Why Deuteronomy?

Posted by David on October 1, 2000 under Sermons

This is the situation. You are healthy. You are mentally and physically fit. You are free. You are in no imminent danger. However, you know for an absolute certainty that you will physically die very soon. You will not die from sickness. Your death will not be the result of a criminal act. But you know for a fact that you will die, and your death is unavoidable.

While you do not fear death, you are not ready to die. There is something that you want to do before you die, and you really want to do it. Yet, you are absolutely certain that you will never do it. You want to live, but you know that you are going to die.

For forty years your extended family has been in a major crisis. You provided the only leadership that enabled your family to survive. In a very short time, the family crisis will end; it will be history. While the crisis will end soon, you know you will be dead before it ends.

You have one last opportunity to share with your family. What would you say?

1. If you can place yourself in that situation, you can identify with Moses when he spoke and wrote the book of Deuteronomy.
   1. That was Moses’ situation.
      1. Though he was a very old man, he was in excellent physical health.
         1. His body was much younger than his chronological age.
         2. Deuteronomy 34:7 records, “Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.”
         3. He did not die because he was old, or sick, or murdered.
         4. As far as his physical condition was concerned, there was no reason for him to die.
      2. However, Moses knew that he would die.
         1. In Deuteronomy 4:21 Moses told them, “Now the Lord was angry with me on your account and swore that I should not cross the Jordan…”
         2. Moses clearly understood that he would die before Israel crossed the Jordan into Canaan.
         3. Deuteronomy starts with Israel camped next to the Jordan River.
         4. The date is the eleventh month of the fortieth year of Israel’s wilderness wandering (Deuteronomy 1:1-3).
         5. Israel wandered in the wilderness one year for each day the Israelite spies spent traveling in Canaan [thirty-nine years earlier.]
            1. It took one year to travel from Egypt to Canaan the first time.
            2. They spent thirty-nine more years in the wilderness.
            3. In one month the forty years would be over.
            4. Moses knew that he would die very soon.

   2. Moses’ leadership brought this people through an enormous crisis.
      1. Through God’s appointment and guidance, Moses was their leader.
         1. Moses led them in the confrontation with Pharaoh.
         2. Moses led them out of Egypt and slavery.
         3. Moses led them across the Red Sea to freedom.
         4. Moses led them to Mount Sinai to receive God’s law and organization.
         5. Moses led them to the border Canaan the first and second time.
         6. Moses led them in the wilderness for forty years.
      2. Moses literally saved Israel from destruction on several occasions.
         1. When the people had Aaron build the golden calf so they could turn to idolatry, it was Moses who pled with God not to destroy the nation (Exodus 32:9-11).
         2. When the ten of the twelve spies destroyed the confidence and faith of the nation, it was Moses who pled with God not to destroy the nation (Numbers 14:11,12).

   3. With all his being, Moses wanted to enter Canaan; he even pleaded with God to let him go with the nation into the land (Deuteronomy 3:23-29).
      1. God responded by saying, “No! And do not ask me again!”
      2. “Prepare Joshua to lead the people into Canaan.”
      3. Moses was enabled to view Canaan from the top of Mount Pisgah, but he never entered Canaan.

   4. Much of Deuteronomy is Moses’ last opportunity to share with Israel.
      1. For forty years he has been their leader in the worst of conditions.
      2. By the power of God, he led them out of slavery.
      3. By the power of God, he led them across the Red Sea to total freedom from the Egyptians.
      4. By the power of God, he led them in the desert for forty years.
      5. By the power of God, he fed and watered them.
      6. And he watched as every adult [but two] who left Egypt died in that wilderness.
      7. And he had a relationship with God unsurpassed by anyone but Jesus.
      8. And he had to say good bye, to give the leadership to Joshua.

2. What did Moses say to Israel in his final message?
   1. I want us to focus on Moses’ message for about four weeks.
      1. I predict many of you will be amazed.
      2. I urge you to bring your Bibles and see for yourself.

   2. Why do you think many of us will be amazed?
      1. Let me use your own concepts to illustrate why.
      2. If you characterized the book of Deuteronomy, how would you describe it?
         1. “It is a book of laws.”
         2. “God gave these laws to the nation of Israel, and Israel was to obey them.”
      3. What kind of obedience were they to give God?
         1. “I did not know that obedience came in ‘kinds’.”
         2. “They were just supposed to do what God said do.”
         3. “If they did it, they obeyed; and that is what mattered.”
      4. If you think Deuteronomy is just a book of laws that God gave Israel, and all Israel needed to do was what God said do, you will be amazed.

3. The first four chapters of Deuteronomy are an introduction and foundation to what Moses said in the rest of the book.
   1. This was their physical situation: they were camped near the Jordan River ready to cross into the territory that God promised them.
   2. Moses reminded them of their past.
      1. “You remember when I reorganized our method for addressing problems” (1:9-18).
         1. At first, every man in the nation who needed a judge to resolve a conflict between himself and other man came to Moses.
         2. Moses organized a system for judgments to resolve problems within each tribe.
      2. “You remember that we traveled from Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) to the border of Canaan” (1:19-40).
         1. We sent twelve spies into Canaan (it was to be a “how do we go about it” mission, not an “is it possible” mission).
         2. Ten of the spies discouraged your fathers, and your fathers refused to enter Canaan.
         3. Their refusal angered God, and He declared that your fathers would die before the nation entered Canaan.
      3. Then your fathers realized their refusal was a huge mistake (1:41-46).
         1. Against God’s instructions, they decided to attack, and they suffered a great defeat.
         2. They wept before God, but God was not moved by their tears (there is a huge difference between the tears of regret and the tears of repentance).
      4. The nation then spent forty years wandering in the wilderness, and God provided their physical needs (2:1-7).
      5. Then the account focused on Israel’s conquest of the territory east of the Jordan River that became the land belonging to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
         1. Principle one of that conquest: Israel could not take any of the land that belonged to the nations who descended directly from Abraham (God promised Abraham that he would be the father of nations in Genesis 17:5).
            1. Several nations came from Abraham.
            2. God gave each of those nations their country just as God gave Israel Canaan.
            3. Israel was not to take what God gave those nations.
         2. Principle two of the conquest: they could take the land of the nations who did not descend directly from Abraham.
      6. The men who inherited the territory east of the Jordan River were given the responsibility to help conquer the territory west of the Jordan River (3:18-22).
      7. God told Moses, “Do not ask Me again for permission to enter Canaan! You will not go into Canaan” (3:23-29).
      8. I would characterized 4:1-14 as, “Listen, remember, and obey.”
      9. I would characterized 4:15-31 as, “Carefully do two things: avoid idolatry and keep your agreement with God.”
      10. I would characterize 4:32-40 as, “Think about God’s nature and remember why God blessed you.”

