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Live Your Blest Life

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Live Your Blest Life

Genesis 1:26-31

Dr. Jim Denison

Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he’ll believe you. Tell him a park bench has just been painted and he’ll have to touch it to be sure.

We’re following the maxim: don’t ask God to bless what you are doing–ask him to help you do what he is blessing. What is he blessing? How do we live the life he blesses?

It all begins with trust–that he is running the universe, and that his purpose is the best plan for your life. That the complete surrender of your life to his Spirit is in your best interest. That his word and will are best for you, every time.

We all agree that it’s so, as we sit in church. The next time you’re tempted today, your conviction will be put to the test. The next time you’re given an opportunity to do the right thing at a cost, your commitment will be on the line.

It’s my job today to get you ready for that next time, to teach you what God says about living your blest life.

How did we get here?

For 35 centuries, the Judeo-Christian tradition taught us that we are created by God, and that his creation is “good.” That our purpose and identity are found in the fact that we are God’s creation, that we are each given lives of purpose and eternal significance.

However, recent generations have done battle with that foundational belief, and emerged victorious in our culture.

Isaac Newton determined that the universe operates as a machine, according to fixed laws.

The “deists,” Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin among them, believed that while God created this mechanical universe, he has nothing to do with it now.

Then Charles Darwin taught us that God did not create our lives at all, that we are here as the product of random, chance evolution.

Along the way, philosophers taught us that we cannot know this world, however it came to exist, but only our personal, subjective experience with it. Your sexual ethics are just your truth, and you have no right to force them on me or anyone else. I may disagree with homosexuality or sex before marriage, but who am I to tell someone else how to live? Tolerance is the great value of the day.

Postmodernism is the result, the worldview which dominates our culture today. All truth is subjective and personal. There is no “reality,” only yours and mine. Our lives have no real destiny–this is all there is. You can believe what you want about the origins of life and its purpose and destiny, so long as you tolerate my beliefs.

And the debate rages on.

Harvard University announced this week that it is establishing the “Origins of Life in the Universe Initiative.” Researchers hope recent scientific advances such as NASA’s rovers on Mars will help them learn more about life’s origins. The research team will receive $1 million annually from Harvard. Said one of them to The New York Times: “My expectation is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention.”

Time magazine calls the debate “Evolution Wars.” Here’s one reason why. The magazine quotes Steven Pinker, psychology professor at Harvard: “Many people who accept evolution still feel that a belief in God is necessary to give life meaning and to justify morality. But that is exactly backward. In practice, religion has given us stonings, inquisitions and 9/11. Morality comes from a commitment to treat others as we would wish to be treated, which follows from the realization that none of us is the sole occupant of the universe. Like physical evolution, it does not require a white-coated technician in the sky.”

Are you here by chaos, chance, coincidence? A cell floating in a pool of water which mutated to its present status? If your past has no purpose, your future has no plan. And Martin Heidegger is right: you’re an actor on a stage, with no script, audience, or director; courage is to face life as it is. Jean Paul Sartre was right to title his most famous play No Exit, and his autobiography, Nausea. His story is ours. Or is it?

God’s answer to the question

Here’s how God’s word begins: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Everything starts with him. You say life began as a cell floating in a pool of water. Genesis asks where the water came from. You say life began as a cataclysmic, natural Big Bang. Genesis asks where the big bang came from. It all started somewhere. Genesis says it started with God.

And you and I started with him as well. God made us as part of his universe, and in fact, as its crowning work: “Let us make man,” God said. When he made the other days, he called them “good.” But when he made us, he called his work “very good” (v. 31).

We must agree with him, or nothing else I’ll say today will matter. If you think you’re nothing more than random, chaotic chance, with no intrinsic value or design, you’ll not be interested in a conversation about purpose and destiny. So let’s examine what Genesis says God made.

Think about the organ with which you think. Your brain contains about 10 billion nerve cells, called “neurons.” Each neuron is connected to surrounding cells by a network of fibers called axions and dendrites, and has as many as ten thousand fibers leading from it into other cells. As a result, the number of possible interconnections between the cells of your brain is many times larger than the number of atoms in the entire universe.

Your brain can consider 10,000 separate factors at one time. In fact, a normal human brain has enough capacity to know everything that is known in the entire world, if there were enough time to learn it all.

In a book titled The Computer Age, a scientist tried to determine the monetary value of one brain. He noted that our brains contain 10 million urion cells. He calculated that if we could buy one of these cells at five cents apiece, and the connections at one cent each, it would cost one quintillion dollars to build a human brain computer. That is a billion, billion dollars. And that is more money than all the governments of the world now possess. That’s how much your brain is worth.

Consider the ears with which you are hearing these words. The average piano has 88 keys; each of your ears has a “keyboard” so advanced that it is capable of catching 73,700 vibrations a second. Your heart is no larger than your fist, but it will beat 40 million times this year. 60,000 miles of arteries run through your body. More than 9,000 taste buds are resident on your tongue. More than 220 bones make up your frame; some 600 muscles cover those bones. You are special.

In fact, you are made in God’s “image” or “likeness” (v. 26). An “image” is a representation of something, as with a “mirror image.” God says this is true of us–not of anything else in creation, just you and me. What is unique about us?

We have three characteristics which distinguish us. Like God, we have a will, what the Bible calls the “heart.” We are spiritual beings, characterized as “soul.” And we have intellect, a mind. Jesus said we are to love God with all three: heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). That’s our first purpose in life.

And Genesis says we have a second purpose in life: we are to “rule” the world he has made. Nothing else in creation is given this charge. The Hebrew word doesn’t mean to exploit, but to nurture, develop, take care of. We are to manage God’s creation. And we are especially to care for his highest creation, each other. As Jesus said, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).

My purpose is to love and serve God, and to love and serve you. That’s why I’m here. It’s why you’re here as well.

What do we do now?

We do what God blesses when we live according to these two purposes, these Great Commandments. No good parent can reward a child’s destructive behavior. We must live by God’s plan to have his prosperity and blessing. It all starts with agreeing that we are here on a purpose for a purpose, that we exist to love him and each other. Then the Great Commandments fulfill the Great Commission. And we live a blest life.

So how do we do this? How do we love God and each other so fully that God can bless our obedience and daily lives? Here’s the key, one I missed for much of my Christian life. I thought I was supposed to do my best to serve and please God, to live by the maxim, “What would Jesus do?” To try my hardest to obey God’s word and will every minute of every day. The trouble is, I can’t. I fail too often. I fall down too much. And I cannot convict a single person of a single sin, or save a single soul.

If we end our conversation now, we leave the Sanctuary to go to inevitable frustration and failure.

Here’s the statement which first changed all that for me. Oswald Chambers, in My Utmost For His Highest (August 9 reading): “I have to see that the Son of God is manifested in my mortal flesh. ‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,’ i.e., the Bethlehem of the Son of God. Is the Son of God getting his chance in me? Is the direct simplicity of the life of God’s Son being worked out exactly as it was worked out in his historic life?”

I am his Bethlehem. He wants to live through my body as fully as he lived through his. He does not want me to try to love him and you as best I can–he wants to do that through me. I know this sounds a bit esoteric and abstract, but it’s the essence of the blessed life.

Paul said it best: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

This is the “exchanged life” by which I submit myself to the Holy Spirit each morning and all through the day, asking Jesus to take control of my life and live through me. Then as I stay in touch with him through prayer and Scripture, obedient to the thoughts he puts in my mind and words in my mouth, he lives through me. And he blesses me. And others through me.

Conclusion

Here’s proof that it’s so. Last Sunday afternoon I was sitting outside the Pediatric ICU room where David and Dana Dodgen were holding baby Abby on their laps, waiting for her body to expire.

The cardiologist and three nurses were waiting outside the room with me. One of them said, “How can they be so strong?” Two of them were mothers of small children themselves, and they could not fathom how David and Dana had been through the most terrible day of their lives with such strength and courage.

So I got to explain the Christian faith to these four health care professionals. I told them that Jesus is real, and that he is real in the Dodgens, that his strength is theirs because they are trusting in him. One of them told me she was without a church in Dallas, so she has my card now. And all of them heard about Jesus, because he used David and Dana for eternal purposes.

When I told them that story on Monday, their eyes teared up as they told me they had prayed to be used. And God granted their prayer, last Sunday and again this morning.

Decide that your life has a purpose: to love God and us. Ask Jesus to live that purpose through your life every day. And you will live your blest life. This is the promise and the invitation of God.

Living Above Your Means

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Living Above Your Means

Galatians 5:22

Dr. Jim Denison

A businessman left the snowy streets of Chicago for a long-needed vacation in Florida. His wife was unable to leave with him, but would join him the next day. When he arrived at their hotel he sent her a quick e-mail. However, he mistyped her address, so that his e-mail was sent instead to a grieving pastor’s wife whose husband had died just the day before.

She read his e-mail, let out a cry and fainted. Her family rushed in and found this message on her screen: “My dearest wife: have just checked in. Everything ready for your arrival tomorrow. P.S. Sure is hot down here.”

Everybody runs into surprises and worse in their relationships and family. That’s why this series on relationships is relevant for us all.

Today I want to speak to those whose relationships lack joy and peace, who are caught up in tough circumstances and are really struggling today.

And I want to talk to those whose circumstances are really positive, so that your joy and peace come from them. But if your circumstances changed, you’d be where the first group is. Both are perilous places to be.

Let’s see how to live above our means—how to find joy and peace no matter what happens around us. Who would not want these for their relationships today?

The temptation of our means

First, let’s admit how tempting it is to base our relationships and our well-being on our circumstances. The fact is, you and I are living in a time of prosperity unparalleled in human history.

According to the Census Bureau, average income, adjusted for inflation, has grown 58% since 1947, and real per capita income has grown nearly 77% in the last thirty years.

Household net worth increased another 10% in 1998; and retail sales in the first quarter grew at an annual rate of 16% this year. These are prosperous days. And technology makes it easier to own even more.

