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.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Judgment Now and to Come
The Task of the Church: Preaching the Coming Judgment
As we close out this series of lessons this week on the task of the Church I would like to propose that for the Church to accomplish the mission that Christ has tasked us with we must be clear and concise about that message. We must cut through the clutter of the religious world around us. We live in a time that has many competing voices and we must be more clear than we have ever been about certain non-negotiable.
A Newsweek article came out in spring of this year that has points out a trend over the last 10 years- Over the last decade the number of Americans that claim to not be identified with any religion has doubled.
Trends also show that the American Northeast is quickly replacing the American Northwest as the most non-Christian portion of our country. The reason this is important is the fact that American Christianity began in the NE. It was from this area that we saw immense growth of Churches during he early days of our Country.
In Britain today, a country that claims Christianity as its official religion, the second most common name being used for new babies today is Muhammad.
In Europe 90% of the Population growth was due to the Islamic people.
There are more mosques operating in France today than active Churches.
If the numbers hold today France in 40 years will be Islamic Republic.
Look at our children and let us understand that our world is changing and what type of world are we going to leave for them.
In the Netherlands 50 percent of all newborns are Muslim children.
In 15 years half of the population of the Netherlands will be Muslim.
The Belgian Government has recently released a new statistic prediction that by 2025 1 and 3 people in Europe will be Muslim.
I am not picking on the Muslim faith, I am calling out the Church. False religion is false religion. The only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ.
The German Government is predicting that Germany will be a Muslim state by 2050.
What about our own country
In 1970 100,000 Muslims living in America.
In 2009 there are 9 million living in this country.
They estimate that in 30 years there will 50 million Muslims in our country.
Why did I pick Islam? The reason I am sharing these facts with you it to show the importance of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Islam is false religion that makes truth claims contrary to the New Testament. There are many groups making false truth claims today and just the growth of non-believers in general is alarming in this country.
Why did I share this with you? Because I look at my children and think what will this world be like when they are 40 years old?
What will Churches look like in 40 years?
What happens when this generation of Church leaders pass on to their reward?
How do we answer this challenge?
A Father was once trying to help his daughter with her Geography lesson. She was having to learn all of the states and where they were located on the map. He found a magazine with a picture of the American Map with all the 50 states. He tore out that map and cut it into little pieces.
He gave the map to the little girl and she quickly pieced it back together perfectly and took it to her father.
He asked her how she did it so fast. She told her father that on the back of the map was a picture of Jesus. She just put the pieces back together until Jesus was complete.
I would propose this morning that the only hope we have is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only thing that piece our country back together, our lives back together.
John 14: 6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life ; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
No one comes to the Father but through Jesus Christ.
Example in case: Could America fall as A Christian Country?
In 324 Egypt was predominately Christian Country and at that time was second only in influence in the Church to Rome.
Today we think of Egypt as a Muslim Country but many don’t know that Egypt was once a very influential Christian country.
In the year 640 AD the nation of Egypt was invaded by the Islamic Arab hordes coming out of Arabia. They took over the government of this area and force conversion to Islam was very common. Once a Christian converted to Islam there was no turning back because Islamic law teaches that conversion to any other faith is punishable by death. Over a very short period of time Egypt became a predominately Muslim country with a small persecuted Christian population.
How does this tie into our mission as a church at Mimosa.
Our theme has been the second coming of Christ and our mission and task.
Last Sunday we focused on the Second Coming being a time of the general Resurrection from the dead and the destruction of this current world and the New Creation.
Today I want to talk about another aspect of the Second Coming that is a non-negotiable. That is the Second Coming bringing in God’s Judgment of this world.
By the facts I have shared with you, we have never had a more important time in our history to be sharp and concise about our faith.
We need to know what were talking about and be passionate about it.
I. Judgment starts with us. It starts with the Church.
Advanced Judgment of God before the second coming:
1 Peter 4: 16-19
16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God ; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God ? 18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER ? 19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
God’s judgment comes upon us now, today. God expects something from His Church. WE may suffer in this present time but Peter reminds us that to suffer as a Christian is something to be glorified in.
But what does he mean by ‘judgment to begin with the household of God?’
I think a little can be learned by reading about Jesus remarks to the Churches of Asia in the book of Revelation:
The letter to the Church at Ephesus:
Revelation 2: 4-5
“4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first ; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place -unless you repent.”
In this passage Christ is speaking directly to a church and in this admonition he points out that if they don’t change and get back to what is most important He will come and remove their lampstand. In the language of Revelation this means that this Church will cease to exist.
Revelation 3: 14- 19
14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write : The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this : 15 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot ; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed ; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline ; therefore be zealous and repent.
The church at Laodicea may be a picture of many churches that we find in our own country today. Our blessings have become our curse. Just like the Laodiceans we don’t need anything. We have our entertainment, our movies, our nice homes, cars, and all of the luxuries of life and have become complacent. We are so distracted by activities that Church has become an after thought. It is just another thing on the list to do.
Even Paul’s teaching on the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 even speaks of a judgment that comes upon on one that does not partake of the Lord’s Supper in a proper manner.
It has become a Sunday morning activity then it means nothing else for the rest of the week. It is not the most important thing in our life.
The Just Judgment of God starts with us. How can we look forward to a time of general judgment of the world when we are not ready for God’s judgment today?
Imagine going back in time and telling the Christians of Rome in the 1st century that had to meet before dawn on Sunday morning in the catacombs that we are too busy for Church. Why were those people so hungry for the gospel and we have a hard time getting people to come back to church on Sunday night?
These are hard questions we all need to ask.
What priority does Church have in your life?
What priority does this Church at Mimosa have in your life?
When is the last time we just invited someone to come to Church?
We have to make Christ and His kingdom a priority in our lives.
II. A Future Judgment to Come
The general Judgment at the end of time is a non-negotiable doctrine of the Church.
Biblical Facts about the Day of Judgment:
Hebrews 9: 27-28
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
The Hebrew writer makes it clear that Christ will return a second time and that we all have an appointment with death and a time of judgment.
