Category: devotional

A Model of Thanksgiving (3/3)

pastortravislv

And here is the conclusion of Sunday’s message. I hope that it encourages you as you get ready for Thanksgiving.

A model of Thanksgiving
Olney Southern Baptist Church
Sunday Morning, November 23, 2008
Speaker: Travis Peterson
Text: 2 Chronicles 7:1-10

Point 5: Celebrate to show your thankfulness.
2 Chronicles 7:8-9

8 At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days.

The dedication of the temple connected with a time of feasting in Israel and amounted to a fifteen-day celebration. It lasted from the eighth to the twenty-second day of the month. In this celebration, the dedication of the temple, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Booths all took place.

This time would have been an amazing time to be present. The people likely would have been fed by the meat from the sacrifices. The fat of the animals would have been burned, but there would have been remaining meat that the people could eat together. In sharing in that meat, the people may have felt honored as the guests of a king would have felt honored to share in his banquet.

One thing that we in our own culture do have figured out is that we often eat together to celebrate. This has been a practice since the earliest days of mankind, and it continues. There is something special about gathering together with people around a common purpose, a common joy, and a common table. There is something special in sitting down together to share in a meal of celebration and to do so while giving thanks to God for what he has done.

As the people dedicated the temple, they feasted and celebrated together for15 days. For a full half month, the people set aside their outside concerns and got together with the purpose of enjoying the kindness of the Lord. This is something we could do well to learn to model. While we will not plan any major 15 day celebrations anytime soon, we do have a day coming up in which we will celebrate. Let us learn to celebrate and to celebrate well. Let us eat together and remember how God has blessed us. Let us share what God has given us with others so as to spread around the blessing. When you share your Thanksgiving meal this year, be sure that it really is a meal of giving thanks to the Lord for how he has shared his bounty with you. Even if you are going through hard times, God still has blessed you far beyond anything you could ever imagine.

Point 6: Live your life with joy after giving thanks.
2 Chronicles 7:10

On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

And here is the conclusion of the scene. Solomon sent the people home. They didn’t stay at the party. Instead, they went back to their normal lives, but they went back thankful. The holiday enabled the people to remember and celebrate God’s goodness. That remembering and celebration strengthened the people as they went back to their daily lives.

And this week, after the celebration and after the focus on God’s kindness and provision, you will return to your normal life. The troubles of life and the struggles you face will still be there with you. But, the day of celebration, if you will take it, will be a day that will help you to have a stronger sense of thankfulness and commitment to our Lord.

So, Christians, seek the glory of God. Worship him when you see that glory. Obey him with extravagance. Sing his praise. Celebrate his goodness. And then go and live a life of thanksgiving to the Lord all year long.

And if you do not yet know God through Jesus Christ, let me offer you a reason to be thankful. You are in grave danger before God, but God offers you the way out. He has sent his Son to be the sacrifice for all the sins of all who will put their trust in him. If you will come to Jesus in faith and turn away from your former life of sin, God will forgive you of your sin and will make you his child, a part of his family. This will give you the greatest cause for giving thanks you have ever imagined. So I invite you to come to know the Lord and to begin for yourself a life of true joy and thanksgiving.

A Model of Thanksgiving (Part 2)

pastortravislv

The following is the second of three installments of a message that I preached on giving thanks. Scroll down if you would like to read part 1.

A model of Thanksgiving
Olney Southern Baptist Church
Sunday Morning, November 23, 2008
Speaker: Travis Peterson
Text: 2 Chronicles 7:1-10

Point 3: Practice extravagant obedience to show your thankfulness.
2 Chronicles 4-5, 7

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. . . 7 And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

Offerings were not unusual to the people of Israel. Throughout their wilderness wanderings and their initial years in the land, the people of Israel already knew of the different kinds of sacrifices and offerings that God required. So when we see offerings being made by Solomon and those under his leadership, what we see is the people of God responding to the revelation of God with obedience to God.

But the obedience that you see here is not some sort of drudgery. There is no sense of an unpleasant duty that nobody really wanted to perform. There is a clear delight that Solomon and the people have in obeying God. How do we know that? We know that there is delight here because the obedience is so extravagant, so rich, so giving.

