My Opinion of Me

Posted by David on June 2, 2002 under Sermons

What do you think of yourself? Chances are that the way you look at yourself is a real paradox. In some ways, we hold ourselves in very high esteem. There has been and is considerable emphasis in this society on self-esteem. In some ways, we hold ourselves in contempt. There has been and is considerable contempt in this society for failure. If we focus on self-esteem, we think about our value. If we focus on our failures, we hold ourselves in contempt.

If we look at ourselves through glasses that magnify our value, we tend to be arrogant and presumptuous. If we look at ourselves through glasses that see only our weakness, we tend to be defeated and believe we are worthless.

The problem: most of us tend to move in one of those two directions. Being a Christian does not make us immune to the problem. Either we tend to have such a high opinion of ourselves that we seek to control and dominate everyone. Or, we feel so inferior that we have no confidence.

God challenges us to have His view of us. The closer we come to God, the more we change the way we look at ourselves. The more we change the way we look at ourselves, the more we change the way we look at others.

1. The man or woman who walks with God must change the way he or she looks at self. (That change is fundamental to Christian existence.)
   1. More than once Jesus’ twelve disciples debated among themselves which of them was the most important.
      1. Luke 22:24-30 states they had that discussion the last night of Jesus’ earthly life.
      2. In fact, the discussion was so intense that evening, Luke called it a dispute.
      3. Jesus stated some facts about his kingdom they were to remember.
         1. Fact one: his kingdom did not function as other kingdoms did.
         2. Fact two: in other kingdoms, those who possess authority or were older were served.
         3. Fact three: In his kingdom, the situation is distinctly different.
         4. Fact four: in his kingdom, the one who serves is more significant than the one who is served.
   2. Jesus reminded them that he and his treatment of them was an example.
      1. He used his power to serve others and to serve them.
      2. Though they called him their master and acknowledged they were merely disciples, that very evening he would wash their feet (John 13:12-17).

2. The way we look at ourselves, the opinion we have of ourselves, is one of the enormous problems most of us struggle with in our lives.
   1. “I” want “you” to verify my significance and importance.
      1. In order for “me” to feel significant, “you” must serve “me.”
      2. For “me” to serve you is demeaning, but for “you” to serve “me” verifies my importance.
   2. I want you to focus on a statement Jesus made in Luke 17:10.
      1. But, in order to have a contextual focus, we must begin our understanding in Luke 16:10.
      2. Jesus made a statement on the unacceptability and undesirability of a person who belonged to God placing his or her trust in money.
         1. God will not entrust someone with eternal wealth if that person does not manage small things in God’s interests.
         2. No person can give primary allegiance to two controlling, opposing forces in his or her life–both God and wealth cannot control your life.
      3. Some Pharisees (important religious influences) heard Jesus and ridiculed what he said.
         1. They loved money, and they (in their estimation) belonged to God–there was no conflict between the two.
         2. Jesus said, “You use what people think to justify yourselves.”
            1. “God knows your hearts.”
            2. “What people justify, God detests.”
      4. Jesus related the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the prosperous man who enjoyed everything in contrast to a poor man with a horrible life.
         1. Jesus said the person who will not listen to what God said in the Law and the Prophets (scripture) will not listen to anything.
         2. Not even a resurrection from the dead will change their beliefs.
   3. Then Jesus directed his teachings and remarks to the disciples.
      1. “There is no way to prevent people from spiritually stumbling–it will happen.”
      2. “But woe to the person who causes someone to stumble–he faces a worse situation than a certain death in which the body is never recovered.”
         1. “Be careful! Forgive rather than discouraging those who fail.”
         2. “Forgive repeatedly rather than causing someone to stumble.”
      3. These concepts overwhelmed the disciples–these were new concepts!
         1. The concept that God and wealth are in conflict was new!
         2. The concept that you repeatedly forgive a person who failed rather than cause him to stumble is new!
         3. It would take a lot of faith to learn to trust these new concepts.
      4. Jesus said, “You are right! You do not have much faith! If you even had a tiny faith, mustard seed size, you could tell this mulberry tree to be planted in the sea and it would happen.”
   4. This is the point I want you to see: if you are to have even a small faith, you must have a correct view of your relationship with God, and that means you must change the way you look at yourself.
      1. In relationship with God, you must see yourself as a slave.
      2. You understand very clearly, very well a slave-master relationship.
      3. When the slave works hard plowing or tending sheep all day, the master does not take care of the slave.
      4. The slave serves the master, and that was proper.
      5. Then Jesus made the statement in verse 10:
         Luke 17:10 So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.”
         1. Nothing God expects of us is unreasonable, and we do nothing that should not have been done.
         2. He will not exploit us.
         3. He has done far more to care for us than we can ever return to Him.

3. If we are to serve God as is appropriate, if we are to treat one another as we should, we hold the correct opinion of ourselves.
   1. That fact receives enormous emphasis from New Testament writers:
      1. Sandwiched between Paul’s challenge for the Christians in Rome to be living sacrifices and to function as Christ’s body is this statement in Romans 12:3–
         For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
      2. In Romans 12:16 Paul wrote:
         Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
      3. To the Christians at Corinth, Paul wrote this statement in 2 Corinthians 13:11–
         Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
      4. To the Christians at Philippi, Paul wrote this statement in Philippians 2:1-3–
         Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.
   2. One statement that I find to be powerful in my own life is Peter’s statement in 1 Peter 5:6,7
      Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
      1. The only attitude for the man or woman who begins to grasp what God does for him or her in Christ is humility.
      2. With all willingness and desire, that person humbles himself or herself before God.
         1. He or she realizes how mighty God’s hand is.
         2. God’s hand is so mighty that He can and will take care of your troubles.
         3. That hand will exalt you at the proper time–you never need be concerned about exalting yourself.
         4. That hand can take care of all your anxieties because God cares, and His caring is personal.

So, what is your opinion of yourself? You are not worthless–God values you so much that He gave His son for you. But your worth and my worth is discovered when we understand our relationship with God. That is when we are willing to be servants with humble attitudes. That is when we begin to treat other people as God wants. That is when life and relationships turn around.

Who Turned Loose? Me or God?

Posted by David on under Sermons

I want to challenge your thinking this morning by asking you a multiple choice question. The question: in daily life terms, what is the purpose of life? Rank these five options with number one being the highest option:

I ask you to rank these items privately, in your own mind, with no one knowing your list. All I ask is for you to be honest with your own heart and mind. In your own mind and heart, list each with number one your most important consideration and number five your least important consideration [in this list].

1. Now that you have made your selections, I want to read some New Testament scriptures for you to consider.
   1. Each of these statements was made by Jesus either to a group listening to him or to his disciples.
      1. I realize that each scripture must be studied in its context with serious consideration given to Jesus’ point at the time.
      2. I am not going to discuss each scripture, but I hope to call your attention to a single factor all these scriptures have in common.
      3. As we read together (you are encouraged to follow each reading on the screen), ask yourself what do these scriptures share in common.
   2. Scriptures:
      1. Matthew 8:19-22 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
      2. Matthew 10:24-28 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
      3. Matthew 16:24-27 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”
      4. Mark 8:34-38 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
      5. Luke 9:23-27 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
      6. Luke 12:4-7 I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
      7. Luke 12:49-53 I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
      8. Luke 14:25-33 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”
      9. Luke 18:26-34 They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.” Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.” Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.
   3. What do all these passages have in common?
      1. There may be more than one thing they share in common, but one thing is obvious to me.
      2. The obvious: Jesus did not ask people to follow him because it would be to their physical advantage.
         1. Jesus’ call to discipleship never included promises of “here and now” physical prosperity as a part of the call.
         2. He called people to a sacrificial existence, not to a prosperous existence.

