It is funny how, from time to time, our read through Scripture will open to us a passage that we have seen countless times. I cannot say how many times I’ve read through the book of Proverbs. For a long while as a student, I read a Proverb a day—that’s a benefit of a 31-chapter book.
If you asked me what Proverbs tells us about the fear of the Lord, I would quickly say to you that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (cf. Prov. 1:7). I would tell you that the Proverbs are clear that we must have a proper understanding of the holiness of God, of our position before God, and the awe-inspiring, trembling-inducing, fall-on-your-face holiness that we see in Scripture when men stand before the Lord. No person is wise who thinks they deserve the right just to bounce into the presence of God based on their own merit.
But, in this year’s read through the Bible, I saw something in Proverbs about the fear of God that I do not recall taking note of.
Proverbs 8:12-13
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
Wisdom speaks to us about the fear of God. This time wisdom says to us that the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Let me simply ask, when you define fear of the Lord, is hatred of evil in your definition? If not, why not? What would it look like in your life if hatred of evil was a part of your character?
This catches me, because I do not think we spend much energy in the modern church focusing on the hatred of evil. That is negative. It is certainly not socially popular. We do not think that hating evil will make us well-liked by the world. Perhaps we fear that hating evil, if that became part of our reputations, would inhibit our evangelism.
But, dear Christian friends—and I’m aiming at myself here too—if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, if we cannot please the Lord without properly fearing him, and if hating evil is a major part of the fear of the Lord as this verse says, then hating evil must be a part of the character of the child of God.
If we want to get slippery here, we will decide that we will hate evil, the evil that all the rest of the world hates. So, we will hate human trafficking, porn addiction, drug abuse, and murder. And, of course we should hate those things. But are those the only things the Lord tells us are evil? Is not any human sin evil? Is not any rebellion against the Lord evil? Is it not evil when we dishonor the Lord with our words and with our bodies just as much as it is when we harm other people? The truth is, we are to hate sin, even the sin we think is not such a big deal, if we are to properly fear the Lord.
This leads me to some strong self-examination. Do I hate sin? Do I hate evil? Or, do I only hate some evil, the obvious, big, dirty evil? Am I not, if I am honest, often entertained by evil?
Someone might challenge that, if we really are to hate evil, we would hate so much that we would feel like this entire world is not our home. To that I think I should respond with the following: Exactly.
First and Last
It is hard to imagine how Jesus could have kept from being frustrated by his disciple’s. Yes, I know, he is God in the flesh, so his perfection and love did it. But, when simply thinking from a human perspective, those guys would have gotten on our nerves. They would have annoyed us for many reasons, not the least of which is that we are most like them.
For example, one day, the disciples argued with each other while in Galilee. The basis of their disagreement was the question of which of them was the greatest. Just think, these guys are walking around with God the Son, and they are still able to fight with each other about rank, position, or recognition.
Mark 9:33-36 – 33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Jesus says that, if we want to be great, we need to be willing to be last. We do not achieve greatness by pressing ourselves forward. We do not become great by getting others to see our greatness. Instead, being a humble servant is a sign of greatness.
Then Jesus took a little child, held it, and said that to receive a little one in his name is to be great. Think about that. Jesus is telling us that to care for a kid, a simple task, is to be great. Jesus is letting us know that nursery workers are easily as great as megachurch pastors on conference stages. He is telling us that ones who clean up the mess in the fellowship hall are as important as the skinny-jeans-wearing band leaders. There is no way to take a position or a job in the church that makes you outrank others in the kingdom of God.
The funny thing is, we know all this. But, if we are honest, we are not good at living it. We get frustrated when people do not recognize our ideas and our contributions. We think that people who are given a public platform are more important than those who are not gifted speakers. We think that those who get the book deals and whose congregations are larger are the ones we need to hear speak to us. But the Lord is clear that there is no way to measure heavenly greatness with those criteria.
