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Give Me a Sign?

May 22nd, 2010 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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The following is the transcript from a 2007 sermon given by Cole Brown.

Introduction

How many of you have heard that Gideon was a hero? How many of you have heard Gideon lifted up as a great example in a sermon? Or in Sunday school? That’s funny to me. Because if you could talk to Gideon today I am sure that he would not think of himself as a hero. He would not describe himself in the glowing terms that we have often heard people use to describe him. In fact, I imagine that Gideon looks back on a lot of what he said and did with shame and embarrassment. We know what that’s like, don’t we? We’ve all done things that we thought made sense at the time only to be embarrassed by them later. Like our middle school pictures, for example. But tonight we’re looking at something even more detailed than a bad class picture. We are looking at some very important moments in his life captured for us forever in the Bible. Turn with me to Judges 6:1-7:15 and let’s look at Gideon’s story together. As we look at Gideon’s story we will see that there are things about him to be admired and there are things about him to detest. In these ways he is very much like you and me and very little like the great, perfect, exemplary warrior we have so often heard him described as.

Gideon Introduced

When we’re introduced to Gideon in Judges 6:11 he is threshing wheat in the winepress. Now, obviously, the winepress is not where one would normally go to thresh wheat. You would normally do this on the threshing floor. But Gideon is living in abnormal times. The powerful Midianites have been oppressing him and his people for over 7 years. So Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress because he was hiding from the oppressive Midianites. He wasn’t alone in his fear. Look at verse 2, “Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.” Everyone was hiding because everyone was trying to survive. Gideon was no exception. And here, in the midst of his hiding and secrecy, Gideon receives a visitor. Not just any visitor, but a very unique visitor. Not the enemy he was hiding from, but someone far more powerful and far more frightening: The Angel of the Lord. You’ll remember from our study of chapter 2 that the Angel of the Lord is not an angel of Yahweh but the Angel of Yahweh. He is God himself. He is Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, before his incarnation. So here is Gideon, hiding from the Midianites and threshing wheat in the winepress, when Yahweh himself appears to him and says, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.”

That sounds ironic doesn’t it? Almost humorous? The Lord refers to Gideon as a mighty warrior and yet this mighty warrior is hiding by the winepress out of his fear of the oppressors. That’s the first thing we notice as readers. But that’s not the first thing Gideon noticed. Gideon wasn’t concerned with the second half of the sentence but with the first. Gideon had trouble with the Angel saying, “The Lord is with you.” Look at Gideon’s response in verse 13, ““Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” This is the first thing Gideon should be ashamed of almost as much as Derrick and Keela should be ashamed of those pictures we saw earlier. He should be ashamed of his bad theology. Gideon sees the suffering of his people and he concludes that the suffering of his people is proof that Yahweh is not with them. He thinks that their suffering is proof that Yahweh has abandoned them. But Gideon has it all backwards. Their suffering is not the result of Yahweh abandoning them, their suffering is a result of them abandoning Yahweh. In his mercy Yahweh had just sent a prophet to Israel to remind them of that. Look back at verses 7-11. Yahweh’s message through his prophet is that he has never abandoned his people. He has rescued them and delivered them from all of their oppressors even though they have done nothing to deserve it! But his people have abandoned him for other gods.

Gideon’s theology was twisted. Human suffering does not in any way prove that God has abandoned human beings. Human suffering is proof that we have abandoned God. Yahweh created a world entirely free of suffering. No sickness, no heartbreak, no disease, no natural disasters, no death. But in this world free from suffering lived a man and a woman just like you and me. And like you and me this man and woman chose to rebel against God. They chose to worship something other than Yahweh, the Ultimate Good. They took other things – even good things like themselves and each other – and they turned them into God things. And this is a very, very bad thing. Because when they chose to give their worship to creation rather than their Creator they fell from a proper relationship with him. And when they fell from a proper relationship with Creator they also fell from a proper relationship with everything he created. That opened the door for every type of suffering. All of this suffering still exists today because millions and millions of human beings are still not in a right relationship with the Creator and, consequently, they are not in right relationship with his creation. Suffering entered the world because human beings lived for themselves and not Yahweh. The Midianites oppressed Gideon and his people because Israel worshiped themselves and not Yahweh. Suffering does not exist because Yahweh has abandoned us but because we have abandoned Yahweh.

Likewise, suffering does not prove that God is not here it actually reminds us that God is here. It does this in a couple of ways. First, God uses suffering to bring us back to him. As we suffer our false gods are exposed because suffering reveals the absolute inadequacy and insufficiency of all the things we worship apart from Jesus. It reminds us that our money cannot save us, our health cannot save us, our relationships cannot save us, our education cannot save us, our career cannot save us, our self image cannot save us, the government cannot save us. Suffering shows us that created things are easily destroyed and incapable of redeeming our pain and suffering. Through that we are led to Yahweh, the Creator, the only one who cannot be destroyed by suffering and the only one who can redeem our pain and suffering. Suffering is proof that God is here because suffering brings us to him just as it brought the Israelites to him. Look at verse 7. Because of 7 years of oppression the Israelites finally cried out to the Lord. Second, Yahweh doesn’t just use our suffering to bring us to him, he also comes to us by entering into our suffering. That’s why he was standing next to Gideon having this conversation in the first place. He had come into Israel’s suffering for the purpose of delivering them from it. Years later the Angel of the Lord would once again enter into the suffering of his people. He would do so by putting on human flesh, being born of a woman, and living a life of poverty and rejection and abuse that would ultimately end in the most violent and most painful and most humiliating of deaths. God, in Jesus, suffered so that his people could be rescued from suffering. God, in Jesus, was oppressed so that his people could be freed from oppression. God, in Jesus, died violently so that his people could live peacefully. Suffering is not a reminder that God is absent. Suffering is a reminder that God is ever-present in our suffering and that one day his people will be entirely free from it.

Gideon had it all backwards. His theology was distorted and it was self-centered. Most of all, though, it was selective. And ours often is too. We tend to only remember the good things we have done and none of the bad. And then we tend to only remember the times when God seems to be silent instead of the many times that God’s presence has been obvious. We forget about all of our prayers that Yahweh has answered. We forget about all the mighty acts of provision and deliverance he has worked. And we most definitely forget about the evil that lives in our hearts and minds and the innumerable evil actions we have committed. So we cop an attitude like Gideon. “Lord, how could you forget about me? I’ve done this and that for you. It’s time you finally did something for me! I’ve earned it!” This is such a common attitude and such a despicable attitude. The truth is there is not a human being on earth who deserves anything from God other than his judgment and wrath. And yet that is not what Yahweh offers us. Yahweh offers us grace and forgiveness. He offers us blessing and deliverance, rescue and salvation.

Gideon Called

This is why Yahweh is at the winepress talking to Gideon and this is why Yahweh responds as he does. He could have struck Gideon down right then and there for his arrogance. But he didn’t. Instead, he offered deliverance. Read verse 14, The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” Gideon should have responded in humility and obedience. Instead he questioned Yahweh’s decision in verse 15, “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Now, Gideon is right, of course. He’s hiding from his oppressors because his clan is weak and he is weak. It is obvious that this man could never save Israel. He can’t even save himself. But Yahweh can. Yahweh can. And Yahweh will. But, as always, Yahweh chooses to bring salvation not through power but through weakness, not by way of the expected but by way of the unexpected. Yahweh does this to so that we will know that there is no power greater than his and there is no savior other than him. With that in mind Yahweh promises Gideon, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”

Even hearing these words and seeing the Angel of the Lord face to face was not enough for Gideon. He needed further assurance and further proof. He needed another sign. So he said, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” The Lord graciously obliged. So Gideon went in, he prepared a young goat and some bread without yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and he brought them out to the Angel of the Lord. I’m sure Gideon expected his visitor to receive his offering and eat it. Instead, the Angel of the Lord told him to take the meat and the unleavened bread and put them on a rock and pour out the broth. Gideon did what he was told. Then the Angel of the Lord raised his staff and with it he touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Immediately fire came out from the rock and it consumed the meat and the bread and at that moment the Angel of the Lord disappeared. Finally, Gideon realized the obvious. He had been talking with God himself. He cried out in fear, “Sovereign Lord! I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face!” The voice of the Lord replied, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”  Gideon was grateful for Yahweh’s mercy so he built an altar to the Lord there and called it, “The Lord Is Peace.”

So Gideon has seen the Angel of Yahweh face to face. He has heard his voice and he has seen him consume his offering with fire. You would think that would be enough, wouldn’t you? You would think from this point forward Gideon would trust Yahweh and do whatever he said, wouldn’t you? But as we’ll see, even after all of this, Gideon still doubted. Gideon was still afraid. Yahweh spoke to him and told him to tear down his father’s pagan altar to Baal, cut down the idolatrous Asherah pole beside it, and build an altar to Yahweh in its place. Gideon did it but he did it at night. And verse 27 tells us that he did it at night because he was afraid of the townspeople. He knew how angry they would be if their idolatrous altars were destroyed. And he was right. When the people of the town woke up and saw their idolatrous altar replaced with an altar to Yahweh they were furious! “Who did this?” they asked each other. Eventually they found out that it was Gideon, Joash’s son. They quickly called for Joash and demanded that he present his son to them so they could kill him. Joash was under tremendous pressure. On one side he had his son who he wanted to protect. On the other he had the entire town wanting to kill him because he destroyed the altar of their idolatry. His response was insightful. “If Baal really is a god,” he said, “he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”

Yahweh preserved Gideon’s life because he is gracious and because he was going to deliver Israel through this unlikely man. Now, with that said, let’s pause for a second. Do you see the audacity of Gideon and his people? Remember how Gideon’s story starts? It starts with Gideon complaining about the fact that his people are suffering. He blames it on Yahweh. He says that the Lord must not be with the Israelites or they wouldn’t be facing this oppression. Think of the nerve of Gideon. So quick to accuse Yahweh and complain against him and yet all this time he has had a pagan altar in his own backyard! All this time there has been an altar to Baal and an Asherah pole in his own backyard! He is not worshiping Yahweh, he is worshiping false gods, and yet he still acts as though Yahweh owes him something. And his people behaved the same way. When the pagan altar was destroyed they were outraged. How dare someone challenge Baal! They were ready and willing to kill whoever would dare to sin against their idols! And yet for years and years and years the people of Israel have been doing far worse to Yahweh! They have forsaken him, they have given their worship to false gods, and they built altars to their idols and no one seems to care! An entire people forsakes Yahweh and no one is disturbed. One man tears down one altar to Baal and the entire town is out for blood! The audacity of these people is mind-blowing!…

…Until we recognize how often we do the same thing. How often do we give ourselves to other lovers and then complain to Yahweh when they don’t deliver? How often do we worship other gods and then complain about Yahweh when they fail us? We so often commit idolatry and then get angry with God because he doesn’t bless or reward our idolatry. Some of us live our lives like we’re god and then we get angry when God doesn’t treat us the same way. We don’t give anything to God but we expect God to give everything to us. We don’t obey God’s desires but we curse God because he doesn’t obey our desires. We have built pagan altars in our own backyard and we have the audacity to expect God to do our will. Some of us are angry with God because we feel like we’ve done the important things he’s asked. “I give money to the church. I volunteer in the church. I haven’t been having sex outside of marriage even though I desperately want to but you still haven’t done this for me or that for me.” When we make complaints like that we just incriminate ourselves even more. We make it obvious that we weren’t serving God because we loved him, or because we wanted to worship him, or because we were grateful – we were serving God because of what we thought we could get from him. All of our obedience to God was nothing but a coin in the candy machine. We only did it because we thought we’d get something in return. And when we don’t see the results we want to see we turn from God and try to get the things we want in our own ways. I see this all the time in the Church – even in this church — and it absolutely breaks my heart. We are bowing to pagan altars and then blaming Jesus when they don’t deliver.

Gideon Unfaithful

We are not so different from Gideon and his people. And as we read on in the story of Gideon we see more of ourselves in him. By now you would think Gideon would be full of faith and ready to do whatever Yahweh asked of him. He’s seen the Angel of the Lord face to face. He’s seen his offering miraculously consumed. Yahweh himself has explicitly promised Gideon victory. And Yahweh protected Gideon from the townspeople when they wanted to kill him. Gideon has every reason to believe Yahweh and do as he says. And, at first, it looks like that’s what he’s going to do. In verses 34 and 35 he blows the trumpet and calls his people to join him in a battle against the oppressive Midianites. But that confidence has faded by the very next verse. In verse 36 he is once again asking Yahweh for a sign. He’s not merely asking for a sign but he’s telling Yahweh exactly what he wants to see. If you’re really going to save Israel through me, like you promised, then do this. I’ll put this wool fleece on the ground and if you make the fleece damp while the rest of the ground stays dry then I’ll know that you’re really going to do what you said you will do. Again, in his mercy, Yahweh obliged and gave Gideon the sign he asked for. When he awoke in the morning everything was just as he had said – the fleece was damp and the rest of the ground was dry. But this was still not enough for Gideon. This time he said, Okay, if you really are going to do what you said you will do then this time when I lay out the fleece make the fleece dry and the rest of the ground damp. Again, Yahweh obliged.

But Yahweh did not stop there. He wanted to build Gideon’s faith. He wanted to help Gideon trust in God and not in himself. And he wanted to be certain that everyone knew this was Yahweh’s war and Yahweh’s victory and no one else’s. So, to do this, Yahweh scaled back Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300. The odds were already ridiculous. The Midianite army was 135,000 strong and now Gideon would be attacking this army of 135,000 with only 300 men. This was nothing for Yahweh but it was frightening to Gideon especially in light of his disbelief. So Yahweh again had mercy on him and gave him one last sign. Yahweh said to Gideon, in verses 10 and 11, “If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So Gideon and his man went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites and Amalekites had settled in the valley with their vast army. Gideon was afraid but as he arrived he overheard a man talking. “I had a dream,” Gideon’s enemy was saying, ““A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.’ His friend responded, ‘This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.’” How do you think Gideon responded to that? Verse 15 says that he bowed down and worshiped. Immediately he ran to his camp and announced that Yahweh had given Midian into Israel’s hands.

All in all, Gideon needed four separate signs before he believed that Yahweh would do what he said he would do. First the offering, then the fleece, then the fleece again, and then the enemy’s dream. And ultimately it was the words of the enemy, and not the words of Yahweh, that finally convinced him of what God had already told him several times. Gideon was unfaithful in that he did not believe what Yahweh told him. The amazing thing is that God gave him more reassurance than any other judge in this book (including a face to face encounter with God himself) and yet he is still the most hesitant to act. Gideon had serious trouble with taking God at his word and obeying him accordingly.

Our Unfaithfulness

Now I know that most of you don’t have to go to war against 135,000 men but you do have to make serious decisions that, at times, can be very difficult and even frightening. It’s in times like these that you really want direction from God. You want to know things like: should I work here or should I work there? Should I do what I love or should I do what is most practical? Should I live here or should I live there? Should I marry this person or should I not marry this person? Should I go to this school or that school? Should I confront the tension in my family or should I just pray about it? Should I pursue this career or this ministry or what? Should I have more kids or should I have no kids or should I adopt? These are questions that we all wrestle with, aren’t they? They’re normal questions. There’s nothing wrong with asking them. But I am afraid that oftentimes there is something wrong with why we ask, how we ask, and how we want God to answer us.

I know that sometimes we ask these questions because we say we just want to know God’s will. We say that we just want to know God’s will so that we can do what he wants us to do. We say it as if there’s nothing more important to us than obeying God and doing just precisely what he wants us to do. We hesitate to make certain decisions because we want to be sure that we’re obeying God and doing precisely what he wants us to do. That’s what we tell other people, right? That’s what we tell ourselves, right? But if you’re honest with yourself you will see that sometimes that’s simply not true. Do you want to know God’s will for your life? Yes. Do you want to know what God thinks about where you should work, or who you should marry, or what you should do? Yes. But do you want to know these things because more than anything you want to obey God? No. Do you want to know these things because you are primarily concerned with pleasing God in every sphere of your life? No. The truth is that in many of these cases where you are so desperate to receive direction from God you are not really concerned about what most honors him you are really concerned about what most benefits you. And so you want to know God’s will – not because you desperately want to worship God in every area of life – but because you want what you think he will give you if you do what he wants. You want God to make your decisions for you – not because that’s the right way to go – but because you think it’s the easy way to go, the prosperous way to go, the blessed way to go. You fear making the wrong decision – not because you fear disobeying God – but because you fear what might happen to you if you do. You fear that you might miss out on this blessing or that blessing if you make the wrong choice.

