This is the series archive

Islam, 9-11, And You

Written by

Islam, 9-11, and you

Dr. Jim Denison

History

Islam was founded by Muhammad (A.D. 570-632), in the midst of religious pluralism, idolatry, and division among his Arab people in Mecca and the Arabian peninsula.

Muhammad’s hatred of idols led him to place an immense emphasis on the unity and transcendence of God. Islamic theology thus holds that God is too highly exalted to enter into any kind of relationship–he reveals only his will to us. Even in paradise, people will not know God as he is.

Muhammad’s day was characterized by tribal warfare, brutality, and promiscuity; he thus emphasized divine control, and opposed religious liberty and separation of church and state. Since Allah is Lord, he must be Lord of all. Thus Muhammad created a civilization, not merely a religion–a way of life for all people, governing personal autonomy and all morality. Islam attempts to provide the answers to every conceivable detail of belief and daily life.

The religion of the day was extremely complex and polytheistic; thus Muhammad constructed a faith which emphasizes simplicity. There is only one central idea: there is but one God, who is Maker and Absolute Controller of all things and people.

Sunnis and Shiites

Muhammad left no designated heirs. The “caliphs” (Arabic for “successors”) continued his movement, led first by Abu Bekr.

Soon, however, divisions began to emerge. Most Muslims followed the caliphs and their successors; these are known as Sunni’s today. But some believed that only the fourth caliph (Muhammad’s son-in-law) was the true successor Muhammad, and have supported his successors; they are the Shiites. 90% of Muslims are Sunnis; 10% are Shiites, living primarily in Iran.

Beliefs

Islam means “peace” or “surrender.” Muslims worship Allah, the Arabic name for “God.” It views mankind as free yet under the sovereignty of Allah. The Koran is the central focus of Islam. “Koran” means “the reading.”

View of God and ultimate reality: all reality is grounded ultimately in the one sovereign personal being of God who has created the world–Allah.

View of mankind: freedom, overshadowed by the sovereignty of God.

Central focus: the Koran, as Allah gave it through Muhammad. It was given over a period of 23 years in the Arabic language, and contains 114 Surahs (chapters) and 6236 verses.

In addition to the Koran, the Hadith (a collection of the “sayings” of Muhammad) and the Sunna (the record of the personal customs of Muhammad and his community) give guidance for Muslim life. But the Koran is the only divine revelation.

Salvation: “Islam” means “peace” or “surrender.” Salvation in this faith involves our submission to the sovereign will of God, along with an almost dominating emphasis on the necessity of good works. These words are detailed in the “five pillars of Islam,” found in the Koran:

The “witness” (“shahadah“): “La ilaha illal lah Muhammadur rasulul lah”–“There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.” Every Muslim must declare this aloud at least once in his life very slowly, with deep meaning and full commitment; most Muslims repeat it many times each day.

Prayer (“salah“): with directed motions, five times a day, facing toward Mecca, the holy city.

Almsgiving (“zakah“): approximately 2 1/2% of all one’s income and permanent annual worth, to the poor. This is an act of worship.

Fasting (“sawm“): especially during the month of Ramadan, which commemorates the giving of the Koran. From dawn to sunset every day of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, a Muslim refrains from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations.

Pilgrimage (“hajj”): to Mecca at least once from every believer who is physically and financially able to make the journey.

In addition, jihad (“holy war”) can be declared the unequivocal religious duty of the Muslim man, as the will of God.

Note that strict morality is a hallmark of Muslims. They obey strong prohibitions against drinking wine, eating pork, gambling, and practicing usury. They invoke the name of Allah at the slaughter of all animals. They also require a specific dress code: men–covering from navel to knees; women–covering of whole body except face and hands, with women above the age of puberty required to cover their face while going out and meeting strangers; pure silk and gold not allowed for men; prohibition of women’s clothes for men and vice versa; symbolic dress of other religions is not allowed.

Final destiny: a final day of judgment, consummation of history, and the assigning of heaven and hell to all persons on the basis of their acceptance or rejection of the message of God and their accompanying good works.

Allah is depicted as weighing the good and bad works on a delicate scale of balance which is accurate even to the weight of a grain of mustard seed (Koran 7:5-8; 21:48; 23:103-5; 101:6-8).

Those in heaven will be rewarded with sensual pleasure; those in hell will live forever in unspeakable pain.

Growth

Islam’s spread worldwide has been the fastest of any religion in history. Within a single decade, A.D. 622-632, Muhammad united the nomadic tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a single cohesive nation, gave them a monotheistic religion in place of their polytheistic, tribal faiths, organized a powerful society and state, and launched his world-wide movement.

Muhammad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bekr. Under his reign and afterward Islam continued to spread, promoted by extensive military campaigns.

Within a century after the death of Muhammad, the Islamic empire stretched from Arabia west through North Africa, to Southern France and Spain; also north of Arabia through the Middle East and east throughout Central Asia, to the borders of China. In the process, Islamic expansion took in much of the oldest and strongest Christian territory.

The spread of Islam in western Europe was finally checked by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours (in France) in A.D. 732, exactly a century after the death of Muhammad. Spain was later reclaimed for Christianity, but a wide belt of territory from Morocco to Pakistan and Indonesia remained Muslim, and has so to this day.

In the meantime a series of Crusades were conducted from A.D. 1095 to 1291, making the Christian mission to Muslims immeasurably more difficult.

Islam has dominated the Middle East for the last 12 centuries, threatening Europe during much of that time. Today it extends from the Atlantic to the Philippines. In Africa, south of the Sahara, it is currently making tremendous advances, far outstripping Christian expansion.

Islam in America

There are between 1.8 million (David Barrett’s estimate) and 4.6 million (Islamic Society of North America’s estimate) Muslims in this country. Most put the figure at between 3 and 4 million.

This is a “denomination” larger than either the Assemblies of God or the Episcopal Church in the United States. In the next thirty years Muslims will outnumber Jews to become the second-largest religion in our country.

Muslims have come to the U.S. in several migratory waves.

While there is no unified Islamic movement in America, there is an increasing effort to evangelize to the Muslim faith in our country. Saudi Arabia is leading the way in funding projects to promote Islam around the world.

Note also the growth of Black Muslims in the U.S., a movement which rejects Christianity as racist. This crusade began in 1931 among the Blacks in Harlem. One of the early leaders, Malcolm X, preached a gospel of black superiority; his heir, Elijah Muhammad, attempted to move the Black Muslims toward orthodox Islam. This movement is known today as The Nation of Islam, and comprises one-quarter to one-half of the total Muslim population in America.

Relation to Christianity

How do Muslims relate to the Christian faith? Because Islam began in the Middle East subsequent to Christianity, it has always had some reference to Christianity. Islam’s holy book, the Koran, maintains this reference to Christianity, speaking specifically of Jesus and the Christian religion.

However, Islam is completely independent of Christianity in faith and philosophy. There is almost no direct quotation in the Koran from either Testament. All we know for certain is that Muhammad was aware of Jews and Christians and knew something of their history. Tragically, the “Christianity” Muhammad encountered was heretical, and gave him an erroneous picture of Christ and his followers.

Muhammad claimed to be a biological heir of Abraham through Ishmael. Through this tie Muhammad saw himself as the establisher of the true religion of the one God in Arabia. He claimed that the religion Abraham bequeathed to the Arabs became corrupt. He claimed to receive direct revelation from God identical in content with the original revelations to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and thus claimed to be in direct succession with the Old and New Testament prophets.

Muslims have historically tolerated Christians and Jews as “people of the Book” in that they have a revelation related, though inferior, to that of Muslims. Nevertheless, various regulations are imposed on Christians in Muslim lands. One of the most difficult is the law against a Christian’s converting a Muslim, accompanied by an absolute prohibition against the Muslim’s accepting Christianity.

In addition, recent persecution of Christians has made tensions much greater between the two faiths. For instance, Saudi Arabia threatens to punish any Muslim who converts to Christianity with beheading.

Evangelizing Muslims

Begin with common ground:

We both believe in one God, and see Jesus as holy. Muslims believe that they worship the God of Abraham and Jesus. They deny the divinity of Christ and thus do not worship our Lord. But we share belief that there is one God of the universe.

We both emphasize personal morality. The difference is that Christians have a relationship with God based on his grace, while Muslims believe they must earn Allah’s acceptance. No Muslim can be sure that he or she will go to heaven. In Christ we have the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life with God.

Understand Islam’s view of Jesus:

Islam denies the divinity of Christ. Muhammad proclaimed that there is no God but God; thus Jesus cannot be divine. He was God’s messenger, not his Son.

Islam denies the crucifixion. When the Jewish leaders approached Jesus with the intent of crucifying him, God took him up to heaven to deliver him out of their hands; then he cast the likeness of Jesus on someone else, who was crucified by mistake in his place.

Islam ignores the sin nature which requires atonement, and therefore the need for Jesus’ death for us.

Islam holds that Jesus was one of God’s prophets. There were 313 messengers sent from God to man; of these, 25 must be remembered by every Muslim. Jesus is one of these. However, Muhammad is the last of all the prophets, and there will be no other.

Understand Islam’s view of the Koran:

The Muslim believes that the Koran has exited from all eternity with God in the Arabic language. In every particular it is the utterance of God himself, with no human element at all. The Koran is seen in purely verbal, propositional terms. Additionally, the Koran does not reveal Allah to us, but only his will. He remains hidden from all men.

Christianity has always seen the Bible as God’s self-revelation of himself to us, mediated through the instrumentality of human personality. Christ, not the Scriptures, is the central focus of our faith (cf. John 20:30-31).

