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The Angel Sat On The Stone

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The Angel Sat on the Stone

Matthew 28:1-10

Dr. Jim Denison

Murdo MacDonald was a prisoner of war in Germany and chaplain to American soldiers. After the war was over he told how he learned of the Normandy invasion. Early on D-Day, he was awakened and told that a Scotsman in the British prisoner-of-war camp wanted to see him. MacDonald ran to the barbed wire that separated the two camps. The Scot, who was in touch with the BBC by underground radio, had often given updates on the war to MacDonald in Gaelic, which the two men understood, but the German guards standing beside them did not.

On this early morning, the Scotsman spoke a brief sentence in Gaelic, just a few words which meant, “They have come.” MacDonald ran back to the American camp and spread the news: “They have come … they have come.” And everyone knew the Allies had landed at Normandy. The reaction was incredible. Men jumped and shouted, hugged each other, even rolled on the ground.

They were still captives, but now they were certain of their deliverance. All because of three words: “They have come.”

Today we’ll focus upon three words which offer us even greater hope, help, joy, victory: “He has risen.” Let’s see why they were spoken, and why they matter so much to our lives and our fears this hour.

From death to life

The angel said, “Come and see the place where he lay” (v. 6). Let’s come together to this place, this tomb, this hallowed cave in a holy rock. Why?

It is the tomb of the greatest man who ever lived. If we would venerate the tomb of John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr., surely we would want to honor and respect the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and Savior of the world.

It is the tomb of your best friend. If we would honor the tomb of our wife or husband, our child, our parent, our dear friend, surely we would want to honor and respect the tomb of the One who died to pay for our sins and give us eternal life.

It is a real place. We know that this tomb is real, even without the testimony of Scripture. Thallus the Samaritan in A.D. 52 described the darkness of Jesus’ crucifixion. Mara bar Serapion before A.D. 70 documented his death. Tacitus, the greatest of the ancient Roman historians, recorded that “Chrestus … suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.” And Flavius Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, documented Jesus’ death clearly.

And so the angels bid us come. They invite us to this holy place.

What kind of tomb is it?

It is a costly tomb. It cost Joseph of Arimathea and his family a great deal of money. It cost Jesus far more—his life on the cross. It cost his Father as much—the pain of watching his Son be tortured and executed.

It is a borrowed tomb. It was borrowed from Joseph, and appropriately, for the One who was laid there borrowed our sins and our death on the cross.

It was cut in a rock, so there could be no fraud here. No back door. No way out except past the stone and the guards and the glare of public scrutiny. And appropriately so. But this rock and its stone were but a pebble compared with the Rock of Ages which lay inside.

And so the women come to finish anointing the dead body of Jesus (Mark 16:1). But they are shocked at what they find, and we with them.

What do we see as we come?

We find that the rock is gone. There was a “violent” earthquake—a “mega” earthquake in the Greek. An angel of the Lord has come down from heaven, rolled aside this stone, and sat down on it.

He moved the stone, not so Christ could go out, but so we could come in. He is already gone from here. He was raised from death to life while the guards stood in futility outside, as the Roman government tried in vain to keep him in the tomb. He did not rise from the dead when the angel arrived—”he has risen, just as he said” (v. 6).

All the power of the world is powerless before him. Battle-hardened soldiers from the finest army the world has ever seen have fainted dead away. The ones assigned to guard the dead themselves appear dead while the dead one is alive!

His body is gone, with no natural explanation. The tomb is empty, the grave is left clutching the clothes which had enshrouded his dead corpse, because he is alive.

Whom do we meet as we come?

We meet the angel of the Lord, who bids us calm our fears: “Do not be afraid” (v. 5). Literally, “Stop being afraid.”

Then we see the Risen Lord himself! “Greetings,” he says. Literally, “Rejoice!” We can clasp his feet, for his resurrection is real. We can worship him, for in grace he receives our faith (v. 9).

“Do not be afraid,” he says, as the angel had. “Stop being afraid.” Be not afraid, ever again, for he is alive.

What do we do after we have come?

“Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee” (v. 10). How gracious of him—to call those who have forsaken him at the cross his “brothers.”

And Mark 16:7 adds these words: “Go tell his disciples and Peter.” Peter, who denied him three times, now invited specifically to come, so that he would know he was included in the grace and mercy of our Lord.

Tell them about the risen Christ: “there they will see me.” And through them, the world.

Come and see the place where he lay. We’re so glad they did. And so honored to join them.

Are you afraid of death?

Now, let’s see why this event is so relevant to our lives and our fears today. In every survey taken of the fears Americans feel, death is always at the top of the list. Our greatest fear is that we will die, or that those we love will die.

We don’t even like the word “death.” We use such euphemisms for it: “He passed away,” “He went to a better place.” We called those who have died “the dearly departed” or “the deceased.”

We don’t like funerals, or caskets, or cemeteries. The most frightening places at amusement parks are the haunted houses; the most frightening movies we see are about death or the dead. We are all afraid here.

So were the disciples. They knew that their leader had been executed, and were terrified of the same punishment for themselves. In fact, the Scriptures say that “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews,” Jesus appeared to them as he had to these women (John 20:19). They were afraid of death.

I am, too. Death is the great unknown. While I trust in faith that death leads to life, I need reassurance, as do we all.

And I am especially afraid of death for those I love. My greatest fear is that something would happen to Janet or our boys. I have prayed for our sons’ safety and well-being every morning and every evening since they were born. I fear death for them.

And I hate death for those I love who have gone there. My father. This year, my two most beloved professors and mentors. Members of our congregation whom I have loved and we have lost.

What about death most bothers you today?

He has risen, for us

Here’s the incredible good news of deliverance: “He has risen.” These three words are enough. Jesus is truly alive. Because he is alive, we can be alive. Because he defeated death, so can we, through him.

Jesus was clear about this: “I am the resurrection and the life … Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25, 26).

Now Jesus allows death so he can bring us to life. So we can step out of these fallen, finite bodies and into the glorified presence of the Lord. In the moment of our death we are with him in paradise.

Jesus said it this way, “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). “Mansion” originally meant a destination at the end of a journey. By the time Jesus used it, the word meant the reward which comes at the end of life. The picture is simple: we travel through life in these bodies, these “vehicles” for the journey. When we arrive at home, we step out of the car and go into the house.

When Ryan was a little boy, one time our family took a trip to Houston to see Janet’s parents and my mother. We got home late on Sunday night, and Ryan was asleep in his car seat in the back of the car. I picked him up, carried him in the house, and laid him in his bed. When he woke up, he was home.

That’s just what happens to us, and to all we love. Because he has risen, so will we through him.

Jesus will take us home, and he will take all those we love who trust in him to be home with him one day as well. My greatest fear for my family would be their greatest victory. If the worst comes for us, this would be the best for them.

And when that day comes, he’ll be there to hold us up through it. We need not fear the future, for he is there, waiting for us, today.

Oscar Thompson taught evangelism at Southwestern Seminary when I was a student there. He was dying of cancer all the years I knew him, but always with a great spirit and unshakable joy. He had no fear of death. Why? He said, “I’ll have dying grace for dying day.” And those with him when he died said that he did.

So will we.

Conclusion

So, have you put your soul and your eternity in the hands of the One who has risen? This is the most important decision you will ever make. Choose well, today.

Would you put your life, and the lives of those you love, in those hands as well? Would you release those you love who have gone before you into those hands? With the women at the tomb, would you turn from fear to faith, from death to life? Would you love Jesus personally and passionately, since he has purchased eternal life for you and all those who love him?

I once read a parable like this, and it helped me a great deal. Because he has risen, we can think of death this way.

Before you came into this world, you were an unborn baby. We all were. As we think about going from this world to the next, we are again unborn babies so far as that other world is concerned.

Now if a baby not yet born could speak, he might say to himself, “This is a wonderful place. It’s warm, I’m fed, I’m safe and secure. I’ll stay right here.” Someone might say to him, “But you cannot stay here. You have to move on. You must die to this place and be born into another world.” That baby would see birth as if it were death, and he would protest. What to us is birth, to him is death, and he resists it. That world is the only world he can see, the only world he knows. But the day comes when he does die to that life and is born into our world.

What happens to him? He is cradled in loving arms. Soft hands hold him gently. A kind face looks down at him, and he loves that face. Everyone that come near loves him. He is the king of the world he surveys. Then he begins to grow, and he finds life good. He has struggles and hardships, of course, but these are to make him a man. He grows to love this world, with its seasons, its beauty, its human companionship.

Finally he becomes an old man and he is told, “You have to die.” He protests: “I don’t want to die. I love this world. I like the sun on my face, the cool rain, the beautiful sunrises. I love the faces of my wife and children. I’ve lived here a long time. I don’t want to die.” This is the only world he can see, the only world he knows. But he does die to this world and is born into the next.

What happens? He awakens to find himself surrounded once again by loving faces, loving hands. More beautiful light and glory than he has ever seen, more glorious music than he has ever heard. All tears are wiped from his eyes, he is reunited with so many he has loved who have gone before him, and he stands in the glorious, loving, all embracing presence of Jesus himself. And he says, “Why was I so afraid of this thing called death, when, as I now know, it is life?”

Why, indeed?

The Baby Born To Die

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The Baby Born to Die

Isaiah 49.1-7

Dr. Jim Denison

This morning I have good news for half of you, and information for the rest. The essay is titled, “Why men are just happier people.” Here are some of its disclosures: wedding plans take care of themselves; car mechanics tell us the truth; wrinkles add character; phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat; we can open all our own jars; we get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness; if someone forgets to invite us, he or she can still be our friend; three pairs of shoes are more than enough; we can “do” our nails with a pocketknife; and the number one reason: we can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives, on December 24, in 15 minutes.