How Bill Gates says I’ll buy a suit in the near future: I’ll turn on my television, find the channel selling the suit I want, select the style, fabric, and color. Then I’ll stand in front of the television and a device will scan my body, digitize my measurements, and e-mail them to the factory. My suit will be made that night, shipped to my house the next day, and my bank account will automatically be debited.

The web site for Land’s End currently lets women select clothing and electronically model it on a three-dimensional mannequin similar to the buyer’s own body.

The Home Shopping Network receives 160,000 calls every day, with an annual sales of $1 billion.

What group would you least expect to have a web site—perhaps the Amish? Well, Amish Acres in Indiana has its own web site. Their #1 seller is shoofly pie, with orders from California to Italy.

Technology has made us more prosperous than any generation in human history. Yet, with all this material success, our families and relationships do not appear to be prospering along with our bank accounts.

The number of divorces has more than quadrupled since 1970.

For every two babies born, another baby is aborted. The number of abortions each year has nearly doubled since 1973.

Eighty percent of teenagers say they have had sex by the age of 19. Over 50% of high school seniors say they have used alcohol in the last 30 days; over 25% say they have used drugs. The number of unmarried people living together has risen 800% in the last ten years.

Clearly, our relationships need help. We must learn to live above our means—to find a way to relate to each other which transcends our circumstances, no matter what they are. God wants to help us.

Are you living above your means?

Let’s begin with a self-test. See how circumstantial your life, your family, your relationships are today.

How do you relate to things?

_____ Do I struggle to stay within my income?

_____ Would I consider a job change solely for more money?

_____ Am I a compulsive buyer?

_____ Do I try to impress people with my possessions or appearance?

_____ Do I often buy more than I can afford?

_____ Do I spend a considerable amount of my time thinking about my current and future possessions?

How do you relate to people?

_____ Can I allow an unfavorable comment about myself to stand, or do I need to straighten out the matter?

_____ Does my self-esteem depend upon my popularity?

_____ In recounting events, do I shift the story to make myself appear in a more favorable light?

_____ Do I often make excuses for my behavior?

_____ Do I measure my success at work primarily by the opinions of others?

_____ Can I accept compliments freely or do I need to shrug them off in self-conscious modesty?

How do you relate to yourself?

_____ Do I find my self-identity primarily in my work?

_____ Is my emotional happiness primarily dependent upon my circumstances?

_____ When I fail at something, do I consider myself a failure?

_____ Do I seldom feel a sense of completion and accomplishment?

_____ If my life were over today, would I feel that I have not accomplished my purpose so far on earth?

Do you rate rather high on the circumstance index? Then your relationships need the joy and peace which transcends them. Let’s find ways to experience life-transcending joy and serenity today.

You can live above your means

What is “joy”? First, let’s look at what it’s not:

A feeling. Nowhere does the Bible describe what it feels like to have God’s joy.

A circumstance. Joy is not “happiness,” which depends on “happenings.” You can have joy even in hard times.

A temporary experience. Joy transcends the moment, the feelings, the circumstances of this day. You can have joy no matter what the past has been or the future holds.

When J. S. Bach returned from a year-long concert tour to discover that his wife and child had died, he wrote in his diary, “Dear Lord, take not my joy from me.” Imagine that—even thinking of joy at such a time. But Bach was right—the joy of the Lord is ours whatever our circumstances hold.

What joy is: “a deep state of well being which transcends circumstances.” Romans 14:17: “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Paul said he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (II Cor. 6:10).

What peace is not:

The absence of conflict. This is at best a temporary state. In all of recorded history, there have been only four years in which no battle was being fought somewhere on earth.

The result of human effort. We cannot create it, though we try. So far we have devised 35 million laws to enforce the Ten Commandments, and every year we write thousands more. Yet wars rage on; depression and suicide mount yearly; tranquilizers are our country’s most-prescribed drugs.

What peace is: “a deep sense of tranquility which transcends circumstances.” Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

Biblical joy and peace transcend circumstances. So, no matter what’s happening in your life and your relationships, you can have them today.

How to live above your means—three facts:

They are the gift of God.

Jesus: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). Joy is the “fruit” or result of his Spirit in our lives.

Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Peace is the “fruit” or result of God’s Spirit in our lives as well.

So, we must settle our vertical relationship with God. As Billy Graham says, there must be peace with God before there can be the peace of God. The same is true of joy. We will only find true, lasting joy and peace in Jesus Christ.

So, are you right with him? Are you walking with him today? Close to him? Close enough to receive from his hand the joy and peace he wants you to have?

My confession is this: I have found joy and peace in my heart and soul only when I have been close to Jesus personally. Those days and weeks when my spiritual life has been a job, a chore, not a personal, living relationship, have never resulted in joy and peace in my life. Rather, they have led to frustration, stress, and a shallow soul. No circumstantial success has ever given me joy or peace in my soul. Nor will it for you.

Do you have vertical business to do with God? If you want joy and peace in your life today, you must settle your relationship with God. And then we must settle our horizontal relationships in God. We must seek and obey his will in our relationships before God can bless them with his joy and peace.

Is Jesus happy with the way you are relating to your spouse right now? Your children? Your parents? Your friends or colleagues? Would you say that joy and peace characterize your relationships?

If not, you must settle your relationships in God. Joy and peace are the result of his Spirit’s work, never a goal we can achieve without him. Do you have horizontal business with the Father this morning?

Perhaps you know something you need to do to make your relationships better in God’s eyes. According to Jesus, if your brother has something against you, you must make it right before you can bring your gift to the Father (Matthew 5:23-24). You must do what you know to do.

Perhaps you don’t know what to do to fix that which is broken. Let us help. Homeworks is all about tools to strengthen your relationships. Our family life ministry wants to help—call the church, or my office, and we’ll connect you with people and resources you need.

Don’t settle for less than joy and peace in your relationship with God, and with others. These are God’s gifts to us—don’t return them unopened.

Conclusion

Once a famous artists’ association announced a contest. All pictures entered in the competition were to depict “peace.” Paintings of all sorts were submitted: serene pastoral scenes, placid lakes, an intimate cottage scene, cheerful and snug before a cozy fireplace; unmarked fields of freshly fallen snow, a tranquil and windless dawn.

But the painting which won was very different from all of these. It depicted the famous and fearsome Niagara Falls. Tons of water rushed over sharp rocks, spewing foam high in to the cloudy and stormy skies. the roar of the deadly waters as they crashed hundreds of feet was almost audible. Yet, off to one side the artist painted a small bird, calmly and peacefully sitting in a tiny nest built on a slender branch overhanging the falls below.

The artist captured the peace and joy you and I can have, no matter what is roaring around us.

What will you do to open these gifts from God, today?

Living the Type “A” Life

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Living a Type “A” Life

Matthew 4:1-4

Dr. Jim Denison

I want to tell you a story I’ve shared very seldom in public, about the football which changed my life.

Of all my friends growing up, I was the youngest. This meant that I was picked last for the kickball games and baseball teams. When you’re in first or second grade, that’s a big deal. Your friends aren’t impressed with your grades, just how far you can hit a ball. And so I grew up thinking that I wasn’t a very good athlete or performer. That was OK—my family was very supportive, I had good friends, and my childhood was happy.

But everything changed one day in the seventh grade, during physical education. We were playing football. I remember the day like it was last week. It was early fall, and the weather was just turning crisp. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky that day.

I was put on the offensive line, because everybody thought I couldn’t catch or throw very well. Larry Montgomery faded back to pass, the ball was tipped into the air, and I caught it and ran for a touchdown. From then on I was a wide receiver, and eventually the quarterback. I discovered I did have talent, and soon, more friends as well. And I learned a lesson that day: life rewards performance. Our culture says: You are what you do.

I have often wondered how different my life would be if I’d dropped that football.

From that day on, life was about catching more footballs. My trumpet became a way to perform, and being first chair became very important to me. Making the best grades I could, leading clubs, getting school awards. The more footballs I caught, the better people liked me, and the better I liked myself. I discovered a performance-based identity.

Then, when I was fifteen, I was invited to church, where I heard the gospel and soon made Christ my Savior. But before long I discovered a performance-based spiritual life as well.

Bible studies, prayer meetings, youth group activities; bus ministry on Saturdays, knocking on doors, inviting children to ride our bus to church; witnessing at school, going on mission trips, being part of the “inside” group. Catching more footballs, this time for God. Performance-based faith.

As a high school senior, I accepted a call to ministry, to be an even better disciple and to make others into disciples. So in college I became the preacher on the ministry team, and got to lead various clubs and organizations. Then to seminary, to a pastorate, and eventually to teach on the faculty. From there back to the pastorate.

Always catching more footballs. Performance-based faith.

Jesus and performance

There are advantages to performance-based Christianity, of course.

We performers work hard at what we do. I was at bus ministry every Saturday, and my friends and I brought hundreds of children to church. I learned a great deal about the Bible and Christian doctrine. I took part in significant mission trips and ministries. Performers perform.

And performers are rewarded. I got to preach the youth sermons, and eventually became the youth minister at my church. I felt good about how people saw me. Performers get to lead the organizations, to preach the sermons, to win the awards. If our society punishes those who fail, it certainly rewards those who succeed.

But, is this performance-centered spiritual identity really what Jesus had in mind for us? Let’s see.

Jesus has spent forty days with his Father in the wilderness.

This was an area between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, 35 miles by 15 miles. The Old Testament calls it “Jeshimmon,” which means “The Devastation,” and the name fits. Mark adds that Jesus was “with the wild animals” (Mark 1:13).

The area is filled with contorted strata, where ridges run in all directions as if they were warped and twisted. This is a desert, full of rocks and sand, sun-blasted, parched, cracked, dusty hills and valleys. “Death Valley” conjures the right picture.

In this place we see the enemy “approaching,” and we sense the stealth with which the attack begins. Ryan has a pet snake; when he feeds him, the snake comes up behind the food and pounces. So with the enemy here.

“If you are the Son of God”—the Greek grammar should really be translated, “Since you are the Son of God.” Prove it—”Tell these stones to become bread.”

Satan knows the power of Jesus’ word. He doesn’t tempt him to touch the stones, just to speak to them.