2 Corinthians 5: 10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
We must all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Christians do not get a free ticket out of the Judgment. We will give an account for what we have done with our lives.
There is no need to pass judgment on one another as Christians because God’s judgment will be just. There will be nothing hidden from God or no secret sin. It will all be revealed by God.
1 Corinthians 4: 3-5
“3 But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court ; in fact, I do not even examine myself. 4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted ; but the one who examines me is the Lord. 5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts ; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.”
III. The General Judgment will condemn those that Claim to be Christian but do not obey Christ.
The prophet Malachi speaks of a day when a book of Remembrance will be opened that reveals those that have been faithful to God.
Malachi prophecies of a day when those that obey God and those that don’t will be revealed.
Malachi 3:18
So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
One of the toughest teachings found in the Bible on the subject of the judgment of people that claim to be a Christian but do not act in that manner is found in Matthew 7.
Matthew 7:19 - 23
19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles ?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
The most disturbing part of this passage from Matthew is that Jesus points out that these people worked miracles in his name, and had special gifts of the Holy Spirit but they were still not truly converted. Just because one had all the outward trappings of being a Christian it did not mean they were truly a disciple of Jesus. This passage definitely torpedoes the doctrine that is taught in many churches today, that all you have to do is just say the Sinner’s prayer and then you are saved and no amount of obedience is expected from you. That is an un-Biblical view of faith.
James tells us in James 2: 26 that faith without works is dead. No where in the Bible does it teach that all one has to do is just have faith or just a mental assent to the fact that Jesus is Lord to be saved. God wants all of us and wants a life of true obedience.
Conclusion:
I believe that we must be frank in our talk about the subject matter today. PC has brought us to a point that we don’t want to talk about accountability. We don’t want to question the fact that God may require something from us.
I want you to know that today I am calling myself into account and will confess to this whole Church that I need to do better. I need to understand that the power at work in us is greater than the power that is at work in the world.
We need to get our lives straight and look forward to the return of Christ.
Matthew 25: 31-34
31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats ; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
How wonderful would it be to hear those words, “inherit the Kingdom”? After a life devoted to the cause of Christ, without taking our hand off the plow to look around at the world. What type of legacy would we leave for this world if we all decided to get to work for the Kingdom? What would change in this community and this city? What type of life would our children have?
As we close out this series of lessons this week on the task of the Church I would like to propose that for the Church to accomplish the mission that Christ has tasked us with we must be clear and concise about that message. We must cut through the clutter of the religious world around us. We live in a time that has many competing voices and we must be more clear than we have ever been about certain non-negotiable.
A Newsweek article came out in spring of this year that has points out a trend over the last 10 years- Over the last decade the number of Americans that claim to not be identified with any religion has doubled.
Trends also show that the American Northeast is quickly replacing the American Northwest as the most non-Christian portion of our country. The reason this is important is the fact that American Christianity began in the NE. It was from this area that we saw immense growth of Churches during he early days of our Country.
In Britain today, a country that claims Christianity as its official religion, the second most common name being used for new babies today is Muhammad.
In Europe 90% of the Population growth was due to the Islamic people.
There are more mosques operating in France today than active Churches.
If the numbers hold today France in 40 years will be Islamic Republic.
Look at our children and let us understand that our world is changing and what type of world are we going to leave for them.
In the Netherlands 50 percent of all newborns are Muslim children.
In 15 years half of the population of the Netherlands will be Muslim.
The Belgian Government has recently released a new statistic prediction that by 2025 1 and 3 people in Europe will be Muslim.
I am not picking on the Muslim faith, I am calling out the Church. False religion is false religion. The only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ.
The German Government is predicting that Germany will be a Muslim state by 2050.
What about our own country
In 1970 100,000 Muslims living in America.
In 2009 there are 9 million living in this country.
They estimate that in 30 years there will 50 million Muslims in our country.
Why did I pick Islam? The reason I am sharing these facts with you it to show the importance of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Islam is false religion that makes truth claims contrary to the New Testament. There are many groups making false truth claims today and just the growth of non-believers in general is alarming in this country.
Why did I share this with you? Because I look at my children and think what will this world be like when they are 40 years old?
What will Churches look like in 40 years?
What happens when this generation of Church leaders pass on to their reward?
How do we answer this challenge?
A Father was once trying to help his daughter with her Geography lesson. She was having to learn all of the states and where they were located on the map. He found a magazine with a picture of the American Map with all the 50 states. He tore out that map and cut it into little pieces.
He gave the map to the little girl and she quickly pieced it back together perfectly and took it to her father.
He asked her how she did it so fast. She told her father that on the back of the map was a picture of Jesus. She just put the pieces back together until Jesus was complete.
I would propose this morning that the only hope we have is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only thing that piece our country back together, our lives back together.
John 14: 6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life ; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
No one comes to the Father but through Jesus Christ.
Example in case: Could America fall as A Christian Country?
In 324 Egypt was predominately Christian Country and at that time was second only in influence in the Church to Rome.
Today we think of Egypt as a Muslim Country but many don’t know that Egypt was once a very influential Christian country.
In the year 640 AD the nation of Egypt was invaded by the Islamic Arab hordes coming out of Arabia. They took over the government of this area and force conversion to Islam was very common. Once a Christian converted to Islam there was no turning back because Islamic law teaches that conversion to any other faith is punishable by death. Over a very short period of time Egypt became a predominately Muslim country with a small persecuted Christian population.
How does this tie into our mission as a church at Mimosa.
Our theme has been the second coming of Christ and our mission and task.
Last Sunday we focused on the Second Coming being a time of the general Resurrection from the dead and the destruction of this current world and the New Creation.
Today I want to talk about another aspect of the Second Coming that is a non-negotiable. That is the Second Coming bringing in God’s Judgment of this world.
By the facts I have shared with you, we have never had a more important time in our history to be sharp and concise about our faith.