Obeying God’s will so that you can worship Jesus in it is not your ultimate concern. Being in God’s will so that you get from Jesus is your ultimate concern. I know this is offensive. Some of you are arguing with me in your mind right now. But I would ask you to do something for me. Think about those areas where you are really hoping to find out what God wants you to do. Dig underneath these questions and ask yourself why you really want to know. Is it because you want to obey God? Or is it because you fear what will happen if you don’t? Is it because you want to give yourself to him in every decision you make? Or is it because you think it’s most beneficial to you to do what he wants? In many cases, not in all cases, but in many cases, you want to know God’s will because you think that’s the way to blessing and prosperity and security – not because you want to worship Jesus through obedience. Now, how can I say that to you with such confidence? Easily. God has already revealed his will to you in this book. And if you were so concerned about obeying God for the sake of worshiping him you would be obeying every aspect of his will that’s revealed in this book. But you’re not. You’re not. You’re obeying some of his will. But not all of his will. If you were so concerned about obeying God for the sake of worshiping him you’d be obeying all of his will instead of some of it. But you’re not and here’s why. To obey God in some areas requires suffering. To obey God in some areas costs you. To obey God in some areas feels risky and dangerous. So you don’t obey. Because sometimes you are more concerned about your comfort and your pleasure than you are about obeying God. And sometimes that’s the same reason why you are so desperate to know God’s will for this particular situation you find yourself in. Not because you so fervently want to obey God in every area of your life – if that was the case you’d be obeying his will as revealed in this book — it’s because you think that working where he wants you to work, or marrying who he wants you to marry, or pursuing what he wants you to pursue will be more beneficial to you and more comfortable for you than not doing so. You want to know what God wants you to do because you want to do what is best for you.

Now, of course, even our motivation for this is based on an incorrect assumption. The assumption is that if we make the decision that God wants us to make that we will be most comfortable and face the least amount of suffering. But, oh, how untrue that is! God’s will for Joseph was for him to be betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. God’s will for Paul was for him to imprisoned, shipwrecked, beaten repeatedly, stoned within an inch of his life and, ultimately, beheaded. Making the decision that God wants you to make guarantees you the pleasures of worshiping God but it does not guarantee you the pleasures of this world. And this is why sometimes we have such difficulty discovering God’s will for this or that particular decision. Because we’ve been taught to discern God’s will by looking for signs of his blessing and proof of his presence. That’s what Gideon wanted. He knew God’s will, God had specifically told him what he wanted him to do, but Gideon wanted further assurance of God’s presence and further assurance that God’s blessing would be with him. God’s Word and God’s work was not enough. Gideon wanted more. Gideon wanted a tangible sign that proved God’s presence. He wanted tangible proof that God was with him. And we want the same thing. We think the way to discover what God wants us to do is to look for fleece, to look for peace, and to look for ease.

Like Gideon we look for the fleece, right? We look for the miraculous. We want God to speak all over again and to confirm his will with miraculous signs so that we don’t have to exercise faith. We want prophets to come to us and prophesy about what God specifically wants us to do and where God specifically wants us to be. We want God to confirm his will for us by making the phone ring at just the right time, or making the parking spot available in just the right place. We want tangible signs of blessing. Oh, this must be the job God wants me to have because it pays the most. Oh, I must be making the right choice because everyone else supports my decision. Oh, this is the person I’m supposed to be with because they make me feel good. This is not how God calls you to determine his will.

In addition to looking for the miraculous as signs some of us also look to our emotions as signs. We’re looking for a feeling of peace. How many times have you heard someone say, “I know this is what God wants me to do because I feel peace about it”? How many times have you heard someone say, “I know this isn’t what God would want me to do because I don’t feel peace about it”? Or even people who just put off making a decision because they’re not sure if they’re at peace about it? Please, eliminate these sayings from your vocabulary. This is not how we determine God’s will. You want to know someone who fulfilled God’s will perfectly? Jesus. Do you want to know what Jesus was doing several hours before he fulfilled God’s purpose for his life? He was sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was asking the Father to provide another way of redemption if there was one. Does that sound like peace? He was troubled about doing God’s will and yet it was, without a doubt, God’s will. We don’t determine God’s will by fleece or by other miraculous signs or by peace or other emotional states.

Some of us also try to determine God’s will by looking for the sign of ease. We think we can determine God’s will by looking for the easy way and assuming that the hard way is not God’s way. People pray prayers like, “God, if this is your will, open the doors and let it go smoothly and simply.” They pray prayers like, “God, if this is not your will, then shut the doors and make it difficult.” What is this? Where does Scripture encourage us to determine God’s will by judging how easy or how difficult something is? Look at the life of Jonah. We know what God’s will was for him. His will was for Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to the people. And yet there was this wide open door for Jonah to flee and sail away to Tarshish. “But wait,” you say, “didn’t God eventually stop Jonah and throw him into the belly of the fish?” Yes. But what would that have looked like to him? It would have looked like a closed door. It would have looked like death. And yet it was actually God’s means of rescue. It was God’s way to fulfill his will of sending Jonah to Nineveh after all. We do not determine God’s will by fleece and other miraculous signs, or by peace and other emotions, or by the ease or difficulty of any given path.

Jesus’ Faithfulness

This is what Gideon did. Gideon knew God’s will but he hesitated to do it. He wanted to know if God could really be trusted. He wanted to know if God would really be with him. He wanted to know that he was going to be okay and this would all turn out well for him. He wanted all of these things confirmed by signs of various types. I know that you have many tough decisions to make. I know that sometimes you feel like you are clueless as to what God’s specific will is for you in this or that situation. I sympathize with you. I’m a church planter for God’s sake. I know what it’s like to have that fear about making the wrong decision. And as one who can sympathize with you I beg you: don’t make Gideon’s mistake. Don’t doubt Yahweh and don’t fear that he will not be with you.

My friends, if you want to know God’s will you don’t have to look far. He has given you the sign of all signs. He has given you himself crucified and risen from the dead. He’s given you Jesus Christ. You want to know if God is going to be with you in this decision? Of course he will be with you, he already is and has been! That’s why he came to you and became like you in order to save you. You want to know if God is going to bless you if you make this decision? Of course he’s going to bless you. He already has and is! That’s why Jesus lived the life you could never live and died the death you should have died so that you could be made right with God and receive his blessings instead of his judgment. You want to know if you will find pleasure and comfort if you make this decision? Of course you will. That’s why Jesus suffered intensely so that you could find your pleasure in him, your comfort in him, your prosperity in him — right now and forever more.

I know you have these questions in front of you. These decisions in front of you. You wonder what you should do. But you have everything you need in order to answer that question. You have the words and the works of Jesus Christ. You have the words and works of the one who has fulfilled God’s will in every possible way – the true and perfect deliver that Gideon just foreshadowed. Look to Jesus’ words and work and you will see what God is like, you will see what God desires of you, you will see his will expressed perfectly in Jesus. Now of course there will be times when you have to apply Jesus’ words and works to very specific situations in very specific ways. Sometimes it will be unclear which is the better of two or three choices. But you don’t have to fear. You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to look for more signs and more assurance. Maybe you won’t make “the perfect decision.” So what! Because you know Jesus’ words and works you know that no matter what you decide Jesus will love you, Jesus will bless you, Jesus will be with you, and Jesus will redeem your decision and use it to glorify himself and make you more like him.

Lies My Pastor Told Me Excerpt 2

September 28th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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The following text is an excerpt from Lies My Pastor Told Me, an eBook written by Pastor Cole Brown. You can download the entire book for free at http://www.liesmypastortoldme.com

“Speak it Into Existence!”

If you were feeling sick you better not say so in front of my pastor. If you did you would quickly be rebuked. “Don’t claim that,” he’d say, “You might speak it into existence.” I never did understand the logic of that counsel. How could I speak my sickness into existence if the symptoms I was speaking of were already present? Well, these logical inconsistencies are the least of our concerns here. Our greatest concern is the lie that my pastor and many others have told: the lie that human beings have the power to create reality by our words – the power to speak things into existence.

This lie caused endless amounts of pain in our congregation as it has in congregations around the world. Sick people were told to ignore their symptoms and “claim healing.” Poor people were told to ignore their debt and “speak prosperity” into their lives. Single people were told to ignore what God might want for them and bring their future spouse into existence by “speaking in faith.” Needless to say, the people who followed my pastor’s teachings were eventually left with only two options: they could either be disappointed in God for not supplying what they demanded or they could be disappointed with themselves for not having enough faith. Either way, the lie had done its damage.

So where did this lie come from? It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that this concept of speaking things into existence did not come from Holy Scriptures. Rather, this teaching seems to have originated with a man named E.W. Kenyon roughly 100 years ago. However, this does not stop people from trying to use the Bible to support their belief that human beings can speak things into existence.

For example, my pastor would first point you to the opening chapter of the Bible. In Genesis 1 we are introduced to God as he creates the entire universe out of nothing by speaking things into existence (as in “Let there be light” and “Let the land produce vegetation”). My pastor wants you to believe that this passage proves that words do create reality. But it doesn’t. It proves that God’s words create reality. God and God alone holds the power to speak things into existence. This point is made clearly and forcefully in Lamentations 3:37-38, “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”

A second passage my pastor would cite in defense of his teaching would be Mark 11:22-24. In this passages Jesus tells his disciples, “Have faith in God…Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will happen, it will be done for you. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” My pastor wants you to believe that this passage teaches us that human beings have the power to change reality according to their speech. But it doesn’t. It teaches us that God has the power to change reality according to his will. As we clearly see in the opening phrase of this passage, Jesus is not to teaching us to have faith in ourselves or in our words but to have faith in God. His promise is not that you will receive whatever you speak but, rather, that you will receive “whatever you ask for in prayer.” And we know from the rest of Scripture that this is not a blanket promise that God will answer our every prayer but a promise that God will answer our prayers when they are in accordance with his will. As his close friend John would later write,  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1John 5:14, emphasis mine).

In addition to being utterly unbiblical the idea of speaking things into existence is also illogical. What happens when two men with an equal amount of faith both claim the same wife? What happens when two warring nations both claim the same victory? And if we all have the power to claim our healing why do 100% of Christians die? If my pastor’s teaching is true shouldn’t Christians simply be able to say, “I am not sick,” “I am not dying,” or “I will live forever”?

It is evident that my pastor’s teaching on speaking things into existence is both unbiblical and illogical. But, worst of all, it is evil. As we read in James 4:13-16, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.”

My pastor’s lie that we can speak things into existence is no different than the lie the Serpent told Eve. It tells us that we can be like God. We can’t. Regardless of what we say or don’t say God’s will always prevails. And this should not frustrate us. It should comfort us. Because this is the same God who willed to save us from his wrath by sending his own Son to be judged in our place. In light of this good news it makes much more sense to put our faith in God than it does to put our faith in our own words.

Lies My Pastor Told Me Excerpt 1

September 28th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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The following text is an excerpt from Lies My Pastor Told Me, an eBook written by Pastor Cole Brown. You can download the entire book for free at http://www.liesmypastortoldme.com

“I have peace about this decision!”

Life is filled with decisions. Sometimes making these decisions can be difficult, even frightening. This is especially true when there are several options that appear to be equally viable. In such cases we want God to tell us which decision we should make. But where the Scriptures are not explicit it can sometimes be difficult to discern which direction he is leading us. My pastor had a solution for that: simply make the decision that you feel the most peace about. If you feel peace about a decision, he would say, then that is evidence that you are walking in God’s will. If you don’t feel peace about a decision, he would advise, then that decision is not in line with the will of God.

I have since learned that my pastor’s view is not a unique one. Over the years I have heard Christian after Christian claim that that their decisions are in line with God’s will with the simple words, “I have peace about this decision!” This idea that feeling peace about a decision is evidence that it is God’s will (and that not feeling peace about a decision is evidence that it is not God’s will) is commonly held. Nevertheless, it is a lie.

First, we know it is a lie because it is nowhere taught in the Scriptures. Of course, there are many New Testament passages that promise peace to the believer. These passages, however, are not primarily concerned with an emotional feeling but with an objective fact. As the Apostle Paul explains in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” According to the Scriptures, believers experience objective peace as a result of being reconciled to God in Christ and not as a result of making the right decisions.

Second, we know it is a lie because we see multiple stories in the Bible that directly contradict it. For example, consider the story of Moses. God himself audibly spoke to Moses and made his will for Moses known. Yet Moses did not feel peace about the decision God was calling him to make. To the contrary, Moses was using every excuse he could find hoping to get out of it.

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?”

When God didn’t accept that excuse Moses tried a second.

“Suppose they ask me who sent me? What should I tell them?”

When that excuse didn’t work Moses looked for another.

“What if they do not believe me or listen to me?”

When God refused that excuse Moses tried another.

“But I have never been eloquent. I am slow in speech and tongue.”

Finally, with no plausible excuses remaining, Moses directly asked God for an out.

“Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Does that sound like a man who feels peace about his decision? Of course not. Yet there is no question that the decision he was making was entirely consistent with God’s will. Not only did God communicate his will to Moses audibly, he also accompanied that verbal communication with multiple miracles. Yet even that was not enough to give Moses peace about the decision. And this story is not unique to Moses. We find this with many of the Old Testament prophets. God clearly calls them to a specific task and they feel anything but at peace about pursuing it.

The Bible also introduces us to characters who have the opposite experience. Take Jonah for example. As God’s prophet, Jonah knew with certainty that God had called him to go to Nineveh. Yet Jonah did not feel peace about that decision so he fled in the opposite direction. In so doing, Jonah was directly going against God’s revealed will. If my pastor’s claim was true then Jonah should not have been at peace with his decision. But he was. He was so at peace with his decision that he was able to sleep soundly on his get-away ship in the middle of a violent storm. While everyone else on the ship was concerned about their life, Jonah was peacefully sleeping below deck. Jonah knew precisely what God’s will was. Yet he did not feel peace about making that decision. Instead, he felt peace as he fled — in willful rebellion — from the decision God told him to make.

Clearly, the claim that I can know I’m in God’s will because “I have peace about that decision” is a lie that has no basis in Scripture. Nevertheless, many Christians believe it. But we don’t have to. The truth of the matter is that we have been given everything we need to guide us in our decisions: we have been given God’s Word and we have been given God’s Work.

God’s Word often provides explicit instructions about what decisions we should and should not make and, even where it does not, it still supplies us with sufficient information to make a decision with confidence. It does this by revealing to us who God is, what he is like, and what he wills.

There will be times, though, when you have to apply God’s Word to very specific situations in very specific ways and it will be unclear to you which of the two or three options before you is the best option. But this does not mean you need to look to emotions or other signs to confirm God’s will for you. Instead, you can look to God’s Work. Specifically, you look to the work accomplished by Jesus Christ through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. It is through faith in this work that we can now be certain that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). This means that we can have peace in any decision that is consistent with God’s Word because we know – through God’s Work – that in whatever decision we make God will love us, be with us, and use our decision to make us more like his Son.

8 Biblical Truths on the Sabbath

August 18th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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1. The Sabbath is Saturday

The Bible is very clear on this: Saturday is the Sabbath. God explicitly labels it as such. Exodus 20:8-10, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.”

2. The Sabbath Cannot Be Changed to Sunday or Any Other Day

Some will argue that the Sabbath has now been changed to Sunday. But this is not the case. First, one cannot find a single passage in the Bible that says this. Second, God’s choice of the 7th day was not arbitrary. It was chosen for a very specific reason. Namely, to commemorate his work in creation. Exodus 20:11, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”


3. Nevertheless, the Sabbath is Not Binding on the Christian

This is where the Seventh Day Adventists go wrong. They are correct in asserting that Saturday is the Sabbath but they are incorrect in claiming that Christians are bound by this law. The New Testament makes it very clear that Christians are not bound by any particular “holy day” and they cannot be judged for keeping it or not keeping it. Colossians 2:16, “Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.” Romans 14 makes a similar argument as Paul compares the decision to keep the Sabbath with the decision to eat meat or abstain from meat. Verse 5 and 6 teach that this is simply a matter of conscience,  “Some consider one day more sacred than another; others consider every day alike. Everyone should be convinced in their own mind. Those who regard one day as special do so to the Lord. Those who eat meat do so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and those who abstain do so to the Lord and give thanks to God.” The Apostle Paul concludes his argument in verses 22 and 23, “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed are those who do not condemn themselves by what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”

4. The Sabbath is Not Binding Because Jesus Has Set Us Free From the Law

The Sabbath was a part of the Old Testament Law that God gave to the nation of Israel as a sign of their covenant. The New Testament affirms that the Law is good because in it the character of God is revealed. Romans 7:12, “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.” However, while the Law is good because it comes from God, the Law also kills (see 2Corinthians 3:6-7 which tells us that the Law kills and that the 10 Commandments – of which the Sabbath is a part – bring death). This, of course, is precisely what God intended. He never intended for the Law to save anyone. Rather, he intended to use the Law to show people how evil they truly are, because they cannot keep the Law no matter how hard they try, and, consequently, to show them how desperately they need a Savior. Here are several Scriptures that drive this important point home:

Romans 5:20, “The law was brought in so that trespasses might increase.”

Romans 3:20, “Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

Romans 7:7, “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.”

The Law is holy and, as such, the Law condemns every one of us because every one of us falls short of the Law constantly. As a result, we are under God’s wrath, we are estranged from him, and we are spiritually dead (see Romans 4:15, Colossians 1:21, and Colossians 2:13). Our only hope to escape from God’s wrath is to somehow escape from the Law that we cannot keep. God gives us this escape through Jesus Christ.

