Marriage and the Family Part 4- Train up our children in the Lord

In the Old Testament the education of the children for the Jewish people was one of the most important things that they did. They used every opportunity to train their children in the Lord. During their great feast days the children would play a big part in these celebrations and through these celebrations the children would learn about God’s Law.
One feast that factored very importantly for the Hebrew people was the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of the Ingathering. This was a time to celebrate the giving of the Law of Moses on Mount Sinai.
This celebrated the Jewish people coming to the Mountain and Moses receiving the Law or the Torah.
It was the custom of the Jewish people to start the education of their children at the start of this feast.
A five year old child would be lead from his home at dawn under a cloak. There is some evidence that this educational process may have started at 3 years old. The cloak represented the cloud of lightning and thunder that overshadowed the Israelite people at the foot of Mount Sinai.
The child would be lead to a synagogue or a place where the Rabbi would train the children.
When they arrived at the Synagogue they would receive a slate and on that slate would be written, “Moses commanded us the Torah, may the Torah be my occupation”
The Rabbi would then place honey on the slate and the children would eat the honey off of the words on the slate. The Rabbi would then read the Hebrew alphabet to the child and then they child would repeat.
The Rabbi would then say to the child, “Moses commanded us the Torah, may the Torah be my occupation” and the child would repeat this phrase back to the Rabbi.
The opening day would culminate with child receiving a honey cake with Isaiah 40: 4-5 inscribed on the cake.
The inscription read, ““The Lord God gave me a skilled tongue to know”
They would eat the cake and repeat the words inscribed on the cake. From the very beginning of the Jewish education of a child it was hammered into them that their primary purpose in life was to know God’s Word and to practice it.
When we read Paul talk about his zealousness for the Law in Romans 10 we understand why. This method or something similar would have been what Paul experienced as a child.
2 Timothy 3: 14-16
14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
This verse takes on new life when we realize how Timothy may have been educated in his faith. The sacred writings that Paul is referring to in this passage is the Old Testament. Timothy’s mother and grandmother were the ones that educated him and taught him the Scripture.
The children had ingrained in them passages like Psalm 19



Psalm 19: 8-10
8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart ; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever ; The judgments of the LORD are true ; they are righteous altogether. 10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold ; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

Bet Safar:
This time period that I spoke of for the young child is called Bet Safar and usually goes until they are 9 years old. At the end of this period most Hebrew children would be able recite large portions of the 1st five books of the Bible. Some were able to recite the entire Torah by heart. This may sound extreme to us today but this was the world of Jesus and His disciples.

Bet Talmud:
Progressing on from Bet Safar, it continues from the age of ten on to fourteen. During this time, the student would continue his memorization of the Psalms, prophets, and the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament).
It wasn't uncommon in that day for a good Jewish boy to have the Old Testament memorized by the age of fourteen.
The student would also during this time begin to learn the art of questions and answers. In our western civilization today, we are into information transfer, but in those days, answering a question wasn't quite as direct.
A rabbi might ask a student what is two plus two? Today, we would spout off the answer of four. But back then when a Rabbi would ask what two plus two was, a student might answer with, "What is the square root of sixteen?" In other words, the student would be expected to answer a question with a question. We witness this in the teaching of Jesus many times when he answers the questions of the Pharisees with a question. This was a very common method in Jesus day.
So you see, when we find Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve (Luke 2), we find him doing just what a boy of his age would be doing, questions and answers with the elders.


Bet Midrash:
At the age of fourteen, the best of the best would continue to apply oral and written law from the Talmud, the Mishna, Sages, and years and years of commentary on the scriptures. Each Rabbi would have their own interpretation of how to live out the Torah. For instance, Honor the Sabbath: One Rabbi might say that you can't go farther than the distance to the synagogue. While another might say you can't go twice the distance to the synagogue, because you have to return home.
You see, you have the law itself and then the Rabbi's interpretation of the rules required to obey the law.
The Rabbi's rules were called his yoke. When you studied under a Rabbi, you took his yoke upon you.

But Jesus came and said His yoke was easy. That He isn't about endless lists of rules and regulations (Matthew 11). You see, when Jesus is speaking, He's not just picking words out of the air; He's speaking as a Rabbi would. When Rabbis spoke, they got into heated, animated debates because these are the teachings of God and a direct reflection of worship.
They believed that the highest form of worship was study and that true study always leads to wonder.
So a Rabbi might ask a student, "What does it mean to honor the Sabbath?" And one student being wrong might answer, "To sit and do nothing and have a boring day."
The Rabbi would passionately respond, "No! You have abolished Torah!" meaning that the student has missed the point.
But another student may respond, "To remember and reflect that we are no longer slaves. That we are brought up from a kingdom of darkness and redeemed by the blood of the lamb. That we take one day a week to remind ourselves that our worth doesn't come from making bricks, but from the one who made us!"

And the Rabbi would then say, "Yes! You have fulfilled Torah!"

And Jesus comes (Matthew 5) and says I didn't come to abolish what you've learned, but to show you what it looks like in flesh and blood.

So, at the age of fourteen, the best of the best, the Harvard and Yale of the Jewish boys took another step. They would become a follower of a Rabbi like Paul would have done with Gameliel. I told you all of this to illustrate the point of how the Jews in Jesus day took deadly serious their call to bring their children up in the Lord.

I believe we can learn some things from this example and model.

As we continue or look at the family and marriage, I would like to propose that the training of our children in the Scripture is one of our primary tasks as parents.
This is often the most neglected of families today and we quickly forget that we are called to discipleship.
Discipleship means training I the teaching of our great Teacher Christ.
Are we discipling our children in the Lord? This morning I want to make a few points regarding the Discipling of our children.



I. God expects more from us because of our salvation in Jesus. – Our motivation is because of God’s great love.
God’s grace calls us to change and thankfulness should be manifested in our lives. We look at the examples of the Jews and make a false assumption and say things like, “That was a different time. They don’t have the pressures of the modern world. That is the Old Testament so I will just ignore it and rely on the grace found in Jesus.”
All of these are excuses that people make. When they are confronted with the world of Jesus and how God’s people trained their families and children they make excuses like these.
Hebrews 2: 1-4
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation ? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
If God held those under the Mosaic Law accountable, do you not think He will hold accountable those the neglect the great gift of His Son.
We have to examine ourselves to see what our priorities are.
What do you think God’s position would be toward Christians that do not pass their faith on to their children? If it was such a big deal to God’s people for thousands of years why would we in America presume that it should be different for us. Excuses such as being busy or activities don’t hold weight. If something is taking precedence over Church and our life in the Church our children will perceive that better than anyone else. I think we should all look at our week and take account of the time that we spend on activities such as sports, school, TV and compare that to the time that our children are receiving training in the Lord. This is truly a family crisis that we face.
We have a great salvation and we can neglect it in our children of all people.
We must be sure as parents that our children are learning their faith.
II. God will hold us accountable- The Father of the Family
We must model the love of learning the Scripture to our children.
Psalm 1:1-2
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers ! 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Do our children see in us someone that constantly meditates and walks in God’s word? Are we modeling the very thing the God wants us to model to our children.

Children are brutally honest and see through bull. They will watch us and see what is most important to us and what dominates our free time. If they never see us pick up a Bible, lead prayer with them every day or just lead a life of faith in Christ they will draw their conclusions.


