Zephaniah 1:12
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
There are many people who have a sort of attitude toward God that would say, “He’ll leave me alone and I’ll leave him alone.” Those who say this assume that, if they do their own thing, God will not be involved in their lives. They make no demands of God, at least they think they don’t. They have no expectations from him. They do not expect him to help them or to hurt them.
Sadly for these supposedly self-made men, their position is one that cannot stand. These men think that they can live on their own, and they miss several truths. They miss the fact that their very breathing of oxygen is their imposing on the property of the Creator. They fail to grasp that their reliance on gravity to hold their feet to the ground is their plea to God to keep doing things as he has been doing them since creation. Their reliance on the sun to come up, on the rain to fall, on the wind to blow, on the snow to melt is all a reliance on the sovereign power of God.
Most notable, however, is the error in the concept of thinking that one could live without God intervening in his or her life. The reason this is so tragic is that it is a direct insult to the infinitely holy and infinitely beautiful and infinitely worthy God of the universe. To expect that God will not matter to your life is for you to turn up your nose at the most important person in the universe and declare him irrelevant. To say that God will not do anything to punish the wicked is to call him unjust, a liar, a coward, or worse. To say that God will not do good to his children is to call God unfaithful, uncaring, unloving, unworthy.
God created all that he created for the purpose of displaying his glory. Human beings exist to show off to the universe who God is and what he is like. For men to assume that God is not relevant to life is for them to attempt by their sinfulness to snuff out the brilliant beauty of God’s glory. God will not tolerate such an insult. God will not let us get away with trying to override his plan. God will not let us steal his glory.
Look again at the words of Zephaniah 1:12 above. God makes it absolutely plain that he will not tolerate indifference on the part of his creation. He has every right to demand that we believe in him, that we take him seriously, and that we give him the glory he deserves. For us to fail to do that is for us to rebel against God at the very center of our being.
Now, to many who would read this, Christians who assume that we do take God seriously, this post looks like one of those, “Yeah, those people over there need to hear this,” kind of statements. But, slow down. Ask yourself, “Are there places in my life, parts of how I live, where it looks like I neither expect God to do good or ill?” When you go to worship services on a Sunday morning, do you expect to meet God? Does your demeanor indicate that you expect that God will show up, speak to you, and change your life? When you plan how to use your money, does it look like God is an important factor in your decision-making? When you decide what to buy people for Christmas, is there anything in that decision that says that God is supreme in the universe?
Christians, let us be careful not to say with our lips that we believe in God and then live in such a way that communicates to the world that God is a non-factor. God is highly insulted by our indifference. He will not let us continue to make it look as though he is not real. Let us be certain that our words and our actions both demonstrate for all to see that God is, that God is good, that God is powerful, that God will act.
Get Ready Now for Your 2010 Bible Reading
As 2009 comes to a close, it is very tempting to press toward the end of the year as if finishing this decade is an admirable goal. It is funny how easily we can aim at finishing one year and forget that there is another following right behind it.
One category that can really sneak up on us toward the beginning of a new year is planning for your Bible reading. In my life, the simple truth is that I will fail to read well and study well if I do not discipline myself to read in a scheduled and systematic way. So, I have been pondering what I will do to make sure that I read through the Bible in an orderly fashion in 2010.
For the last two years, I have used a plan that takes me through the entire text of Scripture in the year. There are several things that I particularly like about the way this plan works:
· It covers all of the Bible in the year.
· It includes 25 readings per month, thus allowing for days to catch up.
· It is used by several people I know, so I am often reading something that others are reading as well.
· It has me reading from different sections of the Bible at once, thus helping me not to get bogged down.
· It is a plan, thus being better than trying to haphazardly keep myself going.
I hope that, in 2010, you will make it a point to read through the Bible. Perhaps, if you are not much of a reader, you will at least be able to plan to make it through the New Testament. I don’t think that there is any spiritual discipline more important for the Christian than to intentionally spend time in the word of God.
