KCPC Blog

“Where Are You?” – The Questions God Asks Us

Word of Encouragement- Week Ending Feb. 11th, 2012

Series: The Questions God Asks Us

“Where are you?”

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“But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” – ESV Genesis 3:9

“Where are you?” is the first question in the Bible. Interestingly, it is the first question that God utters to mankind. The first question in the Bible teaches us that God seeks to ask His people questions. But why?

God is omniscient and that means He knows all things. Why then would He ask us questions? Doesn’t He already know the answer?

The questions that God asks are not so much for His sake as they are for us. God wants to draw us near to Himself, and to search and know us. God delights in His children coming to Him and hearing Him as He speaks by His Spirit through His Word. He wants to speak to us, and for us to learn to listen to Him (Deut. 6:4; Prov. 2:1ff).

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they had gone their own way. They had lived according to their own plans, and done what was right in their own eyes (Much like we often do! Gen. 3:1-7). They had willingly broken fellowship and communion with God. Rather than truly listening and learning from their wonderful Creator and LORD, they chose to do their own will.

Yet God graciously came to our first parents, and sought them out, even when they were not looking for Him! The Bible tells us that God came “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). Rather than join God for fellowship as would have been their normal practice and delight, Adam and Eve actually sought to hide from God because of the fear and shame that sin produces. Sin may cause us to hide from God, but in His mercy God seeks after His own.

Satan, sin and shame may drive us away from God, but God intends by grace to draw His dear children near to Him! (John 6:37, 44; James 4:8).

John Calvin wrote: “No one will dedicate himself to God until he be drawn by His goodness, and embrace Him with all his heart. He must therefore call us to Him before we call upon Him; we can have no access till He first invites us…allured and delighted by the goodness of God.”

What grace we behold in God coming to speak to the hearts of our first parents- -and to our hearts today!

God comes to us and asks us the question “Where are you?” so that we can see our need for Him and turn to Him and be restored from our sinfulness. God graciously promises His people that if we will turn to Him, He promises that He will have mercy on us and forgive us. God desires to restore His relationship to mankind that was broken by the fall. God desires to restore you to communion with Him right now.

Ultimately, God asks us the question of “Where are you?” so that we will be brought to see our sins and repent of them, finding grace in our time of need (Heb. 4:14-16).

Dearly beloved of God, do you allow God to ask you this question each day? Listen to His voice: “Where are you?” Where are you today? Where are you in your relationship to God? Are you walking with God, acknowledging His presence? Honestly, where are you? Are you hiding from God? Are Satan, sin and shame driving you from God?

Where is your heart? God is everywhere present, but are you acknowledging His presence and living in His strength? When He knocks on the door of your heart do you answer? (Revelation 3:20). Are you near God today? Are you trying to hide from God?

The question of “Where are you?” put to us by God in the beginning, and then spoken to us every time we seek to read and meditate upon His Word, to hear from Him and to pray, is the same question that was also in the Lord Jesus’ mouth:

Jesus was forsaken on the cross, abandoned as a cursed thing because although He had not committed any sins or transgressions Himself, the LORD had laid our iniquities upon Him.

In our place condemned He stood! This is our Beloved Savior, perfect and sinless as the Lamb of God, and as He who knew no sin because sin for us, so Jesus cries out in dereliction on the cross:

“Where are you?”

Or, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

Or, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus was made to be sin, having our sins imputed to Him, so that we would receive His righteousness by faith alone and boldly draw near to God.

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – ESV 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus reconciled us to God, and has given us access to all of our dear Heavenly Father’s questions. Let us hear Him, let us listen, and let us respond with faith and obedience because of what Christ has done for us!

Dear Beloved in Jesus Christ, God asks us ‘Where are you?’ because God desires to search us and examine our hearts by His most Holy Word and Spirit. Do not run Him! Do not run away and be driven from your only hope for joy and salvation! God wants to bring us to the end of ourselves, to show us our sins, and the habits that only bring hurt and harm to ourselves and others, so that we might repent, and find a deeper, closer relationship with our loving Lord Jesus.

Consider this question to you today: “Where are you?” Are you near to God? Draw near to God in Jesus Christ because He died for you, and He promises to draw near to you.

When you read your Bibles, and meditate thoughtfully on Scripture, let God ask you over and over: “Where are you?” And then be honest with Him…and yourself. Let his be your prayer:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” – ESV Psalm 139:23-24

Don’t try to hide from God. Draw near to God in Jesus Christ. Let God be your hiding place and home.

“You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah.” – ESV Psalm 32:7

“Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” – ESV John 14:23

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

“Hear, O Israel: Hearing and Listening to God in Worship”

People of God: Remember to prepare for worship prayerfully and to be ready to worship the Living God and to hear His Word as it is read and preached to you.

 

Pray for your ears to be opened, your heart to be ready to receive, your mind to be fresh, our worship to be full of the Holy Spirit, and my preaching and proclamation of the Gospel to be clear! Our Larger Catechism instructs us helpfully:

 

WLC 160  What is required of those that hear the word preached? A. It is required of those that hear the word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence,(1) preparation,(2) and prayer;(3) examine what they hear by the scriptures;(4) receive the truth with faith,(5) love,(6) meekness,(7) and readiness of mind,(8) as the word of God;(9) meditate,(10) and confer of it;(11) hide it in their hearts,(12) and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.(13) (1)Prov. 8:34 (2)1 Pet. 2:1,2; Luke 8:18 (3)Ps. 119:18; Eph. 6:18,19 (4)Acts 17:11 (5)Heb. 4:2 (6)2 Thess. 2:10 (7)James 1:21 (8)Acts 17:11 (9)1 Thess. 2:13 (10)Luke 9:44; Heb. 2:1 (11)Luke 24:14; Deut. 6:6,7 (12)Prov. 2:1; Ps. 119:11 (13)Luke 8:15; James 1:2

 

Pastor Phil Ryken says very insightfully: “Most churchgoers assume that the sermon starts when the pastor opens his mouth on Sunday. However, listening to a sermon actually starts the week before. It starts when we pray for the minister, asking God to bless the time he spends studying the Bible as he prepares to preach. In addition to helping the preaching, our prayers create in us a sense of expectancy for the ministry of God’s Word. This is one of the reasons that when it comes to preaching, congregations generally get what they pay for.”

 

Are you remembering to pray for the worship and preaching every week? This is so very important. Let me remind you to pray for the worship and preaching as if you were the one to lead worship and to preach! What needs more preparation the hard ground or the farmer who sows the seed?  Listen to the wisdom of the great Charles Spurgeon:

 

“We are told men ought not to preach without preparation. Granted. But we add, men ought not to hear without preparation. Which, do you think needs the most preparation, the sower or the ground? I would have the sower come with clean hands, but I would have the ground well-plowed and harrowed, well-turned over, and the clods broken before the seed comes in. It seems to me that there is more preparation needed by the ground than by the sower, more by the hearer than by the preacher.”

 

I think it is extremely important to remember to prepare our hearts to listen. Remember that hearing in the Bible is not merely to here auditory sounds, but to “listen and to be obedient”; we are to hear “from our hearts”; see Deut. 4; Psalm 78; Proverbs 2:1-7; “Hear, O Israel” is the Shema, and it means “Hear!” (imperative with the meaning of “listen and obey); our Lord often says: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” meaning that he who has received this in one’s heart and will obey (see also the Spirit’s work in Revelation 2-3: “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches”).

 

To hear takes due preparation of one’s hearts, not merely one’s ears. Our hearts are the soil. The soil of our hearts must be prepared and tilled like ground to prepare for seeding. The seed is the Word of God makes its way to the heart through the ear. All of us know how we can listen and hear someone and yet not truly HEAR THEM.

 

Remember our Lord’s teaching in Luke 8:4-15?

 

And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

 

ESV Jeremiah 4:3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

 

Pastor Ken Ramey in Expository Listening (Kress Press, 2010) writes that Christians can better prepare themselves to hear God’s Word read and preached each Lord’s Day if they will seek to do this each day (here are his helpful suggestions):

 

  • Read and meditate upon God’s Word every day.
  • Pray often throughout the week.
  • Confess your sins daily before God.
  • Reduce your media intake.
  • Plan ahead, and schedule your week around the ministry of the Word: try to be home on Saturday nights; be careful not to watch or listen to anything that might cause lingering distractions in your mind during worship; get things ready on Saturday to avoid the inevitable Sunday morning rush; get a good night’s sleep because you’ll be doing the hard work of listening; get a good breakfast that will hold you over until lunch; as you’re getting ready and traveling as a family to worship seek to sing and pray together; arrive for worship at least 10 minutes early to get everything done (even the unexpected things), and sit down ready to receive.
  • Be consistent in worship attendance.
  • Go to worship with a humble, teachable, expectant heart (it is not the preacher who is on trial before you; you are on trial before God’s word as to whether you will hear and receive what is spoken if Biblical truth.
  • Worship with all you heart: sing enthusiastically because you believe what you’re singing; follow along in Bible when read; listen attentively to prayers when prayed and respond with hearty “amen”; during the sermon follow along in the Bible; take notes).
  • Fight off distractions
  • Listen with diligent discernment so that you can determine humbly if what you heard was biblical and presented Christ and His Gospel to you and your family.

 

Let’s remember to pray unceasingly for one another that we will prepare ourselves better for hearing specifically, and worship in general, and that our worship services would be more excellent to God, and more helpful and transformative to us! Let us prepare our hearts for worship, and particularly for hearing the Word of God preached, and expect great things from our Great and Faithful God! (1 Thess. 5:18; Ephesians 6:18-20; 3:20-21).

 

Let us pray together to seek the best worship services we have ever had in the new year! Let us pray that God would send forth His Spirit upon us in such a way that we will all declare together: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD!”

 

Here is a devotion to consider prayerfully before worship this week by Charles Spurgeon:

 

“These have no root.”- Luke 8:13

“My soul, examine thyself this morning by the light of this text. Thou hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have been stirred and a lively impression has been made; but, remember, that to receive the word in the ear is one thing, and to receive Jesus into thy very soul is quite another; superficial feeling is often joined to inward hardness of heart, and a lively impression of the word is not always a lasting one. In the parable, the seed in one case fell upon ground having a rocky bottom, covered over with a thin layer of earth; when the seed began to take root, its downward growth was hindered by the hard stone and therefore it spent its strength in pushing its green shoot aloft as high as it could, but having no inward moisture derived from root nourishment, it withered away. Is this my case? Have I been making a fair show in the flesh without having a corresponding inner life? Good growth takes place upwards and downwards at the same time. Am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love to Jesus? If my heart remains unsoftened and unfertilized by grace, the good seed may germinate for a season, but it must ultimately wither, for it cannot flourish on a rocky, unbroken, unsanctified heart. Let me dread a godliness as rapid in growth and as wanting in endurance as Jonah’s gourd; let me count the cost of being a follower of Jesus, above all let me feel the energy of his Holy Spirit, and then I shall possess an abiding and enduring seed in my soul. If my mind remains as obdurate as it was by nature, the sun of trial will scorch, and my hard heart will help to cast the heat the more terribly upon the ill-covered seed, and my religion will soon die, and my despair will be terrible; therefore, O heavenly Sower, plough me first, and then cast the truth into me, and let me yield thee a bounteous harvest.”

 

If you would like a book on how to listen better to sermons, I will provide you one upon request at no charge. The book is entitled “Expository Listening: A Handbook for Hearing and Doing God’s Word” by Ken Ramey (Highly recommended by John MacArthur Joel Beeke, and Jay Adams).

 

If you benefit from it, share it with your family. Let me know by responding to this email.

 

I have come to learn and to believe that if the preacher prepares himself in heart and soul before he prepares his sermon, the sermon will prepare itself; the sermon will flow forth from the heart that is devoted to Jesus by His Spirit. In the same way, if the listener to the sermon prepares himself in heart and soul before he comes to worship, the worship will prepare itself; the worship and hearing of the person will flow forth from the heart that is devoted to Jesus by His Spirit.

 

Love you!

 

In Christ,

 

Pastor Charles

Christmas Is About Jesus: Salvation from Sentimentalism and Cynicism

Word of Encouragement: Christmas Is About Jesus

“…You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)….And he called his name Jesus.” –Matthew 1:21-25

Christmas is about Jesus

Christmas is about Jesus. Well, so much for a thought-provoking, stimulating, catchy opening sentence for a Christmas devotion. You say: “I know that Christmas is about Jesus, tell me something I don’t know.” But I think this is a good way to begin this devotion, and furthermore, I think we too often forget that Christmas is about Jesus. So, once again:

Christmas is about Jesus. Christmas is about Jesus the Savior of sinners, God in the flesh who came as a child in a pitiful manger equipped for cattle not for Deity. Christmas is about Jesus who came to be born to live for His people, to die for them, to be raised from the dead for them, and to be exalted in His ascension-enthronement at God’s right hand as Eternal Lord and King on David’s Throne.

Matthew’s genealogy in chapter one of his Gospel teaches us a lot about Jesus, but we can focus on two things. The genealogy teaches us that (1) God does the impossible, and (2) that God saves sinners. Now when we speak of God doing the impossible, it doesn’t mean that it is impossible from God’s point of view (for nothing is impossible with God, Luke 1:37!), but from our limited, finite, weak point of view as sinful humans.

A longer purpose sentence in writing this devotion would be summarized this way: Matthew’s genealogy teaches us that Christ has come to show that God does the impossible, and that he gives true hope to those with misplaced hopes as well as to the hopeless.

At Christmastime, we need faith in Christ to be realists about our situation and to truly behold what God has done for us in Christ. That is why I want to continue to emphasize that Christmas is about Jesus. Oftentimes at Christmastime, we are either full of sentimentalism or bloated with cynicism concerning the hope in our lives.

Sentimentalism and Cynicism at Christmastime

What are sentimentalism and cynicism you ask (and I’m more concerned to define these terms with how people actually live and act, not by formal definitions of these two things)? Well, I would describe a person characterized by sentimentalism as one who thinks too highly of man and what man can actually achieve for good in this world.

