Jonah 1:1-3 "The Man Known as Jonah"

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                Back about five years ago, as I was preparing for my ordination exams, I was being reviewed by another pastor about my knowledge in the area of biblical content.  This pastor was going over with me several commonly asked questions of people who were being examined to become Teaching Elders in the EPC.  As we were going through the list of questions, he asked me perhaps the oddest question that I had heard or read during my preparation for the exams.  He asked me, “Do you believe the book of Jonah to be real, or merely a story that was told in order to teach something of the nature of God?”  Now, typically, our sessions were just a rapid-fire succession of questions and answers with little-to-no explanation.  However, I had to stop the session and ask, “Are there really Christians that believe that Jonah is merely a story?”  In other words, are there folks who truly believe that all of the 66 books of Scripture are true, historical accounts except for Jonah?  He got on his computer and pulled up a recent article that had been making its way around the internet that was written by one very liberal seminary professor about how the book of Jonah was merely a story that was used to illustrate the resolve of God.  Or as we might call it, the fact that if God wants it to happen, then it’s going to happen. 

Now, anyone who has ever read the book of Jonah can tell you that that is one of the major themes that you take away from this book.  However, it’s so much more than that.  Obviously we hold the book of Jonah to be factual and a true historical account, but we do understand how one could think that it is a story about how God’s will always comes to pass.  We have to admit that there is a certain level of surrealness to this book.  However, we must know that if it were meant to be interpreted as merely a story, then Scripture would indicate it like we see with Jesus and his use of parables for teaching.  As we read through this book, we’re going to see violent storms, a man get swallowed by a big fish only to be vomited back onto dry land, a plant spring up to shade someone, and several other things that seem like they would come out of a book written by the brothers Grimm and not God Himself.  In fact, if you’re familiar with the Vegetales franchise, they even made a movie out of the account of Jonah because it lends itself to a cinematic storyline so easily.  Ashby watched it so many times when she was a little girl that she literally melted our copy of it and we had to buy a new one.  I’ve heard/watched it so many times that you shouldn’t be surprised if I reference that movie instead of the actual historical account contained in Scripture at some point over the next few months.  However, as we walk through this account of how God’s will is always accomplished, we’re going to see that it’s much more than just a story.  Perhaps my favorite summation of what we’re going to see in the book of Jonah comes from Sinclair Ferguson.  He writes, “Jonah is not a book about a great fish!  It is really a book about God, and how one man came, through painful experience, to discover the true character of God whom he had already served in the earlier years of his life.  He was to find the doctrine about God come alive in his experience.  It is this combination of doctrine and experience that makes Jonah such a fascinating, instructive, and practical book.  The teaching of Jonah searches our hearts and consciences in a special way because it is the [account] of a man who was on the run from God.  It traces not only the path of his journey, but unravels the inner workings of his heart—his fears, motivations, and passing moods.  Christians today still experience these ‘Jonah-syndromes’.”

I think that the best place for us to start in our journey through this account of one man coming to know the true character of God is with developing an understanding of the main figure in all of this, Jonah himself.  What do we know about the man known as Jonah?  Well, we know from our text that he was the son of a man named Amittai (who is mentioned nowhere else in Scripture other than this lineage of his son).  We know that Jonah’s name in Hebrew means dove.  We know that he was a prophet of God.  Whenever we see the words, “Now the word of the Lord came to…saying…”, then we know that we are dealing with a prophet of God.  It may be a prophet who has had a long tenured ministry or someone who served in the role for a specifically short period of time.  Now, we can assume that Jonah is not the latter, but the former of these two types of prophets because we do find his name mentioned one other time in Scripture outside of this account of his battle with what God called him to do.  2 Kings 14:25 mentions Jonah as having served as a prophet, or servant of God, during the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel.  So, putting all of this together, we start to get at least a little bit of a clearer picture of who Jonah was and how the world was at the time of his ministering.

                You see, Jonah wasn’t just some run of the mill guy who was walking down the street one day and was suddenly called to go and deliver God’s word to a group of people.  He was someone who was specifically called to the office of prophet.  We hear all the time about some random person running from God and trying to deny God’s calling upon their life, only to have God ultimately convict them and have them follow His call.  That wasn’t the case with Jonah at all.  As we mentioned just a second ago, being a prophet was who Jonah was.  2 Kings tells us that, plus our being told in our text about the word of the Lord coming to him.  Jonah was part of that exclusive and privileged group known as prophets.  We talked a little bit about the privilege of prophets during our advent series when we stated that prophets were spokesmen for God towards His people.  Many of the Old Testament prophets are specifically referred to as God’s servants.  Amos 3:7 says of God’s prophets, “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secrets to his servants the prophets.”    Jonah was part of this group of men who had stood in the presence of God and felt the pressure of his will upon their spirits.  They heard his unmistakable voice telling them what he was about to perform among the nations (Ferguson).  So, when we think of Jonah, we need to think of him as being from the same line as Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and all of the other prophets that are recorded in the Old Testament.  He’s not just some random guy, but someone specifically called by God.

                You know, one of the common misconceptions of all of the Old Testament prophets is that they came from complete obscurity; that they emerged from some completely unknown place and assumed the role of prophet.  Yes, there are prophets that we’re told were doing something else one day and then are beginning their ministry the next.  There are also prophets who seem to come on the scene and then disappear as quickly as they came.  However, that isn’t the case most of the time.  The truth of the matter is that there was typically a training period for those serving in the office of prophet.  Think in terms of Timothy serving under Paul for all those years as a means of training for the role of apostle even after he had felt God’s call upon his life.  I can personally testify that the time between my feeling God’s call upon my life to gospel ministry and my becoming a pastor was roughly about 6 years.  Old Testament prophets living during the time of Jonah were commonly part of a school for prophets prior to their time spent in active ministry.  This was a place where they spent much time in fellowship, prayer, discussion, and study of God, while being trained in all of the skills and equipped with all of the tools that were useful for ministry.  Now, it’s not known whether or not Jonah was actually a part of such school, but it was around for his generation.  There are some non-biblical sources out there that place him in one of these schools, but we cannot be certain since they do not have the authority and inerrancy of Scripture to support their information undeniably.  So, not only is it true that Jonah was a prophet of God, but he had more than likely been trained by older and wiser prophets for the specific ministry that he was called to perform.

                Lastly, Jonah was a prophet who had seen God work through even the direst of circumstances.  As we mentioned earlier, Jonah served as a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel.  You see, Israel grew under Jeroboam’s reign, and it wasn’t because he was a good king or a Godly man who followed after God’s heart.  In fact, he was just the opposite; he was a very wicked king.  However, despite Jeroboam’s wickedness, Jonah had seen God expand the land of His people to a level that it had not seen since the reign of David’s son Solomon.  Jonah was accustomed to dealing with a people who seemed to just not get it.  That’s not to say that they didn’t trust God and honor Him, but that the wickedness of the people never seemed to go away.  He was always having to draw them back to God and remind them that God was the sole reason for their prosperity and not Jeroboam’s wise ruling.  You would think that this would have been a wonderful time to minister with a message that everyone wanted to hear.  However, Jonah ministered during what was a hard time to minister.  The powers-at-be were corrupt and evil, the people cared primarily for their own personal success, and God was mainly on the forefront of their minds only when there was punishment or hardship for their wickedness.  Doesn’t that sound frighteningly like today?  Now, the biggest difference obviously is that Israel was a theocracy (a system of government where priests rule in the name of God under His direction), whereas we are not.  However, one cannot miss the connection between the waywardness and wickedness of God people both then and now.  But the crazy thing about it is that Jonah had seen God’s faithfulness in leading people to Himself all the while.  He had seen God overcome the wicked and hardened heart.  He had seen God drive someone to repentance and complete reliance upon him.  So what caused Jonah to go in the complete opposite direction after God called him to go to Nineveh?