2. In his ministry and his teachings, Jesus redefined the meaning of following God.
   1. Jesus redefined following God in a religious society composed of people who were convinced that they were following God.
      1. Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees had their definition of what it meant to belong to God.
      2. Each of their definitions included:
         1. Prosperity
         2. Power
         3. Prominence
         4. Prestige
      3. Jesus said, “No! Belonging to God, following me involves sacrificial service.”
   2. These people who considered themselves to be God’s personal representatives did much more than disagree with Jesus.
      1. They did not like his emphasis!
      2. Jesus’ emphasis was the exact opposite of their emphasis!
      3. His emphasis was too expensive; it meant they were mistaken about God!
      4. So they killed Jesus thinking they would shut him up, but they just verified the truth of what he said.

3. The conflict between godliness and evil in this world is very real–all the time!
   1. The older I become, the more profoundly I believe that is the truth.
      1. We live in a world where God and Satan are at war.
      2. This is the last battleground–the judgment that will come when this present physical world ends will also end the war.
      3. Of this each of us can be certain: following Jesus Christ will cost us.
   2. My enormous fear for me, for you, for the church is founded on the fact that we have swallowed the great deception without so much as blinking.
      1. We believe that we can combine being Jesus’ disciples with enjoying what we consider to be the best that this world has to offer.
      2. We see no conflict because we believe life’s purpose is pleasurable happiness.
      3. Thus when crises come, we conclude that either our God or our faith has failed.

It is difficult to exist in a prosperous society dedicated to pleasure and live for God’s world to come. It is too easy in a prosperous society to blame God for Satan’s actions.

The question: whose world do we live for? Have we considered the cost?

“Has God Abandoned Me?”

Posted by David on May 26, 2002 under Sermons

It was a deeply depressing moment, and it occurred on the worst possible occasion. The conversation was extremely distressing. The men gathered to remember God’s great victory that brought their nation into existence. It was a sober time, but a joyful time. They should have talked about God’s incredible power to deliver His people, they talked about their leader going away.

It was not fair! They left everything to follow this man! Recently he was more popular than ever! A month ago they feared his death, but the last few days he was untouchable. Their concept of victory was in their grasp!

Now the man who was the center of their daily companionship said he was going away, and for the first time he said none of them could go with him. Daily life without Jesus’ physical companionship was unthinkable! All their expectations were centered in his physical presence, and now he said he was leaving.

John 14:1-4 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.”

(The same conversation.)

John 14:16-21 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

Please remember these statements were Jesus’ statements to eleven of his apostles just hours before he was arrested.

1. I call to your attention several statements Jesus made to eleven of his disciples/apostles in this reading.
   1. First statement: “You trust God; trust me in the same way you trust God.”
      1. The eleven men are confused and disturbed.
      2. Their confusion is so deep that they are troubled in their inner being.
      3. It was much deeper than intellectual troubling, more than “this does not make sense.”
      4. They struggled with troubled hearts; their emotions as well as their thinking were deeply distressed.
      5. Jesus said they had an option.
         1. They could be heart troubled by what he said.
         2. Or, they could trust him.
         3. The antidote to a troubled heart is faith in Jesus.
   2. Second statement: “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places.”
      1. There are several contrasts made by Jesus’ use of dwelling places.
         1. In a poor country with primitive housing, a big issue confronting most people was, “Where are you going to live?”
         2. As they followed Jesus, they did not have a house–Jesus owned nothing.
         3. But Jesus said his Father’s house had lots of rooms, and his Father’s house would be their permanent residence.
      2. He would leave them now, but eventually they would live with him–permanently.
         1. Because he was leaving did not mean he would forget them.
         2. His promise: he would be back for them so they could live with him permanently.
   3. The third statement: “I will not leave you as orphans.”
      1. When Jesus said this, orphans endured one of life’s greatest disadvantages.
      2. Jesus was not abandoning them.
         1. God’s Spirit was coming in his place.
         2. He had been with them temporarily.
         3. The Spirit would be with them permanently.
      3. Also, in a sense he was coming to them.
         1. In the same way that the Father was in him, he would be in them.
         2. When they understood, they would show love for him by keeping his commandments.
         3. The Father would also love that obedient person.
         4. Jesus would disclose himself to that obedient person.

2. At the moment Jesus made those statements, these eleven men were deeply troubled, and the situation would get much worse before they understood.
   1. The situation became much worse when Jesus was arrested.
   2. The situation became much worse when they ran into the night.
   3. The situation became much worse when Jesus was tried and convicted.
   4. The situation became much worse when Jesus was executed.
   5. The situation was as bad as it could get when Jesus’ dead body was buried and they hid in an upper room expecting to be killed next.

3. And they did not understand.
   1. They did not understand when Jesus was arrested.
   2. They did not understand when Jesus was convicted.
   3. They did not understand when Jesus was killed.
   4. They did not understand when Jesus was resurrected.
   5. In fact, for the first 49 days after Jesus’ resurrection, they did not understand–nothing made sense to them.
   6. Only after the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 did they understand, and everything made sense.
      1. Jesus still had been arrested, tried, convicted, and killed–but they understood.
      2. Jesus had been resurrected, but now they understood.
      3. They knew where he was, why he was gone, and the certainty of his return.
      4. Now they understood forgiveness as never before.
      5. Now they had hope as never before.

4. Too many times the American Christian of today feels abandoned, feels like God’s orphan.
   1. Many situations can cause us to feel abandoned.
      1. Someone dies that we loved and depended on every day, and we feel abandoned.
      2. Someone whose companionship has nourished us daily for years is horribly sick, and we feel abandoned.
      3. The lifestyle we enjoyed for many years–maybe for all our lives–becomes impossible, and we feel abandoned.
      4. The job we depended on to care for us as long as we lived disappears, and we feel abandoned.
   2. All too often we feel like God let us down.
      1. Too commonly we are convinced that we made a deal with God.
         1. We would worship Jesus Christ and call ourselves Christians and God would take care of us.
         2. That was the deal, and we expect God to keep His end of the bargain.
      2. So when life goes in completely unacceptable ways, it is God’s fault–He is not keeping His part of the deal.
         1. If someone we love dies, God failed us.
         2. If someone we depend on gets sick, God failed us.
         3. If our lifestyle changes in unacceptable ways, God failed us.
         4. If the job we depended on ceases to exist, God failed us.

5. Today’s general conditions cause me enormous fears for me, for fellow Christians, for everyone in the Lord’s church.
   1. Commonly, American Christians do a horrible job of separating the American dream from Christian hope.
      1. Far too often we combine the American dream with Christian hope.
      2. We expect Christian hope to produce the American dream.
      3. So if in any way we fail to realize the American dream, God has failed to keep his promises.
      4. I am afraid because the American dream is the most important thing in our lives.
      5. I am afraid because too many Christians decide the purpose of Christian hope is to produce the American dream.
   2. Consider a couple of illustrations.
      1. Illustration one: today more children under five years of age will be hungry all day and go to bed hungry than children under five years of age will have their hunger satisfied with plenty of nourishing food.
         1. If their parents develop faith and became Christians today, the vast majority of those children would still be hungry tomorrow.
         2. Missionaries dare not create the impression that obedience to Jesus Christ produces the American dream.
      2. Illustration two: Joyce and I once lived where 50% of all children born alive died before they reached the age of five.
         1. One of the forces that killed young children were measles epidemics.
         2. When measles epidemics struck rural villages, the young children of Christians died, too.
   3. “Then God abandoned them!”
      1. No! No! No!
      2. That powerfully illustrates my fear: too many Christians decide if God does or does not abandon them by using materialistic standards.
      3. If that is your conclusion, you have a basic misunderstanding of Christian existence.
         1. Jesus’ cross was not about physical advantages!
         2. Christian suffering was not about physical advantages!
         3. Christian martyrdom was not about physical advantages!
      4. Christian existence is about forgiveness.
         1. It is about redemption.
         2. It is about the destruction of guilt.
         3. It is about a genuine hope that goes beyond death.
         4. It is about belonging to God in life and death.
         5. It is about the strength to live for Christ and die for God.

