Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Jeremaih 31:31-34 "The New Deal"

When I was a little kid I would spend the summers at my grandmother’s house. She lived in the same town as my parents, but she had one thing that my parents house didn’t; a golf course in her backyard. My grandmother’s backyard ran right next to the 18th hole of Northwood Country Club in Meridian, MS. That was how I spent my summers, I would wake up to a fully furnished breakfast by who I still consider to be one of the greatest cooks I have ever known. After that, came the shower and I was out the door to play golf pretty much until my parents got off of work and came to take me home for a few hours. It was amazing and I hope that when the time has come for me to retire that my retirement could mirror my childhood. Even the rainy days were great. We would stay inside at her house and watch TV and play card games all day long. I can remember watching the game show “Let’s Make a Deal” with my grandmother every rainy day. Some of you may remember the show. Contestants were allowed to select a door or curtain and they would receive whatever was behind that barrier as their prize. After they had already won one prize, Monty Hall would try and offer them another door in exchange for their prize. This second door could contain something even greater than what they had already won. It could contain a car, or a vacation, but there was also a chance that it could contain a zonk, something that no one wanted or had any use for. The suspense came in this dilemma of keeping what the contestant already had in exchange for a chance at something much greater, but there was also a risk of losing everything and leaving with a few old rusted car tires instead of a new entertainment center.
In this text in Jeremiah we are told of two possible “deals” or agreements between God and His people in the Old Testament. These agreements are referred to as covenants. Now the subject of covenantal agreements between God and His people would take us a long time to completely discuss, but for the purposes of our text today we will simply use O. Palmer Robertson’s definition of a covenant as “a bond in blood sovereignly administered.” Regardless of the definition, we see in our text today mentions of two different covenants between God and His people. We have the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. After reading our text in Jeremiah it is pretty clear which one is the better “deal.” There isn’t suspense here like there is in a game show. We know without a doubt which covenant is greater than the other. There isn’t a chance of us choosing a zonk and losing everything by choosing this “new deal”. Let’s look at the Old Covenant that God made with His people and the New Covenant He now extends to all people.
The beginning of our text records God speaking through Jeremiah and telling the people that He will make a NEW covenant. Well, in order for it to be a new covenant there has to be an old one. This old one, we read, is the one that God made with Israel following their exodus from Egypt. Think back with me for a second, after the Red Sea had been parted and the Israelites had all passed through safely on dry land, Moses (as played by Charlton Heston in my mind) lowers his hands and the waters crash back together swallowing Pharaoh and his men whole. With this series of events well in their minds, God enters into a covenant with His people. In this covenant, if the Israelites observed God’s laws and commands, He would bless them. But if they failed to live as His law instructed, they would suffer for it. As history tells us, just about as soon as the agreement was reached, Israel failed to uphold their end of the covenant. Despite witnessing something that should have made them bend over backwards to obey God’s laws, they quickly forgot about it in order to follow their sinful desires. And this wasn’t a one-time thing. The entire Old Testament is filled with accounts of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. The rest of the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy) records Israel’s failures in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. Joshua points out their faults after they have entered the Promised Land. The book of Judges tells us of how God’s people continuously failed and where corrupt the instant that they didn’t have someone to keep them in line with God’s will. The rest of the historical books and all of the prophets continue to record instance after instance, time after time, Israel’s failure to keep in line with the will of their Lord. This particular book that we’re in today records the words of the prophet Jeremiah. Speaking almost 700 years after the events recorded in Exodus, to the nation of Judah, the small remnant of Israel, Jeremiah’s words are filled with doom and gloom and warnings to this nation because of their continuous forsaking of God. One author describes the time in which Jeremiah wrote his book as a time when, “Finally God said, ‘Have it your way! If you don’t want to live under my covenant and be my people; fine!’ So God gave them a seventy-year “time out” (a gross understatement, to say the least)! He allowed an enemy nation to attack, defeat, and deport them from their homeland for seven decades. That’s what was going on when Jeremiah wrote his book.”