There are better reasons for happiness. This Advent week of love claims that our Creator loves us. The King of the entire Kingdom loves his subjects. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

But what does this knowledge mean to us practically? No word is harder to define than “love.”

The Bible teaches us to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, quoted by Jesus in Matthew 22:39). So, how do we love ourselves?

At its core, our self-love can be summarized as seeking our good. We will always seek our own good. This is not a feeling or emotion. We often feel frustrated and unhappy with ourselves. Self-love is an action. I can be trusted to do whatever is to my own good. So can you. Seeking our own good is the most basic and fundamental characteristic of life. It is the instinct for self-preservation defined.

Therefore, to love my neighbor as myself is to seek his good as much as I seek it for myself. To “love” God is to seek his good with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

These are the two goals of today’s Advent message on love: that we would seek the good for God and for each other, even before our own. Why would we do so?

Know God’s universal plan

Our text is the second of four “servant songs” in the book of Isaiah, four poems about the coming Messiah, each of which was fulfilled by the Baby of Bethlehem. This one tells us the “why” of Christmas: “Before I was born the Lord called me” (v. 1).

To what purpose?

“To bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself” (v. 5). To bring God’s chosen people back to their Creator and King.

However, “It is too small a thing for you” to limit your ministry to the Jewish people alone: “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (v. 6). God’s plan included all the nations, from the very beginning. This text is sometimes called the Great Commission of the Old Testament.

How would the Servant fulfill his calling?

He would be “the Redeemer” (v. 7a). To “redeem” someone in the Bible is to buy them back from the punishment they deserved, to free them from the slavery which was the consequence of their sinful choices.

How would he redeem us? He would be “despised and abhorred by the nation” (v. 7b). As the last Servant Song predicted, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He was born to die.

With this result: “Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down” (v. 7c). These kings would represent the nations of the earth. They would come to worship the One who would die for them.

Rejoice in the universal love of Christmas

How would these promises be kept? The Christ of Christmas would die for the Jewish people whose race he entered as their Messiah. He would preach in their synagogues, heal their sick, raise their dead. He would do his best to persuade their religious leaders to trust in his Father. He would weep over the lost city of Jerusalem. Despite all the ways they rejected him, he would die to prove his unconditional love for them.

And he would die for the Gentiles and pagans as well.

He would invite the shepherds to attend his birth. They were unclean spiritually, unable to keep the Jewish laws, assumed to be thieves and criminals. No self-respecting Jewish home would invite them to the birth of a child. But he did, to prove his unconditional love.

He would invite the Samaritan woman to himself, and the lepers and the prostitutes, the demoniacs and the despised. All to show his unconditional love.

He would call the kings and princes, the Magi and wise men, from Persia to himself. Even though they were pagan astrologers and magicians, despised and rejected by his people, they would find his unconditional love.

And he would send his missionaries to continue spreading his unconditional love across his creation. In Paul’s first missionary journey, he quoted this very text as sanction and support for his evangelism among the Gentiles, where he spent his life to share God’s unconditional love.

If the religious leaders had planned Christmas, there would have been no peasant parents, no shepherds, no Magi. You and I could not come. But this Baby came for us all. No qualifications or exceptions, just unconditional love.

Consider your worst sin, your gravest secret and shame. Next, think of the person who would be most hurt if he or she knew of this sin. If you were to admit this sin to that person, and were to receive only that forgiveness which forgets, cleanses, and buries the sin so that it is no more, you would know you were loved.

What king dies for his subjects? Only this one. The Son of God became man, that men might become the sons of God. C. S. Lewis, commenting on such love, says that if you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab. He did far worse. He was born to die, to prove his unconditional love to you.

Love as God loves

Christmas proves that there is nothing you can do to make God love you any more or any less than he already does. He seeks your good, at the expense of his own Son. What are we to do with such unconditional love?

Love God as he loves you. The shepherds gave him their joyous worship, not the mere habit of rote church attendance. Have you truly worshiped him today? The kings gave their offerings of two years’ travel, lives risked, their best gifts given. When did it last cost you something significant to love God?

Love him as he requires. Jesus was clear, and blunt: “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15); “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching” (John 14:23).

I have often been troubled by the sense that I do not love God enough. Here is the answer: act as if I do. Act into feeling, rather than waiting until feelings produce action. Submit to his word and will. Fulfill his ministry. Find a way to seek his good.

Love others as he loves us.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). This is an order, an obligation, a directive from our King.

“Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). Martin Luther said, “Love begins when we wish to serve others.”

Our love for each other is to be as unconditional as his (Romans 8:35-39). E. M. Cioran taught, “Love is an agreement on the part of two people to overestimate each other.” I read this week a challenging statement: “Jesus never gave us the option of deciding who does and does not deserve our love.” After Pearl Harbor, the tragedy which occurred on this day in 1941, a whole generation of Americans hated the Japanese for what they did to our soldiers. But God has forgiven what we did to his Son. Our love for others is to be equally unconditional.

And sacrificial: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3.16).

Mother Teresa commented on her ministry, “We must not drift away from the humble works, because these are the works nobody will do…We are so small we look at things in a very small way. But God, being Almighty, sees everything great. Even if you write a letter for the blind man, or just go and sit and listen, or you take the mail for them, or you visit somebody—small things—or wash clothes for somebody or clean the house. Very humble work, that is where you and I must be. For there are many people who can do big things. But there are very few people who will do the small things.”

If you seek just one person’s good each day, in ten years you have loved 3,650 people.

Someone said well, “When God measures a man, he puts the tape around his heart instead of his head.” How do you measure?

Conclusion

Love is seeking someone’s good. Christmas proves God’s unconditional love for you. Will you seek his good through your worship and obedience? Will you seek the good of his children this week, even before your own?

I still remember the day I read this man’s story: “Bad luck—the light turned red, and I was trapped standing at the corner. I prayed for it to change quickly. He was standing too close to me. And besides, it was cold and I was getting wet from the snow.

“‘Can I have something for my file, mister?’ he asked. This one was crazy—no doubt about it. The grimy box under his arm gave him away immediately. Crazies always carry something, usually a shopping bag with handles. They can be unstable, but this guy looked pretty safe. ‘Sorry, no money.’ I had repeated the old lie so often it came out automatically. ‘Have you got anything for my file?’ he repeated.

“Finally his message sank through. I fished in my pocket, pulled out a brochure, and handed it to him. ‘No!’ he shouted. Then, almost pathetically, he finished, ‘I don’t have a file for that.’ I took it back and turned away. Come on light—change. I stepped over the curb to look for a break in traffic.

“‘I’m Howard,’ he said. ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Mark.’ One syllable was all the information I intended to give. I had no desire to have some crazy calling me all the time. I knew people who had to change their telephone number to stop calls. I liked my number.

“I chanced a quick look to see what he was doing. He had a pencil in one hand and was stooping to pick up a piece of paper from the snow. Just then the light changed, and I took off. Halfway down the block, I slowed down and looked back. The crazy had just closed his box and begun to look around for another victim.

“A few days later, I was walking the same route when I noticed an ambulance parked outside a dingy alley. I joined a crowd of onlookers. Two attendants in white jackets wheeled their stretcher out of the alley. It was the crazy. His face was showing, so I knew he wasn’t dead. But as the attendants shut the door, I could tell by their conversation that he wouldn’t stay uncovered for long.

“A policeman questioned some of the people in the crowd but received no answers. Nobody seemed to care that much. It was just a little added excitement on an otherwise dull December day. The cop raised his voice and asked, ‘Did anyone know this guy?’ Nobody answered. Finally, I volunteered, ‘His name is Howard.’

“The people around me backed away—as if my knowing the crazy’s name made me a crazy, too. The cop came over and began to pump me for more information. ‘His name is Howard. That’s all I know, sir.’ ‘Well, at least there will be a name for the headstone. Thanks for your help. Oh, by the way, would you take this for me?’ He reached down and picked up the crazy’s box. ‘I’d like to skip the paperwork on this one.’

“He shoved the box into my hands and walked away before I could say anything. ‘Why would I want this guy’s garbage?’ I looked around for a trash can, but maybe it was the stories I had heard of millionaires who lived like bums, or perhaps it was just my slightly misguided sense of loyalty to the human race. Whatever it was, I opened the box.

“I was disappointed. There was nothing but old clothes and a file folder. I pulled out the file and dumped the rest of the stuff. Then I noticed the crude printing on the folder: ‘FRIENDS.’ I opened it and looked inside. It held only one small scrap of paper. On it was written, ‘MARK.'”

Let us pray.

The Baby Who Made His Cradle

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The Baby Who Made His Cradle

Isaiah 9:6-7 / Colossians 1:15-20

Dr. Jim Denison

We’re talking today about the power of power. The most recent BusinessWeek features the latest electronic gadgets: a cell phone which surfs the web, takes pictures, plays music, and makes video calls; a camera a which seamlessly connects to a Wi-Fi network at home and on the road to email photos to friends; golf balls which come imbedded with computer chips, and a device to find them when they’re lost; a device you can connect to your television which beams the broadcast over the Internet to your PC anywhere in the world. But none of them are any good without an old fashioned electrical socket.

Last week we learned that the Christ of Christmas is our Wonderful Counselor. But the best counselor is the one who advises you, then gives you the power to do what he says. Where do you need a Mighty God this morning?