We need to know what were talking about and be passionate about it.
I. Judgment starts with us. It starts with the Church.
Advanced Judgment of God before the second coming:
1 Peter 4: 16-19
16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God ; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God ? 18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER ? 19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
God’s judgment comes upon us now, today. God expects something from His Church. WE may suffer in this present time but Peter reminds us that to suffer as a Christian is something to be glorified in.
But what does he mean by ‘judgment to begin with the household of God?’
I think a little can be learned by reading about Jesus remarks to the Churches of Asia in the book of Revelation:
The letter to the Church at Ephesus:
Revelation 2: 4-5
“4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first ; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place -unless you repent.”
In this passage Christ is speaking directly to a church and in this admonition he points out that if they don’t change and get back to what is most important He will come and remove their lampstand. In the language of Revelation this means that this Church will cease to exist.
Revelation 3: 14- 19
14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write : The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this : 15 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot ; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed ; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline ; therefore be zealous and repent.
The church at Laodicea may be a picture of many churches that we find in our own country today. Our blessings have become our curse. Just like the Laodiceans we don’t need anything. We have our entertainment, our movies, our nice homes, cars, and all of the luxuries of life and have become complacent. We are so distracted by activities that Church has become an after thought. It is just another thing on the list to do.
Even Paul’s teaching on the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 even speaks of a judgment that comes upon on one that does not partake of the Lord’s Supper in a proper manner.
It has become a Sunday morning activity then it means nothing else for the rest of the week. It is not the most important thing in our life.
The Just Judgment of God starts with us. How can we look forward to a time of general judgment of the world when we are not ready for God’s judgment today?
Imagine going back in time and telling the Christians of Rome in the 1st century that had to meet before dawn on Sunday morning in the catacombs that we are too busy for Church. Why were those people so hungry for the gospel and we have a hard time getting people to come back to church on Sunday night?
These are hard questions we all need to ask.
What priority does Church have in your life?
What priority does this Church at Mimosa have in your life?
When is the last time we just invited someone to come to Church?
We have to make Christ and His kingdom a priority in our lives.
II. A Future Judgment to Come
The general Judgment at the end of time is a non-negotiable doctrine of the Church.
Biblical Facts about the Day of Judgment:
Hebrews 9: 27-28
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
The Hebrew writer makes it clear that Christ will return a second time and that we all have an appointment with death and a time of judgment.
2 Corinthians 5: 10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
We must all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Christians do not get a free ticket out of the Judgment. We will give an account for what we have done with our lives.
There is no need to pass judgment on one another as Christians because God’s judgment will be just. There will be nothing hidden from God or no secret sin. It will all be revealed by God.
1 Corinthians 4: 3-5
“3 But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court ; in fact, I do not even examine myself. 4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted ; but the one who examines me is the Lord. 5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts ; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.”
III. The General Judgment will condemn those that Claim to be Christian but do not obey Christ.
The prophet Malachi speaks of a day when a book of Remembrance will be opened that reveals those that have been faithful to God.
Malachi prophecies of a day when those that obey God and those that don’t will be revealed.
Malachi 3:18
So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
One of the toughest teachings found in the Bible on the subject of the judgment of people that claim to be a Christian but do not act in that manner is found in Matthew 7.
Matthew 7:19 - 23
19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles ?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
The most disturbing part of this passage from Matthew is that Jesus points out that these people worked miracles in his name, and had special gifts of the Holy Spirit but they were still not truly converted. Just because one had all the outward trappings of being a Christian it did not mean they were truly a disciple of Jesus. This passage definitely torpedoes the doctrine that is taught in many churches today, that all you have to do is just say the Sinner’s prayer and then you are saved and no amount of obedience is expected from you. That is an un-Biblical view of faith.
James tells us in James 2: 26 that faith without works is dead. No where in the Bible does it teach that all one has to do is just have faith or just a mental assent to the fact that Jesus is Lord to be saved. God wants all of us and wants a life of true obedience.
Conclusion:
I believe that we must be frank in our talk about the subject matter today. PC has brought us to a point that we don’t want to talk about accountability. We don’t want to question the fact that God may require something from us.
I want you to know that today I am calling myself into account and will confess to this whole Church that I need to do better. I need to understand that the power at work in us is greater than the power that is at work in the world.
We need to get our lives straight and look forward to the return of Christ.
Matthew 25: 31-34
31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats ; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
How wonderful would it be to hear those words, “inherit the Kingdom”? After a life devoted to the cause of Christ, without taking our hand off the plow to look around at the world. What type of legacy would we leave for this world if we all decided to get to work for the Kingdom? What would change in this community and this city? What type of life would our children have?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Task of the Church - Announcing the Day of the Lord - 9/08/09 PM Sermon
It all goes back to that first couple.
Genesis 3: 17-19
17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."
A world in Rebellion:
Not only did man endure the curse of the Garden but also the ground was cursed. The curse of man’s sin changed everything. Violence increased, we see the interpersonal relationships between man and other men change.
It spirals out of control until the Flood.
The Jews always had an understanding that one day God would come and set things straight. The most common belief of Jesus time is that this time of the peaceful reign of Jehovah would come in the reign of the Messiah. The Messiah would come and conquer all of Israel’s enemies. It would be during this time that God would set up his kingdom and reign.
No one ever imagined that the Messiah would die and be resurrected.
Through the work of Jesus all of these expectations were changed. No one have imagined that there would be an intermediate time between the revealing of the Messiah and the final consummation of the age but that is exactly what Jesus ushered in.
Jesus died, was resurrected and then ascended back to Heaven.
Acts 1: 11
10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."
The belief that Jesus would return in Glory one day to vindicate His followers was a long held belief of the church.
One of the oldest phrases found in our Bible can be found in I Corinthians 16 which is the Aramaic term ‘Maranatha’. This term was the Aramaic term for “Come Lord Jesus” and specifically referred to this idea of Jesus returning.
I would like to look at two main passages that relate to the second coming of Christ and then look at the final hope.
