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Advent: Enjoy God Today!

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20111211_advent-enjoy_god_today.mp3

12/11 Advent – Enjoy God Today
Is the holiday season ever frustrating for you? Life is busy and the season snuck up on me once again. There were several projects I wanted to get done before the snow flew, and, well, here we are. The house is not as clean as it should be. I don’t have as many lights up as I would like to have, and the ones that are up are not as straight as I want them to be. And there must be one bad bulb somewhere that’s keeping half that string from lighting! I wanted to have all the shopping done by now. Half the kids have terrible coughs, and all the kids are half as obedient as they should be… For that matter, I’m not the person I wish I was. Things are not as they ought to be. Things are not the way I want them to be. Do you ever feel this way? Frustration. Dissatisfaction. Disappointment. Discouragement. Merry Christmas!

Is this what Christmas is really all about? For many of us, this is the unhappy reality. In a moment, we’ll turn to God’s word to see why this is such a common experience, and what to do about it. I want to pass along some very practical advice that has helped me out this week, and I pray it will be useful to you not just during the holiday season, but every day of your life.

[pray]

Our Problem

First, I want to ask the question ‘Why?’ Why is life so often not what we had hoped it would be? In the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts “Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” Why is life interspersed with frustration and disappointment?

The feeling we sometimes have that things are not the way they ought to be is one of the few times that your feelings are telling you the truth. In the beginning God created everything, and he said it was very good. And then he put us right in the middle of it, and we were quick to make a mess of it all. God said ‘I know what’s good for you. Follow my instructions and you will live.’ And before we had tasted a fraction of the pleasures of God’s good garden that he freely gave to us, we went after the one thing that was off-limits. We disregarded his instructions, as if we knew better. We disregarded him. We brought entropy and death into his perfect world, and we reap what we have sown every day. Things are indeed not as they ought to be. We were created as the image of the invisible God (Col.1:15), to reflect his glory to each other and to all creation, to bring him praise. We were created to enjoy his presence. Instead we dishonored him. We disobeyed.

Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

This is what is wrong with the world. We are. We were made for so much more. But we have opted for frustration and disappointment rather than finding fulfillment by living life as God designed it. We are without excuse. We did not honor God as God or give thanks to him (Rom.1:20-21). The whole world is accountable to God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom.3:19, 23).

God’s Solution

Now praise God, he did not leave us without hope in this desperate situation. He intervened to give hope where there was no hope. God the Father sent his one and only Son Jesus into this world to become a man, to take our place, to take our guilt on himself, to pay the price that justice demands, and to secure forgiveness for all who would come to him and trust in him. God justifies the ungodly by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom.4:5; 3:24). That is what Christmas is all about.

Our Frustration

But why is it that for us who are his, who have received his salvation and who are reconciled to God, who have our sins forgiven and are restored to a right relationship with God, life can still be so frustrating and discouraging? Why do we still experience dissatisfaction and disappointment?

The Bible tells us why. The Bible tells us that if we are followers of Jesus, our citizenship is in heaven (Phil.3:20, Eph.2:19). We are strangers and exiles on the earth (Heb.11:13, 1Pet.1:1,17), sojourners (1Pet.2:11). Paul said “indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim.3:12). Jesus said:

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are no longer of the world. You don’t belong. Your citizenship is in heaven. You are a stranger, an exile, a sojourner here on this planet. You will naturally feel out of place.

So part of our frustration comes from the fact that we don’t belong and we aren’t home yet. We should not be content here. We have an unfulfilled longing for our true home. Paul describes it this way:

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

And in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

The apostle John tells us:

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of our true home:

Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face…

Diagnosing the Problem

Part of our frustration and disappointment is because we don’t belong, because we aren’t home yet, because we are longing to see our King. But, at least in my experience, that is not my major source of discontent. I wish I could say it was. So much of my frustration is stupid and self-imposed. I choose to be frustrated when I don’t have to be. If I’m honest with myself, I would see that it is a self-centered discontent that things aren’t the way I wish they were. I get upset that the world doesn’t revolve around me. I’m failing to be content with what I have been given. Jesus warned us in his parable about the different soils that:

Mark 4:19 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.

Desires and cares choke out the fruitfulness of the word like weeds. I love this world and its pleasures too much. I want something that I don’t have. I want things to go my way, and they seldom do. I am too self-centered to be truly happy. My affections are in the wrong place.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world––the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions––is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Paul warns Timothy of the deadly danger of dissatisfaction.

1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Here the severity of this issue – it is a snare, a trap. They never saw it coming. It is senseless and harmful. It plunges people into ruin and destruction. It has caused some to wander from the faith. It is a self-inflicted injury. Dissatisfaction is deceptive and deadly.

Taking it Even Deeper

Jesus said “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). But here is a more subtle danger. Even this can be twisted by my selfish heart. I can give in such a way that I am celebrating my own generosity, deriving enjoyment out of what a benevolent person I am. I get pleasure by my ability to give to others. I am giving ultimately to get. Which means that my joy is still dependent on my circumstances. I cannot be happy if I have nothing to give. I am frustrated if my gift is refused, or if the recipient of my gift does not respond the way I want them to. This is self-centered giving.

Choose Contentment

Let’s go back to 1 Timothy for help with a solution. In the context of warning against the danger of dissatisfaction, it says this:

1 Timothy 6:6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. …11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Here is the key: contentment. Godliness with contentment. Here we find a focus on character, not circumstances. If I am focused on circumstances going the way I would like them to go, I will be disappointed and frustrated most of the time. If I am focused on building character, I can look at any and every circumstance as an opportunity to deepen godly character. I can be content with whatever circumstance I am given as an essential step in the work God is doing in my life. This is how James can say:

James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Because trials produce character. Peter takes us behind this joy to its source.

1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

The joy is not in the trial itself. It is in this you rejoice. Peter has been recounting the treasures that we have in Christ: God’s mercy toward us in new birth, our living resurrection hope, our inheritance that God is keeping for us, God’s keeping and preserving power at work in us, our final salvation that will be put on display in the end. When circumstances go the way you don’t want them to, choose to rejoice in this – in all that God has done and is doing and will do in you and for you. Cultivate gratitude by recounting what God has done for you in Christ. I am Forgiven. Justified. Redeemed. I am being sanctified. I have been set free. Reconciled to God. Adopted. Loved with an everlasting love. Given eternal life. I am a recipient of God’s mercy.

God Does Not Change

Circumstances change. This is why it is frustrating when we make our joy dependent on our circumstances. But God never changes.

Malachi 3:6 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

If our joy comes from God alone, we will never be disappointed. In contrast to changing circumstances and fickle people,

Zephaniah 3:5 The LORD… is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail;

God Commands our Happiness Be in Him

This is why God commands us to seek our happiness in him

Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 40:16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

Psalm 64:10 Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!

Psalm 97:12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Psalm 105:3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

When we find our joy in the unchanging faithfulness of our great God, our happiness is totally independent of our circumstances. We can say with Habakkuk

Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

With Job we can respond to the most terrible circumstances:

Job 1:20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

We can say with Paul:

Romans 5:11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

We can sing with Isaiah

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Choose Joy

Frustration and enjoying are alternative choices. Remember Martha and Mary.

Luke 10:38 …Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her house. … 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

What is the one thing that is necessary? What was the good portion that Mary had chosen?

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.

Circumstances come. How will you choose to respond? Will you be ruled by your immediate circumstances? Or will you choose to enjoy the fact that you have been chosen by God, purchased with the blood of Jesus, your sins, all of them, were nailed to the cross, that this life is short and you will spend eternity in the presence of God with great joy? Will you choose to enjoy the presence of Jesus with you right now in the middle of your circumstances? Will you be irritated and irritable, or will you enjoy sweet fellowship with your Creator, Redeemer and Friend?

Choose to enjoy God today!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

December 11, 2011 Posted by pastorrodney | occasional, podcast | contentment, gospel, Hope, Jesus, joy, purpose | Leave a Comment

Disciple-Making Disciples; Jesus Preached the Good News!

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110130_teach_about_good_news.mp3

01/30 What did Jesus teach – about the good news that he brought?

Intro:

We’ve been looking at Jesus’ final command to his followers before he returned to the glory of his Father. He commanded that we all be disciple-making disciples.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are to be followers of Jesus, and we are to make others into followers of Jesus by immersing into the one name of the triune God and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. We are taking some time to equip ourselves with what it is that Jesus commanded so that we can effectively obey him in carrying out his final command. We looked at what Jesus taught about God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We looked at what he taught about the Bible, Old and New Testaments. We looked at what he taught about the origin, character, nature, and destiny of humanity. So far, these are big sweeping world-view shaping questions. What is God like? What is the source of truth and authority? Where did we come from, what is our nature, and where are we headed?

Summary

We have seen the belief that there is only one God, eternally existent in the three persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit comes from the teaching of Jesus. We found that Jesus looked to the Scriptures of the Old Testament as his final authority on issues of faith and life. He himself followed the Scriptures carefully, and he promised that not even the least stroke of a pen would pass away until all was fulfilled. He claimed that his own teaching carried the same authority – he he spoke what he received from his Father. He paved the way for his followers to write the New Testament, promising them the presence of the Holy Spirit as their Teacher who would ensure they remembered everything he had said. We saw Jesus teach that mankind, male and female, are the greatest expression of God’s creative genius, made in his very image, given authority over the rest of creation, but because we rebelled against God, we have become evil and corrupt to our very core, and we have earned the holy and righteous wrath of God. Jesus graphically describes what awaits us in the most horrific terms, as worse than non-existence, worse than maiming, worse than drowning, as unquenchable fire, outer darkness, a place where there is incessant weeping and gnashing of teeth, as torment, anguish and unquenchable thirst. And he makes it very clear that there will be no end to the punishment.

So this is the world-view of Jesus. He took the Scriptures to be absolutely true and trustworthy, breathed out by the Spirit of God. He believed in one good and sovereign, just and loving God, who sent his only Son, who was himself God in the flesh, into this world to rescue a humanity that had rebelliously chosen to destroy itself and was running headlong into the pit of a horrific hell.

Jesus holds out to us hopeless and helpless sinners the hope of life, eternal life. This he describes as entering into the joy of our Master, satisfaction of our deepest longings, life and life abundant, intimacy of relationship with him, being in his presence to enjoy his glory. This is good news indeed for hopeless sinful man.

Today I want to look at this good news message of hope for sinners that Jesus preached.

Jesus Preached The Gospel

Jesus saw preaching as primary in his own ministry. At the very beginning of the Gospel of Mark, the first words of Jesus are introduced this way:

Mark 1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus proclaims the gospel of God. The word ‘proclaim’ or ‘preach’ (khrussw) means to publish, announce, or herald. This is an official public proclamation. The word ‘gospel’ (euaggelion) simply means good news, glad tidings, a good message. What Jesus preached is described simply as ‘the gospel of God’ or ‘the good news of God’. This phrase ‘of God’ could be understood in different ways. It could be descriptive, as in ‘a cup of water’ – in that case ‘God’ would describe the contents of the good news message – it is good news about God. Or it could be possessive, as in ‘the front door of the building’ – in that case, ‘God’ would be the owner and source of the good news message – it is God’s good news. So Jesus comes heralding good news from God or good news about God.

Do you often think of Jesus primarily as a preacher? When we think of Jesus, we often think of a man of action, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, calming the storm, cleansing the temple, engaging the religious hypocrites, delivering the oppressed. But Jesus thought of himself primarily as a messenger with a message to proclaim.