Emphasize the difference between grace vs. works:

While the Muslim believes that Allah can be merciful, he also accepts that he is responsible for his own salvation by faith and works. He does not believe that he can know his final destiny before his judgment before Allah.

Christianity offers grace, full pardon for sin, and salvation today.

Prove God’s love in yours:

Pray for Muslims, by name if possible.

Build relationships based on unconditional friendship. Look for ways to affirm and include them.

Seek opportunities to share what the living Lord Jesus has done in your life.

Invite the person to have the assurance of heaven through Christ.

It is Always Too Soon to Give Up on God

Written by

Topical Scripture: John 3:1–8

Super Bowl LIV will be played this evening. To celebrate, Americans will eat 1.3 billion chicken wings and eight million pounds of guacamole. In fact, we will consume more food today than on any day of the year except Thanksgiving. But beware: antacid sales will increase by 20 percent tomorrow, and 1.5 million Americans will call in sick.

And when the game is over, the “real world” will be waiting.

President Trump’s impeachment trial will continue this week. Whatever your position on impeachment and your thoughts regarding Mr. Trump, he is our president and we are called to pray for him (1 Timothy 2:2).

The other figure dominating the news has been Kobe Bryant. Coverage has focused on his basketball brilliance and his personal failings. Few have noted his Catholic faith, a commitment that became much stronger in recent years.

Last Sunday, two hours before he boarded the helicopter on which he died, Bryant prayed before the 7 am Mass at his parish church in Newport Beach, California.

Are you concerned for someone who does not seem to be moving in the right direction personally? Someone who is making the wrong choices, someone who seems to be retreating from God rather than moving closer to him?

Are you dealing with an area in your life that is not what God wants for you? The Puritans spoke of “besetting sins,” those areas of recurring spiritual failures in our lives. Are you struggling with such a sin and wondering if you’ll ever defeat it?

As we continue watching Jesus change lives, today we’ll meet a man who was a combination of political leader and celebrity. We’ll see what happened when he first talked with our Lord. Then we’ll see what happened years later. And we’ll learn that it is always too soon to give up on God.

Meeting Nicodemus

Our story begins: “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who a member of the Jewish ruling council” (John 3:1). This man had done everything his society deemed necessary for success. He was everything most of us want to be.

Nicodemus was powerful—in fact, he achieved more power than it is possible to possess in our society today. His name meant “conqueror of the people.” Clearly his parents envisioned great power for their baby boy. Imagine naming your infant son Napoleon or Alexander the Great. He was born with a gavel in his hand, bred for success, raised to conquer.

And he fulfilled his parents’ wildest dreams and fondest hopes. How many of us want our son or daughter to be president of the United States? A member of the Supreme Court? A senator or representative? Nicodemus did all that and more.

He was a ruler of the Jews, otherwise translated as a “member of the Jewish ruling council” (v. 1b). This group was known as the “Sanhedrin”—seventy men who constituted the Supreme Court of their nation. They possessed ruling authority over every Jew anywhere in the world. They were the court of final appeal. Even the High Priest was subject to their rulings.

If our nation had one ruling body which combined the power of the Supreme Court and the House and Senate, and also possessed authority over the president and the military, that body would be their Sanhedrin. And Nicodemus was one of its members. There was no more powerful position in all the land.

Nicodemus was wealthy as well. After Jesus’ assassination, he donated seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes to help bury his crucified body (John 19:38–40.). This was the kind and amount of burial material normally used only for a king and a very expensive gift.

He was part of the Jewish aristocracy, a very wealthy man. If Forbes magazine had run a profile on Israel’s richest men, his picture would have been in the article. Probably on its cover.

And Nicodemus was spiritual—one of the most religious men in the nation, in fact. He was a Pharisee (John 3:1). There were never more than six thousand of them in ancient Israel. Their name meant “Separated Ones,” for that’s what they were—separated from all ordinary life to keep every detail of the Jewish law. The dietary codes, Sabbath regulations, everything. They were the Marine Corp of ancient Israel, the holiest men on earth in the eyes of their culture.

And Nicodemus wasn’t just any Pharisee. He was “Israel’s teacher” (v. 10), a special kind of religious scholar, the man who taught other Pharisees their theology. Dean of the School of Theology, we would call him. We can find no more religious man in all the Scriptures.

If believing in God and being good could lead us to eternal life, it would have worked for Nicodemus. But it didn’t, because it can’t. Good works and intellectual belief are the wrong present to unwrap if you’re looking for heaven today.

Meeting Jesus

Our text continues: “This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (v. 2). This is a remarkable statement and seems to be an amazing opportunity for Jesus to recruit this man to his movement.

However, our Lord’s response to Nicodemus would have made any political strategist cringe. After this powerful, wealthy, religious leader has complimented him on his miraculous works and divine inspiration, we’d expect the Galilean carpenter to be pleased, to affirm his admirer’s faith and faithfulness. His response is just the opposite: “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God'” (v. 3).

Why did Jesus reply to Nicodemus in such blunt terms? How does his response help us find God and the eternal life he alone can give?

Admit your need of grace

The simple truth is that no one can “see the kingdom of God” in his or her own abilities. The “kingdom of God” is that place where God is king. Jesus defined the kingdom best in the Model Prayer: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). God’s kingdom comes wherever and whenever his will is done.

Our problem is simple: none of us can do the will of God in our strength. None of us is powerful, wealthy, or religious enough to be perfect. God says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Like Nicodemus, we need to be “born again.” We need a new life and a fresh start. We need to begin again, to get to that place of innocence which was ours when we were first born and had not yet sinned against God. We need to be as innocent as a baby, or we cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Ask for the new birth of God

Nicodemus was confused, asking Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4). Jesus responded: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (v. 5). Then he explained, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6).

In other words, “water” refers to our physical birth, just as being born of the Spirit refers to our spiritual birth. Such a gift cannot be quantified or manufactured by human effort any more than the wind can be controlled or predicted by human wisdom.

Jesus was clear on this: “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (vv. 7–8).

Three things God cannot do

John 3:16, the most famous verse in Scripture, summarizes: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

A fellow student in my college preaching class delivered a sermon on this text under the title, “Three things God cannot do.” You thought God could do everything, correct? According to my friend, there are three things he cannot do.

One: He loves us so much that he cannot love us any more than he already does: “For God so loved the world.” Two: He has given us so much that he cannot give us any more than he already has: “that he gave his only Son.” Three: He has made salvation so simple that he cannot make it any simpler: “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

My friend was right. What was true for Nicodemus is true for any of us today.

Burying and serving his king

The encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus ends without an ending. We aren’t told how Nicodemus responded or what he did next.

But fast forward. Later in Jesus’ ministry, the religious leaders sought to arrest Jesus. Nicodemus responded to them: “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” (John 7:51).

After our Lord’s death, a wealthy man named Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for his body. Then we read: “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews” (John 19:39–40).

This was an extravagant act, one typically given to a king. Nicodemus’ sacrifice shows that he truly saw Jesus as the King of kings.

With this, Nicodemus leaves the pages of Scripture. Later tradition added that he testified on Jesus’ behalf before Pilate, that he was deprived of office and banished from Jerusalem as a result, and that he was baptized by Peter and John. Some say he was beaten to death by hostile crowds for testifying to his faith. It is also said that he was buried in the same grave as Stephen.

Conclusion

We cannot know any of that as historical fact. But we can know that a man who came to Jesus by night eventually testified for him by day and paid a high price to honor the one he came to serve as his king.

Nicodemus proves that Jesus can change any heart that is willing to be changed.

George Mueller was a great evangelist and orphanage director. At one point, he began to pray for the conversion of five men. He prayed for the first for eighteen months before he came to faith. He prayed another five years before the second man was converted.

Mueller prayed another six years before the third came to Christ. He prayed for the other two men for another forty years, fifty-two years in total, until both came to faith.

It is always too soon to give up on God.

How is this fact relevant to your soul today?

It Takes A Man To Be A Father

Written by

It Takes a Man to Be a Father

1 Kings 2:1-4

Dr. Jim Denison

I can prove that fathers need a day like today. Consider some school-age children’s’ answers to the following questions:

What did your mom need to know about your dad before she married him? She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer? Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Who’s the boss at your house? I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What’s the difference between moms and dads? Moms work at work and work at home, but dads just go to work at work. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you gotta ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.

How did your mom meet your dad? Mom was working in a store and dad was shoplifting.

But there’s good news as well.

A priest surveyed the children in his parish, asking them which they would choose if they had to—television or their father. 92% said they’d take their dad.

Temple University psychology professor Laurence Steinberg has published The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting. Here’s number one: “What you do matters.” Research for the last 60 years has drawn this consistent conclusion: parents have a profound effect on our children’s emotional, social and intellectual development.

What do we do with this role, this responsibility, this privilege?

Teach your children

David is about to die, to “go the way of all the earth” (vs. 1-2). So are we all. Every day is another day closer to death. We begin to die from the moment we are born.

What do we do with our approaching death? Leave a legacy of faith for those who will follow us. For fathers, this priority is first and foremost with our children.

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Thus David “gave a charge to Solomon his son.” “Charge” speaks to the significance of these words. This father did not merely suggest or encourage—he challenged, even required, that his son heed these words. This is the word for a general to his soldiers, a president to his cabinet, a CEO to his associates.

This was David’s practice, as he assumed responsibility for his son’s spiritual life and growth. Solomon would later remember, “When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender, and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, ‘Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them” (Proverbs 4:3-5).

We must hand on to our children than which has been given to us, while there is still time. There is urgency in this. What have you “charged” your children to believe and become?

