Category: devotional

Amos 6:4-7 (ESV)

 

4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory

and stretch themselves out on their couches,

and eat lambs from the flock

and calves from the midst of the stall,

5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp

and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,

6 who drink wine in bowls

and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,

and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”

 

If you’ve followed my family and our story, you know that, in July, we moved to Las Vegas where I now serve as pastor of Providence Reformed Church. This has been a wonderful move. We serve a lovely body of believers who deeply desire to hear and obey the word of God and abide in Christ. Our family has adjusted well and has enjoyed the natural beauty of the mountains and canyons here in the desert. We have also, as you would imagine, found the city itself fascinating.

 

This city has everything. For good or for ill, there is nothing a person could want that they could not find here. Food, entertainment, gambling, architecture, spectacle, shopping, and all forms of extravagance are what Las Vegas is known for.

 

There is an interesting temptation that can come when experiencing life here in Vegas. No, I’m not tempted to bankrupt our family through gambling or to dive off a cliff into foolishness. But, it is interesting to know about the crazy luxuries that the city boasts. From palatial hotel rooms to fine art to thousand-dollar meals, Las Vegas is the place for the rich and famous to come and play. No matter how amazed one is by seeing a story of a multi-floor, 4,000 square foot hotel room complete with personal chef, something else comes to top it.

 

Thus, it is healthy to see something like what is written by the prophet Amos above. Las Vegas is not the first city to be completely given to extravagant pleasure. In fact, such had become the culture of ancient Israel before the fall of the northern kingdom. We see that the people were given to ease, laziness, and comfort in verse 4. Also, in verse 4, we see them devoted to fine food. Musical entertainment, even useless ditties, occupied their time as we see in verse 5. In verse 6, we see the vanity of expensive perfumes and rich wines. But, as verse 6 moves into verse 7, we see that the people do not care about the fall of their land and are destined for destruction.

 

And here we sit. You do not have to live here in Vegas with me to see that we live in a nation that looks like what Amos described. We are a people seeking leisure far above seeking productive lives. We are lazy as a people. We love our comfy beds, our rich foods, our banal entertainment (Is anyone singing about anything important any longer?), our looks, our smells, our wine, and all the rest. Imagine how this would have looked had Amos written after the invention of the smart phone, 24-hour cable news, or social media?

 

Now, here are a few things to ponder. First, God did not condemn comforts. So, do not immediately go out and throw away your soft bed or throw out your nice food. Preventing pleasure was not God’s point.

 

Second, letting this passage lead us to sit in judgment over others in our land is not useful to us. Throwing rocks at the culture has never helped the church. Nor has angry cultural criticism ever been the command of Scripture for God’s people. Look at the letters to the Corinthians as an example, and you will see that God commands his people to love him, to love each other, and to live differently than the people around them. God did not command them to aggressively attack their city, he told them to change it through their different lives which would include personal evangelism.

 

Third, this passage offers us a warning. We are not to find ourselves overly fascinated with the extravagances of the super-rich. While such is great fodder for reality TV specials, it is not at all helpful for the heart of the average human being. We do not do our souls good when we allow ourselves to be jealous of those who throw their money away on $50K night club visits or $20K hotel stays.

 

Fourth, the big point of the passage is to see that judgment of God is coming on those who care for the trinkets of this life while not at all caring about the people and the things of God. I do not write that to condemn the celebs and all that they do. My point is for us as believers. We need to remember the shortness of this life. We need to remember the significance of eternity. We need to watch out that we do not allow ourselves to become so addicted to our own comforts and pleasures that we ignore the kingdom of God. Nor do we need to become so fascinated by others’ high-profile lives that we fail to recognize that God has given us all that we need for life and godliness.

 

Our world is fallen. Our own hearts can be too easily tempted to wish we had the luxuries of the super-rich. But we would be better served to seek what will actually give our hearts lasting pleasure and our souls lasting reward. Christ has come. The God who made us has greater treasures for us in his presence than anyone on earth has ever dreamed up. Let us live by faith, trusting that eternity with Christ is worth far more and will be far more extravagant than a few years of soft living in the here and now.