                Over the next few months, we’re going to see why Jonah ran, what God did in calling him back to his appointed task, and how God worked through even Jonah’s reluctance to accomplish great works for His kingdom.  But for now, take the person of Jonah as a warning that none of us are above the power of sin.  Jonah, even the most dedicated of prophets, who had seen his share of ministry during dark times, was not immune to straying and running from God.  Even the most devout and devoted follower of Christ is not above the clutches of Satan.  Over the Christmas break, Amy was texting with the ex-wife of a former mentor pastor of mine.  She was telling her how he didn’t attend their daughter’s wedding and how he even married his new wife (the reason for their divorce) on the same day.  Several other things were discussed about the man that I used to strive to emulate in ministry until we were all just looking at each other in disbelief.  Finally, his ex-wife sent Amy the message, “the devil has control of his soul now.”  Truer words were never spoken.  Sin is a powerful enemy.  Jonah’s own personal sin caused him to run from God.  My friend’s sin crushed his marriage, his ministry, and his family.  Don’t ever think that you are above Satan’s grasp.  However, know that God can use even your sinfulness and stubbornness to accomplish great things for His kingdom.  Just ask Jonah…or better yet, let’s see for ourselves together in the coming weeks.

Mary Did You Know? (Part 4) - Luke 2:1-20; 1:26-38

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                Over the past few weeks, we’ve asked the question as to whether or not Mary, Jesus’ earthly mother, had any knowledge or idea of the magnitude of the child that she had given birth to that night there in Bethlehem.  And using our most advanced powers of deduction, we’ve come up with a big fat “maybe, but probably not.”  She might have known that the miracles that he would later do were pointing to something bigger.  She might have known that he was coming to serve as a prophet of God, proclaiming God’s Word.  She might have known that he was coming to be the prophesized priest of the order of Melchizedek.  However, even though she knew something of what Jesus was coming to do, she more than likely didn’t have a full understanding of the magnitude or scope of Jesus’ ministry and work.  Much of what she understood and viewed things through was from the appearance of the angel Gabriel to her before her conception.  So, she knew full well that God most certainly was involved in everything that was taking place, but her understanding was limited.  After all, she was only human.  She was a person who was trusting in God; hence her words in Luke 1:38 “Behold I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”  These words she said to the angel after being told that she was going to have a son and that the child would be the Son of God, conceived in her by the Holy Spirit.

                If we were to turn back in our Bibles one chapter from the text that we’ve read each of the last four Sundays and read the account of Mary’s being visited by the angel Gabriel, we would see all that is recorded from what Mary was told about the child that she was to bear.  And if we look at sort of the middle of that chunk of text, in vv. 32-33, we find these words, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  Throne, reign, kingdom; these words cause a certain picture to come to our minds.  We think of some type of royalty.  Now we’ve looked at Jesus as the eternal prophet.  We’ve looked at him as the eternal priest.  So today, we’re going to be examining the third office of his threefold role as the covenant mediator or the mediator of the relationship that exists between God and mankind, his role as the eternal king.

                In only fourteen weeks, we’re going to gather back in this sanctuary for a time of worship much like we have today.  Instead of what we’re wearing now, we’ll probably be wearing something much more springtime appropriate.  We’ll begin that service of worship with children walking down the center aisle and placing palm branches at the foot of a wooden cross here in the sanctuary.  Yes, we will be celebrating Palm Sunday.  And when we gather on Palm Sunday, our minds are always drawn back to that day when there were some 2 million+ estimated people there lining the streets as Jesus entered into Jerusalem shouting “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Then, later on during that week, we will gather again, this time on Thursday evening, for our Maundy Thursday service in which we will remember the events of the Upper Room and turn our attention to the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior.  And as we leave, we will ask ourselves the same question that we ask every time we think about it, “How did the people go from cheering Jesus so robustly one day to calling so ferociously for his execution only a few days later?”  Well, in order to answer that we have to back up to what was expected of the coming Messiah.

                In the words recorded by the prophet Isaiah, we find a good bit about the coming, promised Messiah.  For example, these words from 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over this kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”  When we read these words about the government being upon someone’s shoulders then we naturally think of the one who rules that particular government.  Also, like with the words from Gabriel to Mary that we mentioned earlier, when we see anything that has to do with the throne of David and his kingdom, then we know that what is being referenced is the office or position of a king; specifically the king of Israel, God’s chosen people.  The text that we brought in last Sunday, Psalm 110 (the Old Testament text most often quoted in the New Testament), even alludes to messianic kingship in the opening verses.  “The Lord says to my Lord:  ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’  The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.  Rule in the midst of your enemies!”  And these are only a few of the Old Testament texts that we could look to and find some prophecy about the kingship of the coming Messiah.

                Now, the question that you might be asking yourself is what this has to do with Palm Sunday.  Well, let me make the connection for you if you haven’t already.  Why do you think the people were cheering that day as Jesus was entering into Jerusalem?  What were they so excited about?  They didn’t have any clue as to what was about to happen.  As a matter of fact, they thought that the exact opposite of what took place was going to happen.  You see, they had known that the coming messiah was to be a king.  The Bible that existed at that time was what we call the Old Testament today.  They knew that the messiah was coming to restore the people of Israel to their rightful place.  However, they were all thinking in an earthly sense.   They were all thinking that the time of prosperity and well-being that Israel enjoyed under the reign of David was what Jesus came into the world to accomplish.  This was going to be like David 2.0 for them.  I’ll remind you that it wasn’t as if the Jewish people were even in charge of their own government at this point in time.  They were under the ultimate authority of Rome.  So, when people started hearing that this man named Jesus had come into the world and that he was claiming to be the promised messiah sent by God, they got excited.  They couldn’t wait for the words of the prophets and the words of David to come true.  They couldn’t wait for God to use this long-awaited messiah to make the enemies of God’s chosen people a footstool.  They couldn’t wait to see their enemies and oppressors overthrown and for the people of God to be restored to their rightful place (that is, in any earthly manner of speaking of course).  However, that wasn’t exactly the plan that God had, and it wasn’t the work that Jesus came to accomplish.

                You see, God’s plan was on a much grander level.  The problem that the Jewish people had with it is a problem that we ought to relate to today.  Jesus wasn’t coming to reestablish an earthly kingdom that would run the course that all earthly kingdoms do.  No, he was coming to establish an eternal kingdom.  You would think that by definition that someone would want what is eternal and lasting over something that isn’t eternal and doesn’t last.  However, we, much like the Jewish people of that time, are far too often concerned with the immediate benefits and immediate blessings that we value those things as more important than something that we must wait for.  We don’t really care about the value of the two realities being compared, we just simply want our reward and we want it as fast as possible. 

                Very often in our house, the kids will want to go and do something that Amy and I already had planned for them to do.  However, very rarely does our timing and theirs sync up.  In an effort to not divulge our plans, Amy and I will often give them choices, but they are never really equal choices.  For example, let’s say that they want to go eat at Waffle House for dinner (which they love).  Now, we don’t mind taking them to Waffle House because we enjoy it too.  However, that particular day might not be the best time for us.  So, we will give them two choices: 1) eat at Waffle House today, or 2) eat at Waffle House tomorrow and pick up dessert on the way home.  Now, everyone in here can say that Waffle House and dessert is the obvious choice, but there is something to the draw of a desire being satisfied immediately that they choose every single time.  Invariably, we have to tell them that they only had the illusion of choosing which day we went and they end up mad at us; even though they are still going to get to eat Waffle House and maybe even still get dessert.

                So, why were the people so mad at Jesus only a short time after cheering him?  Well, it’s because their desire to have their immediate wants granted to them wasn’t met.  Jesus didn’t restore their wealth, power, influence, or way of life.  Many of them treated it as if Jesus was some miracle drug that immediately upon his entering into Jerusalem they started asking each other if they anything felt different yet.  As Jesus had been saying all along and as many of the prophets had proclaimed earlier, Jesus was coming to establish something that was lasting and eternal.  Just look again at the words spoken to Mary by the angel, “he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  Or perhaps the words spoken by Isaiah, “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over this kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”  You see, Jesus was and is different from all other kings, all other rulers that had ever or would ever exist.  He was different in many ways, but the most glaring is that He is God, and by definition He is eternal.  David died and his kingdom ended.  Caesar died and his kingdom ended.  All throughout history (both biblical and secular), we are told of kings building up kingdoms only to have those kingdoms begin to crumble after the death of their king.  However, Jesus is different.  There is no end to his kingdom.  There is no end to his reigning at the head of that kingdom.  Sure, it may not be a kingdom that we can imagine or that comes to mind when we first hear the word kingdom, but that doesn’t make it not a kingdom.  The absence of castles and moats and royal guards doesn’t make it not a kingdom.

