suffering unless we know at least some of the reasons why. The rest of the time he permits the natural order to continue, and redeems the suffering it causes.

God permits all that happens, or he is not all powerful. He initiates only that pain which he explains to those who suffer, or he is not all loving. And he redeems all that occurs in his creation, or he is not both. How could he do anything else and be our perfect Father?

So, who’s in charge?

To summarize, here’s the way I’ll view the question of sovereignty and freedom from now on. First, God permits or causes all that happens outside of human decision, either as the result of the natural processes he has created or his own intervention in his creation. The trees and squirrels I can see outside my window right now are the direct expression of his sovereign will.

Second, God has chosen to honor the free will he has given us. He wants us all to be in heaven but knows that some will refuse his love. His grace is unconditional but not irresistible.

Third, God permits or causes innocent suffering such as natural diseases and disasters. Unless he permitted or caused my father’s early death, he has no power to permit or cause anything else in the natural order.

Fourth, he permits rather than causes that suffering which is not the result of sin or intended directly for spiritual growth. There are times when he does bring suffering as judgment on sin or to mature our faith. But we will know when our pain is intended for such purposes. And so he permitted rather than caused my father’s death.

Last, he redeems all he permits or causes. Because he is holy, he can allow or create only that which is for his highest glory and our best good. Even when I cannot see evidence of that good, I must trust that it exists now and in eternity. I don’t have to understand an airplane to get on one. I don’t have to understand all the ways God is redeeming my father’s death to believe that he is. Now I see God through a smudged, dirty window, but one day I will see him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). And be able to ask him some very hard questions.

I cannot imagine how God could have arranged things better than he has. Given that we must be free if we are to worship God and love each other (Matthew 22:34-40), he had to give us freedom and then choose to honor it. The result is a fallen world filled with fallen people. He must permit these consequences and the natural suffering they produce, or we’re not truly free. But since he wants to redeem his fallen creation, he must be free to act within it both to judge sin and to encourage faith. Since he is love, he must redeem all he permits or causes.

Now, where is this issue yours? How has God disappointed you? What undeserved suffering have you experienced? You can believe that your Father permits or causes nothing he will not use for his glory and our good, or you can believe that he is capricious and unloving, or powerless, or nonexistent. You have no other options.

We can decide not to trust God because he has disappointed us. Since a doctor’s advice didn’t help me with my migraine headache, I can choose never to trust physicians again. But then I’ll never know that I can.

It’s a step of faith, to be sure. But refusing to trust doctors doesn’t hurt the medical community so much as it hurts me. Refusing to trust God with my unexplained pain doesn’t hurt heaven so much as it hurts me. Choosing to trust means that we might be disappointed by God. Choosing not to trust guarantees it.

Which choice is yours?

Is Jesus the Only Way to God?

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Is Jesus the Only Way to God?

John 14:1-6

Dr. Jim Denison

A friend recently sent me this story by e-mail. It seems an elderly lady finished her shopping and walked out to her car, to find four males in it. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at them at the top of her voice that she knew how to use it and would if required—so get out of the car. The four men didn’t wait around for a second invitation, but got out and ran like crazy.

The lady proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver’s seat. However, her key wouldn’t fit the ignition. She got out and found her car, identical to this one, parked four spaces down. She loaded her bags into her car and drove to the police station.

The sergeant to whom she told her story nearly doubled over with laughter as he pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale white males were reporting a car-jacking by a mad, elderly woman. No charges were filed.

Now, when her key didn’t work in the car, what was the lady’s reaction? Did she say, “All keys are basically the same”? Did she complain that the car would only accept one key? No, she was grateful she had a key to her car (as soon as she found it!).

In our Yearning 2 Know series, we’ve asked what happens when we die, and what does the Bible teach about heaven and hell. Now we’ll ask the most confusing question of the entire series: Is Jesus the only way to God? Is he the only way to avoid hell and go to heaven when we die? And what practical impact does the answer have for us today?