6. Allow me to ask you some questions.
   1. Are you convinced that the best thing that could happen to America, the best thing that could happen to the world is for God’s will to be done?
   2. Are you willing for anything necessary to happen in your life, in your family, in our country, and in our world for God’s will to come into complete existence?
   3. If your suffering helped someone else find faith in Christ, would you suffer?
   4. If your loss helped someone else find hope in Christ, would you endure loss?
   5. If your sacrifice helped someone else turn life around and direct it toward God, would you endure sacrifice?
   6. If your endurance and perseverance helped someone else find God’s strength, would you accept hardship?
   7. If your death helped someone else find salvation in Christ, would you die?

God’s house has plenty of room. Jesus wants us to live there with him–permanently. We have an option. We can let the uncertainties of physical life distress and trouble us. Or we can trust Jesus to come get us and take us home with him.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

One Tablespoon at a Time

Posted by David on May 19, 2002 under Sermons

Suppose you wanted to kill a person. Suppose you wanted to kill that person by poisoning him or her. Would you use a fast acting poison or a slow acting poison? That choice probably would depend on your options. What options? It would depend on your opportunities to administer the poison.

Satan wants to kill you. Evil’s objective in your life is quite simple–your spiritual death. Under no circumstance will evil ever seek anything that is in your eternal best interest. Evil does not bless. Evil does not seek your highest good.

Satan has an enormous arsenal to attack all kinds of people. People who rely on God present Satan a special problem. He will attack them, but he cannot use the same weapons that he uses on people who have not relationship with God.

One of Satan’s favorite methods for spiritually killing people who have a relationship with God is by poisoning them. Evil is very patient. If it is necessary for evil to use a slow acting poison that takes a long time to produce spiritual death, that is okay. If evil can separate us from God a little bit at a time over a long period of time, that is fine. If this separation occurs so gradually that we do not realize what is happening, that is excellent. If we gradually develop a taste for evil to the extent that we do not distinguish evil from good, that is wonderful. If we reach the point that we defend evil because of our conviction that evil is godly, that is wonderful.

One of Satan’s favorite tactics among ethical people devoted to God’s principles is to poison our minds against God by blurring our distinction between godly influences and ungodly influences. Then when difficult moments come into our lives, difficulties will cause us to turn against God rather than to God.

The issue is not, “Will we have tough times in our lives?” Every single one of us will (and do!). The issue is, “How will we react to the tough times that occur in our lives?” Will our difficulties poison us against God? Or, will our difficulties cause us to cling to God?

1. This evening I want to use Daniel to challenge our thinking.
   1. The first incident in Daniel’s life I ask you to consider is found in Daniel 1.
      1. When Jerusalem first fell to the Babylonians, the first group to enter Babylonian captivity included sons of the royal family and sons of upper class.
         1. While that certainly was not unusual occurrence in warfare at that time, it must have been a serious blow to those Israelites’ faith in Jehovah God.
            1. Jerusalem contained the temple of the living God.
            2. Jerusalem’s citizens were certain the city could not be taken because God would protect it.
            3. God had warned them that He had withdrawn His protection because of Israel’s ungodly behavior, but they did not believe it.
            4. So Daniel and his friends found themselves captives in Babylon.
            5. God had not prevented their capture and deportation!
         2. They could have reasoned, “Why should we honor God when He allowed this to happen to us?”
            1. But they did not.
            2. Instead they turned to God.
      2. The king wanted to prepare some Israelite captives from upper class families to serve in his court. (From the text, it is obvious that many were in such preparation).
         1. The young men selected must be very intelligent.
         2. They must be perfect specimens–without blemish.
         3. They had to look very healthy, very prosperous.
      3. Their presence in the king’s palace served several purposes.
         1. Such young men were visual reminders of the king’s military accomplishments–his servants were prisoners from some of the finest families. Daily he was reminded of his “greatness” and “accomplishments.”
         2. Their wisdom and intelligence were available to the king when he made difficult decisions.
         3. They looked healthy and robust–the king ruled over a prosperous people who were fortunate to have him as their king! Their physical appearance reinforced his royal ego!
   2. The preparation period for service in the king’s court involved a period of three years.
      1. It involved intensive educational preparation.
      2. It also involved a diet that would “fatten” them so the king would be surrounded by healthy, robust persons.
         1. Those in preparation ate and drank what the king ate and drank–the best!
         2. But therein was a problem for Israelite captives.
            1. A portion of the king’s food and drink was offered to the king’s gods.
            2. The diet included foods Israelites were forbidden to eat.
            3. Both situations were spiritually unacceptable for an Israelite who honored God.
      3. But they were captives; who were they to defy the king’s orders?
      4. Daniel asked the overseer to let him and his friends eat vegetables and drink water.
         1. The commander liked Daniel, but he was afraid to go against His instructions.
         2. Daniel proposed a test.
            1. Feed them vegetables and let them drink water for ten days.
            2. Then compare them to everyone else who was eating food from the king’s table.
         3. The test was conducted, and at the end of the ten days Daniel and his friends were fatter than those eating foods from the king’s table.
         4. So the commander continued allowing them to eat vegetables and drink water.
   3. Because in an extreme circumstance they turned to God, God blessed them with knowledge and intelligence.
      1. These Israelites who relied on God were ten times more useful to the king than anyone else in his court.
      2. Because they turned to God rather than away from Him, God made them very useful to the king.

2. Years later Daniel served in a position of great prominence under King Darius (Daniel 6).
   1. King Darius’ empire was huge; he needed reliable assistance in governing it.
      1. He divided the empire and placed it under 120 administrators.
      2. He placed the 120 administrators under three commissioners.
      3. Daniel was one of the commissioners.
      4. All of these men were to oversee everything in the king’s best interest.
   2. Daniel was an extraordinary man who did only those things in the king’s interest.
      1. The king was so impressed with Daniel that he was close to placing the entire empire under Daniel’s oversight.
      2. The other prominent men (administrators and commissioners) were jealous of Daniel.
      3. They were aware of the king’s high regard for him, and they wanted to destroy the king’s respect for Daniel.
         1. They tried to find a incident when Daniel acted corruptly in his own interest and not the king’s, but they could not find such an instance.
         2. They concluded they could destroy Daniel only if they used the law of Daniel’s God to place him and the king in conflict.
         3. They went to the king declaring they all agreed the king should pass an irrevocable injunction against making any petition (prayer) to anyone but the king for 30 days–a lie, because Daniel knew nothing of the decision.
         4. In his arrogance, the king thoughtlessly agreed and made an irrevocable injunction punishable by death in lions’ den.
      4. Daniel, with knowledge that the injunction was a document in force, prayed to his God three times daily from a window facing in the direction of Jerusalem.
         1. Spies witnessed Daniel’s prayers.
         2. Some of these prominent men brought it to the king’s attention.
         3. The king was distressed by the report and spent the rest of the day trying to deliver Daniel from the injunction, but he could not.
      5. In the evening the king had Daniel arrested and placed in the lions’ den as the order decreed.
         1. The king told Daniel, “Your God you constantly serve will deliver you.”
         2. Daniel was placed in the lions’ den, and it was sealed (to make certain Daniel was protected from his human enemies).
         3. The troubled king fasted the entire night.
         4. At daybreak, he hurried to the lions’ den to find Daniel fine–protected from the lions by an angel.
         5. Daniel was taken from the den, and his accusers and their families placed in the den (they were killed immediately).
      6. Daniel could have reacted to the crisis by saying, “I have honored God all these years. And what has it achieved for me? It has placed me in this horrible dilemma that gives advantage to my enemies.”
         1. But he did not.
         2. He continued to pray prayers of honor and thanks to his God.
   3. Some in our materialistic society are tempted to reason that God rewarded Daniel so wonderfully through those years that Daniel had no choice to make.
      1. Do not forget he was a captive for all those years.
      2. Do not forget that he never went home.
      3. Do not forget that his loneliness in a place that did not serve God must have been enormous.