Sentimental: Folks who tend to be characterized by sentimentalism continue to hope that good times and good change will come for the world, but this hope is a false hope that is not grounded in the truth and reality of God (and oftentimes when sentimentalists do not see their hopes fulfilled, they then idolize and worship the past, imagining that things were better “back then…alas”). Sentimental folks don’t talk a lot about sin and sinfulness, and they don’t necessarily see the world in all its troubles.

Cynical: Folks who tend to be characterized by cynicism have lost hope and no longer expect that good times and change can or will come. This hopelessness is not grounded in God’s truth and reality any more than sentimentalism. Cynicism is more of a reaction to sentimentalism; you see this reaction at generational levels today. Grandparents that were sentimentalists might produce grandsons who are cynics. Oftentimes young people tend toward more sentimentalism, and they grow into cynicism after experiencing pain and difficulties in a cold world. Cynicism often masquerades itself as self-realized maturity, whereas sentimentalism might masquerade as innocence and the goodness of man. Sentimentalism sees only the good in the world and tends the overlook the bad; cynicism sees too much of the bad without acknowledging any of the good in the world.

You can hear sentimentalism in Christmas songs all around us an on the radio and in the “air” at this time of year. Crooners croon: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” Listen in for a moment:

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you “Be of good cheer”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It’s the hap- happiest season of all…”

“With the kids jingle belling?” Is there anyone at your home “jingle belling” right now? Honestly.  “It’s the hap-happiest season of all…” Is it really? For all?? Have you seen the poor and destitute? Have you peaked into the homes past the well-lit trees in the windows to behold the people full of strife and rampant dysfunction? Have you seen the people with the Rudolph antlers and the shiny nose after the Christmas party dealing with depression and loneliness and alcoholism seeking change in clinical therapy? Have you seen the little the rest of the world has in comparison to the riches we have as Americans, and how impoverished many people are who have never owned one of Disney’s “princesses” (and never will)? Sentimentalism sings “Fa-la-la-la-la” when there is sadness and misery all around us. Sentimentalism sings “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” forgetting that many cannot afford chestnuts, and are barely staying warm by a fire- -if they have one at all!

You can *hear* sentimentalism better at Christmas than cynicism, because cynics don’t necessarily sing about Christmas at Christmastime, unless they are singing about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer coming home from a Christmas visit, or the one-horse open sleigh turning over and seriously injuring Frosty the Snowman, or wanting an alien for Christmas. But because cynics don’t “do Christmas” and therefore they don’t sing much about it (although those days might be coming to an end, I’m hearing more cynicism in Christmas songs now; it is indeed a “Mad World” isn’t it?!).

Sentimentalism has false hopes of what mankind can actually achieve in thoughts of peace and unity and love at Christmas. You may recall the great Jim Reeves Christmas song from the 1950s: “A long time ago in Bethlehem…And man shall live forevermore because of Christmas day.” Now I’m not going to criticize the great Jim Reeves (and for those who know not of Jim Reeves, well you should know this wonderful singer of times past—there’s my sentimentalism for you!), but Reeves’ song teaches us that mankind will live forever just because of Christmas; this is not true; this is classical liberalism.  Sentimentalism wants feelings of what Christmas should be, but it is because of feelings more than the power of God that came down to sinners in Bethlehem’s manger.

This song Mary’s Boy Child by Jim Reeves seems to be saying that just the knowledge of Jesus being born at Christmastime will make everything all right at Christmas…and man shall live forevermore (and I don’t know what kind of person Reeves was so this is not criticism of the man, just the message). Christmas is so much more than merely a message of man trying to change himself, or being overwhelmed with “Christmas-ey” sentimental thoughts and feelings of Jesus in a manger that will make us all nice people. The message of Christmas is more than merely getting Linus to tell us what Christmas is all about, and then we change in response to the commercialism, etc., and we decide to get a small and meek Christmas tree rather than a great and shiny one, and we are all changed- –and we all do it ourselves.

No, we must be changed. We must be changed by a sovereign work of God. God was born into the world and took upon human flesh to be with us so that he would grant us the power by His grace and Holy Spirit to be transformed into new people; a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Sentimentalism will not hold out true hope for anyone; sentimentalism will just not do.  Sentimentalism too easily embraces classical liberalism: “A God without wrath brought [good] men into a kingdom without judgment, through a Christ without a cross (H. R. Niebuhr).” No. Mere sentimentalism will not do. We must be changed from the inside out; sinful man must be changed from the heart.

Now those characterized by cynicism are onto this, but they don’t have the answer either. Hopelessness is not the answer for false hopes!

Usually folks who are cynics (not in the formal philosophical, Marcus Aurelius sense) are those who are converted from sentimentalism, but they find that the “hope” that they had in the future, and in the love of human beings never appeared, and that their warm-feelings of the brotherhood of man and peace and kindness faintly faded into a memory, and this “hope” never manifested itself in their heart nor in the hearts of others. Cynics thought at one time things might get better, but they have now lost hope that good times and change will never come, and so let’s just mope knowingly. But this cynical hopelessness is not grounded in the truth and reality of God any more than sentimentalism.

Cynical folks think they know. They are always giving “knowing glances” and looks and sneers to those who are especially eat up with sentimentalism. Two people are having coffee at Starbuck’s. One is a sentimental person, and the other is a cynic (who formerly was a sentimental person). Bob the sentimentalist says: “You know, I just love Christmas, the lights, the good cheer, the ‘decking the halls with boughs of holly’, and gathering with family- -don’t you just love it?! If only it would be Christmas all through the year?” The sentimentalist will think on the bright lights and surface things of Christmastime, with false hopes that good can come and will come through people. The sentimentalist forgets the loneliness, poverty, grief, guilt, and funerals that still take place on and around December 25th!

Maria, the cynic responds: “Get a life, Bob! I don’t do Christmas. It is all fake and surface. No one really cares and after the lights are taken down off the freshly cut trees (those trees could have continued to grow by the way!), and no one cares for others, and the good cheer is all conjured up with hopes that someone will give me a present (but they just give it to me so that I will give one back to them in return; I know). At Christmas, I think of those who suffer, and those who are lonely, and when I think back to my memories of Christmas, all I can recall is a big turkey on the table surrounded by gluttonous dysfunctional family members who had too much to drink, and did not care a lick about anyone but themselves.”

Jesus Came to Save Sentimentalists, Cynics, and All Who Will Believe!

Both the sentimentalist and cynic are trying to find hope in this world of sin and misery. The sentimentalist is trying to seek hope in man’s ability to change and do good; the cynic has given up hope, but deep down would like to find hope, but would never (or rarely) admit it. Both are missing Jesus, and the important fact that Christmas is about Jesus. Both sentimentalists and cynics are imbalanced and wrong. Jesus came to save both sentimentalists and cynics. Christmas is about Jesus.

Well, there I go again! Christmas is about Jesus. When God came into the world, he came to seek and save both the sentimentalist and the cynic (and whosoever else would believe). For the sentimentalist, God must show the true sinfulness of mankind and the hopelessness apart from Jesus the Savior, no matter how much figgy pudding one might have! For the cynic, God must show that there is hope for repentant and believing mankind as they look to Jesus for hope, but hopelessness is not the only answer for those who have given up hope. Amen!

Christmas is about Jesus, and Matthew’s genealogy shows to us that whether you tend to be characterized by sentimentalism or by cynicism, you can have hope in Jesus Christ. Whether Sentimentalist, or cynic, we should understand that God became man “in our mess” with hope in our hopelessness to rescue and save all who would believe! God shows us Jesus’ rich heritage as the very realization of all of the promises of God to Abraham and David (Matthew 1:1-2); God also shows us Jesus’ heritage as one born in a dysfunctional, “messy” family (Matthew 1:3-6). In Matthew’s genealogy, God calls sinners to repent of both sentimental faith in false hopes and cynical hopelessness.

You must see Jesus Christ as your only hope; Christmas is about Jesus your only real and enduring hope. In Matthew 1, God reveals Himself to Joseph, Mary’s betrothed husband, and tells him that Jesus will be a Savior from sin; Jesus will be a Savior for sinners; Jesus will be Immanuel, which means “God with us”:

ESV Matthew 1:21-23: [Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Jesus will be a Savior. Jesus will save His people from their sins. This we must emphasize. God would do the impossible but by forgiving sinners. God would not overlook sinfulness and the selfish deeds of mankind, but would indeed judge them. However, he would send Christ Jesus, His only Begotten Son to be cursed and judged in the stead, or in the place of all who would believe.

God does not believe in either sentimentalism or cynicism. God disagrees with and contradicts the sentimentalist that man could change on his own or have any hope apart from Christ; the Bible teaches that man is cursed by sin and under the condemnation of God, described as being “without God and without hope in the world” (Eph. 2:12ff). God disagrees with and contradicts the cynic who thinks all is hopeless, because God graciously offers true and enduring hope for mankind, and salvation and peace with God for helpless, hopeless sinners in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ name “JESUS” means God saves. God comes into our dark and miserable state, and grants us hope in Jesus. Jesus comes to rescue us out of our sinful estate by living and dying for us.

Christmas is about Jesus. This is our hope. How so? Jesus came to live for sinners; Jesus came to die for us on the accursed cross; Jesus came to shed His blood for those who believe, and grant to us His perfect righteousness as we receive it by faith; Jesus came to be raised from the dead and seated at God’s right hand. God offered Jesus to be judged in place of sinful man; God justly and righteously punished sin in Christ, but God justifies or makes right sinners who believe in Him (see this great hope in Romans 3:23-26):

ESV Romans 3:23-26: “…For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

This is true hope. This is real and lasting hope that changes man from within. This is the hope that can turn our false hopes and blurred dreams of what man can do into realizing the power of the Holy Spirit and how He transforms us by His grace, and can give us hope and make all our dreams come true in Christ. Even as we live in a fallen world characterized by sin and misery, pain, suffering, death, poverty, and helplessness, there is hope for us in Jesus Christ. Hope to have peace with God, and great joy in the midst of whatever affliction He call us to live through.

We can embrace the tension of the reality of living in a world with great hope (as the sentimentalist sings about at Christmas), and in a world still tainted by the disease which is sin and misery (as the cynic refuses to sing about at Christmas).

True hope for both the sentimentalist and the cynic is found in Jesus Christ. Christmas is about Jesus. Christmas is not merely a warm feeling to be embraced, or rejected without thought.

Christmas is a declaration, a message, a proclamation that what man could not do, nor would want to do for himself, or for another (even at Christmas)- – God did, in our Savior Jesus Christ. This is what is so impossible- -God did in Jesus Christ all that we need so that we could receive His righteousness by faith and hope in Him alone! (Romans 8:3-4).

For the sentimentalist, I would say that you must stop painting things too rosy in this world even at Christmastime. This world is fallen, and although a good world created by God, it is infested with many sinfully selfish and greedy people who care only for themselves, and it is a world much characterized by misery and enslavement to sin and the devil. And Jesus came to cure us; Jesus came to remove the curse as far as it is found!

For the cynic, you must stop painting things too hopeless in this world especially at Christmastime. You, too, are a hypocrite and part of the problem. You sneer at the sentimentalists “knowingly” but you too have no answers, you too, have no hope. You are right that things are wrong, but you are infested with this sinful dis-ease too- -and Jesus is your only hope.

Stop hoping in something like a Christmas season that is not rooted in God’s truth and reality; stop the hopeless rant about the Christmas season that is not rooted in God’s truth and reality. Notice the sane and biblical balance between the imbalances of both sentimentalism and cynicism in Isaac Watts’ Joy to the World; there is both sorrow and love; hopelessness and hope!:

“No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.”

Matthew’s genealogy teaches us that God who does the impossible has done it- -for us! God has come to heal us of our sinful dis-ease and to show us our king. Hail, the newborn king! Hail, the Son of Righteousness! Hail, God’s Son clothed in human flesh for us. For us and for our salvation he came to give us real and true hope.

In Matthew’s genealogy we see the “cold-hard” truth of the reality of sin in the Bible. Our greatest gift from God is Jesus Christ, Savior of sinners, hope of all those who believe.  We don’t have it in us to change, or to convert ourselves; there are no “born again” Scrooges in this world, only Scrooges who continue to be greedy and nasty for self. Sure, man can change a little, perhaps for a season, but can never learn the truth and love and grace of God apart from God’s powerful work in man by Jesus Christ. Mankind by nature, including all “Ebenezer Scrooges” are those who are ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (apart from the saving and glorious work of Jesus Christ; 2 Tim. 3:7!).

What we need is the transformation power of God’s grace found in Jesus Christ, and no matter how great a “Scrooge” you may be- -you can change permanently and become a disciple of Jesus by God’s transforming power and grace found in Jesus, the Savior of sinners! No matter how grossly sinful your past has been, no matter how sinful you have been both in public and private; no matter how terrible you acted under the influence of that wine you had at Uncle Tommy’s a few years back and said things to the family you regret; no matter how many times you have miserably failed from your self-induced “new starts and resolutions” to be a “good and kind person” and found yourself to be worse; no matter how often you have tried harder and crashed. You can have great hope.

Christmas is not about you. Christmas is about Jesus.

But sadly, you may realize that you have often rejected Jesus Christ. You may have rejected the only hope of the world in Jesus either through sentimental hope in yourself, or through cynically denying yourself any hope.  You may have thought Christmas was about you and so you have seen no real change for the better.

You may just realize that the only real change that has happened to you, the only “true” conversion you have ever experienced, has been from going from a sentimentalist at Christmas to a card-carrying, dyed in the wool cynic without hope. Well, congratulations. How is that change working for you? So, you can see through everything now- -even Christmas; you can see so clearly through everything so well and so clearly, that you can now see absolutely nothing! (got that idea from C. S. Lewis!). You can hear the sentimentalism in those Frank Sinatra Christmas songs… “It’s that time of year when the world falls in love…” yet you cannot change yourself, and you have no hope of real love for yourself.

A New Beginning in a New Family Tree!

Here’s hope: Christmas is about Jesus. If you think you’re hopeless, and you come from a hopeless family line, look again at Jesus’ genealogy, his family tree. God has not only done the impossible in providing salvation, God has incarnated Himself not into the best of families, but into a typical, sinful, family tree. This was so that all sinners would have hope; even those deemed the most “hopeless” in the eyes of the world. Jesus wasn’t tainted by our sins, he was sinless, but he was incarnated, or made flesh in our messiness here in this world.  If you read through Matthew 1:1-25, you will find great hope for yourself (and I recommend that you do read it- -go ahead- -right now, read it…I’ll wait….)….