God sent his son, Jesus, to live the life we could not live and die the death we deserve to die. Jesus fulfilled the Law perfectly in our place. Then, as the only truly innocent person in the history of the world, he willfully died in our place, absorbing all of God’s wrath that was due to us.  In doing this Jesus set his people free from the Law. They no longer had to earn righteousness by obeying the Law (which they could not do). Instead, they were simply to trust in Jesus who put an end to the Law by fulfilling its righteous demands and receiving the condemnation it brings the disobedient. This is beautifully explained in Colossians 2:11-15,

“In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your sinful nature was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (emphasis mine)

Similar sentiments are expressed in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…” And the temporary nature of the Law is again affirmed in Galatians 3:23-25, “Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” Simply put, Christians cannot be bound by the Sabbath because Christians cannot be bound by the Law. Jesus has fulfilled the Law on our behalf and has set us free from its rule over us.

5. The Sabbath is Not Binding Because Jesus is Its True Fulfillment

There is yet a second reason that the Sabbath is no longer binding: Jesus fulfills what the Sabbath only foreshadowed. After Paul explains that Jesus has freed us from the Law in Colossians 2:14 he offers this application in Colossians 2:16-17, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

The Sabbath is no longer necessary because its meaning has found its true and final fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Our true rest is not found in taking one day to rest from our work. Our true rest is found in Jesus Christ who carries our burdens for us and gives us rest from the demands of the Law. Jesus says as much in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The Sabbath day merely pointed toward the everlasting Sabbath that would come to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The Sabbath is not the only Old Testament shadow that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfills the entire Law (Matthew 5:17, Hebrews 10:1). Jesus is the true temple where God dwells in his fullness (Colossians 1:19, John 2:19-21). Jesus is the true high priest who takes his people with him into the holy place of God (Hebrews 9). Jesus is the true priest who stands before God praying on behalf of the people and making atonement for their sins (Hebrews 10). Jesus is the true sacrifice who cleanses his people from their sins once and for all (Hebrews 10). Every part of the Old Testament system of worship finds its substance in Jesus. There is now no need for the shadow because we have been given the far greater reality in the person and work of Jesus Christ. To return to the shadows of Sabbath, temple, priest etc… would be to ignore what Jesus has accomplished and to choose ritual over reality, shadows over substance.

6. Thus, We Are Saved By Faith in Jesus and Not By Obedience to the Law

Because Jesus frees us from the Law and is the fulfillment of the Law he is our only source of salvation and our only source of righteousness. We can keep the Sabbath all we want but that will not make us righteous in God’s sight. In fact, we run the risk of the exact opposite. If we think our Sabbath-keeping will make us more acceptable to God then we are not trusting in Jesus’ righteousness and obedience to make us pleasing in God’s sight, we are trusting in our own. And apart from faith in Jesus we have none. The following passages make it plain,

Romans 3:20-28, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the “law” that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (emphasis mine).

Galatians 2:15-16, “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” (emphasis mine).

Galatians 2:21, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Jesus came precisely because we cannot meet the demands of the Law. If we are relying on our own obedience to make us acceptable to God we are hopeless and we remain under God’s wrath. But if, instead, we trust in Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection we are forgiven of all of our sins and declared by God to be righteous – not because we have performed well, but because Jesus has performed perfectly in our place.

1Corinthians 1:30, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.”

2Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We have no righteousness other than the righteousness of Christ that is given to us through faith in him. Whether we keep the Old Testament Sabbath or not is irrelevant. It is how we respond to Jesus – and only how we respond to Jesus — that determines whether we are God’s children or God’s enemies.

7.  This is Why Jesus’ Disciples Began to Gather for Worship on Sundays

Over the years, Seventh Day Adventist’s have offered many explanations for why the Universal Church tends to gather for corporate worship on Sundays. Depending on which literature you read you may encounter any of the following explanations:

a) The Pope introduced Sunday worship.

b) Constantine changed the Sabbath from Sunday to Saturday in 325 AD.

c) Christians in 135 AD decided to worship on Sundays to separate themselves from the Jews who were being persecuted.

Each of these claims is historically indefensible. History shows that the Pope could not have introduced Sunday worship because the first pope did not exist until 606 AD. History also shows that Constantine did not create Sunday worship. Rather, as the emperor over what had then become “Christian Rome,” he merely made official what had already been the case for centuries. History also shows that Christians began observing Sunday worship long before 135 AD.

a) Acts 20:7, written around 65 AD, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.”

b) 1Corinthians 16:1-2, written around 55 AD, “Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”

c) The Didache, an extra-biblical document written by Christians around 90 AD, encourages believers to gather on Sunday for thanksgiving, confession, and the Lord’s Supper.

It is clear that Jesus’ disciples began observing Sunday as a day of public worship almost immediately. This explains why there is not a single mention of Christian Sabbath-keeping in the entire New Testament. The reason for this is far simpler than the explanations historically given by Seventh Day Adventist’s. The reason for this change, quite simply, is that Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week. Thus, Christian believers gathered for public worship on Sunday to celebrate this unique event — an event that ushered in a new era and is the firstfruits of a new creation (1Corinthians 15:20).

8. Only the resurrection explains the early Christians gathering on Sunday

Jesus’ disciples were faithful Jewish men. Like their contemporaries they worked diligently to keep the Law. Then, suddenly, these men abandoned the Sabbath, the Temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and other aspects of Jewish worship. Soon after this they began offering salvation to the Gentiles without demanding that they follow the Jewish Law. They simply demanded that they put their faith in Jesus Christ and that they, “abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:29).

How can this be explained? Why would all of these men agree to abandon the traditions and rituals of their religion and culture? The only plausible explanation is that they truly saw Jesus risen from the dead and that they knew he had done away with the Law and offered his righteousness freely to any and all who put their faith in him. Even Paul — who was nothing short of zealous for Jewish Law and tradition — would be moved by the Holy Spirit to write, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Four Questions on Giving

July 7th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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#1: Why Should I Give Money to Christ and His Church?

God commands those who follow Christ to give financially to Jesus and the local church. Contrary to what we may have experienced in some churches or on television, God does not want his people to give out of guilt or out of pressure. God does not want his people to give in order to get or give in order to receive his favor. God wants his people to give for the right reasons. He wants his people to give because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because God has graciously given to us we respond in worship by graciously giving to him.

2Corinthians 8:9 – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”  (See also 2Corinthians 8:1).

This passage is found in the middle of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church as he is encouraging them to follow through on their giving. In the same chapter we see that God not only wants us to give in response to his grace, he also calls us to give because we are his people.

2Corinthians 8:4, 5 – “…they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this to the Lord’s people.  And they went beyond our expectations; having given themselves first of all to the Lord, they gave themselves by the will of God also to us.”  (See also 1Corinthians 6:20 and 1Corinthians 7:23).

God has purchased us with the life of his Son, Jesus. As we give ourselves to him we are also moved to give of our resources to him. A third motive for our giving is love. As moved by the Holy Spirit, Paul mentions this in the same passage.

2Corinthians 8:24 – “Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.”

When we love someone or something we willingly give to them what is dearest to us. The greatest example of this is found, once again, in the gospel.

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If we love Christ and his Church we are moved to give what is important to us, including our time and our finances.

A fourth reason we give is to glorify God. This is what the gospel is all about. This is what our lives are all about. And this is what money is all about. Paul explains to the Corinthian church that their giving will cause God to be pleased, cause his name to be praised, and cause his gospel to be proclaimed. Our giving glorifies him.

2Corinthians 9:11-15 – “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.  This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, people will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

In summary, we should give to Christ and his church for at least four reasons –

(1) Because of God’s gracious gift of Jesus Christ

(2) Because we are God’s people so our resources are God’s resources

(3) Because we love Jesus Christ and his Church

(4) Because we want to glorify God

#2: How Should I Give to Christ and His Church?

If we are give for the wrong reasons we are likely to give in the wrong way. Likewise, if we are giving for the right reasons we will likely be moved to also give in the right way. What is the right way? How should we give? Paul’s letter to the Corinthians helps us answer this question as well.

2Corinthians 9:6 – “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (See also Romans 12:8).

We see from this verse that we should give in the same way we want to receive: we should give generously. In the verses that follow (see 8-11) we see that those who give generously will reap generously in contentment, good works, righteousness and the like.

In addition to giving generously God also wants us to give without reluctance and without compulsion.

2Corinthians 9:7 – “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Instead of giving reluctantly we should give cheerfully. When we take pleasure in our giving God takes pleasure in us. As we trust more and more in Christ and his gospel we will delight in giving all the more because our ultimate pleasure is found in Christ and in pleasing him.

Also, instead of giving under compulsion God wants us to give out of obedience. And there is a serious difference. Those who give under compulsion give out of fear of punishment or exposure. Those who give out of obedience give out of love for Jesus and a respect of his authority.

2Corinthians 9:13 – “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, people will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”

In summary, God cares just as much about how we give as why we give. He wants us to give,

(1) Generously

(2) Without Reluctance

(3) Without Compulsion

(4) Cheerfully

(5) Obediently

#3: How Much Should I Give to Christ and His Church?

This is the question that is asked most frequently. “How much should I give?” We like questions like this. We like to know how much God expects of us so that we can give just that much and no more. But that is not what it looks like to live out the gospel. As the gospel continues to grip us we will stop asking, “how much do I have to give” and we will start asking, “how much can I give?” This is consistent with the teachings of the New Testament which do not require that followers of Christ give any specific percentage or amount of money. When the New Testament discusses giving it does so in a very different way.

2Corinthians 8:3 – For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.  Entirely on their own…”

This is very different than being required to give a specific amount or a specific percentage. We are called to give according to our ability. Some of us will be able to give a higher percentage while others may only be able to give a lower percentage. And that is okay because God does not call us to give what others give but to give according to our own ability, and perhaps even beyond it. We see here that the proper question is not “how much do I have to give” but “how much can I give.”

On a similar note, we are called to give according to our means. And when we do give willingly, according to our means, God judges our giving according to what we have and not according to what we do not have.

2Corinthians 8:11, 12 – “Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.  For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”

Once again the question is not “how much do I have to give” but “how much can I give.”

The “how much” question is answered most fully in this same context.

2Corinthians 9:7 – “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Again, there is no specific percentage or particular amount that the Christ-follower is commanded to give. The follower of Christ is instead commanded to give “what you have decided in your heart to give.” Some people see this as an escape. Since no percentage or amount is required they feel free to give as little as they please. But this is not an out. This is demanding. It is also condemning. This shows that the amount of our giving is directly related to the condition of our heart. If we give little it only shows how little we value Jesus, how little we value his Church, how little we value his mission, and how much we value ourselves and how much we value money.

God calls us to give but he wants us to give for the right reasons and in the right way. He also provides guidance for the amount we give.

(1) We are called to give according to our own ability

(2) Our giving is judged according to what we have

(3) We are called to give as we have purposed in our heart

#4: Where Does My Giving Go?

For the follower of Christ giving is not optional. It is a command. And God expects us to obey. He also has a plan for where that money is supposed to go. Primarily, it is to go the local church in order to serve the following purposes.

A. The Preachers of the Gospel – The Christian Workers

1 Corinthians 9:13-14 – “Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”

1Timothy 5:17 – “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”

Paul is claiming that the apostles had every right to refrain from secular work and receive the material support of those they served.

The Pastors and the church staff rely on the people they serve to value God’s instruction to support those that labor among them. The spiritual devotion of studying God’s word and delegation of the work among the family of Red Sea should never be neglected or underestimated in terms of importance.

B. The Community of Believers

Acts 2:44-45 – “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he has need.”

The spirit of love and generosity was so great in the early church that the believers willingly and joyfully surrendered their own property and possessions in order to minister to the needs of other saints. They went so far as to sell land and houses to take care of one another. (See also Acts 4:34).

I John 3:17 “If anyone has material passions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

Galatians 6:9-10 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

As the people of the local church give they give to those who are in need within their local church. As brothers and sisters it is our responsibility to care for one another.

C. The Poor and Dependent

Matthew 25:31-40 – “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

As Christ-followers give to the local church these resources are re-directed toward the needy and dependent of the city.

In summary, as we give in response to the gospel of Jesus Christ our money is used to advance the gospel through both declaration and demonstration.

To Hell, With Love

June 27th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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Introduction

Every Christian has been called and sent by Jesus to declare and display his gospel to the world. This means that every single Christian is a missionary…including you. One thing that will help you live as an effective missionary in our current cultural climate is a healthy understanding of the doctrine of Hell. This used to be a doctrine that I accepted, but didn’t much enjoy. Now, thanks to a growing grasp of the the Scriptures and helpful teaching from pastors like Tim Keller, it is a doctrine that I love. The article that follows us taken from a sermon I preached in 2008 from the book of Judges. It is my hope that after reading it you too will grow to love the doctrine of Hell and be moved to explain it to the people you love.

God’s Retribution on Abimelek and Shechem

Judges 8:32-9:3 set the stage for the drama that will follow. Gideon has just died and as soon as he died the Israelites started the cycle all over again. They returned to idolatry, prostituting themselves to false gods even after Yahweh had once again miraculously delivered them from yet another oppressor. Gideon had seventy sons, one of whom was named Abimelek. Abimelek was not like his other brothers. He was only half-Israelite. He was born to a Canaanite woman whom Gideon had taken as a wife despite the fact that Yahweh prohibited his people to marry those who worship false gods. As we’ll see as the story unfolds, Gideon’s rebellion against Yahweh would have severe consequences for his family and his people. And it all begins here with Abimelek going to his mother’s family in Shechem and asking them to make him king. Abimelek argues that it would be in Shechem’s best interest to make him king. After all, he says, it would be better to have one man rule over you than 70. I am the logical choice because “I am your flesh and blood.” The people of Shechem found his argument convincing. “He is related to us,” they said. So they decided to support his claim to the throne and make him their king. But first they would need to eliminate his 70 brothers from the picture. They gave Abimilek seventy shekels of silver from the treasury of Baal’s temple. Abimilek then used the money from their idol worship to hire what my translation calls, “reckless scoundrels.” They were mercenaries. They were murderers for hire. They were the Biblical version of Boba Fett. Abimilek took his new crew of Boba Fetts and went to Ophrah, Gideon’s hometown. Then, there, on one stone, he murdered his 70 brothers one after the other. Imagine the horror of this scene. One brother murdering every one of his other brothers one after another, after another, after another, after another in the same place, on the same stone. As horrific as it is it’s also a little ironic. Abimelek convinced the people of Shechem to make him their king because he was their own flesh and blood. And now we see how Abimelek treats his own flesh and blood. The people of Shechem didn’t seem to recognize the irony though. So when Abimelek returned home the people of Shechem gathered around him and crowned him as king.

What they didn’t know at this point was that one of Abimelek’s 70 brothers had escaped by hiding. His name was Jotham, the youngest of all of Gideon’s sons. When he heard that the people of Shechem had crowned his brother king he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and he shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.” Then he told them a fable about a group of trees who try to select a king. First they go to an olive tree and say, “be our king,” but the olive tree says “no.” So then they go to the fig tree and say, “be our king,” but the fig tray says “no.” Next they go to the vine and say, “Be our king,” but the vine also says “no.” Finally they go to a thorn bush and ask him to be their king. Look how the thorn bush responds in verse 15, “The thorn bush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thorn bush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’” Now this fable is a little weird for us but the point would have been obvious to them. They lived in an agrarian society. How could a group of trees take shade under a thorn bush? They couldn’t. And even if they tried to get close enough to do it what would happen? They would be priced by its thorns. The thorn bush here represents Abimelek and the trees represent the people of Shechem. They have chosen a king who cannot give them refuge, they have chosen a king who will only harm them, they have chosen a king that will consume them in his fire. In case there was any confusion about what this fable meant Jotham made the application quite clear in the form of a curse. Read verses 16-20. “Have you have acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub–Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian. But today you have revolted against my father’s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you. So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub–Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!” Both Abimelek and the people of Shechem have done evil. They have murdered the innocent and they have done evil to Gideon, the man who God used to deliver them from their oppressors. Because of this, Jotham promises that Yahweh will bring justice to both Abimelek and Shechem. He will cause them to consume one another like fire. These are very strong words, and after saying them Jotham fled out of fear for his brother. And after what his brother did to the rest of his family I can’t blame him. That’s not a punk move. That’s wisdom.

Verse 22 tells us that Abimelek reigned over Israel for three years. This is the shortest term of oppression or judgeship in this entire book. Verses 23 and 24 explain why, “God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek. God did this in order that the crime against Jerub–Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.” The rest of this chapter is going to be terribly violent. And according to these verses Yahweh is behind it all. Because Yahweh is a God of perfect righteousness and perfect justice it is his nature and his will to bring justice to injustice and make the wrong right. And that is precisely what he will do with Abimelek and the people of Shechem.

