LVPC ENCOURAGING WORD

GOT FAITH?

2012-01-23T10:24:00.001-05:00

“BY FAITH, ABRAHAM”
Hebrews part 15 (11:8-19)
Rev. Grady Davidson / 012212
This week we continue in the “faith chapter” of Scripture, Hebrews the Eleventh. I believe that this is as good a time as any to address a common misconception about Christian faith. Many Christians have the idea that the faith that is being taught and celebrated in Hebrews 11 is somehow different from saving faith. Many Christians have the idea that “saving faith” is comprised of a one-time act of believing in Christ and “asking Jesus into your heart.” Then they read Hebrews 11 which describes people who lived spectacular lives of stunning faith, and they conclude, “Well, that must be something different.” I want to assure you that it is NOT different. I want to assure you that the faith by which you believe in Christ and are saved is one and the same with the faith of Hebrews 11. Saving faith receives Jesus Christ in order to go on trusting and obeying him in all of life and throughout all of life. Saving faith is a life of faith. The Bible nowhere teaches, the Bible nowhere conceives, of the possibility of someone exercising saving faith in Christ, and then continuing on with a life which is essentially the very same as any ordinary unbeliever.
The point of Hebrews chapter 11 is that the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and on down the chapter is in fact the faith of the ordinary Christian life! This is what faith looks like in truly saved people!
This morning I’m going to make 4 summary statements about Abraham’s life of faith, and apply them to our Christian experience. So let’s dig in to the text.
(review 8-10)
1. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING WHERE HE WAS GOING. At the age of 75, God spoke to Abraham and called him to abandon his homeland, the City of Ur of the Chaldeans, and to go to a land which God would show him. In the ancient world, Ur was a center of wealth and commerce and education and urban sophistication. I read of a Bible scholar who has four framed photographs on the wall of his office, four views of a desolate wasteland. Someone asked him, “What are those photographs of?” He replied that he had visited the ruins of ancient Ur, and those four photographs were images to the north, south, east and west of Ur. The visible prospects for Abraham beyond Ur were bleak and unpromising, as far as the eye could see.
God’s call to Abraham meant that he would abandon all that was comfortable and secure and familiar, trusting only the Word of God, and journey to a land where he would live out his days not as a member of the ruling class in a great city, but as a Bedouin shepherd living in tents.
The text emphasizes (9, 13) that Abraham lived out his days as a foreigner. The word translated “stranger” in v. 9 means “a temporary sojourner without native or civil rights.” Everything about Abraham – his accent, his clothes, his faith in God – marked him as someone different from the Canaanites, someone who didn’t really belong there, someone who really didn’t fit in.
There are several lessons we need to learn from this. a) The life of faith is a life of constantly venturing further and further in obedient trust, even when you can’t see where the Lord is taking you.
If you’ve ever been to a zoo, you may have seen an African impala, a small member of the antelope family (2 ½ to 3 feet tall, 110 lbs). The impala can jump 10 feet vertically and 30 feet horizontally. Yet a zoo can contain an impala behind a mere 3-foot wall, because the impala will not jump if they can’t see where their feet will fall. Faith is so different. Faith is obeying the Lord, even when you’re not sure where your feet are going to land.
b) The story of Abraham’s sojourn in Canaan teaches us that the life of faith is a life in which we never feel quite at home. (That’s the reason for today’s hymn selections.) The true Christian is never quite at home in this world. I think of a teenage girl I know who is the daughter of missionaries. She spent the first 7 or 8 years of her life here in America; then the next 6 or 7 years in Berlin, Germany. Now she’s back in the States. Her Dad calls her a “culturally green kid.” (Green comes from mixing blue and yellow.) In other words, she’s a little of this and a little of that, but not exactly either one. Kids like that make great international businessmen, and terrific ambassadors – but they never feel quite “at home” anywhere.
As faithful followers of Jesus, we should know what that kid feels like. We’re born into this world; we’re reborn into the Kingdom of God… and until the Lord returns we find ourselves “in between the two.” (Refer to hymn, “Sweet Beulah Land.”) ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING WHERE HE WAS GOING.
2. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING HOW GOD’S PROMISE WOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED. (review vv. 11-12) I need to make a brief Bible study note here. In the NIV, from which I’m reading, v. 11 is translated so that it’s Abraham’s faith that is being celebrated. But in the original language, there’s some ambiguity, so that other translations think it’s referring to Sarah’s faith. Personally, I think the NIV is correct on this one; but it really doesn’t matter because Abraham and Sarah both faced the problem that God had promised to make Abraham into a great nation (which begins with having children!), and yet they were both far beyond the age for having children. He was “past age” (v. 11), in fact as far as fathering children was concerned, Abraham was (v. 12) “as good as dead.” Sarah (v. 11), also a very old woman had never conceived.
Then one night, Abraham was praying about this, and the Lord took him outside: “Look up into that desert sky and count the stars… So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5). The next verse says that Abraham “believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” How did he express that faith? Abraham, old man that he was went back into the tent, and together he and Sarah miraculously conceived a child.
From the outset did Abraham know how God’s promise would be accomplished? No, and Abraham stumbled along the way. That’s the story of the birth of Ishmael. But in Genesis 15, Abraham believed God’s promise, and claimed God’s promise, and God worked a miracle. (End of verse 11 – it’s all about the faithfulness of the One who makes the promises.
In the early 19th century, the missionary Adoniram Judson found himself in Burma, lying in a foul jail cell with 32 pounds of chains tied to his ankles, and his feet bound to a bamboo pole. A fellow prisoner asked Judson in a scoffing tone, “Dr. Judson, what about the prospect of the conversion of the heathen?” Judson: “The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God.”
1. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING WHERE HE WAS GOING.
2. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING HOW GOD’S PROMISE WOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED.
3. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING WHEN GOD WOULD FULFILL HIS PROMISES
(vv. 13-16, note, “all these people” refers to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob)
The patriarchs were able to see the fulfillment of God’s promises in the future; the patriarchs welcomed the coming fulfillment of God’s promises; and yet they all died before seeing their fulfillment.
My childhood best friend lived in a very remote, very rural area of a very sparsely populated county. To get to his place, you had to drive out the state highway known as the Wilderness Road, then you turned left at Pumpkin Center and continued on till you arrived at No Business. The total population of No Business at any given time might have been 25 people. I remember when I’d spend the night at his place, that at the first sound of an approaching car that the whole family would run to the window to see who it was! Who’s coming out our way?
I think that’s a great picture for the way men and women of faith relate to God’s promises. We’re always watching off in the distance, listening for any sound, any hint that the Lord is coming… we’re always to be vigilant, watching the horizon and expecting his return at any moment.

1. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING WHERE HE WAS GOING.
2. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING HOW GOD’S PROMISE WOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED.
3. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING WHEN GOD WOULD FULFILL HIS PROMISES
4. ABRAHAM BELIEVED AND OBEYED GOD, NOT KNOWING WHY GOD WAS DOING WHAT HE WAS DOING (17-19).
The verses refer to the story of the Binding of Isaac. God promised to give Abraham a son, and God finally fulfilled the promise. Then God told Abraham to take his precious son and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. This morning we do not have time to go into the theology of that story (and that’s regrettable, because I don’t want anyone thinking that there’s anything sadistic or cruel about God… if you’re not familiar with the passage, then call me and we’ll talk about it). The one thing I need to point out from today’s text is that this event was a test of Abraham’s faith (v. 17). Abraham could not possibly grasp why God was asking him to do this; Abraham could not understand why God was doing what he was doing. But v. 19 gives us some insight into Abraham’s reasoning and thoughts about the situation. “If worst comes to worst, and I have to offer this child to the Lord, then I still have hope because I know that the Lord can yet raise him from the dead.” That’s faith!
Last week in Christianity Explored downstairs the discussion question was tossed out, “If you could ask God one question, and you knew he would answer it, what would your question be?” As we went around, probably 75% of the questions that people would like to ask God were “why?” questions.
God, why do bad things happen to weak and powerless people?
God, why is my life the way it is?
God, why do you make the decisions that you make and do the things that you do? And friends, those are all excellent questions!
What I want to say to you this morning is that to live with unanswered questions, and unexplained situations, and unresolved tensions—and yet to trust the Lord with unflinching obedience – that is biblical faith.
If you have unanswered questions and unexplained situations and unresolved tensions, and in response you say, “God, I’ve given you enough time to make sense of all this, so now I’m going to pack up my marbles and go play in my own backyard… well, that’s the response of 10:39, “those who shrink back and are destroyed.”
Real faith acknowledges, “God, I don’t understand everything, and in fact I never will… But God, I have come to trust your heart… and even when I can’t make sense of what you’re doing, I still believe that you are motivated by love… So I going to believe you and obey you.”
We’re now about half way through the Faith Chapter. I want to conclude where I began last week. Look at the text again, and see the repetition of that phrase, “by faith… Abel… Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac…”
As we begin a new week, put your name in the blank! How does the story which God is writing in your life read?
“By faith, Linda loved her enemy and blessed the one who persecuted her.”
“By faith, Charles wrote his first tithe check today.”
“By faith, Allison invited her neighbor over for dinner, and then invited her to church.”
“By faith, Joe took steps to change an inappropriate relationship.”
Fill in the blank for yourself. What will you do by faith, this week?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Sermon Illustrations. Web. 19 Jan. 2012. .
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

GOT FAITH?

2012-01-17T09:22:00.007-05:00

“GOT FAITH?”
Hebrews part 14 (11:1-7)
Rev. Grady Davidson / 011512
This morning we arrive at the “faith chapter” of the Bible, Hebrews the Eleventh. I anticipate taking four weeks to work our way through this amazing passage. With your Bibles open before you, I invite you to take just a second to skim through chapter 11 with me. Even if this chapter is brand new to you, your eyes will pick up on the repetition of two words…. “by faith.” (Review in the first dozen verses.) In this chapter the writer to the Hebrews is going to teach us what faith is, and what faith looks like in the real world, by way of Old Testament example after example after example. So I believe it will be worthwhile for us to take some time together reviewing these figures from the Old Testament, and letting their biographies instruct us about the life of faith. That’s the plan for the next couple of weeks, as I understand it at this point.
I came across a story this week that I believe will provide a good place to start. The story was about a very long and rarely-used trail across Nevada’s Amargosa Desert—a desert wasteland fit for neither man nor beast. Along the trail through the desert, somebody dug a well long ago, offering the only hope of water for many miles. The well was fitted with an old-fashioned pump handle. The following letter was found in a baking-powder can, wired to the handle of the pump.
This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new washer into it and it ought to last five years. But {if} the washer dries out, the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. There’s enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first! Pour about one-fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You’ll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (Signed) Desert Pete. PS Don’t go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it and you’ll git all you can hold.
If you can “get” this story, then you’ll get this chapter. The situation is critical: you have one bottle of water, and an old pipe sticking out of the ground with a pump on the end; and a promise from Desert Pete that if you’ll take that precious water and pour it down the pipe, that you’ll get all the water you need and more! Desert Pete says that if you drink out of the bottle first, you won’t have enough left to prime the pump! Your thirst, and your animal instinct says, “Don’t trust the letter; just drink the water.” But hope says, “Maybe Desert Pete knows what he’s talking about, and if I just pour this quart down the pipe, then the washer will swell and re-seal the pump, and the pump will be primed again, and I’ll get plenty of water to complete my journey.”
Verse 1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith is about laying hold of God’s promises, specifically his promise that our Lord Jesus will return to Earth as glorified King and Judge of all the world; at that time King Jesus will vindicate His own people to the astonished eyes of the unbelieving world, and He will validate our faith! He will show us that our faith in Him was right all along, even when it looked like we were pouring our lives down a rusty pipe sticking out of the sand!
Two things in this description of faith.
(1) Faith is “being sure” of our hope in Christ, for no other reason than that God has spoken, and we believe His Word… even when your faith in God’s Word leads to criticism that you’re really too narrow-minded and old fashioned; even when you’re being chided that there are aspects of your faith that are politically incorrect, even when you’re being scoffed at by the world, even if and when you’re being arrested for your faith, and your property is being confiscated… you are “sure” of what you hope for, because your hopes are delineated and spelled out in God’s Word. Faith is an attitude which says, “God has spoken, that is enough for me.”
(2) Faith is being “certain of what we do not see.” (a) There are some things—many things!-- God’s Word tells us about which we do not see, because God’s Word describes spiritual realities which go far beyond the scope of our 5 senses – angels, demons, heaven, hell. By faith we declare that those realities are just as true and verifiable and real as the white oak of the pew in which you sit. (b) There are other things which God’s Word tells us about which we do not see, because they’re events which lay in the future. Faith enables us be certain about events which God’s Word tells us are yet to come. In our passage, Noah was warned that a devastating flood was coming, and although there had never been any such catastrophe in human experience up to that point, Noah believed God’s Word, and because of his faith – he built a boat!
The second half of verse 1 tells us that faith acknowledges that there are many things which we cannot see or experience by our five human senses; however, our human limitations in that regard don’t make those realities any less real!
(3) As we’re building our definition of faith, notice also verse 6: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” So thirdly we note that the life of faith is the only life which pleases God. God wants you to come to Him by faith, although you cannot see Him here and now. He wants you to seek Him with your mind made up, and your heart set upon the fact, that you’re seeking One who wants to be discovered! He “rewards those who earnestly seek him.” The reward is that you do in fact find the One you seek!
Verse 6 reminds me of playing hide-and-seek with Hannah when she was around 3 years old. We’d go in the back yard which was full of sweet gum trees – perfect for hide and seek. I’d cover my eyes and count to ten… but when I got to ten, SHE would leap out from behind a tree and say “Ready or not, here I come!”
Faith is so different from the cynicism and skepticism that is so prevalent today. Faith says, “The invisible God wants to be found, and He is going to reveal Himself to all who truly seek Him!”
So what IS faith? It’s being sure of what we hope for in Christ because we have the certainty and authority of God’s Word to stand on. It’s being certain of what we cannot see, but trusting that God’s Word is a reliable guide regarding that invisible world and those future events which we can’t see. And faith is the one and only kind of life that pleases God.
And so in verse 3 we see that faith is the only mechanism that allows us to makes us the existence of the physical universe. The phrase in theology is that God created the universe “ex nihilo,” out of nothing! We look at the amazing photographs taken by the Hubble telescope; and we study the tiniest of subatomic particles: by faith we recognize the unseen hand of our Creator behind the wonders of the universe. Please don’t think that somehow faith is opposed to reason; it’s not. It is human reason at work which leads to the only logical conclusion that in the origins of the universe is God making something out of nothing.
And so we see in verse 4 that faith leads us to worship, as the example of Abel gives us. What was the relationship between Cain & Abel? (Brothers; Cain murdered Abel because of Abel’s worship of God. Abel was the first Christian martyr!)
In verse 5 we see the example of Enoch. Genesis 5:21-24 tells us that Enoch walked with God, and then Enoch was no more, because God took him away. Enoch was a Godly, faith-filled man, and God took him straight to heaven.
The author is showing already that the outcome of faith will look differently in different lives. Abel’s faith got Abel martyred; faith got Enoch home without even going through physical death. Although the outcomes look different, it’s one and the same faith.
Here’s the issue for you and for me at this point in our study of the faith chapter. And I have to phrase it in terms of a two-part question, so listen carefully to both parts.
Q1: If today you believed with absolute certainty and conviction that God exists, and that He loves you unconditionally, and that He is preparing a place for you in eternity which is so glorious that just one square foot of that place is far more valuable than all the riches of this world…if you believed that, how would you live today?
A1: Your reply: I do believe that! I believe in God! I believe He loves me and has shown his love through Jesus Christ. I believe in God’s coming Kingdom.
Q2: Then how would your life be different today if you didn’t believe? We’re already seeing that faith is an active life. Faith is an unflinching, unquestioning, active obedience to God’s Word. By faith boats get built (v. 7) and people worship God even upon pain of death (v. 4). Would your life be any different if you didn’t believe in God? Your answer to that question reveals where, and to what extent, faith is at work in your life.
If you give 10% or more of your income to God’s work in the local church because God commands it, and because you believe that in so doing you really are laying up treasures for yourself in heaven…. That’s faith!
If as a husband you choose to love your wife as Christ loves the church, even when she’s being hormonal and a bit squirrely, that’s faith. If as a wife you gently honor your husband, even though he can be such a jerk, that’s faith.
For those in the dating scene, if you’re seeking unflinching obedience to Christ in every aspect of your dating relationships, even if it means losing the person for the sake of honoring the Lord, that’s faith.
If you’re physically sick, and you do what James 5 says—you pick up the phone and call the elders to pray over you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord – that’s faith. (BTW, that’s very different from just saying, “please put me on the prayer list.”)
If you read Hebrews 10:25, which says, “let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,” and having read that verse you take your day timer and you fill in those slots with the opportunities that your church provides for meeting together; and then you build the rest of your weekly schedule around those priorities – that’s faith.
In each of these examples, God’s Word calls us to step beyond the known and the comfortable and the familiar – in fact to step out into places in which the immediate outcomes are far from certain. However, the ultimate outcome of your relationship with Christ and your glorious, unimaginably wonderful eternity with him is certain.
I have a challenge for you. This week buy a bottle of water. Don’t drink it. Don’t even open it. Set it on your dining table as a reminder that we’re people who trust the message from the One who has been through the desert before us!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
Miller, Keith, and Bruce Larson. The Edge of Adventure. Tarrytown, NY: F.H. Revell, 1991. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

CONFIDENT LIVING IN CHRIST

2012-01-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

“CONFIDENT LIVING IN CHRIST”
Hebrews part 13 (10:19-39)
Rev. Grady Davidson / 010811 (Epiphany Sunday)

I’d like you to begin thinking with me this morning about “confidence” (vv. 19, 35). Some years ago there was an advertising jingle for a deodorant – Do you remember it?
Confident, confident, dry and secure;
Raise your hand, raise your hand,
If you’re Sure!
If you wore Sure deodorant you would know all the answers in class, and you could confidently raise your hand because unlike the loser sitting across from you, you didn’t have a sweaty armpit!
Confidence. Be thinking about this word, and consider: When and where and under what conditions in your life do you feel the most confident? And under what conditions does your confidence erode under your feet?
In the Epistle to the Hebrews the author is telling us that of all people, we who know Jesus Christ should live life with a kind of confidence and forthrightness and boldness that the world neither knows nor understands. And this confidence in Christ has three specific implications for the way we live (we’ll get to those 3 implications for our lives in a few minutes).
At this point, please notice with me the basis / foundation of our confidence in Jesus Christ. It’s what the writer to the Hebrews has been talking about since the end of chapter 4, but he summarizes it for us here in 10:19 – 21.
1. First of all (v. 19), notice that “since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…” Under the Old Covenant, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies in the earthly tabernacle, and that only once a year; under the New Covenant, everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and trusts in his torn body and shed blood has the right and the privilege to enter the Heavenly Holy of Holies, where God dwells. You have the ticket. You have been granted security clearance. You have a backstage pass. Your right to enter heaven is guaranteed by Jesus Christ; a gift which you have received by faith. That is the first basis of our Christian confidence.
2. Then notice the second basis of our confidence in verse 21, “since we have a great priest over the house of God…” When you have received Jesus Christ into your life by faith, the Bible says that Jesus is now ministering on your behalf in the Heavenly Tabernacle, where he presented his blood to cover your sins, and where he continually prays to God the Father about you and for you.
This is the two-pronged basis of our Christian confidence. The world cannot give it to you! Only Jesus can. Jesus has opened up for us the way into the glories of Heaven; and Jesus is there ministering for us as our priest! That’s why I often welcome you to worship with the reminder that you are precious to God, and secure in Jesus Christ. The Gospel declares that we are deeply and truly loved by God, and that God will get us home before the dark. Brothers and sisters, we enjoy every reason to live with boldness and great confidence!
But here’s the problem (and really, it’s a two-pronged problem). 1) On our side of things, sometimes we forget about Jesus, and we have these “senior moments” when our memory lapses about what He’s done and what He is doing for us… and our confidence just spins down the drain… 2) On the supernatural side of things, we have an Enemy who knows the truth about us. Satan knows that we belong to Jesus Christ and that he doesn’t have the power to tear us away from the grip of Jesus Christ… but knowing that, the devil will do anything and everything he can within his power to shake and threaten and unsettle you, and sap you of your confidence.
Now we come back to the text, because the Hebrew Christians had been through all of that!
Look at verses 32-34. Here we read about some of the persecution they’ve already experienced—the Enemy is trying to tear them down.
They had been publicly scoffed at for their faith in Jesus Christ (33a) (e.g. Tim Tebow – nothing new!);
they had stood alongside those who were persecuted for their faith (33b);
they had visited others imprisoned for their faith;
and they had suffered the indignity of having their property confiscated by the State for their faith. (34).
We know from history that Emperor Claudius kicked the Christians out of Rome in AD 49. It’s likely that the author is talking about that particular time of state-sponsored persecution.
The Hebrew Christians had been through some tough times. At the time in which this letter was written, it seems that some of the Hebrew Christians saw another wave of persecution on the horizon. They didn’t think they could go through it again, and some of them were on the verge of caving in and walking away from their Lord.
The section in verses 26 – 31 is a very hard passage; but the background I’ve been reviewing is the reason for these stern warnings. Basically his warning goes like this: If under the Old Covenant, covenant breakers were tried and executed for breaking faith with their God; then how much more severe will God’s discipline be for us New Covenant people if we break faith with Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to bring us into this New Covenant relationship with God? If you reject Christ when you suffer the flames of persecution, then what other sacrifice for your sins are you going to resort to? (There is no other sacrifice!)
In the last verse of the chapter (39), he says essentially, “Now I’m sure that will never happen to any of you (you’ll never shrink back from Christ unto destruction – you will believe and persevere unto salvation). But you just need to know exactly what awaits anyone who turns back from Christ.” Verse 31 – “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Some of you history buffs will notice in v. 31 the title to the single most influential sermon ever preached on this continent!)
So Christian friends, let us be confident in Jesus Christ! Let us not be among those who begin with Jesus, but then shrink back unto destruction. Let us be among those who believe and are saved… for we have a Great High Priest who has been tempted in every way just as we are and is sympathetic with our weakness; and our Priest has opened for us a new and living way through the curtain into the heavenly Holy of Holies.
Now, with that confidence, let us do these three things that we find in vv. 22-23-24.
1. If we are confident in Christ, let us seek intimacy with God in worship. (See v. 22.)
The point of the Cross, and all that High Priest Jesus has done for you, is more than just to get you saved. He saved you, so that you would be free and bold and confident to approach God in intimate worship.
Let me just say it: Intimate friendship / relationship comes very hard to most of us. It’s my observation that very few people actually grow up in homes where they see actual examples of healthy, close, appropriate, loving, accepting, safe, nurturing relationships.
If you’re from the older generation, it’s likely that you grew up in a home with an autocratic, authoritarian family structure. You knew what the rules were. You knew who was the boss. But in that family you probably didn’t experience unconditional love—the kind of love that allows intimacy to blossom.
If you’re from a younger generation, you might have 500 supposed “friends” on FB, and yet cry yourself to sleep every night because you’re just so lonely.
God the Father says, “Come to me.” Turn off the television and the cell phone and the computer, and draw near to me with a simple but sincere faith, and a heart washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
It’s the most amazing thought! God wants to have a relationship with you! (That’s the invitation of v. 22 – the Living God wants to have a personal relationship with you; He invites you into a personal relationship with Him.)
That means you have to make time to be alone with Him, and to learn to recognize His voice, and to learn to trust Him. Time to listen. Time to be still in His presence. Time to just stop all the stuff you’re “doing” and to let Him love you. This is a good chance at the beginning of the year to ask, “Are you having your daily quiet time?” Christ, your High Priest, died to make possible an intimate relationship with God! So, if we are confident in Christ, let us seek intimacy with God in worship.
2. If we are confident in Christ, let us cling to our Christian hope. (v. 23) “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” The idea in the verse is that we must cling to our hope in Christ with a death grip; that we stay so intently focused upon the Lord Jesus and His promises that nothing thrown at us from the world, the flesh or the devil can tear us away!
Last week I was reading the true story about a boy named Martin Rowe who knew how to cling to a hope. Martin was a farm boy in Georgia (I’m guessing in the mid to late 1960s). When he was six years old, he was riding the tractor with his dad one day when there was an accident which rolled the tractor over. In the accident, Martin Rowe lost one arm entirely and the other was badly damaged, though he retained some use of it.
While he was hospitalized, the family ran up $32,000 in medical bills that they couldn’t pay. One day Martin heard his father and mother talking outside the hospital room door, with his mother weeping about how they would every pay off the bills. When his mom and dad came in, Martin said, “Don’t worry; I’ll pay it off myself.” His parents hugged him and thanked him for his concern, but in their hearts they thought that such a goal was nothing more than a fantasy for a 6 year old boy.
But when he got out of the hospital, Martin started picking up redeemable bottles alongside the road. After a couple of months, he put $400 in his mother’s hand to be paid toward the medical debt.
Then Martin started collecting aluminum for recycle. Several manufacturing companies heard his story, and began saving their scrap metal for him. For five years, he collected bottles and cans every day, and at age 11 Martin Rowe walked into the hospital and paid off his $32,000 debt. Martin Rowe “held unswervingly” to his goal, and he proved that no obstacle could keep him from completing the task.
How much more, should we who have confidence in Jesus Christ our Great High Priest who has opened a new and living way into the Holy of Holies, through the curtain that is His body, hold unswervingly to the hope we profess!
We profess it; we say that we have hope in Christ… so let’s not go into 2012 like a bunch of worried weenies, reading the horoscopes, stressing over the end of the Mayan calendar, perplexed and stressed over a mere presidential election! Let us cling to hope in Jesus Christ; let us live like those who have hope, and let us give hope away to a hopeless and despairing world!
If we are confident in Christ, let us draw near to God in worship;
If we are confident in Christ, let us cling to our Christian hope;
And Third: If we are confident in Christ, let us walk with one another in love. (review vv. 24 – 25) Some of the Hebrew Christians, maybe out of fear of being identified as Christians, had quit attending worship services. The author says, “Friends, you’ve got to be together. Each and every one of you has something that somebody else needs. Somebody needs your encouragement to keep on keeping on in faith and love and worship of the Lord Jesus!”
They say that the giant redwoods in the Pacific Northwest have relatively shallow roots. But they’ve grown so majestic and tall for 1000 years because those shallow roots are intertwined, growing together in a massive tapestry of roots. The sequoias literally hold each other up. It’s not about being obligated to be present in the church meeting house every time the doors open. It’s about our lives as a congregation being intertwined in mutual love and encouragement in Christ. God calls us to meet together not just to make a headcount, not to get brownie points, but because we need one another. Attendance in worship is NOT so much about what we each “get out of it,” as what we’re here to give to Him, and to one another.
How about you? Are you confident in Jesus? Are you sold out for Jesus? Do you trust in the finished work of your Great High Priest?
Then let us draw near to God in worship. Let us cling to the hope that is ours in Christ. And let us consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Amen!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

WHY THE BABY WAS BORN

2012-01-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

“WHY THE BABY WAS BORN”
Hebrews part 12 (10:1-10)
Rev. Grady Davidson / Christmas Day msg / 122511
I’m sure that many of us present this morning have been privileged to be in the delivery room when a baby has entered the world. Indeed, we have moms with us who have personally done the hard work of carrying a baby for nine months, going through labor and pushing children out! I was present for the delivery of my daughters; I have also made hospital visits to see newborns… and I know that for me, when I’m privileged to take a newborn child in my arms, that in that sacred moment of embracing new life, I find myself imagining and wondering what direction this child’s life will take. What personality will this child have? What joys and loves, as well as sorrows and disappointments lay ahead for this new life? What work will this person set his or hand to do? What mark will this newly born human being make upon God’s world? Maybe you’ve asked questions like those yourself, on similar occasions.
Like all good parents, I am certain that Mary and Joseph were pondering these very questions on the morning after the birth of Jesus. They knew that the baby was unique amongst all mankind. They knew that He was “the Son of God”, although I doubt they grasped the full meaning of that. They knew He was born to save His people from their sins. They knew that their child was destined for some kind of extraordinary rule and authority and greatness (although, once again, I believe that they were badly mistaken at that point about how that would unfold in His life).
Our scripture text from the Epistle to the Hebrews was written a few years after the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. But looking back at those events, the author answers those questions about why the baby Jesus was born. In a few minutes we’ll depart from this sanctuary, and many of us will go to Christmas celebrations with loved ones. In those settings today I want each one of you to find a chance to talk to somebody about why the baby was born!
Outline of the message:
Two observations from the text about the reason for the coming of Jesus Christ; followed by two notes of application to our lives… what it all means for us.
Why was the baby born?
FIRST: The baby was born to be obedient. (Review Hbs. 10:5-7, emphasis on verse 7). You’ll see that the author incorporated a quote into his letter. The quotation is from Psalm 40. In that OT Psalm, the author heard the prophetic voice of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. In the scriptures, the writer to the Hebrews could hear Jesus saying to God the Father: “Father, I am here! The scriptures have prophesied and foretold my coming. Father, I have not entered this world to please myself. Father, I have not entered this world to promote my own agenda. Father, I have not come into the world with any motive, goal or objective, EXCEPT – “I have come to do your will, O God.” The baby was born to be obedient! He came to do God’s will.
At the beginning of time, God set our first parents, Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden: an environment of unimaginable beauty and tranquility and blessing prosperity. There in the Garden, Adam & Eve enjoyed a perfect relationship with their Creator, and a perfect relationship with one another, and a perfect relationship with the Creation itself.
But in that perfect world, God established one law as a test of their obedience. (Do not eat of the forbidden fruit.) The book of Genesis tells how Adam and Eve disobeyed God and failed His test of their obedience. At that tragic moment, sin and death entered the world in general… but more particularly, the principle of sin and death entered the human race. Consequently we are all infected with the disease of sin. Even the newest born baby who just popped into the world at Women’s East hospital is born with a corrupt nature. That newborn baby will very soon reveal that sinful nature through actual acts of sin in his or her life.
The Bible says that Jesus Christ came as the Second Adam. The First Adam failed the test of obedience… Jesus Christ came to do God’s will, and to do it perfectly. Even down here in the sodden muck and mire of a fallen and corrupted world, Jesus came and perfectly obeyed the Heavenly Father. It’s what we saw back in Hebrews chapter 5… “We have a high priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (v. 15). The baby was born to be obedient – to undo and roll back and reverse the power of sin at work in the world in general, and in the human race in particular. In theology we call it the “active obedience” of Jesus Christ. It was a life of total, loving surrender and obedience to the will of God the Father.
It was an obedience that began with the baby’s first gasping breath.
It’s an obedience that was mentioned just in passing in Luke’s gospel when it says of the boy Jesus that he went down to Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them (2:51).
It’s an obedience that was confirmed by the threefold testing of Jesus Christ in his 40 days of fasting and wandering in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13).
It was an obedience that culminated with Jesus face down in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweat pouring from his body like blood, as he looked ahead to the cross, and He said: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). It was an obedience that was not completed until on the cross Jesus cried out “It is finished” (John 19:30) and he “breathed his last” (Luke 23:46).
Why was the baby born? The baby was born to be obedient. However, our scripture text tells us of a second reason the baby was born; we’ve already been speaking of it in a roundabout way…and frankly the text doesn’t allow a gentle or pleasant way to state it…!
SECOND: The baby was born to be bloodied. In v. 4, the author makes his case for the umpteenth time that “the blood of bulls and goats,” the blood of the sacrifices under the Old Covenant, is powerless to take away sins…
(Don’t miss the flow of the text!)
(v. 5) “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me…’” Do not miss the contrast! The contrast is between the bleeding bodies of bulls and goats… against the “bleedable” body of Jesus Christ… which entered the world on that first Christmas. The contrast is made once again in vv. 8 – 10 (emphasis on v. 10, “the sacrifice of the body”). God’s Son came to us on that first Christmas day, as Son of God and Son of Man, fully human with a true human body… because God the Father was going to lay the punishment for the sins of the world upon that body.
In theology we make a distinction between the active and passive obedience of Christ. His 33 years of living a life of perfect obedience to God is his Active Obedience. That final terrible day of suffering on Calvary is his passive obedience… in which Jesus spread his arms out in total surrender and accepted the fullness of God’s wrath on the sin of the world upon his own broken, bleeding, torn, pierced, dying body.
Singer and songwriter Michael Card wrote it so beautifully in his song, “The Final Word.”
And so the Father’s fondest thought took on flesh and bone.
He spoke the living luminous Word, at once His will was done.
And so the transformation that in man had been unheard
Took place in God the Father as He spoke that final Word.

He spoke the Incarnation and then so was born the Son.
His final word was Jesus, He needed no other one.
Spoke flesh and blood so He could bleed and make a way Divine.
And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine.

SEVERAL POINTS OF APPLICATION
1. The manger is meaningless apart from the cross. The manger tells us of the birth of a Savior, but that salvation was not purchased in Bethlehem’s manger. The purchase was made complete on top of the town dump outside of Jerusalem where Jesus was strung up on cross timbers and died. I think that oftentimes we Christians relish in sentimental thoughts about the baby Jesus, when we should be letting the fullness of the gospel sink more deeply into us, that the baby was born to be bloodied.
2. It is His obedience, and not ours, that saves us. Folks, this is the good news that we must take home and relish ourselves in as we open presents and eat turkey and ham! It is Christ and his obedience (active and passive) which is the basis of our salvation. We are saved by the merits of Christ, without reference to ourselves (anything we’ve done good or bad, or ever will do good or bad). Look at Hbs. 10:10… The sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, sacrificed once and for all, is sufficient to make us holy. If you belong to Jesus Christ, then when God looks at you, He no longer sees your sin… He just sees Jesus… you have been “made holy” in God’s sight by the body of Jesus Christ.
How do we come to enjoy that salvation? How do the benefits of the baby born to be obedient and born to be bloodied become our own?
The Bible commands us to respond to this good news by repentance and faith. Repentance is simply turning away from sin, and turning toward Christ. Faith is simply believing in Christ, and trusting that His life and suffering and death are sufficient for you.
(Conclude with invitation to receive Christ…)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

THE FOUR "FEAR NOT'S" OF ADVENT

2011-12-19T10:26:00.001-05:00

“THE FOUR ‘FEAR NOTS’ OF ADVENT”
Fourth Sunday in Advent
Various gospel texts
Rev. Grady Davidson 121811

His name was Janez Rus, and he was a young shoemaker in the dark days of Nazi Germany. Early on, Rus wanted to make a name for himself, and so catching the political wave of National Socialism, Rus publicly supported Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. But after the regime fell, Rus realized he had made terrible mistakes, and fearing possible arrest and trial for Nazi activities, he fled to his sister’s farm in Slovenia (SE Europe). There, Janez Rus hid in his sister’s barn for 32 years without so much as a visit to the village or to see a single friend.
Eventually his sister accidentally exposed him, and he was discovered. (As far as I can tell, he was never arrested for any of his Nazi activities.) Multiple reporters interviewed him, wondering how someone could stay in hiding for 32 years. His answer to their question was simple: It was fear.
For 32 years, fear kept Janez Rus in a barn.
For 32 years, fear kept Janez Rus in a cell of solitary confinement of his own creation, living a sad life of loneliness and regret.
This morning, we’re talking about fear, and what the angels announce at Christmas concerning fear. I wonder, what fears wake you up in the dead of night with a racing heart and a cold sweat across your forehead? Maybe you suffer from…
Peladophobia: fear of bald people
Aerophobia: fear of drafty air
Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people
Thallasophobia: fear of being seated
Stabisbasiphobia: fear of standing and walking
Odontophobia: fear of teeth
Phobophobia: (what FDR spoke of in his famous fireside chat) fear of being afraid!
More realistically, I imagine that for most of us our greatest fears have to do with fear of losing something (a person, our health, fear of losing control of our finances or some other part of our lives).
Again I ask: What sort of fears are you most prone to? Does your fear have a name? This Advent season, what fears are currently blipping on your radar screen?
As we’re moving into Christmas week and celebrating the first advent of our Lord, I ask you to latch on to the words of the angels, recorded no fewer than four times in the Christmas story, when they say: “Do not be afraid” (“Fear not,” KJV). In fact I want to give you a specific challenge for this Christmas week—Name your fears, and by Christmas Eve, that you will leave them at the manger. The Bible says that perfect loves casts out fear (1 John 4:18)! As your knowledge and experience of God’s love is heightened and deepened this Advent, may that perfect love of God… who loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son… eradicate your fear!
So join me in looking at the four “fear not’s” of Advent.”
1. THE FEAR NOT OF UNANSWERED PRAYER (Be finding Luke 1:11-13). We begin with Zechariah. Perhaps you remember the story. He and his wife Elizabeth had no children, because Elizabeth was barren. The text says (v. 6) that “both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” They were an authentically godly couple; but despite years and years of praying that Elizabeth would conceive and they would have a baby, God (it seemed) had never answered their prayer.
Can we talk about that for a moment? I know this congregation; and I know that this is a church of praying people. In many cases I know of particular, focused prayers that some of you have lifted up to God for years. In some cases these are prayers for yourself (prayers about your own life situation – difficulties, hardships, disappointments). In other cases these are prayers for others: a loved one whose heart is hardened against God; or a loved one who is diseased, or the one with a life-controlling problem. Whatever your particular burden is, it may be that you have prayed faithfully about it for years; and yet it seems like God is not answering your prayer. (Review text, Luke 1:11-15a).
I want to encourage you right now, dear friend, “your prayer has been heard”! For Zechariah & Elizabeth, it was just a matter of waiting for God’s perfect timing to answer their prayer… because their child was to be John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. God had heard Zechariah’s prayer, and he’s heard yours too! This Christmas, won’t you leave at the manger your fear of unanswered prayer?!
2. THE FEAR NOT OF THE HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE. (Luke 1:26-38, review text). God can do anything! Even work the miracle of the virgin conception of God’s Son in the womb of Mary? Yes, God can do anything. Verse 37 – Nothing is impossible with God!
Maybe this Advent you are looking for a miracle in your life… and you just don’t see how God is going to do it. He can! I cannot promise you that He will, but I guarantee that He can. But here’s the point: whether He chooses to intervene in your life miraculously or not, either way, He does not want you to fear. He loves you far too much for you to be bound and paralyzed by fear.
President Benjamin Harrison (23rd President, 1888 – 1892) was in office when the White House was first wired for electricity. It’s told that President and First Lady Harrison were both so terrified of electricity that they refused to touch the light switches. White House staffers had to turn lights on and off. If President and First Lady Harrison went to bed later than their WH staff, they would just sleep with the lights on!
We chuckle, but what ridiculous fears keep each of us paralyzed… when we know that we are loved by the Living God, for whom nothing is impossible?! This Advent, won’t you leave at the manger your fear of that which is humanly impossible?
3. THE FEAR NOT OF IMMEDIATE OBEDIENCE. (Matthew 1:18-21, review text, and v. 24, his obedience). Joseph went to bed in doubt about his future with Mary; he woke up and immediately obeyed the Lord’s word.
Let me ask you a question: what is the next step of obedience to God that God is calling you to make? For Joseph, it was to proceed and take Mary as his wife. She was pregnant; there was some embarrassment about the situation; the tongues were going to be wagging all over the village… but God said to Joseph, “Don’t be afraid… I know what I’m doing… Marry the girl!” I believe that normally, in our walk of faith with God, that He lays before each of us one step of practical obedience to take at a time. As we cross that hurdle by faith, he then reveals the next one. What is the next step of immediate obedience that God has for you to take? Maybe it’s to profess faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized as a Christian. On the other hand, maybe you’re in a relationship with someone, and that relationship is drawing you away from the Lord, and He is calling you to break off that relationship. Maybe it’s to begin truly tithing from your income to your church. Whatever it is, do not be afraid to take that step of immediate obedience. This Advent, leave at the manger your fear of obedience.
4. THE FEAR NOT OF SALVATION. (Luke 2:8 – 12). Here we go to the shepherds near Bethlehem. It’s the night of Christ’s birth (review text). That glorious angel, with the brightness of heaven’s light shining around him, said to the shepherds, “Don’t be afraid! For the Savior has been born!”
I want to ask you this morning, “Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?” The Good News of Christmas is the announcement that God has sent us the Savior, Jesus Christ. By his death on the cross, Jesus saves us from sin’s penalty. By his indwelling Holy Spirit, and the ongoing work of sanctification in our lives, He is saving us from sin’s power. Finally, when He returns as glorious King and Judge of all the Earth, He will save us from sin’s presence. Is He your Savior? You say, “I’m not sure about this salvation business… I don’t know what will happen to me if I go and receive Jesus Christ.” Brother, sister, fear not! This Advent we celebrate the good news of great joy that is for all the people! Fear not! The Savior is born!