I often get asked the question, “If God loves us, then why do bad things continue to happen to us?” Or another common one, “If God hates sin, then why doesn’t He just cause us not to sin?” The answer to these two questions is in fact, one-in-the-same. In other words, “If God is a loving God, then why doesn’t He put an end to all the suffering and evil sinful things of this world.” I believe that all parents already know the answer to this question. Parents love their children more than anything in this world. Parents also know that nothing in this world can frustrate you more than your children. I did it to my parents and am now being repaid the favor with my two. Many times we see them doing something bad and we put a stop to it. The other day when Thomas decided that he was going to climb onto his wooden riding horse, onto the ottoman, onto the chair, onto the arm of the chair, and reach for the fireplace mantle, I ran over and stopped him from reaching the mantle. But there are other times when we have to let them suffer from their own mistakes. I can’t begin to count the number of times I have spoken the phrase, “Asbhy, if you don’t stop doing that you’re going to hurt yourself,” only to have tears and consoling follow in mere moments. Now, I don’t want my daughter to hurt herself, but sometimes that’s the only way she will learn. We’re a stubborn bunch in my house and it can take a lot to teach us a much needed lesson. I don’t want bad things to happen to my children, but I want them to learn so that they can better themselves. God is the same way. He doesn’t want us to sin and suffer, but sometimes that is the only way we will learn. We have continuously, throughout history, sinned and follow in the footsteps of Judah. We saw 2 weeks ago in Genesis 3 Adam and Eve and the first occurrence of sin in the world. It hasn’t stopped since. We have naturally and instinctively opted for sin. We aren’t just letting bad things happen, we are causing them to happen. We are sinning! We are failing to uphold our end of the covenant. Such actions should remove us from God’s presence. Such actions should cast us out just as it did Adam and Eve from the Garden.
But here’s the great news of this text: that was the Old Covenant. That was the “old deal.” The New Covenant that Jeremiah speaks of has God telling us, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” You see, the Old Covenant was a two-sided agreement. God did His part. We did our part. Simple as that. The problem is that we never did our part. No ordinary person did, or ever could, do their part and keep their end of the agreement. So God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah to tell His people of a time when He will establish a new agreement, a New Covenant. There will be a new special relationship under this New Covenant that didn’t exist under the Old Covenant. The new covenant relationship with God won’t be based on what people do; it will be based on the One in whom they believe. And Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah in whom God’s people believe, brought about this key aspect of the New Covenant. God isn’t changing, but our relationship with Him is growing and becoming even better. And it is happening through the very person who we read about last week in the prophet Isaiah. This person who is going to be born of the virgin named Immanuel, God with us.
In this New Covenant, our wickedness will be forgiven and our sins forgotten. All iniquities will be pardoned for the sake of His Son. Our failures and our falling short of what God requires of us will no longer be remembered because God will now remember His Son’s sacrifice which will be made on our behalf. There is no fine print on the bottom of the page to trip us up. This is a one-sided deal, a unilateral covenant that will be signed, sealed, and secured in the holy, precious blood of Jesus Christ. And that signed covenant will be brought to us through faith in the precious blood of Jesus. We will now be saved through grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone.
There is no question about it; this New Covenant that God will establish is so much greater than the Old Covenant. To use the term “deal” may be downplaying this covenant a bit. But looking back at the game shows of my childhood, there isn’t even a choice. We know what is behind the curtains. We know what’s in the boxes. We know that what awaits us in the Old Covenant is continued failure. Our prize, our bounteous and merciful gift from the Father is found in this New Covenant. Jesus is coming with righteousness that covers all of our sins. Jesus Christ is coming, just as the words that we read in our call to worship at the beginning of our service today told us, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” God himself, in human form, is coming to dwell with us. As we continue to look forward during this Advent season to the time in which we celebrate this miraculous birth, let us keep in mind how much truly changed at this time. How our relationship with God changed. How the world changed, as we stand in awe as we celebrate a moment in history when everything that we know was forever changed. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Friday, November 18, 2011

Beauty & Brokenness

Last night around 8:00 pm I got landed in Jackson, MS after spending 4 days and 3 nights in Haiti (Ganthier to be exact). I was invited to go along with a group from First Baptist Church of Jackson to check out the work that is being done over there by a group call But God Ministries (www.butgodministries.com). During my brief time there I saw more poverty and devastation than I could ever imagine. The people of this country work themselves nearly to death each day just to survive. Now, when I use the survive, I don't mean it in the same sense that we think of as surviving here in America. We think we can't survive if we can't buy material extras and take vacations. The people of Haiti commute for hours, work long days in blistering sun, and do it all for the equivalent of $5 per day (and this is a good wage in Haiti). I could type pages upon pages about Haiti, this particular ministry, and the various missionaries and agencies that I encountered during my time there, but you can find much of that information on your own. What I want to ask all of you who come across this blog to do is to pray for these people. Pray that God continues to provide for this group in Haiti and for all Haitians. Pray for But God Ministries as they continue to work towards establishing basic life needs in areas that don't have them. Pray for the Logan family (Thomas, Dainelle, Cameron, and Caden) as they work through Thrist No More to oversee the construction of this missionary village. Pray that God will work in your heart and lead you to an opportunity where you may worry help those who are truly struggling to survive.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

John 2:1-11 "A Joyful Sign"

Here for us, in the second chapter of John’s gospel, we have an account from a wedding festival. A wedding reception. A celebration of an ordinance instituted by God during creation. A truly wonderful event. This particular wedding comes at the end of an eventful 7 days in the earthly ministry of Jesus. The first was the day on which John the Baptist confronted the Jewish delegation from Jerusalem. Follow that with the day on which John identified Jesus for the first time as “the Lamb of God.” The third day has Andrew and an unnamed disciple (most likely Simon) called to follow Jesus. The next day, Andrew calls his brother Peter to follow Jesus as well. The fifth day Jesus called Nathanael. Then there was an entire day spent traveling. On this seventh day, Jesus arrives in Cana and is invited, along with his disciples, to a wedding.
