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Relationship Rules

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Relationship Rules

Colossians 3:18-4.1

James C. Denison

A friend recently sent me some statements about marriage which he thought I should use only at Men’s Bible Study on Thursday morning. But since I’m not as smart as he is, here goes:

Patrick Murray: “I’ve had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me, and the second one didn’t.”

Sacha Guitry: “When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.”

Henny Youngman: “Some people ask us the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays.”

Rodney Dangerfield: “My wife and I were happy for 20 years. Then we met.”

Fortunately, God’s wisdom on marriage and relationships is far more redemptive than ours. We’ll close our conversations in Colossians today with the most practical discussion possible, as we study God’s relationship rules. They apply to us all–husbands, wives, children, parents, employers, employees, Americans. We don’t break these rules–we break ourselves on them. Let’s learn how to keep them, and why we should.

Marriage rules

“Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord” (v. 18).

“Submit” translates “hupotasso,” the voluntary submission of one to another. Do this, not because you are inferior to your husband, for you are not. Do this because encouraging respect is what your husband most needs from you today.

The Lord designed him in such a way that your affirmation and support is his greatest need. Before he needs the respect of his peers or society or anyone else, he needs it first from you. Encouraging respect is your greatest gift. That’s simply how God made men.

“Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them” (v. 19).

In a culture which made women the property of their husbands or fathers, Christianity was radically different in its affirmation of women. Mary Magdalene was the first person to see the risen Christ, and the first person commissioned to tell the world about his resurrection. Lydia was the first convert in Europe. Philip had four daughters who were preachers (Acts 21:9). Phoebe was a “servant” or “deaconess” of the church (Romans 16:1). Junia was “outstanding among the apostles” (Romans 16:7).

So it is that husbands are not to be “harsh” with their wives. The word means to find fault, to criticize and complain. Such treatment makes our wives a means to our end, an object for our use.

The Jewish theologian Martin Buber distinguished between “I-You” and “I-It” relationships. In “I-It” relationships the other is a possession, something I use for my purposes. In “I-You” relationships the other is my equal, as valuable and significant as I am. We are to have “I-It” relationships with things and “I-You” relationships with people. Unfortunately, we often reverse the two. I know men who love their car and use their wives. As the song put it, “Loving things and using people only leads to misery; using things and loving people–that’s the way it ought to be.”

And so we are to “love” our wives.

Here Paul uses agape, the word for unconditional commitment. Not eros, the word for erotic or sexual love; not phileo, the word for friendship or partnership love. Before our wives are our sexual partners or our business partners in raising our children and running the house, they are first our unconditional commitment. They must come before all others.

God made wives in such a way that this is their greatest need. Before they need our sexual love or our friendship as partners in raising children and running the house, they need to know that they come first. Before all others. Before all ambitions or plans or priorities. Husbands, unconditional commitment is your greatest gift to your wives. That’s simply how God made women.

In my wedding introductions I always quote the statement: “Long ago, the Lord God gave the first woman to be the bride of the first man. The Bible tells us that Eve was taken from the side of Adam. Not from his head, to be a ruler over him. Not from his foot, to be trodden upon by him. From his side, to be equal with him. From under his arm, to be protected by him. From near his heart, to be loved by him.”

Encouraging respect and unconditional commitment are the gifts God made us to need, and to share. How are you doing at giving your gift this morning?

Parenting rules

From marriage to family: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord” (v. 20). “Obey” can be literally translated, “listen under.” Listen to them, then do what they say. “In everything,” in every dimension of life. Why? Because parents are superior to children, of greater value? Just the opposite, in fact.

In a world which saw children as the possessions of their fathers, to be kept or discarded as they wished, the word of God is subversive and revolutionary in its view of children.

Children are his gift, created by his grace: “Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3).

They typify all that is best in life: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Luke 18:16).

They are to obey their parents because this is best for them. Such obedience “pleases the Lord” because it blesses the children he has made: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’–which is the first commandment with a promise–‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth'” (Ephesians 6:1-3).

Every child on earth has probably encountered some circumstance where disobeying parents would have led to pain or even death. They would have run into the path of a car, or eaten something poisonous, or played with something deadly, except that they obeyed their parents.

At the time, they are often less than grateful for our wisdom. I remember well the time I was using a razor blade to scrape some paint off a window and Ryan, three or so at the time, was enraged that I wouldn’t let him play with this shiny new toy. His obedience saved him from hurt, as mine to my parents probably saved me years earlier.

Children are to give such obedience to their parents, because this is the parent’s greatest need. A husband needs encouraging respect from his wife; a wife needs unconditional commitment from her husband; and parents need continual obedience from their children. This is the only way they can lead their children and families well.

But there’s a catch: “fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged” (v. 21). The text addresses “fathers” because they were the primary disciplinarians and leaders of the first-century family. Today Paul would speak to fathers, but would include mothers in these parenting rules as well.

We are not to “embitter” our children–the word means to “provoke” or “hurt” them through constant criticism. Such parenting will cause children to “become discouraged,” literally “to lose heart” or to “become spiritless.” John Newton, the slave trader who later wrote Amazing Grace, once said, “I knew that my father loved me–but he did not seem to wish me to see it.”

Ephesians 6:4 adds: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Be the kind of people you want your children to become, because that’s precisely what will happen. Godly example is their greatest need, and the one you can best meet.

Equality rules

God’s word has spoken to marriage and to family. Now it turns to work, with relationship rules for slaves and their masters. The principle is simple: slaves are to obey their masters as unto the Lord, as their witness. Masters are to “provide your slaves with what is right and fair” (4:1). As an employee, you owe your employer your best work as your witness. As an employer, you owe your employee fair and honest treatment, as unto the Lord. Such integrity is what each most needs from the other. This is the clear and transcendent principle of this passage.

But its context provides me an opportunity to speak to a related issue: the sin of racism. People sometimes ask me why the New Testament did not do more to eradicate slavery. My answer is that it did.

Christianity is precisely the movement which has ended the slave trade wherever it has been followed. From England to America and Africa, followers of Jesus have always been the leaders in this battle.

Sometimes, tragically, the process has taken far too long. I believe that racism is still the greatest sin in America. And conversations with black and Hispanic leaders across Texas and the South have convinced me that the problem is still epidemic. We have passed civil rights legislation, but minorities still face the same economic and educational discrimination and prejudice they always have.

It was Paul and the New Testament who began the process we have yet to complete.

First, Scripture abolished even the possibility of racial or social discrimination for followers of Jesus: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29).

Second, wherever the early church spoke to this issue, it did so with a view to freedom and equality. Paul knew he could not yet end the institution of slavery, but here he tried to reform it, to end its abuses, to bring it to integrity and godly relationship. The apostle also appealed to Philemon to set his slave free (Philemon 16).

The Christian church gave slaves a family and a home, which is one reason why so many of the earliest believers were slaves. Pastors and congregational leaders were often slaves, for the Church made no distinction between slave and free.

Third, not a single New Testament leader owned slaves or condoned such, even though many such as Joseph of Arimathea and Barnabas had the means to purchase them. Their example inspired Christians across history to do all they could to abolish slavery, and we thank God that they were successful.

But we are not done. The process is not complete until every person in America has the same opportunity and responsibility as any other, regardless of color or race or culture. Employees and employers must treat each other with respect, dignity, and integrity.

And every member of every race must treat every member of every other race with the same respect, dignity, and integrity. This is the only way to the abundant life of Jesus as the Kingdom comes and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

Conclusion

Are you here today to work on your marriage? To give your husband encouraging respect, or your wife unconditional commitment? Are you here to work on your family, giving your parents consistent obedience and your children godly example? Are you here to work on your employment relationships, to commit to integrity in every way? Are you here to repent of racism and to commit your heart to respect and dignity?

Imagine a society which lived by these relationship rules. A society without adultery or marital grief or family bitterness. A society with integrity in the workplace and in all relationships. This is God’s dream for our country and our community. Is it yours?

Amazing Grace is the remarkable new movie profiling the life of William Wilberforce. This English gentleman was a member of Parliament and the landed gentry of his society. He had every means at his disposal for a career of popular acclaim.

Prime minister could have been his if he had wanted it. Instead he spent his years, his credibility, his fortune, his life in leading the crusade to abolish slavery in England. Before he died, he saw his revolution come to pass and slavery outlawed in Great Britain forever.

All because one man chose to stand for the word and will of God, for the sake of his marriage, his family, and his society. Does God need another Wilberforce, where you live, today?

Revealing the Revelation

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Revealing the Revelation

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Dr. Jim Denison

Revelation 1:1

Revelation is my favorite book of the Bible. But for most of us, it is the most confusing book of the Bible as well. My college professor simplified it greatly for me. He said the entire book can be summarized in two words: “We win.” He was right.

Unfortunately, preachers and scholars over the centuries have made Revelation much harder to understand than it really is. Entire seminary classes are devoted to applying complex methods of interpretation to Revelation. I know, because I’ve been in such classes and taught them as well.

What words come to mind today when you think of the book of Revelation? Confusing, hard to understand, debated. And more.

This study should not have confusion. Revelation was written to everyday Christians in ways they could understand and apply. It can still be understood by believers today, if we know what those first century readers knew. And so our method for interpreting the book of Revelation will be simple: to explain what the text meant to its first readers, and therefore what it means for us today.

We begin by stepping back 20 centuries into the environment and context of this remarkable book. We need to answer four important questions, as we lay the foundation for the semester before us:

Who was the author?

Who was the writer?

Who were the readers?

How should we read Revelation?

Who was the author?

We cannot understand fully any writing unless we know its author and circumstances. What do these words mean: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

The Chicago Times said of the speech, “The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States.” But these 268 words are immortal, because of the man who spoke them and the times when he spoke them.