I’d be thrilled if you would join me in reading through the Bible in 2010. Often, my blog posts will come from what I have just run across in the daily readings. It is always wonderful to hear from others who are reading and thinking about the same passages.
If you would like to use the plan I am using, you can find it here.
If you would like to use a different plan that I have used in the past, you might check out Crosswalk.com’s Bible-in-a-Year page which will allow you to do your reading on-line and chart your progress on the site.
The ESV website has a list of several reading plans that also might interest you.
Regardless of what plan you use to read through the Bible in 2010, I urge you to pick a plan, stick with it, and enjoy time well spent in the word of God in the year to come.
Why Should God Bless Me? (Psalm 67:1-2)
Psalm 67:1-2
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Often times, when people pray, we make our requests of God without considering why those requests should be granted. What good will it do for God to do that which we ask him to do? Why would it be in the interest of God’s glory or God’s kingdom to grant the request that we are seeking? What is our motivation for wanting what we claim to want?
In Psalm 67, the music opens with a cry from the people asking God’s blessing on the people. The words echo the blessing that Aaron was to pronounce on the people from the end of Numbers 6. However, the request for blessing is not sitting in this psalm without an answer to the question of why God might want to respond to their request.
Look at verse 2. There the people give a very God-centered reason for making the request that they have made of God to bless them. The people ask for God’s blessing, “that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.” The reason that they are asking for God to bless them is in order that his ways might be known by the people of the world. They want to be blessed in order that they might in turn share the knowledge of God with others.
Think this question through: When you pray for God to bless you, what reason are you giving for that blessing? If God were to bless you, would it in turn display his glory for others to see? Were God to bless you as you desire, would that have an impact on the nations? Were God to bless you, would it in turn aid in the spreading of the good news of Jesus to your family, your coworkers, your church, your neighborhood, your school, your town, your state, your nation, or the world?
By no means am I arguing that we have to earn the blessing of God. God’s blessing is sheer grace, plain and simple. However, if we understand that God’s top priority is the glory of God, it will help us to pray in such a way that we will better be pleasing to him. Is it not better for us to change our lives so that when we pray, our request are founded in what will bring honor to the name of our Lord? Is it not better to pray that God heal us of a disease in order that we might serve him more instead of simply praying that God might heal us so that we can feel better? Is it not better to pray that God bless us so that we can take the gospel to the nations than to pray that God bless us so that we can live in luxury?
Christians, there are two things we should learn here. First, let us learn to pray with a “so that” in mind. Let us pray that God do something so that his name will be honored, that the gospel will spread, that his people will better serve him. Let us not simply pray for our own worldly comfort. We read in James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Let us learn to ask rightly, for the glory of God, and not wrongly, to be wasted on our passions.
Second, this thought should challenge us to adjust our lives. If we are going to honor god, we need to be the kind of people who, if we are blessed by God, that blessing will impact the world. We need to become more giving, more open with our faith, more centered on the glory of God. We want to be able to pray, Lord, bless me so that the nations will know you more.“
God’s Priority and Our Joy (John 17:1b)
[The following is a sermon point that I made over a year ago. Of course, I am greatly indebted to the writing and preaching of John Piper for much of this material.]
John 17:1b
Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
Now we begin Jesus’ prayer. “Father, the hour has come.” Jesus has made mention of his hour on multiple occasions in this gospel. Jesus says the hour has not yet come in chapter 2, chapter 7, and again in chapter 8. But in chapter 12, when some Greeks asked to see Jesus, he said his hour was at hand. IN chapter 13, Jesus again told his disciples that his hour was here, the hour for him to accomplish the mission for which God had sent him to earth. And now, in his prayer, he says that the hour is here.
Now, when you put the fact that Jesus had been predicting his death for the last several chapters together with the fact that Jesus says that he is entering the hour, the big moment, the one crucial period in eternal history when the Son of God would do the thing for which he came to earth, you must conclude that Jesus is standing in front of a moment of colossal importance. He is standing and looking forward to a moment that is the most important moment in all of history, in all of eternity. There is no way that we could go too far in saying how big and important and serious a moment is to come.