I. COMING OF THE LORD:
1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17
5 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Paul is pulling together 3 themes in this passage:
This is not impossible for the Apostle Paul because in the very next chapter Paul will pull together the metaphor of a thief coming in the night, a woman in labor, and a drunken person to make his point.
In this passage Paul is pulling in three main themes:
1) Moses coming from Mount Sinai with the Torah or the Law of Moses.
In Exodus chp 19 and 20 as well as later in chp 32 we see many of the same elements that we see in this passage of I Thessalonians. Trumpet, shouts, clouds are all present. They would bring to mind that visitation of God at Mt. Sinai.
2) Daniel 7
Daniel 7: 13-14
13 "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 passage shows that there will be a time of vindication in which the Messiah would be exalted in the clouds.
Later in this same chapter it tells us that the saints will also be vindicated in glory.
This is a reference to two things and they are the ascension of Jesus after His resurrection but also the return in the clouds with the final vindication of his people.
3) The third theme that Paul is pulling together in this passage of 1 Thessalonians 4 is one of Royal Presence and it best understood in the Roman world of his time.
A city like Philippi would be familiar with this analogy. Philippi was established as a Roman Colony after Augustus Caesar defeated Mark Antony there. It was settled by former Roman soldiers and citizens had special privileges such as exemption from taxes and the ability to own property.
This idea of citizenship was in mind by Paul when he wrote in:
Philippians 3: 20-21
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 wanted the Philippian brethren to understand that they were citizens of Heaven. Earth would be like the outpost of these citizens. The residents of Philippi saw themselves as Romans and exported Roman customs to this area. They lived in Philippi but they were Romans. Paul is telling Christians the same thing. We may live in our city, state, or country but we are citizens of Heaven where God is the true and just ruler.
This theme comes out in the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4. We see the idea of a royal visit. Many times a Roman Emperor would visit a region and all of the citizens were allowed to meet the Emperor before he got to the city gates. They would go into the country side and form a victory procession for the Emperor. They would come into the city with the emperor in great ‘glory’. In 1 Thessalonians Paul tells us that we will meet him in the air. We will be glorified with Christ for all to see.
REVEALING OF THE LORD
In Colossians Paul uses the word Revealed for the coming of Christ.
Colossians 3: 1-4
1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Paul tells us that we are to live different because one day our Savior will be revealed and we will also be vindicated in glory.
II. DAY OF THE LORD
2 Peter 3: 10 - 13
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
According to Peter there will be a day of reckoning when the heavens and the earth will be destroyed with fire. This purging takes place because the Earth itself must be vindicated and transformed.
Just like our bodies will die and decay and will also be put back right again the earth will have the same fate.
This passage in 2 Peter reminds us of the passage in Romans 8. Just as physical death something that must be conquered the curse put on this earth will also have to be overturned.
There will be purging of this creation just like when we see Christ. This very creation will be purged of evil and we forget about being told that we will witness a New Creation. Your labor is not in vain. It is not a throw away – it will be revealed in its fullness by in the New Heavens and the New Earth. All that toil done in Christ will come to fruition.
Romans 8 tells us the Creation awaits in anticipation groaning in travail awaiting the revelation of this time.
Romans 8: 18-23
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Just as our bodies died and decayed, this earth will go through some type of death to be recreated just like us. That is the vision that John gives us in Revelation 21
The Judgment scene is not one of condemnation for the Christian but is a grand scene of vindication. The scene where the Kingdom is handed over to the God the Father and we will reign with Christ in His New Creation.
Isaiah 55: 12-13
12 "For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap {their} hands. 13 "Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the LORD, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off."
Isaiah speaks of a time that the curse of the Garden will be reversed. There will no longer be the thorn bush but the cypress. No more nettle but the myrtle will grow. The message of Isaiah is simple and that is the Servant will bring about a renewed Creation that no longer suffers.
And the grandest passage of all of these is found at the end of our Bible.
Revelation 21:1-5
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." 5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."
The new Heaven and Earth are revealed. We see the new Jerusalem descend from Heaven. The marriage of Heaven and Earth is finally realized. This is what God has wanted all along. There is a renewed Creation with a renewed, resurrected humanity.
Heaven is not an ending to our story but just a beginning. We are living now in the moment of the Resurrection of Christ and the long anticipated return.
We can say that we have Jesus in the teaching of the word, the Lord’s Table, Baptism, and the Church itself but there is more to come.
Communication theorists tell us that for true communication to occur a face to face encounter is much better. The written letter is good to some extent but seeing someone face to face is so much more meaningful.
For us, the Biblical sequence is very simple.
There will be a time that we may have to face death, going home to be with the Lord, Paradise, the Bosom of Abraham.
Later there will be a final vindication of believers in which we will get new resurrected bodies. In some way the soul will be reunited with a new body.
At this time the earth will be judged, purged, and recreated. A new heavens and new earth will be brought about. It is in this New Jerusalem that we will experience our risen Lord face to face for eternity. The work at that point has just begun.
Sequence of events for believers:
Death and going of our spiritual part to be with Christ in a temporary conscious arrangement to await the general resurrection.
Resurrection day comes – Judgment or Vindication day. God puts the world to rights and part of that putting to rights is destruction of death and we receive our resurrected bodies. At that time we are transformed through Christ the world as we know it is transformed in what the Bible describes as a consuming fire and then a glorious site appears in the New Heavens and New Earth with the Heavenly Jerusalem descending from Heaven in which all the word an toil of our Life in Christ finds it ultimate fulfillment. Not a place of boredom with harps but a place where all work will find its truest fulfillment in Christ. Our life continues not ends just in a more perfect condition.
We will find our true humanity
Humanity has advanced. – we begin with a Garden at Eden and end with a City, a New Jerusalem.
We need to ask our selves. – are we thinking Biblically and Christianly when it comes to our final destination.
Genesis 3: 17-19
17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."