What to teach your children

“Be strong” (v. 2a). The word means to be steadfast mentally, physically and spiritually. This speaks to who our children are—strong spiritually, in the Lord.

Moses to Joshua, his “son” in the faith: “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance” (Deuteronomy 31:7).

We are to say the same to our children in the faith. God expects us to encourage them spiritually, to do all we can to help them grow closer to Jesus. If we provide for them financially, materially, and educationally, but do not help them grow spiritually, we have missed our highest and most eternal calling.

“Show yourself a man” (v. 2b).

“Show yourself”—make public your private faith and commitment.

Show externally the reality of your internal faith. Be sure others see Christ in you, through you. We can measure our success as fathers by the degree to which others see Christ in our children.

How do we encourage such spiritual growth? “Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses” (v. 3). In other words, teach our children to live in the word and will of God.

This is for all people, not just Solomon: “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13, emphasis mine).

For all times, not just Sunday: “Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always” (Deuteronomy 11:1).

Despite the prevailing culture: “Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:30).

Are you a man of spiritual strength and maturity? Does your family know it? Are you teaching them the word and will of God? When last did you spend time with your family in prayer and Scripture? When last did they see you make decisions based on prayer and Scripture? When last did you lead them to make such decisions together?

For their prosperity

We all want our children to prosper. Our culture typically measures our success as fathers by the degree to which we provide materially for our children. The house you own, the car they drive, the college they attend, the club you join—these are the measures of a successful father in our secular society.

And we are expected by God to provide materially for our children. But the Father’s definition of prosperity is different from our culture’s. When God promises that our children may “prosper in all you do and wherever you go” (v. 3), he means to discern, gain insight, and then prosper materially. The spiritual comes before the financial. Obedience to God is his definition of prosperity and success.

And such obedience is crucial to such prosperity. All through his word, there is a direct link between our obedience to God and his ability to prosper and bless us.

“Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your day sin the land that you will possess” (Deuteronomy 5:32-33; cf. 8:6).

“Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do” (Deuteronomy 29:9).

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

Why does this link exist? This is not health-and-wealth, but the way we position ourselves to receive what our Father in his infinite wisdom wants to give. Our obedience makes it possible for our Father to give all that his will wants for us. Teach your children to live in the word and will of God, for the sake of their prosperity.

For their posterity

And for the sake of their posterity. Through Solomon, David’s line and rule would continue. The Father would bless the king through his son, and his son, and his son. Solomon’s obedience to God was crucial not only for his own soul, but for all who would follow after him.

God made this fact plain to David’s son: “As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’ But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this people?” People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them'” (2 Chronicles 7:17-22).

When Solomon kept his father’s charge to spiritual obedience, he was prospered by God in every way. He became the wisest and also wealthiest man on the planet. This may not be God’s will for your children, but his will is always for their best. Solomon proved that it was so.

But when Solomon turned from his father’s charge to marry godless women and worship their pagan idols, the results were disastrous for the nation. Over time, Israel suffered civil war and permanent division. The Northern Kingdom was lost forever to Assyria; the Southern Kingdom was enslaved by Babylon, and then destroyed by Rome. God kept his promise to David by bringing through Solomon the Messiah, but Solomon’s own nation suffered permanently as a result of his disobedience.

So it is that the generations after us will depend on what we teach our children, the way we lead them by example and precept to follow the Lord. Christianity is always one generation from extinction. Her torch is now in our hands.

Conclusion

When General Douglas MacArthur received the Father of the Year award, he said, “Nothing has touched me more deeply than the act of the National Father’s Day committee. By profession I am a soldier and take great pride in that fact. But I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build. A father only builds, never destroys. . . . It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle, but in the home.”

I can guarantee that he will. What will he remember? Let’s decide, today.

It’s All in Your Mind

Written by

It’s All In Your Mind

Colossians 3:1-4

Dr. Jim Denison

During the Great Depression, an impoverished widow stepped into the foyer of an insurance company. An agent asked if he could help her. “Yes,” she replied. Taking out a yellowed, weathered insurance policy, she said, “I’ve lost my job and can’t keep paying this. What happens if I let it expire?”

The agent examined the document and said, “This is a valuable life insurance policy. I urge you not to let it lapse. What does your husband think?” “He died two years ago,” she answered. The agent looked again–the document was a policy on his life. For two years his widow had been paying premiums when she should have been collecting them.

Paul has been telling the Colossians that they can experience all of God there is–not just a God confined to church or “religion.” He would say the same to us. Rather than pay religious dues each Sunday, we can experience life-transforming joy each day.

Now the apostle turns from the theological to the ethical, from the theoretical to the practical. What does all this mean in the most common-sense terms? What steps are we to take to experience all of God there is today? What we’ll learn this morning is so simple each of us can all do it, and so crucial each of us must.

Learn the facts

Paul begins with some foundational facts. First, you have been “raised” with Jesus, “co-raised” in the Greek.

The tense indicates an event completed in the past which bears present applications. If I tell you that “I have been married to Janet,” I make the same point. The event happened 25 years ago, but it still affects my life in wonderful ways today.

This is passive, something that happened to us which we did not earn or deserve. It occurred at the moment of our salvation. In that event we became the “new creation” of God (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Second, “you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (v. 3).

“You” is plural, something which is true of every believer, no matter our past or present circumstances. “Died” is a past event, a completed action. It happened when you asked Christ into your life–the old person died, and you were “born again.”

Now you are “hidden with Christ in God.” The tense again indicates a past, completed event. We are now sheltered in Jesus, hidden from our enemies; we are personally and privately with him, where none can go; we are identified with him, so that others see him in us.

Third, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (v. 4).

Now Jesus “is your life,” not just your faith or your religion. He will “appear” when he returns, and we will “appear with him in glory.” This world will pass away, and we will spend eternity with our Father in his perfect paradise.

Past: you died to your old life when you invited Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, and you have been raised to new life with him. This happened at your salvation. Future: you will be glorified with him one day when he returns. Present: he “is your life” now. Not just your church or your religion–your life.

Do you experience these facts every day? Is the sinful person you were before you met Christ now dead and gone? When people see you, do they see Jesus instead? Is he your life all the time, every day in every way? If not, let’s keep talking.

Make the choice

We’ve seen the grammatical “indicatives”–the statements of fact. Now let’s turn to the “imperatives”–the commands of Scripture which result.

We are ordered by God to “set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (v. 1). “Set your hearts” translates the Greek word “seek.” It is in the present tense–something we must do continually. We did not settle this once and for all at our salvation. We choose it every day.

The word translated “seek” describes a person who seeks diligently, passionately, the way a man dying of thirst seeks water. We are to value them above all else.

In the next verse he tells us to “set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (v. 2). “Set your minds” means to fix your attention constantly, to think about these things all the time. We are to value and think about these things above all else.

The imperatives show that this will not happen unless we choose to make it so. This is not the inevitable consequence of a salvation experience, or God would not ask us to do it.

We are to set our minds and thoughts on “those things which are above.” We are to think about them constantly, to value them above all else. What are these “things”?

God himself: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5); “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

His word and will: “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times” (Psalm 119:20); “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (v. 97); “I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly” (v. 167).

His daily worship: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4); “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Psalm 84:1-2).

Ultimately: Jesus himself. We are to seek those things which are above because that’s where “Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” We are to seek to know and value him above all things, people, and priorities. We are to live for him first and always, practicing his presence all through the day.

By contrast, we are not to set our thoughts and hearts on “earthly things.” What does Scripture mean?

Popularity before obedience to God: “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal 1:10).

Worldly success as an end in itself. Remember Jesus’ parable of the rich man who tore down his barns to build bigger and said to himself, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” His response: “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21).

Paul does not say that we can ignore people and possessions. He says that we are not to “set our minds” on them. They are not to come first. We are not to live for them, or evaluate our success by them. We are not to give them our minds and thoughts, our purposes or values. They are a temporal means to an eternal end.

Why does God care so much about our values and thoughts? Because “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Marcus Aurelius was right: the happiness of our lives depends on the quality of our thoughts. What we think about and value, we become.

Norman Vincent Peale: “All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go and what he wants to be or do.”

“Omega point thinking” is more popular than ever–beginning with the end in mind. Where do you want to go? What do you want the organization to do? Not, how I can make the present better, but, what do we want to become? Then every step goes in that direction.

If we seek to know God, his word and his worship, we will. If we think about him through the day, we will be drawn to him. If we value him above all others, we will experience all of God there is. Our minds connect our souls to his Spirit.

Take the steps to joy

Now, what are we to do with all this?

First, decide to live for God’s glory. Decide to ask of every decision: how will this honor Jesus? How will this draw me closer to him? How will this build his Kingdom? Decide to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, knowing that all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

Second, begin tomorrow morning with him. Make an appointment with your Father, and refuse to break it. Expect the enemy to intrude with distractions. Learn that the good is the enemy of the best. The most important thing you can do in the morning is to get with God. Even if you will dedicate only 10 minutes, start there.

Read a passage, and ask God to speak from it to you. Spend a few moments praying through your day, surrendering it to him.

Get a small notebook you can carry with you through the day. Find a verse you will think about through the day, and write it down. Make a prayer list, and work through it with your Father. Then spend a moment singing a hymn or chorus to him. Connect your soul with his Spirit.

Third, walk through the day with him. Pray for the people you meet. Pray about the tasks you must accomplish. Pray about the problems you face, and the opportunities you receive. Spend the day talking with your Father as your friend.

Last, end the day with him. Take a few moments before you go to bed to review the day with your Lord. Ask him for anything you need to change or learn. Write in your notebook anything he says to you. Thank your Father for what he has done for and with you this day.