Jesus’ power before Christmas

Jesus was the only baby who created his parents. He was the only newborn who created the place where he was laid. He was the only child who created the adults who celebrated his birth.

He made our world before he stepped into it at Christmas: “By Jesus all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).

Then he stepped into the world he created, in power. I made a list of his miracles, in approximate chronological order: He turned the water to wine, healed the nobleman’s son, helped the disciples make a miraculous catch of fish, freed a demoniac, healed Peter’s mother-in law, cleansed a leper, helped a paralytic walk, healed a lame man, restored a withered hand, healed a centurion’s servant, raised a widow’s son to life, healed another demoniac, calmed a storm, healed the Gadarene demoniacs, raised Jairus’ daughter to life, healed the woman with the issue of blood, gave blind men their sight, healed another demoniac, fed the 5,000, walked on the sea, healed the Syrophoenician daughter, fed the 4,000, healed the deaf and mute person, gave another blind man sight, healed a lunatic child, provided tribute money in a fish’s mouth, healed ten lepers, healed the man born blind, raised Lazarus to life, healed the woman with infirmity, healed the man with dropsy, healed more blind men, cursed the fig tree, healed the high priest’s servant, and helped the disciples make another miraculous catch of fish.

And of course, there was the matter of the resurrection and ascension. All that he did after Christmas. All that he can still do today, for “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

He will one day return to our planet in even greater power. On that day, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). His first Advent points to his second, when his power rules all that is.

Jesus’ power because of Christmas

Now, what is true about Jesus’ power because of Christmas, and would not be true otherwise? Here’s what Christmas says about the Mighty God: now his power can dwell in us. The God who created the universe has proven that he can and will enter the human condition.

Not just that he can work for us, but that he can work in us. Not just that he can visit our planet, but that he can indwell our bodies and lives.

We can now be the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit. God can indwell human flesh, at Christmas and today. His power can be as real in and through our lives as when he walked the planet himself.

Here’s what that power means to your life, practically.

You have power over temptation: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). There is no sin you must commit, because the Christ of Christmas lives in power in you.

You can overcome Satan: “I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:14). The power which defeated Satan at the grave will defeat him again in your life.

You have power to take the gospel to the entire world: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The power to win the world to Christ lives in you.

You have the power to pray effectively: “We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).

You have power to see the sick healed: “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15). God will answer your prayer and give the sick person what you ask or something even better.

In short, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). At Christmas, the Mighty God proved that he could live in human flesh. He still can.

Conclusion

But someone is asking: if that’s true, why don’t I defeat temptation more easily? Why doesn’t God answer my prayers as powerfully as he answered Jesus’ prayers? How do we experience the Mighty God each day? By following the example of his Son, our Lord.

Let me offer some lessons I’ve learned the hard way. One: go to God first.

We must connect to God’s power to experience it. That’s why Jesus started the day with his Father: “rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). He sought God’s power first, before he would need it.

I often don’t. Most of my problems come when I try to prepare the message or solve the problem in my power. When I fail, I then turn to him. But the car is already in the ditch, and I wonder why I don’t have the victory of God.

Jesus will be your Mighty God when you seek his power, and not before.

Two: stay close to God all day.

Jesus prayed all night before choosing his disciples (Luke 6:12-13). He prayed before going to the cross. He prayed on the cross. He prays now for us. He stayed connected to the power of God.

Often I don’t. I’ll pray at the beginning of the day, then go hours without reconnecting with my Lord. Meanwhile the battery runs down, the car runs out of gas, and I’m on my own again. I’ve learned to take time all through the day to stop for a few moments of Scripture, prayer, and worship. As Moody said, “I’m a leaky bucket, and must be refilled often.”

Jesus will be your Mighty God when you stay close enough to him to receive the power he gives.

Three: focus on the purpose of God.

God give his power as it accomplishes his purpose. We will receive power, if we will be his witnesses (Acts 1:8). The Creator of the universe is no genie in a bottle, waiting to dispense blessings. God is up to one thing on earth: building his Kingdom, because that is best for us all. The most loving thing he can do for us is to make it possible for us to live in his Kingdom.

This is my third problem. I want God to help me succeed, to empower me to teach this message, to lead this church, to fulfill my agenda and ambitions. But he only empowers me when I am dedicated to his purpose. He heals us if such extends his Kingdom. He empowers this message if it is advancing his Lordship and glory. He empowers this church if we will take Christ to our city.

You will know the power of God to the degree that you are focused on the Great Commission purpose of God.

Let me give you just one example of the power of God for those who will seek it and his purpose for it. As you know, I returned from a mission trip to Cuba a week ago. While there I was privileged to visit again with Oscar Dellet, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Camaguey and one of the most Spirit-filled men I know.

Oscar and his family had last been in the States some 18 months ago, and his family wanted to stay. Since Oscar is such an outspoken and powerful leader, the Cuban government had given them two-year visas, hoping they would stay here. Their daughter has lupus; their son was struggling in some ways; and his wife has diabetes and other health concerns. But Oscar was resolute: God has to call me to leave Cuba, from Cuba. So they returned to the island.

When they did, the government black-listed Oscar. They made his ministry virtually impossible, hurting his church and her growth in significant ways. Oscar realized that he needed to be open to a move, for the sake of his church as well as his family. He and his wife embarked on a three-day fast to seek the mind of God. On the first day, he made clear that they were to come to the States. They continued their fast another two days out of gratitude for his guidance.

Oscar then went to our diplomatic office in Cuba, the American Interest section of the Swiss Embassy. He told the official, “I am a man of faith, and I believe God is calling me to leave Cuba for the States.” The official said, “You don’t know me, but I have been visiting your church for years. I have been reporting on your work to my superiors. I always knew this day would come.” The man took Oscar to the refugee official, who put him ahead of the multiplied thousands who have applied for asylum. Our government granted Oscar and his family political asylum in the States, and will fly him here and give him two years’ support.

Next Oscar needed permission from the Cuban government to leave. Sensing an opportunity for leverage, they denied his request for eight months. Then finally they gave him their permission. But where would they go? What would he do?

Three weeks ago, Oscar received a phone call in his office. He had preached before at a Baptist church in Miami. That church’s pastor had heard that Oscar was coming to the States; he is retiring and moving to Houston, and his church had voted to call Oscar as their pastor.

So in January, Oscar and his family will leave their homeland forever. Like Abraham, they will “go out not knowing.” But they have seen the power of God in action, and trust that the God who has blessed them will bless them still.

Do you?

The Battle is Not Yours, But God’s

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The Battle Is Not Yours, But God’s

2 Chronicles 20:20-26

James C. Denison

Matthew Henry, the great Bible scholar, was once attacked by thieves and robbed of his wallet. He wrote these words in his diary: “Let me be thankful. First, I was never robbed before. Second, although they took my wallet, they didn’t take my life. Third, although they took all I had, it was not much. Fourth, let me be thankful that it was I who robbed and not I who did the robbing.” There’s always reason for thanksgiving.

Can you remember a Thanksgiving week more difficult than this one? The markets are down 1,600 points in three weeks. America’s automotive companies are near bankruptcy. Last Thursday, America’s Office of Director of Intelligence released a 110-page report titled “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World.”

They predict a global shift in power and economic wealth from West to East on a level “without precedent in modern history.” They see a world increasingly conflicted over scarce food and water supplies, rogue states and terrorists, and global warming. They fear that extremists will have access to increasingly lethal technology, including nuclear and biological weapons.

What are the headlines of your heart? Why give thanks in hard times? This week we need a very simple message with a very practical application for our times, whatever we are facing today. Let’s begin with a story.

When we give thanks

Jehoshaphat (“Yahweh judges”) was one of the greatest kings in Jewish history. He came to the throne around 873 B.C., at the age of 35. By this time, the ten northern tribes constituted the nation of “Israel,” while the two southern tribes constituted the nation of “Judah,” centered in Jerusalem. Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of this southern nation.

Immediately he began to institute religious reforms, rejecting the worship of Baal and banishing idolatry from the land (1 Kings 22:46).

He soon sent religious officials across the nation to instruct the people in the word and will of God (2 Chronicles 17:7-9).

His good and godly reign ushered in a period of remarkable peace and tranquility. He even made peace with Israel, the nation to the north, establishing a truce and common cause which aided both peoples.

He created a national system of jurisprudence built on the law of God, fostering a period of great integrity and character (2 Chronicles 19:7).

Nonetheless, despite his diligent leadership and service, this good and godly man would face the greatest crisis the Jewish people had seen since leaving Egypt. Innocent people still face enemies and hurt. They still lose their savings and jobs. They still face recession and calamity and fear. What happened to him still happens to us.

Judah’s ancient enemies, the Moabites (living east of the Dead Sea) entered into a military alliance with the Ammonites to their north and the Meunites to their southwest, for the purpose of attacking Judah from all sides. So it was that “some men came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea'” (2 Chronicles 20:2).

If these invading armies are successful, they will not merely occupy Judah—they will destroy the nation. They will kill every man, and take the women and children as their slaves. The very survival of the nation is in jeopardy.

And so their king does the right thing. He goes to God first (v. 3a), not last as we are prone to do. He calls the nation to come to God as well, through a national fast and prayer meeting (vs. 3b-4). Then he leads the people to do something remarkably unexpected—praise God.

He praises the Lord for his power over all the nations (v. 6). He honors him for his blessing to the people throughout their history (v. 7). He defines the crisis before the people (v. 10). He declares his absolute trust in the Lord: “We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (v. 12). The entire nation, in peril for their lives, joins him in worship before God (v. 13).