Stones to bread, because the stones of Jesus’ wilderness looked so much like bread. Both were small, round, whitewashed. And Jesus was very hungry, having stretched his body to the very limits of physical endurance. I miss a meal and can’t wait for the next one—Jesus missed 120 of them.

And of course, Jesus could have done this. The same power which spoke the universe into creation, which spoke demons out of demoniacs, which spoke Lazarus from the chains of death to the victory of life, could so easily speak to these stones and mold them to into bread.

And he did do this later. With his words he turned five loaves and two sardine-like fish into a banquet for 5,000 families, and still later made another banquet for 4,000 with his spoken word.

But Jesus answers, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'” (v. 4).

This is a temptation to use his abilities without trusting in the Father who gave them to him. To use his gifts for himself, apart from the provision or plan of God. To use his talents to serve himself, not his Father or his Father’s purpose for his life.

Jesus’ response comes directly from Deuteronomy 8, a passage describing how God provided for his people in their wilderness wanderings by feeding them manna, bread from heaven. The point is clear: God will meet our needs, if we will let him. We are to trust him for our bread, our purpose, our significance. To find our personal worth and value not in what we can do, but the fact that we are loved unconditionally by God.

At its root, this is a temptation for Jesus to perform for himself, to meet his needs apart from the word or will of God. To define himself by what he did. Type-A personalities, high performance orientations, people with a deep need to accomplish, will always be susceptible to this temptation. I know.

The peril of performance

Is this good or bad for our souls?

Here’s what Abraham Maslow, the eminent psychologist, thought about performers like me. He said unhealthy people put action before identity. In other words, they see themselves as their performance. If I have money, or look good, or my kids go the right school, or I have the right friends, I am a worthy person. If I lose money, or looks, or my kids have problems, or my friends leave me, I am an unworthy person. I am what I do.

I learned a very important fact a few years ago: I am not what I think I am; I am not what you think I am; but I am what I think that you think I am. I become what I think you expect of me.

And that’s a mistake. Why?

Performers lack peace.

We can never perform enough. There is always another football to catch, another award to win, another promotion, or client, or grade, or scholarship, or girlfriend or boyfriend. There’s always more we must do to be OK with ourselves. When you base your self-esteem on what you do, the pressure to perform is constant, and it can be intense.

We should feel great after a good performance; but, strangely, the good feelings don’t last very long. The next day brings the next performance, and we’ve got to be ready. We’re only as good as our last solo, or ball game, or board meeting, or sermon. Life offers little peace to performers. Perhaps you know how that feels.

Performers wear masks. If life is a performance, how you perform depends on the people you’re trying to impress. A football fan and an opera audience are different. I found that I had to be one kind of person in church, another at school. The rules changed from place to place, and I had to change with them.

And so I found myself creating a closet full of masks. One mask for church, another for my musician friends, another for the guys on my sports teams, another for school. I began to lose touch with who I am, in my attempts to be what you wanted me to be.

And we performers live in fear that our masks might not work. That you might find out what we’re really like, and not like us any more. So we have to wear our masks tightly, at all times. Are you wearing yours this morning?

Performers compete. In fact, for performers, all of life can be one giant competition. We can’t listen to other speakers without comparing ourselves to them. We can’t watch someone else play ball, or sing in the worship services, or teach a class, without competing with them inside.

And so performers can miss the best parts of life. So much of what makes life worth living isn’t a performance or a competition. Playing with our kids, going to ball games, hiking a mountain, relaxing with friends, loving people. But you have to watch us, or we’ll turn all of that into performance. Our kids have to be the best in the game; we can’t relax and be ourselves with our friends or even our family. We still have to impress you. We can’t drop the guard or let down the mask.

Nowhere is this more true than in our faith. Christianity becomes a set of rules and actions—things to avoid, things to do. The better we perform, the better God likes us. After all, the General always sends the Marines to do the toughest jobs, right? We’re the few and the proud, the elite. There’s not much joy in our faith, but that’s the price we pay for success.

Are there ways in which you are a performer?

Conclusion

So, what help is there for performers? The answer lies in doing what Jesus did: live by “every word that comes from the mouth of God.” See yourself as God’s word says that God sees you. And how does the Bible say that God sees us?

Consider the most famous verse in Scripture: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only beloved Son” (John 3:16). God loves you. As you are, where you are. With all the bad and the good, all the failures and fears and neuroses and problems you brought to church today. As you are, the way a father should love his child—unconditionally and absolutely.

You are the child of God. You are not what you do. You may need to tell yourself this twenty times before today is done—do it. You are not what you do. You are not how you look, or what other people think about you, or what you possess. You are the child of God, loved beyond words by him. God loves you, and likes you, right now.

One of the most powerful anecdotes I know concerns the man who stood at a busy street corner and asked those who came by, “Who are you?” Hundreds answered him, and every single one did so by saying what he or she did. “Who are you?” “I’m a teacher,” or a lawyer, or a homemaker, or a pastor.

The next time someone asks you who you are, say, “I am the child of God, loved by my Father in heaven.” That’s what the word of God says. And God is never wrong.

Robert McQuilkin used to be the president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary in South Carolina. A few years ago he retired to care for his wife, Muriel, a once-brilliant woman now lost in the fog of Alzheimer’s disease.

The amazing part of the story is what is left of Muriel. It is not her mind, for she no longer can speak in complete sentences. It is not her vanity, or her sense of social graces. The disease has stripped her like a banana, peeling away the bright coverings until only the meat of her personality remains. And what is left? Love.

The one sentence she can still put together, correctly and frequently, is, “I love you.” Just before Dr. McQuilkin retired to devote his attention completely to her, she developed the habit of slipping out of the house and walking to his office—one mile away. When she was sent home, she returned, as many as ten times a day. She simply wanted to be with the one she loves.

One evening while preparing Muriel for bed, Dr. McQuilkin found her feet bloodied from the repeated journeys. The family doctor, when he heard that, choked up and could only say, “Such love.”

So it was with Jesus. When they stripped him of his clothes and his dignity, they found bloody feet and bloody hands. Such love, for you and me.

Was he right about you?

Living with Both Hands

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Living with Both Hands

Matthew 22:34-40

Dr. Jim Denison

“Happy New Year.” Those words, or their equivalents, were first heard in ancient Babylon 4000 years ago. They were the first to celebrate the new year; their party lasted for eleven days, if you can imagine. Today New Year’s Day is the most universal of all holidays, transcending religions and cultures everywhere.

Black-eyed peas are considered good luck for the new year. I have no idea why—it cannot be the taste.

And making resolutions is as old as the holiday itself. The Babylonians invented this custom as well. Their most popular new year’s resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment. I’ve made the same resolution for this year myself.

According to an Internet survey, the five most popular resolutions are, in order, lose weight; stop smoking; improve relationships; make more money (which might improve relationships); and take up a new hobby (now that we have more money). I think we can do better with our lives in this new year, don’t you?

Last week we thought together about our life purpose. Did you pray about yours? Did you spend thirty minutes a day with your Heavenly Father, talking about this issue? If you did, you have a sense of his direction already.

Now, we need to look at the priorities by which he intends us to fulfill his purpose for our lives. The Great Commandments fulfill the Great Commission.

If you wonder how God wants you to live every day, look to Jesus’ answer to the same question. If you want to escape the urgent, the stressful, the frustrating, and experience a life filled with deep satisfaction and daily purpose, look to Jesus’ prescription for a life lived well.

Jesus’ prescription for a healthy life

Here’s the situation. This is Tuesday of Holy Week; Jesus is in Jerusalem, and the religious authorities are desperate. The crowds are wild with enthusiasm for him, and the established leadership fears riots or worse. They must do something about this Nazarene.

So the Herodians, their political faction, try to trick him with their question about paying taxes, but they fail. Next, the Sadducees, their religious authorities, try to trap him with their question about marriage in heaven, but they fail as well.

Now the Pharisees, their legal authorities, gather. They select one of their own, a brilliant scribe and expert in the Jewish Law, to challenge Jesus. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” he asks (Matthew 22:36).

Understand what he’s asking. The authorities counted 248 affirmative commandments, as many as the members of the human body; and 365 negative precepts, as many as the days of the year. The total number of their laws was 613, as many as the Hebrew letters of the Ten Commandments.

Which is most important? If he chooses one, he’ll be accused of neglecting all the rest. What would you say if a lawyer asked you, “What is the most important law in America?” If you answered with our laws against murder, someone will say that you endorse stealing; if you affirm our laws against drug abuse, someone will say that you are soft on human rights. And so on.

In essence, the lawyer is asking Jesus, how should we live? Out of all of God’s revelation to us, what commandment is the essential principle for life?

We join in asking the question. Not because we want to trick Jesus legally, but because we need to know practically. We need to simplify our lives, to find direction in times which are too hectic.

The cost of job stress in America is estimated at $200 billion annually.

Stress-related injuries on the job have tripled in recent years.

Fatigue is among the top five reasons people call their doctors. Of the top twenty prescription drugs, eleven are for treatment of high blood pressure or ulcers—stress disorders.

Everyone has this problem. Even librarians have a guide called Stress and Burnout in Library Service. Mothers of school-age children average eleven hours per week simply driving around.

What is the greatest commandment in the Law? Put in our words, what is the secret to living well?

Here’s Jesus’ famous answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (vs. 37-40).

Here is the “nail” on which everything else hangs. Here is the sine qua non, “that without which there is nothing.” Get this right, and everything else will be right; get this wrong, and nothing else can be right.

Here are the priorities of life, boiled down. Life in a nutshell, the secret to living on purpose, to living well. Let’s examine them in turn.

First, Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Note these facts.

One: this has been God’s basic principle for life since he first revealed himself to us. These words are part of the Shema, the ancient and essential creed of Judaism. This is the sentence with which every Jewish service still opens, and the first text which every Jewish child commits to memory. This is the way God has always taught us to live.

Two: “heart,” “soul,” and “mind” means that we must love God with every part of our lives, every day. The “heart” was the seat of the will for ancient Jews; the “soul” is the life principle itself, and the “mind” is the place of reasoning. In every decision we make, in every thought we think, indeed in every dimension of life itself, we are to love God. He will accept no spiritual schizophrenia, loving him on Sunday but not Monday, loving him when we’re with some people but not others, loving him when things are good but not when they are not. He wants us to love him every day, with every dimension of our lives.