The story unfolds as a man named Gaal moves into Shechem. Gaal begins to draw followers after himself by making the same argument that Abimelek made. He claims to have closer genealogical ties to the people of Shechem than Abimelek does. For that reason he thinks he should be king in Abimelek’s place. Look at how he makes his case in verses 28 and 29, ““Who is Abimelek, and who is Shechem, that we should be subject to him? Isn’t he Jerub–Baal’s son, and isn’t Zebul his deputy? Serve the people of Hamor, Shechem’s father! Why should we serve Abimelek? If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, ‘Call out your whole army!’” This cat talks a big game, doesn’t he? He almost sounds as arrogant as Kanye West, but not quite. Well, you know what happens when you talk that kind of trash, don’t you? People hear about it. And that’s what happened here. Abimilek’s right-hand man, Zebul, heard about it and secretly sent word to Abimilek. He told Abimilek to set up an ambush against Gaal and his supporters. Abimilek did. And the next morning many of Gaal’s followers were slain and Gaal himself was driven out of Shechem. You would think that would be the end of it, right? The threat was eliminated. But Abimilek was not done. Just like his father, Gideon, Abimilek wanted revenge. So the next day he waited for the people of Shechem to come out into the fields where he and his army waited to make another ambush. When the people came out Abimilek and his men attacked them and killed everyone they saw. Again, you would think that would be enough. But Abimilek was still thirsty for revenge. He heard that some of the citizens of the city had run to the temple of Baal for safety. So he gathered his army and had every one of them collect branches from the nearby trees. They laid these branches around the temple, lit them on fire, and burned the temple down with the people still inside. One thousand people were burned alive by the king who was supposed to rule them. Again, you would think that would be enough. But Abimilek still hungered for revenge. And Yahweh was still bringing justice. The only citizens that remained had fled to a strong tower in a nearby town. Abimilek chased them into the town, besieged the town, and captured it. Then he headed for the strong tower where the people had locked themselves inside and climbed to the top of the roof. Abimilek approached the tower preparing to burn it down just as he had burnt the temple down. But just as he was about to light the fire a woman dropped a millstone from the top of the roof. It landed directly on his head and crushed his skull. Yet even in death Abimilek was still concerned about his image. So he turned to his armor bearer and said, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’” His servant ran through him and he died. Ironically, despite Abimilek’s best efforts the Bible mentions twice that he was in fact killed by a woman. Not only that, but he was killed by a single stone, just as he had killed his brothers on a single stone. But even more important than what happened is why it happened. Look at verses 56 and 57, “Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub–Baal came on them.” This series of violent events was orchestrated by God himself to punish Abimilek for his evil, to punish the people of Shechem for their wickedness, and to bring justice on behalf of the 70 innocent brothers who were murdered in cold blood. The story of Abimilek makes it very clear that God is a God of justice. He will not wink at evil, he will not overlook the guilty. He will bring justice and he will make the wrong things right.

God’s Retribution on You and Me

So what does all of this mean for you and me? First, it means that we should rejoice that the God of the universe is a righteous and just God. We should rejoice that he turns injustice into justice. We should rejoice that he takes what is wrong and makes it right. But it also means that we should be quite concerned. Shechem received their violent judgment because they made someone king who was not truly the king. We do the same thing. We live as though we are king of our lives instead of living with Jesus as the king of our lives. We serve our will and our desires instead of Jesus’ will. We trust in ourselves to rule our lives instead of trusting in Jesus to rule our lives. We have made our own kings. We have made ourselves kings. If the people of Shechem deserved God’s judgment for that don’t we deserve the same?

Second, Abimilek received his violent judgment because he murdered his brothers, 70 of them. Well, you and I are murderers, too. We have murdered our brothers and our sisters and we have murdered at least as many as Abimilek. These are not my words but the words of Jesus. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 5:21 and 22, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Jesus equates anger with murder and says that they are both worthy of the same judgment, they are both worthy of the fires of Hell. Jesus calls you, and you, and you, and you, and me, a murderer. Now let me be clear that the emotion of anger itself is not evil. God himself is said to be angry over 500 times in the Scriptures. Anger is a God-given emotion that often arises in us spontaneously. It’s not the emotion of anger that makes you a murderer. It’s why you become angry and how you respond to that initial emotion. It’s good to be angered by injustices against the innocent. It’s good to be angered when the world is not as it ought to be. But these are not the things that we are most angered by. Our anger is not like Gods. Our anger is almost always rooted in selfishness or pride or jealousy or envy. I can’t believe he did this to me. I can’t believe she said that about me. I can’t believe that he prospers while I suffer. I can’t believe they didn’t give me what I want, what I need, what I deserve. Our anger is not like God’s. Our anger is almost always rooted in the flesh and not in the Spirit. Our anger is not like God’s. It is almost always used as a means to destroy relationships while God’s is used to restore them. Our anger is not like God’s. We do not express it properly. Sometimes we do not express it at all and other times we express it to the wrong person. We allow it to control us and guide us. And it is not justified. It is murder. And we are murderers. You are a murderer. I know that we don’t like to think of ourselves that way. I know that we resist that label. But when you think about it it’s not difficult to see how the two are equivalent. Murder is not just killing someone, murder is the premeditated, deliberate, and malicious taking of a human life. And God says that murder must be punished by death. And the reason God gives for this is that murder not only destroys the person but it destroys the image of God within that person. Anger is murder in principle because anger devalues people and it devalues the image of God expressed in them. When we are inappropriately angry with people we try to take their identity and their value as God’s image bearer away from them. We can do this silently, we can do this vocally, we can do this physically. The ultimate physical expression of anger is murder. But even if we never express this anger physically or vocally we have already devalued a human being and the image of God in them.  In principle, we have murdered them and we have earned judgment for our murder.

So not only have you rejected Jesus as king and made yourself king you have used your power as king to commit murder after murder after murder after murder. You saw what God did to Shechem and Abimilek to bring justice to them. What do you expect God will do with you? If God is a god of justice, if God is a god who makes the wrong things right, how will he bring justice to you? How will he make your wrong right? Obviously your retribution is not going to come through political means in the same way it came to Abimilek and Shechem. It’s going to come quite differently. Jesus says that those who make themselves kings and those who murder people with anger will find their justice in the fires of Hell. God is a God of justice and because God is a God of justice he cannot wink at your evil or my evil, he cannot overlook your guilt or my guilt. He must punish us. He must sentence us for our wickedness. And the place that God has chosen for that sentence to be served is a place called Hell.

Now I know none of us likes to talk about Hell. If you’re not familiar with Emmaus you should know that we are not a fire and brimstone church. We don’t take pleasure in talking about eternal punishment. But we do take pleasure in talking about Jesus. And Jesus talked about Hell a lot. And so if we want to speak accurately about Jesus we have to also speak accurately about Hell. Let me quote some of the things that Jesus himself says about Hell.

In Luke 16:23 he describes Hell as a place of “torment” where people are in constant “agony.” The agony is so severe that in Mark 9:42-48 Jesus explains that it would be better to cut off your own hand, cut off your own foot, and pluck out your own eye than to be thrown into Hell where the “worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” Jesus describes Hell as a place of “eternal punishment” in Matthew 25:46.  In Matthew 23:13 he call it the place for the “condemned” and in Matthew 8:12 he says that those who are condemned “will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That’s quite the picture isn’t it? Jesus paints us a picture of a truly hellish Hell. A place of torment, a place of agony, a place of unquenchable fire, a place of outer darkness, and weeping, and the gnashing of teeth, a place of eternal punishment. This is difficult. This is uncomfortable. Even upsetting. And these are not my words. These are Jesus’ words. And this can make it even more troubling. Because it is much easier to reject my words than it is to reject the words of Jesus. If we reject Jesus’ teaching about Hell then we have to conclude that Jesus was wrong about some things. If we conclude that Jesus was wrong about some things then we have to also conclude that he is not God, because God has all knowledge. If we conclude that Jesus is not God then we also have to conclude that Jesus is a liar because he claimed to be God. Some of us may be tempted to go there because we are so troubled by Jesus’ teaching on Hell. But we don’t have to go there. As I’ve talked with people about their objections to Hell I’ve realized that most of our complaints about Hell are much weaker than they actually sound.

One of the most common complaints about Hell is that it exists to establish fear. I’ll be the first to admit that Hell is often preached that way. It is often used to manipulate people into behaving a certain way or thinking a certain way. But that is not the Biblical use of the doctrine of Hell, that is a human abuse of the doctrine of Hell. Biblically speaking Hell doesn’t exist to manipulate us with fear.  Hell exists to show us love and bring us comfort. That sounds odd but it’s true. We’ll talk more about how Hell exists to bring us love below. But right now let’s talk about how Hell exists to bring us comfort. Throughout the book of Revelation we read of the judgment God brings upon the wicked. It’s in this book that some of the most vivid images of Hell are found. As horrible and horrifying as these images are they are not there to bring us fear but comfort. What we call “the book of Revelation” is a copy of a letter that the Apostle John wrote to the churches he oversaw in Ephesus. These churches were far from perfect but they were Christian churches. And several of them were facing persecution and suffering. So this book with its images of Hell and judgment clearly wasn’t written to scare pagans into becoming Christians. This book was written to comfort Christians in the midst of persecution. The message of Hell is in part a message of comfort because Hell is our assurance that all things will be made right and justice will prevail. The early Church was scattered, persecuted, impoverished. They were arrested, burnt alive, beheaded. They were powerless to protect themselves. They were powerless to fight back. They were powerless to get justice. Their only comfort in their suffering was that God was with them and he would bring justice. Though those who had done evil to them and to their loved ones might prosper in this world they would be brought to justice in the next. Hell did not make them afraid. Life made them afraid, Hell brought them comfort. The same is true of those who live among us today. What will you say to the girl who was molested by her own father and whose mother refuses to believe her story? What will you say to the rape victim whose rapist has gone unnamed and unpunished? What will you say to the grown man who still suffers psychologically because his own father abandoned him? What will you say to the teenage boy in Sudan who has watched his entire family mutilated and murdered before his very eyes and the whole world knows it but does nothing about it? What will you say to the Indian mother whose daughter is ripped from her arms and sold into slavery and human trafficking? Will you tell them that there is no afterlife and their only hope for justice is here on earth? That is a reason for them to fear, not to be comforted. Or will you tell them that there is an afterlife but everyone will go to heaven, where they will spend eternity with the people who victimized them? That is a reason for them to fear, not to be comforted. Or will you tell them that there is a Hell where God will bring their offenders to justice? That is not a reason for them to fear, that is a reason for them to be comforted. If you’re a white, middle-class, American and your idea of suffering is disliking your job, or not having a second car, or not getting along with your parents you may not see Hell as all that comforting. You may think it’s just a tool to establish fear. But for those who have been the victims of true and terrible evil Hell does not exist to establish fear. Life is reason enough for that. Hell exists to provide comfort. And that’s exactly what it does. It assures them that though they may be weak now, and powerless now, and defenseless now there is a God who has all power and will defend the weak, fight on behalf of the victims, and bring their offenders to justice. Contrary to how many preachers may talk about it, the Christian doctrine of Hell is not about manipulating people with fear. It is in part about comforting those who need comforting.

Another common complaint about Hell is that is unjust. But as we just said Hell is far from unjust. Hell is our assurance that justice will come, even if it doesn’t come during our lifetime. The true injustice is to say that our only hope for justice is here on this earth. If that is the case then most of us will never see justice and never see the wrongs made right. So, no, Hell is not unjust. No Hell would be unjust. The true injustice is to say that how we live our lives is ultimately irrelevant. The true injustice is to say that worshiping Jesus as God and worshiping yourself as God lead to the same result. The true injustice is to say that Martin Luther King and Adolf Hitler, and Billy Graham and Joseph Stalin all suffer the same fate. Hell is not unjust. No Hell is unjust.

A third complaint people make about the doctrine of Hell is that it is intolerant. To say that Jesus is the only way out of Hell is exclusive. How can we believe in such an intolerant doctrine? If this is your complaint you might say something like this, “I’m glad that Jesus works for you but I believe that God will also accept the sincere Muslim, the devout Buddhist, and the good atheist.” This sounds like a more inclusive belief, doesn’t it? This god sounds like a more tolerant god, doesn’t he? But if you think about it, this belief is less inclusive and this god is less tolerant. Because the god who accepts the sincere Muslim, and the devout Buddhist, and the good atheist is accepting these people based on their own work, their own performance, and their own value. This god who seems to be so tolerant and so inclusive is actually quite exclusive and quite intolerant. He only makes room for those who meet his standards of performance. He only makes room for the good, and the devout, and the sincere. But what does that mean for people like me? What does it mean for those of us who fail to be good people, who fail to be devout people, who fail to be sincere people. We are not accepted by this god, we are excluded. But the God of the Bible, the God of Hell, he doesn’t accept us based on our performance. He accepts us based on the perfect performance of his son, Jesus. He accepts those of us who struggle to be sincere, who struggle to be devout, and who fail to be good. He accepts us by his grace instead of our own merits. In spite of our many failures we are accepted because of Jesus’ perfect work. So, as Pastor Tim Keller explains, both positions are exclusive. The “tolerant” view says that the good people will find god but the bad people will not. The gospel view says that the people who know they are not good can find God in Jesus, and the people who think they are good do not because they don’t recognize their need for Jesus. Both of these are exclusive. But the gospel is more inclusive in its exclusivity. The God of the Bible is more inclusive in his exclusivity because he says, “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter how guilty you may be, how weak you may be, how defeated you may be, how evil you may be. You can be welcomed, and accepted, and approved, and embraced, and loved fully and perfectly and instantly through Jesus Christ.” The gospel concept of Hell is not any more intolerant or any more exclusive than the alternative. What it is is a reminder of God’s tremendous grace given to us through Jesus that allows every one of us who deserves Hell to escape it without any effort or merit of our own.

Yet another objection to the Christian doctrine of Hell is that it portrays God as vengeful rather than loving. Some would say this, “If God is our Father wouldn’t he be more heartbroken than vengeful when his children reject him?” Well, first, let’s clarify something. According to Jesus, God is the Creator of everyone but he is not the Father of everyone. Those who worship Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, become God’s children because they are united to God’s Son. But those who reject Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, are not God’s children. They are the children of whoever they serve and worship in place of the True God. So while many of God’s creation will suffer in Hell not one of God’s children will suffer in Hell. But while it is true that those who suffer in Hell are not God’s children that does not mean that he takes pleasure in their punishment. No, the exact opposite is true. Yahweh takes no pleasure in the death of anyone, even the wicked and rebellious people who reject him. He says to us in Ezekiel 33:11, “As surely as I live…I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” People do not go to Hell because God takes pleasure in punishing them. People go to Hell because they choose to reject God’s offer of mercy, and grace, and salvation. God goes far beyond anything you could ever ask or think to urge you to turn from the path to Hell and find true life in his Son, Jesus. In his mercy he’s given you the Scriptures that clearly tell you where life is found, they repeatedly warn you to abandon the path that leads to destruction. He’s sent you preachers, and prophets, and friends who invite you again and again to turn from death and embrace the life that God offers you in Jesus. He’s withheld his judgment on you and allowed you to live day, after day, after day giving you more and more time to turn from your false gods and find life in the true God. And most importantly, he became like you and came to you in order to save you. In Jesus Christ he lived the life you have not lived and he died the death that you deserve to die. He did this so that you could be accepted by God instead of rejected. He did this so that you could have life instead of death. He did this so that you would be judged by Jesus’ perfection instead of by your own imperfections. Hell does not show us that God is unloving. Hell shows us just how loving God is because it shows us what tremendous lengths he has gone to to keep you out of it and rescue you from it!

Some of us think we can make God more loving by eliminating Hell. But we have it all backwards. If we diminish the reality of Hell we diminish the reality of God’s great love. If we remove his punishment for wickedness then we remove his grace and mercy that saves us from the punishment we deserve. Is that a loving God? If we say that people can live however they want and not be punished then we say that God cannot bring ultimate justice and God cannot defend the weak and the oppressed and the defenseless. Is that a loving God? If we say that God will not bring judgment in the afterlife then we rob people of a future hope and we give them a reason to do whatever is necessary to get vengeance and justice now. Is that a loving God? If we say that there is no Hell we are saying that God loves every single person in exactly the same way and gives them the exact same treatment no matter what. But that’s not love. That’s indifference. Would it be loving of me to say that I love every woman in this church in the same way that I love my wife? Would it be loving of me to say that I love every child I meet in the same way that I love my own children? Of course not. That’s not love. That’s indifference. Would it be loving of me to do nothing as I watch my children make decisions that will destroy them and lead them to death? No! The more you love someone the more you are upset by their evil and the more you strive to intervene. God is love. Not only does he love us enough to give his own Son to be our rescue, our salvation, our hope, and our life; he also loves us enough to honor our decision to reject him and give us precisely what we ask for.

Of course people have many other objections to Hell. But some of them are just based on misunderstandings. Some wonder, “Why would God create people who he has predestined to go to Hell?” The answer is, he doesn’t predestine people to Hell. Everyone who goes to Hell goes there by their own choice. Some would ask, “How can God give the people he has created over to Satan to torment them.” Well, he doesn’t. That’s a common misunderstanding. Satan does not rule in Hell, God does. Satan and his demons have no power there, they are tormented there. Others will object, “Wouldn’t it be better if God just annihilated wicked people instead of allowing them to suffer for eternity?” No, it wouldn’t. If God were to utterly destroy people he would have to destroy his own image in them. He would also be unable to vary the degree of punishment from the most wicked to the least wicked. And the offenders would not have to deal with the guilt and the consequence of rejecting the true God. Some still object, “But how can a loving God burn people alive in fire for all of eternity.” The answer is, he doesn’t. The language that Jesus uses to describe Hell is symbolic. This is why he can describe it as both an utterly dark place and a place of constant fire. These things cannot literally co-exist, but symbolically they can.