This seventh day, however, is much more than a wedding day. It is much more than the end of an eventful week in the life of Jesus. This day, this account, this wedding, is the official beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Not the wedding itself, but something that happens during the festival following the wedding. Before we look more closely at the events of this occasion and their significance, I want to focus in on the setting for a brief moment. You see, we are told very clearly in the text that Jesus was welcomed at the wedding. He was an invited guest and was gladly present. Jesus is enjoying himself amongst those who are celebrating and having a joyful time. Many Christians today would be well served if they kept this thought in mind. In fact, throughout Scripture, it is quite common for Jesus to be present at events like this and to be enjoying himself. You see, Jesus is giving us a great example for evangelism here. Jesus is enjoying himself amongst those who are gathered together for a good time. He doesn’t pass just judgment on them, but instead, as we will examine next, he points them to himself. He uses this opportunity to point people to him while not lecturing them or doing it in a condemning way.
As the evening continued and as the crowd gathered together to celebrate this wedding, a problem arises. The wine that the bridegroom is serving runs out. Now, the significance of this problem is a little lost on us in this day-and-age. Even though running out of something is never desired by a host, if we are at a wedding reception or some other type of party and supplies of any kind are running low we either send someone to go get more in advance of running out or we simply tell folks that we’re out and they will just have to deal with it. But you see, in Jesus’ day these 2 options were out of the realm of consideration. It was a serious thing to have a shortage of something at a party. It was a total embarrassment to the host, and in some cases there could even be some type of criminal charges brought against the host for his lack of preparation. The fact that the shortage is of wine is of particular significance. Wine was especially high on this list of important items as it was thought of as a symbol of joy. Many of the rabbis would say, “Without wine there is no joy.” So to run out of wine was almost like the newly married couple admitting that neither they nor their guests were happy.
Have you ever been in a setting where everyone was there more out of obligation and no one was having a good time; not even the hosts of the event? One of the very fist Christmas’ that Amy and I spent together was quite awkward. We had just gotten engaged right after Thanksgiving of that year and so we decided that we would attend at least a portion of the family festivities of the other’s family. I drove to her grandparent’s house in Seminary, MS about an hour away from my parent’s house in Meridian. I knocked on the door, walked in, and found everyone sitting in stone-cold silence. Siblings were sitting across the room from one another, no one was making eye-contact, nothing! So, in my infinite wisdom, I walked in and blurted out, “What’s wrong, somebody get into a fight our something?” Immediately every eye in the room turned and stared at me with that look that doesn’t even require words to convey how badly I have messed up. You see, there was a fight. One of Amy’s uncle’s has a dog named Josie, and she had bitten her younger cousin Scotty. This caused some tension between Josie’s owner and Scotty’s daddy. The entire Christmas atmosphere that is usually filled with laughter, enjoyment, and quality family time, was now filled with a sense of “can we just hurry up and get this over with.” You see, for this wedding to run out of wine would have given the joyous celebration a much different feel; a feel very similar to that which I experienced during that particular Christmas season.
We may want to laugh at this notion and think about wine in the sense of libations and good times. But you see, John, the writer of this gospel, always sees the spiritual meaning in the most ordinary of events. Think back to last week, to last Sunday. Whether you were here or worshipping with another congregation, there is a good chance that you partook in the Lord’s Supper. The elements of the bread and the wine hold significant meaning. For the purposes of this account today think specifically of the wine. While distributing the wine to the people, it is common for the pastor to remind us of the significance that particular element. “This cup is the new covenant of my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins. Drink all of it.” Think back to the words of the rabbis, “Without wine there is no joy.” Without Christ’s blood, there is no joy. Without Christ, there is no joy. There may be temporary gratification, but without Jesus Christ there is no real, lasting joy.