3. This week created an opportunity to reinforce a truth I have long noted.
   1. If each of us wrote down the ungodly ways in which our society and culture has changed in recent decades, we would be impressed by evil’s slow poisons.
      1. One tablespoon at the time, evil poisons our minds.
      2. Matters that distressed us a few decades ago rarely cause us to blink.
         1. Sexual sin is a common place reality, an accepted means of recreation, openly endorsed.
         2. Unmarried men and women live together without people considering it to be evil.
         3. Materialism is a powerful force that many accept as a good force.
         4. Pleasure is an important measurement of meaningful living.
         5. I am not speaking of those who are not Christians; I am speaking of those who are Christians.
      3. One tablespoon at a time we became accustomed to ungodly influences.
   2. We can even consider them as “good,” “understandable,” and “desirable” in the right circumstances.

My challenge to each of us is quite simple. Increase your awareness of the ways that evil slowly seeks to poison you in your life. Realize that troubles and challenges will always be a part of physical existence. In your awareness of ungodly influences in your life, build the kind of trust in God that causes you to turn to God in times of trouble–not away from Him.

“If Everyone Would Just Leave Us Alone!”

Posted by David on May 12, 2002 under Sermons

We live in a very troubled world. Each week (sometimes each day) we are reminded just how troubled our world is. We are also reminded that we cannot do anything about it. We do not have that option. It may even become more troubled.

We live in a very troubled society. Every day the newspaper and television news reminds us just how troubled our society is. Someone leaves pipe bombs in rural mail boxes in several western states. A local pharmacy is robbed for the fourth time. Oklahoma authorizes water standards that may have adverse economic impacts on Arkansas. Police conduct a sting operation on prostitution. Arkansas leads the nation (per capita) in illegal meth labs.

Much too often many of us live in very troubled homes. Communication is atrocious. Schedules are unreal. Value systems are ridiculous. We are a collection of strangers living at the same address who occasionally cross paths.

The temptation is to believe the solution is simple. We are tempted to conclude that many problems that irritate us can be solved if we could simply live in a desirable form of isolation where our lives do not have to deal with unwanted intrusions.

Recently Joyce and I received a story via e-mail whose point deserves consideration. Perhaps you also received the story. If so, think about the point as I share the story.

A rat on a farm was absolutely frantic. By chance he saw a package arrive at the farmer’s house, and by chance he saw the farmer’s wife open the package. The package contained a rat trap.

The frantic rat ran to the chicken house seeking sympathy from the chicken. In alarm the rat said, “The farmer just bought a rat trap!” The chicken unsympathetically said, “I am sorry. But that is of no concern to me. That rat trap does not affect my life.”

Still frantic, the rat ran to the pig pen to inform the pig about the rat trap. The pig said, “I am sorry you are upset, but that rat trap does not affect my life.”

Now the rat was beside himself. No one was concerned. So the rat ran to the barn to tell the cow the news. Same response. The cow said, “How boring! Do not bother me with news about rat traps! Rat traps do not affect my life!”

The farmer set the rat trap, and a snake caught its tail in the trap. When the farmer’s wife checked the trap, the snake bit her. Soon she was very sick, and the farmer killed the chicken to make her chicken soup.

She became so ill that the farmer had to call some friends to come help him. He had to kill the pig to feed the people who came to help.

The wife died from the snake bite. The farmer killed the cow to feed everyone who came to the funeral.

The rat trap was of no concern to the chicken, pig, and cow because it did not affect their lives. However, the rat trap was responsible for the deaths of the chicken, pig, and cow.

1. It was difficult and demanding to learn to live the life of a Christian in the first century.
   1. It was difficult and demanding for a Jewish Christian living in a Jewish community.
      1. The majority of the community never believed that Jesus was the Christ the Jewish prophets declared God would send.
      2. Jesus Christ did not meet the common expectations in Judaism.
      3. His teachings did not “fit” their religious perspective and religious system.
      4. To be a Jew involved far more than endorsing a religious perspective, and soon those who believed that Jesus was the Christ were looked upon as traitors to the nation of Israel.
         Matthew 10:32-36 Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
   2. It was difficult and demanding for a person who came from idolatry to be a Christian.
      1. The government and idolatry held hands to support each other.
      2. The city administration and idolatry held hands to support each other.
      3. Most trades and idolatry held hands to support each other.
      4. The farmers appealed to the appropriate gods to insure productive crops and livestock.
      5. The Christian honored one God while the majority honored many gods.
         1. The Christian’s God declared the other gods did not exist.
         2. Commonly, Christians were considered dangerous to the government, disrespectful to the city, responsible for economic woes, and a reason for agricultural disasters.
         3. Many did not view Christians and their life style with honor or respect.
      6. Paul gives us insight into how difficult it could be to live as a Christian by sharing some of his personal experiences in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33.
         Are they servants of Christ?–I speak as if insane–I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

2. We are caught in a huge transition.
   1. This transition is much more significant, much deeper than a transition that requires some physical lifestyle adjustments.
      1. In this society the basis of morality (correct behavior) is in major transition, and in our world biblical morality is under attack.
      2. In this society the basis of ethics (determining good and evil) is in major transition, and in our world biblical ethics is under attack.
      3. In this society the basis of our system of values (what is deserving of our life focus and dedication) is in major transition, and in our world biblical values are under attack.
   2. Personally, I do not think there is a single relationship of any significance that is not under transition or attack.
      1. How do family units work?
         1. Should there be communication?
         2. Should there be commitment?
         3. Should there be dedication to the family?
         4. Who is included in the family unit? How do you stay in the family unit?
         5. How is the conflict between the person and the family unit to be understood?
         6. How is the conflict between individual liberty and family commitment to be resolved?
         7. Does marriage even matter?
      2. How do jobs, careers, occupations, employment work?
         1. Is the only consideration the potential to make money or meet financial needs?
         2. In what if any way is an employee to be committed or dedicated to his employer?
         3. In what if any way is an employer to be committed or dedicated to his employee?
         4. Does dishonesty or exploitation enter the issue in either direction?
         5. Whether employer or employee, is the correct attitude, “Every person for himself (herself)!”
      3. How should we treat people we know?
      4. How should we treat friends?
      5. How should we treat strangers?
   3. While it may not be difficult to call yourself a Christian in the Bible belt of this nation, it is difficult to live as a Christian anywhere in this nation.
      1. We would like to think the solution is isolation.
      2. We would like to think the solution is exercising control.
      3. We would like to think the solution is passing favorable legislation.
      4. We would like to think the solution is a national dedication to the defense of Christian values.
      5. Beware of focusing your concern on “what I want and what is good for us.”
      6. A rat trap can indirectly cause the death of a cow.
   4. There are things you as an individually cannot do and things you can do.
      1. Things you cannot do:
         1. You cannot remake the world.
         2. You cannot stop or reverse globalization.
         3. You cannot transform society in select ways.
         4. You cannot eliminate the presence and influence of evil from our state, our city, or your community.
         5. You cannot “turn the clock back.”
      2. Things you can do:
         1. You can live as a godly person in your family and model godly standards and values.
         2. You can live as a godly person in your work place and model godly standards and values.
         3. You can be a godly person in all your interactions with other people and model godly standards and values.
      3. Will it be easy to be a Christian in an evil world and society?
         1. No.
         2. Do not expect the honor and respect as you model godly standards and values.
         3. In fact, in my personal judgment, expect honor and respect for godliness to decrease in the future.
      4. The primary way that you can impact positive change in our society and world is to have the courage to live as a godly person.
         1. You do not do this because society approves of and respects godliness.
         2. You do it because that is who you are in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:1-11 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him–a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

If the focus is on restoring a desirable physical life, wonder what an eighty-year-old in Afghanistan would want? Wonder what a ten-year-old would want? Wonder what an eighty-year-old Palestinian would want? Wonder what a ten-year-old would want? Wonder what an eighty-year-old Israeli would want? Wonder what a ten-year-old would want? Wonder what an eighty-year-old American would want? Wonder what a ten-year-old would want?

As a Christian, what would you want?

Worship By Prayer

Posted by David on under Sermons

I wish to share a word of explanation to those visiting this morning. For four weeks we have prepared for a special period of worship by prayer. I have challenged us to develop the kind of faith that depends on God. These are the lessons I used to challenge our focus for the past four weeks:

This morning, our worship will be centered in scripture readings and in prayers. The readings will be shared without comment. The prayers will be focused on specific concerns as we seek to honor God. Your can follow the readings by reading with me from the projections on the screen.

