Taking Life In

Yesterday Amy and I had the privilege of celebrating our little girl Ashby's 1 1/2 year birthday. It seems like yesterday that I was walking her through the doors of Woman's Hospital in Jackson, MS to show the rest of our family. I can remember standing as proud that day as I ever have in my entire life. It is hard to believe that she is that old, or for that matter than I will welcome her little brother into this world in a mere 3 months. Also, last Friday Amy and I celebrated 5 years of marriage together. It was a small evening where I cooked some steaks and we simply sat at the kitchen table discussing how it just didn't seem real. Looking at our lives 7 years ago (when we started dating) we have never guessed the direction that God was leading us. I was trying to plow my way through college and Amy was on the fast-track to vet school. I ended up graduating with honors and Amy never took one class in vet school, but we ended up in Jackson just trying to make ends meet. I have to stop at moments like this and realize just how little control I have in this world. Our God, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, is truly an amazing God. He has known since before creation exactly what lay in store for my life. No matter how many times I have felt that I was all alone, God has been right there beside me. I would would like to encourage every who is reading this post to stop right now and pray to God! Thank HIM for what He has done in your life, thank HIM for what He is doing in your life, and for what He will do in you life in the years to come! What a joy it is that He has set aside a day each week that we may come to Him in all of our shame and worship Him. And even greater than that, that when we come to Him, that we are clothed in the righteousness of His Son, something that we could never hope to attain on our own.

Lack of new posts

Sorry for the lack of posts for over a month. The life of a youth director tends to get a little crazy during the summer anyways. It doesn't help matters when you have weddings across the country to attend and taking a computer just isn't an option. Add on to that the fact that when I have been at home my internet has been down and posting anything new just hasn't been possible.

I wanted to discuss a topic here that has been on my mind for a few weeks. During the second weekend of June we all loaded up and flew to Napa Valley, CA for a family wedding. One of Amy's cousins was getting married and it was a great time to see some family that we never get to see and my daughter got to meet many members of the family for the first time. All-in-all it was a great trip, but there was one thing that bothered me immensely. At the wedding "ceremony" there was no mention of God. There was an "officiant" who had no seminary training and wasn't ordained by any governing body. This started me thinking about the state of affairs in our country today.
The bride was of Asian decent and there was a customary tea held before the ceremony. Obviously this means that she had a sense of tradition that must be followed for a wedding to take place. However, to have Christ present in no way in the ceremony was something that we just don't see much down here in the south. I thought it was odd that the wedding was structured in the same manner as you would expect to find in the church, but without God. I know that it has gotten repetitive me saying that God wasn't present in the service but I am still trying to get over it. One thing is for sure, God was present in that place where two people pledged their love for one another. No matter how much those in attendance might not have wanted to acknowledge His presence, He was there. Remember, marriage is an ordinance that is instituted by God. Only with Christ as the center of a marital union is it truly marriage in the sense that it was intended to be.