The text before us is even more eternal in its significance, but that significance is far more meaningful for us when we know its author and context.

Who was the author of Revelation? Many editions of the Bible confuse us with their title: “The Revelation of John.” The titles of the biblical books were added centuries after the books were written; in this case, the appended title is wrong.

The first five words of the text settle the question: “The revelation of Jesus Christ” (1.1). The book is the revelation of Jesus, given to John for him to give to Jesus’ churches (1.1b). Jesus is the real author of Revelation.

What difference does it make that Jesus is the author of this book? What do we know about him which is relevant to this book? He knows the future, so these predictions can be trusted, We have through the years heard many predictions made by men, especially concerning the end times. And we know they cannot be trusted.

Jesus has the power to bring these things to pass. He defeated death, calmed storms, overcame Satan’s temptations. He created all things, and all things are subject to him. He cares about us enough to reveal these promises and offer this hope to us. He walks with us as we experience the suffering predicted here. He has suffered himself, and knows the pain we feel.

This is not the naïve predicting of a fortuneteller, or the weak assurances of a frail human being. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ himself to us. So we will read it with fascination and trust it with confidence.

Who was the writer?

The author of Revelation was Jesus Christ. However, this text was first given to a man named John (1.1) who served as the writer. Who was this writer, and why does his identity matter?

Interpreters of the Bible consider two kinds of evidence in determining who wrote a given book: “internal” and “external.” Internal evidence comes from the book itself; external evidence comes from other historical records and sources.

What do we know from internal evidence about John? He is named four times (1.1, 1.4, 1.9, 22.8). He calls himself “your brother and companion” in 1.9. He is on the island of Patmos “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (1.9). That is all we know internally. From this evidence alone, what can we conclude?

He is a Christian (“your brother”).

He is suffering for his faith, thus likely a visible Christian.

He is exiled on Patmos, a prison colony. And so he will understand our sufferings, our pain, as one who goes through them with us.

The external evidence is helpful: from earliest times the near-unanimous opinion of scholars was the John the Beloved Disciple wrote this text.

Justin Martyr (ca. AD 100-165) connected the book with “a certain man of us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him” (Dialogue with Trypho 81).

Irenaeus (born AD 130) and most others in the early Christian era believed that John the Disciple wrote the book.

Some point to differences in the Greek style of Revelation when compared with the Gospel of John and the Letters of John, and suggest that someone other than the Beloved Disciple wrote the book. But changed circumstances behind the writing of Revelation could account easily for these differences.

Here’s what we know about John the Beloved Disciple and his circumstances:

He was Jesus’ best friend and author of the Fourth Gospel: “One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him” (John 13.23); “Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them” (John 21.20); “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true” (v. 24).

He pastored in Ephesus, and knew the other six churches as well, likely preaching in them as a circuit rider. The seven churches were all satellites of Ephesus, in a sense, and all part of that pastor’s wider area of responsibility.

He had been exiled on Patmos (1.9). According to Jerome (died AD 419/420), this occurred in AD 94, when John was quite elderly.

Patmos is a barren, rocky island forty miles off the coast of Asia Minor in the Mediterranean Sea, 10 miles long by 5 miles wide and crescent-shaped. This island was where Rome often banished notorious criminals.

Sir William Ramsey says that John’s banishment would have been “preceded by scourging, . . . marked by perpetual fetters, scanty clothing, insufficient food, sleep on the bare ground in a dark prison, and work under the lash of military overseers.” This was the Auschwitz of the first century.

And so John received the Revelation when he needed its hope as much as we do. He will give it to us as the gift of a fellow sufferer.

Who were the readers?

The prologue is clear: “John to the seven churches that are in Asia” (1.4); “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea” (1.10-11).

We know a good deal about their circumstances. And none of it is good.

Rome was on the attack. Domitian, emperor from AD 81-96, was a cold-blooded murderer and egotist. He commanded the citizens everywhere to worship him as God. When he arrived at the theatre in Rome with his wife, the soldiers made the crowd rise and shout, “All hail to our Lord and his Lady!” He made subjects worship him as God or die.

Jewish leaders were a threat. Justin Martyr said of them: “You displayed great zeal in publishing throughout the land bitter and dark and unjust things against the only blameless and righteous Light sent by God” (Dialogue with Trypho 17).

According to an early record of the martyrdom of Polycarp, the aged Smyrnan Christian leader, “the whole multitude both of the heathen and the Jews, who dwelt at Smyrna, cried out with uncontrollable fury” in demanding that Polycarp die by fire. the crowds even gathered wood for the fire, “the Jews especially, according to custom, eagerly assisting them in it” (Martyrdom of Polycarp 12, 13).

And their persecution increased the Roman problem, as Rome saw them as a separate group from the Jews.

Internal division was increasing and life-threatening. The Ephesian Christians had forsaken Christ, their first love. Believers at Pergamum and Thyatira were compromising with false teachings and immorality. The church at Sardis was “asleep” and dying spiritually. The Laodiceans were self-sufficient and proud.

Thus the first readers of these letters were facing a future as uncertain as our own. What would their external circumstances bring? What would come of their internal, moral, spiritual problems?

We face nothing in our future more difficult than what they faced in theirs.

How should we read Revelation?

There are several views about how Revelation should be interpreted. The following are short descriptions of the most common.

Preterist: the events recorded in Revelation have already been fulfilled.

Continuous Historical: Revelation is a forecast of the entire history of the church; this view attempts to correlate passages in the book with specific historical events. For instance, Barnes’ Notes comments on Revelation 8.8-9: “A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.” Barnes locates this event with the invasion of Rome by Genseric, at the head of the Vandals, in AD 428-468, and writes four pages to defend his position.

Theological Principles: Revelation is a religious philosophy of life which demonstrates how things turn out in a world where evil seems to be in control but God is the actual ruler.

Social Interpretation: Revelation teaches a particular social agenda, in which God’s Kingdom overcomes the existing, hostile, godless powers.

Dispensational Premillennialism: a literal approach wherever possible, separating Israel from the Church, and teaching a literal rapture, 7-year tribulation, and 1000-year millennial rule of Christ on earth.

Historic Premillennialism: no rapture or 7-year tribulation.

Postmillennialism: Christ will return after the millennium.

Amillennialism: the prophecies of a future millennium are highly symbolic; seven sections move in parallel with one another.

I will give you my approach in a later study.

Jesus has been where we are right now. We will go through nothing today or this week which he and the first Christians did not face. He offers us the hope of his help and presence. We win!

Right and Wrong Ways to Know God’s Will

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Topical Scripture: Judges 6

You know the world is changing when the World Health Organization proposes adding “gaming disorder” to its manual of disease classifications. According to the manual, “Gaming disorder is characterized by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior.” Symptoms include a lack of control over gaming; giving gaming preference over other life interests and daily activities; and continuation or escalation of gaming despite negative consequences.

We live in a culture that is changing more rapidly than ever before. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the most common question I’ve been asked in four decades of ministry is, “How can I know God’s will for my life?” Some people ask this question with regard to a specific decision they are facing, others as they seek their general direction and life purpose.

In our series from the Book of Judges, we come today to a man who desperately needed to know how to answer this question. His story is in Scripture as an example for us today. From Gideon we will learn what to do and what not to do. Both lessons are vital.

Believe in God’s love

Our story is set in one of the most dangerous periods in Jewish history. It begins, as so often in Judges, with the nation’s sin: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (Judges 6:1a). As a result, “for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites” (v. 1b).

Who were these oppressors? Why were they so dangerous?

Midian was the fourth son of Abraham by his second wife (or concubine) Keturah (Genesis 25:2). His descendants intermingled with the Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:25), living as nomads in the desert east of the Dead Sea and the Sinai Peninsula (modern-day Saudi Arabia).

In our text, the Midianites aligned with “Amalekites and other eastern people” (Judges 6:3) to attack Israel. They amassed large herds of camels, making them much quicker than the foot soldiers of Israel (v. 5b). When the harvest was ripe, they would appear “like swarms of locusts” (v. 5a) and steal the sheep, cattle, donkeys, and crops of the Jews (v. 4).

The Israelites were forced to hide from them in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds (v. 2). They could not defeat their enemy or live like this much longer. So, they finally “cried out to the Lord for help” (v. 6), repenting of their sin and turning to God.

Who or what are the Midianites and Amalekites in your life? Where are you facing challenges and struggles? They may be the result of your sins, or they may be the result of living in a fallen world.

Either way, know that God still loves you. He knows your pain (Hebrews 4:15) and cares about your suffering. You can still call out to him for help. It’s never too soon to give up on God.

Go where God sends

The Lord’s revealed will for their need came in a surprising way.

He sent his angel to Gideon, son of Joash the Abiezrite, while he was “threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites” (Judges 6:11). Wheat was typically threshed in an open area where the wind could carry away the chaff, while grapes were crushed into wine in an enclosed area where they would be more protected from the elements.

Gideon was a laborer, working as a field hand. He was hiding from Israel’s enemies in fear. Such was not the resume we would expect for a “mighty warrior” of God (v. 12b).

The angel assured Gideon that “the Lord is with you” (v. 12a). The frustrated Israelite immediately protested that God’s presence should not have allowed them to fall into the hands of the Midianites (v. 13). Rather than speculate as to the reasons for their suffering, the angel offered the practical next step of God: “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (v. 14).

There is an entire theology of God’s will in this one verse.

Lesson one: God’s direction is always more practical than speculative. We want to know why something happened—our Lord is usually more interested in showing us what to do when it does occur. Rather than providing a full philosophical theodicy for their suffering, he provides a practical solution in Gideon’s leadership.