Just a few verses down in this first chapter of Mark, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum when he was interrupted by a man with an unclean spirit. He delivered the man and his reputation spread so that the whole city brought him their sick and those who were oppressed by demons, and he healed and delivered many. The next morning he got up very early and went out alone to pray. When his disciples found him and told him that everyone was looking for him, this is what he said:

Mark 1:38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” (cf. Lk.4:43)

Jesus saw his role primarily as a messenger – one who is sent with an official proclamation to declare to all people.

What was the content of Jesus’ message? We already saw that it was good news from God or good news about God. Let’s look at the words Jesus spoke in Mark 1:15:

There are two main parts to this declaration. Something momentous has happened, and there is an appropriate response that is demanded.

Something Momentous

Jesus tells us in two ways that something momentous has happened. He says ‘the time is fulfilled’ and ‘the kingdom of God is at hand’. ‘The time is fulfilled’ means time is filled up, the time is complete, the fulfillment of the ages has come. The climax of all history is upon us. ‘The kingdom of God is at hand’ means that God’s rule and reign is right here, namely because the coming King has come indeed. Jesus saw himself as both the fulfillment of all prophetic Scriptures and as the coming King, God in the flesh. Jesus heralded the good news about himself, the fulfillment of the promises, God with us, God come near.

Demanded Response

The King is here! This demands a response from us. There are two parts of our required response that are described here. ‘Repent and believe in the gospel’. Repent (metanoew) is a compound word made up of the words (meta) movement or change and (noew) the mind with its perception, thoughts and purposes. It points to an internal change of mind and heart. Jesus commanded that we:

Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (cf. Luke 10:27)

And Jesus says we think evil in our hearts (Mt.9:4, 15:9; Mk.7:21; Lk.1:51); we speak evil out of the abundance of our hearts (Mt.12:34; 15:18; Lk.6:45); our hearts have grown dull (Mt.13:15); our hearts follow what we treasure (Mt.6:21; Lk.12:34); our hearts become weighed down (Lk.21:34); and are troubled (Jn.14:1, 27); we have hard hearts (Mt.19:8; Mk.3:5; 6:52; 8:17; 10:5; Jn.12:40); we have slow hearts (Lk.24:25); we question in our hearts (Mk.2:8; Lk.5:22); we doubt in our hearts (Mk.11:23; Lk.24:38); we reason in our hearts (Lk.9:47); our hearts are far from him (Mt.15:8; Mk.7:6); but God knows our hearts (Lk.16:15)

Repentance is a call for heart transformation. The other part of our required response is to ‘believe the gospel’. Believe (pisteuw) means to have strong conviction, to put your trust or confidence in. It is the verb form of the root (pistiv) faith.

So the good news that Jesus preached was that something momentous has happened, the King himself has come to fulfill all prophetic Scripture. He demands that we respond with heart transformation and place our trust and confidence in the good news that he brings.

Mark 1:15 …“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

We are to ‘make disciples of all nations’, Jesus said ‘teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Mt.28:19-20). What Jesus commands is that we repent and believe in the gospel.

This is filled out when we look at how Luke records our commission to the nations. Luke’s account of Jesus’ final command to his followers reads like this:

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

So, where Matthew has ‘repent and believe in the gospel’, Luke tells us to proclaim ‘repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name’. Jesus claimed to have authority to forgive sins:

Matthew 9:6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”––he then said to the paralytic––“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” (Mk.2:10; Lk.5:24, 7:48)

Jesus connected the source of this forgiveness to his own blood poured out:

Matthew 26:28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

So Jesus in Luke points us to the promise in the Scriptures that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead as a basis for the proclamation of the good news of forgiveness of sins in his name. When we put this together we have what Paul summarizes as the gospel he preached:

1 Corinthians 15:3 … that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Something momentous has happened. God came in the flesh. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. A response is demanded from us. Repent and believe the good news. The good news is that forgiveness of sins is found in the name of Jesus.

Gospel in Action: a tax collector

To help us get the implications of this, let’s look at repentance and the good news of forgiveness in action in the evangelism of Jesus. We’ll start in Luke 5 with the story of a tax collector named Levi. To feel the force of this encounter, we need to understand the social and political backdrop. Israel is under Roman occupation. Rome brought along their many gods, their idolatrous emperor worship, their materialism and immorality. Jewish zealots thought they were doing God a service by stabbing a Roman official in the back. Tax collectors would buy franchises from Rome giving them the right to collect taxes in a certain town or district. Tax collectors were despised as the lowest scum of human refuse imaginable. They were allowed by Rome to charge exorbitant taxes of their own countrymen to line their own pockets. These were traitors, liars and cheats, consumed with greed. They were considered as swine, on the level with murderers. They were viewed as unclean and beyond repentance. They were excluded from the synagogues. Enter Jesus.

Luke 5:27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus stuns everyone, including his first three disciples, Simon, James and John, local fishermen who had certainly been ripped off repeatedly by this Levi. I wonder if they were excited as Jesus approached the tax booth, thinking he would surely overturn this tax collector’s tables. Jesus, the great teacher, walks right up to the tax booth and says to this filthy human swine who is beyond hope of repentance ‘follow me’. Let’s imagine what is going on in the heart of this man. He was aware of the amazing things going on in the area. Jesus was healing the sick and the lame and freeing men from demonic oppression. Jesus said:

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

I am a captive. I am a slave to my greed. I am riddled with guilt. I am despised. I am the worst of the worst. There is no hope for me. But this teacher Jesus is bringing hope to many we viewed as beyond hope. I wonder… could it be…? Imagine the guilty conscience when this man’s eyes met the penetrating gaze of the Master. And then he spoke. Two simple words. ‘Follow me.’ That was all it took. He abandoned everything and went after Jesus. He threw a feast and invited the only people who were willing to associate with him. Other tax collectors and sinners.

28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

The religious elite were disgusted that this great teacher would associate with such scum. Jesus answer is powerful. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Levi was a sinner. Everyone knew it. He knew it. The religious leaders were sinners too, but they refused to admit it. In their self-righteousness, it was impossible for them to repent.

A parable

Jesus did not come for the righteous. Later, Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector to confront the self-righteous.

Luke 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The difference lie in what they trusted in. Jesus said they ‘trusted in themselves that they were righteous’. The so-called prayer of the Pharisee is filled with the first person pronoun. I, I, I, I, I. The tax collector, in his distance, in his posture, in his desperation, and in his words, demonstrated that he was genuinely broken and repentant. He has nothing to trust in but throws himself on the mercy of God. In humble helpless dependence, he cries out ‘God be merciful to me, the sinner’. It is to him Jesus says ‘Yes!’

Receive Like a Child

The next thing Luke records is this:

Luke 18:15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Jesus uses this opportunity to illustrate what is required for entry of his kingdom. He says we must receive the kingdom like a child. It must be received. It cannot be earned. Receive like a child – in simple trust, helpless dependence, shameless asking, eager delight.

What good must I do?

One more ilustration. Luke continues.

Luke 18:18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.”’ 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

When Jesus called Levi at the tax booth, he didn’t demand that he leave everything. That’s what Levi (or Matthew) was already eager to do. When this eager seeker comes and wants to know what he can do to get eternal life, Jesus points him to the character of God and to the commandments. God alone is good. You are not. But this man was righteous in his own opinion. “All these I have kept from my youth.” So Jesus confronts the treasure of his life and extends the invitation. Let go of what you are trusting in and follow me. He came asking for eternal life, and Jesus turned him away because he came with his hands full. He was unwilling to empty them, acknowledge his sinfulness and need, and receive like a child.

Luke 18:24 Jesus, looking at him with sadness, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Jesus, with sadness, tells us that it is impossible for someone with their hands full to repent and believe the gospel. His followers ask with incredulity “Then who can be saved?” They are right. It is impossible. We all have our hands full. But Jesus points us to the true source. “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Salvation comes from the Lord. Only God can birth new life in the heart of a Levi so that he sees following Jesus as greater worth than the piles of money he is wallowing in. Only God can birth in the heart of a Pharisee like Nicodemus that his righteous deeds are like filthy rags in the sight of God and that he needs to repent of his righteous deeds and turn and look to the Son of Man lifted up on a cross, bearing sin and purchasing forgiveness, to put his trust in him and receive like a child the gift of eternal life. “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

January 30, 2011 Posted by pastorrodney | occasional, podcast | born again, faith, forgiveness, gospel, Hope, Jesus, mercy, righteousness, salvation, Sin | 1 Comment

Exodus 3:1-6; The Presence of God

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100606_exodus03_1-6.mp3

6/06 Exodus 3:1-6 The Presence of God

2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” 23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel––and God knew.

3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Moses, God’s deliverer to his people, descends from his high position as adopted son of the king to bring rescue, he acts on behalf of his people, but is misunderstood, rejected by his own people, and exiled into the wilderness. He sits down by a well. He rescues some women that have come to draw water, settles down with the Midianites, and marries Zipporah, the daughter of this pagan priest. Stephen in his sermon in Acts 7, tells us that Moses was forty years old when he was exiled from Egypt (v.23). Now, another forty years has passed (v.30). Moses, God’s chosen instrument to deliver the Hebrew people from Egypt is in the wilderness. Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the Pharaoh had died. The people hoped that a change in leaders would mean help for their situation, but if anything, things got worse. Their hopes were crushed. So they groaned. They cried out for help. They plead for rescue. And God heard. God remembered his promises. God saw. God knew. God, who had been there all along, working behind the scenes, blessing his people, was about to step to center stage and take decisive action to honor his promises. God had been at work preserving and preparing this man for the past 80 years to be his instrument to deliver Israel from bondage, and now, in response to the prayers of his people, he is ready to unleash his promised plan. Remember, this was all under the sovereign hand of God, who was working all things according to the purpose of his will. He had told Abraham half a century earlier:

Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. …16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation…

So we find Moses, a shepherd in the wilderness. It is interesting to compare Moses with Jacob. Jacob too fled for his life from his home and met his bride to be by a well. He too tended her father’s flocks for twenty years, and in that time became independently wealthy, with flocks of his own greater than the flocks of his father-in-law. But we see Moses now at the end of forty years still with nothing of his own, still tending another man’s flocks.

He had learned shepherding and he is keeping and leading the flocks. In fact his shepherding takes him to the back side of the desert, maybe in search of greener pasture, probably weeks away from home. It is notable that in this time his perspective has changed. This was a journey that brought him west, in the direction of his former home in Egypt, but it was now the back side of the desert to him . It is in this obscure place that unsuspecting Moses will be confronted by the living God himself.

There is no indication that Moses was seeking this encounter with God. God took the initiative and got Moses’ attention. This is always the way it is. God initiates and we respond. Here we have the angel of YHWH appearing to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Now we know the bible teaches that God is omnipresent, or not limited by space:

Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.

Psalm 139:7-10 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

I Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

So when God revealed himself to Moses out of the burning bush, we are not to think that God was at that moment limited or confined to that bush or that particular place. Just as we saw in the closing verses of chapter 2, when it says God saw and God remembered, we are not to think that God was becoming aware of new information or being reminded of something that slipped his mind, but that he was about to take action on behalf of those who needed his help. God chooses to reveal himself to us in ways that we can comprehend and relate to.