Exodus 20:18-21 - Wanted: Covenant Mediator

Our text today comes on the heels of one of the most widely known scenes in all of the Old Testament. The people of Israel have come to Mount Sinai, to the mountain of God. God has just given the Ten Commandments to Moses and Moses has relayed them to the people of Israel. We have seen seas part, manna fall from the sky, and water spring from a rock. God has proven, as if He needed to, to all of Israel just how great and awesome He is. What we will now finally see from Israel is their complete recognition of God’s authority and their need for a covenant mediator, someone to stand between the people of Israel and God Almighty. We have it unfolded for us in 4 stages: the reaction of Israel, their request of Moses, the reassurance given by Moses to Israel, and finally Moses’ reproach.
In our modern society, we are too familiar and even dismissive with authority and people who are in positions of authority. Even the greatest of human authority figures in our own time don’t quite get shown the authority that they once did. Take for example the meeting between the Obama’s and the Queen of England that happened sometime back. Imagine the complete shock that the Queen must have felt when Michelle Obama gave her a nice pat on the back to go along with that ipod. Even someone as unfamiliar with foreign customs as myself knows that you just don’t touch the Queen of England without her permission. Or if you will, upon a trip to Washington D.C., Shaquille O’Neal decided that he was going to just stop by the White House for a quick visit with the president. He had no appointment and had no idea that no matter who you are, you cannot meet with the president without an appointment. Authority is not seen in the same light today as it has been in the past. And that makes it difficult for us to appreciate the reverence and awe with which we ought to approach the living God. And you see this in many ways, especially in the setting of school and the relationships between students and teachers and administrators. As some of you are well aware, my vocational occupation before attending seminary was that of a high school science teacher and a baseball coach. A profession that I found to be immensely challenging, rewarding, and frightening all at the same time. I loved getting to help the students become more confident in their knowledge of biological sciences when they didn’t feel as if they would ever understand. I always thought that maybe a student that I was helping to comprehend the basics of biology might go on to help discover a drug that could help us in our fight against Alzheimer’s, cancer, or any other disease. What I found many times, however, was the lack of respect that accompanied this position that simply did not exist when I was back in school. Now I don’t want this to sound like one of those, “Back when I was young…” stories, but it is going to have that sort of feel. I had a particular student who refused to show any respect towards any of his teachers. For discussion purposes I will just call him Vincent. Well, Vincent would continuously ask questions of his teachers that he had no business asking. Personal questions that no child should ever ask of an adult, much less a person in a position such as a teacher. Vincent would also continuously voice his opinion when he didn’t feel that a teachers questions were “unfair” or “invalid”. Now, I would have never told my teachers that I thought their questions were unfair, I might have thought it, but never would I have verbally admitted to them my opinions. Vincent is not an uncommon case in today’s society. Much of this can be attributed to our lack of a proper view of authority in this day and age.
Now, let us begin to look at the response of Israel following the Ten Commandments. The first thing that we notice as we begin to explore the text is the Reaction to God shown by Israel. “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off.” Some of your Bibles may say that the people saw and trembled, but I am convinced that the best possible translation here is saying that the people of Israel were afraid. Isn’t this response different from what we would expect to find from Israel? The presence of the Lord is upon them and they are afraid. Not just afraid, they are scared to death. There is complete and total terror amongst this group of people. This fear displayed by Israel is true of us today. God’s nearness can be a terrifying thing for sinners. Look back at to 19:16 and we see “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.” That is almost the exact thing that we have here in 20:18. We find that after the thunder, the lightning, the trumpet sounds, and the smoking mountain that the people feared, trembled, and stood far off in the distance.
Do you remember when this story at Mount Sinai started how the people of Israel were crowding in around it so closely? They wanted to look and try and catch a glimpse of God. Exodus 19:12 speaks of when the Lord instructs Moses to tell the people of Israel to “Take care not to go up the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.” Now we have gone from the God having the people kept off of the mountain only by the threat of death to having them willingly move far away from the mountain out of fear. What has happened during this timeframe, the Ten Commandments? God came and met with Israel and they ran away.
As I mentioned earlier, the reaction of the people of Israel tells us one thing, God’s nearness can be terrifying for sinners. The people of Israel realized their guilt and unholiness before the awesome God, and they knew they were deserving of his condemnation. Just like the Israelites, we too long for closeness and intimacy with God. The problem is that we do not give the respect, awe, and admiration that is due to God in such intimacy. If you are like me you have prayed many times for God to “show you” what He would have you do. And if you are anything like me when that answer comes to you and you don’t like it, then you have a tendency to try and ignore God’s will. Notice that the important word there is try.
The next thing that we notice as we continue in this text is the Request made by Israel of Moses. Verse 19 says, “[Israel] said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Now we may quickly want to look down upon Israel for wanting to place someone between themselves and God. But think about how brilliant this request is on behalf of the Israelites. They could not bear God speaking directly to them. They knew that they were in need of a covenant mediator, someone who will stand between God and the people. In this particular case, they wanted Moses to be the one who stood between them and God. They wanted Moses to speak God’s word to them instead of hearing it directly from God himself.
Think with me for a just a moment on how gracious this was of God. What had the people of Israel been doing time and time again in Moses’ tenure as their leader and mediator? They had been questioning his roll and complaining every chance they got. Now, with God having spoken to them directly, the people can't wait to hear Moses. Think of someone in your life who has always stood there and said about a boss or a superior, “I know I could do a better job than he does” or “Why should I have to listen to him anyway?” Well, many times when people making those statements are promoted or given more responsibility, how quickly do they eat those words? Here the people of Israel are going from questioning Moses to saying, “Um, Moses, yeah we are afraid of hearing directly from God anymore so if we could just hear everything from you from now on that would be great.” God has stopped all qualms about Moses’ position as a leader and covenant mediator. The people of Israel realize now more than any other time up to this point that they are in need of such a mediator.
I want you to look at what the people of Israel say to Moses in their request. They don’t just ask him to stand in as a mediator between them and God. They assure him that they will listen. Now in 19:8 the elders of the people of Israel had already said to Moses, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” They have already committed to follow everything that God chooses to tell them. In asking Moses to speak to them the people of Israel are not trying to get out of the deal they have previously made. They are simply realizing the need for a mediator and are asking for it to be Moses. The Israelites are still going to keep their commitment to God for obedience.
Notice the Israelites reaction to what happens if Moses does not accept this request, “do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” The entire purpose of the exodus from Egypt was so that Israel would be saved to worship God. Continuously God saves His people so that they may worship Him. Now that they are at the foot of God’s mountain and He has come to meet them and worship with them and what do they have to say? “Um, Moses, sorry to ask this of you, but is there any way that you could ask him to never speak to us again.” They do not want to hear the voice of God speaking directly to them anymore. They want Moses to be the one to speak on His behalf to them. The Israelites recognize their need for a mediator. They are completely aware of the fact that they cannot endure the unmediated presence of the one true God. To fill this role of mediator, who better to ask than Moses, the one whom God already appointed to fill this role?
At my age, it is often that I hear friends of mine who either do not regularly attend church or are only physically present while their mind drifts of to a more “entertaining” place have the wrong idea about God. They think that God’s “job” is to forgive there sins and to grant their wishes. They think that they can just walk right into the presence of God and ask for anything they want. I can tell you for sure that the Israelites that were present on that day at Sinai did not share in the attitudes of the uninformed Christian of today. They saw the holiness and glory of God. They also saw their sin. They saw it in all of its ugly and dirty shame. They knew that they were in need of a mediator. We would do well to keep in mind that we too, are in constant need of a mediator. Our mediator is one far greater than any other could ever hope to be, even greater than Moses. Our one true mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next I want us to look at the Reassurance given to the people of Israel by Moses in verse 20, “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people of Israel seem to have misunderstood God’s intentions at Sinai. They were afraid that God was going to crush and destroy them. But Moses, as covenant mediator, steps in here to reassure the people that this is not God’s desire. Moses is informing the people of Israel here that God’s reasons for coming to them is not bad, but is indeed something that is good. God has not come to scare them or to discourage and beat them down, he has come to encourage them. In fact, the first words out of Moses’ mouth are, “Do not fear.” He is telling the people of Israel that they should not be afraid of this coming of God. Just as we find with Mary or with Samson, when God or any theophany, or representative of God, appears to someone they are told, “Do not fear.”
Moses goes on to explain why Israel is not to fear this visitation, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you.” I want to clarify something here that might seem a bit confusing. The first words say that Israel should not fear, but later on Moses says that the reasoning for the visitation is so that the fear of God may be before Israel. Is this a contradiction of Scripture? Of God? Of Moses? Of course not! In saying do not fear, he came that you would fear Him, God, through Moses, is telling the people of Israel the vast difference that exists between being frightened by God and appropriately fearing God. Moses is wanting the Israelites to fear God and not to simply be afraid of the pyrotechnics that have just occurred before their very eyes. How many times are we guilty of simply being frightened of God instead of fearing him as we should? Heavens Gates and Hells flames play.
Moses goes on to explain here that Israel should not fear because God has drawn near to them. He has given them the Ten Commandments and drawn near to them so that they would always fear Him. But the fear that He’s speaking of here at the end of verse 20 is not the fear of terror or dread; but the reverence that leads to obedience and awe of the gracious and sovereign God. Moses is also explaining that the reasoning for God’s actions is not only to instill fear in Israel, but also to test them. His test is not a test of obedience though, but more along the lines of a showing of the need for a mediator. After all, there isn’t hardly any time between the giving of the Ten Commandments and Moses’ speaking again to the Israelites. Read the last part of verse 20, “That you may not sin.” You see, the people of God in the presence of God were to experience two things at the same time. On the one hand, they were to realize that God was an awesome God, and they ought to be judged. And at the same time, that God was a good and a merciful God, and He had provided for them a mediator, and He had redeemed them out of Egypt, and He was for them.
The last thing that I want to briefly look at in this passage is the Reproach made by Moses to God. Now obviously I cannot stand here and tell you that Moses reprimanded God. All we are given in the text is, “The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.” Notice the reversal of polarity between the people of Israel and Moses. The people stood afar while Moses drew nearer to God. Like the Israelites, we, as sinners, are not capable of drawing ourselves nearer to God. For that task, we must rely upon a mediator. We are fortunate enough to have received an understanding of the one true mediator that even Moses was unaware of. Moses is a sinner just like us, he too is in need of a mediator. His mediator, just like ours, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Gospel story (RYM-God’s plan)
So as we look back on this passage we see that like the Israelites, and even Moses, we are in need of a covenant mediator. We have seen the need played out for us in the reaction of the people, their request, Moses’ reassurance, and Moses’ reproach. Is there any doubt about the need for a mediator then? Is there any doubt about the need for a mediator today? Only God can make it safe to come near to God. Your own righteousness cannot make God safe, only the righteousness of Christ can do so. God is the only one with the power to make Himself safe. And that is exactly what He did in His Son Jesus Christ. If we will trust in the Son, then we will know reverence for God and not anxiety or dread.