“King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep” (v5a). This was not your average, everyday, ordinary sacrifice. This is sacrifice to the max. This is Solomon thinking, not how little can I give to God, but how much can I offer. What can I give that will really show the world that God is important to me. It is Solomon saying, “I want to obey God so much that everybody around me will grasp that God is super significant.”

These people went so far in their sacrificing that they had to set aside extra room in order to be able to accommodate the offerings. Solomon ordered so many animals sacrificed as a gift to God that there was no way that they could all be sacrificed on the one altar. This was a big-time offering that the king made.

And let’s be sure that we do not miss the point. Every day, you are supposed to obey God. How will you do it? Specifically, how will you obey God as this Thanksgiving holiday approaches? Will you begrudgingly drag yourself out of bed and read a couple of verses so that you can say you did your duty? That doesn’t really honor God. Will you give your offering in such a way that your face will show that you really wish you could keep that money for something else? That doesn’t honor God. No, what honors God is when we obey him, but not just a little bit. It honors God when we obey him extravagantly.

Right now, think of something you know that you are supposed to be doing in obedience to God: giving thanks, sharing Jesus, loving your spouse, studying his word, singing his praises, giving to support ministry, praying, forgiving others, etc. Plan to obey God, but not just a little bit. If you glimpse God’s glory and remember his greatness, you will want to obey him more than just a little. How can you obey with extravagance? Pray and ask God, “Lord, help me to do what I should, but to do it with joy and to do it to the extreme.” Obey with extravagance as part of giving thanks.

Point 4: Sing to the Lord as an act of thanksgiving.
2 Chronicles 7:6

The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry; opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.

It is not only that Israel obeyed God and made sacrifices to show their thankfulness to God. They also did something that God has commanded time after time after time. They sang. They played instruments. They listened to one another. They made music for the glory of God.

Psalm 33:1-3

1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

Ephesians 5:17-21

17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

I think I can say with total confidence that God wants us to be a thankful, singing people. We are to sing new songs and old songs. We are to sing with instruments and all kinds of music. We are to sing with joy. Honestly, we need to do a better job at this. We need to do a better job of rejoicing with one another and singing the praises of god. We need to learn to love singing new songs and old songs, fast songs and slow songs, hymns and worship songs, piano songs and guitar songs and all sorts of songs that declare the truth of the glory of our God.

When the people sang of God, they said, “for his steadfast love endures forever.” They sang songs of thanks to God for his kindness, for his love, for his character, for his faithfulness, for his saving grace and covenant-keeping love. When you get a glimpse of God’s glory and when you remember what God has done to show you his goodness and kindness, you should offer him thanks. And one of the ways that we can be a rightly thankful people is for us to sing songs of thanksgiving to our God.

A Model of Thanksgiving (2 Chronicles 7:1-10)

pastortravislv1 Comment

The following is the first 1/3 of a sermon that I preached to help us to prepare for Thanksgiving at OSBC. Many found it encouraging, so I’ll post it here over the next 2 days.

A model of Thanksgiving
Olney Southern Baptist Church
Sunday Morning, November 23, 2008
Speaker: Travis Peterson
Text: 2 Chronicles 7:1-10

2 Chronicles 7:1-10 (ESV)

1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry; opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.
7 And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.
8 At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

Pray

Though we have a holiday set aside for us as a nation to give thanks to God for the ways in which he has blessed us, we are not actually very good at being a thankful people. Sadly, I’m not so sure that this is not true inside the church as well. Though we of all people have the most for which to be thankful, we do not always allow our lives to be marked by thanksgiving.

Just think for a moment. If I called you to stop and think of single words to describe the attitude of the people of Olney Southern Baptist Church, I’m guessing you could come up with several words. But I wonder if thankful would be one of the first words that would come to any of our minds. But it is God’s will that we be a thankful people.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Colossians 3:15-17

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

God wants us to be thankful. This week we have a holiday set aside to be sure to remember to be thankful. But we need help to learn to be a more thankful people. And this is why we are going to spend a few minutes this morning in the book of Second Chronicles.