                I’m going to ask you something that is going to seem really strange when I say it aloud (or at least it ought to).  Do you believe that Jesus is, right now as we speak, sitting on a throne at the right hand of God the Father?  Now, we would assume that everyone who calls themselves a Christian or at the very least considers it their obligation to attend a Christian worship service would answer in the affirmative.  However, do we live like that?  Do we live as if Jesus is the eternal king?  Do we live as if Jesus is the one who governs our very lives?  Or is it someone or something else that’s in charge?  Do you act as if you’re in charge of your life?  After all, who knows what’s best for you better than you, right?  Well, the answer, quite simply, is that Jesus knows what’s best for you and your life and your family and your friends and everyone or everything else you can think of.

                As Jesus was being examined and interviewed by Pontius Pilate prior to his being delivered over to be crucified, he made the status of his kingdom quite clear.  In the midst of Pilate’s questioning as to whether or not Jesus had called himself the King of the Jews, Pilate almost seems to reach a point of questioning whether or not Jesus understands the severity of the charges that had been leveled against him.  Jesus, looking directly at Pilate, simply says, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting the Jews.  But my kingdom is not of this world.”  The kingdom that Jesus came to establish isn’t of this world, and neither is our citizenship.  Philippians 3:20 (But our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ) and Hebrews 13:14 (For we have no lasting city, but we seek a city that is to come) make this clear.

                Friends, our citizenship is not of this world.  We are, in essence, strangers in a foreign land.  Do you ever wonder why it is that the more a person grows in their faith and their understanding in the gospel, the more they seem to become at odds with the world around them?  It’s not because the world is changing that fast, although that’s what we like to tell ourselves.  The truth of the matter is that evil has always existed; sin has always existed, at least since the fall.  The reality of it all is that the more that we grow in our understanding of the things of God, the more we will see that this earth is not our natural home.  Our home is with Jesus.  Our home is in the kingdom of God, with Jesus Christ as the king for all eternity.  However, that doesn’t mean that we all long for the day that we pass from this life into the next.  What it means is that we take orders from our king.  We follow the commands that he has given us.  We seek to complete the tasks that he has laid out before us.  We seek to establish his kingdom upon this earth.  We seek to build our lives and the lives of those around us upon the Word of God.  And we are to do so, while remembering that Jesus Christ reigns as our king upon his throne.  For he did not come to build an earthly kingdom, but an everlasting one that will last forever and ever. 

In the words of Dr. R.C. Sproul:  “Christ reigns now as the Lamb who is worthy to receive the kingdom of God.  That kingdom has begun and is growing, but it will not be consummated until Christ comes at the end of human history to subdue all kingdoms.  At that time, the kingdom, which is now invisible, will become visible.  But although the kingdom is now invisible, it is not unreal.  At the consummation, there will be a complete renovation of the created order as we know it, and Christ will establish His kingdom in its full glory forever.”  Amen.

Mary Did You Know (Part 3)

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During our Advent series entitled “Mary Did You Know?” we’ve asked the question as to whether or not Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, had any clue as to her son’s true power and identity there on the night of his birth in Bethlehem.  We’ve acknowledged that she knew something since the angel Gabriel did appear to her and tell her a bit about the child that was to be born to her, but did she have any clue about the magnitude of who this child really was.  We began by looking at Jesus’ miracles, primarily focusing on the fact that the miracles themselves weren’t the important matter, but were instead pointing to what was important, the crucifixion.  Certainly Mary had some grasp of the miracles of Jesus since her conception itself was a miracle.  Last Sunday, we talked about Jesus serving eternally in the office of prophet.  Remember, we said that a prophet is one who speaks for God to His people.  Jesus continues to serve in this office even this very moment as we speak.  He is the Word of God, by which we have the commands of God revealed to us.  Mary more than likely knew that Jesus was coming to proclaim God’s word, but to what extent she didn’t know for certain.

Well, today we’re going to turn Jesus around so-to-speak and examine his role as the eternal priest.  You see, whereas a prophet spoke from God to the people, a priest spoke or acted from the people towards God.  The priest was responsible for making the sacrifices to God that were required for the cleansing and forgiving of sins prior to entering the temple and coming into the presence of a holy God.  When we think about the office of a priest in reference to Scripture, what comes to mind most often is the Aaronic priesthood of Israel (which is also referred to as the Levitical priesthood in some circles).  These were the priests who were in charge of offering proper sacrifices and worship in the tabernacle while Israel wandered in the wilderness, and eventually in the temple after it had been constructed after their entering into the Promised Land.  We don’t have the time to go through and examine all of the things that the priests were required to do because it spans a good deal of the second half of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.  Which, as a side note, if you ever question whether we have it much easier to call ourselves worshippers of God today, just read the Pentateuch and you will see that our system of worship is much more simplistic than that of Old Testament Israel.  And all of that is because of the work of Jesus Christ.  Of course the argument could be made that because of the ease with which we are able to approach God, the awe and reverence that we ought to have for Him is sadly lost upon many Christians today.

Anyways, getting back to the examination of Jesus as our eternal priest, the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood isn’t the only priesthood mentioned in Scripture.  Psalm 110, the Old Testament text that is most frequently quoted in the New Testament, speaks of another priesthood, while also telling of the coming Messiah.  “The LORD says to my Lord:  ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’  The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.  Rule in the midst of your enemies!   Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.  The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’ (110:1-4)”  Do you remember the name Melchizedek coming up anywhere else previously in the Old Testament?  That’s right, in Genesis 14 we find this priest named Melchizedek blessing Abraham.  “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.  (He was priest of God Most High.)  And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’  And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (14:18-20)” 

So, we see that in Psalm 110, David, inspired by God, speaks of the coming Messiah as coming from the line of Melchizedek.  Well, the first question that we ask is why the Melchizedek priesthood and not the Levitical one established by God within Israel (His chosen people) there in the wilderness?  After all, we think that in this keeping of the biblical line that there would be this easy progression throughout, right?  Well, the simple answer is that the Melchizedek priesthood is greater than the Levitical one.  Let’s follow the flow of things shall we?  In order for Melchizedek to bless Abraham (Abram) as he did in Genesis 14, he would have had to be considered greater than Abraham.  Well, ultimately, Moses and his brother Aaron are descendants of Abraham, as is David.  Now we know that Jesus comes from the line of David, but he is “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” as the writer of Hebrews tells us in 7:17.  However, I want to back up a bit to earlier in the chapter when the writer of this epistle “compares” these two priesthoods.  “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham … and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything.  He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.  He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.  See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!  And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.  But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.  It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.  In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.  One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. (7:1-10)”.  So you see, we’re not breaking any covenantal lines here.  If anything, we are actually seeing the covenantal line strengthened and an even greater foreshadowing of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.  We’re seeing an even greater foreshadowing coming even earlier in the unfolding of redemptive history.

The writer of Hebrews then goes on to spend the rest of the seventh chapter of this epistle comparing Jesus to Melchizedek, but he also begins to turn his focus to Jesus’ serving as our eternal priest.  “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he (Jesus) holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.  For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.  He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (7:23-28)”.  Do you see the words here from the writer of Hebrews telling us of the greatness of Christ?  We often times in today’s world when hearing people speak about pastors say that “they’re people too.”  Yes, that’s very much the case.  We’re just as prone to disobedience and sin as anyone else…maybe even more so than some.  Well, the priests of the old covenant were people too.  I’m just as in need of the saving blood of Jesus as anyone else today.  They were just as much in need of those sacrifices to cleanse themselves as the people were then. 