Lesson two: God has prepared us for whatever he calls us to do. Gideon was to “go in the strength you have,” not waiting until he acquired greater physical prowess or military might. The Lord has already made you ready for the next step you are to take, or he would not call you to take it. If you are to share Christ with a difficult neighbor or give a greater sacrifice of your time and money, or follow God into a new vocation, he has already prepared you for the will he now reveals. You have the strength you need for the task at hand.

Lesson three: His will is always for what comes next. He was to “save Israel out of Midian’s hand,” because that was the problem before them. We want a five-year plan, but no one in Scripture is given such advance notice. Today is the only day there is. God’s will is first and foremost for this present moment and the faithfulness it requires of us. Obedience, more than knowledge, is the issue.

Lesson four: God’s will never leads where his grace cannot sustain. He was “sending” Gideon in his will, provision, and power. He would go before him and prepare the way; he would sustain Gideon and his people in their battles; he would use them for his glory and their good. When Gideon protested that he was the weakest member of the weakest family in the weakest clan of Israel (v. 15), God repeated his assurance, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together” (v. 16).

Trust where God leads

But such assurance was not enough for Gideon. So, he placed a wool fleece on the threshing floor where he was at work (v. 37). He asked God to make the fleece wet with dew and the ground dry, and his request was answered (vv. 37–38). Then he asked that the fleece be dry while the ground was wet (the greater miracle, as fleece would absorb much more dew than the ground), and again it was so (vv. 39–40). And Gideon had his assurance and was ready to lead the armies of Israel into battle.

God’s willingness to meet Gideon’s conditions demonstrates his grace. He takes us where we are and leads us where we need to go. His incarnational love comes into our condition and accommodates his holiness to our fallenness. But the fact that he was willing to give Gideon such signs is not clear proof that he intends us to ask for them today.

Gideon’s method of determining God’s will has come down through history as “putting out the fleece.” Countless believers have followed his example by constructing circumstantial tests for knowing God’s direction.

For instance, I have known of pastors who would go to a church only if a specific percentage of the congregation voted to call them, believing that such a number would show them whether it was God’s will for them to accept the call or not. I have heard of churches which decide that they will move forward with capital projects only if a certain percentage of the needed funds are pledged in a given time period, as indication of God’s will in the matter.

Either decision could be pragmatic; I would not pastor a church if the large majority did not want to call me, or move forward with a building project if a sizeable percentage of the needed funds were not pledged. But for some, the specific number itself is an indication of God’s will. One pastor I know refused a church’s call because he had set a “fleece” of 90 percent and received 88 percent instead.

I would caution you against using the “fleece” method as the biblical way of knowing God’s will, for several reasons.

First, Gideon’s fleece is described in the Bible, not prescribed in Scripture. No verse of God’s word asks us to seek God’s will in this way. The fact that Gideon used this practice does not mandate it for us. David’s sin with Bathsheba is described accurately, but certainly not prescribed for us today.

Second, Gideon is not the best moral character in Scripture to follow. When the people of Peniel would not help him in battle, he pulled down their tower and killed all the men of the town (Judges 8:17). Then he took gold from the people and formed an ephod (a priestly garment) as an idol for the people to worship (vv. 24–27). He had many wives, and at least one concubine as well (vv. 30–31). Nowhere does the Bible lift him up as an example for us to follow in seeking the Lord’s direction for our lives.

Third, a circumstantial “fleece” must be interpreted carefully. Satan can move people to act, as with Judas’s betrayal of Jesus (John 13:27). People can misuse their freedom to act in ways which contradict God’s word and will, as the Hebrews did in our text. And events can be understood in different ways. Jesus’ miracles caused many in the crowds to believe in him, but some to attribute his powers to Beelzebub (Luke 11:14–15).

Conclusion

Let me say it again: God’s will never leads where his grace cannot sustain. Whatever your challenges, know that your Father loves you. Choose to go where he sends and trust where he leads.

He may reveal his will through Scripture, circumstances, other people, or by speaking to you intuitively. But if you are willing to go anywhere and do anything, when you need to know his will, you will. The question is not one of knowledge, but obedience.

God has a plan for Adam and Eve—where and what to live. A plan for Noah—how to build his ark, right down to the exact specifications and building materials he should use. A plan for Abraham, including where he should live, how old he would be when he had his son, and even that son’s name. A plan for Joseph, using his slavery and imprisonment to save the entire nation. A plan for Moses, encompassing the very words he should say to Pharaoh. A plan for Joshua, showing him where and how to take the land. A plan for David and Solomon, for their kingdom and the temple they would build for him. A plan for Daniel, even in the lion’s den.

Jesus had plans for his first disciples—plans they could not have begun to understand. He had a plan for Saul of Tarsus as he left to persecute the Christians in Damascus. He had a plan for John on Patmos.

Now God has a plan for your life.

In what way is your Lord calling you to be a Gideon for today? Identify your Midianites, and the reason they are persecuting you. If sin is causing your suffering, admit it and claim your Father’s forgiving grace. Then seek his direction for your next step. Surrender to his will before he reveals it, refusing to be conformed to the world’s mold, being transformed daily by your communion with him. And you will know his “good, pleasing, and perfect” will (Romans 12:2).

Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuits, and made this prayer theirs:

Teach us, Lord, to serve you as you deserve,

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To toil and not to seek for rest,

To labor and not to ask any reward,

Save that of knowing that we do your will.

Amen.

Santa Claus Goes to Church

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Santa Claus Goes to Church

1 John 1

Dr. Jim Denison

Nicholas of Myra was born around AD 270 in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. He became bishop of Myra, was exiled and imprisoned by Emperor Diocletian, released by Constantine the Great, and died in Myra around AD 350. In 987 he was named the patron saint of Russia. In the year 1087 his remains were purchased by Italian merchants and moved to the city of Bari in Italy, where they are still preserved to this day in the church of San Nicola.

Nicholas has been one of history’s most venerated saints. By 1400 more than 500 songs and hymns had been written in his honor. When Christopher Columbus arrived in Haiti on December 6 of 1492, he named the port St. Nicholas. By 1500 more than 700 churches in Britain were dedicated to him.

Why was he so beloved? Because he spent his life helping the poor and underprivileged. He was the first to initiate programs for mentally challenged children. He loved children and often visited their homes at night, disguised in a red and white hooded robe, leaving gifts of money, clothing or food at their windows or fireplaces.

The Dutch especially appreciated his story. They spelled his name “Sint Nikolass,” which in America became “Sinterklass,” or “Santa Claus.”

We know of St. Nicholas today because of Dr. Clement Clark Moore, a theology and classics professor at Union Seminary in New York. In 1822 he wrote a poem for his children entitled, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” It began with these words:

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In the hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The illustrator Thomas Nast put Dr. Moore’s figure to art, creating the figure we know today as Santa Claus. And so yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

As with Santa Claus, so with Christmas. Today we have trees and toys and tinsel, cards and gifts and parties. Christmas is a holiday. But it was once a holy day. There is reality behind the story. Today I want to remind you of that real, historical stuff, and show you why it matters so much to your life and mine.

Is Christmas real?

John begins, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (v. 1). This is how he takes his readers back nearly a hundred years, to the first Christmas.

The babe born that day was “from the beginning.” John’s Gospel begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

Jesus was creating the world: “for by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth” (Colossians 1:16). He was holding it together: “He was before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). The Christ of Christmas existed long before he was born.

Then this Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer came to the earth he made. He chose his parents, a teenage girl and her peasant husband. He chose his town of birth, a tiny country village. He chose his place of birth, a dank, musty, dark cave behind a stable. He chose his crib, a stone feed trough; and his baby clothes, rough blankets. He chose his first worshippers, lowly field hands.

And John knows it is true, because he has seen it all himself: he has “heard” him teach, from the Sermon on the Mount to his ascension; he has “seen with our eyes” his miracles and physical ministry; his “hands touched” his resurrected life. This eyewitness testifies that it is all true.

And he’s not the only one. In addition to the biblical witness, Roman historians Tacitus, Seutonius, and Mara bar Serapion document his existence; Jewish historian Josephus gives us many details of his life; and Roman administrator Pliny the Younger describes the fact that the first Christians knew him to be real and worshipped him as God. It’s all true.

Long before there was a St. Nicholas, there was the Christ he worshipped. Long before there was a wooden manger in nativity scenes, there was a cave. I’ve been inside it, and even sang Christmas carols there. We know beyond any shadow of historical doubt that this is all true. Yes, Virginia, there really is a Christ of Christmas.

Why does Christmas matter?

Now let’s ask our other question: why does it matter? Why does the fact that a baby was born in a feed trough in ancient Bethlehem matter? For these reasons.

First, life is found at Christmas.

The text continues: “this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us (vs. 1b-2). Life, significance, eternal purpose “appeared” at Christmas. It came to us with the baby born at Bethlehem, and with him alone.

My dear friend Oscar Dellet explained this better than I can. In his message at the contemporary service last weekend, our Cuban brother and my fellow pastor spoke from John 10:10: “I have come that they might have life.” He made the point this way: everything you see around you exists. The platform exists; the chairs exist; our bodies exist. But they do not have life. Life is found only in Jesus Christ. Everything else is just existence.

He went on: there is a God-sized hole in every human soul. That hole can be filled only with the life which Jesus gives. We can put everything that exists in that hole—cars, houses, clothes, status, money—but it won’t fill it. It can’t. Only Jesus can. Only he can give us life, significance, meaning and eternal purpose. We can have life only in him.