These steps are so simple that anyone can take them, and so crucial that all of us must. They are the practical keys to experiencing all of God there is.

Next week we’ll look at the specific results of this commitment to give God our minds and values. For today, let’s make it. Assume that the enemy will distract you and tempt you. Assume that you’ll easily forget to do this, or that you’ll decide it doesn’t matter. If right now you’re hearing such words, guess why?

Conclusion

I was working on this message last Monday morning at the SMU library, and hit a wall. I had finished the exegesis of the text, and was working on the outline. But I didn’t know where to go with it.

So I stopped for a moment to pray. I gave the message to Jesus, and asked him to put into my mind the direction he intended me to go. When I looked up, my eyes fell on the card placed at the center of the library work table.

On the right side was this stern warning: “No cell phones (tones or talking) in the library.” That didn’t help much. But on the left was a picture of Laurel (or Hardy, I never know which) and this wise quotation: “Day after day man invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation” (Jean Arp, 1887-1948). Wonder what he would say today?

But isn’t he right? In that moment I knew that the message was to be about contemplation, meditation, practicing the presence of Jesus, our souls connected with his Spirit.

The quote carried me back to my best days with Jesus, those days when I was not so hurried and hassled by the world and its demands. Those days when I walked more slowly with him, conversing with him in my spirit, considering his word, practicing his presence. Those were my best days. I resolve to make them my future days.

Will you join me?

It’s Not About Us

Written by

It’s Not About Us

Jeremiah 29:4-14

James C. Denison

Smart people can make some dumb predictions:

•In 1943, the chairman of IBM said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

•Decca Recording Company rejected a musical group in 1962 with the assertion, “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” The group was named the Beatles.

•Irving Fisher, Economics Professor at Yale University, said, “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” The year was 1929.

•Charles Duell, commissioner of the U.S. Office of Patents, said in 1899, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

•The head of IBM once said of a proposal, “I don’t know what use anyone could find for a machine that would make copies of documents.” The inventor was forced to found Xerox.

•The chairman of Digital Equipment Corporation said in 1977, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Who of us can really see the future? Who of us thought two Sundays ago that the next day would bring the Virginia Tech tragedy? What will happen tomorrow where you live?

On a day when we honor and pray for our graduates, what kind of society are we sending them into? Is there an overarching purpose to this apparently random, chaotic world? If there is, how can they know it? How can you?

God promises his chosen people, “I know the plans I have for you–plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” But he sent the Babylonians to destroy their temple and take them captive. They’re going to be enslaved in this foreign, pagan land for 70 years. How can this be? How can God have a plan to prosper and not harm them, and allow this?

How can God allow the tragedy at Virginia Tech to take the lives of 32 students and faculty just like our graduates and their parents? How can he allow you to face cancer and heart disease, divorce and death and grief? How does this promise work in a fallen world like theirs and ours? How can we find God’s will and purpose in the midst of such struggles as we all face?

Learn about the purpose of God

Let’s examine God’s answer to our question. Our text gives us five life lessons, each of them crucial to our problem. Our text begins: “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord.”

Here we learn lesson one: God has a plan for our lives. Over and again, Scripture declares that fact.

•James taught us: “You ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that'” (James 4:15; cf. Ephesians 6:6, Hebrews 13:21).

•The psalmist prayed, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God” (Psalm 143:10).

Whatever your decision, question, or problem, know that God has a plan and an answer for you today.

Lesson two: God knows his plans for us, but we do not. “I know the plans I have for you,” he says. But we do not. No one in the Bible gets a five-year plan.

•The Bible says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 13:8).

•When Moses agreed to face Pharaoh, he didn’t know there would be a Red Sea in his future.

•Joshua knew nothing about a flooded Jordan River or fortified Jericho when he agreed to lead the nation.

•When Daniel started the day in prayer, he didn’t know he would end it in the lion’s den.

•The fishermen who left their boats to follow Jesus didn’t know they would lead the global Christian movement.

•When Paul followed the Macedonian call and baptized Lydia in Philippi, he didn’t know he was bringing the gospel to the Western world.

Whatever your problem or decision today, know that you don’t know the answer. Refuse to trust your human wisdom, education, or experience. Tell God that you don’t know the right plan, and that you need his. Develop the reflex of praying first, always.

Lesson three: God’s plan is for our best. His purpose is “to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.”

Forty-three times by my count, God’s word promises that God loves us. He so loved us that he gave his Son for us (John 3:16). He proved his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Nothing can separate us from his love (Romans 8:35-39). He longs to be gracious to us and rises to show us compassion (Isaiah 30:18).

He is a perfect Father, and he loves every one of his children perfectly and unconditionally. No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, he loves us. Even though the Jews’ sins and rebellion have landed them in Babylon, he loved them. Even though our sins and failures have caused us guilt and him grief, he loves us. He has a plan to prosper and not harm us, to give us hope and a future. All of us.

Decide now that you will follow his plan, whatever it is, because it is best for you. And then you will know it.

Lesson four: his plan begins today. It is a flashlight in the dark, showing us enough to take the next step but no more.

God has a plan for where and how they should live: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce” (v. 5).

He has a plan for the families they should have: “Marry and have sons and daughters” (v. 6).

He even has a plan for the country which has enslaved them: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (v. 7).

Even in Babylon, he had a plan for them for that day. They could not know his purpose for the future unless they were willing to obey his purpose in the present. I can’t learn calculus until I learn arithmetic. I can’t drive to Waco until I learn to operate a car. Lance Armstrong started with training wheels. As Oswald Chambers said, we must be of use to God where we are, because we certainly cannot be of use to him where we are not.

Are you in his will this morning? Is there unconfessed sin in your life? Are your dating relationships pure? Your internet use? Your late-night television habits? Your language, and finances, and taxes? We must be close to God today if we would hear his voice tomorrow.

Lesson five: God’s plan is for his Kingdom. God blessed the Jews because they were his children, but also because they were a means to a larger end. He blessed Israel so he could use Israel to bless the world. He prospered them in Babylon so he could return them to Palestine and through their nation bring the Messiah for all peoples.

As prosperous as Babylon might be, it’s still a foreign country. You and I still live on foreign soil. God’s word calls us “aliens and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11). Our best day here cannot compare to our first day in Paradise. Every day we live, we must live for eternity. Our decision we make must be framed by the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

When last did you make a decision based on what would most glorify God, bring people to serve him as their King, and build his Kingdom on earth? That was the last time you sought his plan in line with his purpose.

Trust the redemption of God

Now, how can this plan to prosper us be reconciled with the Babylon where God’s people found themselves? With the Babylon which is our fallen world today?

The key lies in the redemption of God. The Bible never promises that bad will not come to good people. Quite the opposite, in fact. Jesus warned his followers, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus was crucified, Paul beheaded, Peter crucified upside down, every apostle but John martyred, and John exiled on Patmos. A million Christians died in the first centuries of the faith simply for following Christ. God never promised that his plan to prosper us and give us a future meant temporal health and wealth.

Rather, his present plan is a means to our eternal good: “‘Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile'” (Jeremiah 29:12-14).

God will redeem their Babylonian captivity by using it to draw his people back to himself. In Babylon as they had not in Israel, his people would “come and pray to me.” They would “seek me with all your heart.” Then he would return them to their land, and through them one day bring the Messiah for all peoples. He would redeem the pain they faced in Babylon by using it to draw them to himself.

We’ll speak more of this next week when we consider Romans 8:28. For now, let’s remember a statement I’ve made often in the last year: God’s holiness requires him to redeem all that he permits or causes. God is redeeming the tragedy of Virginia Tech and 9/11. He stands ready to redeem cancer and heart disease, divorce and disease and death. I don’t have to understand all the ways he is, to know that he is. I don’t have to understand aerodynamics to board an airplane, so long as the pilot does. God stands ready to use bad times for good purposes, always. In Babylon then, and in Babylon today.

Conclusion

Where does this promise find you today? Are you a graduate or someone else seeking God’s purpose and direction for your future? Are you struggling with a hard place and wondering why? Perhaps a word of advice may help.

Many years ago, I was part of a worship planning meeting on the Monday after an especially powerful worship service on Sunday. We were all discussing the reasons why the service had been so moving, and looking for ways to make the next week’s worship experience equally successful for those who came. Then one of my best friends in the world, a man who had helped us start that service years earlier, smiled and said something I’ve never forgotten: “It’s not about us.”

He was so very right. Life is not about us. This is Babylon, not the Promised Land. We are subjects of the Kingdom, servants of the King. When we surrender our lives, plans, and agendas to his purpose, asking only how we can serve Christ as our King and help others make him their King, then we find his “good, pleasing, and perfect” will. Then we walk in his purpose each day.

We must lose our lives to save them (Matthew 16:25). We must surrender them to live them. We believe that he is redeeming all that he permits or causes. When last did you submit completely to the plans of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? When next will you?

It’s Not What You Know, But Who You Know

Written by

Topical Scripture: Matthew 5:19-20

It’s been another challenging week in the news.

Lightning struck a tree at the Tour Championship in Atlanta yesterday. It exploded, injuring six spectators with debris.

A New York Times article warned us that if the Yellowstone supervolcano were to erupt, it would be “like nothing humanity has ever experienced.” It would cover large parts of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah in up to three feet of volcanic ash.

The ash cloud would destroy crops, ruin power lines and transformers, plunge global temperatures, and devastate farming. One group of researchers called such an eruption “the greatest catastrophe since the dawn of civilization.”

In other news, an asteroid that could have leveled an entire city flew by our planet recently. What makes the story so frightening is that astronomers did not detect it until it passed us. If it had struck our planet, “it would have gone off like a very large nuclear weapon,” according to one scientist.