May we grasp that the Lord knows us and that our worth is measured, not by the opinions of others but by the love of our Savior. May we understand that we do not need earthly recognition to be fulfilled. May we stop thinking that there is a stage to reach or a platform to stand on that will give us ultimate joy in this life. May we treasure the pastor of a tiny church as much as we treasure the pastor of a gigantic one. May we not desire to outrank others, but rest in the perfect wisdom of our Lord. May we serve, love, and care for the least among us as a way to rightly honor the Lord.
Context and a Hard Saying
The Bible is not a hard book to understand. I know that for many, that previous sentence feels false. But, if you think about it, God did not inspire a book that was intended not to be understood. For the most part, if we will read it simply, clearly, in its context, we will understand the message that the author intended us to get. When God says for us not to have any gods before him, that is not hard to grasp. When we read of Jesus calming a storm with a word, we understand what happened there and are rightly amazed. When James tells us that out of the same mouth we wrongly speak blessings and curses, we know what he means.
But there are some verses that, on their surface can cause problems. In Mark 9, for example, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mark 9:1). How can that be? How can Jesus say that some of the men standing with him, his disciples, will see the kingdom of God come with power before they taste death?
One way this is handled by some is to say that the kingdom of God arrived in power at some point during the lives of the disciples. A few groups point to the fall of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70 as such a time. But, at that point, the arrival of the kingdom is in a form only grasped by a select few. Others, liberal scholars, argue that Jesus was simply wrong about the timing of his return. But we who believe in the deity of Christ reject this notion out of hand. Still others tie the coming of the kingdom in power to Jesus’ resurrection or to the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
But, in the Mark passage, as well as in the parallels, the context of Jesus’ statement could give us a clue that, to interpret A.D. 70 or one of the other later times as the arrival of the kingdom to which Jesus is referring might be over-interpreting the passage.
Look at the words in context, taking note of what follows Jesus’ declaration without a transition.
Mark 9:1-3 – 1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.
In all the parallel passages (Mat 16:28-ff, Mark 9:1-ff, and Luke 9:27-ff), Jesus declares that some of his disciples will see the kingdom in power. Then, immediately the authors of the gospels tell us about this trip up the mountain with Peter, James, and John. There, the three see Jesus transfigured. His glory shines. His identity as God is gloriously visible in a way that others do not get to see. Old Testament saints join Jesus on the scene and speak with him.
I would suggest that this scene is what Jesus hinted at in verse 1. Only some standing with Jesus in Mark 9:1 will see the kingdom of God coming in power. This is not because only a few disciples lived to A.D. 70, but rather, it is because only 3 go up the mountain of transfiguration to see the unveiling of the glory of Jesus. They see what the kingdom of God will eventually look like. They see the Savior in his glory, his power, his majesty.
I know that there are others, very solid believers, who reject this explanation. But I do find it interesting that, as topically as some of the gospel writers arrange their material, they all choose to put the claims of Jesus together with the transfiguration. They want us to see that these are part of the same context. Peter, John, and James glimpse Jesus for a moment, not as suffering servant, but as the glorified Son of God. Though their glimpse on the mountain is a short-lived experience that they only bring into focus after his crucifixion and resurrection.
My point in all this is not to utterly finalize the debate on what Jesus said, but to point out that often, if we will look, the context of a passage will open to us its meaning without us having to feel like we cannot possibly understand Scripture. God gives us clues that make it possible for us to grasp what feels, at first, impossible.
And, of course, from the passage, the disciples did see the kingdom of God as it was coming. Now Jesus is risen and glorified. And now, we have the odd position of living in the already and not yet state of believers who are both in the kingdom and awaiting the kingdom. We know Jesus is alive and glorified. We now have the Holy Spirit and the completed word of God. We now share the gospel, preach the word, change the world, and bring the kingdom. We also await the return of Jesus when he will bring the kingdom, come in judgment, reign as king, and set all right forever.
How Often Should I Read the Bible?
I think we can say that there is no, particular, certain, biblical requirement as to exactly how much time we must spend in Scripture or how regularly we open the Bible. At the same time, there are places in Scripture that show us what is wise and helpful. And we should take those verses very seriously as we seek to know and please the Lord.