We also know from the bible that God is not material, He is spirit, and invisible.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (c.f. John 6:46)

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

I Timothy 1:17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

I Timothy 6:15-16 ––he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

I John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

So when the text says that he appeared to him, that he looked, and that he saw, we are not to think that Moses was able to see God in the fullness of who he is. Rather, God condescended to reveal himself to Moses in a way that he could understand. God who is spirit, invisible and everywhere present, came down as it were and showed himself in a form that Moses could relate to. In this case a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. God has often used fire as a visible representation of who he is. A pot of fire is how God represented himself in his covenant with Abraham (Gen.15:17). He showed himself as a pillar of fire to lead the Israelites in the wilderness (Ex.13:21). He descended in fire to give Israel his law at Sinai (Ex.19:18). Ezekiel saw him as a fiery shape (Ezek.1:27; 8:2). Daniel saw him seated on a throne of fire (Dan.7:9). The apostle John saw him as one whose eyes were fire (Rev.1:14). The bible describes God as a consuming fire (Deut.4:24, 9:3; Is.33:14; Heb.12:29).

Fire and smoke draw attention, but they also conceal from view. Fire is both attractive and destructive. Fire will consume or purify all it comes in contact with. There is both attraction and separation. God is holy, and we are drawn to his holiness, but as sinners his holiness will consume us. This was the prophet Isaiah’s cry as he was brought into the presence of God:

Isaiah 6:5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Isaiah understood the absolute holiness of God and the consequences of someone who is not perfectly righteous entering into his presence. He was purified with fire.

So Moses is on the back side of the desert and sees a bush that was on fire but was not being consumed. Moses, having spent forty years tending Jethro’s sheep in the wilderness and trying to stay warm on cold desert nights, would probably be very familiar with how quickly a small bush like this would burn up and disintegrate into ash. What caught Moses’ attention was not the fire alone, but the fact that the bush was engulfed in flames but was not being consumed. This could serve as a picture of Israel in Egypt, in the midst of the fire of suffering, and yet multiplying rather than being consumed. This would also be a striking picture for Moses of God’s holy presence, and he, a sinful man, not being consumed by it. This is God’s mercy toward sinners made possible by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus in our place. However Moses interpreted it, this is what he saw and what caught his attention.

But the primary revelation came not by what Moses saw, but by what God said. God has revealed himself to us not in pictures, but in words. In John 1 and Revelation 19, Jesus is called the Word, and throughout the bible we see God as a God who communicates in words.

Hebrews 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Our God is a God who has spoken. In fact, we have in our hands his word written so that we can have a reliable accurate trustworthy record of who he is and what he requires of us. God himself puts great priority on his word.

Psalms 138:2 … for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

In fact, there are serious consequences for disregarding God’s word.

Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

God reveals himself by speaking, telling us about himself. He calls out to Moses “Moses, Moses”. The repetition of a name in that culture indicates intimacy and endearment. Jesus confronted those who called him “Lord, Lord” but did not do what he said. They claimed to be close to him but did not really have any relationship with him (Luke 6:46, Matt.7:21-22). So when Moses heard his name repeated, he would understand that this is a friend, someone who cares deeply about him. So he responds.

God’s instructions are clear; “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” God gets his attention, calls out to him, and then tells him to stop. God is teaching Moses what he is like. He is not to be approached casually. He is holy. God initiates the encounter, and God lays down the rules of engagement. This is who I am and this is how I am to be approached. God commands that Moses remain at a distance, because a holy God cannot be approached by sinful man. Because God is holy, the place where he appears is holy. There was nothing particularly sacred about the geographic location or the dirt; the Jews did not consider it special, and we don’t even know for sure where it is. The presence of God made the place holy. This is the first time in the bible the word ‘holy’ is used. God is set apart, separate from everything that falls short and totally committed to promoting his own honor. He is in a category by himself. He alone is worthy to be worshiped. So God demands that Moses treat him with the proper respect. He is to come no closer. He is to remove his sandals and take the position of a slave in relation to his master.

Just who is it that is speaking to Moses here? The narrative begins by saying that the angel of the LORD or the messenger of YHWH appeared to him. In verse 4 it says that YHWH (or Jehovah) saw, and then it says that God (Elohim) called to him out of the bush. The angel of YHWH, YHWH, and Elohim (God) are all used interchangeably in this passage. Because in this passage God makes himself known in a visible way, this points us to Jesus.

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jude points us to make the connection with Jesus

Jude 1:5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jesus himself claimed to be the one who spoke from the burning bush

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Here he makes the concrete connection with history. He claims to be the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This is the very God that Moses’ own father worshiped. This is the God who made promises to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. This is the one true God, the omnipotent creator of all things.

Let’s look as we close at Moses’ response to the one true God revealing himself. God has initiated a relationship with Moses. God has established the terms of this relationship; he is to be treated as holy. He revealed his identity as the only true God who created all things and made promises to the patriarchs. When Moses understands who he is dealing with, he hides his face, because he is afraid to look at God. Over and over in scripture we are commanded to fear the Lord. We are told the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We see a proper humility before God knowing that a sinful human cannot hope to survive an encounter with the holy God.

Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Judges 6:22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.”

Judges 13:22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

Isaiah 6:5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Our pride, our rebellion, our running after other things with the hopes that they will satisfy, our valuing of other things more than God invite his righteous wrath.

Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

And yet seeing God for who he really is is the one thing that will truly satisfy our deepest longings. And as believers in Jesus, this is what we look forward to.

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is .

Revelation 22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

June 6, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | God, Hope, Jesus, Trinity, word | Leave a Comment

Exodus 2:23-25; Prayers and Sighs and Groans and Cries

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100530_exodus02_23-25.mp3

5/30 Exodus 2:23-25 Prayers and Sighs and Groans and Cries

2:15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. 18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel––and God knew.

In the opening chapters of Exodus, we’ve been following Moses, the one God will use to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt. We’ve seen the Pharaoh’s direct opposition to God and his blessings and purposes. God is being faithful to his promises by seeing the Israelite population increase and multiply and grow strong. Pharaoh had made three attempts to reduce the population of the Hebrew people, and with each attempt, we’ve seen God thwart his grand schemes by the foolish things of the world. We’ve seen God make a fool of this Pharaoh by having his arch-enemy Moses rescued from his decree of extermination by the hands of his own daughter, The Pharaoh paid out of his royal treasury to have Moses’ own Hebrew mother nurse and train him in the formative years of his life, then he’s fed him at his table, clothed him and sheltered him under his roof, educated him in his universities, trained him with his military, but in spite of all that, Moses hangs on to his own identity as a Hebrew, and embraces his calling to save his people from their bondage. He stands up for the oppressed, but now he finds himself misunderstood, and rejected by his own people, and exiled into the wilderness as a wanted criminal. He ends up marrying into an idolatrous Midianite family, serving as a shepherd to their flocks, and naming his first son as a reminder that he didn’t belong. Anywhere. He is a stranger in a strange land. Forty years pass. Shepherding another man’s flocks in the wilderness. Meanwhile, back in Egypt…

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died,

This would be headline world news. The king of the most powerful nation in the world dies. This was the same Pharaoh that had ordered Moses killed.

4:19 And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”

If his death immediately preceded the return of Moses to Egypt, then he reigned for more than 40 years.

If this was the same Pharaoh who had ordered the baby boys to be thrown into the river at the time of Moses’ birth, then he would have reigned for some 80 years by this time. We change presidents every four to eight years, and we expect big things from the man in office. Imagine a leader ruling for multiple decades. Children would have grown into adulthood knowing only one king. That king dying would mean the potential for change on a global scale. Policies, economies, national goals and agendas would all be up for change. This likely was a long-awaited event among the people of Israel. Just as when “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph (1:8)” meant a change from favored position to cruel oppressed slavery, so this change in dictators might mean a lifting of the oppression and heavy bondage on the people. Maybe this new king would change everything. Maybe he would again look favorably on the Israelites. Maybe oppression would cease. Now there is hope!

We could compare this situation with the circumstances that faced the Jews under king Uzziah. King Uzziah was a good king who had reigned for 52 years in Judah (2 Chronicles 26:3). After a 52 year rule there would be uncertainty of what would happen next. Some kings were good, but many of their kings had been evil and unjust. There was much fear and uncertainty of what the future would hold. It was at this time that Isaiah had his vision.

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Although King Uzziah was dead, the Lord is still on his throne. In Egypt, the Hebrews were suffering deeply. If their hope was in a new government with a new leader, their hope was misplaced and would disappoint. Psalm 146 helps us keep our focus where it should be:

Psalm 146:1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; 8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. 10 The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!

Put not your trust in princes. Do not hope in a new government. Look to the one who is worthy to be hoped in. Psalm 33 encourages us:

Psalm 33:16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. 18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

It appears that the children of Israel did not turn to the Lord until every other hope was extinguished. The evil king was dead. A new king had ascended the throne. But there was no deliverance as they had hoped. If anything, things got worse. Listen to the words that describe their situation: a sigh of pain or grief, slavery or bondage (twice), cried out, cried for rescue, groaning. Finally, in desperation, when there is nowhere else to turn, the people cry out to God. Actually, the text doesn’t even explicitly state that the people did cry out to God. It says that they groaned and cried out for rescue and their cries came up to God.

But whether they were addressing him or not, God heard. God was listening. This is the second time God is mentioned in the book of Exodus. The first time was with individuals. The Hebrew midwives feared God and so they disobeyed the Pharaoh. And God blessed them personally. He gave them families of their own. Now we have the people of Israel – corporately – as a group – crying out for relief. Prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of the church gathered. In the book of Acts:

Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

God hears the prayers of his people.

Psalms 34:17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

He invites us to pray.

1 Peter 5:7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Philippians 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So Israel prayed, and God heard.

Their cry came up to God. God heard, God remembered, God saw and God knew.

What does it mean for an omniscient God to hear? If God is everywhere present and knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts, this surely means more than simply that God registered the sound waves coming from the people. This is not Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, where if everyone makes enough noise, the sound will come through to God’s ear. In Isaiah, God says:

Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

This does not mean that God no longer registers the sounds of their prayers. He knows exactly what they are praying, but because of their unrepentant sins, God will not answer favorably. When I ask my kids to do something and they don’t respond, I will often ask ‘didn’t you hear me?’ I don’t rush them off to the doctor to get their ears checked. Their ears work fine. It’s a problem somewhere between the ears and the heart and the feet that causes them not to translate the audible signal into appropriate action. When it says that God heard them, the implication is that appropriate action is shortly to follow.

What does it mean for an omniscient God to remember? Surely we do not have a God with Alzheimer’s that needs to be constantly reminded of things he has forgotten. Throughout the bible this word ‘remembered’ implies covenant application. Again, it is appropriate action in light of the promises made. Remembering is synonymous with honoring or making good on his promises.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel––and God knew.

God had made promises to these men. The book of Exodus began with the genealogy connecting the slaves in Egypt to the patriarchs to whom God made these promises. God had promised to make them into a great nation, and in the opening words of Exodus, we see that he’s already done that. They have become so powerful and great that the Egyptians fear them. God had also promised

Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The Egyptians had dishonored Israel, and now it was time for them to feel the consequences of their actions. God had also promised them land, and it was time to bring them back into the land. God had promised to be with them and to himself bring them up out of Egypt, and it was time for him to make good on all these promises. God remembered his covenant. We can take heart that God is a God who makes good on his promises. We can also be encouraged that God can indeed forget.

Isaiah 43:25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Because of the cross of Jesus our Lord, God can indeed blot out our sins and remember them no more! Praise God for that!