We could talk about the fact that shark attacks have doubled in highly populated areas in the last twenty years. Or the New Zealand teenager who may have exposed hundreds of people to measles when she visited Disneyland and other popular tourist destinations.

We are all mortal. This fact means that we must all prepare for what happens when this life ends. I cannot promise you that you will die this week, but I cannot promise you that you won’t.

But the good news is that if we will live for heaven on earth, we will live our very best life on earth. It’s as C. S. Lewis says: “Aim at heaven and you get earth ‘thrown in.’ Aim at earth and you get neither.”

How do we best “aim at heaven” today?

How to be great in heaven

Jesus’ Sermon continues: “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (v. 19). Here Jesus shows us who will be great in heaven, and who will be least.

The “great” will be those who “practice and teach” the word of God. Both are crucial, and in this order. The “least” will be those who break the “least” of the commandments of God and influence others to do the same. Those who do not live by the word and will of God and lead others away from his word as well.

Practice and then preach. This is how we conform to the image of Christ, achieving God’s definition of success for our lives. This is how we are like Jesus, and how we help other people follow Jesus.

This is why Billy Graham is great in heaven—not because he has preached to two billion people, but because he first practiced what he preached.

Dr. Graham would not step onto an elevator alone if a woman was in that elevator alone. An associate always went into a hotel room before he did. He would not eat a meal alone with a woman except his wife. He did not take one dollar from the collections given at his Missions, drawing only a salary that was publicly disclosed. His team always undercounted the crowds at his meetings, lest he be accused of exaggeration.

Billy Graham was on Larry King Live twenty-four times. During one of their interviews, King asked Dr. Graham what his greatest fear in life might be. His answer: “My greatest fear is that I might do something before I die which would bring dishonor to my Lord.”

His life was his most powerful sermon. So is yours. So is mine.

How to miss heaven

So Jesus shows us how to be great in heaven. Now let’s ask an even more urgent question: how do we get there? “For I tell you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20 NIV).

“I tell you” shows that these words come from Jesus himself. Your righteousness must “surpass,” an emphatic word which means to go far beyond, to outdistance greatly. Your “righteousness” must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. What was theirs? What must ours be?

The Pharisees were a small group, never more than six thousand men. Their name meant “separated ones,” and it describes their passionate commitment to separation from regular life in obedience to the minutia of the Torah, the Law of God.

The Pharisees calculated that the Law contained 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions, and they aspired to keep them all. As an example, they had thirty-nine categories of Sabbath laws. Not thirty-nine laws—thirty-nine categories. No group in human history has been more religious than were the Pharisees. If it were possible to go to heaven through human effort, their reservations in paradise would have been guaranteed.

But they were not: “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Certainly not” is a double negative: “by no means,” “there is no way that” you can enter heaven unless you are more righteous before God than were the Pharisees, the most religiously righteous people on earth.

In other words, you cannot do enough or be religious enough to go to heaven. The ladder doesn’t climb high enough. Religion won’t work, no matter how much of it you do. If it didn’t work for the Pharisees, it won’t work for us.

But we try, and we think we’re successful.

Most Americans are nowhere as religious as were the Pharisees. By some estimates, less than 20 percent of Americans attend worship services regularly, and about one in three read the Bible even once a week.

But only 2 percent of us are afraid we might to go hell. When Mother Teresa died, 78 percent of Americans said they thought she was in heaven, but 87 percent were sure they would go there.

Why? Because we’re “good people.” We believe in God and live good lives. Most have a church membership where they attend at Christmas and Easter and occasionally through the year. And our good deeds and religious beliefs are good enough, we’ve decided. But they’re not.

How to go to heaven

So, how do we get there? How can our “righteousness” surpass that of the most religiously righteous people who have ever lived?

I remember well my last visit to the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels. They are beautiful, but they are also off limits to me. There is literally nothing I can do to earn the right to wear them.

I could renounce my American citizenship, move to England, and become a British citizen. I could serve in the British armed services and rise to their highest rank of office. I could immerse myself in British politics and become elected prime minister. But there is literally nothing I can do to achieve the status of royalty, for I was not born into the royal family. I need a different kind of achievement than is possible for me to realize.

So it is with the righteousness of God required to enter heaven. I cannot achieve it, nor can you, or the Queen of England for that matter. Only God can give this to us. This is the righteousness he gives to those who accept his Son as their Savior. Then we become the children of God—born into the family of God, born again into royalty.

This is the “righteousness” which surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees. This is the only righteousness that brings us to heaven.

Jesus explained it this way to the religious leader Nicodemus: “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3 NIV). Paul added: “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). No one. No Pharisee. No Baptist. Not Billy Graham. Not you or me.

You cannot get to heaven by what you do, but only by what Jesus has done. It’s not what you know, but Who you know. We must “put our faith in Christ Jesus.” Is Jesus your Lord and Master? Do you know him personally, intimately? Does he know you?

Conclusion

Today Jesus has shown us how to get to heaven and how to be great when we are there. Make him your Savior, your Lord. Then do his word and will and teach others as well. Follow Jesus, and help people follow Jesus. This is the gospel. It is so simple a child can understand it, and so profound we will spend our lives living it.

This is the gospel Billy Graham preached all over the world. It is the only way to heaven there is, and the only way we need.

Are you sure you are going to heaven? If you are, are you sure you will be great when you arrive? Will you receive eternal rewards that far outweigh their cost on earth? Are you living by the word of God and helping others live by the word of God?

When Cecil Sewell retired as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Union City, Tennessee, a town of ten thousand residents, his decision made no headlines in Dallas or across the nation. But he will truly be great in heaven.

In 1973, Rev. Sewell was leading a thriving church in Birmingham, Alabama, when the pastor search committee from a start-up church in Houston came to visit. Their church was so small and unimpressive that they did not show him pictures of its buildings. When they finally persuaded him to visit their church, they drove him around the area, hoping to impress him with the new homes and nearby college before they showed him their tiny campus.

Against all odds, he agreed to resign his large church and become their pastor. Later that year, he started a bus ministry to reach kids in the nearby apartment complexes. In August of 1973, that bus ministry invited me to his church. His wife, Sharon, led me to Christ. He baptized me and my brother, licensed and ordained me to ministry, and performed my father’s funeral and our wedding.

I have never known a man more committed to prayer and evangelism than Cecil Sewell. Every person I reach with God’s word is an extension of his ministry. I will be in heaven because he will be great in heaven.

Who will be in heaven because of you?

It’s Not What You Know, But Who You Know

Written by

It’s Not What You Know, But Who You Know

Matthew 5:19-20

Dr. Jim Denison

This week has been truly historic for the Metroplex, as Billy Graham has returned one last time. How God has blessed us through Dr. Graham’s preaching and through the remarkable crusade events. Dr. Graham came to help us continue to fulfill the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations, beginning in this Jerusalem. God brought him here to help us continue to win the spiritual battle for the souls of millions of lost people living in the Metroplex…and each night, thousands responded to his invitation to faith in Jesus Christ. Another chapter has been written in the miraculous story that is Billy Graham and his ministry.

But Dr. Graham’s own stories always reveal his humility. For instance, he has told about the time during one of his crusades when he went for a walk to mail a letter. He asked a young boy along the way how to find the post office, and the boy told him. Then Dr. Graham said to the boy, “In my sermon tonight I’ll be telling people how to get to heaven. Would you like to come and listen?” The boy thought for a moment and said, “No, mister, I don’t think so—you don’t even know the way to the post office.”

Our country faces grave challenges in these days. Economic hard times; a looming war with Iraq; continued bombings by terrorists with threats of more; the Washington area sniper; mounting problems with AIDS and drug abuse. But the single greatest problem America faces today is that it hasn’t heard Billy Graham’s sermon. It doesn’t know how to get to heaven. It thinks it does, and that’s part of the problem, the tragedy.

This morning I want to be absolutely sure that you know how to spend your eternity with God, and how to be great once you’re there. I will never preach a sermon which is more important than this one.

How to be great in heaven

Jesus’ Sermon continues: “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (19). Here Jesus shows us who will be great in heaven, and who will be least.

The “great” will be those who “practice and teach” the word of God. Both are crucial, and in this order. The “least” will be those who break the “least” of the commandments of God and influence others to do the same. Those who do not live by the word and will of God, and lead others away from his word as well.

Practice and then preach. This is how we conform to the image of Christ, achieving God’s definition of success for our lives. This is how we are like Jesus, and how we help other people follow Jesus.

This is why Billy Graham will be great in heaven—not because he has preached to two billion people, but because he first practiced what he preached.

Dr. Graham will not step onto an elevator alone if a woman is in that elevator alone. An associate always goes into a hotel room before he does. He will not eat a meal alone with a woman except his wife. He has taken not one dollar from the collections given at his Missions, drawing only a salary which is publicly disclosed. His team has always undercounted the crowds at his meetings, lest he be accused of exaggeration.

Years ago, Larry King asked Dr. Graham what his greatest fear in life might be. His answer: “My greatest fear is that I might do something before I die which would bring dishonor to my Lord.”

His life is his most powerful sermon. So is yours. So is mine.

How to miss heaven

So Jesus shows us how to be great in heaven. Now let’s ask an even more urgent question: how do we get there? “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20).

“I tell you”—these words come from Jesus himself.

Your righteousness must “surpass,” an emphatic word which means to go far beyond, to outdistance greatly.

Your “righteousness” must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. What was theirs? What must ours be?