If there were no Christmas, there could be no life. We would live and die, and spend eternity separated from God and life. Our lives can have life only because of him. If you’re looking for more to life than you’ve found; if you want your days to matter and your life to count; if there’s a hole in your soul, a gnawing realization that this cannot be all there is; then I offer you this advice: come to the manger with me today.

Now John turns from the philosophical to the practical: “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us” (v. 3). Later he says, “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (v. 7). Life is found in Christ. Now we learn that loneliness is healed in Christ. That we have “fellowship” with each other and with God in Christ, and in Christ alone.

Loneliness is one of the great problems of Christmas. Some of you are facing Christmas without someone you love. Some of you are alone. Some of you are far from home. Some of you are going through trauma and pain in your family, or your work, or your finances, or your health. So many of us feel alone, and the Christmas season only makes things worse.

But the baby of Bethlehem came to make you right with God, with yourself, and with others. If you will follow him, we will join you. We are your family, your sisters and brothers. We have one Father, and we will spend eternity together. We will pray with you and for you, and walk with you, and live this life with you. Because of the Christ of Christmas, we have a Father and a family, and fellowship with him and with each other.

Are you lonely and alone today? If you are, I offer you this advice: come to the manger with me today.

But there’s more relevance to Christmas: “We write this to make our joy complete.” Joy is well-being which transcends circumstances. And it is made “complete” in the One John speaks of, the Christ of Christmas. Joy is found at Christmas, and there alone.

It can be hard to have joy at Christmas, can’t it? How many trees will you put up this year? We have done three: one for my mother and two at our home. We bought a live tree again this year, and are vacuuming needles daily. It took an hour just to get the boxes down from the attic. I truly envy a friend of mine in Atlanta: years ago he bought an artificial tree, glued it together, glued ornaments on it, put wheels on its base, and every year pushes it out from its closet and plugs it in.

Have you bought all your presents? Do you even know what you’re getting? Have you gotten your cards done? We’re receiving cards already—that’s just wrong. It ought to be illegal, this early. Is your family coming? Are you going? Are you happy about that? How’s your joy so far this season?

The night of Jesus’ birth, the angel said: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). In the babe of Bethlehem there is “great joy.” Do you feel a well-being which transcends your circumstances today? If you don’t, you can. Here’s my advice: come to the manger with me today.

Let’s finish: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (v. 9). We have discovered that life, and fellowship, and joy are found in Christ alone. We can have them only because he came to earth for us, only because Christmas is real.

Now we learn that forgiveness is ours in him as well, and in him alone. If we will go to him, confess our failures and mistakes to him, and ask his forgiveness, he will give it. The babe of Bethlehem is the only One who can do this. And only because of Christmas.

Conclusion

These are the gifts of Christmas, from the Christ to us. In him, and in him alone, we have life, fellowship, joy, and forgiveness. We have all our soul really needs. Yes, Virginia, there really is a Christmas. And it matters more than anything else in all the world.

Have you received these gifts of grace yet? You cannot earn or deserve them. But you can receive them, in faith. They are grace to you. God’s grace to you.

God has even more grace for you. Why not come for it, right now?

Scientology and Christianity

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Scientology and Christianity

Dr. Jim Denison

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

Basic traits:

•Authority figure

•Extrabiblical text

•Unorthodox theology, somewhat related to Christianity

General characteristics:

•Presents a Jesus different from that of orthodox faith

•Claims new truth

•Offers new, non-orthodox interpretations of Scripture

•Cites non-biblical authority source(s)

•Rejects major tenets of orthodox Christianity

•Generally develops a changing, often contradictory theology

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

•Almost always offers a salvation by works

•Generally makes unsubstantiated prophetic claims

Introduction to Scientology

“Scientology” means “the study of truth.” The movement was founded in 1952 by L. Ron Hubbard, an American fiction writer. He had earlier authored a self-help system called Dianetics. Hubbard later called Scientology an “applied religious philosophy” and the basis for a new religion. Hubbard produced more than 500,000 pages of writings in support of his movement, working from 1952 until his death in January of 1986. He is called “Source” by his followers.

As a young man, Hubbard was highly influenced by Freudian analysis. He later befriended writers who were influenced by the Hindu concept of karma and the theories of Carl Jung. He credited the Tao Te Ching, the Dharma, and Gautama Buddha as forerunners of his movement.

The Church claims some 10 million members, though objective estimates place the number at 100,000 to 500,000. The first Church of Scientology was incorporated in Camden, New Jersey in 1953. When a Scientology Mission reaches the size required to administer all courses and auditing to reach the State of Clear, it is considered a church. There are 142 Churches in 28 countries around the world, and over 300 missions in 50 countries. Advanced Organizations are located in Los Angeles; Clearwater, Florida; the United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Copenhagen, Denmark; and the cruise ship Freewinds. Organizations such as Narconon (to deal with drug rehabilition) are associated with Scientology.

Beliefs

Ultimate reality: Scientology is “the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life.” Followers believe that we are spiritual beings, that our existence spans more than one life, and that we are endowed with abilities beyond our normal experiences. We are basically good, though we err by considering only our own point of view.

The ultimate goal: “a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights.” Nothing is to be accepted on faith; all is to be tested by observation. Scientology provides means by which people can achieve greater spiritual awareness of themselves and their world.

Authority: There is no single book which forms the basis for Scientology. 15 books, 15,000 pages of writing, and over 3,000 lectures compose the “canon” of the religion. Followers study these books and lectures in chronological order.

Mankind: We are immortal spirit beings (thetans) who possess both mind and body. We have lived through many past lives and will continue to live beyond the death of the body. Through “auditing,” we can free ourselves of past traumas and bad decisions which restrict us from being “Clear” and then an “Operating Thetan.”

In each state we recover our spiritual abilities and achieve mental and physical benefits. We are good but become “aberrated” by pain and unconsciousness. Psychiatry and psychology are destructive practices which keep us from progressing toward our personal fulfillment.

We are Mind, Body, and Spirit.

•The thetan (spirit/individual being) has no mass or energy; it is the creator of all other things.

•The Mind is the way our thetan communicates with our environment. We have an “analytical” or conscious mind and a “reactive” or subconscious mind. Dianetics helps us resolve our engrams (bank of traumatic memories) which inhitibit our success and happiness. Many of these have been accumulated in past lives, as thetans have lived for tens of trillions of years.

•Some of our past traumas resulted from “implants” used by extraterrestrials such as Helatrobus to brainwash and control us. A gigantic Church of Spiritual Technology symbol is carved into the ground at Scientology’s Trementina Base so that followers know how to find Hubbard’s works in future lives when they travel to Earth from other places in the universe.

•The Body is a carbon-oxygen machine engineered by the Thetan.

We live successfully when we coordinate affinity (emotions), reality, and communication (the exchange of ideas). This is the ARC triangle. When we increase Knowledge, Responsibility, and Control, we improve our lives and take control over our environment. This is the KRC triangle.

Progress

•The “tone scale” locates our behavior from -40 (“Total Failure”) to +40 (“Serenity of Being”). Emotions, physical health, mating behavior, and ability to deal with truth can help identify our place on the tone scale.

•Those who have achieved the State of Clear may proceed onto the Upper or OT (Operating Thetan) Levels. These are designated OT I to VIII, and are open only to those who have been invited into the process. OT VIII is granted only at sea, aboard the Freewinds, the Scientology ship. Teachings which lead to these levels has been guarded zealously by the movement, but some elements have been leaked by followers or entered into court records over the years.

•One example of these teachings has to do with Xenu, an alien ruler of the “Galactic Confederacy.” He brought billions of people to Earth 75 million years ago in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes, and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls stuck to the bodies of the living; alien souls continue to do this today, creating many of our problems and diseases. They are called “Body Thetans”; advanced Scientologists work hard to remove them and their effects.

•”Auditing” is one-on-one communication with a trained Scientology counselor (“auditor”). An E-meter is used to measure small changes in electrical resistance. The follower (a “preclear” or PC) unburdens himself of specific traumas and bad decisions, often by answering specific questions. The E-meter helps locate areas of concern. Auditing is said to lead to improved IQ, enhanced memory, and general happiness.

•Followers progress from “Scientology Zero” to “Scientology Five.” They learn how to deal with their environment; then find ways to live better; then engage in specific Scientology training; then begin OT levels; then reach the highest echelons.

Practices

•”Silent birth”: the delivery room should be silent lest the newborn associate words with the trauma of the birth experience and thus induce engrams in the baby. “Barley Formula” (which Hubbard claims to have learned “in Roman days”) is a suitable substitute for breast feeding (though it has been much criticized by health professionals for lacking important vitamins).

•Ceremonies for marriage, birth, and death are performed by an ordained Scientology minister. Most are found in Ceremonies of the Church of Scientology. At a funeral, the minister speaks specifically to the thetan and grants forgiveness for anything the deceased has done.

•Followers are encouraged to practice “disassociation” from antagonistic family members or friends. They are not allowed to participate in the activities of other religions (though Scientology claims to be compatible with all religions).

Celebrities:

L. Ron Hubbard helped form a special Church of Scientology for artists, politicians, industry leaders, and sports figures. Eight throughout the world are called Celebrity Centers; the largest is in Hollywood.

Among the best-known celebrity Scientologists are John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Jason Lee, Isaac Hayes, Tom Cruise, and Katie Holmes. James Packer (Australia’s richest man) is a Scientologist.

Controversy:

•Germany considers Scientology a business; many other European countries do not recognize it as a religion.

•”Disassociation” has been much criticized.

•The “Fair Game” policy which encourages the abuse of critics has been exposed.

•L. Ron Hubbard’s reported intent to start a religion for profit has been critiqued.