   3. There are two points I want you to consider carefully.
      1. Point one: “God occupied the primary role in everything that happened to bring you to this moment.”
         1. “Your choices determined God’s responses.”
         2. “But God always occupied the primary role.”
         3. “You are not here because of your power; you are here because of God’s power.”
      2. Point two: “God is unique; nothing is like God.”
         1. “No nation has the righteous laws you have” [other nation’s laws were based on their concept of justice, but not on fairness] (3:8).
         2. “No nation has been helped by God like you have been helped” (4:32).
         3. “No people has heard God’s voice and survived, but you have” (4:33).
         4. “No nation has been formed inside another nation through trials, miracles, war, and God’s mighty hand as you have been” (4:34).
         5. “God did these things in these ways for a reason.”
            1. Reason one: “That you might know He is God and there is no other.”
            2. Reason two: “He loved your forefathers and chose their descendants hundreds of years before you were born.”
      3. “Therefore, never exaggerate your importance.”
         1. “God personally brought you out of Egypt with His power” (4:37).
         2. “God removed stronger, bigger nations so that you could have their land.”

   4. That is why you should follow and obey God.

Four powerful truths were affirmed to Israel that need to register with us as powerfully as they did with Israel.

1. One: you are because God is.

2. Two: you always have been totally dependent on God; God has never been dependent on you.

3. You are blessed because of God’s love for people who were more faith filled than you.

4. Never diminish God’s significance; never exaggerate your own significance.

God and Jesus: The Perfect Mirror

Posted by David on under Sermons

“Who are you?” That question is almost impossible to answer. How do you explain who you are? Would you answer by talking about your family tree? By talking about your parents? By talking about your children? By talking about your occupation? By talking about your education? By talking about your spiritual perspectives? Is that how a person explains who he or she is?

Do you know who you are? “What a dumb question!” No, the question is not dumb. It is a serious, honest question. Many people have no idea who they are. These people do one of two things. Either, they waste a lot of their life, time, and energy because they have little idea of who they are. Or, they invest an enormous amount of life, time, and energy trying to discover who they are.

Are you one of those people? Declaring you are a Christian does not mean that you know who you are. Do you have a real, deep understanding of who you are, or do you flounder through life with no real understanding of who you are?

This morning I want to share an insight I am convinced is true and to the point: no person can know who he or she is unless that person knows God. The foundation for knowing who you are is an honest, correct understanding of God.

1. In my study, I conclude this is one of scripture’s basic theses: people must know God to know themselves.
   1. When we do not know God, we cannot know ourselves, and it is in not knowing ourselves that we make our tragic mistakes.
      1. Scripture repeatedly reveals that people must know God to know themselves.
      2. In Genesis’ account of the origin of human evil, Eve misunderstood God (Genesis 3:1-7).
         1. Her temptation became credible because she was suspicious of God.
         2. Because she was suspicious of God she thought she understood herself.
         3. The result was disaster.
         4. Because she was suspicious of God, she deceived herself about herself.
      3. Humanity made an enormous decline into evil when the sons of God married the daughters of men (Genesis 6:1,2).
         1. This is my conclusion: the men who were the sons of God had the heart and spirit of Seth.
            1. Seth, the third son of Eve, and his descendants “called upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:25,26).
            2. They wanted closeness to God.
            3. Their relationship with God determined their identity.
            4. Who were the sons of God? The people who wanted closeness with God.
         2. I conclude the daughters of men were women that had the heart and spirit of Cain.
            1. In spite of God’s mercy and Cain’s guilt, Cain deliberately “went out from the presence of the Lord” (Genesis 4:16).
            2. From the moment that God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, Cain wanted nothing to do with God.
            3. The daughters of men wanted nothing to do with God.
      4. Genesis declared the incredible evil of Noah’s day (when no one had a good thought–Genesis 6:5) happened because men who desired closeness to God married women who wanted nothing to do with God.
         1. Because people destroyed their desire to be close to God, they lost their identity.
         2. They became incredibly wicked in mind, in heart, and in action.

   2. From Genesis 12 to the close of the Old Testament, that truth is repeatedly illustrated and documented in Israel’s failures.
      1. At some point while they were living in Egypt, these descendants of Abraham forgot who God was.
      2. The purpose of the plagues in Egypt recorded in Exodus had two objectives.
         1. The first obvious objective was to convince Pharaoh to release Israel from their slavery.
         2. The second equally important objective was to introduce these slaves to the living God.
      3. These slaves were to become the nation of Israel with a new sense of identify.
      4. But their new sense of identity depended on knowing God.
      5. God could bring their bodies out of slavery, but He could not bring their hearts out of slavery unless they knew Him.