….Did you see? In Jesus’ genealogy there is Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah (Matthew 1:3-6). What’s so special about this?

Jesus’ family tree was tainted by sin (but Jesus was not- -that is our hope!). In the ancient world, genealogies normally would not include women, and they were selective. Ancient genealogies would be selective about the important and special people in the family to include and (ahem…exclude!).

Matthew’s genealogy is selective, but he is not excluding the embarrassing sinfulness of Jesus’ family tree. Scandalous activities happened with Tamar; Rahab was a prostitute; Ruth was a Moabitess (Moabites were particular enemies of God and his people); and “wife of Uriah”- -now this is embarrassing! Her name was “Bathsheba” and she is the young woman with whom David committed adultery and then proceeded to kill Uriah her husband, so that King David could selfishly keep her for himself. This was Jesus’ family tree. There were “skeletons” in the closet for Jesus’ family.

Let me say it again: Jesus’ family tree was tainted by sin, but Jesus was not! The Holy Spirit caused Mary to conceive (Matt. 1:18ff; Luke 1:31-35); the power of God through His Spirit impregnated Mary so that God would become man, but a man without sin. A man without the taint and sinful disease we carry within us. He was without sin, so that He could be a faithful Savior- -one who could truly and really save us from this lowly estate and condition and grant believers peace with God and hope in the world.

Matthew’s genealogy teaches to us that no matter how sinful we have been, no matter how dysfunctional our family from which we come, God offers to repentant sinners who believe in Jesus a new beginning in Jesus. This begins a new family tree in Jesus Christ as a new creation of God. This is not just a decided change, but a real transformation by God’s Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17).

Jesus’ family tree and history was nothing sentimental. Growing up, Jesus could not look back at His family tree and see only the good, and boast about his “great people” or reflect dishonestly upon his family’s past (although there were great and godly kings, righteous men, and heroes in his family no doubt!). Jesus had to look back and see a family tree of folks who even at their best were still sinners. Jesus could have been tempted to cynicism when looking at the family tree if he had been tainted like us because of the kind of folks who made up His family tree.

But his sinful family tree is why Christmas is about Jesus. All of our families are dysfunctional. Every single family in this world is dysfunctional (have you read Genesis 3 lately, or do you remember the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Or, have you read Genesis 16, or Genesis 38, or Psalms 32 and 51, or the Book of Judges lately?). Sentimentalism will never give enough hope to make our dysfunction go away; cynicism cannot sneer enough at the façade of many people’s dreams and hopes at Christmas, because Matthew 1 reveals them all for us to see.

Yet Matthew’s genealogy is with great hope, not tainted by either sentimentalism or cynicism. Jesus was pleased to call even the chiefest and greatest of sinners “brothers”. Here’s hope from Hebrews 2:10-14:

“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things…

What great hope for all! Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers this Christmas! (Heb. 2:11b). Jesus shared in our flesh and blood and partook of the same things, that is, he came to save us out of a world of sin and misery to cause us to live life as we should, with real hope rooted and grounded in God’s truth and reality. And Jesus came to transform us so that we would be like Him.

Christmas is about Jesus. Jesus’ birth is a manifestation of God doing the impossible by living and dying for sinners. Jesus’ birth is about God coming to a sinful, dysfunctional, hopeless people, and granting hope through the extended and blessed hand of a Savior.

Jesus is the hope for both sentimentalism and cynicism.  For those sentimentalists who have yet to see yourself as you truly are, and the world as it really is at Christmastime, see the sinfully tainted family tree of Jesus, and yet the true hope found in Christ alone. See Jesus dying at the hands of weak and blind and selfish sinners. For those cynics who have lost hope at Christmastime and perhaps see yourself, and the world as it really is (at least you see the world as it really is), don’t lose hope, but see God doing the impossible through transformation, and real change that comes through knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.

Nothing should stay the same; nothing has to stay the same. In Jesus Christ, there is true hope for both the sentimentalists and cynics, and this hope is rooted and grounded in God’s truth and reality!

Christmas is about Jesus and Jesus is about God doing the impossible by becoming man. Perhaps you are a person at present inspired by all the dashing through the snow, eating chestnuts roasting by the fire, singing your fa-la-la-laaas, and living the nearly perfect picture Christmas print by Currier & Ives over at Farmer Gray’s, passing the coffee and the pumpkin pie, singing at the top of your lungs with Andy Williams that It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and thinking this year will be the best of them all.  Christmas is about Jesus. Look to him for your real hope.

Or, perhaps you have it all figured out (don’t you?!), and right now you have folded arms, eyebrow raised, perfectly placed sneer on lip thinking how you would like to see that one horse open sleigh turn over, and that those sad souls who are walking in the winter wonderland “making plans” and dreams for the future with Parson Brown, would come to realize when they later conspire by the fire, would face unafraid that the plans that they made in that miserable, hellish winter wonderland will just be the nightmare that one day ends in divorce. Perhaps you would rather rant on at your best about how Christmas should not be so commercialized?! But honestly, what have you done to lift a finger to make a difference in this miserable world? How can you change, too? Christmas is about Jesus. Look to him for your real hope.

Do you want hope that is false, misleading, and empty, not grounded in God’s truth and reality? Or do you want hopelessness leading to despondency and despair? Or, better, do you want God’s way where you look to Jesus and see one who didn’t falsely mislead you about yourself, or the world, or the past, nor did he just give up on you.

Jesus came to live, die and be resurrected and exalted for all who believe- -and this is our only hope!

Christmas is about Jesus. Jesus says sentimentalists repent! You have not seriously and realistically considered your own sins or the hopelessness and misery of this world apart from God. Jesus says to the cynics repent! You are very hypocritical, and the hopelessness that can be very real is nothing to savor, but to flee from to the hope found in Christ alone.

If you read Matthew’s genealogy, you can tell you’re a sentimentalist because of seeing the great heritage only, and not the sin. If you read Matthew’s genealogy, you can tell you’re a cynic if all you see all the sin, but not see the great heritage. Those who trust in Christ alone for hope see both; and they see both a great heritage and great sin in themselves, too, and they know that their only hope can be found in Jesus.

 

Christmas is about Jesus. But I’ve said that already.

 

Love in Christ, and Merry Christmas!

 

Pastor Biggs

“Being a Blessing in a Consumeristic World”

Word of Encouragement

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’– Acts 20:35

“…And I will bless you…so that you will be a blessing…And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – Genesis 12:2-3

 

If you’re a believer, you are blessed! All who believe in Jesus are blessed by God with Father Abraham (Galatians 3:13-16, 26-29). We are blessed with Father Abraham because of God’s promises to him were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ! This means we are greatly blessed!

What does it mean to be blessed by God? What do we mean when we say “God bless you”? Or that “God has blessed me!” We often mean that God has given us some extra money in popular language. But God’s blessing is much more than that! What we should mean primarily when we speak of God’s blessings to us is that we are recipients of God’s grace in three particular ways: (1) Relationship; (2) Righteousness; and (3) Riches.

In Genesis, we are taught that “Father” Abraham was called out of darkness into God’s light by God’s grace and was granted precious promises that established a relationship with God, that gave a righteousness to him that he did not have, and promised great riches because of God’s love.

(1)   Relationship: God has been gracious in seeking out sinners and granting them a relationship to Him by His grace. We who were once far from God have been brought near through the blood of Jesus Christ, and this is what it means to be blessed.

(2)   Righteousness: God has been gracious in giving sinners a perfect righteousness that is received by faith alone in Christ alone. We receive Jesus’ righteousness that was earned from His perfect life lived, and we receive forgiveness of sins through the atoning death Jesus died in our place, and we are received as God’s forgiven children in Him, and this is what it means to be blessed.

(3)   Riches in Christ: God has been gracious in that he not only grants us a relationship with Himself, and a righteousness that is a perfect righteousness that forgives us our sins and equips us for heavenly life with Him for all eternity, but God also further blesses us with all of the riches that are found in our union with Jesus Christ (and there are so many!) and this is what it means to be blessed.

All good and perfect gifts come from God; all things that we enjoy in this life are blessings, but of all these blessings, the greatest of these would be a relationship with the living God, a righteousness from God that makes us acceptable in the Beloved, and all of the riches of God that are given to us because of Jesus.

We are to know that we are richly blessed, so that we will be a blessing to others. God says to Abraham: “I will bless you…so that you will be a blessing.” In Scripture we are taught that God abundantly gives so that we can give to others. We are called by God to honor others above ourselves, to seek to serve, to seek to give whatever we can of our time, talents and possessions.

Do you seek daily to be a blessing to others? Do you plan your day seeking to think prayerfully how you might bless another person, especially those of the household of faith? (Gal. 6:10). We are commanded when we meet together as God’s people to plan or consider how we might stir one another up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:23-25). We are naturally self-centered and focused only on ourselves, so God in Christ commands us to have our eyes fixed on Jesus who gave Himself for us, so that we will seek to stir up others to love and good works.

How can you be a blessing today? Pray that you better understand just how much God has given to you in Jesus Christ. Reflect daily, and meditate day and night on the relationship you have with God because of the love and grace of Jesus. Reflect and meditate upon God’s righteousness that has been given to you, that covers all of your sins, and makes you righteous in God’s sight (use Psalm 32 to equip you to bless others). Reflect on the riches that are in Christ Jesus, and that are yours in Him.

In the Old Covenant, the blessing of God was shown more outwardly in material blessings such as prosperity in land and possessions, fertility (or fruitfulness) in producing families and clans and tribes and peoples, security in dwelling safely and securely in God’s presence, and in victory over one’s enemies in battles. Prosperity, fertility, security, and victory were shadows, or types of the eternal blessings that would come and be fully realized in Jesus.

In the New Covenant, the blessings of God are revealed and realized in spiritual blessings in Christ (but they can also be in material blessings of course; both the Old and New Covenants warn against enjoying the riches and the blessings of God such as prosperity apart from a relationship with the living God, or trusting in one’s fertility, or security, etc; read the Proverbs and prophets for abundant examples of this! In both the Old and New Covenants one could enjoy all the blessings and riches, but be far from God within one’s own heart).

In Christ, we have all of the spiritual riches in the heavenly places we are taught in Ephesians 1:3-14. This means that all believers possess eternal prosperity, fertility, security and victory in Jesus Christ (this is one of the ways you can interpret the Letter to the Ephesians and gain much wisdom from your studies).  These spiritual blessings in the heavenly places can be enjoyed now by God’s people as they walk by faith. God’s blessings in Christ are a foretaste of the blessed eternal and heavenly life of the new creation that we enjoy now by the Spirit of Jesus.

In Christ, we are prosperous in that we will inherit the New Heavens and the New Earth; all that Christ has inherited, we will inherit as “joint-heirs” with Him (we are called beloved “children” and “joint heirs”, Rom. 8:17). In Christ, we can be fruitful through obedience to God, and from the Spirit’s work in our lives through sanctifying grace (John 15:1-11); we can be fruitful in building the church by making disciples of all nations through evangelism or adoption or support of missions and church plants, etc.

In Christ, we can be secure and safe in union with Him, knowing our lives are hidden with Christ in God, and He is our rest from all of our labors (Col. 3:1-4; Matthew 11:28-30; Hebrews 4). In Christ, we can know that all of our victories are because we are more than overcomers in Jesus, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

All of these truths of who we are in Christ Jesus should help us to realize how much we have been blessed. In fact, this is how the Apostle Paul tells the Ephesians to pray for one another (Notice how Paul desires them to know their hope, identity, inheritance and power- -all of these are Old Covenant blessed realities found in Jesus: prosperity, fertility/fruitfulness, security, and victory):

ESV Ephesians 1:15-23: For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Do you know how blessed you are in Jesus? Pray to know this better! Ask God to enlighten the eyes of your hearts so that you might know your hope in Jesus, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe! Ask God for a vision through a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him to see by faith all that God has prepared for those who love Him!

“As it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”- 1 Corinthians 2:9-10

 

May we pray as a congregation for ourselves, but particularly for one another that we would know our prosperity, potential fruitfulness, security and victory in Jesus! You might think to meditate prayerfully to God right now by saying to God in Jesus (in your own words, from you own heart): “I am thankful that you have blessed me in Christ that I am an heir with Christ of all your good creation, of every blessing, and every good thing you will do for Jesus, you will do for me!”

You might pray: “I realize that apart from Christ I can do nothing, but I am eternally grateful in Christ that I can produce fruit that will last; I can reach out to others in your courage and strength, making Christ known in my words and actions, and see many come to know the Lord Jesus.”

You could say to God: “I am grateful that I am secure in Jesus and a conqueror over all my spiritual enemies in the heavenly places- -I am invincible in Jesus; if you be for me, who can be against me?” (Romans 8:31; Eph. 6:10-20; Matt. 28:18-20).

Are you characterized as a worldly consumer or a Kingdom producer? Be careful that a worldly, self-focused, and self-centered mindset does not hinder you from realizing these great blessings that you have in Jesus (1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4)! Be careful that a worldly consumeristic mindset and culture that is set on taking and receiving does not hinder you spiritually from realizing these truths and the great blessings of God in blessing others!

You must remember that we live in a consumer-culture where almost everything that is advertised to us and is appealing to us is for instant gratification; we are often lured into living for self in our daily course. It is not hard for us to be distracted and to backslide in our hearts and minds toward self-service and consumers. Be warned!

As God’s beloved children, let us be wise and wary of being tempted to constantly buy and consume the “next best thing” or the “next version” or “upgrade” or “next download” etc. (We all have the same temptations; let’s help each other from falling into temptations and traps: 1 Cor. 10:12-13).

The worldly consumeristic mindset will focus you on yourself rather than upon others. This consumeristic mindset will indeed harm you spiritually and cause you to consume in a worldly manner that takes your focus off of heaven and of your blessed heavenly pursuits.  All that you have ever really wanted and desired can be fully found and satisfied in Christ- -He is all you need; God is your portion in Christ! One day we will live blessed forever, fully realizing for all eternity that God was all we ever needed, and we can learn this to a certain extent now by God’s grace and Spirit.