A SUPERIOR TABERNACLE cont'd

2011-12-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

“A SUPERIOR TABERNACLE ” (cont’d)
Hebrews part 11 (9:11-28)
Rev. Grady Davidson 121111

The message this morning is the same message that the Epistle to the Hebrews has been overwhelming us with for three months: namely, the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have seen already that Christ is superior to the ancient prophets; to the holy angels; to Moses, mediator of the old covenant; to Joshua, who led God’s people into the Promised Land; to Aaron, the first High Priest over God’s people; he mediates a new and superior covenant between God and His people; and he does so in the context of a superior tabernacle.
In today’s few verses, the superiority of our Lord Jesus Christ is laid before us once again—this time, in regard to the superiority of His ministry as our Great High Priest, when He entered the heavenly tabernacle to perform His priestly ministry there. Key sentence: Christ our High Priest has made a superior entrance into a superior tabernacle by means of a superior offering to achieve a superior redemption and a superior cleansing.
1. A SUPERIOR TABERNACLE.
(v. 11) “When Christ came as High Priest of the good things that are already here” (that is, God’s Kingdom is already present to us, and the blessings of God’s Kingdom are already ours to begin enjoying, although they are not here in their fullness), “he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.” We talked last week about the ministry of the High Priest in the Tabernacle, worship tent, of the old covenant. It turns out, as we read back in Hebrews 8:5, that the architectural design of the old, earthly tabernacle was based upon an original tabernacle where God dwells in heaven. When God gave instructions to Moses about building the earthly tabernacle, God showed Moses the one in heaven and said to him, “Now build one according to this heavenly template down on earth.” The earthly tabernacle (later on, in the time of Solomon the temple) was at best a flimsy and mediocre reproduction of the real tabernacle which was in heaven.
After Christ had fulfilled his high priestly duty of offering himself as a sacrifice on the cross, his spirit entered heaven, and passed straight through the outer court of the heavenly tabernacle, through the Holy Place and into the heavenly Holy of Holies… there to present himself to God as evidence that his flesh had been torn and his blood poured out to obtain eternal redemption for all who would believe in Him.
2. A SUPERIOR ENTRANCE BY MEANS OF A SUPERIOR OFFERING.
(v. 12) “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” The author here is pointing us straight to the Day of Atonement, that one day out of the year when only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies carrying the basin of sacrificial blood which he sprinkled on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. The Old Testament high priest and his yearly ministry on the Day of Atonement was the symbol; Christ our Great High Priest is the reality.
The emphasis here in v. 12 is upon the superiority of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ—his priceless life blood, not merely the blood of goats and calves. Christ our Great High Priest entered the Heavenly Tabernacle, and pressed straight into the Heavenly Holy of Holies, there to present his own blood to God to make atonement for our sin.
And so we have a superior tabernacle, into which Christ made a superior entrance by means of a superior offering, which leads us to….
3. A SUPERIOR REDEMPTION. See the last words of verse 12: “having obtained eternal redemption.” There’s a contrast being made here. What’s the opposite of a redemption that is eternal? (One that is temporal—the high priest of the old covenant had an annual appointment with God on the Day of Atonement… once a year he would approach God in the holy of holies to bring an offering for the sins which he and his people had committed in ignorance in the previous year.) How long is an eternal redemption good for? A long time. Followed by forever and ever. “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’ve first begun.” The moment you believe in Christ, and receive Jesus Christ, your name is entered in the Lamb’s Book of Life… and there’s no expiration date beside the entry!
And so we have a superior tabernacle, into which Christ made a superior entrance by means of a superior offering, giving us a superior redemption, and fourth…
4. A SUPERIOR CLEANSING. See the contrast between vv. 13 & 14.
(v. 13) – an outward, symbolic cleansing through the rites and procedures of the old covenant… the old covenant provided a symbolic, external and ceremonial cleansing.
It’s kind of like washing up before dinner. You can get the visible dirt and invisible germs off your hands with warm soapy water… and yet sit at a dinner table full of vile and wicked desires and harboring hatred and evil in your heart. What our High Priest did when he entered the Heavenly Tabernacle is so much better!
Look at verse 14 (review). Verse 9 above reminded us that the old covenant sacrifices were powerless to do anything about the stain of sin on the human conscience. The issue here is that sin not only makes us guilty; sin also corrupts us. Sin defiles us. And we are absolutely powerless to do anything about the stain and corruption and defilement of sin. It’s like spilling a glass of red wine on a white woolen sweater. You can dab at it and blot it and use Woolite and dry clean it… but you can’t remove the stain. Or like a rusty old pocket knife. The air reacts with the iron in the blade, and it rusts and rusts until it’s all returned to the earth from which the ore was mined. Sin has this power to corrupt and to defile. Only the blood of Christ has the power to wash away that defilement!
The result is that from the center of your being you are re-oriented. The blood has this unique power to turn you away from sinful acts leading to death, and turn you around so that what you really want to do with your life is to serve the Living God (v. 14)!
What has Christ our High Priest done for us? Christ our High Priest has made a superior entrance into a superior tabernacle by means of a superior offering to achieve a superior redemption and a superior cleansing.
Under the Old Covenant, on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies carrying that basin of blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat, God’s people would gather around the tabernacle (later on, around the temple). A great crush of bodies waiting in deadly silence, literally holding their breaths, for the high priest to come back out to the people. When he appeared after his priestly ministry, I believe that you probably hear the collective sigh of relief as God’s people had the assurance that their sins from the past year were covered. God had once again accepted the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat. The people of God were “OK,” at least for the moment.
In fact this week I came across a poem written by the scribe Joshua ben Sira around 200 years before Christ. Joshua ben Sira was watching when the High Priest that year, one Simon II the Just, reappeared in the courtyard after officiating at the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. I want to read Joshua’s poem to you, warning you that it’s flowery and poetic… but it conveys the relief and the joy of the people that their sins were covered, if just for another year—and they knew it, because the High Priest had reappeared:
“How glorious he was when the people gathered round him as he came out of the inner sanctuary!
Like the morning star among the clouds,
Like the moon when it’s full,
Like the sun shining upon the temple of the Most High,
And like a rainbow gleaming in glorious clouds;
Like roses in the days of the first fruits,
Like lilies by a spring of water,
Like a green shoot on Lebanon on a summer day;
Like fire and incense in the censer,
Like a vessel of hammered gold adorned with all kinds of precious stones;
Like an olive tree putting forth its fruit,
And like a cypress towering in the clouds…”
(Sirach 50:6-10)
I hope you glean something of the excitement, relief and joy of God’s people when the high priest returned from ministering in the earthly sanctuary. With that in mind, I want to show you one more verse from this chapter (9:28, review).
Indeed, Christ our High Priest has made a superior entrance into a superior tabernacle by means of a superior offering to achieve a superior redemption and a superior cleansing. But when Christ our Priest reappears, what a joy it will be to all who have believed in Him, to all who have loved his name and longed for his appearing… because He will come to bring us salvation.
That’s when heaven and earth will become one seamless whole. The fabric of God’s heaven and the fabric of creation will be woven together; and Revelation 21:3-4 will come true (review).
Christ our High Priest has made a superior entrance into a superior tabernacle by means of a superior offering to achieve a superior redemption and a superior cleansing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

A SUPERIOR TABERNACLE

2011-12-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

“A SUPERIOR TABERNACLE ”
Hebrews part 10 (9:1-10)
Rev. Grady Davidson 120411
I invite you to begin thinking with me this morning about problems of access. Have you ever been in one place, and you really needed to be somewhere else, but you couldn’t figure out a route or a pathway to get “from here to there”?
Several years ago my wife and I took a short Caribbean cruise. At least in my memory of that experience one of the most frustrating things about a cruise ship is that there never seems to be direct access from any one part of the vessel to another (even if they’re side by side, or one above the other). If you’re on the third deck and want to get to the slot machines on the fifth deck, then depending on your current position on deck three it might be easiest to walk down to second deck, cut across that level, and then catch an elevator up to the fifth deck. Everything is very compact on a cruise ship, but that doesn’t make for great access.
For that matter, how many of you have ever found yourself bewildered, wandering aimlessly at Memorial Hospital? Memorial has gone through numerous phases of remodeling and additions as its grown (which is great!), but the result is a really convoluted floor plan. Finding access from one part of the hospital to another is not Memorial Hospital’s strong suit.
How many of you have handicapped tags on your car, but you struggle to find an available handicapped parking space when you go to the grocery store? It’s a problem of accessibility, isn’t it?
Just a few examples of many problems of access we might face in life!
Our text of Hebrews 9:1-10 give us a visual image (actually, an architectural image) of the deepest, most fundamental problem that mankind faces apart from the Lord Jesus Christ –ultimately, as the problem is described in this text, it’s a problem of access. It’s telling us that even under God’s gracious provisions in the Old Covenant, that we do not have access to the One who loves us, who made us, to the only One who can satisfy the deepest longings and desires and hopes and needs of our hearts. We have a picture in these verses of God’s people being able to get fairly close to their God, and yet unable to take those final steps and draw right up into His presence. Look with me at vv. 7-9 (review). So let’s talk about it.
Under the Old Covenant (of which I spoke last week), God made specific provisions for his people to build a tabernacle (tent that served as a temple). It was a place for offering sacrifices; it was a place of worship; but most importantly, God was present in that tabernacle! (Not limited to the tabernacle, but God’s placed His presence in the Tabernacle in a unique way.) The tabernacle was like a portal linking heaven and earth. The tabernacle was a beautiful and glorious place; but it was also terrifying, because back in the most remote recesses of the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept—God was there. And God’s people knew that God was holy, meaning that sin-stained men and women, girls and boys did not have access to God. If anyone foolishly dared to break through the barriers set up to separate them from God, they would most certainly die in the effort. When the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement as described in v. 7, he ventured into that holy place with a rope tied around his ankle… so that if he dropped dead in the presence of his Holy God, that the other priests could retrieve him!
I need you to picture the Tabernacle with me. On the outside there was a curtain that ran in a big rectangle like a fence around the tabernacle. Within that outer curtain there was a courtyard, and ceremonially clean worshipers could come into the courtyard, bringing their sacrifices to be offered on the huge altar of burnt offering. Past the altar there was a huge basin of water (the “sea”) in which the priests were required to wash before entering the tabernacle. In the tabernacle itself, there was a “front room” called “the Holy Place” (v. 2). That room contained a golden lamp stand which the priests had to keep burning, and a table on which they placed fresh bread every day. Passing through the curtain from the Holy Place one entered the Holy of Holies (v. 3) – containing that golden box, the Ark of the Covenant which contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Covering the Ark was the Mercy Seat, above which were the engraved images of two winged angels, turned inward facing each other – and above them was the glorious, awesome, fierce, presence of the Living God.
God’s people, under certain conditions, could enter the outer courtyard. Only the consecrated priests could enter the Holy Place. Only the High Priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, could enter the Holy of Holies: and even then, he could only enter with the basin of blood which he would sprinkle on the cover of the Ark (the mercy seat), for his own sins and for the sins of the people.
The tabernacle itself—the architecture—sent a message. The message was: Sinner, you may come thus far and no farther: you dare not enter the holiest place!
In Charlotte, NC, where we lived for six years, the skyline is dominated by the Bank of America corporate building: 871 feet and 60 stories tall, it’s an impressive skyscraper. One day Becky and I were uptown, pushing Hannah around in the stroller and we thought, “Let’s see if we can ride the elevator to the top of the Corporate Tower.” We entered at street level. The walls were painted in murals of Charlotte’s history of industry and commerce. In the middle of the ground floor there was a huge bank of elevators… people streaming up and down the tower like ants at a picnic table. We acted like we knew where we were going and pushed the stroller over toward an opening elevator door… when a rather powerful looking gentleman with a nice suit and an earbud intervened and showed us the way back to the street. At the BOA building, the architecture itself sent the message—ordinary folk with a couple of hundred dollars in a checking account do not get to ride these elevators to the 60th floor.
The architecture of the Tabernacle told God’s people that they did not have firsthand, immediate, personal, experiential, relational access to God. (v. 8) – As long as that first room, the Holy Place was standing, God’s people did not have access to God. There was a clear reason that even God’s covenant people under the terms of the Old Covenant couldn’t step into God’s presence (see v. 9). “The gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.”
Remember we were talking about issues of difficult access? Do you remember when you were a kid, playing outside on a wet, muddy day. Then when you got too cold and too wet you decided to go back home for hot chocolate; but as soon as your hand hit the screen door, there was your mom: “Uh uhh! You’re not coming in here looking like that, tracking mud all over my clean floors!” The architecture of the tabernacle sent God’s children a message: “Kids, God loves you, but you can’t come in here looking like that.” The sacrifices being offered day after day pointed ahead to Jesus Christ’s sacrifice of himself (that subject, next week!). But at that time, the blood of bulls and goats being offered was just a provisional measure to tie the people over until Christ would come.
Next week we’ll continue in this chapter. We’ll read about the tabernacle in heaven, the one which Christ has entered bearing his own blood, and opening access for us to see the glorious sight of our God. Please take some time this week to read through vv. 11-28 a couple of times for yourself in preparation.
But as I begin to wrap up this message, I want to take you back to a passage in the gospel of Matthew 27:50-51 (p 966). What curtain was that? It was the curtain between the holy place and the holy of holies. By his death, Christ opens the path of access to God. The barrier is gone. His blood offered once and for all in the heavenly tabernacle is sufficient to remove our sin and cleanse our conscience. Christ removes the stain, and God invites all who will approach him through Christ to come to Him. Isn’t that good news! You’ve given granted security clearance. You have access to God. (Jenna Bush on Ellen DeGeneres Show, calling W)
Yet, there’s one thing more I want you to see in God’s Word today. (Hebrews 10:19-20). The curtain of the tabernacle was itself a prophetic symbol pointing ahead to the real curtain which would be torn – the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The way to God is opened through the curtain of the torn flesh of Jesus Christ sacrificed for us on the cross!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

GOD'S SON, MEDIATOR OF A NEW & BETTER COVENANT

2011-11-27T12:36:00.001-05:00

“GOD’S SON, MEDIATOR OF A NEW AND BETTER COVENANT”
Hebrews part 9 (8:1-13)
Rev. Grady Davidson 112711

If you received a newspaper on Thursday, then you noticed immediately that it was twice the size and weight of even a typical Sunday newspaper, because Thursday’s paper was stuffed to overflowing with the Black Friday sale ads. No matter whether you’re shopping for fishing gear or iPhones, neck ties or earrings, winter scarves or area rugs, dog beds or wrist watches, Kindles or curling irons… the retailers have it in stock, and it’s newer, and it’s better than anything you’ve ever seen before.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we’re now into the 8th chapter of this letter’s 13 chapters. The author in a sense has been blitzing us with a lengthy ad for God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Chapter 1: Jesus is better than the Old Testament prophets; Jesus is better than even the holy angels.
Chapter 3: Jesus is better and greater than Moses.
Chapter 4: Jesus is better than Joshua, and He leads us to a better rest than even the rest of the Promised Land to which Joshua led the children of Israel.
Chapters 5-7: Jesus is a better priest than Aaron, a priest of the order of Melchizedek, appointed by God Himself and having an eternal priestly ministry in the Heavens.
As we come to today’s text, we read that Jesus is the mediator of a new and better covenant (vv. 6, 13). There was an old covenant, which Jesus has made obsolete (and at the time when this letter was written, the author was able to say that the old covenant was aging and about to disappear). The new covenant makes the old covenant obsolete. He’s saying, “the old covenant is like an 8-track player… sure, 35 years ago the 8-track player was cutting-edge technology and the best way to play your Neil Diamond & BeeGees tunes… but nobody wants an 8-track player for Christmas this year… because the technology is obsolete. There are better ways to store and access and play music today. Likewise, the covenant which Jesus mediates is newer and better.”
So let’s talk about it. A covenant is a meaningful, binding agreement between two parties. It’s a legal term. A covenant is a meaningful, binding agreement between two parties that carries with it the force of law. When Becky and I purchased our house, a day was set for “closing the deal.” We sat at a table with the builder who was selling the property to us; his attorney was present; Bank of America had their agent present; and we all signed about 25 separate documents to close the deal. It was a covenant of sorts, in which we were binding ourselves to make regular payments on the house while the builder was binding himself to release the property to us.
An even better example of a covenant is a marriage. A man and a woman come together in a public ceremony, and with witnesses present they make morally and legally binding pledges to one another.
Likewise, the Lord God of the Bible—our God—is a God who takes the initiative to enter into meaningful, binding agreements with His people.
I want to pause here for just a second and ask you to pause and examine your hearts with this question: Are you in a covenant relationship with God? Our text of Hebrews 8 is about an old covenant between God and His people (now obsolete), and a new covenant which Jesus has put into effect. The whole point of both the old one and the new one is that God wants to have a people. He wants to bridge the gap between sinful human beings and himself. The covenants are about God reaching out to us to establish legitimate, binding relationships with us. I beg you, as we look at the details of the new covenant, that you examine your hearts to make 100% certain that you are “in” this kind of meaningful, binding relationship with God. If you’re not, then enter into this relationship with Him today! (And you’ll have a chance to do that very thing.)
Now to appreciate the New Covenant, we have to understand the inadequacy and failure of the Old Covenant. What was the old one like? The one that is aging and vanishing away and is now obsolete? We read about that old covenant in Exodus chapter 24. The scene is at Mount Sinai in the Arabian Desert. Moses was the mediator, the go-between taking God’s words to the people, and the people’s words back to God. Moses spoke all the words of God’s Law, his rules and regulations to the people, and the Bible says that “they responded with one voice, ‘Everything the LORD has said we will do.’” (Exodus 24:3). Then Moses put that covenant into effect by sprinkling the blood of oxen on the people (24:8). Covenants in the Bible are put into effect with the shedding of blood. By sprinkling the people with the blood, the message was that if they failed to keep their pledge of obedience to God’s Word, that their blood would be on their own heads. Their word was binding, upon penalty of death.
In particular, I call your attention to 2 little words in Exodus 24:3, “WE WILL.” The old covenant was a “we will” covenant. Moses instructed God’s people about God’s law and regulations and expectations if they were going to be his people, and they said, “Yes, WE WILL keep our side of this agreement so that God will be our God.” Now, even if you don’t know the book of Exodus and what happens next, for how long do you think God’s people kept their side of that meaningful and binding agreement? (Not very long. Within a matter of a few days they were worshiping at the idol of a golden calf.) For those of you who know the name of Kim Kardashian, I would make the comparison that the old covenant, the covenant of Exodus 28 was more or less a Kim Kardashian wedding. At the moment they spoke their vows, they probably meant it for good, and they probably intended to be faithful to the Lord, but within a few days that magical feeling of love and romance was over and God’s people were ready to move on to someone new and more exciting.
Here’s the point: the old covenant is summarized with the words, “We will,” and “we would if we could, but we can’t.” Poor Kim Kardashian—she has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old. At the moment she spoke her vows to the NBA player she probably meant the words, but 72 days later the magic was gone and “I will” became “I won’t.”
(Return to Hbs 8.) Here’s the point of comparison. Dear friend, if our relationship with God depended upon US and our commitment and our faithfulness, we would always fail.
Another example: My family has been watching re-runs of The Wonder Years, a situation dramady that ran 20 years ago. In one episode 7th grader Kevin Arnold is in romantic pursuit of the vivacious Lisa Berlini. They’re slipping notes back and forth in science class. Finally he goes for it, and passes a note to Lisa asking her out to the Friday night dance. She flashes a big smile and hands the note back with “Yes!” encircled by a heart.
Then the bell rings, and around the lockers between classes an 8th grader comes up and asks Lisa to the dance. She flashes the 8th grader a big smile and says, “Yes.” Kevin: “What just happened? You said you’d go to the dance with me!” Lisa: “That was before HE asked me to the dance.”
If our covenant with God depended solely upon us, we’d always end up breaking it. As long as it’s a “we will” agreement, we’re doomed.
Now with your Bible open again to Hebrews 8, and notice that the new covenant isn’t a “we will” agreement, but it’s a covenant which God initiates with the words, “I will…” (Review “I will” statements in quote from Jeremiah.)
Friend, do you see how badly God wants this relationship with you? In this new covenant, God takes all the legal responsibility on himself. And in this new covenant God brings his bride, the church to the front of the sanctuary where we exchange our vows, but this time he changes us from the inside out so that we’ll never fall away.
What is this new and better covenant like?
The text describes it in 3 ways: 1) real heart change on the inside, 2) a relationship with God, 3) and forgiveness of sin.
A REAL HEART CHANGE ON THE INSIDE. (v 10, middle): “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts…” In the old covenant, God’s law was carved on tablets of stone. God’s law was on the outside. God says, “That didn’t work; now I’m going to carve my law into your heart, so that it’s a part of you on the inside.” Under this new covenant, we’re changed on the inside so that we want to please God, and we want to obey God. We don’t always do it perfectly, but God has made us new creatures so that deep down at the level of our desires we want to please Him; indeed we’re grieved when we sin because we know how much He loves us. Are you in the new covenant agreement with God? Has He changed you on the inside?
A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. (v. 10c -11). In the old covenant, God’s people were obligated to serve a God up on Mount Sinai, One they had seen and observed and heard from… but they didn’t really know him. Under the new and better covenant, dear friend, you can have a personal relationship with God! He lives within you by the Holy Spirit; He speaks to you in His Word; you cry out to Him in prayer, and He answers you with that still small voice. Under this new covenant, the God who created the universe, the one who lives in unapproachable glorious light… reaches out to you to be your friend.
THIS NEW COVENANT IS ESTABLISHED ON THE BASIS OF FORGIVENESS OF SIN. The new covenant does not ignore our sin against God. The new covenant doesn’t make a legal loophole to avoid the problem of our sin which keeps us separated from God, indeed under his just wrath. Rather this new covenant is based upon God creating a way so that our sin can be forgiven (v. 12).
When the old covenant was put into effect, remember that Moses sprinkled the people with blood. If they broke the covenant, the deal was off and their blood was on their own heads.
The new covenant is the same and yet different. It was ratified with the shedding of blood, but this time the blood was the blood of Jesus, shed for us. (CF the words of Christ at the Last Supper—“the blood of the covenant.”) Because of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, you can be forgiven; you can be a friend of God in a personal relationship with Him; and your heart can be made new—you can be a new person from the inside out.
(Conclude with hymn and prayer of invitation.)

THANKFUL SPEAKING

2011-11-21T10:16:00.001-05:00

THANKFUL SPEAKING
Thanksgiving Week message
EPHESIANS 5:4
Rev. Grady Davidson 112011

When a man, woman, girl or boy comes to Jesus Christ in simple faith, confessing and repenting of sin and trusting in Christ’s finished work on the cross, the Bible teaches that at that very moment the person’s sin is imputed to Christ; and Christ’s righteousness is imputed back to that person. The individual is justified before God. He or she at that moment and forever is in a right relationship with God. This is all by grace and through faith.
However, in our experience here on this end, it usually takes a while for us to begin living out all the implications of the new relationship we have with God our Heavenly Father. So there’s this slow, often painful ongoing process of becoming the people God already declares us to be. That’s called sanctification. God has declared that we are righteous in Christ. Sanctification is learning to live righteously. God has declared that we are His sons and daughters. Sanctification is learning to live like God’s kids and not like pagan hoodlums.
The Lord led me to this one verse today for our Thanksgiving-themed message. This text, you’ll notice is a classic text on sanctification – learning to live like the holy people God declares that we are when we believe in His Son. In particular, this verse is about the process of sanctification as it applies to our speech, our words. (Review the verse.)
Showing of hands: who among us has ever had his mouth washed out with soap?
Has anybody ever been in a moment of crisis, and a string of words came pouring out of your mouth that surprised even you?
Has anybody ever been with their friends, somebody told an off-color joke, and you laughed along with everyone else… but later on you felt a little sick over it?
True story (not about me): a friend who spent some time in the US Navy told me about his first “leave” to come back home after beginning his military service. His mom cooked a big dinner, and invited all the aunts and uncles and cousins to see their sailor boy. The meal was going along fine, until this young sailor looked his mom square in the eye, and without thinking, said, “Mom, would you please pass the blanketty-blankety-blankety mashed potatoes?” And he didn’t even hear himself say it, or realize it, until everyone had dropped their forks, staring at him.
By contrast, in my study this week I came across General George Washington’s “General Orders on Profanity,” dated August 3, 1776. It reads:
The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing (a Vice heretofore little known in an American Army) is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavour to check it, and that both they, and the men will reflect, that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our Arms, if we insult it by our impiety, and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense, and character, detests and despises it.
How far we have fallen as an American people, just with regard to this one area of clean speech!
“There should be no obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking.” Paul was writing this letter to the church he himself had founded in Ephesus (Asia Minor). He knew many of the people. He knew they had come out of rank paganism and that the Christian life, a life pleasing to God, a life reflecting the nature and character of God would be a radical change for them… and that speech would be for them, as it is today, a difficult area of sanctification.
“Obscenity” (aschrotes): shameful, filthy
“Foolish talk” (morologia): buffoonery, foolish talking… literally “moronic words”
“Coarse joking” (eutrapalia): vulgar wit, jesting
I don’t know about you, but as I read and study these three types of speech that the Apostle says are “improper for God’s holy people” (v. 3), I personally feel a lot like the prophet Isaiah in that passage where he records his call to ministry: “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).
Where does unclean speech come from? How does it invade our lives and overtake our speech?
It begins with hearing it from others. We notice that obscenities and foolish talk are very powerful forms of speech. People wake up and pay attention when you “drop the bomb.” We’re attracted the power of obscene speech. And then we notice that when people engage in coarse jesting, telling ribald jokes and so forth, that they get attention. People laugh. People admire them. And we think, “Gee whillickers, I’d like people to notice me like that too!” And we begin to imitate it, and eventually it becomes entrenched deeply within us.
Add to this the fact that our society makes heroes and celebrities of people who can tell a dirty joke and make us laugh. Especially for men, we’re taught that tough guys know how to use tough language to show how tough we are. So we hear it; we experiment with it; we adopt it; but eventually it takes over.
The bottom line for Christians, if you look at the middle of the verse, is that such unclean speech is “out of place.” For the Christian, obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking simply doesn’t fit. It’s inconsistent. Especially with regard to our witness to others, it’s confusing to people. It sends a mixed message. If one day you’re talking about how Jesus saved you, and how you love to read God’s Word, and how other people need to be saved.. . and the next day you’re telling a dirty joke, unbelievers are understandably confused by your behavior. Dirty talk doesn’t fit a Christian, and even the pagans know it.
Now we come to the last part of the verse. Notice that in the process of sanctification, unclean speech need to be jettisoned… and replaced with what? (Thanksgiving)
You may have heard the expression that “Nature abhors a vacuum.” The moment anything is removed, something will rush in to fill the void. If someone tells you that they’ve kicked an addiction, then you should ask, “What are you replacing it with? Something is going to fill that empty spot. What is filling the void?” The Apostle is talking about removing unclean speech and filling the empty space with a new kind of speech, particularly the habitual, sincere, verbal expression of thanks and gratitude to God and whenever appropriate, to other human beings.
How does this transition happen? How do we replace unclean speech with a lifestyle of saying “Thank you?” I’m going to suggest 3 steps.
1. DEAL WITH THE HEART ISSUE. For 90% of us for whom this is or has been a problem area, the core issue is pride and ego. We want to be admired and liked. We want to be noticed. And somewhere along the way we found that dropping dirty words or learning a few filthy jokes can be a way to get attention! We have to humble ourselves before the Heavenly Father, and say, “Father God, I confess that I have a big ego and that unclean speech is one way that I’ve found to feed my ego. But now, Father God, I must decrease, so that Jesus Christ my Lord can increase within me.”
2. CONFESS THE SIN ITSELF. If this is a problem area in your life, as it is and has been for me for many years, I’m recommending that you form a habit of ongoing confession of this ugly sin. I have a stack of prayer cards which I “pray through” every week or week and a half, and (personally) I have a card dedicated to this sin. I confess the sin, telling God that I hate it, and that I want to be free of it, and on this card I have today’s text written to use in my prayer. Notice I’m asking God not only to forgive me and deliver me from unclean speech, but also to instill in me that grateful heart that is all about giving thanks. I have done this for years, and there’s no end in sight!
3. BEGIN APPRECIATING THE LITTLE THINGS. We want to overcome one pattern of speech (unclean speech); and we want to replace it with something from the Lord (giving of thanks). We want to develop a pattern, a habit of being thankful and expressing gratitude to God and to other people for everything! It starts with the small stuff. It starts with learning to look at ordinary days, ordinary circumstances, ordinary things through eyes of wonder that appreciate the goodness of God shown in those little things.
“God, thank you for a warm bed in which I slept last night, and for a job or school to go to this morning. Thank you, Father.”
“Waitress, thank you for taking such good care of us at the table. I really appreciate you.”
“Friend, thank you for taking a few minutes to talk to me today. I appreciate you and your friendship.”
“God, thank you for the clothes on my back and shoes on my feet.”
Start verbalizing your sincere gratitude and appreciation for those little things you used to take for granted!
I’ve mentioned that “dirty words” and unclean jesting is very powerful. It gets people’s attention. It creates a stir. Something else that’s very powerful is NOT saying “thanks” to God and to others. To withhold simple words of appreciation makes a very powerful statement. (“I deserved what you have done for me, I am more important than you, it’s your job to serve my needs, THEREFORE I do not need to say ‘thanks.’”)
A transformed, grateful heart is a humbled heart. A heart that says “God, you have been so good to me, and God I am just a beggar who was happy for a dry crust of bread, and you’ve made me your own child. You’ve crowned me a prince and a nobleman. God, I deserve nothing; yet you’ve given me everything. Thank you, God.”
So we begin speaking little words of thanks and appreciation…and (here’s the challenge) we interject those words when our flesh is screaming that the occasion is just ripe for obscenity, foolish talk or coarse jesting.
(review verse)
Conclusion: William Bradford’s proclamation to the Plymouth Colony.
To All Ye Pilgrims: Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.
Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/revolution/profanity_1.html

GOD'S SON,OUR PRIEST

2011-11-14T10:24:00.004-05:00

“GOD’S SON, OUR PRIEST”
Hebrews part 8 (7:1-28)
Rev. Grady Davidson 111311

Let’s begin with four scenarios.
(1) Let’s think about when you wake up tomorrow morning, and for the sake of argument let’s assume that in fact you do begin your day with some kind of personal prayer or worship. Picture yourself there in your chosen place for personal devotions, your Bible open before you, your prayer list in your lap and a steaming cup of freshly-brewed coffee is held in your hand: you are ready to meet with God.
Question: Why is it that the Living God who is holy, majestic, perfect in all His ways and supremely busy with running his universe, will stop what He’s doing to listen to you and hear your morning prayers? Is He going to hear you? Are you certain? If so, why?
(2) Picture a second scene, and this time picture the worst. There’s been an accident and Tuesday afternoon you find yourself sitting on a vinyl-covered couch in the waiting area for the families of trauma patients at Erlanger Hospital because your loved one was torn up pretty badly. Between loudspeaker announcements when they’re calling out the names of families, you’re silently breathing out cries to God for Him to be merciful to your loved one who is headed for emergency surgery. Is He hearing You? Does He care? How do you know?
(3) Picture a third scene. This time, you’ve really blown it. Maybe you’ve gotten caught up in an affair at work, or cheating on a test, or something illegal that at the time didn’t seem to be a big deal has now caught up with you. Waves of guilt and shame and regret are sweeping over you. Somebody asks you if you’ve prayed about it. You haven’t prayed; in fact, you haven’t dared to pray about it… because you’re afraid that God is going to lose his cool with you, after what you’ve done. What are you going to do about the guilt? How will you handle it?
(4) Picture a fourth scene. You’ve lived a long and reasonably good life, and slipped into eternity “old and full of years.” You awaken on the other side to the glorious presence of your Creator, and the first words to come from that burning, unapproachable light that is God, is the question, “Why should I let you into my heaven?”
Think about these four scenarios. This is really the issue for you and me behind Hebrews the 7th chapter. It’s the issue of verse 19, when the author speaks of “a better hope…by which we draw near to God.” How can sinful people like ourselves get close enough to God that He’ll hear our prayers, and be kindly disposed to us? How can we relate to him in such a way that He will forgive our sin? How can we in this life draw near enough to Him that when we enter eternity He will welcome us into His presence as his own sons and daughters?
To point out another focal point in our text, look at v. 25, which speaks of the One through whom we “come to God.” The answer to all four questions is right here, isn’t it! We come to God through Jesus Christ, to whom God has given a permanent priesthood. Coming to God through Jesus, God loves us, absolves us of all our sin and welcomes us into His glorious presence.
The Hebrew Christians, raised as “Old Testament people,” schooled in the religion of Judaism understood in a way that most 21st century Americans do not understand, that sinful people like us just don’t have the right to go barging into God’s presence. They understand that we do not have a blanket endorsement to claim anything from God! He is Holy, and we are not. He will not tolerate the presence of sin. The OT saints understood that with a clarity that we have forgotten.
But even in the Old Covenant, God graciously provided a special class of people, the priests of the Tribe of Levi, descended from Aaron the brother of Moses. (It was by grace: He didn’t have to do that!) Those priests were appointed as mediators between man and God… appointed to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the people, to intercede in prayer for the people… in short the priests were “appointed to represent {men} in matters related to God, and to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (5:1). If you asked the average Old Testament saint the question, “What are you going to do about the sin on your conscience? How are you going to present your urgent worry and concern to God?” he would say, “I’m going to take my offering to the priest, and he will present it to God on my behalf... God will receive me through the mediation and intercession of the priest.”
In the Epistle to the Hebrews up to this point, the author has already been telling us that Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest (2:17, 3:1, 4:14, 4:15, 5:10). He is the one whom God has chosen and appointed to represent us to God. He’s been telling us that for 6 chapters; now in chapter 7 the author takes time to flesh it out.
And writing to these Hebrew believers who had experienced priests descended from Aaron of the Tribe of Levi for all their lives, the author makes a curious point… this is the only place in the Bible where this point is made. He says to them: If you really want to understand what kind of priest Jesus is, quit looking back in your national history to Aaron. Instead, take a closer look at that shadowy Old Testament character of Melchizedek… because Jesus is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, not of Aaron.
So let me tell you the story of Melchizedek. He is a minor OT character. Pops up out of nowhere in Genesis 14, and then later his name is mentioned in Psalm 110.
Back in the days of Father Abraham, a confederation of four kings from the east marched against a confederation of five kings from Canaan, where Abraham lived. In the process Abraham’s nephew Lot, who lived in the city of Sodom, was taken as a captive of war. Abraham, who was an armed Bedouin prince himself, assembled a small army and chased after the invaders, staged an attack by night, put the invaders to flight, rescued his nephew Lot and recovered all the spoils of war that the invaders were making off with. Abraham returned with the rescued hostages and the retrieved wealth of the five cities…
(review Genesis 14:18-20).
Melchizedek is “king of Salem” (we would say Jerusalem). He’s not only king, but also a priest of God Most High, the God of Abraham. He refreshed Abraham and Abraham’s men with bread and wine. He spoke a prayer of blessing over Abraham, and Abraham tithed to Melchizedek from the spoils of war. In the historical books of the Bible, that’s the only mentioning of Melchizedek – those 3 verses.
But then King David, writing many years later in the Book of Psalms, spoke of Melchizedek once again in a prophecy of the Promised Messiah to come (review Psalm 110:4).
Jesus is a High Priest like Melchizedek…
1) His name – “King of Righteousness and King of Peace”
2) Not by inherited birthright, but by God’s divine appointment
3) No record in the OT of Melchizedek’s death to terminate his priesthood… in a similar way, Jesus overcame death and is priest forever as He serves even this moment in God’s presence in the Heavenly tabernacle.
Now let’s loop back around to us and our world and our concerns. When it’s your loved one in the hospital bed, when it’s your urgent plea, when it’s your guilt and transgression and sin, what kind of person do you want representing you to God? (Do you want ME? I hope not.) What qualities would you look for in a High Priest who would be qualified to represent you and your concerns to God?
1. You want someone who actually has access to God, don’t you? You want someone who is like you enough that he understands your situation, and he’s sympathetic with your problem; but at the same time someone who has access to God that you don’t have.
2. You want someone who isn’t just “here today, gone tomorrow.” Did you ever do business with a company so that they got some of your money; then you went back six months later and the doors were chained and padlocked? God (by definition) is eternal, and you need someone with eternal qualities to represent you to God.
3. You want someone who can actually do something about your sin. It’s not enough to have a priest who says to you, “Straighten up, clean up your act!” You need someone who can present a valid plea to God in which God’s justice is honored, but you’re relieved of guilt.
Where are you going to find a priest like that? To whom will you go? The Word of God tells us that Jesus is that High Priest, qualified to serve, willing and able to represent us to God.
Let me highlight some of the superior qualities of our Lord’s service as our Great High Priest.
v. 19 – “a better hope… by which we draw near to God” The OT saints under the Priests of the Tribe of Levi weren’t “hopeless,” but the hope that Jesus gives us is a “better” hope that throws open the doors so that we can come to God!
v. 22 – “a better covenant” of which Jesus is guarantee. The covenant is God’s promise that we will be his people and that He will be our God. Jesus is the guarantee of a better covenant, ratified in His own blood and confirmed by God’s own oath. Jesus places himself under legal obligation to ensure the salvation of all his people!
v. 24, a better tenure – He has a permanent priesthood! We don’t have to worry about a change in priests, fearing that a priest might come into office who thinks differently about us.
v. 25—a better Intercessor. Jesus lives eternally to pray for His people! Jesus stands before God the Father, representing you in a personal way!
v. 27-28—a better Sacrifice – having no sin of his own, he did not have to sacrifice anything for his own sake…but Jesus offered up himself as the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for all who would be believe in Him.
Let’s go back to our four scenarios.
1) When you go to have your quiet time tomorrow morning, why should God hear you? Because God’s Son, the “guarantee of a better covenant” (v. 22) will not let His Father forget that you are a child of that covenant, purchased with the blood offering of your Great High Priest.
2) Likewise, if this week tragedy should strike you or those you love, and you should find yourself breathing out urgent prayers between your sobs, then lift up your eyes to heaven, because there you have a “high priest who meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted in the heavens” (v. 26).
3) Sin has over taken you. He sacrificed even for that sin once for all when he offered himself. You cannot out sin the blood of our faithful High Priest Jesus Christ.
4) The Lord calls you home this week, and God asks you who you are and why you belong in heaven. I promise that somewhere nearby you’ll see Jesus, who is able to save completely those who come to God through Him (v. 25).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