God sees the education of children so important that He gives them the command to educate their children before they even enter the Land.
Deuteronomy 6: 6-7
6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 " You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
God left up to the families to see to it that the children were saturated in his commandments.
It is the primary responsibility of the Father and also the mother but most of all it falls on the Father.
Ephesians 6: 4
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

How does God feel about the young?
Once Jesus calls a child to Himself to make a point and says this about children:

Matthew 18: 6
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

This some of the harshest language that Jesus uses and it refers to children. Jesus expects us to take the raising of our children and their training very serious.

We can see an example in Eli as to how this is not to be done.


1 Samuel 3: 12-14
12 "In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. 14 "Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever ."

God held Eli responsible for the sin of his sons. Eli’s sons were priests of God and did evil in God’s eyes. Eli’s sin was not to rebuke that sin. God took this very serious and issued a curse on Eli’s house.
III. This task may be unconventional
We live in a fractured world. We live in a time when many times the Mother has to pull the spiritual weight in the family. It may be a grandmother or grandfather that has to step into that role. God makes provision for this and we have examples of this in Scripture.
Deuteronomy 6: 1-2
1 "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
In this passage the grandparent is admonished to make sure that the grandchildren fear the Lord.
In an earlier passage I mentioned how Timothy was trained in the Scripture from his youth and Paul points out in 2 Timothy 1: 5

2 Timothy 1: 5
5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.
In an unconditional manner, Timothy was raised in his faith by his mother and grandmother. We know that his father was a Greek. And we can infer from the fact that Timothy not being circumcised that his father did not support Timothy’s mother’s Jewish faith. In a pagan world with a pagan husband Lois was able to raise a young man that would be a leader in the early Church and a trusted companion of Paul. It took an effort of Timothy’s mother and grandmother to see to it that he knew his Scripture.
Conclusion:

It comes down to a choice. We must choose the idolatry of this world or the way of the Lord.
Matthew 16:26 - What is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Likewise, what profit are we to our children if we give them all the world has to offer, but they are eternally lost?

Luke 12:15 - Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." He then told of a man who obtained great wealth but neglected God (vv 16-21). When the man died, what good did his wealth do him?
The heritage that we will leave behind is our children. What will that heritage say about us?
In Malachi 2 God tells us that one of his main purposes of marriage is that we have godly offspring. Are we doing all in our power to please God in this way?

The Way to Follow Jesus - The Gospel of Mark part 2

Ultra orthodox Jews still today form hedges for instance: Israel’s major airline, El Al, recently rejected a plea by ultra-orthodox Jews with a priestly heritage to fly inside body bags. Why would someone want to do this? Ritual law states that a priest who enters cemetery becomes religiously "unclean." A ruling by a prominent rabbi declared that flying over a cemetery was the same as entering it. He suggested body bags as a means of maintaining separation, but abandoned the idea when told by airline security that it would be unsafe. Orthodox priests can now avoid pollution by flying late at night, as the noise levels require night flights to follow an alternate route which doesn’t pass above the cemetery. This type of behaviour sounds bizarre to Western ears, but it harks all the way back to the time of Jesus. The Pharisees too went to great extremes to ensure they observed the Law of Moses.
In the world of Jesus we will come into contact with four sects that were within Judaism of His time.

The Saducees, the Revolutionaries (Sicarii), the Pharisees, and the Essenes.

Each group would have flourished up until the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70AD.

The Sadducees were in the back pocket of the Romans and were political, rich, and only believed in the inspiration of the first five books of the Bible. They also denied the resurrection of the dead. They Sadducees were the party of the priests on Israel.

The Sicarii wanted to take on the Romans and fight a war through violent overthrow of the government.

The Essenes were a separatist movement that moved into the wilderness and went about trying to purify Judaism. They saw the Temple as so corrupt and out of tough that the best thing to do is to separate and start over.

The Pharisees are one of the most common groups we find in the New Testament and they were a movement of purity.

Their name means to ‘Set Apart’ and were the forefathers of modern day Rabbinic Judaism.
They felt strongly about the Old Law and the Oral Tradition.

They had very intricate rules of fellowship and who you could talk to.
The Pharisees also believed in the Resurrection of the dead.

The Pharisees will plague Jesus throughout His ministry.
Later on in the NT we will meet a very famous Pharisee named the Paul that will called to Christ in His conversion experience.


TONIGHT WE CONTINUE OUR SERIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK AND WE TURN TO MARK 2.

THE PHARISEES WILL PRESENT THREE QUESTIONS TO JESUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS IN THIS CHAPTER AND WE WILL BE ABLE TO FOCUS ON WHO JESUS IS FROM THESE QUESTIONS

THESE QUESTIONS REVEAL WHO JESUS REALLY IS.






I. JESUS IS USHERING IN THE NEW EXODUS AND FREEDOM FROM SIN.

Mark 2: 1-11
1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door ; and He was speaking the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 "Why does this man speak that way ? He is blaspheming ; who can forgive sins but God alone ?" 8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts ? 9 "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven '; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk '? 10 "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins "-He said to the paralytic, 11 "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."

Most common title of Mark is ‘Teacher’ but we don’t get a lot of what he is teaching in Mark. Mark gives us a lot of detail about Jesus action but not much of what he said.

Roofs of first century houses were like a deck where you could get a breeze during the cool of the day.
There would be steps up the side of a 1st century house to get to the roof.


1st time faith is used in the Gospel of Mark but will be used over and over again.

“He sees their faith”
For Mark – faith is dynamic and is about action – we have in our heart but it comes out in our actions.

He forgives the man’s sins even though this man came for healing. Jesus gives them much more than just healing.

The Pharisees think that Jesus is a blasphemer so Jesus shows them that He has the authority

"Why does this man speak that way ? He is blaspheming ; who can forgive sins but God alone ?"

Mark doesn’t just have miracles but always has a meaning attached to this healing.

Jesus also attaches a word to a healing and the word he uses with this man is ‘RISE and WALK”

Jesus answers this first question from the Pharisees – Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Jesus tells us the purpose of His miracles,

THAT YOU MAY KNOW
This is a direct reference to the plagues.

Exodus 8 and 9 Moses uses these words to Pharaoh –
That you may know
They are the new Pharaoh – The Pharisees are the ones that are locking people up in the bondage of the slavery of sin.


Jesus said of the Pharisees later in Matthew 23-
Matthew 23: 4
4 "They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

The Pharisee party were the ones that had enslaved Israel. They had returned home from Exile but now their own teachers were the ones that had bound them up in the bondage of legalism..

Jesus gives them the answer they would have never expected. He has authority to forgive sins because He is God and has come to set people free.

Jesus saw His own ministry as a liberation:

Luke 4: 18
18 "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

He performed this miracle to prove that salvation had come and freedom from sin was on the way. The healing of this lame man was just a sign that the New Exodus was occurring and He was brining in freedom through the power of God.
We can also learn that in the eyes of Jesus the true miracle is forgiveness of sins. That is the most important aspect of working of miracles.



II. JESUS CAME TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST

Mark 2: 14-17

14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him. 15 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples ; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners ?" 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick ; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

This passage reinforces something from the story of the paralytic. Jesus saw their faith and was moved. In this passage Levi sees Jesus pass by and he gets up and follows Him. When it comes to believing in Jesus it requires a dynamic faith that drops everything and follows.
Tax Collectors – collecting money for the Romans – outcasts of society – Benedict Arnolds of the Jews.

Pharisees- Separated ones – Had many food laws and who you could eat with. The Pharisees used social peer pressure because they did not have the power to enforce the Law. They punished by social pressure.
Jesus calls Levi – Levi becomes a follower of Jesus and has a party. This party is the who’s who of notorious people and the Pharisees are scandalized that Jesus would eat with these people. What was He thinking by eating with the rif-raff of Galilee?