After being informed by his mother that the wine was gone and consequently that a sense of embarrassment would soon overtake the current feeling of joy, Jesus responds to her by saying, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Now first off, this term “Woman” is meant as no disrespect to Mary. In our modern context if I were to call my mom or my wife “Woman” instead of using their name they might just haul off and hit me. But here, it is meant as a sign of respect. This was the equivalent of referring to her as a lady. It was the same way that he spoke to her from the cross when he committed her into John’s care. This discourse shows that Jesus is aware that it is not time for his greatest act. The time of his crucifixion has not yet come. You see, as you read John’s gospel you continuously see Jesus referencing his coming hour again and again.
But despite this gentle rebuke that he makes towards Mary and despite the fact that he clearly states that his hour has not yet come, Jesus steps in. We see Mary tell the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. (Once again, John’s words are much more far-reaching than the immediate context of the story. How well would they be served to obey those simple words for all their lives?) Instead of condemning the people for their over-indulgence at this point, Jesus acts to allow the celebration to continue. He is going to solve the problem of no wine. We need to take note of the fact that this act of turning water into wine was not done with an audience around him. It wasn’t done with someone gathering people around Jesus so that they could witness what he was about to do. No, Jesus goes off with the servants to six pots that were filled with water. And these weren’t just any six pots. These pots weren’t the typical or usual pots made out of mud that were common during this day. These pots were made out of stone. The reason being that since they were used for purification, being made out of stone would keep all dirt from penetrating into them and contaminating the water.
So these servants follow Jesus to the pots and he tells them to fill them up, and they do. They fill them up to the brim. After filling them, Jesus tells them to take some water out and take it to the master of the feast. This person would have been like a best man or master of ceremonies type of figure. He samples the water and immediately realizes that it is not water at all, but it’s in fact wine. And not just any wine, but good wine, really good wine. In fact, it’s the best wine he’s tasted all night. A practice that would have been the opposite of the day. Normally the best wine was served earliest and the cheaper stuff brought out after everyone had had their fill.
But don’t just think of the quality of this wine; think of the quantity as well. As it is given to us here in the text, the total amount of water that the 6 pots would have held is somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of water since they were filled to the brim. Now, one gallon of wine is about 5 standard sized bottles of wine by today’s measure. Doing the math, that comes out to be somewhere between 600 and 900 bottles of wine. There is a good chance that this would have been even more than was originally present for all of the guests, and not just by a little bit. It is very probable that amount of water that Jesus turned into wine greatly exceeds the amount of wine purchased for this wedding festival.
So think about this for a second, Jesus produced the best wine of the evening and a much greater amount of wine than one could imagine. When we think of wine in the terms that we have already mentioned and substitute joy for wine, then we see things in a whole new light. The joy that we have in Jesus is so much greater than any joy that we can hope to experience in our lifetime. The amount of joy that we have in Christ is so much greater than we could ever imagine. Do not think that if you come to Jesus, if you accept him as your Lord and Savior, that there will ever come a day when you will find yourself empty of joy. If that is ever the case, it is because you have drawn away from him and not because he has failed you. Without a doubt, the Christ who produced the abundance of good wine, who we know to have oversupplied the crowd with loaves and fish, who said, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” certainly such a Christ is able to supply all we need.
As this wedding festival account comes to an end we find the words of verse 11, which reads, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” I think the correct translation here is to use the word “signs” and not “miracles”. Although this is a miracle performed by Jesus, the notion of this being a sign is much more descriptive of what is taking place here and what John is wanting to convey. This sign is pointing to something much greater than the event itself. It points to Jesus himself as the One. It’s pointing to Christ as the One who spoke the word of truth. This sign represents God’s acknowledging that Jesus is sent from Him. There truly is no person, place, or thing that we can look to for greater joy than that which we have in Jesus Christ. Any life that is devoid of Christ, is a life that is lacking any real and lasting joy.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Galatians 5:16-26 "Flesh vs Spirit"

This very morning, as we have all gathered together here to worship our Lord and Savior, there is a war that is taking place. This war has been going on for far longer than the past 10 years. It has been taking place ever since the fall of mankind in the Garden. Although this war may cause nations to fight, it is not a specific war that exists between nations. The battlefield for this war is not a piece of land but the heart. This war and the particular war that we have been reminded of all week long do have one major thing in common. One side is seeking to destroy Jesus Christ and His gospel. The war that I am talking about this morning is the war that exists within each and every one of us between the flesh and the Spirit.