And yet with everything I’ve said and every argument I’ve countered I have not made Hell any less hellish. I believe we have shown that Hell does not make God unloving, or unjust, or manipulative. But by no means have we minimized the horrors and the torment of Hell. It’s true that the fire and darkness described by Jesus are probably symbolic. But that does not mean that the reality of Hell is any less painful. To the contrary, in the Bible the reality is always greater than the symbol that points to the reality. The reality of Jesus is greater than the Judges we’ve been reading about that symbolize his work and point toward him. And the torment of Hell is greater than, worse than, the symbols of fire and darkness that Jesus uses to describe it. So if you think burning alive for eternity would be painful the true pain of Hell is actually worse. The darkness represents the pain of loss, the pain of being eternally shut out from the presence of God’s grace, and mercy, and compassion. The fire represents the pain of sense, the pain of eternally bearing the wrath of God. Jesus describes this in Matthew 25:41, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me (loss/separation), you who are cursed, into the eternal fire (sense/wrath) prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus’ Apostle, Paul, describes it again in 2Thessalonians 1:8-9, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction (sense/wrath) and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (loss/separation).”

God’s Retribution on Jesus

There is no doubt that Hell is a hellish, horrible, terrible, frightening place where human beings experience the pain of loss and the pain of sense far beyond anything we can comprehend. There is no doubt that this is a difficult teaching to accept. But we must come to grips with it. Because it is only by understanding the horrors of Hell that we can truly understand the love of God. Because you see, God sent his Son, Jesus, and Jesus willingly went to Hell for us. Jesus went to Hell so that you wouldn’t have to. As Jesus went to the Cross to die in your place he also went to the Cross to go to Hell in your place. As he hung from those wooden beams he experienced the pain of sense in the worst possible way. His body was pulled in every direction, as he tried to pull himself up to resist the stretching the nails tore through his nerves sending excruciating pain through his body and into his brain, the fatigue and pain made him unable to push himself upward, his pectoral muscles became paralyzed, and he was unable to exhale, he continued to hang in pain and torment and agony until finally he suffocated to death.

Jesus experienced the physical pain of receiving God’s wrath for our sins. He went to Hell for us. But far more painful was the pain of loss and abandonment as he was separated from the presence of his eternal Father. He cried out from the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When he said those words Jesus was literally experiencing Hell. You know how much it hurts to be abandoned by someone. You know how much it hurts to be rejected by someone. When an acquaintance rejects you it hurts. When a friend rejects you hurt even worse. When your child rejects you the pain is incomparable. When a parent abandons you the pain never stops. When your husband, or your wife, leaves you and says “I don’t love you anymore” the pain is devastating. The longer a relationship is, the deeper a relationship is, the more intimate a relationship is the more traumatic and agonizing any separation becomes. And Jesus’ relationship with the Father was longer than any relationship you can imagine. They were united together for all eternity. Jesus’ relationship with the Father was deeper than we can ever comprehend. They are one in purpose and one in their very nature. Jesus’ relationship with the Father was more intimate than the most intimate human relationship. They share everything. And yet Jesus willingly allowed this relationship to be cut off. He willingly experienced the pain of separation from the perfect being, the greatest good, whom he had been united to eternally. Jesus, who was eternally united with God, willingly separated himself from God so that you, who would be eternally separated from God, could be united with him forever. In doing this Jesus went into the darkest, deepest, most despairing pit of Hell. Jesus went to Hell for us and he did it willingly so that we would not have to experience Hell ourselves.

This is love unparalleled. This is love unequaled. What are you going to do about it? I pray that you will respond to Jesus’ love by loving him, by worshiping him, and by obeying him. Not because doing this will somehow save you from Hell but because Jesus has already saved you from Hell and you cannot help but love him because he so loves you.

Mission: Statement

June 27th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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The following article is an excerpt from a 2008 sermon given by Cole Brown.

Introduction

There is something wrong with the world. And you and I have been called to do something about it. The purpose of this article is to help us identify what our mission is and what might be hindering us from living out this mission to the extent we should be. The Scriptures will help us to do this as we look to the unlikely story of Barak, Deborah, and Jael in Judges 4.

The Need for Deliverance

Verse 31 says this, “After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.” That’s it. That’s basically all the Bible has to tell us about Shamgar and what he did. But this is still an important verse because it helps us to understand this whole book. In this one verse we have an insignificant man using an insignificant weapon to deliver an insignificant people. That’s basically the whole book of Judges in a nutshell. What makes these deliverers significant, what makes these wars significant, what makes these people significant has nothing to do with who they are. It has everything to do with whose they are. They are Yahweh’s. These are Yahweh’s deliverers, waging Yahweh’s wars, to deliver Yahweh’s people. These stories are significant because they are not stories about insignificant people they are stories about the Lord of the universe. And through these stories we learn about God. We learn about Yahweh and what he is like.

We also learn what we are like. The book of Judges unfolds in a cycle that repeats itself over and over again: idolatry, oppression, deliverance, idolatry. Israel commits idolatry; their idolatry leads them into oppression; Yahweh has compassion on them and delivers them; and in response to Yahweh’s compassion they return to their idolatry. So if in verse 31 Yahweh delivered Israel through Shamgar what should we expect to find in the next verse? Idolatry. And that is exactly what we find in 4:1, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead.” In the book of Judges the words evil and idolatry are interchangeable – they mean the same thing – to commit idolatry is to do evil and to do evil is to commit idolatry. To our modern ears that sounds a little primitive. How many of us really consider ourselves idolaters? If you’re irreligious you figure you can’t be an idolater because you don’t worship any gods. If you’re religious you figure you can’t be an idolater because you worship Jesus Christ as the only true God. Since none of us are bowing down to stone images or sitting at home making our own gods out of Play Doh all of this talk about idolatry seems like it doesn’t apply to us. It seems irrelevant. But we are so wrong if we think that. Because idolatry is not just about bowing down to graven images. According to the Bible idolatry is much more common and much more deceptive than that. Idolatry is giving to creation what belongs to the Creator. It is to give your allegiance, or your trust, or your love, or your fear, or your mind, or your body to someone or something other than Jesus Christ. It is to look to something other than Jesus Christ to give you meaning, value, security, blessing, approval, and acceptance. It is to take anything – even a good thing – and treat it like an Ultimate thing…a god thing. And we can do that with anything. We do that with our marriages, with our children, with our relationships, with our sex life. We do that with our careers, with our finances, with our possessions. We do that with art, with entertainment, with certain emotional with physical pleasures. We do that with politics, with education, with religion. We do that with church and with church involvement. And most frequently we do that with ourselves. We serve ourselves rather than Jesus. Even as Christians we trust in ourselves and in our righteousness rather than in Jesus. We give to ourselves what we should give to Jesus. We look to ourselves to provide what can only be provided by Jesus.

Being modern does not excuse us from idolatry. Being irreligious does not excuse from idolatry. Being religious does not excuse us from idolatry. Every one of us commits idolatry because every one of us sins and all sin is idolatry. That’s why evil and idolatry are equated in the book of Judges. That’s why the words are interchangeable. Because anytime you sin – anytime you do evil – you are committing idolatry and vice versa. Every time we sin we are choosing to serve a master other than Jesus. Every time we sin we are placing our hearts on something other than Jesus. Every time we sin we are saying that Jesus is not sufficient for us. Every time we sin we are trying to find our value, or our purpose, or our meaning, or our pleasure, or our identity, or our fulfillment, or our happiness in someone or something other than Jesus. You lie because you are trying to protect something or acquire something that you don’t believe Jesus is sufficient to protect or acquire. You covet because you feel like there is something you need that you do not have in Jesus. You continue to be in relationships you should not be in because you’re looking to this person to meet your needs instead of Jesus.

All of this proves that the book of Judges is immediately applicable and immediately relevant to all of us. It is a book about idolatrous people whose idolatry leads them into oppression. And idolatry always leads to oppression, even for us. Every one of us becomes enslaved by whatever we worship. It is good to worship Jesus because he is a good master who loves us, serves us, and gives himself for us. But he is the only master that does this. No other master loves us, no other master serves us – they all demand that we love them and serve them and give ourselves to them. And since we rely on the things we worship to give us meaning, value, identity, and fulfillment we must give ourselves to them and we must do whatever they demand of us because we need what we think they can offer us. This is the cycle that we humans naturally walk into. First idolatry, then oppression. In 4:1 we saw the idolatry now look at 4:2 and 3 to see the oppression, “So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.”

The Israelites were oppressed because of their idolatry. They were ruled by Jabin, the king of Canaan, and by Sisera, the commander of his powerful army. This army had 900 chariots! Imagine having 900 fully armored tanks following you around and limiting your every move. That’s oppression. That’s intimidation. In some ways chariots are worse than tanks. Tanks are powerful and break through enemy lines but chariots are swift and effective. You can run from a tank. You can’t run from a chariot. They are designed for the purpose of chasing down those who flee. This was the experience of the Israelites for twenty years. And only after twenty years do we see the Israelites finally crying out to the Lord for help. It’s amazing how long we will sit in our own mess before crying out to God. Yahweh had every reason to ignore their cry and every reason to ignore ours. But Yahweh is loving to the unloving, compassionate to the compassionless, gracious to the ungrateful. So even though the Israelites did not repent, even though he knew they would return to idolatry, he delivered them. That’s the next phase of the cycle: idolatry, oppression, deliverance.

The Unlikely Deliverer

This is where we pick up in verse 4. The author of Judges introduces us to a woman named Deborah. Deborah was a prophet who was leading Israel at the time. She wasn’t a judge in the sense that Ehud was, she wasn’t a deliverer, a warrior. She was a judge more in the sense that we think of it. She made judgments. The people of Israel came to her to have their disputes decided. And since she was a prophetess, since she was in a sense God’s mouthpiece, her judgments could be trusted. Deborah is a very interesting character. She’s not who we’d expect to find calling men and sending men to war. But this is the book of the unexpected. We just read about Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with nothing but an oxgoad. And now we read about Deborah, a woman, who is judging and leading Israel and calling them to war. In verse 6 Deborah sends for a man named Barak. When Barak arrives she gives him orders to go to war but she’s not speaking as the Commander in Chief. She’s speaking on behalf of the Commander in Chief. “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.” Yahweh is speaking to Barak through Deborah and calling him to fight for the freedom of his people. And Yahweh is guaranteeing Barak that he will have victory. Yahweh promises that he will give Sisera and his troops into Baraks hands. Victory is certain. Yahweh will deliver his people from this horrible oppression.

Now because we know that Yahweh is faithful to his promises, that he is the Perfect Warrior who cannot and will not be defeated, and that he fights on behalf of his people we would assume that Barak would take Yahweh at his word and do just as he commanded. But that’s not what happens. Instead, Barak hesitates. He was probably thinking of Sisera’s great army and his 900 chariots. So instead of saying, “Yes, Lord” Barak looked to Deborah and said, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” Yahweh promised Barak a victory but that wasn’t enough for him. Yahweh promised Barak that he would deliver Sisera into his hands but that wasn’t enough for him. He needed further assurance. So he determined that he would only go if Yahweh’s prophet, Deborah, went with him. Deborah replied, “Certainly I will go with you. But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Because Barak did not fully trust in Yahweh Barak would not receive the glory for this victory. Yahweh would still deliver his people but he would give the victory to a woman instead of to Barak. When Deborah said this I’m sure that Barak assumed that this woman would be Deborah and that God would give Sisera into her hands. He must have assumed they were going to go up against Sisera and his army as a team; fighting together like Bonnie and Clyde, or Snoop and Chris, or Bobby and Whitney. But that would be too easy. When we’re talking about Yahweh delivering his people we should always expect the unexpected.

So Barak gathered his 10,000 men and along with Deborah they headed for battle. Just as Yahweh promised he led Sisera and his men to the Kishon River. Barak and his army waited on Mt Tabor. I imagine that as they were positioned there Barak was again thinking about Sisera’s great power, his vast army, and his 900 chariots fitted with iron. He hesitated. And Deborah had to remind him whose war this really was. “Go!,” she shouted. “This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” With that little kick in the butt Barak and his men went down Mt. Tabor and attacked Sisera and his men and, against all odds, Sisera’s men began to fall one after another to the swords of Barak and his army. They were being routed just as Yahweh promised. And what did Sisera do? He punked out. He saw his chances quickly fading so he jumped down from his chariot and fled on foot leaving every one of his men to die. Definitely not the kind of man you want leading you into a battle.

As Sisera fled he passed by a tent owned by Heber the Kenite. Now Heber and his family were at peace with Jabir, the King of Canaan, who Sisera fought for. The Bible says that they had an alliance. And not the type of alliance you have on Survivor or on Big Brother, but an alliance far more significant and an alliance with much more trust. So much trust that when Jael, Heber’s wife, came outside and invited Sisera to hide in their tent he didn’t think twice about it. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, “come right in.” And because they had an alliance he did. Even if he might have had some concerns they were quickly disarmed by Jael’s warm invitation and generous hospitality. She opened some milk for him, she gave him a drink, and she covered him up. Sisera was exhausted by this point. And since Jael made him feel so welcome and so comfortable he decided to just go to sleep right there in her tent. Before he fell out he just gave Jael two simple instructions. “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If anyone comes by and asks you, ‘Is there a man in here?’ say ‘No’.” Sisera didn’t even realize the humor and irony in what he had just said. It was true. There was no man in the tent. He just proved by the way he fled from the battle that he was anything but a man. And little did he know that in a matter of minutes there he very literally would not be in the tent. He would be dead. Because once Sisera fell asleep Jael picked up a tent peg and a hammer. She walked quietly toward him while he slept, put the tent peg to his temple, raised the hammer, and nailed him to the ground through his temple. Jael was weak and yet she took on great power. She got up close and personal with the man that intimidated everyone and she took him out – not at a distance – but point blank, in her own tent that she seduced him into entering. Right after that Jael exited her tent to see Barak running by looking for Sisera. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So Barak entered the tent and saw Sisera laying there dead with a tent peg through his temple. Just as Yahweh had promised he delivered his people from oppression. And because Barak hesitated and didn’t fully trust Yahweh to deliver the victory he promised Yahweh provided victory through a woman, just as he said he would. And it wasn’t through Deborah, the leader, but through this non-Israelite woman camped out in a tent who was in an alliance with the oppressors. Again, Yahweh delivers in the most unlikely and most unexpected ways. He does this so that we will be reminded that the battle is his and the victory is his and the deliverance is his.

What Does it All Mean?

So this is a great story, a true story, about how Yahweh delivered his idolatrous people by working in the most unlikely ways. But what does it mean for us? Are we supposed to read this story and then want to be like Barak? No. Are we supposed to read this story and then want to be like Jael? No. Are we supposed to read this story and then want to be like Deborah? No. These characters are essential to the story but they are not the heroes of this story. Yahweh, God, is the hero of this story. And as we read this story we are reminded of just how glorious our God is. Yahweh delivers his idolatrous people even though they did not repent. Yahweh delivers his idolatrous people for no other reason than he is gracious, and compassionate, and merciful and does whatever he wills. Yahweh delivers his idolatrous people through no other means than his power and his sovereignty – his absolute control over and above all things. That’s the moral of the story so to speak. Yahweh is good. Yahweh is powerful. And it is Yahweh’s mission to glorify himself by freeing his people from oppression.

The story is about Yahweh and not about us. But of course that doesn’t mean that we’re not called to respond to what we know about Yahweh. In fact we’re required to. There’s no way that we can know and believe these things about God and not be moved to respond to this good and gracious and powerful God in worship and in obedience. Now we live in a different time than Barak. We live on this side of the Cross of Jesus Christ. So we don’t need to go out, gather tent pegs and hammers, and violently deliver the politically oppressed. But we do need to trust in Yahweh and we need to pursue his mission. His mission is to glorify himself by freeing his people from spiritual oppression. He’s already done all that was necessary for this to happen through Jesus Christ. He’s defeated our oppressors not by killing but by being killed. He’s defeated our oppressors not through the power of chariots but through the weakness of a man, naked, hanging from a tree. He’s defeated our oppressors not by oppressing them but by allowing them to oppress him in our place. Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death we should have died so that we could be freed from our slavery to self, and sin, and Satan, and death. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to show that these things could no longer hold him and could no longer hold his people. If we trust in Jesus – in who he is and what he has done – we are liberated from all of these things. And we are sent out on mission, just as Barak was, to liberate others from their oppression. But our weapon is no tent peg, no oxgoad, no army. Our only weapon is the gospel: the message of who Jesus is and what he has done. Our only weapon is this gospel that we are called to declare with our lips and demonstrate with our lives so that others might be free. Yahweh promises us that he will defend us, that he will fight on our behalf, that he will always be with and never leave us, and that he will save and free those who are his.

If you are a Christian, if you are a follower of Christ, this is your mission. You are to trust in Jesus and to persuade others to do the same. You are to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone you encounter. You are to wage a spiritual war against a spiritual enemy with this spiritual weapon, the gospel. Jesus says that he has sent you into the world in the same way that his Father sent him into the world.

So why aren’t you doing it better?

Some of you really aren’t doing it at all. You can’t remember the last time you talked with someone about Jesus and his gospel. Some of you are doing better than that. And some of you are doing well. But none of us are doing it perfectly. None of us have really responded to this call to be always on this mission declaring and demonstrating the gospel of Jesus Christ in every relationship we enter into. Why? Why is that? Why do we tend to respond like Barak? Why do we hesitate to do what Jesus sends us to do? Why do we hesitate to trust in Jesus to give us the victory? Why do we want further proof and assurance that God is with us and that the outcome will be what we want it to be?