Three: this is an impossible standard without his help. More of this in a moment.

Now, to the second commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus says that this is “like” the first commandment; the original Greek shows that the two are of equal importance and inseparable. They are the two wings of the same airplane, the two sides of the same coin.

Your neighbor is whoever happens to be near you right now. Whoever is at hand. Jesus says to love our neighbor, because that’s the only person we can love.

You are to love the person seated next to you “as yourself.” With the same commitment you make to yourself. We have an instinct for self-preservation; we must seek the preservation and good of that person as we do for ourselves. We tend to excuse our own mistakes—after all, we know what we meant to say, or do. We must do the same for others. We think first about how this will affect us—we must think first how this will affect our neighbor.

This is not a suggestion, but a command. Like the first, we cannot do this without the help of the Spirit of God.

This is revolutionary stuff. I’ve been living by these priorities more intentionally this week, and they’ve been extremely powerful for me. To judge every thought, every decision, every minute by the standard of loving God; to see others with the same grace and forgiveness I see myself—this is already powerful and helpful for me. And I feel that I’ve just begun.

Being like Jesus today

Here’s a simple way to picture the priorities by which we can fulfill our life purpose.

Our painted glass window over the baptistry is the most famous scene on our campus. It pictures Jesus at his baptism and in his glorified resurrected state. Dr. Howard worked with the Payne Studio in Paterson, New Jersey to design the window. And its depiction of the resurrected Christ is exactly the theology Jesus is teaching us today.

See Jesus’ two hands. One is extended in the air toward his Father in heaven, and the other down toward earth and humanity. One points to God, and the other to us. One reminds us to love God, and the other to love our neighbor.

And we are to be like Jesus. “Christians” means “little Christs.” God desires that we be “conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Here’s how: by living with both hands. With one hand toward God, and the other toward our neighbor. By making these the priorities of our lives, every single day.

Your Father wants you to live with one hand towards him always. To walk with him, to spend your day in his presence, to commune with him as spirit with Spirit. And he will bless and empower you when you do, as only he can.

And your world needs you to live with one hand toward your neighbor. People need to feel loved more than they need anything else in life. Your neighbor needs someone to care, someone to pilgrimage alongside, someone to listen. What a calling! What an honor!

I love something Rip Parker said at our Thursday morning prayer meeting. Speaking of his ministry to homeless men in Dallas, Rip said, “If one life is changed, that’s 100% better than zero.” He’s right.

Michel Quoist’s poem speaks to my heart. Remembering the time when mothers brought their children to Jesus, were pushed away by the disciples, and were in turn welcomed by our Lord, he writes:

Because, Lord,you no longer have arms to welcome the children of the earth,especially people seen as outsiders,like those who were pushed aside by the apostleswhen they crossed your path long ago.You no longer have knees for them to sit on,and eyes to look at them,words to speak to them and to make them laugh,or lips to kiss them tenderly.But the wonder is that you need us,you need me,imperfect mirror that I am,to reflect a few rays of your love.

Wonder, indeed.

Conclusion

How would you say you’re doing with God’s priorities for fulfilling his life purpose? Would your Father say that you love him with all your heart, soul, and mind—with every decision, thought, and moment? Would your neighbor say that you love him or her as yourself? Would you? Would you ask your Father to help you live as Jesus did—with one hand toward God and one toward us?

This is the only way to live life well.

In coming weeks we’ll apply these priorities to our most typical problems. For today, let’s decide that we want to—that we want to live with both hands. Perhaps this story will help.

Robert McFarlane was Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor, a twenty-year veteran of the Marine Corps, and the architect of the Iran-Contra plan. When his plan failed, Mr. McFarlane resigned his position and later attempted suicide.

I heard him speak a few years ago at the National Prayer Breakfast. He told our group his story. He described the incredible power he had achieved, the ladder to success he had climbed. But then Bud McFarlane told us with tears in his eyes that it was nothing. He got to the top, and there was nothing there. Only after he fell off that ladder did he discover that it was leaning against the wrong wall—that life really consists of loving God and loving people. Nothing else.

Bud McFarlane told us that loving God and loving people is what matters. And that finally he can love himself.

He was right.

Looking Past Looks

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Looking Past Looks

Matthew 7:15-20

Dr. Jim Denison

A little horse named “Seabiscuit” is the most famous animal in the world these days. It’s an amazing and inspiring true story; when we saw the movie, the audience broke out in applause at the end. The little horse who took on the world and won proves that appearances are deceiving. They always have been.

As Jesus nears the end of the most famous sermon ever preached, he tells us how to separate appearance from reality, how to measure true success and false. We need to know, for one day the ones being measured will be us. Each one of us.

Look past looks (vs. 15-18)

Our Lord begins with an imperative: “Watch out.” “Beware”—be on your guard, pay attention. This is in the present tense: “Keep watching out for this….” It is an imperative, a command, with no options. This must be a real problem, or the Lord would not warn us of its existence.

Watch out for “false prophets.”

“Prophet” signifies one who “speaks forth” under divine influence, as the ambassador of God to men. God’s spokesperson.

“False” translates the Greek word “pseudo,” one who appears to be genuine but is not. Those who pretended to speak the word of the Lord but did not were a problem all through the Bible. Moses warned his people about them (Deuteronomy 13:5), as did Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:31). Jesus warned his followers repeatedly that “false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). Paul, Barnabas, John, and Peter all met false prophets and condemned their deception (Acts 13:6; 2 Corinthians 11:13; Galatians 1:7; Acts 20:29-32; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 1 John 4:1-3; Revelation 2:20-23).

Such false teachers “come to you”—they take the initiative to attack the people of God.

Their appearances are deceiving in the extreme:

They wear “sheep’s clothing”—shepherds wore sheepskins, with the fleece against their skin.

But “inwardly they are ferocious wolves,” in places we cannot see with our eyes. Wolves are the deadliest enemies of sheep. Four times the Bible condemns false spokesmen for God as such “wolves” (Ezekiel 22.27; Zephaniah 3:3; Acts 20:29; John 10:12).

So how are we to tell who they are, if appearances cannot be trusted? “By their fruit you will recognize them” (v. 16).

A wolf can disguise himself, but a tree cannot. It must be what it is by nature. An apple tree must grow like one, be the size of one, have the trunk and bark and leaves and roots of one, and produce apples. It cannot help it. The way to tell what someone is by nature is to examine what they do, the results of their way of life.

We bear good fruit through our relationship with Jesus: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Then our character exhibits the “fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Our lives lead others to our Lord. We reproduce spiritually by helping people follow Jesus, as a tree reproduces physically through the fruit it bears.

And we glorify God as a result: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8).

Such living evidence is proof of who we really are, in our souls. Thorns don’t produce grapes, or thistles figs. A healthy tree must make healthy fruit; a sick or diseased tree cannot. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

So look past looks. Success is not how we appear, but who we really are. Our communion with God, connected to him as a branch to its vine. Our character as we demonstrate the Spirit at work in our lives. Our ministry and witness, as we produce disciples who follow us to Christ. This is success with God. This is what matters to him, and should to us.

Get ready for your final exam

Now, why is this definition of success so urgent? Keep reading: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (v. 19). What is this “fire”? Let’s review briefly the word of God on the subject.

A judgment day is coming for every person who has ever lived and ever will: “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Who will judge us? “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

When will this “final exam” occur? “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him” (Matthew 25:31-32), and he will judge them.

What will happen? Revelation 20:11-15 is the setting. Here, first our relationship with Christ will be judged from the “book of life” (v. 12a).

Moses said to God: “Please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” The Lord replied, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book” (Exodus. 32:32-33).

God has your name in his book, and must “blot it out” if you choose to reject his free salvation in Christ. When you die without Christ, God is forced to remove your name from his book of life, and you’ll be “thrown into the lake of fire.”

Scripture is very clear: “Nothing impure will ever enter [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation. 21:27).

But if you have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, your name will be there forever. Jesus said to his disciples, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10.20). Paul addressed the Philippian Christians as “my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3).

Then the other book is opened, the “book of works,” and we are judged according to what we have done (v. 12b). Here, all unconfessed sin is judged by God.

Secret sins will be judged: “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes. 12:14). Jesus confirms it: “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs” (Luke 12.2-3).

Our words will be judged: “I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matthew. 12:36-37).

After listing all sorts of unconfessed sin, Peter declared that those who do such things “will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5).

What will happen to them? “His work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work…If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:13, 15).

Ungodly, unconfessed sins, thoughts, or words will be revealed at the judgment and burned away. Because heaven is perfect, these things cannot enter in; they must be burned off, destroyed. Sin is forgiven, but reward is lost.

That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news: the “good fruit,” all work done for the glory of God, will be recognized by heaven and rewarded by God.

When we pay a price to follow Jesus, we receive the “crown of life”: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). Jesus said, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

When we share our faith, we receive the “soul-winner’s crown”: “What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).

When we stay faithful to God for a lifetime, we receive the “crown of righteousness”: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

When we lead others faithfully we receive the “crown of glory”: “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:2-4).

Enduring temptation; winning souls; staying faithful to God’s purpose; serving God’s people in love—these lead to rewards which will last forever. They can be yours. But you must choose them now.

Conclusion

It comes to this: we can live for earth or for heaven, for time or for eternity, for now or forever. One day every one of us will stand before Jesus Christ to be judged. If you have not made him your Savior and Lord, your eternity will be determined solely by your works. And unless you are sinless and perfect, you will be assigned a permanent place in hell. If you are his, you will spend eternity with him in his paradise.

But you are not done. Your works will then be judged, your “fruit” inspected. Unconfessed sin will be purged. Faithful service, witness, and obedience will be rewarded for eternity. Wherever and whenever Jesus was Lord, the One you served with unconditional courage and devotion, he was watching. And waiting to reward you. He’s watching now, this moment.