You see, in the previous section of Galatians (5:1-15), Paul tells us that we have freedom, and that that freedom is found in Jesus Christ. God wants us to be happy. God gives us freedom. We are told in v. 13 that the only activity that we can perform in freedom is love. “You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Love is commanded, it is not optional. We are called to the Great Commandment. We are called to love our neighbor just as we love ourselves. We are called to seek their happiness just as we would our own. This is where the war between the Spirit and the flesh has its greatest conflict.
The question is, “How do we fulfill this portion of the Great Commandment?” How do we love our neighbor as we love ourselves? The simple fact of the matter is that WE can’t. That is to say that we can’t do it by ourselves. We must have the Holy Spirit work through us to do so. To put it in Paul’s language, we must “walk by the Spirit.” When we do this, he tells us that we will “not gratify the desires of the flesh.” You see, we don’t have the power within ourselves to overcome the desires of the flesh. To use an example from our young adults Sunday school class last week, we were talking about how we can see sin coming from a mile away and still not stop ourselves. Someone said that it was kind of like when they take a bowl of rotel dip out of the microwave and they immediately taste some of it despite numerous warnings from their better half. What happens? You burn your mouth. We see our hearts leaning towards the desires of the flesh. We see our depraved natures coming out in our thoughts, actions, and deeds, but we can’t help ourselves.
We are told throughout Scripture just as we are here by the Apostle Paul that the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to one another. So if “walking by the Spirit” is the only way in which we can keep from giving in to our earthly desires what does this word “walking” mean. The best analogy that I have found for this term is from the brilliant mind of John Piper who looks at this as our “walking by the Spirit” not as a pace car out in front of the pack at the Daytona 500, but as a locomotive on a train. You see there is a disconnect between the pace car and the rest of the pack. If they so choose, the cars can veer from the path. When it comes to a train, the cars cannot move. They have no choice but to follow the locomotive. They are led by the power of the locomotive. We have no option here but to stay connected to the divine source of power and go where He would have us go. That is the only chance that we have to overcome the sinful desires that are so prevalent in our hearts.
Now I want to say something that may sound a little odd when you first hear it. This war that is taking place within Christians, that is taking place within each of us, is not a bad thing. You see, as long as we are on this earth, the presence of sin within us is a reality. If there is not war, it is because sin has won out. Thank God that there is a war within us. Rejoice in the fact that your heart and your soul feel like a battlefield. Because, you see I don’t think that the main point of Paul’s message here is really about the war itself, I look at this and I see Paul proclaiming the victory of the Spirit. Look at some of the definitive language used here. “Walk by the Spirit, and you WILL NOT gratify the desires of the flesh.” That’s pretty definitive language. Reading further we also see, “If you are led by the Spirit, you ARE NOT under the law.” When you walk by the Spirit, the sinful fleshly desires are defeated. There is a shift from our self-centered desires to those that are Christ-centered. Victory over the flesh is promised. Notice that there is not a promise of war, but the promise of which side wins. When wars end between countries, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all fighting immediately stops. There are still going to be those isolated groups that will not surrender and will fight until the death. Sin and the desires of the flesh are never going to give up, they are going to keep fighting until the moment that we enter into the kingdom of heaven and are made perfect and the process of sanctification is completed. It is only by walking by the Spirit that we can be ready to defeat these forces of sin.
There are two questions that must be asked at this point about “walking by the Spirit.” The first question is how. How do you walk by the Spirit? We have all heard calls made by pastors before to something similar to this. How practically do you allow the Holy Spirit to control you? What do you have to do to allow this to happen? You rest on the promises of God. You rest on the fact that God has never, nor will He ever, fail to fulfill any promise that He have given to us. And He doesn’t just meet the bare minimum of a promise, He fulfills promises to a measure that is far beyond anything we could ever imagine or ask for. This should delight our hearts immensely. We just said that God has promised in His Word that if we are led by the Spirit then the desires of the flesh will be defeated.
The second question is what. What does walking by the Spirit look like? Now I want to say a word of caution before we look at what walking by the Spirit looks like. We have for us laid out from vv. 19-23 some lists. Now, lists are a great thing. They are very direct and help us immensely in our understanding. However, lists can sometimes be a dangerous thing when we look at Scripture. We have to be careful not to treat these lists given by Paul as checklists that are complete in-and-of themselves. We can’t treat these lists like children do with the Ten Commandments and keep score and their success or failure depends on which side has the majority. We have to dig much deeper than a simple surface reading of these lists. We have to get to what lies at the heart of each of these lists. There are many sinful behaviors that are not found on the “don’t” list that no one could argue are not sinful desires of the flesh.