1. Reading and prayer:
   1. 2 Timothy 1:3-7
      I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
   2. Daniel Word will lead in prayer as we ask God’s guidance for parents.

2. Reading and prayer:
   1. Proverbs 16:1-4
      The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the Lord weighs the motives. Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.
      Jeremiah 10:23,24
      I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O Lord, but with justice; Not with Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
   2. Tom Benincosa will lead us in prayer for God’s guidance.

3. Reading and prayer:
   1. 1 Peter 1:13-19
      Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
   2. Jim Wilson will lead us in prayer as we consider God’s holiness.

4. Reading and prayer:
   1. Romans 11:33-36
      Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
   2. Bob Fisher will lead us in prayer as we consider God’s purposes.

The most difficult lesson for Christians to learn in physical existence is to “live for God, not for self.” Even in spiritual matters, even in worship Christian’s too often are deeply concerned about their personal preferences and consider those preferences God’s priority concerns.

To the extent any Christian lives for selfish, self-centered, or self-focused considerations, he or she distances himself or herself from God. The essence of faith and humility is the surrender that allows the person to abandon self in devotion to God.

In every age, this is an extremely difficult understanding to accept: I serve God by serving people. I cannot honor my God who I cannot see by holding in contempt people. Jesus demonstrated his service to God by compassionately helping people. The genuineness of our faith in God is evidenced by the way we treat people.

Prayer: Three Levels of Concern

Posted by David on May 5, 2002 under Sermons

Your five year old daughter comes to you three separate times with three separate requests on the same day. Each time, that request is a specific request. These are the three:

None of these request were whinny attempts to gain attention.

All three requests were genuine and sincere. All three requests came from her heart. But, did you regard all three as equal? All three may be equal to her, but all three are not equal to you.

Her desire for you to be a playmate is deep, genuine, and earnest. When she made that request, she felt the need to play. At that moment, playing was extremely important, and it needed to happen right then. You were honored that she asked you to play, but you also understood that playing was not the highest priority for her well being. As important as playing was to her, other things were more important for her right then.

Her request to be fed (if it was meal time) was more important to you than her play request. If she was really hungry, if it was time for her to be really hungry, and if her hunger caused her genuine discomfort, her hunger was very important. You listened to her request to play, but you listen to her request for food differently.

If she overheard you talking confidentially to your husband or wife about a troublesome bill, if she understood your concern, if she understood that you had serious difficulty paying that bill, to her it is just a question of money. She had some money in her piggy bank. Money was money. If you cannot pay the bill by yourself, she will help you pay the bill. She will give you her money to pay that troublesome bill. And her offer deeply touches you. You are moved by her awareness. You are moved by her unselfish concern. You are moved by her desire to help you.

Three very different requests. Three levels of concern.

Our prayers often are requests. While God is attentive to every prayer, the nature of our awareness influences His level of concern. Never is God unconcerned when sincere requests come from hearts that belong to Him. Yet, some concerns are higher than others.

Luke 18 records two parables Jesus gave concerning prayer. I call your attention to both of them.

1. The first of the two parables is given in verses 1-8.
   1. When Jesus gave the parable, its context needed no explanation.
      1. Jesus used a common situation everyone understood.
      2. What they understood about an everyday situation, we need explained because we do not live in their circumstances.
      3. We must begin with a clear understanding about the two principle people.
         1. A widow was a defenseless, vulnerable individual in their society.
         2. She had no husband to defend her, and she lived in a man’s world.
         3. Many considered widows “fair game” and took advantage of them in unjust, horrible ways.
      4. The Israelite town judge was responsible to see that injustices were properly and fairly corrected.
         1. He was the person you went to see if someone wronged you and refused to correct the wrong.
         2. But this judge felt no responsibility or accountability to God–God was not a factor in his decisions or the cases he heard.
         3. He also did not care what other people said about him.
         4. The foundation of his actions was, “What is in my best interests?” That is all that really mattered to him.
   2. The situation:
      1. Someone continued to take advantage of the widow.
      2. Of herself, she was powerless to stop this unjust person.
      3. Her only hope for protection was to have this judge grant her legal protection.
      4. But the judge was completely unconcerned about what continued to happen.
         1. Her suffering because of the injustice did not adversely affect him.
         2. It the situation did not affect him, he had no reason for concern.
      5. But the widow was persistent.
         1. She came back again and again with the same request for protection.
         2. The widows persistence made her problem the judge’s problem.
      6. Finally, the judge gave her the protection she requested.
         1. He did not act on concern for her.
         2. He acted on concern for himself.
         3. “If I do not do something, she will keep coming back to me, and I am tired of seeing her.”
   3. The point of the parable must not be misunderstood.
      1. Jesus was not saying the God is disinterested when we wrongfully suffer hardships.
      2. He was not saying that God acts only in self interest.
      3. He said if an ungodly man can be moved to action by persistence, a godly person should understand that God will respond to our injustices quickly.
      4. The issue is not God’s willingness to respond, but our confidence in Him.
   4. Level one of our prayers I would call prayers offered because we are distressed by the trials of life.
      1. That is likely the most common prayers prayed.
      2. Those are “what is happening to me physically” prayers.

2. The second parable is given in verses 9-14.
   1. Again, the context of the situation needed no explanation to the first century Jews.
      1. But the context needs to be explained to us because none of the elements of the situation are common, everyday realities to us.
      2. To us, a temple experience is strange.
         1. Jewish people in or near Jerusalem commonly went to the temple to pray.
         2. While there were designated times to go pray, a person could go to the temple to pray at any time.
         3. Only priests actually went in the structure we would call the temple.
         4. People prayed in what we would call temple courtyards.
            1. A common stance: face looking upward and hands reaching upward–to them a stance of humility and dependence.
            2. With some, private prayers might be also audible prayers.
      3. The Pharisee was the symbol of a deeply religious person.
         1. He represented the common image of the devoutly religious.
         2. In that day, if anyone was concerned about God’s commands and scripture, it was the Pharisee.
      4. The tax collector symbolized the wicked Jew.
         1. Because he collected taxes that benefitted the Roman government, many Jews regarded him to be an enemy of the nation of Israel.
         2. Since the Romans took away Jewish independence, collecting taxes to benefit them was regarded as an act of disloyalty to Jewish people.
         3. The tax collector had the power to assess how much you owed and the power to make you pay his assessment.
            1. The whole system was an invitation to corruption.
            2. Tax collectors often abused people, often took advantage of their opportunity and power.
      5. The contrast was immediately evident to Jesus’ audience: a contrast between the symbol of the devoutly religious and the symbol of the truly evil.
   2. The situation:
      1. A Pharisee and a tax collector were at the temple at the same time praying.
      2. Jesus said the Pharisee prayed to himself (not to God).
         1. He thought that he told God what a godly person he was.
         2. He was so grateful he was not a wicked person.
         3. Two times a week he fasted (a declaration of humility).
         4. He gave God ten per cent of everything he acquired.
      3. He considered himself to be good and the tax collector to be evil.
      4. Though it does not say, he probably was as physically close to the temple as he could get to pray.
      5. The tax collector was consumed with his unworthiness and evil.
         1. Not only did he refuse to look up, but he stood far away from the temple structure and in grief for his wickedness beat on his chest in a sense of unworthiness.
         2. In nothing did he commend himself to God.
         3. He asked, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
         4. He knew who and what he was.
   3. The Pharisee’s confidence was in his goodness; the tax collector appealed to God’s goodness.
      1. The tax collector, not the Pharisee, left with God’s justification.
      2. God completely destroyed the tax collector’s evil.
      3. Jesus said quite simply that the person who exalts himself will be humbled and the person who humbles himself will be exalted.
   4. Level two of our prayers I would call prayers offered because we have reached the awareness of our own evil.
      1. Commonly, a Christian has to grow to the awareness of internal evil to pray such prayers.
         1. Awareness of God’s incredible goodness.
         2. Awareness of how evil we truly are.
      2. It is much too easy to be blinded by our sense of goodness and rightness.