   3. Over and over the Old Testament declared Israel failed themselves simply because they did not know God.
      1. The period of the judges was a period of enormous wickedness and failure because Israel did not know God.
      2. The reigns of King Saul and King Solomon resulted in incredible wickedness and failure because they both lost their knowledge of God. (Each begin with a close relationship to God, and each ended with no relationship with God.)
      3. The period of Israel’s northern kingdom was a huge failure because they did not know God.
      4. The period of the southern kingdom was almost a continual failure because they did not know God.
      5. Repeatedly the prophets told Israel and Judah, “You deceive yourselves because you do not know God!”
         1. “You do not behave like God’s people because you do not know God!”
         2. “You do not worship God like people who know God because you do not know God.”
         3. “You refuse to repent of your wickedness because you do not know God.”
         4. “You do not know yourselves because you do not know your God.”

2. How do you react to what I have shared?
   1. Your reactions are mixed.
      1. Some of you understand what I am saying, and it concerns you.
      2. Some of you sort of understand what I am saying, and it makes you nervous.
      3. Some of you do not relate to anything I have said, and, honestly, it is boring.

   2. Let’s see if we can eliminate the boredom.
      1. Will you use your imagination for just a moment?
      2. Suppose we replaced the screen behind me with a huge electronic tally board.
      3. Suppose God controlled the electronic board.
      4. Suppose the tally board flashed the numbers up for all of us to examine.
         1. The number of men, women, and teens in attendance this morning. (It appears.)
         2. The number of adults and teens in this audience who used pornography this week. (It appears).
         3. The number of adults and teens who used alcohol or drugs to get high this week. (It appears.)
         4. The number of people who told a vulgar or racial joke this week. (It appears.)
         5. The number of adults and teens who cursed or used ungodly language this week. (It appears.)
         6. The number of adults or teens who engaged in a promiscuous or adulterous sexual act this week. (It appears.)
         7. The number of adults and teens who let money be their god this week. (It appears.)
         8. The number of adults and teens who let pleasure be their god this week. (It appears.)

   3. Am I still boring? Am I failing to be relevant?
      1. Do you know why people use pornography?
         1. It allows them to have selfish gratification with zero commitment.
         2. Pornography is a loveless indulgence of physical desires and passions.
         3. It is an escape into a fantasy that totally alters reality.
      2. Do you know why people use alcohol and drugs to get high?
         1. It is a way to try to cope when life is overwhelming and there is no peace.
         2. It is a way to escape when life becomes intolerable.
         3. It is a way to selfishly indulge and gratify my physical senses.
      3. Do you know the foundation of vulgar and racial jokes?
         1. The same foundation stands for both–a demeaning disrespect for people.
         2. Vulgar jokes dehumanize women or men by disrespectfully demeaning them.
         3. Racial jokes dehumanize ethic groups by disrespectfully demeaning them.
      4. Do you know the foundation of cursing and ungodly language?
         1. The foundation combines two forms of contempt.
         2. The first is a basic contempt for God.
         3. The second is a basic contempt for people.
      5. Do you know the foundation reasons for promiscuous and adulterous sexual acts?
         1. Reason one: they let me abandon myself to the self-centered, personal gratification of my sexual desires.
         2. Reason two: they let me use people; I can look at people as things to be used instead of individuals to be respected.
         3. Reason three: they let me run away from life and play “let’s pretend.”
      6. Do you know why many people make money their god?
         1. For many it is a search for person significance.
         2. For many it is a quest for personal power.
      7. Do you know why many people make pleasure their god?
         1. Some let pleasure be their god because they are so empty inside.
         2. Some let pleasure be their god in their search for a substitute for love.
         3. Some let pleasure be their god in an attempt to escape rejection and depression.

3. Will you please ask yourself a question?
   1. How many Christians who let God show them who they are use:
      1. Pornography to indulge their fantasies?
      2. Alcohol or drugs to get high?
      3. Vulgar or racial jokes to demean other people?
      4. Cursing or ungodly language which show contempt for God and people?
      5. Promiscuous or adulterous acts to indulge in self-centered gratification?
      6. Or money or pleasure for their god?

   2. If you know who you are because you know God, will those things find a place of welcome in your life?

[Prayer: God, unless we let You teach us, we do not know who we are, Help us find our identity in You. Jesus found His total identity in You. May we find our true identity in You.]

Are you sure you know who you are? Do you know what you look like? “I should! I look in the mirror often enough.” Go home, print the question, “Who am I?” on a piece of paper, hold that question under your chin, and look in a mirror. Then ask yourself, “Have I ever seen myself?” Have you ever seen yourself in God’s mirror? God’s mirror is the only honest mirror.

Jesus is the only person who looked exactly like God wanted him to look, who was exactly who God wanted him to be. Why? Because Jesus perfectly understood God. Jesus knew who he was because he knew God.

The better you know God, the better you will understand who you are.

‘Playing the Game’ or Learning to Live?

Posted by David on September 24, 2000 under Sermons

I want you to recall, specifically, the worst class you took in high school or college. I do not mean the hardest class. I do not mean the class you feared the most. I mean the worst class. The worst class was the class you regarded to be completely useless and totally unnecessary.

For most of us, the worst class was a required class. It was a class not directly related to our major or minor. But it was a necessary class. We had to take it to get a diploma. We dreaded it because we regarded it to be useless. Every class session was torture because we resented being forced to take the class.

One such class I took was a college course in German. Languages other than English are not my strength. My high school was too small to have a single foreign language course. I had zero exposure to any language but English. But my college major required a course in a foreign language, preferably German.

My German teacher was around eighty years old. She never visited Germany. She never had a conversation in German with people whose primary language was German. A student’s grade was determined by three things: where you sat in class, what you wore, and your hair style. If you looked at her she called on you. If you did not look at her, she did not call on you. It was a horrible situation and experience for two semesters.

But all of us endured our worst class. Each of us took a worst class. We “played the game.” We may not have learned anything, but we “played the game.” We may not have taken anything useful from the class, but we “played the game.”

