Tag: Sacrifice

Proper Understanding of Worship

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Our worship leader, Rick Heil, found at crosswalk.com an article on worship and I wanted to pass on the edited information I learned from it.

How many times after a Sunday worship experience you hear people say things like, “I didn’t get anything out of that today” or “I didn’t get anything out of the sermon” or maybe “I didn’t get anything out of that service?”

Statements like this are like dry rot in a congregation. Like a termite infestation in the building. Like an epidemic afflicting the people of God. Let’s see if we can cast a better understanding of worship.

1. You are Not Supposed to “Get Anything Out of the Service”

Worship is not about you or me. Not about “getting our needs met.” Not about a performance from the pastor and singer and choir and musicians.

2. Worship is About the Lord

Check out this verse: “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name” (Psalm 29:2) It is also found in 1 Chronicles 16:29 and Psalm 96:8, so it deserves being looked at closely.

  1. We are in church to give, not to get: If I am going somewhere to “get,” but find out after arriving that I’m expected to “give,” it’s time to get frustrated. This is what is happening in the typical church service in America. People walk out the door frustrated because they didn’t “get.” The reason they didn’t is that they were not there to “get,” but to “give.”
  2. We are giving glory to God, not to man: We know this and sing about it, but we also forget about it when we are spiritual consumers. We give God glory because glory is His right He is “worthy of worship.” This is the theme of the final book of the Bible (Revelation 5:2, 5:9, 5:12).

3. Self-centeredness Destroys All Worship

If my focus is on myself when I enter the church (getting my needs met, learning something, hearing a lesson that blesses me, being lifted by the singing) then Christ has no part in it. He becomes my servant, and the pastor (and all the other so-called performers) are there only for me. It’s all about me.

We have strayed so far from the biblical concept of worship (giving God His due in all the ways He has commanded). I wonder why we keep going to church?

Anything wrong with receiving some inspiration from the service? Absolutely not. But if we go to church seeking those things, we will not have worshiped. Warren Wiersbe says, “If you worship because it pays, it will not pay.”

4. Evangelism & Discipleship, Giving & Praying, Grow Out of Worship; Not the Other Way Around

  1. The disciples were worshiping on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit filled them and drove them into the streets to bear a witness to the living Christ (Acts 2).
  2. Isaiah was in the Temple worshiping when God appeared to him, forgave his sins, and called him as a prophet to the people (Isaiah 6).
  3. It was in the act of worship that the two distraught disciples had their eyes opened to recognize Jesus at their table (Luke 24).

5. We are to Give Him Worship and Glory in the Ways Scripture Commands

  1. “Give to the Lord the glory due His name and bring an offering.” (1 Chronicles 16:29 and Psalm 96:8).
  2. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart–these, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

Singing, praising, rejoicing, praying, offering, humbling, loving. All these are commanded in worship at various places in Scripture. The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, “Those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). That is worship with their inner being, the totality of themselves, their spirit, not just their lips or their bodies going through the motions. God is not pleased with “just anything” that we claim as worship.

We must balance our worship between spirit (the subjective part: body, soul, emotions) and truth (the objective aspect: all that God has revealed in His word).

6. We Are the Ones Who Decide Whether We Worship upon Entering the House of the Lord

Don’t blame the preacher if you don’t worship. He can’t do it for you. No one else can eat my food for me, love my family for me, or do my worshiping for me. I am in charge of this decision. I decide whether I will worship.

When Mary sat before Jesus, clearly worshiping, He informed a her sister Martha that Mary had “chosen the good part,” something that “will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). That something special was time spent in worship.

7. Remember: Worship is a Verb

Worship is something we do, not something done to us. In the worst of circumstances, we can still worship my God. In the Philippians prison, while their backs were still oozing blood from the beating they’d received, Paul and Silas worshiped (Acts 16:25).

What we cannot do is leave church blaming our failure to worship on the poor singing, the boring sermon, or the noise from the children in the next row. We am in charge of the decision whether we will worship, and no one else.

What about the need for worship facilities before we can adequately honor the Lord? Millions of Christians across the world seem to worship just fine without any kind of building. Believers in Zambia meet under mango trees, and their worship is as anointed as anyone’s anywhere. Our insistence on worshipful music, worship settings, and worshipful everything are all signs of our disgusting self-centeredness.