Joshua 1:8 – This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
When God was preparing Joshua and the Israelites to cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, he gave Joshua a charge regarding the written law of God. Joshua was to meditate on the law of God day and night. That word of God was not to be out of his mind. It was to be a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute concern for the new leader of the people. And, God let Joshua know that such meditation would help him to live well before God and to be blessed with success as he and the Israelites went into the promised land.
How then could we not think that what God said to Joshua would be helpful to people like you and me? Joshua needed to daily meditate on the word of God. So, while there is no biblical requirement, no rulesy standard to follow, God has made it plain that daily time in the word, at least for Joshua, is a good thing. But if this is good for Joshua, it must also be good for us. So, I would argue that it is wise for us to consider taking time each day to be in the word of God. We should read Scripture, pray over it, consider it deeply, and remember it.
How long each day should we spend in the Scriptures? Obviously that will be different for each person. How well can you read? How well can you think? How easy or how hard is it for you to focus on important truths? How long does it take you to study and understand a passage of Scripture? All of these are factors that have to come into play.
At the same time, notice that God told Joshua not to let that word of the law depart from his mouth. God’s word was to be constantly on his mind and in his speech. Joshua had to spend enough time in the word that it flowed out of him. How long would you need to spend in the word every day in order for it to flow naturally out of you? I cannot set that time for you. However, if you only give the word of God a passing glance in the morning or in the evening, I would bet that you are not having it flow out of your life like your breath. If you are only reading a short, shallow devotional, you are probably not being changed by the word in such a way as to let the word become a part of your very mind and being.
Also note that Joshua was to study the word, speak the word, meditate on the word, and remember the word so that he could obey the word. What will it take from your daily time in the word to help you to know and understand it well enough to obey it? That is the main question. For some, the time will be shorter. For others the time will be longer. But for all of us, the time needs to be a commitment that leads us to life-changing obedience.
Friends, the word of God is a treasure. God speaks to us in the pages of Scripture. We hear his voice in the word. We see his character and his ways in the word. We learn what is right and what is wrong with us in the word. We learn what we are to be inn his word. We learn how to find the joy of his glory in his word. May we therefore never neglect his word. May we love God enough to regularly, daily, spend time, significant time, in his word to know him and to follow him.
An Example of Humility
Our culture does not offer us many examples of humility. Consider what you see in our culture. Athletes showboat at the slightest opportunity. Movie stars show us towering pride. Reality television shows have made a brand of arrogant people focusing every bit of their energies on themselves. And cable TV preachers tell us that we are number one.
But the Scripture gives to us a different standard. God treasures humility. God values a broken and contrite heart. After all, God is holy and we are sinners. It is only appropriate that we recognize our lowly state.
When Jesus was ministering, he was once approached by a woman who had a demon-possessed daughter. This woman, a gentile, came to beg Jesus for help. And the Savior’s response to her is interesting. To modern ears, the response of the Savior is rough. He lets the woman know that his ministry is for the Jews and not the gentiles. He says that he should not take the bread of the children and feed it to the dogs. By that, he meant that the Jews were to receive his blessings, and the gentiles did not have a right of claim on him.
Now, as an aside, understand that Jesus was speaking quite properly. He was sent by his Father to the nation of Israel, God’s covenant people. But, Jesus knew that his mission would eventually go well beyond that ethnic boundary. Jesus pointed out in John 10 that he had many sheep that were not of the sheep fold of Israel. He knew exactly what he would do. He knew that his salvation would eventually be for all nations. But his words to the woman were a bit of a test and a reminder that she, if she received anything from him, did not receive from him out of a covenant relationship. She did not have a claim on him.
Regardless of Jesus’ prioritizing the Jews during his ministry, can you imagine how a modern American woman would respond to Jesus’ words? Can you imagine what a person would say to the Savior if they asked him for something and he first pointed out to them their unworthiness, an unworthiness about which they could do nothing. But look at this woman’s humble response.