A world in Rebellion:
Not only did man endure the curse of the Garden but also the ground was cursed. The curse of man’s sin changed everything. Violence increased, we see the interpersonal relationships between man and other men change.
It spirals out of control until the Flood.
The Jews always had an understanding that one day God would come and set things straight. The most common belief of Jesus time is that this time of the peaceful reign of Jehovah would come in the reign of the Messiah. The Messiah would come and conquer all of Israel’s enemies. It would be during this time that God would set up his kingdom and reign.
No one ever imagined that the Messiah would die and be resurrected.
Through the work of Jesus all of these expectations were changed. No one have imagined that there would be an intermediate time between the revealing of the Messiah and the final consummation of the age but that is exactly what Jesus ushered in.
Jesus died, was resurrected and then ascended back to Heaven.
Acts 1: 11
10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."
The belief that Jesus would return in Glory one day to vindicate His followers was a long held belief of the church.
One of the oldest phrases found in our Bible can be found in I Corinthians 16 which is the Aramaic term ‘Maranatha’. This term was the Aramaic term for “Come Lord Jesus” and specifically referred to this idea of Jesus returning.
I would like to look at two main passages that relate to the second coming of Christ and then look at the final hope.
I. COMING OF THE LORD:
1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17
5 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Paul is pulling together 3 themes in this passage:
This is not impossible for the Apostle Paul because in the very next chapter Paul will pull together the metaphor of a thief coming in the night, a woman in labor, and a drunken person to make his point.
In this passage Paul is pulling in three main themes:
1) Moses coming from Mount Sinai with the Torah or the Law of Moses.
In Exodus chp 19 and 20 as well as later in chp 32 we see many of the same elements that we see in this passage of I Thessalonians. Trumpet, shouts, clouds are all present. They would bring to mind that visitation of God at Mt. Sinai.
2) Daniel 7
Daniel 7: 13-14
13 "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 passage shows that there will be a time of vindication in which the Messiah would be exalted in the clouds.
Later in this same chapter it tells us that the saints will also be vindicated in glory.
This is a reference to two things and they are the ascension of Jesus after His resurrection but also the return in the clouds with the final vindication of his people.
3) The third theme that Paul is pulling together in this passage of 1 Thessalonians 4 is one of Royal Presence and it best understood in the Roman world of his time.
A city like Philippi would be familiar with this analogy. Philippi was established as a Roman Colony after Augustus Caesar defeated Mark Antony there. It was settled by former Roman soldiers and citizens had special privileges such as exemption from taxes and the ability to own property.
This idea of citizenship was in mind by Paul when he wrote in:
Philippians 3: 20-21
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 wanted the Philippian brethren to understand that they were citizens of Heaven. Earth would be like the outpost of these citizens. The residents of Philippi saw themselves as Romans and exported Roman customs to this area. They lived in Philippi but they were Romans. Paul is telling Christians the same thing. We may live in our city, state, or country but we are citizens of Heaven where God is the true and just ruler.
This theme comes out in the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4. We see the idea of a royal visit. Many times a Roman Emperor would visit a region and all of the citizens were allowed to meet the Emperor before he got to the city gates. They would go into the country side and form a victory procession for the Emperor. They would come into the city with the emperor in great ‘glory’. In 1 Thessalonians Paul tells us that we will meet him in the air. We will be glorified with Christ for all to see.
REVEALING OF THE LORD
In Colossians Paul uses the word Revealed for the coming of Christ.
Colossians 3: 1-4
1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Paul tells us that we are to live different because one day our Savior will be revealed and we will also be vindicated in glory.
II. DAY OF THE LORD
2 Peter 3: 10 - 13
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
According to Peter there will be a day of reckoning when the heavens and the earth will be destroyed with fire. This purging takes place because the Earth itself must be vindicated and transformed.
Just like our bodies will die and decay and will also be put back right again the earth will have the same fate.
This passage in 2 Peter reminds us of the passage in Romans 8. Just as physical death something that must be conquered the curse put on this earth will also have to be overturned.
There will be purging of this creation just like when we see Christ. This very creation will be purged of evil and we forget about being told that we will witness a New Creation. Your labor is not in vain. It is not a throw away – it will be revealed in its fullness by in the New Heavens and the New Earth. All that toil done in Christ will come to fruition.
Romans 8 tells us the Creation awaits in anticipation groaning in travail awaiting the revelation of this time.
Romans 8: 18-23
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Just as our bodies died and decayed, this earth will go through some type of death to be recreated just like us. That is the vision that John gives us in Revelation 21
The Judgment scene is not one of condemnation for the Christian but is a grand scene of vindication. The scene where the Kingdom is handed over to the God the Father and we will reign with Christ in His New Creation.
Isaiah 55: 12-13
12 "For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap {their} hands. 13 "Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the LORD, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off."
Isaiah speaks of a time that the curse of the Garden will be reversed. There will no longer be the thorn bush but the cypress. No more nettle but the myrtle will grow. The message of Isaiah is simple and that is the Servant will bring about a renewed Creation that no longer suffers.
And the grandest passage of all of these is found at the end of our Bible.
Revelation 21:1-5
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." 5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."
The new Heaven and Earth are revealed. We see the new Jerusalem descend from Heaven. The marriage of Heaven and Earth is finally realized. This is what God has wanted all along. There is a renewed Creation with a renewed, resurrected humanity.
Heaven is not an ending to our story but just a beginning. We are living now in the moment of the Resurrection of Christ and the long anticipated return.
We can say that we have Jesus in the teaching of the word, the Lord’s Table, Baptism, and the Church itself but there is more to come.
Communication theorists tell us that for true communication to occur a face to face encounter is much better. The written letter is good to some extent but seeing someone face to face is so much more meaningful.
For us, the Biblical sequence is very simple.
There will be a time that we may have to face death, going home to be with the Lord, Paradise, the Bosom of Abraham.
Later there will be a final vindication of believers in which we will get new resurrected bodies. In some way the soul will be reunited with a new body.