What did Jesus say?

First, let’s make sure we know what Jesus actually said. Let’s get past all the popular opinion, and denominational differences. What did Jesus really say? In our text he states four facts.

One: he is God (v. 1). “Believe in God; believe also in me,” he says. Later: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (v. 9). The disciples are troubled about his impending death, but he is not. All is well, he claims—I’m in charge. I am God.

Earlier the Jewish authorities had tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy, “because you claim to be God” (10:33). Make no mistake: Jesus clearly claims that he is God. Other religious leaders claim to reveal God; Jesus claims to be God.

Two: he is preparing a place for us in heaven (v. 2). “Prepare” means to go before and make ready for the arrival of others. Other religious leaders speak of heaven, and even tell their followers how to go there. Jesus says he is going there first, ahead of us, to make things ready. No one ever made this claim before.

Three: he will take us there himself (v. 3). “Take you to be with me” means “to walk alongside of.” Jesus hasn’t gone home and left us directions for finding our way there. He will come back to us and lead us there, personally. Again, no one else ever claimed this.

Four: he is the only way to heaven. Others said, “I know the way, the truth, and the life” or “I teach the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Earlier he said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). He is the only way, truth, and life.

Do you hear these claims to uniqueness? I am God; I am preparing your place in heaven; I will take you there; I alone can take you there. Jesus is the only way to God—the text makes this claim clear.

And this is by no means the only place where the word of God makes this claim. Remember John 1:14: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:18 is dogmatic: “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Jesus clearly claims to be the only way to the Father, and the rest of the New Testament says he’s right.

Aren’t all religions basically the same?

Now let’s ask some common questions. First, aren’t all religions basically the same? Don’t they all pray to the same God and teach the same basic ideas? Aren’t they just different roads up the same mountain?

Nearly two-third of all Americans think they are. 64% say they all pray to the same God. And 56% say that you can work your way to heaven by being good, no matter what religion you claim.

Hindu temples have increased 1000% in America in the last ten years. There are more Muslims than Episcopalians in our country. And they are people of reverence, too. I’ve seen Buddhists burn a year’s salary in paper money at the grave of an ancestor, and Muslims leave their mosques with their foreheads bleeding from praying on their rugs so fervently. What about them? Are they all the same? Decide for yourself. Consider these very basic facts:

Hinduism teaches that there are many “gods” but no “God”—no personal Creator who is Lord of all. We are “atman,” part of “Brahman,” and “moksha” or “salvation” comes through multiple reincarnations when we are absorbed into ultimate reality. No eternal souls or independent existence—we cease to be.

Buddhism affirms the four noble truths and eightfold noble path, by which we can come to “Nirvana,” a “blowing out” where we cease to be. No such thing as God in the sense of Lord; no heaven where we live personally with God forever.

Islam believes in “Allah,” the sovereign God. But he has no Son, and “salvation” comes through obedience to the Koran, their Scriptures.

Judaism worships our Jehovah God, but refuses to believe that he has a Son or that he is the Messiah, crucified for us. Of course they would not accept John 14:6, or any other claim that Jesus is God.

To say that all religions are the same would be like saying that all keys are the same—it doesn’t matter which one you use, so long as you’re sincere. The religions are each different, and mutually exclusive. If one is right, none of the rest can be.

The uniqueness of Christianity lies in the idea of grace. The world’s religions center in our works, by which we strive to earn acceptance from God, the gods, or experience enlightenment and Nirvana. We climb up to “heaven,” whatever it is. But only in Christianity does God climb down to us, to be one of us. Only in Christianity does God take us to be with him, by grace through faith.

In India during World War I, people of different faiths decided to meet together in an act of mutual worship and encouragement. However, the idea had to be abandoned because they couldn’t determine how to begin the service. They had no common ground whatsoever. The Christians suggested that at least they could all repeat the Lord’s Prayer. But it begins, “Our Father, which art in heaven,” and none of the other religions agreed.