Verse 17 is damning indictment for the Pharisees. They basically were so righteous in their own minds that they didn’t need Jesus.
The very mission of Jesus was to find the lost, no matter where they were and to bring them the message of salvation.

Luke 19: 10
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

This question by the Pharisees as to why he eats with the sinners is answered simply with this verse. Jesus is on a laser focused mission of saving the lost.

If we are called to be like Jesus we must have the same mindset that the social orders of this world cannot infect our mission to those that may be the outcasts of our society.

The outcasts and fringe groups were the very ones that Jesus went directly to in His ministry.
We can also contrast the heart of Levi and his party goers with that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees didn’t need Jesus because they felt they were ‘Good Enough’ without his teaching.

The heart that God looks for is the one that is humble and contrite. There is no room for ‘self righteousness’ in God’s Kingdom.

Psalm 51: 16-17
16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.





III. THE LONG AWAITED WEDDING BETWEEN GOD AND HAS PEOPLE HAS BEEN USHERED IN BY CHRIST

All through the OT we see the theme of the God loving Israel like a husband loves his spouse. God wanted to paint this picture so clear that he commands Hosea to marry Gomer the prostitute to show how Israel had been unfaithful to Him.

The Jews believed that there would be a future event in which God would come as a groom for his people and there would be a day of a great wedding feast.

Mark 2: 18-22
18 John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting ; and they came and said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast ?" 19 And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment ; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 "No one puts new wine into old wineskins ; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."
3rd Great question of the Pharisees was why did Jesus Disciples not fast?
"Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast ?"

Pharisees fasted on Monday and Thursday – Weddings were the one exception – 7 days of feasting and you would be allowed to break your fast for those days.

Jesus had come and the great wedding feast of God and his chosen people had begun.
Jesus was the climax of the covenant made with Israel and there was no time to mourn because the Groom was there to bring His Bride Home.
We find this imagery all through Jesus teaching of the idea of the great wedding feast.
In Jewish culture the male would pay a bride price to the family of the bride and then would go back and build onto his family’s home.
The Jewish home was called an insula and many times the son would build onto the family complex.
When the Son’s work was complete the father of the son would decide when the consummation of the wedding would take place and the feast.
When that day came (only the Father knew) the best man of the groom would come and tell the Bride that the time was about to occur. When the Groom came through the city to get his wife they would blow the shofar to announce his coming. This would begin a 7 day period of celebration.
This image of Jewish weddings brings light onto many NT passages.
In John 3: 28-29 John the Baptist tells us he is the best man and he announces the coming of the groom.
Jesus tells us that he goes to prepare a place for us and then will come to receive us. Jesus also tells us that only the Father knows the time of His coming.
We also see at the end of the book of Revelation this wedding feast that will occur when Jesus returns.
In this Chapter of Mark the Evangelist has revealed a great deal about Jesus.
We learned that he is ushering in a New Exodus from sin, has come to seek out that which was lost, and is setting up the marriage of God and his people.

Marriage and The Family Part 3 - The Husband Must LOVE His Wife

This morning I want to return to our look at the family. Last week we looked at the husband and wife together and focused primarily on Ephesians 5: 33 and pointed out that the Bible commands that the husband should love his wife and his wife should respect her husband.

This morning I want to focus more on the role of the husband and zero in on an issue that would bring completeness to our families.
I want to look at some Scriptural views of the role of the husband in the wedding bond that will help our families.

Ephesians 5: 21-25
21and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
22Wives,be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

There are a few things I would like us focus on from this passage that we did not get to look at last week.

Paul begins this argument for marriage with an exhortation to mutual submission of Christians one to another in the fear of Christ.

The word for Submission comes from the Greek term Hypotasso

Hypo – hyperdermic needle – under
Tasso – to place in order

This term is of military origin, and originally meant to put one under the command of a leader.

This word is in the Middle voice in this passage which specifically means that it is something that you do to yourself.

In other words, this mutual submission for Christians one to another is a choice that we make. We choose to put another person’s needs before our own needs.

This is something that cannot be forced on an individual. Paul describes this attitude that we should have one for another in Philippians 2.

Philippians 2: 2-4
2 make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3 [doing] nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself; 4 not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

We see this type of leadership in the upper room when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. For us to be the type of leader that Christ was we must be willing to humble ourselves to the point of putting others needs before our own.
Paul brings our view of fellow Christians to its pinnacle with his discussion of Christians being the very intersection of Heaven and Earth.

I Corinthians 6: 19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own ? 20 For you have been bought with a price : therefore glorify God in your body.


This should give us a supreme view of other Christians. We should view each other as something very special. The very vessel of God’s Spirit is how we should view our fellow Christians.

As husbands this is the model of leadership that we need to focus on.

Many men use this passage in Ephesians to their own peril by using it to bludgeon their wives about submitting to their every will. Paul’s argument is very intricate and is built upon many layers. Before we can talk about the submission of a wife to her husband we must lay the groundwork of how that should happen in the context of Christian marriage.

I believe that this situation works out best when men do what Christ has called them to do.

In Paul’s argument on marriage in Ephesians 5 there are 144 words in his instructions to the men and only 47 in his instructions to the women.

His instructions to the men are much more challenging than what he has laid out to the wives.

Before we can understand God’s command to the wife to be subject to her husband, we must back up and look at the man’s responsibility.
REAL LOVE FOR OUR WIVES:

HUSBANDS LOVE YOUR WIVES AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH

I) LOVING A CREATION OF GOD – LOVING OUR WIVES FOR ‘WHO’ SHE IS

To understand this type of love that we are called to we must change our view of who our wives are in God’s sight.
I remember doing a really bad picture for my Grandmother and she put it in a really nice frame and put it on her wall. I was around 5 years old and she kept that picture up for as long as I can remember. That picture was a creation of mine. She showed the picture honor because she held the creator of the picture in the highest esteem.

God’s crowning creation was the woman and she was given to the man for his support and help. How we treat that gift and crowing achievement is a direct reference to what we think about God.
God as the Creator is reflected in His creation and when we mistreat one that was made in His very image.
Our attitude begins with realizing WHO she is in Christ.
An example can be taken from our passage that we have used in Ephesians 5. Paul the apostle begins the first 3 chapters with Ephesians by telling the Church at Ephesus, WHO they are in Christ.
Words Paul uses for the brethren at Ephesus are the following: predestined, chosen, redeemed, sealed in Him through the Spirit, thankful for them, alive in Christ, God’s workmanship, etc.
Paul paints a majestic view of who the Ephesian brethren are before he gives them one single command. We don’t see Paul command the Ephesians anything until the 4th chapter of this book.
We must realize WHO we are first before we can start to have a great marriage and family.
We have to realize that everyone in that family is ultimately a child of God and we are to be good stewards of those children and wives that God has given us to watch over and nurture.

II) LOVING TO THE POINT OF BEING WILLING TO DIE TO SELF

How much did Christ love the church?

John 3: 16
16"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 15: 13
13Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.


The greatest type of love is the kind that would pay the ultimate sacrifice for the object of our love.

Whenever we view human sacrifice to save the life of a human we have strong feelings. There is something deep in our bones that tells us that people are worth something. We have to have that type of love for our wives to the point that we would die for them if the situation called for it.
Christ loved the Church so much that He laid down his own life. The love of a husband must be so great that he is willing to lay down his life for the his wife and family.



III. LOVING TO THE POINT OF SHARING ALL THINGS WITH OUR WIVES

1 Corinthians 7: 3-4
3 Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 4 The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife.