Mark 7:26-30 – 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
The woman did not scream at Jesus. There was no, “How dare you!” She did not demand her rights. Instead, in humility, she asked for mercy. Are we gentiles the dogs under the table? Fine. Do not even dogs get crumbs from the table? She is not asking Jesus to focus on all gentiles. She is just asking for a tiny crumb of blessing from him. She wants help. She knows she does not have a right to demand it. She just asks in humility.
Of course Jesus then does what he already knew he would do. He heals the little girl and the woman can go away happy. But, in the process, she goes away knowing the proper ranking of humans to God. She goes away understanding that God’s plans and purposes are greater and of more value than our perceptions of those plans.
I wonder, are we ready to allow for the ways of the Lord to be as far beyond our ability to measure as we saw in this encounter? Jesus did not act as we expect. It is certainly possible that we would be greatly offended by his response. We wonder why. We think it inappropriate. But the ways of God are not our ways. We do not have the right to tell God how he is supposed to think of people. Instead, like the woman, we are to bow before him in humility and ask him for mercy. Any kindness he shows us, any at all, is grace.
Today, there is no longer a distinction in the family of God. Jew and gentile alike are welcomed into the same family of God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. None of us outrank the other any longer. There is no room for pride. All people have sinned. All people deserve judgment. Anything we receive from the Lord that is less than Judgment is sweet mercy. May we not puff ourselves up. May we not demand our rights. May we see this woman’s wise humility, and learn to imitate it for the glory of God.
A Different Kind of Witness
When we think of the word “witness,” many different things may spring to mind. If you are into courtroom dramas on TV, you will think of a person in the dock giving testimony about a crime. If you are a person who has been to church for a long time, you will think of witnessing as the act of evangelizing, which may give you different feelings based on your own personality and experiences.
In my reading of Deuteronomy 31, I found the word witness used in a way that we do not often consider, and in a context that is often not on our minds. God calls the people to witness against themselves with a song.
Deuteronomy 31:19 – Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.”
Moses was called by God to give the people a song to sing. That song would be a witness. But, unlike our concept of Christian witnessing, taking the gospel to others, this song would be a witness for God against the people. The words that the people were to sing would speak against them.
When the people of Israel would sing the song that Moses would teach them, they would declare truth about God. As they would sing that truth, they would prove that they were aware of what God had revealed about himself to them. They would sing the truth of God’s commands. They would show, with their song, that they were responsible to follow the commands that the Lord gave to them.
In some ways, the witnessing in this song is like a courtroom witness, giving testimony that the individuals who sang the song really knew the commands of God. The people would prove themselves guilty before the Lord by singing the testimony of the Lord’s truth.
So, this makes me wonder about our own singing and testimony. Do we bear witness when we sing our songs of worship on Sundays? Do the songs we sing have enough theological content to actually witness about anything? Or are our songs so full of empty sentimentality that they actually offer us no witness that could convict us of anything other than not feeling a certain emotion? May we be sure that, as we sing, we sing truth. May we be sure that our words are enough of a witness to the Lord that they could actually call us to account before the Lord.
Also, considering this kind of witness, may we also realize that when we witness to others, we are called to bring truth to bear. Being a witness for the Lord is not a call to use our powers of persuasion to change the minds and hearts of others. Rather, witnessing is telling the truth at such a level as to prove someone accountable for that truth. So, when we witness, we communicate to people the facts of the Lord’s gospel. We communicate their responsibility before the Lord. We do not do this harshly—there is no reason to do so. We do not communicate with a nasty attitude. Neither do we compromise the truth. If we are to be genuine witnesses, we give people the information they need to see where they stand before the Lord.
How would our lives change if we saw witnessing in the context of Deuteronomy 31? How would you change to think that you witness against yourself as you sing the truth about the Lord? How would your evangelism change if you realized that our call to bear witness to Christ is a call to tell others the truth so as to help them see their position before God. Yes, be loving to others. Yes, sing songs of joy and peace and love and hope and healing. But, yes, bear witness of the truth of the lord for the glory of God.
Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain
What do you think of when you hear the commandment not to take the name of the Lord your God in vain? I think, as I grew up, the only way I ever heard that used was swearing. Do not cuss using the word “God.” And while trying to make the word “God” part of a profanity is wrong, there is something far deeper involved in taking the name of the Lord in vain.
In Psalm 50, the Lord rebukes a people for something they were doing that is a perfect example of what it means to take God’s name in vain.
Psalm 50:16-22
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
Note, in that passage, the wicked that God speaks of are people who are claiming to be his. Yet, when these people put on the name of God, their lives do not change. They approve of evil. They keep company with the wicked because they enjoy the wickedness. They speak evil of their brothers. They say they belong to God, but they refuse to obey his word.
In an interesting phrasing, God says of the wicked who are taking his name in vain, “you thought that I was one like yourself” (v21). That may be one of the most telling verses I’ve read in a long time. A mark of human wickedness, of not knowing God even though you think you do, is to think that God is just like you. When you think that God sees the world as you do, when you assume that your morality must be the morality of God, you are in great danger of taking the name of the Lord in vain. Because, the Lord has revealed himself and his ways in his word, we must never assume that we can reason out who God is based on our personalities, our likes, our dislikes, or our cultural norms.
Are you taking the name of the Lord in vain? It is not about foul language. It is about saying you are a believer when your life does not match your claim. The Lord, at the end of this psalm, has very hard things to say to those who declare with their mouths only to be his. God wants people whose lives match their claims to be his servants.
God Does Not Need Me
I once recall having a conversation with some young people about the sovereignty of God. They had begun to ask me questions about this important topic, and they would not be satisfied without looking at the issues of election, free will, predestination, and all the rest. And, to be honest, I had no desire to have that conversation, because I knew the difficulties that are often associated with our reactions to God’s sovereignty.
The reason that this particular conversation stands out in my mind is the ugly response from one of them. A person let us all know, in no uncertain terms, if they were not individually responsible for helping God on his mission, if they were not specifically needed by God in their efforts, they would not serve him. They would not go on any sort of mission or share their faith if they were not personally the difference in a person’s salvation or lack thereof.
You know, regardless of how you understand the sovereignty of God in salvation, I would hope that you can grasp that such a response to the commands of God is problematic. Calvinists and Arminians alike should know that, regardless of how God uses us or not, it is our responsibility to obey. We do what God commands, regardless of whether or not we can understand how he uses us. We obey out of devotion to the Lord, regardless of the way that the Lord chooses to use that obedience.
One terrible mistake that we can mentally make as we live our Christian lives is to allow ourselves to believe that we are helping God along in his cause. Dare we think that the Lord needs us to accomplish his task? Dare we assume that, without our bit, the plans of God will fail?
Psalm 50:7-15
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Perhaps you are familiar with the saying that the lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Often that is cited as a way for believers to rest in God’s provision, knowing that we have a rich, heavenly Father. But that is not the intent of the psalmist.
No, the cattle on a thousand hills saying comes from the mouth of God as a rebuke to a people who have decided that they are supporting God. Some people might have mistakenly begun to believe, as the idol worshipers of Canaan believed, that their sacrifices and offerings to the Lord sustained him. They may have decided that their burnt offerings fed the Lord. But such is not ever the case.
God let’s Israel know that he does not want their offerings because of any need. He is not fed by them. He does not need their cattle. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The Israelites are not helping him by their participation in the sacrificial system.
The Lord tells the people to continue giving to him, but not to think they are aiding him. He wants them to worship out of a desire to worship him. He wants them to sacrifice out of thanksgiving. But he will most certainly not tolerate the concept of a person thinking they are providing for his needs. The Lord has no needs.
I would argue that the same thing is true of Christian service today. Whether we are talking about our giving in church, our singing songs of praise, or our participation in missions, we should not think that we are the linchpin in the plans of the Lord. We must not assume that God’s kingdom rises or falls based on our helping it along. The Lord is sovereign. He is King. He has no needs. And so we serve him for a different reason.