God heard, God remembered, God saw and God knew. Like Moses, who went out to see his people, this is much more than mere observation. God is looking with compassion on their situation and preparing to do something about it. God will act in response to what he sees. God saw and God knew. Again, this does not mean that an omniscient God received new information. This implies intimacy and experience – relationship. This is what Jesus points to when he says:

Matthew 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, … 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Many will do things in his name and for him, but without a proper relationship with him, those things are meaningless. Jesus said:

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

1 Corinthians 8:3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, …

God hears, God remembers, God sees, God knows. Our God is a God of action. And he responds to the cries of his people. But how does God respond, how does he answer? God began to answer this prayer 80 years earlier by giving a handful of women the courage to stand for what’s right and disobey the Pharaoh. God began to answer this cry 80 years before when a Hebrew mother entrusted her endangered son to the Nile river in a little ark. God began to answer when the Pharaoh’s own daughter drew him out of the water and had pity on him. God began to answer when he sent Moses out from the palace to his oppressed people to gain a heart of compassion for them. God began to answer even in the rejection of his people and banishment to the desert to learn rejection and alienation and humility and to learn what it means to be a shepherd. God had been working all along in preparation to answer this request of the people. We do not surprise God by our requests and send him scrambling. Jesus taught us:

Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

We are to pray with the understanding that our Father knows what we need before we ask. This should not discourage us from praying as if prayer was meaningless. Instead it should encourage us. We can ask with confidence knowing that God has all along been putting the necessary preparations in place so that he can respond to our prayers by unleashing his power on our behalf. God delights to give good gifts to his children. And he delights to be asked.

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

****

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

May 30, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | church, Hope, prayer, purpose, salvation, suffering | Leave a Comment

Exodus 2:1-10; A Mother’s Faith

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100509_exodus02_1-10.mp3

5/9 Exodus 2:1-10 A Mother’s Faith

1: 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.” 2: 1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

In Exodus, we see God fulfilling his covenant promises to his people and bringing his creation blessings on them. He did good to them and made them fruitful and multiplied them, he made their descendants numerous and filled the land with them. He made them exceedingly strong. But in response to God’s blessings, the Egyptians feared. They saw them as a threat. God’s blessing does not mean that our lives will be problem free. But in the problems and in the trials, God will show himself strong. The Pharaoh feared the people of Israel, so he conspired to deal shrewdly with them in order to weaken them and reduce their population. He enslaved them and afflicted them with heavy burdens to break their spirit and make them so exhausted and weak that they wouldn’t procreate. But the more they were ruthlessly oppressed, the more God blessed and the more they multiplied. So this king of the most powerful nation in the world, because he feared the Israelites, called on two Hebrew women, midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the male Israelite children. But these two women did not fear the Pharaoh. They feared God and so they disobeyed the king and helped the male children to thrive. God confounded the plans of this Egyptian monarch through the God-fearing actions of two Hebrew women. When these women were called on to give an account of why they disobeyed, they gave an answer that managed to confound the Pharaoh and insult all Egyptians, and the Pharaoh let them go. For their God-fearing actions, God blessed still more and gave even these barren midwives families of their own. So Pharaoh’s plans were again thwarted and even the barren women in Israel were having children. But as God’s blessing increased, so did the Pharaoh’s oppression. The last verse in chapter one gives the Pharaoh’s response:

22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

And it’s on that dark note that we pick up the story today. The Nile river was the source of life in Egypt. The Nile was worshiped as a god that had the power to give and take life. It brought water to the desert, and it also served as the country’s sewer, washing away all the unwanted refuse. It was into this river that the Pharaoh commanded all the Egyptian people to cast every son born to the Hebrews.

How would God intervene this time? It seems he delights to do the unexpected and act in ways we would not even think of. Often God chooses surprisingly inconspicuous means of accomplishing his sovereign purposes. When Pharaoh tried to crush the Israelites with oppressive labor, God simply caused them to have more babies in the normal natural way. When Pharaoh tried to employ midwives to carry out the murder of the male children, God put the fear of him into two women so that they chose to obey God rather than the king. Instead of reducing the Israelite population, God blessed them so that they contributed to it, further foiling the Pharaoh’s plan. Now, when the order comes for all of Egypt to throw the Hebrew male children into the river, God responds by causing a boy baby to be born to an insignificant Hebrew family in Egypt.

2:1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

So we have an unnamed man and and unnamed woman from the tribe of Levi. Later, in Exodus 6:4 (also Num.26:59) we find the mother’s name was Jochebed and the father’s name was Amram, but for now it is simply a man from the house of Levi and a Levite woman. Later in the book of Exodus, we find that the tribe of Levi is chosen to be the priestly tribe, the tribe that would give spiritual and judicial leadership to the people of Israel, the tribe that proved itself loyal to YHWH. But that’s reading ahead of our story. At this point in the history, what we know of the Levites is that they were a cursed tribe because of the bloodthirsty act of Levi and his brother Simeon against Shechem:

Genesis 49:5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. 6 Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

So the Levites were a cursed and disenfranchised tribe, destined to be scattered among the other tribes. We are yet to learn how God turned this curse into a blessing.

So we have this couple, Levites, who have a son under the command of Pharaoh, destined to be destroyed. They see that he is a fine child, literally ‘good’. This is the same word that God used seven times in the creation narrative to declare that what he had made was good. I don’t think this means that there was something uniquely special about this child in contrast to other Hebrew boys that caused his parents to try to save him. I think it is meant to remind us of God’s creative acts. As God created the world and declared that it was good, so now, God is at work bringing about good in the midst of evil and darkness and hopelessness. She saw that he was good, – a good creation of God, so she hid him. We are told that this was an act of faith on the part of his parents. Faith in God rather than fear of the tyrant. Just like the midwives who feared God more than the king, now these parent’s trust in God supersedes their fear of punishment and even death.

Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

She hid him for three months. When she couldn’t hide him any longer at home, she obeyed Pharaoh’s command and threw him in the river. Well, here’s what it says:

3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

She technically obeyed the Pharaoh’s command by casting him into the Nile, again, not because of fear but in faith. This was her next move in trusting God and protecting her child. She prepared an ark and covered it with tar and pitch. The word here translated ‘basket’ is [ hbt tebah tay-baw'] ark; This is the same word used in Genesis:

Genesis 6:14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

In fact, 26 of the 28 times this word appears in the bible it refers to Noah’s boat that God instructed him to build for the preservation of life. The other two occurrences are in this passage referring to the boat this Levite mother made to preserve the life of her treasured son. In both cases the boat was covered with tar and pitch to make it waterproof. Moses is using this word ‘ark’ to describe this basket to cause us to make the connection between this story of preservation of life from water with the account of the flood. The passengers of both boats were spared a tragic watery fate that claimed the lives of many of their contemporaries. The passengers of both are the instruments used by God to create a new people for his own purposes.

This loving Levite mother did not send her ark out into the current of the river, but placed it among the reeds by the river bank, where it would remain in place and could be observed carefully by the older sister who was probably still young enough to play inconspicuously by the river bank, but old enough to watch out for potential danger – probably somewhere between 6 and 12 years old. The intention was most likely to keep the boy there where he had less chance of being discovered, and to come when it was safe to feed and care for him. We find out in chapter 15 that the sister’s name is Miriam. The baby boy has been kept safe by his mother for three months, and now she has made preparation to continue to care for him secretly. Things are looking promising for this Hebrew family, but an unexpected turn of events could spell disaster.

5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river.

This is the worst possible thing that could be expected. The tyrant’s own daughter coming to bathe in the sacred Nile much too near the secret hiding place. Maybe she would not notice the basket and leave. Maybe the baby would remain quiet and not draw her attention.

5 …She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. …

The boy is discovered! And by an Egyptian! By one of the Pharaoh’s own daughters. It would not be much different if the Pharaoh himself had discovered him. But this young girl who was to watch over her baby brother walked by faith and not by sight. God was in control even over what seemed like utter disaster and total failure of their careful plan. What are the odds of the enemy’s own daughter coming to bathe here? How could God let this happen?

6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

This is a turning point in the story. She had pity on him. She did not carry out her father’s command. She recognized him as a Hebrew male, one who was under the condemnation of her own father, and she could have silenced his crying immediately in the water, but instead she took pity on him. The next move is courageous and daring. The baby’s sister approaches the king’s daughter and dares to speak. A child addresses the princess with a suggestion.

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

She is careful and diplomatic in the way she addresses the princess. She is offering assistance to benefit the king’s daughter. It is for you, o princess, that I will call a wet nurse. She can nurse and calm the boy for you. The Pharaoh’s daughter responds with one word.

8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.

Imagine for a moment this scene. Young Miriam comes running to fetch her mother. Her mother sees her coming without the baby – she has left her post. Something must have happened! “Come quickly Mama – the Pharaoh’s daughter had found your baby!” Oy Vey! Panic, grief, fear… is he dead? What has happened? Why are you smiling? “Come, Mama, come. I will explain on the way.” Are you sure? Is it safe? Could it be?

9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.

The irony of this is deep. The mother of the child who had to entrust him to God on the Nile is now given back her baby boy – to nurse and care for and teach – with pay. Pay from the treasury of the Pharaoh whose decree it was to execute him. The Pharaoh who attempted to break the backs of the Israelite slaves, the Pharaoh who commanded the midwives to kill all the Hebrew baby boys, the Pharaoh who ordered all his citizens to execute all Israelite male children, is now paying this Jewish mother to nurse and train up her own baby boy! Imagine the joy and relief in this household! Imagine Amram coming home to find his boy back at home, no longer being cautiously hidden but now openly enjoyed. Imagine the wonder and amazement and worship. They certainly had asked God to protect their child. But do you think in their wildest prayers they ever would have asked that they would be paid wages by the Egyptians to care for their boy, whom these same Egyptians wanted dead?

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Of course, the good news is bitter-sweet. The boy would be adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter. Jochebed had probably three to four years to nurse and train and pour love and truth and stories of their history into this young boy. She had a short time to impress him with the fear of the Lord. And as she had entrusted him to the Nile, now she had to entrust him to the Pharaoh’s daughter and to the omnipotent hands of her God. It would be more than seventy-five years before they would see how God used their boy to be the instrument God used to deliver Israel from the Egyptians. They would have to pray and trust and wait.

10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

The name ‘Moses’ was a somewhat common Egyptian name meaning ‘son’ or ‘to give birth to’. It was part of the well known names Ptahmose, Tuthmosis, Ahmose, and Harmose. [Durham, p.17]. But it sounds like the Hebrew verb ‘masah’, to draw out. It is this connection that the princess emphasizes because she drew him out of the water. This name will become prophetic as Moses will be the one God uses to draw the nation of Israel out of Egypt and literally out of the waters.

The Pharaoh acted shrewdly in dealing with the Israelites. His plans were crafty and they seemed wise. But in his scheming, he found himself fighting against God.

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

The Pharaoh was wise. But he did not know God. He thought he was god.

