Tag: Travis Peterson

Luke 8:23-25

23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Just a quick thought. Who is Jesus that he can calm the raging seas?

Psalm 89:8-9

8 O Lord God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
with your faithfulness all around you?
9 You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them.

Jesus is the LORD, that’s who he is; God in flesh,

Luke 7:40-43

40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
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There are times when preachers and other Christians are tempted to minimize the severity of human sinfulness. Perhaps this comes from a rejection of the biblical understanding of man’s depravity, his total inability to do anything that pleases God apart from God’s intervention (cf. Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:10-17). Perhaps it comes from the preachers’ desire to be thought kind, loving, positive, or relevant. Perhaps it comes from a lack of biblical teaching on God’s holiness and wrath for sin.

Whatever the reason for their style of teaching—and I certainly would not say that they intend this outcome—, Preachers who fail to emphasize the extent and severity of the problem of man’s rebellion against God do more harm than they realize. We see this truth illustrated in Luke 7:40-43. In the context of this passage, a sinful woman weeps and worships Jesus. The religious teacher in whose home Jesus is sitting is condemnatory, thinking that Jesus would not ever allow such a sinner to be in his presence. The main point of Jesus’ response to this teacher is to show him that God forgives sinners, and the greater the sin of those sinners, the greater is the glory of their forgiveness.

A fair point to glean from this passage, however, is the importance of our understanding the severity of our sin. If the one who is forgiven more loves more because of the extent of his or her forgiveness, it must also be true that in order for us to love more and glorify God more, we must understand the severity of our sin and of God’s total hatred of our sin.

If a teacher never emphasizes to you that your sin is grievous, detestable, and disgusting to God, you will not grasp how amazing it is that God forgives you. If a teacher makes it seem as though God has never been angry at you for your sin, you will assume that being forgiven is really no big deal. If you are never taught that your sin, even your smallest sin, is an infinite offense to an infinitely holy God which deserves an infinitely terrible punishment, you will not grasp that the glory of your forgiveness is infinite too.

So, it is good to remember the severity of your sin and to understand the extent of God’s wrath that had formerly been against you. Only then can you grasp how wonderful is your forgiveness. Do not allow a temptation to sound ultra-loving or open-minded make you fail to see how great is the forgiveness of a sinner who had earned God’s hatred but who receives God’s love and grace.

Over the past month, I have spent around six hours sitting on panels in which Christians ask the “Hard Questions.” What I have discovered is that Christians of all ages, all backgrounds, and all social classes have questions for which they want to hear honest and biblical answers. Our two hour panel at First Baptist Columbia was well-received, and we ran out of time long before we ran out of questions. Our panel at Lakeland Baptist Church in Carbondale brought a flood of texted questions from high-school students in southern Illinois. At Super Summer, we spent three hours answering questions, and left a mountain of questions unaddressed simply due to a lack of time.

The questions on these panels have covered such a wide variety of topics, theological, ethical, moral, philosophical, etc., that it is nearly impossible to summarize any one discussion. Some types of questions have included:

· How can we trust the Bible?
· Why does God consider homosexuality a sin?
· Can a Christian lose his or her salvation?
· Is listening to Christian heavy metal OK?
· Which is true, free will or predestination, Calvinism or Arminianism?
· How should I understand dinosaurs from a biblical perspective?
· Questions about end-times, the rapture, the antichrist, etc.
· Does a man who never hears the gospel get a second chance to receive Jesus after his death?
· Is this or that activity morally wrong?

So, faithful blog readers (both of you), I’d like to hear from you. What would you like to hear biblically answered? If your church had a “Hard Questions” panel, what would you ask? What questions do you hear other Christians really wanting to know an answer to?

Leave a comment, and let me know. Perhaps I’ll even try to tackle some of your suggestions in a future post.

2 Kings 19:34-35

34 “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

[This was one of the passages I pondered that turned into a devotion I put together for a team leader meeting this week at Super Summer.[

The situation was terribly grim. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and his forces were conquering everything in their path. They were the nation that it seemed was destined to dominate the world. No one could stand in their way. The Assyrians had taken Samaria and the entire northern kingdom of Israel captive.