And God answers their cry.

He gives them a prophet to announce: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (v. 15).

He instructs the nation to march against their enemies, knowing that “you will not have to fight this battle.” Why not? “Take up your positions, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you” (v. 17).

Go out to fight this army of vastly superior numbers and forces? Don’t surrender to them, or flee from them? March out to certain death and destruction? Don’t give up or give out or give in? Here is the king’s response: “Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites [the worship leaders of the nation] stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with very loud voice” (vs. 18-19).

Now watch what happens on the day that saved a nation. The king calls to the people, “Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful” (v. 20).

Then he arranges his army for battle. What soldiers did he station at the front—his best and most experienced veteran warriors? No—the worship leaders. The king “appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever'” (v. 21, quoting Psalm 136).

Now to the central event of our Thanksgiving story: “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated” (v. 22). The armies attacked and slaughtered each other (v. 23), so that when the army of Judah arrived behind their worship leaders, “they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped” (v. 24).

The people take so much plunder that three days were required to collect it all. On the fourth day “they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Beracah to this day” (Beracah means “praise” in Hebrew).

And they return to Jerusalem in triumphant procession “for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies” (v. 27). It all happened “as they began to sing and praise,” not before.

Why we give thanks

Why is praising God, even and especially in hard times and places, the key to the power of God? For the simple reason that we enter God’s presence through praise.

Psalm 100:4 is clear: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” This is how we connect with God. This is how we connect to the power of his Spirit. Then the power that created the universe is available to us, no matter what enemies we face.

The Bible says that “God inhabits the praise of his people” (Psalm 22:3). Praise moves the power of God: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:25-26). And the jailer and his family came to Christ, and the Kingdom of God marched on.

Scripture implores us to “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Paul commands us to “rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). We are told, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (v. 6). With this result: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7).

When we praise and thank the Lord, we enter his empowering presence. We experience the power and victory and joy he can give only to those who are close enough to receive them.

But we must praise him first. Thank God for what he will do, before he does it. The greatest expression of faith is to thank someone for what they will do for you, even before they have done it. To thank the surgeon before you have the operation, or the pilot before you take off.

“With thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Thank him after he has provided, but first thank him before he does. Thank him for hearing you and giving you what you asked or whatever is best. Thank him when you pray and when you obey. Thank him by faith before you can thank him by sight. And you will be in position to receive all that the perfect will of God intends.

Conclusion

When last did you thank God first? The culture sees God as a means to your end, a provider of your needs. If he disappoints you, you owe him no gratitude. If your job is threatened or your bills are overwhelming or your family is struggling, clearly God hasn’t done his job and doesn’t deserve the reward of your worship. He has to do his job to receive his pay. If you’re mad at God, drop out of church or stop praying or reading or trusting. It’s only fair.

The Christian worldview says that God redeems all he allows. He uses all he permits. If we thank him before he acts, our faith positions us to receive all he intends. He is as much Lord in the fall of 2008 as he was in the fall of 2007. He is God even when the Moabites invade. All of God there is, is in this moment. So name your enemy, your Moabites and Ammonites. And thank him for the victory before it comes, and you will experience the power of God.

The Hiding Place tells the astounding story of Corrie ten Boom’s imprisonment at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp during the Holocaust.

She and her sister Betsie were assigned to Barracks 28, one of the most ghastly places in the entire camp. The plumbing was backed up, the bedding was soiled and rancid. When they lay down on their straw mats for the first time, they discovered that the place was covered with fleas. Can you imagine the horror?

Just then Betsie reminded Corrie of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” So they began thanking God for Barracks 28. They thanked him that they were assigned there together. They thanked him that the barracks was so crowded that more people would hear them pray and share the word of God. And they chose to thank him for the fleas, even though they had no idea why they should.

1,400 women were quartered in barracks designed for 400. Each night, Corrie and Betsie led in times of prayer and Bible study. To their surprise, no guards ever came near them. They soon had to hold a second service for all those who wanted to attend. There were guards everywhere else in the camp, but none in Barracks 28.

Then, one day, they discovered why. It was because of the fleas. They wouldn’t go into the barracks because they were flea-infested. Corrie and Betsie had thanked God for the fleas, and now they knew why.

Let’s join them.

The Best Advice I Know

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The Best Advice I Know

Revelation 7:9-17

Dr. Jim Denison

A friend recently sent me some good advice from kids:

Never trust a dog to watch your food (Patrick, age 10).

When your dad is mad and asks you, “Do I look stupid?” don’t answer him (Michael, 14).

Never tell your mom her diet’s not working (Michael, 14).

Stay away from prunes (Randy, 9).

When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair (Taylia, 11).

Never allow your three-year-old brother in the same room as your school assignment (Traci, 14).

Don’t sneeze in front of mom when you’re eating crackers (Mitchell, 12).

Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac (Andrew, 9).

If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse (Naomi, 15). Never try to baptize a cat (Eileen, 8).

Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat (Joel, 10).

Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time (Kyoyo, 9).

This morning I am going to give you the greatest single piece of advice I have ever received. This advice will explain why you are here, and what your life’s most fulfilling purpose is. It will tell you how to find God, every day; how to defeat your enemies and opponents in life; how to respond to discouragement and frustration, and how to experience the power of God in your life and soul.

You might be thinking that one piece of advice could never do all this. But it can. It has in my life, whenever I’ve followed it. It will for you as well.

Let me show you why it’s so, and how it works.

Why should we praise God?

When Jesus was asked, “What is the most important thing God has ever told us, in all his creation and revelation?” you remember his answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength” (Matthew 22:37). According to the Master of the Universe, worshiping God is the most important activity in life. This is the best advice I know.

Why? Why is it this important? Why worship God? John’s revelation of heaven answers our question. Consider these facts:

Praise thanks God for all he does for us. The people of heaven, this vast multitude beyond counting, wear “white robes” (v. 9). These refer to priestly robes like those the pope wears today, but even more to robes of victory such the Roman generals wore. What makes them white? “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (v. 14). Blood on a garment is one of the hardest stains to remove, but not this blood. Jesus’ blood bleaches out all the stains of sin in our lives. His forgiveness removes them forever.

So we all wear white robes of victory. Not Baptist robes and Presbyterian robes and Catholic robes. Not just robes for the choir, but for all of us. Robes of victory.

And we hold “palm branches” as well (v. 9). These were used by the Greeks and Romans as victory signs at the Games, like our gold medals today. We are dressed in white robes and hold palm branches of eternal victory, in Jesus.

Then look at our future with him (vs. 15-17): never again will we hunger or thirst or feel the scorching heat of the sun. Jesus himself will be our pastor, leading us to springs of eternal water; and God himself will dry our every tear.

No wonder they praise God! Has God saved your soul? Has he given you victory? Is this your future? Then how can you not thank and praise him?

Praise frames the universe. From beginning to end, all that is worships God. When God was busy creating all that is, “the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). When time comes to its final end, the great multitude in heaven shouts “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” (Revelations 19:1).

And between beginning and end, this is why we exist: God says that we are “the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise” (Isaiah 43:21). We exist to praise God. If we don’t, Jesus said that the rocks would cry out for us (Luke 19:40).

Praise leads to God. Where is God located? What’s his address? Psalm 22:3 declares that God inhabits the praises of his people. Psalm 100:4 teaches that we enter God’s gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Wherever people are praising God, God is there. No matter the circumstances of their lives, they have found God.

A little girl came home from church to discover that her bedridden, depressed father had written over his bed the words, GODISNOWHERE. She smiled and exclaimed, “God is now here!” When we praise him, he is.

Praise leads to the blessing and power of God. Are you afflicted by others? Listen to Psalm 149:6-9: “May the praise of God be in [his people’s] mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints. Praise the Lord.”

Do you have enemies? Listen to Psalm 8:2: “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”

Are you discouraged? Listen to Isaiah 61:3: God will bestow on you “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”

Are you in the belly of a fish, physically or emotionally? Remember what Jonah did: “I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). And God’s response? “The Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (v. 10).

Are you going into battle? As Israel was about to fight for their very lives, “Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever'” (2 Chronicles 20:21). The result? “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against [their enemies] and they were defeated” (v. 22).

Are you in prison today, physically or emotionally? Remember Acts 16:25: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” The result? “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose” (v. 26). And the jailer and his family were converted.

Listen to Psalm 30:11-12: “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.”

No wonder Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” Do you see why?

How do we praise God?

First, be clean before him. These in heaven have already washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (vs. 9, 14). In other words, they have accepted Jesus’ forgiveness and salvation. That’s where praise begins. This is a daily necessity. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Ask his forgiveness. Be clean before him.

Second, remember all God does for you (vs. 9-10, 14, 15-17). He has purchased your eternal life, where you will never again hunger, thirst, or hurt. He is your shepherd; he wipes away your tears. God loves you as you are, where you are, unconditionally.

Remember all he has done and will do for you, and you will want to worship him with gratitude and praise.

Third, respond intentionally to God (10). They “cried out in a loud voice.” They were engaged fully, with all their emotions, thoughts, and life (Matthew 22:37). Their worship was intentional and committed. And they centered their worship on God. Not on themselves, or their surroundings, or John, or anyone else who might be watching them.

Worship doesn’t “happen.” We choose to worship God, we make it happen. And we make it happen when we center our attention and lives on God himself, and no one else.

Fourth, respond physically to God (11). There are many ways to worship God physically. The angels “fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God” (v. 11; cf. 2 Chronicles 20:18). The multitude was “standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” (v. 9). Daniel, on the other hand, did it still differently: “Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10).