Dr. Joe McKeever is a Preacher, Cartoonist, and the Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. Visit him at www. joemckeever.com.

Love One Another

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In the 1980’s, Tina Turner asked the infamous question, “What’s love got to do with it?” According to John, it has a lot to do with it. The key passage for today is 1 John 4:7-16.

This month Skip has been preaching out of First John, a series about Learning to Love God’s Way. It seems to me that love is a funny word. We use it to describe the intense feelings that we have, but the word is somewhat limiting.

In the New Testament, there are primarily three separate words used for LOVE, and all of them are translated into English as “love.”

  1. Agape is a word used to describe the unconditional love that God has for us, a divine sort of love that comes from the nature of God.
  2. Phileo is more of a brotherly love; like Philadelphia is actually the city of brotherly love.
  3. Eros is a word use to describe the intimacy we find within marriage, like the erotic love that binds together a husband and wife.

We use the word love today in regard to things like, “I love my wife” to “I love the Auburn Tigers,” to “I love pizza.” It would be a good thing not to confuse my love for Kim and my love for pizza by using the word phileo or even eros.

Love can also bring up WARMTH as we think about that special someone in our lives, or it can bring FEAR, and maybe even COLD SWEATS because we know this relationship is getting serious.

So today, I’m going to talk about love. Now men, I know this is a tough topic for all of us. We are not too strong on expressing our feelings. Our wives and daughters can be crying over something and we have no clue what to do or how to make it better, so most of the time, for good or bad, we just leave them alone.

And then there’s the church. It’s a place that is FULL of feelings. When we begin to understand the sacrifice of Christ, and the depth of love that sent Jesus to the cross, it is emotional, and we don’t often know what to do with that emotion. So, if we are unsure or uncomfortable, we simply do our best to avoid the situation. That’s tough when it comes to church. Let me tell you, I’m uncomfortable talking about love; I’m no expert and I don’t have it all together when it comes to love, but this letter of First John is WAY TOO FULL of love to simply ignore it.

I sense that many men don’t come to church because it’s just not all that manly to hear about a guy name Jesus who loves us. We sing about love, in public, and declare our great love for Jesus, who after all, is another guy. Wrapping his arms of love around us just seems uncomfortable to men who are not yet believers. At times I wonder if we need to “man up” the church so that we don’t set up unnecessary barriers to reaching unchurched men for Christ. But today, this message is about the Love of God, a love that so many people often do not understand.

John had a lot to say about love, he comes back to this theme over and over in this little book. The Holy Spirit obviously wants us to understand love from a much deeper perspective.

Let me submit to you that there are two things about love that I notice in this chapter:

  1. What Love Proves
  2. What Love Produces

What Love Proves (1 John 4:7-11, 14)
How often do we read stories or watch movies that have a theme of proving one’s love or loyalty? How many times must we QUALIFY our love since it can mean so many different things to different people? For instance, conditional love sets up restrictions. It says,

  1. I will love you BECAUSE; (you have done something for me in the past).
  2. I will love you IF; (you will do something for me in the future).

But I doubt many of us enjoy this conditional form of someone’s love, because it appears to be a selfish kind of love. People will love someone else for what THEY get out of it. We don’t find this sort of love in John’s letter. I think the better way to describe God’s love is: “I love you ANYWAY.” JJ Heller has a song on K-love and she puts it this way: I will love you, for you. Not for what you have done or what you’ll become. That is God’s kind of love. So, what exactly does love prove?