Another problem is that some will use these lists to try and cast judgment on other people and other Christians. This wouldn’t help us to overcome our depravity, but actually deepen our decent into sin. This would cause us to abuse the very Word of God. Paul knows these two facts. He knows exactly how these lists can be abused. He has seen it with the law of the Old Testament. He has seen it in the Pharisees. He has seen it in his own life before his conversion. Paul, inspired by God, takes care to prevent us from abusing God’s Word and show us what “walking by the Spirit” looks like.
By calling the two lists “works of the flesh” and “fruit of the Spirit” Paul is making a clear distinction between the two. The term “flesh” here isn’t referring to the body, it is referring to the self-centered nature within us. The term is referring to that proud, self-promoting part of all of us that becomes magnified when God is absent within us. We know that the flesh is completely opposed to the Spirit, but what about the other words used here. What about “works” and “fruit?” Why did Paul use these words? Is it to convey effort vs. effortlessness? I don’t think so. Is it to convey earning something vs. being given something? A little closer, but still not there. You see, I think that it has to do with grace. The flesh knows nothing of grace. It views joy and satisfaction as things that are owed to it. It has an insatiable appetite for more. There is always something that it feels owed. That is why Paul uses the term “works.”
The mentality behind “fruit” is that of faith. When we walk by the Spirit, we see everything not as something that was owed to us, but as free gifts from a merciful and gracious God. We know that we are owed condemnation, but we get mercy. We know that all we have to pay is sin which earns us God’s wrath. But, in walking by the Spirit, we turn away from self-reliance. We turn from looking at the self and we look to Christ. We see that to not look only at the self produces the fruit of the Spirit, and not works of the flesh.
So let’s don’t get caught up in the specific vices and virtues on these lists. I don’t think that they are to be ignored completely, but I want us to see that the issue here is not the outward, expressed action, but the kind of heart that produces what is seen on the outside. Paul is very much aware of the war within and the promise given to those who walk by the Spirit. V. 24 tells us, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Paul has already told the church in Galatia of the promise of God that is found in Christ Jesus. This promise remains true for us today. Jesus Christ has defeated the flesh. He has fulfilled the law. He has conquered death itself. He has died, sacrificing himself, paying the price that is owed for our sins. He has made the payment to God on our behalf. All righteousness found in him is now made available to us. It is through him and him alone that we have hope of entering into the kingdom of heaven. But sin and the prince of darkness does not give up that easily. As long as there is an outside chance they are going to continue to fight. They are going to attempt to reclaim our hearts. They hope that one battle, one diagnosis, one event, one broken relationship, one painful addiction, one financial crisis, can cause your to fall and cause sin to win in your heart. But God promises us that if we are led by the Holy Spirit, then we will never completely fall. There may be times in our lives when we feel the foundation shaking, we see the walls cracking and the roof leaking, but the house will never cave in. We may lose our footing, slip, and fall, but we will be able to get up. Sin is real, and it is present. You and I alone do not have the power to defeat sin in our lives. We must call upon the power of someone else; someone much greater than you and I, someone who within Him exists nothing that is not pure and holy. We must call upon the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts; to transform us into people who bear the fruit of the Spirit and who above all else act out of love for God and for other people, and not out of love for self. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Monday, March 14, 2011

2 Timothy 4:9-15 Christian Retirement?

If we ever want to look to Scripture to find an example of someone who has lived a tough life there are numerous choices. We could look at the book of Job and find a man who had everything taken away from him in order to so that God can prove to Satan that suffering doesn’t necessarily take us away from God. We can look to any number of martyrs that we find throughout Scripture. Some of the beatings and tribulations of Godly men and women in the Bible are so severe that it leaves us thanking God every day that we are not faced with the same circumstances. Perhaps no person fits the term “rough life” better than the Apostle Paul. After Paul’s conversion to Christianity, his life seems to be filled with one hardship after another; all while working to establish and foster churches here on earth.