However, when it comes to Jesus, there is no need for Jesus to make atonement for his sin because he never sinned.  He is completely, totally, and eternally without sin.  He also offered a sacrifice that was much greater than anything offered by the Levitical priests.  Even though they followed all of those laws about sacrifices that are contained in the Pentateuch to the finest detail, their sacrifices weren’t sufficient.  Hebrews 10:4 says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.”  Well, that’s what the priests were sacrificing; that’s what they were commanded to sacrifice.  However, it wasn’t enough.  But Jesus; Jesus’ sacrifice was different.  His sacrifice was much great than an animal and instead of a sacrifice that needed repeating it was a once for all sacrifice.  Now, don’t mistakenly think that I’m saying that Jesus continuously keeps repeating this sacrifice as a means of satisfying the wrath and justice of God.  Christ continues in this role as priest by his continuous intercession for us as he resides with the Father.  However, his sacrifice was a once for all time event.  The event that we remember in greater earnest through our partaking of the elements on the table that stands before us today; we remember the one-time sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The eternality of his priesthood isn’t merely his sacrifice lasting for all time, but also in his active role as our advocate with the Father.  We said last Sunday that Jesus still serves in his role as prophet even at this very moment, and that he will continue to serve in that role until such time as the new heaven and new earth are fully established.  Well, the same is true of his role as the eternal priest.  The sacrifice has already been made, but the accounting it to our behalf and bestowing upon us the blessings that come from it are a continuous work.  Jesus Christ is at this very moment making intercession for us wretched sinners before a just God.  Doesn’t that fact just astound and astonish you?

Last Sunday, I closed by asking you the question of whether or not your life was governed by Christ; whether you followed the commands of God (conveyed through Jesus as the eternal prophet and Word of God) or something of this world?  Well, I want to ask another question about how you live your life.  Do you live your life as if Jesus is the eternal priest; your eternal priest?  Do you live as if the only reason or means that you have any hope of salvation is because Jesus is actively working for it at this very moment?  Or do you live as if your being nice to someone, your giving of your money or time, or your being a decent person are your hopes for salvation.  I’m not diminishing those things.  As we’ve said before, those are good works that ought to flow naturally from our faith.  What I’m asking is if you can honestly look yourself in the mirror and say that you’re nothing without Jesus.  Can you stare at your reflection, thinking about all the things that you’ve done in this life and all the things that you consider yours and acknowledge that you’re nothing without Jesus?  Nothing that we do or have done means a thing without Jesus.  That is his role as the eternal priest.  Through his sacrifice and his atoning work, we are made righteous and forgiven, so that we may come into the presence of our Heavenly Father.

What If Our Passions Were After God

     So, I've finally figured out that I indeed can't have my cake and eat it too...I can't have Facebook and football.  I can have one or the other, but not both at the same time.  It's something that Amy has been telling me for a long time, and I'll tell you when I finally realized that she was right.  Much to my displeasure, my alma mater (Mississippi State University) fell flat in our annual regular season finale against Ole Miss, our in-state rival a few Saturdays ago.  I mean, it wasn't even a game really.  Amy and I got home from our Thanksgiving travels right before kickoff, and before we have the cars fully unloaded, the score was 21-0 bad guys.  Come on guys...it was even senior day.  Possibly the greatest player in MSU history, Dak Prescott, was playing his final home game.  Everything was in place for a storybook ending to an outstanding career...at least until the game started.
 
     Over the course of the next few hours, I watched in complete disgust every time our bulldogs would show some glimmer of hope, things turned in the opposite direction.  "If we can just get a stop here and score quickly" turned into "how do we not cover that guy."  Amy could see that both my patience and my sanity were both floating right out the window.  She even told one of the kids that it would probably be best if no one bothered daddy the rest of the night.

     Now, I'm not usually one to get irrational about football, but this game is different.  This is a game that for me literally causes a divided family.  However, even in moments where I get wrapped up in it, I'm over it by the next day.  I've never understood the person who because of an athletic team that they aren't a part of losing, that somehow their week is shot.  I'm the type of person who gets upset in the moment, but for the most part I'm able to quickly put it behind me.  My issue comes in (and this is where the newly established no Facebook rule comes in) in getting through the game and back to the level of sanity that I typically have without saying or doing anything foolish.

     As the game was coming to an end and it was more than obvious that there was no miracle comeback to be made in Starkville that day, I took a cheap shot.  For those who don't keep up with college sports, it can be a pretty dirty business.  Coaches, alumni, and boosters are always accused of "buying" certain recruits to get them to come and play for their respective schools.  It's widely acknowledged that this takes place nearly everywhere to varying degrees.  That's not to say that it isn't illegal or that it isn't a detestable practice, but just that it's a reality.  Well, several of the key players for Ole Miss had some stories come out about their recruitment falling into this category, so I focused in on that.  [To be fair, several of the players of MSU have had similar stories written about them as well]  I wrote something to the effect of at least Ole Miss spent their money on quality players.  I know that it was a tasteless comment, but I didn't really view it as that big of a deal, especially not in that moment.  I expected to get a lot of Hotty Toddy's (their chant of sorts) back in return, which I did.  I knew that folks would let me have it (which they did), but I didn't expect what I saw.  People that I haven't spoken to in years were commenting, sending me messages, and really getting upset over what I had said.  In the span of only a few minutes, I had more people engaged in a conversation on social media than I had in quite some time...and that's when it hit me.

     I'm on social media a good bit (I wonder at times if I'm not on it too much).  For the most part, I enjoy reading articles, sharing things, and keeping up with old friends.  I've previously written about it on this blog.  However, it occurred to me during this "debate" that began Saturday night and ran well into Sunday morning how shameful it is that the passion for the gospel isn't as deep as the passion for athletics in our world.  Look, we've all heard the lines about the biggest church in Baton Rouge, LA being open on Saturday night, filled with Catholics, but there isn't a Bible anywhere in the place.  And that's not a situation unique to Baton Rouge, but is a reality in virtually all communities where major college football, professional football, or any other major sport exists.  The thing that kept ringing in my mind all throughout the day on Sunday was the fact that I see all types of Christian articles and blogs posted on Facebook pages, but none of them generate the volume of responses that something about an athletic event generates.  Quotes from great theological minds don't seem as important to folks as the latest shot that can be taken at someone with an opposing ideology.  Now, I'm not talking about those "Share if you love Jesus" posts; I'm talking about actual gospel proclamation.  I've posted several articles in the past few months with little-to-no feedback whatsoever.  However, the second that I posted anything against a college football team, you would have thought that I rented an ad that was running during halftime at the Super Bowl.

     Look, I'm slowly learning my lesson about reacting to things in the moment; especially athletics.  It's a slow process, but I'm getting there.  The newest challenge that has arisen out of all of this in my life is to see the people in my geographic area (south Louisiana and the Southeast in general) come to have a passion for the gospel that not only drawfs their passion for football, but makes it seem as if they don't even keep up with it.  Yes, I know that it goes without saying that that should have been my goal all along, and you're right.  I guess I just didn't see the (attempted) choking out of faith that our desire for athletics has on our society as a whole.

Mary Did You Know (Part 2) - Luke 2:1-20; Deuteronomy 18:15

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                Now, I know that many of us in this room have read and/or heard the different accounts of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and the state of affairs in that region at that point in history so many times that we feel like we pretty much know all that can realistically be known about that night in Bethlehem.  However, simply because something can’t be known fully doesn’t (nor should it) stop us from asking various questions about it.  One of the questions that commonly gets asked of these events is if they were expected; was the birth of Jesus expected?  Now, this may seem like a bit of an odd question.  After all, we have all of the numerous prophecies of the Old Testament about how the Messiah would come into the world and what he would do once he was here.  We know that Jesus is referred to at various points as the long-awaited Messiah.   So, the short answer to whether or not these events were expected is yes.  Maybe not every detail, but these events were anticipated in a general sense.  Well, do you know where most of these expectations came from?  As I mentioned a moment ago, they came from those prophecies that we find in the Old Testament.  They, of course, all have God as their source of origin, but they were delivered to His people through prophets.  A prophet was someone who spoke for God to His people.  God’s will for His people was revealed through the speaking of a prophet, who himself had received God’s instructions via dreams, direct hearings, or some other theophany.  God would also from time-to-time reveal future events that were to come in the life of His people; these were called prophecies.  Well, God had spoken through various prophets for some time revealing little pieces about who the coming Messiah was to be.  We refer to these specific prophecies as Messianic prophecies.