At this time the earth will be judged, purged, and recreated. A new heavens and new earth will be brought about. It is in this New Jerusalem that we will experience our risen Lord face to face for eternity. The work at that point has just begun.
Sequence of events for believers:
Death and going of our spiritual part to be with Christ in a temporary conscious arrangement to await the general resurrection.
Resurrection day comes – Judgment or Vindication day. God puts the world to rights and part of that putting to rights is destruction of death and we receive our resurrected bodies. At that time we are transformed through Christ the world as we know it is transformed in what the Bible describes as a consuming fire and then a glorious site appears in the New Heavens and New Earth with the Heavenly Jerusalem descending from Heaven in which all the word an toil of our Life in Christ finds it ultimate fulfillment. Not a place of boredom with harps but a place where all work will find its truest fulfillment in Christ. Our life continues not ends just in a more perfect condition.
We will find our true humanity
Humanity has advanced. – we begin with a Garden at Eden and end with a City, a New Jerusalem.
We need to ask our selves. – are we thinking Biblically and Christianly when it comes to our final destination.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
The Task of the Church 11/08/09 AM Sermon - The Resurrection
As we continue this series on the Task of the Church and specifically about mission we must zero in what that message of hope to this world is all about. If we must be sharp about this subject and provide the Biblical message that was supposed to be proclaimed by the Church.
It is interesting to know why people think the way they do. We are a product of our own environment and we as Christians must always challenge that environment in light of the Bible. We must ask ourselves the question, “Do we believe what we believe about the afterlife because of our culture or because of Biblical teaching?”
LEFT BEHIND AND ALL THAT:
You will see many bumper stickers that read “Upon Rapture this Car will be unoccupied.” There are movies that you can watch now that show a scene where an airplane has many people disappear off of it and their clothes are left behind and they are gone. The basic message of many churches today is ‘Get Saved and Make sure you Raptured out and not Get Left Behind.”
Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins have made a lot of money on the series of books based on this theory of Rapture and people being left behind on earth to endure a time of tribulation.
That takes us to the point of today’s lesson-
THE TASK OF THE CHURCH IS TO IMPLEMENT THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST IN ITS WORK.
To express to a lost world the true hope of Christianity we must cut through the cultural clutter of our time.
We have been greatly influenced in the Western world by the philosophy of Plato and with the developments of Christianity during the Middle Ages.
Plato – Taught that matter was evil and bad and that the best hope one could have would be to escape from the flesh and become a pure spirit. This greatly influenced pagans and heretics in the times of the early Church.
Dante- Dante with his work called the Inferno influenced many people’s picture of the afterlife. Many times Christians have a mental picture that is more in line with what Christians thought in the Middle Ages and less of what the early Church taught.
The earliest Christians focused on the message of the Resurrection and less about going to Heaven when we die. That doesn’t mean that going to Heaven when you die is not important but it wasn’t the central message of Christianity.
One moment in Church history illustrates this in Lyon, France. In 177 AD the church there underwent a terrible persecution because of one specific message and that was the Resurrection. In the ancient world bodily resurrection was a ridiculous concept. The Greeks didn’t want a new body, they wanted to be pure spirit.
So this delve into some Biblical passages that bring out this point:
I. LIFE AFTER DEATH
Lets start with a question many people have on their mind. What happens when you die?
One way the Bible describes where we go when we die is Paradise:
PARADISE:
Luke 23: 42-43
42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" 43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
Another Phase used by Jesus and the Jews of His time was the: Bosom of Abraham.
Luke 16: 19-30 - Rich Man And Lazarus
Rich Man was in torment and Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham.
Another Phrase used about this same state is HOME WITH THE LORD
2 Corinthians 5: 8-9
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
PAUL – ASLEEP – METAPHOR USED BY THE JEWS TO MEAN BODILY DEATH NOT A SOUL SLEEP. THERE WILL BE AN CONCIOUS EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. WHEN WE DIE OUR SOULS AND NOT OUR FLESH PART OF WHO WE ARE WILL GO HOME TO BE WITH THE LORD
What about Mansions in Heaven? Many people visualize Heaven as a place where they will get their own mansion.
John 14:1-3
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
MONAI – Dwelling places – in Greek refers to a temporary place. The word Jesus uses in this passage for dwelling places specifically refers to a temporary stopover and not an eternal resting place.
This is a temporary place of rest, refreshment, and waiting for the ultimate hope.
The ultimate hope is the vindication of the body and the created Earth.
II. LIFE AFTER LIFE AFTER DEATH - Resurrection
Jews believed in the Resurrection from the dead but never imagined that someone would be raised from the dead early.
The Jews believed in a general resurrection (with the exception of the Saducees) but no one every imagined that there would be one raised before that time as an advanced sign of what God would accomplish. The story in John 11 when Lazarus dies shows Mary and Martha’s faith in this idea of a general resurrection.
Sin brought death into this world. Sin Separated us from God, but sin also brought a curse upon this creation. Because of that we age, get sick and eventually die. God has not sickness or death but only sin through the agency of Satan brings about those terrible things.
God’s plan is to put all of this back together again. If our best hope is for this world to be utterly destroyed and all physical matter done away with as well as our bodies to go away and become like Casper the Friendly Ghost then Satan wins. Satan destroyed God’s good creation as well as our bodies through sin. When Jesus rose from the dead everything changed.
JESUS IS THE FIRST FRUITS
1 Corinthians 15: 16- 21
6 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus is the firstfruits meaning that He was the advanced sign of what God wants to accomplish for all of us. He is like the first plant that is reaped in a bumper crop. He is in our language, a PROTOTYPE of what is to come.
RESURRECTION WAS NOT SOME TYPE OF MAGIC ACT-
In the RESURRECTION God is showing his plan to renew all of Creation. That has been the message of the Bible from the Old Testament to the New.