A Long Journey Nearing the End

Ever since I was a little boy I can remember my parents teaching me the saying, "If it is meant to be then it will be." This statement has been something that over the years I have pointed to as my Southern Baptist friends (as well as my father's family) as their recognition of predestination without wanting to give it such wording.
During the fall of 2005 the coast of the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. In addition to the catastrophic tragedies on the immediate coastline, there were effects felt all over my home state of Mississippi. Most of my family resides south of Interstate 20 and experienced some damage. Amy and I had been married for a month and were without power after the storm so we decided to go and check on our family. During our travels across the state we began to talk about the future. The topic of church came up and I told Amy of the sense of call that I had for entering ministry. I had been hiding from this call for so long and didn't want to deal with more schooling. Amy simply asked me, "Who do you think you are running from?" There it was, the most obvious of questions. I knew what it was that I had to do. I finished out my time as a high school teacher to fulfill some scholarship obligations and as of the summer of 2007 I was about to enter the seminary life.
Beginning with an intense Greek class in July 2007 and continuing up through the present I have completed a total of 96 of the required 106 hours needed for a Master of Divinity at Reformed Theological Seminary. It has been an amazing journey. A journey that I didn't expect, but that God knew about long before it was ever mentioned during that car ride across the state. I do not know what the future holds for me in terms of my ministry, but I am certain that there is a plan. I am completely confident that God has already determined exactly where and what my ministry is to be. Never again will I rule something out simply because of my personal thoughts. God has always been, is currently, and will always be in complete control of my life and the lives of all of His children.