But be careful of seeking to satisfy your desires through consumerism like the world; it will make you worldly. Our Lord Jesus warned us of how we can all be so easily tempted to be devoted to purchase power and possessions and despise God. So he taught us to live to thrive by God’s grace in seeking first the Kingdom of God:

ESV Matthew 6:24, 33: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money….But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Do you despise God? If you are devoted to purchasing power and possessions you already despise God, and particularly God’s blessings to you in Christ. Why? Because you love your worldly “blessings” more than you love the blessings found in Jesus. If this is true of you, take a moment right now, to bow your head to Christ, repent and ask Him forgiveness. When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and restore us! (Amen!! 1 John 1:8-2:2).

As a congregation, let us for a moment think more deeply about how subtly, quietly and softly that we can be lured into being molded into the mindset of this present age as a consumer. There are at least two kinds of people in the world: worldly consumers and Kingdom producers (note: we all are both consumers and producers in this world, and to consume is not evil in itself, but we should think prayerfully what characterizes us).

Consumers are generally characterized as takers and receivers, while producers are givers, and seek to benefit others. Those characterized as consumers are not normally good producers. Consumers are often hindered from producing, especially producing for the Kingdom of God. Consumers very easily just keep buying and seeking to possess, not realizing that their life is passing them by and that they have been molded into the ways of the world.

Consuming can develop an attitude of immediate gratification and walking/possessing by sight (and cash!), while producing for God’s Kingdom can develop an attitude of delayed gratification and walking/possessing all things by faith (in Christ!). Those who are characterized by walking by sight and cash will not walk by faith and wait upon the LORD.

What is God’s answer to worldly consumerism? Giving. We need to be aware that giving is God’s answer to consumerism. Giving rather than receiving and consuming is God’s way of helping us to keep our heavenly focus on heaven more than the “next best thing”.  Learning to trust God with the riches we already have, and everything else we need to live well in this world, is found in giving. God teaches us to be producers more than consumers. Giving is God’s way of helping us to depend entirely on Him, to resist instant gratification, and to set our hopes on the delayed gratification of storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal (Matt. 6:24ff).

Consumerism at a deeper level also affects the way we worship, pray and serve. Be careful and aware of the deeper problems of consumerism. Not only will this world turn you into more of a consumer-taker than a producer-giver with the products the world advertises, but it will make you turn into more of a consumer-taker in God’s Church and Kingdom as well. Watch that you have not already been affected by this terrible threat to your good growth and production in Jesus’ church.

How do you know if you have bought into this worldly consumeristic mindset even within God’s Kingdom? One way to know is that you come to worship services thinking merely about how you might receive from God’s Word and others, but have not planned how you might serve and give of yourself. You have come to worship Christ but perhaps you are focused on yourself. You tend to only consume God’s Word, but you do not allow it to transform you into a willing servant and producer for God. In other words, you seek to be a consumer of God’s Word for mere knowledge, rather than knowledge through the Spirit that will transform you and make you productive in God’s Church. This can be an especially dangerous temptation of confessional Christians who love theology.

Another way is that you think that you think when you pray, that the prayers are for yourself only, and you approach God as if you know better than He what is good or best for you and what it is that you need. You might spend more time talking about what you need from God than about worshiping and praying to God and enjoying fellowship and His holy presence. You might seek Him for what you think you need rather than asking Him to search you and correct you and change you. You may have a list of things God needs to do for you today (not to be misunderstood, we should make our requests known to God, but let him also examine your heart and motives for asking, too!).

You might think that everyone else serves, but you don’t need to, or that you do enough. If you have been affected by the consumeristic culture you might not want to commit yourself to others, but you are willing to take from them (there are seasons where we need to be receivers of course, but this is to help us to think about what characterizes us most of the time; look at your heart).  The worldly consumer spends time thinking of self, and taking rather than receiving.

In your service, you might have forgotten that Jesus says that as our Master and Lord, he has set an example of service that all of God’s people should lovingly follow, so that all of us will be built up in our faith. Remember after Jesus washes the feet of His disciples (even of the one disciple who didn’t deserve it and would betray him?):

ESV John 13:13-17: You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” This is a very important truth to remember my beloved brethren.

If we are characterized by worldly consumerism in our lives and spending habits, then this will be what molds our minds, hearts, and actions in the church and local congregation as well. If we spend our lives seeking to consume and take, we will also spend our spiritual lives seeking to consume and take, rather than realizing the great blessings of God in Christ for those who produce and give, and seek to give more and more! Let us hear and heed the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 12:2:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

It is interesting that the spiritual blessings found in Christ alone that we can never lose such as prosperity, fruitfulness, security and victory are also counterfeited in our culture, and even drive much of our idolatry for consumption. We are tempted to seek prosperity, fruitfulness, security and victory often apart from Christ and in the things that we can do for ourselves, or what we can buy from others. We do not naturally trust God, and we don’t always believe that we have been blessed in Jesus! But we have! Let us be careful of the idolatry of our hearts! Do not let a day go by that you don’t ask God to examine and search you as David:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”- Psalm 139:23-24

Our first step in learning that it is more blessed to give than to receive is to ponder anew and realize all of the lavish love and blessings we have in Christ! Notice in Ephesians 1 that there is a storehouse of wonderful spiritual food to fix your focus on Jesus: We have been chosen; we have been adopted; we have been redeemed by Christ’s precious blood; we have been sealed unto the day of redemption; we have hope; we have an inheritance that no mind has even conceived, that is above and beyond anything we could imagine; we have power in Christ that we have yet to tap into.

In light of the blessings you have received in Jesus, go now in the Name of the Lord Jesus and ask God how you can be a blessing to others. Ask God to make you a brother or sister in Jesus characterized by producing for God’s Kingdom. Ask God by His powerful might and Spirit to transform your consumerism into being a productive son/daughter in God’s kingdom that gives of yourself, and seeks to worship God to give back to God, and to pray to God to enjoy God, and to serve God desiring to produce disciples and build His Church.

You will be greatly rewarded and blessed for all that you do in Jesus’ Name! God is so good to us that He wants us to produce great riches in heaven that we will enjoy with Christ for all eternity!

You have been blessed with a relationship with God in Jesus Christ! You have been blessed with perfect righteousness so that you can enjoy God’s favor, Jesus’ inheritance and eternal bliss for all eternity! You have been blessed with all of the riches in Christ Jesus- -riches that you will never ever be able to fully fathom.

All this has been lavished on you. Serve others. Seek to bless someone today, particularly those in the household of faith. Give of yourself. Give of your time. Give of your talents. Give of your money and possessions to bless.

“I will bless you…so that you will be a blessing.”- Genesis 12:2-3

Amen.

 

In Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Biggs

“Death and the Christian Hope”

“Death and the Christian Hope” -1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

A Sermon for the Memorial Service for John Curtis Connor (1935-2011)

Note: This is the unedited version of the homily I was privileged to preach at John Connor’s memorial service. Thanks be to God for the privilege of leading the service of such a great man!

As Christians, we mourn in the death of our loved ones, but we mourn as those who have hope. We hope because of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. We now wait upon the Lord for the return of Jesus Christ and anticipate with great eagerness our heavenly reunion.

This is what we learn in 1 Thessalonians 4. The believers at Thessalonica had written to the Apostle Paul concerning the hope of those who had died. Their main concern: Would they also share in the resurrection? Was their hope for them? They needed God’s knowledge and insight into how to mourn. The Apostle Paul wrote:

ESV 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

As Christians, we mourn, but with hope. Notice in 1 Thessalonians 4, the Apostle Paul does not teach us that grieving and mourning are wrong when our loved ones die in the Lord. He does not forbid us to weep, grieve or mourn.

Rather, Paul teaches us that we do not have to “grieve as others do who have no hope” (4:13). There is a tremendous difference between our loved ones who die trusting in the righteousness of Jesus, and those who have no hope now for all eternity. When our loved ones reject Jesus, the only hope for dying sinners, there is every reason to grieve and to mourn without hope for that person.

But as Christians who lose our loved ones who were committed to Christ and trusting in His good words and in His righteousness alone, we can mourn, but with hope.

What is hope? Hope for the Christian who is trusting in Christ and the power of Jesus’ resurrection is not mere wishful thinking, but a confident and expectant trust in God’s Word, and in the completed work of Jesus Christ for sinners. “Hope” for the Christian is focused on God alone as He keeps His promises; and we simply believe God (Romans 15:13). By God’s grace we can abound in this hope, or confident and expectant trust in God’s Word to us!

What is death? Why do we still mourn if we believe that our loved ones are safe and sound in Jesus? Death is still a horrid monster and intruder into God’s good creation. Death is the judgment of God for sinful man seeking His own way and will apart from the way and will of God. We are taught in Genesis 3 that death was the result of man’s sin against God. For death to be removed, we must have our sins removed. We must have a loving Savior to take away our sins and to reconcile us to God; we have this in Jesus (Romans 5:6-11).

Death is not merely “part of life” as some will say without thinking. Death is the opposite of life that God gave mankind at creation in His presence; it is not supposed to be here. Death could never be just a “part of life”. Death is a hideous intruder and it should cause us to be “deeply moved” when we feel death’s affects in our loss and time of mourning.

When our loved ones die, and we attend funerals, we should especially be prayerfully considering the “weight” of loss and separation that death brings to all. We have all gone over to the casket somewhat apprehensively to view the body of our loved one; at this moment, prayerfully think about death. We often say at this moment: “He/She is not here; this is so strange.” This is death.

What did our Lord Jesus think about death? When Jesus our Lord was here in his earthly ministry, even though He possessed the power of life over death; even though He was anointed with the Holy Spirit beyond measure of any man or prophet before or since, he too, mourned death. We are told in John 11 when Jesus goes to visit his dead friend Lazarus’ family after Lazarus had died, he wept (John 11:35). We are also told that Jesus was “deeply moved” in His spirit by the hideous, terrifying specter of death (usually in this passage we focus on Jesus weeping as we should, but we overlook the entire context of John 11:33-38 where Jesus is also “deeply moved” in his spirit about death).

The word used that is of Jesus being “deeply moved” is a Greek word that describes the sound of horses “snorting” as in battle. It communicates a kind of inner “snorting outrage”. Our Lord Jesus was outraged by death. Jesus came to destroy death (Hebrews. 2:14-18; 1 Cor. 15:26). Death is a great enemy of Jesus that He came to destroy. Jesus our Lord, although He was King of kings and the very Lord of Life, wept and was outraged at death. This is our proper response to death. And Jesus displays His power and our hope in Him by raising His dear friend Lazarus from the dead after four days by the Word of His power! Amen and amen!

Why would our Lord Jesus be so outraged by death? Death separates. Death separates men from God; death separates loved from ones from us; death separates our bodies from our spirits (and/or souls). As humans we were created to live in the Life-Giving power and love of our Creator. We were never meant to live apart from this Life-Giving God and lover of our souls.

(1) Our sins have separated us from God. Death is the penalty and punishment or our transgressions. (2) Death takes our loved ones from us, and we are deeply moved, grieved, and saddened, because we are outraged that those we love are gone. (3) Death separates our incorporeal spirits from our bodies, and we were created by God to be embodied people who have spirits. To be human is to be both body and spirit/soul. We would never have left our bodies, and been separated from them if sin had not come into the world and cut us off from the life that is found in God alone!

But sin did come into the world. Man did sin against God, and God so loved His people that He sent Jesus to live and die for all who believe (John 3:16). God the Father sent His Beloved Son into the world to take upon human flesh. The Son lovingly and willingly came for His own to live perfectly for them, to die under the penalty of God’s judgment for their sins. Jesus in our flesh lived and died for us, so that we could live and die in Him.

Jesus came to love us so that our lives could be hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3-4). Let the Holy Spirit minister this great truth to you. Ask God to minister this truth more deeply in your heart and help you to seek the things that are above, where your life in Christ is hidden (Col. 3:1-2).

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and His love to His people, he accomplished the righteousness in His life that we could never accomplish. God demands perfect righteousness of every human being, and what God requires in His holiness, God provide for all who believe in Jesus. Christ our Savior gives this righteousness to us by faith when we believe in Him. Jesus came to die and remain under the power of death for three days, and to be raised powerfully from the death with great glory; Christ’s resurrection is our resurrection! This is the hope the Apostle Paul speaks of in 1Thessalonians 4:14:

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. – 1 Thess. 4:14

Death will not have the final word. Death is Christ’s enemy to be fully vanquished and destroyed when He returns again. God will wipe away every tear from the eyes of those who mourn, and the former things will no longer be remembered. This is our great hope in our grieving and mourning now (Revelation 21:1-7).

We can be hopeful because of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead in power and glory. Our hope is a confident and expectant trust in what the Lord Jesus has done for us in His life and death.

Death is sleeping for the believer. Another truth that we see in this passage in chapter four of Thessalonians is that Jesus’ death has turned death into sleeping. Jesus’ death for believers has made our death like going to sleep and taking a short nap. Because of the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can rest in death, and close our eyes in this world of sin and misery to awaken in the glorious presence of Jesus Christ, beholding His beautiful face. The Apostle John gives believers this hope of seeing our Resurrected Savior and Lord (1 John 3:2):

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. – 1 John 3:2

What does the Apostle Paul mean by sleeping? He uses this term “sleeping” to describe the believers’ death four times in the context of chapter four of 1 Thessalonians. The Apostle Paul does not mean that our souls sleep, or that we are unconscious in our death state (no, Scripture is clear that we are conscious in death, whether it be in God’s presence in Christ or in judgment: Luke 16:19ff; also see Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; Luke 13:28)

What Paul means in using the term “sleeping” is to show that Christ in His resurrection has transformed death; Jesus has “tamed death” from the hideous monster it could be to us, and threaten us with slavery to fear it all the days of our lives (Heb. 2:14ff). No one really looks forward to death, and we very easily fear it. But Paul is saying that in Jesus, when our hope is in Jesus alone, death is merely “sleeping”. This is a tender term to describe how we cross from this present age to behold Christ in the age to come where He is at God’s right hand.