1. Our love for God is proven by our love for one another (1 John 4:7-8, 11): 7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

  1. Love is a Test: Love is actually a test of our fellowship in God, and our worship of God, because John tells us that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). Love is at the center of God’s being; it is his nature. Since God’s nature is love, it becomes the ONLY test of the reality of our spiritual life. If God is living through us, his love WILL shine through.
  2. Love is a Guide: Not only is love a test but love is a Guide. Think for a moment about sailing. A navigator depends upon a compass to help determine his course, but why a compass? It’s because a compass determines our direction. The needle points north. Why? It’s because the compass is responsive to the nature of the earth. God’s nature is love and it acts as a guide in life, so we act out his love the way he has already demonstrated his love.
  3. Love is Responsive: Not only is love a test and a guide, it is responsive. Since the nature of God is love; then the person who knows God and has been born of God will respond to God’s nature. As a compass naturally points north, a child of God will naturally practice love.
    1. So this type of love for one another is proof of our love for God and is a test of a sincere and true faith. Believers claim a special relationship with God, having become “born of God” (1 John 4:7). If we are children of God, we share his divine nature. Although we are not perfect, we have a higher calling in life, to become more into the image and likeness of Christ.
    2. Not only are we born of God but we have the capacity to know God. This word “to know” (in 1 John 4:7) is much deeper than to simply have an intellectual understanding of God. The word has been used in Genesis 4:1 to describe the intimate union between the first husband and wife. So, “to know God” signifies a DEEP relationship with God, to share his life and to enjoy his love.
    3. John goes on to tell us that the one who does not love God, does not know God (1 John 4:8). To me, this indicates the lack of a personal experience with God. How could someone know God yet not love as God has commanded? It could be that this person has the knowledge in his head, but he has never allowed that knowledge to travel the 18 inches down into his heart. This person has sincerely deluded himself into believing he is one of God’s children. This is a dangerous position to be in. Our eternal destiny hangs in the balance!

2. God’s love for us was proven by the sacrificial death of Christ (1 John 4:9-10, 14): 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

  1. Love is Real: John tells us, “THIS is REAL love.” Not “I love you because,” or “I will love you if,” but “I will love you unconditionally.” Romans 5:8 tells us that God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now that’s real love. Bruno Mars sings about a girl he’s in love with, “I’ll catch a grenade for ya, throw my head on a blade for ya, jump in front of a train for ya,” but Jesus willingly gave his life so that the whole world might have everlasting life through his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection.
  2. Love is Active: Not only is love REAL, but it is also ACTIVE. All you need to do is look at Paul’s description of love to discover that love is NOT a feeling, or an emotion; it is a verb, and it is active. Here is what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13: 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Now that doesn’t sound like an emotion or even a warm fuzzy feeling when she walks into the room.
  3. Love was Sent: Not only is love REAL, and ACTIVE, but it was also SENT to us from the Father. Did you notice that three times in three verses John mentions that Jesus was SENT? We know that Jesus was BORN into the world, that’s the essence of the incarnation; the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Children are BORN into the world, but John says Jesus was SENT; God had a mission from the beginning to reconcile all people to himself.
  4. Love was Sacrificed: So, love is REAL, it is ACTIVE, love was SENT, and it was also SACRIFICED. We may have asked the question at some point in our spiritual journey, “Why did Jesus have to die?” “Was there not some other way?” Look again at 1 John 4:9, it says, God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. His death was NOT an accident; it was intentional. A sinner’s greatest need is for life (according to Ephesians 2:1) because, without Christ we are dead in our sins. So, it is ironic that Christ had to die in order for us to have life. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God is love. Have you really grasped the impact of that message? Have you embraced the love that God offers? Singer/songwriter, Chris Rice, understood this fact when he wrote a song called, Untitled Hymn, the first verse goes like this:

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

God is love, and his love allows us to be reconciled to the Father. John challenges us to love others because God so loved us anyway (1 John 4:11, 7). Remember we are not saved by loving Christ, or loving others, or being good (or believing that we’re better than the next guy). We are saved only by believing in Christ, trusting Christ, receiving Christ. Once we understand the magnitude of his sacrifice, our normal response must be to love God, and to love others. This is a spiritual transformation that takes our heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.