Second Chronicles chapter 7 tells us of the events that surrounded the dedication of the temple that Solomon built. Chapter 6 contained a lengthy prayer of Solomon asking God to bless the temple that he was building. The end of chapter 7 contains God’s response to Solomon’s prayer, including the famous verse 14 where God says, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” But the beginning of chapter 7 is what we will study this morning.

The people of Israel are experiencing the height of God’s blessing in their national life. God, using King David, has brought Israel peace and victory over their enemies. Solomon has built the temple, and the nation has everything going well. And it is in this moment that we find the nation pausing to give God thanks. As we watch Israel’s thanksgiving at the temple’s dedication, we will learn six things about giving thanks that we can put into practice or pray for as we approach our own season of Thanksgiving.

Point 1: Before giving thanks, seek the glory of God.
2 Chronicles 7:1-2

1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.

When Solomon finished praying, God did something amazing. God sent fire down from heaven and totally consumed the burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Right now, stop and make sure that you are picturing this. If you’ve ever seen a ceremony for the opening or dedication of a new building, I guarantee you that this is different. Instead of having a few photographers from a local paper, a ribbon, an over-sized pair of scissors, and a smiling person who wants to be seen as important making a speech, all we have here is the king praying and then, bam! Fire falls from heaven. The sacrificial animals that were on the altar are totally consumed in an instant.

And if the fire from the sky is not enough, the glory of God fills the temple. This brilliant, bright, glorious cloud covers everything. This picture has been seen in Israel before at the dedication of the tabernacle in the wilderness. And this picture serves to tell the Israelites that God is present and that he is setting apart the temple as special, a sanctuary.

The priests, the men whose job it was to work inside the temple making sacrifices and caring for the items in the temple, were unable to enter the temple. God’s glory was there. They knew that to walk into such holiness would be deadly. So, until the cloud went away, the priests had to do what the crowd did; they had to stand back and simply marvel at the presence of the glory of God.

Looking at what happened right here, we have our first lesson for thanksgiving. If you really want to be thankful as God wants you to be thankful, you must first be captivated by a picture of the glory of God. God has designed us all with a hunger to see and to be inspired by things that are amazing, that are beautiful, that are bigger than we are. The greatest thing we can ever imagine is the glorious presence of God. So, if you want to be truly thankful, you need to first seek a glimpse of the glory of God.

So, what should you do. Let me suggest a couple of ideas. If you want to see the glory of God, the first and best place you can look is the word of God. Our Lord has revealed his glory to us in the Bible. The Bible is where we look to hear the account of fire consuming offerings on the altar and the glory of God filling the temple. The Bible is where we look to learn about the waters of the Red Sea sliding apart, about entire armies being put to flight before tiny groups of men, about giants falling before teenagers, about the dead being raised to life, about the son standing still in the sky, and about so much more. The word of God shows us the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and all of the glory of God dwelling in bodily form. So, if you want to glimpse God’s glory before giving thanks, start with the scripture.

But you can look other places to glimpse God’s glory.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

God’s glory is seen in his creation.

We can also see God’s glory as we look back over our lives and remember the things that God has done for us in the past. Perhaps we can learn more about God’s glory as we talk to one another about the things that God has done in our lives.

And let me suggest that, if you want to see the glory of God, you pray that God show you his glory. God loves his children. He will answer your prayer to see him at his best. He will allow you to glimpse his majesty if you are genuinely wanting to know him more. He stands at the door of your heart and knocks as Revelation 3:20 says, and he is anxious to come in and fellowship with you. So, if you want to sense more of God’s glory, ask God to help you to see his glory. Before giving thanks, seek the glory of God.

Point 2: Express genuine worship as part of thanksgiving.
2 Chronicles 7:3

When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The people did exactly what they should have done in their setting. When they saw the fire fall from the sky, they all hit the deck. They bowed down with their faces to the ground. They worshipped god. They declared that God is good and that God’s love endures forever. They remembered who God is, and they lowered themselves in his presence to display that he is higher and greater than them.

True worship involves us performing reverential acts. True worship involves us showing that God is our King and that we are submitted to him. True worship involves us bowing down and showing that he is greater than us. True worship involves us declaring God’s character for others to hear. True worship involves us doing what God has called us to do in his word in order to show that he is our king and we are his followers. True worship is what the people did in this passage, and it is what we need to do if we are going to be rightly thankful to God.