 

Let me add one last thought. It is Christmas time, and thoughts like these can dampen the holiday celebrations of some. Please do not fail to realize that, as we celebrate, even as we feast with family and friends, we can do so rightly. Do not let this season and these feasts lead you to laziness or to envy for those who have more. Instead, let every good bite of food and every well-given gift remind you of the kindness, grace, and goodness of our God, the giver of all good things.  

Revelation 6:15-17

 

15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

 

Any reader of Christian theology and biblical commentaries will understand that the book of Revelation and interpreting its prophecies is and has been a very debated issue. Who are the riders on the four horses? What exactly are all those odd-looking and often scary creatures? What do we do with that thousand year period in chapter 20? But, here at the end of chapter 6, we see something that we cannot debate, though many people do not give it enough thought.

 

 

Revelation 6 includes the opening of a series of seals. My best understanding is that this is an indication of the moving of human history toward its ultimate and God-honoring conclusion. God’s kingdom will come and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. The first five seals show that, as history moves forward from when John was seeing it, the world experiences conquest, war, hunger, and death. The church will experience persecution, but the Lord comforts the persecuted and promises justice. And when the sixth seal is opened, we see apocalyptic upheaval as the Lord himself does justice. This justice terrifies a world full of cowering and godless leaders who have never thought that they would be called to account for their decisions.

 

 

            Notice in the verses above what most terrifies the leaders. These strong and powerful men are hiding in holes in the ground, begging to be invisible, because they cannot bear to see the face of the Lord on his throne, nor can they bear—and this has my attention today—the wrath of the Lamb. Something about the sight of Jesus, the Lamb of God, is so terrifying to this watching world that they would rather be buried alive in a ditch than to face what the Son of God is bringing.

 

The Lamb has wrath. There is a Christmassy thought for you. This is the same person whose birth we celebrate this season. This is the one who came in sweetness and gentleness to give the greatest display of the love of God ever seen. Yet, as we learn more about the Lord Jesus, we also must grasp that he has every bit of the wrath and just fury of God as we saw it in the Old Testament. Jesus hates sin. Jesus will do justice. Jesus will return. Jesus will judge. Jesus has wrath.

 

So, this day, as many of us think about the first coming of the Savior, let us remember that that coming is not the only coming of the Savior. Jesus awaits the time of his return. When that return happens, the justice of God will be done. Make no mistake, this will not be the Son of God sadly watching as his mean Father does all the judging. No, Jesus will be working hand-in-hand with the Father to pour out the wrath of the Godhead over all those who have rejected his grace, rebelled against his authority, and corrupted his creation.

 

God is love. Jesus is God. The Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God. God is just. The Father, Son, and Spirit are just. This is one God, unified in his eternal perfection. That perfection includes the sweetness of the babe in the manger and the wrath of that same Savior returning to crush those who have never submitted to his rightful rule.

 

How should we think about this? It is frightening. Yet, it is the same message that the Bible has always presented. Sin brings death. God brings both justice and grace. The best way to respond is to get under the grace of God before the Lamb returns in wrath. Also, it is wise to respond by understanding that this is an accurate picture of Jesus, the real Jesus. God also intends that this picture comfort a persecuted church and call a rebellious world to repentance.

 

Lord, as I see this picture of your promised justice, I am reminded that my picture of you must be adjusted to be accurate. You are merciful. You are just. You will forgive all who come to you. You will punish those who refuse and who continue to rebel. Your word will not be unfinished. History will conclude as you have promised. I ask that you help me to see you as you are. I ask that you help me properly praise you and submit to you. I ask that you have mercy, rescuing many, before this great day of your return comes. I ask that you help your church to be a strong and faithful witness to your glory. Let us love you this season as we remember the first Advent of the Savior. Let us also be comforted and challenged remembering that the second Advent will be powerful.

Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

What does it mean to love God? What does it mean to love? So often, we tie love to an emotion. This is right, but not nearly right enough. Often, I, in my teaching, tie love to a commitment to another’s good. Again, that is right, but something in this passage reminds me that even this is not enough.

 

As Jesus speaks his words of rebuke to the church at Ephesus, he comments on the fact that they have forsaken their first love. Clearly, this church is supposed to love God, and they are failing to do so. Even though they are properly theologically vetting false teachers, the love of the Ephesians is lacking.

 

And that would lead me to assume that love here is about the emotion one feels for God and one’s personal sense of commitment to God were it not for the picture of repentance in verse 5. Jesus told them to return to doing “the works” they did at first.