Let’s answer these questions by looking at a more physical war and mission. I have several friends who have gone to Iraq with the US Military. I have not gone. And I’m not going to go. No matter what. But why? What are the reasons that I would not want to go on America’s mission to Iraq?  I’m not going because either I’m afraid, or I don’t believe in the mission, or my allegiance is not to America but to something else. Those are the reasons I’m not fighting. Either I’m afraid, or I don’t believe in the mission, or my allegiance is somewhere else. Those are the same three reasons that keep you and I from joining Jesus on his mission. Some of you hesitate to declare the gospel in your relationships because you’re afraid. You’re afraid of how people might receive you. You’re afraid you’ll be laughed at, ridiculed, or just generally not approved of or accepted. Maybe you’re afraid that you’re not qualified. You don’t think you have enough knowledge or you don’t think you can explain it well enough. In that way you’re like Barak. You’re looking at Sisera and his chariots instead of looking at Yahweh who will go with you. Some of you may not be afraid. Some of you hesitate to declare the gospel in all of your relationships because you don’t believe in the mission. When it comes down to it you just really don’t believe that half-a-million people in this city are enemies of God and are currently separated from him, and will be eternally separated from him, if they don’t respond to the gospel. You just really don’t believe that Jesus and his gospel are the means – the only means – for people to be reconciled to God and to one another. You just really don’t believe that Jesus and his gospel are the means – the only means – for people to experience true joy, true fulfillment, and true healing. If you really, really believed all of this how could you continue to sit on the sidelines and let others fight while you watch? Some of you are not declaring the gospel in your relationships because you are afraid and some of you are not declaring the gospel in your relationships because there is still a significant part of you that just doesn’t believe that it’s all true. And, lastly, some of you hesitate to declare and demonstrate the gospel in your relationships because your allegiance is somewhere else. It’s not necessarily that you’re afraid. It’s not necessarily that you don’t believe it. It’s just that it’s not your primary concern. Your ultimate allegiance is not to Jesus and his mission. Your allegiance is somewhere else. Perhaps your first allegiance is not to Jesus but to yourself. So his mission does not take priority in your life. Your mission does. You make time to pursue what you want to pursue, and continue in relationships that you want to be in, but you do not make the time to bring the gospel into every relationship you enter into. You hesitate to declare the gospel because your primary allegiance is not to Jesus and his mission but to you and your mission.

Think about this for a minute. Think about how you respond to Jesus’ mission. Are you declaring the gospel in every relationship? Are you demonstrating the gospel in every relationship? Are you purposefully and intentionally seeking conversations about Jesus and his gospel? If you’re not doing this consistently the first thing you must do is acknowledge that you are in sin. You are rebelling against the God who redeemed you. But don’t stop there. It’s not enough to just acknowledge that sin. Because, remember, there is a greater sin underneath that sin. Yes, it is a terrible sin when we are not fully devoted to Jesus’ mission. But as we just saw that sin is the product of another sin. It is either that you are afraid, or that you don’t believe in the mission, or that your allegiance is somewhere else. Which of these sins lies beneath your hesitancy to join Jesus on his mission? Which of these sins lies beneath your hesitancy to purposefully and intentionally bring the gospel into every relationship you have? Now let me be very clear that as I ask these questions I am not asking you as Jael. I am not the one who just does what needs to be done without hesitation or fear. I ask you these questions as Barak. I ask you these questions as one who many times has hesitated to trust Jesus and pursue his mission. I know what it’s like to be afraid. I know what it’s like to have a different mission or a different allegiance. Which is why I know that I can’t just tell you to stop being afraid, and start believing, and started pledging allegiance to Jesus and his mission. I can’t just stand here and tell you to go out there and preach Jesus in every relationship you have. Because I know that even if you leave here wanting to do that you won’t do that. You won’t do that because you can’t do that.

The Unhesitant Deliverer

But don’t be discouraged. Someone else has done that. Someone else has done it for you. Jesus has done it perfectly. When it was time for him to leave his throne and lay aside his glory to free us he did not hesitate. When it was time for him to come to us and become like us in order to free us he did not delay. Though he saw that it would cost him his position, and his riches, and even his very life he did not give in to fear. Though he saw that Satan, and his demons, and every human being would conspire against him he did not abort his mission. Though the people he was delivering did not deserve to be delivered he fought for us anyway. Though we would be thankless and curse him and deny him he pursued us nonetheless. Though he would be rejected, he came. Though he would be hated, he came. Though he would be abused, he came. Though he would be abandoned, he came. Though he would be murdered, he came. He did all of this because his allegiance was given to Yahweh and no one else. He came to set the captives free. He came to deliver the oppressed. He came to fulfill the mission he was given. And because he has done that you now can join Jesus on his mission. You can bring the gospel into every relationship you enter into. Because Jesus has defeated your enemies on the cross, because he has reconciled you to God and made you acceptable to him, you no longer have to be afraid of failure or rejection. Because Jesus has liberated you from your oppression, because he has broken the chains of sin, and self, and Satan from your neck, you can’t help but believe in the mission because you have experienced its reality. Because Jesus has loved you like you cannot even love yourself, because he has given all of himself to you when you deserved nothing but his wrath, you cannot help but give your allegiance to him and him alone because you know that no one else deserves your love or your trust or your life – especially you.

To put it simply you have been given the most glorious mission in the world which is also the easiest mission in the world. It’s the most glorious and the easiest mission in the world because all of the work has already been done. By living the life you could not live, dying the death you should have died, and rising victorious from the dead Jesus has done all that is necessary to reconcile man to God and all that is necessary to free the oppressed. You don’t have to do either of those things. All you have to do is tell the story. All you have to do is sing the song. That’s what Barak and Deborah did in chapter 5 of Judges. Yahweh had given them the victory. They didn’t have to fight any more. So all they could do is sing. They sang together about Yahweh. They sang about how he graciously delivered his people. They sang about how Yahweh had given them the victory. They sang about how Yahweh sovereignly worked in the most unlikely ways to rescue those who didn’t deserve to be rescued. Whether you’re a Christian or not how can we look at Jesus and not want to sing his song? There is no one more beautiful, no one more lovely, no one more attractive. How can we not want to sing about Jesus who rescues those who don’t deserve to be rescued, liberates those who have made themselves slaves, and reconciles the unreconcilable. We must believe it. And if we believe it we must sing it. And if we sing it we cannot just sing it to ourselves but to every person we know. Because we have been freed from everything that would tell us otherwise.


Inseparable

June 27th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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The following article is an excerpt from a 2008 sermon given by Cole Brown.

Introduction

I don’t know about you but I have heard a lot of people brag about being an American. I’ve always found that interesting because most of us didn’t have to do anything to become an American. It doesn’t really cost you anything. Oh, yeah, it costs you taxes, but you do everything you can to get out of that. And the taxes you do pay you pay so that you don’t have to do anything else. When America has problems you don’t have to do anything to solve them, you just pay your taxes and let someone else figure it out. When the national debt continues to grow larger and larger you don’t help to find a solution you just pay your taxes because that’s someone else’s job. When America goes to war you don’t go to war you just pay your taxes and let someone else go instead. Being an American is the easiest job in the world. You don’t have to make America’s mission your mission, you can keep pursuing your own mission, yet you still receive all of the benefits of being an American.

I’ve also heard people brag about owning stock in a particular company. And that’s just as interesting. Because you don’t really have to do anything to be a Starbucks stockholder. Well, of course, you have to pay a fee up front but after that you don’t have to do anything.  You don’t have to go in to open the store at 4:45 in the morning. You don’t have to learn how to make dozens and dozens of different drinks. You don’t even have to know the difference between a vente and a grande. But when they make money, you make money, as if you really did work there. Being a stockholder is the easiest job in the world. You don’t have to make Starbucks’ mission your mission, you don’t have to do anything to convince the world that Starbucks is the “premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world,” you can keep pursuing your own mission, yet you still receive all the benefits of being part of the company.

Unfortunately, in our culture, people have come to think of Christianity in the same way. We think that we can belong to Christ and enjoy all of the benefits without ever having to do anything to further his cause. We act like we can say we’re committed to Jesus but then continue to pursue our own mission. But that’s a lie. The two are inseparable. As a Christian your conversion and your call are one and the same. Jesus converts you to himself and he calls you to his mission, which is to reconcile the world to himself.

Saul and His Mission

We see this clearly in the story of Saul found in Acts 9:1-31. The story begins in verses 1 and 2, “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.” Luke, the author of Acts, once again directs our attention to a man named Saul. We’ve already seen Saul twice in this book. When Stephen was stoned as the first Christian martyr Saul held the coats of those who killed him and offered his approval. By the time Stephen’s body was put in the ground Saul was already on a mission to destroy the Church. He went from house to house dragging men and women out of their homes and throwing them into prison simply because they worshiped Jesus as Messiah, as Savior and Lord. Now, after some time has passed, we find in verse 1 that Saul is still breathing out murderous threats against the Christian Church. And these are not empty threats. They are promises that Saul has proven he will keep. He has kept them in Jerusalem and now he’s set on keeping them wherever the church may spread. Even if that means he has to travel six-days to do so. And that’s exactly what he does. He gathers a crew, he hops on his donkey, and he begins the six-day journey to Damascus where he plans to stomp out the Christian church. This is his mission. Saul is driven by it. And he has wholly given himself to it.

But, as I’m sure most of you know, Saul’s mission would be interrupted. It was around noon as he neared Damascus when suddenly the brightest of lights flashed around him. This light must have been magnificent! The sun was already out – it was noon — yet this light was so bright that it knocked Saul to the ground. Just as quickly as Saul had gotten on his ass, Saul fell off his ass, and Saul fell on his…bottom. And from that position he heard a voice speak, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me” Saul did not know who was speaking to him but he knew that he should listen to whoever it was. So he asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply must have terrified Saul. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Saul’s crew – the men he had brought with him – stood speechless. They heard the sound and they saw a light but they could not make out anything. As they continued to marvel Saul stood himself up, only to open his eyes and discover that he had been blinded by the light. He could not see a thing. So his men grabbed him and led him by the hand into the city of Damascus, where he would remain blind for three days, eating and drinking nothing. Saul set off for Damascus on his own mission. But Jesus interrupted his mission and would soon give him a new one.

Ananias and Jesus’ Mission

Jesus would also give a very specific mission to Ananias, one of his disciples who lived in Damascus. The Lord called to Ananias in a vision. Verses 11 and 12 explain, “The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” Well, as you can probably imagine, that caught Ananias off guard. He hadn’t been living under a rock. He knew Saul’s reputation. He knew Saul’s mission. He knew what Saul had come to Damascus to do to him and to the people he loved. So he responded in verses 13 and 14, “‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’” Ananias speaks as if he’s giving Jesus information he doesn’t already know. It’s almost as if Ananias is trying to help Jesus see how crazy his request of Ananias is. And it is crazy, isn’t it? Jesus wants Ananias to voluntarily walk into a room with the very man who has come there to arrest him and perhaps do far worse to him. But Jesus knows what he’s doing. He makes it plain again in verses 15 and 16, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

At this point Ananias is forced to make a decision. He has to make a decision about where his allegiance is. He has to make a decision about whose mission he’s on. Is he on his own mission? Is his mission to protect his own interests and his own life? If so, then he should ignore Jesus and get out of Damascus as soon as he can. Or is he on Jesus’ mission? Is his mission to follow Jesus on his mission to reconcile the world to himself? If so, then he’ll obey Jesus and willfully walk into a room with the man who came to arrest him, and perhaps do far worse. And that’s precisely what Ananias does because Ananias has made Jesus’ mission his mission. Verses 18-19 tell us, “Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.” I love how Jesus works. One of the men who Saul had come to destroy is now used by Jesus to heal the one who came to destroy him. Because Ananias made Jesus’ mission his mission Jesus used him to play a role in one of the most important conversions in all of history.

Saul and Jesus’ Mission

Saul was converted from despising Jesus and persecuting Jesus to worshiping Jesus. But Saul’s encounter with the resurrected Christ did not simply produce a conversion. It also produced a call. As he encountered the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus Saul was in pursuit of his own mission. But when Jesus converted Saul, Jesus also called Saul from his old mission to a new mission, from his own mission to the mission of Jesus. Jesus filled and empowered Saul with the Holy Spirit and Saul stopped pursuing his mission and started pursuing Jesus’ mission. The text tells us that Saul remained in Damascus and spent time with the very disciples he had initially come to arrest. And immediately, Saul began preaching Jesus. One by one he entered into the Jewish synagogues and proclaimed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah. Can you imagine the shock that fell upon his hearers? This is the equivalent of Osama Bin Laden going into Muslim mosques and trying to convince them that Muhammad is a false prophet and the Jews are God’s chosen people. People wouldn’t know whether to laugh at him as a joker or kill him as a wacko! Verse 21 explains how the Jews in Damascus reacted to Saul’s teaching, “All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’” They were understandably baffled as Saul continued to grow more and more powerful by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus, in fact, is Messiah.

As the former persecutor of the Church, Saul had to know that there would be consequences for preaching Jesus. He had to know that many of the Jewish people would respond to him just as he responded to Stephen and those like him. And they did. They conspired together to kill him. By making Jesus’ mission his mission the persecutor had become the persecuted. By God’s grace, though, Saul escaped through an opening in the city wall and fled to Arabia, where he stayed for three years. After three years Saul finally returned to Jerusalem. He tried to join with the disciples in Jerusalem but they were afraid of him. They didn’t believe he had truly been converted. They thought he was there to spy on them, to destroy them. But one man, Barnabas, saw the truth. He took Saul to the Apostles and from then on Saul stayed with them and went through the city preaching Jesus boldly. This continued until, once again, some Jews in the city plotted to kill him. By God’s grace he escaped to Caesarea. But the threat of persecution and the reality of persecution would follow Saul – who we now know as the Apostle Paul – for the rest of his life on earth. By making Jesus’ mission his mission the persecutor had become the persecuted. But not once did he regret it.

You and Your Mission

Through Saul’s experience we are reminded that we are always on mission.  So the question is not, “Are you on mission?” the question is, “Whose mission are you on?” Are you on your own mission, as Saul was as he traveled to Damascus? Or are you on Jesus’ mission, as Saul was after he encountered Jesus? This is a difficult question to hear, because it exposes the true loves of our hearts. But it is not a difficult question to answer. If you want to know whose mission you’re on just answer three simple questions. What do you do with your time? Does most of it go to serve you and your mission or Jesus and his? What do you do with your money? Does most of it go to serve you and your mission or Jesus and his? What do you do with your words? Do you want people to know about you and your mission or about Jesus and his? If you can answer those questions honestly you can easily answer the other question. Whose mission are you on? Are you living your life in pursuit of your own mission or in pursuit of Jesus’ mission?

One thing is made clear in the story of Saul and Ananias that is also made clear throughout all of Scripture. That is this: conversion and call are inseparable. If you are converted to worship Jesus you are called to Jesus’ mission to reconcile the world to himself. It’s not like being an American citizen where you can call yourself an American but let a bunch of other people fight America’s war. It’s not like being a stockholder at Starbucks where you can say you’re a part of the company but let a bunch of other people do all of the work. To be a Christian is to be one who is committed to Jesus’ mission. You cannot say, “I’m committed to Jesus” and not be committed to what Jesus values just as I cannot say, “I’m committed to my wife” and then show absolutely no concern for what my wife values. To love Jesus is to love his mission. To give yourself to Jesus is to give yourself to his mission. Let us stop with all this nonsense of thinking grace somehow gives us a pass from doing what Jesus calls us to do. It is grace that compels us to do what Jesus calls us to do. Just as it did with Saul, so it does with us.

When we understand who Jesus is and what Jesus has done we are driven to his mission. We are driven to see the world reconciled to him. When we understand that Jesus has lived the life that we were supposed to live but have failed to, when we understand that Jesus has died the death that we deserve to die but now don’t have to, when we understand that Jesus has risen from the dead to bring us to God which we can’t do, we are converted to worship him and we are called and converted from our mission to his mission. So when we are converted to Jesus our time is no longer to be used to serve us, it is to be used to serve him and his people and his city. Our money is no longer to be used to serve us, it is to be used to serve him and his people and his city. Our talents and training are no longer to be used to serve us, they are to be used to serve him and his people and his city. Our goal is no longer to help people see our glory, our goal is to help people see his glory! Precisely because Jesus gave everything to us – freely – we are compelled to give everything to him – freely – because we now know it was never ours to begin with! The conversion and the call are inseparable. You are either on Jesus’ mission because you worship him, or you are on your own mission because you worship yourself.

Now, I know that some of you will say, “Well, I believe all that. And I try to do most of that. But I don’t really go out of my way to preach the gospel to people. And there’s a reason why I don’t go out of my way to preach the gospel to people. There’s a reason why I don’t go out of my way to tell people about Jesus. It’s not that I’m on my own mission. It’s just that I know people don’t want to hear it.” No, really? Of course they don’t want to hear it. They’re dead in their sins. That’s precisely why they need to hear it, that’s precisely why you needed to hear it, that’s precisely why I needed to hear it. The fact that your family, and friends, and neighbors are opposed to the gospel message does not mean that they will never receive the gospel message. No matter how hopeless they may seem, as long as they are breathing they are never hopeless! No one in the history of the world has ever responded to the gospel because of their own wisdom or because of their own spiritual hunger. Everyone who has ever responded to the gospel has responded because of God’s grace, because of the gospel’s power and not their own.