ISAIAH –
Isaiah Chapters 52-53 – The Servant and suffering servant (How the Messiah would die)
Isaiah Chapter 54 – Renew the Covenant (New Covenant established by Christ)
Isaiah Chapter 55 – New Creation (Hope of the Coming renewal)
JOHN 1 – In the beginning
Holy Week – Palm Sunday being the first day of the Passion week
John 19: 5 Behold the Man – Day Six - Man is created on day six
Day Seven – Saturday Jesus rested in the tomb
Day Eight – The First day of the Week – John 20 – ONE THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
THE FIRST DAY OF NEW CREATION
JOHN 20: 22 JESUS BREATHED ON THEM AND SAID RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT- GENESIS 2:7 BREATHED THE BREATH OF LIFE INTO THE MAN.
THE SAME SPIRIT THAT HOVERED OVER THE CHAOS OF THE FORMLESS, VOIDLESS CREATION AND BROUGHT SHAPE AND ORDER IS THE SAME SPIRIT THAT IS BROUHT TO THIS WORLD AT PENTECOST TO BRING ABOUT THE NEW CREATION.
When Jesus of Nazareth came out of the Tomb it signaled to the world that Heaven and Earth have come together in the man of Jesus. Heaven and earth have interlocked never to be separated.
In a world that tries to separate the secular and sacred and make a two storey universe the Resurrection says NO.
Things are different.
III. Implementing the Resurrection of Jesus: How does this apply to US – Practically
Philippians 3: 10-12
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. 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3: 20-21
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 is the resurrection of the dead. He strives and works to put his life in line with that of Christ so that he may attain a resurrected body. He wants to live a life of self sacrifice- ‘conformed to the death of Christ’ to attain resurrection from the dead.
Also in I Corinthians 6 Paul makes his argument against Immorality based on the fact of the future resurrection.
Our ultimate motivator and hope is a body that will be like the resurrected Jesus.
How will this work out? What about those that have died on this Day of Resurrection?
It is a mystery but in some way the soul of the person will be reunited with a new resurrected body.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, the great treatise on resurrection, lets us know that on the day of CHRIST’S COMING those that are in Christ will be resurrected.
1 Corinthians 15: 23-24
3 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17
5 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
IV. What type of bodies will the Resurrected body be like? Type of bodies that we will have – New Bodies
I Corinthians 15: 44
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Physical Body – Psche and Pnuema. It is what they are powered by but not the substance. The new Resurrected body will be just as real as Jesus resurrected body was. We will be recognizable but different.
Difference in saying a ship is powered by steam or by wind. Many have read this as it is describing what we will be made of but that is not what the Greek is saying it is what powers our new resurrected bodies. Psche dies and gives out but Pneuma never dies it will never run out of steam.
Some people read this passage to mean that our resurrected body will not be corporeal but just a ghost and they have built a misunderstanding based on not knowing what the original language says.
In this passage Paul is just telling us that our New Bodies will not run down like the old ones because they will be powered by God’s Spirit.
We will be like Him!
I John 3 : 2
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is
If we want to know what our resurrected Bodies will be like we need only to look back at Jesus resurrected body.
Jesus body had some similarity with his prior body but there was some difference. At one place we learn that the disciples did not dare ask Him who he was. From John’s gospel we see that Jesus ate in front of his disciples after his resurrection. John in his first epistle makes it clear that Jesus had a body that they could handle and touch. He was not a ghost but a resurrected physical body.
It was this physical body that Jesus ascended to Heaven with. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father with a resurrected body like the on that we will get. We can assume from the account of Jesus that our bodies will be different and enhanced but also have some continuity with our old bodies.
This is the ultimate hope of the Christian Church and that is the resurrection.
In the resurrection God puts back together what sin destroyed. The last ally of Satan is death and destruction of our bodies but Christ trumped that ally by rising from the dead.
It is interesting to know why people think the way they do. We are a product of our own environment and we as Christians must always challenge that environment in light of the Bible. We must ask ourselves the question, “Do we believe what we believe about the afterlife because of our culture or because of Biblical teaching?”
LEFT BEHIND AND ALL THAT:
You will see many bumper stickers that read “Upon Rapture this Car will be unoccupied.” There are movies that you can watch now that show a scene where an airplane has many people disappear off of it and their clothes are left behind and they are gone. The basic message of many churches today is ‘Get Saved and Make sure you Raptured out and not Get Left Behind.”
Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins have made a lot of money on the series of books based on this theory of Rapture and people being left behind on earth to endure a time of tribulation.
That takes us to the point of today’s lesson-
THE TASK OF THE CHURCH IS TO IMPLEMENT THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST IN ITS WORK.
To express to a lost world the true hope of Christianity we must cut through the cultural clutter of our time.
We have been greatly influenced in the Western world by the philosophy of Plato and with the developments of Christianity during the Middle Ages.
Plato – Taught that matter was evil and bad and that the best hope one could have would be to escape from the flesh and become a pure spirit. This greatly influenced pagans and heretics in the times of the early Church.
Dante- Dante with his work called the Inferno influenced many people’s picture of the afterlife. Many times Christians have a mental picture that is more in line with what Christians thought in the Middle Ages and less of what the early Church taught.
The earliest Christians focused on the message of the Resurrection and less about going to Heaven when we die. That doesn’t mean that going to Heaven when you die is not important but it wasn’t the central message of Christianity.
One moment in Church history illustrates this in Lyon, France. In 177 AD the church there underwent a terrible persecution because of one specific message and that was the Resurrection. In the ancient world bodily resurrection was a ridiculous concept. The Greeks didn’t want a new body, they wanted to be pure spirit.
So this delve into some Biblical passages that bring out this point:
I. LIFE AFTER DEATH
Lets start with a question many people have on their mind. What happens when you die?
One way the Bible describes where we go when we die is Paradise:
PARADISE:
Luke 23: 42-43
42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" 43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
Another Phase used by Jesus and the Jews of His time was the: Bosom of Abraham.
Luke 16: 19-30 - Rich Man And Lazarus
Rich Man was in torment and Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham.