 

Love works. Love, the genuine emotion which is born of a genuine commitment to the good of another always takes action. Love does not sit still, unchanged. Love does not ignore the commands of God. Love acts. Love moves. Love changes you. Love leads to obedience. Love, like genuine faith, works.

 

So, as we face the Christmas season, perhaps now is a good time to ask yourself if your proclaimed love of Jesus during this season is resulting in genuine, God-honoring, Scripture-commanded works. Note that getting theology right is not enough here, as the Ephesians had that in spades—neither can getting theology right be ignored. But the love of God includes personal repentance, worship, and obedience to the commands of God.

 

Christian, what would it look like for you to love God in action? What commands of God’s word are you ignoring as you live in comfort? What has God clearly said in print that we are supposed to be about doing that you have not been up to? How can a genuine love for the Savior lead you to action? 

1 John 3:10, 23

 

10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

 

            Christians often over-complicate the faith. This is sad but true. Sometimes we become so wrapped up with strategies, missions, and supposedly deep studies, and somehow, in the process, we fail to remember that God has commanded us to do some very simple things.

 

            Look at the verses above. In a very real sense, the verses above are a summary of the commands of God that we will find in the epistles. Of course, there is more to know. Of course, there is a depth of theology that we want to reach. Of course, there are important thoughts that must go into applying these commands. And, yet, the commands above are the commands of God.

 

            There are three things in the two above verses that I would argue summarize what Christians are called to do: believe in Jesus, love one another, and practice righteousness. How simple is that? I’m not asking how easy it all is to do, rather how easy is this to understand. I would argue that, if we really tried to boil down the commands of the New Testament, they fall into the categories of believing in Jesus, loving our brothers, and living rightly before the Lord.

 

            Of course believing in Jesus is a command of God. There is no salvation for the person who does not have genuine, life-changing, God-granted, saving faith in Jesus. We are sinners. We deserve judgment. God sent Jesus to save us through his life, death, and resurrection. And anyone who will believe in Jesus, placing their hope for their eternity in Jesus alone, will be granted salvation as a gift from God.

 

            Loving one another is also clearly a part of New Testament Christianity. Jesus told us in John 13:35 that the world will believe that we belong to him, not when we strategize evangelism perfectly, but when we love one another. Something about living lives of genuine love for the brothers and sisters we have in Christ takes Christians way beyond what the world expects. We are commanded to love each other, and this is a major part of the faith.

 

            Finally, in this list, is living righteously. Look at most books of the New Testament, and you will find, after a presentation of the gospel and alongside commands to genuinely love each other, commands to live differently than the sinful world around us. We are called to look at our words, our emotions, our sexuality, our marriages, our families, our jobs, and all other moral standards differently than the lost world that does not know God. We are not called to lives of asceticism. We are simply called to love God by obeying his commands. This kind of following God will make us look so different to the world around us that they will wonder at our ability to live with hope in a world that is so different than we are.

 

            Don’t get me wrong. We have many things we need to know and to do. But, how much do we over-complicate the faith when the three things we see above are not the heart of what the church is trying to do? We are to have faith in Jesus. We need to believe in him and respond to him by glorifying his name. We are to love each other in such a way that the world marvels. We are to live differently than the world around us, displaying the glory of God through simple obedience to his commands—commands which are not burdensome.

 

            Christians, may we learn to simplify. May we not over-burden one another with goals that are so far beyond the ones in the Scripture. May we have lives that testify to the glory of God and the truth of the gospel as we do these three things that God commands. May we take God at his word and shape our lives around faith in Christ, love of the family of God, and following the commands of God.

Ezekiel 13:1-9 (ESV)

 

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! 4 Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. 5 You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. 6 They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. 7 Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

8 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord God. 9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.

 

            When God gives us a clear warning, we should pay attention. When God speaks strongly against a religious practice, we had better take note. When God declares that he will judge a certain practice, we had better be sure that we are not taking part in said practice. When God pronounces woe on a people, we had better be sure not to be those people.

 

            In Ezekiel 13, God has some very strong words for people who claim to have a word from him but who in fact have no such word. During the days of Ezekiel, there were people who were claiming to have visions, prophecies, and other such revelations from God. They were attempting either to encourage the people, to calm fears, or to lead the people toward a certain action. And God says to those people that he is very much against them, as they are speaking words which they claim are his but which are not.