                One of the earliest revelations about the coming Messiah comes to us from Moses’ words to the nation of Israel just before they were to enter into the Promised Land.  In Deuteronomy 18, Moses tells the Israelites, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.”  Moses then goes on to remind the people of the events that happened previously, during their wanderings in the wilderness, when the people fully acknowledged that they needed someone to stand between themselves and God because of their sinfulness.  They not only acknowledged their need for someone to stand in such a place, but begged God to provide them with that person.  “Don’t just let us pick someone, but you choose who should stand between yourself and us.”  And God tells them that He will do just that in his words to Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.  And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”  So, the question that we’re going to ask and somewhat answer is whether or not Mary, Jesus’ mother who was looking into his newborn eyes that night, had any idea that her son was the eternal prophet promised by Moses some roughly 1500 years prior to Jesus’ birth.

                Now, as we said last week, it would be pretty unlikely for Mary to have a completely accurate idea of the magnitude of who Jesus really was there in that moment.  The truth of the matter is that she was probably still dealing with a little bit of the euphoria of delivering this child into the world.  The reality that she was now a mother was still setting in.  All of the emotions that come with this life-changing event were more than likely raging inside of her then just as they do within most women who give birth today.  However, because of the visit from the angel Gabriel telling her that she was to give birth to the Son of God and because of Joseph’s being visited by the Lord during a dream, they both knew full-well that there was something different about this child that wasn’t like anyone before.  I mean, it’s not as if there hadn’t been some pretty amazing births already recorded in Scripture.  Think back to the births of Isaac or Moses or Samuel.  In a few of these cases we’re told of either barrenness or age or a combination of the two on the part of their mothers leading to it being highly unlikely that these children would be born.  Yet, they were born in God’s unfolding of His eternal plan.  In the case of Moses, the situation that existed with the slaying of all Hebrew boys was even more bleak-looking than Herod’s vendetta to kill Jesus.  I mean, we need only look at John the Baptist’s birth to see God’s overcoming of Elizabeth’s (a relative of Mary’s) barrenness to bring John into the world.  However, none of these miraculous births and survivals are as amazing or incredible as the virgin birth.  So, Mary (and Joseph as well) had to know that there was something much greater about this particular child, something much greater than the world had ever known.  They know that this child isn’t just some man of God like the world has seen come and go, but something entirely different.

                Now, I don’t want to get off on too much of a tangent here, but there are those who will fully acknowledge that Jesus was a prophet.  However, they won’t acknowledge that he is the eternal prophet who serves this very day as our advocate with the Father.  That’s an important distinction to be aware of.  For example, those in the Muslim tradition will point out that Jesus speaks numerous times about his being sent by the Father and they take these references to mean that he is merely referring to himself as just a prophet.  They point to texts like Matthew 13:57 and Jesus’ words to the people of Nazareth when he told them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” as proof that even Jesus acknowledged himself to be merely a prophet.  Well, there are two things there that need to be cleared up.  First, Jesus’ acknowledgment of himself as a prophet doesn’t mean that he isn’t something else in addition to being a prophet.  I would acknowledge that I’m a pastor, that doesn’t mean that I can’t be a judge or a doctor or some other profession as well.  Now, I’m not, but I know of several ministers who have other professions in addition to the pastorate.  The second thing of note in this misinterpretation of Jesus as merely a prophet is that it is incorrect exegesis of the original Greek.  The word that is translated “prophet” has no other possible meaning.  The word that is translated “angel” can also be translated as “messenger” or “one who is sent out for the purpose of proclamation.”  So, we can’t mistake Jesus’ words about being sent by the Father and make him merely a messenger for God.  After all, part of the job of a prophet was proclamation, so there is going to be some overlap.  To view Jesus as merely a prophet is to incorrectly reduce the significance of who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish.

                If we were to turn our attention to John 4 and read the account of Jesus at the well with the woman of Samaria, we would find that after a moment of conversation that the woman said to Jesus, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”  However, only a mere 10 verses later, her understanding of Jesus grows and she recognizes him as the Messiah.  “Can this be the Christ?” she says in verse 29.  She sees that Jesus was much more than a mere prophet.  Another example in John’s gospel of Jesus being much more than what we may think at first is found in the very first words of this account.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God” (1:1-2).  You see, Jesus didn’t only proclaim the Word of God; He is the Word of God.  Perhaps the clearest statement on the superiority of Jesus comes to us from the opening words of the epistle to the Hebrews (1:1-2).  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”  Are you starting to see how all of this adds up?  When we take the prophecies of the Old Testament and the revelations that God gave to Joseph and Mary and we put those with Jesus’ own words about himself (words like “For I have not spoken of my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak” John 12:49), then the picture of Jesus being the faithful prophet of the New Testament becomes even clearer.  Jesus is the fuller and more perfect prophet than all those who have proceeded him.  All of the prophets that had come before Jesus have one thing in common; their time of God speaking through them came to an end.  However, that isn’t the case with Jesus.  There is an eternality to his serving in the role of prophet.  Also, it isn’t as if his speaking to God’s people about God is something that he knows little about.  In fact, he knows all there is to know because he is God himself.  As R.C. Sproul says, “Jesus is not just the subject of prophecy; He is the chief object of prophecy.  He did not just teach about the future or declare the Word of God; He is the Word of God, and He is the focal point of all the prophetic teaching of the Old Testament.”

                So, we may not be able to come to a definitive conclusion on whether or not Mary knew that the baby boy that she was looking at was the eternal prophet, the promised Messiah.  She might have.  At the very least, we could assume that she had a good idea about some aspects of Jesus being the One whom God would speak through to His people.  However, we can come to a conclusion on whether or not we know that Jesus is the once for all prophet of God.  Do you live your life as if Jesus still serves as the eternal prophet?  I know that that sounds like a bit of an odd question at first.  Let me clarify, do you live as if the only rule for your life is that which is given to us through Jesus?  Is your life governed by the Word of God?  Or is your life governed or commanded by something else?  Do you take orders from the things of this world (your desires, earthly governments, society in general)?  If your identity as a Christian, as one who is obedient only to the commands of God, came in direct conflict with your personal security, the security of your family, your financial security, or your health, which one wins out?  I know that’s a tough question to answer.  I also know that many of you are saying to yourselves, “Well, God would never ask me to choose between Him and my family.”  No, God wouldn’t make us choose, we’re the ones who choose without even being asked.  We’re the ones who seek personal desires over the kingdom of God.  We’re the ones who take care of ourselves first and then worry about everyone else. 

                The reality of the matter is that for many, life is lived as if Jesus isn’t the eternal prophet.  For many, we take as much guidance and leadership from our own experiences and understanding as we do from Christ’s commands for us.  “My previous experience in this situation dictates how I’m going to approach this more than my following Christ.”  As we’ve said already, Mary may not have known the full extent of Jesus’ serving as the eternal prophet, but we do…at least to some extent.  Maybe we should take the advice that Mary gave to the servants in the text that we looked at last Sunday at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you.”  In other words, live as if Jesus is in charge of your life and not as if you are the one in charge.

Mary Did You Know (Part 1) - Luke 2:1-20; John 2:1-10

For audio click here.

                I realize that it seems a little early in the Advent season to go ahead and read the account of Jesus’ birth.  Well, the truth of the matter is that we are going to read this exact same text each time we gather leading up to the celebration of Christmas and we’re going to ask ourselves the very same question each time:  Mary, did you know?  Yes, the very same question as the title to the very popular Christmas song written by Mary Lowry back in the mid-1980’s and rerecorded many times since then.  Each Sunday, we’re going to ask if Mary had any idea about a particular aspect of what her son Jesus was actually going to do during his earthly ministry (and even beyond to some extent).  We’re going to ask if she had any idea who he really was.  This Sunday we’re going to ask ourselves if Mary had any idea about the signs and miracles that her son would perform and what they meant.

                I’ve often said that having a child becomes real for a mother long before it becomes real for a father.  Whether it’s the moment that the test comes back positive or someone buys that first present, the woman feels like a mother.  Maybe it’s that first battle with heartburn or the first sleepless night or even the joy (that quickly turns to pain) of the baby kicking in her stomach, the woman feels like a mother.  Do you want to know when a man feels like a father?  For some, it’s that moment when they hand your baby to you after delivery.  However, for most men it’s that first moment when all of the hustle and bustle quiets down and we are left holding our precious gift from God in our arms.  Now, I’ve been blessed to experience this three times in my life, but there was something different about when Ashby was born that the boys didn’t have (something more than just the fear of being a parent and realizing that someone else’s life was my responsibility).  I can remember looking into her bluish/grey eyes and wondering who she was going to be.  It was something that I had never known with any person in my life.  The possibilities were (and are) literally endless for who that little girl might become and what she could do with her life.