And Saul’s story reminds us of this. Saul’s story reminds us that no matter how hopeless someone may seem they are never outside of God’s reach. You say your family, and friends, and neighbors don’t want to hear the gospel? You say they are opposed to Christianity? That may be true. But not as much as Saul was! As much as they may be opposed to Christianity I bet they’re not going from neighborhood to neighborhood and city to city arresting and killing Christians! If anyone was hopeless, if anyone was hostile to Jesus and his message, if anyone was outside of Jesus’ reach, it was Saul! And yet Jesus called Saul, Jesus converted Saul, and Jesus empowered Saul to pursue Jesus’ mission! We don’t do those things. Jesus does those things. He did them with Saul and he is still doing the exact same things. Every Christian in this room is proof of that. No matter how hostile someone might be to the gospel they cannot resist its power when God chooses to open their eyes to it.

The power of the gospel is not found in our ability to present it well. The power of the gospel is not found in the willingness of our listeners to hear it. The power of the gospel is found in Jesus, who is the gospel. Jesus calls. Jesus converts. Jesus empowers for mission. And all of this is and — in fact, was – accomplished through his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus’ work on the cross didn’t just make it possible for people to be saved. Jesus’ work on the cross actually saved everyone who is his. Which means that the pressure is off of you. Jesus does the calling and Jesus does the converting. But this also means that you are out of excuses. Jesus does the calling and Jesus does the converting. So if you are a Christian there is not one reason why you cannot be fully committed to Jesus’ mission. In fact, to be a Christian is to be one who is committed to Jesus’ mission. Does that describe you? If it doesn’t, let me point you once again to the story of Saul. Like many of you, Saul was not committed to Jesus’ mission. Saul was on his own mission, a mission that brought great pain to Jesus and his Church. Yet Jesus forgave even him. And just as Jesus forgave even Saul Jesus can and will forgive you if you turn to him and repent of your sin. And this fact, the fact that Jesus is so loving and so gracious that he would forgive you for forsaking his mission and pursuing your own, this fact should motivate you toward his mission in love and gratitude. So I urge you in the name of Christ: do not let another week pass you by where you do not talk about Jesus’ gospel and mission, do not let another week pass you by where you do not give everything you have and everything you are to Jesus’ gospel and mission. Your mission guarantees disappointment and death. Jesus’ mission guarantees victory and life.

And Don’t You Forget It!

June 27th, 2009 | Posted in articles | No Comments
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The following article is an excerpt from a 2008 sermon given by Cole Brown.

The Coming of the Spirit

Before Jesus ascended into heaven he gave his followers specific instructions to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. As Acts 2 opens we find the 120 Christian believers doing just that – waiting together in one place. We know from chapter 1 that as they were waiting together they were enjoying community with one another, they were reflecting on the Holy Scriptures, they were talking about Jesus and all he had said and done, and they were praying together in unity. In verse 1 of chapter 2 we see that it is now the day of Pentecost, so it’s been about a week since Jesus gave them their instructions and left the earth. Pentecost was a huge Jewish festival. Jewish believers from all over the world came to Jerusalem, where the disciples were waiting and praying, to present their offerings before God. It was an important festival. And now that this festival has come and a week has passed I imagine the 120 Christian believers are wondering when Jesus is going to send the Holy Spirit he promised. I imagine they are wondering how much longer they’re going to have to wait. But I’m sure the last thing they were expecting is that it would happen NOW. And even less were they expecting that it would happen like THIS. But it did. Suddenly.

This is what Luke explains in verses 2-4, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Remember that the believers knew they were waiting for the Holy Spirit but Jesus didn’t tell them how they would know when the Holy Spirit had come. But now there was no question. The Holy Spirit had come. And God made that extremely clear through visible signs of his presence. First, we are told, that a sound filled the entire house where they were sitting. This wasn’t one of those, “I think I heard something, did you hear that?” sounds. This sound was unmistakable. It was like the blowing of a violent wind from heaven. And that sound was accompanied by an equally distinct sight. They saw images of fire – what appeared to them to be tongues of fire – separate and then rest on each one of them. These signs of wind and fire were not arbitrary. To these 120 Jewish people it would have been very clear what was happening here. Because throughout the Old Testament both wind and fire are used to symbolize the presence of God and the activity of his Spirit. The believers would have remembered that the prophet Ezekiel once found himself standing in a valley of dry, dead bones. The Lord spoke to Ezekiel and commanded him to speak to the bones. As he did so the Lord sent wind to breathe into the bones and they came to life. God explained that the dry, dead bones represented Israel and the wind represented God’s Spirit which he promised to put in his people so that they would live, though they were now dead. The believers also would have remembered God’s presence symbolized through the fire of Moses’ burning bush and through the pillar of fire that protected the Israelites at night as they fled from the Egyptians. There would have been no question in the minds of these 120 believers that the eternal God himself was intimately present with them and the power of his mighty Spirit was at work amongst them. The Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised them, had come.

And those weren’t the only signs they were given. There was a third. As they were filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak in other tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them. As these first believers spoke in tongues they were not making ecstatic utterances and they were not repeating syllables that did not make sense; they were speaking intelligible words in actual existing languages. They were speaking for the first time in languages that they did not know, had never studied, and had never learned. And their listeners understood them clearly. Remember that this was Pentecost. So Jews from every nation were gathering in Jerusalem. And each of them heard their own native language being spoken.

They were amazed by this as explained in verses 6-8, “When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” The Jews, in general, looked down on people from Galilee as unintelligent, poorly educated, and not so well spoken. So they were shocked to hear these mere Galileans speaking a language they had never been taught — their language — so clearly and effectively. And this shock produced two responses. One group was intrigued. They wanted to know more. “What does this mean?” they asked in verse 12. Another group was more skeptical and made fun of them, “They’ve had too much wine,” they said.

The Interpretation of the Spirit’s Coming

Peter knew that people were perplexed about precisely what was going on, and he knew the importance of this event. He knew that what was happening in their midst was going to divide history. He knew that this event was proof that one era had passed away and that a new era was beginning. So, Peter, the same man who 50 days earlier was so frightened that he denied Jesus to a powerless woman, now, filled with the Holy Spirit, stands up to preach Jesus before an audience of thousands. The first thing he does is address their question. Are they drunk? No, he says. What you’re witnessing is not the result of alcohol. It’s only 9 in the morning! No, what you’re witnessing is something else. It’s not the result of alcohol. It’s the result of the Holy Spirit.

Peter reminds his Jewish audience of a prophecy spoken by their prophet Joel many years earlier. A prophecy every one of them would have known. In verses 17-21 we read, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is that, Peter says. What Joel talked about so many years ago – that’s what you see right now. Prophecy and promise are being fulfilled right before your eyes!

Peter announces that on this day – the day of Pentecost – everything has changed. He explains that with the coming of the Holy Spirit there has also come a new era. He calls this new time the last days. He doesn’t speak of the last days as being something far off but as something that has arrived with the coming of the Holy Spirit. In our day and time we always hear people talking about how “the last days have come” or the “last days are coming” or “we’re living in the last days” as if they are saying something profound and frightening. But this is not news. The last days have been here. The last days began 2,000 years ago with the coming of the Holy Spirit just as Peter says in Acts 2:16 and 17. Jesus has fulfilled the Law and the prophecies about his work. He became like us and came to us in order to save us. He lived the perfect life we could not live. He died the horrible death we deserve to die. He received the wrath of God that we should have received. He rose from the dead so that we could be free from death. He ascended into heaven to reign over the universe. And he sent his Holy Spirit to fill his Church, indwell his Church, and empower his Church to tell the whole world about who he is and what he has done. Through all of this Jesus has ushered in the last days. And we are now living in them. Though the time of final judgment and final salvation is still to come judgment and salvation are happening right now. And it is all based on how we respond to Jesus’ completed work. If we reject Jesus we are in the process of being judged and we will receive our final sentence when Jesus returns to the earth. If we accept and worship Jesus we are in the process of being saved and we will receive our final reward when Jesus returns to the earth. The last days have already begun. Judgment and salvation have already begun. And they will be consummated when Jesus Christ returns to earth to render his final judgments and the fullness of his rewards.

But, as Peter explains, not only has the process of judgment and salvation begun, but something else has also changed in these last days. In the previous era the Holy Spirit occasionally came to fill and empower certain members of the Jewish community (usually leaders) to accomplish certain tasks. But, now, the Holy Spirit will not be limited to just the Jewish people, or just a certain class of leaders. The Holy Spirit will fill, indwell, and empower all of God’s people. As Peter says in verses 17 and 18, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” God is not just pouring out his Spirit on a certain race of people, or a certain nation of people, or a certain gender, or a certain class. God is pouring out his Spirit on all of his people – regardless of race, class, gender, or ability! Peter explains to his audience that this glorious promise is no longer something to hope for in the future. It is now something to possess in the present. This is that, Peter says. What you’re seeing today is what Joel prophesied about. What you’re seeing today is the beginning of a new era – the last days have begun and God is now pouring out his Holy Spirit on all of his people.

The Presence of the Spirit in Us

You and I weren’t there to see this or hear this. We live in a different time. We live in a different culture. And while we’re so thankful that Luke gave us this detailed and well-researched historical record we can sometimes treat it like that’s all that it is. History. And, yes, it is history. But its relevance to us is not just historical. This event and Luke’s account of this event have present relevance to you and me as we sit at our computers 2,000 years and 7,000 miles removed from what we just read. Because what we just read tells us something astonishing. It tells us that God has sent his Holy Spirit and begun a new era. It tells us that in this new era God is pouring out his Holy Spirit on all of his people. Which means that you and I don’t have to look forward to the day when God will send his Spirit to fill us, indwell us, and empower us. If our faith is in Jesus Christ we look back to the day he sent his Holy Spirit to us to fill us, indwell us, and empower us.

And don’t you forget it.

There are some who will tell you that you have to do something to receive the Holy Spirit. They will tell you that you have to tarry for him – to beg for him, to ask for him, to labor for him. They will tell you that you have to be a certain type of person to receive him; that you have to do this or that; that you have to stop doing that or this; that you have to reach a certain level of maturity or a certain level of righteousness before God will fill you with his Holy Spirit. But when they say that they make God like us, and they make us like God! And God is not like us. And we are not like God. We are evil. We rebel against the True God. We give our trust, and love, and obedience to people and things other than Jesus. We look to people and things other than Jesus to bring us fulfillment, and value, and security, and meaning. We are idolaters who so often worship ourselves in place of Jesus. We do what we shouldn’t do. We don’t do what we should do. Our actions, our thoughts, our words are all imperfect. And yet we think that we can somehow earn the Holy Spirit? We think that we can somehow work hard enough or pray long enough that God would want to live in us? How arrogant and self-righteous and self-worshiping do we have to be to think that we can make ourselves worthy of being the dwelling place of God?! That’s what we’re saying if we say that we have to pray to get the Holy Spirit or that we have to work to get the Holy Spirit. We’re saying that we can make ourselves a worthy place for God to dwell. That is despicable. How you could know the filth that lives in your heart and your mind and think that somehow you can earn the presence of the eternal God living in you is detestable. You are not God. You are nothing like God. And you could never give him a good reason to fill you with his Holy Spirit. And when you say that you can you deny God his glory. You make him like us. And he is not like us. He is not someone who only gives to people who give to him, he is not someone who says, “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” No, he is a God of love, and mercy, and grace. Which means he gives to us the good that we do not deserve simply because he loves us. It means that he doesn’t give to us the bad that we do deserve simply because he loves us. Look back at Acts 1:4. Look at what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.” Focus on the words he uses to describe the coming of the Holy Spirit. “The gift my Father promised.” Gift. Promise. These are not things that can be earned by praying long enough or working hard enough. A gift is something that is given freely, that is undeserved, and unearned. Jesus says the Holy Spirit is a gift, meaning you don’t have to do anything to receive him. And the Holy Spirit is also a promise. Not an offer, not a possibility – a promise. God did not say, “If you do this then I’ll send the Holy Spirit.” He said, “I will send the Holy Spirit.” God did not say, “As long as you do A, B, and C I will send you the Holy Spirit.” He said, “I promise you the Holy Spirit.” Rejoice in that! If your faith is in Jesus he has already sent his Holy Spirit to fill, indwell, and empower you and he has done it according to his righteousness and not your own.

And don’t you forget it.

Yet there are still some who will tell you that you don’t have the Holy Spirit unless you speak in tongues. They read this passage in Acts 2 and they say that since the apostles spoke in tongues when they received the Holy Spirit then everyone will speak in tongues when they receive the Holy Spirit. The first problem with that is that the apostles spoke in actual existing languages that they were never trained to speak. If that’s the sign of the Holy Spirit then very, very few Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit. Because while lots of church people speak in tongues that are unintelligible I have yet to meet any that speak perfectly in an existing language. The second problem with that is that this is not at all what this passage is telling us. One of the easiest mistakes we can make when reading the Bible is to read a descriptive passage and treat it as a prescriptive passage (to read about something that did happen and assume that this is what should always happen). We have to be careful here. Because, remember, Luke is writing history. He is describing what happened at a certain time, in a certain place, with a certain group of people. He does not once imply that this is what will happen at all times, in all places, with all people. And no one really believes that anyway. It’s interesting that those who will tell you that you have to speak in tongues to have the Holy Spirit don’t mention the other signs that were present in this passage. Remember, the apostles didn’t just speak in tongues. First, they heard the sound of a rushing and violent wind. Second, they saw tongues of fire resting on each one of them. If we say that what happened to the Apostles when they received the Holy Spirit is what is supposed to happen to everyone then we can’t just say you have to speak in tongues, we have to also say that you have to have fire resting above your head, and a violent wind rushing through the building you’re in. You see we can’t just take a descriptive text in the Bible and turn in into a prescriptive text that applies to everyone. Instead, what we have to do is interpret the descriptive text in light of all of the prescriptive texts we find in Scripture. In this case, we have to see what passages in the Bible directly teach about the Holy Spirit and then we can interpret this historical event in light of the Bible’s direct and explicit teaching. If we do that it won’t take long to see that while tongues may be a sign of the Holy Spirit they are not the evidence of the Holy Spirit. Let’s start in 1Corinthians 12:4-11. The Spirit distributes the gifts as he wills. And it is very clear in this passage that he chooses to give different gifts to different people. To one he gives the message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues. He gives different signs to different people. Let’s read down further in 1Corinthians 12:29-31. Paul is asking his audience a series of rhetorical questions. And the obvious answer to each of them is no. Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Do all work miracles? No. Do all have gifts of healing? No. Do all speak in tongues? No. Clearly, speaking in tongues can be a good thing. It can be something given to us by the Holy Spirit. But it is not proof that we have been given the Holy Spirit. So with tongues or without tongues if your faith is in Jesus Christ you can be certain that you are filled, and you are indwelled, and you are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And don’t you forget it.

This is wonderful news, isn’t it? You don’t have to do anything to receive the Holy Spirit and you don’t have to do anything to prove you have the Holy Spirit. All you have to do is believe. If you believe in Jesus Christ – if you trust in him, put your faith in him, and worship him – you are filled, indwelled, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13-14 explains, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” This passage clearly teaches that at the moment we truly believed the gospel we were filled with the promised Holy Spirit. But not only is the Holy Spirit the result of our belief. He is also the cause of our belief. 1Corinthians 12:3 says this, “Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the only way that you can sincerely and truthfully worship Jesus is if the Holy Spirit is already alive and at work in you. So the question is not, do you speak in tongues? The question is not, do you feel the Holy Spirit? The question is not, what have you done to receive the Spirit? The question is this: do you sincerely and truly believe the gospel of Jesus Christ? If you do then you can know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are filled, and you are indwelled, and you are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And don’t you forget it.

I go to great lengths to make this clear because so many Christians have been told that they don’t have the Holy Spirit or that they don’t have the “fullness” of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps because you don’t speak in tongues people have told you that you’re missing something. And that grieves me so much. It grieves me because it may make you feel like you’re doing something wrong. That somehow you’ve failed to be good enough and, therefore, God has withheld his Holy Spirit from you. It grieves me because it may make you frustrated with God. You may wonder why it seems like God has given the Holy Spirit to this person and that person but he hasn’t given the Holy Spirit to you. You’re wondering why he keeps passing you over. You’re wondering what they have done that you haven’t done. It grieves me because it may make you feel like you’re not prepared to do certain things. Maybe you think you can’t be involved in this ministry because you “don’t have the Holy Spirit” yet. Or maybe you think you can’t defeat this particular sin because you “don’t have the Holy Spirit” yet. It grieves me so much to think that you have been made to feel that you are not filled with the Holy Spirit because you don’t speak in tongues. And so I want to say again what the Bible very clearly says – if you sincerely and truly believe the gospel of Jesus Christ then you are filled, and you are indwelled, and you are empowered by the Holy Spirit. If you weren’t aware of it before you are aware of it now.

And don’t you forget it.