Now, this is not me saying that evangelism is unimportant. This is not me saying that giving or going is not important. God has commanded us to obey him. Obedience is important. However, the growth of the kingdom of God depends on God. He will have 100% of the glory for its establishment.
What the Lord wants of us is for us to understand that he is sovereign, and we may follow him out of obedience an joy. We share the gospel out of our desire to honor the Lord and have the joy of his glory. We give in church out of a desire to obey the Lord and demonstrate our trust in him. We sing God’s praises in order to declare truth about the Lord and his ways and our dependence on him.
I once illustrated this all with the idea of painting a wall in a house. Imagine a dad whose 5-year-old son wants to join him in painting. The dad can do the job better and faster without the little boy. But, out of love for the child, for the purpose of teaching him about work, for the kindness of letting the little one spend time with his father, the dad paints a line on the wall and asks the little boy to paint everything below the line. It is not that the boy’s participation is irrelevant. But, the dad lets the boy “help” because the dad loves his son.
When it comes to building the kingdom of God, we are like little ones painting the garage. Sure, we get some paint on the walls. But we also make a lot of messes on ourselves. However, out of love, our Heavenly Father has allowed us to join him in his work. But may we never think that we are indispensable to him in the completion of the task. He does not need us. He just loves us, which is far, far better.
False Assurance and the Parable of the Soils
In Mark 4, the Lord Jesus speaks a parable about a sower who sows seed on a variety of types of soil. Of the 4 soils, only 1 produces a living, fruit-bearing plant. The other three produce, at the end of the day, only something dead. And the Savior tells us in his explanation of the parable that this all has to do with the sharing of the gospel.
What I wonder, when I consider this, is how many of us heard a gospel preached that, by the simple nature of how it was preached, would be more likely to fall on bad soil. Of course, I know that the Lord is sovereign over our salvation. He is the one who brings dead hearts to life and draws people to himself. So, do not take that out of the equation. But, what I wonder is, by the nature of how we speak, do we almost prepare people to be the rocky or thorny ground?
Mark 4:5-7 – 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
Jesus says there are a kind of people who, hear the gospel and respond quickly with joy. But, when either hardships or a desire for the things of this life arise, they turn from the gospel and prove to be dead and not alive.
Mark 4:16-19 – 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Would not a half-gospel, an almost true presentation of Jesus, lead people to be more likely to look like the rocky or thorny ground? Think about it. So many preachers in modern churches offer people the love and forgiveness of God by grace through faith in Christ. But, somehow, in the preaching, the call to repentance and commitment to Christ is left out of the message. There is no lordship in the presentation.
Mark 1:15 – and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The gospel is a call to repent and believe. It is not a call merely to say some spiritual word.
Romans 10:9 – Bcause, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Paul points out that we both call Jesus Lord and believe in his completed work for salvation. He does not present to us a call simply to have an empty, head only faith. Faith leads to repentance. Faith includes a surrender to Christ.
But, so many presentations out there are a call to just give Jesus a try. The call out there is to pray a prayer, and you will notice everything gets better. People eagerly pray, and they might even be religious for a few months. But, when real life hits them in the face, they turn and run. They were never truly converted.
1 John 2:19 – They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
If merely mouthing ascent to a spiritual proposition, praying a prayer on a street corner, were the true gospel plan of salvation, 1 John 2:19 would make no sense. They could not go out from us, never having been part of us, if to be one of us only required a heartless prayer without commitment or heart-change. No, the good news is not so vacuous as all that.
Now, do not get me wrong. We are saved, if we are saved, by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. There is no religious action to perform in order to seal our salvation. There is no particular work that we do or particular amount of works that we do in order to be saved. Salvation is genuinely a free gift of God.