So, it would make sense, wouldn’t it, that Jesus would pray for something of utmost importance. Whatever Jesus prays when turning his eyes to the most important time in all of eternity is clearly the thing that is of highest importance to him and to God the Father. Whatever comes out of Jesus’ mouth first will be what is of first importance.
Jesus prays, “Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” The prayer is “Dad, glorify me.” Would you think this is the prayer that should come to the lips of the Savior when standing before the moment when he is about to suffer the greatest agony, feel the greatest pain, bear the weight of sin, and save our souls? Would you think that the first and highest thing, the most important thing, is that Jesus would ask God, “Glorify me so I can glorify you?”
Well, you would think this is the right prayer if you knew God the way Jesus knows the Father. You would think this prayer perfectly consistent with God’s nature and character. Why? Because, and I say this with all seriousness and all importance, the most important thing to God is the glory of God. Is there evidence of this?
Why did God create people?
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.
Why did God do the miracle at the Red Sea?
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Listen to God say why he spared Israel instead of destroying them in their rebellion:
But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
Why did God bring his people back from captivity?
9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.”
Why does God forgive sins?
“I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
What is the end of all things?
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Do you see the point? Everything, absolutely everything that God does, is primarily for the sake of displaying the glory of God. And so it is no surprise that, when Jesus comes to this hour and prays, he asks for God to glorify him so that he can glorify the Father. This is what Jesus is about. He is dying to pay for our sins in order to protect God’s name as being merciful, loving, and just. Everything is about God’s glory.
Would you like to be like Jesus? If so, you must find the center of your life in the glory of God. God’s glory is his weightiness, his worthiness of praise, his awesomeness, his magnificence. If you live for God’s glory, you do what you do so that, when people see it, it shows them that God is good, big, and of utmost importance. So, live for God’s ultimate purpose, his glory. Before taking action, ask, “How will this action make God look to others?” Before saying something, ask, “Will my words show the world that God is real and important?” Before spending time in worry, ask, “How am I showing God that I think he’s powerful right now?” Find ways to check your life and to live for God’s glory, his ultimate priority.
And, know this, when you live for God’s glory, you will find joy in him. When you see God’s glory, you find that being part of giving God glory is what you were made for.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Seeing God’s glory is what gives us the pleasure and the joy that David wrote of in those two Psalms. It is to be in God’s presence, to experience his glory and his love that David says is better than life. If you want that kind of joy, live for God’s ultimate priority, his glory.
Yet You Did Not Return to Me (Amos 4:11-13)
11 “I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning;
yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
and declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth—
the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!
In Amos 4:6-11, five times God says, “yet you did not return to me.” In each instance, God was describing ways in which he had shown the people that he was chastising them for their sin. God chastised the people with shortness of food (4:6), with drought (4:7-8), with crop disease and locusts (4:9), with disease (4:10), and with death (4:11). All of these are terrible things for the people to have gone through, and each is followed with that statement, “Yet you did not return to me.”
God had a purpose for the hardships alluded to by Amos that the people of Israel went through. He had a reason that he put them through so much. It was not simply to punish them for sin. Were God to actually punish them for their sin, there is only one punishment that would suffice. The sin of humanity is an infinite offense to an infinitely holy God. If God actually punishes you for your sin, he sends you to hell forever—an infinite punishment for an infinite offense. No, the hardships suffered by the people of Israel had a different purpose.
The reason for the hardships of Israel comes in the refrain, “Yet you did not return to me.” The hardships that Israel went through should have brought the nation to its knees. The hardships that the nation when through should have reminded them that they were sinning against the one, true God. The hardships that the nation suffered should have driven the people to cry out to God for mercy, to repent, to seek the favor of the Lord. Sadly, the people did not learn from their hardships.
Because the people did not learn from their sufferings, they were in great danger. God told them that, because they refused to repent and return to him, he would do to them what he had done to Sodom. Because they would not repent, God warned, “prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” This was a terrifying threat from God, and the people who heard Amos’ words should have taken it very seriously.
