1 Samuel 2:23-25
23 And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.
The prophet Eli had two sons, two very wicked young men. They refused to follow the Lord. They corrupted the worship of God, and they abused the authority that they had been given by God.
When Eli, their father, warned the young men to stop their evil practices, they refused. What fascinates me, however, is the fact that the Lord is still very much in control. Look at the verse again. The two men refused to listen to their father. Why? Verse 25 says, “But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.” Even when the young men rebelled, and did so freely based on their own evil desires, Gods’ will was still accomplished.
Christians, we want to always give God proper glory for all that the Lord does. This is a big deal, as God has set up his name as the most important thing in all the universe. Part of us doing this rightly is for us to recognize that God is sovereign over all things. Even here, when the young men, by their free will, chose to dishonor the Lord, God’s will was done. Our God is above and beyond us. He is able to accomplish all he desires. He deserves great praise, even when he works in ways that we cannot explain.
Fellowship with Jesus (John 21:9-14)
John 21:9-14
9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
After Jesus’ resurrection, he meets his disciples on a beach early one morning. The disciples had spent all night fishing with no success, but then experienced a miracle as Jesus helped them to haul in 153 fish. Once the disciples understood that it was Jesus standing on the shore, they joined Jesus by the campfire for breakfast.
The disciples all know that, though it seems impossible, they are having a morning meal with the risen Lord Jesus. Though life has been hard, and the last few weeks have totally stretched these men to their emotional limits, for this moment on this morning, everything seems right.
What a privilege these disciples had. They shared a meal with the risen Lord Jesus, back from the dead. And, as they had come to realize, they were not merely eating with a man. They were eating with the man who was God. They were sharing a meal with their Creator, their Lord, their Master, their Teacher, their Savior.
What would you give for the opportunity to share in that meal? What would you give for the chance to sit down around the fire with the Lord Himself and simply be in his presence? How glorious would that be?
You know what? You have that chance. Jesus has promised his followers that he would be with us always. He also commanded his followers to celebrate him in a meal. IN the Lord’s Supper, we remember Jesus and what he has done for us. We remember his body and blood as we take of the bread and the wine. As we eat, we remember, and we look forward to the day when we join him, face-to-face, in his kingdom forever. And as we eat, we are in his presence. His Spirit is present, and we are with him as truly as his disciples were with him on that beach in Galilee.
Christians, it is a joy to be in Jesus’ presence. Peter leapt overboard out of his eagerness to be in Jesus’ presence. He could not wait to be with his Lord. Is your life marked with that kind of desire? Do you rush to the Savior every chance you get? Do you pray in such a way, with such eagerness, that it truly shows that you want to be in the Lord’s presence? Do you run to God’s word with hunger, longing to hear the voice of your Lord? Do you come to worship with anticipation, knowing that the Lord’s Spirit will be among his people? Do you look forward to Sundays when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper as special days in which we enter in a unique way into the company of Jesus?
I urge you, Christians, learn to long for the presence of Jesus. Treasure the time that we spend with him. Do not act as though it is nothing special. It is a privilege that God gives us to worship him, to read his word, to pray to him, to receive the Lord’s Supper.
Perhaps you should ask yourself right now what things stand between you and enjoying the presence of God. Ask God to show you what keeps you from loving him and enjoying him as you ought. Turn from that stuff, and run to Jesus. HE will receive you and fellowship with you if you will come to him eagerly, humbly. But you can only come if you have received his grace. So, cry out to Jesus for forgiveness, turn from your sin, and run to Jesus, loving to be with your Lord.
The Centrality of the Cross (John 12:31-33)
John 12:31-33
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
In verse 33, John fills us in on what Jesus meant by the phrase “lifted up.” Jesus was telling the crowd around him that he would die by being “Lifted up,” crucified. And everything that he says he will here accomplish hinges on the fact that Jesus, God the Son, the perfect and sinless one, would willingly allow himself to be crucified.
What would happen at Jesus’ crucifixion? First, the crucifixion will seal the judgment of the world. There are men who will look at the cross of Christ and will refuse to believe that it means anything. For those who see Jesus’ death as nothing more than a sad historical event, they will be judged by God. They will seal their own doom, as they reject the one and only way that they can be made right with God.