MOVING ON TO CHRISTIAN MATURITY

2011-10-31T09:42:00.004-04:00

“MOVING ON TO CHRISTIAN MATURITY”
Hebrews part 7 (5:11 – 6:20)
Rev. Grady Davidson 103011
You’ve seen pictures of an eagle’s nest high in a tree top or perched in the crag of a rocky cliff, but perhaps you’ve never gotten a glimpse inside the nest of an eagle. When a mother eagle builds her nest she starts out with thorns, broken branches, sharp rocks and other rough, pain-inducing items that seem entirely unsuitable for raising her young. But then she lines her new nest with a thick carpet of feathers and fur and other padding, making her nest soft and comfortable for her eggs when it comes time to lay them. In God’s timing, she lays her eggs, eventually they hatch, and her little chicks begin to grow. She works hard to bring them food and nurture her chicks along. But then there comes a time of crisis. Because there comes a point when those young birds to learn to spread their wings, leap out into space and fly, but the comfort of the nest and the luxury of the free meals make them reluctant to leave the nest. That’s when the mother eagle begins stirring things up.
She flexes her talons, and tears away the carpet of feathers and rabbit hides and furs, bringing the rocks and the thorns and brambles to the surface. The nest, once a place of comfort and security becomes uncomfortable and undesirable. That’s when those half-grown birds face the crisis of maturity: “home” is no longer the comfortable place it once was; it’s now time for those young eagles to spread their wings and fly! (From “Today in the Word,” June 11, 1989)
The theme of this morning’s lengthy scripture text is “Christian Immaturity.” With that theme in mind I would have you consider with me three subjects: 1) The Prospect of Spiritual Immaturity in the Church; 2) The Peril of Spiritual Immaturity in the Church; 3) Progressing Beyond Spiritual Immaturity in the Church. Let’s talk about it!
Look at 6:1, “Therefore, let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…” Indeed the nest is comfortable and secure, but God intends for us to take what we have learned in that nest of Christian nurture, and to use those things as we sail out into the “wild blue yonder.” It’s scary out there. You’ve got to trust that God really is going to hold you aloft so that you’re not dashed into the rocky canyon below. But to stay in the nest of immaturity is to die a slow but certain death.
In the first 5 chapters of the epistle, the author has dropped a few serious hints about his concern for the Hebrew Christians.
2:1 “We must pay more careful attention therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”
3:12 “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” In the same passage, he warns about the danger of unbelief, reminding his people that out of 600,000 men of Israel whom God freed from slavery in Egypt, that (because of unbelief) only 2 of them entered the promised rest of Canaan.
But as we come to today’s passage, he spells it all out. There’s no more hinting. There’s no more beating around the bush. The Hebrew Christians are a bunch of spiritual babies. We chuckle about that, but today’s scripture tells us that spiritual immaturity (refusal to grow, refusal to learn anything new, refusal to take steps of visible, courageous faith in Christ) is deadly serious.
I. THE PROSPECT OF SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY IN THE CHURCH (5:11- 6:3)
(5:11) “We have much to say about this (that is, the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ, his priestly ministry which is in the order of Melchizedek) but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.” They are literally “sluggish of hearing.” He’s trying to teach them, but as a pastor and teacher he’s dealing with willful, stubborn obstinance. He goes on to say that yes, they’ve learned the “ABC’s” of God’s Word: repentance, faith in God, Christian baptism, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment seat of Christ (6:1-2). Those Christian basics are good and necessary, but those are the foundations. Those are elementary teachings which you should take and build upon as you move onward toward Christian maturity.
Those of us who are parents know the thrill of that wonderful day when our growing babies graduate from the breast or the bottle to that wonderful invention called the “sippy cup.” The sippy cup is fantastic! With the sippy cup, your child can take charge of her own drinking; she can hold it for herself; when she drops it, it doesn’t spill all over the place. As parents we appreciate sippy cups and pacifiers and diapers, but all of these items are transitional in nature. If your child hasn’t ditched those things by the time she goes off to preschool, then you have a problem of immaturity.
That’s what the pastor is saying in 5:12 – 13. (review) The Hebrew Christians should be teachers by now, training up the next generation of followers of Jesus. But all they want to do is go back to kindergarten, and be spoon fed Jesus stories at circle time; and when that becomes too hard, they want the sweet comfort of pulling out their mats and taking a nap.
But I want you to be very clear about something. This immaturity of 5:11 – 6:3 is intentional. It’s about a hard-hearted stubbornness and recalcitrance on the part of the Hebrew Christians. You might ask, why? Why don’t they want to grow beyond the ABC’s of the Christian faith? You have to look at the context of the whole 13 chapters, but it’s fear. Fear of standing out from their pagan neighbors. Fear of looking like too much of a radical. These baby Christians are succumbing to fear of persecution and antagonism of an unbelieving world. They’re succumbing to the pressure to be “Christian chameleons.” (chameleon: a lizard that changes colors to blend in with its environment.) They just want to blend in with society, they want to be perceived as “normal” and “safe” and relatively “innocuous.” The author is tearing their baby blankets away and saying, “Get out of that crib and do something radical, do something dangerous for Jesus Christ. Make some noise, create a buzz, get people talking about what Jesus is doing in your church!”
II. THE PERIL OF SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY IN THE CHURCH (6:4 – 6:12)
Warning: Hebrews 6:4-6 are among the most debated verses in the entire New Testament. These verses have produced many sleepless nights and fear and dread and consternation in the hearts of many (believers and unbelievers alike). And I want to do nothing to water down the blunt force trauma which the pastor to the Hebrews intends to inflict with these verses. He would have us realize that spiritual immaturity in the church is not only wrong, but it’s also a perilous condition. (Review 6:4-6) These verses are about apostasy: willfully and intentionally and publicly renouncing your faith in Jesus Christ. He says that if someone knowingly and intentionally apostatizes (perhaps under fear of suffering persecution) that he cannot be brought back to repentance (6:6). This text is not about eternal security and the perseverance of the saints; and I don’t have time in this message to teach the doctrines of eternal security and perseverance of the saints.
Here in this passage, the author is saying to us that IF we were to renounce our faith in Christ Jesus, then we would have no place left to go. Forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation is found in the name of Jesus Christ alone. If we’re such weak, fearful baby Christians that we renounce our faith, then there’s no basis for repentance and forgiveness of sins to be found anywhere else. Allah can’t forgive your sins. Buddha can’t forgive your sins. Mary the Mother of Jesus can’t forgive your sins. The dogwood in the church yard can’t forgive your sins. Only Jesus can; and if you apostatize and make an intentional choice to walk away from Jesus, then 1) Jesus will honor that choice, and 2) you have nowhere else to turn.
Christian immaturity is a perilous condition. We come into this world as babies; but if we don’t grow and mature as nature itself intends, then we are in jeopardy of losing everything. Verses 7-8 says that our lives are like a farmer’s field. God invests in us – rain, sunshine, good seed – and He expects a good return on His investment. If the farmer puts time and money and resources into his field, and it grows thorns, well, he’s going to toast that field with a controlled burn, and start all over again.
(I’ve been holding you under for ten minutes, and like the author, I’m going to let you up again.)
Look at v. 9, “Even though we speak like this, dear friends (a term of intimate love and endearment used only here in the NT), we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation.” I know that you’re going to grow; I know that you’re going to overcome your sluggish hearing and get in gear and move forward! He goes on to say in 6:11-12 (review; NB 6:12 is key verse for the chapter; “lazy”n = “sluggish” of 5:11).
III. PROGRESSING BEYOND SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY IN THE CHURCH (6:13-20).
He wants us to overcome immaturity by imitating those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. Now he gives us a shining example of someone whose faith we can imitate – Father Abraham.
Remember his story? God made Abraham a promise (Genesis 12:2-3, review).
But those awesome promises God made to Abraham hung on the one thing Abraham didn’t have—a son! He and his wife got to be old people, but they had no children. How was God going to give birth to a great nation, and make Abraham’s name great if he didn’t have any natural descendants?
But when Abraham and his wife Sarah were so old that only a miracle could change their situation, God did just that. Sarah conceived and Abraham fathered a son, baby Isaac. There was finally hope for Abraham. Finally, it looked like God was going to keep his promise.
Yet it was then that God spoke to Abraham and told him to take his son Isaac up on Mount Moriah and sacrifice him there to the LORD. Abraham was unflinchingly obedient, and though his heart was breaking he bound his son hand and foot and prepared to drive the knife into his chest, when God stopped him, and spoke again with the words that we read together this morning from Genesis 22:15-17. God confirmed his earlier promise with an oath, swearing that He would indeed fulfill his promises.
Hebrews 6:18, “God did this, so that by two unchangeable things (that is, the promise, and the oath) in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.”
Look up at me: Growing up is scary. Do you realize that? That’s why the teenage years can be so tumultuous. Some of you are old enough to remember that classic but crazy movie starring a teenaged Dustin Hoffman, The Graduate. He plays the young man Benjamin, fresh out of college, and Benjamin walks around with a hound dog face saying, “Mrs. Robinson, I’m concerned about my future.” Growing up is frightening. It means change. Responsibility. Doing things which you might fail at. It means facing uncertainties. Life is much safer, life is much more predictable in a nursery, a daycare, or a preschool. Our scripture says to us that (spiritually speaking) we cannot stay there any longer. We must grow up. The only way to find the courage and the will to do that is (like Abraham) to listen to, and embrace, and believe the promises of God (6:18).
Finally, he talks about the anchor of hope (vv. 19-20). I love the visual that we get from verse 19. Normally, an anchor is dropped from a ship DOWN to the bottom of the sea, and holds the ship steady in the midst of currents and tossing waves. The anchor of Christian hope, however, is tethered to our souls and reaches UP into heaven into the Holy of Holies of the Heavenly Tabernacle, where our High Priest, Jesus, has gone before us. The world outside of Pre-K is dangerous and frightening, but we are secure, because our hope isn’t down here! Our hope is in heaven with the Lord Jesus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

TWO MEN & TWO HOUSES

2011-10-23T16:33:00.000-04:00

“TWO MEN, TWO HOUSES” (HOMECOMING 2011)
Matthew 7:24-29
Rev. Grady Davidson 102311

This Homecoming Sunday, the Lord has impressed upon the theme of foundations: We have already sung the great hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation,” (“is Jesus Christ her Lord.”) The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:11 that in regard to the Christian Church, the people of God, that “no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid; Jesus Christ.”
In another place (Eph. 2:19-21) he writes that we are “no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Church’s one Foundation. What about in your life? What kind of foundation are you building your life upon? Is it a foundation of rock, so that when the rain comes down and the winds blow, and the torrential streams rise, that your house yet stands because it’s foundation is on the rock of Jesus Christ?
Or is your life more like that house built on the sand, so that when the rains come down, and the streams rise and the winds blow, it all breaks apart and comes down around you with a great crash? What is the foundation deeply hidden in the soil of your life?
You ought to notice that today’s scripture text is the conclusion to the Lord Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.” It’s a Sermon that begins in 5:1 and concludes here. He finishes his message by challenging his hearers to examine their lives; and specifically, to dig down deep and see what kind of foundation is hidden beneath the surface: a foundation of solid rock, or of sand?
Let’s talk about the story itself. The two men have much in common. There are significant similarities between the two men in his story. The visible, evident similarities are rather striking. (I note 3 of them.)
1. They both want a house. They basically want the same things in life. They both want a place to come in out of the cold on a short autumn day like today. They both long for the security and comfort that a home provides. In the ancient world, men built houses specifically so that they could bring home a wife. We can assume that both men desired the joys and comforts of marriage and raising a family. They both wanted a good house in which they could pursue their dreams.
2. We can assume from the story that the two homes they built, from the ground up, were basically identical. To look at the basic floor plan and the placement of doors and windows, they were building the same house from the ground up.
3. Their houses are built in the same neighborhood. They both wanted a house with a nice view of the creek. The water trickled nearby; it was a nice location to hear the tinkling stream. It was a convenient spot for fetching water for daily household use. These apparently identical houses were near to one another.
Please notice with me that one of the chief points of this little parable is that on the surface, everything about the two men and their two houses is exactly the same! Sometimes we think that the visible differences between Christians and non-Christians, believers and unbelievers are obvious differences. Jesus is making the point, rather forcefully in fact, that the differences are not necessarily all that obvious.
It’s helpful at this point to note that the Evangelist Saint Luke, in his gospel writes this same story. Luke notes that the first man in the story “dug down deep” and laid his foundation on solid rock (Luke 6:48). The point regarding the foolish man isn’t so much that he built his house on sand, as if he made a conscious decision to build in and on the sand. Rather the point is that he didn’t bother to dig at all!
So what are the characteristics of this foolish man whom the Lord would have us evaluate ourselves against?
1. He’s in a hurry. Spiritually foolish people are always in a rush. It’s not so much a problem of laziness and sloth, as the fellow in the story is in a hurry. He has a house to build! He has a bride to bring home! He wants to have the joy of dinner on the patio, listening to the trickling of the creek just under the bank. He wants to watch the sunset through the picture window . He’s in a hurry to get on with the job and just finish it.
Alabama, “I’m In a Hurry” (lyrics):
I'm in a hurry to get things done
(oh,) I rush & rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live & die
But, I’m in a hurry & don't know why
Don't know why
I have to drive so fast
My car has nothing to prove
It's not new, but it'll 0-60 in 5.2, oh

(Chorus)
Can't be late
I leave in plenty of time
Shakin' hands with the clock
I can't stop
I'm on a roll & I’m ready to rock oh,
(Chorus)
I hear a voice
It says i'm running behind
I better pick up my pace
It's a race & there ain't no room for someone in 2nd place

I think that if this today we had a window to peer into hell, we’d find much to our surprise that most the people there were not spectacularly wicked. (Some, yes, but not most.) I believe we would discover to our surprise that hell is populated mainly by people who were just too busy for Jesus Christ, too busy for the Word of God. They were so driven to get on with the floor plan and the den and the kitchen and the bedroom, that they didn’t take the time to dig down and build on the Rock.
2. The foolish man isn’t teachable (which is simply an exponent of his being in a hurry). He doesn’t consult with homebuilders who have lived beside the creek for many years. He doesn’t talk to an architect. He doesn’t have need of input from anybody else about the rules (and there are rules!) which govern the construction of a house. He’s not teachable. He flies by the seat of his pants and will build it his way. He needs no consultation or input from anybody else. What do they know about his life?
3. The foolish man doesn’t think things through. He doesn’t take time to consider possibilities and eventualities. Especially with regard to that creek just under the bank, he never ponders the question: “That creek that is so beautiful and pleasant to behold on a summer evening – what might become of that creek in the winter rains?” Let’s say that his neighbor stopped by and said, “Listen, friend, I’ve been 30 years and I’ve witnessed what this creek can do. I’ve seen it spill over the banks. If you don’t dig down and set a foundation on the rock, your house is going to break apart like matchsticks the first time the creek floods!” If the neighbor stopped by with that friendly advice, the foolish man would have said, “I’ve got it under control. My house will be fine!” Because not only is the fool in a rush, and he’s unteachable; he just doesn’t think things through.
4. When the winds and rains and rising creeks of God’s judgment comes against his life, his life collapses in a violent, awful crash.
So let’s make a few spiritual applications (and then we’ll eat, I promise!)
Jesus would have us consider that the Christian and the non-Christian can look the same on the surface. You will find them in the same places. They can sit beside one another in the pew in church. They both want the same things in life (peace, prosperity, happiness).
And Jesus would also have us notice that the time for laying the foundation of our lives on His Word, is in the beginning. When the storm comes it’s too late. The foundation has to be laid beneath all else.
Jesus wants us to be deeply concerned about spiritual foolishness (which is relating to Jesus Christ and his word in only a shallow, superficial manner). Like the fool in the story, the spiritual fool is 1) in a hurry (the tyranny of the urgent always overpowers the truly important issues of life); 2) he isn’t teachable – he has a Bible at home, and he read some in it one time – a great book, he really enjoyed it – but truthfully God’s Word has touched his life in only the most superficial way; 3) he doesn’t think things through… He doesn’t consider that God might sweep his life away and bring him to judgment at any moment. There IS a foundation of his life – it may be money, or career, or family, or sports and recreation, or party and pleasure seeking, or saving up for a carefree retirement—there IS a foundation – Yet he cannot look at it and recognize that it’s sand!
The bottom line for the spiritual fool is that he doesn’t want anything to make him uncomfortable. To dig deeply is just too hard and it causes too much pain. He will tuck tail and run away rather than face any kind of discomfort or pain in life. He might tell you that he admires the words of Jesus Christ, but come to the hard teachings of Jesus – the holiness of God, the awfulness of sin, the awfulness and reality of hell, the awful cost of sin and the absolute necessity that we be born again to new life – the fool will walk away, because it’s too uncomfortable, it’s too painful.
Two comments by way of application:
(1) Don’t be a fool.
(2) Be a wise individual (woman, man, girl or boy)… build your life on the words of Jesus Christ, putting them into practice. Lookout Valley Presbyterian has an awesome foundation in Jesus Christ. Build your life on that same foundation, the very words of Jesus Christ. Look again at vv. 24 & 25 (review). Start building your life today. If you’re within driving distance of LVPC, build here with us. After the New Year, we’ll be offering the Christianity Explored course once again – a careful study of the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Mark. There’s no reason that you can’t take ten evenings of your life to do that. If you come a distance, find another church home where the focus is indeed upon the words of Jesus Christ.
(Message to conclude with time of invitation to receive Christ.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lloyd-Jones, David Martyn. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1976. Print.

GOD'S SON, THE BEST HIGH PRIEST

2011-10-17T10:23:00.001-04:00

“GOD’S SON, THE BEST HIGH PRIEST”
Hebrews part 6 (4:14 – 5:10)
Rev. Grady Davidson 101611

Three days a week after dropping the kids off at school I go to the downtown YMCA for 45 minutes of exercise. As it works out I often find myself in the locker room with a couple of our Chattanooga, high profile criminal defense attorneys. Often enough, as these fellows are dressing in their power suits for the day’s work, they’re also talking to each other in a light-hearted and anonymous fashion about their current cases. As an outsider to the field of criminal defense, I really enjoy hearing these couple of sharks talk about their work. Last Monday morning, one of these men was talking about building his defense for his client, and it went something like this: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it took the police several hours to locate those 6 kilos of cocaine, so deeply was it buried in the building. If it took the professionals several hours to find it, how on earth were my clients to know it was there?”
Did he really use that angle of defense in criminal court? (I doubt it.) However, I carried my gym bag out of the locker room that morning thinking to myself, “That attorney is really good; and if I ever find myself slapped with a felony, HE’s the lawyer I’m calling.”
We move this morning into the great central portion of the Epistle to the Hebrews. From 4:14 through end of chapter 10, the writer to the Hebrews develops the primary theological theme of the epistle: that God’s Son is our Great High Priest. It is here in Hebrews 4 – 10 that the Priestly office of our Lord Jesus Christ is most clearly developed in all of Scripture.
Now listen to me; this is very important. When it comes to our sins and offenses, our burden of guilt, our transgressions against the Eternal God who is described in this epistle as a Consuming Fire (12.29), as far as I can tell we have 2 options. Either we face that Great Judge on our own, and try to plead our case on our own… or else we search for One who has favor with God, One who has access to God, One who will represent us in matters related to God (5:1). For the last 4 chapters the author to the Hebrews has been showing us that God’s Son, Jesus Christ is the only One who can do that for us. The prophets can’t; the angels can’t; Moses can’t – But Jesus Christ, God’s Son, can! He is uniquely qualified to be our High Priest and to represent us in matters related to God.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a really big sinner. And the more I read the scriptures, and the longer I walk with Christ, the more I realize just how profoundly guilty I am before God. In my day in God’s court, I want Jesus to represent me. I need a priest like Jesus to go to God on my behalf. Don’t you?
Our text breaks down naturally into three sections.
With your Bibles open notice vv. 1-4, in which the author lays out the background to the Priesthood. The whole framework for understanding the priesthood is laid out in a detailed, lengthy fashion in the OT books of Exodus (28-29) and Leviticus (8-9); but all that teaching is summarized wonderfully right here in four verses.
1. The priest represents men in matters related to God (v. 1a).
2. The priest makes offerings and sacrifices for sins. The priest, in a representative and legal fashion brings offerings on behalf of the sinful people he represents (v. 1b).
3. Notice the demeanor and spirit of the high priest (v. 2). He is gentle and compassionate in dealing with his people, because he understands sin. That OT priest is himself a sinner. When his people come to him with guilty consciences, he neither ignores the seriousness of their sin, nor does he beat them down. He understands in a profoundly sympathetic way. In fact (v. 3) he’s obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the sins of the people (Lev. 9.7, 16.6, for example). He needed forgiveness and cleansing for his sins too, and the OT priest was never to forget that.
4. Notice that the OT High Priest was called to his office (v.4). It was passed by heredity from generation to generation beginning with Aaron, the brother of Moses and Miriam. It was not an office which any ordinary person could aspire to enter.
So there you have the background to the priesthood, summarized in just 4 verses. That backdrop helps us to understand how Christ is our Priest, in some ways similar and in some ways different.
Some of you will recognize the name of the American painter Andrew Wyeth. His brother Nat told this story about Andrew. On one occasion Andrew was painting a landscape that included a house with a sycamore tree behind it. The lower 20 feet of the tree was hidden by the house which was the focus of the painting.
As Nat Wyeth visited his brother Andrew, the painter showed Nat drawings of the sycamore’s trunk and gnarled roots. Nat said, “Why are you sketching the trunk and roots? They’re behind the house; they won’t show in the final painting.”
Andrew replied, “"For me to get what I want in the part of the tree that's showing, I've got to know thoroughly how it is anchored in back of the house." Likewise when we say that Jesus is our Great High Priest, we’re saying that his ministry is anchored firmly in the roots of the OT priesthood—servants of God who for generations and generations represented men in matters related to God; and in their ministry over the years pointing ahead to the One who was to come: Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest.
So that’s the background. What about Jesus’ own preparation for the office of Priest? Did God simply appoint His Son one day and tell him to get to work serving as Great High Priest to His People? Not at all! Jesus underwent the most severe training and preparation that He might be qualified for Office. That’s the subject of vv. 7 – 10, Christ’s preparation for office of High Priest.
1. Look at v. 7 (review). In a broad sense this verse teaches us something about the entire life of Jesus of Nazareth. His life was a life of passionate prayer and petitions. His life was a life of seeking God in prayer with a deep, hungry, heartfelt passion. However in a special sense 10:7 refers to Jesus and his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane. Weeping before the Father, crying out in a loud voice to the Father, spread out on the ground crying out to God with sweat pouring out of his body like great drops of blood. (The window behind me does not do the scene as described in the gospels justice.)
2. We see in verse 8 that although He is God’s Son, nonetheless He learned obedience through what he suffered. When the writer to the Hebrews speaks of the sufferings of Christ, he’s generally speaking of the cross. Jesus, having lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father had one final test of obedience which He had to pass – going to the horrors of Calvary, there to carry the sins of the world.
3. In verse 9, Jesus was “made perfect,” that is, having gone through the hell of the cross, He was perfected in his qualifications to represent you and me as our High Priest. Friend, you will never go through anything in this life for which Jesus Christ, your Great High Priest cannot fully understand and sympathize and care and love you through. He is uniquely qualified to counsel you and encourage you and to walk with you through all the trials of this life… even more, He is the source of your eternal salvation, if you are among those who obey him (v. 9).
The 14th century Czech theologian and reformer of the church, Jan Hus was arrested and told that he would be burned to death for his evangelical faith. In the days leading up to his martyrdom he would practice for that day by holding his hand over an open flame.
5:7-10 tells us that Jesus went through the flames too. In obedience to God He suffered beyond the scope of any other human being who has ever walked the earth so that he would be qualified to serve his people as our Great High Priest.
We’ve seen the background for the priesthood, verses 1-4; we’ve talked about Christ’s preparation for the priesthood, verses 7-10. Now we come back to the center of the passage, verses 5 & 6. The way the author organized his thoughts in these ten verses, he intends for 5-6 to be the most important thought. The way the verses are structured, the whole argument hinges on these two verses which declare God’s appointment of Jesus Christ to the office of High Priest. (review vv. 5-6, quotations from Ps 2.7 and 110.4). God has spoken! Out of His great love for us God has appointed His Son to serve as Priest & Mediator, representing us to Him! He did not have to do that! God was under no moral obligation to do anything other than leave us dead in our sins. The text fairly screams at us: Wake up! Take notice! God has spoken, appointing His Son to the High Priesthood. If we are to have a priest representing us in matters relating to God (v.1), then it must be Jesus: there is no other. What does it mean that Jesus’ priesthood is in the order of Melchizedek? We’ll come to that in chapter 7.
As we come to the Lord’s Table this morning, we’re ushered into the very presence of God. Moses, called “the man of God” and “God’s friend” could not see his face. Isaiah the greatest OT prophet came physically and spiritually unhinged in the presence of God. The OT prophets unanimously speak of God in the most terrifying of terms. And the OT priests, ministering in God’s presence, trembled in holy fear to be in his presence.
What a difference our Great High Priest makes! We have one who is “one of us,” (selected from among men, 5.1), who represents us to God. He sympathizes with our weaknesses, he understands our frailty; but through Him we are invited to approach God’s throne of grace with great confidence (4.16). Let us come to the Table and worship our Great God. Amen.
(Song of Invitation: Michael Card’s “Come to the Table”)

ENTERING GOD'S REST (Hbs 3.7 - 4.13)

2011-10-10T09:34:00.003-04:00

“ENTERING GOD’S REST”
Hebrews part 5 (3:7 – 4:13)
Rev. Grady Davidson 100911
This morning I intend to preach the 4 great themes in this lengthy text, and by God’s good grace we will experience together what the author tells us in the concluding verses – namely, that God’s Word is indeed living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, God’s Word penetrates to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow, judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
1. Warnings
2. Rest (a dozen times in the passage)
3. Restless people
4. The human heart
After we follow these 4 themes through these 26 verses, then by God’s grace I hope to weave them together in such a way that we discover what the Lord would have us to know and to do in response to the Word.
With your prayerful obedient and faithful listening to God’s Word, let’s dig in to the text.
WARNINGS
In postmodern America we are admonished to give heed to so many warnings, that we often don’t even pay them any attention. If you get a cup of coffee at McDonalds, you are warned on the cup that… the coffee is hot! I read this week a blurb written by a mom who claimed that she had purchased a superhero costume for her child to wear for Halloween. It had a label that said, “Warning: Costume only. Cape will not enable child to fly.” (There you go, taking all my fun!) If you see a sign declaring, “Wet Paint,” what do you want to do? (Touch it and see!) But sometimes we encounter warnings of a more serious nature. In Christianity Explored the speaker, Rico Tice, tells of visiting a friend in Australia, and taking a stroll on a pristine Australian on a beautiful sunny day. Rico was in the process of pulling off his shirt to take a swim in the beautiful blue water, when his friend said: “What are you doing? Haven’t you read the signs?” Rico looked up and saw a huge white billboard which declared in bold text: “Warning! Shark-infested waters!” Rico said, “Phooey on that, I’ll be fine.” His friend: “More than 200 Australians have been in shark attacks over the years. You have to decide if that sign is there to rob you of fun, or to save your life. You’re of age, you decide for yourself.”
Likewise today’s text has some warnings which very well could be printed on giant billboards for us all to have to wrestle with.
(3:12) – review. Could that happen to you? Or to your loved one worshiping near to you today?
(4:1) -- review. (“let us fear” preferable to NIV “be careful”) Could it happen here, at LVPC, to one of us? Could someone set out on a journey of faith, following Jesus Christ, and yet in the end fail to finish the course? Fail to cross the finish line?
(4:11) – review. Again, a warning that one of us might begin with Christ, and yet fall away through disobedience.
And finally, words of admonition and implicit warning repeated over and over again… (3:7-8, 3:15, 4:7) – “Today, if you hear {God’s} voice, do not harden your heart…”
I wonder, even right now, is God speaking any words of warning into your life? As you pause under the preaching of the Word to allow God’s Word to penetrate deeply into your spirit, is there a flashing red light “on the dashboard” telling you to wake up, and listen, and take notice and act? Hold onto that thought, as we move on.
REST.
The word “rest” appears by my counting 11 times in the passage, plus a special word found only here in the New Testament in 4:9, “Sabbath-rest.” Bible teachers and commentators have spilled a lot of ink over the years arguing with one another about what “rest” the author is writing about in this passage.
Is it the believer’s rest from his labors when he dies and goes to glory?
Is it that glorious eternal rest that awaits us all at the return of Christ and the renewal of all things?
Or is it more of a here-and-now kind of rest; a rest of the spirit that we can enjoy in Jesus Christ each and every day, even when life is difficult and we face trials and tribulations? What kind of rest is it?
Someone might accuse me of being overly simplistic, but I think it’s all of the above! It’s a rest that we enjoy now, as we quit “working at religion,” as we quit striving on our own power to please God, quietly trusting in the completed work of Jesus Christ (4:10). But there’s also a future aspect, an eschatological dimension, a promised deeper, fuller rest that we will enjoy at the end of time (4:9).
Do you remember what Jesus said about rest? “Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” He didn’t say, “Come unto church… or come unto Homecoming (though HC is wonderful!)… come unto Presbyterian doctrine (though you should!).” No – “Come unto me,” Jesus said. And he promises that in relationship with Him, you will find rest for your soul. How many Christians know Christ, but they never enter into his rest! Like the Israelites, they wander in the desert but never rest in Christ! That leads us to the third great theme of our passage, which I’m calling…
RESTLESS PEOPLE
Listen very carefully to me. Today’s text proposes that it’s entirely possible for someone to set out on a journey of faith with Jesus Christ, and blend in with the people of God, and yet at the end of the day they fall short of entering that promised rest of which I’ve been speaking. That principle lies at the heart of the many warnings in this passage. (examine 3:14) The author includes this lengthy quotation from Psalm 95 in the Old Testament. This Psalm in turn points way back to the experience of God’s people in the wilderness. These were people who saw God’s plagues poured out on Egypt. These were people who saw the Red Sea part and they walked across on dry ground, and when the pursuing Egyptian army came barreling down on them, these people saw God release the waves of the Red Sea once again drowning Pharaoh’s army. These were people who experienced God’s miraculous provision of water and bread and meat in the desert. An entire nation of 603,000 men and their families who personally witnessed and experienced God’s saving power; but out of those hundreds of thousands, how many of them got out of the desert wandering and entered Canaan, the land of rest? (Only 2 – Joshua & Caleb.)
What happened to all the others? They got to the brink of Canaan. By all appearances they were on the verge of entering the Promised Land, the land of rest. Moses sent in a scouting party, a group of select men sent in on an intelligence-gathering mission. They returned and brought a report: “It is a land flowing with milk and honey. Unbelievable prosperity and beauty and agricultural productivity…BUT, we saw the Nephilim and the Anakim, gigantic people beside whom we appeared to be grasshoppers. Besides that their cities are large and walled and fortified; there’s no way we can conquer the Canaanites. Furthermore” (they concluded) “it is a land that devours its own inhabitants.” Now there was a minority opinion – the voices of two men, Joshua and Caleb: “God has promised us success! We can take the land!” But they were crying into the wind, for the congregation of God’s people under the voices of the ten unfaithful spies determined that the only thing left to do was to stone Moses and Joshua, elect new leaders, and go back to live as slaves in Egypt.
God judged that generation. He was still faithful to them, but he judged that they would wander restlessly in the wilderness for 40 years, and that generation would die in the wilderness. (See 3:10-11).
We’re talking about restless people. People who have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. They have left the Egypt of their sin, but have not entered the Promised Land of rest. People who have made a beginning with God, but to this day they wander in a spiritual desert and have not entered God’s rest. Why is that? How can it be? That brings us to the 4th major theme of our text, which is the human heart.
THE HEART.
Notice the progression of moving away from Christ and the rest he promises. It begins (3:10) with “going astray” (review verse). The heart shakes itself lose from its anchoring in Jesus and begins to wander away. Then that wandering heart becomes an “unbelieving heart” (3:12. A heart that begins to mix truth with error, perhaps picking and choosing from the teachings of the Bible.
That unbelieving heart then becomes a heart deceived by sin (end of v. 13). Sin finds a new entry into that individual’s life. The willful experience of sin then gives way to acceptance of sin – even to the point of saying that what God’s Word declares is sin we should regard as normative and right and good.
Finally the heart is hardened to the Lord and to His Word (3:13, 15)– and God says, “They shall never enter my rest.”
Stern warnings – warnings that we can be in movement with Christ, in hope of entering into his rest, but if our hearts go astray and becoming unbelieving and full of sin and wickedness – that we might seem to fall short of entering into God’s rest because of our unbelief. We can hear the gospel, but not benefit from the gospel because of unbelief.
Perhaps you say, “Pastor, my heart has gone astray, and I’m guilty of unbelief and my heart has been hardened toward God’s Word. What can I do?” you ask. The answer, dear friend is repeated over and over again in our text: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Today, if you hear His voice listen to Him and believe Him and obey Him. Yesterday’s over—you can do nothing about yesterday; and Tomorrow isn’t promised! What you do have is Today—this moment to hear His voice, to believe in God’s Son Jesus Christ, to embrace and believe God’s Word. You see, God’s Word at this very moment is laying us bare. God’s Word is judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Like a surgeon’s scalpel God’s Word is gently opening us so that we can see the cancer of unbelief in our hearts. Today, won’t you let the Surgeon skillfully cut it away? Don’t argue with him, don’t harden your heart. Let Him heal you, that you may enter into His rest. Amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

JESUS CHRIST IS GREATER THAN MOSES

2011-10-03T10:12:00.002-04:00

“JESUS CHRIST IS GREATER THAN MOSES”
Hebrews part 4 (3:1-6)
Rev. Grady Davidson 100211
It’s a difficulty that everybody faces in life-- certainly by the Middle School years it comes up-- and frankly it never goes away and it never gets easier. It’s the question of conformity versus nonconformity. When it comes to the way in which I present myself, the way I conduct myself, the way I talk, the way I dress, the things that I value, the things which I say I believe in and hold to be true, do I just want to “fit in,” and belong, and be accepted by others? Or am I courageous enough to stand on my own two feet and be my own person and suffer the possible consequences which might arise as a result?
In his book, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, Charles Swindoll writes about a study conducted a few years ago by psychologist Ruth W. Berenda. Dr. Berenda and her associates did an experiment designed to show how teenagers handle group pressure. The psychologist’s plan was simple. She brought groups of ten teenagers in at a time for a test. At the front of the testing room the kids would see charts with three lines drawn on them of various lengths. The teacher would then point at each line, one at a time, with instruction to the class that the kids were to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line. What one person in the group of ten did not know was that the other nine in the room had been instructed ahead of time to vote for the 2nd longest line. They were told that once they came into the testing room, that they were to ignore the teacher’s instructions and to raise their hands when she pointed out not the longest, but the second longest line. The experiment began with nine teen-agers voting for the wrong line (the second longest). The stooge would typically glance around, frown in confusion, and slip his hand up with the group. The instructions were repeated and the next card was raised. Time after time, the self-conscious stooge would sit there saying a short line is longer than a long line, simply because he lacked the courage to stand up to the group. It’s a great story that illustrates the point: when we find ourselves running contrary to the majority opinion, we have a decision to make: do we jettison our own beliefs and convictions so that we seamlessly melt in with the crowd; or do we stick with our convictions and risk being ridiculed or laughed at or rejected by the others? Think about that, and let’s talk about the Hebrew Christians.
The Hebrew Christians lived as a minority population in a Godless and evil and pagan world, and they were definitely beginning to feel outside pressure to downplay their faith, pressure to be quiet and discreet about Jesus Christ, pressure to be cautious about the gospel and just “blend in” with the pagan world. The storm clouds of persecution are gathering on the horizon. They have not yet been called upon to shed blood for the sake of Jesus Christ, but they are nonetheless afraid (2:14-18, 12:4).
Their situation was probably a little like that of a pastor whom I’m going to call “Bill” who serves the Lord in Southeast Asia. Bill’s story is one I’ve been following through some missionaries who work with Bill, and this week they sent out an update on Bill’s situation.
News as of mo/day/yr: “The local pastor (Bill) who was the main local leader and coming under a lot of I**am*c department scrutiny is needing prayer along with his wife. They are really weary, tired and stressed from all the major security precautions they’re having to go through in order to protect the 12 believers in their church fellowship…Bill is making phone calls from payphones to stay in touch with people and also has had his house searched and computers seized from his home. He is also being continually followed by the government.” The letter goes on to say that in spite of laws on the books which are supposed to protect these Christians, that the reality is that Bill & his wife are living in the fearful expectation that sanctions of Sh**ia Law will be placed upon them. At this point they are scared and have broken off communication with our EPC missionaries in the area. If you can sympathize with Pastor Bill and his wife and his congregation of 12, then you can begin to appreciate what the writer to the Hebrews says in these 6 verses (and throughout the letter). Notice with me 1) an Exhortation, 2) an Elaboration, and 3) an Examination.
First of all, notice the author’s words of Exhortation in verse 1 (review verse). Notice the word of exhortation in the middle of the verse: “Fix your thoughts on Jesus.” Further into the letter he’ll say, “Fix your eyes upon Jesus” (12:2). But here he simply, think on Jesus. When you are feeling the pressure to cave in, pressure to downplay your faith, pressure to raise your hand because the other 9 are, then you must “fix your thoughts on Jesus.” He is our example of steadfastness and focus and of unwavering faithfulness in the face of pressure. Return to the gospels. Read the stories of Jesus as he courageously and steadfastly went to Jerusalem, went on trial before Pilate, and went to Calvary’s cross praying for those who drove the nails in his hands and feet.
Do you see the word “confess” at the end of verse 1? (KJV, “profession” and ESV “confession,” Gk “homologias”) That word means the essential truths that we confess that we believe as Christians.
That there is One God in Three Persons—Father, Son and Spirit
That Jesus Christ, God’s Son is fully God and fully Man, and that He came down from heaven “for us and for our salvation” (Nicene Creed)
That He was crucified for us; that He died and was buried
That on the third day he rose again from the dead as the Lord of Life, and that He has ascended to heaven’s throne as Ruler of the Universe
That He’s coming again to earth, at which time all those who have placed their faith in him will be raised to eternal life; and those who have persisted in unbelief will be raised to eternal condemnation
That He will usher in the New Heavens and New Earth, an eternal home for us where righteousness will always dwell.
Christian friend: fix your thoughts on Jesus, and hold fast to your confession. He understands your fear. We saw in chapter 2 that we are of the same family with Christ Jesus and that He himself suffered when he was tempted, therefore he is able to help those who are being tempted (2:11, 18). So the exhortation is, “fix your thoughts on Jesus… “
Did you see the story coming out of Sumner County Tennessee (northeast of Nashville) last week? At a middle school football game, some of the students led in a Christian prayer (Note: the prayer was initiated by students), and some of the coaches bowed their heads during that student-initiated prayer. They didn’t say a word; they just bowed their heads. The principal and then the superintendent found out. From their position, it was too close to the line of looking like Sumner County was somehow endorsing those athletes talking to Jesus Christ. Those coaches were not technically “disciplined,” but they were required to sign a statement saying that they now understood the district’s policy. It’s not too much to read between the lines and hear the implicit threat against their jobs if they are caught bowing their heads when students are praying again.
I tell you, I pray for those coaches. I pray that this Lord’s Day that they are in a church where their pastor is telling them to fix their thoughts on Jesus, who is the apostle and high priest of their Christian Confession. Jesus understands.
I tell you who else understands. It’s those athletes. The real test is at the next game—when those athletes join together to pray before the game, they’re going to be watching to see what their coaches do. Friends, it’s real and it’s tough and it’s in our front yard. May we all fix our thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
Notice the movement then from Exhortation to Elaboration. I have chosen to be brief on the elaboration of verses 2 – 5. If you look at the big flow of the book, the author has shown that in these last days that God has spoken by His Son, who is greater than the prophets. Then he showed that God’s Son is greater than the angels. In verses 2 – 5 he shows that God’s Son is greater than Moses. There’s a passage back in Numbers 12 where God says of Moses,
“Listen to my words:
“When there is a prophet among you,
I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles…”
Moses was a faithful servant in God’s House, which means the people of God, God’s family. Moses had honor and glory as a servant in God’s House. Moses shepherded the people of God, bringing them up out of Egypt to the Promised Land.
But Jesus is greater than Moses because Jesus isn’t a servant in the house; rather Jesus is God’s Son over the House. What’s more, Jesus Christ is faithful over the household of God. These words of elaboration call us to faithfulness in our confession of faith in Christ, because Christ is a faithful Son governing us, ruling us, caring for us.
After the Exhortation and Elaboration comes the call to Examination, verse 6 (review).
This is what you call a “conditional sentence.” We belong to the people of God…
We belong to Jesus Christ…
IF we hold on to our courage; if we hold on to our hope. (Look on down to verse 14, in next week’s text.)
We know that we belong to the House of God IF we hold on to our courage, and don’t fall back or fade away. We must examine ourselves. When the name of Jesus is mentioned, do we duck our heads and run? Do we turn away in embarrassment, or change the subject? Or do we hold our heads high and tell the world that He is LORD? Courage, friends: fix your thoughts on Jesus!
I heard of a fellow who bragged that he had cut the tail off a man-eating lion. Somebody said, “If you could cut his tail off, why didn’t you just cut his head off?” He said, “Oh, well, somebody else had already done that.”
Christian friends, fix your thoughts on Jesus. When the world scares you; when the world intimidates you, fix your thoughts on Jesus, hold fast to your confession. Swallow your fear and be faithful!
Years ago Paul Harvey told the story of Ray Blankenship. I close with this story.
One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert. Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child's arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray's free hand felt something--possibly a rock-- protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. "If I can just hang on until help comes," he thought. He did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard's Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew.