Now, here we sit, thousands of years later. We are far removed from the hardships of Israel. Does God have a lesson for us? You bet. We too are to learn that life, be it beautiful or painful, is intended to drive us to God. When we have joy, it should draw us to give thanks. When we see beauty, it should lead us to praise. When we see the unbelievable happen, it should lead us to trust the God who created us and who does the impossible. When we hurt, we should remember that it is only the grace of God that keeps us from a punishment far worse. When we suffer, it should draw us to cry out to God for mercy, for grace, for his provision. Our pain should make us return to the Lord just as Israel’s pain, were Israel obedient, would have made that nation return to the Lord.
We also can learn from the frightening words of the Lord that there will be a time when all mankind will have to meet their God. How will we meet him? Will we be under the cleansing blood of his Son, or will we meet him on our own merit? If you meet your God on your own merit, you will fall short of his perfection and will suffer his fury. If you meet him under the blood of his Son, the perfection of Christ will be applied to your account, and you will find
eternal life, eternal joy, eternal satisfaction in your Lord.
Fascinating History
In his commentary on Matthew 1, John MacArthur gives us some interesting facts regarding the history of certain pagan traditions that have crept into the life of the church. I pass these along for your pondering.
**
Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, one of Noah’s three sons, founded the great cities of Babel (Babylon), Erech, Accad, Calneh, and Nineveh (Gen. 10:10–11). It was at Babel that the first organized system of idolatry began with the tower built there. Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis, became the first high priestess of idolatry, and Babylon became the fountainhead of all evil systems of religion. In the last days, “the great harlot” will have written on her forehead, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH ” (Rev. 17:5). When Babylon was destroyed, the pagan high priest at that time fled to Pergamum (or Pergamos; called “where Satan’s throne is” in Rev. 2:13) and then to Rome. By the fourth century a.d. much of the polytheistic paganism of Rome had found its way into the church. It was from that source that the ideas of Lent, of Mary’s immaculate conception, and of her being the “queen of heaven” originated. In the pagan legends, Semiramis was miraculously conceived by a sunbeam, and her son, Tammuz, was killed and was raised from the dead after forty days of fasting by his mother (the origin of Lent). The same basic legends were found in counterpart religions throughout the ancient world. Semiramis was known variously as Ashtoreth, Isis, Aphrodite, Venus, and Ishtar. Tammuz was known as Baal, Osiris, Eros, and Cupid.
Those pagan systems had infected Israel centuries before the coming of Christ. It was to Ishtar, “the queen of heaven,” that the wicked and rebellious Israelite exiles in Egypt insisted on turning (Jer. 44:17–19; cf. 7:18). While exiled in Babylon with his fellow Jews, Ezekiel had a vision from the Lord about the “abominations” some Israelites were committing even in the Temple at Jerusalem-practices that included “weeping for Tammuz” (Ezek. 8:13–14). Here we see some of the origins of the mother-child cult, which has drawn Mary into its grasp.
John MacArthur, Matthew (Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), 5.
Be Careful What You Cheer For (Amos 1-2)
The book of Amos has one of those gotcha beginnings that should cause all of us to sit back and think about how we think. Throughout chapter 1 of this book, God pronounces judgments on the peoples who live around Israel, peoples who had been a thorn in Israel’s side for years. As the mortar shells fall on those camps, one can almost hear the people of the northern kingdom cheering God on, “That’s right God, hit ‘em where it hurts; they deserve it!”
However, much like one of those military moments where the shells come closer and closer to their target, God’s blasts of judgment seem to spiral in toward the folks of Israel and Judah. In chapter 2, when God pronounces judgments on Judah, one might think that a person in the northern kingdom would have been holding his or her breath, hoping that final shot would not be fired. Then, BOOM, the purpose of the book of Amos is revealed. God has exposed his fury against the surrounding peoples and their sin to magnify how incredibly worthy of his wrath are the people of the northern kingdom.