1. “Going to church” or “being religious” or “church membership” too often is approached with the same feelings and attitudes that surrounded our worst class.
   1. It is like the necessary class that we hate to take but we have to take.
      1. We come because we “have to play the game.”
      2. It is one of the “necessary things” that we “must do” if we are to receive God’s diploma.
         1. .On earth, diplomas open the doors of opportunity.
         2. Church attendance opens the doors of opportunity after death.

   2. Church attendance is a strange occurrence.
      1. Those whose hearts were not converted attend with no expectations.
         1. They physically attend and are bodily present.
         2. But that is all that matters.
      2. Some who attend are simply doing what is necessary.
         1. They are convinced that attending is important, and that is why they come.
         2. But they really do not know why it is important.
         3. If someone asks them to explain the importance, their answer is vague.
         4. They simply accept as a fact that attending is important.
      3. Many of our children grow up asking “why?”
         1. Children are perceptive.
         2. They know when we are “playing the game.”
         3. Their question: “Why do you play the game?”
         4. They also know that we do not have any deep, personal explanation.
      4. Many of our friends, neighbors, and associates wonder about the same question.
         1. “Next month we plan to spend every Sunday doing ‘__X__’.”
         2. “Join us. We are going to have a great time!”
         3. And they see you really want to join them.
         4. But your answer is, “Aw, I’m sorry. I can’t. I have to go to church.”
         5. Obviously, you are “playing the game.”
         6. Why? Why is it so important for you to “play the game”?
      5. If our children or someone close to us is bold enough to ask, “why play the game,” it alarms us; it shakes us up.
         1. No one should be forced to explain why they “play the game.”
         2. Everyone should understand the importance of “playing the game”!
         3. You don’t ask why.
         4. You don’t understand why.
         5. You just do it.

2. Do you have a hero? “A what?” A hero.
   1. I understand that word is not used much any more.
      1. It is out of date, politically incorrect, obsolete.
      2. It has been replaced with words like role model, mentor, or icon.

   2. “What is a hero?”
      1. A hero is someone who captures your heart and your imagination.
      2. A hero is someone you admire to the point of devotion.
      3. A hero is someone you willingly permit to influence your thinking and life on your deepest levels.
      4. You likely do not refer to this person as your hero, but I do not doubt such a person exists in your life.

3. I have a hero.
   1. No one influences my life as much as my hero.
      1. In all honesty, my hero has changed me as a person more extensively and deeper than anyone else who has been a part of my life.
      2. The person I am today is distinctly different from the person I was twenty years ago.
      3. The person I was twenty years ago was distinctly different from the person I was thirty years ago.
      4. The person I was thirty years ago was distinctly different from the person I was forty years ago.
      5. And I am very aware that my hero is not through changing my life.
      6. In fact, my life is in greater transition right now at this age than ever before.

   2. The better I understand my hero, the more my life changes.
      1. He does not change my life by using pleasure, or success, or money, or status, or anything material.
      2. In fact, those things distract me and reduce my hero’s influence in my life.
      3. My hero never deceives me, but all those things constantly try to deceive me.
      4. I have lived long enough to know that the foundations of pleasure, success, money, status, or materialism are illusions.
      5. My hero teaches me how to live instead of promising me things.
         1. He sustains me on a daily basis in a hostile world.
         2. And every single one of us live in a hostile world, whether we realize it or not.

   3. “Can you explain why he is your hero?”
      1. I never had anyone who accurately knew me for what I really am and still loved me enough to die for me.
      2. He covers every ungodly thought, every wicked emotion, and every evil deed I committed in my life, and he will keep right on doing that.
      3. He builds our relationship on a forgiveness that literally acts as if I never did anything wrong.
      4. Every single day of my life he gives me the opportunity to be a different person.
      5. When I was immature and stupid, he was patient.
      6. He makes me a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better son, a better brother, a better friend, and a better neighbor.
      7. He helps me build a life that matters, a life that death cannot stop.
      8. He gives me an identity that cannot be stolen.
      9. He teaches me how to be at peace in my life.

   4. But for all of that to happen, I have to trust him.
      1. My most difficult lesson in life is learning to trust him.
      2. Often what he teaches me does not make sense when I learn the lesson.
      3. But it always make sense after I change my life.

   5. Why is Jesus Christ my hero?
      1. Because he shows me God.
      2. Because he teaches me how to live so life is blessed and not destroyed.
      3. No one else shows me God; no one else teaches me how to live without destroying life.
      4. God sent the prophet Jeremiah to His people; He told Jeremiah before he began to teach that no one would listen to him.
         1. Jeremiah was surrounded by the spiritual disaster of idolatry among God’s people.
         2. As he looked at that disaster, this is what Jeremiah said, (Jeremiah 10:23) 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.
      5. Centuries later God sent His son to His people knowing that His people would kill His Son.
         1. Jesus knew how desperately God’s people needed a Shepherd, and he came to be that desperately needed Shepherd.
         2. When explaining that he came to be the good shepherd who cared for and protected the life of his sheep, Jesus said, (John 10:10) I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
         3. Note that Jesus did not come that we may have things.
         4. He came that we may have life.

[Prayer: God, help us let Jesus be our hero. Help us permit Jesus to show us who You are. Help us permit Jesus to teach us how to live. Increase our ability to trust You, and to trust Jesus.]

Every time I preach I try to challenge your heart and mind. Every time I teach I try to touch your heart and mind. Sometimes as I prepare my lessons, tears flow. It is that important to me that God use me to touch your hearts. What I do is not a job. What I do is a life.

We need to stop “playing the game.” We need to let Jesus be our hero. Unless we let Jesus teach us how to live, we cannot know how to have life. You don’t agree? Let me meddle by asking some hard questions. Those of you who have experienced divorce, before you married the first time did you intend to divorce? Those you who struggle with adultery, or promiscuity, or pornography, was that your plan for your life? Those of you whose controlling god is addiction, is that the god you want? Those of you whose god is pleasure, does pleasure deceive you? Those of you whose god is money, does that god give you an empty life? Those of you who are killing yourself and neglecting your family to acquire things, do those things depress you?