Ephesians 4:17-32 - The Christian Difference

I’m the kind of guy that doesn’t really like to change things. My wife will say that she even thinks I fear change. I get used to how things work and it gets comfortable for me. But for some reason things always keep changing in my life no matter how much I don’t want them to. When I was growing from a little boy into a young man my parents required that I changed a lot of things. They asked that I start to use better hygiene techniques than I had previously used. They asked me to be more responsible than I had previously been. In other words, they were asking me to grow up. When I got to college, I pledged a fraternity and there were a few rules that went along with this process. There was a policy of no long hair, no earrings, good grades, etc. In other words, they too were asking me to grow up. After getting married and starting to work in the professional world my wife decided that I needed to act the part. No more dressing to the bare minimum standard or in my case under the standard. All of my comfortable college t-shirts were for some reason no longer acceptable as daily attire. In other words, she too was asking me to grow up. Now I have to say something here to all of these people who have asked me or forced me to grow up, “Thank you!” You see sometimes it is necessary for us to quite simply grow up. There comes a time in everyone’s life when the things of the past are simply just not cutting it anymore.
You see, Paul is writing in Ephesians to Christians who used to be “dead in [their] trespasses and sins”, but who have been “made alive together with Christ–by grace [they] have been saved–and raised us up with Him...” This is our story just as it was for those in Ephesus. We were dead in our sin, but now, we’re alive in Christ. And to people just like you and me, Paul urges, “lay aside the old self...” (Ephesians 4:22), and “put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:24). The verbs used by Paul (“lay aside” and “put on”) literally relate to dressing and undressing one’s self. Once, we were dead in our sins, and as dead men, we wore grave clothes. But now we are alive in Christ and we must lay aside the grave clothes of our former life and put on new clothes that befit this glorious new life we have been given in Christ Jesus. That being said, there are two things that I want us to notice in our text today. The first thing is that there is a visible difference between the followers of Christ and those who don’t. The second thing that we will look at are some examples of these difference as they are given to us by Paul.
In the first part of our text Paul is going to explain to the people in Ephesus that there is a difference between Christians and non-Christians. Now all of you who are hearing this are saying to yourself, “Gee, some insight. I came to church in order to hear the complexities of the Bible explained in a way that makes sense to me and all I get is that Christians are different from non-Christians.” Well, I think we forget this fact all too often. It isn’t just that there is a difference, but that difference ought to be seen. Paul is telling the Ephesians to leave behind the old life of sin because they are followers of Christ. This isn’t a bad reminder to the Ephesians or for us today. Remember, living the Christian life is a process. Even though we are born again, we don’t automatically change everything about us. We don’t instantly start thinking good and wholesome thoughts and completely forget our sinful desires. Our attitude about things doesn’t just magically get better and we don’t turn from pessimists to eternal optimists. We need to continuously look to God for guidance and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts to change us and make us someone who others can look to and have no doubt that we are a Christian. We need to display faith that others can look to as an example of Christian living. In order to do so, we must follow the ultimate example of Christian living, Jesus Christ.
This change is not easy. We have already stated that it is not instant. It is just like changing any other aspect of your life. Whether you have tried to give up an addiction, start a workout regiment, or simply try to change something about your outlook on life, you have experienced the difficulty of change. There are setbacks, there are disappointments, there are triumphs, and there are rewards. But in the end, we are constantly fighting our old nature and our old habits. It’s often hard to feel like we have ever made any progress at all. Every time we want to get back into our bad habits because of how easy it would be, we need to think about why we decided to change in the first place. When we start to fall more victim to the desires of this world we need to think of why we profess our faith in Christ in the first place. God created us and placed us on this earth to worship Him. When Adam, representing all mankind, disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden we were separated from Him. What did God do as a result? He continued to bless us and provide a means to atone for our sins. He even provided a once-for-all atonement in the form of His only Son Jesus Christ. How could we ever do anything but worship God?
The problem comes here with those old ways. They are comfortable and we just don’t want to change. Just like those things that my parents, my fraternity, and my wife all encouraged me to change, the changes that God requires of me are crucial. These changes are part of my maturing and growing in my faith. How is it changing when all we do is look for every chance to get away with the same things that we used to do? We need to truly change who we are when we accept the responsibility and profess our faith in Christ.
So you may be sitting there saying to yourself, “Well, I know that becoming and being a Christian means that I have to make some changes, but what do those changes look like.” This is an encouraging thought to me for two reasons: 1. It means that you have been paying attention to the sermon thus far, and 2. Paul is going to tell us exactly what those changes look like in the second half of our text today. So we have seen that Christians are to live differently than non-Christians. Now, we are going to see some examples of just how Christians are to live differently than non-Christians.
The remainder of Ephesians 4 (verses 25-32) gives 5 specific examples of how a Christian is supposed to act. In most of these examples we will see an encouragement by Paul to put off a negative type of conduct and put on a positive on. The first example of how a Christian is to act comes to us in verse 25, “Put off lying and speak truthfully”. News flash, some people lie. Whether it is the major lies like those committed by people “cooking-the-books” on Wall Street or even the simple lies that some people use on a daily basis; lies happen. Non-Christians are clothed with lies. Lying is just a part of who they are. But what about the Christian? Christians know the truth; they have learned it from and in Christ. If we are to grow as Christians, one of the things that must be cultivated is truthfulness. For some of us it just isn’t very hard to lie. Some can just as easily tell a lie as they can the truth. Any statement that is designed to mislead another person is a lie. It doesn’t matter whether it is a lie that is intentional or unintentional. It doesn’t matter whether it is something that is said for no particular reason or if there is an attempt to gain something. Anything that is contrary to the truth is a lie. Part of our growing as Christians and separating ourselves from non-Christians is our love and speaking of the truth. John’s gospel tells us that Jesus, the one who died for our sins is the Truth (John 14:6). Satan is the “father of lies”. Committing ourselves to the truth is committing ourselves to Christ and being enslaved to lies is as if we were enslaved by Satan.