The Pharisees were a small group, never more than 6,000 men. Their name meant “separated ones,” and it describes their passionate commitment to separation from regular life in obedience to the minutia of the Torah, the Law of God.

The Pharisees calculated that the Law contained 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions, and they aspired to keep them all.

Here is an example. To write on the Sabbath was to work, and this was prohibited. But what is “writing?” “He who writes two letters of the alphabet with his right hand or with his left hand, whether of one kind or of two kinds, if they are written with different inks or in different languages, is guilty. Even if he should write two letters from forgetfulness, he is guilty, whether he has written them with ink or with paint, red chalk, vitriol, or anything which makes a permanent mark. Also, he that writes on two walls that form an angle, or on two tablets of his account book so that they can be read together is guilty …But, if anyone writes with dark fluid, with fruit juice, or in the dust of the road, or in sand, or in anything which does not make a permanent mark, he is not guilty” (Barclay 1.129).

No group in human history has been more religious than were the Pharisees. If it were possible to go to heaven through human effort, their reservations in paradise would have been guaranteed.

But they were not: “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Certainly not” is a double negative: “by no means,” “there is no way that” you can enter heaven unless you are more righteous before God than were the Pharisees, the most religiously righteous people on earth.

In other words, you cannot do enough or be religious enough to go to heaven. The ladder doesn’t climb high enough. Religion won’t work, no matter how much of it you do. If it didn’t work for the Pharisees, it won’t work for us.

But we try, and we think we’re successful.

Most Americans are nowhere as religious as were the Pharisees. By some estimates, only 28% of Americans even attend a single worship service in a given week, and less than one in three read the Bible every week.

But only 2% of us are afraid we might to go hell. 78% of Americans believe Mother Teresa is in heaven, but 87% are sure they will go there.

Why? Because we’re “good people.” We believe in God and live good lives. Most of us have a church membership where we attend at Christmas and Easter and occasionally through the year. And our good deeds and religious beliefs are good enough, we’ve decided.

Jesus predicted that it would be so to the very end of history. Speaking of the end of time, he told his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Saying the right religious words and even doing the right religious deeds is not enough to go to heaven. Whether we think it is or not.

How to go to heaven

So, how do we get there? How can our “righteousness” surpass that of the most religiously righteous people who have ever lived?

A week ago, our mission team stopped in London before returning from Russia to Dallas. While there I visited the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels. They are beautiful, but off limits to me. There is literally nothing I can do to earn the right to wear them.

I could renounce my American citizenship, move to England, and become a British citizen. I could serve in the British armed services and rise to their highest rank of office. I could immerse myself in British politics and become elected prime minister. But there is literally nothing I can do to achieve the status of royalty, for I was not born into the royal family. I need a different kind of achievement than is possible for me to realize.

So it is with the righteousness of God required to enter heaven. I cannot achieve it, nor can you, or the Queen of England for that matter. Only God can give this to us. This is the righteousness he gives to those who accept his Son as their Savior. Then we become the children of God—born into the family of God, born again into royalty.

This is the “righteousness” which surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees. This is the only righteousness which brings us to heaven.

Jesus explained it this way to the religious leader Nicodemus: “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). Paul added: “A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Christ Jesus. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the Law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). No one. No Pharisee. No Baptist. Not Billy Graham. Not you or me.

You cannot get to heaven by what you do, but only by what Jesus has done. It’s not what you know, but Who you know. We must “put our faith in Christ Jesus.” Is Jesus your Lord and Master? Do you know him personally, intimately? Does he know you?

Conclusion

Today Jesus has shown us how to get to heaven, and how to be great when we are there. Make him your Savior, your Lord. Then do his word and will, and teach others as well. Follow Jesus, and help people follow Jesus. This is the Gospel. It is so simple a child can understand it, and so profound we will spend our lives living it.

This is the Gospel Billy Graham is preaching in Dallas this weekend. It is the only way to heaven there is, and the only way we need. Now you must choose it for yourself.

In 1776, a Calvinist preacher in England named Augustus M. Toplady reportedly took shelter from a storm under a rocky overhang near a gorge. There, on the back of a playing card, he wrote a poem which captures better than I can this day’s message:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,Let me hide myself in Thee;Let the water and the blood,From Thy wounded side which flowed,Be of sin the double cure;Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my handsCan fulfill Thy law’s demands;Could my zeal no respite know,Could my tears forever flow,All for sin could not atone;Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,Simply to the cross I cling;Naked, come to Thee for dress;Helpless look to Thee for grace;Foul, I to the fountain fly;Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,When mine eyes shall close in death,When I soar to worlds unknown,See Thee on Thy judgment throne,Rock of Ages, cleft for me,Let me hide myself in Thee.

Are you hidden in him today?

Jedi Spirituality

Written by

Jedi Spirituality

Acts 1:3-14

Dr. Jim Denison

You have probably heard the news that America’s ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, will not return to his position. You may have missed the other piece of important U.N. news: A pair of London science fiction enthusiasts are petitioning the world body to recognize the Jedi Knights of Star Wars as a legitimate religion.

According to the 2001 British census, 395,000 followers of Star Wars recorded their faith as “Jedi.” That’s more than the number of Jews or Buddhists in England. The petitioners want to be able to wear their Jedi robes in public as an expression of their religion. And they want the International Day of Tolerance to be changed to the Interstellar Day of Tolerance. They signed their petition, “May the Force be with you.”

I never thought I’d preach a sermon based on Jedi theology, but they’re right. As Obi-wan Kenobi said, there is a “Force” which “surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” When we submit to this Force, our lives are empowered with joy, peace, and purpose. When we refuse this Force, our lives are filled with frustration and defeat.

What is this Force? A better question is, “Who is this Force?” What does he have to do with turning Christmas into Advent, a holiday into a holy day, a hectic season into a transforming experience?

You and I live in a fallen world. Car bombings in Baghdad; nuclear arms development in Iran; E.coli in New Jersey. Many of us are missing a loved one this season. All of us are trying to cope with a world which is changing faster than ever before in human history. How could an all-loving, all-powerful God leave you where you are without the help you need? He hasn’t.

How they prepared for the Spirit

Jesus has been raised from the dead. He spent 40 days with his disciples, teaching about “the kingdom of God” (v. 3). How would they experience this Kingdom? How would they advance it? “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (vs. 4-5).

His disciples wanted to know if he would now bring the Kingdom of God he had predicted (v. 6). His answer: you don’t need to worry about the time when the Kingdom will come (v. 7). You’re not on the planning committee, but the preparation committee: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8). “You” is plural, pointing to each of them. When they were empowered by the Spirit, they would then extend the Kingdom around the world. They would then serve God as their King and lead millions to do the same. All in the power of the Spirit of God.

After his Ascension, his disciples took him at his word. They returned to Jerusalem where “they all joined together constantly in prayer” (v. 14). A week or so passed, then the Jewish holiday of Pentecost arrived. It was mid-June. The believers were still “all together in one place” (Acts 2:1).

Then God kept his word. All the believers were “filled” with the Spirit and began to share the gospel in languages they had not learned. Fifteen different nationalities from all over the world had come to Jerusalem for the holiday. Each heard the gospel in his or her own language.

Then Peter preached in power. The same fisherman who had denied Christ before a servant girl now proclaimed Christ to the very authorities who had crucified his Lord. As a result of the Spirit’s work, the people “were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?'” (Acts 2:37). Peter explained the way of salvation, and “those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (v. 41).

And the mightiest spiritual movement in human history was born. All because some very normal people like you and me prayed until they were empowered. They were obedient until they were “filled.” And Advent continued. The Kingdom came. And you and I are the result, 20 centuries later.

How we prepare for the Spirit

Where do you need what they experienced? Where are you up against something bigger than you are? A cliff you can’t climb? A problem you can’t solve? A future you can’t see?

This week’s Time magazine carries a cover story about the psychology of risk. In 2003, the last year for which data are available, 22 people died in commercial-airline accidents. But 44,757 died in motor-vehicle accidents. 594 people died by falling out of bed; 332 drowned in their bathtubs; 1,588 died falling down stairs. It’s not safe to get up, or take a bath, or drive your car or even go down the stairs.

What risk worries you most today? What fear would you most like to defeat this morning?

The Jedi Knights are right: you and I need the “Force.” Not the fictional force of movie fame, of course, but the same Force which raised Jesus from the dead and birthed the Church. How do we experience this Force? By doing what the first Christians did. Ephesians 5:18 is not a suggestion but a command, an order from the Lord of the universe: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

Do not be “under the influence” of wine, but “under the influence” of the Spirit. To be “filled” means to be submitted to, directed, controlled. How?

First, ask the Spirit to show you anything which is preventing his control of your life. Any area where you are not yielded to God, where Jesus is not your King, where you are in charge. Confess whatever comes to your mind. Claim his promise to forgive you, to cleanse the slate, to renew your connection with God (1 John 1:9).

Now turn your life over to the Spirit. Ask him to take control of your thoughts, emotions, and will. Put him in charge of your money, your time, your relationships, your plans. Let the chips fall.

Decide that you will go where he sends you and do what he says. Give him the wheel and let him drive. Do this every day. The command could be translated literally, “Be being filled with the Spirit.” Every time you and your spouse or friend get in the car, you have to decide who drives. You can’t decide today for tomorrow. Every time you get ready to go, open the door to the driver’s side and invite the Spirit to drive. Go around and sit on the passenger’s side. When you realize that you’ve taken the wheel, give it back. Stay surrendered to the Spirit of God. Do this every day, all day.

And what will happen? You will have God’s guidance and wisdom for the uncertain future you face: “when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13). What about the future most worries you today? Surrender it to the Spirit and you will have his direction and peace.