As this Thanksgiving approaches, do not neglect worship. It is easy to get caught up in the preparation of all the food and getting ready for the Christmas shopping. But make sure that you take time to worship your God. Seek his glory. When God reveals his glory to you either in his word, in nature, in your memory, in a sermon, or wherever, right there, bow your heart before God and declare him to be worthy. Honor him. Focus on him. Declare his praise. Worship God. Express genuine worship as part of thanksgiving.

There is No Love Apart from Scripture (2 John 4-6)

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2 John 4-6

4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
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Far too many people use the concept of love as an excuse not to pay attention to biblical doctrine and commands. People come up with their own definitions of what is loving and what is good, and they turn their backs on the word of God.

While one might think that what I just wrote would not occur in the church, with the rise of a postmodern ethic, it most certainly is occurring. Churches across our nation and around our world are departing from the scriptures for some sort of other, self-sought and self-made truth. Men who claim to be pastors, shepherds of God’s flock, are telling people that the command of scripture is not valid or binding in our culture. These men are calling people to live according to their own consciences and impulse, and they are arguing for this with the idea of being loving as their reasoning.

So, thanks be to God for the little book of 2 John. Right at the beginning of this book, we see exactly how God would have us to think about people who claim that they are living by love instead of by the scriptures. The answer is simple: there is no love without obedience to the commands of God. John rejoiced to find people walking in truth. He pointed out the command to love others. Then, in verse 6, John lets us know with no uncertainty that the way that we love one another is to live in accord with the commands of God found in the word of God.

Christians, allow me to encourage you this morning to set your heart on the word of God. If you want to be a loving person, you will not be able to change the way that God calls us to love. You cannot make up something that feels all warm and gushy and make it be love. No, there is only one way that you can love your neighbor, or family, or your spouse, that way is loving them through obedience to the clearly-given, perfectly-inspired word of God.

And one more word from a pastor. If you have a pastor who holds firm to the word of God and who refuses to teach something other than that word, affirm him and thank God for him. All of our flesh might want on occasion to hear a pastor depart from the scripture and to tell us all that we are all naturally good people who need just try our best and do what feels right; but such teaching is not love. If your pastor teaches you the word of God without compromise and without blushing and without gimmicks and with solid interpretation, then your pastor loves you (or at least is showing you love through his teaching). Thank God for such men, as they are not as common as you might think.

God’s Glory is Greater than Our Suffering (John 11:4-6)

pastortravislv

(The following is a point from a sermon I preached on March 2, 2008 entitled “Suffering, Love, and Glory.” Today’s quiet time reading brought this back to mind.)

Point 2: Believe that God glorifying himself before you is more loving than God keeping you from suffering.

John 11:4-6

4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Back in our account, we find that the messenger has run from Mary and Martha to find Jesus. The breathless message is delivered. “Lord, the one you love, Lazarus, is sick.” Without question, all who hear this know that this is a call for Jesus to do something, to heal Lazarus, to come running.

But watch. There are two responses of Jesus that should grab your attention. In verse 4, Jesus tells us that this sickness will not end in death. He is not saying that Lazarus will not die. HE is, however, saying that the ultimate end of this situation is not going to be a funeral. There is something else at stake here. There is something more that God is up to than simply calling Lazarus home.

What is God up to? Look at Jesus’ words. He says, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Two times in this one sentence, Jesus tells us what God is up to. This illness and all the circumstances surrounding it are for a single main purpose: the glory of God.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret. Everything that God does, from creation to salvation to the ultimate conclusion of the universe, God does for the sake of his own glory. God made you and me for the sake of his glory. He makes things happen in our lives that will most glorify him. And, if we will ever truly trust him, we will learn that bringing God glory is the most exciting, happy, joyful thing that we could ever do. Nothing will ever give your soul a deeper and more complete joy than when you do what God created you to do. Nothing will satisfy your heart as much as when you give glory to God.