Maybe that’s not you. Maybe you’ve never been made to feel that you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Maybe you’ve been taught that, yes, you are filled with God’s Spirit. And if that’s true – praise be to God. But the truth is even you need to be reminded of this. Because though you may know it, you sometimes live like you have forgotten it. So let me use Acts chapter 2 to remind you that, if your faith is in Jesus Christ, you are filled, and you are indwelled, and you are empowered by the Holy Spirit of the living God.

And don’t you forget it!

And don’t you live like you have forgotten it!

Knowing that you’re filled with the Holy Spirit should move you to do what the Holy Spirit has empowered you to do! Since you know you are filled with the Holy Spirit you should be proclaiming the gospel, and proclaiming the gospel, and proclaiming the gospel in the power of the Spirit! Since you know you are filled with the Holy Spirit you should be boldly speaking to people about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done in the power of the Spirit! Since you know you are filled with the Holy Spirit you should be resisting sin in the power of the Spirit! Since you know you are filled with the Holy Spirit you should be living like Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit! Since you know you are filled with the Holy Spirit you should be praying frequently and fervently in the power of the Spirit! Your life should look like a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit because if you love Jesus you are filled, you are indwelled, and you are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And don’t you forget it.

A Seat at the Table

June 18th, 2009 | Posted in articles | Comments Off
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The following article is an excerpt from a 2008 sermon given by Cole Brown.

I have spent most of my life as a nerd. And I have very vivid memories of what that looked like, especially in my middle-school and high-school days. My least favorite part of the school day was lunchtime. That was everyone else’s favorite part of the day, right? Everybody was excited to sit down and talk with their friends at lunch. But lunchtime was miserable for me. Because I didn’t really have anyone to sit down and talk with. I remember often walking into the cafeteria with my lunch and scanning the room for a place to sit. I would see the girl I had a crush on and I would want to go sit by her. But there was no seat at the table for me. I would see the guys who I admired and I would want to go sit by them. But there was no seat at the table for me. Finally, I would see the nerds who gathered together at the far table. But there was no seat at the table for me there, either. Sometimes I was just too much of a nerd even for the other nerds. On most days there was no seat at any table for me so many times I would end up eating my lunch outside and alone. I think it goes without saying that this was painful for me.

Unfortunately, this type of division and separation doesn’t end with high-school. Certainly it takes on different forms as we get older but it still remains. Some of us still feel like outcasts. Some of us still feel like we’re excluded from the table. And some of us still create these divisions. We still want to separate ourselves from certain groups of people or certain types of people. So which of these are you? Are you the one who often feels excluded from the table? Or are you the one who excludes others from the table? You probably don’t want to hear this but most of us are both. God’s Word has a lot to say about this. We’ll see this t as we look at the story of Peter and Cornelius found in Acts 9:32-11:18.

The Prologue

The story of Peter and Cornelius is the longest narrative found in the entire book of Acts. As Luke tells us this true story he takes us from one location to another, from one scene to another, much like a movie. And, much like a movie, this narrative is packed with tension and conflict. This tension and conflict produces change in these characters so that by the end not one of them is the same as they were at the beginning.

The prologue directs our attention to Peter. In Lydda he found a man who was paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. He healed him in the name of Jesus Christ and people all over the city turned to faith in the Lord. He remained in Lydda telling people about Jesus until two men from Joppa came to him and urged him to come back to Joppa with them. He did. And when he arrived he saw Dorcas lying dead while women mourned. Peter prayed for her, Jesus raised her from the dead, and people throughout Joppa turned to faith in the Lord. And Peter stayed in Joppa, continuing to tell people about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. The prologue presents Peter to us as a powerful witness of Jesus Christ. As one who went from place to place preaching Jesus and healing people in his name – even raising one woman from the dead. That’s impressive, isn’t it? Well, as impressive as that is, it is nothing compared to what Peter will do as this story unfolds.

Scene 1 – Cornelius’ Vision

Fade in to scene one to reveal Cornelius in prayer at three in the afternoon. He is introduced to us as an admirable character. We are told that he and all his family were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to all who were in need and he prayed regularly to the True God. In other words, Cornelius was sympathetic to the theology of the Jews and the ethics of the Jews. And all of this is very significant. Because Cornelius is not a Jew. He’s a Gentile. Even worse, he is a Roman Centurion, meaning he commands the army that occupies Israel. Worse still, he lives in Caesarea. The Jews hated Caesarea. They called it “the daughter of Edom,” partially because the city had more Gentiles than Jews. So it is interesting that we find Cornelius praying at 3 in the afternoon, one of the traditional Jewish prayer times. And it is beyond interesting – it is amazing – to see how his prayers are answered.

In the midst of his prayer God gave Cornelius a vision. Cornelius distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and called him by his name. “Cornelius!” As should be expected Cornelius stared at him in fear. He asked, “What is it Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” The angel did not tell Cornelius why he should send for Peter. He did not tell him what Peter was supposed to do for him, or what Peter was supposed to tell him. The information he gave him was sparse at best. But here we see again Cornelius’ faith, we see again his trust in the God of Israel, though he himself was not a Jew. Because Cornelius does not wait to act until he receives specifics. Cornelius acts in response to the little revelation he has been given. Let me say that again: Cornelius acts in response to the little revelation he has been given. He called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants and he sent them to Joppa to bring back Peter, just as the angel had told him to do.

Scene 2 – Peter’s Vision

Fade out of Caesarea and fade into scene two to reveal Peter, in Joppa, praying on the roof. Now, if you drove by my house and saw me praying on the roof you might think was something was wrong with me. And there would be something wrong with me because I have a debilitating fear of heights. So much so that I find it hard to even stand on a chair to change a light bulb. But my fears and inadequacies are not the point. The point is that praying on the roof was a normal practice in Peter’s day and time. The roofs were flat and there were stairs outside of the house leading up to them. So Peter is praying on the roof and as he is praying he receives a vision, just as Cornelius received a vision as he prayed. Peter saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. As Peter saw this image he heard a voice, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” The text tells us that Peter was hungry and he did want to eat – but he wasn’t going to eat that. So Peter replied, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” Now, Peter’s not just being a picky eater as some have accused me of being. Peter is also not just trying to be a good Portlander and turn vegan. Peter’s trying to be a good Jew. As a Jew he knew that many of the animals before him had been deemed unclean and impure in Old Testament Law. And the dietary laws of the Old Testament were not a matter of preference or even health. They were a matter of identity, a matter of holiness and purity. Peter refuses to eat the food before him because Peter wants to obey God. But God is now speaking to Peter and giving him new revelation. The voice speaks again, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Notice that the voice doesn’t say, “Do not call anything impure that is clean.” He says, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” It’s not that Old Testament Laws were always invalid. It is that something has changed. God has taken what was previously impure and he has made it clean. “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean,” the voice says. And then, to emphasize just how serious this message is, God gives Peter the same vision three times. Little does Peter know, God has sent him this vision to prepare him for what will come next.

Scene 3 – The Messengers Arrive

Fade out from Peter’s roof and fade into scene three to reveal Cornelius’ messengers arriving at the gate. Unbeknownst to Peter the men begin to call out, asking for a Simon called Peter. Jump cut to Peter, still on the roof, contemplating the meaning of the vision when he hears the Holy Spirit speak clearly, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” Peter is given very little information, just as Cornelius was. He’s not told who these men are, or why he should go with them, or where they’re going, or what he should do once they arrive at their destination. But he decides to go down and introduce himself to these strangers. Not because he’s crazy. But because, like Cornelius, he trusts in God. Tracking shot of Peter standing to his feet, walking down the stairs, and calling out to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” At this point Peter finally gets some specific information. “We have come from Cornelius the centurion,” they answered. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” Peter still doesn’t know precisely what’s going on. But he knows God is in this. And he’s beginning to see that his vision has something to do with this. So he invites them into the house and the next day he sets out with them toward Caesarea.

Scene 4 – Peter and Cornelius Meet

Fade out of Joppa, fade into scene four to an interior shot of Cornelius’ home in Caesarea. His house is packed with all of Cornelius’ relatives and close friends. He’s brought them there to hear the message God will speak to him through Peter. And as Peter walks through the door he sees Cornelius and he sees all of his guests and he still enters the house. Now you might think, “Well, yeah, why wouldn’t Peter enter the house. That’s what he came there for.” And that’s true. But Peter also wanted to live as a faithful Jew. And as a faithful Jew it was unlawful for Peter to walk into a houseful of Gentiles and visit with them. To do so would make Peter unclean. It would make him impure. It’s almost impossible to overemphasize the severity of this division. To put it simply, there was no place at Peter’s table for Gentiles. And Cornelius, and his relatives, and his friends knew this. So when Peter walked into the house they must have been baffled. They must have been asking themselves, “Why? Why is this Jewish man coming into our home? Doesn’t he know we’re not Jewish?” Of course he did. And in any other circumstance Peter would not have been there. But something had changed. Something had changed in the way God dealt with his people. Something had changed in Peter. And this was clear as he began to speak, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with Gentiles or visit them. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” This is the pivotal verse of this entire narrative. “God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” The gravity of this statement is overwhelming. Peter is saying that the Law – the Jewish Law – has been made void. And that now Gentiles have a place at the table with Jews, and people of any and all types have a place at the table with God. In the verses that follow Peter will explain how Jesus made this possible. He does that by preaching the gospel. The gospel that gives men and women a seat at the table with God. The gospel that gives men and women a seat at the table with each other.

That gospel begins with the message of Jesus’ perfect life. Peter explains that Jesus went around doing good and setting people free from their slavery to the devil. Following a discussion of Jesus’ life of righteousness, Peter takes them to the center of the gospel message, he tells them that Jesus – though righteous and innocent – was hung on a cross and killed. But the gospel doesn’t end there, of course. Peter continues to tell them that three days later God raised this same Jesus from the dead and allowed Peter and others to witness the physically resurrected Christ with their own eyes. This gospel, Peter says, has three consequences. First, he says that Jesus commands that the message of his life, death, and resurrection be proclaimed to all people! Second, he says that Jesus is the Judge of the living and the dead, which is a frightening thing. And this is what makes Peter’s third point so glorious. Peter says, third, that everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ receives forgiveness of their sins. In other words, Peter is saying that Jesus Christ has himself fulfilled the demands of the Law and received the wrath that comes from failing to meet the demands of the Law. He did this in our place and then rose from the dead so that our sins could be forgiven and so he could present us to God as clean and acceptable. The dietary laws no longer matter. The national identity of Israel no longer matters. What a person eats does not make them clean or unclean. Where a person is from does not make them pure or impure. Apart from Jesus Christ every single one of us is unclean and impure. But, in Christ, even the filthiest of us is made clean and pure. There is a seat at God’s table for anyone and everyone who gives their trust to Jesus Christ.

Jump cut from Peter to his audience as he continues to speak. In mid-sentence Peter’s speech is interrupted by a houseful of Gentiles praising God and speaking in languages they do not know. Instantaneously, Peter recognizes what has happened. God has filled these Gentile men and women with his Holy Spirit. God has saved these Gentiles. God has made these Gentiles part of his holy community, part of the people of God. And he has done it without demanding that they become Jewish. He has done it without demanding that they be circumcised. He has done it without demanding that they meet a certain standard of righteousness. He has done it without demanding that they change the way they eat, or dress, or groom themselves. He has done it purely and simply on the basis of their faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. Peter recognizes this. So he has every one of them baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And then he stays with them for several days, living with them and eating with them. There was a seat at God’s table for every one of them. And because of that Peter and Cornelius were able to sit at the same table as well.

Scene 5 – The Jewish Christians Approve

Fade out of Cornelius’ house, fade into Jerusalem – scene five — as Peter returns. As we’ve said already tonight, the significance of this event cannot be overemphasized. Jews believed that Gentiles could be saved – but only by becoming Jewish in their culture and in their practice. Until they became Jewish proselytes no Jewish person was to eat with them. Ever. To do so would be to make yourself unclean and impure in God’s eyes. So when Peter returned to Jerusalem the Jewish Christians were upset with him. They criticized him. “You went into the house of the uncircumcised and ate with them,” they said. So Peter told them the whole story. He told them about his vision. He told them about Cornelius’ vision. He told them how the Holy Spirit came upon his Gentile audience just as it came on the Jewish Christians at Pentecost. Then he asked, “If God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” When the Jewish Christians heard this they agreed. “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” Even to the Gentiles. They were amazed that God had granted the Gentiles a seat at his table.

Scene 6 – Your Response

Fade out of Jerusalem fade into scene six: Close up. No…extreme close up. On you. Peter and Cornelius’ story is over. But the story is not. The story continues. And now the camera is on you. How will you respond to the story? How will you respond to who Jesus is and what Jesus has done? Will you allow everyone a seat at your table? Will you treat everyone as though they may have a seat at God’s table? Will you – like Peter – repent of your favoritism and prejudice? “Oh, he must be talking to someone else,” you say, “I know I am not prejudiced.”  And that is precisely why we must talk about this. Because, of course, you’re probably not overtly prejudiced. You are not waving the banner of the Ku Klux Klan or of the Black Israelites. But that does not therefore make you innocent. Though you are not overtly prejudiced in all likelihood you have prejudices that you are not even wholly aware of. These prejudices influence where you go to church, where you live, where you send your kids to school, who you date, who you pursue friendships with, how you trust people, how you classify people when you first encounter them, who you share the gospel with, and who you feel most comfortable around. Think about this. Why do you sit where you sit when you go places? Why do you converse with the people you converse with when you’re at work? School? Why? Why do you find it easier to trust some people than others? Why are you open to sharing the gospel with some people but not with others? Why?

As Peter spoke with Cornelius he said these words, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” In light of that, Peter repented of his favoritism. You must likewise repent of yours. You must repent of your racial favoritism, your tendency to give more attention and trust to those who look like you. You must repent of your cultural favoritism, your tendency to give more attention and trust to those who share your cultural style, language, and values. You must repent of your generational favoritism, your tendency to respond differently to one age group than another. You must repent of your interest favoritism, your tendency to give preferential treatment to people who have the same interests as you. You must repent of your national favoritism, your tendency to give preferential treatment to America and Americans at the expense of other nations. You must repent of your financial favoritism, your tendency to treat those of a certain financial status differently than those of another. You must repent of your lifestyle favoritism, your tendency to treat people differently based on their past or current lifestyle.

You must repent of all favoritism. But the truth is, this is easier said than done. On Friday I found myself in line at the Post Office. There were two clerks serving customers. One of them clearly shared my cultural background. One of them clearly came from a different cultural background. I was next in line. And I thought to myself, “Man, I hope the white lady calls me up first because she’s going to be easier to communicate with.” Moments after I had that thought God reminded me of this story in Acts and I had to repent. This favoritism and prejudice is so deeply ingrained in most of us that we’re not even aware that it exists! We are born into this world at odds with God. And because we’re at odds with God we’re at odds with everything God has created. Including each other. The source of our favoritism, the source of our prejudice, is our idolatry – our desire to find our value and our identity in something other than God himself. And there is no human cure for this problem. No amount of education, no amount of dialogue, no amount of human experience can erase the things that divide us from each other because none of these things can erase the things that divide us from God. The only cure, the only solution, is not a human one but a divine one. And that is this: that God became like us, and came to us, in order to save us. God sent his son, Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully man. Jesus did what we’re supposed to do but cannot do. He lived every instant of his life in right relationship with God and, as a result, he lived every instant of his life in right relationship with all of God’s creation. We failed to do this. We couldn’t do this. So he did this for us. He did this so that his righteousness could be counted as our righteousness. Then, Jesus received what we’re supposed to receive upon himself. He received upon himself all of God’s wrath for your favoritism, for your prejudice. He received upon himself all of God’s wrath for all of your sin and rebellion. In doing this, Jesus, who was eternally united with God, willfully separated himself from the Father so that you – who should be eternally separated from God — could now be united with him. The innocent and perfect Jesus was judged. The innocent and perfect Jesus was cast out. The innocent and perfect Jesus was cut off so that you wouldn’t have to be. Jesus willfully excluded himself from God’s table so that you could finally have a seat at God’s table. And then Jesus rose from the dead defeating death, and evil, and sin’s power over us once and for all. Jesus then ascended into heaven where he is right now preparing a banquet for his people where we will sit at the table and feast with God himself, celebrating who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for his people.

You see it doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if everyone ignores you. It doesn’t matter if everybody seems to love you. It doesn’t matter if the people you know have all rejected you. It doesn’t matter if everyone accepts you. It doesn’t matter how much evil you have done in your life. It doesn’t matter how much good you have done in your life. If you reject Jesus Christ God’s wrath remains upon you and you will be excluded from his table forever. But if you believe in Jesus – if you worship him – God’s wrath has been removed from you and placed on his own son, and you have been adopted as God’s child. If your faith is in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done you have a seat at God’s table right now, you have a seat at God’s table when Jesus returns, you have a seat at God’s table forevermore, and that seat can never be taken away from you.

And because Jesus has made a seat at the table for us we must make a seat at the table for everyone. It’s the appropriate response to what Jesus has accomplished. When Jesus removed the division between you and God he removed the division between you and your brother, between you and your sister. By making peace between you and God Jesus has made peace between you and me so that no matter how different we are we can share a seat at the same table. Peter realized that and Peter repented. Let us do the same. And let this be visible in word and in deed.

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