Because Ray Blankenship couldn’t even swim. You think about that, when the current hits you this week. Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Sermon Illustrations. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. .
Swindoll, Charles R. Living above the Level of Mediocrity: a Commitment to Excellence. Waco, TX: Word, 1987. Print
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

GOD'S SON SHARES OUR HUMANITY

2011-09-26T09:37:00.000-04:00

“GOD’S SON SHARES OUR HUMANITY”
Hebrews part 3 (2:5 - 18)
Rev. Grady Davidson 091811

What do you say to a Christian who is frustrated, fearful, beaten down and on the verge of throwing in the proverbial towel? What words of hope or encouragement would you pass on to a brother or sister in Christ whose strongest feelings at the moment is that God he or she has been abandoned by God? As we get on down into chapter 2 the author is starting to probe more deeply into the hearts and experiences of his people; and three overwhelming emotions they are wrestling with are frustration, fear, and a sense of total abandonment. They are finding out that the Christian life is not an easy one. They’re learning through personal experience that anyone who wants to live a godly and holy life of love and service for Jesus Christ does in fact suffer persecution. They’re learning that the world has no tolerance for a real Christian who believes that sin is sin, and that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior from our sins. They are learning that the world doesn’t like it when we aggressively share this message with others. What do you say to a Christian who is frustrated, fearful, beaten down and on feeling like God has left the building?
And even more importantly, Christian friend, how do YOU handle frustration, fear, and the felt sense that God has disappeared from your life? Maybe from where you sit this morning, God isn’t answering your prayers. Your theology assures you that He hears your prayers, that He loves you and that He answers every prayer; but from where you sit it’s not happening. Maybe your experience is like the Christian woman I know who in the last month found that she needed to resign from a lucrative job in her professional field, a job that allowed her flexibility to be with her young kids; but there was growing pressure in the office for her to sign off on unethical procedures. She had to look them in the eye and say, “I can’t do that.” Or maybe you have a nagging fear of death, like our text mentions down in verse 15. You know the Lord, you trust him for salvation. You believe he has power over death; and yet, when it comes right down to it, your attitude toward death is a little bit like Woody Allen’s: “It’s not that I’m afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
Fear, frustration and abandonment. As the author of the Letter to the Hebrews takes his pen and begins writing to address these very real life concerns and sentiments of his people, he doesn’t belittle their fears; he doesn’t trivialize their concerns; and he doesn’t spout forth a stream trite religious platitudes. Rather, he says to them (as the Holy Spirit speaks to us in these words), “Church, look again to Jesus. Look at God’s Son, who became ‘incarnate,’ He became Man. Look at Jesus Christ, who has complete, absolute and genuine solidarity with you in your current experience. Because if you’re going through it, then look to Jesus because He has experienced it in spades. Frustration? God’s Son knows all about it. He knows what it is to run a family business. A carpenter by trade, he bent nails and cut boards too short and pounded his thumb with the hammer and dealt with delinquent accounts from customers. How about ministry frustrations? He knows about that too. Perhaps his most common statement to the disciples was, “Do you still have no faith?” Fear? Jesus Christ went through his adult life, at least from the time of his baptism in the Jordan River and the anointing of God’s Spirit at that time, knowing that in the space of three years he would personally suffer the most agonizing and tortuous death which mankind has ever invented to inflict upon one another. And you want to tell me Jesus never had a racing heart when he tried to close his eyes and sleep at night? And besides that, He faced all the other normal fears and uncertainties of life. Abandonment? On the Cross, Jesus cried out that verse from Psalm 22:1 (a Psalm also quoted in today’s text, Ps. 22:22 in Hbs. 2:12), “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
The first great theme of our text is the theme of the incarnation. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, became truly and genuinely and fully human; and He experienced the life of a human being to the fullest. “Incarnation” means “enfleshment.” God’s Son took on flesh.
(v. 11) – God’s Son calls us “brothers,” and by implication, “sisters.” This is such an awesome statement; God’s Son is not ashamed of you. When He’s surrounded by the Heavenly Host of God’s Holy Angels, glorious spiritual beings, Jesus speaks of you, and calls you “family.”
(v. 14) – He shares in our flesh and blood; he participated in our humanity.
I have learned that although He is not ashamed to call us family, that sometimes we Christians are uncomfortable with the harsh reality of His humanity. The earthiness of God who became Man. The gritty reality of the incarnation of God’s Son – sometimes I get the feeling that some of Christ’s brothers want to downplay his humanity. Maybe that’s why author Max Lucado wrote these words in his book God Came Near: Chronicles of the Christ (quoted in Guthrie).
Angels watched as Mary changed God’s diaper. The universe watched with wonder as The Almighty learned to walk. Children played in the street with him. And had the synagogue leader in Nazareth known who was listening to his sermons…
Jesus may have had pimples. He may have been tone-deaf. Perhaps a girl down the street had a crush on him or vice-versa. It could be that his knees were bony. One thing’s for sure: He was, while completely divine, completely human.
For thirty-three years he would feel everything you and I have ever felt. He felt weak. He grew weary. He was afraid of failure. He was susceptible to wooing women. He got colds, burped, and had body odor. His feelings got hurt. His feet got tired. And his head ached.
To think of Jesus in such a light is—well, it seems almost irreverent, doesn’t it? It’s not something we like to do; it’s uncomfortable. It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. Clean the manure from around the manger. Wipe the sweat out of his eyes. Pretend he never snored or blew his nose or hit his thumb with a hammer.
Look back at your text, 1:3 (review). That One, the One who is exalted and glorified at the right hand of God, is the One who became one of us; and having experienced life to the fullest He is yet unashamed to call us ‘family.’
But let’s explore this thing a little deeper. In chapter 1, the author proclaims that God’s Son is superior to the OT prophets; He is superior to the Angels; He reigns from heaven’s throne (v. 8) and righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom.
Here’s the problem for the first century readers of this letter, and it’s the same problem we face: If all that is true about Jesus, then why is life so stinking hard? And why does it seem like the bad guys win? Why do cancer and strokes and heart attacks strike down people in the prime of life? I think of one older gentleman who told me his life’s story, a story of love for Christ and faithfulness to Christ; but at every juncture along the way he’s been met with heartbreak and disappointment and unfairness. He’s not bitter, and his love for the Lord is still sweet and genuine, but he says that for him and his wife, “We’ve always been on the losing team.”
We’re talking about frustration, and that’s the author’s concern in vv. 5-9. There he quotes Psalm 8, which is a Psalm about God’s intention for mankind to rule the Earth (have dominion), under God’s authority. Psalm 8 calls to mind Genesis 1:26-28, that says that man is to have dominion and rule over creation; everything is to be under mans’ feet, so to speak (Ps. 8:6, Hbs. 2:8). So why is life so frustrating? God says our Lord reigns in heaven, so why does the transmission go out in the car? I’m supposed to have dominion over all the earth but I can’t even keep the dandelions out of my front yard. Life is hard! More seriously, why are Christians in many quarters of the world suffering insult and confiscation of property and beating and imprisonment and even death, for the sake of King Jesus? If He’s such a great King, why doesn’t He take better care of His people?
Notice very carefully verse 8 – 9, because these verses get to the very heart of our frustrations, fears, and sense of abandonment.
1) everything IS under his feet, no exceptions!
2) yet at present, we don’t see it! This is the tension of the Christian life. We’re citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom which is already here; and yet, we still await the fullness of the Kingdom when the last enemy (death) will finally be completely destroyed (1 Cor. 15.24 – 28).
3) What do we see? (Jesus.) For a time God’s Son, who is superior to the angels came down below the angels, and for 33 years lived with the fears and frustrations of life with us; he went through it all to pave the way for our glory.
The text uses a special word to describe Jesus in verse 10. Your pew-rack Bible (1984 NIV). translates the word “author” of our salvation. Other translations say “pioneer,” or “founder” or “captain.” But from my study of the word in its context, I think that the best way to express what the author is saying is with “hero” (e.g. Hercules in Gk mythology) or “champion.” Do you remember how the shepherd boy David went out on the battlefield and faced down the giant Goliath all by himself, and saved the whole army of battle-seasoned soldiers who were quaking in their tents? In the ancient world at times a champion would go out and represent their entire nation in combat. And that’s what Jesus did for us. God’s Son became like us and squared off with death for us, so that the devil’s tyrannical reign through death would be broken.
At this point we do not yet see everything subject to Jesus (v. 8), and 1 Cor. 15 tells us that death will be the final enemy to be crushed under his feet. We’re not free from death itself, but (listen!) we are set free from the devil, who once held us in bondage of fear of death. Our hero, our champion, Jesus has gone through the gates of death before us, so that we can pass through safely.
Author and missionary Elisabeth Elliot tells of an occasion in the jungles of South America when as she and her Indian guide were walking down a jungle path, the trail suddenly dropped off into a deep ravine. The only means across was a fallen tree. Her Indian guide jumped onto the tree and started across, but Elisabeth was absolutely terrified and stopped dead in her tracks. When he saw her fear, the guide came back, took her by the hand, and led her across safely. She couldn’t have made it on her own, but she was able to trust herself to someone who had been there before and had obvious mastery of the situation. Likewise, it’s normal to have some apprehension about death. Never having gone that way before, a little nervousness is normal. And yet our Hero, our Champion has blazed that trail before us and promises to take us by the hand and lead us through when it’s our turn.
I close by returning to the question: “What do you say to a Christian brother or sister who is frustrated, fearful and about to throw in the towel?” Maybe the best thing to say under those circumstances would be simply, “King Jesus went through it too.”
You think about that. Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

JESUS CHRIST, SUPERIOR TO GOD'S ANGELS

2011-09-19T11:34:00.003-04:00

“JESUS CHRIST, SUPERIOR TO GOD’S ANGELS”
Hebrews part 2 (1:5 – 2:4)
Rev. Grady Davidson 091811

Last Lord’s Day we began our study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. In the first 4 verses the author made his case that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is superior to the prophets. Today he continues in that same vein by proving from the Old Testament scriptures the superiority of the Son of God to whom? (The angels!)
For the Hebrew Christians to whom this Epistle was written, God’s holy angels were a very important part of their religious experience and religious history. These people knew the Old Testament thoroughly, and those OT scriptures are full of stories of God sending angels as his messengers and servants, full of stories of God’s people encountering angels. They were fascinated with angels, and that fascination was certainly justifiable.
God placed cherubim (angels) to guard the entrance of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24)
Two angels met Lot in the city of Sodom and warned him of the coming judgment. (Genesis 19)
An angel wrestled with Jacob in the night and blessed him and changed his name to Israel. (Genesis 32)
An angel (Commander of the Army of the LORD!) spoke to Joshua and gave him instructions on how to take the city of Jericho (Joshua 5)
In the Book of Judges an angel commissioned Gideon to become leader in Israel and to drive out the Midianites (6), and in the same book an angel announced the coming birth of Samson to his mother (13).
An army of angels surrounded the prophet Elisha protecting him from the army of the King of Aram (2 Kings 6).
An angel shut the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into the lion’s den (Daniel 6).
But most important for today’s text has to do with Moses on Mount Sinai. When God called Moses up Sinai to receive the Covenant which God was making with his people, the Scriptures tell us that there were myriads and thousands upon thousands of angels present. Angels served as intermediaries between God and Moses to deliver the words of the covenant from God to Moses (Deuteronomy 33:2, Psalm 68:17, Hebrews 2:2).
All that is to say that for these Hebrew Christians of the early Church the study of angels was enormously popular.
It’s much the same today, and these days it’s not just Christians who are fascinated with angels. A few years ago the rock band the Black Crowes crooned their melody “She Talks to Angels.” For nine seasons CBS ran the very popular show “Touched by an Angel.” In one of the most popular movies of all time, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the apprentice angel “Clarence” is sent to restore hope to a suicidal man. A few years ago (Dec. 27 1993) Time magazine ran an edition with the front cover depicting a winged angel. The headline ran, “The New Age of Angels, 69% of Americans believe they exist. What in Heaven is going on?” NT scholar George Guthrie mentions going to an ordinary, non-religious bookstore and counting 85 different titles about angels on the shelves! But none of that is surprising. I would bet money that at least ½ of the people hearing my voice this morning have had at least one unusual experience along life’s path in which we believe we encountered an angel. Angels are most definitely “in.” They aren’t just for cheesy Christmas cards anymore!
By the way: If you’ve had an unusual experience in which you believe God sent an angel to intervene or help you in some way, then most likely that’s exactly what happened. That’s the purpose for angels. (Hbs. 1:7, 1:14)
The point is simply this. Angels are fascinating. It’s fun to think and talk about angels. But the author in today’s text is saying, “If you’re amazed by angels, if you’re impressed by the angels, then lift your eyes up higher to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and be absolutely astonished. For when you catch even a glimpse of the majesty and glory that belongs to God’s Son, you will fall down in adoration and praise and worship.”
In the passage we looked at last week (1:1-4) the author proved that God’s Son is superior to the prophets by means of seven proofs or arguments.
He does the same thing today, proving that God’s Son is superior to the angels by means of seven quotations from the Old Testament (mainly from the Psalms).
The first two are paired together (see v. 5). Jesus alone is God’s Son. None of the angels can lay claim to that.
The next two are paired together (see. vv. 6-7). Here he’s driving the point home. The angels, glorious and powerful as they are, are nothing more than household staff and servants to the King. The angels serve Christ. The angels do what Christ tells them to do. The angels worship Christ.
Then the next two are also paired together, these in vv. 8-12. Christ, God’s Son reigns in Heaven. And His reign is eternal. Time and space will wear out, and the Son will roll it all up and put it away when He’s finished with it… but God’s Son “remains the same…” and his “years will never end.”
And finally, he places the capstone on his argument with his seventh scripture quotation in v. 13, in which he quotes that majestic scripture of Psalm 110:1 (review).
People, the angels are just creatures. True, they are spiritual creatures. Mankind is spirit, soul and body; but the angels are creatures of pure spirit, spirit only. Nonetheless, they are created beings, nothing more and nothing less. They exist only because God created them (which He did by the Son, see 1:2).
Think about this – the most famous of all the angels, and the one that we deal with more than any other is… Satan. Lucifer (Satan, the Devil) is a fallen angel. He’s just another angel who rebelled against God. He can’t even exist apart from God’s granting him existence. He can do nothing without God’s permission (Job 1-2).
Do you think that God’s Son, whose throne is forever and ever, for whom righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom; God’s Son who from the beginning laid the foundations of the Earth, whose years will never end… do you think that God’s Son sweats the devil for even a moment? (No.)
Martin Luther got it right on that question. Real quick – hymnals to #151, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (see vv. 3-4). Thus we are reminded how much greater is God’s Son than the angels (both the holy angels and even the fallen angels).
The application of this message comes in the first 4 verses of chapter 2. (review)
The biblical writer was concerned for his people that they were spiritually drifting. Later on in the book he’ll talk about intentional disobedience and rebellion. But for now, he’s worried about something much more subtle. It’s a worry I have for us. He’s worried that they’re drifting. They’re not paying close enough attention to their walk with Christ. Perhaps they’re no longer excited by the gospel as they once were. Maybe he senses a growing coldness of heart in his people. Maybe he fears that they’re becoming lazy with regard to spiritual things.
Have you ever been adrift? Is there a chance that you’re drifting today?
Some years ago when Hannah and Lydia were still quite small our family vacationed one summer at Myrtle Beach. I had Hannah up on a rectangular float; I was holding on to the string. We swam out a ways to bob up and down in the surf. Probably did so for 20 minutes, when suddenly I looked left to right and back to shore and realized we had gotten way too far from shore. We were probably in 8-10 feet of water at that point. I held the rope and began to swim us in, only to find I couldn’t get anywhere; I had this panicky realized that if anything we were going further out. In fact it came on me that we were in a riptide. Knowing what was happening, I remembered everything I knew about riptides, and I swam hard out parallel to the shore for 50 feet and then turned to come in. By that time the lifeguard was blowing the horn and waving the red float in the air. But swimming sideways we got out of the riptide and we came back in.
Is there any chance that you’re drifting in your walk with the Lord?
The author makes his point in a way very typical of the Jewish rabbis. It’s an argument “from the lesser to the greater.” Essentially: the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant was delivered from God to Moses by Angels; and anybody who violated that covenant was punished. Therefore, if we don’t pay attention to the gospel of Jesus Christ; if we don’t take personal responsibility for our souls; if we are spiritually lazy with regard to the gospel which came to us from God’s Son who is greater than the angels– then how shall we escape if we ignore this salvation?
As we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table, lift your eyes up to the Son of God. Worship Him. See Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man seated at God’s right hand. Then see yourself as you truly are – one who has broken the Law mediated by angels from God to Moses; one condemned by God’s Law. But then once again lift your eyes to Jesus – see Him on the cross bearing your guilt and your sin. Hear Him crying out, “If anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Let us indeed pay more careful attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

JESUS CHRIST, THE BETTER PROPHET

2011-09-12T09:36:00.002-04:00

“JESUS CHRIST, THE BETTER PROPHET”
Hebrews part 1 (1:1-4)
Rev. Grady Davidson 091111
We start a new study this morning in the Epistle to the Hebrews. I begin with a question: Who do you tend to listen to? What voices of hope, or of instruction, or correction, or inspiration do you listen to, and how is that working for you?
Most of us listen to our friends, because after all, they love us and would never intentionally lead us astray.
Some people trust the experts. If the talk show host or the commentator on the news says it, then it must be true, because they’re on TV!
People who are lost listen to the metallic voice of their GPS giving directions.
Politicians listen to the polls; romantics listen to their hearts; insecure teens listen to the voices of stars of the stage and heroes of the silver screen; scholars and academics listen to other scholars and academics; while most of us are just flitting up and down the radio dial in search of a catchy country song with decent lyrics and perfect 4/4 time. Who do you like to listen to, and how is that working out for you?
As we open up this beautiful and lofty Epistle the Hebrews, the author implicitly asks us the question: Christian friends, are we listening to Jesus Christ the Son of God? In our reading from the gospel, God the Father spoke to us of Jesus: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!” (Mark 9.2-8). The Hebrew Christians had begun well, by listening to Jesus Christ. They had started out well. They had received Christ. They had accepted that Jesus is the fulfillment of the words of the Old Testament prophets. They had grasped the truth and confessed with their lips that Jesus is Savior and Lord. (We will talk much more about “where they were at” spiritually.) But suffice it to say today that they had “stalled out” in their faith. They had quit moving forward with Christ. But as we all know, we can never just hold our place. When we aren’t moving forward with the Lord Jesus, we are in fact drifting backwards. As an older generation would say, we “backslide.” For these Hebrew Christians, it meant that they were sliding back into what was familiar and comfortable, known religion – the words of the Old Testament Prophets (Moses, and David and Isaiah, Ezekiel, & Elijah and others). And so the author begins with these words…(v.1-2a).
A key word for the entire 13 chapters of this majestic letter of exhortation is the word “better.” I sum up the author’s message here in the prologue (these 4 verses) with this statement: Jesus, God’s Son, is better even than the prophets. The prophets had come speaking words of truth and hope and inspiration and correction; but as great and wonderful as the OT prophets were, Jesus is superior, Jesus is better – therefore we must listen to Him!
First of all, notice the comparison, that there were many prophets who spoke to our forefathers in the faith – but there is but one Son of God. Second, notice that God spoke to our forefathers in the faith in many ways (through dreams, through visions, through symbolic events, through audibly hearing the voice of the LORD, etc.), but when God spoke to us by His Son, Jesus Christ, God spoke with completion and finality. What God has to say to us, He has said through Jesus Christ and there is nothing more which we need to know about God and His will for our lives which remains to be said! God has spoken “in these last days” (v. 2) by His Son. The life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ inaugurated the Last Days of planet Earth. God has nothing more to say; there is no additional unfolding revelation from God until the trumpet blast which will herald the return of King Jesus to this earth. God has spoken with finality by His son. Whose voice do you listen to?
Everything about this book is Jewish. The author is writing from a Jewish viewpoint, and writing to the Jewish heart and Jewish mind. Most of us are gentile, with gentile sentiments and an American, Western way of thinking about things. For those reasons there are scores of important details in this book that we will fly right over and miss if we’re not careful.
One of those details is right here in the first couple of verses. The author makes his claim that God’s Son is superior to the prophets with the implied message that we must listen to Jesus, and stay ever focused upon the words of Jesus. And then the author proves his point in a distinctly Jewish way. He makes seven sub-points, seven claims about Jesus to prove that He’s superior to the prophets. Why seven? Because his readers are Jewish, and his Jewish readers would have instinctively looked for a set of seven… 7 means perfection, completion, case closed, there’s nothing more to be said.
Notice them with me.
1. (v. 2) The Son is “appointed heir of all things.” Why is Jesus God’s sole heir, God’s sole inheritor of the universe, and what’s more glorious and beautiful, the inheritor of us, the people the Father is giving to the Son? Why is He the sole heir? Because He’s the only Son.
2. (v. 2) “Through whom He made the universe.” Jesus is God’s agent of creation. God created all things visible and invisible through Jesus Christ. God’s Son is not a created being. Jesus precedes all of creation.
3. (v. 3) “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory.” This is one of the most awesome statements about how Jesus Christ relates to God the Father that you’ll find anywhere in Scripture. Can you conceive of the sun without thinking of the sun’s brightness and its rays? (No.) Jesus is to God the Father, what rays of sunshine are to the sun. The sun’s rays make the sun visible to us; the rays show us what the sun is like – and yet you cannot have the one without the other.
4. (v. 3) “The exact representation of his being.” (Gk: “character”) Jesus is the exact imprint of the Father. Like a signet ring stamped into hot wax. It’s what Jesus was saying when he declared to Philip, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father!” (John 14:9) The Son is superior even to Moses and Elijah, the greatest OT prophets, because only Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being.
5. (v. 3) He is “sustaining all things by his powerful word.” The glorified, exalted Son in heaven holds the universe together by his powerful word. The same idea is expressed in Colossians 1, “He is before all things, and in him all things consist.” But the idea here is not simply to hold something up, like Atlas from mythology holding the world on his shoulders. Rather the idea is that Jesus is carrying time and space forward, moving all of creation along to its ultimate conclusion and destination. None of the OT prophets could do that! They could talk about the end of time, but only the Son carries time and space along to its God-appointed destination.
6. “After he had provided purification for sins…” (v. 3) This will be a major theme of the Epistle to the Hebrews – Jesus our Great High Priest who has purified us from sin. The prophets by their preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit could convict sinners of their sin… but they could not atone for sin. Jesus, God’s Son has atoned for your sin! All of it! In Him, you are clean and forgiven and pure in God’s sight! What’s the proof of that? How can you know that for sure? Because of the seventh and final assertion about Christ in our passage.
7. “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” When Jesus finished his work of purging away our sins by the offering of his own body and blood, He went to heaven and sat down. Later in this book there will be so much about the earthly worship house, the tabernacle, and the priests who served there. One thing we’ll see is that the tabernacle had no chairs, and the priests never sat down in the tabernacle. That’s because they could never really remove sin. Jesus removed your sin, and with that work finished, he sat down at God’s right hand.
There you have it-- the prologue to the most majestic book of Scripture, and in the space of a few verses 7 awesome reasons that Jesus is superior to the prophets. You think about the prophets – they were pretty good, pretty impressive people! Moses gave us the Ten Commandments. Elijah called down fire from heaven. Ezekiel saw the vision of God’s chariot, the wheel within the wheel. But Jesus fulfilled the Ten Commandments. Jesus went through the fires of God’s judgment, taking on himself God’s wrath against sin. Jesus ascended into heaven and took his rightful place on God’s throne.
Who are you listening to? God says – “Jesus Christ is my Son. And He is the last word I have to speak. Listen to Him.”
Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert. Barnes on the New Testament: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Print.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews: the English Text with Introd., Exposition, and Notes. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1978. Print.
Calvin, John. Calvin's Commentaries. Trans. John Owen. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989. Print.
Guthrie, George H. Hebrews: the NIV Application Commentary ; from Biblical Text ... to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids (Mich.): W.B. Eerdmans, 1990. Print.
Lane, William L. Hebrews: a Call to Commitment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988. Print.
O'Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2010. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident : Live by Faith, Not Be Sight : NT Commentary, Hebrews. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009. Print.

SACRAMENTS, part 4 (The Lord's Supper)

2011-08-29T11:34:00.002-04:00

“TAKING THE LORD’S SUPPER IN A WORTHY MANNER”
Sacraments, part 4
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Rev. Grady Davidson 082811

As many of you know, in my family we’re in the process of teaching a teenager to drive a car (so far, so good). Looking at driving from the passenger’s seat, and for the first time in my life trying to teach driving to someone else, has forced me to re-think all the myriad of things that go into driving that 3000 pound missile down the road. In the process I’ve been reminded that safe driving really all boils down to being alert and attentive and aware of where you are, and what you’re doing, and what’s going on in the environment around you. In particular, a good driver is constantly checking the driver’s side mirror, the passenger side mirror, and the rear-view mirror – all the while keeping focused on the road ahead through the windshield. As my daughter is learning to drive above all else I just want her to learn to be vigilantly aware of what’s going on around her. (As my Dad would say, “You’ve got to drive for the other guy too!”)
Today we’re coming back to our study in God’s Word on the Lord’s Supper – this sign and seal of God’s covenant of grace. Last week we saw the Lord’s Supper as an event of remembrance and of anticipation as our spirits are fed on the life of Jesus Christ at His Table. Today we’re talking about preparation to come to the Lord’s Table. As I studied this text that is the classic passage of scripture on being prepared to come to the Lord’s Table and taking it in a worthy manner, it occurred to me that preparing yourself to dine at the Lord’s Supper is a lot like a safe driver constantly checking her mirrors. In particular there are four questions of self-examination that the Bible teaches we should always ask before coming to the Table (in your bulletin):
1. Am I a baptized, born again Christian?
2. Am I being considerate of others in the Body of Christ?
3. Have I properly examined my own life?
4. Am I aware of the presence of Christ at the Lord’s Supper?
(I’m going to teach briefly on each of those.)
But before digging in, I want to address some of the extremes that we sometimes see with regard to taking the Lord’s Supper. These are extremes which don’t honor the Lord, and miss the point of the Table; and we need to avoid.
On the one end of things, some folk come to this table and take the Lord’s Supper with the same attitude and expression on the face that they would have when they’re in a funeral receiving line, viewing a dead body. Friends, the Lord’s Supper isn’t a funeral visitation. There’s nothing morbid about this sacrament. If you lean in that direction, then you would do well to remember that precious name for the sacrament which the Episcopal Church uses: the “eucharist,” a table of “thanksgiving.” When I administer the Lord’s Supper, I always try to mention especially that this is His Table, and Jesus is the Host. You dishonor your host, to come to his table with a glum face!
Still others we observe are gripped with a paralyzing fear that keeps them from participating in the Lord’s Supper. They take vv. 28, 29 of our text very seriously (to examine themselves). The result is that they become consumed with spiritual naval-gazing, so that they’re focused so much on their own sin, that they entirely miss the message of the Table – which is the broken body and the shed blood of Christ –given FOR SINNERS. To walk away from the sacrament with the seemingly pious excuse, “I’m not good enough,” is an insult to Jesus Christ who died for you, and earnestly desires to have the honor of your presence at his table!
A third extreme: those who are totally unprepared and they receive the Lord’s Supper the same way they’d pick up a Happy Meal in the drive through at McDonalds.
Enough chitchat.
The first place a good driver should look when starting up the car is through the windshield. (Is there another car or a pedestrian or a trashcan in front of the car?)
Before receiving the Lord’s Supper, the windshield to check out before proceeding forward is the question: Am I a baptized, born again Christian? Have you received Christ into your life as your Savior and your Lord, trusting Him and Him alone for your salvation? Do you believe that He died on the Cross for you and for your sins? And hearing the good news about Jesus, have you responded to that message with faith, with repentance, and with public profession of your faith? If not, then you are not a Christian. You are not a member of God’s family. You are an outsider to God’s family, and the Lord does not invite you to come to His Table. If you are not certain of your salvation, then don’t despair. You can receive Jesus Christ today, before this service is over! There is no reason for anyone to leave this sanctuary and go home dead in their trespasses and sins. I urge you, please, believe in Jesus Christ, surrendering to Him right now!
But notice also the phrasing of the question: Am I a baptized, born again Christian? Perhaps you believe in Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit has given you assurance of your salvation. You love Jesus; you trust in Him – and yet you’ve never been baptized. We ask that you receive the sacrament of baptism first, which is the sign of your coming in to God’s family. Baptism is to be administered once; after that you will come regularly to the Lord’s Table to receive His grace and strength and for the renewing of your faith.
Second question:
Am I being considerate of others in the Body of Christ? I think of this question as the driver’s side mirror. You want to check that mirror for traffic before pulling out!
The Corinthian Christians (to whom the Apostle wrote in our text) did everything with gusto, and that certainly included the way they took the Lord’s Supper. Here’s the situation that Paul was addressing in these verses. The first thing that you have to understand is that the Corinthians were in the habit of celebrating the Lord’s Supper as a fully cooked, “four course” dinner. The second thing that you have to understand by way of background is that in the Corinthian congregation there were a number of very wealthy, influential folk; but many extremely poor people – slaves, dock workers, laborers. For the poor in the church, coming to the Lord’s Supper meant a rare opportunity to get a decent meal. But the wealthy people, who had more leisure in their schedules, were arriving early and eating everything (and some even becoming intoxicated)… then when the poor showed up, there was nothing left. Paul asks, “What are you doing? Do you despise one another? Are you intentionally humiliating the needy people in the congregation?” The offense of the situation was double-edged. The rich were insulting the poor at the Table; but what’s more, and worse, is that by insulting those whom the Lord invites to His feast, they were insulting the LORD himself (because he’s the host!)
To look at it from another perspective: the one loaf speaks to us of our unity in Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 10:17, “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” If there’s something wrong between you and another believer (especially if it’s someone in our church family), then it is paramount that you apologize and ask forgiveness, or as the case may be, extend forgiveness to your brother or sister before coming to the Table.
Furthermore, this text calls to our attention that we should be aware and attentive concerning what other people are going through. If somebody’s broke and needs some help with grocery money; or someone’s sick and hurting, or grieving or has any other kind of known, identified need… then it behooves us NOT to come to the Table until we have first given assistance to our brother or sister in Christ. We can’t (on the one hand) claim to be a part of the Body of Christ by coming and taking from the one loaf; and yet (on the other hand) overlook obvious needs within the Body (see ch. 12!)
So before coming to the Table we need to step back and take a look at our relationships, especially our relationships with one another.
Question three: Have I properly examined my own life? This is the rear-view mirror, the one which if you tilt your head just right, you can see yourself in the reflection!
(see vv. 27-28 in the text; v. 27, lit., you murder the Lord)
This is where we confess our sin, turn away from it and believe the gospel that Jesus died for that sin. This is where we ask the Holy Spirit to probe into our hearts and bring to light anything that stands between us and the Lord. The question isn’t, “Have I sinned in the past week or past month, since taking the Lord’s Supper?” Of course you have! The question is, “Right now, this moment, knowing my sin, do I truly believe in Jesus? Right now, do I truly want His supernatural life to be strengthened within me for that ongoing battle with the world, the flesh and the devil?” If you can answer that question, “YES!,” then you have every reason to come to the Table without fear or hesitation. At this point I want to return to what I said earlier about those who are so introspective and so worried about sin in their lives that they rarely if ever take communion. Listen – the Lord invites you to His table! If you feel unworthy, that is just to say that you have a good and sober estimation of yourself. But don’t miss the gospel, that Christ is worthy, and that in Christ you are loved, accepted, forgiven and valuable. That is the message of this Table!
I am growing to love the Westminster Larger Catechism. It’s so thoughtful and so pastoral. And one of the Larger Catechism questions deals with this very issue:
Q. 172. MAY ONE WHO DOUBTS OF HIS BEING IN CHRIST, OR OF HIS DUE PREPARATION, COME TO THE LORD'S SUPPER?
A. One who doubts of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof; and in God's account has it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: in which case (because promises are made, and this sacrament is appointed, for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians) he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord's Supper, that he may be further strengthened.
Translation: If you have doubts about your level of preparation for the Table, then most likely the best thing you can do is come on and participate in the Lord’s Supper, so that Christ can meet you there and strengthen your faith!
Question four:
Am I aware of the presence of Christ at the Lord’s Supper? (see v. 29) There’s some debate about this verse. Some people (a majority?) believe that recognizing the Lord’s body and blood has to do with the seriousness of the elements of bread and wine, knowing that Christ is truly and spiritually presented to us in the elements. Other people argue about this verse, that recognizing the “body” has to do with question #2 on your outline; that is, “am I aware of other Christians and my relationship with them?”
Personally, I think the verse is big enough to capture both those meanings. But if nothing else, there’s a warning here that when we take the bread and take the cup in our hands, that we are drawing as near to Jesus Christ as we will ever be this side of eternity (and what a sobering thought!). Jesus Christ is truly present by His Spirit in the bread and the wine. This is why covenant children who have been baptized, but have not yet been examined by the Elders and professed their faith, should not take the Sacrament. We want to see that a child or a new believer can explain the meaning of the sacrament in his or her own words before he or she is permitted to come to the Lord’s Table.
I’m not dwelling on it, but notice that Paul (v. 30 ff) says that God had disciplined many of the Christians in Corinth through physical sickness and even death because they were failing to recognize the body of the Lord.
Conclusion: Kistemaker, “Practical Considerations,” 395-396.

SACRAMENTS, part 3 (The Lord's Supper)

2011-08-24T10:08:00.001-04:00

“THE LORD’S SUPPER – REMEMBRANCE & ANTICIPATION”
Sacraments, part 3
Mark 14:12-26
Rev. Grady Davidson 082111
You’ll see from the title of the message in your worship service bulletin that we’re continuing our study of the sacraments of the Church, these two “holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace” (WCF 27.1). We recognize two and only two sacraments, that of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, because these two simple ordinances, using the common, simple household elements of water and bread and wine, were ordained by Christ Himself. (Other traditions add as many as 5 other ceremonies or rituals to the list of sacraments, but only these two were instituted by Jesus Christ Himself; for that reason we recognize these two and only these two.)
Today being “third Sunday” and our regularly scheduled week of celebration of the Lord’s Supper, this is a great time to begin studying this precious sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
This morning I want to keep it very simple, as the gospel story is very simple. With baptism, we saw that Jesus began with that rich spiritual heritage of circumcision as the sign and seal of the Holy Spirit upon the people of God. With that backdrop of circumcision, Jesus gives to His people baptism, the washing of water as the sign and seal which we now use, after the cross, as the sign that someone is entering into the visible church, the people of God.
Likewise, with the Lord’s Supper, we see in the gospels that Jesus began with the backdrop of the Passover Meal. On the night when the Lord saved Israel from out of Egypt, God sent the Angel of Death to destroy the firstborn of every family in Egypt; but the Israelites in obedience to God’s Word had slaughtered the Passover Lamb, painting the blood of that Lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their homes. Seeing that blood, the Angel of Death passed over the homes of God’s people.
In this beautiful and simple meal, Jesus is saying to the Disciples and saying to us, “Look to me. I am the Passover Lamb. It is my flesh that is torn (as by way of example I break this bread); it is my blood that is spilt (as the cup of wine is poured and passed among you).”
Certainly on that night, the disciples understood that the Lord was taking the familiar Passover Meal, and elevating it and transforming it… indeed, the Lord was fulfilling the very meaning of the Passover. The Passover for 100 generations had been pointing forward to what would happen on the Cross that very next day.
But there’s another OT story that Jesus had in mind. I don’t think the disciples yet realized it yet, but I think after the resurrection they connected the dots and saw it as part of the background of the Lord’s Supper (Hbs. 9, for example).
It’s the odd story of Exodus 24. It’s one of the most amazing of OT passages, and yet strangely it seems no one ever talks about it. God had just given the words of his covenant to his people, the words of the Ten Commandments. Moses was the mediator of that covenant. Moses read it to the people, the whole thing, and with one voice they said, “Yes, we will keep God’s covenant.” Then Moses took the blood of young bulls (fellowship offering) and sprinkled the blood on the people, saying: (v 8) “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Read Ex. 24.9-11)
Moses, and Aaron and the 70 elders went up on the mountain, and they saw God, and they didn’t die! And what’s more amazing, there with God they ate and drank a fellowship meal!
Brothers and sisters, hear the grace of God: “I want to be in fellowship with you! I want you to be a people under the blood of my Son, so that we can eat and drink together and that you can know me face to face!”
So Jesus (in direct reference to Ex. 24!), says (Mk. 14.24) “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many…” In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus, who is a better mediator than Moses; Jesus who is the mediator of a better covenant, is taking us into the very presence of God… we are eating and drinking and fellowshipping with God. Jesus is saying, “Disciples, remember when Moses took the 70 elders up on the mountain and they had a fellowship dinner with God? Guess who they were eating with? (Me!) and guess who you’re eating with! (with God!)!”
We come to holy ground when we come to this Table… we come into intimate fellowship with God when we come to this Table…We come not with cringing fear but with love and joy, because we’re people under the blood of Christ and sprinkled with the blood of Christ.
We’ve seen that it’s a Table of Remembrance. For the disciples at the Last Supper, they remembered the deliverance from Egypt and Jesus pointed them in the direction of remembering Moses on the mountain with the 70 elders. The disciples sat at the table with the new Moses, mediating a better covenant. And the disciples as it were, were the nucleus of the new people of God, not just from the Jews but with branches of all the gentile engrafted in with them. For us, it’s a table of remembrance of the Lord’s sacrifice of himself, as He was offered up as the true and final Passover Lamb.
But it’s also a table of Anticipation. (see v. 25)
Jesus said, “I won’t drink again until I drink it anew in the Kingdom of God.” Notice he didn’t declare that he would not need any food after the resurrection. In fact in the gospels there are several accounts of the Resurrected Lord eating with the disciples, to give proof of his resurrection.
But He does say that He won’t drink until that day when we all drink together at the great wedding banquet of the Lamb in the coming Kingdom. The Lord is “thirsty” for that day. He longs for that day. This Table, as we come to it, is a prelude to the big event! It’s not the event itself! The heavenly banquet in its fullness is yet to come!
So I conclude with this thought. We come and eat and drink. And we are spiritually strengthened and nourished as we feed upon Christ and receive His life into us by the work of His Spirit. We eat and drink with joy and delight; and yet this Table, far from satisfying us completely, whets our appetites for that which is to come. We’re not home yet.
Maybe you struggle with a besetting sin that you’ve prayed about and agonized over and you long to be free from it. This table promises that one day, that struggle will be OVER. Many struggle with problems at home, with family, with loved ones, with work and school. As you come to the Table today, may the Lord strengthen you for the battle this week… but may this Table also cause you to look ahead by faith, to the great Banquet that is to come. Maybe this morning, you’re just thirsty for joy in your life. You just want a taste of joy. May the LORD fill your cup! But may that filling increase your thirst for the cup which awaits at the great wedding feast of the Lamb.
Jesus, our King, is in Heaven today, seated at the Father’s right Hand. He is glorious. He is full of joy and bliss and He has all power committed to Him. He reigns supreme. And yet, there is a joy which even Jesus is denying himself; a joy which He awaits to have fulfilled… and that’s the joy of gathering all of us at His table where we will eat and drink and be truly satisfied by his presence; and He will eat and drink and be truly satisfied by our presence with Him forever.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

SACRAMENTS part 2: Who Should Be Baptized?