•Attempts have been made to force Google and other search engines to omit any articles which are negative toward Scientology.

•Auditing confidentiality has been much criticized.

Seeing God Again for the First Time

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Seeing God Again for the First Time

Matthew 17.1-8

Dr. Jim Denison

Nearly forty years ago, one night around midnight, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway in a drenching rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she was soaking wet as she tried to flag down a car. To her surprise, a young white man stopped to help her, unheard of in those racially charged days. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him as she left.

Seven days went by. A knock came at his door. To his surprise, a giant console color television was delivered to his home. A special note was attached which read, “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others. Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.”

We never know when we’ll meet someone famous. Neither did Peter, James, and John. But what happened on a mountain in Israel twenty centuries ago has profound relevance for our lives today. Next to the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I believe this is the most important event in his entire life and ministry. And one of the most significant for us.

Let me explain. Come with me to a mountain, and see God again for the first time.

Climbing up to God

Here’s the setting (v. 1): “after” is after Caesarea Philippi, where Peter pronounces Jesus the Messiah, and Jesus says that his church will assault the gates of hell itself.

Now he takes Peter, James, and his brother John to be with him. Why these three? Peter would one day be the first to preach the gospel; James would be the first apostle to die for his Lord; John would give us his gospel, letters, and the book of Revelation. And so Jesus is equipping them to fulfill his purpose for them—God does not call the equipped, but equips the called.

He “led them up a high mountain.”Tradition said this was Mt. Tabor, but it’s too far from Caesarea Philippi to be the likely place. Probably this was a mountain in the range of Mt. Hermon, fourteen miles from Caesarea Philippi, 9,400 feet tall. The mountain is so high it can be seen from the Dead Sea, at the other end of Israel, more than 100 miles away.

What happens next occurs at night, as Luke’s gospel tells us the disciples were sleepy (9:32), and that they spent the night on the mountain (Luke 9:37). He leads them “by themselves.” Our most profound moments with God are typically those times when we are alone with him.

Watch what happens next: “…he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light” (v. 2).

Because Jesus was “transfigured,” this is called the Mount of Transfiguration.

The word means that his appearance changed, not his essence. He was and is God, the Lord of all creation. But here he pulled back the veil to show these three special apostles the glory which was his from eternity and for eternity.

And so “His face shone like the sun,” and not for the last time. When Jesus revealed himself to John on the island of Patmos, “His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (Revelation 1:16).

His clothes became “as white as the light.” Luke says they were “as bright as a flash of lightning” (9:29); Mark adds that they “became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (9:3).

Jesus shows them the heavenly glory which proves that he was and is the divine Son of God.

But this incredible mountaintop experience isn’t done yet: “Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus” (v. 3). Moses was the supreme lawgiver, and represents the Torah, the Law of God. Elijah was the supreme prophet, the most powerful preacher in ancient Israel.

Luke tells us that they “spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem” (9:31). They came to show that Jesus’ impending death and resurrection fulfills the law and the prophets.

Peter and his companions are asleep until the appearance of Moses and Elijah awakens them (Luke 9:32). Mark tells us that Peter “did not know what to say, they were so frightened” (Mark 9:6); Luke says that Peter “did not know what he was saying” (9:33). He offers to build tents so they could all stay right there on the mountaintop—avoid the valley below and the cross awaiting Jesus. So often we meet God at spiritual heights and want to stay right there. But we cannot.

The Father himself speaks: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (v. 5). The Father spoke these words earlier to Jesus at his baptism; how he speaks them of Jesus to his apostles.

The disciples are terrified, for no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20). They fall on their faces before him, a typical Jewish response of veneration and respect.

But Jesus goes to them, touches them, tells them to get us and says, “Don’t be afraid” (v. 7). Literally, “Stop being afraid.”And when they look up, they see “no one except Jesus” (v. 8). Jesus only.

Seeing Jesus only

Years ago I read a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon on this text which got me to thinking: what if these three men had not seen “Jesus only?”

For instance, what if they had looked up and seen “Moses only?” Moses, the lawgiver—the conveyer of the Ten Commandments of God, the instrument by which God gave the Torah, the Law to his people. If it were Moses only, then you and I could come to God only by keeping the law—only by religion, by legalism, by self-justifying moralism.

Tragically, most Americans live as though it were “Moses only.” Most think that God helps those who help themselves; that if we are good and sincere, that’s enough for God. Do you believe that God hears your prayers, helps you, accepts you because you came to church today and try to live a good life? I did for many years. That’s seeing God through religion. That’s “Moses only.”

But it doesn’t work. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). None of us can find God through Moses. Not even Moses. Don’t choose “Moses only.”

What if they had seen “Elijah only?” The supreme prophet and preacher of God’s word and truth. What if it were Elijah only on this mountain with these men?

Then we could come to God only through other men. Not through the church, but its pastor and leaders. Not through religion, but through the religious. By trusting in what a preacher tells you, by depending on him to get you to God.

Do you let my sermons be your only word from God each week? Do you let your Sunday school teacher’s lesson, or your devotional book, or the radio or television message you hear be your word from God? Or do you go to God personally, digging in his word and searching out his truth for your life? Do you meet God yourself in prayer, in worship, in spiritual commitment? Or do you let me and us substitute for him?

Elijah only doesn’t work. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, even Elijah. Especially me, and us. None of us can find God through Elijah, or any other man or woman. Not even Elijah. Don’t choose “Elijah only.”

What if they had seen all three? Then we would have to come to Jesus through religion and the religious. Through the Law and its preachers. Through the church and its teachers.

What if they had seen no one there? What if the Father had simply taken Jesus from this mountain back to heaven, rather than from the Mount of Olives where he ascended after his resurrection? What if the Father had chosen not to send his Son to our sinful, tortured cross? To die in our place, for us all? What if they had seen no one at all?

Aren’t you glad they saw “Jesus only?” The fact that they did possesses this life-changing, power-filled relevance for us: first, Jesus is God.

He’s not just the great teacher, preacher, and healer we saw him to be last week. Many in human history have been great teachers, preachers, and healers. But not a single person in all of recorded history has ever claimed what happened to Jesus here—that he or she was transfigured into heavenly glory in the presence of Moses and Elijah, while the Father from heaven spoke his words of glorious affirmation and love. No one, except Jesus only.

Jesus is God come to us. He came for Peter, who would deny him three times. He came for James, who would abandon him at the cross. He came for John, the humble fisherman, as well. If he would come to them, he comes to us. Jesus brings God to us. We couldn’t get to him through Moses or Elijah, so he brought God to us.

He comes to you today, if only you’d believe that he is God and bow before him in reverent faith. Wherever you are, whoever you are, Jesus is ready right now to bring God to you. He is God come to us.

Last, Jesus only is God come to us. He was crystal clear about this: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Jesus only brings us to salvation and eternal life with our Father in heaven.

Jesus only brings us the word and will of God, guiding us through the decisions we must make and the trials we must endure.

Jesus only gives our lives meaning, purpose, and hope.

I’m reading Jeremiah right now as part of my personal Bible study. Tuesday, God spoke to me profoundly through these two verses of his word: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Of what are you boasting today? Is it Jesus only?

Conclusion

This Mount of Transfiguration proves that Jesus is God, God come to us, the only way to go to God. Jesus is our only source of wisdom, joy, and significance in life. He is available to every one of us, right now.

So, is your life built on Jesus only today? Do you speak with him all through your day? Do you seek his will for your every decision? Do you seek to please him in what you say and do? Are you living for Jesus only?

If it is, then you are walking in the abundant life which Jesus only can give. And one day, you’ll be in heavenly reward and glory, and you’ll hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” All because you lived for Jesus only. The best is yet to be.

A friend sent me this beautiful true story. A woman was diagnosed with cancer and given only three months to live. She asked her pastor to meet with her, so they might arrange her funeral. She selected scriptures to read and hymns to sing, decided the clothes she would wear, and showed him her favorite Bible which she wanted to hold.

Then she made a strange request: she wanted to be buried with a fork in her right hand. He was puzzled, of course. And so she explained: “In all my years of attending church socials and functions where food was involved, my favorite part was when whoever was clearing away the dishes would lean over and say, ‘You can keep your fork.’ It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming. Dessert was on its way. So I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand so all who come to my funeral will know, something better is on its way.”

At her funeral, over and over, the pastor heard people ask, “What’s with the fork?” During his message he explained. And she was right. When you live for Jesus only, something better is coming. You can keep your fork.

This is the word of God.

Seeing God in Everything

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Seeing God in Everything

Esther 2

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: God is in every detail of our lives

Problem: we don’t know how to find him when we need him

Answer: look for him in small, hard, physical, and coincidental places

Persuade: to see God in every event of your life today

A little girl went to church, leaving her invalid father at home. In his anger and frustration he wrote on a piece of paper the letters, GODISNOWHERE. She came home, saw the sign, smiled, and said out loud, “God is now here!” And he is.

As you hurt, God hurts with you. And he promises you his presence, help, and hope. Every day. This day.

Where do you go when you need to hear from God? When you’re facing a decision, or a problem, or a pain. When it seems that the heavens are silent and prayer is unanswered?

Listen to the perplexed poet:

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below;

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

How can you find God every day, all day? Esther 2 tells us.

God turns small things into big things (2.1)

The first verse of our text is proof: “Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her.”

Here’s the chronology to chapter 2:

•Xerxes succeeded his father Darius in 486/5 B.C.

•Three years later he gave the banquet which led to Queen Vashti’s deposal as queen (483/2 B.C.).

•Now Persia enters into three years of disastrous war with Greece (482-479).

•At the war’s end the king “remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her” (2.1).