Another Phrase used about this same state is HOME WITH THE LORD
2 Corinthians 5: 8-9
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
PAUL – ASLEEP – METAPHOR USED BY THE JEWS TO MEAN BODILY DEATH NOT A SOUL SLEEP. THERE WILL BE AN CONCIOUS EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. WHEN WE DIE OUR SOULS AND NOT OUR FLESH PART OF WHO WE ARE WILL GO HOME TO BE WITH THE LORD
What about Mansions in Heaven? Many people visualize Heaven as a place where they will get their own mansion.
John 14:1-3
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
MONAI – Dwelling places – in Greek refers to a temporary place. The word Jesus uses in this passage for dwelling places specifically refers to a temporary stopover and not an eternal resting place.
This is a temporary place of rest, refreshment, and waiting for the ultimate hope.
The ultimate hope is the vindication of the body and the created Earth.
II. LIFE AFTER LIFE AFTER DEATH - Resurrection
Jews believed in the Resurrection from the dead but never imagined that someone would be raised from the dead early.
The Jews believed in a general resurrection (with the exception of the Saducees) but no one every imagined that there would be one raised before that time as an advanced sign of what God would accomplish. The story in John 11 when Lazarus dies shows Mary and Martha’s faith in this idea of a general resurrection.
Sin brought death into this world. Sin Separated us from God, but sin also brought a curse upon this creation. Because of that we age, get sick and eventually die. God has not sickness or death but only sin through the agency of Satan brings about those terrible things.
God’s plan is to put all of this back together again. If our best hope is for this world to be utterly destroyed and all physical matter done away with as well as our bodies to go away and become like Casper the Friendly Ghost then Satan wins. Satan destroyed God’s good creation as well as our bodies through sin. When Jesus rose from the dead everything changed.
JESUS IS THE FIRST FRUITS
1 Corinthians 15: 16- 21
6 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus is the firstfruits meaning that He was the advanced sign of what God wants to accomplish for all of us. He is like the first plant that is reaped in a bumper crop. He is in our language, a PROTOTYPE of what is to come.
RESURRECTION WAS NOT SOME TYPE OF MAGIC ACT-
In the RESURRECTION God is showing his plan to renew all of Creation. That has been the message of the Bible from the Old Testament to the New.
ISAIAH –
Isaiah Chapters 52-53 – The Servant and suffering servant (How the Messiah would die)
Isaiah Chapter 54 – Renew the Covenant (New Covenant established by Christ)
Isaiah Chapter 55 – New Creation (Hope of the Coming renewal)
JOHN 1 – In the beginning
Holy Week – Palm Sunday being the first day of the Passion week
John 19: 5 Behold the Man – Day Six - Man is created on day six
Day Seven – Saturday Jesus rested in the tomb
Day Eight – The First day of the Week – John 20 – ONE THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
THE FIRST DAY OF NEW CREATION
JOHN 20: 22 JESUS BREATHED ON THEM AND SAID RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT- GENESIS 2:7 BREATHED THE BREATH OF LIFE INTO THE MAN.
THE SAME SPIRIT THAT HOVERED OVER THE CHAOS OF THE FORMLESS, VOIDLESS CREATION AND BROUGHT SHAPE AND ORDER IS THE SAME SPIRIT THAT IS BROUHT TO THIS WORLD AT PENTECOST TO BRING ABOUT THE NEW CREATION.
When Jesus of Nazareth came out of the Tomb it signaled to the world that Heaven and Earth have come together in the man of Jesus. Heaven and earth have interlocked never to be separated.
In a world that tries to separate the secular and sacred and make a two storey universe the Resurrection says NO.
Things are different.
III. Implementing the Resurrection of Jesus: How does this apply to US – Practically
Philippians 3: 10-12
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. 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3: 20-21
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 is the resurrection of the dead. He strives and works to put his life in line with that of Christ so that he may attain a resurrected body. He wants to live a life of self sacrifice- ‘conformed to the death of Christ’ to attain resurrection from the dead.
Also in I Corinthians 6 Paul makes his argument against Immorality based on the fact of the future resurrection.
Our ultimate motivator and hope is a body that will be like the resurrected Jesus.
How will this work out? What about those that have died on this Day of Resurrection?
It is a mystery but in some way the soul of the person will be reunited with a new resurrected body.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, the great treatise on resurrection, lets us know that on the day of CHRIST’S COMING those that are in Christ will be resurrected.
1 Corinthians 15: 23-24
3 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17
5 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
IV. What type of bodies will the Resurrected body be like? Type of bodies that we will have – New Bodies
I Corinthians 15: 44
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Physical Body – Psche and Pnuema. It is what they are powered by but not the substance. The new Resurrected body will be just as real as Jesus resurrected body was. We will be recognizable but different.
Difference in saying a ship is powered by steam or by wind. Many have read this as it is describing what we will be made of but that is not what the Greek is saying it is what powers our new resurrected bodies. Psche dies and gives out but Pneuma never dies it will never run out of steam.
Some people read this passage to mean that our resurrected body will not be corporeal but just a ghost and they have built a misunderstanding based on not knowing what the original language says.
In this passage Paul is just telling us that our New Bodies will not run down like the old ones because they will be powered by God’s Spirit.
We will be like Him!
I John 3 : 2
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is
If we want to know what our resurrected Bodies will be like we need only to look back at Jesus resurrected body.
Jesus body had some similarity with his prior body but there was some difference. At one place we learn that the disciples did not dare ask Him who he was. From John’s gospel we see that Jesus ate in front of his disciples after his resurrection. John in his first epistle makes it clear that Jesus had a body that they could handle and touch. He was not a ghost but a resurrected physical body.
It was this physical body that Jesus ascended to Heaven with. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father with a resurrected body like the on that we will get. We can assume from the account of Jesus that our bodies will be different and enhanced but also have some continuity with our old bodies.
This is the ultimate hope of the Christian Church and that is the resurrection.
In the resurrection God puts back together what sin destroyed. The last ally of Satan is death and destruction of our bodies but Christ trumped that ally by rising from the dead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)