3. For the third level, I simply want to read the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians.
   1. Ephesians 1:15-20 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.
   2. To me, some things in this prayer leap out in Paul’s prayerful requests for them.
      1. May God give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing Him.
      2. May the eyes of your heart be enlightened so you will know the hope of God’s calling, the richness of the glory of His inheritance, and the great power He makes available to believers.
      3. May you understand the incredible things God did because the strength of His might was at work in Christ’s resurrection.
   3. Level three of our prayers I would call the awareness of God’s purposes.
      1. At this level we stop focusing on our desires and focus on God’s objectives.
      2. We stand in silent awe at the realization that God can find anything to use from us to help achieve His eternal purposes.

Pray for your physical needs. Pray for your sinfulness. Pray for God’s purposes to be reality. On every level with confidence, pray to God who hears. May the level of our prayers constantly mature, always rising to higher levels. May you always stand in awe of the fact that you can say anything that impresses God. Never forget that humble honesty moves God, but arrogant self-righteousness offends God.

God’s Purposes, Not Ours

Posted by David on under Sermons

Consider the question, “Why did you do that?” Depending on the tone of the voice used, that is not one question, but many questions. [Use a change in the tone of my voice to illustrate the different questions that one question can ask.] It can be a polite request for an explanation when something confused you. It can be an accusation and expression of contempt and disgust when a spouse irritates you. It can be a condemnation of children when a child did something without thinking. It can be a “guilting device” you use on a friend when he or she has placed you in an awkward position. We simply use the tone of our voices to make those words an honest inquiry, an accusation, a condemnation, or a “guilting device.”

Why does God do what He does? Does God do what He does for reasons? Is He simply insensitive to us? Does He function on caprice–whatever He is thinking at the moment He just does that because He wants to? Bottom line question: is there purpose behind God’s acts? In all that He does, is God trying to accomplish something?

1. Most of us have been taught all our lives to accept God’s great, powerful acts without thought or question.
   1. Let me illustrate that fact in ways that we cannot deny.
      1. Do you accept as fact that God is the Creator?
         1. Most of us do.
         2. Most of us accept as fact that this world, life, and humanity have their origin in the powerful acts of our Creator God.
         3. In many of you, a rejection of that fact is equal to a rejection of your faith.
      2. Question: in your own thinking and understanding, why did God create?
         1. Many of you accept without question that He did create.
         2. What answer do you give yourself when you ask yourself, “Why did God create?”
   2. Do you accept as fact that God through His own power and initiative delivered Israelite slaves from Egyptian slavery?
      1. Most of us do.
         1. Most of us accept as fact that the Israelite people were slaves in ancient Egypt for a few hundred years.
         2. Most of us accept as fact that God performed ten powerful acts to deliver the Israelite people from their slavery.
         3. Most of us accept as fact that this deliverance was specifically made possible by God’s powerful intervention.
         4. Most of us accept as fact that Israel would never have been a nation if God had not delivered them.
      2. Question: in your thinking and understanding, why did God deliver Israel from Egypt?
         1. Many of you accept as fact that God delivered Israel from Egypt.
         2. What answer to you give yourself when you ask yourself, “Why did God deliver them?”
   3. Allow me to ask a series of questions.
      1. Do you believe that God by His power allowed those Israelite slaves to walk through the Red Sea?
      2. Do you believe that God by His power sustained this hoard of people in the wilderness?
      3. Do you believe that God by His power allowed Israel to secure and settle in Canaan?
      4. Again, most of us accept as fact that God used His power in all these ways.
         1. To many of us, those facts are unquestionable–they happened.
         2. What answer do you give yourself when you ask yourself, “Why did God do these things?”
   4. Allow me to fast forward history.
      1. Do you believe that God by His power sent Jesus into this world?
      2. Do you believe that God by His power was with Jesus during His ministry in first century Israel?
      3. Do you believe that God by His power resurrected Jesus from the dead?
         1. To many of us those are unquestionable facts–they happened.
         2. What answer do you give yourself when you ask yourself, “Why did God do these things?”

2. The same divine purposes were behind all those powerful acts of God.
   1. The basic purposes were the same for God in all those powerful acts.
      1. God did not have one set of purposes for creating.
      2. Another set of unrelated purposes for delivering Israel from Egypt, getting them across the Red Sea, sustaining them in the wilderness, and settling them in Canaan.
      3. Another set of unrelated purposes for sending Jesus and being with him in his life.
      4. And another set of unrelated purposes for Jesus’ resurrection.
   2. While each specific act of power had different immediate objectives, all those immediate objectives worked together to accomplish God’s purposes.
      1. When God created, when God formed and sustained Israel, when God sent Jesus, when God resurrected Jesus, God was in the process of accomplishing the same purposes.
      2. God’s purposes are seen in the sum of His total acts, in the culmination of all of God’s powerful acts.
      3. God always has been true to His purposes in everything He does.
      4. Our problem: either we fail to see His purposes or we lose sight of His purposes.

3. Consider an illustration.
   1. Suppose you are given access to the greatest power that has ever been known on this earth.
      1. This power is so enormous that there is simply nothing beyond its grasp.
      2. It literally can do anything, be applied to any need.
   2. Immediately after receiving access to this incredible power, you are interviewed on a national, live television broadcast by a well know news personality who asks, “How do you personally plan to use this power?”
      1. This is your response:
         1. “I am going to use this power to keep my windows clean.”
         2. Or, “I am going to use this power to add a room to my house.”
         3. Or, “I am going to use this power to remodel my house.”
         4. Or, “I am going to use this power to keep my grass cut.”
         5. Or, “I am going to use this power to keep my gas tank full.”
         6. Or, “I am going to use this power to pay my bills.”
         7. Or, “I am going to use this power to take my dream vacation.”
      2. If you had access to earth’s greatest power, would you think on that level?
         1. Would the focus of all your plans be “me, taking care of my desires, and seeing that I take care of myself”?
         2. Would the focus of your thoughts rise no higher than self and wants?

4. God always has had a purpose.
   1. That purpose has been attacked by evil, but it has never changed.
      1. When God created, evil perverted God’s “very good” creation.
      2. All of God’s work through ancient Israel,
      3. All of God’s work in Jesus’ ministry,
      4. All of God’s work in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
      5. All of God’s intended work in the church in every age,
      6. Was to lead people back to God’s original purpose when He created people for relationship with Him.
   2. God gives each Christian the privilege of assisting Him as He achieves His purpose.
      1. In giving us the privilege of assisting Him, God gives us access to the power that created, that delivered Israel from slavery, that sustained Israel in impossible circumstances, that sent Jesus into the world, and that raised Jesus’ dead body from the tomb.
      2. In our access to that power much too often the highest level of our thinking and planning focuses only on our short term physical desires.
      3. I wonder how often God listens to our prayers and says, “Is that all you think about? Can you consider nothing higher than that?”
   3. Every Christian always needs to keep in his or her awareness some basic truths.
      1. Truth one: God is greater than I am, and I am privileged just to associate with God.
      2. Truth two: God’s purposes are always greater than my desires.
      3. Truth three: it is an honor to be God’s servant who is dedicated to God’s purposes.

5. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught people to pray.
   1. He taught them three basic understandings.
      1. Understanding one: God hears your personal prayers when no one else even knows you are praying.
      2. Understanding two: God’s response to your prayers does not depend on meaningless repetitions.
      3. Understanding three: the objective of your prayers never is to inform God; God knows your needs before you ask.
   2. Then Jesus illustrated how they should pray, a prayer approach that was unfamiliar to them.
      Matthew 6:9-13 Pray, then, in this way: “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]”
   3. Notice these simple observations: this prayer combines four elements.
      1. The first is humble surrender to the holy God in the desire for His purposes to accomplished.
      2. The second is trusting dependence on God to provide physical necessities.
      3. The third is showing appreciation for God’s forgiveness by giving forgiveness.
      4. The fourth is realizing the only hope we have for successfully triumphing over evil is God’s deliverance.
   4. It is hard to do something so simple.
      1. Recognizing God’s purposes were greater than his desires cost Jesus his physical life.
      2. It cost most of the twelve their lives.
      3. It cost Stephen his life.
      4. It cost Paul his life.
      5. If I place my confidence in God, my suffering can assist God’s purposes–even if it costs my life.
      6. And some day I will understand that I paid a very small price to assist the eternal God’s purposes.
   5. One of the most frightening statements in scripture is found in James 4:2-4.
      You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

For a month on Sunday mornings I challenged you to think about faith. Our prayers are one of the greatest expressions of our trust in God. Next Sunday morning we will worship by praying focused prayers to the God who created us and gives us salvation.