The nation has been at war for three years, but this war is not even mentioned in the book of Esther. Imagine a history book which left out WWI, II, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm, the Taliban. At the same time, the relatively trivial matter of palace politics and the next queen is the occupying issue of the book. In a day when kings had many wives and concubines (Solomon had 700 and 300, respectively).

Why is this so? The Bible tells us what we need to know about God, not about the world. Thus no dinosaurs in Scripture. God uses events we wouldn’t consider. A fugitive shepherd in time will defy the mighty Egyptian nation. A shepherd boy will become king. An enslaved prophet will find God in a lion’s den. A Galilean carpenter will die on a cross and save the world. God uses small things in big ways.

How can God use small things in big ways?

I became the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Midland, Texas at the age of 30. My previous pastorate, which I served while teaching at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, averaged less than 100 on Sunday morning; our new congregation had more than 8,000 members and more staff than our previous church had in Sunday night worship.

I had not been in Midland long when it became apparent that my previous experience and expertise was not sufficient to this new calling. I remember to this day those feelings of overwhelmed inadequacy. One evening I was sitting on our back porch, asking God to give me direction and strength for this ministry. My attention was drawn to a leaf which had fallen from the peach tree in our back yard and landed at my feet. I felt the Spirit’s leading to pick it up and examine it.

I had never paid much attention to a leaf, but I did that day. As I studied its intricate design, I was amazed by the minute detail it exhibited. I considered the chlorophyll and photosynthesis which it employed with ease. I reflected on the fact that modern scientists, with all our amazing tools, cannot produce from nothing a single leaf. As I focused on that leaf, I sensed God’s Spirit say to me, “If I can design a leaf, I can design your life.” With that thought came “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

God called our family from Midland to Atlanta, Georgia in 1994 and then to Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas only four years later. Not long after our move to Dallas, I returned to Atlanta to conduct the wedding of a dear friend’s daughter. I spent much of that weekend at Ignatius House, a Jesuit Catholic retreat center on the Chattahoochee River in northern Atlanta.

God has spoken to me often at this remarkable place, and that weekend was no exception. As I sat on a wooden deck overlooking the river in late August, I admitted to God my confusion. We were excited to be in Dallas, but didn’t understand why he had led us to make this move. I could discern no great narrative or strategy for our new ministry. I asked him for a sense of his plans and purpose for us.

As with the leaf in Midland years earlier, I sensed again the Spirit’s strange direction, this time to a caterpillar crawling along the wooden fencing of the deck. There I watched the hairy green insect make its way along the board, bunching and then stretching itself over and over again along the wood.

It was impervious to my presence, and had no idea that a Jesuit retreat center was responsible for its pathway. It seemed unaware of the river flowing beneath its porch or the swimmers inner tubing along that river. It didn’t know that I could squash it with my sandal if I wished. It simply did what it was made to do, and its Maker did the rest.

The Spirit spoke from that caterpillar directly to my spirit. If I would be as wise as that insect, crawling along the two-by-four which God had chosen as my pathway, he would take care of all that I could neither see nor understand. Once again the Creator used his creation to draw his child closer to himself.

How long ago did God make the first caterpillar? The first human? How did he make us? His word doesn’t say. It seems to me that we are wise to focus on what he intends us to know, defending his clear revelation rather than our opinions.

God turns bad things into good things (2-7)

God uses small things, and bad things. The king’s personal attendants proposed a national search for the next queen: “‘Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.’ This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.”

Now our heroes enter the story, and not from easy places. First we meet Mordecai. There is interesting archaeological data regarding this man. A tablet found near Babylon mentions a Mardukaya who was a minister at the court of Susa in the early years of King Xerxes. Many scholars believe that this is the Mordecai of our text.

Mordecai’s great grandfather Kish “had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon” (v. 6). This occurred in 597 B.C., when Jehoiachin was king of Judah.

Mordecai has now been in exile from his homeland for four generations. He has not seen the land of his home and faith in his entire lifetime. But this fact means that God began preparing four generations earlier, specifically 118 years earlier, for this time and event.

God used the destruction of Israel to save Israel.

Esther’s background was no easier. Her parents had both died. Her father had been Mordecai’s uncle. So Mordecai raised this cousin from her birth. If he had not, he would not have had the relationship with her which God used to spare the nation.

So God used the destruction of the nation to save her; and the death of Esther’s parents to save her people. God turns bad things into good things. Paul reminded us of this: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8.28).

Our faith tendency when bad things happen to us is to turn from God and refuse to listen to him.

God will use bad things in our lives for spiritual purposes to grow us spiritually and to give witness. But we have to allow him to redeem our hurt. We will find God only when we let him use the hard places for good.

God turns the physical into the spiritual (8-18)

Now the king’s advisers are looking for the next queen, and Esther “was lovely in form and features” (v. 7). So she was brought to the harem with other candidates. God used her beauty and personality to please Hegai, the head of the harem (v. 9), so she was given preferential treatment.

God used Hegai to show her what to take to the king (v. 15). And so “the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (v. 17). And he gave a great banquet and holiday in her honor.

God used Esther’s physical beauty and charm to impress Hegai, and used Hegai to help her win the king. All so he could use the king to save his people. God turns the physical into the spiritual.

What resources are at your disposal today? Physical abilities? Experience? Finances? Time? What spiritual gifts? Everything God has given to you, he intends to use through you. Are you open to his use, available to his call?

We will find God when we are totally available to him.

God turns coincidence into providence (19-23)

Esther 2 isn’t finished. God has used the small thing of Vashti’s disobedience to begin the process which will save the nation; he has used the bad thing of Mordecai’s and Esther’s background for good; he has used physical for spiritual. Now he turns coincidence into providence.

Mordecai “happened” to be sitting at the king’s gate (v. 21). The gates of the city were its markets, and the “city hall” as well. One was typically used by the king, and Mordecai happened to be sitting there.

Here he overhears an assassination plot against King Xerxes. He tells Esther, who tells the king, giving credit to Mordecai. The two officials were hanged, and the event was recorded in the king’s annals. And you remember how God will use these annals to remind the king of Mordecai’s service, leading to the beginning of the end for the enemies of his people.

Coincidence is when God prefers to remain anonymous. There is really no such thing for the child of God. God orchestrates some events, but he uses all events.

So look for God in the happenstances of your life. For there you will often find him.

Conclusion

Do you need to see God? To hear from him? To know his word and will for your life? Then look to these four places:

•The small events of your life

•The hard places

•The physical resources and abilities he has given you

•The coincidences of your daily experience

God loves us as much as the exiled Jews in Persia. And he will be found, if only we will look. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7.7-8).

Seeking a Pure Heart

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Seeking a pure heart:

How to confess your sins

Dr. Jim Denison

Psalm 51

Why do we sin?

Here’s the background of Psalm 51. King David had an affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. She became pregnant. To cover his sin, eventually he had Uriah killed and took the widow as his wife. But God knew what he had done, and sent the prophet Nathan to expose his sin.

In this one event David broke nine of God’s Ten Commandments. He broke in order the tenth, coveting his neighbor’s wife; the seventh, by committing adultery; the eighth by stealing her for himself; the sixth by murdering her husband; the ninth, by lying about his sin; the fifth, by dishonoring his parents; the second, by making an idol of Bathsheba; and the first and third, by shaming God and his name. At least he didn’t break the Sabbath, that we know of.

Why did he do this? Why do we sin? Why do these things happen? Let’s do some theology together.

First, we have inherited a sin nature.

Verse 5 is clear: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” This verse does not mean that babies or fetuses sin; it means that we have all inherited a sin nature, a propensity to sin.

Romans 5:12 says, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned.” We have each inherited a tendency toward sin.

Second, we choose to sin of our own free will. While we have this nature, we are nonetheless responsible for our own sin. God does not make us sin, and the “devil made me do it” is a cop-out. Our family backgrounds and circumstances are often contributing factors, but the choice is ours. We choose to sin.

Listen to James 1:14-15: “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

Third, Satan deceives us. The devil is very real, and he hates you. You are his enemy. Jesus said in John 8:44 that the devil is a “murderer from the beginning,” and “a liar and the father of lies.” He tempts and deceives every one of us.

He is sly and subtle, never tempting us to do what he knows we will not do. As when lights are dimmed slowly and our eyes adjust to the darkness, so he seeks to lead us by steps from sin to its devastating results.

As a result, we each think that we are the one person in all of human history who can sin without consequences. No one will know about us; we can do this and be o.k.; no one will be hurt. Every person in sin thinks it’s so. But as we all know, that’s a lie.

Mark it down: sin always takes you further than you wanted to go, keeps you longer than you wanted to stay, and costs you more than you wanted to pay. Always.

To summarize: why do these things happen? Because we have a sin nature, and we choose to sin; we are deceived into thinking we can do so without consequence. And the results are disastrous and devastating.

I read this week about a terrible work of modern art: a loaded shotgun affixed to a chair. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into the gunbarrel. The gun was set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within the next hundred years. And people waited in line to sit and stare into the gun!

Get out of that line, now.

What do we do when we sin?

Our second question: what do we do when we sin? Our psalm is very clear.

First, we turn to God (1-2). We ask for his “mercy,” which is not getting the punishment we deserve. We ask for his “unfailing love,” the Old Testament word for “grace,” which is getting the love and forgiveness we don’t deserve. We ask him to “blot out” our transgressions, a Hebrew phrase which means to wash the garment until it is clean and the stain is gone.

Our tendency when we sin is to run from God and his church, when we need to do the opposite. The sick need a doctor; the sinner needs God.

Second, we admit our sin to him (3-4). Our human reaction is to excuse our sin, to transfer blame to others, or to rationalize what we have done. A lawyer once told he never met a guilty defendant. Every one had justified his or her behavior somehow.