1Corinthians 1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

1Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

Although God is not named in this story, we see God’s sovereign hand moving all the circumstances to display his infinite wisdom and poetic justice and even his timeless sense of humor. The great Pharaoh of Egypt set himself against God’s people, and therefore against God himself. And God confounded him with two Hebrew midwives, a Hebrew mother, and his own daughter. God used four humble women to frustrate the plans of the most powerful man in the world

We can take heart from this history. Whether we can see God’s hand or not, God is most certainly working behind and in and through each and every circumstance that is in our lives, good and bad, ultimately to display his glory and bring good to us. We must remain humble, we must not be fearful but faithful. We must learn to trust God like Jochebed and Miriam and Shiphrah and Puah trusted God. They did not sit back and say ‘God is sovereign so we will just sit back and see what he does in this situation’. Rather they said ‘God is sovereign, so we will be faithful to do what we are responsible to do to the best of our ability – to care for, protect and preserve life, to train and nurture – and we will trust that our sovereign God will do what we cannot hope to do – to bring hope and life and joy and meaning out of a hopeless, senseless, desperate, deadly situation. We must simply be faithful to do what we are called to do and to trust God to bring good results.

And God saves his people. Just as God preserved Noah safe inside the ark during the judgment, and just as God kept Moses safe inside his little ark, so if we run to Jesus, we will be kept safe from the judgment to come

Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

May 9, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | faith, faithful, God, Hope, parenting, prayer, salvation | Leave a Comment

Exodus 1:1-14; God the Sovereign Promise Keeper

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100418_exodus01_1-14.mp3

4/18 Exodus 1:1-14 God the Sovereign Promise Keeper

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

Exodus is a book that moves from bondage to redemption, into relationship characterized by worship. Throughout God shows himself to be the sovereign promise-keeper. That will serve as an outline of the book:

Outline (Longman, p.34):

Redemption: Exodus 1-18 God saves Israel from Egyptian bondage

Relationship: Exodus 19-24 God gives Israel His law

Worship: Exodus 25-40 God instructs Israel to build His Tabernacle

The first word in the book of Exodus is not translated in most English versions. The first word is ‘and’. Right from the beginning, we are told that this is not a stand-alone book, but really chapter two in God’s history of redemption. Exodus continues the story that started in Genesis. The first eleven chapters of Genesis give God’s sovereign working in the ancient world, and the last 39 chapters focus on God’s sovereign working through one man and his family. God chose Abram and made huge promises to him, and he confirmed those promises to his son Isaac and to his son Jacob. God promised that he would make them into a great nation and bless all the nations of the world through them.

The last 13 chapters of Genesis chronicle God’s action in the history of Joseph, favorite son of Israel, who was hated by his brothers, stripped of his clothes and sold as a slave into Egypt. He was falsely accused and imprisoned, but in time God raised him up through his integrity, gifts and wisdom to be the second in command of all of Egypt. God used him to rescue the land from a severe famine, which also brought his brothers down to Egypt from Canaan looking for food. Joseph recognized the sovereign hand of God acting even in his suffering to keep his promises to his fathers.

Genesis 45:5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

God used Joseph to preserve the lives of the family of the promises, and bring them under the provision and protection of Egypt. In Genesis 46, we have a genealogy of the sons of Jacob or Israel, listing seventy descendants at the time they moved to Egypt. In the original, the first six words of Exodus are identical to the first six words of Genesis 46:8, another reminder that this is the continuation of God’s redemption story which began with creation:

Genesis 46:8 Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons…

What we have in Exodus is an abbreviation and summary of this chapter in Genesis.

(chart: family tree)

Seventy would be quite a family reunion, but it was not even close to the innumerable multitudes that God had promised. Most of us in this room can count to seventy. God had promised:

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God made his covenant with Abram and said:

Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

After God provided a substitute for Isaac on the mountain, God said:

Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…

To Isaac he said:

Genesis 26:4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

To Jacob he said:

Genesis 35:10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.

So Exodus begins with the descendants of Israel numbering seventy, and Joseph and his brothers died and all that generation to whom God had made promises died. But the promise of God still stands. God had reassured Jacob:

Genesis 46:3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”

God promised himself to go down with Jacob to Egypt, to make of him a great nation, and himself to bring him up again. Even in the midst of pain and adversity, God is making good on his promises. It says:

7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

This language clearly points to the fulfillment of God’s promises to multiply the offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to become a great multitude. But it points to more than that. The language points back to the creation mandate that God gave to man at the very beginning:

Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God restated this to Noah after the destruction of the flood:

Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. …7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it.”

This is the language used to describe the exponential growth of the people of Israel in Egypt. Jacob clearly articulated that this growth was the work of God himself.

Genesis 48:4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’

God commands that we be fruitful, but God is the one that makes his people fruitful. Exodus 1:7 could be more literally translated:

“As for the Israelites, they grew, they were fruitful, they swarmed, they increased, they got powerful more and more, and the land was filled with them.” (Stewart, p.61)

God was fulfilling his promises to his people. He was making them fruitful and strong and filling the land with them.

Enter the new Egyptian dynasty:

Joseph had rescued Egypt from natural disaster by preparing wisely for the promised famine. The Pharaoh honored him and extended generous hospitality to his family. Now, with a new dynasty in place, old ties were broken and he felt no obligation to honor old agreements. That the new king did not know Joseph does not mean ignorance of his national history so much as lack of a special relationship. He chose to act as though the Israelites were a threat rather than an asset. So he launches a public campaign against the foreigners. He spins things a different way and paints Israel as an internal threat to national security. He says they are too many and too mighty. God had made them fruitful and powerful, but God’s blessing is often perceived as a threat to an unbelieving society. Up to this point in the narrative, Israel was the name of a family. This Pharaoh uses the term here in a new way. He refers to them as a distinct people or nation within a nation. The new king is afraid of the potential threat this people group could pose to his power and position. So he decides to take action to keep them from multiplying and to reduce the potential threat to his dynasty.

God had commanded his people to be fruitful and multiply. Pharaoh, in seeking to keep them from multiplying, will find himself fighting against Israel’s God. He says ‘Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply.’ His language again brings us back to Genesis, where the people gathered on the plains of Shinar in rebellion against God

Genesis 11:3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

The people wanted to make a name for themselves by building a city and a tower in opposition to the name of God. They did not want to be dispersed and fill the earth as God had commanded, rather they gathered themselves together against God. Another detail that ties these two stories together is that they both involved making bricks and building cities. And in both accounts, God directly intervenes.

But God does not instantly make things better. Here’s what the Pharaoh does:

11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

At the time of Joseph, the Israelites maintained their identity as shepherds, and were even employed by the Pharaoh as contract herders for his royal flocks in the grazing lands of northeast Egypt. The logic seems to be that if we reduce them to meaningless cogs in the machinery of the empire, they would lose heart and cease to be a threat. If they were afflicted with heavy burdens they would have neither the time nor the strength to procreate. They would likely require long periods away from home for the laborers, which would take them away from wife and family, weakening the moral fabric of their culture. Virtually working two jobs, their agriculture would suffer, and they would become more dependent on Egyptian society for the basic necessities to sustain their existence. The Pharaoh’s plan was a brilliant one.

12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

The plan was logical and should have been effective, except that Pharaoh had picked a fight with God. When you find yourself fighting against God, you are on the losing side. Notice that it does not say that they multiplied in spite of the oppression; rather it indicates that increased oppression led to increased fruitfulness. This has been true of the church throughout her history. In times of peace, God’s people get lazy and take for granted his gifts. As Tertullian (ca. 160-220 AD) observed so long ago, ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church’ semen est sanguis Christianorum [Tertullian Apologeticum ch. 50, 13]. Oppression directly resulted in increased fruitfulness. The Egyptian people bought into the propaganda of the Pharaoh, and they became terrified of this internal threat to their great country. But things often get worse before they get better. God’s blessing resulted in greater intensity of persecution.

13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

God’s blessing is not always sweet to the taste. The Israelites were being blessed by God. He was making them fruitful in spite of the oppression. God’s blessing didn’t mean freedom from oppression; rather it meant fruitfulness in the midst of affliction with the hope of future redemption. God’s blessing can sometimes be painful in the short term. God’s blessing is not always what we would choose for ourselves. Notice the words that are used:

11 … taskmasters ..afflict … heavy burdens. … 12 … oppressed, …. 13 .. ruthlessly … work as slaves 14 … bitter … hard service, … work… work … ruthlessly … work as slaves.

All this should make us long for deliverance. For rescue. For release. Not that work or service is bad. The repeated demand of God to this Pharaoh was ‘let my people go that they may serve me’ (3:12; 4:23; 7:16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; 10:3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 24, 26; 12:31). We long to be transferred from a harsh and cruel slave-master to the service of a kind and generous king.

Paul puts it this way:

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

We have been purchased:

1 Corinthians 6:20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

We are transferred to a new Master:

Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

And that new Master is Jesus:

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

April 18, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | blessing, God, Hope, promise, redemption, salvation, suffering, trials | Leave a Comment

2 Peter 3:14-16; Diligent Waiting

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100321_2peter3_14-16.mp3

03/21 2 Peter 3:14-16 Diligent Waiting

3:1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Peter addresses us four times in this closing section as ‘beloved’. He knows he is soon to die and wants to give us a permanent written record as a constant reminder of the good news of the life-transforming grace of God toward rebellious sinners like us. He wants to communicate his love for us by reminding us and informing us and encouraging us and warning us. He reminds us of the predictions of the holy prophets (which we now know as the Old Testament) and the commandment of our Lord and Savior through your apostles (which would come to be known as the New Testament). The prophetic writings and the apostolic record of the teaching of Jesus both warn of scoffers that will come in the last days. We were amply warned – it should not take us by surprise when people mock or challenge or question or doubt our Christian worldview. Peter records their unbelieving question ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’

And his first response to this accusation is that these ones who are seeking to make room in their religion to follow their own lust are ignorant. They are ignorant of their bibles, of world history and geology. They think God won’t judge the world because things have gone on without interruption as long as anyone can remember. They miss the fact that there are marine fossils on the tops of the highest mountains. If they study their geology or read their history they will realize that God once before wiped out life on the planet because of sin, and he promises he will do it again.

The second line of argument Peter lays out is challenging their interpretation of the apparent delay. We cannot demand that God abide by our time schedule, and it is a dreadful misinterpretation of the delay to assume that God is lazy, doesn’t care, and lacks the power to fulfill his promises. Instead, God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. God is merciful even toward these false teachers, giving them time to repent and turn back to the Master who bought them, the Master they have denied by their rebellious lifestyles.

Then Peter points us to the coming destruction. God is merciful to postpone his wrath, but he will not do so forever. Judgment is coming and those who presume on his mercy are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of his wrath. He challenges us to reverse-engineer our lives in light of the coming destruction.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

If everything will burn up and everything we have ever thought or felt or done will be made public then what kind of life should I live? The question is not ‘what should I do?’; the question he asks is ‘what sort of people ought we to be?’ We are so eager to define ourselves by what we do. I’ve got a good job, I’m involved in the community, I serve in the church, I play this, I do this, I work here, I am advancing in… God is not at all impressed with what you do. God is interested in who you are. God is interested in character. God is interested in holiness. Not a list of do’s and don’ts, but a life set apart to follow Jesus. God is interested in godliness – a life characterized by worship, putting God first in everything.

In the next verses, Peter encourages us to diligent waiting. He says that our lives should be characterized by waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. He says it three times. The Christian life is a life of waiting. “Waiting for the day of God… waiting for a new heavens and a new earth… therefore beloved, since you are waiting for these…” We wait because God has made promises and not all of them have been fleshed out yet. God has promised that he will wipe away every tear and heal every disease and make all wrongs right and put a stop to evil and bring perfect peace and harmony and uninterrupted intimacy with him. But we live in a place with pain and sickness and separation and despair and violence and greed and pride. Beloved, we are not home yet! Peter told us in his first letter that we are strangers and aliens. We shouldn’t feel comfortable, we don’t fit in, we are not home yet. All those blessings are coming to believers, justice will roll down like a river, and all evil will be put to an end. But we are not there yet! We are waiting for and hastening the day of God. We are waiting for the new heavens and new earth. Beloved, this is not all there is! It gets better than this. Paul said:

Romans 8:18-22 For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Jesus promised “I go to prepare a place for you” “and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (Jn.14:2-3). Beloved, we get to be with Jesus!