Song of Songs 6:3
I have become my beloved and my beloved is mine


No secrets in the marital bond, but all is shared in the open. We are completely united in our purposes and what we do.
Marriage must be a place where TRUST reigns supreme. A secret life is not acceptable in the marriage bond.

Marriage should reflect our bond with God.
God originally wanted to man to be one with him in a family bond. We were made to be his children. It is one thing to be created but it is in an entirely different thing to be begotten of God.

God wants us to hide nothing from HIM.

We live in a world that wants to carve up our private life and our public life. Many men want to have private business that they keep from their wives but this is not the Christian view or the Biblical view.
We hear people say, “That politician’s private life has nothing to do with how he runs the country but is his own business.” That is an insane statement if your really think about it. In our families we have no private life apart from our mate. As the Song of Songs tell us “WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER”

Our own bodies belong to each other. We should be of such one mind and one will that we can have a place of total trust in which mutual respect reigns supreme.

IV. OUR LOVE SHOULD BE SO GREAT IT TRANFORMS OUR WIVES

At the end of our lives and we stand before Christ, will Christ be able to look at our families and see that our love transformed our families.

The love that God calls us to have is a type of love that transforms the object of that love.

AGAPE love is the type that is self-giving and builds up the object of that love.

This is the type of love that God loves us with. It is the type of love that took Christ to the cross for our sins.

2 Corinthians 5: 14 tells us that the love of Christ controls us.

1 Corinthians 13: 6
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth ;

The love we should have for our wives is the type that wants what is ultimately best for them. If our love is not drawing them closer to God then it is selfish love. If we can’t live a Godly life for ourselves then we should at least do so for families.
The love we have must be the type that drives us to be the spiritual leaders of our families. The men should be the ones that make sure our families are assembled for worship each time the church assembles. It is the men that must drive the spiritual direction of our families. If our wives are making sure the family and children are at church we have some serious soul searching to do. At the best we are not spiritually where we should be and at worst we are not the man God created us to be.

V. OUR LOVE FOR OUR WIVES SHOULD REFLECT THE LOVE GOD HAS FOR THE WORLD

Our children and wives should have a good picture of who the Heavenly Father is by looking at us. The view of Fatherhood that our children will draw when they read Scripture will come from us. When they read that God is their heavenly Father they will not understand the word ‘Father’ unless they can draw on their experience of having earthly fathers.
We can see this is so important we when we look at the Biblical view of marriage and the view of God’s relationship with man as intertwined and very similar.
For example, God made 4 promises to Israel in Exodus Chapter 6 when He was going to lead them out of bondage. God ultimately wanted to call Israel back into His Family and become their Father. He wanted Israel to be His son.
Those four promise God made were the following:
1) I will take you out – out of Egypt or out of bondage
2) I will rescue you
3) I will redeem you
4) I will take you to me

These four promises were very important and God referred to Israel throughout Scripture as his Bride.
The most striking fact about this is that when the Hebrews got married these same four promises were repeated by the husband to his wife.
The Hebrew wedding ceremony carried very deep symbolism. The man was basically telling his wife that he would reflect the Heavenly Father to her and bring a little of Heaven into her life.
Another important act that the Hebrews did in their wedding ceremonies was being married under the CHUPPAH.

The CHUPPAH was a canopy that the married couple would stand under during their marriage ceremony. This canopy was the man’s prayer shawl placed on four poles.
This canopy represented God’s presence that went with the Israelites throughout the wilderness wanderings.

This canopy signified that this marriage will be a place where Heaven and Earth intersected. A place where God’s presence would be known.
The question we have to ask ourselves as husbands is, “When we come home do we bring Heaven or Hell home to our family?”

Would our wives see our contribution to our families as God’s presence or the presence of something much worse. Do our children and wives see God’s presence come into our family because of how we behave and conduct ourselves.

Following Jesus - The Gospel of Mark Part 1 (Sun PM)

Well, tonight we are going to look at a gospel in the NT that is the shortest of all and that is the Gospel of Mark.
My wife and Parks will really like this because Mark gets to the point and doesn’t beat around the bush. For the next few weeks I would like to take you through a series of lessons on the Gospel of Mark in the evening.
It is gospel that is sometimes read and never really understood exactly what Mark is trying to get across to us.
Tonight we will be Mark chapter 1.
Mark begins his gospel with an introduction to John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus. Mark is so quick in getting to the ministry of Jesus that he skips the birth narrative and gets right into the story of Jesus ministry.
93 percent of Mark’s Gospel can be found in Matthew and Luke.

Synoptic – Seeing with one Eye.

I. Following Jesus means He may just come pay you a surprise visit.


God meets us where we are.

Mark 1: 16-18
16 As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea ; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Why do they drop their nets and follow him?

The Answer may be found in the phrase, “As He was Going Along” Could be translated “AS HE WAS PASSING BY”

In the Greek this is the same construct as when God passed by Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 33

Exodus 33: 18-23
18 Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory !" 19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." 20 But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live !" 21 Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock ; 22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 "Then I will take my hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."



In Jesus these men see the glory of God passing by. Jesus is God and flesh.

In John 1:14 the apostle John says that they beheld His glory.

Just as Moses wanted to behold the glory of God, Jesus manifested that glorious visitation of God to His disciples.


God is passing by

I Kings 19 Elijah has God pass by him in his glory while he is on Mount Horeb. In 1 Kings 19:11 we find the same grammatical construct as we find in Mark 1 with God ‘passing by’ Elijah. – later on in chapter 19 he Elijah passes by Elisha – Elisha is working in his field and drops everything and follows Elijah.

There is a lot of similarity in Elijah and Elisha and Jesus and his disciples.

God is passing by – God is visiting.

Elijah was trying to renew Israel and Elisha is doing the same as.

Renewing Israel will be what the Disciples will be called to do.

John 1- The Word Became flesh and dwelt among us.

Another point that we can glean from this passage in Mark is that Jesus meets us in the everyday walks of life.
He goes to them while they are working at their jobs.

Sometimes we look for spectacular appearances of God and we sometimes miss the everyday visitation of God in our life.

People did not recognize their own Creator. The very one that was there from the beginning was now walking the Earth and calling people to his Kingdom.

What can we learn?

What happens when God call us, will we be ready?


Matthew 25: 35-45
35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink ; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink ? 38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels ; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink ; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'


We meet Jesus everyday in the face of others – our visitation of passing of God is not going to be what we think it is. We may miss it if we are thinking in fleshly human terms.


II. Following Jesus means ACTION

Mark 1: 19-20
19 Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.

Immediately – this word is used over 40 times in this Book. The time is here, not a lot of time to waste. You have to get going. Mark doesn’t have a lot of time to waste.

Mark is going to be a gospel of action.

If you are going to follow Jesus you have to get going.

Luke 9: 57-62
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." 59 And He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." 60 But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead ; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God." 61 Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord ; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home." 62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."


There were a group of people standing outside a very large and ornate cathedral in Europe and they were admiring the very fine craftsmanship, the detail work, the care and the love that seemed evident in building such a fine place to worship a loving God. One of the men turned to another in the group and said, "Why can’t we build so today? Why can’t we build with such pride, such craftsmanship today, and the other man replied, "They had convictions; we have opinions."
Whether on not we agree on the need for building large buildings and monuments to God we must agree that people of that age had convictions. Many people today just have many opinions of how things should be. We live in a time when people are super critical of everyone else and are waiting for someone else to do the work.
Jesus demands that we become a people of convictions that get to work.
When Jesus shows up in our lives it is a call to a action.
Mark’s use of the work ‘immediately’ reminds us that it is time to get going.