Do you remember Jairus’ story? Jairus was a synagogue ruler whose daughter was dying. We see an example of how death has been turned into sleep from this story (Mark 5; Luke 8). Jesus goes to Jesus asking Jesus to heal his daughter. Jesus is willing but while he makes his way to Jairus’ daughters’ bedside, the beloved daughter dies. When Jesus finally arrives, Jesus finds the little girl dead. There are many mourners about the house crying out in pain and grief (as if they had no hope!).

Jesus comes into Jairus’ home with life-giving power and glory to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. He tells all in Jairus’ home that the girl is only “sleeping”. Jesus takes the little girl’s hand, and calls out to her to awaken. He says very tenderly a command to the girl in Aramaic: “Talitha cumi”. This means: “Honey, get up!” as we would say to our children at the beginning of a new day (Mark 5:40ff). Jesus uses a term of endearment, like the language of “honey” or “sweet pea” that we might use for our dear daughters and sons.

Jairus’ little girl gets up immediately and beholds the face of Jesus Christ her Savior. This is a picture of how death has been turned into sleep. When we close our eyes in this present age, on this side of darkness and pain, in a world full of sin and misery, characterized by death, Jesus reaches out to our hands in death, pulls us to Himself by His strong and powerful command into life itself. We close our eyes to the darkness and sin of this world, and open our eyes to behold the light and life of Jesus’ glorious presence!

We go to sleep in death and we behold His precious face. This is why death is only “sleeping” now. Let this comfort you. Let this be your encouragement to others when they lose loved ones. Don’t try to avoid those who have lost their loved ones because you know not what to say and you feel awkward. Don’t make up some kind of sentimental theology that both you and the person grieving know deep down is not truth.

No, speak words of comfort, speak the truth in love; if the one who has died is a believer trusting in the righteousness of Christ alone. Tell them that their loved one, whom they have lost on this side, now beholds Christ’s face, and will return to be with them.

The nightmare of death is over for all who believe. As Psalm 23 teaches us “though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall not fear,” for Jesus is with us. Jesus has turned the nightmare of death into mere “sleeping”. Let us fall asleep in His arms, and find a loving and glorious Savior on the other side. Then we shall dwell in the presence of God for all eternity, and we shall forever experience the abundant life that we were created to enjoy and live on, as branches on a vine (see John 15).

As Jesus reaches out with a human hand that is from a human body that has experienced the hideous and dark powers of death, take his hand, and let Him grant you life in Him. Find your life hidden in Him as you receive Him as your only hope.

Only Jesus has the power to unite that which death has separated.

(1) Jesus has the power to reconcile you, and unite you to God, bringing you back back to Him to experience His loving grace and forgiveness. In Christ, you will never be separated from God and from His life-giving power ever again!

(2) Jesus has the power to reconcile you and unite you to your loved ones whom you have lost because of death. In Christ, you will never be separated from your loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus!

(3) Jesus has the power to reconcile our bodies and our spirits again, so that we are made who for all eternity. We will be like Him, and we will possess glorified bodies that will never grow old, suffer sicknesses of cancer and dreaded diseases, and grow tired, weak and weary!

Reach out and receive by faith the hope that is in Christ Jesus. Only Jesus can grant you this hope in death!

Otherwise, you will grieve and mourn as those without hope. But God loves to show grace, and lavish His grace and forgiveness on all who would take Christ’s extended hand. There it is. He extends it to you now. Behold the face of He who took death by the neck, has wrestled it to the ground, and taken out its sting (1 Cor. 15:56-58)! One day death will permanently be removed. This is because Jesus has lived and died for us—this is our hope in Him!

We look forward to a reunion! And what a family reunion it will be! We find out from this passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 that there will be a glorious reunion with our loved ones! Let us with great hope and confidence in God’s Word and the completed work of Jesus Christ look forward to the reunion (1 Thess. 4:15, 17-18).

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep…Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. – 1 Thess. 4:15, 17-18

The hope that the Apostle Paul teaches to us here is that our loved ones who have fallen asleep in the Lord will be raised from the dead one day just as Jesus has been raised. We who remain alive can hope in this glorious future resurrection, because it will also be a wonderful reunion. We have all attended family reunions and holiday celebrations where death has separated us from loved ones and they are not present as we wish they could be; this resurrection-reunion will be so sweet, so different from even our best family reunions here! We will be reunited together again–that is our hope! The Lord Jesus will take us up and we will be “together with him” and then “always with the Lord” (4:17).

Never to be separated again. Never to experience death and suffering again. Never to be away from the Lord and His life-giving presence again. Never any threat of sin, and temptation, and sin and misery. Never again. All of the sad things in this world of sin and misery will become “untrue” (as Tolkien says in Lord of the Rings Trilogy). Why?

Because Jesus has lived and died for us. He has done what only God could do (Rom. 8:3-4). God in Christ has given us life and life more abundantly in Jesus Christ. All we have to do is believe. Receive the Lord Jesus now. Call upon Him while He is near!

Beloved, let us remember the final admonition that we live “with Christ” whether we remain alive or have fallen asleep. Listen to how the Apostle Paul says this in 1 Thessalonians:

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

“Whether we are awake or asleep” let us “live with Him” (1 Thess. 5:10). Let your life be hidden with Christ by faith, and prayerfully seek to understand more of what this means in your life now. This means to serve Jesus and to love Jesus before all other people, and before all other things. Jesus is your only hope; let Him be your portion, your life, your love!

Jesus has given His life and died for you; he has purchased you by His precious blood shed for your sins on the cross. You have died (Romans 6:1-11), and your life is now hidden “with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3-4). When Christ who is your life appears, you will appear also with him. This means that you will then truly and really begin to live.

For now, even though we are “awake” and have not yet fallen asleep, we should live as one who has died. We who are united to Christ now but learn to die to self, die to sin, die to this world, and die to the service of Satan, and to now live for Christ because our lives are hidden safe and sound “with Christ” in our union “in Christ”.

If you are a believer, you have lived a perfect life in Christ; you have died a perfect death that paid the penalty of all sins against God in Christ; you now live in resurrection glory in Christ, even in this world. Ponder this anew.

Prayerfully consider that even in your loss of loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus, how you might live as one dead to sin and alive to God. Consider yourselves as one who has died, so that you might live in Jesus, and make Him known.

Glorify Him now. Even though you grieve and mourn, and even though you are outraged and deeply moved in your spirit by the nightmare of death, know that in Christ Jesus you have hope, and the nightmare is over.

Jesus promises to you: “Fear not, I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you always even unto the end of the age.”

Give Jesus your life and find the hope that is beyond this life, beyond the grave, and that will continue for all eternity with the Lord!

And the next time you are seeking to comfort a brother or sister who has lost a loved one, remember that the best encouragement you can bring to those who suffer are the words of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.- 1 Thessalonians 4:18

 

We may think that we don’t know what to say, but for Christians, we can know what to say. And whether we are awake or asleep, let us live with Jesus. Amen.

Sleep in Jesus, dear John Connor. Thank you very much for showing to me and many others loyalty and faithfulness! “The Vicar” loves you very much and will look forward to seeing you again.

 

Love in Jesus,

Pastor Charles

“Fall Down at the Savior’s Feet”

“Fall Down at the Savior’s Feet” – Luke 8:40-56

 

What makes us fall down? The weight of something can make us fall down. We fall down and stumble sometimes because we are careless and frail. What makes us fall down before God?

 

Our need.

 

His great power and glory.

 

The weight of our need for Jesus, and the weight of our realization of His power and glory, and the weight of His kind and merciful willingness to take time to heal us. This makes us fall down at his feet.

 

Let us worship Jesus. Right now, fall down, and seek Him who calls out to you, and promises to you all that you will ever need in Him. Fall down at Jesus’ feet and find what you need in Jesus, where you can get nowhere else. Go to Him and worship

 

In Luke 8:40-56, two people fall down at Jesus’ feet because they have great need of Jesus and His healing power. One person who falls down in Jesus’ presence is Jairus, an important person in his day, a synagogue ruler. Another person who fell down in Jesus’ presence was just a nameless common woman described as “a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years” (Luke 8:43). Read Luke 8:40-56.

 

Jairus, the important man, and the nameless common woman both had desperate needs, and it didn’t matter the social or economical position that they held in this world. When death came calling, both of them knew that only Jesus could bring healing and help.

 

And death came calling. In Jairus’ home, Jairus’ dear and **only** daughter was dying. His only daughter (about twelve years of age) was dying; he was losing what was most important to him in this world; the little girl would no longer bless him with her smiles, giggles, hugs, and wretched death would steal her presence from his home forever! (Luke 8:42).

 

Jairus went to Jesus because all of his importance, all of his religious and social standing, did not matter at this moment. He was a frail man in the face of death, with absolutely no power to save the dear one who meant the most to him in the whole world! He goes to Jesus. Amen! Go to Jesus right now for help.

 

Jairus goes to Jesus, and “falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house…” (8:41). Jairus implored Jesus. The word “implore” is from the verb parakaleo the same verb used of the Holy Spirit as being one called along side. The term here is being used to show that this important man was begging Jesus with all of his might to do the impossible: reverse death’s awful threat upon his daughter’s life! Jairus is praying fervently. Jairus prays by the Spirit for his daughter to be healed.

 

In the nameless common woman’s life, she had spent all she had in this world (and it was probably very little) to get well. We are told that “she had spent all her living on physicians” (8:43). No one could help her; no one (not a soul could help her) (8:44). All of the professional advice, wisdom, and medical help she sought could not save her from this slow discharge of blood that would eventually kill her. Death was creeping up on her and robbing her of life.

 

This woman, with all of the faith she could muster rushes through the crowds to Jesus and touches the fringe of Jesus’ garment. Don’t let anything hinder you from seeking the healing that only Jesus can give. Go and find at least his outer garment to touch. Get as near as you can!!

 

Just the outer edges of Jesus’ presence will heal sinners! Don’t you see, go to Jesus, touch whatever you can, reach as far as you’re able, with whatever faith you can muster. You may have a little faith, and little hope to get to Jesus, but you’re reaching for a great and powerful CHRIST!

 

Power went out from Jesus when this dear weak and nameless woman touched Him. We are told “she came up behind HIM and touched the fringe of His garment and immediately her discharge of blood ceased” (8:44) – -and she was immediately healed (8:45-48).

 

In the face of Jesus Christ, the nightmare of death is over. Jesus brings life.

 

A little faith, perhaps a very small hope that anyone could ever help her, but this nameless common woman took hold of a GREAT CHRIST. And when this woman felt the weight of God’s glory in Jesus Christ, and the power of his LIFE, she came “trembling and falling down before him” (8:47).

 

She fell down to worship Christ, to honor the only hope for those dying! We find in Christ the only one who can help us in our time of need!

 

And her faith in Jesus healed and saved her (8:48). Although she is nameless and common, she is a “daughter” to the living God. Jesus says to her: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” The woman’s faith in Jesus showed her to be a true daughter of the Living God, heirs to the life that is found in Jesus. She goes in peace, having found her hope of life in Christ.

 

But while Jesus was healing this nameless common woman, Jairus’ daugther had grown worse in the meantime, and news came to Jesus that Jairus’ daughter has died. They came with the news: “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher anymore” (8:49).

 

This is an example of a faithless people, who do not understand that when Jesus is present to faith there is no threat of death. “Let’s not trouble Jesus with things that he cannot do,” they say. We also think this way sometimes functionally even as Christians. Whereas the nameless common woman was at least willing to give Jesus a try with the little faith she had, these folks are unwilling to even ask?!

 

Such prayerless and hopeless people we can be sometimes—even when Jesus promises that He is with us!

 

But Jesus is gracious to even the prayerless and hopeless, and He speaks Gospel words of comfort into Jairus’ life; Jairus (and all in his home) heard life-giving, Holy-Spiritual empowered words come forth from the lips of the Savior. Jesus told Jairus confidently as the Lord of Life and Death:

 

“Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”

 

We often will listen to fear and look to circumstances before we look to Christ and hear His words of promise to us!

 

What confidence believers can have when facing Jesus Christ. When we look to Jesus and hear His Gospel-drenched, gracious words of power and kindness, all of our fears can be relieved. Our faith, while it may be small, takes hold of a GREAT CHRIST, who can do things that we can’t even conceive or imagination- -so great is His grace and power (Eph. 3:20-21).

 

And this causes us to fall down beneath the weight of his majesty and power, and we worship Him, too. Worship Him now. Thank Jesus for calming all of your fears; for being your Savior and promising to never leave you nor forsake you. Turn now from what you fear the most, bask in His goodness, mercy and kind presence (Heb. 4:14-16), the go back to face that which seemed so insurmountable, and find grace and comfort.

 

Jesus reaches Jairus’ home and there are many mourners present. Jesus brings words of comfort for those who have ears to hear. While there is the sound of weeping and mourning, Jesus speaks peaceful words of grace: “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping” (8:52).

 

Even in the midst of sadness, Jesus’ words can bring hope.

 

But the folks at Jairus’ home laughed at him (8:53- How did they go so quickly from mourning and weeping to laughing?!!). Do you laugh at God’s Word, or do you simply believe what He says to you? Do you live functionally like these people laughing inwardly, sneering, seeking to lean on your own strength, while laughing at others who take God’s words seriously?

 

Do you laugh rather than fall at Jesus’ feet? Behold the glory of God:

 

In the face of Jesus Christ we behold that the nightmare of death is over (see also John 11:40).

 

Jesus doesn’t rebuke the people for laughing; he doesn’t let the folks with unbelief bother him in the least bit. No, he goes to the one who needs Him. And he will find you who are in need too…

 

Jesus goes to the child. We are told: “But taking her by the hand he called, saying ‘Child, arise’” (8:54). Jesus is so gentle and merciful. He takes the dead little girl, the **only** daughter of Jairus, the precious daughter of Jairus, by the hand, and she speaks words of power and life to her.

 

But in the face of Jesus, death is only sleeping.

 

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Death cannot abide in His powerful presence, and this is a reason for us to fall down before Him. Jesus Christ is the Lord of Life!

 

Jesus speaks to the child a command; Jesus’ words of command have power even over the dead. Jesus commands the child to arise (8:54). We are told then that “And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat” (8:55).

 

Death had not only separated Jairus from the love and presence of his beloved only daughter, but death had separated Jairus’ daughters’ spirit from her body.