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti said that his father, a baker, introduced him to music and urged him to work hard to develop his voice. A professional tenor in his hometown of Modena, Italy, took him as a pupil. He also enrolled in a teachers college. After graduation, he asked his father, “Shall I be a teacher or a singer?” Luciano,” his father replied, “if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.”

Pavarotti adds, “I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book—whatever we choose—we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”

Well?

Love in Four Tenses

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Love in Four Tenses

Jonah 4:1-11

James C. Denison, Ph.D.

Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run on August 7 of this year, surpassing Hank Aaron as the all-time home run hitter. The ball will soon land in the Baseball Hall of Fame. We learned this week that when the ball arrives, it will be branded with an asterisk. Marc Ecko, the fashion designer who bought the baseball for $752,467, asked fans to decide how he should treat the memento.

After 10 million online votes, an asterisk was the winner, reminding us of the steroids controversy which has surrounded Bonds for years. The Hall has agreed to accept the asterisked ball.

I don’t know what I think about Barry Bonds, but I do know what I think about myself. If every sermon I preached had to come from a sinless person, they’d all be asterisked. So would everything you’ll do this week, I would imagine. But God Almighty doesn’t use asterisks in his Lamb’s Book of Life. He forgives all we confess and forgets all he forgives. He buries our sins in the depths of the deepest seas and separates them from us as far as the East is from the West. That’s how much he loves us.

Today we’ll learn that the awesome, fearsome, holy God of the universe, the God who wants an intimate relationship with each of us, is the God of love. He is love all the time, whether we deserve his love or not. Whether our circumstances reflect his love or not. Whether we feel his love or not. This morning we’ll learn why that fact is the best gift you can receive today. And the best gift you can give tomorrow.

Who was Jonah?

Jonah was God’s prophet, his preacher, in the eighth century before Christ. He had earlier predicted that King Jeroboam of Israel would restore the nation’s borders and bring relative peace to the country (2 Kings 14:23-25). His was apparently a successful and faithful ministry. Until, that is, he was called to go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-2).

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the most wicked nation on earth. They were a conqueror nation, the Nazi Germany of their day, employing al-Qaeda-like terrorist tactics wherever they went. They would literally peel the skin from their victims and use it to paper their walls. And the nation they hated worst on earth was Israel.

You see, they wanted to control Egypt, the other superpower of the day. But Israel was in the middle, and Israel wouldn’t cooperate. So the Assyrians hated the Jews. One day, 30 or so years after Jonah, they would come and destroy Israel, the ten northern tribes. They would make them “the ten lost tribes of Israel.”

No Jew would go to Nineveh any more than one would have wanted to preach in Hitler’s Berlin or an American preacher would be happy with a call from God to preach to the Taliban.

But that’s not why Jonah didn’t want to go there, as we’ll see in a moment. He wasn’t afraid of Nineveh. He had preached God’s word faithfully before a corrupt king in Israel. He would soon sacrifice himself in the storm to save the sailors. When God finally brought him to Nineveh he did not hesitate to preach to them. He didn’t flee Nineveh out of fear, as we’ll learn shortly. But he did flee Nineveh.

In fact, Jonah “ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3). Nineveh was directly to the east from Israel; Tarshish was directly to the west. In fact, since it was located in southwestern Spain, the city was as far west as their known world extended. In those pre-Columbus days, this was as far from Nineveh as a man could get. So Jonah went to Joppa, a Jewish port city on the Mediterranean coast, boarded a ship, and ran from God.

But that never works. When you run from God you run into him. That’s what happened to Jonah. God “threw” a storm at him (v. 4 in the literal Hebrew). The sailors threw their cargo back to lighten the ship and make a sacrifice to the god of the weather. But it didn’t work. So at his request they threw Jonah overboard, and turned their hearts to God (v. 16).

Then the same God who made the storm to catch Jonah made a “great fish” to save him. After the fish brought Jonah to Nineveh, he didn’t try to run again, for obvious reasons. Instead, he began doing what God told him to do: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (Jonah 3:4).

With this shocking outcome: “The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (v. 5). Even the king joined them, and required the nation to join him. This would be like Hitler converting to Judaism and requiring the entire German nation to join him. And “when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (v. 10).

Who is your Nineveh?

But Jonah wasn’t happy: “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2).

That’s why he didn’t want to go to Nineveh–not because he was afraid the Ninevites would reject his message, but because he was afraid they wouldn’t. He was afraid that they would repent and then God would forgive them. He was afraid that the Lord would love the mortal enemies of his people. And then he’d have to love them as well. And this Jonah would not do.

Do you remember Jeffrey Dahmer, the man who was convicted of torturing, murdering and then cannibalizing his victims, some of them children? A Church of Christ minister named Roy Ratcliff said that he baptized Dahmer in the penitentiary whirlpool in May of 1994, shortly before he was killed by other inmates. Does the idea that God could forgive Jeffrey Dahmer and bring him to heaven bother you?

Matias Reyes was a convicted murderer and rapist who converted to Christianity while in prison and confessed to other crimes for which he was never charged. Could God forgive and love him?

Manuel Noriega is a convicted international drug lord and the former dictator of Panama. In May of 1990 he was led to Christ by a prison chaplain. He completed a 16-week Bible training course. On October 24, 1992, he was baptized in prison. He was served the Lord’s Supper and allowed to give a brief testimony before he was returned to his maximum security cell. Here is part of that testimony:

“Before, Jesus to me was only an image of that which was learned from Catholicism, an historic being who worked miracles. All was transformed when on Tuesday, January the 16th, 1990, Dr. Clift asked me in a telephone conversation, he in Texas and I in a preventive prison of the court, “Do you know that Jesus loves you?”

“Today, this is what He means to me: He is the Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins, who arose from the grave and is at the right hand of God the Father and who above all things He is my Savior, and has mercy on me, a sinner.”

Who is Nineveh to you? Who hurt you the most deeply, or has stressed and distressed your spirit most recently? What person would you rather not love? Who would you rather not forgive? Where is the Nineveh you don’t want to visit?

Where are you with God?

God loves us when we run from him, as Jonah did in fleeing Nineveh. He loves us when we run to him, as Jonah did in the belly of the fish. He loves us when we run with him, as Jonah did in preaching to Nineveh. And he even loves us when we run behind him, as Jonah did in his anger over God’s forgiving love.

Which of these four tenses is yours today? Are you running from the will of God? Refusing to stop a sin or give your time and money, or take a step of faith? Are you running to God today in confession and contrition? Are you running with him in faithful obedience and service? Are you running behind him in bitterness and anger and resentment? Nothing we do changes the nature of God. And God is always love.

If you’re trying to earn his love, stop it. Stop coming to church so God will love you, and start coming to church because he loves you. Stop praying and reading the Bible and trying to be moral so God will bless you, and start praying and reading and obeying because he has blessed you. Stop serving him so that he will reward you, and start serving him because he has.

If you don’t believe he can really love you, change your mind today. If he could love Nineveh in their wickedness and sin, he has permission to love you. Either God keeps his promises or he doesn’t. Either the Bible is true or it is not. Either God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4) or he doesn’t. Either he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) or he isn’t. Either he is love or he is not.

Decide that the Bible is true and that God is faithful. Give him whatever most plagues your soul today, whatever sin or failure most grieves your heart. And know that God Almighty is Love Almighty for you.

If you don’t believe that God can love the unlovely through you, know that you’re wrong. Know that God can love your Ninevite even when you can’t. Ask his help. Ask for his forgiving grace and love. Step out by faith. And know that if you’re simply willing to share his love with people who need it most, you’ll never lack for opportunity. If you’re available to give God’s love away, you’ll always be used by your Father.

I was sitting in a deacons meeting on Sunday night at our church in Mansfield when a deranged-looking man bolted through the door and said, “Who’s the preacher?” Our deacons, being supportive and protective of their pastor, all pointed their fingers at me.

It turned out that this man had set out that night in his car to do one of two things. Either he was going to find a church which was still open and give his life to Jesus, or he was going to commit suicide. He saw the light in our window and that night trusted Jesus as his Lord. It was the easiest evangelistic experience of my life.

God loves everyone you know. And he wants to love them through you.

Conclusion

If you’re running from God, he loves you and is waiting for you to come back to him. If you’re running to God, he loves you and welcomes you with joy. If you’re running with God, he loves you and will use you to give his love to the world. If you’re running behind God, he loves you and wants to love the person you cannot, through you.

All because God Almighty is Love Almighty. His Son proved it to the world. And with his death he separated our sins from us as far as the East is from the West. This is the word and the promise of God.

The contemporary Christian group “Casting Crowns” has a song on the radio which has greatly impressed me in recent days. Listen to the lyrics:

Here I am Lord, and I’m drowning in your sea of forgetfulness.

The chains of yesterday surround me; I yearn for peace and rest.

I don’t want to end up where you found me,

And it echoes in my mind, keeps me awake tonight.

I know you cast my sin as far as the east is from the west

And I stand before you now as thought I’ve never sinned.

But today I feel like I’m just one mistake away from you leaving me this way.

I start the day and the war begins, endless reminding me of my sin.

And time and time again your truth is drowned out by the storm I’m in.

Today I feel like I’m just one mistake away from you leaving me this way.

I know you’ve washed me white, turned my darkness into light.

I need your peace to get me through, to get me through this night.

Can’t live by what I feel, but by the Truth your work reveals.

I’m not holding on to you, but you’re holding on to me.

You’re holding on to me.

Jesus, can you show me just how far the East is from the West

‘Cause I can’t bear to see the man I’ve been come rising up in me again.

In the arms of your mercy I find rest ’cause you know

Just how far the East is from the West

From one scarred hand to the other.

Amen.

Love Is Born This Day

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Love Is Born This Day

Luke 2:8-14

Dr. Jim Denison

This is the Advent week of love. No subject is a greater mystery to us.

Children try to help. When asked why love happens between two people, Mae, age 9, replied, “No one is sure why it happens, but I heard it has something to do with how you smell. That’s why perfume and deodorant is so popular.”