Hey, let me bring this to a close, so I’m going to save the second part of this message (What Love Produces) for some another time. Right now, we need to focus on our relationship with God. In this passage, John tells us what love proves:

  1. Our love for God is proven by our love for one another: If we say that we love God, let’s evaluate our current relationships: spouse, kids, neighbors, co-workers, your boss… are we demonstrating an “I love you anyway” sort of love?
    1. If not, what personal changes do you need to make?
    2. Who do you need to go to, in order to reconcile a relationship?
    3. Who do you need to forgive and demonstrate the love of God?
  2. God’s love for us was proven by the sacrificial death of Christ:
    1. Do you not yet understand the magnitude of God’s love for you?
    2. Have you experienced God’s love first hand? Or have you just become familiar enough with a few Bible stories? Maybe your faith is really just second-hand, like people in your family believe, so maybe that covers you good enough. Don’t deceive yourself with poor theology.
    3. God wants to take all the scraps, the left over pieces of the broken dreams of your life, and all the junk, and make a great piece of art, a masterpiece that resembles the one who sacrificed himself so that you may have life.
    4. So, have you embraced the love of God and personally accepted Christ as your Savior? That was the reason he was sent, to take you from death into life, to save your soul, and give to you everlasting life that can start right now.
    5. Or perhaps you have been playing around with church just being close enough to be comfortable with God.

*The more we love God, the more we understand the love of God.
*The more we understand God’s love, the more we will love him and love others.

If you need to know more, or get things right with God, don’t delay. Don’t put it off another week.

If you need to receive Christ, I’m asking you to move out from where you are and come up toward the stage area and talk about getting right with God.

If you need to recommit yourself to Christ and begin demonstrating God’s love or get involved in God’s mission in this congregation, don’t leave this building the same as when you came in. It’s time to make a change.

If you have been debating on whether to join this church, what better time to unite with this congregation than right now? Get involved and connected to what God is doing in this place. He has created you for good works, acts of kindness and love, and for service within a local body of believers. Let the Love of God make something beautiful in your life.

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What Does God Want?

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It’s probably the most asked question in the early stages of our Christian experience. We understand the sacrifice of Christ, what he did on our behalf, and the question just comes out, “What do you want from me in return?” While our salvation is not based on our good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), God does have something for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). We are created for good works.

Perhaps we even offer to God some great sacrifice. The ascetics used to deny self to the extreme in order to appease God. Is that what God wants? Does he want me to be a missionary in Africa? Does he want me to sell all I have and give it to the poor? Does God want me to be in church every Sunday? Check out this verse:

“What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting—they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. (Isaiah 1:11-13)

Wow, that hurts.

Maybe this image brings back memories. A small child pulls a variety of ingredients from the pantry and refrigerator (cereal, orange juice, potato chips, bread, ketchup, and other interesting choices) and blends them together in a bowl in hopes of surprising Mom with “dinner.” When Mom receives the “gift,” how do you think she’ll react? Despite the mess, both inside and outside the bowl, I’m sure she will express gratitude and joy, grateful for the sincere expression of love.

But what if the child missed the point and thought the gift was more important than the motive and attitude behind the giving? And what if the child continued to make similar presentations, year after year to Mom in hopes of appeasing her and earning her love? “It wouldn’t happen,” you answer. “Because the mother wouldn’t put up with it!”

Now look back at the Isaiah passage (Isaiah 1:11-13). God doesn’t sound very happy with the “gifts” of his people; because they had it all wrong! They had confused the animal sacrifices with the reason for making those sacrifices in the first place. So they worked hard at their religious works, and they missed the point. Did they really believe that God needed dead animals and blood? Didn’t they know that, instead, he wanted their hearts?

That’s the difference between “legalism” and “grace” and Christianity is all about grace. That’s why Jesus came to earth, to satisfy the demands of the law, to give himself as the ultimate sacrifice, to open the way for us to come directly to our Father (see John 3:16, 17, 18).

Yet, sadly, we often continue to mix our potions and religious ingredients and miss our reason for life, our Savior. Just like that loving mother, God is standing at the edge of the kitchen with arms wide open with an invitation: “Come to me, child. I want your love. I want your trust. All I really want is you.”

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Reflecting on Valentine’s Day

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Today is Valentine’s Day. A young lady asked me at church yesterday if Valentine’s Day is for girls or for guys. I said I thought that it was for girls because they need to hear how much they are loved by the ones who love them. Men are rocks and don’t need to be on the receiving end of flowers, chocolates, cards and hearts. My wife and daughter are the treasured women in my life, so my goal is to let them know how much they are loved. But men also need to hear how much they are loved, in spite of their faults, failures and denials. I am reminded of the words of Jesus in Luke 6:27-36 regarding that we are to love our enemies. Here is the key portion of Scripture for me:

“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!” (Luke 6:32)

Valentine’s Day is a day set apart for celebrations of romantic love, but let me offer my thoughts on this passage that focuses on love.