 

            Nothing here is a surprise. Throughout the Old Testament, God has always had very strong things to say against false prophets. God has decreed the harshest of punishments for those who would claim that God has said something that God did not say. This is obviously because the issue of divine revelation is extremely important. If we allow the revelation of God to be corrupted with man-made ideas, we soon have no confidence of anything that God has really said.

 

            How, then, ought we to consider these words today? God is still jealous to guard his revelation. He will not approve people speaking as if from him when he has not spoken. To say that God has said something that God has not said is as much an offense today as it was millennia ago.

 

            So, how then do we know what God has said? There is only one place where God has told us that he has spoken with certainty: the word of God. God has told us that Scripture is breathed out by him and profitable to all who would follow him (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17). God has declared that the writings of the prophets were not created by the prophets themselves, but instead are the result of men speaking from God carried along by the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Peter 1:19-21). The Bible is sure. In fact, the Bible is even more sure than our personal experiences—the very point Peter is making in 2 Peter 1:16-21.

 

            But we all still desire to discern the present will of God for our lives. Many people today still believe that, through prayer or modern prophecy, tongues and interpretations, visions or dreams, that God is still actively speaking new words of revelation to believers who are spiritual enough to listen.

 

            What do we do with those who claim to have a new “word” from the Lord? I would urge caution in the strongest way. It is so very tempting to believe that we have access to a new and higher level of spiritual communication with God than those before us. Obviously the Colossians faced a group of leaders who claimed a spiritual knowledge that would lead the people to fullness in their Christian lives. Yet, in reality, God has constantly and repeatedly called his people to rest in his perfect and holy word, and to value that word above any vision or personal experience.

 

            Notice again how strongly God speaks against a person saying, “Declares the Lord,” when God has not sent such a person. God is against such people. Yet, in modern faith circles, we allow people to say “God told me,” often without batting an eye. Thankfully, most of these experiences are vague impressions. Also, often, these experiences are declarations of things which God has already commanded in Scripture. But, I wonder if we are really careful enough to test the claims of supposed prophets who would claim an intimate, personal, novel word from the Lord?

 

            At this point, I need to refrain from going on to naming books and studies which have led modern Christians to believe that new words of knowledge and prophecy are still available for the spiritually sensitive enough to claim them. I will also say that I certainly believe that God, by his Holy Spirit, does lead his people into his desires for them. Prayer matters. Yielding to the Spirit matters.

 

            What I will close with, however, is that the word is what is solid. If you want to hear the voice of God, find it in Scripture. The only way that I can say to you, “Declares the Lord,” is if that word is the word, the Bible, rightly handled, interpreted, and applied. And, I will urge us all to be extremely concerned when somebody tells us, “Declares the Lord,” when this comes from somewhere other than a faithful and diligent study of Scripture. 

Ezekiel 9:3-5 (ESV)

 

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.

 

Revelation 7:1-3 (ESV)

 

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

 

            What grabbed my attention in the passage in Ezekiel this morning was the parallel to the familiar passages in the book of Revelation. If you have ever been around others who are interested in end times discussions, you will most certainly have looked at the places in Revelation where followers of God and followers of the evil one are marked on their foreheads.

 

            What is worthy of note for us is that Revelation is not the first place where such a marking occurs. And, as we see the Old Testament pattern for such marking, it might help us to understand the purposes of the ones prophesied in Revelation.

 

            In Ezekiel, the prophet was speaking for God to a rebellious people who were facing the judgment of God. The promised judgment of God was about to fall on the city of Jerusalem as the Babylonians were coming.

 

            But, before the judgment fell, God marked out for himself the faithful. Those who trusted in God, obeyed his laws, and who were saddened by the wickedness of the nation around them were clearly known to God. God marked them, and he promised to spare them his wrath.

 

            In the book of Revelation, we see the same thing happening. In chapter 7, we see that God marks a group of 144,000, which I believe to be a symbolic number of the complete people of God. They are known to God and preserved by God from his coming judgment. In chapter 13, the devil mimics the work of God, marking the rest of the world as his own followers, a mark which has become the focus of countless writings and bad movies.