Second, Jesus says that the ruler of this world is cast out. This is a reference to Satan who, though never in a position of power over God, has control and influence over the lives of so many. Though Satan might have believed himself victorious at the death of the Son of God, in truth, his power was forever broken by the shed blood of Jesus. In Zechariah 3 and Revelation 12, Satan is shown to be our accuser before God. However, when Jesus died, he paid the price then and there for the sins of God’s children, and thus Satan lost any chance of accusing us. Simply put, the cross defeated Satan, and we now only await his final destruction. He may cause problems, even havoc, but he cannot win.
Third, Jesus said that, at the cross when he is lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. We must understand “all men” in a similar line of thought as the word “world” was used in verse 19. Jesus will bring to himself people from every nation, from every tribe, from every ethnicity, because God has a global vision. Jesus’ death purchased the forgiveness of people both Jew and Greek, Israel and gentile, rich and poor, young and old, male and female. And Jesus, starting at the cross, will bring all those he died to save to himself, making himself the author and finisher, the founder and perfecter, of our faith as Hebrews 12:2 says.
And for you and me, as we look at this passage, we must see that the cross is absolutely central to everything in our lives. IF we reject the cross, we are judged by God and accused by Satan. If we put our trust in the Lord Jesus and his atoning work on the cross, we are set free from judgment, we are rescued from God’s wrath against us, and Satan’s accusations against us have no meaning. Never for a moment belittle the cross as something old, something simply historical, or something irrelevant. Instead, see that the sacrifice of Jesus is the most important thing that has ever happened.
Tempted and Tried – A Review
Russell D. Moore. Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011. 208 pp. $10.00.
Is it normal for Christians to face temptation? Of course it is. Jesus went through the trials in the wilderness. We, if we follow in his footsteps, will also face similar battles. Russell Moore opens the Bible with his readers and helps us to understand the trials we face in Tempted and Tried, his latest book.
Positives
Early in the book, readers will discover that the author is a very real person who has experienced very real, very down-to-earth temptations. Unlike the many authors who remain aloof from the reader, Moore gets right into his reader’s living rooms. He shares our experiences. He does not pretend to be better than us. Moore simply tells the truth with the Scripture, with his own life stories, and with extremely well-chosen illustrations.
As Moore looks at the episodes of Christ’s desert temptations, he sees a pattern of how the devil attacks Christians today. Whether we are tempted to doubt God’s love for us, his provision for us, his understanding of our desires, his plan for our future, or whatever doubts might enter our minds in myriad forms, those temptations were all present in the tactics of the enemy that Christ faced. Moore does well to bring Jesus’ first century temptations into our twenty-first century lives.
The focus of this book, regardless of the temptation faced, is the gospel of Christ. Moore does not make this little book a how-to or accountability-group manual. Instead, the author takes his readers to the cross. It is when we understand what Jesus accomplished on our behalf and what the gospel is all about that we will better face down our temptations.
A final positive I will mention about this book, though there are many, is that this is a Crossway book. I love the fact that, when I got this book, I also had a free PDF copy available to me for use on my computer or another electronic reading device. Simply put, I love what Crossway is doing.
Negatives
The biggest negative that I have toward this book has to do with its structure. Call me particular, but I just do not like reading thirty-page chapters. I would rather have seen this book broken down into shorter chapters that kept the flow of thought more simple.
I will also add that this book is very real in speaking of sin. Moore never crosses any line into impropriety, but he is honest about the ways in which temptations can manifest themselves in the lives of real people living in a real, fallen world. Readers need to be aware that Moore is not going to pull punches or pretend that the worst temptation we face is to have a second slice of pie at the church social.
Conclusion
Russell Moore has given us a sweet little book in Tempted and Tried. We all have temptations. Moore has helped to show us what those temptations are like and how Christ, who has identified himself with us through his suffering, is familiar with the kinds of struggles we face. Pastors, small groups, Sunday School classes, and individuals will benefit by reading this work.
God’s Global Vision (John 12:19-23)
John 12:19-23
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Just before this text, we saw Jesus entering Jerusalem, riding on a colt. We saw that the crowds acclaimed Jesus the King of Israel. We also saw the Pharisees bristle with jealousy, and plan to have him killed as soon as possible.