2011-08-15T11:31:00.003-04:00

“WHO SHOULD BE BAPTIZED?”
Sacraments, part 2
Genesis 17:1-14, 23-27 (p. 14)
Rev. Grady Davidson 081411
Last Sunday I began some teaching from God’s Word on “Baptism: A Fresh Look at an Ancient Topic.”
The title of today’s message is “Who Should be Baptized?”
If someone who has never been baptized puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ, trusting in Jesus and in Him alone for salvation, that person needs to be baptized. No matter what branch of the Christian faith you come from, there’s 100% agreement on that point. However, my purpose this morning is to present to you the Bible’s teaching on the administration of the sacrament of baptism to minor children, at home, under the authority and nurture and care of believing parents.
If you come to the service this morning with a strong commitment against baptizing the minor children of believers, then at least open up God’s Word with me and see for yourself why it is that Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Catholics, Orthodox, and indeed the vast majority of Christians throughout history have baptized the children of believers.
To dig in, a question: Does God look upon the children of believers and the children of unbelievers in the same way? In the sight of God, is there anything special about a child whose mom or dad or both love Jesus Christ and seek to follow Jesus Christ? The answer from Scripture is a resounding and encouraging, “Yes! God has a special, gracious, loving commitment to a child born to at least one believing parent!” (cf 1 Cor. 7:12-14 in this light)
As a Christian, and as a parent, this comes to me as a life-giving, hope-inspiring, encouraging truth. I can say with absolute certainty that the Living God has a special love for my kids! Believer in Jesus Christ, hear me: God has a special place in His heart for your children and grandchildren! Parents, never let up and never give up. Keep praying for them. Keep sharing God’s Word with them. God has a special love for your kids!
Let’s consider Abraham in this matter. Turn back a page or two to Genesis 15:6, one of the most important of verses in the Old Testament, “Abraham believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” In Romans chapter 4 the Apostle points out this scripture to prove the case that Abraham was saved (justified before God, brought into a right relationship with God) through his faith. This man who lived centuries before Jesus Christ was saved in the same way that you are saved, by faith in God. Abraham trusted in God, believing that somehow, someway, God would remove his guilt and take away his sin. Abraham looked to God for his salvation – that’s faith. It’s by faith that Abraham was saved, it’s by faith that you can be saved too.
But then we come to chapter 17, and here we see that God gives to Abraham a sign, a symbol of this new relationship that Abraham had with God. We expect signs. We understand their importance. I’m wearing a wedding ring which is a sign of my covenant of marriage with my wife. How many sailors through the years have had an anchor tattooed to the arm as a sign that they belong to the Navy. Likewise, God gave Abraham a sign for this new relationship of faith between God and Abraham – that sign was circumcision, the cutting away of the flesh. In the ancient world, the male foreskin was considered unclean, impure. Circumcision as a simple surgical act was about the cutting away of impurity. But in the same way that we talked about baptism last week (an outward sign of an inward reality), likewise circumcision was an outward sign of an inward, invisible, spiritual reality—spiritual cleansing, the removal of sin, washing away of sins. (Consider Jer. 9:26, Ezekiel 44:7, the circumcision of the heart.)
Five really quick points to be made about circumcision:
1) Abraham wasn’t saved by circumcision; he was saved by faith (Gen. 15.6, Rom. 4)
2) Circumcision was an outward sign of an inward reality, i.e., spiritual cleansing (Titus 3:5-6)
3) Circumcision was not for Abraham only, but for his entire household (15.26-27, and when Isaac was born, Isaac was circumcised on the 8th day of his life, 21.4) (“household” – we’re going to see it again in the NT)
4) Circumcision was given to Abraham to be a perpetual sign, passed on from generation to generation, to all of Abraham’s descendants (17:7)
5) In the Old Testament era, the time before Christ whenever someone converted from paganism and unbelief, placing their faith in the God of Abraham, they were initiated into that faith by…? Circumcision.
That was Abraham. Let’s talk about us now.
1) Abraham was saved by faith. How are we saved? By faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ! (Ephesians 2:8-9)
2) God gave to Abraham an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible reality. For Abraham it was circumcision; to us, Jesus has given baptism as the outward sign of the inward reality of the washing away of sin. Remember last week – baptism symbolizes the promise of God the Father, our spiritual union with Christ the Son, and the life-giving, cleansing, renewing power of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul calls baptism, “the circumcision of Christ” (Colossians 2:11-12).
3) We saw that circumcision was not for Abraham only, but for his entire household! Should we expect any less under the New Covenant? The New Covenant is in every way more gracious than the Old Covenant. Is it reasonable for a single minute to think that God would give the sign of the old covenant to Abraham and to his entire family, but that the sign of the new covenant is just for mom or dad, but not for the kids? Of course that makes no sense.
By one scholar’s counting, there are ten recorded instances of Christian baptism in the New Testament beginning with Acts 2; and of those ten, at least five (half!) are baptisms of families and even of “households” (a slightly larger and more inclusive grouping than even families
a) Acts 2:38-41, “the promise is for you and for your children…”
b) Acts 10:24, 27, 48, the baptism of the Roman centurion Cornelius along with all his relatives and all his close friends
c) Acts 16:31-34, the Philippian jailer, and his entire family are baptized
d) Acts 18:8 the baptism of Crispus and his entire household
e) 1 Cor. 1:16, the baptism of the household of Stephanas
To say “They never baptized believers’ children in the New Testament” is to say that in none of these five cases there were any kids around. And for me, that is a stretch of the imagination!
4) We saw that circumcision was given to Abraham as a perpetual sign, to be passed down from generation to generation. Peter says the same thing of baptism in Acts 2:39.
5) In the OT era, when someone converted to the God of Abraham, he was circumcised; in the NT era, when someone converts to the God of Abraham, he or she is baptized.
All this is to make the point that the OT sacrament of circumcision stands behind baptism. In both cases, God is declaring that he has a special love for and a special interest in the children (descendants) of believers.
Sometimes a parent will object, “But isn’t it better to wait until a young person professes faith in Jesus to have him / her baptized?” The Bible’s answer is, “No, that’s NOT better. What is better is for that child to be raised from infancy, from the formation of her earliest memories knowing that she is a child under the promise of God the Father, in union with God the Son, washed, cleansed, renewed by the Holy Spirit. What is better is for that parent to teach his child, ‘Son, I’m raising you from the crib as a Christian. If you grow up and turn away from faith in Jesus, then you are denying the person you really are.’”
Turn back with me to Acts 2 one more time (v. 38, 40, “save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”)
As families came forward together to the Apostles, repenting of their sins and being baptized, please don’t miss the urgency of the situation. Dads and moms knew that Jesus Christ, the Messiah is returning at any moment to judge the living and the dead and in responding to the message, they dared not neglect their kids!
I close with a story.
Their family name was Phuong. As you might recognize, they were Vietnamese, and they were counted among the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who fled their country under oppressive Communist rule in the 70s and 80s. They crowded onto flimflam little boats, making their way to Thailand where they were holed up in refugee camps. News of the plight of the Vietnamese boat people kept filtering to the US, and there were various programs to allow some of the boat people to immigrate to the States. I was too young to know all the details, but Mr. Phuong was a tailor, and a men’s clothing store in my hometown of Bluefield needed a tailor; and somehow it worked out that my home church of Westminster Presbyterian sponsored the Phuong family –lined up the job for Mr. Phuong, provided a house, and transportation, and clothing, and adopted the Phuongs to help them become American citizens. Some of my fondest childhood memories are memories of my family working with the Phuongs (very large Vietnamese family!) for those 3-4 years. When they arrived, they didn’t know beans about American life and culture. They showed up with only sandals on their feet. Somebody from the church took all the kids to buy shoes, and the kids were so proud of their shoes that they insisted on sleeping in them! They had a lot to learn, but now they were Americans. They were an American family.
You know what DIDN’T happen? When word came to the refugee camp that there was an opening for a Vietnamese tailor of Mr. Phuong’s qualifications, he didn’t say to his wife, “Honey, let’s you and me and the older kids go on to America, but let’s leave behind the little kids who are too young to understand what it’s all about. Hai and Thuy are quite young; they can stay here in the camp in Thailand, and when they’re 12 or 13 years old, then we’ll let them decide if they want to be Americans or not.”
No I wasn’t there, but I can picture the scene as it must have really happened!: Kids, we’re going to America! They were jumping for joy and yelling for joy. Kids, none of us have been there before, but we’re going there together! We’re getting out of this cesspool; we’re saved; we’re going to our new home!
How good of God that he says to us dads and moms, come on in to the family of God, take the family name by the sign and seal of baptism – and bring the kids when you come!
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

BAPTISM: A FRESH LOOK AT AN ANCIENT TOPIC (SACRAMENTS part 1)

2011-08-08T09:53:00.001-04:00

"Baptism of Christ," del Verrocchio, ca 1472

“BAPTISM: A FRESH LOOK AT AN ANCIENT TOPIC”
Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 2:37-41
Rev. Grady Davidson 080711

Did you hear about the lady who wanted to have her kittens baptized? It seems a lady’s cat had given birth to a litter of kittens. She was Presbyterian, and she went to her pastor to inquire about having the kittens baptized. He said “Lady, I’m sorry; I can’t do that; there’s just no way I’m going to baptize your kittens.” She said, “Pastor, they’re God’s creatures; I love them like my own children; they’re like family to me. And besides, I came into some money recently, and I’m prepared to donate $50K in honor of the kittens to the church building fund.” He: “Well that changes everything: I didn’t realize they were Presbyterian kittens.”
Baptism: a fresh look at an ancient topic. As Christians it’s very important to know what we believe, and why we believe what we believe. This is especially true of the two sacraments of the Church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which we’re going to be looking at here on Sunday mornings for the next couple of weeks.
A couple of general observations to begin the series:
1) The sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper set apart / distinguish Christians (people who belong to Jesus) from the world. You can attend Church faithfully, and yet not belong to Jesus Christ (that is, you still belong to the world). You can pray and read your Bible, but that doesn’t set you apart from the world. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in an absolutely unique way are the visible, identifying marks of the people who belong to the One True God through His son Jesus.
2) From the earliest days of the Christian church, the church in every tradition (E Orthodox, RC, Reformed, Protestant) has placed a very high value on instructing new believers in the Bible’s teaching on the sacraments. In our own heritage as Presbyterian, Reformed Christians that whole body of teaching is summarized in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Out of the 107 Q&A’s in the WSC, 7 of them specifically concern baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Teaching on the sacraments is bedrock Christianity!
As we begin looking at the subject of baptism today, I want to ask you to do something that’s really, really hard for us. For a moment, would you try to forget everything you think you know about baptism, and let’s get a fresh look at this ancient topic. I know that some of you already have out your shovels and mattocks, marking your lines in the sand: “This is where I stand!” Just lay them down, and let’s go to God’s Word, and get a fresh look at an ancient topic.
The question for today: What does baptism mean? What is the significance, the meaning of baptism? Please don’t leap ahead to the question of “Who can be baptized?” We can’t answer that correctly, till we see what baptism means, anyway.
You have two texts from God’s Word open before you. First of all we have Matthew 28, that portion of God’s Word we call “the Great Commission.” We see in this passage that Jesus Christ in his commissioning of the disciples to go into all the world making disciples of every nation, includes that distinguishing sign and seal of baptism (v. 19) “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” If you want to know what baptism means, go to these very words of Christ himself – baptism is not in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior only; but in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In baptism, we’re enacting a drama, aren’t we? We’re touching something visible and tangible (water). In baptism God is activating our senses of sight and sound and touch and (?) smell as a sign (symbol?) of a spiritual truth, a spiritual reality. I think it’s safe to say that if we were to bring in a Buddhist or Hindu into our worship service, someone who knew nothing about the Christian faith, and that unbeliever witnessed a Christian baptism, he would say “It’s not just about the water… that water is a symbol pointing beyond itself to a greater truth. And that truth has to do with the Christian God who is Three-in-One; He is Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Then we move ahead to Acts 2. Here we witness the very first Christian baptisms taking place. Remember from the Crawford Sunday School class what is happening in this passage. Christ has ascended to heaven; after days of prayer the Holy Spirit fell upon the few disciples gathered praying in the upper room; they all then rushed out into the streets of Jerusalem, and Peter began to preach salvation in the Name of Jesus Christ (v. 36, his invitation).
(v. 37) The crowd’s question in response!
(v. 38 – 39). Peter’s reply… and (v. 41) the baptism of 3000 people that day. How were they baptized? As Jesus commanded that the disciples baptize in Matthew 28: “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
I want to suggest to you that the Bible teaches a 3-fold meaning or symbolism of baptism.
1) The Promise of God the Father,
2) Union with God the Son,
3) Regenerating Power of the Holy Spirit (brief outline in bulletin)
Remember I asked you to try and forget everything you think you already know about baptism and just come to the text with newly opened eyes this morning? Please do that with me right now. In v. 39 Peter speaks of the promise of God, which is for all those in the congregation who have heard his sermon; the promise of God extends to their children; the promise of God the Father extends beyond that immediate crowd to other people in other places far away by space and time even here to Chattanooga, TN, 2000 years later – in fact God’s promise of salvation extends outward like ripples through the water to whomever God might choose to call. The very first meaning and symbolism of baptism is that it’s connected with God’s gracious, loving promise of salvation! Baptism is first and foremost about God, and what God has promised to us, and what God has done through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is very much focused upon God and His gracious promises – not upon the faith of the person being baptized. Perhaps some of you come with the idea that baptism is foremost a testimony of the faith of the person being baptized – and I’ll be straight up and tell you I’m trying to dislodge that idea from your brain!
In this part of the country we have many Baptists (sometimes I think there are more Baptists than there are people). I love Baptists (they make great Presbyterians!), and I want to emphasize that our point of disagreement here is not an essential to the faith. We’re all saved by the same God, and we fellowship with each other here on earth and we’ll continue fellowshipping with one another in the age to come.
But here is the root of our disagreement: Baptists tend to look at the sacrament (they would say “ordinance”) of baptism as essentially being a testimony to the believer’s faith: “I’ve heard the gospel, I believe the gospel, and I’m coming to be baptized in response to the gospel.” But in Acts 2:38-39 (the very first recorded Christian baptism) the emphasis isn’t on the faith of the one being baptized: the emphasis, the symbolism is on God’s gracious promise of salvation! (Which by the way normally comes to us through families, v. 39!)
Many of us were raised with a very man-centered view of baptism. “It’s about me and my faith in Jesus.” Listen to me: I’m glad you have faith in Jesus! You won’t go to heaven without faith in Jesus! I’m all for it! But baptism isn’t about you and your faith. It’s about God and His promises!
Is there a place and time for publicly professing your faith in Jesus Christ? Yes! Absolutely! If you’ve never professed your faith in Christ, then get on it! Do it! Tell the world you believe in Jesus! If you’ve never been baptized, then at that time of professing your faith, you’ll be baptized… but (here’s the point) the meaning of your baptism is God’s promise… NOT your profession of faith which follows because of God’s promise.
So what is the first meaning of baptism? It’s an enactment, a drama speaking of the saving, life-giving, forgiving promises of God the Father.
The second meaning of baptism is our union with Christ, God the Son. (“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”)
Romans 6:3 asks, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” Baptism speaks of our being united with Christ in His suffering on Calvary and in his death and burial, so that as the Apostle Paul writes in another place, “I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live; nevertheless Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). Baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward, invisible reality that we are in Christ Jesus, through whom God fulfills all of those gracious promises. Our union with Christ means that what is “ours,” that is, our guilt, shame, iniquity, sin, becomes “his…”; and what is “his,” that is righteousness, his life, becomes “ours.”
And thirdly, baptism symbolizes the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. To “regenerate” means “to make that which is dead, alive,” to give new life. God the Father promises eternal life; God the Son purchases eternal life; God the Holy Spirit creates that new life within us. Baptism in a very special way is a sign and a seal of the Holy Spirit’s activity of creating life in our dead spirits. In John 3:5, Jesus says, “No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” When we enter this world as babies, we come in the midst of the flow of our mothers’ waters of pregnancy… likewise to be born into the Kingdom of God we must be born in the waters of the Spirit... a beautiful drama which we act out in Christian baptism.
Baptism is a sign and a seal of God’s covenant of grace. It speaks of the Promise of God the Father, Union with God the Son, and the Regenerating Power of the Holy Spirit. I go back to where I began: when you receive baptism, you’re being set apart unto God, separated from the world! By baptism you are admitted into the Body of Christ, the Church, God’s special people. On Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2:41) 3000 people entered the Church all at once! We’re amazed at the numbers of people who embraced the Promise of God that day. But I wonder, how many others listened to Peter and walked away? I wonder how many rejected the message outright; or scoffed at Peter; or promised they’d think about it and come back to it later?
There’s probably somebody hearing this message this morning who is saying, “But Pastor, you don’t absolutely have to be baptized to be saved, do you?” To which I say, “No, it’s not absolutely necessary. In a theoretical kind of way, a person might be born again of the Spirit of God, believing in Jesus Christ, and die in that condition without ever being baptized.” Our Confession of Faith says as much (28.5). But to that I ask, “Why would you want to do that? Why wouldn’t you want to be baptized in obedience to Christ and for your own sense of assurance of salvation?” Don’t be that person! Believe the promise of God and step into the family of God through the sacrament of baptism.
(A brief bulletin outline for the message)
1) The ______________ of God the Father,
2) Our ______________ with God the Son,
3) The ______________ Power of the Holy Spirit

THE GOD WHO PROVIDES

2011-08-01T09:47:00.002-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 23)
“THE GOD WHO PROVIDES”
Philippians 4:10-23 (p 1140)
Rev. Grady Davidson 073111

This morning as we finish up our study of Philippians—the secret of life—we focus our attention on verse 19: “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Say it with me! And say it to one another! Read God’s Word, cover to cover, and you will certainly find that Philippians 4:19 ranks among the most audacious, and stunning, and encouraging, and life-giving of promises made in the entire Bible. If you memorize one verse of scripture this year, make it Philippians 4:19!
First observation: “My God.” Paul claims a personal relationship with the Living God, the One who is able to meet all our needs in Christ! Paul is able to speak this Word of Promise with such confidence because Paul knows God! Paul has come to know the mind of God and the heart of God. So I want to start right there this morning. The God of the Apostle Paul; the God of the Epistle to the Philippians; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Can you truly say of Him that He is your God? Not just grandpa’s God or the preacher’s God or the Presbyterian’s God? Not just the God of the Sunday School classes of your childhood? Can you honestly say that He is your God? Do you truly know Him? Hold onto that question, and hold onto your answer to that question.
Second observation: The God of the Apostle (the God of the Bible) promises to meet all our needs out of His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Every good thing God does for His people; every prayer He answers; every need which God provides for, is provided out of God’s riches in Jesus Christ. God has no plan to provide for you or to hear and answer your prayer; God has no plan to be gracious and kind to you apart from Jesus Christ! God makes no provision for you to know Him apart from Jesus Christ! Any seeking after God (on your part) apart from Jesus Christ is futile and God makes no provision for us to know Him and to experience His blessing apart from Jesus. 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” As we approach God and seek His provision in our lives, and seek to claim His promises, the avenue He provides for us by which we come to Him is Jesus!
Third observation: When we think about God’s promise to provide for all our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus, keep in mind that the value of the promise (integrity of the promise made) depends upon the faithfulness (character) of the one making the promise. When you send a new congressman or senator to Nashville or Washington and he or she promises, “No new taxes!” then the wise voter takes that promise lightly and observes carefully what really happens in the months to come. If a panhandler approaches you in the street and hits you up for $10, and he says, “Man, I promise you, I’ll pay you back,” then of course you know it’s just part of the ritual, and you don’t really expect to see that $10 again. But when God says, “Child, I promise to meet all your needs according to my glorious riches in Jesus Christ,” we can believe that and cling to it, because He’s God, and He is love, and He has proven Himself faithful through the ages. This Book is the love story of God’s undying faithfulness to His people.
Now I ask you, “What do you really and truly need?” God promises to meet all our needs, not our greeds, not our wants, not our selfish desires. James writes in James 4 that we ask and do not receive because we ask with selfish motives that we might spend what we get on our pleasures. God is under no obligation to answer that kind of prayer. What do you really and truly need?
The Bible teaches us that what we need more than anything else is a substitute, someone who can go to God on our behalf! Friend, your greatest need isn’t a new job or a new boat; your greatest need is for someone to bear your guilt and sin for you. The Bible teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; and that the wages of sin is death. The story of the Bible is the story of God giving His Son to die as a substitute for sinners. That is our greatest need, and God meets that need in Christ.
This morning we read the story of Abraham & Isaac going up to Mount Moriah (Genesis 22). God had given Abraham this precious boy, a son, and then God said, “Abraham, now I want you to go and offer Isaac, your son whom you love, as a sacrifice to me.” And we read this heart-breaking story of little Isaac carrying the wood for the fire on his own shoulders: “Father, we have the fire, and we have the wood, but where’ s the sacrificial lamb?” Abraham: “God will provide the lamb.” God waited until the very last second, when the knife was raised in the air. He stopped Abraham, saying, “Now I know that you fear me, for you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
They looked in the thicket, and a ram was caught by its horns. They offered the ram in worship, and they called that place “The Lord will provide.” Abraham lived many years before Jesus Christ, but through that event on Mount Moriah, God was saying something about His love for us and the cost to Him to provide for our salvation. He was saying, “Abraham, this is what it’s going to cost ME. Abraham, I tested you in your willingness to slaughter your own son, because that’s what it’s going to cost ME.”
So it is that on the Cross, God offered up His son, a sacrifice, a substitute for your sins. Therefore, Paul can write the words, “My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
INVITATION – Do you know God as “My God”? As your Heavenly Father?
Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior?
Invitation to receive Christ.

THE APOSTLE WHO FOUND CONTENTMENT

2011-08-01T09:46:00.000-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 22)
“THE APOSTLE WHO FOUND CONTENTMENT”
Philippians 4:10-20 (p 1140)
Rev. Grady Davidson 072411
Many of you have been here with me through these last six months as we’ve journeyed through Paul’s letter to the Philippians; if you have been a part of this series then I think you’ll agree with me that part of the appeal of Paul’s letter to the Philippians is that it’s so very personal. Here we get to know the Apostle Paul in the most wretched and miserable of circumstances : he’s under house arrest in Rome, his Christian brothers and sisters in Rome have rejected him and his ministry; for that matter he had enemies all across the world who had sworn to pursue him to death; when he goes to sleep at night he most certainly has visions of his head on the chopping block with the executioner’s ax lifted above him, he’s cautiously optimistic that he’s going to be pardoned and released, but that’s far from a certainty. In the meantime he can’t work to make money, but he still has bills to pay, because prisoners under house arrest as he was had to provide for their own needs.
In this letter we get to know Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, when he was in a really tight place. It’s when the tea bag is plunged into boiling water that we find out what flavor the tea is. What we find in the soul of the Apostle Paul is so beautiful and lovely…
(v. 11) “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances…”
(v. 12-13) “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation….” How is this possible? How is this supernatural contentedness attained? Because (v 13) we can do everything through Christ who gives us strength!
Remember what’s going on: Epaphroditus has come from Philippi to bring a message of love and concern to the Apostle; he also brings a cash gift to help provide for Paul’s day to day needs. So Paul faces a conundrum: On the one hand he wants to tell his friends in Philippi how grateful he is that they remembered him; but on the other hand he doesn’t want to come across as if he’s dropping a hint that he wants them to send more money. You understand the problem. If you’ve ever had somebody do something really nice and totally unexpected for you, then you want to thank them, but you want to be careful so as not to come across as being manipulative asking for even more!
So Paul embraces this opportunity and makes it a teaching moment for the young Christians in Philippi: In essence he says, “Thank you for the gift; but I want you to know that gift or no gift; acquittal or condemnation at the trial; food on the table, or empty stomach; rattling chain connected to a 6 foot soldier, or sandaled feet skipping gaily down the street…. Whatever comes my way, I have learned to be content in the Lord Jesus Christ, for I have learned the secret of life, that I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”
For most of us, most of the time, Jesus is our bubble gum machine. We peer into that glass orb of sugary gooey goodness, we pop in a quarter, turn the dial, and out comes the promised treat. So we really wanted cherry, but got lime: that’s OK, Jesus knows best, we can handle that.
We say to ourselves, we say to Him, we say to one another: “Yes, praise the Lord, Jesus is all I want, He is all I need; just this past week I went to church and said my prayers, and He just blessed me so much….”
But the time comes when Jesus wants us to love him, not because He takes such good care of us; but just because He is our Lord, and our Friend. And (I hope the illustration makes sense to you!) the time comes when we do life the way we think Jesus expects us to (we go to church, say our prayers, and read out Bibles and try not to cuss as much or drink as much)... We put that quarter into the machine, twist the handle, and the coin gets stuck, and no gum ball comes out beneath. We can’t land the job; or the marriage fails; or the kid gets on drugs; or the house goes back to the bank or the cancer that was in remission pops back up again.
The Apostle Paul is saying to us, “I’ve been down that road! I’ve been out to the edge of the cliff and felt my feet slipping on the loose gravel and I didn’t know if Jesus was going to pull me back up or let me go. But I’ve come to the place where I can take on any challenge; I’ve come to the place where I can do ‘with’ or do ‘without’; I’ve come to the place where circumstances no longer have any power over me: I have learned to be content in Jesus Christ. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”
Are you content in Jesus Christ? Have you learned / are you learning deep in your spirit to be content in Jesus Christ, even if it seems that all the blessings are gone?
Let me show you the definition of contentment in Jesus Christ in this passage. Contentment means three things.
1) (v 11) Contentment is the ability to bear all things / accept all things / circumstances
2) (v 13) Contentment is the strength to do all things through Christ
3) (v 18) Contentment is having all things necessary
Notice also that Paul writes about being a student in God’s school of contentment. (v. 11) “I have learned to be content.” The word in the Gk means “to learn by experience.” The Lord Jesus has trained the heart of Paul through various experiences and hardships and seasons of life. He has emerged from that schooling having learned contentment. He wasn’t born with it, and neither are we.
Also look at verse 12, “I have learned the secret of being content…” Paul uses a unique phrase there that means “to be initiated into a secret.” The pagan religions of that day often had secret initiation ceremonies by which new people were confirmed in the particular cult. (Mithras, e.g.). “It’s kind of like that. Discovering contentment in Jesus Christ is a secret discovered only by the initiated few who are willing to go through the trials and pains of Christ’s school of contentment.”
Here in America we tend to be a very discontented people. Businesses spend billions in advertising to keep us restless and discontented and always wanting something new and different. We have a saying, “The grass is greener (where?) on the other side of the fence.” It’s not. If you climb over the fence you still haven’t dealt with the real issue: your own restless, discontented, squirming soul. Wherever you go, there you are! So maybe you crawl over the fence. You claim that greener grass. I can tell you what will happen: Jesus, who loves you for who you are; and He wants you to love him, for who He is… will withhold the rain and send some miserably hot dry days and turn that green grass into crunchy brown weeds between your toes. It’s all part of his school of contentment!
Read – “The Parable” in Larry Crabb’s Shattered Dreams, pp. 9-13.
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.

Crabb, Lawrence J. "The Parable." Shattered Dreams: God's Unexpected Pathway to Joy. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook, 2002. 9-13.

Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print

Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

"THE CHURCH THAT REMEMBERED"

2011-07-17T17:55:00.000-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 21)
“THE CHURCH THAT REMEMBERED”
Philippians 4:10- 20
Rev. Grady Davidson 071711
Introduction to the text – We’ll be studying this passage from three different viewpoints in the next three weeks. 1) The church that remembered, 2) The apostle who found contentment, 3) The God who provides.
This morning our theme is “the church that remembered.”
Isn’t it wonderful to be remembered? I’m sure that you can think of times in your life when you felt as if you had completely slid off the radar screen of the rest of the world. Maybe you were in a time of personal crisis or deep need of some nature. And perhaps there were people who knew about your situation, but at the same time it seemed as if no one was listening and no one cared.
But then one day when you were feeling especially despondent and lonely and broken in your spirit, the phone rang, and on the other end of the line you heard the familiar voice of a dear loved one: “I’ve been thinking about you this week. How are you doing? Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do for you? Would you like to get together for dinner? How can I encourage you today?” Indeed, it can be very painful to be forgotten; it’s wonderful to be remembered!
The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is our sympathetic Great High Priest, and that He has been tested and tried and gone through agonizing pain of body, mind and spirit to the far limits of human endurance. Because He suffered, the Lord understands our loneliness and pain and sorrow. The Lord shares in our sorrows, and He does so with a compassionate and understanding heart (Hbs. 4.14-15). But here’s the thing I want us to remember this morning: one of the primary ways in which the Lord communicates His love and grace and compassion and mercy and care for us, is through our ministry, one to another! Very often, He chooses to “remember” through the means of our “remembering” one another. We are the Body of Christ. We are linked to one another within Christ’s body even as muscle and sinew and bone are intimately connected to one another (1 Cor. 12.12ff). The way that Christ loves to love us, is by compelling us to love one another (John 13.34-35). We do that “loving” through remembering one another and caring for one another in visible, tangible, practical ways. It’s wonderful to be remembered!
As I bring this message, I want you to be working on something in the back of your mind. Be asking yourself, and the Lord, if there’s anyone you might have forgotten, who needs to be remembered this week. In specific, I’m asking the Holy Spirit to help you remember three sorts of people today: 1) that you think of a missionary or other Christian worker, who like the Apostle Paul in our passage is serving somewhere in the far reaches of the Kingdom, and perhaps they just need a letter or an email or a financial gift so that you can tell them that you remember them; 2) Remember someone who (perhaps even years ago) helped introduce you to Christ and to disciple you and grow you in your relationship with Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul led the Philippians to Jesus, and they remembered him for it. Other churches forgot; the Philippians didn’t forget. 3) Be remembering someone who is on the fringe of your life, maybe in the church family, maybe at work or at school, who tends to be forgotten, and this week let him or her know that you remember.
A little bit of Bible teaching: The epistle to the Philippians is essentially a “thank you” note. Paul, who is in prison in Rome (Acts 28) has received a surprise visit from Epaphroditus, a member of the Philippian church 700 miles away. Epaphroditus has shown up to visit Paul as a representative of the Philippian congregation to say, “Paul, we remember you, and we’re concerned for you, and Paul, our church took up a love offering to help provide for your food and clothing and to pay the rent while you’re here in Rome under house arrest.” The Apostle Paul is completely bowled over by this expression of love and generosity from the Body of Christ. Here in the second half of chapter 4, he’s saying, “Church, thank you so much for thinking of me; thank you for remembering.”
With your Bibles open in front of you, let me point out four marks of the church that remembered – 1) their history of generosity, 2) their felt sense of partnership with the Apostle, 3) their renewed concern, 4) their powerful motivation for remembering.
THE PHILIPPIANS’ HISTORY OF GENEROSITY (vv. 15, 16). When we read the story of Paul and the Philippians in the Book of Acts, we learn that after he left Philippi (Acts 16), that the next point in his missionary journey was Thessalonica (Acts 17). That’s what he writes about in v. 16 in our text.
At this point the Philippian church was a congregation of infant Christians. They had just recently come to know Jesus Christ, and yet the Apostle comments that “again and again” financial gifts (little acts of remembrance) kept flowing in during his time of ministry in Thessalonica. But then the story of the book of Acts tells that under great pressure, the Apostle had to leave Thessalonica, and indeed he left the Province of Macedonia, going into the Province of Achaia (ministry in Athens, and in Corinth). And in v. 15 of our text, he notes that by that time in his missionary journey there wasn’t a single church supporting him and his work, except the Philippians only. The Philippians had a history of generosity with the Apostle. They showed a proven track record of remembering their beloved Apostle, even when others had forgotten. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 11.8-9, the Apostle Paul writes about that period from another angle. There, he writes to the Corinthian Christians – “while I was with you Corinthians, I robbed the Philippians so that I could minister to you.” The Philippians had a history of generosity.
THEIR FELT SENSE OF PARTNERSHIP WITH THE APOSTLE. The Philippians remembered the Apostle, and expressed their care for him and for his ministry, because they recognized that they were partners with him in his missionary labors. He was called to go; they were called to send. He writes about that in 1.5, “your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,” and again in today’s text (v. 15) he speaks of their partnership in the matter of giving and receiving (a term from accounting – the Philippians give, and he receives!)
But as you consider their felt sense of partnership, notice also v. 14, “yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.”
Listen to me: in the Body of Christ, there are many who forget, but a few who remember. Those who remember are those who share in others’ troubles. “Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.”
As you do your own remembering today (missionaries and Christian workers in the far reaches of the Kingdom; teachers and pastors who have helped you personally to know Christ; and someone who is overlooked and forgotten who is nearby), take time to share in their troubles. If they weep, weep with them. If they have fears and worries, take time to listen to them. If they have burdens and needs, let them know that you care and want to understand.
We’re looking at the marks of the church that remembered. We’ve noted the Philippians’ history of generosity; their sense of partnership with the Apostle; and third we note…
THEIR RENEWED CONCERN (v. 10). The Apostle knows that the Philippians had cared for him all along; it’s just that now at last with the slow communications back and forth across the Mediterranean world, they know where he is and they’ve been able to catch up with him through Epaphroditus (v. 18). And friends, this is the simple message of the text today. I’m asking you to remember that we are the body of Christ, and to do nothing more and nothing less than to renew your concern for some people as the Holy Spirit lays them on your heart this morning. Just because someone has fallen off your radar in the past, doesn’t mean you can’t remember them in a meaningful, life-giving way this week. That leads us to one more observation about the church that remembered –
THEIR POWERFUL MOTIVATION FOR REMEMBERING. Let’s just get it out there and say it – one of the main ways the Philippians showed that they remembered Paul was by sending him financial support. These verses have a lot to teach about giving. However, their financial gift is just one dimension of their much larger love and care for their missionary the Apostle Paul. They didn’t just send a check in the mail; they sent Epaphroditus who put his arms around Paul’s neck and hugged him and brought love from his church to Paul.
So I ask, what is our motivation to care and to love and to remember? Did the Philippians secretly hope that Paul would write a thank-you note which named them and recorded their generosity and would end up in the Christian New Testament? (Absolutely not.) Look at v. 17 (review). “I’m not hitting you up for more money; the Lord is taking care of me. Rather, I’m thrilled at your giving, because it’s credited to your account.” (Where? In heaven!) He says it again in v. 18b. (review)
The Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, who is Lord and King and Sovereign over the Church, gets goose flesh when His people reach out to one another and show that we remember one another. In his record book, he takes note, “Ah! My children in Philippi have remembered my child Paul in Rome. I like that, and when my children in Philippi come home to heaven I’m going to make sure that it’s proclaimed before the whole universe that they remembered Paul.” Another little detail about this remembering which makes it all the more precious is that the Philippian Christians were very poor (2 Cor. 8.1-4). But even out of their poverty, they were the church that remembered.
May it be the same with each one of us this morning. I’m asking you to remember three individuals from your world and from your life – (1) a missionary or other worker serving in the far reaches of Christ’s Kingdom; (2) a Christian worker who helped you personally to know Jesus better; (3) and third, someone who is nearby but tends to be forgotten. Your remembering might mean that you send some money; it might mean a phone call or a handwritten card. That’s between you and the Lord.
Whoever, and whatever, know this: that the Lord takes note, and that before Him your “remembering” is a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to the Lord (v. 18). In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.

Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print

Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

THE NATION WHICH REACHES OUT FOR GOD

2011-07-05T09:49:00.000-04:00

“THE NATION WHICH REACHES OUT FOR GOD”

Independence Day message

Acts 17:16-34

Rev. Grady Davidson 070311

On this occasion of celebrating the 235th birthday of our nation, it’s a great chance to step back, and as best we can from God’s Word, to get His perspective on what it means to be a nation. So this morning, I want to begin with just one question: What is God’s purpose in establishing the nations? Have you ever paused to consider that question? Is the birth and rise and fall of the nations a purely random and meaningless event? Or is something bigger and grander and more dramatic actually at stake as we consider the birth and the rise of this great nation?

So: what is God’s purpose for establishing the nations?

From all of scripture this passage speaks especially clearly to that very question. Today’s scripture text is the Apostle Paul preaching to a gathering of sophisticated intellectuals in that ancient city of Athens, Greece. He’s preaching at the Areopagus, a place the Greeks had named for Ares, their god of war; but it was more importantly a place they used for public debate. If there was something about religion or philosophy or international affairs or domestic affairs for which you had strong ideas, you would go to the Areopagus, stand on your soapbox and start talking. These Greek intellectuals would gather around and debate the merits of what you had to say.

One thing that you have to understand about these Greek “men of Athens” is that they were a very racist, very nationalistic folk. According to their philosophy, they (the Greeks) were the real humanity. They had sprung up from the rocky soil of the Greek islands; but everybody else in the world were at best barbarians, and less-than human. The other thing you have to know about the Athenians is that they were extremely idolatrous. (Review v. 16). The city was full of idols to their many, many gods. So Paul, who loves people and wants to meet them right where they are begins with their idolatry (22-23). “You have lots and lots of gods here; just to be on the safe side you even have an altar to an Unknown God, just in case you missed one! Let me tell you about that Unknown God, to whom you built an altar.”

Then, what does he tell them about this unknown God, whom you and I worship as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?

(v. 24) – This Creator God is not confined to a temple. Men of Athens, your beautiful city is full of temples. But God the Creator who deserves our worship and praise is bigger and grander than any temple you could possibly build.

(v. 25) – This Creator God of whom I’m speaking is the One who gives YOU your life. You Greeks think that as you make bloody sacrifices at the altars of your many gods, that you are empowering them and making them stronger. Get real! You don’t give life to God; rather, God gives life to you!

So the Apostle establishes a link with them; the next thing he has to do in order to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ is to address their racism. (v. 26) “From one man, he made every nation of men.” Listen carefully to God’s Word: we are a single human race, birthed from one pair of human parents who are named in the Bible as Adam and Eve. Sometimes we mistakenly speak of racial classifications – white, black, Latino, Native American; and while there are marked differences in skin, hair and eye color and facial features, yet we are biologically united. The study of human DNA shows exactly what the Bible states -- that all 7 billion of us descend from the same mother. As long as the Athenians held to the idea that they were biologically different, indeed biologically superior to the surrounding nations, 1) they saw no need for a human Savior, Jesus Christ 2) they would never be able to accept that Savior, that Son of God, was born in faraway Judea.

To make application for us, one of the great strengths of the United States of America is that we rather self-consciously think of ourselves as a “melting pot” of nations. In our better moments, we remember that we’re a mongrel bunch who have come to this great land from all over the world. And that’s a tremendous strength which we should celebrate.

We go back to our text (26) – “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth.” If you read through our primeval history in the book of Genesis, you find out that God took humanity and divided us by languages to form the many nations at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). Sinful, fallen man was set upon exerting God-like power by all living in one place, under one human government, and building a tower to heaven to challenge the very reign and rule of God himself. God said, “I don’t want that. I want you to do what I told you to do in the beginning, and to be fruitful and multiply and fill the whole earth.”

Man wanted to be united in one place and one culture and overthrow God for the glory of mankind;

God wanted man to be scattered and fill the whole earth with His glory. It’s an entirely different frame of reference. Going back to Acts 17:26, God broke mankind apart into smaller groups by means of the division of languages for the purpose that mankind should inhabit the whole earth, claiming the entire world for God’s great glory. In theology we call it the “cultural mandate.” God broke us apart into nations, so that in those places where He establishes us we will establish the rule of our King, Jesus Christ – through the preaching of the Word and the evangelization of the nations.

(v. 26 cont’d): And He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

That’s an amazing statement and it teaches at least two huge truths that are of huge importance as we celebrate our country’s 235th birthday. (1) That God has set the times of the nations. Working through the events of human history, on occasions like the signing of our Declaration of Independence, and through even difficult times as in the aftermath of wars, God establishes the birth, the rise, the lifespan, and the fall, of the nations. To me that’s an incredibly humbling thought. I’m sure those words struck deep into the heart of the nationalism of the Greeks when Paul spoke those words. It should hit us hard too. God establishes the times of the nations.

(2) He establishes the places where the nations live. God is the author of international boundaries. International borders are in God’s plan. What God’s Word teaches at this point isn’t politically correct as some would endorse political correctness; but the Bible teaches that the nations have the right to defend their own borders. Romans 13:1-7 teaches that civil government is entrusted with military and policing authority to defend and protect the innocent and to punish the guilty.

But why would God do that? Doesn’t He know that governments invariably turn corrupt and that the government is full of scoundrels whom we shouldn’t trust? And wouldn’t it be best if we all just erased those imaginary lines in the sand which separate Honduras from Guatemala, and Guatemala from Mexico, and Mexico from the United States, and United States from Canada? I mean surely it would be better if we could do away with all this stuff about separate countries, and everybody get along? (Uh uh.)