The different religions teach very different ideas. They hold very different keys. You must decide which one works.

What about the “ignorant”?

What of those who have never heard of Jesus? Who don’t know what we’ve said this morning? Those who, like Thomas, don’t know or understand? What of them?

The fact is, our Lord never intended there to be any “ignorant.” He didn’t tell us what to do about them, except to tell them. If we know someone who doesn’t know about Jesus, tell them.

Note that this is a speculative, rational problem, not a practical issue for us. If you can ask the question, it doesn’t apply to you. And no theory exempts us from telling the “ignorant” about Jesus.

The most popular answer is, “God judges people according to the light they have.” Then why give them more light? Why do missions? Yet we are commanded to “make disciples of all nations.”

Others say, “God knows what they would do, given the chance.” Then why give them the chance? Others say, “All are saved through Christ, whether they believe or not.” Then why do missions? And what of John 3:16: “whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Still others say, “They cannot be lost if they’ve never heard.” Then we shouldn’t tell them, for they might reject Jesus. But Jesus told us to tell them. And still others say, “God knows if they’re sincere.” But we can be sincerely wrong.

Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”; Romans 6:23 adds, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” What will God do with those who haven’t heard? The only answer the Bible gives us is: tell them. Trust the Lord, and tell them.

And we can. If we tell people, who tell people, who tell people, the world can know. By multiplication, one a day, the world’s population can know of Jesus in 31 days.

What about the ignorant,those who don’t know about the key to heaven? Tell them.

Why is there only one way?

One last question: why would God insist on only one way to himself? Many people say, “A loving God would never be that narrow.” But here are the facts.

One: God gave his best for our salvation. He gave his only Son to pay the debt for our sin. No other religious leader died for his people, but Jesus died for us.

Two: through Christ, salvation is free and open to all people. You don’t have to go through years of ascetic discipline, or obedience to holy writings, to hopefully come up to God. God has come down to us. Every person on earth is free to come to God through Christ, today.

Three: this way works for everyone. The key works, no matter who uses it. I don’t need another key if this one starts the car. I don’t need another chemotherapy if this one kills my cancer. Jesus is sufficient for us all.

Conclusion

What does all this mean to you this morning? First, make certain Jesus is your Savior, this morning. He is the only way to God you need, but he is also the only way to God you have. All gifts must be received. Receive the gift of his grace and love. Take the key and use it.

Second, give it to those who don’t have it. Pray for those you know; talk with them; invite them to Jesus. This is your responsibility, and mine.

Last week I spoke of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. A scene on a calendar depicts Colonel Booth, out on a rough sea at night in a small lifeboat. As the waves rage, Booth is reaching out his hand to pull in a survivor who is lost at sea. A small vignette in the corner shows Booth’s granddaughter asking her grandmother, “Grandma, is granddaddy trying to save that man or only shaking hands with him?”

What would your friends say you’re doing for them?

Is There Any Hope?

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Is There Any Hope?

Mark 16:1-8

Dr. Jim Denison

This is the 1,973rd Easter Sunday since the first one. Think how the world has changed.

A population of 25 million is today 6,215,090,567. Most of them drive on Central Expressway. The world would wait seventeen centuries to discover electricity; today’s news is all about cloning, G3 wireless technology, and video streaming for interactive television on our computers. Whatever that means.

Futurologist Ian Pearson recently predicted that within four years we’ll see emotionally interactive toys, and the first extinct organism brought back to life. University Park will become Jurassic Park. By 2025 there will be more robots than people. Then they can deal with all the dinosaurs.

More change has occurred in this century than all of human history combined.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

We are stealing television shows through digital technology, and music through online downloading. Recent news reports have documented the epidemic of online sermon theft by preachers. (Just so you know, you have no one to thank or blame for this message but me.)

But sin doesn’t stay secret. Microsoft just admitted that its Windows XP software monitors what movies people watch on their computers, and tells Bill Gates. Big Brother is watching.