                Over the last almost seven years, I remember that moment every time I read this passage and the same question roams through my mind each time:  I wonder what Mary was thinking when she looked into Jesus’ eyes.  Obviously, she knew from the fact that the angel Gabriel had revealed to her who Jesus really was that her son was someone unlike any the world had known before.  We know that she understood that Immanuel (the name that the Lord revealed to Joseph in a dream) literally means God with us.  However, I’ve often wondered if even she had any clue who Jesus really was and what he came to do.  Did she fully know and believe that her son was the long awaited Messiah of God’s people?  For example, what did she think each time that her son performed a miracle?  If we look at the second chapter of John’s gospel, we find one of Jesus’ most famous miracles, his turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  One thing that is different about this miracle that isn’t necessarily present with all the other miracles is that Jesus’ mother was actually present while this miracle was performed.  Also, keep in mind that this was his first miracle to perform.  So, it’s not like Mary had heard of all of the wondrous things that Jesus had done elsewhere prior to this.  John 2 reads, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’  And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’  His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”

                Now, we know that Jesus goes on to turn the water from six large stone purification pots into not just wine, but the best wine of the evening.  We’re not going to dissect this miracle for the specific details that are contained within it.  We did that only a few years ago when we walked through John’s gospel.  However, I will remind you of what a miracle really was; Jesus’ miracles where much more significant than the physical action that is recorded in Scripture.  When Jesus performed a miracle, what he was ultimately doing was pointing to the greatest miracle that was to come, his work upon the cross and his glorious resurrection.  In fact, the Greek word that is translated miracle can also be translated as sign (something pointing to something else).  His reference here to his hour having not yet come is a reference to the hour of his crucifixion not being at hand.  Sure, he turned water into wine, but the ultimate purpose behind this miracle or sign was to point to himself as the promised Messiah.  We can’t make the mistake of separating the miracles that he performed during his earthly ministry from his work upon the cross.  It’s just like how we can’t separate Jesus’ calls for compassion, mercy, and love from his call to leave all the things of this world and follow him.  It’s foolish to appeal to any one aspect of Jesus’ mission and not all of the call to be a follower of Christ, especially when the aspects that we want to appeal to are merely signs that are pointing towards his primary purpose.  I’ve heard folks say recently that certain works of compassion and caring are the most Jesus-like things they’ve ever seen.  My response has continuously been, “No, the most Jesus thing to do is to die upon the cross so that mankind might find forgiveness of sins.”  You see it’s simple:  you can’t have Jesus without the crucifixion and resurrection.  Without these aspects of Christ’s work, we’re simply being moralists and not followers or disciples of Jesus.

                Now, as far as this particular miracle goes and it’s pertaining to our specific look at Mary’s understanding of who her son was, did you notice what she told the servants at the wedding after Jesus reminded her that his time had not yet come?  Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do.  I’ve often found it interesting that Mary would even go to her son in the first place when it came to the issue of having no wine at this wedding.  After all, Jesus wasn’t in charge of this event, but an invited guest just like everyone else.  Also, we know that Jesus’ trade was in carpentry and not wine-making.  Why would she go to him with this problem unless she knew that he had the power to do something about it?  John Calvin suggests that Mary had no expectation of Jesus producing more wine but instead was looking to him to give some pious exhortation that would relieve the guests of their uneasiness.  After all, it was seen as an insult to them for there not to be enough wine.  However, because of his having done no prior signs, it’s highly unlikely that Mary expected anything along the lines of the events that took place.

                Regardless of her expectations, she knows that whatever Jesus is about to do is for the good of everyone.  Imagine how much better the world would be if we just took Mary’s words to the servants in a general sense.  “Do whatever [Jesus] tells you.”  Mary realizes that Jesus, even though he is only a guest, is in control of this situation.  We see an understanding on her part that there is no authority other than Jesus.  We’re not told of her going to the host of the party, the father of the bride, or any of the servants.  We’re told of her seeing a need and running directly to Jesus and laying the matter at his feet.  We see from this example that if we desire anything from Christ, we will not obtain our wishes, unless we depend on him alone, look to him alone, and do whatever he commands of us.

                Now, as I’ve said already, this was much more than a mere transformation of one substance to another.  This was much more than a taking of something natural and common and making it into something that was synonymous with joy.  This was something to point the way to Jesus as Messiah and Lord.  If we look at the closing words of this account in John’s gospel, we read, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”  The works of Jesus are great and wonderful.  We love reading about his healing people of their infirmities, his driving out demons, and things like that.  However, we cannot miss the ultimate reality that they are much bigger than the actions themselves.  They are signs that are pointing the way to the cross, to the Messiah, and to God.

                So, did Mary have any idea about the miracles that her son would perform?  Well, we can assume from the text in John 2 that she didn’t know on that starry night there in the manger in Bethlehem.  However, she did come to see the power of Jesus’ works and the sign in which they were pointing to.  She grew in her understanding of who her son was just as we must grow in our understanding of who he is.  We can’t reduce Jesus down to his miracles or his teaching or his good works, but we must come to know him for the totality of who he is.  He is our One True Hope, the promised Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the eternal prophet, priest, and king.  Jesus Christ is the Son of Man, the Lion of Judah, and the Good Shepherd.  Jesus Christ is everything to us.

Ephesians 6:18-24 "The Call to Prayer"

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Today we’re going to finish our look at Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, but we’re going to have to back up a bit to do so.  I know that after I finished last week several of you commented that you wished that we had gone more in depth with different pieces of the armor of God or the way in which all the pieces work together, but there just simply wasn’t time.  I didn’t have time to really dive into things as deep as I could have or would have liked to.  That’s one of the difficulties that comes with constructing a sermon without it having a one hour delivery time.  Unfortunately, there are times (nearly every Sunday) when you simply have to gloss over something in the interest of time.  Well, every now and then you get lucky and the way that the schedule falls affords you a chance to go back and revisit something.  So, with that being said, we’re getting lucky today.  We’re going to be backing up to verse 18 to begin this final reading from Ephesians, and there are some things that went largely unsaid last Sunday that we will see more fully today, specifically in the area of prayer. (Read Ephesians 6:18-24)

Now, we’ve been talking each week since around the beginning of August about the audience and the central message of this epistle.  Essentially, it is a message to a church (a healthy one at that) about the Church and what the Church is to look like and how she ought to function.  It’s a message about how a church that is rightly focused upon God and the keeping of His commands ought to look and the things that they ought to be concerned with.  And I don’t think that it can be lost on us here that despite having just given us a good deal about loving one another, imitating God, submitting to Christ, and being prepared for the spiritual warfare that exists in the world, that Paul would choose to end his word to this church by talking about something quite unoriginal, yet foundational.  Paul ends this letter by talking about prayer and the power of it.

Prayer is one of the most foundational elements of a person’s faith.  It’s also one of the easiest spiritual disciplines for us to do and keep regularly.  I mean, you don’t even have to be good at it for you do it.  There’s a certain aptitude that must be present to preach.  There’s a certain knowledge that needs to be had to teach.  There are particular skills and characteristics that a person needs to have to do mercy ministries.  If we were to comb through the entirety of the New Testament and pull out all of those things that we would consider to be spiritual gifts, we would end up with a pretty extensive list.  Our list would be no shorter than 9 or 10 and possibly even as long as 20 gifts.  Some would be things like teaching, preaching, and governing, that are still universally acknowledged as being active in the life of the Church today.  Other things, like speaking in tongues and prophesying, would be on that list, but are not universally acknowledged to still take place today.  However, do you know what wouldn’t be on that list anywhere?  Prayer; prayer would be nowhere on the list of spiritual gifts.  Do you know why that is?  Well, the simple answer is that prayer isn’t a gift, but it is instead a responsibility or an obligation that falls upon all Christians; albeit an all-to-often neglected and forgotten responsibility.