The question we Christians must ask ourselves is this: am I alive to fulfill my physical desires and ambitions? Or am I alive to assist God’s purposes? What do my prayers say about me? What my life is about is powerfully influenced by my understanding of the “why” of God’s powerful acts.

Our Attempt For a Faithless Salvation

Posted by David on April 28, 2002 under Sermons

We feel an enormous burden for the salvation of people. To us, it is unthinkable that other people should be eternally lost. It is especially unthinkable that any person we know and love–our child, our spouse, our friend, our neighbor–should be lost.

Because of this enormous burden we feel, we often do two things that are spiritually disastrous to us.

What two things? First, we assume upon ourselves Jesus’ role in salvation matters. We decide who will be and who will not be saved. Second, we oversimplify response to God through Jesus Christ. We assume people believe in Jesus Christ. We assume people repent. Saving others just becomes a matter of convincing them to be baptized. If we can just convince a person to be immersed for the remission of sins, salvation (in our thinking) is a fact.

The enormous burden we feel for the salvation of other people did not originate with us. Jesus felt that burden. As he taught in Jerusalem the last week of his earthly life, he made this statement:

Matthew 23:37-39 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ “

Jesus is the Christ. He is Lord. The form of grief the Savior felt was his, not ours. What was to occur to Jerusalem was unnecessary because the people did not know who he was and trust him. Their primary failure was their failure to believe in him.

1. During Jesus’ ministry, the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 13) records an occasion when Jesus taught some simple facts about God’s kingdom by using a series of parables.
   1. The series of parables Jesus used were:
      1. The sower
      2. The tares among the wheat
      3. The mustard seed
      4. The leaven
      5. The hidden treasure
      6. The expensive pearl
      7. The dragnet
   2. The points about God’s kingdom that Jesus made were these:
      1. The response a person makes to Jesus depends on the person’s heart.
      2. Inside the kingdom will be people who belong to Satan and people who belong to God. This is by Satan’s planning and efforts.
         1. God does not want anyone belonging to Him destroyed through uprooting those who do not belong to him.
         2. Therefore, there will come a time chosen by God when God’s angels separate those who belong to God from those who belong to Satan.
         3. Those who belong to Satan inside the kingdom cause godly people to stumble while they refuse to place themselves under God’s rule.
      3. God’s kingdom will have a tiny beginning, but will grow into an incredible tree.
      4. God’s kingdom grows through influence–one life will touch another life.
      5. Some accidentally discover God’s kingdom just like a person who discovers a hidden treasure.
      6. Some discover God’s kingdom because they search for it, just like the person searching for an expensive pearl.
      7. By God’s design, God’s kingdom will gather (attract) all kinds of people.
         1. Some are devoted to God, and some oppose God.
         2. The angels will separate the ungodly from the godly at the end of time.
   3. Note this series of parables about God’ kingdom begins with the parable of the sower and ends with the parable of the dragnet.
      1. It begins by emphasizing a person’s heart determines the response the person gives to Jesus.
      2. It ends by emphasizing all kinds of people will be in the kingdom when time ends, and the angels’ job is to separate the ungodly from the godly.

2. Many of you are quite familiar with the parable of the sower: focus your attention on that parable for a moment.
   1. The parable (story) is very simple and was taken from an every day scene of life in their planting season.
      1. A person sows a field with wheat or barley seed.
         1. The person sowed the only way they planted that kind of seed–by broadcasting the seed.
         2. The difficulty of that method: the sower has little control over where the seed falls.
      2. As he sowed, seed landed on four kinds of soil.
         1. The hard pathway that everyone packed down by walking.
         2. The rocky ground that had a little soil and too many rocks.
         3. The thorny ground–nothing wrong with the soil, but there was too much competition from the thorn plants.
         4. The good soil that produced a harvest.
      3. The soils are people’s hearts.
         1. Some people are hard-hearted when it comes to Jesus.
         2. Some people are much too shallow to belong to Jesus.
         3. Some people have too many things in their lives that complete with Jesus, and the competition chokes Jesus out of their lives.
         4. Some people want to belong to Jesus, want their existence to serve his purposes, and bear spiritual fruit by producing the fruit of the Spirit.
   2. I want to make two simple points from this parable.
      1. Point one: there will never be a time when every person you know is good ground, or is a person who wants to belong to Jesus.
         1. There will always be hard-hearted people.
         2. There will always be shallow people.
         3. There will always be people whose lives are too crowded with other things for Jesus to fit in.
         4. Jesus did not give us the responsibility to determine who these people are.
         5. Jesus give us the responsibility to share Jesus and God’s rule in the hearts of people with everyone.
         6. But I just plant, and you just plant.
         7. I do not determine the nature and quality of a person’s heart.
         8. If people rejected Jesus himself, by what arrogance do I decide that no one will reject me when I introduce that person to Jesus and God’s rule in his or her life?
      2. Point two: if all I accomplish is immersing a bad heart that intends to remain a bad heart, nothing has been accomplished.
         1. If I immerse a hard-hearted person who does not believe, that does not produce salvation.
         2. If I immerse a shallow-hearted person who, instead of believing, spiritually wilts and die, that does not produce salvation.
         3. If I immerse a person whose life is so crowded the he or she has no place for Jesus in his or her life, that does not produce salvation.
      3. Our primary challenge is to encourage real faith, real trust in God’s work in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
         1. Baptism for the remission of sins means nothing without that faith.
         2. Faith in God’s work in Jesus can turn hard hearts into good hearts, shallow hearts into good hearts, thorny hearts into good hearts.
         3. BUT–the person must soften the hard heart, or dig out the rocks, or pull up the thorns.
      4. For decades we have been focused on baptism with little attention to encouraging faith.
      5. A result: far too many people who have been immersed for the forgiveness of sins who have little or no faith in Jesus Christ.
         1. We made church membership more important than trusting God.
         2. In the New Testament, people who trusted what God did in Jesus’ death and resurrection were baptized.

3. The parable of the dragnet is not nearly as familiar to us as the parable of the sower.
   1. It, too, was a simple parable (story) taken from their everyday existence.
      1. Food was often scarce and starvation was a real possibility.
      2. One source of food was fish.
      3. One means of catching fish was the use of a drag net.
      4. The problem with a dragnet was that it caught everything–fish that were eatable and fish the Jew was forbidden to eat.
      5. The procedure was fairly simple:
         1. Use a dragnet and catch everything you could.
         2. When you pulled the net to the bank, separate everything in the net.
         3. Place what was eatable in containers.
         4. Throw away what was not eatable.
   2. Jesus said God’s kingdom would catch all kinds of people, some truly devoted to God’s purposes, and some who opposed God’s purposes.
      1. But Jesus did not place us in charge of determining what kind of person each person was.
      2. Nor did Jesus place us in charge of the separation.
      3. At the right time, God will be in charge of the separation, and He will send His angels to take care of that task.