 

Death is an horrific and evil intruder in God’s creation. Death is not the way it should have been; we must never say that death is just a part of life. Death is because of the sin of man against God, and the just penalty of God for disobedience to His Word.

 

God does not leave man in fear of death (Heb. 2:14-18). God becomes a man, and becomes subject to the weakness and sin and misery of this life characterized by death, and even undergoes death Himself on behalf of those who believe. God becomes man and dies under the curse of death so that we might be forgiven of our many sins against God, so that we might be reconciled to God and never separted from Him, so that we might be healed of death, and so that we might never be separated from our loved ones again!

 

This is the hope of those who believe in Christ. Christ has taken the death penalty for our sins. He paid the infinite price of eternal death in our place on the cross. Jesus was forsaken by His father, separated from communion with God, and his body and spirit were separated in death for all who believe. Jesus Christ has been in the tomb , under the power of death, and He has risen victorious as the King of kings and Lord of Life!

 

In Jesus’ resurrection, we see our hope of sins forgiven, death abolished, and a life with God and our loved ones for all eternity. This is the hope we anticipate as Christians (Revelation 21:1-7). God will dwell with us forever, and we will live with Him and all our loved ones never to be separated by death.  We rejoice that when Christ returns the final enemy will be defeated which is death itself. There will be no more death soon and very soon!  “The last enemy to be destroyed [at Christ’s second coming] is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26).

 

Death is a problem that only Jesus Christ can fix by His power and grace. Only Jesus can bring together and unify eternally loved ones who are separated by death, and spirits separated from bodies. And death becomes sleep in Jesus’ presence. What a picture here of Jesus’ care of all who believe.

 

Jesus finds His beloved people in our weakness and death, and he comes to us, takes us gently and mercifully by our hands, and speaks life to us. We arise and find healing from our sins in His presence and we behold His face.

 

When we face death as believers, Jesus may heal us as he did the nameless and common woman. But usually when we face death, we actually die as Jairus’ daughter; we close our eyes as in sleep. For believers in Jesus, death is just like a sleep; a short nap. This is the important point.

 

Like Jairus’ daughter dying, our dying is very similar. Jesus reaches down into death and draws up back into life. Jesus reaches through into this dimension characterized by sin and misery and death, and brings life to us by taking us permanently into His wonderful and blessed presence.

 

And we live forever beholding His face! When we die, or when our loved ones die in the Lord, we can be confident that although we are separated from them for a season, they are not separated from Jesus Christ! Although their spirits and bodies be separated and await the union of both on the resurrection on the Last Day, nevertheless, they are not separated from the blissful presence of the Lord Jesus.

 

And they through death will stare and behold, like Jairus’ daughter, into the glorious and merciful face of their precious Savior. And they will be fully healed because of His power. They will be rescued and saved from a world of sin and misery characterized by death.

 

This is our hope in Jesus Christ!

 

When we die, and when those we love die, let us be reminded and comforted of these truths. That death is like sleep in that we close our eyes from this world to open our eyes and to awake fully alive and well and healed staring and beholding the face of Jesus Christ.

 

When Jairus’ daughter awoke from her death, you can imagine how she would have never forgotten Jesus’ precious face. To remember that glorious face all the days of her life would have given her hope in the death she would die again. But the next time she would die, she would know that the same Jesus Christ who healed her once, would do it again- -but the next time for all eternity! This is written for us to know this and believe.

 

Don’t forget this face. Don’t forget the face of Jesus Christ. Once he has healed you, you will never see anything more beautiful and glorious again!

 

Behold the face of Jesus Christ in life and death.

 

Fall down and worship Him!

 

Encourage and comfort one another with these words of the Apostle Paul concerning death from 1 Thessalonians. The Apostle Paul teaches the doctrinal truth of what Luke’s Gospel shows to us in the sleep of Jairus’ daughter:

 

ESV 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

 

Fall down and worship before Him!

 

Find life in Christ alone.

 

You and I need Him so desperately. Whether you’re an important person or a nameless common person, fall down and find hope and healing in Christ alone.

 

In Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Charles- “The Vicar” (I was affectionately known as ‘the Vicar” to John Connor)

 

This Word of Encouragement is dedicated to my friend and brother John Curtis Connor who recently closed his eyes in this world, to open his eyes in the presence of the Lord Jesus. I am grateful for John’s life, and hopeful in Christ for his death.

Giving and Generosity

Yes, this is a message on giving. I am unashamedly writing as your pastor for you to think about giving and generosity. No, please do not put in trash and delete this email; please don’t set your “spam” settings to anything from Pastor Charles on giving! 🙂  I realize that giving is more than financial giving but this is a message on financial giving (you can also give your time and talents, etc). I do commend you dear KCPC family on your kindness and mercy and the grace of God that I see in you!

 

However, I am prayerfully seeking to consider, plot, scheme, plan and help you so that you will be stirred up to love and good works as we are commanded to do! (Heb. 10:24-25). I realize that sometimes talking about giving and generosity stirs folks up to other things, not so much love and good works, but I trust the Spirit that He will guide you in this. So, please read on….Stop and pray and ask God to help you to consider these things with open minds and hearts. First of all, open your heart to the gospel in Christ:

 

Let me encourage you concerning generosity and giving today, especially as we prayerfully consider the THANK OFFERING to be received in the next couple of weeks, and as you think about how you would like to increase your giving and seek to be more generous toward God in the new year! Remember to give yourself sacrificially to God and others because Christ has given Himself for you so that you might be abundantly rich in Him. Your treasure is in heaven with Jesus; Your life is hidden with Christ in God! Rejoice!! (Matthew 6:24ff; Col. 3:1-4).

 

Behold the riches of God in Christ Jesus—all that Christ has is yours! You are a recipient of every spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus!

 

ESV Ephesians 1:3-6: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

 

Beloved in Jesus: Remember that because of God’s love to you in Christ, give faithfully in your tithes and offerings. Give yourself back to Jesus who has given Himself for you (Rom. 12:1). Your tithes and offerings are tangible and concrete displays of the giving of yourself back to God in response to His Gospel promises to you in Christ.

 

Remember what we learned in Genesis 13 about Father Abram: Abram could give all away, and show magnanimous generosity even to the undeserving and rude (Lot) because He knew that God had promised him everything. Abram’s faith was in Christ, therefore His treasure was in heaven. Where is your treasure? There is where your heart is. Christ died for you while you were at enmity with God, while you were a rebel against God’s will and kingdom, Christ gave Himself to redeem you. You are His possession; give of yourself (Romans 5:6-11). If you have been redeemed you are not your own. Say it: “I am not my own; I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

Give gratefully to God to the needs that we have in our congregation and the larger denomination; give out of a heart saturated by God’s mercy to you in Jesus Christ. Meditate and think on how many ways God has blessed you. Say with the Psalmist: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me…!”

 

Psalm 103: Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

 

Forget not all His benefits…how easily we forget God’s mercies to us in Jesus—so make a point of remembering!

 

Just in this year alone, God has blessed KCPC with many new members, covenant children who have professed faith, there have been relationships healed, stronger marriages, growth in grace, a new elder and a new deacon, faithful ministry of the word, and weekly administration of the sacrament, a closer and more affectionate fellowship at KCPC, the forgiveness of sins, the awakenings of hearts of the need for more grace and prayer, and many other blessings- -and this is just a short list of what God has done in our congregation.

 

Now think about your own life; your own family. How many mercies?

 

Think of (5) mercies to you and your family; stop. Right now. Think about it. I encourage you to make a list of what God has done in your life and is doing presently! Be thankful; be grateful!!

 

I will think of five first. I think of five (5) mercies of God to me that always overwhelm me and draw me near to God for thanksgiving and praise: 1) I should be in hell under God’s just wrath and condemnation; and not merely in hell, but in the deepest and darkest place of punishment imaginable, and yet because of God’s benefits and mercies in JESUS I have been saved from sin, death and the devil by our Great Redeemer, washed in His precious blood, and have eternal life in the presence of the Triune God to look forward to and even now to enjoy by the Spirit; 2) God has granted to me a wonderful and loving wife and friend in my beloved bride Margaret; 3) God has privileged this sinner with the opportunity to serve as minister at such a wonderful congregation of God’s people at KCPC, and to serve with other wise and godly elders!; 4) God has blessed me from my earliest memories, in that as a child of the 1960s, I was not an abortion, but an adopted child by God’s grace; I was adopted rather than discarded by wonderful and loving parents; and 5) I have daughter (s)!! And am surrounded by covenant children in our congregation! A man who always desired a loving family, has a loving family in this congregation and in our larger denomination! God is so good!!!

 

Now think of your own blessings. You may share them with me (Gal. 6:7), or think of them yourself; it is entirely up to you. The point in this exercise is to stir you up to love and good works! (Heb. 10:24-25). Now think about how you can more effectively give yourself to God and show Him your love by your giving and generosity to others. As God has abundantly given to you, now go and give voraciously and lavishly and sacrificially to others!

 

In your giving, always REMEMBER THE GOSPEL! Let the following encourage you in your giving practices here at KCPC, especially during Thanksgiving and when you’re planning for the new year.

 

Meditate on God’s goodness to you and your family in the Gospel- -DAILY. You may use these scriptures:

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 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 by his poverty might become rich.

 

We were impoverished, poor and naked before God, without any righteousness to offer him, and nothing but a weight of guilt, sin and debt to God. Christ put aside all of his glorious riches to make us abundantly rich and gloriously clothed in Him.

 

Remember our ONE-ness in the Gospel (Others’ interests should be more important than our interests)! We are united to one another in one body by Christ’s Spirit:

 

ESV Philippians 2:2-4: …Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 

Let us give to each other because we are one body in Jesus at KCPC. May there never be needs in our congregation that we are aware of, that we do not seek as a congregation to provide together. There should never be anyone in our midst with known needs that are not met. If we cannot be generous to our brothers who we are united with and serve with together, how can we ever serve our enemies and the world as we are called to do?!

 

Remember our Faith and our Love!

 

ESV James 2:14-18: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

 

Remember to prove your love to Christ and one another; this is biblical. You say you love God, show it!

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 8:8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 8:24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.

 

Remember Proverbs 11:24-25

 

ESV Proverbs 11:24-25: One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

 

“Objections” as to why you cannot or do not give!

 

You say: “But I’m really already stretched financially!”

If you’re “stretched”, God knows it and will provide for you; you can never out-give God! Your giving is an act of faith, and this same grace will be returned to you. In fact, it is through sacrificial giving that you learn more about how to be content in whatever situation and to have Christ strengthen you (look at the larger context of Philippians 4:10-23). The Apostle Paul teaches that we can do “all things” in Christ who strengthens us, and that means all things whether we living in abundance or need. God promises this:

 

ESV Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 8:14-15: …Your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. 15 As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

 

You say: “But I tithe, isn’t that enough?!”

Thanks be to God for your tithing; that is a great start! But let us learn that the tithe was to show our utter dependence upon God for all things; that all that we have or will ever possess comes from God (1 Cor. 4:7), and that we are to learn not merely to give a tithe (10%) but learn to be willing to give all of ourselves and our possessions and belongings (nothing we should hold on too tightly! Luke 14:26ff). In other words, giving is for us to avoid idolatry and weighing ourselves down on our pilgrimage by prosperity. Giving is to give back to God as steward-managers of God, recognizing the danger of having too much stored away that might tempt us to lean on our savings plan rather on the God who has saved us!

 

“Come, follow me…”

 

You say: “But, I am in so much debt.”

Most of our lives we have some sort of debt.  God knows this. We can prayerfully and wisely seek to be debt free, but often the cause of our debt is because we are more consumers by nature than producers. Consumers are takers who want instant gratification and so we buy, and buy, and buy…. (I include myself in this temptation, 1 Cor. 10:13). We are often guilty of buying, because we hope for some peace or joy or satisfaction that we believe buying will give to us (but this is a lie).

 

In contrast, Producers will allow for delayed gratification. Producers are givers who want to be steward-managers of God’s resources and produce as much out of it as possible. Producers know that their giving will bless many and have eternal rewards and pay heavenly dividends; they produce for the Gospel’s sake. Consumers want for self; producers want to extend Christ’s kingdom. Most of our lives we will be a bit of both, consumer and producer. But seek consciously and prayerfully to budget not only for your debts, and to pay them off as best as you can, but also budget for your giving, so that you can become more of a producer for the kingdom than a mere consumer.

 

Wisdom has shown that oftentimes the Christian who is more of a consumer in the marketplace than a producer, is more of a consumer in the church than a producer-giver (meaning that there is a deeper root sin that has usually caused the debt and constrains the giving and generosity). Let us pray and seek to pay our debts faithfully, but let us put God first in our priorities, and seek to produce more for His kingdom, and trust Him to pay off the debt. If you have tremendous debts, ask God to search your heart, Psalm 139 style, and if there is anything greed, consumerism, selfishness to be repented of, then by all means, get to it and find mercy and grace in Christ (Heb. 4:16).

 

Remember we are commanded to seek first the Kingdom of God, and therefore we are to seek to be producer-stewards of God’s kingdom gifts (see Matthew 25:14ff also for caution and wisdom):

 

ESV Matthew 6:33-34: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

 

You say: “But, I can give so little.”

Give your “widow’s mite”; give your few fish and single loaf of bread; give what you can and watch and pray that Jesus in His grace might multiply what you give. Perhaps your small gift will be received, seen, etc. and someone with much more would give because they saw you give little of what you have!? If there is readiness to give, it is from God and acceptable:

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 8:12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

 

EXCEL in the grace of giving generously!

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 8:7 But as you excel in everything– in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you- see that you excel in this act of grace also.

 

Let us show our love for God, our love for one another, and the abundant grace of joy and thanksgiving we have by giving tangibly to needs.  Continue to be faithful to tithing, giving and generosity in general.

 

If you do not at least tithe 10% and you’re regularly being fed spiritually and being served by others at KCPC then ask God to search your heart and to teach you by His Spirit why you’re being disobedient to the clear teaching of Scripture. If you’re tithing but doing it in a self-righteous, smug spirit, or with an unwilling heart, ask God to search your heart and to teach you by His Spirit why you’re being disobedient to the clear teaching of Scripture.

 

“Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

 

Believe.