III. Following Jesus requires Self Sacrifice

Mark 1: 40-45
40 And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing ; be cleansed." 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44 and He said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone ; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas ; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

Lepers were unclean and could not come into a village.

They could not be in a city and could not even go to the Temple.
They were the outcasts of society.

Word is out that the Spirit of the Lord is operating in this new prophet – this new Elijah that could heal.

Just as Elijah healed the Syrian Leper Naaman, now Jesus would heal this leper.

This Leper is asking for more than just to be healed, - he wants to be made clean.

Jesus touches the Leper – this would make him unclean – ritually unclean.

If a clean person touches an unclean person the clean person becomes unclean – with Jesus this is a radical reversal. Now the unclean becomes clean when they touch Jesus.

Jesus reverses everything that was normal. With Christ things are different, He has the power to transform.

In Jesus we see the reversal of the Curse. Jesus will become cursed on our behalf and upturn the entire world.

The many doesn’t listen to Jesus and tells people about the healing, – and now Jesus is the outcast, Jesus becomes the one that could not go into the villages.

He changed places with the Leper.

Jesus readily becomes the social outcast to bring healing to this man.
In verse 45 we learn that Jesus now has to stay in the unpopulated places just like the leper had once done.
The Leper is now able to go to the Temple and go through ritual purification and become a full participant in society. Now, Jesus can no longer operate as normal because this man told everyone about the healing.
In the same way Jesus took our place. He took on the curse of something much worse than leprosy. This story is a foreshadowing of that changing of places that Jesus would ultimately do. Jesus would do what Israel could not do and that is obey the Law perfectly.
He would be the fulfillment of the covenant and would eventually go outside the camp and take on the curse of the cross.

Galatians 3: 13-14
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE "- 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

This is a foreshadowing to the ultimate changing of places. Jesus will take our place

2 Corinthians 5: 18-21
8 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.


Because of this love and the way to live we are called to do the same.

To take up our cross.

To bring our sacrifice to Jesus and sacrifice we bring to that altar is our lives – Romans 12

Following Jesus can make you become an outsider

John 15: 18-20
18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own ; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.


John 16:2
2 "They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.


Because of our oneness with Christ we will too become the outcasts of our society.

Marriage and the Family Part 2 - Love and Respect

We put up with a lot from each other. We can’t stand each other sometime but we know deep in our bones that we need each other.

This morning I want to pick up where we left off last week. Last week we looked at the big picture of God’s blessing of marriage and pointed out that marriage was a hold over from the Pre-Fall world. It was a piece of the Garden that we were able to keep.

Today I want to explore what the Fall in the Garden did to Marriage and the tools that Heaven has given us to make our Marriages complete again.




Genesis 2: 18
18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone ; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

IN this verse we see two very important terms that describe the Woman that God will create for Adam.

The first term is Helper. God will create a helper for Adam. This term can be more accurately translated as PARTNER

This comes form the Hebrew Word EZER
This term Ezer does not connotate business partners, co-pilot vs. pilot relationship or even master over slave.
It specifically means that the other individual is critical for the success of the job to be done.

In other words Adam’s task of keeping the Garden and reflecting God’s image would be impossible without Eve.

The other term in verse 18 is ‘Suitable’ that is used to describe Eve.
This comes from the Hebrew term KENEGDO
This term literally means – fit to, shaped to fit, suited to.

In other words she completed Adam. When the man and woman came together in the marital bond the perfectly complete each other.
Maybe Rocky Balboa had some wisdom when he said of Adrian his wife:
Rocky II: “I dunno, she's got gaps, I got gaps. Together, we fill gaps

This is a beautiful picture of perfection that was destroyed when Adam and Eve sinned. In chapter 3 of Genesis we see the fall from Grace.
This fall happened because the Adam and Eve wanted autonomy. They wanted to be LIKE GOD without GOD. They wanted to go it alone and live as their own gods. When this happened we see that there is conflict between Adam and Eve immediately. We see Adam blaming Eve for their predicament and it escalates until we see Cain murder his brother Abel. Man is split from God and because of that selfishness reigns supreme.

That filters into our family relationships – most of the problems that we have today is because of Selfishness.

We are only concerned with ourselves man times and we take out all of our frustrations and insecurities on the people that we love the most. This is a problem that goes right back to the beginning.

Before the Fall – We could fully Trust one another and then Truly Love one another

After the Fall - Fear drives us to Use- we Use people for our purposes- We cant trust so we use people, I will get mine before they get me.

Loving us God loves – Trust, Gift, What is best for the other.
Loving us the world tells us to love- Use, take, what is best for me.

As God tells us in Genesis 2:18, – we are perfect for each other, we complete one another but sin separates, sin drives us to selfishness, autonomy and life without God. That ripple effect of sin destroys all of our human relationships and only God’s word can instruct us on how to repair these issues.
God does have a scriptural model for how we should treat one another.
I. First of all, The vehicle that God would choose to use to bring Man back into his family – The Church – and the human family are tied intimately together.
The Bible begins with a family in the Garden and the Bible ends with Christ as the Groom and the Church as His Bride in Revelation 21-22.
Jesus’ first revealing of His glory is found in John 2 at the marriage at Cana of Galilee. Jesus chooses to bless that Marriage with His first miracle.
The most read and quoted passage concerning marriage is found in Ephesians 5: 22-33.
I want to read those 12 verses to you this morning. Notice the analogy and mystery as the Church is compared to Marriage.

Ephesians 5: 22-33
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing ; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself ; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great ; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

One could preach a multitude of sermons from this passage but this morning I want to get quickly to some practical advice God gives us concerning marriage.

It all focuses on verse 33- Husbands love your wives, and wives respect your husband.

That is how we repair what the Fall has driven a wedge through. Love and Respect

I. Men LOVE YOUR WIVES
Scripture tells us what millions of dollars in research have found and that is women need love. They need to know that they are loved.
Paul makes it clear that the same type of self sacrificial love that Jesus had is what is required of us for our wives.

1) Cannot be Harsh in our treatment of our wives.

Proverbs 12: 18- Thoughtless words cut like a sword

Harsh words and thoughtless actions destroy the person that God created for men to love and to cherish.

A woman wilts when she is talked to harshly, they are not programmed for that and don’t know how to respond.

In the story of Nabal and Abigail the Bible describes Nabal in this negative light. In I SAMUEL 25: 3 we learn that Nabal was cruel, unloving and in the original language of that passage –heartless toward others.

That is the opposite of what God wants from Men of God. Harsh words have not place in the life of a Christian let alone for our wives.
2) We have to be tough in our love.
Sometimes it is not easy to show love to a wife that may criticize us or act ugly to us.

God doesn’t allow for excuses. We can’t turn to God and say, Well she was mean to me, so I cant show her love.

Jesus had specific words for us when it comes to loving the unlovable.

Luke 6: 32-33
32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 "If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

Love is not wimpy but takes a real man to pull if off. The easy thing to do is to quit and not try. It is easy to just give into the selfishness of flesh and just let your wives have it and talk harshly to them. Paul doesn’t let us get off that easy.

I Corinthians 16: 13-14
13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

How does Paul propose that we act like men?
Let all we do be done in love.

When it gets tough, we have no choice but to respond to our lives in love. We don’t have any wiggle room.

To have good marriages, we as men must show love to our wives. They have to know that we love them.


We see this need for love in the story of Jacob and Rachel in the OT. Jacob loved Rachel dearly and worked seven years for her father Laban to be able to marry her. Laban tricked Jacob and Jacob married Rachel’s sister Leah. Jacob had to work 7 more years to be able to marry Rachel.
Leah felt unloved and God saw her affliction and blessed her with children.