Having a very brief history of the Apostle beginning with his conversion will help us to see just how much Paul suffered for the sake of the gospel. Shortly after his conversion, which took place somewhere between 33 and 36 AD, he was nearly killed in Damascus. Only three years after becoming a Christian Paul traveled to Jerusalem in order to spread the gospel. From 46-48 Paul embarked on his 1st missionary journey. He went from Antioch to Cyprus to Southern Asia Minor and back to Antioch. From 49-52 he undertook his 2nd missionary journey. During this 2nd journey, Paul was imprisoned at Philippi with Silas. He escaped this situation when an earthquake hit and allowed one of the prison walls to collapse. This is the story of the Philippian jailer, who upon witnessing these events, immediately devoted his life to following the teachings of Jesus. His 3rd and final missionary journey began only one year after returning from his 2nd journey. In 60 AD he made a trip to Rome. On this trip to Rome is where Paul was imprisoned once again, and it is here that Paul writes his second letter to Timothy that we are looking at today. In all, Paul’s travels after his conversion total up to be an estimated 14,000 miles. Remind you that this is on foot. This would be the equivalent of me setting out from the parking lot to go to my parents’ house in Meridian and back around 63 times.
Now add in the fact that Paul’s travels often took him to some less than desirable locations. Very few times when Paul arrived at places where a church was already established did he find it peaceful and a time of relaxation. Usually there was some conflict within the church that Paul himself had to address. There is also the “thorn in the flesh” mentioned in 2 Cor. 12, which is most likely a physical disability Paul gained during his ministry. Add to that the continuous persecution, beatings, and aforementioned imprisonments along the way and you start to get the picture. Paul managed to squeeze all of this into about a 30 year period. This letter to Timothy was written only a few years prior to his death in Rome.
We can tell from the previous words in this letter that Paul has a feeling that his life is soon to come to an end. Earlier, in 4:6-7 we find, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Paul’s acknowledgement of the nearing end makes what we find in our text today an even more impressive message than what we might find simply by a surface reading. After requesting that Timothy come and visit Paul (no doubt so that he may continue to teach and train him for the continuation of his ministry) Paul moves on to reminisce of some of his fellow workers of the past who have worked honorably and dishonorably.
The first name that Paul gives to Timothy is the name Demas. Now this isn’t a name that I expect everyone to be able to recall off the top of their head, but it is someone that Paul has referred to at other points during his letters. In Philemon, Demas is listed in a group of men that Paul calls his “fellow laborers.” In Colossians 4 his name is simply listed without any other qualifying information. Here, we find that the name Demas carries with it a negative connotation. “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” We can take this as Paul warning against loving worldly values more than the spread of the gospel.
The next two names, Crescens and Titus, are of two others who Paul has sent out. When it comes to Crescens there is nothing else known about him other than this passage of him being sent to Galatia. Now Titus, we know from Paul’s letter to him and brief mentions in other letters, was a close friend and associate of Paul. Regardless, both of these men have left Paul’s side at this present time.
Whether this desertion was meant as a negative or simply just Paul’s telling to Timothy where others have gone, there is now a shift from those who have left Paul to the one who is still with him. Luke alone is with Paul. It’s funny, despite the fact that Luke wrote his gospel and the book of Acts, little is known about Luke the person. We know from inference that he was with Paul on his last journey to Rome. It is also mostly likely that Luke even willingly accompanied Paul to prison in Rome (this no doubt shows why Paul speaks so lovingly of Luke). As far as definitive references to Luke go in Scripture we have the same similar evidence as we do for Demas. In Colossians 4 Luke is described as the beloved physician and he is also listed as a fellow laborer in Philemon 24. It has been suggested that Luke’s skills as a physician allowed Paul to carry out his journeys despite his physical ailments. The best quote that I have found for summing up Luke is as follows, “The Church is full of talkers and of people who are there more for what they can get than for what they can give; Luke was one of these priceless people—the workers of the Church.”
The next person we come to is a person who has redeemed himself in the eyes of Paul. Paul says that Mark will be useful for him in ministry. Now the Greek word used here for ministry carries with it a wider sense of service. In other words, Paul is saying that having Mark with him is beneficial at this time. This is unexpected in light of what happened during Paul’s first missionary journey. Mark had been picked by Paul and Barnabas to join them on the mission and to become a contemporary of theirs. We are told, however, in Acts 13 that Mark left them and went home. Paul took this defection so hard that when Mark wanted to go with Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s second missionary journey, Paul refused to have such a quitter accompany them. Paul and Barnabas argued over this issue so much that they actually parted ways because Paul would have nothing to do with Mark. We don’t know exactly what happened to mend the relationship between the two, but Paul is now asking for Mark’s presence.
The next name, Tychicus, is someone who Paul has sent out to visit the church that he had established in Ephesus. He is the one who delivered the letters to the churches in Colossians and Ephesus. Then, the final name mentioned is Alexander the coppersmith. It is unknown what exactly Alexander has done, but we can determine from the text that he has worked to disrupt the spread of the gospel and cause Paul personal harm.