Paul ends his letter to the Ephesians by telling them that they are to “pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.  To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”  Did you notice the repeated use of the word “all” in that one verse (v.18)?  Pray at all times using all kinds of prayers, praying always for all the saints.  It’s verses like this that cause us to have to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves about the state of our prayer lives.  When do you pray?  Do you pray in times of struggle or times of difficult decisions?  Do you pray before enjoying a meal (even when you’re in a rush and just say a quick blessing)?  Do you pray during your daily devotional time?  Do/did you pray with your kids before they go to bed at night?  Do you have a set amount of time that you try and pray each day?  All of these things are wonderful rules, principles, and guidelines to have when it comes to prayer.  However, the sad reality is that it’s never enough.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it’s never enough to please God.  I’m saying that it’s never enough to fully cover all the prayers of adoration for God, confession of sin, thanksgiving, and supplication that we have at any given moment on any given day.

Several years ago I was convicted by a friend of mine who was someone whom I viewed to have a rich prayer life.  If we were having a conversation and anything in the conversation seemed to even need the slightest amount of prayer, he would want to stop the conversation and pray for it.  I’m not talking about saying that he would be praying for it; I mean literally stopping everything and praying right there on the spot.  When we would talk on the phone, he would want to end every conversation with a prayer.  Now, I’m a fan of prayer, but in the sinful and shameful rushed and hurried pace to life that I was living at the time I didn’t think that I had time for all of that praying.  I had things to do; I couldn’t “waste” all that time in prayer.  I started sort of going out of my way to avoid him just so I wouldn’t get caught in that prayer/time vacuum that followed him.  Finally, one day when I was in a huge hurry to go and get something done, I ran into him and after a rushed conversation, he asked me if I had time to pray with him.  Stressed out as I was (I know it’s a poor excuse), I asked him if he prayed before getting the mail that he didn’t get hit by a car on the way to the mailbox, or if he got up in the middle of the night and prayed for safe travels to the bathroom and back.  Now, as I said those words, the absurdity of what I had said hit me like a ton of bricks.  He and I were able to laugh off what I had said, but the wrecking ball effect that it had upon my conscience and my soul was immeasurable.

I walked away from that conversation wondering how I could be so foolish and treat prayer as if it was some bothersome task that I was asked to undertake.  How could I think such thoughts about a dear friend whose only goal was to help others bring their problems to the only One who can solve any problem?  How foolish was I to have such a lowly view of prayer.  In teaching our children what prayer is, the simplistic definition that Amy and I have gone with is that prayer in an opportunity to speak with God and to thank Him for all the wonderful things He has done for us, confessing all the ways in which we’ve failed Him (knowing that He forgives us), and asking Him for help in the areas where we need His help and guidance.  How could I have let my life become so consumed with anything else that I could ever view prayer as anything other than the greatest privilege a person could ever imagine.  It’s like me getting invited to the Super Bowl and passing up the opportunity because my yard needed to be cut.  What kind of idiot would pass that up?  Well, what kind of idiot would think that what he had to get done was more important than spending time with God?  This idiot.

Prayer isn’t a burden, but a blessing.  When we neglect our responsibility to pray, we’re not only neglecting something that God has called us to do, but we are not enjoying one of the greatest gifts that He has given us also.  It is right to pray in seasons of struggle, but it’s just as right and necessary to pray in seasons of blessing and joy.  It’s a good habit to pray at the beginning and end of each day, but don’t forget to sprinkle in some prayer throughout your day as well.  Take everything to the Lord.  Take everything to Him all the time.  Don’t just pray for your friends and family, but for your enemies as well.  Jesus, during the Sermon on the Mount, specifically calls us to pray for those who persecute us.  I know that it can be a hard thing at times, but it’s what we’re commanded to do.  No one ever said it was going to be easy being a Christian.  In fact, as we’ve seen recently in our study of this epistle, Paul actually taught that the opposite is true; that it’s difficult to be a Christian.  I’ll admit to you that I’ve struggled with how to pray over all of the acts of violence and terrorism lately.  I’ve struggled with how to pray about the issue of American security vs. Christian compassion and empathy.  These aren’t easy matters for us to deal with, and that’s because we’re feeble and finite.  The only hope that we have of having any proper guidance when it comes to issues like this is to seek the One who is infinite and upholds all of creation by the power of His word.  And thanks be to God that my seeking Him isn’t based upon the eloquence or effectiveness of my prayer, but on the sincerity of my heart and outworking of His wonderful and glorious plan for His creation.

So, why does Paul choose to end his letter to this thriving, vibrant, and healthy congregation by calling them to constant prayer and reminding them of the importance of prayer?  So that the mystery of the gospel might be proclaimed.  All of the application of Paul’s message about being called by God for the work that is at hand is nothing without prayer.  Like we said last Sunday about having the armor of God on our bodies and having no idea how to use it ultimately leaves us nearly just as vulnerable as we would be without it, having all the answers and all the knowledge without spending time with God is useless.  Do you know what point in my life that story I told you about earlier happened?  It happened while I was in seminary.  Yeah, while I was training to become a pastor I neglected prayer.  The events that were so important to me, those were the long hours spent in the library trying to pound out final papers for a handful of classes during 10 hour days in the library.  I was writing papers on the doctrines and gifts of God and missing the most fundamental one aside from Jesus.  Let me tell you from personal experience that it is far too easy to miss the trees for the forest.  It’s far too easy to set our focus so intently upon something else that we miss what is right in front of us.

I want you to think back to all the things that we’ve seen in this letter.  Our being called by God to be His is revealed to us in prayer.  Our understanding of God’s grace and the strengthening of our faith comes through prayer.  Our union with one another in Christ is nurtured through prayer.  The Church is strengthened in prayer.  Our taking off of the old self and putting on the new is made possible and lasting only through the constant power of prayer.  Our submission to one another in our earthly relationships and to God in our heavenly one is a work that comes about through prayer.  And our right adorning of the armor of God is made possible by prayer.  Praying to God is one of the most basic, fundamental, and foundational aspects of our faith.  As I’ve said, it’s not something that you have to be particularly good at to do it.  It’s something that we teach even the youngest and newest of Christians to do.  The question that we must ask is if we’re doing it enough.  Are you praying enough?

We’re going to end our look at Ephesians with a challenge.  I want to challenge all of you in your prayer life.  I know that the surveys that many of you turned in back a few months ago had a question about your prayer life.  Almost everyone who turned it in said that they wanted to do more.  Well, do it.  What’s stopping you?  Many said that they try and pray every day but forget.  Well, don’t forget.  We work at training ourselves to remember to eat, to take medicines, and all sorts of other things.  Make prayer one of those things.  Make prayer something that if you go hours without it then you start to hunger for it.  Make prayer such a foundational part of your daily life and your faith that the desire for prayer begins to grow and grow within your heart.  May your prayers be used to glorify God and to proclaim His name boldly.  May our prayers as a church glorify God and give us the eyes to enjoy Him forever.  That is why we exist, and that is our primary purpose in this life.  That’s what Paul was trying to get across to the Ephesians; the Christian needs constant and regular prayer.

Ephesians 6:10-20 "It's A War Out There"

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                “It’s a war out there!”  This is a phrase that has often been used to prepare people in one setting for the reality that they are about to be faced with in a soon-to-be setting.  A football coach may recite these words to his players in a pregame speech.  A commanding officer would undoubtedly tell his troops of the vast difference that exists between the transport and the battlefield using these words.  Students are given similar words during their training, prior to entering the workplace.  All of these examples carry with them various levels of severity when it comes to interpreting the term “war”.  However, there is perhaps no more right or immediate usage of that phrase than had Paul used it here in our text.  You see, he was preparing the Ephesian Christians for a war.  But unlike most other wars, this war had been ongoing since almost the beginning of the earth, and will continue until the establishment of the new heaven and new earth that we read about in Revelation 21.  This war, while being played out physically, is really a war that is being waged within the hearts and minds of every human being.  Paul was preparing these Christians for what is known as spiritual warfare.  He wanted them to know just how real it was and is and exactly how they should prepare for battle.