You will have God’s comfort and encouragement for any hurt or sorrow in your soul. Jesus promised, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). What about the past most troubles you today? Surrender it to the Spirit and you will have his help and hope.

You will experience the courage and boldness to stand for Jesus. Jesus guaranteed it: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8), not you “might.” If you’re like me, it’s hard to talk to strangers about Jesus, and even harder to talk to neighbors and friends. We’re afraid we’ll make a mistake or make things worse or get rejected. But when we are controlled by the Spirit, he says the words through us and gives us the boldness we need. Imagine all the people in heaven who will thank you for helping them follow Jesus because you were filled with the Spirit.

Conclusion

At the first Advent, the Son of God entered the human race. When Advent comes today, the Spirit of God does the same thing. When we “ask Jesus into our hearts,” it’s actually the Holy Spirit who enters us and makes us God’s children. Our lives become his temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). Christmas will become Advent for you when you are submitted to God as your King and his Spirit controls your life.

If you are one of those believers who makes Jesus your King by surrendering to the Spirit every morning and through every day, be encouraged today. You are continuing Advent, the coming of Jesus. You are the instrument of God for building his Kingdom around the world. Your life is significant beyond your ability to measure. Now and for all eternity you can hear Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

If you’re not in the number of Spirit-controlled servants of God, why not? It could be that you’ve not known the necessity of being yielded to the Spirit every day. Now you know.

It may be that there’s an ambition or dream you don’t want to surrender, a plan you don’t want to change, a sin you don’t want to stop.

It may be that you are dominated by pride, by a need to be in control of your life and get the credit for what you do.

Today is the day to repent of all of that and be surrendered to the power and hope and joy of the Spirit of God.

Earlier this week I spoke at a missions seminar in Tyler, where I learned some remarkable facts about the work of the Spirit around the world:

In Southeast Asia, a missionary began work in 1993 with three churches and 85 believers among seven million lost people. Four years later there were more than 550 churches and nearly 55,000 new Christians.

An Arab Muslim cleric in North Africa recently complained that more than 10,000 Muslims living in the surrounding mountains had left Islam to become Christians.

20,000 a day are coming to Christ in Communist China.

A church in central Asia grew from 200 to 15,000 in one year.

Missiologists are speaking of the Fifth Great Awakening around the world. The Spirit is on the move. Advent is continuing. Now you and I are invited to join the work of God.

Why not today?

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christianity

Written by

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christianity

Dr. Jim Denison

“A cult…is a group of people polarized around someone’s interpretation of the Bible and is characterized by major deviations from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, particularly the fact that God became man in Christ Jesus” (Walter Martin, The Rise of the Cults).

Basic traits:

Authority figure

Extrabiblical text

Unorthodox theology, somewhat related to Christianity

General characteristics:

Presents a Jesus different from that of orthodox faith

Claims new truth

Offers new, non-orthodox interpretations of Scripture

Cites non-biblical authority source(s)

Rejects major tenets of orthodox Christianity

Generally develops a changing, often contradictory theology

Strong leadership, usually centered in a single person or group of persons

Almost always offers a salvation by works

Generally makes unsubstantiated prophetic claims

Introduction to Jehovah’s Witnesses

Charles Taze Russell is founder of the movement. He was born February 16, 1852 near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1870, while a teenager and without formal theological training, Russell organized a Bible class; its members eventually made him their “pastor”

In 1879, he founded the magazine Zion’s Watchtower; in 1886 he wrote the first volume of seven books, later retitled Studies in the Scriptures. By his death in 1916, “Pastor” Russell had, according to the Watchtower, traveled more than a million miles, given more than thirty thousand sermons, and written books totaling over fifty thousand pages.

Joseph F. Rutherford became the second President of the Watchtower Society after Russell’s death. He had been the society’s legal counselor beforehand. Under his leadership the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” was adopted

He moved the society’s headquarters to Brooklyn. Nathan Knorr succeeded Rutherford following his death in 1942. Under his presidency the society increased from 115,000 to over two million members.

In 1961, the society produced its own English Bible translation, The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.

Frederick W. Franz succeeded Knorr after his death in 1977. He is spokesman for the translation committee of the New World Translation, although he has no recognized qualifications as a translator of either Hebrew or Greek.

Status and claims:

Jehovah’s Witnessesnumber over two million today. The group claims to be the only correct church. Regarding the Christian church: “Jehovah’s Witnesses are no part of Christendom. In fact, Christendom was founded nearly 300 years after Jesus’ death, and its beliefs have greatly deviated from what Jesus taught” (Jehovah’s Witnesses 3).

The Watchtower believes itself to be the only organization speaking correctly for God today; considers the Scripture Studies to be “practically the Bible itself” (Charles Taze Russell, The Watchtower [September 15, 1910], 298; quoted in McDowell, 57).

Authority sources:

The society contends that the Scriptures are the society’s final authority, but follow only their New World edition

Their doctrinal views are to be found in their various publications, including The Watchtower and Awake; these are considered authoritative.

Basic beliefs

Ultimate reality: uni-personal God

Rejects the Trinity as the invention of Christendom centuries after the life and death of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is a created being.

Their statement: “we do not accept Christendom’s belief in the Trinity, which teaches that Jesus is God himself. Nowhere do the Scriptures contain this blasphemous teaching” (Jehovah’s Witnesses 3).

Follows the ancient heresy known as Arianism, which teaches that Jesus was of a different substance than the Father, and was created by him.

Jesus was Michael the Archangel in his preexistent state, with a brother named Lucifer who rebelled against God while Michael remained obedient; at his physical birth the Son of God was transferred to the embryo of a human; after his resurrection he went back to his former state as an invisible spirit.

His death provided a legal means of rescuing us from the consequences of Adam’s sin and bringing faithful people into the promised earthly paradise (ibid).

The Holy Spirit is not part of the Godhead; he is the “invisible active force of Almighty God” (Let God Be True 108; quoted in McDowell, 73). “Holy Spirit” is never capitalized in the New World Translation.

Mankind

Created by God, as a combination of the dust of the earth and the breath of life

Does not receive an eternal, immortal soul; when he dies he is “dead as a dog” (Russell, Scripture Studies v:406; quoted in Gerstner, 18).

Through the redemption of Christ man is kept from eternal death and is preserved in an unconscious state until the resurrection when he will be reawakened and will remember himself (Gerstner 18). Their statement: “the Bible does not teach the concept of an immortal soul…Rather, future life for the dead is based on God’s remembrance of them in a resurrection” (Jehovah’s Witnesses 6).

Central focus: the Kingdom of Jehovah

They believe that this kingdom is a real government, and that the rule of this government will restore true peace to the earth (ibid 4).

The society is the “witness” of Jehovah, preparing for the coming of this Kingdom in our generation (ibid 5).

Salvation

Not based on grace but works

“They, each for himself, may have a full chance to prove, by obedience or disobedience, their worthiness of life eternal” (Russell, Studies in the Scriptures I:158; quoted in McDowell, 73).

“All who by reason of faith in Jehovah God and in Christ Jesus dedicate themselves to do God’s will and then faithfully carry out their dedication will be rewarded with everlasting life” (Let God Be God 298; quoted in McDowell, 73).

Thus requires witnessing and other missionary endeavors.

Future

Unbelievers will be annihilated

The “Little Flock” is the 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses who live in heaven after their death

All other Jehovah’s Witnesses barred from heaven and live instead on Paradise Earth.

Apologetics and Jehovah’s Witnesses

Show the biblical contradictions with their theology

The divinity of Jesus (John 1:1-2; Romans 9:5; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1:3)

Salvation by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The doctrine of hell (Matthew 25:46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

Respond to their claim that the Second Coming occurred in 1914

Before 1914, the society claimed that God’s Kingdom would be established on earth in that year (Watchtower Reprints, March 1880, I:82).

When this did not occur, they shifted their emphasis to God’s Kingdom in heaven, and claimed that Christ returned invisibly in 1914.

See the biblical predictions of Jesus’ visible return (Acts 1:11; Matthew 24:26,27; Revelations 1:7)

Demonstrate the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit by your lifestyle and love.

______________________

Excellent resources include John H. Gerstner, The Teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1960); Jehovah’s Witnesses: What Do They Believe? (Pennsylvania: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1992); and Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Understanding the Cults (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, 1982), 55-82.

Jericho

Written by

Jericho

Joshua 5: 13-6:27

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: No obstacle is insurmountable with the power of God.

Goal: Seek God’s highest purpose for your life, trusting him to supply all that is needed to make that vision a reality.

Viktor Frankl, the Austrian psychologist who survived the death camps of the Holocaust, made a discovery which transcended the horrors he experienced. He studied those who survived the ordeal, and those who did not. After examining several factors, including health, vitality, family structure, intelligence, and survival skills, Dr. Frankl concluded that none of these were primarily responsible. The single most important factor in survival was a sense of future vision—an impelling conviction that they had a mission to perform, an important work left to do. Survivors of POW camps in Vietnam and elsewhere have reported the same fact: a compelling vision of the future is the primary force in survival and success.

Every human being needs a vision—a motivating, captivating, empowering purpose for life. Standing before the House of Commons in June of 1941, Winston Churchill said: “I have only one purpose, the destruction of Hitler, and my life is much simplified thereby.” Will Rogers advised, “If you want to be successful, know what you are doing, love what you are doing, and believe in what you are doing.” John Stuart Mill believed that “One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests.” Elton Trueblood was convinced that every successful person needs a philosophy, a program, and a passion. Paul could say, “This one thing I do” (Philippians 3:13).