On the role of beauty, Brian, age 7: “It isn’t always just how you look. Look at me, I’m handsome as anything and I haven’t got anybody to marry me yet.” And Christine, age 9, replied, “Beauty is skin deep. But how rich you are can last a lifetime.” She’s a smart woman.

We adults are no better with the subject.

Have you heard about The Sims Online? Thousands of people are paying $10 per month for the privilege of living in a virtual community on the Internet. They interact with each other via a computerized role-playing program. Over the next five years, people are expected to spend $1.4 billion on subscription fees to such community games.

ABC’s The Bachelor gave Mr. Aaron Buerge 25 women from whom to choose as his fiancé, while America watched. “The Osbournes” is the first family reality sitcom, debuting on MTV last March. Six million people watch each week as they go about their dysfunctional lives.

True love is a true mystery to our culture. Mother Teresa: “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, the terrible indifference towards one’s neighbor who lives at the roadside assaulted by exploitation, corruption, poverty and disease.”

And now we’re just ten days from Christmas. Are you lonely? Do you need to feel loved? To be loved? To know that you are wanted and important? You’ve come to the right text.

Who does God love?

“And there were shepherds living in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” (v. 8). Nobody reading these words for the first time in the first century would expect to see them here. You see, people knew about shepherds.

They couldn’t keep the ceremonial laws of Judaism—kosher diet, hand washings before and after meals, and the rest. They couldn’t abstain from work on the Sabbath, since the sheep didn’t very well know what day it was. And so they weren’t allowed to attend worship in the synagogue or at the Temple. They were religiously unclean. But that was only the start of their problem.

Shepherds were unsupervised for months on end. So they were known to steal from the flocks they kept, and to graze them on land which was not theirs. They were known to lie about their crimes, so that they were not permitted to testify in court or hold office. You were not to buy a lamb, wool or milk from a shepherd.

They were classed with tax collectors and prostitutes. It is worth noting that this text is the only occurrence of real shepherds to be found in all the New Testament.

Here’s the shock: “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified” (v. 9). Of all classes in first-century Judaism, they were the least likely to see an angel. And especially to see the “glory of the Lord.”

I learned in study this week that the “glory of the Lord” is a specific biblical phrase, meant to denote the presence of God which was first made visible to humanity with Moses at the burning bush. The “glory of the Lord” was next revealed to the Israelites in the Exodus desert (Exodus 16:10); to Moses on the top of Mt. Sinai (24:15-17); in the Tabernacle (40.34-35); and in the Temple when it was dedicated to God (1 Kings 8:11).

The “glory of the Lord” was displayed in Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:29-32). It was shown to Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:6-11). He later described it: “I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions” (Acts 26:13). And in heaven, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light” (Revelation 21:23).

No wonder they were “terrified.” They literally “feared a mega fear.”

This “glory of the Lord” was not revealed to Mary with the angelic visitation. It was not revealed to Joseph in his dream. Or earlier to Zechariah in the temple, or Elizabeth his wife. Not to the Magi in their visit. Not to anyone else in the entire Christmas event. But to shepherds. To the lowest caste of ancient Jewish society. If to them, to us.

An Irish priest on a walking tour of a rural parish came upon an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road in prayer. Impressed, the priest said to the man, “You must be very close to God.” The peasant looked up from his prayers, smiled, and said, “Yes, he’s very fond of me.”

Dr. Fred Craddock was invited to lead a lecture series in Winnipeg, Ontario. He arrived on Saturday night, and a blizzard arrived soon after. The lecture was canceled, and Fred was told to walk down the block from the hotel to a bus depot diner for breakfast.

Fred said, “It was packed with everyone trying to find a warm place.” He found a seat. A moment later, a lady came in. A large man with a greasy apron asked her, “What do you want?”

“May I have some water, please?”

He brought her the water. “Now, what do you want?”

“Water is fine.”

“No, I mean, what do you want?”

“The water will be okay.”

“I mean, what do you want to order, lady? We’ve got paying customers. If you don’t order, you can’t stay.”

“Can’t I stay just long enough to get warm?”

“Listen, lady, order something or leave!”

The woman got up to leave. So did the people on each side of her, then the people on each side of them, then the entire restaurant. The man with the greasy apron said, “Oh, now wait a minute. Everybody sit back down, she can stay.” He even brought her a bowl of soup.

Craddock asked the man next to him, “Who is she?”

He said, “I never saw her before in my life. But if she ain’t welcome, ain’t nobody welcome.”

As Craddock began to eat his own soup, he found it wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was almost good. He had the feeling he had tasted it before. Something in the soup reminded him of something. As he walked out the door and looked back upon that group of people, with the woman sitting among them, he remembered. It reminded him of the bread and cup of communion.

Take a look at the shepherds again, dressed in their peasant rags, dirt smeared on their faces. Smell them and their animals. See the angel at their side, and the “glory of the Lord” around them. Look into their bewildered faces. And ask yourself, who does God love?

How does he love?

The angel answers your question: “Do not be afraid.” “Stop being afraid” is a better translation. Why? I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (v. 10). What is this joy?

In the literal language: “There is born to you this day in the city of David, Savior, Messiah, Lord” (v. 11).

“Savior”—the one who saves us from our sins. No one else in human history has ever claimed to be able to do this. Not the emperors, certainly. Not Buddha or Mohammad or Confucius or the Jewish rabbis or the Hindu masters. Who else today can save you from your sins?

Christ—Messiah, God’s anointed agent announcing himself as the bearer of this salvation to mankind. The fulfiller of the promises of God, the one who brings the salvation God has promised us.

Lord—kurios, power, authority, God. The one born this day will save us from our sins; he has come to tell us, with the authority to do what he promises. This is the day Israel has been waiting and praying for since they first heard their prophets promise it would come. For at least 700 years they have been waiting and hoping. And now he has finally arrived.

Who needs such joy?

Atheist Bertrand Russell wrote, “What the world needs, I am ashamed to say, is Christian love.” Do you?

Douglas Coupland, who coined the term “Generation X,” concluded in his book Life After God, “My secret is that I need God—that I am sick and can no longer make it alone.” Do you need him?

The secular humanist and novelist Marghanita Laski told a television interviewer not long before she died, “What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness. I have nobody to forgive me.” Do you?

Now shepherds the world over are invited to this celebration.

He has been born “to you” (v. 11). “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (v. 12).

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (v. 14). And it rests on us all.

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

“Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2).

“ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (I John 3:16).

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6).

Conclusion

Someone loves you. He was born for you. If you’ll ask him, he’ll be born again in you. He will forgive every sin you’ll confess to him. He will fill your life with purpose and joy. He will be your Savior from sin, your Messiah to bring God to your heart, and your Lord to guard and guide your life. His love is unconditional. And it is all for you.

Where are you a shepherd this morning? What flock are you “keeping watch over?” Where is your field? Where do you feel unloved or unwanted? Where do you need someone to forgive you? Someone to accept you? Someone to want you?

Leave your flocks and fields and fellow shepherds—you’ll not find true love there. Come to the Christ. Receive his love as your Savior. Make him your Messiah and Lord. Tell him where you are hurting today, and ask for his help, his healing, his love. He’s waiting for you.

Raymond Russell Kelley was killed in June of 1944 while fighting in France. His widow Daphne has the poem he was carrying on that day. Its paper is stained with the blood of his mortal wounds. The poem is titled, “When You Come Home”:

When you come home once more to me,

It is unlikely, dear, that I shall be

Articulate; the words I’ve wanted so

To say, I’ll try in vain to speak, I know

I shall reach blindly for you, stricken dumb

With swift and aching joy when you have come,

Or if my tongue find utterance at all,

It will be commonplace and trivial.

But you will understand. And oh, once more

I’ll feel your hand laid lightly on my hand

As was your wont, smoothing it again

And yet again. You’ll lift my face and then

We shall forget all else. You’ll hold me fast

When you come home, come home to me at last!

Jesus is waiting for you to come home. Home to his stable, and one day to his throne room. Home to his love. His promise is stained with the blood of his mortal wounds, blood shed for you. His manger is empty, and his tomb is empty, so he can fill your heart with his love.

He’s waiting for you. Right now.

Love Letters from Home

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Love Letters from Home

Luke 24:25-32

Dr. Jim Denison

Billy Graham was thirty, and already a well-known evangelist, when he came to a crisis of faith. Could he believe the Bible to be the word of God? His friend Chuck Templeton and others were raising doubts in his heart. In his autobiography, Just As I Am, he tells the story of what happened next.

He took a walk in the moonlight of the San Bernardino Mountains in California. He dropped to his knees in the woods, opened his Bible and put it on a tree stump before him. He prayed, “O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions. There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science. I can’t answer some of the philosophical and psychological questions Chuck and others are raising.”

Finally he was able to say, “Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word—by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.”

He says, “When I got up from my knees at Forest Home that August night, my eyes stung with tears. I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but a major bridge had been crossed. In my heart and mind, I knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won” (Just As I Am, 139; emphasis his).

He was right. And you know the results.

Billy Graham is a Baptist. Like him, Baptists have always been “people of the book.” We have always opposed creeds, man-made statements of faith which are required for Christians. But we have strongly believed the Bible to be the word of God. Augustine called the Bible, “love letters from home,” and we agree. “No creed but the Bible” is our motto historically.

Today I want to tell you why that is so, and especially why our beliefs about the Bible matter to your soul this day.

Learning from the Source

Luke 24 tells one of my favorite stories in Scripture. Remember how these two people are walking home to the village of Emmaus, 7½ miles to the west of Jerusalem, on Easter Sunday evening. One is named Cleopas; we’re not told the name of his companion.

They’ve been to Jerusalem, and know all about Jesus.

They know that he was “a prophet, powerful in word and deed” (v. 19).

They know that the chief priests and rulers “handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him” (v. 20).

They had hoped that he was the Messiah, “the one who was going to redeem Israel” (v. 21).

And they have heard the rumor that “he was alive” (v. 23).

A more compact Christology, one cannot find in Scripture.

But while they knew about Jesus, they didn’t know Jesus. As he joined them along the road, “they were kept from recognizing him” (v. 16). And so he showed them who he really was, and what he came to do: “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (v. 27).