Do you honestly want failed relationships, sex, money, addictions, or things to be your god? Do you honestly believe that they can give you life?

One last question: when are you going to stop “playing the game” and start letting Jesus teach you how to live?

Dealing With the Devil

Posted by David on September 3, 2000 under Sermons

This congregation has had an eventful summer. We sponsored some successful mission trips. We conducted our most successful VBS in years. The ladies held some successful gatherings. The ministry leaders and deacons had a fruitful meeting with the elders. We appointed four new elders. The elders have taken some major steps toward becoming more effective shepherds. A number of people have privately and publicly redirected their lives.

Anytime we as individuals and a congregation grow spiritually, our success costs Satan. Satan jealously guards his kingdom. He does not care who attends church as long as they are in his kingdom. He is extremely evangelistic and extremely deceitful. When we do anything to cost him, he is enraged and counterattacks.

While it has been a summer of growth and spiritual development, it has also been a summer of stress. The stress load has been and is high. Stress is reality for those who dare to lead and live on the front lines in the war against evil. We feel like Satan is saying, “Boys, don’t mess with me. It is time you personally learned a lesson and learned it well. When you cause me trouble, it will cost you.”

Jesus dared to mess with the devil. He dared to let God work through him to defeat the devil. And it cost Jesus. We must remember two things: (1) because Jesus let God use him, Satan lost. (2) Jesus knew how to fight the devil.

This evening I want you to consider Jesus’ wilderness temptations in a different manner. Commonly we study Jesus’ wilderness temptations to try to deepen our understanding of the temptations. That is not what I want to do this evening. This evening I want us to focus on how Jesus recognized the deceptions and defeated the temptations.

1. Let’s begin with a very brief review of the wilderness temptations in Matthew 4:1-11.
   1. God’s Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness for the purpose of being personally tempted by the devil.
      1. Jesus prepared for this encounter by fasting forty days and nights.
      2. In my understanding, this was the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry.
      3. Everything was at stake.

   2. Because of the fast, Jesus was hungry.
      1. Satan suggested that Jesus turn some of the stones lying around into bread and care for his physical need.
      2. Jesus refused and in refusing quoted Deuteronomy 8:3.

   3. Satan took Jesus to a high place in the temple area.
      1. He suggested that Jesus demonstrate his confidence in God by jumping from the high place.
      2. He even quoted God’s promise to take care of him.
      3. Jesus refused and in refusing quoted Deuteronomy 6:16.

   4. Satan then offered Jesus a deal.
      1. “Bow to me and worship me, and I will make you the king of all people.”
      2. Jesus refused, and in refusing quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20.

   5. It was then that Satan temporarily broke off contact with Jesus and the angels came and ministered to him.

2. Obviously, Jesus used scripture to deal with the devil.
   1. However, if all we see is that Jesus quoted three verses when he was tempted, we miss the most powerful truth.
      1. We do not understand how Jesus dealt with the devil unless we understand why Jesus used those verses.
      2. He did not use just any verses he happened to know.
      3. The lesson is not: “Quote scripture, and you can successfully fight temptation.”
         1. Satan quoted scripture to create one of his temptations.
         2. Evil can use scripture to clothe its suggestions in the appearance of “rightness.”
         3. It is not the fact that scripture is used that temptation is defeated.
         4. It is the fact that scripture is understood that defeats Satan and his temptations.

   2. The first temptation that Matthew lists is the temptation to turn stones into bread.
      1. Jesus rejected the temptation by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3. Read with me Deuteronomy 8:1-5.
         All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
      2. God used your wilderness experience to humble you.
      3. He used it to test you (the reactions of their hearts were an unknown to God).
         1. The purpose of the testing: “to know what was in your heart.”
         2. It was what was in their heart that determined if obedience occurred.
      4. “God used hunger to humble you.”
         1. “He wanted you to realize that you could not take care of yourselves.”
         2. “He fed you with a food in a way that you could not imagine–manna was totally foreign to your experience.”
         3. “The purpose: to teach you that life depended on trusting God.”
      5. “Remember your experiences.”
         1. “In forty years your clothes did not wear out.”
         2. “In all that travel in the dessert, your feet did not swell.”
         3. “You know in your heart that God was using discipline just like you use it.”
      6. Jesus understood that life was sustained by trusting God, not by turning stones into bread.

   3. The second temptation in Matthew’s list was the temptation to jump from the temple and let the angels catch him.
      1. This was to demonstrate his trust in God.
      2. Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. Read with me Deuteronomy 6:16-19.
         You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.
      3. The incident of Massah is recorded in Exodus 17 beginning in verse 1.
         1. The cloud that God provided them for guidance led them to Rephidim to make camp.
            1. There was no water at Rephidim, and the people were much, much larger than the population of Fort Smith (and they had their livestock).
            2. The people began to quarrel with Moses and demand that he give them water.
         2. Moses asked:
            1. “Why are you quarreling at me?”
            2. “Why are you testing God?”
         3. The people were thirsty and grumbled.
            1. “Why did you bring us out here to kill us, our children, and our livestock?”
            2. It was a dangerous, tense situation.
               1. Moses prayed to God and asked, “What will I do with them?”
               2. “They are about ready to kill me.”
         4. The Lord gave these instructions:
            1. “Take the elders and go before the people.”
            2. “Take with you the staff that you used in Egypt to strike the Nile River and turn its waters into blood.”
            3. “Strike the rock with that staff.”
               1. “Water will come out of the rock.”
               2. “The people will drink.”
         5. Moses did as God instructed, and the people had water.
            1. He named the place Massah (test) and Meribah (quarrel).
      4. How did Israel test God at Massah?
         1. Their words and actions asked, “Is God among us or not?”
         2. They wanted God to prove He was there and could take care of them.
      5. Without jumping, Jesus knew God was there and would take care of him.