The origins of this holiday are somewhat unsure. Several men named “Valentine” (Valentinus) were recognized as martyred saints by the church. One of these was buried near Rome on February 14. Medieval tradition held that this particular Valentine, a priest, was marrying Christian couples in a time when the Roman emperor prohibited young men from marrying. For this crime, he was arrested and killed by the Roman government. In recent times, an addition to this story claims that Valentine, before his death, sent a love note to a young girl whom he loved, signing it, “From your Valentine.”

Unfortunately, there is little reason to believe that any of the historical saints named Valentine actually did any of these actions that might be associated with romantic love. Apparently, the connection between St. Valentine and romance was popularized by Geoffrey Chaucer, the 14th-century English writer and poet. Later writers on the saints embellished Chaucer’s story, leaving us with the Christian saint who honored marriage and sent the first Valentine’s Day card.

I grew up hearing very little about St. Valentine. February 14 was simply a day when we did special things to express affection for our friends and family members. The “big event” happened at school, when we would exchange valentines with our classmates. As soon as I got home after school, I’d dump out my pile of valentines to see if any of them included special notes from any of the girls in my class or perhaps finding those little candy hearts.

At this point, you may be wondering what any of this has to do with Jesus’ call to love. Our Valentine’s Day traditions seem to be completely disconnected from what we read in Luke 6:32: “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them.”

Yet, in a way, my childhood Valentine’s Day practice did express love like that of Jesus. I did not give valentines only to my friends or to the girls I hoped would like me in return. My fellow students and I were expected to give valentines to every person in the class, including those whom we didn’t care for, those whom we judged to be “weird,” and those we might have considered to be our “enemies” on the playground. We even gave cards to the kids who did not participate. Ironically, our valentine exchange was more a reflection of the kind of love Jesus commends in Luke 6 than it was a celebration of exclusive, romantic love.

I think it’s fine to be reminded to express love to those who are most special to us. If Valentine’s Day encourages spouses to say “I love you” to each other and friends to celebrate their friendship, that’s great. Certainly the world would be a better place if people expressed their love more often. But Jesus encourages us to love, not just those who love us back, but also those who do not love us at all. We all have people in our lives, at work, in the store, perhaps even in our families or our church. Our calling, as followers of Jesus, is to love them and do good to them, not in order that they might respond, but so that we might live each day in obedience to our Savior who loves us.

God help us to express our love for those who are closest to us, but, even more pray that God help us to love others as he has loved us.

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God’s Grace – the Bridge

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This is an unbelievable illustration of what the Father has done for us. He sacrificed his own Son so that all might have life. God’s gift of grace came at a very high price. This bridge operator sacrificed the life of his own son because he knew that the lives of countless others hung on his decision. The people pass over the bridge without a care in the world, oblivious to the sacrifice paid for their salvation. How you see the price God paid to express his grace?

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Heaven’s Aroma on Earth

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Many say that God is nowhere to be found, with no evidence of His existence. I submit to you that this top 10 list is not the result of a society of people who evolved through the “survival of the fittest.” Morality, compassion, kindness and forgiveness are qualities that are passed down from a personal Being with a plan for His special creation.

Since all we know and experience is this creation that is fallen and under the curse, just imagine what heaven will be like. Beauty, kindness, and love that we see here, as marvelously as we have experienced it, is still cursed. How much greater it will be when we are in God’s presence in eternity?

Quotes:

He is the end of our search, not the means to some further end. Our exceeding joy is he, the Lord–not the streets of gold, or the reunion with relatives or any blessing of heaven. — John Piper

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. — C. S. Lewis

The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. — G. K. Chesterton

Top 10 Evidences of Heaven’s Aroma on Earth:

  1. Hope in the midst of cynicism.
  2. Contentment in the midst of adversity.
  3. Genuine care for others in a self-centered world.
  4. Willing sacrifice of all the world holds clear for unseen reward.
  5. Unified community in an angry, fractured culture.
  6. Courage to gamble all of life upon a spiritual vision.
  7. A tenacious joy that is inexpiable in worldly terms.
  8. Supernatural healing of body, mind and spirit.
  9. Love for enemies.
  10. Forgiveness.