Now, for the second thing Jesus does, follow the wording of the gospel here, so that you can see something amazing. Verse 5 makes it clear that Jesus loves Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. IF someone asked Jesus if he loves these three, he would tell them yes. Now, look up on the screen at the beginning of verse 6. There is an incredibly important word. That word is “so.” Jesus loved these people, so he did something. If your Bible has this translated in some other way, with the word “yet” or “but” in place of “so” or “therefore”, you might have trouble here. The clear meaning of the Greek text is that it is because of Jesus’ love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus that he chooses to do what he next does. It is not in spite of his love for them, it is out of love for them that he does what he does.

Listen carefully here, because this goes against our natural inclination. We have a tendency to believe that God’s love for us will keep us free from pain. But in this instance, it is precisely God’s love for this family that leads Jesus to allow them to go through great pain. Why? Jesus also told us that it was for God’s glory that this happened. So we must conclude that it is more loving for God to show us his glory than it is for God to keep us from pain.

If it is truly more loving for God to show us his glory than to keep us from pain, then it is also true that God may, at times, choose to lead us through suffering and pain in order that we might have the greater ultimate joy of knowing him, loving him, becoming more like him, and seeing his glory.

So, what does Jesus do? Out of love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, Jesus refuses to come when they summon him. He waits an extra couple of days and Lazarus dies. He takes them through a desperately painful dark time, and he does so out of love. And if you and I are to rightly learn from this, we have to understand that God may take us through dark times for the sake of his glory. And we must understand that the Bible makes it clear that God doing so is a loving thing for him to do for us.

Thus Saith The Lord (Ezekiel 13:1-3)

pastortravislv

Ezekiel 13:1-3 – 1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ 3 Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
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In any religious setting, it is highly tempting to listen to those who claim to have a word from the deity of that religion. Cults are led by and mastered by men and women who claim to have access to a supernatural and mystical revelation that is not there for the common participant. Yet people fall for this, because we all want to have those great, deep, spiritually high experiences where we believe that we have heard the voice of God or been drawn closer to him than the average religious person.

But if you watch what God has to say in his word, most often he warns against those who claim to have heard something private from him. In Ezekiel 13, God speaks very clearly and very harshly concerning those who claim to have heard something from him. He condemns the false prophets and prophetesses who claim to have secret insight into God that others have not heard. He condemns those who claim revelation that God himself did not reveal. This is not to say that he was not speaking through prophets in that day, but that there were many who made up their own “words from God” in order to be able to tell others what to do.

Now we sit here, 2,500 years removed from the time of Ezekiel, and there are still people who long for that special secret revelation of God that will elevate them above and beyond the typical religious person. But we are in a different setting than Ezekiel. Whereas in Ezekiel’s day, God was still giving his revelation to his true prophets because the scripture had not yet been completed, in our day, there is no longer a need for such revelation. God has spoken to us and given us something solid and sure, his holy revelation—the Bible. There is no longer a need for a secret “Thus says the Lord,” because God has said what he has said clearly in the text of scripture.

Today is a great day to pause and reflect on what God has given us in his holy word. His word is more sure and more solid than any of our personal experiences (2 Peter 2:19). His word is his perfect, God-breathed communication to us that will help us to become what God wants us to be (2 Timothy 3:16-17). His word is a perfect work that changes our lives for his glory (Psalm 19:7-9; Psalm 119). His word grants to us everything that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4). His word is what brings people to faith in him (John 17:20; Luke 16:28-31).

We no longer need a secret form of revelation from God that is unclear and unavailable to the rest of the world. We have God’s word perfected in the holy scriptures. The Bible is available to all Christians, and its revelation is clear, complete, and able to make us grow. So, if someone should tell you that they have a word to you from God, they had better be giving to you the words of the Holy Bible rightly interpreted and in context. That is how God speaks to his people today. Anything else is likely to be the very thing God condemns in Ezekiel 13.

They Must Know A Preacher of God’s Word Has Been Among Them (Ezekiel 2:3-7)

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Ezekiel 2:3-7

3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.
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As God began Ezekiel’s mission, he let Ezekiel know that his job was to preach to a people who, as a nation, were stubborn, rebellious, and simply unwilling to hear. They were a nation who had already been punished by God for their rebellion, as they were already in exile. One might think that their circumstances would make the nation more likely to hear, but they clearly were going to continue to be difficult.