 

            But what shall we do with these marks? What should we think about them? I certainly think that there is some interesting discussion to be had. For those who wish to talk about pre-millennial eschatology, I actually think the markings and the principles behind them point us away from a pre-tribulational, dispensational view. God marks his people and preserves them by his own power from the judgments he unleashes on the earth. However, in neither Ezekiel nor Revelation do we have evidence of God removing his people from the world in which his judgment is taking place.

 

            Yet, I believe that there is far more than eschatology for us to consider in the markings. What we need to grasp as the people of God or as not the people of God is the fact that God knows those who are his. Not all people on earth are his. God keeps those who are his, even if they face difficult lives in the here and now. And, God’s judgment is headed toward those who oppose him.

 

            The calling here, like the calling in many passages, should be for us to think with a much bigger vision of eternity. There is a God who is over us. He has the right to judge, and he most certainly will do so. He is far too great to lose those he has chosen. He is far too just to fail to judge those who are not under his mercy.

 

            For someone who is not a follower of God, this passage, along with the rest of the Bible, is a call to come to God in repentance and find mercy in Christ. We come in repentance, because all of us have, at one time or another, been those not marked as followers of God. We have all rebelled against the commands and rule of God, and we deserve his judgment. We must realize that such a judgment is legitimate and promised. However, God also commands all people everywhere to turn from their sin and to place their trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. If we will turn to Jesus for salvation, he will forgive us based on his sacrifice and he will grant us eternal life based on his perfect life and resurrection.

 

            As Christians, we should recognize that God has us marked as his. He will preserve us. He may not remove us from harsh circumstances and difficult lives. But, God will never leave us. He will not forsake us. He will not judge us for our sins, because his judgment has already fallen on Christ as our perfect, sacrificial substitute. And now we live with minds set on eternity, knowing that the God who marked us as his own will bring us to himself and grant us eternal joy in his presence.

John 7:45-49 (ESV)

 

45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

 

            Why are we so often surprised when those who do not know Christ are completely dismissive of his value and claims? Such has been the case for all of history. When people have not, by the grace of God, been made to see the true identity of Christ, they think those who follow him are nuts. And, as they dismiss Christ as irrelevant, they will often posture and present themselves as the intelligent while those who have believed in Jesus are, to them, uneducated and foolish.

 

            In the scene above, the Jewish religious leaders had sent temple guards to arrest Jesus while he was teaching during a religious feast. The guards went, heard Jesus, and returned empty-handed. The religious leaders wanted to know why the guards had disobeyed their commands. All the soldiers could say was that nobody had ever spoken like Jesus was just then speaking.

 

            Take note, the guards could not explain with any sort of apologetic argument why it is that they were unwilling to lay hands on Jesus. They did not have the ability to reason from all of the Old Testament how Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of Messiah. All they knew was that, on a personal, spiritual, and emotional level, they knew that Jesus was different than any person who had ever walked the face of the earth.

 

            The leaders, the educated, on the other hand, were furious. How dare these uneducated, unenlightened, ordinary men question their orders. Notice their argument in response to the guards. No educated people are following Jesus. Why would you idiots think that you should follow him? Just listen to us. Let us do your thinking for you. We know best. Just hold your swords and clubs and do what you are told.

 

            Let’s bring this scene into the present. It is not at all unlike what Christians face today. There is a group of those who believe that, if anybody believes in Christ, they are fools. There is an element in the media and in the university world that would adopt the same tone toward believers as the religious leaders took toward the guards. These educated and influential people would happily show anybody that belief in Jesus is old-fashioned, closed-minded, outdated, and simply not in keeping with modern morals and education. In a very real sense, the world thinks that those who believe in Jesus are stupid or crazy.

 

            But the question comes, are we? Are believers dumb? Well, some of us probably are, but not because of our faith in Christ. At the end of the day, following from John 7 to 8 particularly and through the rest of the gospel overall, who was right? The religious leaders missed who Jesus is. The guards, the simple and believing guards understood. They could not defeat the religious leaders in a debate, at least not at that point. But the guards were right. They saw who Jesus is. They would not, at that point, reach out to lay hands on him. The simple guards had truth while the religious leaders only had their philosophy and their arrogance.