The important thing is to get into the presence of God physically. Get a place, a time, an appointment with God. Involve your body. Worship him with your “heart, soul, mind, and strength” (Matthew 22:37). Respond physically to God.

Fifth, respond verbally to God (12). Here is the angels’ praise: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (v. 12). There are many ways to praise God verbally. Read a psalm out loud, or a hymn, or a chorus. Sing to God. Shout to him. Whisper to him.

We have available today a booklet of praise, to help you. Take one, and respond verbally to God.

Last, respond constantly to God. Those in heaven “serve him day and night in his temple” (v. 15). The Psalmist said, “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws” (Psalm 119:164). He also said, happy is the man who meditates on the law of God day and night (Psalm 1:2; cf. Joshua 1:8).

When you and I worship God daily, constantly, then what we do here on Sundays will be just a recap and a celebration of how we have praised God all through our lives. And he will be pleased, indeed.

Conclusion

Are you too busy to praise God? I read this week about PrayerWheel, a new Web site which will provide personalized prayers in any of seven major religions. You can pay anything from $12.97 a year for three Catholic prayers a day, to $29.95 for twelve Islamic prayers daily. But the web site issues this disclaimer: “We make no warranties or guarantees or implied guarantees that the prayers said will be heard or granted by God.”

If church is your PrayerWheel, the place where you come once a week to meet God, then you’re missing so much. If you’ve decided you’re too busy to worship God every day, then you’ve chosen to miss his power, his blessing, and his personal presence in your life. Don’t make that mistake.

Worshiping God is the most important activity in life. That’s the best advice I can give you today.

Professor James Stewart of the University of Edinburgh told the story of one of his colleagues, a brilliant scholar in Hebrew and Aramaic. One day some students began joking among themselves wondering what language this renowned genius used in his prayers. Knowing his meticulous daily schedule, they made their way to his rooms in the nearby college and knelt quietly outside his door—where to their surprise they could barely hear him whisper the words of Charles Wesley’s hymn:

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,Look upon a little child,Pity my simplicity,Suffer me to come to thee.

He needed to worship God. Would you offer his words from your heart to God, right now?

The Best Definition of Success

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Topical Scripture: Judges 4:1-24

Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, thought there should be an annual day to honor fathers. She went to local churches, shopkeepers, and government officials with her idea. She was successful: Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910. President Nixon made the day a permanent national holiday in 1972.

Father’s Day is now that annual holiday when you try to find gifts that your father doesn’t have but would want. Another tie is probably not on the list.

You might consider a wi-fi coffeemaker, which your father can program through an app on his smartphone. Or rent him a day in a classic car (I would choose the 1974 Ford Bronco for $225). Or give him a day at car racing school.

As we think about gifts for fathers, let’s also consider what our heavenly Father wants fathers to give their children. There are two commitments we can make to God that will directly influence our families and our culture. Each of them is vital to the health of our souls as well. Together, they define a life a life well-lived.

As we continue our series in Judges, this week we come to a woman who changed the world. We will learn from her example how fathers and the rest of us can do the same.

Risk your present to the God of the future

Last week’s sin pattern persists in this week’s study: the judge dies, and the people return to their sins (Judges 4:1). God must bring judgment and punishment; this time he “sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor” (Judges 4:2).

Hazor was situated in the northern region of the Promised Land, in the area inhabited by the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun (v. 6; Joshua 19:32-39). Joshua had earlier exterminated its residents; it was the only city in that region which he destroyed by fire (Joshua 11:11–13). Later the Jabin Dynasty recovered power and restored the city. Solomon would later make it a fortified city and raise a levy to pay for the project (1 Kings 9:15). Its precise location is still disputed today, and several sites are suggested by archaeologists.

The commander of Jabin’s army was named Sisera (not a Canaanite name; perhaps he was a mercenary from a nearby nation). He commanded “nine hundred iron chariots,” perhaps a broad military coalition rather than the forces of a single city. Such an army is known to history; Pharaoh Thutmose III boasted of capturing 924 chariots at the battle of Megiddo in the fifteenth century BC.

These iron chariots gave Sisera and his soldiers complete advantage over the agrarian Hebrews. They could not outrun a chariot or defeat its protected driver in battle. So Sisera “cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years” until “they cried to the Lord for help” (Judges 4:3).

The only judge who was a prophet

His answer came in an unusual form: “Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time” (v. 4). Her name means “Bee.” She is the only judge to be identified as a “prophet,” but not the only woman in the Bible with this ministry. Miriam (Exodus 15:20) was before her, and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36), and Philip’s “four daughters who prophesied” (Acts 21:9) would follow after her.

A “prophet” or “prophetess” was less a foreteller of the future and more a forthteller of God’s word. The spiritual gift of “prophecy” and office of “prophet” can be linked to the ministry of preaching today (cf. Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Romans 12:6). In our text, Deborah functioned as one who gave God’s word to his people.

She was also “leading Israel” as a judge during this time: “She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided” (Judges 4:5). Other judges took their places of authority in the city gate; she held court under a palm tree. Her location was considerably south of Hazor, which may explain the fact that she was able to lead Israel from her palm tree while they were being oppressed by Jabin’s army to the north.

Deborah could have preserved her position and security, but her countrymen in the northern tribes were being oppressed and God had compassion on them. He used his prophetess to give his word to “Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali” (v. 6a). He lived in the region directly affected by Sisera and was apparently a likely choice to lead a rebellion against his oppression.

Deborah’s word came directly from God: “Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor” (v. 6b). This was a mighty army for the time. They were to hide atop Mount Tabor, 1843 feet above sea level, situated at the border between the tribal lands of Zebulun and Naphtali and thus accessible to all.

God would then “lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands” (v. 7). The heavy, iron-clad chariots would perhaps founder in the plain along the Kishon, especially if heavy rains came (cf. Judges 5:4 (NIV), where “the clouds poured down water”). Sisera would think he was chasing his adversaries into a dead-end, but the defeat would be his.

All Barak was called to do was obey and the victory would be his, but he refused to lead the army’s rebellion unless Deborah went with him (Judges 4:8). So, she spoke prophetically again: “Very well, I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman” (v. 9).

Barak and Deborah led their army up the mountain and down into battle against Sisera, and “the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword” (v. 15). Barak pursued Sisera’s army back to their general’s home of Harosheth Haggoyim, and all fell by the sword (v. 16).

Lessons learned from a prophet of God

From this part of our story we learn two important facts. One: God will use anyone who will follow him by obedient faith. Neither Deborah nor Barak did anything to earn their selection as leaders of God’s people.

It was the same for Abraham, the father of their nation: “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you'” (Genesis 12:1). There is absolutely no indication that this future father to more than half of the world’s religious population did anything to earn this call on his life. He didn’t graduate from Harvard Law on his way to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Neither Abram, Deborah, or Barak had resumes, lists of achievements, merit with God.

Such is the pattern of Scripture. Noah saved the human race, then planted a vineyard and got drunk; Moses ran from Egyptian authorities for forty years before returning to free his people from them; Bathsheba overshadows Goliath on David’s resume; Peter denied Christ before he preached him; Saul murdered Christians before he taught them.

God uses the usable. He does not call the equipped—he equips the called. If God could call Deborah and Barak, what’s to keep him from calling you?

A second fact emerges from this part of our narrative: Obedience is the key to victory with God. If Barak and Deborah had been unwilling to climb Mount Tabor, they could not have ridden down its elevation to victory over Sisera. If they had not done what God said, when he said it, how he said it, they would have lost the battle.

Armies must follow their leaders if they are to be successful. Athletes must obey their coaches if they are to improve. Students must follow their teachers’ direction if they are to learn. We must follow God if he is to lead us.

Mother Teresa was opening an orphanage in New York City, and a press conference broke out. One reporter shouted the question, “How will you measure the success of this work?” The tiny nun turned to the camera, smiled, and said, “I don’t believe our Lord ever spoke of success. He spoke only of faithfulness in love.” Success is obedience with God.

Risk your present to God’s future, and you’ll have his victory.

Risk your future to the God of the present (Judges 4:17–24)

The battle was over, the forces of Deborah and Barak victorious. But Sisera was still on the run. And he knew where to go to hide.

“Heber the Kenite” had moved from his ancestral home in the southern part of Canaan to the northern area, to alight himself with Jabin king of Hazor (vv. 11, 17). “Kenite” means metalworker, perhaps indicating that Heber was an engineer partly responsible for creating the king’s fleet of iron chariots.

Sisera knew where Heber lived, and assumed he would be given safe haven. He found Heber’s wife at the foot of the tent. Jael (her name meant “Mountain Goat”) welcomed him inside. In their culture, only her father or husband would be permitted inside her tent, so the forces of Deborah and Barak would not think to look there for the general. She gave him goat’s milk for his thirst, enticing him to nap.

She then took the only implements available to her, a tent peg and hammer, and used them to kill the mighty general. In this way Deborah’s prophecy came to pass: the Lord handed Sisera over to a woman (v. 9). And the greatest enemy Israel knew was destroyed by the wife of one of their greatest traitors.

Jael is truly an unsung hero of Scripture. Her part in the story reminds us that God will use all who will be used, and that obedience is the key to success. What tent peg and hammer has he put into your hand this week?

This courageous woman could have acted to protect her security and relationship with her husband. She could have allowed Sisera to escape, and none would have blamed her. She risked her marriage and family, with no promise of material provision. She could have lost her home and even her life if her husband caught her in the act of killing Sisera. She trusted her future to the God of the present. And he continues to make her name great today.