Genesis 29: 32 says it all,
32 Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, "Because the LORD has seen my affliction ; surely now my husband will love me."

Leah wanted to be loved by her husband. That is all any wife wants from her husband and that is to be loved and cherished.


II. Now we turn to Paul’s advice for the wife.
Women are to respect their husband.

A poll was done recently in which men were asked if they would rather their wives love them or respect them and 81.5 percent of men said that they would rather get respect from the their wives.

Men are hard wired by God in this way. I don’t think men ever wonder much if their wife loves them but many men desire that their wife respect them.

Men are the type that will go into a battle and fight a war many times not thinking to much about it.

On 9/11 we watched courageous police officers and fireman run into a building that was about to collapse as others were running away from those buildings as fast as they could.

What causes this type of behavior?

I believe it is something that God puts into us. It is programmed into to men to want to protect and fight for what they believe in.

Nehemiah knew how men are hardwired when he exhorted those rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem,

Nehemiah 4: 14
14 When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people : "Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses."

This exhortation means a lot to men. To fight for others is a natural urge for men.

We see the motto in athletic commercials “Protect this House” and understand that sports teams get really fired up about protecting their home turf.

Men want to receive respect from their wives. It is the engine that stokes them and gives them feelings of being really what God created them to be.

1 Peter 3: 1-2
1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.

This method of conduct is so effective that it can be used by a wife to convert a non-believing husband to the faith. Respect for her husband brings out the best of what he is and what he was wired to be.
This craving for respect is best illustrated in the story of David and his wife Michael.

2 Samuel 6: 16-23
16 Then it happened as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD ; and she despised him in her heart. 17 So they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 18 When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offering, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. 19 Further, he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, both to men and women, a cake of bread and one of dates and one of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed each to his house. 20 But when David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel distinguished himself today ! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants' maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!" 21 So David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel ; therefore I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 "I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes, but with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them I will be distinguished." 23 Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

Michal did not like what she saw in David dancing before the maids of Israel. You see in David that all he wants is respect from his wife. She had totally misunderstood his motives for what he had done. He reminded her that he would be held in esteem by the maids of Israel even if she didn’t. We also see that Michal is cursed because of her attitude toward David.
III. Breaking the Viscous Cycle.


We see how this can become a cycle. A man speaks harshly to his wife, she feels like she is not loved, she lashes out at him at a disrespectful manner and in turn he treats her even more harshly.

This continues until you look back and you think, How did we get here?

How did the love of my youth become so hostile to me?

Satan is very crafty and uses our own ego and selfishness against us.

It has been this way since the Garden of Eden and the Bible gives us the answer to restore our families.

We have to stop the Cycle. We have to be willing to be the first one to do what is right, no matter what our mate decides.

We have to be willing, husbands to love even when it is tough.

Wives to show respect even when you think he isn’t worthy of it.
We may be shocked what our mates will become. They may just transform into the person you have always wanted them to be.

God has created us for each other in our marriages and will bestow his grace and help in our marriages if we just open the door and do things like he tells us to do them.

To truly have a great marriage one must first become Christ like.

Marriage and the Family- Reflecting God’s Love – Part 1 (First Comes Love)

INTRODUCTION
The family is the cornerstone of society.

Family Research has shown that all societies rise and fall with their view of the family. Carle Zimmerman was a Harvard Sociologist that did extensive research on Family and Civilization. He spent his whole life studying families in different ancient cultures. He found that civilizations go through three basic phases before they disintegrate. The first stage for families is called the Trustee family. This stage has a big picture of marriage that is tied to the Divine. This view would be consistent with the nation of Israel’s view that they were all Children of Abraham. In this stage of family the Patriarch saw his role as a sacred trust. The family was a trustee to the traditions of the ones that came before them to pass down to the next generation. Economics was not the greatest concern but devotion to one’s Creator and the Law that had been established to be passed down was most important. This stage of family development is usually the strongest time for any civilization.

The next stage in family development is called the domestic family. This is the stage in which the Patriarch becomes the chief ruler of the family and economic concerns take precedence. Family decisions are based purely on Economics. What is best for the pocketbook becomes the decision driving mechanism for the family.
One can see this development in our own country.

If one were to look at politics soon after the American Revolution we would find candidates like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams talking more about virtue, citizenship, and caring for other Americans. They were concerned about the virtue and well-being of our country. Fast forward to our latest presidential election and you will find that Economics was the driving concern of our election. Americans that are polled today would tell you that the economy is one of the main deciding factors in the way people cast their vote. This also drives most family decisions today. We have to do what is best for the pocketbook many times instead of what is right for our families and children.

The last stage in the development of families and culture, according to Zimmerman, is the atomistic family. This type of family is very isolated and usually only consists of the single mother or father or a single parent. This type of family sees the family as a cocoon that the child is ready to one day break free from. At this stage adultery and sexual immorality is viewed less as a crime against society or against a Creator but more or less a personal decision. Things like personal choice and phrases like, “This is my body and I can do what I want to with it” would be the more common expressions of morality of that stage. Other phrases like, “Consenting Adults” is a common phrase of this time.

I think it goes without saying that we see many parallels in our own culture and what Carle Zimmerman saw in his studies on the rise and decline of civilizations. This book was written in 1947 and is almost prophetic of our own time.

The sad answer to all of this is the Church has the answer to this. The Scripture that God entrusted to us has the answer to these problems of our time but much of this is not being preached, discussed or talked about because of the fear of offending people.

I have a good friend of mine that has worked his entire life as a minister. He is a type of mentor to me and was a preacher that we had when we were first married. He has spent extensive time in studying churches and why they grow and the problems they face. I talked to him last week and we discussed that the number one problem churches and members are facing in his are legal issues that relate to family law. Many church members are wracked with legal fees due to custody battles and fractured families. One of the outreach methods being used by Churches not is to help in benevolence with these legal fees. It is a problem of epic proportions in our times. I have said all of this to lay out a series of lessons that I would like to share with you about marriage and the family for the next few weeks. I want to look at the cosmic view of marriage in Scripture that began in the Garden of Eden and then take it to very specific levels of what are roles are as grandparents, parents, and children. We will look specifically at God’s plan for calling our culture and country back from the brink by focusing on the very cornerstone of every civilization and that is the family.

This lesson today could be entitled ‘First Comes Love’. This expression is found in an old saying that we said in grade school that went like – First comes love, then comes marriage, and then so and so with a baby carriage.

To some extend I would say that this expression is 100 percent right.

First Comes Love:

Man is made in God’s image is the way to understand the family.


2 Creation accounts –

1st account the work of the 6 days that culminates with the Creation of man on Day 6.




Genesis 1: 26- 31
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed ; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food "; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day

I. Marriage and the Family was Part of God’s original Plan and was in place before the Fall.

1st the revelation of marriage in God’s plan happens in the Creation account. Marriage is not something that was put in place after the Fall of man.
Marriage is one of the only institutions that we have continued from before the Fall.
The family concept was part of God’s perfect plan from before the Expulsion from the Garden.

Being Fruitful and Multiplying were a part of God’s original plan. God had always intended for man to have children and raise them as helpers in God’s Creation.

This gives us a glimpse at the glory of the Family that it was not an after thought of God but was part of His plan for a good creation.
The work in the Garden was a family experience.
Do we fully understand what a gift marriage is?

Are our marriages and families today a little piece of Paradise left over or a glimpse into Hell?

If it is not a glimpse into Paradise and what was lost in the Garden, I would like to propose that we have went wrong somewhere.

As we will study in the next weeks, there is grace given for us to get to that point of what God really wanted in our families.