God says, No, no, there’s a grand and glorious purpose and design in My plan for the times and boundaries of the nations.

(v. 27) – God did this (establish the times and exact places of the nations) so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. It’s an amazing verse of scripture. In short, God establishes the nations, even through the chaotic and often sinful actions of human beings, for the purposes of worship and evangelism. (You say, huh?)

Consider the alternative. If the earth was inhabited by wandering, shiftless, disconnected families, then our every waking moment would be intent on finding food for the day, drinkable water for the day, and shelter for the coming night. But what would happen when I get my bucket full of clean water and my satchel full of apples and berries, and I huddle with my family in the dark of a cave for the night to come? Along will come somebody else, with an eye to my food and my water and my cave, and it’s his club and his spear against my club and my spear. That’s all that human existence could amount to – daily grappling with one another for survival. Under those barbaric conditions, mankind would have no time to think about God, and no time to reflect upon our own souls, and no time to think about eternity to come. In those barbaric conditions (the only alternative to the absence of human government), nobody is going to reach out and find God. (cf 1 Timothy 2:1-8 -- We pray for the civil magistrate BECAUSE a community in which we are able to live peaceful and quiet lives is conducive to evangelism; for God desires all men to be saved.)

God said, I don’t want you all huddled together under one government (Genesis 11); nor do I want you in the anarchy of no human government and no independent nations. As an act of mercy and kindness to us, God establishes the nations (both their time and place), to give mankind a place to stand; a place to set our feet in relative peace and in relative security… and from that blessed posture of living under the security of your nation, you might just give God a second thought…. And you might just look up and seek after Him and find Him! (v. 27) Why did God give birth to the United States through the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence? At least in part, so that YOU, my dear friend, might enjoy the liberty and the security that creates a garden (if you will) in which you can seek after God, and find Him, and worship Him. Go all the way back to 1620 and the Pilgrims signing the Mayflower Compact. They knew that was what it was all about. They were fleeing religious tyranny and oppression and seeking a new nation in a new world, to which they came for “the glorie of God & the advancement of the Christian faith.”

There’s one more thing to be said about God’s purpose for the nations. As we get to know God as He’s revealed in Scripture, we come to realize that He delights in both unity and in diversity. He is bringing all the nations together under the reign of Jesus Christ (that’s the unity). There is One people of God, and we are growing into all the nations of the world through the preaching of the gospel. And yet, even in the age to come, we will still be identifiable by the nation and people group from which we came in this age (Rev. 13:7 et al). Isn’t that an awesome thought? God’s plan for the world is the salvation of a remnant from every nation, so that in the New Heavens and New Earth of the Age to Come, we’ll be praising Christ for He has saved… Burundians… and Scots… and Chinese…and Malay… and Laotians… and Ukrainians and Romanians. And even some citizens of the good old USA.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit. Amen.

INDEPENDENCE DAY AND PRESBYTERIANISM!

2011-07-02T16:38:00.001-04:00

I run this one every Independence Day. Worth your consideration, dear reader! mgd

THOUGHTS ABOUT INDEPENDENCE DAY AND PRESBYTERIANISM

The following is taken from Loraine Boettner's The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. Happy Independence Day. If you enjoy your freedom, thank a Presbyterian! Pastor Davidson

It is estimated that of the 3,000,000 Americans at the time of the American Revolution, 900,000 were of Scotch or Scotch-Irish origin, 600,000 were Puritan English, and 400,000 were German or Dutch Reformed. In addition to this the Episcopalians had a Calvinistic confession in their Thirty-nine Articles; and many French Huguenots also had come to this western world. Thus we see that about two-thirds of the colonial population had been trained in the school of Calvin. Never in the world's history had a nation been founded by such people as these. Furthermore these people came to America not primarily for commercial gain or advantage, but because of deep religious convictions. It seems that the religious persecutions in various European countries had been providentially used to select out the most progressive and enlightened people for the colonization of America. At any rate it is quite generally admitted that the English, Scotch, Germans, and Dutch have been the most masterful people of Europe. Let it be especially remembered that the Puritans, who formed the great bulk of the settlers in New England, brought with them a Calvinistic Protestantism, that they were truly devoted to the doctrines of the great Reformers, that they had an aversion for formalism and oppression whether in the Church or in the State, and that in New England Calvinism remained the ruling theology throughout the entire Colonial period.
With this background we shall not be surprised to find that the Presbyterians took a very prominent part in the American Revolution. Our own historian Bancroft says: "The Revolution of 1776, so far as it was affected by religion, was a Presbyterian measure. It was the natural outgrowth of the principles which the Presbyterianism of the Old World planted in her sons, the English Puritans, the Scotch Covenanters, the French Huguenots, the Dutch Calvinists, and the Presbyterians of Ulster." So intense, universal, and aggressive were the Presbyterians in their zeal for liberty that the war was spoken of in England as "The Presbyterian Rebellion." An ardent colonial supporter of King George III wrote home: "I fix all the blame for these extraordinary proceedings upon the Presbyterians. They have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures. They always do and ever will act against government from that restless and turbulent anti-monarchial spirit which has always distinguished them everywhere." [Presbyterians and the Revolution, p. 49.] When the news of "these extraordinary proceedings" reached England, Prime Minister Horace Walpole said in Parliament, "Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson."

History is eloquent in declaring that the American democracy was born of Christianity and that that Christianity was Calvinism. The great revolutionary conflict which resulted in the formation of the American nation, was carried out mainly by Calvinists, many of whom had been trained in the rigidly Presbyterian College at Princeton, and this nation is their gift to all liberty loving people.

J.R. Sizoo tells us: "When Cornwallis was driven back to ultimate retreat and surrender at Yorktown, all of the colonels of the Colonial Army but one were Presbyterian elders. More than one-half of all the soldiers and officers of the American Army during the Revolution were Presbyterians."

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

TRUE PENTECOSTAL WORSHIP

2011-06-08T15:01:00.004-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 20)
“TRUE PENTECOSTAL WORSHIP”
Philippians 3:1-11 (esp. v. 3)
Rev. Grady Davidson 061211 – Pentecost Sunday 2011

A sermon outline follows the bibliography. Feel free to use it in your ministry, but please give Rev. Grady Davidson of Lookout Valley Presbyterian Church (EPC) credit for his work.

For Pentecost the Lord led me back to a single phrase in a single verse here in Philippians chapter 3:3 – “we who worship by the Spirit of God.” From that phrase, I invite you to begin thinking with me about the question, “What is Holy Spirit empowered worship?” Pentecost Sunday being one Sunday in the year when we especially celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, we might ask the question this way: “What is true Pentecostal worship?” Can we honestly agree with the Apostle Paul when he writes to the Philippians in verse 3 that “we… worship by the Spirit of God?”
There was a great movie released almost 20 years ago (1992) called Leap of Faith. It starred Steve Martin, Liam Neeson and Debra Winger. In Leap of Faith, Steve Martin played a spiritual huckster named Jonas Nightingale, a faith healer whose tour bus would ride into the Midwestern town of Rustwater to hold camp meetings. Rev. Nightingale would dance onto the stage wearing a sequined suit and performing all kinds of carnival-style antics. He’d preach and pray and work the crowd up to a fever pitch. Then the so-called miracles would start. He’d strike a woman on the forehead and she’d drop her crutches and dance around. He’d speak a tender word of hope to a jilted lover or a worried mother. Somebody else it seemed would get her eyesight back, and another his hearing. But it was all a carefully-orchestrated charade. There were no real healings, no genuine miracles. It was all smoke and mirrors just to get the crowd to pour their offerings into the basket; the next morning Jonas Nighingale’s bus would be gone. You get the picture.
But there was a disabled boy named Boyd there in Rustwater, and Boyd believed that Jonas Nightingale could heal him. Rev. Nightingale tried to keep a safe distance from this genuine case. But at one meeting Boyd went forward and touched a statue of Jesus, and he was really healed! (Which caused all kinds of crisis and conflict for Jonas Nightingale because suddenly he was forced to come face to face with his own chicanery and his own unbelief. Nightingale to Boyd: “You’re what every circus magician fears the most. You’re the real thing.”)
This sermon isn’t about faith healing (though perhaps it could be). Our subject is, what is Pentecostal worship? Under what conditions can we honestly say with the Apostle Paul that “we worship by the Spirit of God”? However, I think the story of Jonas Nightingale in Leap of Faith is very helpful because, could it be that sometimes in our worship we’re just setting up the circus tent and going through the show because that’s what the bulletin says we’re supposed to do? On this Pentecost Sunday I want to suggest that if you just get a little experience of worship by the Spirit of God, that you’ll never settle for anything less ever again!
Paul’s short phrase, “we who worship by the Spirit of God” would have been such a warm and encouraging and life-giving word to the Philippians. Remember what’s going on in chapter 3. Paul is warning the Philippians about so-called Jewish Christians (Judaizers) who were trying to worm their way into the Church, insisting that these new gentile believers had to become full-fledged Jews before they could follow Jesus. That meant the men in this predominantly gentile church would have to receive that OT covenantal sign of circumcision. Paul assures the Philippian church that they really are OK, and that they don’t have to submit to these jokers to worship the Lord. In fact he’s saying, “Don’t be troubled by them; we are the real worshipers of the Lord because we worship by the Spirit of God.”
TWO FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES:
The first point to be made on your outline:
(1) Pentecostal worship is not hindered by physical considerations. These particular Judaizers were teaching, “If you’ve received this sign of the cutting away of the flesh, then you can worship. If you haven’t been circumcised, then you can’t worship.” Paul quickly dispenses with that nonsense. Now in our place and time it’s unlikely that you’ll be confronted by someone insisting that you be circumcised to worship Jesus; however, it is possible that someone will suggest that if you’re going to Church to worship that you must dress a certain style, or wear your hair in a certain way, or (for women) make up your face in a certain way. You see where I’m going with this: Pentecostal worship is not hindered by these kinds of superficial considerations.
(2) Pentecostal worship does not depend upon a particular meeting location. The Judaizers who were troubling the Philippians were all about location in worship. For them worship happened in a local synagogue, and for big events it happened in that magnificent Temple built by Herod the Great in Jerusalem. And knowing human nature as I do, I can almost imagine that the Judaizers were scoffing at the worshiping Christians because they had no synagogue and they had no temple. Almost certainly they were meeting for worship in somebody’s house (probably that textile merchant Lydia’s). But that comes as no surprise to us, because in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit fell on the Church, those 120 disciples weren’t in a synagogue; nor in the Temple! (They were in somebody’s house!) It’s as if God intentionally chose an ordinary place to pour out His Spirit so that we would never erroneously draw the conclusion that we have to be in a special place to gather for worship! (Consider the role of small groups at LVPC.)
WHAT IS PENTECOSTAL WORSHIP?
(1) Pentecostal worship is confessional. (“Confessional,” not in the sense of “I’m confessing my sins,” but in the sense of confessing my faith in Christ; e.g., the Westminster Confession of Faith.)
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

Only under the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit, can any of us make that most basic statement of Christian worship and faith, “Jesus is Lord.” When the Holy Spirit is empowering worship, God’s people are encouraged and emboldened to declare aloud their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Sometimes we mistakenly think that Pentecostal worship is about wild, ecstatic experiences—and many of us have been in those so-called “pentecostal” settings (and I assure you I have nothing against that style of worship). If you’re in a setting like that, and you’re asking if it’s the Holy Spirit or not, then pay attention: is the spotlight and the glory and the honor truly falling upon Jesus? Because that’s what the Holy Spirit is all about. True Pentecostal worship is confessional.
(2) Pentecostal worship is the overflow of God’s love.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:1)
The Holy Spirit inspires us to worship God by making us giddy and amazed and delighted at the wondrous love of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ, and especially as that love is displayed on Mount Calvary (Rms. 5:8). We are worshiping by the Spirit of God (Philippians 3:3) when we find ourselves breathless with amazement that in spite of who we are and what we’ve done to Him, that God loves us. I had the most unusual thing happen last week while I was studying these things. One night I lay asleep and in a dream I was thinking about the love of God. (I can’t recall any of the details except that alone.) I woke up sobbing with tears running down my cheeks at the outpouring of God’s love upon me. That’s Pentecostal worship. That’s worship by the Spirit of God.
(3) Pentecostal worship is intimate and relational.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)
When our worship is truly by the Spirit of God, there’s something happening deep within us in which The One before whom we used to cringe, we now begin to love and trust in the most tender and intimate way. “Abba, Father,” might best be expressed with the phrase, “Dear Daddy.” In Pentecostal worship our spirits are resonating with the Holy Spirit and agreeing with the voice of the Holy Spirit, reminding us that we’re children of God. Pentecostal worship is intimate and relational. For the first 300 years of Christian history, when Christians met together it was mainly in one another’s homes—where intimate relationship can most naturally happen. It was in that era that the Christian faith conquered the pagan Roman Empire.
(4) Pentecostal worship engages both the mind and the spirit.
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)
In truly Pentecostal worship, we are responding to God with all of our being. Jesus, speaking to the woman at the well, reminded her that God is a spiritual being, and therefore to engage God at all, our worship must emerge from our human spirits empowered by the Holy Spirit. However, when the Holy Spirit is at work empowering your worship, your mind (intellect) isn’t somehow disengaged. (It’s at this very point that the worship of some Christians who claim to be “Pentecostal” goes too far.) As your human spirit is being drawn to God through an awareness of Calvary love and a deep sense of intimacy with your Heavenly Father, your mind is also powerfully engaged: for God seeks worshipers who will worship him in spirit AND in truth. Pentecostal worship is right feeling and right thinking. Pentecostal worship is head and heart. In the worship of Pentecost your mind is thinking deeply of Christ even while your spirit and emotions and deeply moved by Christ. When Paul tells the Philippians that they worship by the Spirit of God, he’s reminding them that their worship includes both right thinking about Jesus Christ, and a proper and fitting spiritual response to the Savior.
(5) Pentecostal worship is worship out of weakness.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27)

In our worship, the more confident we are; the more bold we are; the more proud we are in God’s presence… the less likely it is that we’re worshiping God in the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is drawn to us in our weakness. It’s when we know that we are weak and broken and humbled before God that the Holy spirit comes and helps us to worship. Romans 8:26 speaks especially of prayer: When we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, the Spirit is at work groaning to God within us. God the Father responds, searching our hearts and hearing those Spirit-groans, accepting that intercessory prayer on our behalf.
Once more I think of Acts 16, when Paul and his missionary team had just begun their work in Philippi. God led them outside the city to a place on the banks of the Gangites River where a businesswoman named Lydia and others were gathered in a prayer meeting. I can just imagine they were groaning to God in desperate need and brokenness for their sin, crying out for hope and redemption…when along came this Jewish Rabbi named Paul who brought them the message of Jesus. Surely that was Pentecostal prayer and Holy Spirit worship. The Spirit of God at work in Lydia’s heart was the same Spirit at work in Paul’s ministry, bringing them together so that Lydia knew her need of Christ and she immediately responded to the gospel message which Paul delivered. When is our worship most likely to be true worship by the Spirit of God? It’s when we’re the most broken and the most needy. When someone comes and says, “Pastor, Elders, Church-- I need prayer. I need help. I can’t go on any longer. I am desperately needy, and I’m here crying out to God today.”
“We who worship by the Spirit of God.” How about you? Is your worship of the Father confessional, with a firm conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord of all? Is your worship intimate and relational? Is it birthed in pain and brokenness, but with hope in the love of God? Is your worship in spirit and in truth, heart and mind, emotion and doctrine? May our worship at LVPC be the real thing. May we be those worshipers the Father seeks, who worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.

Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print

Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

TRUE PENTECOSTAL WORSHIP
Philippians 3:3

Two Foundational principles
Pentecostal worship is not hindered by _____________ considerations.
Pentecostal worship does not depend upon a particular meeting _____________ .

What is Pentecostal (Holy Spirit - empowered) worship?

1. Pentecostal worship is _____________ .
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)
2. Pentecostal worship is the _____________ of God’s love.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:1)
3. Pentecostal worship is _____________ and _____________.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)
4. Pentecostal worship engages both the _____________ and the _____________ .
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)
5. Pentecostal worship is worship out of _____________ .
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27)

ANXIETY-ANNHILATING PRAYER

2011-06-06T09:26:00.003-04:00

"Paul in Prison," frescoe by Ben Long, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Wilkesboro NC

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 19)
“ANXIETY ANNIHILATING PRAYER”
Philippians 4:4 – 4:9
Rev. Grady Davidson 060511
Can you recall a person in your life who was significantly used in your life to shape your thinking? Probably many of us (myself included) would say that our thinking was shaped by our parents. No, they weren’t perfect—none of us are-- but for most of us our general outlook on life is probably more like our “folks” than we even realize. Then again, there may be others who came to resist the way their parents thought about life and the world around them. As a high school or college student you had a great teacher who had a way of thinking about the world that was different from anything you’d ever experienced before. The way that teacher saw things was beautiful and attractive and winsome, and after a year or two with that wonderful teacher you realized the impact of that person: he or she had shaped the way that you look at the world, and the way you think about yourself and others and the world around you. A couple of years ago I was talking on this very subject with a member of our church in some kind of a small group or Bible study setting. And when asked the question, “Who in your life has most shaped the way you think?”, this person named a local automotive mechanic who has much wisdom and insight into life.
As we come back to chapter four of Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, we see that these important questions of “How do you think about life?” and “Who is shaping your thinking?” are very much on the Apostle’s mind. The Apostle’s burning desire for the church is that we would have the “mind of Christ.” In chapter 2:5ff:
“5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men..”
In the same chapter (2:2) Paul tells the church to be “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Then once again here in chapter 4:2, when the Apostle is pleading with the two ladies Euodia and Syntyche, he pleads with them to be of the same mind in the Lord. (The same verbb, froneo, used in these 3 passages.) I think what the Apostle longs for is that collectively our minds would be so full of Christ; and that we would be so accustomed to knowing and thinking the very thoughts of Christ that 1) there would be a wonderful and congenial sense of unity in the church and 2) as individuals that we would experience the mental and emotional stability that the Apostle calls “the peace of God which surpasses understanding.”
Pop quiz: what was the last thing you worried about, and how did you handle it? Are you becoming aware of the “mind of Christ” being formed right down at the level of the way you think about your problems? Are you getting even a taste of the “peace of God” which stands as a sentry guarding your heart so that anxiety can’t overwhelm you?
Last week we talked at quite some length about how the mind of Christ changes the game for the Christian with regard to racing thoughts and obsessive, repetitive thoughts. But what about legitimate concerns and worries? Verse 6 says “Do not be anxious about anything,” but preacher, what if it’s an anxiety-breeding situation that requires me to take action? How does having ‘the mind of Christ” enable me to deal with legitimate issues which necessitate a response? That’s what we’re going to talk about for a few minutes.
Let’s take an example. Say that you are awakened in the dead of night with worries about your adult son or daughter, or your grandson or granddaughter who is hanging out with the “wrong crowd” and making poor choices. This isn’t in the 92% of worries that are imaginary or never happen; we’re talking about something in the realm of the 8% of worrisome things that can and do happen. The worry is robbing you of sleep; and you can’t focus the next day because now you’re worried and tired.
What are you going to do about it? Take that thought captive for Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). You put that thought that’s keeping you awake in handcuffs, and you say, “Thought, you are a real and legitimate concern, and I am going to deal with you, but not right now at this moment. Right now, I’ve got to get back to sleep (or do my homework or focus on my job). So I’m going to incarcerate you for the moment. I am setting you aside and I will deal with you on my terms at a convenient time (say, after dinner tonight between 7 and 8 p.m.). Rev. Ron Ragon, pastor of Brainerd Presbyterian Church for 30+ years calls that “setting a fret time.” You’re bringing your mind under the peaceful dominion of Christ, and you’re seeking to know the mind of Christ with regard to that little worry; but you come back and deal with the worry on your terms.
You go back to sleep; throughout the day while you’re at school or at work that worry will rattle the bars of his cage once or twice demanding attention… and you say “Shut up in there; I’ll get to you after dinner!”
Finally, hours later, you come to your fret time. At this point, you ask two questions: (1) CAN I do anything about it? and (2) SHALL I do anything about it?
In our example, you’re worried about your adult loved one who is making poor choices. “Can I do anything about this?” You write down a list of possible courses of action. (1) “I can commit to praying for my loved one 15 minutes every single day. Philippians 4:6 tells me not to be anxious about this, but to present this request to God by prayer and petition with thanksgiving… so this is something I can do: I can pray.” (2) “I can write her a letter in which I express my concerns and best hopes for my loved one.” (3)“I can invite him to come to church with me, and offer to pick him up and sit with him in the service.” (4)“I can have her over for dinner, or meet her for lunch a couple of times a month to discuss these things.” If your loved one is breaking the law and endangering himself and others, you can put on your list the option, (5)“I can call the police and report him!”
So in your fret time you ask yourself, “Can I do anything about it,” and you make a written list of the possible things which the God of peace, by His Spirit, can empower you to do. Now sometimes, you’ll take a hard look at your worry and determine that there’s nothing you can do. (You’re losing sleep because you’re worried that a terrorist is going to activate a dirty bomb at the Chickamauga Dam and flood Chattanooga… is it possible? Theoretically, yes. Can you do anything about it? No, there’s not.) At this point you bring it to the Lord and you replace the fear with faith, as you commit your worry to the power and love of your Heavenly Father. “You are God, and I am not; I choose to trust You about this.” Remember that fear is sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. It comes down to an issue of trust: do I trust the power of God and the loving heart of my Heavenly Father enough to give this worry fully over to Him?
You’ve come to your fret time. You’ve asked and answered the question, “Can I do anything about it?” Now you ask a question that is more difficult for most of us: “Shall I do anything about it?” I believe that many followers of Jesus just like us freeze up at this point. We choose to linger in a depressing, disheartening, anxious universe in which we know there are action steps we can be taking; and yet we lack the courage (courage comes from faith!) to answer the question, “Shall I do anything about it?” That’s a question that nobody else can answer for you. I suggest you prayerfully go through your list of possible actions, and circle the plan of action that you’re going to take and get on it! This is a very powerful way to deal with anxiety. Next week when that thought returns in the form of a potential worry, you take charge of that thought and you remind it that it’s already dealt with. You are doing what you can do (which is faith in action), and there’s no room for that worry in your heart.
There’s one more scenario. When you examine your list of things you can do in response to your worry, you might choose to do none of them. If that’s your choice, then say it aloud, and write it down: “I choose to do nothing at this time.” That can be OK, provided that you determined before Jesus Christ that it’s a settled matter in your mind, and you’re not going to worry over it anymore. By faith you’ve made your decision before the Lord, and henceforth you’re letting it go. All of this comes under the rubric of verse 8. You are a Christian who wants Jesus Christ to be Lord of your thoughts. You are cultivating the mind of Christ (2:5). You’re choosing to look at yourself, others, your circumstances and your God through the lens of faith—not fear-- and to fill your mind with that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. For the God of peace frees us from anxiety through right thinking!
This week: Seek the mind of Christ. In your daily prayer time (certainly a principle taught in verse 6) yield yourself to the Lord, asking Him to take charge of your thoughts. When you face a doubtful situation, ask the Lord to help you see His perspective. When you wrestle with an anxious thought, take that thought captive for m Christ, and then ask: “Is there anything which I can do? And shall I do it?” And may you know the peace and the power of the mind filled with Jesus Christ. Amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.

Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print

Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.

Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

THE CHRISTIAN'S BATTLE FOR THE MIND

2011-05-29T15:28:00.000-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 18)
“THE CHRISTIAN’S BATTLE FOR THE MIND”
Philippians 4:2 – 4:9
Rev. Grady Davidson 052911
A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor’s office because of some medical concerns he had. After his checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said, “Your husband is suffering from a very severe anxiety disorder. If you don’t do the following, your husband will surely die.” The doctor continued, “Each morning, fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant at all times. For lunch make him a nutritious meal. For dinner prepare an especially nice meal for him. Don’t burden him with chores. Don’t discuss your problems with him; it will only make his anxiety worse. No nagging. And most importantly, dote on him and treat him just as tenderly as you possibly can. If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely.” On the way home, the husband asked his wife. “What did the doctor say?” To which his wife responded, “Sweetheart, it’s far worse than we thought. The doctor said that you’re going to die.”
Anxiety! In verse 6 the Apostle writes to the church, “Do not be anxious about anything.” The word translated “anxious” in verse 6 is a word that means “to be pulled in opposite directions.” Fears and apprehensions pull you in one direction; hopes and aspirations tug in the other direction, till mentally & emotionally you’re pulled apart. Sometimes after a fretful, sleepless night spent in anxiety, a person will say that they’re coming apart. That’s quite literally true.
Last week we began talking about the principle that it’s never in the will of Father God in Heaven for His children to be anxious. We talked some about how fear and faith are opposed to one another. Remember the scene in Mark 4 in which Jesus and the disciples are in the little boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee when a violent squall came up. The disciples were seafaring experts; they were bailing water and fighting the tiller and working the ropes and rowing hard for land. Where was Jesus? (In the stern, sleeping on a cushion.) They woke him up: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and the waves; the sea fell into a glassy flat calm. Then He asked the disciples: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Fear and faith are opposed to one another; they are spiritually incompatible. E. Stanley Jones, the great 20th century Methodist missionary to India, wrote these words:
I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely--these are my native air. A John Hopkins University doctor says, "We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non- worriers, but that is a fact." But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.
Stanley Jones hit the nail on the head! God crafted us body and soul to be in a relationship of love and trust with Him through Jesus Christ. When we allow anxiety to gain control of our minds, we’re pouring sand in the engine of life!
Last week we began talking about the principle of our text: The God of peace frees us from anxiety through right thinking. (Continuing next week - - right praying and right living.) The battle with anxiety begins with how we choose to think about ourselves, our circumstances, our God, and those around us. Verse 8 says (review). The Apostle urges us to be intentional about monitoring the thought life, and about being very selective about what goes into our brains! In another place Paul describes this battle for the Christian to gain control of the mind by saying “We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Before a thought is given permission to come in and take hold, we take charge of that thought and we demand,
“Thought, cease and desist!
Are you friend or foe?
Thought, are you consistent with the mind of Christ?
Thought, are you emerging from a view of this world that believes that Jesus Christ is the King and that He is love and that He’s coming again?” Thus we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. But how do we do that? I’m going to take a few minutes just to share some pastoral wisdom (as they say, ‘if the shoe fits, wear it.’)
First of all, what I’m about to share, I share with you as Christians. I’m talking with the assumption that you are a new creature in Jesus Christ and that you really do want to take your thoughts captive for Christ! (If you’re not a born-again Christian, the ideas I’m about to share will apply to you only at a superficial level.)
I find that when Christians can’t get their thoughts under control, that they usually fall into one of two categories.
(1) The Christian’s thoughts are racing at 150 miles an hour and they can’t slow their thinking down enough that the gentle Shepherd can speak to them and love them or nurture them. (c.f. Kyle Busch of NASCAR pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy in Iredell County NC last Tuesday, clocked him driving 128 in a 45 zone.)
For convenience’ sake, I call this first sort of person the “AM Radio player.” Have you ever driven down the road with the radio tuned to AM, and you just sit there punching the “scan” button over and over again? Three seconds on this station with a mariachi band and lots of static; five seconds on the next gasping Pentecostal preacher; fifteen seconds of Mark Levin…
Some Christians’ troubled minds work just like that… flitting from one “staticky,” noisy thought to the next, and in 24-hours’ time there’s not a single minute of focused mental attention brought under the peaceful reign of Jesus Christ.
I guarantee that individual is dealing with all kinds of unresolved problems in life, because actions are the fruit of thoughts. That person isn’t taking reasonable action steps to deal with life, because they never mentally tune in to one single issue long enough to get Christ’s perspective on it and deal with it.
(2) The other type of person, I call “a tape player.” This is a person who is fixated on one dark, brooding, worrisome thought or memory that he can’t shake off. A thought comes to mind which is not taken captive for Christ; you play it through your mind; when it’s finished you rewind, and you play it again; and again, and again. “So-and-so hates me.” “I have to be perfect or God won’t love me.” Or it might be an obsessive memory of something that happened; you play it through in your mind, then you rewind, and play it again.
I want to suggest to you that whether you’re an AM radio person or a tape player, that the solution is one and the same. If your problem is that your thoughts run wild, then quit flipping up and down the dial, and put in a tape to play – but make sure it’s a good tape! And if you’re a tape player by nature, eject the old tape that the devil gave you and put in a good tape. What do I mean by that?
Let me give you an example. A couple of months ago my thought life was obsessed with a situation that was totally beyond my control, and I was waking up in the night with worry about it. I would play the tape over and over again. In my obsessive-compulsive I would play out different scenarios and possible outcomes; and the short of it is that I was paralyzed with these overwhelming, obsessive thoughts over something beyond my control. So I prayed, “Lord, I can’t go on like this… help me.” And the Lord led me to one of the Psalms, a Psalm of David that was written at a time in David’s life when he was going through the same kind of thing. So in the morning, I read the Psalm, and claimed God’s promises in that Psalm. Then when I got in the car, before driving off I opened up the pocket Bible in the car and re-read the Psalm. I printed off that Psalm and kept it on my desk and read it over and over again throughout the day. So was I playing a tape? Yes, but it was God’s tape. And after a couple of days of that, there was a breakthrough in the situation that I’d been worried about; but the way it worked out I would not have recognized that it was God’s answer to my worries, except that I could see things worked out for me, the same way they worked out for David in the Psalm! I’ve recognized God’s answer to the problem, it’s long since resolved, and I’ve let it go!
I have a gift for each of you today: The Bible Promise Book: One Thousand Promises from God’s Word. This little book takes around 70 topics, arranged alphabetically, and for each one lists about a dozen scriptures that tell you what God says about it. (give examples)
What will be the outcome? As you fill your mind with Christ and with His Word, then the God of peace will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Anxiety And Depression Can Be Funny - Wellsphere." Wellsphere - Health Knowledge Made Personal. Web. 25 May 2011. .

Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print

"Inwardly Fashioned | Bible.org - Worlds Largest Bible Study Site." Free NET Bible and Thousands of Bible Studies | Bible.org - Worlds Largest Bible Study Site. Web. 25 May 2011. .

"Kyle Busch Caught Speeding at 128 Mph in 45 Mph Zone | TBO.com." Tampa Bay Online - Breaking News Headlines, Weather & Deals - Tampa Newspapers & WFLA | TBO.com. Web. 25 May 2011. .
Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

KNOWING THE GOD OF PEACE

2011-05-29T15:27:00.001-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 17)
“KNOWING THE GOD OF PEACE”
Philippians 4:2 – 4:9
Rev. Grady Davidson 052211

NOTE: The message as it was actually preached on May 22 was much shorter than this manuscript, the remainder of which was incorporated into the message of May 29.

As the airliner cruised at 40,000 feet, a passenger looked out his window to see an engine burst into flames. He screamed, “Help! The engine just blew up!” Other passengers pressed their faces against the windows to see the horrific sight of the flaming engine, and just then there was an explosion on the other side of the plane as a second engine blew up. The passengers were all in hysteria, but just then the captain emerged from the cockpit and with a broad smile and a calm, confident voice he said to the passengers, “Now settle down; there is nothing to worry about.” The screaming stopped, and the panicking passengers settled down. But as they did so the captain and the flight crew were seen harnessing in to parachutes. A passenger shouted from the back of the plane—“Hey, you said there’s nothing to worry about, so why are you putting on parachutes?!” Captain: “There is nothing for you to worry about. The crew and I are going to get help!”
Are you ever plagued by worries? Have you ever been paralyzed by anxiety or crippled by fear? If so, then you’re not alone!
Take a look at verse 6: “Do not be anxious.” How many times in the gospels does Jesus say things like, “Fear not… I tell you, do not worry… Peace I give unto thee… Do not be afraid, little flock….Why were you afraid? Do you have such little faith?”
I want to begin by stating a premise that it’s never in God’s will for His children to be consumed by worry. It’s never His design for us to fret or be anxious or fearful. I’ve been teaching that Paul’s epistle to the Philippians is about the Secret of Life; and folks, we’re deep into that message this morning. The Apostle Paul had discovered the secret of life – keeping his mind so filled with Christ and vigilantly maintaining moment-to-moment fellowship with Christ so that there was no place in his life for anxiety.
And yet, isn’t it true that in our culture that anxiety is literally killing us?
From WebMD: In the midst of excessive worrying, you may suffer with high anxiety -- even panic -- during waking hours. Many chronic worriers tell of feeling a sense of impending doom or unrealistic fears that only increase their worries. Ultra-sensitive to their environment and to the criticism of others, excessive worriers may see anything -- and anyone -- as a potential threat.
Chronic worrying affects your daily life so much that it interferes with your appetite, lifestyle habits, relationships, sleep, and job performance. Many people who worry excessively are so anxiety-ridden that they seek relief in harmful lifestyle habits such as overeating, cigarette smoking, or using alcohol and drugs.
The article goes on to make the case that worry can make us physically ill.
Chronic worry and emotional stress can trigger a host of health problems. The problem occurs when fight or flight is triggered daily by excessive worrying and anxiety. The fight or flight response causes the body’s sympathetic nervous system to release stress hormones such as cortisol. These hormones can boost blood sugar levels and triglycerides (blood fats) that can be used by the body for fuel. The hormones also cause physical reactions such as:
• difficulty swallowing
• dizziness
• dry mouth
• fast heartbeat
• fatigue
• headaches
• inability to concentrate
• irritability
• muscle aches
• muscle tension
• nausea
• nervous energy
• rapid breathing
• shortness of breath
• sweating
• trembling and twitching
When the excessive fuel in the blood isn’t used for physical activities, the chronic anxiety and outpouring of stress hormones can have serious physical consequences, including:
• suppression of the immune system
• digestive disorders
• muscle tension
• short-term memory loss
• premature coronary artery disease
• heart attack
But that’s nothing new. We know all that; the question is, “Does a relationship with Jesus Christ actually make a difference in the way we handle the stresses and uncertainties of life?” And our text says, “Yes, absolutely, it does!”
Go back to your text and look at verse 7 – “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding (it’s a supernatural, transcendent, divine peace) will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The text promises that God’s peace will stand as a sentry keeping fearful thoughts and feelings from entering in to your heart (the center of your emotional life) and your mind (your thought life). But where do you get this “peace of God” (v. 7)? Well naturally to get the “peace of God” you have to go to the “God of peace” (v. 9). In relationship with Jesus Christ, the “God of peace,” we attain the “peace of God.” The text tells us that it happens in three ways: 1) through right thinking 2) through right praying and 3) through right living. Let’s look at each of those.
The God of peace frees us from anxiety through right thinking.
(v. 2) – We’ve talked about Euodia and Syntyche several times during this series through Philippians. They were two ladies in the Philippian congregation who had a disagreement that threatened to split the church. Paul waits till near the end of the letter to call them out by name; when he does, notice how he addresses it: “agree with each other in the LORD.” The key for them to get over their interpersonal problems is for their thought lives to be in agreement about Jesus. If Euodia insists, “Syntyche, you have to come around to my point of view,” and Syntyche says, “No, Euodia , I want you to conform yourself to me and my viewpoint,” they’ll never get anywhere. The Apostle comes at both of them – “Ladies, I plead with you to come to mental concurrence ‘in the LORD.’ Agree about Jesus, and the other stuff will iron itself out.” The God of peace frees us from interpersonal anxiety through right thinking about Jesus. Look also at verse 4.
(v. 4) -- This is one of the most frequently quoted verses in the epistle, but after studying it this week I’m convinced that a better rendering of the verse is, “Celebrate in the LORD always… I say it again, celebrate! Have an ongoing mental party in which you celebrate Jesus!” On a moment by moment by moment basis, we are to fill our minds with thoughts that celebrate Jesus!
I know a barber who, no matter what subject comes up, can turn the conversation to the subject of Alabama football. Mention the weather we’ve been having, or the war on terror, or the new VW plant – and three sentences later it will have something to do with Alabama football. The Apostle is saying that our minds should be so filled with Jesus, that no matter what is going on or what is being talked about, that our thoughts about the situation will automatically turn toward our wonderful Savior! God frees us from anxiety through right thinking.
(v. 8)—Here he spells out the power of the thought life. Input equals output. As Christians we’re not in denial that there’s plenty of ugliness in the world, but to the extent that Christ enables us by the Holy Spirit we don’t allow that stuff to consume our thinking.
Dr. Walter Cavert did a study on worry in which he found that only 8% of the things people worried about were legitimate matters of concern! When we invite worry into our thought lives, 92% of those thoughts are either imaginary, or never happened, or involve things for which we have no real control anyway. (Does anybody want to give a testimony about that?) So you’re worried that the world is going to come to an end on December 21, 2012….? What are you going to do about that?
It’s kind of like the lady who had trouble getting to sleep at night for many years because she feared burglars. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he did find a burglar. "Good evening," said the man of the house. "I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She’s been waiting 10 years to meet you." 92% of the things we worry about are either imaginary, or never happen, or we have no control over them!
Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44), and ever since the Garden of Eden when he deceived Eve with regard to the forbidden fruit, his primary way of destroying us is by deceiving us, by getting us to think thoughts that are not true—about God, about ourselves, about others. The Apostle explicitly says that we have to be intentional about keeping lies and half truths out of our thinking, and in their place to fill our minds with whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. And then the God of peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus as we intentionally fill our thoughts with Christ.
In my experience I have found that when people struggle with anxiety, their thought lives are out of control in one of two directions. For convenience’s sake, I’m going to call them “tape players” and “AM radio players.”
First of all, the tape players. Here we’re talking about the situation in which you play a thought through in your mind; when it’s finished you rewind, and you play it again; and again, and again. We’re talking here about an obsessive thought that is not being guided by the Holy Spirit which you allow to play over and over again in your mind. “So-and-so hates me.” “I have to be perfect or God won’t love me.” Or it might be a memory of something that happened; you play it through in your mind, then you rewind, and play it again. Listen: When you’re playing tapes which fill your mind with thoughts that lead you away from Christ, or which leave your mind so cluttered that there’s no room for Christ, then your thought life is not under the gentle reign of the God of peace!
But some of us aren’t tape players; we’re more of AM radio players. Have you ever sat in a car at night with the radio tuned to AM, and you just sit there punching the “scan” button over and over again? Three seconds on this station, five seconds on the next, fifteen on the next, three seconds again… Some people allow their minds to work just like that. They flit from one “staticky,” noisy thought to the next, and in 24-hours’ time there’s not a single minute of focused attention on Jesus Christ.
We’re going to talk about this more next week when we talk about how the God of peace frees us from anxiety through prayer. But for now I just want to challenge you to pay serious attention this week to what you think about, and how you think about those things, and what tapes are playing in your mind, and what degree of focus and control you have over your thoughts. I’m not talking here about Normal Vincent Peale’s “power of positive thinking” hocus pocus. Self-control comes from God; self-control is the Fruit of the Spirit. And this means being able to bring your thoughts under the dominion of Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your thinking.
I want to suggest to you that whether you’re an AM radio person or a tape player, that the solution is one and the same. If your problem is that your thoughts run wild, then quit flipping up and down the dial, and put in a tape to play – but make sure it’s a good tape! And if you’re a tape player by nature, eject the old tape that the devil gave you and put in a good tape. What do I mean by that?
Let me give you an example. About a month ago my thought life was obsessed with a situation that was totally beyond my control, and I was waking up in the night with worry about it. In my obsessive-compulsive I would play out different scenarios and possible outcomes; and the short of it is that I was paralyzed with these overwhelming, obsessive thoughts over something beyond my control. So I prayed, “Lord, I can’t go on like this… help me.” And the Lord led me to one of the Psalms, a Psalm of David that was written at a time in David’s life when he was going through the same kind of thing. So in the morning, I read the Psalm, and claimed God’s promises in that Psalm. Then when I got in the car, before driving off I opened up the pocket Bible in the car and re-read the Psalm. I printed off that Psalm and kept it on my desk and read it over and over again throughout the day. So was I playing a tape? Yes, but it was God’s tape. And after a couple of days of that, there was a breakthrough in the situation that I’d been worried about; but the way it worked out I would not have recognized that it was God’s answer to my worries, except that I could see things worked out for me, the same way they worked out for David in the Psalm! I’ve recognized God’s answer to the problem, and I’ve let it go!
I have a gift for each of you today: The Bible Promise Book: One Thousand Promises from God’s Word. This little book takes around 70 topics, arranged alphabetically, and for each one lists about a dozen scriptures that tell you what God says about it. (give examples)
What will be the outcome? As you fill your mind with Christ and with His Word, then the God of peace will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print

"Nothing to Worry about." Travel Jokes Humor and Satire. Web. 19 May 2011. .