                If you remember, he’s been telling them about the Church and about their relationship with God.  He began by telling them about their being chosen by God and kept in Him through faith in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  He told them of the great unity and togetherness that we as Christians are to have in being united in Christ.  He’s talked about how the truths that all Christians are made to understand are some of the greatest treasures that we could ever hope to have.  Paul has talked about how God not only calls us to a new way of life, but He actually delivers us to that new way.  God not only tells us that we ought to be better, but He shows us exactly how we are to be better.  God works in our hearts and causes us to want to shed the old self and put on this new life that is found in Jesus.  If you recall, I summed up the last few Sundays last week by saying that what we really need in order to grow closer to God is to just submit and understand that it is God and God alone who is rightly in control of our lives.  Well, lest someone get the idea that what I’m calling for (or more importantly what Paul is calling for) is some “Jesus take the wheel” type of approach to life, where all we have to do is just sit back and wait for Jesus to take care of everything, our text for today tells us otherwise.  Our text for today is the words of preparation that we need to hear and take to heart if we are going to lives as Christians in this fallen world.

                Paul doesn’t want either the original audience or futures audiences (us) to read the first 5½ chapters of this letter and think that everything about the Christian faith is easy.  He doesn’t want us to get the impression that once we have Jesus in our lives, once we take off the old self and put on the new, once we submit fully to Christ, that things are going to be easy.  Paul doesn’t want us to mistakenly think that because we have done exactly what he has called us to do that our days will be filled with nothing but sunny skies and calm weather.  Paul knows that it’s going to be hard, and he’s trying to prepare us as best he can for that reality.  He tells us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”  You don’t need armor for just walking around during times of peace.  You only need armor when you are in the midst of a battle, and Paul is telling us to be sure and have the full armor of God on at all times.

                Now, we’ll look at the armor itself in just a moment, but I want to take a minute and talk about the most important thing in any battle:  the enemy.  Verse 12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  Now, don’t be confused and think that Paul is saying that we are at war with governments here.  What Paul is doing is he’s building an escalating list of enemies.  He’s starting with things of the lowest magnitude (our own flesh and earthly forces) and going all the way up to spiritual forces of evil.  Are we going to struggle with our own flesh, corrupt rulers, and unjust authorities?  Absolutely; but the struggle against them is nothing but an offshoot of the real struggle that we have against our primary enemy of Satan.  Yes, we struggle with sin, but sin is ultimately just a tool used by Satan to find us at our weakest moments or in our most vulnerable places so that he may work at driving us farther away from God.  So, we’re not fighting against some unknown enemy, but an enemy that is quite well known.  Sure, we may be able to physically see evil sometimes, but not always.  We need not mistake unseen for unknown.

                The question then becomes, “how do we go about fighting this unseen enemy?”  The answer is that we fight him using the armor of God.  “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”  There are two things I want to point out very quickly before looking individually at the pieces of God’s armor.  The first is that we are to put on the WHOLE armor of God.  We can’t just place importance upon one area of our faith, but have to be concerned with the entirety of it.  This point will become clearer after we look at the pieces of God’s armor.  The second thing that I want to point out is that even though we are going out into war, the majority of this armor is defensive.  In fact, 5 of the 6 pieces of the armor of God are more defensive than offensive.  Plus, just look at some of the reasons that we just saw for putting on this whole armor:  to withstand, to stand firm.  These are more indicative of standing one’s ground than moving forward.

                Now, as quickly as I can, I want to cover the pieces of the armor of God.  And I want you to notice that each of the pieces described here by Paul correlates to a piece of armor worn by a typical Roman soldier of the day.  First, we have the belt of truth.  A soldier’s belt would have supported and protected his lower abdomen, gathered his tunic together, and held his sword, giving him confidence.  We could draw a connecting line to the confidence that comes from having a certainty about the truthfulness of God’s Word.  Next, there is the breastplate of righteousness, which allows us to be able to withstand accusations of the devil and gives us a certain level of protection against Satan.  A righteous life will go a long way to protecting our hearts from being pierced by Satan.  We’re then told of shoes for the readiness of the gospel.  A Roman soldier’s sandals gave him stability and protection during battle.  The shoes in God’s armor protect and prepare us for the battle that is at hand.  Then there’s the shield of faith, protection from the darts of Satan.  The shield of a Roman was quite sturdy and made to cover his entire body during an onslaught of arrows.  Our faith in Christ is what covers us completely and protects us from falling victim to a fiery arrow from Satan.  The fifth piece of the armor of God is the helmet of salvation.  For Paul, salvation is a present experience as well as a future hope.  The believer’s final ground of confidence is the faithfulness of God to complete the salvation He has already begun.   Finally, we come to the only purely offensive weapon in the armor of God, “the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.”  We see Jesus use God’s Word as a weapon at various points in his earthly ministry.  We see Paul do the same during his missionary travels as well.  You see, it takes the Word of God for a heart to truly be changed.  It takes the seed being planted by the Word.  The only hope that we have of combating the forces of evil in this world is to rightly wield the sword of the armor of God, the sword of the Spirit, His Word.

                It’s pretty easy to understand that if a soldier went out into battle without having all of his pieces of armor that he would be quite vulnerable.  Neglecting any area of protection for the body would leave him open to an increased chance of being injured from an attack leveled by the enemy.  For us to neglect any one area of the armor of God would leave us increasingly vulnerable to an onslaught of sin from the evil one.  So, we can’t place importance upon one piece of armor over any other.  However, I ran across this quote this week that I have read before, but in preparation for this sermon I found it quite meaningful.  Of God’s Word, Dr. R.C. Sproul says, “I think the greatest weakness in the church today is that almost no one believes that God invests His power in the Bible.”  Now, there’s more to Dr. Sproul’s quote, but this part speaks to just how neglected the Word of God is in our modern Christian worldview.  Can you imagine a soldier going out into the midst of a battle without a sword?  Even if he has all the other pieces of armor, the best he can hope for is merely survival without making really any impact.  When we go out into the world without the Word of God, then the best that we can hope for is survival without any impact for the sake of the gospel.  Does that sound like what we’re called to do?  Are we merely called to survive the onslaught of attacks, or are we called to go out and have an impact upon the world?

                I think that all we have to do is look at Paul’s further instructions to see that our calling is much more than mere survival.  He gives instructions to pray at all times, the keep alert, to persevere, and to proclaim “the mystery of the gospel.”  Our goal is to weather the attacks that are going to come our way, but to also seek to push forward.  I know that it’s a shame when we compare modern-day athletics to warfare, but there are some good analogies that can be found there.  Think if you will about the offensive line in football.  The number one job of an offensive line is to protect, they are to prevent an opposing team from entering your backfield so that you can attack them offensively.  When an o-line does their job (providing proper defense), then it allows for those offensive “weapons” to progress and move the ball down the field.  So, we see from this that there is a certain amount of defense that goes into an offensive strategy.  For us, in our Christian faiths and our daily living, we are adorned with the armor of God to protect us so that we may go on the offensive with the Word of God; so that we may take the Gospel outward and into the world and fulfill the Great Commission.

                So, why is Paul using this analogy of armor in his epistle about the Church?  Well, where do you think that we are fitted with this armor?  Where do you think it is that we are trained in how to use this armor to its utmost effectiveness?  You could give me the latest in combat gear, but unless someone trains me on how to use it, then it’s pretty much just a lot of bulky clothing that might protect me from some attacks, but not all that it was designed to do.  If we look back at what I said is the central verse of this epistle, Ephesians 4:12, we find these words, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up the body of Christ.”  That’s why we exist as a church, to equip the saints for the work of ministry.  And the way that we equip them is by adorning them with the armor of God and training them to rightly use this armor.

                We serve no greater purpose as a church than to prepare Christians for what awaits them in this world.  We serve no greater purpose than to equip Christians for spiritual warfare.  We serve no greater purpose than to teach and instruct and train each and every person who walks through those doors about how to anchor themselves to Christ as a means of overcoming the evil that exists in this world.  It’s not just enough to make sure that we know how to use the armor of God, but to make sure that everyone is rightly equipped and adorned with this armor.  This world is tough and seems to be getting tougher each and every day.  The only hope we have of remaining in Christ, of keeping off the old clothes and adorned with the new armor of God, is to rightly prepare for what’s at hand.  Let this day be the day that you pledge either for the first time or pledge anew that you will rightly wield the armor of God and seek for all others to be adorned in it as well; that we may go out into this world and not only weather the storms, but fight for the kingdom of God.