II. Being Created in God’s image includes both the idea of being Male and Female.

Up until this point God had created a world to reflect His glory as an artist is reflected in their own work of art.

But now God is creating a creature that will bear the very image of the invisible God.

Here is the deepest mystery of all – He would create a unity in the creation of a plurality.

God also speaks of Himself as a plurality when He issues this command when He says, “Let us make Man”.

This is the only place that God speaks of Himself in this way and it is telling that He is creating man when He uses this phrase.

In other words, man and woman would be one and be one flesh but they were two separate Persons. We find a Unity in a diversity of Persons.

Many people have puzzled over the Trinity and understanding God as Father, Son, and Spirit but I would like to propose this morning that the best way to understand Trinity God gave us the family to show us what He is like.

We get a fuller explanation of the Trinity in the New Testament when we read Jesus in the Gospel of John speak of the Father unto which He prays and to Whom He will return.

The Father is a separate person from the Son but somehow they are a Unity.
Jesus also speaks of another Divine person called the Counselor in John 15: 26 also known as the Holy Spirit in John 20: 22.

In Matthew 28: 19 Jesus gives his Disciples a startling discovery by telling them the Name of God.

Up until this time the Name of God could not be spoken. The Jews taught that God’s name was not to be spoken, but in the great commission Jesus tells them to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus in Matthew 28 uses the singular Name but then names three Persons- Is He confused?

These three Persons make up the one Triune God. What Scripture calls the Godhead.

What does this have to do with the Family?

To answer this question we must turn to the 2nd Account of Creation found in Genesis 2:

We get a little more detail and can answer the question as to how the mystery of the Trinity gives us a glimpse at the glory of the Family.

In this account we find Adam in his solitude to enjoy the Creation alone.

Genesis 2: 23
18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone ; I will make him a helper suitable for him." 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept ; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh ; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife ; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Pre-fall – We see God describe Adam being alone as NOT GOOD.

This is not a condition because of sin but it is a fundamental attribute of God given to us as being in His image.

Being alone is not something that God accepts.

The early Church called this the Original Solitude but this changed quickly.
So this takes us back to the mystery of the Trinity. God in Himself is the original Family.

You have within God eternal and perfect Fatherhood, eternal Sonship, and love reflected between the Father and Son in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
You see fellowship within the Godhead – A Family
A unity in the three persons of Father, Son, and Spirit.

That is why God created us as Man and Woman. To reflect who God truly is we must also have the ability to have unity in the diversity of persons.

We know this is true because we feel in our bones. We need each other. We need our families. We need our Moms and Dads, brothers and sisters. We need our wives and wives need their husbands. We crave intimacy with other humans. We want to share things with one another.

I know I want to share things with Allison. If something happens I want her to be a part of it.

When I win a football game I want her to be there to enjoy it too or it just seems incomplete. I want to have that person I share everything with.

There are not secrets between us, we share all of life’s ups and downs.

It is a glimpse – an imperfect glimpse- but a glimpse nonetheless of what life in God is like.

It is also a glimpse at the life God wants to give us in perfect measure.

This makes the issue all the more important for our families.
If God is a family and we are in His image we must ask the question, does our family reflect the love of God to the world.

Do people look at our families and see such a strong love that it images Who God is to the world.

St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel and use words when necessary”

What type of gospel about God are we preaching to the world when people look at our families?

Do they see an unbreakable unity, a love that binds?

Do our children see a false picture of God from us as parents? Do they look at their mother and father and see how God really is to His children?

On judgment day will we as parents be able to stand before the God who is the perfect family and be able to give an account for our families?

III. Even is taken from Adam’s Rib.

Adam’s side is opened up and from it comes Eve.

What does this tell us?
Eve is created out of Adam’s rib is mysterious but it is profound.

One thing this tells us that men are mudpies and women are palaces.

That might seem like a strange statement but a return to the original Hebrew found in Genesis 2 will clear this up a little.

Genesis 2: 7
7) the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.

The word used here in verse seven for Formed is the Hebrew word, YATSAR and it literally means to build with bricks, earthenware, or pottery.

In other words we are mudpies.

Genesis 2: 22
22) The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man.

The word used here in this verse for the building up of the woman is a completely different word.

It is the Hebrew term, BANAH, and means to build a temple or a place.

This is a special term to show that woman was the crown jewel of Creation. This final Creation of God would be something special.

Husbands, do we treat our wives in such a way to reflect this term? Do we treat our wives as God’s palace or the special place that she has in Creation as God’s crowning jewel.

God saved the best for last with the creation of woman.

Eve is created from his rib – side by side – bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh – From this time onward this will be the case. Co-dependence –

Eve depended on Adam for her beginning and every human since that time depends on the womb of their mother for their existence.

This passage reminds us how much male and female are connected and are dependent on one another.

Earliest Christians saw a connection between the side of Christ being pierced and Eve.

In the crucifixion account we remember that when Jesus’ side was pierced both blood and water came forth. Christians from the earliest times immediately connected this with the Creation account and taught that just as Eve came from Adam’s side the Church was birthed from the side of Christ.

In saying this they pointed out that through the water of baptism and the blood of Christ we are born into the Church.

They saw an instant foreshadowing of Adam’s side in Jesus and the cross.

Do we treat each other in this way in our own families? Do we as husbands Lord it over our wives or do we treat them like they are as close to us as our heart?

Do we reflect that same self sacrificing love that Jesus displayed when he went to the Cross?

I would propose for husbands to be truly what God intended us to be we must see each day as taking up the cross for our family.

Are we sacrificing everything to get our families in a right relationship with God?

Are we doing everything we can to get their souls right with God?
Our wives and our children should be as close to our heart as possible because God reminds us of our dependence on one another.

IV. The first Creation focused on a Family and God’s New Creation and Plan of Redemption happened in a family Context.

We know that the first family on earth was imperfect. We see that Satan’s first attack on mankind happened in the family context.

I find it fascinating that the very act of Redemption started when Jesus was born into a human family.

I am sure God could have incarnated flesh in any way He saw fit. He could have created a human body for Jesus but God chose to send the Messiah, the Son of God into human history through the family.

There is much that could be learned from this in that God finds the family ultimately important. God choose the family of Mary and Joseph to send His Son into and be nurtured by.

Imagine if God called one of us up today and told us that we would have to raise His Son in our family.

What if we were in the place of Mary and Joseph today?

What if we had to raise the Son of God in our family?

Would God be pleased with our family? Would he feel comfortable in sending His Son into our family?

Why is that any different than the gifts of our own children that he gave us. Our children that God gave us are really His ultimately. WE are just trustees or stewards of these good gifts.


This morning I wanted to lay out for you a grand and cosmic view of marriage and the family.

In the next weeks we will look at many of the particulars that we find in Scripture.

One thing that we want to always share with you is that God has a plan.

God has a plan for our families and lives that leads to a fullness of life.

It all starts with becoming a child of His.

We want to offer an invitation to anyone that may need to respond to this grace.

Task of the Church: Final Lesson - Hope beyond Measure

Tonight will close out our series of sermons on the Task of the Church and specifically the message of the Second Coming.

I believe that this great event speaks to the three basic longings of all people in this world. Everyone deep inside them has a longing to live forever and especially in some type of bodily existence. I think that most people fear an out of body experience because it is not natural to us.