What about the future most worries you today? Where is God leading you on an uncertain path? Where are you challenged to trust him with the results of your obedience? If you are faithful in tithes and offerings, will your financial needs be met? If you are willing to share your faith, will your friend still be your friend? If you are faithful to use your gifts for ministry, will you have time for your family and career?

Jael trusted her present to the God of the future and invites us to join her today. Remember: all of God there is, is in this moment.

Conclusion

If we trust our present to the God of the future, and our future to the God of the present, we position ourselves to be used by our Lord in transformative ways. Fathers can give their children no greater blessing. Children can pay their fathers no higher honor.

God will use anyone who will be used. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Think about it: the wealthiest man in Dallas is no more important to God than his gardener. Name the last five Nobel Peace Prize winners, or the Super Bowl champions of two years ago, or the World Series champions last year, or the monarch of Great Britain before Queen Elizabeth II. Every one of us can change the world. But only if we seek his will and surrender to his voice. Only if we measure success by obedience.

Do you?

The Church God Can Bless

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The Church God Can Bless

Matthew 16:13-20

James C. Denison

The Dallas Cowboys begin their 48th season today. They have won five Super Bowls, tied for most in NFL history. They have 16 players in the NFL’s Hall of Fame in Canton, and will send another when Emmitt Smith becomes eligible in three years. They will soon occupy a $1 billion stadium, the most expensive ever built. They have a payroll of $82 million. But none of that matters when they play the New York Giants tonight, does it? They believe they can win the Super Bowl this year. If they don’t, nothing else they do will count.

Today we pause to celebrate all that God has given our family of faith. A $34.7 million facility, nearly paid for in full. We begin our fourth morning worship service today. We again ended the year with a giving surplus because of the faithfulness of our people. You’ve heard some of the good news from our summer ministries, as we have completed another successful season of Vacation Bible School, children’s sports and day camps, Youth Camp, and mission trips around the globe.

For what purpose? What is our Super Bowl? What is the victory which matters most? There is only one purpose God can bless, and therefore only one kind of church he can bless. If we want to be that church, we must fulfill that purpose. If we want God to bless our lives and our families, we must fulfill that purpose. In this league, there is no prize for second place.

Why to attack Hell

Let’s get the setting in our minds again.

Two years or so into his public ministry, Jesus and his disciples have taken some time to get away, retreating to Caesarea Philippi on the far northern edge of Galilee. This was the resort center of antiquity, the Vail or Jackson Hole of the first century. High in the hills, its climate is always cool.

Jesus and his friends were gathered in one of the most beautiful places in that part of the world. Surrounded by forests and hills, with a creek meandering at their side, they finally had some rest and quiet. I’ve been there twice–it is my favorite place to visit in the Holy Land.

Now they had time to reflect on their years together. Jesus asked them, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (v. 13). They answered with the popular speculation. “But what about you?” he pressed the point. And Simon Peter, their impetuous, boastful, mercurial leader, got something right. He became the first person in history to utter the words, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16).

To this declaration Jesus replied, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (v. 18). When we began our summer series with this text, we emphasized the first part of Jesus’ proclamation: the fact that this is his church.

His Greek was emphatic: “I will build the church of me.” It is a genitive of possession: this church belongs to Jesus and to him alone. Not to Jesus and us, or Jesus and the deacons, or Jesus and the culture. This is his church, or it’s not a church.

If we’re calling the shots and running the show, we can build a wonderful benevolent organization, a religious society, a Rotary Club with a Bible study, but we cannot build a church. Only Jesus can build a church. And he builds only the church that is his. We are his, or we are not a church.

Today we need to emphasize the second half of his sentence: “and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Literally, “the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” The word means “to have strength against,” “to stand up to.”

Gates do not attack–they defend. We put signs on our gates that say “Bad Dog” to warn people away. When last did you see a sign, “Bad Gate”? Who has a vicious gate at their house, a gate which attacks you when you come near?

We had to replace the backyard fence at our house a couple of years ago, and put up a new gate as well. It has since warped in the weather so that I’ve had to cut and saw and sand it several times. Try doing that to a Doberman. But my gate just sits there in silence. It opens and shuts, and does nothing else. That’s what gates do.

Here Jesus speaks of the “gates of Hades.” He was pointing to a cave high on the cliff overhead, a cave which leads to a cavern which bores down into the earth. The ancients called it the “gates of the underworld” or the “gates of Hades.” It’s still there today. It hasn’t moved. It doesn’t threaten anyone. You can look at it, and climb up to it, and say what you want about it, and it can’t strike back. It’s just a gate.

In Jesus’ metaphor, it’s the gate which leads to Hades, to the lair of the dead, to the realm of the enemy.

Everyone and everything on earth is on one side of that gate or the other. You either belong to God or you belong to Satan. You serve your Lord or you serve his enemy. There’s no middle ground, no neutral Switzerland of the soul, no demilitarized zone. Every person on earth is claimed either by God in Christ or by Satan and his demons.

It is our job to attack the gates of Hades so we can rescue those who are imprisoned on the other side. It is our job to reclaim souls from hell for heaven. This is why Jesus said he builds his church. It is our one reason for existing. It is the only purpose he will bless.

How to attack Hell

Everything we celebrate today has been built by God for this one purpose. How do we fulfill it? How do we win this victory? How can we be the church and the people God can bless?

First, we choose the same goal. Passionately, personally, collectively.

The Cowboys won’t have much success if they don’t all run the same plays. If Tony Romo fades back to pass and Julius Jones takes the ball from him so he can run with it, not much good will result. Imagine Terrell Owens swatting the ball down so Jason Witten can’t catch it. Unfortunately, you’re describing some of the churches and Christians I’ve watched over the years. I heard about a man who said he pastored one church and refereed two others.

The church exists to attack Hell. If you’re not on board with that purpose, if you’re coming to church for any other purpose, you’re in the way. If you came not to worship God but to be seen; if you came not to give to God but only to get something from him, you’re not playing on his team. Jesus is building a church which will attack Hell. If you’re not committed to that purpose, if you’re running your own plays instead, you need to repent and submit to him as your King and Lord.

You exist to be his ambassador, his fisher of men, his salt and light. You exist to be his witness, to make disciples of all nations. That’s why you’re on earth. That’s why you have your job, or attend your school, or live in your community. That’s why you’re here. If you want a life God can bless, get on the team.

Second, we take Christ to the lost.

If the Cowboys are to have success this year, they’ll have to seize it. No one is going to give them a yard or a point. No one will care about their $1 billion stadium or $82 million payroll. You don’t score points by staying in the huddle. The team that takes the initiative is the team that wins.

That’s even more true spiritually. The people on the other side of the gates of Hades cannot get out. They cannot get to us. It’s not just that the lost people we know don’t want to come to Christ and to church. The Bible says that they are spiritually deceived (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Satan has convinced them that they can be as God, knowing good and evil (cf. Genesis 3:5). He has them believing that they have all of God they need, that they can go to heaven if they’re good and believe in God, that it doesn’t matter what you believe so long as you’re sincere and tolerant. He has convinced them that they don’t need what we have to give, any more than you think you need what a Buddhist temple offers.

And so we must go to them. A “fisher of men” goes where the fish are found. He doesn’t wait in the boat for the fish to jump in. He doesn’t fish when it’s convenient, or use the bait he most enjoys. He does whatever it takes to get to the fish.

In Dallas, Texas, you’re that bait. You are those fishers of men. You will talk to more unchurched people this week than I’ll see this month. You are the only Bible most will read, the only church they’ll attend. That’s why it is so crucial that you pray by name for lost people, and invite them to something spiritual.

We will give you every opportunity we can. We will give you four Sunday morning worship services and Bible studies and spiritual events all week long. We are putting ads in the North Park movie theater and using media across our community. But lost people are not sitting at home hoping that we will begin another worship service or a Bible study. They won’t come just because they saw an ad. If you’ll invite them, they’ll come. If you won’t, they won’t. Who do you know on the other side of the gates of Hades today?

Last, we fight until the victory is won. Here’s the incredible good news: if we attack, we will win. Jesus guarantees victory to his church’s assault: “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” As you work, God works. When you speak his word by his Spirit’s leading, he empowers you and uses you. He saves souls and changes lives. He builds his Kingdom. And you get to be a part of the most exciting purpose in life.

Conclusion

We are meeting today so we can go marching tomorrow. The church God can bless is the church that is attacking Hell. The life God can bless is the life that is attacking Hell. Can God bless us? Can God bless you?

Martin Luther said, “The world does not need a definition of religion so much as it needs a demonstration.” Will you be that demonstration? Will you pray for those who are trapped on the other side of the gates of Hell? Will you ask God to use your life and time, your abilities and resources to help them? Will you volunteer for service? Will you surrender to his purpose and power? Will you live a life God can bless?

All over the world, God is using his people to assault the gates of Hell.

In 40 years, only about one-fifth of the world’s Christians will be Anglos. The number of Christians in Africa has grown from 10 million in 1900 to 360 million in 2000. Nearly half the continent is Christian. There are more Christians in Ethiopia than there are Methodists in North America. In South Korea, where there was not a single born-again Christian in 1900, nearly one half of the nation follows Jesus. They are sending more missionaries into the world than we are.

God is preparing for a day when we will say with John in Revelation, “there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). The church that wants that future, the church that attacks Hell to create that future is the church God can bless.

Will we be that church? Will you?