The second example that Paul gives us here deals with anger. “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (vv.26-27). Don’t let the opening words think that the Christians is simply supposed to be an angry person. The Greek word used here doesn’t mean a type of momentary anger or temporary rage. It means a deep-seated, determined, and settled conviction. So what the Apostle Paul is telling us here is that we are to be angry at sin. Paul even repeats this thought to the church in Ephesus, “Be angry, and yet do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). Paul isn’t trying to tell us that we can never be angry. Anger is a perfectly natural emotion, and we are to express our emotions. The caution that Paul is giving us here is to not let sin rule our anger, or any other emotion for that matter. Jesus himself was angry on several occasions recorded in Scripture (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 3:5). Numerous OT passages speak of God’s anger against the wicked and even His own people. So the problem isn’t with being angry itself. The problem has to do with our particular anger because of the stain of sin. It is as wrong not to be angry in a situation that requires angry as it is to be angry at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, this is normally the type of anger that we display; for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time. That is where the second half of this verse becomes so useful. You see, Paul tells us to deal with our anger quickly and do not store it up. The longer that we let our anger sit and ferment, the greater the opportunity it becomes for Satan to use our anger. And anger can be a dangerous tool in the hands of Satan. Think of all the things anger can lead to. How many of us have said or done things out of anger without even realizing it until it was too late? The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian can be seen in the things that he angers over.
The next example Paul gives us has to do with our selfish behaviors. Paul tells us to “Put off stealing and put on working.” Now, there really shouldn’t even be much need for comment here. After all, the eighth commandment specifically tells us, “Thou shalt not steal.” But the meaning of this text goes much deeper than mere material possessions. When we don’t worship God as we ought to we are actually stealing from Him. When we place our own interests before God’s, we are stealing from Him too. Living our lives contrary to God’s word is yet another way that we steal from our Creator. When we don’t give our best effort at something then we are stealing from the person in charge. So you see, there are a lot of ways that we can steal from someone without specifically taking some material possession that doesn’t belong to us. With that being said, Paul is here most likely talking about the stealing of physical possessions. The Christian is to work. The Christian is to do something useful. The Christian doesn’t work to amass wealth, power, or self-esteem. The Apostle Paul tells us right here that the reason the Christian works is, “so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” I have to be honest with you, this is something that I myself struggle with greatly. I see many people, and many close friends, make foolish financial decisions while Amy and I try and be smart about our money. The thought of my hard work covering for their carelessness is something that doesn’t settle well with me. This is where a distinction must be made. There are people who have nothing because they simply will not work for it. They are perfectly capable of work, yet they don’t. These people do not deserve handouts. But there are some who have fallen on hard times who genuinely have needs. These people need help, but who is going to help them? Helping the poor is a true mark of a Christian.
I can remember, and many of you probably can too, when I first started working. Amy and I had just finished college and I was the only one working. We were able to buy a comfortable house in a comfortable neighborhood. Things were ok. We had no complaints. But what if something were to happen? What if there would have been an accident that prevented me from working? What if there had been a terrible medical diagnosis that would have given us mountains of medical debt? We were lucky. You may have been just as lucky. But do not think for one second that there are not people out there each and every day who were in the exact same position as you and me who were not as lucky. Some people, through no fault of their own, are in genuine need of our help. It is our duty, as Christians, to provide that help.
The forth example for the Christian to follow is to put off unwholesome talk and to instead speak to help others. If you are anything like me, then at some point in time you have been told, “If you can’t say something nice, then just don’t say anything at all.” Well, the unfortunate result of that is that I just can’t say anything at all. Unwholesome talk in the sense that it is used here is talk that is destructive. The word used for unwholesome is normally used of something that is rotting, like rotten fruit. It is something that ought to repulse us. I stand up here before you as someone who has been said to have no filter. Things come to my mind and they just come right out of my mouth. Maybe you suffer from the same problem, but there is hope. You see Christians are not supposed to be the kind of folks who tear down others. Our job is to build them up. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts and our minds and especially take control of our tongues so that the words that we speak to others might be words of encouragement. There are times for rebuking and critiquing others, but such talks need to come out of a genuine love for that person and ought to have the ultimate goal in mind of making them a better person and a better Christian.
The final statement that Paul makes here is somewhat of a catch-all. Paul tells us that we are to put off all of these things: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice; and we are to love one another, be tenderhearted, and forgiving just God is forgiving to us. Our natural tendency is to sin. As we have looked at each of these examples of how a Christian ought to differ from a non-Christian. You, like me, have seen that quite often we fall on the wrong side of things. But there is hope. God forgives us. God forgives our sins because of our being united to Christ. All that is required on our part is a serious and heart-felt confession of our sins. God loves us. He loves us so much that he gave his one and only Son for us. God loves us so much that this sacrifice makes the forgiveness of our sins possible. How could we ever be anything but overjoyed with this news?
So, just like those changes that I have had to make over the course of my life were necessary for my growth; these changes to be more Christ-like are necessary for my spiritual growth. They are necessary for your spiritual growth too. We have to shed what is comfortable and what we have become used to in order to follow the will of our Creator. But we do not have to do it alone. God is right there by your side. He is with you every step of the way as you try to navigate through this world. We need to look to Him through prayer and in His Word each and every day as we seek to become more Christ-like with every day that passes. What a glorious and joyful news we have, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Great News for the Robinsons