As I read this section from Ezekiel’s calling, I find it resonating in my heart. Any Christian pastor today is called with much the same calling. We stand in a nation that has, for the most part, turned and rejected the commands of God. We have seen the destruction that turning from the commands of the Lord brings. We have seen the pain of divorce, of substance abuse, of a simple hardening of the hearts of the people; yet we continue, as a nation, to rebel.

For some pastors, they are given a call like Ezekiel’s for the church they serve. They stand and preach the word of God to a people who no longer are willing to submit themselves to it. They stand in pulpits across the land, open the word, and have an entire body of men and women declare, “That’s one opinion.” These men are called to preach to a people who Paul said would not endure sound teaching (2 Timothy 4:3).

And whether the pastor simply stands in a spiritually rebellious nation or among a people who refuse to hear, the calling of Ezekiel must resonate. God says, “whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” This is the call: Whether they hear or refuse to hear, when all is said and done, be sure that they know that a preacher of God’s word has been among them. They may hate what you say. They may rebel against what you say. But never let them miss the fact that a preacher of God’s word, not of man-made cleverness, has been among them.

In my particular setting, in the church, I have tended to encounter a people who want to hear the word of God. Our congregation seems to enjoy being taught from scripture, and always seems eager to acknowledge that the text of God’s word trumps all personal opinion. This does not mean that everything always comes easily for me as a preacher, but I seldom doubt that our congregation is committed to the scripture.

However, I have no guarantee that this trend will remain. Who knows how God will move in the hearts and minds of the people. There could be a day when I find myself standing before a people who do not submit themselves to the word of God. Regardless of whether or not the people want to hear the word of God, my mission is for them to know that, when they have heard me preach, they have heard a preacher of the word of God bringing them the word of God. My opinions do not matter. My cleverness is not relevant. My personal agendas are completely unimportant. What matters is that they know that a preacher of the word of God has been among them. And that means that I must be careful to bring them the word of God rightly-divided.

And for sure, I stand with many pastors in a land that has turned itself from the word of God. Let us preach boldly anyway. Even if the nation refuses to hear, let us preach. Even if the laws are changed so that we lose tax-exempt status if we continue to rely on the scripture, let us preach. Let it be said in the United States, whether they listen or not, that they know that preachers of the word of God have been among them.

The Lord Is In The Right (Lamentations 1:18a)

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Lamentations 1:18a

“The Lord is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
.

So often, when we face hardships, we feel deep down that we are suffering unjustly. While we may have done a few things bad here and there, there certainly is no reason that we really deserve to face the consequences for what we have done. We have a tendency to excuse our own misdeeds and still hold others accountable for theirs. And these facts make Lamentations 1:18a so fascinating.

In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah the prophet is weeping over the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian invaders. God has finally brought his promised judgment to Judah, and Jeremiah sees with his own eyes the horror. The precious city, complete with the magnificent temple of King Solomon is going up in flames. People are enslaved and murdered. The strong city walls are broken down. The city and the people are facing utter ruin.

Notice, however, how Jeremiah, in the midst of his sorrow, speaks of what God has done. In verse 18 of the first lamentation, Jeremiah speaks for the nation, saying, ““The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word.” There is no wining. There is no “O, why me” stuff going on. Jeremiah looks at his life and the life of the nation, and he fully understands why it is that God’s judgment has fallen. As a nation, they have rejected God and his word. As a nation they are now rightly suffering God’s wrath.

Is it really Christian to have people thinking about how much we actually deserve God’s judgment? In Luke 13, when Jesus was responding to disasters, both natural and man-made, he told the people asking him the questions that, when we see tragedy, our first question ought not be “Why?” Instead, Jesus says that our first question should be, “Why not me?” Jesus said in Luke 13:5, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” This is a far cry from urging people to question the fairness of suffering.

Now, I’m not trying to be callous to anyone’s suffering. The Bible is clear that we are to weep with those who weep, and this clearly means that we never should be hard-hearted toward someone in pain. However, when we suffer, our first answer should be, “The Lord is in the right.” No matter how bad it is, God is always right. We may be suffering at the hands of evil and unjust people, but God has not wronged us. We may be suffering for no earthly understandable reason, but God has not wronged us. He is in the right. We must trust him.