Looking at verse 19, we see that the reason that the Pharisees want Jesus dead is because the “world” has gone after him. This is a significant word, “world,” and it has great importance for our understanding of the next several verses. By “world,” did the Pharisees mean that every living individual in the whole world, on the whole planet earth, was now following Jesus? Obviously not. The Pharisees were obviously not personally following him. Nor were the great multitudes of the world who had never heard of Jesus following Jesus at this time. So, clearly, the word “world” here can not mean that the Pharisees believe that every individual was following Jesus. Nor is it enough to say that they simply meant a large crowd.
What happens next in the passage sheds light on what the Pharisees meant by the word “world” and why it matters. Verse 20 tells us that some Greeks were in the city, and they asked to see Jesus. Phillip and Andrew get together, and they decide to go ask Jesus if he wants to meet these people.
Now, realize that Greeks was a very specific designation. This is not to say that these were men from Grease, but for sure, they were gentiles. Throughout his ministry, Jesus has focused very intentionally on Jews and occasionally Samaritans. But now, we see true foreigners, true gentiles, interested in Jesus. These men are people who had no connection by birth to the nation of Israel or to God’s covenant promises.
And look at what Jesus says in response. We see nothing in verse 23 that tells us whether or not he will meet with the Greeks. All we see for sure is that something has changed. Jesus declares that his hour has come. What brought about that statement? Greeks were asking to see him. Why does this fact communicate to Jesus? We can only guess.
I think the best guess here is to recognize that the Pharisees say that the world is after Jesus, and now the gentiles come to ask about him. What the Pharisees had to mean is that they have recognized that more than just Israelites, people from all over the world, from all ethnicities have started after Jesus. Even the gentiles are curious about him now. And this fact somehow brings about Jesus announcing that it is now time, his ministry is now coming to its fulfillment, his glory is about to be revealed, his purpose is about to be accomplished.
And as we watch this simple event unfold, we have to stop and realize something for ourselves. God’s plan for Jesus has always involved the whole world. God has never intended that Jesus would be a savior for Jews only. God never intended that Jesus be a savior for white Americans only. God never intended that Jesus be a savior for the middle and upper classes only. God sent Jesus to be the savior for people from every nation, every language, every tribe, every culture, every social class, every education level, every part of the whole world. God’s plan for Jesus is global, and if we are to follow Jesus and honor him, we need to learn to think on a global scale.
So, Christians, we need to catch God’s global vision. Ask yourself today, what am I doing to see to it that God’s kingdom is being built among all the peoples of the earth? How am I helping to spread the gospel to the far reaches of the earth and to the near reaches of my town? How can I pray more globally? How can I care more globally? How can I give globally? How can I go and share the gospel with someone from another people group? Christians, pray that God will set your mind up to be like his, thinking that success in the church must include the sharing of the gospel with people all over the world.
I Am Crucified (Galatians 2:20)
Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Often I find myself struck by the beauty and glory of what God did through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. This thought came to me last night while reading through Russell Moore’s new book, Tempted and Tried. As Dr. Moore described his own struggles with temptation and sometimes failure, he made mention of the fact that God already punished his sin. This is not to say that God had done something to Dr. Moore for his failure like causing his car to be scratched or him to get sick. No, It was far worse than that. God had taken the sinful Dr. Moore, just like he has taken me as the sinner, and crucified him. God hung us on a Roman cross and poured out on us his full wrath, a full eternity’s worth of hell, for our sin against him.
Hey, wait a minute Travis, you are not 2,000 years old. You did not live during the Roman empire. You most certainly were not crucified. That’s Jesus you’re talking about.
Yes, I know. And I’ve still told the truth. Paul was able to say, “I have been crucified with Christ.” He also said God Made Jesus to be sin for us. The astonishing exchange that Jesus willingly went through on the cross is utterly amazing.
If you could look at my legal record before the God of the universe, you would see that God has marked my account as fully righteous. This is not because I have always been good or that I am good now; rather, it is because God has made the great exchange between me and Jesus. God counts my sin as fully punished, the penalty fully paid, because of the fact that he poured out an infinite amount of wrath on Jesus, the infinite wrath that each of my sins deserved. God, in a very real sense, counts it as if he punished me on that cross.