The Church Is Not a Building

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Topical Scripture: Matthew 28:1–10

The world watched last week as the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris burned. Two-thirds of the structure was destroyed, though the iconic twin towers were saved. Priceless artifacts were rescued as well. More than $1 billion has been contributed so far to the rebuilding effort.

I have been to similar structures around the world. The Westminster Cathedral in London, the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem—each is an awe-inspiring experience.

But here’s the good news: each and every one of them could be destroyed and the church would still be the church. Every church building on the planet—including our beautiful chapel—could burn down and the church would remain.

That’s because the church is not a church. And a church is not a building.

It took three centuries for the church to gain the legal status to own buildings. That’s why the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, began in AD 327, is the world’s oldest church structure. If you had asked an early Christian, “Where is the church?” she would not have known how to answer your question. It would be like asking, “Where is the Republican Party?” or “Where is the pro-life movement?”

The church is not a building but a movement—not an institution but an army that marches on its knees to bring the kingdom to the world.

And it’s why the church did not begin in a cathedral but in a tomb—an empty tomb.

Today we celebrate the fact that Jesus is risen indeed. When we’re done with our study of God’s word, I believe you’ll see why that news is the best news the world has ever heard. And why it’s the news your soul needs today.

Come to the tomb

Let’s walk through our text verse by verse.

The narrative begins: “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb” (v. 1). The “other Mary” was the mother of one of Jesus’ followers. On Good Friday they had watched as Jesus was buried and thus knew its location.

“And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone and sat on it” (v. 2). This was a “mega” earthquake caused by the angel as he rolled back the massive stone that had been used by Pontius Pilate to seal the tomb. Then he “sat on it,” demonstrating his power over Rome’s power and authority.

“His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men” (vv. 3–4). These were battle-hardened guards who faced execution if they allowed the tomb to be unsealed. They clearly had never faced power like this. The ones assigned to guard a dead man appear to be dead while he is alive.

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay'” (vv. 5–6). Jesus had already risen from the grave. The angel did not roll aside the stone so he could leave the tomb, but so we could go in. So we could “come, see the place where he lay.”

“Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you” (v. 7). He is not only risen from the dead—he is still present with the living.

“So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (v. 8). Obedience is always the proper response to revelation. “And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him” (v. 9). Revelation leads to obedience, which leads to an encounter with Jesus, which leads to worship.

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (v. 10). His resurrection was for them and Jesus’ brothers and disciples, and through them, for the world.

So, here’s what we know: on Easter Sunday, Jesus tomb was empty, with no natural explanation. The grave was left clutching the clothes which had enshrouded his dead corpse, because he is alive.

The disciples did not overpower the battle-hardened guards, steal the body, then die for a lie. The women did not commit such a crime, either. They didn’t go to the wrong tomb—the Roman authorities would have pointed out the right tomb. The authorities didn’t steal the body, or they would have produced it as soon as Christians began preaching the resurrection.

His resurrection was not a hallucination—five hundred people saw him, and five hundred people do not have the same hallucination. Jesus didn’t fake his death, survive three days in a mummified, airtight shroud, shove aside the massive stone, overpower the Roman guards, appear through locked doors, then do the greatest high jump at the ascension.

There is literally no explanation for the empty grave except that he is risen indeed.

Why did he rise from the grave?

Here’s our question today: why? Why did Jesus have to rise from the dead?

Before he died on the cross, he told the thief at his right side, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). As he died, he told his Father, “Into your hands I commit my spirit!” (v. 46).

He came to die for our sins and accomplished that purpose when he died. In the moment of his death, he was in paradise with his Father. While his friends buried his corpse in Joseph’s tomb, he was in the presence of the King of glory.

Why, then, did he come back to earthly life? What happened at the empty tomb?

Jesus proved that he is God. We can visit the graves of Muhammad, Confucius, and other religious leaders around the world and find them occupied. When we visit the grave of Jesus, it is empty.

He proved that his word is true. If he is divine, his word is divinely inspired.

And he proved that because he won, we win.

At the empty tomb, Satan lost. John’s Gospel tells us that the devil inspired Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus (John 13:27). At the cross, he and his minions must have been rejoicing. They were certain that they had executed the Son of God and quashed his movement on earth. But on Easter Sunday, at the empty tomb, they lost and Jesus won.

The religious authorities lost. They were certain at the cross that they had arranged for the death of this would-be Messiah and stopped his movement that threatened their authority and prestige. But on Easter Sunday, at the empty tomb, they lost and Jesus won.

Rome lost. Pilate was certain that Jesus’ crucifixion would end his life and threat to Rome’s power and authority. But on Easter Sunday, at the empty tomb, the mightiest power the world had ever seen lost and Jesus won.

Because Jesus won, we win.

Conclusion

I was a missionary in East Malaysia on the island of Borneo while in college. In one of the churches, I watched a teenage girl being baptized. I noticed a set of threadbare luggage against the wall and asked my interpreter whose it was. He pointed to the girl and explained that her father told her if she was ever baptized as a Christian, she could never return home. So she brought her luggage.

In Singapore, I met a young boy whose father beat him whenever he came to church. The missionaries asked him why he stayed at home and he explained, “If I leave home, my father won’t hear about Jesus.”

I have been working for two decades with a pastor in Cuba who turned down the chance to be the starting third baseman on their national baseball team to become a Baptist pastor in a tiny town. That’s going from rock star status in Cuba to one of the most persecuted, despised jobs in the country. Last year, through its national ministries, his church shared the gospel with more than sixty-eight thousand people.

A dear friend of mine named Abraham Sarker came to America from Bangladesh as a Muslim, seeking to convert Americans to Islam. Through a dramatic conversion experience, he became a Christian. He risked prison and worse to return to Bangladesh, where he won his family to Christ and established a ministry. Last year, it led more than ten thousand Muslims to Christ.

What made the difference in each of their stories? An empty tomb.

If the empty tomb can defeat Satan and the greatest authorities of their day, it can defeat Satan and the greatest threats we face today. Bring your temptations to the empty tomb and find there the power to defeat Satan. Bring your challenges and find power. Bring your grief and find life. Bring your fears and find faith.

Let’s go to the empty tomb together. There we will find that Jesus “is risen indeed.”

This is the promise and the invitation of God.

The Concentric Circles of Christmas

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Topic Scripture: Luke 2:15-20

Last week, Janet and I were setting out our Christmas decorations. Many of them. Boxes and boxes of them, in fact.

As we were doing so, she wondered what the Chinese workers who make our Christmas decorations think of the way we celebrate the Christmas holiday. It’s a great question.

I did some research. It turns out, nearly two-thirds of the world’s Christmas products are manufactured in a single place, a Chinese city of 1.2 million residents called Yiwu. It is home to six hundred factories that make everything from glowing fiber-optic trees to felt Santa hats.

In a country where two-thirds are atheists or non-religious and Christianity officially composes only 5 percent of the population, it’s easy to wonder what the people making commercial Christians decorations think of the Christian faith.

We can ask the same question here at home. I grew up in Houston, Texas, but did not hear the gospel in a way I understood until I was fifteen years old. I knew much more about Santa Claus than I did about Jesus Christ. I could have told you that he was born on Christmas day, but I had no idea why, or why his birth mattered to me.

Many of the people we’ll interact with this Christmas season are where I was and where the Chinese are today. This fact makes Christmas one of the most important seasons of the year for Christian witness and ministry.

Max Lucado notes that “God made you on purpose for a purpose.” There are people whose lives you can touch for eternity this Christmas season. But Christmas must be real in us before Jesus can be real through us.

How?

A shocking story

In Luke 2, we find “shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night” (v. 8). No one reading Luke’s Gospel in the first century would have expected them in the Christmas story.

Shepherds were a noble profession in the Old Testament—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their sons all engaged in this vocation. By the time of Christ, however, they were despised. The scholar Joachim Jeremias documents their rejection by their culture. The Mishnah, their written record of the oral law, calls them “incompetent”; another passage says no one should feel obligated to rescue a shepherd who fell into a pit.

Shepherds could not be admitted in court as witnesses. You could not buy wool, milk, or a goat from a shepherd, because it was assumed to be stolen property.

Philo, a first-century Jewish scholar, reported that their profession was “accounted inglorious and mean” by wealthier and more respectable people (On Husbandry 61).

It would have shocked the self-respecting religious authorities that shepherds rather than rabbis and priests were invited to the first Christmas.

Jesus was making this point: if they were included, so are we.

A surprising response

Their story begins: “In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night” (Luke 2:8). “The same region” refers to Bethlehem, where Jesus has just been born. The “field” is traditionally identified with the town of Beit Sahur, an eastern suburb of Bethlehem. Three chapels stand there today, built by Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Protestants.

When an angel of the Lord appeared to them, “they were filled with great fear” (v. 9). This is a typical response to meeting an angel in the Bible, perhaps heightened by the shepherds’ religious class in their society. But the angel announced the astounding good news: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (v. 11).

The shepherds’ immediate response is fascinating.

First, they chose to come and see: “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us” (v. 15). And they did this “with haste,” finding “Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger” (v. 16).

Second, they chose to go and tell: “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child” (v. 17). They met the Child of Christmas, then they told the good news that their Messiah had come.

How can we follow their example?

Come and see, then go and tell

Let’s begin with the first invitation: to “come and see” the Lord Jesus.

I’ve been thinking much over Thanksgiving about two biblical imperatives: “be still” and “be thankful.”