Paul and the Death of Christ

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For Paul, the cross stood at the center of the Christian faith, and it had a certain self-evidencing power. It was something to show men in its stark simplicity.

  1. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. (1 Corinthians 1:17)
  2. And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1)
  3. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed [as] crucified? (Galatians 3:1)

It was not something to argue about, but something to be shown to men: The story tore down the barriers of separation. It is clear that Paul understood that Christ died “on behalf of” men, and not “instead of” men. The Greek preposition is huper, and not anti.

  1. Who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. (1 Thessalonians 5:10)
  2. For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. (1 Corinthians 8:11)
  3. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. (Romans 14:15)
  4. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; (Ephesians 5:25)

Reconciliation: the gulf is bridged, enmity is taken away.

  1. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Romans 5:10)
  2. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)
  3. And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, [I say], whether things on earth or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20)
  4. This does not in itself imply or necessitate a substitutionary, or even a sacrificial view of the death of Christ. Paul could argue that this was a compelling demonstration of the love of God that men are now compelled to see God as the lover of men’s souls and not Law-giver, Task-master and Judge they had always believed Him to be.
  5. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; (2 Corinthians 5:14)

Redemption: the word Savior implies something from which man had to be saved.

  1. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; (Philippians 3:20)
  2. In order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:5)
    1. God sent Jesus to rescue from the bondage of the law
    2. God did it to save men from the penalty under the law
  3. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, (Ephesians 1:7)
  4. In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:14)
  5. Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us [and] which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14)

Paul connects the death of Christ with sin:

  1. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3)
  2. Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, (Galatians 1:4)
  3. [He] who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. (Romans 4:25)
  4. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
  5. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Paul connects the death of Christ with sacrifice:

  1. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)
  2. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. (Ephesians 5:2)
  3. Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are [in fact] unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)
    1. Deliverance from bondage of Egypt – general
    2. Deliverance from bondage of sin – specific
  4. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite [you.] (Exodus 12:22-23)
  5. That you shall say, “It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.” And the people bowed low and worshiped. (Exodus 12:27)

Paul stresses the cost of salvation: what ought to have happened to us, happened to Jesus.

  1. 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”– (Galatians 3:13)
  2. He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The pictures in light of the sacrifice of the cross:

  1. Justification – courts
  2. Reconciliation – friendships
  3. Redemption – slavery
  4. Adoption – family
  5. Propitiation – sacrifice
  6. Reckon, impute – accounting

This material is from William Barclay, the Mind of St. Paul, 1975.

Why Me, Lord?

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My Sunday School class has just finished the book of First Peter, which has a lot of great teaching. While the major theme of the book is suffering (which I’ll get to in a moment), here is a sample of many significant verses:

  1. A definite reference to the trinity (1 Peter 1:2)
  2. Suffering is proof of your faith (1 Peter 1:6-7, 9, 4:12)
  3. The prophets predicted the suffering of Christ (1 Peter 1:11)
  4. We are called to be holy, fear God and love others (1 Peter 1:15, 17, 22, 4:8)
  5. The Word of God abides forever (1 Peter 1:24-25)
  6. We are to be hungry to understand God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2)
  7. We are to be living stones (1 Peter 2:5)
  8. Live with integrity while passing through this life (1 Peter 2:11)
  9. We are to submit to the authorities (1 Peter 2:13-14, 18)
  10. We find favor with God when we suffer for doing what is right (1 Peter 2:20, 3:14, 17, 4:14, 16, 19, 5:10)
  11. Jesus is our example, we are to follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21)
  12. Lifestyle evangelism really is in the Bible (1 Peter 3:1)
  13. God doesn’t hear your prayers if you don’t treat your wife right (1 Peter 3:7)
  14. Always be ready to tell others why you are a believer (1 Peter 3:15)
  15. Jesus preached to the spirits now in prison (1 Peter 3:19)
  16. Just where is Jesus right now? (1 Peter 3:22)
  17. Live for God, not the pleasures of today (1 Peter 4:2)
  18. Exercise your spiritual gift (1 Peter 4:10)
  19. Judgment begins with the household of God (1 Peter 4:17)
  20. Pastors are to shepherd the flock of God (1 Peter 5:2)
  21. Younger men need older mentors (1 Peter 5:5)
  22. We are to humble ourselves before God does it for us (1 Peter 5:6)
  23. We have a spiritual enemy ready to devour us (1 Peter 5:8)
  24. We are told to greet each other with a kiss of love (1 Peter 5:14)