So Amy went in for an appointment today to check on the baby and make sure everything is going as planned. Well, she is only about 14 1/2 weeks along and so we really didn't expect the doctor to want to do a sonogram until next month. As luck would have it, the device that she uses to measure the heart rate of babies was dropped this morning and they were virtually giving out free sonograms for all of the pregnant ladies that came in today for their appointments. While I am sitting at home with Ashby I get a text message that says that she is fixing to go into the room for a sonogram. After waiting for a while I get a phone call from Amy saying that she is on the way home. She gets here and hands me some sonogram photos, but there isn't anything on there that says what the sex of the baby is. Then, she hands me a bag. Inside of the are two pictures that have the phrase "It's a boy" on them and a little blue baseball. After celebrating with Amy for a moment and calling our parents to inform them of the great news I sat down and thought for a second. It is amazing how sometimes, when we least expect it, God chooses to present us with great blessings and good news that seems to brighten our day no matter what is going on. With the stress of seminary exams and youth worship Sunday coming up there is nothing that can get me down after receiving the great news that come October 29, 2010 I have be the father of a 21 month old little girl and a newborn baby boy.

Romans 9:1-5 "Paul's Sorrow"

At this point we enter into what many have considered to be a new section of Romans. A parenthesis if you will. A break from the rest of the letter. Up until this point we have been looking at the revelation of the righteousness of God and promoting justification by faith. We are taught that we are sinners, that we are saved by faith through Jesus Christ, and as the justified we are placed in Christ. With the previous chapters teaching on sin, salvation, and sanctification, chapters 9-11 shift the focus of Romans. It is often thought that chapters 9-11 were simply an addition to the epistle. While it is clear upon examination that chapter 8 could immediately precede chapter 12 seamlessly, the Apostle chooses to provide a brief section showing the righteousness of God. Paul chooses to place a section in between the revelation and application of the righteousness of God which points out that it is not God who has rejected his people, but his people, Israel, who has rejected the Messiah. In doing so, Paul is going to provide some clarification on what he has said in the first 8 chapters of this epistle before continuing forward.

I tended to get in trouble a lot when I was a little kid. Almost everyday that my mom or dad would pick me up from daycare one of the workers there would have to walk out to the car with me to inform my parents as to what crime I had committed during that particular day. I was awful. I can remember one of my grandmother’s friends reading my name in the paper and asking my grandmother if I was one of hers. Her response was, “Yeah, that’s the bad one.” The point being that I disobeyed a lot of rules, disappointed my parent on a regular basis and gave them every reason to be unhappy with me. What did my parents do because of this, they loved me. In spite of what I had done my parents never stopped loving me. As we will see in our text today Paul followed God’s example and never stopped loving others. This will unfold itself in what I see as 2 sections in our text. Paul’s love for his people in verses 1-3 and God’s love for His people in verses 4-5.

First, Paul’s love for his people. As we come to our text today we are moving from an emotional high where Paul declares that nothing can separate the love of God in Jesus Christ from a believer in chapter 8 to a somber note in chapter 9. It is as if the Apostle Paul all of sudden slams on the breaks and instantly changes his mood. He writes, “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit”. These words are Paul’s way of telling his audience of the truth of what he about to say. He calls Christ, his Lord and Savior as a witness to the truth that he is speaking. “I am not lying” once more is getting at the truth with which Paul is speaking. Paul is even calling his own conscience as a witness in the Holy Spirit. It is not his actual conscience that he is saying is so great, but the obedience that it exhibits through the work of the Holy Spirit that is to serve as such a credible witness for what Paul is about to say. Think about it this way, when a witness is called to give any kind of forensic testimony in a court of law the witness is first asked to provide an account of why their opinion and statements should be taken seriously. Here, the Apostle Paul is saying that he is speaking the truth and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit can attest to this fact.