"Physical Effects of Worrying." WebMD - Better Information. Better Health. Web. 19 May 2011. .

Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Sermon Illustrations. Web. 19 May 2011. .
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

"LIVING IN THE FUTURE TENSE" Philippians part 16

2011-05-16T10:17:00.001-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 16)
“LIVING IN THE FUTURE TENSE”
Philippians 3:17 – 4:1
Rev. Grady Davidson 051511
He was a talking mouse named Reepicheep, and in the fantastic world which CS Lewis wrote about in his seven children’s books The Chronicles of Narnia, tiny Reepicheep was an adventuresome, courageous, and noble little warrior for King Aslan, the mighty lion who ruled over the Kingdom of Narnia. In Book V, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, three children from this world – Lucy, Edmund and Eustace – took a voyage to the end of that world with Reepicheep and other mythical creatures of Narnia. It was a voyage filled with adventures and magic and colossal challenges, but after the battles were all won and all injustices were set to right, the Dawn Treader sailed on further than any ship had ever journeyed before in the world of Narnia. For Reepicheep the Mouse wanted to go past the end of his world, and to sail over the edge and enter the great and beautiful land he’d always heard of—Aslan’s Country, the Land of His king.
In the final pages of the book, the Dawn Treader drifted steadily to the east for three days, and as the sun rose on the third day, there was a brightness in the dawn the sight of which none could bear. But on ahead to the east there was a wonder, like none ever seen in our world, for a greenish-gray, trembling, shimmering wall of water rose up thirty feet high, with the rising sun behind it shining through. Behind the wall of water rose a range of mountains so tall that they never saw the top. But they weren’t like mountains of our world, which rising so high would be encrusted with snow and ice; rather they were lush and green as high as you could see them. When a gentle breeze came from that land it carried a sweet aroma and a faint but beautiful musical sound. Reepicheep was lowered down from the deck of the Dawn Treader in a little rowboat. “This,” said Reepicheep, “is where I go on alone.”
They did not even try to stop him, for everything now felt as if it had been fated or had happened before… Then he took off his sword (“I shall need it no more,” he said) and flung it far away across the lilied sea. Where it fell it stood upright with the hilt above the surface. Then he bade them good-bye, trying to be sad for their sakes; but he was quivering with happiness… hastily he got into his coracle and took his paddle, and the current caught it and away he went, very black against the lilies… The coracle went more and more quickly, and beautifully it rushed up the wave’s side. For one split second they saw its shape and Reepicheep’s on the very top. Then it vanished, and since that moment no one can truly claim to have seen Reepicheep the Mouse. But my belief is that he came safe to Aslan’s country and is alive there to this day. (Lewis, pp. 269-270)
That little story from Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader I think sets the tone for what the Apostle would have us think and do and feel in today’s text. Our text is ultimately about our heavenly citizenship. It’s about remembering that we belong to another world, and even moreso, we are subjects of King Jesus, whose reign is already fully realized in heaven, but only partially and imperfectly realized in this world. Meanwhile we live in this place right on the brink where heaven and earth meet. At times the King calls one of our people to cross over ahead of us, and it breaks our hearts to say goodbye… and like Reepicheep the Mouse they’re a little sad for our sakes, but inside they quiver with excitement, for they’re going to the Land of the Great King.
Our text ties together three great doctrines of Scripture (and these are doctrines which always go together). (1) The return of Jesus Christ, in vv. 20-21. We eagerly expect and await that glorious moment when the King shall return and his country and our country shall become one! The return of Christ is the shining hope that gives us courage to face uncertain times. Even in the face of persecution and pain and trouble and sword, we always keep our gaze fixed on heaven, believing Jesus can and will return at any moment. (2) The resurrection of the dead… v. 21 teaches that Jesus is already living in His glorified, eternal body; when He returns, at that moment, our frail and aging and decaying sin-and-disease-wracked bodies will be transformed to be like His glorious body! (3) The doctrine of sanctification, of the holy living to which we are called. The Apostle speaks of “a pattern” of Christian life in verse 17. This is a call to Christ-likeness in spirit and attitude and thought and word and priority. Christ-likeness in what we do at home (or when we’re away from home) when no one else is watching! Christ-likeness in the way we use our bodies and our money and our time. Christ-likeness in love for Jesus and love for one another. In the passage before us, the Apostle warns the Philippians about the presence of those in the church who claim to follow Christ but have not adopted the pattern of holy living. They are “enemies of the cross,” he says. Their god is in their belly, that is, they’re driven by their fleshly appetites while they neglect their souls. “Their glory is in their shame”—they’re proud of what they should be ashamed of; they don’t know good from evil.
The Apostle says, “Follow the pattern of holy living that I set for you, and make a distinction, taking note when those in your midst stray from holiness and don’t follow the pattern of life we gave.”
What I want you to see is that these 3 great doctrines – the visible, personal, final return of Jesus Christ; the resurrection of the dead in which we will receive glorified and eternal bodies; and the call to holy living—all go together—though probably not in the way that you think!
The way these doctrines are taught usually go something like this –
1) Jesus is returning at any moment; we must not be caught spiritually dozing and unprepared at his coming;
2) Therefore we must be vigilant in living holy lives for now because..
3) Ultimately, we’re going to receive glorified bodies and live in heaven, so…
4) If we can just hang in there a little longer, and persevere, and endure, then we’ll have the privilege of leaving this awful world behind and going to heaven with Jesus.
There’s a measure of truth in all that, but it’s not what the Apostle is teaching in this passage!
Remember to whom Paul is writing – to a city which is a “colony of Rome” (Ac. 16.12) – a bastion of Roman language and culture and law and civilization 700 miles away from Rome itself.
However, that’s ancient history. It would be easier for us to think in terms of our own American history. Imagine that it’s the year 1705 and you’re an English colonist in the colony of Connecticut or New Hampshire or New Jersey. The howling wilderness of the American frontier faces you on the West. Just a few miles to the East is the craggy coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Is it an easy life? (No!) Your very survival is in jeopardy at any moment from raiding bands of Indians or disease or even starvation… the soil in which you grow your food is thin and rocky… life in the colonies in the year 1705 is very, very hard… and yet in the year 1705 you proudly refer to those miles of coastal colonies as “New England”! Your job as a colonist isn’t to hold on in desperation until a ship can take you back to “Old England.” Your job is sweat and work and fight and bleed and sacrifice so that the language and education and faith and culture of England is built in the New World. If you’re a Connecticut colonist does the King of England want you to board a ship and return to London? (No!) He wants you to stay put and to work so that his reign and his glory are extended into the New World.
Now we go back to our text. Paul writes to Roman citizens who are colonists of Rome in Philippi. The Roman Emperor does not want these colonists returning to Rome, which is already overcrowded and lacking in jobs. He wants those Philippian colonists to extend the glory and culture and education and law of Rome into their region there in Macedonia!
The application which Paul is making is a subtle one, but it’s at the very heart of this epistle. You and I, my Christian friends, are colonists of Heaven on earth. Our Emperor, our King Jesus doesn’t want us simply twiddling our thumbs and passing time, just trying to survive with our faith intact until we go to heaven. Rather, He expects us to extend the rule of heaven and the glory of our Heavenly King and the beauty and wonder of the Heavenly Land, here in zip code 37419.
But after all, this is nothing new. This is exactly what we will pray when we sing the Lord’s Prayer in just a moment… “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on the earth as it is in heaven…!”
Friends, what our text is saying is that we eagerly await the return of our King, at which time the Heavenly Kingdom and the Earthly Kingdom will dissolve into one. Until then, we’re “colonizing” for Heaven. We’re getting the Earth ready for the King’s arrival!
In our Session meeting on Thursday night, we talked a bit about our identity as a church. At the most basic level, this is it! We’re a colony of heaven on earth, extending the fame and glory of our King here where He has placed us.
Now a word of stern warning. If you’re not living according to the pattern of Scripture; if perhaps there’s a thin veneer of Jesus in your life, beneath which your life is indistinguishable from an unbeliever, then the text warns you (v. 19) that your destiny is destruction. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you of something, pointing out something that’s got to go, then heed the Spirit – it’s got to go. The Bible speaks of “putting off” and “putting on.” The old behavior and attitudes we are to “put off,” like removing filthy clothes, even as we “put on” Jesus Christ, as His new life is lived within us.
And then, a final word or two about our awaiting the return of the Savior. We expect Jesus to come at any moment, even as we live as colonists for King Jesus and citizens of the Heavenly Land here on earth. As Christians we are to be constantly vigilant, expecting Him to come to us before we go to Him. And yet, every one of us has stood at the graveside of loved ones who have been called back to the heavenly kingdom before the return of Christ. That’s the reality of our situation. And it behooves us to be prepared for bodily death, just in case Jesus calls us home before his glorious return. Thinking about that tension, I want to close with a story.
Two famous Americans both died in the year 1899. The first one I mention was Col. Bob Ingersoll. He was an unbeliever who made a career out of giving lectures in which he attempted to debunk the Bible and argue against Christian doctrine. To this day there are annual lectures at Harvard University named the Ingersoll Lectures, named in honor of this atheistic man. For Ingersoll, death came suddenly and as an unmitigated shock to his family. His body was kept in the home for several days because his wife couldn’t bear to part with it; at last his remains were cremated; and the laying of his remains to rest was such a pathetic and sad scene for this man who had spent his career denying the resurrection, that even some of the newspapers reported the story. For Ingersoll’s friends and family his passing was perceived as an awful tragedy. And indeed it was, for He died apart from Jesus Christ.
The other death I mention in 1899 was that of evangelist Dwight L. Moody, and what a triumphant passing it was for Moody and his family. His health had been declining for some time, and on the morning of his death his son by his bedside heard Moody crying out, “Earth is receding, heaven is opening, God is calling!” His son said, “You are dreaming, Father.” Moody answered, “No, Will, this is no dream. I have been within the gates! I have seen the children’s faces!” As he was slipping away, Moody was heard asking, “Is this death? This is not bad; this is no valley. This is bliss. This is glorious!” His daughter arrived at his bedside and began praying for his recovery. Moody said, “No, no, Emma, don’t pray for that. God is calling. This is my coronation day; I have been looking forward to it!” (Story told in Boice, pp. 223-224)
And as CS Lewis wrote of Reepicheep the Talking Mouse,
Then he vanished, and since that moment no one can truly claim to have seen Dwight Lyman Moody. But my belief is that he came safe to Jesus’ country and is alive there to this day.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print
Lewis, C. S. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. New York: HarperCollins, 1980. Print.
Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

RUNNING THE RACE

2011-05-12T14:12:00.000-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 15)
“RUNNING THE RACE”
Philippians 3:12-16
Rev. Grady Davidson 050811
As we return to Paul’s epistle to the Philippians this morning, we come to a passage in which the Apostle picks up on a theme that we find in several places in the New Testament—namely that the Christian life is an endurance race, a marathon.
Living as a follower of Jesus isn’t for spectators who want to sit in the bleachers and be entertained by watching others run the race;
Living as a follower of Jesus isn’t a sprint in which you press forward at full steam for a few yards only to hold your hand out for the prize;
Nor is life as a follower of Jesus a life for those who are afraid of pain and struggle and exhaustion. It troubles me when I walk into many bookstores and see books written by popular Christian authors. If unbelievers were to draw their impression of the Christian faith just from the titles of many bestselling Christian books, they might very well be misled into thinking that to follow Jesus is to enjoy a life of ease with no financial problems, no marital problems, no childrearing problems, no health problems, no career problems. Now it is true that when we live according to God’s principles in the Bible that we can avoid some pain that comes as the natural consequence of sin; but even at its best the Christian life is sill a heart-pounding, sweat-drenching, muscle-fatiguing marathon. I personally believe that by and large life is harder for followers of Jesus than it is for unbelievers, because Satan is content to leave unbelievers alone. When the unbeliever is satisfied and content and has no felt need for Jesus, then Satan has no reason to trouble that person. But when someone gets serious about living for Jesus Christ in his marriage; with his finances; in his childrearing; at work, etc.; then you can count on the Enemy using every possible means he can to trip that runner up and get him out of the race! The Christian life is a difficult life, yet you can run it in Christ’s strength, and the prize is worth the agony of the race.
So this morning we’re looking at the subject in God’s Word of Winning at the Race of Life. Every race has a starting line. Every race begins with the referee firing the starting gun. The Apostle Paul mentions the start of his race in verse 12 when he mentions that time when “Christ Jesus took hold” of him. For Paul that moment was on the Road to Damascus. The Risen Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to Paul in blinding light and great glory. Jesus stopped Paul dead in his tracks. Jesus struck Paul blind for three days at the end of which Jesus sent Ananias to go and pray for Paul’s healing. But more importantly Paul was saved that day. God gave him a new heart—a heart which believed in and trusted Jesus Christ. And with that faith, Paul confessed aloud his trust in Jesus and Ananias baptized Paul that day as a Christian. For Paul the race began.
I want to ask you: Are you a Christian? Are you even in the race? Like Paul, can you name that time and place when Jesus Christ laid hold of you? Have you shared that testimony of belief in Jesus with others, and have you been baptized as a believing Christian. Until that time, you might be tiptoeing around the starting line, but you’re not yet in the race. Repent of your sins today, believe in Jesus Christ, be baptized and get in the race!
The second thing I want to point out in the text is that the Apostle has a “holy dissatisfaction” with his progress in the race. The Philippian Christians who received this letter probably thought that Paul was such a super-apostle, such a magnificent and holy and Godly specimen of humanity. They probably thought that living for Jesus came easily to Paul. But Paul writes, “No, it’s hard; I’m not there yet; I’ve not yet ‘been made perfect’; I’m not satisfied with my progress in becoming more like Jesus in every facet of my life.”
Let me ask you: Do you get frustrated with yourself sometimes? Do you find yourself disappointed that you stumble and fall in sin, and you find yourself confessing the same things over and over again to the Lord? If that describes you, this text tells us that you’re in a good place. If you’re not satisfied with your progress, then at least you know you’re running the race and not sitting in the bleachers!
The third thing I’d have you notice with me is the runner’s forgetfulness of the past. To watch some people run the race of the Christian life, it’s as if they’re running the track backwards. They’re not looking ahead. They’re mesmerized by something in their history. In some cases it’s something good – perhaps it was that time when the kids were small and life was simple; maybe it was before a significant other passed away; maybe it was a certain point in your career when the money was coming in and work was a good place to be; maybe it was the glory days of high school! Some Christians are fixated on a time in their past, and to them the race of life is trying to return to that. Friends, that’s running backwards! If you can visualize that, if you’re turned around running backwards and the crowd is pressing forwards, what’s going to happen?!
But other Christians are fixated on something bad in their past. Everything they do, even subconsciously, is in an effort to deal with that thing in the past (a divorce, a failure of some kind, or a time in which somebody hurt you in some way). The Apostle Paul had all kinds of terrible things in his own past; things which if he focused on them would have held him in a dark prison of doubt and fear and shame. In 1 Timothy 1 he writes about the past when he was a blasphemer and a persecutor of the church and a violent man. He describes himself as “the worst of sinners.” Paul, who wrote this letter had plenty of ugly stuff in his own history which could easily disqualify him from the race. He had to learn to put the past behind him and to move forward with Jesus!
One of the writers I studied regarding this text (Wiersbe) wrote something that has really challenged me. He points out that most of us think of time as flowing out of the past through the present and into the future. Wiersbe says in light of this text, “Let’s look at it the other way. When it comes to running the marathon of following Jesus Christ, we should think of time as flowing out of the future, through the present, and pouring into the past.” I like that! That sets me on fire. I want to run in such a way that I’m constantly looking for “what’s next” in this life Jesus has given me.
A few years ago at the EPC’s General Assembly, Rev. Jeff Chadwick was plenary speaker one evening. (At that time he was Director of EPC World Outreach.) Jeff made a remark that has riveted me for several years: “When a congregation believes its glory days lie in the past, I assure you that what they believe is true.” It’s true for us as individuals; it’s true for whole congregations. When we focus on a chapter of life behind us (good or bad), then we’re turned the wrong direction!
The Apostle Paul says, “Face forward! Look at the goal! Behold the prize! It is yet to be won!”
The challenge before us in today’s text is to run today’s race, today. It’s strenuous work. He writes about “straining” and “pressing ahead.” We don’t revert to doing another loop of last year’s race. We don’t passively sit around waiting for next year’s race. We run today’s race, today! And yes, it’s hard, and it’s strenuous – but it’s this factor that makes the Christian life so much fun. It’s this factor that makes the Christian life the only life worth living! Because we wake up every morning asking the question, “Jesus, what do you have for me to do today? Jesus, what do you want the race to look like today, in my life? Jesus, what would you have me do today to seize the moment before it’s gone?”
Did you hear about the soldier and the officer and the pretty girl and the grandmother?
A young soldier and his CO were seated on a train facing an attractive young woman travelling with her grandmother. As the four of them rode down the rails, the soldier and the young woman kept eyeing one another; the attraction was obviously mutual. Suddenly the train went into a tunnel and the car became pitch black.
Immediately two sounds were heard: the “smack” of a kiss, and the “whack” of a slap across the face. The grandmother thought “I can’t believe he kissed my granddaughter, but I’m glad she gave him the slap he deserved.”
The commanding officer thought, “I don’t blame the boy for kissing girl, but it’s a shame that she missed his face and hit me instead.”
The young girl thought, “I’m glad he kissed me, but I wish my grandmother hadn’t slapped him for doing it.” And as the train broke into the sunlight, the soldier could not wipe the smile off his face. He had just seized the opportunity to kiss the girl of his dreams and to slap his commanding officer and had gotten away with both!
Seize the day! Make the most of every opportunity! (Colossians 4.5)
Brother Adrian Rogers (he went home to glory a few years ago) wrote about this subject. Notice in verse 13, how the Apostle mentions “one thing I do.” Brother Rogers would talk about the importance of writing down a “TOT” statement – “That One Thing.”
The devil would love to get you distracted and get you off the course on which God has placed you. God has something He wants you to do and you had better not substitute the good for the best. Find out what God wants you to do and refuse to be distracted by the devil. You need to say as the apostle Paul said, "This one thing I do!" Know what it is that God wants you to do and do it with all your strength for His glory!
Take a few minutes to write out a mission statement about your life focusing on "that one thing" (TOT) that you think God has called you to do. Then, post the letters TOT everywhere to remind yourself to stay focused on the calling of God in your life.
There’s one more thing to show you in the text, and then we’re through. (v. 16) “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” In terms of the race, at least keep running hard enough to maintain your current ranking! The runner who is pleased with his progress and has gotten out in front of the other runners, can’t afford to take a break from the race just because of his recent progress. Those who stop running, lose! So “let us live up to what we have already attained.”
So how are you running the race? Are you running well? Are you seizing this day which Christ has given to you? Or have you stumbled and fallen? If you’ve stumbled on the track, then the same grace of Christ which saved you is the grace which calls you to get up, forget the past and run and run and run!
I’ll see you at the finish line. Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print
Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.
Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

"AN ANSWER FROM THE STORM"

2011-05-02T10:07:00.000-04:00

“An Answer from the Storm”
Job 38:1
Non-series message following April 27 tornados
Rev. Grady Davidson 050111

The title of this morning’s message is “An Answer from the Storm.” I call your attention to the first verse of Job 38, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm,” or as the KJV says, “then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind” – we would say, “God answered Job from the tornado.” Have you had any questions for the LORD? Has He called out to you from the midst of the whirlwind?
I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that going through the tornados of this past week has been an incredibly humbling experience. (1) It’s humbling because we’re reminded that God IS God; and that God is powerful. (2) It’s been humbling because we’re reminded of just how serious an issue is the sin and rebellion of the human race. When God created the Heavens and the Earth, He looked on it all and declared it was “good.” When God finished Creation, things worked as they were supposed to, and there were no tornados or diseases or floods. But Man, left to the freedom of his own will, rebelled against God by eating the forbidden fruit; and we brought God’s curse not only on ourselves but on all of Creation. So now we live not in a beautiful & flawless Garden of Eden, but in a created world which is “subjected to frustration,” and “groaning in agony” (Rms. 8:19-22). Creation itself is in the pain of childbirth, awaiting that Day when Christ shall return, and the Sons and Daughters of God shall be revealed and the New Heavens and New Earth will finally be established. (3) It’s been a humbling week because (personally) I look at my family, and our house, and our neighborhood that came through the storm unscathed and I ask, “God, why were we spared, when others very nearby lost so much?” It’s surely not that we were “just lucky” and they “weren’t lucky.” Christians don’t believe in “luck.” We believe in “the decrees of God” by which He has “foreordained everything which comes to pass.” And we believe that “God executeth His decrees in the works of creation and of providence.” (Q&A’s from the Westminster Shorter Catechism) So why is it that in God’s providence, it was Tuscaloosa and Ringgold, and not Lookout Valley? And within Lookout Valley, why did the EF2 hit South Moss and not Tiftonia Heights?
Job was a man full of questions too. Perhaps you know his story. In the opening chapters of the story of Job, the reader is privy to the council of heaven. Job is a good and noble and Godly man. No, he’s not a perfect individual, but he loves and worships the Lord and in a way that was appropriate for his era before Christ he offered sacrifices to God for his sins and trusted in God’s grace and mercy for forgiveness. He was generous to the poor and an advocate for widows and orphans. He was a good man.
Satan approaches God and asks for permission to test Job. God grants Satan permission, and in a series of devastating events, there are lightning storms and wind storms and parties of armed raiders sweeping in from the desert. In just a few hours’ time, Job loses all of his possessions; he loses his children and their families, while he and wife are spared (though he would have preferred to die with his family!). Finally Job himself was stricken with sickening sores from head to toe. He sat in wretched misery on an ash heap holding a shard of broken pottery to scratch his sores.
Then his friends came to visit. And with friends like his, who needs enemies? Because one by one his three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar started bringing words of “comfort” to Job; but their comforting words had barbed points. Basically they all said to him, “Come on Job, out with it! You’ve personally done something really, really, really bad. You have some kind of hidden, unconfessed sin in your life and God is ‘getting you’ for it.” They said, “Job, you are suffering greatly because you have sinned greatly. God is dishing out suffering and devastation on your life because you’re a wicked man.” They came to visit Job ostensibly to comfort him, but in effect in their visit they put Job on trial and condemned him!
The book of Job is written in cycles of speeches. There are three friends; each one speaks; Job replies, and the narrative goes around and around and around, getting nowhere. Job’s answer to each of them (I’m simplifying a lot!) is, “No, I haven’t done anything heinously evil, anymore than anyone else anyway.” By the time we get toward the end of the book, Job is calling to put God on trial. “God, show me my sin. God, come on down and let’s face off because I don’t deserve what is happening to me!”
But in Job ch. 32 a fourth man comes in. He’s a young man named Elihu. He’s been patiently waiting his turn while his elders spoke, but by ch. 32 Elihu is about to burst with words (32.17-22). Elihu, in his lengthy speech to Job, comes across as brash and cocky; but he introduces one new thought into the whole conversation. He says (ch. 36), “Could it be that when a man suffers at the hand of God, that it’s not necessarily the vindictive wrath of an angry God, but perhaps the Fatherly discipline of a loving God, who is calling us to accept his Fatherly correction and return to Him in faith and trust and love?” As Elihu delivers his speech, there are clues in the text that the scene is changing all around the five men. As he speaks to Job, clouds start to form overhead, and rain starts to splatter. Thunder rumbles and lightning strikes (36.27-33). You get the sense that Elihu is shouting over the noise of the storm! (37.1-4) There’s a splattering of snow and hail, and a giant Twister comes right up to the five men – Job; Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar; and the young man Elihu.
Finally in ch. 38, the LORD answered Job, speaking right out of the swirling tornado. And you know what? The LORD didn’t answer anybody’s questions. The LORD didn’t explain to Job how and why He had allowed Satan to test him with many trials. He didn’t for a second explain His wisdom or seek to justify himself to men.
Instead, the LORD had some questions of his own (38.3).
{Skim through the LORD’s questions to Job, chs. 38-39… up to 40.3-5 where Job gives up!}
Here’s the one point I want to make this morning. God doesn’t give us answers. But what He does give us is far better, for He gives us Himself! He displays His majesty and might and raw power, and then He asks, “NOW, are you going to hate me? Or run away from me? Or are you going to accept that I am God, and that I can do whatever I want, and knowing all that, will you run to me?” We sang the words this morning,
“O God, our help in ages past; Our hope for years to come; Our shelter from the stormy blast, and Our eternal home.” – I want to be very clear – the same One who sends the stormy blast is our shelter from the stormy blast. Will you trust Him and run to Him in spite of everything you’ve witnessed in the past few days?
But friends, let’s tell the rest of the story; we know more of the story than Job did. Job at one point cried out for a Mediator, one who could lay hold of God with one hand and touch the earth with the other hand. Somebody who could plead his case to God. Several thousand years after Job, that Mediator came to Earth. One, who unlike Job was perfectly sinless. One who was flawless in his obedience to the Heavenly Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas Job survived with his own life, even while he sat on his throne of ashes covered with sores; Jesus Christ who deserved no pain, no suffering; Jesus Christ who deserved to sit on the throne of heaven instead dragged his cross out to the town garbage heap of Jerusalem, and there with his flesh torn to shreds and a crown of thorns on his brow, lay down meekly like a lamb taken to slaughter and took nails in his hands and feet, and was raised up on that cross until his heart gave out… so that Job’s sins could be forgiven… so that your sins could be forgiven… so that even those who were ripped from this earth on Wednesday in violent deaths could have the opportunity of entering the joys of God’s heaven. For on the Cross, where a just man suffered and died for others, God’s demands of justice are fully met so that all who believe in His Son can have eternal life! Friends, as unbelievable as it may sound, there are worse things that can happen to us than to be blown apart in a tornado. Hebrews 10.31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.”
So this morning I implore you: confess and repent of your sin; believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; call upon Him and you will be saved!
It’s a story I told once before from this pulpit, but it’s worth repeating.
A man and his preschool daughter drove to a friend’s house in another city to pay a visit. They hadn’t visited the friend in a long time, and in the intervening time the friend had raised a German Shepherd as a guard dog and family pet. The guests pulled up into the driveway and spilled out of the car and came up the sidewalk toward the house. At the same time the door to the house burst open, and the homeowner came out to greet his guests. As he did so his German shepherd slipped through the doorway and came between the homeowner and the father and his young daughter. The dog’s ears went straight up and forward and his alert gaze was fixed right on the two strangers. His hackles rose ever so slightly. The little girl was terrified, and she started to cry out in fear and to turn and run back to the car. But the homeowner cried out: “Don’t run! Turn around! His name’s Bruno – come straight to him and say his name and hug him around the neck! If you run he’ll think you’re an intruder and you might not make it back to the car! But come straight to him and say ‘Hey Bruno!’ and you’ll be fine!”
Friends: once again I implore you today. You’ve seen firsthand his power and majesty and grandeur this week. If we saw only that, we would simply despair. But we also see his love and humility and kindness on Calvary’s tree. Come to Jesus, run to Him, speak His name. Confess your sins and put your trust in the Son of God. Amen. (prayer of invitation)

Philippians part 14, "The Power of The Resurrection," 3:10-11, Rev. Grady Davidson 042411

2011-04-25T08:44:00.000-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 14)
“THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION”
Easter Message
Philippians 3:7-11
Rev. Grady Davidson 042411
Beloved friends, on this Easter Sunday morning, I want to draw upon our text to ask just one simple but incredibly important question: Do you know Jesus Christ? There are many elements of Christianity which distinguish the Christian faith from all the world religions, but one of the most significant of those distinctions is this – that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is One with whom we can have a personal relationship. The Bible teaches that after the crucifixion, that Jesus Christ was bodily resurrected from the dead; that the Man Jesus was witnessed by many in the forty days after his resurrection; that the Man Jesus ascended into heaven and now reigns over all the universe as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Furthermore we believe and proclaim that Jesus Christ lives today and is personally known by those who trust him. One Bible teacher puts it this way: “Consequently, to know him personally, intimately, and experientially is the first and greatest goal of the believer’s life” (J.M. Boice). Beloved friend, do you know Jesus Christ in this way?
This morning I want to invite you to enter into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the kind of relationship which the Apostle Paul describes that he both enjoyed and wanted to develop and deepen as he writes in verses 10 and 11 of Philippians chapter 3.
First of all, notice with me that our text promises that you and I can have a personal experience of knowing Jesus.
(v. 8) “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”
(v. 10) “I want to know Christ…”
Beloved friend, don’t stop with merely believing that the tomb was empty on that Sunday morning. The same people who had nailed Jesus to the Cross believed the tomb was empty, but they didn’t have that relationship with Christ! How many, many people there must be who come to church on Easter Sunday; they have examined the historical evidence; they believe that God raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead – and yet they don’t know Jesus.
“I want to know Christ” (v. 10). Take note, the Apostle doesn’t write, “I want to know about Christ.” There is one kind of knowledge that is all knowledge of the head, but not of the heart. It’s one thing to know about Christ; it’s another thing entirely to know Jesus experientially in a daily relationship of trust and love. The Apostle Paul, knowing that Christ had died for his sins and been raised up for his justification, wanted to enter into the deepest possible union with Christ. Is that your desire? Do you awaken in the morning in eager expectation that you’re going to spend the day in the presence of the Lord Jesus? Because Jesus Christ is truly and fully human, you can know Him and relate to Him as a friend. Because Jesus Christ is truly and fully God, he is also infinite and inexhaustible so that His followers all over the world can simultaneously know Him personally.
With your eyes back on the text, notice that God’s Word invites us not only into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but also into a powerful relationship with Jesus—to know Jesus is to know His power at work in your life! (v. 10): “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…” Often on Easter Sunday we give pause to consider the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Often on Easter Sunday we encourage one another by remembering the overwhelming historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ -- and that is wonderful! (If there’s any doubt in your mind about the reliability of the evidence for the Lord’s resurrection, then please give me a call this week, and let’s set up a time to look at that evidence together.)
However our text today takes us a step further. The challenge before us in today’s text is to appropriate the power of the resurrection and to experience that power at work in our own lives. What does that power look like? Turn (L) to Ephesians 1:18-21 (review). That same spiritual power – the power to do battle with sin and to overcome sin and to trample Satan under your feet – is available to us today.
In this series through Philippians we’ve talked a lot about who the Philippians were. The city of Philippi was a colony of Rome. Its founding fathers and leading citizens were mainly retired Roman army folk. If you know any history, you know that the Roman world was all about power. The Romans were very proud of the power of their Empire. The Apostle Paul was a citizen of the Roman State, and Paul had genuine respect for the power of Rome.
And yet Paul knew that the power and authority of Rome was at best the third greatest power in the world. For greater than the power of Rome is the power of sin which holds people and entire nations in a viselike grip and tyranny greater by far than even the power of Rome. But greater still – far greater than the political and military might of any nation, and greater even than the awful grip of sin – is the resurrection power of Jesus Christ – God’s power!
On Wednesday night here in the sanctuary about a dozen worshipers were present. We brought to conclusion a Lenten series on the Seven Deadly Sins – pride, anger, lust, gluttony, sloth, avarice, and envy. We talked about how the Cross breaks sin’s grip over us. Then our people took a few minutes to write a break-up letter to their Sin. Then as they desired, people came forward and ribbons representing their sin on a wooden cross set up front. As I sat in prayer, I could hear the chains of sin breaking all around.
This Easter Sunday, God is inviting you to know Jesus Christ, and to know him in such a way that his resurrection power is at work breaking those old besetting sins that you’ve carried around for years! That’s the resurrection power of Jesus Christ at work!
So we’re asking the question, “What does it mean to know Jesus Christ?” It’s a personal experience; it’s a powerful experience, but third, we also need to recognize that truly knowing Jesus is a painful experience, for the Apostle writes (v. 10), “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” So I speak a word of warning: if you want to live a carefree life free of pain, free of difficulty, free of suffering, then a relationship with Jesus Christ is NOT for you. For to have intimate, personal knowledge of Jesus is to enter into union with One who came to suffer and to die. The Bible teaches that as we know and follow Jesus that we should not be surprised when we suffer persecution for his sake (1 Peter 4:12); it even teaches that we should consider Christian suffering as a gift and privilege (Phil. 1:29). What Paul is saying in today’s text is that he welcomes even more pain into his life for the sake of Jesus, because he knows that it’s when he enters deeply into that precious fellowship of suffering with Jesus, that he’s relationally closest to Jesus.
I know, I know: On Easter Sunday we’re supposed to rejoice in the glorious resurrection of our Lord; but that resurrection power is manifested most clearly in our lives through our weakness and pain and moment-to-moment dependence upon our Lord. And all that points to our final observation from the text: That we are invited into a relationship with Jesus that is personal and powerful and painful, but also practical.
(v 10b, 11): “Becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” These verses have often been misunderstood. Some Bible teachers have mistakenly thought that the Apostle is worried about his eternal security, concerned that maybe he’ll be raised to eternal life in the general resurrection, but that he’s not absolutely confident about it.
That’s not what he’s writing about it here. Rather, what he’s saying is something like this: That he so wants his old selfish, prideful, religious self (the “old man” of Rms. 6:6) to be so identified with Christ in Christ’s crucifixion, that it’s obvious to the whole world that it’s the resurrection power of Jesus Christ at work in his life! One Bible teacher expresses the idea of verse 11 this way: “As I walk your streets, as I walk into your homes, as I walk into your stores, as I walk into your offices, as I mingle among the sons of men, I want to be so living for Christ, so outstanding for him that you can see that I am a living one among the dead ones” (Dr. Ralph L. Kuiper, quoted in Boice). Knowing Jesus Christ personally, powerfully and painfully has this immensely practical outcome that the world sees Jesus and his resurrection life at work in us. It’s the idea of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, nevertheless Christ liveth in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Perhaps you say, “But pastor, I don’t think I have that personal relationship with Jesus that you’re talking about. I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, but how do I get to know Him like the Apostle Paul describes?”
Answer: by repentance and faith. Repentance means turning away from sin, acknowledging its awfulness and admitting your guilt in the presence of the Holy God. Faith means placing your trust and confidence in Jesus, believing that He died for your sins and was raised so that you can have eternal life through Him. Then by faith you begin seeking to follow Jesus by reading his word, by obeying his commands, by seeking him in prayer. Soon you realize that you’re not just talking about Jesus and reading about Jesus and learning about Jesus. Soon you have this exciting discovery that you’re growing in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, fully God and fully Man; and that He’s your Savior and your faithful Friend and Companion. There’s no reason at all that personal relationship with Him shouldn’t begin right now, today! Let’s pray together.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print
Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.
Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

"What Are You Counting On?" Philippians part 13

2011-04-18T09:43:00.001-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 13)
“WHAT ARE YOU COUNTING ON?”
Philippians 3:1-11
Rev. Grady Davidson 041711
In case anyone has been asleep at the wheel, it’s tax season, which means pulling out the W2’s and the receipts and a mountain of other tiny bits of information; and entering all that raw data on the appropriate forms, in the correct lines, hopefully to discover that your 2010 tax bill to the federal government is already paid off in excess. If you’ve failed to yet file your return, then don’t worry because the IRS has graciously extended the filing deadline until April 18 (tomorrow) instead of the usual April 15 deadline. (You have all afternoon, and all night and most of tomorrow to wrap it up, sign off, and get it postmarked!)
I think that the timing of this text from Philippians falling on this of all weekends is quite appropriate, because our text is also about “keeping the books.” The Apostle Paul is writing about his relationship with God, but to do so he draws on the language of bookkeeping. One of the key words in the text is a verb which he chooses in verse 7, and again in verse 8 (Gk. hegemoai); it’s a verb that means “to account, to assess, to evaluate.” It’s the same word that a businessman of the 1st century would have chosen to say that he or she accounted all of the cash revenue coming in as “credits” or income, and all of the related expenses were accounted as “debits” to go in the other column. So before we get into the text at all, I ask the question: “What are you counting on?” When you consider a Holy God in heaven, and then in His glorious light, you open up the accounting book of your life, what do you discover in terms of credits and debits, income and expenses? That’s where this text points us. (pray)
As we dig in to this morning’s text, the first thing to notice is Paul’s use of the phrase “the flesh” (end of v. 3, again in v. 4). Now what’s interesting is that most of the time in the NT, the word “flesh” is a very negative word. It usually has to do with carnality, with that which is opposed to the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:19, for example, the Apostle writes that “the works of the flesh are obvious – sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, and hatred…etc.” “The flesh” usually has very gross connotations; 90% of the time “the flesh” refers to that which any moral, upright, reasonable person knows is wrong! But not here, not this time (and we’re going to examine those details).
What I’d have you consider is this: It’s not always the bad, immoral, sinister, evil stuff that keeps us from the joy of a relationship with the Father in Heaven. Sometimes it’s the good things; sometimes it’s the desirable things that we want for ourselves and we want for our children and we want for our communities… sometimes it’s the good things, if we don’t handle them correctly, that keep us from separated from God!
As we come into the second half of v. 4, the Apostle Paul is talking about “the flesh,” and here he’s describing good things in his life. Things which we would have to conclude were tremendous advantages and blessings. As a good Rabbi, Paul writes a list of seven such spiritual advantages and blessings he enjoyed.
The first 4 were inherited advantages. These were advantages of birthright and upbringing.
1) In obedience to the Law, his parents took him to be circumcised on the 8th day of his life (Gen. 17.12). He was marked from infancy as a son of God’s covenant! He was raised in a covenant-keeping family that worshiped the Lord.
2) Of the people Israel –again that name “Israel” speaks of God’s covenantal promises to his people. He was raised in a believing family!
3) Of the tribe of Benjamin—out of all 12 tribes of Israel, only two of them remained faithful to the royal line of David. While the 10 northern tribes went apostate, only Benjamin and Judah were faithful to the Lord.
4) A Hebrew of Hebrews—“I enjoyed all the rich blessings of a Godly heritage.”
And that’s all great! These are the very sorts of things that I’m delighted my own children enjoy. They are being raised in a Christian family; they received the covenantal sign and seal of baptism when they were very young; in the Scriptures; to worship the Lord. And on and on. We are delighted and humbled that our girls enjoy many of those same spiritual advantages that Becky and I enjoyed as children.
Paul not only enjoyed inherited advantages; he also enjoyed some tremendous earned advantages.
5) On his own initiative he became a member of the strictest sect of his faith, the sect of the Pharisees (v. 5).
6) He was so zealous for the religion of his fathers (as he misunderstood it) that he persecuted the followers of Jesus.
7) (End of v. 6) “As for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” He had done it all, and done it faithfully, and done it well. In his little ledger book, the Apostle had these seven wonderful entries on the side of income and credits—and frankly they’re quite impressive, aren’t they?
The problem, dear friends, is that God doesn’t keep the books like we do. What we have in vv. 5-6 is the picture of a fine, religious man who has a very cultivated exterior life. Looking at him from the outside, Saul of Tarsus had it all together. Looking at him from the outside, he was faultless—an exemplary citizen of a God-fearing nation; a model man of faith.
But God, in His accounting, sees the heart. And He sees the pride and the anger and the envy and the selfishness and the lust and uncleanness on the inside. Man looks at outward appearances; God looks at the heart. One time Jesus was having dinner with a Pharisee very much like Paul: “Now then you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness” (Luke 11:39). God’s accounting is true and honest. He sees what’s really there. (Example of final days of Enron Corporation—on paper the shareholders were rich; but the stock was worthless.)
I was reading last week about a yearly festival held in Switzerland (Fashing). It’s a wild affair with unbelievable debauchery. But no one is sure “who’s doing what” because all the participants are celebrating behind the anonymity of carnival masks.
During that festival the Salvation Army buys space on billboards and sets up placards all over Basel, with the words (in German): “Gott sieht hinter deine Maske!” God sees behind your mask!
Does anybody among us play Monopoly? I was raised in a family in which Monopoly is an Olympic sport. It’s played to win. The goal is the ruthless financial devastation of all your opponents so that you come out filthy rich!
Paul learned two things on the Damascus Road (Acts 9). 1) God saw behind his mask; the façade of religiosity didn’t fool God for a minute; 2) is that all his credentials and spiritual advantages that he was so proud of, were nothing better than Monopoly money. Colorful, fun, attention grabbing, but only a fool would try to purchase groceries at Food Lion with Monopoly money. Only a fool would account his spiritual advantages and religious accomplishments as righteousness, and hold them up to God saying, “Look what I have!”
Look again at v. 7-8 (review). The Apostle learned to do accounting God’s way. He went back and audited his own books; he realized his accounting was flawed. He took all the credits of vv. 5-6 (his inherited advantages and spiritual accomplishments), and he re-entered them under debits and expenses and losses. How could he do that? How could he speak of his upbringing and spiritual heritage and call it “rubbish”? (Gk skubalon: “any refuse, as the excrement of animals, offscouring, rubbish, dregs, etc,” – Thayer’s Lexicon) He could do it because he’d discovered a better righteousness. He’d discovered a credit to enter into the ledger that was so good, that everything else was a liability by comparison.
Notice the contrast in verse 9: “a righteousness of my own” opposed to “the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” A righteousness of my own – that’s playing with Monopoly money. Maybe you can whip everybody else at that game, but it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on in God’s heaven. But “the righteousness that comes from God” – that’s a gift. It’s the righteousness of Jesus Himself. God delights to credit it to your account. He delights to give it to you, but you can’t earn it and He doesn’t want you to even try! He wants you to receive it by faith!
Friends, it’s time to audit the books! Either you have Jesus, and with Him the gift of his righteousness and the forgiveness of sins and eternal life… or else your spiritual wallet is stuffed with Enron stock and Monopoly money. Confess your sin to Christ. Believe in Him and receive God’s gift of the righteousness of Jesus, and do it today!
Last Sunday afternoon I heard Bible teacher Ravi Zacharias on the radio, and he told a parable that I want to share with you as best I recall it.
A wealthy man had one son whom he deeply loved. They lived in a magnificent mansion on a huge gated estate. But the son would go and wander in the village and meet people there in his wanderings. One day the son met a homeless man in the village streets; he treated him kindly and they struck up an unlikely friendship with one another. The homeless man asked about life in the mansion, and the son of the wealthy man described how his father collected art. The walls of the mansion were filled with masterpieces – Rembrandts, Monets, Caravaggios, Picassos.
The homeless man was delighted to learn that the wealthy family in the mansion collected art, because he liked pictures too. One day he found a box of crayons and a scrap of paper, and he drew and colored a childlike rendering of his wealthy friend, the son. When he finished the coloring he took it right to the gate of the mansion. The guard wouldn’t let him enter, but the homeless man said “That’s OK, just take this picture and give it to the master of the house. Tell him his son is my friend, and that it’s a picture of his son.” The guard was amused, but he gave it to the butler, and at an opportune time the butler gave it to the wealthy man.
Sadly, the wealthy man’s son grew sick, and the homeless man saw him no more. Eventually the son grew sick and died an early death. And his father, the lord of the manor, his heart broken by the death of his son died shortly thereafter as well.
Time came for the estate to be settled, and an auction was announced for the art collection. The auction was advertised widely, and art collectors from all over the world were in attendance on the day of the auction. The homeless man heard of the auction, and wanted to see what his little crayon drawing would bring. So he showed up amidst the throngs in attendance at the art auction.
The auctioneer started off the day by holding up the homeless man’s crayon coloring of the wealthy man’s son. The auctioneer explained that the will expressly stated that this coloring of the son was to be the first item sold at auction. And all the art collectors groaned and rolled their eyes. “Who will give me $1? 75 cents?” And no bidders raised their hands. The homeless man, seeing that no one wanted his picture pulled a coin from his pocket and said, “I bid 25 cents!” “Going, going, gone, for 25 cents.” With the worthless drawing out of the way, the art collectors began scanning the horizon for the first masterpiece to be brought out. But the executor of the estate stepped forward. “Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our auction, because the lord of the estate had a second stipulation in his will: namely that whoever bid in the picture of his son, would receive everything else too.” Whoever gets the Son, gets it all! That’s the message of the Gospel: whoever has the Son of God, has everything.
That’s what Paul writes in v. 8. He’s gained Christ—and having Christ, he’s gained everything. Open your heart to Christ, that you might gain him, having the righteousness from God received by faith.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print
Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.
Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