What is your “one thing”? As the proverb has it, if you chase two hares, both will escape you. What is God’s highest purpose for your life?

Forgetting all limitations, costs, and problems, if you owned the proverbial “magic wand” and could make of your life its highest contribution to the Kingdom of God, what would you attempt to do? Frank Gaines was right: only the one who sees the invisible can do the impossible.

This week’s study will teach us to look for God’s invisible, highest, best purpose for our lives. Then it will challenge us to dedicate ourselves to this one purpose, trusting our Lord to supply our need and make effective our work. We each face a Jericho. We can each be a Joshua. Let’s learn how.

Join God at work (5:13-15)

Joshua was “near Jericho” (v. 13), perhaps to scout the city one last time. Here “he looked up”—the Hebrew tense conveys the element of surprise. He had not expected to find a warrior outside the city. But here was “a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand,” clearly ready for battle. We sense Joshua’s courage, as he was willing to face the man as a foe or join him as a friend.

Little did he know the identity of this “man.” A “theophany” is an appearance of God. As with Abraham (Genesis 18:1-33), Moses (Exodus 3:1-12) and Gideon (Judges 6:11-24), a man stood before the divine. Some believe this figure to be an angel; others see him as the preincarnate Christ. The “man” calls himself “commander of the army of the Lord,” probably a reference to an archangel such as Michael (cf. Daniel. 10:13, 20-21, 12:1; NavPress 68).

All this time of preparation, Joshua had assumed the battle was about him and his people. Bernard Bailey was right: “When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to learn they are not it.” It turns out this “commander” was not on Joshua’s side but the Lord’s. God has his own purpose, which we must join. When a lady told President Lincoln she was praying for God to be on their side, the president replied wisely, “Pray rather that we would be on his.” You and I are not the commanders of the spiritual army which is our church. The Lord alone is Lord.

How do we join him at work? First, we fall before him in reverence, on our face and with bare feet on holy ground (vs. 14-15). Next, we listen for his word: “What message does the Lord have….” Last, we surrender to his cause: “…for his servant?” Paul called himself the “servant” or “slave” of the Lord (cf. Philippians 1:1). We choose to obey his call so we can hear it, for his plan is always bigger than ours

The Japanese Carp or Koi is a favorite fish of collectors. These fish will grow proportionately to the size of their surroundings. In a fish bowl they grow to a length of only two or three inches. In a pond they can grow to three or four feet. The size of their vision determines their growth and significance.

So it is with God’s people. Surrender to God’s plan for your life, before you know it. Do not limit him to your vision. Rather, yield to his dream for your ministry. It will be greater than your greatest plans. And worth whatever it costs you.

Believe God first (6:1-2)

Now Joshua and his armies were ready to fight their first battle in their promised land. And against one of their most formidable foes: “Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in” (v. 1). “Tightly shut up” means that the city was enclosed and fortified, the way we would board up the windows for an approaching hurricane.

Such fortifications were daunting in the extreme. Jericho was one of the most secure cities in the ancient world, built typically with double walls. In Joshua’s day, the walls were so thick that Rahab could live in an apartment built within them (2:15). These high walls had discouraged the first spies sent into the land, 40 years before (Numb 13:28). Now the city was filled with “fighting men” (v. 2), indicating grammatically that all were great warriors.

The strength of Jericho conveyed spiritual significance as well. The city’s name most likely meant “moon city,” as the community was the center of Canaanite moon worship. This battle would pit Israel’s God against the Canaanite pagan moon deity. Just as the crossing of the Jordan had “defeated” Baal, so this conflict would defeat a second god sacred to the Canaanites, further proving that Israel’s God was the one true Lord.

Despite all odds, “the Lord said to Joshua, ‘I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men'” (v. 2). The battle was already over, though the fighting was yet to commence. Based on such assurance, Joshua would soon make the same claim to the people before their victory was apparent: “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” (v. 16). David echoed such confidence centuries later: “Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies” (Psalm 108:12-13). God’s statement to Joshua is in the past perfect tense, a completed action. For the One who transcends time, the victory was already certain.

Such assurance served to call the people to faith. They must believe in God’s power before they could see it. Just as the priests had to step into the Jordan before its flood waters could be stopped, so these people must advance on Jericho as though the battle is already theirs. Such faith does not merit God’s power, but receives it. There is much God cannot do in our lives until we wish it to be so. He respects our free will always.

To fight your “Jericho,” believe first that God has already granted you the victory. And advance on your vision in confidence. John Henry Newman’s admonition is worth repeating:

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end,

but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.

Fear not that you may try and fail,

but rather that you may fail to try.

For only then can the purposes of God be defeated. Believe God for his power and victory, and they will be yours.

Do the next thing (vs. 2-14)

Now the army is ready to fight. But their “commander” will lead them into the most unusual strategy in military history.

Ancient armed forces assaulted a walled city in one of five ways: (1) climbing the walls with ladders or ramps; (2) digging a tunnel under a wall; (3) smashing a hole in the wall with battering rams or weapons; (4) laying siege to starve the city into submission; or (5) tricking the inhabitants, as with the wooden horse at Troy and the ambush later at Ai (Joshua 8:1-23). Joshua and his army attempted none of these strategies.

Instead, their “next thing” was marching around the city once a day for six days. The city itself covered only five or six acres of land. Even though the Jewish armies stayed far enough from the walls of Jericho to be safe from bow and arrow attack, their first ranks would still have ended the march before the rear ranks began it. This tactic thus encircled the city completely, bringing further terror to the enemy within the city walls.

But it brought them no closer to apparent victory. Their armies encamped at night lay exposed to enemies from other Canaanite cities, and from warriors within Jericho as well. And their strategy made no progress toward military conquest, or so it seemed. Why such a strange war plan? So the people could learn again that their victory would come not from human force but divine help. The later word of the prophet could headline the entire episode: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6).

As with the manna and the grain, the Jordan crossing, and even back to the first Passover and the parting of the Red Sea, the children of Israel were reminded again and again that their Lord would win their battles. He does not share his glory. They would learn to do the next thing, to be obedient to the next word from God, while waiting for him to bring them victory.

In spiritual conflict, we must always stay faithful to the last word we heard from God. His will is not a five-year plan, but a flashlight in the dark. It does not show the road in its entirety, but just the next step we must take. And then the next. Great visions from God are fulfilled through daily obedience. Annie Dillard was right: how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. Do the next thing God reveals to you. Be sure each step proceeds in the right direction. And in God’s timing, his plan will always succeed.

Stay obedient to God (vs. 15-27)

At last their victory was at hand, one of the most famous in all of literature. You know the story: on the seventh day, the armies were told to march around the city seven times, with seven trumpet blasts. Then the fortified, impregnable walls of ancient Jericho collapsed—completely, not just a breach here and there, but in total (v. 20). The obedience of the people led to one of the greatest victories in Jewish history.

But their obedience was not yet complete. Now they were required to exercise self-restraint and total faithfulness to God’s call to herem, the complete dedication of people and things to God, usually through total destruction. This ban was originated in the Levitical code (Lev 27:28-29), and later applied to the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20:16-18). It meant that everything and everyone in this land belonged to the God of Israel, and must be returned to him as a sacred offering. And it served to judge the sin and wicked idolatry of these pagan peoples (see discussion in the first lesson of our series).

The people were tempted to keep some of the material possession, as we will see next week. But all save one was obedient to God’s call to faithfulness.

A third obedience was exercised next with Rahab, the prostitute who had sheltered the spies earlier. She had been promised shelter and protection for her assistance (2:14), a commitment which must now be kept. And so she lived “to this day” with the Jewish people, and served as an example of repentant faith (cf. Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25).

After the inhabitants were destroyed and their possessions placed in the treasury of God’s house, with Rahab and her family safely secured, one final obedience was required of Joshua and his people: cursing this ancient city. If rebuilt, it would serve again as a pagan shrine and obstacle to the Lord’s rule in the land. It would tempt later generations to self-sufficient rebellion, as indeed it did, with Joshua’s curse fulfilled during the time of King Ahab (cf. 1 Kings 16:34). Such disobedience would cost a father his sons, and a nation her leaders.

The God of the universe will always win the victory he intends for his people, but we must stay obedient to him. If Israel had attempted a convention strategy against Jericho, their foray into the Promised Land would likely have ended there. The story of God’s redemptive history through his chosen people would have been drastically different. Their obedience made possible the Lord’s glory and that of his servant Joshua (v. 27). Such faithfulness to God is the ultimate key to fulfilling his vision for our lives as well.

Conclusion

Henry David Thoreau’s sentiment transcends the romanticism with which it was expressed: “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

What is your great life goal and purpose? Are you seeking to fulfill a vision which transcends your ability and resources? Good. You are joining God at work. Now believe him so you can see his mighty hand; do the next thing his will presents to you; and stay obedient to his will and word. The result will be worth all it costs you.

It is reported that a bishop from the East Coast many years ago visited a small, Midwestern religious college. He stayed at the home of the college president, who also taught physics and chemistry. After dinner, the bishop declared that the millennium could not be far away, since everything about nature had been discovered and all inventions completed.

The young college president politely disagreed and stated that there would be many more discoveries. When the bishop challenged him to name one such invention, he stated his assurance that within 50 years, men would be able to fly. “Nonsense,” sputtered the bishop. “Only angels are intended to fly.”

The bishop’s name was Wright. He had two boys at home who would prove to possess greater vision than their father. Their names: Orville and Wilbur.

Seek God’s dream for your life. Pray with Michelangelo, “Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.” Then trust your Creator and Lord to bring his purpose to pass in your life and ministry. Stay obedient to his call. And Jericho is yours.