Now, sitting on my couch with my laptop on my lap, why should I care about this opening salvo of the book of Amos? Here is why: It is very easy to like it when people we see as bad people get what is coming to them. It is very easy to breathe a sigh of relief or to even smirk at the troubles that befall people who just plain deserve it. But, have we forgotten, we too have sinned before a holy God? We too have failed to live up to his perfect standard. We too have done more than enough to earn an eternity in hell by infinitely offending an infinitely holy God. We doo still have enough sin in our lives that, were it not for the covering and cleansing blood of Jesus, we would be cast into hell to stay forever.
Christians, why we should care about the beginning of the book of Amos is simple. We should care to remember to be careful not to cheer at the destruction or downfall of those we dislike. We should be reminded of the old adage, “But by the grace of God go we.” This is not to say that we stop praying that God do justice or bring his kingdom—by no means. It is, rather, to say that, when the wicked get what God rightly gives them, we should praise God for his justice and then fall on our knees and acknowledge that we deserve the same thing were God to give us what we have merited. Let the judgment of God, when it falls, remind you that he has treated you with grace. Let that humble you and not puff you up. Be careful what you cheer for.
Lord, I thank you that you have shown me your mercy. I certainly could have never done anything to deserve it. I know that your justice, your judgment, will fall on those who oppose you. I rejoice in how much that displays your glory. However, I also must tremble, remembering that I am worthy of your wrath. Were it not for your grace in Christ, I too would be under your curse. Thank you for grace. I pray too that you will sovereignly spread your grace and mercy to others, that they too will come to Jesus and escape the wrath that they, no more than I, deserve.
Is Philadelphia a Model of the Rapture? (Revelation 3:10)
Revelation 3:10
Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
It is always an interesting thing to have my daily Bible reading take me through the book of Revelation. While I do not often make a big deal of eschatological views, views of how the end of the world will come, I could not help thinking about this verse in Revelation 3 as it does or does not relate to a popular system of beliefs. I will preface by reminding readers that, though Christians will disagree on these points, this is a topic for thoughtful and prayerful consideration, but certainly not for division. We are all still giving this our best biblical guess here.
Pretribulation proponents, those who believe that Jesus will secretly return to snatch his church out of the world before a period of intense suffering at the end of the age, often cite Revelation 3:10 as a verse which supports their point. They say that Philadelphia is a model of the faithful church which will be raptured out of the world, hence the promise from Jesus to keep them from the hour of testing that is to come upon the whole world. John MacArthur, in his Revelation commentary, writes, “Because the believers in Philadelphia had successfully passed so many tests, Jesus promised to spare them from the ultimate test. The sweeping nature of that promise extends far beyond the Philadelphia congregation to encompass all faithful churches throughout history. This verse promises that the church will be delivered from the Tribulation, thus supporting a pretribulation Rapture.”1
But MacArthur’s view is not the only one posited by respected commentaries. The highly technical New International Greek Testament Commentary, after examining the language of Revelation 3:10 in light of several other passages, declares, “Accordingly, the following interpretative rendering is best here: ‘I will keep you safe from the spiritual harm of the coming tribulation period.’” Further arguing from the seeming similarities in the letters to other churches in Revelation 2-3, , this commentary declares, “If our assessment is correct that the letters of Smyrna and Philadelphia possess literary and conceptual parallels, then 3:10 does not refer to physical but spiritual protection of believers from tribulation because those in Smyrna were promised spiritual protection even though some might die in the tribulation.”3
So, what do we do? Here we have two well-respected commentaries saying totally opposite things. In my own opinion, the letters written to the seven churches are clearly real letters intended by God to encourage, challenge, or speak to real churches of that time. Thus, readers cannot assume that the letter to Philadelphia is any less than an affirmation to that church that God would keep them safe during a time of future persecution when the whole world around them was going through trouble. Times like that would have occurred more than once in the life of that church during the time of the Roman Empire, and any of those times would have been sufficient for that church to know that Jesus had kept his promise.