And before we dare turn back and say that God is treating us unfairly, let us remember what it is that we actually deserve from him. He owes us his wrath and eternal fury. He chose to grant us forgiveness if we will simply trust in his Son. He made the sacrifice himself to pay for our sins against him. We deserve hell. Anything less than hell is God being gracious to us. So let us say with Jeremiah, “The Lord is in the right.”

Let us also learn from Jeremiah. He knew that Judah was suffering for rebelling against God’s word. Let us never do this. God’s word will stand. We may not ignore it. Let us become a people who read, study, and live our lives totally by his holy word as it is revealed to us in the Bible.

Context Matters

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In reading through the book of Jeremiah this morning, I find myself reminded of the importance of keeping the context of a text in mind. Any good interpreter of the Bible understands that verses should not be applied to situations for which they were not intended. Of course, if another inspired writer uses those words to apply in another situation, that is totally different, as the author does so under God’s direction. But it is not appropriate for us to take hold of verses, oblivious to their context, and make them out to be promises for us.

I bring as an example Jeremiah 2911. I have seen this verse used by many in memory verse plans, as it tells of God having wonderful plans to prosper his people. Generally, the plans offer no hint of the context of the passage; the reader is simply to assume that God is telling him or her that he loves them and has a wonderful plan for their prosperity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not questioning that God does love us or that he has a plan for us. I am, however, questioning whether Jeremiah 29:11 should be taken as a direct promise for the Christian of today.

Look at the verse in context, and judge for yourself:

Jeremiah 29:10-14

10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

What is the context? To whom do these verses clearly apply? These verses were given by God to instruct the Jews who were about to be taken into Babylonian captivity. God told those men and women that he had a plan for them, a plan that would lead to their prosperity even in their foreign exile. That is the context and intent of Jeremiah 29:11.

One might ask, “Then can we learn nothing from such verses that are not intended for us?” Of course we can learn from these verses. We can learn of God’s character and faithfulness. We learn that God has been faithful in the past to his people. We can learn of Gods’ plan for his people. We can learn that God is good to his children. We can learn that God is in control, even when the world makes it look as though he is not.

A friend offered me a way to illustrate this point. Suppose a young man finds a letter from his father to his mother. In the letter, the young man reads these words, “I love you, and I will give of myself to protect and care for you until the day I die.” These words are written from the father to the mother about the father’s relationship to the mother. If the young man says that this was written for him, he is doing violence to the text. If, however, the young man is comforted by these words to his mother because he sees in these words his father’s genuine commitment, caring, and faithfulness, he is perfectly within proper bounds.

My warning to us is simple: be careful how you take verses for yourself. God has not said that you can grab Jeremiah 29:11 as a blanket promise that no harm will come to you in your lifetime. You should not run to this verse and say that you have a promise from God that you will prosper through an economic crisis. You indeed may prosper because of God’s grace, but do not assume that you are guaranteed total financial stability simply from the words of a promise that God gave to the Jews before their Babylonian captivity.

You might ask, “What’s the difference? You seem to be telling me that God has plans for me and will be faithful; so why can’t I apply this verse to myself?” My answer is that it is very different to trust in God’s character as it is revealed in the scripture than to trust in a promise that was not made to you. While you may come to the same conclusion, it matters how you get there. Since you are not about to be returned to Israel after 70 years of Babylonian captivity, it is better for you to trust in God’s character than for you to find rest in a promise taken out of context. Yes, this may seem like only a game of semantics, but it is important that we respect the Bible and its original intent enough that we learn from it as the authors intended rather than ripping verses out of their original meaning and making them say something we simply want to hear.

So, how do I deal with Jeremiah 29:11? I know that it is a verse written to the Jews who are going to Babylon. I learn from it that God is in control. I allow the fact that God is in control to give me comfort that, if he was in control when his people went captive, he most certainly is also in control in my life. I trust in God who has proven himself faithful time and time again, but I do not claim a verse that is out of context to proof-text my trust. I need not proof-text my trust in God, as my God has proven himself faithful over and over and over again.