“Moses and all the Prophets” refers to the Old Testament, as we call it today.

To “explain” is to teach, to translate, to interpret. This is the Greek word from which we get “hermeneutics,” which means “to interpret.”

He showed them “what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

He could have shown them how his virgin birth was predicted in Genesis 3:15, his lineage was described through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesse, and David; his birthplace predicted in Micah 5:2; his ministry in Isaiah 9; his suffering in Isaiah 53; his death and resurrection in Psalm 22; his return in Daniel 7.

He could have referenced the 48 major messianic prophecies he fulfilled. The odds of fulfilling just eight of them is one in ten to the seventeenth power; to picture this, fill the state of Texas two feet deep in silver dollars, mark one with a dot, and ask me to find it. He showed them all the ways the Scriptures tell his story.

With this result: “They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?'” (v. 32).

“Burning within us” is an ongoing experience in the Greek here, not a single act or feeling. All the time Jesus was teaching the Scriptures to them, their hearts were aflame. Jesus had only to speak through his word, and their lives were forever changed.

So it has been from then to now. St. Augustine, the greatest theologian after Paul in Christian history, was converted when he picked up the Bible and read its truth. Martin Luther was converted to personal faith in Christ through his study of Scripture. John Wesley began the Methodist church after attending a prayer meeting where he said his “heart was strangely warmed” by Jesus through his word. Dr. Bill Tolar, long-time academic dean at Southwestern Seminary, came to Christ by reading the Bible. Jesus can still speak to our hearts through the word of God.

This week I have been applying this message to my own life. As I have opened the Scriptures each morning, I have asked Jesus to teach me as he taught these two on the way to Emmaus, and he has. I have sensed a new life, a new fire, a new power in God’s word as Jesus has spoken it to me.

What he is doing more and more in my heart, he wants to do in every heart. He wants you to say today, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us … and opened the Scriptures to us?” And tomorrow as well.

How can we hear Jesus today?

So, how can we experience what these two did? How can this place of worship be our Emmaus road? Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is just as able to speak to us by his Spirit in his word as he was then. So, what must we do to hear him?

First, believe that the Bible is the word of God.

Jesus was clear in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus had a deep appreciation for the Scriptures as the word of God.

So should we. The Bible is the best-attested ancient book in the world. Manuscript evidence, archaeological data, fulfilled prophecy and internal consistency all document its absolutely trustworthy nature. The Bible is what it says it is: “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). This is the word of God.

I believe that every word of the Bible is the word of God. This book does not merely contain the word of God—it is the word of God. I used to tell my seminary students that this book is the only word God is obligated to bless. My words are not God’s word—Scripture is.

I don’t use the word “inerrancy,” so common to Baptist denominational battles, because the word is not found in the Bible. Additionally, the word “inerrancy” has eight different definitions and twelve qualifications. I don’t know what it means, so I don’t use it. But I believe that every word of the Bible is the absolute, authoritative word of God.

This is why traditional Baptists have no creeds, no man-made statements of faith you must accept. We believe the Bible, so we have no creed but Scripture. This is one of the problems our church has with the newest edition of the Baptist Faith and Message. This statement of Baptist beliefs now calls itself “essential for faith and practice” and an “instrument of doctrinal accountability.” Baptists have never believed this. We have no creed but the Bible. We are people of the Book. We believe that the Bible is the word of God.

This is the first, essential commitment to make if you want Jesus to speak to you from his word—believe in that word.

Second, we interpret the Bible according to the life and teachings of Jesus.

Jesus showed them that the Bible is fulfilled in himself. Here, as throughout his ministry, he told them what the text means. In his Sermon on the Mount, again and again he said, “You have heard it said, but I say unto you….” Jesus, the living Word of God, taught us how to understand the word of God.

Baptists have historically believed that this is the way to understand Scripture: ask first what Jesus said and did. “WWJD” applies here. All the way back to the Anabaptists, we have believed in the Christological principle of biblical hermeneutics: interpret the Bible according to the teachings of Jesus. He is the “criterion,” the means of interpreting the Bible. This is what traditional Baptists believe.

Third, we interpret according to the intention of the authors.

It was the ultimate intent of the Law and the Prophets to prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus “opened the Scriptures” to them (v. 32) and taught them according to the clear intention of those who first authored the text under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

To know this intended meaning, ask these questions. One: what is the background of this book? Who is the author? Who are the readers? What is the situation being addressed? Two: what do the words and sentences mean? Three: what historical data can help us understand the text? Four: what theological truths are being revealed? And five: what practical application should I make today? (There is much more on this method of Bible study in the brochures available at the door today.)

Last, obey what you learn.

Someone bragged to a rabbi, “I’ve been through the Law four times.” The rabbi replied, “The question is not whether you’ve been through the Law, but whether the Law has been through you.”

Oswald Chambers, the spiritual genius and devotional writer, once said, “The only part of the Bible we understand is the part we obey.”

Every time Jesus speaks to you through his word, he will give you something to do. These two disciples had to run back to Jerusalem, over seven dangerous miles at night, because the word of God had just shown them that Jesus is the risen Lord. And they had to tell the world. They had to obey what they had learned. So do we.

Conclusion

Let me ask you: do you have a daily appointment to meet with Jesus in his word? Wherever you are can be your road to Emmaus. What Jesus did for them, he will do for you. This church believes that the Bible is the word of God. We do not believe in creeds, but in Christ. We do not ask a creed to interpret the Bible, but Christ.

Believe that the Bible is God’s word. Interpret it according to the life and teachings of Jesus, with his help. Seek the intended meaning, and apply what you learn. And your heart will burn with in you as he talks with you on the way.

Dr. John Newport was the academic vice-president and provost, emeritus at Southwestern Seminary until his recent death, and my theological mentor. At his funeral I saw many friends from years ago at the seminary. One was Isaac Mwase, now associate professor of philosophy of religion at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas.

Isaac was a student of mine. His story is remarkable. Ten years before I knew him, Isaac had been a Muslim terrorist, plotting the overthrow of the government in what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). His friends wanted to make him the dictator of the country.

Then a Christian gave him a Bible. Isaac would not go to a church, or meet a preacher, or listen to a sermon. But in reading the Bible, Jesus spoke to his soul and he was converted. Now he teaches at Ouachita, and one day he will return to Zimbabwe. Not as the dictator of the country, but the president of the seminary.

What Jesus said to him, now Jesus waits to say to us. Are you listening?

Loving God for Life

Written by

Loving God for Life

1 Samuel 1:1-11

James C. Denison

This has been a tough week for me. It started so well. A wonderful weekend of ministry last Saturday and worship on Sunday. I was excited about this week and all it held. Then I came home from work Monday evening to find my AARP application waiting for me.

I will turn 50 later this month. I will then be half a century old. It’s a milestone worthy of reflection. Over these 50 years, what events stand out as most significant? There’s no contest: my salvation, my marriage, and the birth of our sons.

Every parent would feel the same way. There is no greater privilege in life than being a father or a mother. And no challenge more important or overwhelming. To be so responsible for another person–to be the most important influence on an eternal soul–is a daunting assignment.

If you’re a mother, you’re facing such a challenge today. The good news is that God wants to help. He wants to help every mother and every mother’s child with the burdens and responsibilities we carry. But there’s a catch, as we’ll see this morning.

How to give your child to God

Here’s the setting of our text.

Hannah had no children, in a day when this was a terrible stigma and shame. In their culture a woman’s highest privilege and responsibility was to be a mother. Women did not work outside the home, and had no social standing outside their father or husband. From the time they were small girls, they were told that their primary work in life was to raise children. But this Hannah could not do. This was literally the greatest tragedy a woman could face.

It’s still hard to want to be a mother and be unable to have children. Even today, with all the strides we’ve made in recognizing the importance of women before God and in society, it’s still hard for those who cannot be mothers. For people like Hannah in this room today, Mother’s Day is not an easy day. You have some sense of her pain and grief.

And there are others today for whom Mother’s Day is difficult. Some of you no longer have your mother with you, and this day brings back the pain of that loss and grief. Some have had mothers who were not godly. Some have experienced the pain and trauma of abortion. Some are estranged from children. Many of you know how Hannah felt.

In the face of such difficulty, Hannah did exactly what we should do–she went to God. She went directly to him, in the tabernacle which preceded the Temple, to pray.

Her intercession came from the heart, praying in “bitterness of soul” (v. 10). The Hebrew literally says that she was “weeping much in her prayer.” She prayed with such emotion that Eli the priest thought she was drunk. No rote prayer, going through a prayer list, keeping the routine.

If your mother prayed for you like this, thank God and thank her. If you’re a mother, this is your best gift for them. Godly parenting starts with godly people. Are you praying every day for your children and your witness to them?

Next, we dedicate our children to their Father (v. 11). Hannah prayed for a son so she could give him back to God. He will be a Nazirite, a very special class of people in ancient Israel. We’ll say more about them in a moment.

By promising him to the Lord’s service, she would never be able to know the joy of raising him herself. She could visit him at the tabernacle, but not be in his life every day. But she wanted God’s glory, God’s best, not her own.

Have you surrendered your children to God? Do you want him to bless your plans and ambitions for them, or can he do anything with them he wants? Can he call them to missions and ministry? Can he lead them in a direction you would never have intended? Do they belong to him before they belong to you?

Once we submit ourselves to God in prayer and our children to him in commitment, we leave the results with him (v. 18).

Hannah left the tabernacle with a deep sense of inner peace, even though she had no tangible answer to her prayer. She trusted the future to her Father, and had his peace which passes understanding as a result (Philippians 4:6-7).

So can we. So must we. Why?

Why to give your child to God

Why should you follow Hannah’s example with your most precious possessions today? With your children, or family, or future, or vocation, or dreams? The simple answer is that God can do more with your child than you can. The more your children are submitted to him, the more he can lead and bless and use them. Samuel is proof.

Hannah committed her unborn child to be a Nazirite. These were a kind of monks or nuns of ancient Israel. Numbers 6 describes their four-fold commitment: abstain from all alcohol and products of the vine, keep the hair and beard uncut, refuse to touch a dead body, and refuse all unclean food.