But what about the view that this is a far-reaching promise to span the centuries and to be an encouragement to the church universal? This reading is less obvious given the present context. Since such a reading of symbolic meaning is less obvious, it is inherent on the interpreter to bear the burden of proof for his case. I see nothing in the arguments of Dr. MacArthur, or of any other commentators thus far, which convinces me that they have successfully born that burden. The context of these letters gives us no indication that they are intended by God to tell a church some two thousand years later that she will not have to go through the persecutions presented by antichrist. The text just does not stand up to that reading unless the interpreter brings a great deal more to the table than is initially there.
Let us ask this question of the letter to the church at Philadelphia: “Who is to benefit from this letter?” If all we have is the position that this is a symbolic promise that the church will be raptured before the tribulation, then the church at Philadelphia is not benefitted from that promise. However, if the letter is specifically for Philadelphia, are we benefitted? In my judgment, the most clear understanding of what God is doing here is encouraging the church at Philadelphia in her very real and very present persecutions. God will protect the Philadelphia church through a looming persecution. At the same time, we can be encouraged, knowing that the God who did protect the Philadelphia church, even when the world around her was going crazy, will keep us in his care regardless of what is happening around us.
Is it totally unheard of to have God allow his people to remain in a world and somehow protect his people from the kinds of supernatural judgments that he is pouring out on that world? Of course not. One need only read the book of Exodus to see that God has, in times past, allowed his people to suffer at the hands of evil men, poured out his judgments on those evil men, and somehow supernaturally protected his people from that judgment while not removing his people from the land where the judgments are taking place.
Similarly, the church at Philadelphia went through some hard times. They certainly would have been surrounded by great persecution and trouble. God’s keeping that church through that time did not include him taking them out of that world. For Christ to keep his promise to the church at Philadelphia would have involved his protection of them, but not his snatching them away from the world in which they lived.
Finally, is this an important issue? Yes, though probably not as important as some would make it. Eschatology is a tough topic, and there are far too many good arguments out there as to how we are to interpret these prophetic books. What is important is that we remember that God is faithful, that he always keeps his promises, and that he will do what is right. Is it possible that his church will go through great persecution either at the hands of antichrist or at the hands of other evil men? Of course that is possible; Jesus even promised it. God also wants us to learn that , no matter what happens around us, he is still our God and will still keep his people. He will not lose us, no matter how hard the world tries to destroy us. We can be encouraged that Jesus’ words are true when he promises to be with us “always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And we can have that encouragement without reading extra symbolism into Jesus’ promises to the church at Philadelphia.
See also “A Rare Post on Eschatology”
1John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 (Chicago: Moody, 1999), 124.
2G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 292.
3Ibid.
Love God’s Word to be Jesus’ Friend. (John 15:15)
John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Jesus makes a distinction between a slave or servant and a friend. A slave does not get a great deal of information from his or her master. The master tells you what to do, and you do not ask, “Exactly how does this fit into your plan? What are you up to?” No, if you are only a servant, you may only obey blindly with no real insight into the heart or the desires or the plans of the master.
Jesus says to his disciples that he has not treated them as slaves, because he has let them into his plans. He has told them what he is up to. HE has revealed to them everything that the Father has intended for them to know. He has given them insight into the deepest truths in the universe. He has filled them in on what God is doing. And this filling them in is what makes them more than slaves, it makes them friends.
Now, which would you rather be, a slave or a friend? I think that is obvious, we want to be Jesus’ friends. But let me ask you, do you really treasure the concept of being called Jesus’ friend? Do you want to take advantage of the true joy that is available to you in being the friend of God? If so, then you will take advantage of what makes you more than a slave. What is that? It is the revelation of God: the Bible.
Jesus says that his disciples are his friends because they are privy to the will of the Father. You and I have the very same revelation available to us. God has recorded for us his will, his plan, his purposes in his living and active word. God has made us his friends by giving us insight into who he is and what he is doing. And all that insight is contained in the Bible.