Not only did God do the exchange that way, he also made one more radical exchange. He made Jesus be sin for me so that in Jesus, I might be granted God’s own righteousness. Jesus willingly gives me his perfection. God’s books show that I have, credited to my account, the perfection of Christ.
Christians, never tire of thinking about the cross. Never tire of looking deep into the gospel. Never tire of thinking how Jesus was punished in your place, as your sacrificial substitute. Never stop marveling at the fact that God imputes Christ’s righteousness to your account, calling you righteous even though you have never been righteous on your own. Never stop praising God for the miracle of mercy that is the cross of Christ.
Sweet Sovereignty (Judges 5:1-2)
Judges 5:1-2
1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:
2 “That the leaders took the lead in Israel,
that the people offered themselves willingly,
bless the Lord!
Here we see the beginning of Deborah’s song in praise of God after a particular triumph. Notice how, in this song of praise, we see a sweet affirmation of God’s sovereignty over man’s freedom.
Deborah sings, in verse 2, three lines of Hebrew poetry. The first two lines tell us that the people did what they were supposed to do. The leaders led. The soldiers willingly answered the call. One would think, then, that the gratitude should be for the brave men who did what they were supposed to do. But the third line says, “bless the Lord.”
Why bless God for the actions of free men? Why give God the praise for what individuals chose to do? The only way that this make sense is if those men, while acting freely, were led by the supreme freedom and power of God.
Christians, this passage should give us great joy. God is God. He is the Sovereign One. He has the ability to move free men in such a way that they will work to accomplish his will. We have the comfort of knowing that God can and will answer our prayers, save souls, accomplish his plan, sanctify his church, etc. because he has the ability to change the hearts of free men so that they will freely act in a way that is to his glory.
Our Plan is Not Better Than God’s (Joshua 23:6-8)
Joshua 23:6-8
6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.
With the most recent Christian media frenzy over Rob Bell’s latest book, we are reminded that, for centuries, people have attempted to mingle the worship of the one true and living God with the worship of other things. It is by no means new to see the people of God try to say that it is legitimate to worship other deities so long as one does so sincerely.
But notice God’s challenge to his people through Joshua. There is no room in the words above to allow people to worship false gods, even sincerely, and to end up pleasing the one true and living God. No, God commanded his people to destroy those false gods. God commanded his people never to even consider bowing down to other deities. How can God do this? Is God closed-minded? Of course he is. God knows that there is one and only one God. God commands his people to worship him only. And God knows that he will judge severely those who refuse to follow him.
Christians, while it may make us feel open-minded and tolerant to say that people who worship other gods will all end up in heaven in the end, this is not the testimony of the Bible. Making it clearer, this is not the testimony of God. If it were true that multiple roads, multiple names, lead to heaven, God would never have commanded his people to destroy even the remnants of Canaanite religion. But God did command this violent destruction. Why? Because those who refuse to bow to the true God are destined for violent and eternal judgment. Let us never, even for a moment, consider that we have a better plan than God’s. Let us never pretend that we are better than God by being more open-minded than the Scriptures. Instead, let us love and serve the God of the bible, a holy and jealous God.
The Prayer of the Lord – A Review
R. C. Sproul. The Prayer of the Lord. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust, 2009. 130 pp. $9.99.
Prayer is one of those topics that Christians simply cannot ignore. We need to pray. We need to know how to pray in such a way that God will be honored. We need a model for prayer that will help us to cover important categories well. Jesus knows this, which is why he gave his disciples a model prayer to pray. R. C. Sproul also sees the importance of the model prayer, and chose to write a nice little book on the topic.
Positives
The Prayer of the Lord is short, helpful, and readable. Unlike some works out there, this book is not so scholarly as to be indecipherable. Nor does Sproul dive off into the mystical. He does not flood the reader with tons of “I prayed this and God did that” stories. There is no hyped-up emotionalism in this book. Sproul has given us a simple and solid look at Jesus’ model for our prayer lives, and readers should be grateful.