Now, the massive Assyrian army had their sights set on Jerusalem. Hezekiah, the king of Judah at that time, had nothing, absolutely nothing, that he could do to defend himself. The Assyrians were even taunting Judah by saying that they would give them 2,000 chariots if they could find enough men to man them.

But Hezekiah turned to the Lord, and God spoke to him through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah made it known that the King of Assyria would not take Jerusalem. He would not even fight at Jerusalem. Though a gigantic army was massing near Jerusalem, they would not even nick the wall with an arrow.

Then, that night, what we already read came to pass. The Lord sent a single angel, one single servant, and the angel struck down 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army. The battle was over. God won.

Here is the thing that I think we need to grasp this morning: we serve that very same God. Too often we think of things in terms of whether or not they are possible. Too often we think of things in terms of whether or not we have the strength to pull them off. But we fail to remember that we serve a God who did not strain himself when he took out an army of 185,000. We serve a God who spoke the stars into existence, created a universe out of nothing, and who certainly has the power to do more incredible things than we could ever imagine.

This morning, take time to remember the power of the God you serve. He can do anything. Yes, we say that easily, but do we buy it? He can do anything. Nothing is hard for God. Nothing makes him break a sweat. God can and will do amazing things.

And, what motivates God’s amazing action? It was for two sakes in verse 34. He did the amazing thing that he did for his own sake, for the sake of his glory, and for the sake of his servant David, his covenant faithfulness. God does amazing things when the point at issue is the glory and faithfulness of God. He will do amazing things to display for all to see the absolute awesome power and beauty of his glory. God will do awesome things for the sake of his covenant people.

So, this week, let’s have our minds set on two things. God can do absolutely anything. He is not limited. Do not let yourself think for a moment that nay task, any student’s problem, any struggle is too big for your God. Instead, dwell on the fact that the God who tossed the stars into the sky, who spoke the planets into being, who designed subatomic particles, and who struck down 185,000 soldiers in a moment is the God you are communicating with and serving this week. Second, remember that God shows his power when the purpose for that display is his own glory. So let’s focus ourselves on the person, the faithfulness, the glory of God, and let’s expect that we will see our God do what we never dreamed possible.

Luke 6:20-26

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
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One of the sermon points from this morning’s message will involve the need for Christians to become courageous by thinking eternally. So, it is wonderfully affirming to read these words from Jesus.

When I think of the beatitudes, I don’t always think of them as a call to an eternal perspective, but in this case, I see it quite clearly. Jesus points to those who are faithfully following him, even suffering for him, and he lets them know that one day, they will find their souls completely satisfied. The truth is, that satisfaction will only fully come when those who follow Jesus are fully satisfied in eternity. Having an eye on that gloriously coming eternity is something that Jesus uses here in Luke 6 to encourage his followers to stand strong, to stick with it, to do the work, or, as the sermon will say, to stoke the fire of their gospel courage.

The audio from our panel discussion from Wednesday evening is available in the sermons section of www.fbccolumbia.com.

There were 6 of us on the panel, and we were presented with a wide variety of questions. Some of the topics included:

How can we trust the Bible?
What happens to our souls when we die? (soul sleep? directly to heaven?)
What is the difference between Protestants and Catholics?
Should Christians homeschool?
What is a biblical response to the push for homosexual marriage?
What happens to the soul of a God-fearing Jew who dies without knowing Jesus?
Why is there evil?
What would you tell a second-grader who asks about dinosaurs?

And much more!

To get the download, go to

http://sermon.net/fbccolumbia

1 Samuel 13:12-14 – 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
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Just a quick thought: Saul decided that he would offer the sacrifice because time was growing short. Besides, “God wouldn’t get all worked up about something so small as the lineage of the man who makes the sacrifice would he? Isn’t the important thing that the sacrifice is made, not how it is made?” And, as you see, Saul was wrong. Let’s be very, very careful in ever saying something like “I don’t think God is really all that concerned about whether we. . . “ God is holy. His holiness makes him concerned about every intimate detail of how we worship him.

The following is a post from Saturday, May 03, 2008. I simply could not help re-posting this after rereading this particular passage.