We see how people care for their own body. They walk, run, exercise, and do many things to keep their bodies running properly. We are distressed when our bodies don’t work properly and don’t like to be limited in our abilities. I remember outrunning the kids that I coached when I was younger as a coach and enjoying doing athletic things. Now I cant do the things I once could do. Our bodies change, they slow down and there is not much we can to about it. There is something deep inside of us that just has a hard time accepting that. I remember when my Grandfather got more feeble as he got older and I had to help him get into the storm shelter one evening during a tornado warning. He was not very happy with me because I picked him up and carried him. He did not do well with his body breaking down and becoming more limited.
The Christian hope answers that basic longing. We know that Jesus taught a new hope and that is a bodily resurrection. A resurrection to something wonderful that doesn’t get old, tired, or limited.

Our ultimate hope is a restoration of our body as it was meant to be. Before sin corrupted, before the curse of the Fall, we will experience a restoration of all things. The apostle Paul speaks of this in Philippians 3
Philippians 3: 10-11 and then 20 -21
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death ; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Paul’s ultimate hope was in the resurrection of the dead. He goes on to point out that this new resurrected body will be in conformity with the body of Jesus.

The word conformity in verse 21 in reference to our resurrected body literally means in the Greek, “The same for as”

It means that we will have bodies in the same form of what Jesus resurrected body had.

As we talked about in an earlier lesson this body had similarities but dissimilarities.

We will carry things that shaped us in this life into the new bodily existence. Just as Jesus carried the marks of the cross into his resurrected body in some way we will have continuity with what we had before but much more enhanced that we could have ever imagined. This is true hope that gives people something to reach for and live in expectation of.



Another point to clarify about the final judgment is we sometimes teach our children a wrong concept about what it will be like. Many kids get the idea that all we will do is sit on clouds and play harps.
This is a false concept that comes from the Medieval Church and is a misreading of Revelation chapters 4 and 5.

Revelation 4 and 5 is a picture of a Heavenly Worship service that was happening at that time. It was a current situation of Heaven and not some future event.

It is a message to John that on a Sunday a heavenly worship service is taking place in which we are part of. If we want a picture of what the ultimate existence will be like, why not turn to Genesis 1 and 2 and see that Adam and Eve were given tasks to accomplish.

To till the earth (Shamar) and keep the garden. This required some type of mission and task. Work was not a curse of the Fall in the Garden. Adam had a task to do for God well before the Fall.

We are told expressly in Revelation 21 that a New Jerusalem will be prepared for us. We need to dream and imagine about what that will be like. Revelation 21 gives us a few details about that new city.

We need to be sharp about this as we share the ultimate hope with our children and the world around us. If all we have told people is we go to Heaven, go on an eternal rest time, play harps, sing and ride clouds, no wonder people aren’t that interested in Christianity.

The ultimate hope is enhanced and fulfilled humanity. Becoming more human and real that we could have ever imagined.

Revelation 21: 23-27
23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there ) its gates will never be closed ; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

John tells us that the kings will bring their glory into it and glory and honor of nations will come into it.

This is much greater than we can wrap our minds around. With our new enhanced, resurrected bodies we will be given some types of tasks that we could have never have imagined.

Jesus gives a little glimpse of this to His apostles.

Matthew 19: 27-28
Then Peter said in reply, “Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, in the new creation, when the Son of Man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the tribes of Israel.”

The Apostles were told expressly that they would sit on twelve thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

This will be in the New Creation.

1 Corinthians 6: 1-4
1 Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints ? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world ? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts ? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels ? How much more matters of this life ? 4 So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church ?


We will have some type of roll to play when it is all said in done in judgment. Paul even goes so far to say that we will judge Angels.

If we are shocked by this we should realize that maybe God is expecting us to use this life to get prepared for this roll.

Are we steeping ourselves in God’s wisdom and Law so much that we can think and act as God would have us.

I really believe that we are all being prepared for something far greater, far more substantial that we could have ever imagined.

We need to be prepared for what God has in store and what He will require of us in that New Creation.

If he expects us to be His agents of the Kingdom now, how much more will He expect when the Kingdom reaches its fullest fulfillment?


Daniel the prophet looks forward to this day of restoration and all things being put right.
Daniel introduces us to four beasts that represent four world powers that have tried to destroy God’s people and His plan.

We are then introduced to a ‘Son of Man’ that is triumphant that defeats this powers.

Daniel 7: 3-14
3 "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away ; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

This Son of Man is given Dominion. This is an important point because Dominion was exactly what Adam and Eve was given in the Garden and they lost it. They gave up some of that dominion because they disobeyed God.

Because Jesus was triumphant over evil He was able to regain that Dominion as ‘The Son of Man’. He was the representative one, the one that became a man to achieve this victory.

And what does he do with this dominion?
27 'Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One ; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.'

This is the message of New Creation, one of dominion restored. We need to get ready.

We have short vision if we only look at this life as all there is.

The ultimate hope is so much more than we could have ever imagined.


Another longing that is fulfilled by all of this is beauty.

Yesterday we got a good taste of this as we hiked down to the bottom of Foster Falls in Grundy County. It was absolutely breathtaking. I couldn’t not help but stand their and look at the beauty of that waterfall and consider what a wonderful Creation that we have.

It was beautiful and I couldn’t help but think what God has planned for his new Heavens and New Earth.

God programmed us to appreciate beauty. That is why we create art and want pretty stuff.

Just look at the grandeur of the Jewish Temple. The furnishings were beautiful and even the Romans were impressed with the grandeur of the Jewish Temple.

God created this wonderful world and we some how know it. Some people have misshaped this appreciation and God given love for nature into a false religion. Some actually worship nature instead of the one who Created it all.

But at the same time we sense that something is out of joint. Evil still exists.

Things still go wrong. As I was looking at this waterfall, and this may seem silly, I started to have selfish feelings. A man arrives smoking a cigarette and totally ruined the moment.

That moment of beauty was interrupted by that smell that makes me go into an allergic fit.

Now, that is just a small example but it gets the point across. Creation is beautiful but this is a fallen world that God will put right.

This putting right will happen to everything in this Planet and universe.

The bad things of this world will be burned up with fervent heat and things will be recreated. A New Creation is God’s plan.

The same language that Peter uses for the judging of the world is used in regards to the judgment of individual Christians.

For Judgment to be just things must be made right. All of the injustice and hurts must be healed or it is not really justice.

Hebrew idea of Justice is more in line with our modern notion of restoration.

This morning I laid out some of the threats against the Church but there is good news. The Church has always been threatened and God’s promise of Justice and judgment has always been on the table.

Psalm 2 talks about the Kings of the Earth take their stand against God but God will have his day with them. It is something that we should rejoice in that God will be triumphant.

The Psalmist celebrates God’s judgment:

Psalm 98: 8-9
8 Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy 9 Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth ; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.

God alone will judge with equity.
Judgment is not a negative thing when you are the one at the bottom of the pile. When the government comes in and says your tax money will go to fund abortions or you are told that when you enter the public school classroom, “He we want you to bring your ethics and good character from your faith into the classroom but don’t bring Jesus or be open about your faith.” That is when we cry for Justice to roll like the rivers and God to break in and change things.

We should not shrink back from our personal judgment. God knows what is best for us and it is the merciful suffering Messiah that will be our Judge.

1 Corinthians 3: 11-15
11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident ; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss ; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire

In this passage it is conclusive that this person that stands before Christ the judge is one that is a Christian because they have begun on the foundation of Jesus.

Through works of grace and mercy we build upon that foundation with fine metals and other good things that will stay.

We also have issues of sin that we must deal with.

This purging fire is a metaphor for how Christ will deal with those parts of us that need reforming.

At that last great day we will stand before the risen Christ and those issues that need to be fixed will be taken care of. Christ will make sure that we come into this New Creation ready to be in a complete state of restoration.