4. Allow me to share some simple conclusions with you.
   1. Saving people is basically about challenging people to change their hearts by placing their trust in what God did for them in Jesus Christ.
      1. Using the parable of the sower:
         1. My primary responsibility is plow the hard ground, or dig out the rocks, or pull out the thorns in my own heart.
         2. My secondary responsibility is to encourage others as they work on softening their hearts, digging out their rocks, and pulling out their thorns.
         3. The greatest encouragement I can give them as I encourage them toward faith in God’s work in Jesus is to let them see in the genuineness of my faith the desirability of being good hearted people who belong to Jesus.
      2. Will that convince everyone? No! Everyone does not wish to belong to Jesus.
         1. If we want to be God’s kingdom, we must be committed to living in faith and calling others to faith.
         2. We must understand that immersing people for the forgiveness of sins when they do not believe is meaningless.
   2. Purifying God’s kingdom by placing ourselves in charge of separating people in “the dragnet” is God’s business, not ours.
      1. It is God’s business because we know what is in a person’s heart only if that person chooses to reveal it to us.
      2. Too all of us, that should be wonderful news.
         1. God knows which direction my heart is moving even when people cannot.
         2. Plowing hard ground and making it soft is hard work and takes time; digging rocks out is hard work and takes time; pulling thorns is hard work and takes time.
         3. God’s knows if I am involved in that process when people do not!
         4. Because God knows, God is qualified to use the angels to separate.

My challenge is simple: do not entrust your salvation to the fact of baptism or church membership. Everyday of your life, work on your heart. Have the faith that lets God rule you. Let your immersion stand on that faith. Let your faith rule your heart. Never forget that God knows what is happening in your heart.

God’s View of Restoration

Posted by David on April 24, 2002 under Sermons

It is much too easy to begin a spiritual investigation by making basic assumptions. For example, it is easy to “assume” what restoration is. It is easy to “assume” that our dedication to restoration is a biblical thing to do.

Let’s not “assume.” Let’s ask the questions. From the Bible’s point of view, what is restoration? Is dedication to restoration a Bible thing to do?

1. Restoration is one of the primary themes and concerns in the Bible.
   1. We are introduced to the basic concept of restoration in Bible’s first book, the book of Genesis.
      1. Our first introduction to the concept of restoration is in Genesis 20.
         1. Abraham was afraid that he might be killed by someone who wanted to marry his wife, Sarah.
         2. So Abraham told everyone that Sarah was his sister (she was his half sister).
         3. The king of that area, King Abimelech, took Sarah with the intention of making Sarah his wife.
         4. God appeared to Abimelech in a dream and told him that if he married Sarah he was a dead man because Sarah was Abraham’s wife.
         5. This was in instruction God gave King Abimelech:
            Genesis 20:7 “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
      2. Our second introduction to the basic concept of restoration is again found in Genesis, chapter 40, in an incident in Joseph’s life.
         1. Joseph was in the prison the king placed his prisoners.
         2. The king of Egypt put his chief cup bearer and his chief baker in that prison.
         3. Both of these men had dreams they did not understand, and the chief cup bearer asked Joseph to tell him what the dream meant.
         4. Joseph did, and this is what the dream meant.
            Genesis 40:12,13 “This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.”

   2. This is the basic concept of restoration: to cause to turn back, a returning, a making whole again, to be complete.
      1. This concept is used often in the early part of what we call the Old Testament in regard to people, livestock, and possessions.
      2. But in the collection of Psalms, this concept is applied to Israel’s need to return to God.
      3. The concept does not change; the application of the concept changes.
      4. Israel belonged to God.
         1. God created them.
         2. They existed as a people and as a nation because of God’s deliverance.
         3. God not only established them; God also gave them their land and their purpose for existing.
      5. Israel needed to return to God.
         1. They needed to go back to the God who made them.
         2. They were incomplete because they had left God.

2. From the book of Psalms forward into the New Testament, the basic concept of restoration is returning to God.
   1. Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 both talk about Israel’s great wickedness and foolishness.
      1. Both Psalms end with exactly the same emphasis and plea:
         Psalm 14:7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.
      2. Psalm 14:7 and 53:6 make identical pleas.
      3. It is God who will restore the fortunes of His people.

   2. Listen to some of the restoration emphasis in Psalms.
      1. In Psalm 60:1 God has broken Israel because of their wickedness.
         Psalm 60:1 O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us; You have been angry; O, restore us.
      2. Psalm 80 petitions God to rescue His people from the disaster they brought on themselves.
         Psalm 80:3 O God, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
         1. This Psalm briefly tells the story of Israel.
         2. Israel was like a grape vine; God had taken them out of Egypt and planted them in Canaan.
         3. In Canaan God had protected them for a while, but God had removed their protection because of their wickedness.
         4. The Psalm makes a plea:
            Psalm 80:14 O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You; Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine.
            Psalm 80:19 O Lord God of hosts, restore us; Cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
      3. Psalm 85:1-4 asks God for mercy.
         Psalm 85:1-4 O Lord, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger. Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.
      4. If God restores them, how will they act toward God?
         1. Verse 8: We will listen to God and not return to our stupid way of living.
         2. Verse 9: We will reverence Him so that His glory will live in our land.
         3. Verse 10: We will combine mercy with truth, and righteousness and peace will be close companions.

3. There is a lot of Old Testament emphasis on restoration; I chose for us just one example from Jeremiah.
   1. In Jeremiah 5, God instruction Jeremiah to tour the streets of Jerusalem and see if he could find just one person who cared about justice (the fair treatment of other people) and who was interested in truth (in context, doing what you promise to do).
      1. If Jeremiah could find just one person, God would pardon the entire city.
      2. That is how untrustworthy and ungodly the citizens of Jerusalem were at that time.
      3. Jeremiah walks among the poor citizens of the city.
         1. He finds no one.
         2. He said to himself, “Why should I expect to find that kind of person among poor people? They are foolish people who do not know the way of the Lord.”
      4. So Jeremiah went among the significant people of the city.
         1. He still did not find the person he was looking for.
         2. All of them also had broken away from God.
      5. God declared, “I have no reason to pardon those people!”

   2. In Jeremiah 6:16-21 God made this statement:
      Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ “Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, he fruit of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also. “For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba And the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.” Therefore, thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. And they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish.”
   3. In Jeremiah 7:1-11 God gave Jeremiah specific instructions about what he was to do and say:
      The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’–that you may do all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.
      1. I would paraphrase God’s interaction with a wayward Israel in this way: God said;
         1. “You have forgotten what who you are supposed to be.”
         2. “You have forgotten who I am and what I am about.”
         3. “You think because you have My temple and offer correct worship everything is okay.”
         4. “It is not okay!”

4. When we enter the New Testament, things are still not okay in Israel.
   1. Luke 19:11 states that those who listened to Jesus expected God’s kingdom to come immediately.
      1. Some of the Psalms called for restoration, for the people to return to God; it did not happen.
      2. Jeremiah (and other prophets) called for restoration, for the people to return to God; it did not happen.
      3. Jesus’ ministry comes and nears its end, and it still has not happened.
      4. Some expected it to happen immediately, before Jesus died, but it did not.

   2. When Jesus died and was resurrected, those who were closest to Jesus had no understanding of what all this meant.
      1. The disciples who had followed Jesus throughout his ministry asked Jesus a question just before Jesus ascended into heaven. This is their question:
         Acts 1:6 “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
      2. They still did not understand God’s purposes in restoration.

   3. After the church was established, after the good news of Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection had been preached in Jerusalem, Peter made this statement at the temple.
      1. He had just healed a lame man.
      2. An astounded group of witnesses wanted to hear what Peter had to say.
         Acts 3:19-21 Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
      3. God’s restoration was in progress from the moment that Jesus was presented as Lord and Christ for the first time in Acts 2:36.
      4. God’s restoration will not be complete until Jesus returns and God’s judgment begins.

5. From scripture I conclude three things about God’s restoration.
   1. Restoration focus on God’s priorities, not ours.
   2. Restoration begins when God’s people repent and return to godly living.
   3. Restoration cannot be produced by forms (that is never enough); it can be produced only when hearts are ruled by God.

6. God has always wanted the same thing from people; His desire has never changed.
   1. He wanted it in creation.
   2. He wanted it in Israel.
   3. He wants it in us.
      1. What is that?
      2. He wants a people who belong to Him and to Him only by their own choice.

Titus 2:14 [Jesus Christ] gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Do you belong exclusively to God?