And since September 11, we’ve been living in a different world, and we don’t like it.

If the Pentagon and World Trade Center were not safe, this building is not safe. If a suicide bomber would attack a Passover feast in Netanya, Israel this week, would someone attack an Easter service here?

If airplanes—the most closely monitored transportation in the world—are not safe, what is?

Years ago, a submarine was rammed and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Rescue divers, unable to open the hatch, heard the crew tapping on the metal hull in Morse Code, over and over, “Is there any hope?”

We’re all tapping that message. Does Easter offer any hope to our world? To your life? The answer is up to you. Let me explain.

Either Easter is a lie …

Mark 16:8 says, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

The New International Version contains this note next: “The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.” The reason is that they were not part of the original Gospel of Mark. They were written by the presbyter Ariston in the second century, as he combined facts from the other gospels and some new information.

Nearly all scholars, including the very conservative, believe that Mark’s Gospel as we have it, ended with verse 8. Some think the rest has been lost, or he was prevented from writing it. Most believe that he meant the book to end here. That’s what I think. God would never let even one word of his inspired Scriptures be lost to us. We have exactly the ending God intended for us.

Why does it end as it does? So we can finish the story. Because Easter is not done until we are done with it. Because we must each determine how the story ends for us.

And we have only two choices. Either Easter is a lie, or Jesus Christ is Lord. Let’s examine the first choice, first.

The women left Easter “bewildered” by the message. So can we.

All they had was the angel’s testimony and the empty tomb. All you have is the same. We’re scientific, advanced, sophisticated people. We know that bodies don’t rise from the dead.

So you can leave today bewildered, skeptical, doubting that Easter is anything more than a nice religious story, a fable, a pleasant myth. You can leave Easter this morning with your heart as empty as this tomb. Why not believe Easter is a lie?

Consider the evidence. First, Jesus’ existence and death are facts of history.

Roman and Jewish historians such as Tacitus, Thallus the Samaritan, Pliny the Younger, Seutonius, Mara bar Serapion, and Josephus all record the fact of Jesus’ life.

The Roman soldiers knew that he died. Blood loss, exhaustion, exposure, shock, and suffocation combined to end his life.

Then Nicodemus embalmed his corpse with 100 pounds of ointment in an airtight burial shroud.

And he was left for three days without air, food, or water. Even if he survived all that, he could not possibly have moved aside the massive stone sealing his tomb. His life and death are facts.

Second, his empty tomb is a fact of history.

The women did not go to the wrong tomb, for they watched him being buried. And the owner and the soldiers knew the right location.

They did not rob his corpse to pretend a resurrection. Verse 1 is clear: they came to anoint a dead body, not steal it. Grave robbing was a capital offense, so that such a theft would cost their lives. And those who later proclaimed the resurrection died for their “lie.”

His tomb was empty that day. It still is.

Third, changed lives are a fact of history. A dozen followers have become two billion worshipping the risen Christ this Easter morning. All because of the first Easter morning.

On April 19, AD 29, an angel came to the grave of Jesus of Nazareth and flung its stone away. Not so Jesus could get out, for he was already gone. So we could get in. The massive stone was but a pebble compared to the Rock of Ages inside.

He is risen”—three words which changed their lives, and our world. If Easter were a lie, there would be no hope. But it’s not. So there is.

…or Jesus Christ is Lord

And if Easter is true, then Jesus Christ is Lord. He was and is the only person in human history to rise from the dead to eternal life. Even Lazarus died again. But not Jesus. His tomb is still empty. Because Jesus Christ is Lord. And so there’s hope for us.

There’s hope for your soul, for you can know his saving love personally.

“You will see him,” they were promised. And they did. 500 of them. Not a ghost or illusion; 500 people don’t have the same hallucination. Mary clasped his feet; he later made breakfast for them. This is not Halloween but Easter.