1 Corinthians 2:9 But, as it is written, “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

What God has promised us is beyond our ability to comprehend. The Christian life is a life characterized by waiting, but we are not called to passive waiting. Waiting does not mean ‘I’m just going to sit here on this couch and push this button on the remote and while away the meanwhile passing the time until Jesus comes back. We are not called to passive, inactive, complacency in waiting. This word describes eager expectation, hope, anticipation, longing. This is not the tedious waiting in the dentist’s office; this is the eager anticipation of the child on Christmas eve.

Peter says that because we are waiting for a place where righteousness is at home, our waiting is to be characterized by diligence. This is now the third time Peter has used this word ‘diligence’.

1:10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

1:15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

3:14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

Peter had described the false teachers as ‘blots and blemishes’ (2:13), and in his first letter he points us to our ransom which came through ” …the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1Pet.1:19). Now, our waiting for Jesus’ return is to be characterized by a passionate pursuit of holiness and godliness, or to put it another way, we are to be diligent to put Jesus on display with our lives, Jesus who is our hope and peace and righteousness, Jesus who is without blemish or spot.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, …

Diligent waiting requires proper accounting. The false teachers who followed their own desires assumed that the delay in the fulfillment of God’s promises meant that God was not faithful to his promises, not powerful enough to carry them out, not just to punish sin. So they encouraged a pursuit of passion and pleasure because they interpreted the delay as evidence that there would be no final accountability for our actions. But we are to wait differently. We are to wait diligently pursuing righteousness, because we count the delay a different way. We count it not as a delay due to slackness, but as God’s patience which is salvation. This is what Peter was telling us in verse 9, that God:

“is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2Pet.3:9

The patience of the Lord is salvation. God is not slack, lazy, uninvolved. God is at work pouring out mercy on sinners. God is at work saving people. God is right now rescuing sinners from their sin and transforming them into new creations that find joy in his righteousness.

And Peter here supports his interpretation of the delay of the promise by pointing to his unity with the apostle Paul. Apparently, Peter knew that Paul had written a letter to his readers, in which he had also addressed some of these same issues. I thank God for this sentence.

15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

This is an amazing sentence. Here we are given insight into how we are to think about our bible. And even more than that it gives us insight into the relationship between two of the foundational people in the Christian church.

Before Jesus was born, the Jews had their collection of scriptures, which included the same books that we now have in our Old Testament. Jesus quoted out of it on many occasions and referred to it as a whole as authoritative. It was the authoritative witness to who he is. “It is written” would settle any argument. Before Jesus went to his death, he promised his disciples the Holy Spirit, who would “teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn.14:26). Jesus sent his disciples out to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Mat.28:19-20). The apostles believed that their teaching was God’s very word (1Thess2:13). As the disciples spread the gospel and planted churches in the different communities, they would write letters to encourage and teach and correct these churches. Some of these letters were expressly intended to be passed around to the different churches so that all could benefit from them (Col.4:16). Peter told us in chapter 1 that he was writing in order to leave a written record to remind future believers of the truth. These apostolic letters were highly valued and copied and shared among the churches. Peter had read several of Paul’s letters and probably had access to a growing collection of his letters there in Rome. He here makes reference to how Paul writes in all his letters. And Peter classifies Paul’s writings as Scripture. He says that Paul is a beloved brother and that he wrote according to the wisdom given him. Peter recognized a God given gift of wisdom in the writings of the Apostle Paul. What he says here about Paul is very similar to what he says about the Old Testament prophets.

2 Peter 1:20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

He says the way the false teachers distort Paul’s writings is like the way they handle the other Scriptures, equating Paul’s writings with the rest of the God-breathed Old Testament Scriptures.

This is even more fascinating when we remember that there was a serious dispute between Peter and Paul. Paul records it in his letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

So Paul publicly confronted Peter – to his face – in front of everybody. He accused him of fear, hypocrisy, and a serious deviation from the truth of the Gospel. And then he recorded the whole thing in a letter – likely one of the letters that Peter had read and referred to when he spoke of ‘all his letters’ – a letter that would be circulated and preserved for all to see.

How does Peter respond to this? The apostle Peter was teachable. He received a rebuke from Paul, learned from it, and loved him for it. He rejoiced in their unity. He read Paul’s stuff. He read it not to critique it, but to learn from it. He studied it. He acknowledged that some of it was difficult to understand. The apostle Peter, who walked with Jesus, had difficulty understanding some of the things that Paul had written. He did not say that they were impossible to understand. That should encourage us in our study of scripture. We must maintain humility in acknowledging that we do not have everything figured out. But we don’t throw up our hands in despair and quit. You study to ‘present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2Tim.2:15). He also did not say that all things are hard to understand. Some things are easy. As Alistair Begg likes to say ‘the main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things’. The core message of the bible is plain and clear. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for the glory of God alone is the good news proclaimed throughout the scriptures. Some things are hard to understand, but the most important things are plain and clear.

Peter is not here talking about things in the scriptures that are hard to swallow. Have you ever been reading your bible and you get to a verse or phrase and your heart says ‘I understand it, but I don’t like it’. Some things are clear in scripture but we’d prefer they weren’t there. We’d like to find a way around them. Our job in handling the bible is to do our best to understand it and obey it. We are not at liberty to attempt to explain it away. Peter tells us that ‘the ignorant and unstable twist the scriptures to their own destruction’. Ignorant does not mean stupid – it means that they were untaught – not trained or discipled in how to rightly understand the bible. And he calls them ‘unstable’. This is what Peter is fighting against throughout the letter – he wants us to be well-grounded, stable,

1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

2 Peter 1:12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

2 Peter 2:14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

2 Peter 3:16 …There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

2 Peter 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

The word ‘twist’ is a word commonly used for torture on the rack – false teachers torture the words of the bible to get them to say things they do not say. One of the most basic rules of biblical interpretation is ‘if the common sense interpretation makes sense, seek no other sense, lest you create nonsense’. And there are consequences to twisting the scriptures. Distorting God’s word to condone lifestyles that are condemned in the scripture will result in destruction. Exchanging God’s grace for works or changing God’s grace into license to sin both will bring eternal ruin to those that reject God’s transforming grace for what it is. We are called to listen to the scriptures, to humbly study and learn from the scriptures, to hear God’s word, to embrace it, to love it, meditate on it, memorize it, to obey it, to be transformed by it. We are to be stable or established by growing in grace and the knowledge of our King and Savior Jesus Christ.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

March 21, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | 2 Peter, podcast | Bible, grace, Holiness, Hope, Jesus, joy, New Testament, Peter, righteousness, salvation, scripture | Leave a Comment

Psalm 78; The Next Generation

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20090830_psalm78_the_next_generation.mp3

8/30/2009 The Next Generation

Psalm 78:1 A MASKIL OF ASAPH. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. 5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Over the summer we have had most of the kids in the service with their parents, and I think that has been good. Stretching at times, but good. It is good to worship as a body and learn and grow together as families. There is a sense of unity that is beneficial, and it gives most of our teachers a much needed break. Next Sunday we launch our Sunday School classes and Children’s Worship, and that too will be good. It is good to give our kids more individualized attention and hands on learning opportunities, and it opens up opportunities for our adults to grow as they step into leadership and teaching roles and learn along side our kids. We just finished up Vacation Bible School, where our kids had opportunities to learn about God and grow, and in a few weeks we will be launching our AWANA program for our elementary kids, with a huge emphasis on Bible memorization. I’m very excited about what we are able to offer for our kids, and I want to exhort you and encourage you in your involvement in these opportunities to serve our Lord Jesus. Jesus said

Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

But I want to remind us that these programs are optional and they are secondary. They are not primary and they are not essential to the life of the church. I could envision a growing, healthy, biblical church that does not have any of these programs. Nowhere in the bible does it say ‘thou shalt teach Sunday school’, or ‘thou shalt have a youth group’. Here’s what Jesus does say:

Matthew 19:14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

I think that VBS and AWANA and Sunday school and youth group are good ways of letting the children come to Jesus, but they are not the only ways, and I would even dare to say that they should not be the main ways our kids grow in their relationship with Jesus. Look back at Psalm 78 and see where the responsibility lies: in verse 3 it says ‘things… that our fathers have told us’ and in verse 5 it says ‘he commanded our fathers to teach to their children’. This year I didn’t give a special Father’s day or Mother’s day message. So here it is – a Father’s day and Mother’s day and Grandparent’s day message all rolled into one.

Look back at Deuteronomy, where Moses urged the people of Israel to keep their focus on the centrality and majesty of God. In chapter 4, Moses reminds us of the danger of following other gods, and he warns:

Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children––

Keep your own soul diligently, so that you can make God known to your children and grandchildren. In chapter 5, Moses reminds the people of the 10 commandments that God gave, and the central command to fear and love God with all your being:

Deuteronomy 6:1 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, …2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long….4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You must fear the LORD, you and your son, and your son’s son. It is the responsibility of parents to model and diligently teach the fear and love of the LORD to their children, using any means possible. He tells us again in chapter 11:

Deuteronomy 11:19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

The primary responsibility of passing on a vision of God and his glory to the next generation does not rest on the church or the Sunday school teachers or youth group leaders. The responsibility of raising the next generations to fear and worship the one true God rests squarely on the shoulders of the parents, particularly the fathers. Look back to Psalm 78 at the multi-generational goal of this exhortation:

5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,

We are not simply responsible for training our kids to know and love and serve Jesus. We are held accountable for equipping our kids to lead and teach the generations to come. It is one thing to train someone to have a personal relationship with God; it is another thing to equip someone to train others for leadership. And that is what we are called to do as parents, and secondarily as a church. Kids, that is our prayer for you – not just that you become followers of Jesus, but that you become leaders and point the generations after you to follow your example as you follow Christ.

I’ve heard some nonsense of parents not wanting to force kids to believe what they believe, but laying out the options and letting the kids decide for themselves. That’s an arrogant statement, because it presumes that you can persuade them to follow what you believe. You can’t. Only God can create new life in your child, but he has given you the responsibility and privilege of teaching your kids the truth and leading them in the way they should go and praying earnestly for that work of God in their heart. It’s a foolish and irresponsible statement, because when your two year old has a fever, you don’t empty the medicine cabinet onto the kitchen table and say – here’s the options, you decide. And it’s a lazy attitude, because what it means is ‘I know raising children to fear and love the one true God is hard work, and I’d rather not put in the effort. There is a roaring lion that is seeking someone to devour. Don’t send your kids out into the world with their hands tied behind their back!

Some of you are single mothers, or have an unbelieving spouse. What about your situation? How can you possibly do this alone or in a divided house? Is there any hope when the primary responsibility lies with the father? Let me hold out one example as an encouragement to you: young pastor Timothy. Paul encourages Timothy to continue in the faith he had embraced from childhood.

2Timothy 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

But from whom did he learn it? A godly father?

2Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

Timothy’s father is not mentioned. It is quite possible that he grew up in a single parent home, or if his father was around, he was no help in the spiritual formation of this young man. And Timothy was called to pastor the church that Paul had planted in Ephesus. Paul called Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, and to set an example for the believers in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. He charged him to preach the word, whether that was what people wanted to hear or not. And Paul is convinced that Timothy’s sincere faith was passed to him through his mother and grandmother. By God’s grace a single mom can raise a leader for future generations!

Look back at Psalm 78. I want to focus on the content and goal of the training. What is it we must convey to our children, and what is the response we want to see in them?

Psalm 78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,

So he’s encouraging varied methods of communication; teaching, conversation – words of mouth, parables, and dark sayings or difficult truths. Matthew (13:35) cites this verse as being fulfilled by Jesus teaching in parables.

3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.

These are not only things that we have heard. He says ‘heard and known‘. We are not simply to mimic or parrot a truth, but to ingest and internalize it first. The truth must be known and practiced by the teacher before it can be effectively passed on to the student.

But what is the content that we are to pass on to the coming generation?

4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

The glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. The ‘what’ that we are to pass on is the ‘who’ of who God is. Why should we fear this God and love him with all our heart and soul and might? Because of who he is as seen in what he has done. The rest of the Psalm goes on to recount some of the historical deeds of awesome power and might, like the parting of the red sea, the pillar of cloud and of fire in the wilderness, water from the rock and food from heaven, the ten plagues that he brought on Egypt, and the supernatural conquest of the promised land; but more than that, the thread of his relentless mercy and grace runs through the whole chapter. All these mighty acts of God in caring for his people and yet his people were stubborn, rebellious and unfaithful, refusing him and forgetting what he had done, sinning and testing God, even speaking against him, unbelief and distrust, sin and unbelief, lying, provoking, turning away and acting treacherously, moving him to jealousy with their idols. God’s anger flashed and his just wrath and discipline was poured out, but over and over and over he was gracious and he exercised his awesome power on their behalf; he made a way for them and led them and was a light to their path, he gave them water to drink from a rock and rained down food from heaven, he was compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger; he was grieved; but he turned his anger toward their enemies, he led his people like sheep, guided them in the wilderness, he led them to safety, brought them to his holy land and drove out nations before them and settled them; he chose them and shepherded them.

We are to communicate to the coming generation the great and glorious renown of God – the fame of his name, the sheer terror of his power, the stunningly amazing gift of his grace toward the undeserving. We must communicate who God is in all his majestic awesomeness and soul-satisfying beauty in a way that is compelling.

But what is our goal? What do we want our kids to come away with? Are we shooting for a one year bible certificate that says they know the right answers to all the important questions? Do we want them to be biblically literate so they can teach their own kids who Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses and Matthew and Paul and Jesus were? Do we want you to be able to list the attributes of God and explain the Trinity?

5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Verse 7 gives the goal of parental instruction – ‘so that they should set their hope in God‘. This is what Peter has been teaching us in 1 Peter. In the first 12 verses he painted a picture of our awesome God and described his great mercy toward sinners, and laid out the riches of the promises that God has made to us, and then he tells us ‘therefore, set your hope fully on grace’ (1:13). ‘So that they should set their hope in God’. How is it that our children will come to set their hope in God? If we don’t set before them the incomprehensibly limitless power of creator God, our kids will hope in superman or the x-men. If we don’t hold out to them the infinite skill and persevering faithfulness of our covenant keeping God, they will set their hope in the next great athlete that comes on the scene. If they don’t see God’s infinite wisdom and care, our kids will hope in human wisdom and the pursuit of knowledge and the advances of technology. If they don’t grasp the absolute holiness of his character and nature, their admiration will fall on another object. If we don’t show them his overwhelming grace toward desperately sick and undeserving sinners, they might even hope in their own intrinsic goodness and worth. We must give them a God who is big enough to be hoped in!

He goes on: ‘and not forget the works of God’. The character of God is most clearly seen in his awesome acts. That’s why much of the bible is narrative – stories. In every piece of history, we should be asking ‘what can I learn about who God is from this story?’ We need to know the stories, because the stories teach us that God is worthy to be hoped in.

The next one is puzzling – framed as opposites: ‘not this but that’. What would you expect? Do not forget, but instead I want you to ??? (remember). Instead he sets obedience as the opposite of forgetfulness and says ‘Do not forget, but keep his commandments‘. Here’s how this works. God commands that we trust in him and hope in him and love him more than anything else and follow him and depend on him. When we’ve seen how he’s been always faithful in the past, it makes sense to hope in him for our future. But if we forget what he’s like, then we might be tempted to disobey him by hoping and trusting in something else. Obedience is the fruit of rock-solid confidence in the character of God. Obedience is embracing the ‘right’ of God. It is God’s right as God to make the rules, and all the rules he makes are right -the best possible rules that bring maximum joy to those who follow them.

We want you children to see God for who he is so that you will set your hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments, and we don’t want you to be like us in the ways we have blown it. This is a humbling way to instruct our children. Kids, don’t be like your dad, because your dad is stubborn and rebellious. (I could hear mom saying that to the kids, but remember, this is coming from the fathers). I am stubborn and rebellious. My heart was not steadfast, and I was not faithful to God. I want you to see God for who he truly is, but I don’t want you to be limited in your pursuit of God by my ineptness and failure in my pursuit of God. Please, children, pass me up in your wholehearted pursuit of holy joy in God. Don’t be stubborn, but be pliable in God’s hand. Don’t rebel against God, but submit gladly to his gracious and good plan. My heart was prone to wander, you fix your affections firmly on God and do not be moved. My spirit was plagued by unbelief – I was not faithful to God. You, see God for who he is, never forget what he’s done, hope in him and keep your faith fully fixed on him.

This is what we want for our kids. We want you to be so captivated by a true vision of who God is that you are gladly surrendered to his authority in your life, that you are rock solid in your commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, following where he leads and doing what he calls you to do, trusting that he is good and what he does is right.

Parents, how do we effectively pass this on to our children. I’ve attempted to say it in a way that is compelling, and maybe I’ve gotten some of you fired up about communicating the greatness of God to the future generations. That might last the afternoon. What are some take-home things that we can put into practice that will gain momentum toward faithfully communicating this most important truth to the next generation?

We must experience it.

Our lives must revolve around God as the center of our universe. Our lives will revolve around whatever has the most attraction or pull or gravity. Our actions will reveal our true affections. We must stop and take a fresh look at who God is and re-center our lives around him. We must taste him for ourselves before we can commend him to others.

Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!11 Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

We must remember.

We need to be constantly reminded of God’s overwhelming grace that is constantly poured our in our own wretched lives. Look back over God’s undeserved grace to you and be freshly amazed that he extended mercy to a sinner like you.

Finally, we must be humble.

A proud person has something to offer. A humble person is acutely aware of their own insufficiency and willing to receive the free handout of another. We don’t want our kids to hope in us or in the church; we want you to hope in GOD!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

August 30, 2009 Posted by pastorrodney | occasional, podcast | children, God, Hope, humility, leadership, parenting, training | Leave a Comment

1 Peter 3:18; The Goal of The Gospel

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20090426_1peter3_18.mp3

04/26 1 Peter 3:18 The Goal of The Gospel

18 oti kai cristov apax peri amartiwn apeyanen dikaiov uper adikwn ina umav prosagagh tw yew yanatwyeiv men sarki zwopoihyeiv de pneumati

13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Peter is writing to believers who are suffering, or will soon be suffering because of their faith in Jesus. He has told us that suffering, rather than a detour in the Christian life, is the pathway to blessing. Blessing comes to those who suffer for righteousness sake. Suffering should be met, not with fear and anxiety, but with a reckoning in your heart that Jesus is King. And our hope should be infectious, causing unbelievers to interrogate us. When that happens, we must be ready to answer; our answer should be filled with a humble meekness and fear of God, knowing that we too are undeserving sinners that have been shown mercy.

In the next paragraph, Peter gives us the reason why we should not fear suffering, but rather look at suffering as a pathway to blessing. Jesus is our hope, and in his suffering we find maximum reason to hope for a good outcome.

This verse is almost exactly parallel to 2:21. Peter had told slaves that it was grace in God’s sight when they suffer for doing good. The reason he holds out to them is Jesus in his suffering.

2:21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

And he goes on there to elaborate on the sinless example of Jesus’ suffering. In verse 24 he gives us the magnificent verse:

2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

There he moved from Jesus’ behavior during his passion to his redemptive death on the cross, to our present experience of being returned to our Shepherd. Here in 3:18, he begins the same way:

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

But here he moves from Jesus’ death and its redemptive effects to the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus, which have consequences for the readers and for the whole visible and invisible universe. Jesus’ suffering is followed by triumphant vindication, and we who suffer can have hope that we too will be vindicated.

This passage is challenging to understand. There is the issue of the proclamation to the spirits in prison who were disobedient in the days of Noah, and we have to answer the question ‘in what way can Peter say that baptism now saves you?’ after Peter has been abundantly clear that salvation is God’s work and we receive it by faith alone. And, Lord willing, we will attempt to carefully navigate those deep waters next week. But I don’t want for us to get all caught up in controversy about the secondary issues that are less clear and miss the big picture which is quite clear. And I don’t want for us to rush past the simple clarity of the good news in verse 18. This is the substance of the hope that is in us. So today, I’d like us to linger over and meditate on, even memorize this compact statement of the goal of Christ in the gospel

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,

Christ also suffered. We suffer; Christ also suffered. There are similarities. The context here is encouragement in suffering for doing good. In the rare event that we do good and suffer for it, our suffering is similar to Christ’s suffering. But that is where the similarities end. The rest of this statement details how different Christ’s suffering was from ours.

Christ suffered ‘once’. His suffering was a one-time event. We instantly think of the cross, and that is right. But Christ’s suffering began long before the cross. John 1 tells us:

John 1:1-4…the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life…

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…

That was the beginning of the suffering of Christ. Being God, infinite, self-existent, omnipotent; who spoke the galaxies into being; to be born a fragile dependent human child who learned to roll over and crawl and make sounds and had to have his diaper changed; that was a bigger sacrifice than we will ever understand. He was misunderstood by many. Most that did understand rejected his claims and sought to put him to death. Even his closest friends deserted him in his hour of need. Justice was mocked as a notorious criminal was released and an innocent man was nailed to a tree, suspended between heaven and earth. The suffering of Christ began at his incarnation and found full expression on the cross as he cried out ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

But the suffering of Jesus was ‘once’. In contrast to the sacrifice made by the Jewish high priest on the Day of Atonement that was repeated year after year after year, the suffering of Jesus happened only once in history. Jesus cried out from the cross ‘It is finished’.

John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

And he spoke the truth. No other offering would ever be needed. His suffering was absolutely sufficient. The author of Hebrews expands on this thought:

Hebrews 9:24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Christ suffered ‘for sins’. Peter uses language that is rooted in the sin offering of Leviticus, where an animal would die for the sin of a person. The wages of sin is death, and the death of the animal would take the place of the death of the person. Jesus fulfilled this role and paid the penalty for our sins. This language shows up in Isaiah 53:10

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Paul uses this language as the essence of his gospel message:

1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

Christ suffered as ‘the righteous for the unrighteous’. Peter does an interesting thing here; he takes his readers who are unjustly suffering for doing good and moves them to the category of unrighteous sinners in need of the righteousness of Christ. Jesus alone is in the category of ‘righteous’.