Back to the topic for today:

When we suffer in our lives, we often will think that we did something wrong to deserve the suffering, as if it were some sort of punishment; sort of a cause and effect relationship. While the law of sowing and reaping is very true (Galatians 6:7-8, 2 Corinthians 9:6) and God will at time discipline those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:6), the universe would be quite an unreliable place if God shot us a lightning bolt for every evil deed and triggered some pleasure sensor for doing good. Let’s consider the story of the man born blind in John 9:

“Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” (John 9:2-3)

A common belief in Jewish culture was that bad happenings or suffering was the result of some great sin, but Jesus used this man’s suffering to teach about faith and the glory of God. We live in a fallen world where good behavior is not always rewarded and bad behavior is not always punished. Therefore, innocent people sometimes suffer. Jesus said the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45).

On a larger scale, think about the reason that people follow God. Do they believe and follow God because of what they get out of it, or because He deserves our devotion and it’s the right thing to do? Think it over. Do you follow Christ because He promised heaven at the end of this life? Would you still follow Him even if you knew hell was your final destination? If God took suffering away whenever we asked, we would follow him for comfort and convenience, not out of love and devotion. Regardless of the reasons for our suffering, Jesus has the power to help us deal with it. We don’t go through this life alone.

So, when you suffer from a disease, tragedy, or disability, try not to ask, “Why did this happen to me?” or “What did I do wrong?” Instead, ask God to give you strength for the trial and a clearer perspective on what is happening. First Peter tells us that you will be blessed and rewarded.

As Christ Loves the Church

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I’ve been leading a study through the book of First Peter, and we recently took a look at 1 Peter 3:1-7, some pretty interesting words for wives and husbands. Paul sums up pretty well in his letter to the Christians at Ephesus:

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her. — Ephesians 5:25

Men, it looks like we have it easy. After all, our wives have to “submit” (Ephesians 5:22), whatever that means, but we just have to “love” them. What could be simpler? Flowers from time to time. Chocolates on special occasions. Perhaps even a power tool or two she can claim as her own even though we store it on our work bench. We might even manage to mumble “I love you” just to make it clear. Submission sounds hard. It involves yielding to someone else. That someone would be the husband. Does that mean what it seems like it means? We’re in charge? We call all the shots? We give the orders? Let me know how that goes for you.

The movie, My Big fat Greek Wedding, had an interesting analogy about who’s the head in the marriage or family. The bride’s mother says that the husband is the head, but the wife is the neck who is able to turn the head in any direction she chooses. I thought that was too funny.

Let’s go back to Ephesians 5:21. Wait a minute, there’s something here about “submit to one another.” Seems like that could be a problem. Ephesians 5:22 tells her to submit, and Ephesians 5:25 tells me to love.

Take a look at that little phrase “just as Christ loved the church.” It tells us that my examples of loving (in my paragraph above) don’t really apply. Jesus never sent flowers to the church. He never picked up a box of chocolates on the way home from the carpentry shop as a peace offering. He never mumbled “I love you” through a mouthful of hamburger. Jesus loved by dying. He loved by suffering, hurting, and sacrificing. His kind of love sounds hard–almost as hard as submitting. Maybe even harder.

Loving that way might just take everything we’ve got, but here’s the deal. I believe that one of the primary reasons our wives struggle with submission is that they often have little real confidence in our love. Genuine love paves the way for submission (not the other way around). Jesus died for the church before the church was around to submit.

Real dying love doesn’t come naturally for men, face it, we’re selfish. If you figure out how to love your wife, you probably won’t have to bring up the issue of submission.