They met him in Jerusalem and in Galilee. You can meet him in Dallas. No matter your sins and failures. The angel said, “tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him'” (v. 7). “His disciples.” Not his “failures” or his “cowards,” though they were. Peter, though he had denied him three times. But they were still his, because of his gracious love for them. The same gracious love he feels for you today.

Simply ask him to forgive your mistakes and failures, and be your Lord. And he will. You can meet him personally, this morning. There’s hope for your soul, because Easter is true and Jesus is Lord.

And there’s hope for your life, for you can share his saving love with someone else. Easter will give your life purpose, meaning, and eternal significance. As only it can.

Our Lord intentionally chose these women to be his first evangelists, the first to carry his hope to their hopeless world. In a world which viewed women as possessions, not people. A culture which saw peasants as pitiful, not powerful. But they started it all.

You can continue it. Your gifts and abilities, possessions and relationships are a means to the end of loving and serving Jesus. Nothing you will do this week will stand the test of time. Grades will be forgotten, possessions will belong to someone else, status will fade. But if you influence someone for Jesus, his or her soul will forever be different because of you.

There’s hope for your life, because Easter is true and Jesus is Lord.

See it this way. A basketball in my hands is worth about $19; in Michael Jordan’s it’s worth $33 million. A baseball in my hands is worth $6; in Randy Johnson’s hands, it’s worth $13 million a year. A golf club in my hands is virtually useless; in Tiger Woods’, it’s worth $30 million a year. Your value depends on whose you are.

Billy Graham says it this way: “God made you and me, and he alone knows how to run your life and mine. We could make a complete wreck of our lives without Christ. When he is at the controls, all goes well. Without him, we can do nothing.”

Only the Lord Jesus can give your life true significance. So yield it to him. Put him at the controls. Don’t just give him Easter Sunday. Worship him every week. Give him every day. And you’ll find hope for your life, every day.

When I was in high school, my career ambitions were to be a professional trumpet player or tennis player. I still have the trumpet I played in high school, and I can still play it for about five minutes, then my lip is gone. I have to choose between warming up and playing. Today it sits in a closet, because the trumpet wasn’t God’s plan for my life.

I still have the tennis racket my college mentor used when we played together. I’ve long since lost mine, but I cherish his. It sits on a shelf in my study, because tennis wasn’t God’s plan for my life.

Do you know God’s plan for yours? Either Easter is a lie, or Jesus Christ is Lord. Is he your Lord?

Conclusion

Mark left the ending of Easter to us. So, is there any hope for our world? For your life? The answer is up to you, right now.

Think of the difference a day can make. One day you’re a student, then you graduate. One day you’re unemployed, then you find your life’s work. One day you have no one in your life, then you meet the person you will love for the rest of your life. One day all hope is gone, then there is Easter. Will this be your day?

On September 11, Todd Beamer was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93. Terrorists herded the passengers to the back of the jet. Todd called the GTE Customer Center in Oakbrook, Illinois and told supervisor Lisa Jefferson about the hijacking. He told her that he and some others were planning to jump the terrorists. And then he asked her to pray with him.

Together they prayed the Lord’s Prayer. Todd added, “Jesus, help me.” Then he and his fellow passengers recited the 23rd Psalm. Then came his famous last words: “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.”

We know from the cockpit voice recorder that Beamer and the other passengers wrestled with the hijackers and forced the plane to crash, killing themselves but foiling the terrorists’ plan to fly Flight 93 into the Capitol or the White House.

Todd Beamer now has a permanent place as one of the heroes of American history. And even more important, his life and faith have moved and inspired millions of others. Because the risen Christ was his Lord, Todd sought his will for his life on September 11. He then gave his life to obey his Lord.

Jesus hasn’t asked us to die for him. But he has asked us to live for him. Because only then is there hope for our souls, hope for our lives, hope for our world.

Either Easter is a lie, or Jesus Christ is Lord. Is he your Lord? If he is, put your life in his hands today. Give him control of your purpose.

Then listen as he says, “Let’s roll.”