Now sandwiched between these last two names is what I want all of us to focus on this morning. Listen to the personal requests made by Paul to Timothy, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” Despite Paul’s seemingly dire situation, this language seems to indicate that he still has work to do. Paul wanted his books, or in Greek, his biblia, which literally means papyrus rolls, and it is most likely that these rolls contained the earliest forms of the gospels. He wanted the parchments. Perhaps these were legal documents such as his proof of Roman citizenship. However, it is most likely his copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, or as we would say, the Old Testament. Paul is acting like a man who still has work that has to be done. Even though Paul has been through so much and is certain that the end is near he continues to work for the sake of the gospel.
At any given moment I like to stop and see what words I could use to describe what is going on in the Robinson household. For the last few months, one word that has been flying around our house is the word retirement. Now, this may seem strange for Amy and I, at our age, to think about retirement, but there have been some events that have brought this on. You see, Amy’s dad, after 33 years of working for the Corp of Engineers, is eligible for retirement. Her parents have bought a house on the coast and are making plans for what retirement holds for them. We imagine that they will spend a great deal of time like Amy’s grandparents and travel and see family. Her grandfather who retired after a lengthy time of service in the Air Force, and her grandmother is a retired teacher at USM. There has also been the recent retirement of legendary MSU announcer Jack Cristil. My dad, who I think has been following MSU sports for as long as I can imagine, has never had anyone else other than Jack Cristil tell him what was going on at Scott Field. Now in every one of these cases, the retirement is well deserved. Each of these individuals have worked a great deal to be able to enjoy the time that they have left. But all of these retirements got me to thinking, what does Christian retirement look like? You know we say that we have two jobs in life; we are a doctor, teacher, lawyer, etc., but we are also a Christian. It is my opinion, as it is most likely yours, that the later job is a calling that is much more than a profession. As such, it is something that last for a lifetime and never really has a retirement.
If there was ever a person who had a right to say that they were retiring from Christian service it was the Apostle Paul. After penning 13 New Testament epistles (along with numerous other letters that are not in our Bibles) and some 25 years of missionary travels, he could say he was done and no one could second guess him. The truth of the matter is that he doesn’t. Despite all of the physical pain, prison stints, the loss of co-workers, the regrets of his lifestyle prior to his conversion, he continues onward. I mean, the man is sitting in prison talking about the fact that he has work to be done. He doesn’t know for certain whether or not he will even make it out of prison. Paul knows that one never retires from Christ. You don’t stop being a Christian. When a teacher retires, they no longer go to the school every day. When a lawyer retires, he doesn’t go in every morning to the practice. Retired doctors don’t keep the same schedule as they did before retiring. Christians never retire. They never quit being Christians if they are faithful to the Word of God.
I want to quickly share a story with you of some people who I know who have changed churches. There was a couple who was very involved in their local church and had been for many years. The church went through some hard times, many people left the church and the overall tone of the church dropped. Eventually this couple left their church to find another church family where they felt more at home. Now there isn’t anything inherently wrong with moving churches in and of itself, especially in this case where the couple couldn’t properly worship God because of how terrible their mindset was upon entering the doors of the church. When they found a new church, they decided that they were going to join but that they didn’t want to be involved beyond the level of membership. Is that really was we should be doing? Is the attitude of “we’ve been involved before and would like to simply just attend” really the attitude we should have? I think that we can all agree that Scripture is calling each and every one of us to not only be part of a local congregation, but to be active and working in that congregation.
We are soon to be faced with a similar situation here at Grace Chapel. God has blessed us greatly over the past several years. We are poised to open our new educational building some time this fall. The possibilities are endless for Grace Chapel with such a great tool at our disposal for spreading the Gospel. However, I want to take this time to warn against the temptation that might exist to feel like the opening of the building is the finish line; that we can just sit back and wait for the people driving along 463 to see our new building and come and worship God with us. We have to continue to be active in our efforts to establish God’s kingdom here on earth. We have to continue to go into neighborhoods with our door-to-door evangelism campaign. We have to continue to volunteer to serve our missions and outreach activities. We have to continue to support and take part in the Christian education of this church, especially our children. Friends, I know that it doesn’t take long of completely devoting ourselves to something before the feeling of being burned out sets in. I want to encourage you, just as I have to encourage myself constantly, to keep the mindset of the Apostle Paul. There is still work to be done. Christ has commanded us to continue in our efforts, for He is with us “to the end of this age.” Praise be to God, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.