1 Samuel 6:3-5 – 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land.
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One of my all-time favorite movie lines is Dr. Teeth from the original Muppet Movie saying, “Golden teeth and golden tones; welcome to my presence (heh heh heh).” It was just plain funny. But I have to tell you, the concept of a group of people making golden tumors and golden mice, that ranks right up there too. And, when you realize that the Hebrew word there translated tumors has also been translated as hemorrhoids, it really is hard to keep a straight face. Can you honestly imagine fashioning a golden hemorrhoid in order to pacify the wrath of an angry deity?
But before we get too snarky with the Philistine religious leadership, let’s stop and pay a little closer attention. How often do we fashion our own forms of worship or our own personal acts of penance as if those should satisfy God? How many people do you know who are thinking to themselves that they will earn their way into heaven through religious practices, personal good works, or simply not being bad on the level of a mass murderer, rapist, or climate-destroying SUV driver? Remember, God has told us that our most righteous actions are filthy in his site (Isaiah 64:6). He has told us that there is only one way to get to him, through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). He has told us that salvation is by grace through faith and not by our works (Ephesians 2:8), and yet millions believe that they are going to heaven because they are basically good people. This is no different than a golden hemorrhoid.
Or how about in the area of worship? God has commanded us to preach the word (2 Timothy 4:1-ff), but many have re-envisioned the worship service so as to completely remove any faithful teaching of the Bible. Hip groups have turned preaching into a “conversation” or have set up alternative “worship” stations in the place of worship. But, if you look at the fact that God commanded preaching, is it not a little like a golden hemorrhoid to tell folks that they can go feed themselves communion, finger-paint a nice abstract, or make shapes with the chocolate syrup in the whipped cream of their decaf white chocolate mocha instead of actually hearing and responding to the authoritative word of God?
Many will be tempted to respond to the above critique of off-the-wall froofy worship styles by pointing to the large crowds that such styles can draw. Let’s be careful, however, about thinking that the results of a particular religious activity are how you can tell whether or not you have worshipped God or made a golden hemorrhoid. Once the Philistines sent the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel with their “offering,” they stopped experiencing the plagues. They very well could have concluded, “See, that particular god likes mice and tumors as offerings.” They did not realize that they were in direct violation of the second commandment by making little idols. The reason that the plagues on the Philistines stopped was not the tumors and mice, it was the fact that God graciously chose to stop plaguing the Philistines after the Ark went back to Israel. The Philistines did not do anything that would make them right with God, they simply stopped experiencing their symptoms of being under his wrath. So, without question, pragmatic criteria are no way to judge whether or not one’s acts of worship are honoring to God.
We live in a world where every nut case with a word processor, blog, or a few minutes with Oprah seems to think he, she, or he/she has come up with a new way to get in good with the divine (be that divine within or without him, her, or him/her); however, all of our creative attempts at religion really amount to golden hemorrhoid-making. Thankfully, God has not consigned us to the smithy to fashion for ourselves a new religion every time we get the notion. Instead, he has given us his word. That word tells us how to be right with him. That word gives us principles by which we discern how to worship him in spirit and truth. That word tells us that this life is not about a conversation with God, but is rather about becoming God’s child by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That word is solid, perfect, without error. God’s word is not up for post-modern reinterpretation, feminist revision, or Jeffersonian redaction. God’s commands are his commands.
So, how about this for an idea: Instead of creating a religion out of our own minds, why not use God’s holy word, his perfect revelation of himself and his ways, to learn who he is and how we should please him? Why not put away the golden mice and tumors of our own imaginings, and simply live to glorify God by obeying his commands, preaching his word, sharing his gospel, and loving his church? And in the midst of this, let’s give thanks to God for revealing to us how we can be made right with him by grace through faith in Christ and keeping us from having to make up our own crazy ways to please him.
*PS*
For you who might think I’m advocating the “regulative principle” by calling us to follow the scriptures in worship, let me simply say that I’m not. This is not about attempting to restrict all acts of worship to spelled out commands considering that the Bible says nothing to us about the use of hymnals, microphones, or electricity in worship. We have freedom in Christ to a certain degree; however, we do not have such freedom that we can simply ignore what God has called us to do, change his meaning as it is revealed in his word, or make up new and totally unrelated activities and declare them to be as valid as those which God has clearly commanded.