   4. Matthew records the third temptation as Satan’s bargain: “Bow down and worship me.”
      1. Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 6:13 or 10:20. Read with me Deuteronomy 6:13-15 and 10:20,21.
         Deuteronomy 6:13-15 You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
         Deuteronomy 10:20,21 You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.
      2. The first commandment of the ten commands was, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2).
      3. The first principle of relationship with God, ground zero, is that you reverence God and only God. Nothing else receives your worship.
      4. Satan’s request was unthinkable.

3. This is the truth I want you to see clearly:
   1. Jesus understood scripture.
   2. He did not just quote any verse that happened to pop into his thinking.
   3. His answer came from his understanding of the truth, and his understanding of the truth was founded on the context of the scripture.
   4. He knew the true meaning of the scriptures he quoted.

What does it take to deal with the devil? Faith? Certainly! Commitment to God? Certainly! The desire to be a godly person? Certainly! But if you deal with temptation effectively, it takes more. It takes an understanding of scripture.

Aside from the grace of God, we are no match for Satan. He will deceive us every time when he extends temptation if we do not understand scripture. We will never understand scripture unless we also learn the context of scripture.

“God, I Would Not Do It That Way”

Posted by David on under Sermons

By the time I was a senior in high school, I had been wearing a necktie on Sundays since I was fourteen. That means I learned to tie a necktie when I was fourteen.

One day I was sitting in the classroom that Edna Elmore used for her English classes. It was free time. There were four of us in the room talking. Three were trying to tie a suitable knot for the neckwear of a dress uniform in the Navy.

They were not succeeding. Each time they tried to tie that tie, it was a mess. Each time I would say, “Use a Full Windsor knot.” Over and over the same thing happened. They would try. The tie would be a mess. I would say, “Use a Full Windsor knot.”

Of course, the whole time I was trying to sound like I really knew what I was talking about. And, of course, I did not. Finally they handed me the tie. I tried to tie what I had been told was a Full Windsor knot. The tie was much too thick for the knot, and all I produced was another big mess.

How often have we said, “I would not do it that way”? The translation of that statement: “That is the wrong way to do it. If I did it, I would do it the right way.”

Quite often, we, in so many words, say, “God, I do not understand the way You do things. More often than not, You simply confuse me with the way You do things. It is very evident to me that Your way will not work. I cannot understand why You do not understand that.”

1. There is an old saying that declares, “Hindsight has 20/20 vision.”
   1. When you look from the present back into the past, you can see everything clearly with perfect vision.
      1. You can look back and see so clearly what other people should have done to avoid problems or to make mistakes impossible.
      2. If you are honest with yourself, you can always look back and see what you should have done or could have done.
         1. Very few of us would refuse to change the past if we could.
         2. Why? It is simple. When we look back, we always see with 20/20 vision.

   2. While we can look into the past and see so clearly, we cannot see into the present as clearly.
      1. We rarely see the present as clearly as we see the past.
      2. We never see the future as clearly as we see the past.

2. When we look at God’s actions in the past, we can see so clearly what God was doing and marvel at God’s wisdom.
   1. But those people [for whom our past was their present] really struggled to understand what God was doing.
      1. Abraham and Sarah struggled to understand why God waited so long to keep His promise and give them a son.
      2. Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob never understood why God decided to work through Jacob instead of Esau.
         1. It certainly was not because Jacob was such a godly man!
         2. It certainly was not because that was the way things were done!
      3. Surely there were times when Jacob’s family wondered why God brought them to a home in Egypt through ten brothers selling Joseph into slavery.
      4. Surely there were times when the nation of Israel wondered why God led them to the promised land through the desert when there was a perfectly good highway that went along the Mediterranean Sea.

   2. Looking back, we see clearly what God was doing.
      1. God wanted Abraham and Sarah and, later, Israel to understand that God, and nothing else, made it possible for Abraham and Sarah to have Isaac.
      2. God used Jacob and not Esau because God wanted them to clearly understand that the living God does things His way by His choices–He is sovereign.
      3. God rescued Jacob’s family from a famine through the work of Joseph because God wanted Israel to understand that God, alone, took care of them, and nothing else.
      4. God took Israel through the wilderness because He wanted Israel to understand that they could depend on God for every need.
      5. It is not difficult for us to look back and see what God’s purposes were–we have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight.
      6. But it obviously was confusing and unthinkable to those who lived the experiences.

3. Nothing changed.
   1. The apostles and the few remaining believers did not understand the crucifixion.
      1. To them, the crucifixion made no sense.
      2. To them, what made sense was to make Jesus the physical king of Israel.
      3. To them, not even the resurrection made sense.
      4. How could God use a dead man who was resurrected to produce a kingdom?

   2. It makes sense to us because we look back on the events, and we have the explanation.
      1. We have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight.
      2. But it did not make sense to those who experienced the moment.

   3. Just look at us.
      1. Looking back, we understand what God was doing in Abraham’s life, and it makes sense.
      2. Looking back, we understand what God was doing in Jesus’ death, and it makes sense.
      3. But how many times do we think, “God, whatever are you doing?”
         1. “You are making a mess out of my life!”
         2. “You are not responding to my prayers!
         3. “Your answers to my prayers do not make sense!”
         4. “What you are doing does not make sense!”
      4. We have great hindsight, but we are almost blind when we look at the present.

4. Allow the prophet Habakkuk to teach us a powerful, needed lesson.
   1. The situation:
      1. Things had been very evil for a long time.
      2. Wicked conditions were getting worse.

   2. “God, you are not doing anything” (Habakkuk 1:1-4).
      1. “Judah is filled with wickedness and violence.”
      2. “Conditions are horrible.”
      3. “I cry out to You about it, but nothing happens.”