But David didn’t–he admitted his “transgressions,” which means to cross the boundaries of what is right. He acknowledged his “sin,” his moral failure.

And he stated correct theology: “Against you only have I sinned” (v. 4). We hurt other people, sometimes in horrible ways; but by theological definition we “sin” against God.

Third, we come to God in repentance and contrition (16-17). We don’t try to excuse our behavior by right and good actions (16). Instead, we come before God on bended knees and broken hearts. We are genuinely contrite and sorry for our horrible choices and actions.

God promised in 2 Chron. 7.14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin, and heal their land.” If we come to him in humility and contrition.

This is not because humble repentance earns God’s forgiveness, but because contrition receives it. I cannot receive with a fist. I must admit I need what God can give, and open myself to receive it. So must you.

Fourth, we claim God’s cleansing (7-12). Then, when we confess our sin God does truly forgive and cleanse us. Hyssop was used by a priest to sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice over the sinner. So God cleanses us by the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, who paid for all our sins.

God can wash us and make us whiter than snow; he can blot out all our iniquities; he can recreate a pure heart and spirit in our lives. He can restore to us the joy of our salvation (12). He can make us new people. This is the miracle of his grace.

1 John 1:9 is clear: if we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Every time.

Last, we make restitution to those we have hurt (13-19). David vowed to “teach transgressors your ways,” from his personal experience, so that “sinners will turn back to you” (13). He would “sing of your righteousness” and “declare your praise” in worship (14-15). He would lead the entire nation to “righteous sacrifices” as their godly king (19).

In other words, he would make restitution to the nation he has so injured. In fact, David wrote this psalm for public use by the people, not just private use in his worship. So that all would know of his sin, his repentance, and God’s grace.

We make restitution–not so that we can earn God’s forgiveness, but in gratitude for it; not so that others will forgive us, but so that we can help those we have hurt. By grace, as God has been gracious to us.

What do we do when others sin?

One last question: what do we do when others sin?

First, be honest. Nathan was honest with David, and David with the nation. Be honest with your feelings. Sin is a tragedy, and grief describes the way many of us feel when it affects us. In grief we go through periods of denial, anger, numbness, depression, and confusion before we come finally to acceptance and health. Be honest with your feelings.

Second, be humble. When Billy Weber resigned at Prestonwood many years ago, the next week a chapel speaker at SWBTS began by referencing the affairs which were in the papers. Then he pointed his finger and said, “There but for the grace of God go I. And there but for the grace of God go you.” He was right.

Third, come to pardon. Biblical forgiveness is not to excuse behavior, to pretend it didn’t happen, or to ignore it. It is to pardon, as when the governor pardons a criminal. The governor doesn’t pretend the crime didn’t happen, he chooses not to punish as he might. We come to the place where we choose not to punish as we might.

And we do this for our sakes, not just for theirs. We must eventually pardon those who have hurt us, even if they don’t ask us to or won’t admit their sin. We must release our anger and hurt, for the sake of our own hearts and souls. Be honest, don’t excuse, admit your pain and hurt and anger, but we must come over time to pardon as God does.

Fourth, guard your own soul. Learn again the truth of Scripture: “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). You are not the one person who can sin without consequence. Sin will defeat and destroy you, given the chance. Guard your own soul.

Stay close to God in his word and prayer, so close that the enemy has no foothold in your life. Stay accountable to people you trust, so they can tell you when they see something wrong and help you stay right.

Last, trust in God. He is still on his throne.

Conclusion

Now, where does this message find you? Understand that time in church is no substitute for time with God. Church activity cannot keep your soul from sin. What you are in private is what you are. If you have sin to deal with, do it while you can.

If right now you’re thinking your sin won’t hurt anyone, that there will be no consequences, that no one will know, that you can handle it, you’re being deceived. Turn to God now.

If you know someone whom you suspect may have issues like this, pray for them and try to help them. Ask God to guide you, do this with honesty and humility, but don’t let the cancer of sin spread.

All the while, know that God is still on his throne and his grace is greater than all our sin.

Seeking the Face of God

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Seeking the Face of God

2 Chronicles 7:11-14

James C. Denison

Unemployment is on the rise as the recession continues. In my desire to be a full-service pastor, I have come today with a job opportunity. Queensland, a state in Australia, announced on Monday that it is looking for someone to live on the beautiful tropical paradise of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef for six months.

This person will stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates. The person will be paid $150,000 and given free airfare from the winner’s home to the island and back. All this to increase tourism to Australia in these tough economic times. Applications are open until February 22; the winner will begin living in paradise on July 1.

Queensland is calling this the “best job in the world.” I know one even better—a job which will take us not to an island in paradise, but to paradise itself.

We’re learning how to position ourselves for spiritual awakening in these days. If we humble ourselves, admitting that we need more of God than we are now experiencing, and pray for our nation to come to God, we are now ready to focus on ourselves.

God calls us to “seek my face.” This is the most amazing, exciting, transforming invitation a human being can ever hear. And the most urgent.

God is seeking you

The Bible clearly depicts a God who is seeking us. God sought Adam and Eve in the cool of the Garden of Eden. He sought Noah, calling him to build the Ark which would save the human race. He sought Abram in the land we call Iraq today, and called him to himself. He sought Jacob on that night they wrestled together, and Joseph in Egypt, and Moses at the burning bush. He sought David after the king had sinned horrifically, and the prophets to speak his word to the world.

Then he sought us in the most miraculous, unexpected way of all—he became one of us. He folded the glory and power which created the universe down into a fetus who grew into a baby who breathed our air, walked our dirt, faced our temptations, felt our pain, died on our cross and rose from our grave. We could not climb up to him, so he climbed down to us.

He sought fishermen beside the Sea of Galilee, and tax collectors in their booths and trees, and lepers in their abandoned loneliness, and demoniacs in their cemetery hideouts. He was the woman who sought the lost coin, the shepherd who sought the lost sheep, the father who sought the prodigal son. He sought Peter after his denials and Paul in the midst of his persecutions.

And then the day came when he made you. In fact, he’s been in the process of making you for a very long time. Bill Bryson, in A Short History of Nearly Everything, puts it well: “Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth’s mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life’s quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result—eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly—in you” (pp. 3-4).

He made all that is, and he made all of you there is. Your God has given you a heart which pumps enough blood through your body every 24 hours to fill a railway tanker. Every day it exerts as much effort as it would take to shovel 20 tons of gravel onto a platform as high as your waist.

He has made you of protons, the core of atoms. Look at the dot on an “i” in your Bible. It holds something in the region of 500,000,000,000 protons, more than the number of seconds contained in half a million years. Your Father made all of that, for you.

You live in a visible universe is now calculated as a million million million million miles across. Through a telescope you can see around 100,000 galaxies, each containing tens of billions of stars. And you’re watching all this on a planet which spins at the speed of 1,000 miles an hour at its equator. Your Father made all of that, to make a place for you.

And then he made you. His Son died on the cross for you and rose from the grave for you. His Spirit led you to this worship service, and now to hear these words. The God of the universe wants an intimate, passionate, personal relationship with you. He is seeking you.

Are you seeking God?

The question is, are you seeking him? The other day a friend forwarded me this question: “Is there any logic in believing that God started his Church as a Spirit-filled, loving body with the intention that it would evolve into entertaining, hour-long services? Was he hoping that one day people would be attracted to the Church not because they care for one another, not because they are devoted to him, not because the supernatural occurs in their midst, but because of good music and entertainment?”

The world’s religions have always seen worship as a kind of transaction. Make a sacrifice to Athena so she will bless your olive harvest. Practice the four noble truths on the eight-fold noble path so you can achieve enlightenment. Declare that there is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet; pray to Allah five times a day; go to Mecca; fast during Ramadan; give to the poor—all so you will perhaps be accepted by God into his paradise.

Go to get. Transact business. Come to church, pray, read, give, so God will bless you or strengthen your marriage or help your family.

None of that is the biblical invitation. God says, “Seek my face,” not “Seek my favor.” Seek to know me, more intimately and passionately than ever before. Love me, for I love you. Want me, for I want you. Know me, for I know you. Seek my face.

“Seek” translates baqash, a Hebrew word which means to search out, strive after, ask, beg, beseech, desire, request, require. It describes a passionate search for something of great value.

Such is to be our desire for God: “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11); “devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God” (1 Chronicles 22:19); Rehoboam “did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD” (2 Chronicles 12:14); good king Asa “commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands” (2 Chronicles 14:4).

Scripture says of Hezekiah, “In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered” (2 Chronicles 31:21). The Bible says of good king Josiah, “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David” (2 Chronicles 34:3).

David assures us, “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you” (Psalm 9:9-10). He later prayed, “may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, ‘The LORD be exalted!'” (Psalm 40:16).

Now the prophet exhorts us, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6). God told Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13), a passage Janet framed for me to put on my desk where I can see it every day of the week.

Seek “my face,” the Lord calls to us. “Face” translates paneh, the countenance or presence. To seek a person’s “face” is to seek an intimate, face-to-face encounter with them. I cannot see the faces of those in the back of our Sanctuary, but only of those who are close to me. To seek God’s “face” is to seek a closer relationship with him than you have right now.

How do we seek God’s face? Want to know God more than you know him now. Want to be in his presence, to experience his Spirit’s touch in your spirit, to draw close to him. Make some time to do this. As with any relationship, it takes an investment of time and energy to build a closer intimacy with God. It is best to do this at the start of every day. How?