 

Do you believe that you can be MAGNANIMOUSLY GENEROUS and that Jesus can be your ultimate portion and possession and treasure- -and that you can be a greater giver?

 

“Didn’t I say that you would see the **GLORY** of God if you just believed?”- John 11:40

 

In Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Charles

 

“To Live is Christ!”

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” –ESV Philippians 1:21

As Christians we must learn not merely to live for Christ, but to realize that Christ is our life.

If we have Christ, we have everything we need and we can lose nothing. Even death will be our gain, not a loss. Having the mindset “Christ is my life” will help us to make progress in our faith and grow in our joy.

 “TO LIVE IS CHRIST…” (v. 21a) – Means simply living seeking Jesus with all your heart because Jesus has sought and saved you! Christ has given His life in exchange for yours. You are no longer your own. You are His.

Beloved Christians: Don’t merely live your life for Christ, but realize that Christ is your life. You are not your own. Christ has saved and redeemed you by His precious blood. His life is your life. He is your strength because you are united with him.

In this passage, the Apostle Paul is imprisoned, in chains for Christ and His Kingdom. Yet He can also rejoice because for him “to live—Christ” (v. 21).

For Paul, to live is Christ.

Paul has nothing to lose- -HE HAS EVERYTHING IN JESUS. Not even death can move him. In fact, to die is gain!

Whatever place the Apostle Paul found himself, wherever he is, it is for Jesus; it is with Jesus; it is in Jesus!

Nothing to lose and everything to gain! (v. 21) – -REJOICE!!

Paul lives his life in a moment-by-moment “win-win” situation; there are not good times and bad times- -every moment is a good moment where Christ can enter in by virtue of Paul’s real and Holy-Spiritual union with Him and be transformed- -made more like him- -and to become more and more fruitful as he progresses in his faith.

For the Apostle Paul, “to live is Christ” is THEOLOGICAL and very PRACTICAL.

THEOLOGICALLY Paul is in union with Jesus Christ.

Union with Christ:

Paul is: “Buried with Christ” (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12); “United with Christ” (Rom. 6:5); “Crucified with Christ” (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20); Alive with Christ” (Rom. 6:7); “Heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17); “Suffers with Christ” (Rom. 8:17); “Glorified with Christ” (Rom. 8:17); “Have the same form as Christ- -be like him” (Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:21); “Be conformed with Christ” in every way: life, death, and resurrection (Phil. 3:10ff).

Because of God’s grace and mercy toward sinners in Jesus Christ, we have been united to Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection; Jesus is our life! (Col. 3:1-4). So, because He is our life, we are to seek the things that are above in Him because our lives have been hid with God in Jesus!

“The central soteriological reality is union with the exalted Christ by Spirit-created faith. That is the nub, the essence, of the way or order of salvation for Paul.” -Richard B. Gaffin, By Faith, Not By Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation

PRACTICALLY (theology lived out), Paul knows that Christ is the most important person, thing, possession and reality in his life. Period. All of Paul’s “meaning of life” or what it means to live for Paul is about Christ.

Paul cannot fathom a life that is truly a life being without Jesus Christ.

 

CHRIST IS HIS LIFE.

Paul’s mind, affections, and will are filled and directed by Christ; Jesus defines Paul.

 

How about you? What or who defines you?

What brings you the greatest joy? Honestly.

What is your heart’s greatest longing?

What’s most important to you? Right now.

What is your most important goal?

What could you never live without?

What fills your daydreams and captures your imagination?

What possesses you? (We often says what “possesses that person to do that?!”)

What is your most valuable asset? What is most precious and “worthy” to you?

Does Jesus bring you the greatest joy? When you say the name JESUS does your heart beat harder within you? Do you sense his presence and think of His goodness towards you?

Can you say with the Psalmist:

ESV Psalm 16:2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

ESV Psalm 73:25-26: Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Do you believe this?

Is this obvious in your life that you believe this? How about to your family? Can your friends and neighbors see that what brings you the greatest joy is to live- -CHRIST!? As the great Robert Murray M’Cheyne encouraged Christians to live unto Jesus:

“Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh.” – Robert Murray M’Cheyne.

 

Christ Jesus is the chief end of our lives. We are to glorify and enjoy God forever. We can only do this when we live by faith with Christ Jesus as the chief end, aim, and/or hope of our lives.

Whatever your confession, what you live for is what  you most “glory in” or “value” as being best– -what is most worthy of your time, money, and investment of energy.

What you value most is what you long for- -you hope for- -what your affections are set on and what you dream about.

Some live for self. “To live is Me”

Some live for pleasure. “To live is joy, happiness, peace and escape.”

Some live for money. “To live is possessing more so that I am secure.”

Some live for family. “To live is my family.”

Some live for career. “To live my career; what I do most defines me.”

Some live for ministry or for religion. “To live is my performance for God, my reputations of what I am doing in my service.”

What do you ultimately prize?

Could what is most important to you ever be taken away?

Where is your hope?

What do you spend most of your time pursuing?

What do you spend your quite moments daydreaming about?

What do you long for?

Where do you “put” your money?

What you value most will be what you glory in, ‘LIVE FOR’, and from that (or those things) you will derive your joy, hope, peace, happiness, etc.

But if what you live for is not Christ, it will never fully satisfy, and you will constantly be threatened that you will lose it.

How do you know if you are functionally living for something or someone other than Christ?

You lose your joy when it is threatened, or you lose it momentarily or permanently.

 

For Paul, and for all believers, if Christ our life, our all, then we have nothing EVER to worry about losing! That which is most worthy, glorious and valuable to us is JESUS and we cannot lose Him.

And whatever loss we are going through, whatever affliction, whatever the trying circumstance, with Jesus, in union with Jesus, we can rejoice even more knowing this truth- -HE IS WITH US- -AND WHILE OTHERS LOSE EVERYTHING, WE CAN ONLY GAIN MORE OF HIM ‘IN IT’!!

No true joy is possible UNLESS JESUS CHRIST is everything (as the hymn we sing reminds us):

“When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride…

…Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God: all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood…

…Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Jesus Christ must be our life! Jesus must be dearer to us than our richest gain; Jesus Christ must be more dear to us than our jobs, our careers, our families, friends, reputations, finances, homes…

If we have this, we can lose NO thing- -nothing.

If we have Jesus as our life, we can lose nothing; if we have not Jesus as our life we will lose everything.

This will bring us true joy. But we must understand that joy is not happiness, it is a much richer and deeper soul-satisfying gladness that comes from our union with Jesus Christ!

Joy is a God-given grace in response to our need for communion and fellowship with him; it is NOT mere happiness that changes with circumstances.

Joy cannot be bought; it can never be taken away.

Joy is found in the Person of Jesus Christ; Joy in many ways is a Person.

Joy is found in seeking Christ—knowing Christ. My prayer for our congregation here at KCPC is often from Ephesians 3:19:

“…And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

 

“TO LIVE IS CHRIST”

This is to say: CHRIST IS THE CHIEF END OF OUR LIVES.

 

To say this is to say:

“Christ is my hope.”

Christ is my greatest treasure and pleasure.”

Christ is my greatest friend.”

Christ is my end, my goal.

Christ Jesus is the one thing, the one person I can never lose; Christ is my richest gain- -and I can never lose him. He is with me always…I will never leave you nor forsake you!

 

This is what is meant by TO LIVE IS CHRIST.

 Let CHRIST be THE CHIEF END OF YOUR LIFE.

If you’re a believer, the Lord is your portion; he is your possession; he is all you need and will ever need and you have him now.

Let us rejoice! There is JOY in Christ!

“Can you be sad when you have all possible treasures in Christ laid up in heavenly places for ever and ever? O vain man! Show me your faith by your joy. If you say you have faith and live a life of sadness, I will not believe you. Use your faith and increase your joy.” – Samuel Ward

Here is the believers’ hope- -let us all confess this to one another as often as we have the opportunity!

ESV Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

In God’s presence there is fullness of joy!

At God’s right hand is the Glorified, Enthroned Savior and Lord of All! There in Him, we will find all the pleasures we have ever desired or wanted- -or knew we could want!

Christ has given His life for us and shed His blood for our salvation, how could we not give ourselves wholly unto Him?

How could we as believers NOT see Jesus as the very life-power of our day to day pursuits?

How could we as believers NOT have what is most important to God most important to us!

How could we as believers NOT make Christ’s goals our goals; Christ life our life; Christ’s beauty our beauty?

Let us as a congregation at KCPC to learn to pray for one another for the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to fill us and that we might be overflowing with God’s joy and hope in Him!  Let us pray to know Christ better- -his love, his work for us, his priestly intercession, his sufferings for and with us- -and to know Christ more intimately, closely, adoringly, affectionately. Let us at KCPC come to Christ more and by your grace, O Father, let us leave with more of Christ. Grant that we might be a congregation characterized by “TO LIVE IS CHRIST.” For Christ’s sake and His glory alone! Amen.

 

In Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Biggs

Your Mission Today

Word of Encouragement

 

Dear Beloved Congregation in Jesus,

 

Here is your mission for today, and as you prepare for worship tomorrow:

 

ESV Hebrews 10:23-25: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

 

  • Remember God’s promises and faithfulness to you and your family. Think of five specific ways you see the mercy of God in your past; now in your present (the fact that you breathe is one mercy if you’re having trouble, although I think you will not!).

 

  • In light of God’s promises and faithfulness, hold fast your confession of hope, and do not waver. Lift up your eyes and see your loving Savior who is calling you to find the mercy and grace that you need at the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16).

 

  • In light of God’s promises and faithfulness to you in Jesus, consider, that is think seriously about how to stir up one another to love and good works. Plot in your mind how you could be a blessing today to another in our congregation. Think, consider, plot, plan how you can stir another up to love and good works, because by nature, and through difficulties we are typically self-centered, and when tried by circumstances we grow weary and our the flame of our zeal for God is doused by the water of the wicked one. Stir up, like with a fire, stir up the flame through seeking to bless others, praying for the power of the Spirit.

 

  • And meet together for worship and service! Pray and prepare for worship tomorrow with high expectations of what God can do by His Spirit (Zech. 4:6), and encourage one another to persevere and be fruitful. Plan how you’re going to do this today and tomorrow.

 

  • The Day is approaching; time is very short. Much time has already been lost by worldliness, slothfulness and spiritual sleepiness. The world is passing away with all of the desires (1 John 2:17), let us do the will of God for we will endure and abide forever! Let us continue to seek Him, and ask Jesus never to let us again slumber and grow careless in light of His coming (Matt. 25). Let us encourage one another to serve Jesus with our whole hearts and beings, knowing that the time is short (Eph. 5:15; Romans 13:11-13).

 

  • We are easily discouraged, but let us endure because of Christ’s grace to us and His promises and faithfulness to be our God! Let us remember: Do not grow weary in doing good, for you will reap a harvest if you don’t give up! (Gal. 6:9).

 

In Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Charles

“What the Spirit Says…Perseverance and Purity”

Word of Encouragement- The Church of Thyatira: “Perseverance and Purity”

 

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”- Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22

 

“…We make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God…”- 2 Corinthians 5:9b-11a

 

Dear Beloved of the LORD at KCPC: I am writing short messages on the seven churches for our Word of Encouragement so that we might better assess where we are spiritually as a congregation, show us areas that need to be realigned with God’s Word, and how we might more effectively and sincerely make it our aim to please the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

If you would like to read the introduction to this short series, you may read here: Word of Encouragement

 

What are our strengths and weaknesses as a congregation? How can we ask God to better search and know us corporately? How are we doing at KCPC as a visible manifestation of Christ’s Kingdom on earth? Are we loving God and others as we did when we were first saved and gathered as Christ’s flock?

 

We will focus today on Jesus’ message to the Church at Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29):

ESV Revelation 2:18-29: “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

 

As we learned in our introduction to this series, it is important to remind ourselves that these seven congregations of the Revelation were real historical churches at the time that John the Apostle wrote his Revelation of Jesus Christ.  However, we want to understand that they are also symbolic of the entire church age between Jesus’ first and second coming.

 

This means that what Jesus says to the churches, we need to consider soberly for ourselves.  Jesus is still speaking to us (Hebrews 12:25).  Jesus is particularly speaking to His people in these letters as a corporate body and congregation of confessional Christians, and not merely as individuals. This is why it is good to use these letters to be assessed by Christ as we seek to grow in him as a body.

 

Dear Ketoctin Covenant Presbyterian Church…Dear Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, in Purcellville, Virginia: We are called as Christ’s bride to PERSEVERANCE AND PURITY.

 

“Dear Thyatira”: Jesus’ primary message to the congregation at Thyatira is: Congregations who profess the Name of Christ cannot tolerate heresy and false teaching of any kind lest the entire body be contaminated. Thyatira was a faithful congregation and growing in grace (2:19), but were being tempted to compromise and tolerate sin. Christ Jesus commends the congregation to persevere in good works, and to purify the heresy and sinfulness from within.

 

How is Christ revealed as the Lord of Glory to this church? The Risen-Ascended Jesus is described as “The words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze” (2:18; cf. 1:14-15). Jesus is being revealed here to Thyatira in the way that the Prophet Daniel saw in a vision:

 

ESV Daniel 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.

 

Jesus’ eyes like a “flame of fire” or “flaming torches” shows forth the purity by which Christ sees all things.  With pure eyes Christ sees clearly the human heart and condition before him at all times (John 2:24-25). Jesus is the gracious, yet pure Searcher of our hearts.

 

Jesus is He who searches mind and heart. “…I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve” (2:23).

 

ESV Jeremiah 17:9-10: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind,to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

 

What does Jesus see in our hearts when we gather for worship at KCPC? Do we seek to constantly self-evaluate our own hearts in light of His pure gaze and holy vision? What does Christ see in our hearts (in ‘my’ heart; it so much easier trying to judge others’ hearts, isn’t it?)? It is important to consider constantly our hearts before God, trusting in Christ’s righteousness alone to save, and his shed blood to cleanse us from sinfulness.

 

Do we seek to confess our sins to Him knowing He will forgive us and cleanse us and make us pure? (1 John 1:8ff; 3:1-3). We are taught to purify ourselves as He is pure because we have been made the children of God by grace.