The Significance of Bethlehem

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We all know that Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus, but what is the bigger significance of this little town? It is a city in the hill country of Judah that was originally called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11), but was also called Bethlehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Bethlehem-Judah (1 Samuel 17:12), and “the city of David” (Luke 2:4).

  1. It is first noticed in Scripture as the place where Jacob’s wife, Rachel, died and was buried “along the way,” directly to the north of the city (Genesis 35:19, 48:7).
  2. Bethlehem appears in Judges 17:7-13 as the home of the Levite who became priest to Micah.
  3. The valley to the east was the scene of the story of Ruth (Ruth 1:1-2, 19, 22; 2:4; 4:11).
  4. Bethlehem was the birthplace of David and where he was anointed as king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:4-13); and it was from the well of Bethlehem that three of David’s heroes brought water for him at the risk of their lives when he was in the cave of Adullam (2 Samuel 23:13-17).
  5. But it was distinguished above every other city as the birthplace of the God promised Messiah (Matthew 2:6; compare this to Micah 5:2).

It is the relationship of Bethlehem to Christ that has insured its place in Christian history. Micah 5:2 was understood to indicate that the Messiah, like David, would be born in Bethlehem not Jerusalem. Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:4-20, and John 7:42 all report that Jesus was born in that humble village. Flash forward three centuries, during the reign of the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire, Constantine, the Church of the Nativity was constructed (about AD 326). It was destroyed during the Samaritan revolt (around AD 529) and rebuilt by Justinian I (527-565). That ancient structure forms the basic unit that is still in use today although many modifications have occurred, especially during the Middle Ages. According to Christian legend during the Persian Conquest, AD 614, the church was preserved when the invaders saw the three Magi in a mosaic of the birth of Jesus and recognized their clothing as Persian.

After all this history, what do I see about Bethlehem that can bless your spirit this week?

1. Jacob’s beautiful wife, Rachel, died and was buried near there, and when Herod was tricked by the Magi, his rage brought the deaths of all male children age two and younger. He was paranoid that another king had been born and was eliminating the competition. Matthew 2:18 reveals the prophecy of Rachel weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15) and “she refused to be comforted because they were no more.” As we think about Bethlehem being a place of birth (David and Jesus) we cannot help but remember that death permeated the city. The prophet Jeremiah depicts the wailing of the Israelites during the time of the exile, (Jeremiah 31:15) and since Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, they would see the parallel between that calamity and this new atrocity of Herod; both being part of the same larger picture.

2. We know that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, and He escaped death by his family fleeing to Egypt (Matthew 2:14-15). But we know that eventually He would be put to death. We often focus on the baby in the manger and fail to properly recognize the significance of his death on the cross. Jesus died so that we might have life (John 10:10). The Bible records the revelation of God to mankind so that we may know that we have everlasting life (1 John 5:13), and this life is in Jesus alone (1 John 5:11-12). My point is this; the manger must lead to the cross. The boards that held the infant Jesus in safety must become the beams to which our Lord and Master was nailed. We would have no salvation if it were not for the cross.

3. The Philistine had taken over Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23:14), and three mighty men of David risked their lives to cross over into enemy territory to retrieve a cup of water for their king. David was actually reminiscing of his childhood well more than giving an order to fetch him water (2 Samuel 23:15), but the men so loved David that they were willing to die in order to fulfill the king’s desire (2 Samuel 23:16). But notice that David would not drink it. He actually “poured it out to the Lord” and then tells them why (2 Samuel 23:17). I see here a selfless sacrifice, men taking the initiative to please their king. What is it that you can do to please God, for no other reason than you love Christ? As the water was poured out to the Lord, will we pour ourselves out to Him each and every day? Jesus gives to us living water (John 4:10) and those who believe in or have faith in Christ, living water will burst forth from our inner most being (John 7:38). We live in the camp of the enemy (Satan is the god of this world) but the living water Jesus offers is still as sweet and refreshing as always.

Live for Him because He died for you. We should not just be willing to die for Christ; we should be willing to live for Him. Have a blessed Christmas, and don’t forget to keep the Son in your eyes.