   3. God answered Habakkuk (1:5-11).
      1. “I will do something very soon.”
      2. “When I do it, you will be utterly amazed.”
      3. “I am sending the Babylonians (Chaldeans) to destroy Judah with horrendous violence.”

   4. Habakkuk was dumbfounded (1:12-17).
      1. “The Babylonians are horrible, ungodly people.”
      2. “How can a holy God use such an unholy people to punish people who are not as wicked as their aggressors?”
      3. “The Babylonians catch nations like a fisherman catches fish in a net.”
         1. “They are mean and they are successful.”
         2. “Then they worship their net and call it their god.”
         3. “Will the Babylonians just go on slaying nations forever?”

   5. Habakkuk declared that he will sit in his guard post until God explained Himself (2:1).
   6. God’s answer (2:2-20).
      1. “The righteous person lives by trusting me.”
      2. “All I will explain to you is that the Babylonians will also pay the penalty for their wickedness.”

   7. Habakkuk responded to God’s answer in a prayer (3).
      1. “God, You are too glorious and awesome for me to figure out.”
      2. “Dealing with this world’s wickedness is Your business, not mine.”
      3. “You are God; You are the Sovereign of the creation; and it is not my place to question how You work.”

   8. Habakkuk’s decision:
      Habakkuk 3:16-19 I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.
      1. Habakkuk had no doubt that God would do precisely what He said He would do: the Babylonian army would violently, horribly destroy Judah.
         1. He was so certain that it would happen that he trembled inside.
         2. He was so certain that it would happen his lips quivered and he felt like his bones were rotten.
      2. Habakkuk said that he would just wait for it to happen–what a horrible experience that must have been!
      3. He understood the righteous person lived by faith; he would trust God.
      4. This was his decision:
         1. If all the crops fail and there is no food;
         2. If all the livestock die (which meant if our entire economy failed);
         3. I will rejoice in my God.
         4. No matter what happens, my God is my strength.
         5. I will trust God, even when I cannot understand.

[Prayer: God, may we let You be our strength. May our faith not depend on our physical well being, but on our relationship with You. May we live by faith. When we cannot comprehend Your ways, may we not reject them.]

If God revealed to you personally how He would respond to the growing evil in this nation in the future, it would blow your mind. If God revealed to you personally how He would respond to the wickedness in your extended family in the future, it would blow your mind. If God revealed to you how He would respond to the indifference and ungodliness in your immediate family in the future, it would blow your mind.

If God revealed that personally to each one of us, let me predict what our most common reaction would be. “How can the holy God use those methods to address that wickedness?”

If you could know what would happen because of wickedness in our nation and our families, and if it shocked and astounded you, what would you do? Would you understand, “Righteous people live through every experience in life by trusting God.”

Is that what you would do?

The “I Don’t Want To Hear It” Sermon

Posted by David on August 27, 2000 under Sermons

Recently someone made a request. He said, “A person in my family wants to hear a sermon on hell.” I am not asked very often to challenge you to think about hell. Speaking strictly from the past, in my experience this infrequent request comes in two situations. (1) The person is convinced that other people need to think about hell. Or, (2) the person feels the need for a sobering dose of fear. Certainly, those are not the only two reasons for wanting to study about hell.

How many of you already have “turned” me “off?” How many of you are saying, “David, please share something that will help us. Don’t talk about hell.”

What to you know about hell? “Everybody knows about hell.” So, what can you tell me about hell? (1) “I do not want to go there.” (2) “It is hot there with flames constantly burning.” (3) “It is extremely painful there, and you cannot die to escape the suffering.” (4) It is a place of absolute darkness.” That is the common understanding of hell. We take everything said about hell in the New Testament, draw a composite picture, and accept details without thought.

You ask, “What is there to think about?” Two of the common images of hell drawn from horrible experiences in the first century world: (1) hell is a place of endless flames and (2) hell is a place of the blackest kind of darkness. In earthly experience, flames produce light. In our physical world, flames and absolute darkness do not mix.

1. The Old Testament says very little if anything at all about heaven or hell as presented in the New Testament.
   1. Old Testament scripture says little about what happened to an Israelite after he or she died (remember that the Old Testament was written to Israelites).
      1. Life after death is not a prominent theme in the Old Testament.
      2. One prominent theme in the Old Testament declares serving God produces a desirable, materially rewarding physical existence.
         1. When God made a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), God’s promises were:
            1. “I will make you a great nation.”
            2. “I will bless you.”
            3. “I will give you a name that is associated with greatness.”
            4. “I will bless your friends and curse your enemies.”
         2. Later God promised Abraham (Genesis 17:1-8):
            1. A multitude of nations will come from your descendants.
            2. Kings will be among your descendants.
      3. A few hundred years later Moses told Israel (Deuteronomy 7:6-8):
         For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
         1. It was very easy for Israel to decide, “God says we are special.”
         2. “We are God’s chosen people.”
         3. “God picked us over every other people.”
         4. “By God’s own selection, we belong to God.”
         5. “We are so important to God that God rescued us from slavery and destroyed our enslavers.”
         6. “God loves us.”
         7. The fact that all this happened because of God’s love for and promise to Abraham did not seem to register in their thinking and understanding.
      4. In Deuteronomy 27 and 28, Moses enumerated all the ways God would bless or curse them depending on the way they obeyed or disobeyed God.
         1. Moses gave a long list of blessings, and all of them are physical.
         2. Moses gave a long list of curses, and all of them are physical.
         3. In both lists, there is not even one statement about heaven.
         4. In both lists, there is not even one statement about hell.

   2. These were the basic understandings of Israel in the Old Testament:
      1. As God’s chosen people, they must obey the commandments, statutes, and ordinances of God.
      2. If they are an obedient people, God will bless them physically by giving them a good life of peace and prosperity.
      3. If they are a disobedient people, God will afflict them physically by giving them a horrible life of poverty, sickness, and hunger.