Are you a Bible reader? Are you a student of the Scriptures? Do you love your Bible? Do you make looking into the Bible a priority on a regular, a daily basis? If so, you are taking advantage of what it means to be God’s friend. But if you are neglecting your Bible, if you are not reading it, studying it, and loving it, you are not taking advantage of the wonderful gift that God has given in order to make you his friend. If you want to be God’s friend, love and obey his word.
Love One Another Sacrificially (John 15:12-13)
John 15:12-13
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus’ command is radical, but it is not new. In chapter 14, verses 34 and 35, Jesus already clearly commanded his disciples to love one another. But here he repeats it for us. That tells me that this command is very much important to what Jesus wants us to do as Christians. And, since he told us that this is his command immediately after telling us to obey his commands to abide in his love, this command is even more clearly important.
Do you want to grow as a Christian? Do you want to be fruitful as a Christian? Do you want to abide in Jesus’ love as a Christian? If so, you must obey his commands. Jesus says that his command is this: love one another.
The problem with most believers is not that we do not know that Jesus has called us to love one another. I’d suppose that none of you are surprised that Jesus called us to love one another. None of you fell out of your chairs and hit the floor out of shock at the prospect that Jesus might actually tell his followers to love one another. This is old faithful doctrine here. But the problem that many of us has is that we do not know how to show love to one another.
So Jesus gives his disciples, and all of us, a perfect example to follow if you want to know what it looks like to truly love another person. Jesus tells us to love others as he has loved us. Then he makes it clear. No one ever shows any greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends.
What is Jesus driving at? How does he define love? What is different in the way that Jesus tells us to love and the way that the world around us describes love? Let’s take those questions in reverse order. What’s the difference in Jesus’ kind of love and the world around us?
The world around us thinks of love as a strongly felt emotion. When people in the world describe being in love, they most often describe how another person makes them feel good. They say things like, “She just makes me so happy; I can’t live without her; I can’t imagine how empty life would be without him by my side; or she completes me.” Such an emotionally and selfish form of love is easy to fall into and out of simply based on our circumstances or our body chemistry. The difference between this and what Jesus said is clear.
Jesus describes love as totally self-sacrificial. He points to love as the kind of commitment to another’s good in which you are willing to sacrifice anything and everything for that other’s well-being. Jesus describes love as a willingness to lay down your life, not simply feeling good about another person. HE describes love as dying for others, and then he demonstrates it by laying down his own life for the sake of sinners. Love may contain emotion, in fact it generally should, but love is far deeper, far more concrete than simply feeling happy when you are near someone.
What then is Jesus driving at? Jesus is driving at an understanding of and acting out of love that is based on a commitment to the good of another. He wants his disciples to live out love for one another. He is not saying that we must always feel giddy when around each other. He is, however, saying that we need to value one another so much that we are willing to give up our own lives for the sake of the good of our fellow disciples.
And thus we see what it is that Jesus is calling us to. He wants us to love one another as true friends. He then shows us that loving one another as friends requires that we willingly sacrifice our own wants, our own comforts, our own desires, perhaps even our own lives for the sake of the good of others.
Now, let me try to illustrate so that there is no confusion. A wife allowing her husband to abuse her is not showing him love. Though she may be sacrificing her happiness and safety, she is not doing him good. In fact, a wife who allows her husband to abuse her is harming him as she is allowing him to sin against God. However, a wife who stays at her husband’s side for years as he battles cancer is showing love. She may have desires and goals and ambitions that she puts on hold, but she lays them aside for his good, for his comfort, for his security.
Do you see the difference? Love is self-sacrificial, but always for the good of another. And we must think in long-term, spiritual good. Loving parents discipline their children. Loving friends sometimes say no to their friends. But we never act selfishly toward someone we are loving. We give our all for their good.
So, do you want to live in fellowship with Jesus? Do you want to abide in his love? Learn how to show true love for other believers. Learn to love sacrificially just like Jesus.
Pastor Travis Peterson 