The sinless character of Jesus was so central that ‘The Righteous One’ became a title for the Lord Jesus in the early church:

Acts 3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

The contrast is striking, that the people killed the author of life, while God gives life to the dead. They substituted a murderer for the Righteous One, while God gives his Righteous One as the substitute for us unrighteous sinners. Jesus saw this as his own ministry:

Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

This language also comes out of Isaiah 53:

Isaiah 53:11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Jesus came as to suffer, righteous for unrighteous. It is precisely because he had no guilt of his own to pay for that in his suffering he could carry our guilt and bear the punishment that we deserved. And it is because he was the infinite God-man that the value of his substitution was infinite. The concept of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus is inescapable. Jesus took my place. Paul says it this way:

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is the great exchange. I am a sinner. He was perfectly righteous. He suffered as a sinner in my place. I enjoy the benefits of his righteousness in the presence of God. He takes my sin and gives me his righteousness!

Christ suffered ‘that he might bring us to God’. Now we come to the ultimate purpose of the suffering of Christ. We often look at the good news as a way to escape the fires of Hell. But he does not tell us that Christ suffered so that we can escape Hell. We think of the gospel as the way to get to Heaven when we die. But he doesn’t say Christ suffered to bring us to Heaven. We are told that Christ suffered ‘that he might bring us to God’. This is the core and the beauty of the gospel message. God is at the center of the good news. The greatest problem with our sin not that it sends us to hell or that it keeps us out of heaven; the greatest problem with our sin is that it causes a separation between us and God.

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Sin is lethal because it severs our relationship with God. We cannot know and love and serve the one we were created for. Listen how Paul describes us:

Ephesians 2:12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

‘Brought near by the blood of Christ’; Christ suffered ‘that he might bring us to God’. The Psalmist said:

Psalms 73:28 But for me it is good to be near God;

God is the greatest good and God is our greatest need. We were created for relationship with God. This is the definition of eternal life that Jesus gives:

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Do you want to avoid hell? Demons want to avoid hell. Do you want to go to heaven? Self-centered hedonists and pleasure seekers want to go to heaven. Do you long for God? Saints want to be with God.

Psalms 63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

What a beautiful picture of Jesus:

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

1 Peter 2:25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

The Shepherd of my soul, bringing me back to God to find the green pastures and still waters of intimacy with him, he restores my soul.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

April 26, 2009 Posted by pastorrodney | 1 Peter, podcast | God, gospel, grace, Hope, Jesus, substitution, suffering, trials | Leave a Comment

20090412 John 11; I AM The Resurrection

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20090412_resurrection_john11.mp3

4/12/2009 Resurrection Sunday

I am the resurrection and the life

Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus said ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ [Jn.11:25]. I’d like to look at the context of that statement and see what we can learn about Jesus and his resurrection.

John 11

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. [cf. Matt.26:6-13; Mk. 14:3-9; Jn.12:1-8; not Luke 7:37-39, 44-48] 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Notice that this man’s illness was for a purpose. Although Jesus knew that the illness would lead to death, that was not the ultimate purpose for the illness. God had in mind something much bigger. We don’t always see God’s purpose in our circumstances, but we can be sure that he is in control and he is good. ‘It is for the glory of God’. The ultimate purpose for this man’s illness that would lead to his death was to provide an opportunity for the Son of God to be glorified.

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

This is not at all what we would expect. Jesus loved these people. They were close friends. He cared deeply for them. But instead of rushing to be a help and comfort, he intentionally delayed two days. We are not told if there was any pressing business in Perea that prevented him from coming immediately – and it is irrelevant. He gives no excuse. He was subject not to the wishes of his friends or the urgency of the situation or even his own emotional attachment, but only to the will of his Father.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Bethany was dangerously close to Jerusalem – about 2 miles away. It was just the last chapter that Jesus claimed “I and the Father are one” [10:30], and the Jews accused him of blasphemy “because you, being a man, make yourself God” [10:33]. It says “Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands” [10:39]. Now after having so narrowly escaped, his disciples are concerned that he is walking back into danger.

11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Jesus referred to death as sleep, and his mission to awaken from sleep. Bethany was about a day’s journey from Perea, and Jesus knew that Lazarus had died shortly after the messengers had been sent to reach him. They took a day to arrive, Jesus delayed two days, and it took a fourth day for Jesus to travel to Bethany, so that when he arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Although he loved Lazarus and his sisters, and would want to spare them grief, Jesus, who would weep at the grave of his friend, says “I am glad that I was not there”. He could have spared his friends some grief. He could have healed from a distance, as he had done on other occasions, but he had a higher purpose in mind. It was for the sake of the disciples – that you may believe.

16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Thomas was grim and pessimistic, but devoted. And he was right. He knew what lay ahead, and yet he was determined to die with Jesus rather than to live without him

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Martha expressed her confidence in Jesus. When they had sent the message they had not said ‘come at once’ or ‘we need you to heal our brother’. Their message was simply ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill’. They acknowledged him as Lord – as master, the one in control. They recognized his loving care – he whom you love’. And they gave him the facts, and left it to his discretion to do what was best – he is ill. Martha here expresses her confidence in Jesus’ power over sickness and even death. You could have prevented his death, for God always gives you whatever you ask. Jesus pointed her to the resurrection. Martha assumed that Jesus was giving comfort by stating the fact – your brother will rise again. Martha knew her theology. There is a coming resurrection. One day, all who have died will be brought to life again. Scriptures like:

Job 19:25-27 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

Isaiah 26:19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Ezekiel 37:12-14 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”

But look what Jesus says to her:

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life…”

This is one of the great ‘I AM’ statements of the gospels. Jesus takes up the words he spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He is the great I AM of the Old Testament. Martha is thinking of a far-distant future eschatalogical resurrection, and Jesus, standing in front of her says “I am the resurrection”. Resurrection is standing in front of you. I am the life. The living one is here.

“…by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” [Colossians 1:16-17];

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” [Hebrews 1:3].

This Jesus, “was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life…” [John 1:2-4].

The life giving omnipotent creator was standing in front of this grieving woman, and he is seeking to turn her attention to who he is.

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Death is not the issue. If you are trusting in Jesus, your life is such that it will continue even beyond the grave. ‘The moment a man puts his trust in Jesus he begins to experience that life of the age to come which cannot be touched by death’ [Morris, NICNT p.550]. Jesus concludes with a challenge: Do you believe this? Jesus is not arguing philosophical possibilities. This is a saving truth to be embraced and acted upon.

27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Martha’s answer is incredible. She is moving beyond belief in an idea and embracing the identity of this person who was speaking to her. You are the promised Jewish Messiah King. You are the divine Son of God. You are the God-man who entered history.

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

Notice how Jesus connects the glory of God with eternal life. He says ‘did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God?’ What he had said was “whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he life, and everyone who lives and believes in me hall never die.” Here he summarizes this concept of life as seeing the glory of God. This corresponds with Jesus’ definition of eternal life in

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

—

41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus is the life. Jesus can speak to a deceased decaying corpse and command it to come out of the grave, and it has no choice but to obey. Jesus is the life giver, the one who has life in himself.

Jesus likens his death and resurrection to a grain of wheat. His death and resurrection is the means for him to bear much fruit, and thus to be glorified.

John 12:23-24 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Did you ever notice how central the glory of God is in the bible?

John 13:31-32 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

Let’s look into how Jesus is glorified in the resurrection. Jump back to chapter 10. In verses 10-11, Jesus claims to be the good shepherd, and he defines the good shepherd as the one who gives abundant life to his sheep.

John 10:10-11 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

There and in verse 15, he defines the good shepherd as the one who lays down his life for the sheep:

John 10:14-15 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Verses 17-18 are staggering:

John 10:17-18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Jesus has authority over his own life. He has the authority to lay down his life, and he has the authority to take it up again. My wife has worked in hospice caring for patients as they die. Some go unexpectedly quickly; others drag on and on. The person has no power over their death. It can be hours, it can drag on for months. Only God controls death.

Job 14:5 Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

Psalms 39:4-5 “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! 5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!

Jesus had authority over his own life and death. This is what Jesus told Pilate in John 19:

John 19:10-11 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above….

John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

But even more stunning is his statement that he has the power to take up his life again.

A dead person cannot even close his own eyes. You can’t administer CPR to yourself. But Jesus said he had the power to take up his own life.

Look at how awesome Jesus is. Lazarus was sick and he could do nothing to prevent his own death. His sisters were helpless to prevent his death. No one could take Jesus’ life from him. He laid it down of his own will. Lazarus being dead was utterly incapable of doing anything about his situation. It was the word of Jesus that woke him from his sleep and brought him out of the tomb. In fact, Lazarus, after he was brought to life by the power of God, was helpless to escape from his own grave clothes. Jesus instructed those around to set him free. So we, who have been born again to newness of life, must have the continued influence of the Holy Spirit to release us from the ‘sin which clings so closely’ [Heb.12:1].

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Jesus, after taking up his own life again, needed no one to loose him from his grave clothes. When Peter and John came to the tomb, they ‘saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been of Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.’ [Jn.20:6-7]

Jesus instructed the bystanders to take away the stone from the entrance of the grave so that Lazarus could come out. But for Jesus, a one-and-a-half to two ton stone, the official seal of the Roman empire, and the armed Roman guard were no obstacle.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. In his resurrection we see his glory. But there are two responses to the glory of God. Look back to John 11

John 11:45-48, 53 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” … 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

John 12:9-11 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

There are two responses when we see the glory of God on display in the person of Jesus. We cannot say ‘oh, that’s nice’ and walk away. Either we embrace Jesus for all that he is, or we feel threatened by his claim to absolute authority and seek to destroy the evidence.

Where are you?

John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

April 12, 2009 Posted by pastorrodney | occasional, podcast | awesome, Hope, Jesus, resurrection | Leave a Comment

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About

Hello, I’m Pastor Rodney. I’m glad to have the opportunity to introduce myself. Rodney & Deanna

I was called to pastor Ephraim Church of the Bible on February 27, 2005. My wife Deanna and I resigned from our jobs, sold our home, and packed up our four girls Jessica (6), Abigail (4), Emily (3) and Hannah (1) to move to Utah at the end of March. We arrived in Ephraim on April 6, bought a house and began to settle in (as you might notice in the pictures, God has since blessed us with another girl, Aliyah and a son, Isaiah).

I was born and raised in Minnesota, and attended Emmaus Bible College in Iowa, where I met Deanna. She was from Washington State, and when I graduated from college I followed her to Washington and married her. She is a nurse and shares a passion to serve and follow Jesus Christ.

I served as youth pastor for 8 years at a church in Mount Vernon, Washington, while working in the engineering department for a manufacturer of marine propulsion control systems. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there, but through a variety of circumstances we felt God directing us to Utah. We decided to stay put and be faithful doing what God had given us to do until it was unmistakable that God wanted us elsewhere. He made that unmistakably clear and we now are delighted to call Ephraim home.

Zedicher Family My passion has always been to teach the Bible as God’s Word, and see lives transformed as a result (including my own!). I believe God has the power to radically alter our lives through His truth. My goal is to study and understand what God has said, and communicate that in such a way that you are brought into contact with Jesus, who is alive and well today. We welcome all visitors, and our style is casual because God is more concerned with what’s in your heart than with what you wear. We emphasize worship of God because in worship we are fulfilling our design. When we declare to each other and to the world that God is our greatest treasure, He is honored, and we are satisfied. My desire is to teach the Word of God and give a firm foundation to your faith, so that you can grow deep and be fruitful and bring pleasure to our awesome God.
~Rodney Zedicher

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