Paul gives us the reason why he was so insistent on his word being true when he say, “that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” What has happened in the heart of Paul that he has gone from such joy to speaking with great sorrow and anguish? The answer is that Paul has turned his attention to the members of his own race, his own people, the Jews. He is grieving because they have rejected God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Paul’s statements about the truth are needed because what he is saying here is something that will not settle well with the Jews. In the previous chapters the divine truths told by Paul are thrilling to those who believe, yet they are devastating to those who do not believe. In Paul’s day this would have been his fellow Jews, but this is not the extent of the devastation. Anyone who does not profess their faith in Jesus Christ stands utterly in ruins at the words of the Apostle.

Think with me for just a second. Paul, even though he was a Jew, was treated anything but nicely by the members of the Jewish faith. In the eyes of the Jews Paul was the worst of all possible enemies. He was a Jew who had become a believer in Jesus, the one they called “that blaspheming imposter,” as the Son of God. And now Paul was going around trying to convert both Gentiles and Jews to follow Jesus, to convert to Christianity. From the Jews point of view, Paul was not only wrong in his beliefs and a traitor, but he was seeking to destroy Judaism as a whole. Of course, we know that Paul wasn’t specifically trying to destroy Judaism, but he was simply proclaiming Jesus as Israel’s true Messiah. It would be foolish to think that Paul was unaware of this animosity that the Jews held towards him, and that is what makes his profession in v.2 that much more amazing. You see, the Jews harassed Paul, tried any way possible to hinder him and his ministry, and sought to defeat both him and the gospel that he promoted so boldly. Throughout Paul’s travels he had considerable success in gathering large groups of Gentiles to his message and establishing numerous churches. The Jews of the local areas would stir up mobs wherever Paul was and quite often would drive him from his current city. Often times, once they had successfully driven Paul from the city they would send their own teachers to undermine the message that Paul had just delivered. And there were still many of the Jews who simply thought that they should just kill Paul and be done with worrying about him. With feelings and actions like this even the most righteous and godly of persons would excuse Paul from thinking or saying a bad thing or two against the Jews, but that isn’t the case. Paul overwhelmingly loved the Jews. No where in Paul’s writings do we find any personal offense, retaliation, or resentment towards the Jews. In 2 Corinthians he speaks of how he has been beaten by and fears his own countrymen, but never any cross words on Paul’s behalf. Does this remind you of something else found in the gospel accounts? How about Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem even though he knew that he was about to be crucified by her leaders. You see, Paul’s spirit was the spirit of his Master. The love that Paul displayed for those who wanted to harm him is the same love that he shared for his closest friends. It is the love that we ought always show to others.

If we think that the sorrow expressed by Paul thus far shows how deep his love runs for his people then we are wrong. Continuing through our text we find, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own people of Israel”. Now, we know from Paul’s previous words in chapter 8 that he cannot be separated from Christ but he is saying if he could he would gladly do so. He would become accursed from Christ if his condemnation could achieve the salvation of the people that he so dearly loved and who hated him so passionately. Paul would willingly place himself under the very curse of God and be delivered to total destruction if by doing so his people would know Christ.

Let me ask you a series of question in relation to our own lives that is similar to that of Paul’s in this situation:
Do you anguish over others? In other words, do you feel pain for those who do not know Jesus Christ and who are perishing without him? I don’t think that many of us feel this pain. It might be that we don’t think that they are really going to perish or perhaps we don’t really believe the gospel as we ought to. But I think that there is a much more fundamental reason, we just aren’t very much like Jesus, we don’t spend much time with him and we don’t think about spiritual or religious matter too often.

Ok another question: Do you anguish over those closest to you (family, friends, etc.)? Do we feel sorrow for a husband with an unsaved wife, a child with a parent who doesn’t believe in Christ, or a friend who stays silent about the gospel when there is ample time to speak. I am blessed that the Lord has granted me with a wife and family who all profess their faith in Jesus Christ. But I still ache when I think of the number of friends that I have that I have stayed silent when I should have spoken. Even though my life doesn’t have too many years on it yet, the number of times that I can think of when I said nothing when given the perfect opportunity to present the gospel is too numerous for me to even begin to count.

So as we have thought about those that we either don’t know or those that we know on a close personal level, what about those that we don’t like so much. Do we anguish over our enemies? Do we anguish over terrorists who seek to kill us for our beliefs? Many times we don’t but we ought to. If Paul can love those who sought to kill him, then there is no reason why we should not at least strive for the same thing. Do you anguish for sinners? Do you feel pain for all the murderers, rapists, thieves, and other criminals? I am as guilty as, if not more so, than anyone else in this room of not feeling sorrow for those in these categories. As the father of a 15 month old little girl I can’t think of how to love a rapist or a child molester. But you see, all people are in need of the gospel, not just those who we care about or who are enough like us but all humanity. That is something that each and every one of us is in need of improving. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will work in our heart to make us more like Paul and even more so like Jesus and help us to love those who we so naturally want to hate.