Seek God’s face as did the people who came to worship him in the Temple which Solomon had just constructed. As they climbed the steps into the outer courts, they came singing psalms of praise to God. These were called “psalms of ascent,” because they were used as the people ascended to Jerusalem and then up the steps to the Temple.

In the same way, we enter the gates of the Lord with thanksgiving and his courts with praise (Psalm 100:4). Sing or say a psalm, a hymn, a chorus. Praise and thank your Father for all he has done for you. Remember his last blessing and give thanks for it. Come to him in worship.

Now continue in sacrifice. The Jews brought the sacrifices for their sins to the priests, where they were laid on the altar. Jesus’ death is the final sacrifice, the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Bring him your sins and mistakes, anything which would separate you from your Lord. Ask the Spirit to show you anything which displeases your holy God, and confess it to your Savior. Claim his promise to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Now you are ready to bring your offerings to the Lord. The people brought offerings from the harvest and from all the blessings of God. In the same way, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God as our spiritual worship (Romans 12:1).

Submit and surrender your plans, dreams, agendas, and problems. Yield them all to him, asking him to fill you with his Spirit and use you for his glory. Ask God to make his presence real to you, to fill you with his peace and joy. And they will be yours.

Conclusion

God wants you to know him more than you want to know him. You must now decide—do you want to know God intimately and personally? Do you want awakening to come to your heart and life? There is an Oriental saying: “No man can carry two melons in his hand.” There is room for only one on the throne of your heart and life.

Thomas Kelly, the monk and author: “Over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by. Strained by the very mad pace of our daily outer burdens, we are further strained by an inward uneasiness, because we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power.”

Is it yours? Will it be yours?

Set The Right Goals

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Set the Right Goals

Matthew 5:5

Dr. Jim Denison

President Eisenhower has been in the news recently as the one who added the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. He was a man who sought to live his life “under God,” trusting his Lord in humble faith. So did his mother.

One day during the Second World War, when her remarkable son was supreme commander of the Allied forces, the elder Mrs. Eisenhower was traveling by train. The woman next to her on the train had no idea of Mrs. Eisenhower’s identity, and spent the entire trip bragging about her son who had just been made a corporal. Finally she asked Mrs. Eisenhower, “Tell me about your son.” Her entire reply: “He’s in the army too.”

Today, let’s talk about humility and “I trouble.” Not “eye” trouble but “I” trouble. The middle letter of “sin” is “I.” The middle letter of “pride” is “I.” The root cause of all our trouble is “I trouble.” The third Beatitude is the cure. Here are steps to biblical humility.

Value humility as God does

First, value humility as God does. The Third Beatitude shows what God thinks of this characteristic: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

“Blessed”—happy beyond all circumstance, the kind of blessing only God can bestow.

“Are the meek”—the Greek word is “praus.” It has several hues within its spectrum of meaning, but it reduces to the idea of humility before God.

Such people will “inherit the earth,” being blessed by God in every way. Not just part of the earth, but all the blessing God might give. No conqueror has ever won what God promises here.

But we try. We try to inherit the earth through our performance, possessions, and perfectionism. By trying harder to do more, have more, be more. And so genuine humility is hard for many of us.

Like many of you, I am a performer by nature. It is my natural personality to want you to like me, to be impressed by me, to affirm me. Many of us are this way. We live in a performance-dominated culture, where we are rewarded for what we can produce. But it’s hard to want to impress people and be humble at the same time. Performing makes biblical humility hard.

On the other hand, many of us also struggle with self-esteem issues, making the wrong kind of humility easy.

I read recently this profound statement by psychologist Paul Tournier: “I believe there is a great illusion underlying both the despair of the weak and the unease of the strong—and the misfortune of both. This great illusion is the very notion that there are two kinds of human beings, the strong and the weak. The truth is that human beings are much more alike than they think … All … in fact, are weak. All are weak because we are afraid. They are afraid of being trampled underfoot. They are all afraid of the inner weakness being discovered. They all have secret faults; they all have a bad conscience on account of certain acts which they would like to keep covered up. They are all afraid of other men and of God, of themselves, of life, and of death” (quoted in Ten Habits for Effective Ministry, 21).

Many of us feel badly about ourselves, leading to a self-punishing, demeaning kind of humility. A performance-centered society and low self-image both make biblical humility hard for us.

But listen to what Jesus said about such humility. He described himself as “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29); he promised us, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4); he warned us, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). And he taught us, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).

The blunt fact is that we cannot be “blessed” by God unless we value humility as he does.

See yourself as God sees you

But valuing humility doesn’t mean that we know how to experience it. Here’s the second biblical step: see yourself as God sees you. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones defines “praus” or “meek” as “a humble and gentle attitude to others which is determined by a true estimate of ourselves.” To be “meek” or “humble,” develop a “true estimate” of yourself. Learn to see yourself the way God does.

So, how does God see you? As a redeemed sinner. A person who sinned and fell short of his glory; a person whose sins cost his Son his life; a person worthy of eternity in hell. And also a person he loves so much he gave his Son to die in your place, to pay for your sins, to purchase your salvation. A sinner, redeemed by his love.

A rabbi once said, “A man should carry two stones in his pocket. On one should be inscribed, ‘I am but dust and ashes.’ On the other, ‘For my sake was the world created.'” Both inscriptions are true.

Imagine yourself a condemned criminal on death row, scheduled for execution.

All appeals are exhausted; the final hour has come. You are strapped to the gurney, and tubes are inserted in your arm. The doctor is about to administer the lethal injection when the phone rings. The governor of the state is coming over.

But when he arrives, something unprecedented occurs. He does not pardon you. He insists that your sentence be carried out. But he then orders the guards to remove you from the table. He takes off his coat, and lies on your gurney. He rolls up his sleeve, and orders the doctor to connect your tubes to his arm. He receives your injection; he takes your punishment; he dies for you.

For the rest of your life you will be a ransomed sinner, a condemned criminal. But you will also be someone loved beyond words by someone of great standing, of enormous power, of the highest significance.

This is exactly who you are.

When we see ourselves as God does, our twin problems with humility are solved. We are set free from performance anxiety, the intense “drivenness” to impress people with our value, because we are valued by the Lord of the universe. And we are set free from debilitating, demeaning, demoralizing humility, because we are valued by the Lord of the universe.

You are a person of indescribable worth, not because of who you are but because of whose you are. See yourself as God does, and you’ll be freed for genuine humility.

See others as God sees them

Value humility as God does, and see yourself as God does. The third step to biblical humility: see others as God sees them. Greek scholar Fritz Rienecker has this definition for “praus:” “The humble and gentle attitude which expresses itself in a patient submissiveness to offense, free from malice and desire for revenge.” To be “meek” is to “submit to offense,” no matter how others have offended you.

To do this, we must see others as God sees them. As people of infinite worth, for they are the creation of God. As sinners just like us, saved by God’s grace as we are. To be humble before others, do not judge them as better or worse than you are. Choose to pardon them when they hurt you, for God has pardoned you. Release your anger, or need for revenge, or pain.

When we do this, we are free to be humble before every person we know. Not just before those people we judge to be superior to us, those who humble us with their abilities or success. But also before those we consider inferior to us, those we judge and criticize and condemn. We can be humble before the lowest sinner, when we see him as God does.

Two quotes challenged me this week: “Only God is in position to look down on anyone;” and, “Any experience which makes me feel superior to other people is not of the Lord.” See others as God sees them, and you’ll be humble before every person you know.

See your gifts as God sees them

Here’s the last step: see your gifts and abilities as God sees them. James Montgomery Boice defines “praus” as strength under control. He illustrates the word this way: a powerful stallion, strong and fast, completely bridled and submitted to the control of its master. To be “meek” is not to depreciate the stallion’s strength, speed or abilities. It is to submit them to the control of their master.

How does God see your abilities? As his gifts, entrusted to you to be used for his glory.

It is not biblical humility to debase yourself. Neither can you be humble when you exalt yourself.

It is biblical humility to embrace and affirm the gifts, abilities, opportunities, education, and experiences God has given to you, and then use them to glorify your Lord. Develop them fully, and engage them completely.

One of my mentors said to me, “The Holy Spirit has a strange affinity for the trained mind.” Develop fully all that God has given to you. But yield it to the control of God, and use it for the glory of God.

The great scholar J. I. Packer made this incisive point: “It is impossible at the same time to give the impression both that I am a great Christian and that Jesus Christ is a great Master.” For what purpose am I preaching this sermon—to impress you or to glorify Jesus? For what purpose will you teach a class today, or sing an anthem, or lead a ministry? For what purpose will you earn money this week, engage clients, help patients, finish tasks?

Mother Teresa, the tiny Albanian nun, became the world’s most famous Christian next to Billy Graham. But her goal was just the opposite. From the time she first entered ministry, her life purpose never changed. In her words, she wished only to be “a tiny pencil in the hand of God.” And what he wrote with her gifts changed the world.

Conclusion

Do you value humility today as Jesus does? Do you see yourself as he does—a redeemed sinner, loved for whose you are? Do you see others as he does—fellow sinners, equal in value with you as your sisters and brothers? Do you see your abilities as he does—gifts to be used in his will for his glory? Then you are “praus,” “meek.” And you are “blessed.”

Here is one of the finest faith commitments I know, from a Muslim who became a Christian and prayed: “O God, I am Mustafah the tailor and I work at the shop of Muhammad Ali. The whole day long I sit and pull the needle and the thread through the cloth. O God, you are the needle and I am the thread. I am attached to you and I follow you. When the thread tries to slip away from the needle it becomes tangled and must be cut so that it can be put back in the right place. O God, help me to follow you wherever you may lead me. For I am really only Mustafah the tailor, and I work at the shop of Muhammad Ali on the great square.”

Whose thread are you?