 

            Recently, I have read through C. S. Lewis’ space trilogy. In this fiction, Lewis presents an imaginative account of a man who experiences the conflict between good and evil and sees what worlds might be like had the fall never occurred. In the final book, That Hideous Strength, Lewis brings the conflict back to earth. There we find a faithful group of believers pitted against a powerful group of scientists in a struggle for control of the world.

 

            What hit me so much in all of the books in this trilogy is the very conflict that we see in the passage above. It appears that whether we are thinking of Jesus’ day, Lewis’ day, or our day, the world has always considered the faithful to be naïve, uneducated, and foolish. And, no matter how hard we work to demonstrate the fact that we are actually thoughtful, well-reasoned, considerate people, the world will reject this for the simple fact that our conclusions are not the ones that they like. The world will always look at Bible-believing Christians and assume our conclusions to be childish and odious. Truly, our only hope is that our faith is founded on truth. It was true in Jesus’ day, and Jesus proved it, not by reasoning, but by rising from the grave.

 

            What then do we take from this? I am not arguing that there is no point in apologetics. However, I would warn us as believers that we will not win the good will of the world by showing them that, “No, really, we are smart too.” The world will not believe us, not because of our faculties of reason, but because only the supernatural power of God can break through the dead sinfulness of the human heart and bring a person to faith. We need the powerful working of God to change the heart of an Ivy League professor or a blue-collar worker. So, we may reason all we wish, and I do not oppose it, but we must grasp that the work, in the end, will only be completed by the very thing that made the guards simply say, “No one ever spoke like this man.”

 

            So, Christians, think well and work hard. Present solid proofs for the word of God for the glory of God. Learn to spot the fallacies in the arguments that some of us wrongly use and that are present in the arguments of those who oppose us. Think really well to honor the Lord. But know that, as you do so, it is still only the Spirit of God who changes hearts.

Lamentations 3:17-24 (ESV)

 

17 my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness is;

18 so I say, “My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.”

19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

the wormwood and the gall!

20 My soul continually remembers it

and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

 

     It is worth so very much to hear a passage of Scripture in its context. Certain passages are especially meaningful when we see what is happening when they are said.

 

     Looking above at verses 17-20, we are reminded that Jeremiah is miserable. He has spent all of the first twenty verses in great sorrow and pain. He feels that his hope is gone. He feels afflicted by God. The prophet has been crushed by his pains and his circumstances. He has watched with his own eyes the horrific destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple that Solomon built. He has seen that which he treasured most fall.

 

     It is only at verse 21 that we begin to see that something is changing. Of course, it is not Jeremiah’s situation that is changing. Rather, it is Jeremiah’s focus that is changing. He turns his thoughts to the character of the Lord. God’s mercies are made new every day. And, in the latter line of verse 23, Jeremiah declares, “Great is your faithfulness.”

 

     That phrase, of course, is the refrain of a popular hymn, one that I love. How often have we sung “Great is Thy Faithfulness?” But how seldom do we remember that this line is not one sung out of a position of prosperity? Jeremiah is not happy. He is hurting greatly. Yet, in the middle of his pain, in the middle of his sorrow, in the middle of the loss of a nation that he loves, Jeremiah remembers the character of God enough to declare, “Great is your faithfulness.” The trust that Jeremiah places in the person of God shines all the brighter because it is offset against the backdrop of the dark sufferings and sorrows of the fall of Jerusalem.

 

     Where are you in life? Are you in a place of ease? Are you in a place of sorrow? God knows. God cares. God is faithful. His character does not change, whether life is treating us gently or harshly. God is good. His faithfulness is steadfast. And we, like Jeremiah, need to find our hope, not in our present situation, but in the perfect character of the Lord. His faithfulness is great, and all the greater in our pain.

#en

Lamentations 2:13-14

13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

For your ruin is vast as the sea;

who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

they have not exposed your iniquity

to restore your fortunes,

but have seen for you oracles

that are false and misleading.

 

     How ought the people of God communicate the word of God to a lost world? Of course, this question has been asked and answered in a variety of ways, in a variety of books, at a variety of conferences, and in a variety of schools. We have tried social justice, street evangelism, random acts of kindness, gospel tracts, movies, relational evangelism, and much more. But I believe, as I consider the above verses, that a serious and straight forward communication of the truth of God is more and more needed than ever before.