Some people kept this vow for 30, 60, or 100 days. Samson and John the Baptist were Nazirites; the Apostle Paul took a Nazirite vow for a period of time; and Samuel was made a Nazirite for life by Hannah.

What’s more, she dedicated him to live and work at the tabernacle. She would give him when he was “weaned” (v. 21), three years of age according to Hebrew tradition. He would then serve the Lord for the rest of his life. Levites served from the age of 25 to 50 (Numbers 8:24-25), and priests in various rotations, but Samuel would spend every day of every year in the service of God. From the time he was three, Hannah would see him only when she came to the tabernacle for worship.

And what did God do with this child given so totally to him?

Samuel would become the last of the judges, the rulers of Israel before the kings. He would become Israel’s first prophet, and one of the greatest of the prophets. He would choose and anoint Israel’s first two kings. God would use him to lead the nation, through which he would one day bring another Son to be our Savior and Lord.

Because Hannah prayed for her child, dedicated him to God, and left the results in the Lord’s hands, our lives have been affected by her commitment. And all who follow us, to the end of time.

Hannah’s story is in the Bible to model this principle: when we dedicate ourselves and our families to God, he does more with them than we can. He has a plan to prosper and not harm them, to give them hope and a future. His will is good, pleasing, and perfect.

But you already knew all that. You knew that God blesses all we submit to him, that he redeems all it costs us to follow him. But it’s hard to believe that when Samuel is your child. When God wants something you don’t want to give. When the price you must pay to be sacrificially faithful to God doesn’t seem worth it at the time.

For some of us, that commitment involves our children. There are times when we must choose between their souls and their social status, between their Father and their friends. When they are tempted by popularity at the cost of character and you must take a tough stand. When they are living one way at church and another way at school and you must step in. If you want your children to please God, there will be times when they cannot please this culture. And you’ll have a choice to make.

Your Samuel may not be a child. It may be a dream, an ambition, a job, status, something you own or want. Jesus wants to be Lord of that, and you know that he will bless what you give him. But you don’t want to. You’re secretly afraid that he won’t let you have what you want, or bless your plans, or fulfill your dreams.

Why is that? We can give God our discretionary time or income or involvement, but why is it so hard for us to surrender what we value most to him? Why are there so few Hannahs today?

Some of us don’t really trust him. We’re afraid that he won’t let us have what we want, or bless our plans, or fulfill our dreams. When I first heard the gospel I refused to trust in Jesus. I was afraid that he would make my life miserable. I pictured him as an angry judge, a kind of Cosmic Killjoy, a vengeful deity who hated sin and didn’t much like sinners. It’s hard to surrender your dreams to a God like that.

It’s hard for us to trust what we can see to Someone we can’t. Your career is real; your friends are real; your plans and dreams are real. But God is Spirit (John 4:24). You cannot prove his existence or predict his behavior. You have no proof that he will do what you want him to do with the Samuel you entrust to him. I’m the same way.

It’s far easier to please you sitting in this Sanctuary than to please the God I cannot see or prove today. You have skin on. Your affirmation is tangible and real. It’s hard to trust the Samuel I can see to the God I cannot.

Here’s my question: what more can God do to prove himself to you than he has done?

He created the heavens and the earth, and you to dwell in them. Then he entered the human race he made when his Son took on flesh. He proved his Son’s compassion on the cross and his divinity in the resurrection. He used Jesus’ first followers to start the mightiest spiritual movement in history. What can he do to prove himself to you today?

He could appear to you in the flesh, but you might later question your senses and wonder if you were hallucinating. He could answer your prayers with a divine miracle, but you could wonder if the work really was his. A relationship with God, like all relationships, is self-validating. You cannot prove a friendship until you trust it. You cannot prove that God can be trusted with your Samuel until you trust him with your Samuel.

So here’s my challenge: try his Lordship this week. Choose to surrender whatever is close to your heart today, and see what he does with it. Abstain this week from the sin which tempts you away from God, and experience the sense of integrity and holiness which will result.

Put him in charge of your career this week and watch him lead you. Ask him to parent your child this week and experience the wisdom, patience, and hope only God can give. Choose to be Hannah, and you will know that he is God.

Conclusion

Mothers, are you praying fervently for your children and family? Are you submitting them to God and leaving the results with him? Children of mothers, are you doing the same thing with your Samuel, your dream or plan or temptation or problem? If the rest of us were as surrendered to God as you are, would that be a good thing?

The shape of your child’s soul is at stake, and all the history which will follow.

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

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

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

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

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

If you have a godly mother, thank God. If you are a mother, surrender your child to your Father. If you are a mother’s child, surrender your Samuel to your God. Eternity will be grateful.

We close today, as we do each Mother’s Day, with Peter Marshall’s beautiful prayer. Pray it with me:

“On this day of sacred memories, our Father, we would thank Thee for our mothers who gave us life, who surrounded us early and late with love and care, whose prayers on our behalf still cling around the Throne of Grace, a haunting perfume of love’s petitions.

“Help us, their children, to be more worthy of their love. We know that no sentimentality on this day, no material gifts can atone for our neglect during the rest of the year. So in the days ahead, may our love speak to the hearts who know love best–by kindness, by compassion, by simple courtesy and daily thoughtfulness.

“Bless her whose name we whisper before Thee, and keep her in Thy perfect peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Making Christ the King of Your Prayer

Written by

Making Christ the King of Your Prayers

Mark 9:14-29

Dr. Jim Denison

A group of visiting ministers from America came to tour Charles Spurgeon’s church buildings. Spurgeon graciously showed them around the facilities—the massive sanctuary, the children’s homes, the Bible college rooms, and all the rest. Toward the end of the tour, he asked his guests if they would like to see the boiler room. They respectfully declined, with the wry comment that boiler rooms must be the same everywhere and there could be little different about those at the Tabernacle.

Spurgeon begged to differ, and insisted that they see his boiler room. Finally they agreed. Spurgeon took the group down a long flight of stairs to the basement beneath the sanctuary. There they found over one hundred men and women on their faces before God in prayer. Pointing to these fervent intercessors, Spurgeon said, “This is my boiler room.”

We all need such a “boiler room” in our lives—a source of spiritual power which sustains and strengthens all we do. But such a power is tied directly to our faith. As Spurgeon demonstrated, if we would pray in power, we must pray in faith.

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

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

And this focus is especially urgent in our day, because the greatest way we can serve the cause of Spiritual Awakening is to pray. To pray for our nation, for her leaders, her people, her spiritual life and God’s divine blessing.

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

Pay the price to pray with power

We’ve explored Jesus’ miraculous healing of this demon-possessed boy. His disciples could not help, but Jesus did. Remember the story: “When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. ‘You deaf and mute spirit,’ he said, ‘I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, ‘He’s dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up” (vs. 25-27).

Now we come to the part of the story for us today: “After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’ He replied, ‘This kind can come out only by prayer'” (vs. 28-29).

Jesus had been with the Father in prayer on the Mount of Transfiguration. Meanwhile, the three disciples with him were asleep and the nine below were arguing with the crowds. Only he had been in prayer.

Such a commitment was the pattern of his life. He began his public ministry by spending 40 days in solitude for fasting and prayer. After his first Sabbath in ministry, he got up a great while before day, went to a solitary place, and prayed (Mark 1:35). He prayed all night before selecting his disciples. He prayed before feeding the 5,000. He prayed before raising Lazarus from the dead. He prayed before dying on our cross. He prayed from the cross. He is praying for us right now at the right of the Father in glory (Romans 8:34).

Biblical examples:

Abraham built altars for prayer wherever he went.

Moses’ ministry began in an encounter with God in prayer. He spent days and weeks alone with God in prayer.

David was such a man of prayer that we have the Psalms as a result.

The church was birthed in the Upper Room, where they went to pray before Pentecost fell.

Gentiles came into the church when Cornelius and Peter prayed.

The gospel came to the Western world when Paul prayed and received the Macedonian vision.

Lydia became the first European convert when she went to a place of prayer.

The Revelation was given to John when he prayed.

Do you see a pattern?

Spiritual awakening examples.

The first great awakening began in the heart of Theodore Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Reformed pastor who prayed seven years before all his deacons became Christians, then prayed until others joined him and the Awakening fell.

The second great awakening began with Isaac Baccus, a Baptist minister who called for a massive prayer movement.

The third began when a group of laymen began meeting for prayer on Wednesday, September 23, 1857 at the Old North Dutch Church in New York City. They were led by a Presbyterian businessman named Jeremiah Lamphier. The first day, six people came to his prayer meeting. The next week there were 14; then 23; then the group began to meet daily. They outgrew the church and began filling other churches and meeting halls throughout the city. Such meetings spread across the country. In a nation of 30 million, a million came to Christ in a single year.

The Fourth Great Awakening began in Wales in 1904 in the heart of a coal miner named Evan Roberts. He was convicted of his sins by the Spirit, and turned to God in prayer and repentance. He then began preaching to the young people in his church, calling them to prayer and repentance. Prayer meetings broke out all over Wales. Social conditions were affected dramatically. Tavern owners went bankrupt; police formed gospel quartets because they had no one to arrest. Coal mines shut down for a time because the miners stopped using profanity and the mules no longer understood them.

The revival spread to America, where ministers in Atlantic City, NJ reported that out of 50,000 people, only 50 adults were left unconverted. In Portland, Oregon, more than 200 stores closed daily from 11 to 2 so people could attend prayer meetings. In 1896, only 2,000 students were engaged in missionary studies; by 1906, 11,000 were enrolled. All because a group prayed for the power of God to extend the Kingdom of God in their Jerusalem and around the world.

Pray to receive the power of God

But why? Why pray to an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God? He already knows our problems (Matthew 6:8). He wants to help; we cannot manipulate him with our words. So, why is prayer the key to the power of God?

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

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

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

James said that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2). I think one of the chief reasons we don’t ask more urgently, pray more passionately, is that we’re not sure why we should. Why it matters. Why it changes things. And when we do pray, were’ not sure our praying really makes a significant difference.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

Do you agree?

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

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

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