There is no doubt that as we have looked at the first 3 verses of the 9th chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Romans that Paul loved the Jews. Paul doesn’t just love them because they are his countrymen, but because they are God’s chosen people who are denying Him. Paul loved whoever God loves, and because God loves Israel uniquely, Paul loved Israel uniquely. So let’s look now at God’s great love for His people. Verses 4 and 5 read, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” Paul is giving us a list of all the ways in which God showed His favor towards His chosen people Israel since the beginning.

First off Paul states that they are Israelites, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is a privilege in and of itself. Then Paul mentions Israel’s adoption. This adoption is not the New Testament notion of a believer’s new status before God as a result of redemption and new birth. This adoption refers to God selection of Israel as his chosen nation in which he would bring salvation to the world. Next Paul mention’s the glory of God that was given to Israel. God’s glory is so brilliant that human eyes are not permitted to behold it, yet God allowed His glory to dwell in the midst of His people Israel. Of this John Murray wrote, “This glory was the sign of God’s presence with Israel and certified to Israel that God dwelt among them and met with them.” So to possess the glory of God is something that ought not be overlooked here in this passage as we look at this list of the blessings of Israel.

We continue on to see that Israel was privileged to have been given the covenants of God. There is nothing more characteristic of God’s special relationship with the people than covenants. Now I don’t want to get into a covenant theology lecture here but a covenant as it is meant here is referring to an agreement between God and His people Israel. Paul is referring specifically to the covenants established with Abraham, Moses, and David. It would even be through Israel that God’s supreme covenant of redemption through His Son would come to be.

Then Paul states about the giving of the law to the Israelites. Moses and the rest of Israel were given the Law of God at Mount Sinai in Exodus 20. Even though Paul’s teachings were that salvation was by grace through the atoning work of Christ and not law-keeping he doesn’t discount the value of the law. In fact, he counted the receiving of the law as another privilege in the list that Israel has enjoyed. This was an advantage that no nation had until the Christian era when the gospel of God’s grace in Christ was taken to everyone by the apostles and early missionaries.
Paul then goes on to comment on the worship that Israel has been given. This is a reference to the temple worship, the ceremonial system that God revealed through Moses of sacrifices, offering, and cleansings administered by the priests and the Levites. Ultimately the temple all sacrifices and temple worship were brought to completion and fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Israel was also given the promises of God. The Old Testament is filled with many promises, but “the promises” here is referring to the promises of redemption to be fulfilled by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The very one that the Jews didn’t welcome when he finally came. Paul also reminds his readers that it was from Israel that God raised up the fathers, beginning with the first great patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was through those men that the foundations of all the blessings were laid.

The final privilege of Israel listed here by Paul is the human ancestry of Jesus. Everything Paul has said up to this point would have been agreed to by his Jewish opponents. They understood that they had distinct spiritual advantages over other nations. This last item is where the disagreement comes between Paul and his fellow countrymen. The Jews have no desire to recognize Jesus as their Messiah, but Paul cannot leave this fact out. You may be asking why Paul would include such a lengthy list or even more puzzling, why did I feel the need to go through every item on the list. The answer comes to us in the form of progression. You see, each privilege on this list leads to the one following it and ultimately leads to Christ. The flow of God’s actions reaches back to the patriarchs where it began and moves forward to the coming of Jesus in whom it culminates.

Israel lacked nothing in terms of spiritual blessings and advantages, yet the nation wasn’t saved. Sure, there were individual Jews like Paul who had professed Christ as their Savior. But despise all of these advantages Israel as a nation was a nation eternally doomed, this is why Paul expresses such great sorrow for his countrymen. Despite the adoption, the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, the promises and patriarchs, no one, not a nation or an individual, is saved or can be saved apart from Jesus Christ. Paul knew this as well as anyone else. Having been a Hebrew of Hebrews, he knew that his only hope of salvation was through Jesus Christ.

But it is important for us to understand that this isn’t just a message for the nation of Israel in Paul’s day. Think about those of use who have been brought up in or spent some time in the Christian church and have benefited from its advantages. This passage is speaking to those people just as it speaks to Israel. Spiritual advantages will not save you, you must be born again. Just because someone may have been privileged to have Christian parents, like the Jews with their patriarchs, doesn’t mean they are saved. The faith of your parents, your family, your friends will not save you. You must believe yourself. You must follow Jesus Christ yourself.
Some think that a deep knowledge of God will save them. Their education has given them all of the sound theology, right doctrine, and correct answers to important questions. The truth is that no one has ever been saved by head knowledge alone. Satan knows more theology than any of us could ever hope to learn in a lifetime. He has had thousands of years to learn it, but he is not saved.

Perhaps you rely on your church membership for your salvation. Being a member of a biblically sound, believing church is a great advantage, but so was Israel’s adoption as a nation, possession of the law, temple worship, and the promises of God. But membership in a church doesn’t save anyone any more than being a Jew has saved anyone. Many people who are sitting in churches today are Christians in name only. There is nothing in their lives to give any indication that they have been touched by Jesus Christ or been drawn to Him. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.