 

     The book of Lamentations is the poetic sorrow of Jeremiah the prophet at the destruction of the city of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian army. Jeremiah spent his life and ministry warning Judah against the nation’s rebellion against the Lord. Jeremiah warned the people that God had promised them judgment if they chose to worship false gods and to continue to live as the idolatrous nations around them. But, sadly, Jeremiah was one of the only voices preaching this message.

 

                What caught my attention this morning was the portion of verse 14 which says, “Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity

to restore your fortunes.” Speaking of the false prophets of Judah, Jeremiah laments that the people the nation will listen to have refused to expose the iniquity, the sinfulness, of the people. Why is it sad that the teachers have not exposed the iniquities of Judah? It is sad because exposing to the people the evil of their actions would be for their good, for their restoration before God.

 

     Jeremiah is saying, by the inspiration of God, that it would have been good for the people had there been somebody honest enough to tell the people of Judah of the evil they were doing. It would have been good had there been people who called their evil actually evil. But, instead of that, the religious teachers of Jeremiah’s day came up with false ways to preach promises of prosperity to the people. This false preaching which hid the truth of the danger the people faced contributed to the downfall of the nation.

 

     Thus I return to the question of how we communicate the word of God to a lost world. And my answer becomes, “Honestly.” There is no room for a child of God to communicate anything other than the genuine word of God to the world around us. We need to be honest enough to warn people against their sin. Yes, there should be wisdom in our dealings. Yes, we should be kind to others and form genuine friendships. But, we are fools if we hide from the lost the danger they face because of sinning before a holy God. We are unkind if we do not warn people that they face the judgment of God if they do not repent and turn to Jesus for mercy.

 

     Our society considers any declaration of sin to be judgmental and unacceptable. But how can we allow ourselves and our message to be shaped by such values? Of course nobody wants to be told that their actions are sinful. We do not like that ourselves. However, it is far better to have a genuine call to repentance than to stumble blindly to destruction. If we are to love God and to love others, we must be willing to communicate to our world that their actions and values are not those of the God who made them. We dare not be the false prophets who prophesy false and deceptive proclamations that the morality of the Bible is now passé and that we are all OK with God so long as we are happy. 

1 Peter 1:8-9 (ESV)

 

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

 

            The above verses are a beautiful picture of Christianity. They tell the story of the hearts of believers from the first century to today.

 

            We have not seen Jesus, not with our eyes. Sadly for us, the Lord Jesus walked the earth so many years ago. There was no way for him to do the things that his Father called him to do and to be physically here for all generations to behold. So, an aspect of our faith is to serve, to trust, to believe in, and to love one whom we have not seen with our physical eyes.

 

            Remember that love is the right word for how we as Christians respond to Jesus. We love him. Now, you may or may not feel a deep and abiding emotion at all times. That is not the point. Love is emotional, for sure, but it is bigger. Love is commitment. Though we have never seen the physical body of Jesus, we are fully committed to him. Our trust is in him. Our lives are reshaped around his will. And, yes, our hearts rejoice in his goodness and his loving kindness.

 

            Though we do not now see him, we rejoice in him. Why? Jesus has accomplished our forgiveness. Jesus is the only way we can be made clean before God and welcomed into his family. Jesus suffered the great punishment that we have earned for our sin in order to accomplish this wonderful grace on our behalf. And, Jesus lives though he died, meaning that we have the hope of seeing him, thanking him, and serving him. We will worship him now and we will worship him in the future.

 

            What comes of all this loving one we have never seen and rejoicing over one we still do not see? Trusting Jesus in this way obtains an outcome that all Christians both have and are looking forward to, the salvation of our souls. Jesus saves us. When we trust him, we are saved. We are not saved by doing things. We are not saved if we act good enough. No, Jesus saves the one who, though he has not seen Jesus, he believes in Jesus. Jesus has saved the one who, though she does not now see Jesus, she has trusted in him and rejoices in is mercy.

 

            Christians, it is beautiful to think that one day we will actually look upon Jesus. We will meet our Lord. The one who died and took on his own shoulders the hell that we deserved will not always be someone to hope to meet. We will know Jesus. We will talk with Jesus. We will worship Jesus. Though we are not in his physical presence today, he will return to earth, bodily, transform our sin-ravaged bodies, and set up an eternal kingdom with us as his worshipful subjects.