Sproul’s work looks at the model prayer, rightfully, as a model. He demonstrates for the reader that repeated use of this model will make thorough prayer second-nature for the believer. Sproul writes, “That’s the benefit of praying a prayer like the Lord’s Prayer over and over again. It becomes part of the fabric of our thinking. It begins to become a part of our souls, so that we fall back on it when we’re at a loss as to how we ought to pray. We can always pray the Lord’s Prayer” (12).
In Sproul’s addressing of the petition, “Hallowed be your name,” he points out the absolute necessity that God’s name be seen as holy. For many, the concept that this phrase of the prayer is a petition instead of a praise will be fascinating enough. However, Sproul’s grasping of the centrality of this request is what is so beautiful. Sproul tells us, “I’m convinced that although we pray for the manifestation and the victory of the kingdom of God, it is futile to hope for the victory of God’s kingdom on this planet until or unless the name of God is regarded as sacred, because God’s kingdom does not come to people who have no respect for Him” (33). He adds, “A lack of regard for His name reveals more clearly than anything else a lack of regard for Him” (36).
At risk of belaboring too many of Sproul’s specific points, his expression of gratitude for God’s forgiveness from the “forgive us our debts” petition is lovely to read. The author tells his readers that forgiveness is something for which we should all be overwhelmingly grateful. He writes, “There is no greater state than to get up from your knees knowing that in God’s sight you are clean, that He has forgiven every sin you’ve ever committed. Without that grace, without that forgiveness, I don’t think I could live in this world for another sixty seconds. This is something we all desperately need, and we have but to ask for it” (85).
Perhaps praying this petition will help us to see exactly how wonderful is the grace of our God.
Negatives
While Sproul’s work is very helpful, a few negatives may catch one’s attention. In his discussion of the petition “deliver us from the evil one,” the author uses Job as an example. In this example, Sproul speaks of Job as having “aced” his test. Yet, in this description of Job, Sproul does not point out the grumbling of Job or Job’s need for repentance. Later in the Q and A chapter, Sproul does say, referring to Job, “He was severely rebuked for the attitude that he expressed to God” (108). This does not sound like a man who aced his test. While this point is not major, and certainly is not germane to the topic of prayer in general, it comes off a little sloppy.
It also might have been more helpful for Sproul to do a little more thorough handling of the final line of the prayer from a text-critical standpoint. Sproul criticized commentators for basically ignoring this line. He even pointed out that there is a text-critical problem. However, Sproul did not make a very thorough argument as to why he believes this text to be original to the prayer. Obviously, this book is short and not intended to address such deep issues, but the slight treatment that this line gets is unsatisfactory. Perhaps putting the text-critical work in a second appendix would have been helpful.
Conclusion and Recommendation
My problems with this work are tiny, and the helpful points of this book are many. Christians need to know how to use the model prayer in their daily lives. Too many evangelicals have ignored the Lord’s prayer as a source of great guidance for daily prayer. Sproul’s book is a very helpful call for Christians to use this model for their own growth. I happily recommend it.
The brevity and ease of reading that one finds in this book would make it very useful for a small group or one-on-one discipleship study. People will be able to read this work. The short chapters will appeal to those who do not want to spend too much time reading. The learning of the model will help any believer to further his or her prayer life.
** Disclaimer: Reformation Trust gave me a free PDF copy of this book for review purposes and will give me a free copy of the work when this review is published. The publisher in no way influenced my review of this work, only asking that the review be thoughtful and substantive. **
Joshua and God’s Faithfulness (Joshua 21:45)
Joshua 21:45
Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
When we read through the book of Joshua, it is sometimes easy for us to mentally check out. In my own reading for today, the word “pasturelands” occurred 45 times. That is a lot of pastures. And as a 21st century pastor, I’m not really interested in pastures.
But there is more to this text than simply borders, boundaries, cities, and pastures. Joshua’s second half is about the faithfulness of God. God promised Abraham that he would give a land to his descendants. Then, after hundreds of years, after slavery in Egypt, after wilderness wanderings, and after unbelievable battles, God kept his promise. God did exactly what he said he would do.
Does this passage about pastures and borders matter to us today? Of course it does. This passage reminds us that God always, absolutely always, keeps his promises. He never lets his people down. God never goes back on his word.
Pastor Travis Peterson 