Psalm 46:10 calls us to “be still, and know that I am God.” We must do the first to do the second. Over the coming Christmas weeks, let’s make a time and place every day to be still with God, to be in his presence in Scripture, prayer, and worship, to experience him intimately and directly.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 calls us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” Over the Christmas holiday, let’s look for ways and times to give thanks in every circumstance we encounter. Let’s express our gratitude to God for the families and friends with whom we share the holidays; for those who serve us in the stores and restaurants; for the prosperity we enjoy and the joys of this season.

If we make the strategic decision to “be still’ and to “be thankful,” we will “come and see” Jesus wherever he is found this Christmas.

Now let’s consider the second invitation: to “go and tell” the world.

Dr. Oscar Thompson was a beloved evangelism professor when I taught on the faculty of Southwestern Seminary many years ago. He made famous a model he called “concentric circles of concern.”

He traced seven levels in our relational lives: from self to family, relatives, friends, neighbors and associates, acquaintances, and “person X” (someone unknown to us). He urged us to build bridges to each as appropriate to the nature of our relationship with them.

Using his model in our context, we would “go and tell” our family about Jesus in different ways than we might with neighbors or acquaintances. We must earn the right to be heard. But as we pray for those we know and ask the Lord to use us in sharing his love with them, we can know that the Father will lead us in ways that are best for them and for us.

Conclusion

This Christmas season, let’s come and see Jesus every day. Then let’s go and tell however the Lord leads us.

We can give our souls, and our friends, no greater gifts.

Janet received a very kind thank you card from a woman in one of her ladies’ Bible studies in Dallas. It contained these words from Max Lucado: “When you arrive in heaven, I wonder if Christ might say these words to you: ‘I’m so proud that you let me use you. Because of you, others are here today. Would you like to meet them?'”

The Courage For True Success

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The Courage for True Success

Acts 14:19-20

Dr. Jim Denison

Dr. Bill Austin, the former Baylor chaplain, enjoyed telling this story on himself. Years earlier in his ministry, God led him from one pastorate to another. An elderly lady in the church he was leaving came to him with great sadness. “We’ll never find another pastor as good as you,” she said. “We’ll never find someone who can preach as well or lead as well.” “Oh, yes you will,” he assured her. “You’ll find a man who can preach much better than me, and lead much better than me, and be much better than I have been.” “Oh, no,” she shook her head, “that’s what they said the last time.”

It takes courage to follow God’s will. The message today is about the courage we must have to give sacrificially of our time, lives, and money to our Father. Now, how does this subject of courageous, sacrificial giving make you feel?

Before I became a pastor, whenever I learned that the sermon would be about giving I expected to be made to feel guilty or pressured. To be asked to do something I didn’t really want to do, because the pastor told me I should. I thought the goal was to raise as much money as possible.

My favorite cartoon about giving pictures two men walking out of the church in their underwear. The first says to the second, “That was the best sermon on giving I’ve ever heard.” Do you wonder if that’s my goal today?

Well, it’s not. There’s a much better way to understand this subject. A way to give courageously and sacrificially to God because we want to. Because we’re thrilled to. As life’s greatest privilege and honor.

We’ll find that way today, for our money, our lives, and our souls.

Why did Paul sacrifice?

For weeks we’ve been learning about true success from the Apostle Paul. Today we see the courage of such success, in a very dramatic way.

Paul and Barnabas are on what we call their “first missionary journey,” in the south-central part of modern-day Turkey. Here they established the churches to which Paul wrote Galatians. And here, in the town of Lystra, one of the most dramatic events in Scripture occurred.

In Lystra, God uses Paul to heal a man with crippled feet.

The pagans decide that Paul and Barnabas are gods in human form. The priest of Zeus brings bulls to sacrifice to them. Paul and Barnabas immediately begin to protest, and to preach to the gospel to the excited crowd (Acts 14:8-18). No preacher ever spoke to a more enthusiastic audience.

But fame is short lived, and people are fickle: “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead” (v. 19). The crowd wanted to sacrifice to Paul. Then they sacrificed Paul.

Bruised, battered, bleeding, knocked unconscious, so beaten that his enemies thought him dead. What would we do? Call 911? File charges? Go back to these very people, to preach the very words which had gotten us stoned? This is probably not our first impulse.

But it was Paul’s. Here’s the point for our souls this morning: “…after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city” (v. 20). He sacrificed himself again, courageously, to preach to them the word of God. To obey the will of God. To serve God. He chose to do it. He wanted to do it.

And not just in Lystra: “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (2 Corinthians 11:24-29).

Did Paul want to make such courageous sacrifice to his Lord? “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying” (vs. 30-31).

Paul wanted to give himself so courageously, so sacrificially to his Lord. He counted such sacrifice a privilege: “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him” (Philippians 3:8-9).

Paul knew the joy, the privilege of courageous sacrifice to God. He was not the first.

Noah spent a century building his ark and preaching to his neighbors. Abraham left his home to “go out not knowing” where God would lead him. Moses brought God’s people from slavery to the edge of their glorious future.David, who wanted to fight Goliath. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who chose to enter the fiery furnace rather than worship the king’s idol.

Peter chose to be crucified upside down rather than die in the same manner as did his Lord. So did James, beheaded by Herod; John, exiled to Patmos; Andrew, James the less, and Simon the Zealot, all crucified; Bartholomew, beaten to death; Jude, Matthew, Matthias, Philip, and Thomas, all martyred. Each could have refused to preach and save his life. Each chose courageous sacrifice.

And the pattern continues among us today.

Some of our members feed the homeless downtown; some volunteer their time sacrificially to serve in missions and benevolent ministries around our city; some are in Cuba today, giving their time to the Lord and our Cuban sisters and brothers; some serve with great sacrifice in the lay leadership and ministries of our congregation.

This week I talked with a dear older saint in our church. She has given at great sacrifice to help our church, giving money she very much needs personally. But she has chosen to give that money to God. She was delighted to give it. Her quote was simple: “You cannot out-give God.” She is right.

Why does God expect sacrifice?

Such sacrifice has been at the heart of true faith, from Adam to this moment. The courageous sacrifice of time, abilities, and resources. Sixteen of Jesus’ thirty-eight parables were about money and possessions. God’s word contains 500 verses on prayer, less than that on faith, but more than 2,000 on money and possessions. Why is God so concerned with this subject? Why does he expect financial sacrifice from his people?

For this simple reason: God knows that our money reveals our heart, our soul, our priorities. If he is Lord of our finances, he is Lord of our lives. If he is not, he is not.

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Jesus gave us the first commandment: love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 22:37). Scripture adds: “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5). We are to love our Lord more than our money.

God knows that the way we handle our money reveals our character and souls: “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11).

If we are not willing to submit our money to God, we have not truly submitted our lives to him. Money reveals our heart. That’s why Martin Luther said every person needs a three-fold conversion: the head, the heart, and the wallet. That’s why General Sam Houston insisted on wearing his wallet into his baptism, so it would belong to God as well.Has your wallet been baptized yet?

Now our Lord has led our church family into a commitment of enormous sacrifice. The work we must do to prepare for the next generation and to reach our community requires the largest capital project in our history. This project requires more financial support than any single group in our church can give. God has led us to a vision which requires sacrificial, courageous giving of every one of us.

Why has God so led us?

God’s purpose in this capital campaign is to grow us spiritually. The result will be buildings and ministry. His goal in these days is not to raise money but souls. Not to construct buildings but to build faith. To teach each of us the joy and responsibility of courageous sacrifice.

You see, God can only give his best blessing, joy, peace, and purpose to those who are fully yielded to him. He always gives his best to those who leave the choice with him. When we are self-sufficient, living a convenient faith, we exclude God’s will and power from our lives. We keep him at the margins of our soul and daily priorities.

But when we yield our money, our time, our ambitions, our will to his, he can then do so much more with us than we can do for him. Then his power works through ours. Then Jesus lives his life through us. Then we have the character of Jesus—his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Then we are crucified with Christ, and Jesus lives his life through us.

One author calls this commitment “the key to triumphant living.” Another calls it “the Christian’s secret of a happy life.” Watchman Nee calls it “the normal Christian life.”

Jesus wants us to give sacrificially and courageously to his Kingdom through this project, so he can control and bless our lives.

It has been truly said: all you are unable to give possesses you.

But each time we ask more of ourselves than we think we are able to give, and then manage to give it, we grow. In fact, this is the only way we grow.

Courageous sacrifice to God uses our temporal, temporary possessions for eternal purposes. In the 1920’s, a Methodist layman gave $100,000 to build a college in Liberia. By the 1940’s, the college had grown and was reaching many young Africans. On a special anniversary of the college’s founding, the administration determined to thank their founding benefactor.

It took months to find that layman. He had lost everything in the crash of 1929 and was living in a little house on the south side of Chicago. Twice he refused to see representatives of the mission, but finally agreed. He was flown to Africa for a gala celebration of the college’s anniversary. As he looked over the campus filled with hundreds of smiling students, he whispered to the college president, “The only thing I have kept is what I gave away.”

One day, we’ll all say that.

Conclusion

Can you say that your life is yielded sacrificially and courageously to God this morning? The best way to know is to ask the same question of your money. Our church cannot fulfill God’s vision for us unless each of us gives with sacrificial courage. It will not be done otherwise. God does not want it to be done otherwise. He is using this project to call us to spiritual renewal, to our knees, to sacrificial and courageous surrender of our wills and our money to his Lordship.

Have you answered his call yet?

In 1815, the Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. The Duke’s most recent biographer claims to have an advantage over all previous biographers: he has found an old account ledger which shows how the Duke spent his money. That, says the biographer, is the best clue to what the Duke thought matters most.

If someone wrote your biography based on your giving to God, what would your story say? Let’s write the next chapter, today.