Part of some gospel presentations includes the idea that, if we want God’s gift of grace, we must take it from his outstretched hands. That is usually a bad version of synergistic teaching in which our act of will works along with God to apply salvation to us. And, of course, that is not true biblically. But, there is a way that I think we can use a gift illustration to help us. If you imagine that salvation is a package that you need to reach out and take from God’s outstretched hand, that is not bad. However, add to this picture this idea: Before you are saved, you are holding inn your two, full hands, the right of ownership over your own life. In order to receive the gift of salvation, you must hand to God the control of your life—lordship. Your hands have to be empty enough to receive the gift of salvation.
I’m not sure if that illustration works, but it may be close. Salvation is a free gift of grace. But, no person can receive that gift of grace while simultaneously keeping full control of his or her life. To genuinely believe in Jesus and receive him as lord includes the action of repenting, of surrendering the authority over our lives to the Lord.
To then tie this back to my concern, far too many supposed gospel presentations include the gift from God while far too few include the concept of repentance and lordship. It is almost like trying to sell someone on the concept of a wedding day without including a marriage. It is like trying to sell someone on the leap from the diving board without including the splash in the pool. May we be more honest than all that. May we not pretend that salvation is something a person receives by the mere mouthing of words. No, salvation comes when God changes our hearts, makes us alive, and causes us both to believe and to, in that belief, yield our lives to him. This is salvation that is not going to die the moment something more comfortable presents itself. This is the kind of salvation that does not disappear when life hardships or worldly success are before us. No, the genuine gospel is an all-life, all-eternity sort of thing.
Embrace the Cross
John 19:16b-18 – So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
One of the most fascinating things about the way that God’s word records for us the crucifixion of Jesus is the fact that we receive almost zero details regarding the actual event. This passage just told us that Jesus was led out of the city to a place they called Skull Hill, that he carried his cross, that he was crucified, and that two others were crucified beside him. So, though countless books, seminars, movies, and studies have been done on the physical effects of crucifixion, the Bible only focuses us on the details that surrounded the cross, not on the blood and gore of the cross itself.
William Hendriksen grasps this point when he writes:
*
It has been well said that the person who was crucified “died a thousand deaths.” Large nails were driven through hands and feet (20:25; cf. Luke 24:40). Among the horrors which one suffered while thus suspended (with the feet resting upon a little tablet, not very far away from the ground) were the following: severe inflammation, the swelling of the wounds in the region of the nails, unbearable pain from torn tendons, fearful discomfort from the strained position of the body, throbbing headache, and burning thirst (19:28).
In the case of Jesus the emphasis, however, should not be placed on this physical torture which he endured. It has been said that only the damned in hell know what Jesus suffered when he died on the cross. In a sense this is true, for they too, suffer eternal death. One should add, however, that they have never been in heaven. The Son of God, on the other hand, descended from the regions of infinite delight in the closest possible fellowship with his Father (1:1; 17:5) to the abysmal depths of hell. On the cross he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).[1]
*
Hendriksen has it exactly right. The physical suffering that Jesus went through on the cross was horrific; however, the focus is more on what he suffered spiritually. The spiritual aspect of what was going on is, I believe, at the center of John’s mind. This is why John emphasizes that Jesus was led out of the city, as a criminal, with two criminals, and hung on a tree as one accursed. Just listen to these texts of scripture, and see how much we should see in these events.
On Christ being led outside the city:
Leviticus 16:27 – And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire.
Hebrews 13:11-12 – 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
On Christ being hung on a tree:
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 – 22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Galatians 3:13 – Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
On Christ being counted with criminals:
Isaiah 53:12 – Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors ; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
What is it that God wants us to see in Christ walking out of the city, suffering the torture of the cross? God wants us to see that Christ was becoming an offering for the sins of others. He was becoming accursed for the sins for which you and I should be cursed. He was being counted guilty though he was innocent. Or, as Paul writes so clearly, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Embrace the cross because of the atonement. If you have placed your faith in Jesus, it was on the cross where God punished your sin. Jesus was your sacrificial substitute who paid the price for what you have done. On the cross, God satisfied his justice by fully carrying out the righteous sentence for your sin. He also satisfied and displayed his mercy by allowing Christ to serve as your substitute, because he could bear the punishment that you never could.
Pastor Travis Peterson 