PHILIPPIANS PART 12 / 3:1-11 "What are you counting on?" / Rev. Grady Davidson 041011

2011-04-09T11:44:00.003-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 12)
“WHAT ARE YOU COUNTING ON?”
Philippians 3:1-11
Rev. Grady Davidson 041011
As we come into Philippians 3 this morning, we find that the Apostle is changing gears. In chapter 2 he was writing about his companions there with him in Rome (Timothy & Epaphroditus). And he’s commended them and their ministry to the Philippians. As we come into chapter 3, the Apostle begins dealing with two subjects of massive importance to the Christians in Philippi and certainly to us today as well. These two topics overlap one another so much in the first 11 verses that I think it’s easy to lose sight of the first one, as it’s somewhat overshadowed by the second one. Today I want to be very careful that doesn’t happen. So with God’s Word open before you to Philippians chapter 3, let’s dig in.
Notice that chapter 3 begins with a note of apostolic command: “Rejoice in the Lord!” (Skip down to 4:4, 4:10, and see it again and again.) And I would submit to you that this subject of Christian joy is the Apostle’s primary concern for the next chapter and a half. I mentioned already that the Apostle is dealing here 2 great overlapping themes – and this is theme #1! He would have us to know that the authentic Christianity is different from anything else the world has to offer. On the one hand, authentic Christianity is different from religion, which is always moralistic, and controlling, and rules-oriented. On the other hand, authentic Christianity is different from crass, unbelieving worldly paganism. And the difference that life in Jesus Christ offers is JOY!
Now I need you to grab that thread of joy and hang onto it for just a minute.
The second major concern in verses 1-11, is the basic question, “How are we made right with God?” It’s the issue of justification by faith alone. How are we justified before God? How do we enter into a righteous relationship with God? This issue is huge. It’s categorically the most important question a human being can wrestle with. How am I made right with God? On what basis does God accept me? And when I find myself under the wrath and condemnation of the Holy God of heaven, is there anything to be done to remedy that situation?
This morning I’m giving you a “heads up” that I anticipate it taking three weeks to get through these eleven verses. Lord willing, we’ll appropriately land in verses 10-11 which deal with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how that power works in our lives on Easter Sunday.
This morning what I’m asking you to do is to imagine yourself taking your seat in a swing set; take the rope of joy in your right hand; take the rope of justification by faith alone in your left hand, and by faith let’s swing to the heavens! Today and next Lord’s Day together I’m bringing a 3-point message: 1) The command to rejoice; 2) The thieves of joy; 3) a personal testimony about discovering joy.
THE COMMAND TO REJOICE (v. 1).
I don’t want to breeze through verse 1 to get to the meaty doctrine of justification by faith. Christian friend, have you ever really stopped to consider that God commands you to be joyful? That along with “Thou shalt not steal,” and “thou shalt not lie” and “honor thy father and thy mother,” that even more fundamentally, Christians are to be a people marked by joy! Let me give you a little self-test: when was the last time that someone asked you that common question of courtesy and greeting, “How are you doing,” and from your soul you spontaneously replied, “I am rejoicing!”?
Recently we went through the process of shopping for a new-to-us used car. When you’re looking at cars you have base models with standard equipment, and then you have all sorts of pricey optional extras. To rejoice “in the Lord” isn’t some sort of optional extra in the Christian life. We are commanded, not just here, but many times in Scripture to rejoice! In my devotional reading I’ve been studying Deuteronomy. Just last week I came across several places where the LORD God summoned his people to rejoice:
(12:7) “In the presence of the LORD your God you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.” (12:12) “There rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and daughters.” (12:18) “Rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to.” Everything God gives us to do, we are to tackle with a spirit of joy!
The Psalms likewise are full of admonitions and commands to rejoice in the LORD: (32:11) “Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous, Sing, all you who are upright in heart!” (68:4) “Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him.” Beloved friends, God’s Word commands that we rejoice! It doesn’t matter if you label yourself “Presbyterian” or “Roman Catholic” or “Pentecostal” or “Traditional” or “Evangelical” or “Baptisterian!” Rejoice in the LORD! Cultivate a spirit of delight in Christ, in the wonderful Savior He is… Learn to savor Jesus in your heart and learn to express outwardly, your inner delight and joy in Jesus. Someone has defined “joy” as “the supernatural delight in God, and in God’s goodness” (Boice). The world has a shallow substitute for joy, which is happiness. Happiness depends on events and circumstances. If things meet my hopes and expectations then I’m happy; if things go south, then I’m not happy. But joy isn’t earthly. It’s supernatural. It’s the work of God in the human spirit birthed out of being satisfied in God alone. Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5.22), the very life of God growing from the inside out. Beloved Christian friends, rejoice in the LORD!
Secondly, our text raises the concern of THE THIEVES OF JOY. The Apostle has a change of tone in vv. 2-3; he adopts an authoritative tone of warning, because in all ages we discover the presence of scoundrels who hate joy, and want to rob you of your joy in Jesus. These people are to be found lurking around Christian congregations targeting our joy with the aim of taking it away! (2-3, review).
Let me just give just a little background to these couple of verses.
After the Lord’s resurrection from the grave and his ascension into heaven, the first several thousand believers in Jesus (Christians) were all Jewish. But as we read in Acts, God’s Spirit began to move, Paul and Barnabbas were sent out on the first missionary journey, and God started bringing Gentiles to faith in Christ. It wasn’t long until these new gentile Christians overwhelmed the Jewish Christians by sheer numbers. These were new converts to Jesus stepping right out of rank, Godless paganism, and frankly many of they made many of the Jewish Christians really uncomfortable. So, there was an almost immediate backlash of Jewish Christians saying, “Hey, it’s nice that these gentiles are coming to believe in our Messiah Jesus, but what really needs to be happening here is that they need to become Jews first (which means physical, bodily circumcision), and then after they’re properly converted to Judaism they can also follow Jesus.” There was a bit of an uproar; the church convened a Council to discuss the matter (Acts 15), and the Church ruled in favor of Paul and the Gentile Christians. “These Gentiles are justified with God by faith in Christ, and by faith alone. They do not have to become Jews first!” That was the ruling of the Jerusalem Council. Nonetheless, hard-line, orthodox Jews trailed behind Paul in his missionary work, visiting the new gentile congregations and telling them that to be saved, they had to become Jews first (circumcision!), and only after that could they follow Jesus.
It was about establishing a religious pecking order. It was about spiritual one-upmanship. Paul’s entire letter to the Galatians is devoted to dealing with those rascals. To the Philippians, he takes just a moment to sound the alarm: They’re coming for you, so you’d better watch out! Because all that they’re interested in is bringing you under their power, and getting you to jump through their hoops (which are unnecessary for salvation!), and in the process they will rob you of your joy! That’s a little background; now we can look at some of the details.
(v. 2) “Watch out for those dogs.” The Jews delighted to refer to the gentiles as dogs. The rabbis would write about the evils of the “gentile dogs.” But Paul says, “No, they’re the dogs; they’re the ones trailing along behind me like a pack of feral mutts.” He says that they’re evil-doers and mutilators of the flesh (also v. 2, a reference to the rite of circumcision they demanded.)
(v. 3) “For it is we who are the circumcision,” where God has performed a spiritual surgery within us, cleansing our hearts on the inside. “We who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.”
Here’s the issue: Where is your confidence to stand before God? We started this message with the rope of joy in one hand and the rope of justification in the other. What does that rope look like? Imagine that tonight God should require your soul of you and you should slip into eternity in your sleep. Imagine that this very night you should find yourself in the presence of Almighty God in all of His holiness and glory and He should ask you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” How would you answer? Would you say, “God , I went to church, and paid my tithes, and I served on a committee one time!”? Would you say, “God, I did my very best. I tried to live a good life, and I don’t think I ever hurt anybody, and if I did I’m sure I didn’t mean to.” What would you have to say in your own defense?
What the Apostle is going to go on to say in this chapter is that the only acceptable answer to that question is “God, I belong to Jesus Christ; Jesus is my savior and I cling to Jesus Christ and I trust Jesus Christ and Him alone!”
Take a hard look at the rope in your left hand again. Either it’s Jesus alone, or Jesus PLUS something. Jesus plus circumcision, Jesus plus my good works, Jesus plus my good intentions. That, my friends is a thin thread that’s going to break, and throw you into a freefall! In the next couple of verses (which we’ll explore next week) the Apostle goes into all the things that he thought made him right with God. Some of it was privileges he had by birthright and by inheritance. Some of it was his accomplishments and honors and accolades. What he found out was that all this stuff which he was most proud of, was the stuff keeping him from Jesus, and keeping him from life, and robbing him of joy. In fact, one day Paul finally realized that he had to lose his religion, to get saved! (But that’s next week.)
For now, a moment of genuine, raw honesty. Are you trusting in Jesus Christ, and in Jesus Christ alone? When you think about your relationship with God, as Paul writes (v. 3) do you “glory in Christ Jesus” or do you glory in “church” or in your upbringing or in your good works? When you pray to God, are you excited about Jesus and all He’s done for you? Or do you find yourself reminding God about all the great things you’ve done, and telling him He really ought to give you a break? This morning, I admonish you from the Scriptures, put your whole trust in Jesus Christ. Now, don’t play games with the Lord. Tell him the whole truth. Tell him that you’re a sinner and you need a Savior like him—a Savior who took sin’s penalty for you, and by His Spirit working within you can set you free from sin’s power. Put your confidence in Jesus Christ alone. And oh, the joy that will be yours! Amen.

THE POWER OF A GOOD EXAMPLE

2011-04-04T09:51:00.000-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 11)
“THE POWER OF A GOOD EXAMPLE”
Philippians 2:19-30
Rev. Grady Davidson 040311
This morning I’d like you to consider with me the power of a good example. I’m sure that as you look at your life, you can identify people along the way who have had a powerful influence for good upon your life just because they set a good example (parents, teachers, coaches, pastors, neighbors, friends, bosses, coworkers). In my own life at this time I think of two older ministers in our Presbytery. Neither one as far as I know ever had a radio spot or a TV broadcast. As far as I know, neither one ever wrote a book or had a “big ministry” likely to draw much attention in this world; but as I’ve gotten to know these men, I can tell that their hearts are dialed in the heart of God and their lives have been greatly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. As I consider the lives of these two ministers, I know that I’m inspired to be a better pastor, and they help me to love Jesus more. I look at the outcome of their lives and I say to myself: that’s the pastor I want to be thirty years from now.
Likewise, I’m sure that every one of us can identify people who have inspired us to walk more faithfully with the Lord, not because they were intentionally mentoring you or intentionally discipling you, but simply because they are who they are!
All of that is to say that “examples are powerful,” and in our Christian journeys we need to set our sights on two things: 1) on the example of the Lord Jesus Christ (always a good example) and 2) on the living examples of Godly men and women who know Jesus well. If you get what I just said, then you’ll understand precisely what the Apostle Paul is doing as he finishes up chapter 2 of this epistle.
Now in the first half of the chapter he’s laid out the life-example of Jesus Christ, who turned his back on the glory of heaven, and set aside all of his rights and privileges to come and give his life for us. Jesus Christ, the King of Kings lived his life with the mindset that others were superior to himself and that their needs and concerns were more important than his needs and concerns. But can ordinary Christians attain that same high caliber of humility that Jesus exemplified? Yes we can.
In verses 19-30 that the Apostle holds up two stellar examples of the things he’s teaching—Timothy (19) & Epaphroditus (25).
Let’s look at the positive example of Timothy in verses 19-24.
When we consider Timothy in verses 19-24 the word that comes to mind is the word “unique.” He writes in v. 20, “I have no one else like him” – indeed Timothy is unique. The apostle holds Timothy up as an example for the Philippians to view, and he says, “Look at Timothy, and imitate the unique Christ-like qualities this young man demonstrates.”
First of all (v. 20), Timothy has a unique concern for others: “who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.” Why was Timothy concerned about the little church 700 miles away in Philippi? Was Timothy a Philippian by birth? (No, not at all; he was born in Lystra in Asia Minor.) Did Timothy have blood relatives in Philippi? (Probably not.) In fact, from a human standpoint Timothy had almost nothing in common with the people in Philippi. Timothy was bi-racial—his dad was Greek and his mom was Jewish. As we’ve discussed before, the Philippians were mainly Roman by birth. By and large, the Romans thought that Jews were eccentric and weird, if not a little dangerous; and the Romans thought that the Greek were intellectual snobs.
On the other hand, the Greeks thought the Romans were uncivilized, uncouth, crude barbarians. Yet in spite of their vast differences, the Apostle writes in v. 20 that Timothy is genuinely concerned about the welfare of his Christian brothers and sisters in Philippi. He has a unique concern for others.
And that’s because (secondly) Timothy also has a unique concern for Jesus Christ (v. 21, review). Timothy had been a part of that church planting team that swept through Macedonia and planted the church in Philippi (Acts 16:1, 11, etc.). His boots had been on the ground when Lydia was saved at the place of prayer down by the river; he was there when the demonized girl was set free of the devil and when Paul & Silas were arrested and beaten. Several years later, Timothy still has the heart of Jesus Christ for the Philippians.
Notice something quite interesting: put verse 20 and verse 21 together, and I think you’ll notice that having an interest in others and having an interest in the concerns of Jesus Christ amount to the same thing! Timothy is an example for us, having a unique concern for others which is birthed in a unique concern for the cause of Christ.
But there’s a 3rd quality we note in Timothy: namely that Timothy possesses a uniquely cooperative spirit. That is to say that Timothy has learned to work well with others. (Review v. 22.) Paul makes an unexpected comparison in this verse. A reader in the ancient world would have expected Paul to say, “As a son with his father he has served ME in the work of the gospel.” In the ancient world, dad was “boss,” and the son being apprenticed in the family business worked as an inferior who answers to the boss. But Paul, whose own heart has been conquered by the Cross, says that he and Timothy cooperate in the ministry as full business partners (see 1.5).
I wonder, have we learned from Paul and Timothy how to cooperate in our service for Christ? As a congregation, are we learning to work together? The problem with working together is that the more bodies and the more human personalities that you add, the more complicated things become. When things get more complicated, they can be sloppier also. Yet over and again in the NT we are told that we are to cooperate and work together as a body.
I think about the example of Jesus Christ and His approach to this problem. He had three years of doing public ministry with the twelve disciples. Don’t you think that there were some mornings when Jesus just wished he’d left the guys back in Galilee? They made of mess of things everywhere they went. They passed through a Samaritan village which rejected them. James and John asked the Lord if He wanted them to call down fire from heaven and destroy the village? (No, He DIDN’T want them to destroy the village.) (Luke 9.51-55.) Parents bring their children to Jesus for Him to pray for the kids and bless them. The disciples rebuke the parents. You can almost hear Jesus saying, “Fellows this is what we WANT to happen…” (Mt. 19.12-14). Surely it would seem that if Jesus had just “gone solo” things would have been a lot simpler. But Jesus’ attitude was, “We’re going together, and we’re going to learn these things together, or we’re not going at all.” Because Jesus is teaching us to cooperate to achieve the objectives of the Kingdom!
Timothy: a unique personality with a unique concern for others and a unique concern for Jesus and a uniquely cooperative spirit. Whatever the problem was in Philippi between Euodia and Syntyche (4:2), minimally the issue was that they weren’t cooperating with one another in love. The Apostle is saying, “Look at how Timothy and I work together.” When you face a situation if you’re not sure what Jesus would do, then you might ask yourself, “Now what would Timothy do, this loving, caring, concerned follower of Jesus?”
The Apostle holds up two examples in our text. The second living, breathing example of the Lord Jesus is the individual Epaphroditus (vv. 25-30). It fairly leaps off the page at you how much Paul loves this fellow! He is (v. 25) “my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier.”
Epaphroditus is a Philippian Christian whom the brothers and sisters in Philippi had sent to Rome to check on Paul and to personally care for him when they heard that their Apostle was in prison. From chapter four we also gather that Epaphroditus carried a love offering from Philippi to Paul in Rome to provide for the Apostle’s ongoing needs. But you know something? Ministry rarely turns out the way we plan. We set out with a vision for how things are “supposed to be,” but it’s most unusual for events to transpire according to our plans.
In the case of Epaphroditus, he was going to Rome to be the caregiver for the Apostle; but along the way Epaphroditus came down with a deathly illness and needed loving care himself. What Paul is saying in v. 30 is that Epaphroditus almost worked himself into the grave.
So you ask, “How is it that Epaphroditus is an example of the character and the heart of Jesus? After all, Epaphroditus got sick and didn’t even finish everything he intended to do.”
Take note: Epaphroditus shows us the heart and character of Jesus by what was on his heart while he was so sick! (v. 26, review) Because of the many weeks of travel back and forth, we can tell from the text he was sick a long time, maybe 5 months or more. At any rate, he lay sick in Rome; somebody from Rome carried word back to Philippi that Epaphroditus was really sick; and then somebody else brought word back to Rome that the Philippians were worried about their messenger Epaphroditus. And what was Epaphroditus worried about? (That THEY found out he was sick!) Not that he’s some kind of stoic, who thinks that he should be above any suffering; but that it distressed him to learn that they were distressed on his account. So the Apostle is eager to send Epaphroditus home to relieve his concerns that his church family doesn’t know that by God’s grace he’s gotten better! In this way, Epaphroditus is a perfect illustration of verses 3 and 4. He lives for others, considering others superior to himself; and he places the interests and concerns of others above his own. (See v. 29 – E. is an example to be followed.)
I don’t know about you, but when life hits me hard, I get tunnel-visioned, and I’m only thinking about myself and how to fix the problem. This week, when life hits us hard, let’s remember Epaphroditus and use our pain as a springboard to show concern to somebody else! When we hurt, let’s remember that there’s probably somebody else hurting too. And just one more thing: this week, let’s all remember that no less than Timothy and Epaphroditus, that we also are living examples of Jesus Christ to the world, and that people are forming their impressions about Christ by what they see in us! By His grace, we will do so. Amen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print
Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.
Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.

OLDER SAINTS: GOD'S GIFT TO THE CHURCH

2011-03-28T11:00:00.002-04:00

HALIE FORSTNER’S 100TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
“Older Saints: God’s Gift to the Church”
Genesis 47:7-12
Rev. Grady Davidson 032711
What was going on one hundred years ago in the year of our Lord1911, anyway?
Republican William Howard Taft was President of our 46 states. Ben Hooper was governor of Tennessee, the first Republican to hold that office in about thirty years.
The United States had thousands of workers digging out the Panama Canal, which was within just a few years of completion. And in March of 1911 we sent 20,000 troops to the Mexican border in the wake of revolution in Mexico.
In science and technology the electric starter for the automobile was invented. In aviation, the first hydroplane took to the air. In physics, the shape of the atom was under investigation, as well as theories concerning the nucleus of the atom. In May 1911 the RMS Titanic was launched on a test voyage from Belfast.
In sports in 1911, the Philadelphia Athletics were the reigning World Series champs, having taken out the Cubs in a 4-1 series. The Brooklyn Dodgers announced plans to build a new concrete and steel stadium to seat 30,000 fans. The first Indianapolis 500 was run with Ray Harroun taking the checkered flag at an average speed of 75 MPH.
In quieter news, Proctor and Gamble launched their new line of shortening with the brand name “Crisco.” Over in Tampico, IL Ronald Reagan was born; and in Dade County, GA, Garrett Lee & Minnie Nicholas Gass were the proud parents of a newborn little girl whom they named after her aunt Halie (Halie Rebeccah Gass).
This morning I’m going speak briefly on the theme of our senior-most believers, as God’s gift to the Church—which Halie and others of advanced age truly are. Our senior-most members of the church family are blessings from God the Father to the family of God.
In the Word, we think of Enoch, of whom the Bible says that he walked faithfully with God for 365 years, and then he was no more, for God took him away (Gen. 5.23-24)
We think of Noah, who at 600 years of age (Gen. 7.11) became a type of Christ, the Savior of the mankind when the waters covered the earth.
We think of Abraham who being about 100 years old, did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being confident that God had the power to do what He had promised.
We think of one of my favorite characters from Scripture: Caleb in the Old Testament, who at the age of 85 stood before Joshua and declared that he was still as strong and vigorous as he was on the day when Moses had sent him out 40 years earlier. Now then, he said, give me the hill country that Moses promised me then (Joshua 14).
But as we consider the theme of our senior-most members as gifts of God the Father to the church, the passage I call special attention to this morning is the one before you in Genesis 47. You’ll recall the story here in the end of Genesis: Joseph the son of Jacob has risen to a position of great power in the land of Egypt. Joseph is second only to mighty Pharaoh in authority. Meanwhile a famine has settled over the world, and Joseph’s brothers, who had sold Joseph out as a slave many years earlier have come down to Egypt; they’ve discovered that Joseph yet lives, and that God is using their brother Joseph to bring about the salvation of many. For under Joseph’s leadership Egypt has prepared for famine, and is in a position to sell food to the starving nations around them.
Now, after all these years, Jacob, Joseph’s father has learned that his son lives. Joseph, in a way that is reflective of Jesus Christ brings his father and his brothers to live in Egypt that they would not perish of starvation in Canaan.
Joseph has presented his brothers to Pharaoh, who has generously given them pasture for their flocks. And now, Joseph brings to Pharaoh’s court his father Jacob, a very old man. Picture the scene: Pharaoh, the mightiest king in the world, sitting on his throne, surrounded by his cabinet members and servants in waiting. Joseph, not an Egyptian but dressed in the garb of an Egyptian prince standing before mighty Pharaoh. And an old Bedouin shepherd – with a sun-burnt and wind blasted face, gnarled old hands clutching an ancient shepherd’s crook, which he ever leans on like a cane because of an old injury in his hip (Gen. 32.25, Hbs. 11.21).
Notice with me Pharaoh’s question, in v. 8, “How old are you?” It was an ordinary question, and I believe it was a question asked with the utmost respect and admiration. Jacob is possibly the oldest man Pharaoh has ever seen. One Bible scholar (Matthew Henry) suggests that the people of Egypt didn’t live to the advanced age of the people of Canaan. Frankly, this very old man standing in his court was quite a novelty to Pharaoh. “How old are you?”
It was an ordinary question, but notice Jacob’s extraordinary answer in verse nine (review).
How is it that the senior most members of the family of God, are God’s gift to the Church? Let me suggest three answers to that question from these few verses.
FIRST. Our senior members in the family of God give us the PERSPECTIVE OF A PILGRIM. Jacob has the outlook of a wanderer, the perspective of a pilgrim (he speaks of the years of his pilgrimage being 130; likewise he speaks of the years of the pilgrimage of his fathers, who also were pilgrims).
A pilgrim is one on a physical and geographic and spiritual journey. A pilgrim doesn’t get too tied down, too entangled with life anywhere. Along with his father Isaac, Jacob was born in the land of Canaan – a land which God had promised to his grandfather Abraham. But all that Abraham had the deed to was the small plot where he buried his wife. Jacob’s pilgrimage had taken him for many years far away to the East. He got married and started a family there. He came back home to Canaan but still lived the life of a nomad, never with anything more than the canvas of a tent between himself and the rain and the cold and nighttime sky. Finally in time of famine, his pilgrimage took him down to Egypt, a land he’d never laid eyes on before. And as Jacob stands before mighty Pharaoh, there’s a richness and insight and depth to Jacob’s soul that even Pharaoh does not possess—for Jacob has the perspective of a pilgrim. The NT writer to the Hebrews interprets the pilgrimage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in this way (11:8-10):
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
With the passing of many years, our elder most can see something more clearly than the rest of us can see: namely, that we are just passing through this world; this world is not our home. And Church, that’s one reason we need Halie and others of advanced age. We need to gain the perspective of a pilgrim who loves God’s World, but whose heart longs for heaven even more.
SECOND—Our senior most members of the family of God give us the HONESTY THAT COMES FROM HARDSHIP. One thing I absolutely love about Jacob’s answer to Pharaoh is Jacob’s brutal honesty. I don’t hear any cynicism or sarcasm in his voice in v. 9, but I do recognize the unexpected voice of raw honesty: “My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” 130 years old, and yet he says his years are few? Jacob stood at a place in which he could gaze ahead into the recesses of eternity to come. Jacob knew that one of the names for the LORD his God was “El Olam,” God the Everlasting, God the Eternal One. Standing next to eternity and in the presence of the Eternal God, Jacob could say quite honestly, “My years have been few.” Ask any senior citizen about their experience of the passage of time, and they’ll tell you that the years are fleeting.
Isaac Watts wrote about it in his hymn, “O God Our Help in Ages Past,”
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
The honesty that comes from hardship: Jacob describes the years of his pilgrimage as few, and also as difficult (KJV, evil). What a gift to the church is the honesty of a senior citizen with the courage to admit that life is hard! Even the life that is most blessed with spiritual and temporal and physical and relational blessings, is also a life fraught with hardship and difficulty of some nature. The pains of life are common to all. But listen to me when I tell you there is a difference between the way hardship is experienced by a follower of Jesus and one who doesn’t follow Jesus.
For one who doesn’t know the Lord, (generally speaking!) hardship produces bitterness and cynicism. And we’ve all seen plenty of examples of that. But for the one who knows the Lord, hardship produces that uniquely Christian virtue of HOPE!
Romans 5:3-5:
Not only so, but we[a] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
If you follow the argument there, hardship (suffering) produces perseverance, perseverance produces Christian character, and out of Christian character, the image of Christ worked deeply into a human soul over the passing of years, comes hope! (In particular in this passage, it’s the hope of the resurrection, that one day our bodies are going to be made new and in fact all of Creation will be made new at the time of the revelation of the sons of God.) That’s why our seniors are God’s gift to the Church—they’ve experienced the hardship that yields honesty, that produces the message of hope which all of us need to hear.
A third comment, then we’re through. The most striking element of Jacob’s meeting with Pharaoh is that twice, at the beginning and at the end of his audience with Pharaoh, Jacob blesses the King. Picture this withered and weathered and ancient Bedouin shepherd, leaning on his shepherd’s crook with one hand, and with the other hand raised over Pharaoh praying a blessing upon the King! The Bible teaches that the lesser is blessed by the greater; common sense teaches that as well (Hbs. 7.7). Here, Jacob stands before the one who (politically speaking) is the greatest man in the world, but Jacob in his deep knowledge and love for the LORD his God shows that he is the greater of the two, for he’s the one who imparts that blessing.
But remember what God had told Jacob’s grandfather Abraham? (Genesis 12:2-4)
2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
What we see here in Genesis 47 is a vivid example of that blessing of Abraham coming to the nations! Abraham’ grandson Jacob, stands before the most powerful man in the world, and blesses him! In this verse, Jacob foreshadows his descendant Jesus Christ through whom God will bless all the peoples of the earth. If you continue reading in Genesis 47, you’ll see that God answered Jacob’s prayer of blessing in a big way. After that prayer, Pharaoh’s wealth and power grew exponentially, and in the process, the people of God were saved from extinction.
What’s that have to do with Halie and our other seniors? To our senior folk, I remind you that God has put you in a place of unique spiritual authority to bless the people of God, so that God can bless the nations through Jesus Christ. As the torch is passed, we ask for your prayers of blessing, that we will empowered to take the good news of Jesus to all the nations. Amen.

WORKING OUT WHAT GOD HAS WORKED WITHIN

2011-03-21T09:54:00.001-04:00

Philippians: The Secret of Life (part 10)
“Working Out What God Has Worked Within”
Philippians 2:12-18
Rev. Grady Davidson 032011
The best way I know to express the theme of this morning’s text is with the two words “right living.” This passage is about practical Christianity. What is it like to be a follower of Jesus in the real world which by the Apostle Paul’s own admission is an absolute mess? How do you live right in a culture, in a world that calls “right,” “wrong” and “evil,” “good”? How do you become identifiably and recognizably Christian, and what does that look like anyway? So this morning join me as we continue following the Apostle Paul in his letter on the Secret of Life, as he turns to the theme of right living.
“Living for Jesus” / Thomas Chisholm (1917)
Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me.
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne.
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.

“I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” (folk hymn)
The world behind me, the cross before me
The world behind me, the cross before me,
The world behind me, the cross before me,
No turning back, No turning back

We sing the hymns about following the Lord, and we pledge our undying faithfulness to the Cross, but the problem is that right living can be downright difficult, can’t it? Some among us are newer, younger Christians in your faith than others. Maybe you think that one day it’s all going to come together for you, and that right living is going to come more easily. It’s not. With the experience of following Jesus over the course of many years the Christian life will come more naturally to you. The patterns of Godliness will become etched and ingrained in your soul. With the passing of time and years of Christian experience, your obedience to Jesus will become your “default setting” to which you naturally gravitate. So yes, right living will eventually come more naturally, but it won’t come more easily. The Christian who hasn’t experienced any significant spiritual crisis or challenge between himself and the Lord in 20 or 30 years is a Christian who just gave up and quit growing 20 or 30 years ago. And you don’t want to be that person!
With your Bibles open to Philippians chapter two, let’s see what the Apostle Paul has to say about right living.
First of all, notice that right believing about Jesus leads to right living for Jesus. (Orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy) Here, I just want to point out the flow of the text. Verses 6-11 (our text from last week) is the great hymn of praise to Jesus, which celebrates and marvels and wonders at how the Son of God, Jesus Christ, emptied himself of his glory, became a humble human being, entered into the cesspool of sinful humanity and was obedient unto death on the cross. Therefore God exalted Jesus to the throne of highest heaven. The hymn concludes with the hope and certainty and promise that one wonderful and glorious day the reign and authority and power of Jesus will be openly confessed and recognized by all beings in heaven and on earth! It’s a glorious hymn which teaches some important things Christians are to believe about Jesus!
But Paul doesn’t allow us to linger in those heavenly places, gazing at our Lord. He says: “If that’s what you believe, then this is how you ought to live.” (v. 12, emphasis on “therefore”) Right believing about Jesus leads to right living for Jesus.
For those of you who really love Bible study, I point out that there’s a bit of Moses about Paul when it comes to this particular passage. When Paul writes in v. 14 to “do everything without complaining and arguing,” those are words from Exodus and Numbers in the Old Testament. The children of Israel complained when they were in slavery in Egypt. Then they complained when they were free in the desert. Then they complained about the food God gave them. And they complained about lack of water. They argued about Moses’ right to lead them. They complained about the challenges they would face in the Promised Land. As you know, Moses took Israel right up to the border of the Promised Land, but the Lord took him home without Moses actually seeing Israel cross the Jordan River and enter the Land. Likewise, the Apostle Paul has brought God’s people in Philippi “thus far,” but there’s a great possibility that like Moses he’ll die on Mount Nebo before he witnesses the Philippians growing to maturity in Christ. “Hang on to the gospel; remember what I taught you about Jesus; and learn to live as followers of Jesus.”
Second point: The location of right living, v. 15, “so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe…” Where is it exactly that we live out the distinctive lives of the followers of Jesus? It’s here in this world. It’s in this crooked and depraved generation. The contrast between us and the world is to be so great, that we reflect forth the glory of Christ like a star shining in the darkest night. After all, King Jesus didn’t send us lessons on right living from the comfort and glory of ivory towers in heaven. No, he descended and came to earth, and grew up in a dirty little village with dusty roads and half-starved children. In the homes of Judea in the first century livestock and people were often under the same roof. King Jesus sought out the lepers and the prostitutes and the down and outers. He embraced it all with open arms and showed us how to live in the real world. Do you want to know how to live for Jesus in YOUR world? You’ve got to get close enough to Jesus to learn how to do it.
Before moving on to the third point, consider with me a new believer in the Lord in Philippi. Or a Christian who is young in his faith here in our time for that matter.
The moment a person believes the gospel and receives Jesus Christ, he’s not much different from what he was in the moments before he believed. He has heard the gospel preached and has responded to it—that good, and he has the Holy Spirit at work within. More on that in a minute. But in many ways, not much has changed.
Before he believed, he was filled with misconceptions about God and himself.
He had problems that he could not solve.
He was doing many things that were against the will of God.
After he believes, these things are usually more or less the same. He still has the same problems, the same misconceptions, the same sins, sometimes even the same doubts (These sentences taken almost verbatim from Boice, 143).
That leads to the third point, which is the question: How do we transition from the old life before Christ, into the new life of holy, Godly, righteous living? I cannot emphasize strongly (1) the fact that it doesn’t just miraculously happen (2) that God gives us tremendous responsibility in this regard to work out, to manifest, to demonstrate, to show, to practice, to exercise… our faith in Jesus Christ! Verse 12b, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling!” Now mind you, we’re talking about saved people here. We’re talking about those whose names are written in the Lambs Book of Life. Their sins are forgiven. They are justified in the sight of God. The Apostle isn’t suggesting that we have to contribute anything to our salvation. Our salvation is accomplished 100%.
But speaking to saved people, the Philippians and many among us this morning, the Apostle commands us to work out our salvation. Diligently learn what it means to live for Jesus Christ, how to live with Christ as Lord and King and Master over all of life! We are to do so with fear and trembling. This is deadly serious stuff. We can’t afford to be frivolous or light-hearted or carefree about our souls. We are to be men and women, boys and girls who diligently examine our lives, lest we come to life’s end only to discover that we were deceived, and never knew the Lord after all.
When the Apostle says to “work out our salvation,” the idea is that we are ferreting out what God has placed within. The Gk. verb used for “work out” is the same verb that might be used of mining gold, silver, or precious gems. The resources are surely down there, but you have to chip through tons of rock and bloody your hands on the handle of the pick and shovel to ferret out that precious gem. It’s the same verb that might be used of a farmer working the soil. It might be black, rich, delta soil ; but it’s not going to produce soybeans or fieldcorn without gut wrenching toil.
Friends, Godly living is going to cost you something. As you seriously follow the Lord, He will tear into your life and lay bear things you didn’t think He knew about. That means you’ve got to lay hold of the sledgehammer of God’s Word; and the pick and shovel of prayer… and work out that salvation with holy fear.
Now we come to the fourth point, and the really great news – namely that when it comes to right living, you don’t have to do it all by yourself after all. For (v. 13) “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” I love that verse. It gives me hope.
Friends, I’ve got to point something out that people hate to hear, but it’s right there in the Scriptures: only God can change our wills. It takes the power of God to transform our beings down at the level of our desires, down at the level of what we want. When you realize that you really, really do want to make a break with sin; to shine more brightly for Jesus; to live more victoriously for Jesus – that desiring / wanting is because God is at work in you! When you take those baby steps of obedience, and every single step terrifies you, and with every step you think you’re going to fall off the edge of the cliff and die – it is a Holy God who is empowering you by the Holy Spirit, and He’s cheering you on every step of the way! This change happens in the blink of an eye: one minute you’re deeply convicted of sin, and the holiness of God overwhelms you. You’re under a dark cloud with thunder and lightning flashing above. But then you pray the prayer: “God help me, I want to break with sin, I want to live for Jesus!” and in the blink of an eye you realize the Lord Jesus is there cheering you on to victory!
Isn’t that what the writer to the Hebrews had in mind in chapter 12 –
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Then we come to the fifth point of this message: the result of right living. We see the fruit, the results of right living in the many contrasts in the passage.
People without Jesus are complainers and fault finders and arguers and contentious trouble-makers (v. 14). But Christians rejoice! (v. 18)
The world around us is crooked and depraved; what is evil is praised as being good, and what is good is called evil. But those who are following Jesus in faithful Christian living are blameless before men and pure before God. Do you remember Daniel in the Old Testament? His enemies studied his life and concluded that there was absolutely no wrong doing to be found in him, unless it was that Daniel was faithful to his God. May that be true of you and of me as well.
The world is dark as the nighttime sky; Christians shine like stars in the heavens showing forth the glory of our Savior (15).
Most importantly, the world has nothing to give, nothing to offer. Christians hold forth the gospel, the Word of Life (16). We shine for Jesus and offer hope to those in blackest darkness.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boice, James Montgomery. Philippians: An Expositional Commentary. Brand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. Print.
Hendriksen, William, and Simon Kistemaker. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI.: BakerAcademic, 1973. Print
Rees, Paul S. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol IV. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. Print.
Ridenour, Fritz. How to Be a Christian and Still Enjoy Life. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1988. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Joyful. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004. Print.
Wright, N.T. Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2004. Print.