 

What do the feet of bronze symbolize? This instructs us that we can be secure in Jesus’ presence because He is All-Powerful.   All power is under Jesus’ feet and all kingdoms and peoples who oppose him will one day be destroyed. Jesus is not only All-Pure, but All-Powerful and in this we can hope and trust. We have one who can see our hearts and the needs of our hearts, and one who is All-Powerful and able to change us by His grace, through His Spirit and word.

 

Jesus says: “I know your works…” (2:19a). Our works for Christ reveal what is truly in our hearts, both good things and bad things.  Our works are not meritorious, but they reveal our true condition before God.  What comes out, must be in (cf. Matt. 15:18-20).

It is important to note particularly in the Book of Revelation that the Book is written to the saints who profess faith in Christ alone for salvation, and that it often speaks of our works as how we will be judged. This is not to say that salvation is by works because Revelation is written to recipients of God’s grace found in Christ alone. But it is to say that our works show that we are truly those who are believers (see Revelation Rev. 2:2; 2:5-6; 3:1-2; 3:15; 9:20; 18:6; 19:8).

 

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”– Revelation 14:13

“Our deeds follow us” (cf. Rev. 2:23). This means that it is vitally important to remember that Christ is the one who has pure eyes of fire and sees our hearts, and to seek Him for grace now for our needs, so that we can produce the works and deeds from pure hearts that have been strengthened by His grace!

 

What are our works like at KCPC? At Thyatira, the works were good. But there was much more that they needed to consider that was in their hearts. Jesus wants to get at some of their works and deeds that were inconsistent with their profession, and to bring them to repentance! How grace Jesus is in His ministry to His congregations!

 

The congregation at Thyatira is a congregation that had a good reputation as a Church; the congregation’s works/deeds were overall commendable, and they were persevering, but there was need of repentance.

 

Thyatira was a congregation of saints that we would think highly of today. The congregation is described as loving, have strong faith, practice service to each other, and endure patiently.  They are extremely commendable as a congregation of saints.

 

“I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that you’re growing (your latter works exceed your first)…” (2:19), they are nevertheless compromising and tolerating sin and were not honestly seeking to remove the heretical error that was deceiving and misleading some of the members.

 

This error was leading to impurity in the congregation.

 

The congregation was showing forth the love of Jesus from their hearts that had been blessed by God’s grace and love.  But they should have searched their hearts a bit more.  In their loving acts, their hearts were mixed with sinful motives.  These sinful and impure motives desired to be loving, but they are also were unfortunately tolerant of error.

 

Perhaps they believed that being loving meant one can overlook certain sins. Perhaps grace/love has been emphasized over truth (while the congregation at Ephesus emphasized truth over grace/love if you remember in our previous study).

 

How might we at KCPC be duped into thinking that grace and love overlooks sin? It is important to realize that the grace and love of God seeks to purify and never to compromise with false teaching and practices that can not only harm an individual, but can deceive an entire congregation.

 

Perhaps Thyatira thinks that to love means to overlook and tolerate sin?! While the congregation at Ephesus had sinfully emphasized truth over grace/love, Thyatira was guilty of the sin of emphasizing grace/love over truth (both must be kept in balance by Jesus who is full of both grace and truth, John 1:17).

 

Thyatira had somewhat of a liberal-minded tolerance for sin in its midst. Why?

In order to understand why the congregation was tolerating sin, and compromising the truth, we should seek to better understand the historical background of this congregation: Thyatira was a trading city that was made up of trade guilds.  A trade guild was an association of craftsmen who worked in trades such as wool workers, linen-workers, makers of garments, tanners, leather-workers, potters, those who made dye for clothing (like Lydia in Acts 16:14).

 

Each guild had a “guardian god”. If you were a business person you would also be a trade guild member. Because there was an association with each trade guild with a deity or “guardian god” then you would be required to be involved in guild festivals which included idolatrous feasting and sexual immorality.

 

If you refused these idolatrous activities there would be a loss of real money for you as a Christian.  A commitment to Christ and truth meant a loss of social standing, income, your job. This would affect the welfare of your family. One would have said: “I have to eat!” “Didn’t God call me to this trade?!” “What about the importance of my job and what would happen if I lost my job and that led to hunger, suffering, and persecution?”

 

One could not be a part of a trade guild and **NOT** sacrifice to the deity of that guild. One could not come to the festivals and leave after the feast; they were required to be involved fully in the idolatry and immorality.

 

To continue in the business or trade, one must essentially deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ because of involvement in idolatry.  However, a Christian cannot serve both God and Mammon. The temptation of Thyatira was to be considered significant in worldly power, beauty and wealth? They were being tempted to follow Christ and also hold to the important things of this world such as worldly power, beauty, wealth, and success as the world defines it.

 

If the congregation was to persevere in faithfulness, and to be pure in the sight of God, they would have to choose the Lord Christ as Lord alone, and this would be sacrificial and costly to many within the congregation. There is always a real cost that must be considered when following Jesus in this present evil world system (Luke 14:28).

 

Jesus says: “I have this against you…” (2:20a). This brings us to the problem. In what way specifically was the congregation compromising?  The congregation was tolerating a woman like Jezebel who was not only teaching compromise, but seducing the saints, the very slaves of Christ (2:20). Because they were tolerating this teaching, many in the congregation had become trapped in sexual sins and idolatry because of their trade associations.  This is never loving!

 

Jezebel is probably symbolic or a real woman prophetess or teacher who was leading the people astray.  The name and woman “Jezebel” is biblically symbolic for both idolatry and immorality (1 Kings 16:31).  In the Old Covenant, Jezebel led the Israelites into spiritual adultery and idolatry:

 

ESV 1 Kings 16:31 And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

 

The Prophetess Jezebel (or who she represented) might have said to those within the congregation, involved in the trade guilds something like this:

“If we are going to be witnesses for Jesus, shouldn’t we ‘know our enemy’ and remain in our vocations, not being afraid to go to these festivals?” Her temptation was seductive, and since she was calling herself a prophetess, her words were claimed to be coming “from God” (see Rev. 2:20, 24).

She was apparently teaching others in the congregation that if these Christians were to really engage the enemy then they would need to know the “deep things of Satan”; they would need to know their enemy:

 

ESV Revelation 2:24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan…

This compromise with the world and evil may fool some, but not Christ who “searches mind and heart” (2:23).

 

Jesus tells Thyatira that they must show love by disciplining the offenders, and ridding the church of this compromising heresy and sin against Holy Jesus (Rev. 2:21-23).  The peace and purity of the Church is being threatened.  There has been an appropriate time given for repentance where the prophetess has been given a chance to repent. Again, as before in Pergamum, we see that Jesus has already brought some kind of judgment upon this sinful, seductive teacher and plans to escalate the judgment against her and others if this is not dealt with quickly:

 

ESV Revelation 2:21-23: I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.

 

This reminds us that we can never participate in evil without becoming evil, and withouttaking part of the temporal judgment upon the evil. We must remove the evil and sin from our midst as a congregation. We must trust God and His purity and power to take care of us in whatever tempting situation we may find ourselves as a congregation and we must never compromise.

In Christ, by His grace and power, we must be loving, gracious and speak the truth against evil, false teaching and seductive sins as a congregation. We must seek to be faithful at all costs.

The Lord Jesus has shown mercy that should have led to repentance: “I gave her time to repent, but she refuses…” (2:21; 2 Peter 3:9). The searcher of minds and hearts knows why discipline has not occurred- -he has read their true motives of their hearts and minds.

 

It seems that the real reason why the Thyatira congregation has overlooked this heinous sin is due to toleration, so that the congregation may avoid unpopularity in the culture that would lead to persecution. This is probably why Jesus threatens to throw her into “great tribulation” (2:22b) reminding the congregation that He is All-Powerful with feet of bronze to rule and reign Sovereignly over His congregations.

 

Thyatira doesn’t want to be unpopular and take a stand for Christ that might lead to persecution.

 

“We wouldn’t do that today!” you might say. But how about our modern idols of power, success, wealth and money? The same sinful hearts that threatened Thyatira’s hearts, still threaten ours. We too, desire to be seen as powerful, successful, and wealthy in the eyes of the world. We rightly want to make a difference in our world, and we often think that it is unloving to speak against evil. We are quick to tolerate sin at times, and we compromise because we think sometimes (wrongfully and sinfully) that it is not loving and gracious; things have not changed a whole lot (and thus why the 7 churches of Revelation are very relevant for us to consider for ourselves).

 

Let’s stop to ponder this for a moment. How might we be tempted as a congregation to do the very same things? Here’s an example: If a famous and powerful politician or a beautiful celebrity and/or a wealthy billionaire of some repute became a member of KCPC we could be tempted in the same way to toleration.

If a politician was a member of KCPC for instance, and had given his testimony and it gave a worldly kind of legitimacy to our congregation, and there was great “success in numbers” and yet was then later caught practicing sexual sin and committing adultery against his wife, it might, it could be a temptation to toleration because we would not want to be unpopular and lose our “spotlight”. We might be tempted to make excuses.

What if the church, fearing bad publicity and detrimental media coverage because of a discipline case against this particular imaginary politician, chose to overlook the sin because we might say “Well, the person is powerful…or a beautiful celebrity…or an extremely wealthy billionaire!”

Would the church be willing to do the truth according to Jesus and discipline them formally in love and according to grace in order to keep the congregation pure? What if the congregation had grown in numbers because of this powerful politician, beautiful celebrity, and/or wealthy man had made the congregation “acceptable” in the eyes of the world (had “put the congregation on the map” as it were).

 

We must remember that God is no respecter of persons; we are to show no partiality (James 2:1-5).  We, too, can easily fall into this temptation, especially in places where idols of power, success, beauty, and wealth are acceptable and enviable by even church folks.  What would happen if we “did the right thing” and disciplined as members a former president of the United States for immorality or a famous celebrity who had recently “come out of the closet” admitting they had a strange sexual orientation?!

 

Would we love truth over tolerance- -no matter how it might affected us? Would we love truth over tolerance no matter what the consequences and persecution that might come from it?

 

Would we at KCPC do the works that Jesus had commanded us to do to uphold the congregation’s purity and holiness before God? 

Not unless we realized that Jesus Christ was our only Lord and King.  We would only do this if we were to recall that Jesus Christ is our only Lord and King and that we were to repent of our sins of loving worldly idols and cultural influence too much!

 

We must confess before Christ, our Lord and King, our desire for too much power, success, beauty and wealth. We must resist this temptation to idolatry even today: Placing the love for something other than Christ first in our lives (this is ultimately what the congregation at Thyatira was doing- -even in the midst of all their other good works!).

 

As Christians in general, and at KCPC in particular, although **now** we are perceived by the culture as weak, insignificant, sometimes poor, and often persecuted, we will reign with Christ! This is our hope! We at KCPC are to live keeping our eyes on Jesus the one whose pure eyes are kept on us! We are to seek to be like Him, and to become like He is, because He has shown mercy, love and grace to us. Our mission is not to be popular, but to be holy- -to be like Jesus!

 

Jesus promises:

ESV Revelation 2:26-28: The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.

 

Jesus is telling us to put our hope in Him alone! Let us trust in His promises because He is Pure, and All-Powerful to do what He said He would do!  When we reign with him for eternity His power, His success, His glorious beauty and wealth will be ours- -and the whole world will realize it!

 

Christ and His Church will rule eternity with a rod of iron with our King (Psa. 2:8-9). The merely worldly “earthen pots” will be broken into pieces as Psalm 2 says (an image that potters at Thyatira would have pictured from their guild). The world is passing away, let us not be tripped up by compromise to sin and devoted to a world under judgment. Rather, let us serve Christ and look forward to the reconciliation of heaven and earth, and the transforming, purifying judgment of fire that will remove all sin from this world and let us dwell with God for all eternity! (Revelation 21:1ff; 2 Peter 3:13-16).

 

If we have Christ who is the Morning Star, and the One who gives himself fully to us, what more could we desire?  We would a congregation, why would we, individually and/or corporately ever seek significance in worldly power, beauty and wealth?

 

Christ gives himself to us now- -He is our significance and the reason why we live each day.  What more could we want? What more could we ever need that we don’t already have in the Lord Jesus Christ?

 

Where are we at KCPC as a congregation apt to be tempted to tolerate sin? Even in the midst of our faithfulness as a congregation, where might we be tempted to tolerate sin without discipline?

 

Jesus say to the congregation: “Focus!”- Get focused on this particular problem. “Hold fast” –seize- take hold of- get a grip on) what you have until I come- -be not deceived by this error.  Jesus focus’ them:

“…To you I say (who has not been deceived), I do not lay on you any other burden…only hold fast…what you have until I come” (2:24b-25).

 

Jesus’ promise to the faithful: He calls His people “Conquerors” (2:26).  The true and faithful of the congregation will be manifested by continuing in God’s truth revealed in Christ (orthodoxy) with grace and love in Jesus (2:26b- “…who keeps my works until the end”).

 

At KCPC, let us live and serve to please Jesus alone. We must remember that to align ourselves with false teachers and false teaching (2:20-23) is to align oneself with the evil and heinous Beast of Revelation (read Revelation 13:11; 16:11; 19:20)- The Beast is the Counterfeit Christ or “Anti-christ”. To engage in immorality and idolatry to power, success, beauty, and/or wealth is to live as a citizen of “Babylon the Great” rather than the “New Jerusalem” (Revelation 18:4-14).

 

The purity of the church is important and although there can be truth without love (Ephesus), there is also a danger in “love” without truth, manifested in compromise, and a worldly tolerance of sin.

 

We may suffer the loss of all things: power, success, beauty, wealth, our social standing, but we can never lose Christ! At His full revelation when he returns, we will gain it all- -inherit the earth!—and we shall rule and reign with him.

 

May these devotional studies of assessment from Jesus using the letters to the seven churches of the Revelation cause us to better align ourselves with His truth, and encourage us all to make it our aim to please Jesus who died for us while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:6-8).

 

May we live daily as a congregation before the face of Christ and so before the Judgment Seat of Christ. When we all arrive at our destination and we stand as the congregation KCPC before Christ’s Judgment, may these short devotions have better prepared us, so that we can stand confident and encouraged in the Lord Jesus’ presence.

 

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”- Jesus Christ

 

In Jesus’ love,

 

Pastor Charles

 

11/02/11