2. The Israelite people of the New Testament felt special.
   1. “We are special because of who we are and who our forefathers were.”
      1. “We are the descendants that God promised Abraham.”
      2. “We are God’s chosen people.”
      3. “Our ancestors make us special because God gave them His promises.”

   2. John the baptizer made a biting declaration to the religious leaders who came out into the wilderness to hear his teachings and to be baptized (Matthew 3:7-9).
      1. To have the nation’s religious leaders make the difficult trip to wilderness just to hear you preach would be a huge ego trip for many preachers.
      2. Not for John.
      3. John called them a bunch of snakes who were running from God’s wrath.
      4. If they were truly repenting, they needed to demonstrate their repentance in the way they lived.
      5. He said that they should not depend on false confidence.
         1. To say that they were special before God because they were the descendants of Abraham was false confidence.
         2. John said God had the power to make rocks the descendants of Abraham.
         3. It was not who they were that mattered.
         4. It was how they lived life for God that mattered.

   3. John 8 records a debate Jesus had with the Pharisees.
      1. Three times in that debate, the Pharisees defense was this, “We are the descendants of Abraham” (verses 33, 39, 53).
      2. Contextual implication: “We are special. We have a special relationship with God. Look who we are.”
      3. Their confidence was so rooted in their identity that they refused to think about how they lived.

3. A specific problem existed in Israel, and an understanding of hell addressed that problem.
   1. The problem: Israel’s religious leaders believed that national identity could remove individual accountability.
      1. “What really matters is your ancestry.”
      2. “If your mother and father are Israelites, if you were circumcised, if you offer the right sacrifices, if you followed the right rituals, that is what really counts.”
      3. Jesus said, “No. Those things are important. But, what really counts is how you live your life. What really counts is your relationship with God.”

   2. When you seek to understand hell, certain things are very important to remember.
      1. You must remember that Jesus taught the Jewish people, his own people.
      2. You must remember to understand Jesus’ point to them.
      3. You must remember that Jesus’ descriptions and symbols had specific meaning to those people, and we need to understand that meaning.
      4. If we reduce hell to pain, suffering, flames, and darkness, we miss much of the substance of Jesus’ statements.

4. What message did Jesus declare to Israel in his teachings about hell?
   (I am briefly sharing with you what requires a whole quarter of study and research.)
   1. Message # 1 about hell: the reality of hell declared that accountability is personal not national.
      1. There is an existence after death, and we will live with God or with Satan.
      2. Whom you live with on earth will determine whom you live with then.
      3. When you die, merely being an Israelite would not be the determining factor.
      4. Being a godly Israelite who obediently served God was the determining factor because life [not nationality] allowed you to receive God’s mercy and grace.

   2. Message # 2 about hell: hell is a place of total uncleanness.
      1. To most of us, that message does not even compute in our understanding.
      2. It certainly does not mean to us what it meant to first century Israelites.
      3. The code of cleanliness was the code of purity; if you were unclean, you could not worship and you could not appear before God at the temple.
      4. Israelites understood there were five basic areas of uncleanness.
         1. The food you ate had to be approved, clean food (Leviticus 11).
         2. Giving birth made a woman unclean (Leviticus 12 and 15:19-33).
         3. Any discharge from a man’s body made him unclean (Leviticus 15:1-18)
         4. Touching a person who was diseased with leprosy or touching something he or she touched made you unclean (Leviticus 14).
         5. Touching a dead body made you unclean (Numbers 19:11-22).
      5. An Israelite corrected uncleanness by following ceremonies for purification.
      6. The word for hell was Jerusalem’s garbage dump.
         1. The garbage dump was the symbol of gross uncleanness.
         2. The worm was always working; the dump was always smoldering.
      7. In early Israelite history the emphasis was on ceremonial purity.
         1. In the age of the prophets, the emphasis shifted to moral and ethical purity.
         2. Jesus stressed moral and ethical purity.

   3. Message # 3 about hell: that existence occurs in the total absence of God and His influence.
      1. Israel had never known such a place, not even in slavery or captivity.
      2. You have never known a place where there is no influence from God.
      3. That means no good in any form exists there because good comes from God.
      4. Hell is a place of no mercy, no forgiveness, no compassion, and no kindness.
      5. Only Satan’s influence exists there.

   4. Message # 4 concerning hell: hell is a place of remembering.
      1. Every person there knows he or she was deceived, and he or she knows when, how, and why.
      2. Every person there exists in the memory of every mistake he or she made.
      3. It is a place of intense grief and no joy.
      4. It is a place of utter selfishness; no one will be concerned for or about you.
      5. There will not even be the pretense of love; remember God is love.

[Prayer: God, thank you for giving us a choice. Help us understand that Jesus died to create that choice. Thank you for helping us understand what love is.]

What is hell’s specific message to today? # 1: “I am accountable. Being listed in the church directory proves nothing. Living for God places me in His mercy and forgiveness. #2: If I am purified by the blood of Jesus, I must be committed to moral, ethical living. #3: Living in hell is existing totally outside the presence of God. #4: If I live with God, I will remember His mercy and forgiveness in Christ. If I live with Satan, I will remember Satan’s deceit and my failures.

The popular, comical notion today is that hell is a P-A-R-T-Y. Everyone who loves to party gets together. Those in hell know the party was on earth. There is no party in hell.

The basic reason God went to the enormous effort to give us a Savior and to make available His mercy and grace was to give us a choice. Freedom is in Christ. In Satan, there is only deception.

Celebrating God’s Many Dimensions

Posted by David on August 20, 2000 under Sermons

When you forget who you are as a person, terrible things happen. When you forget who you are as a family, family members lose their sense of family. When you forget who you are as a people, as a people you lose you sense of purpose.

God’s people must never forget who they are. God’s people can have a sense of healthy identity only if they remember who they are. For that sense of healthy identity to exist, our history as God’s people must connect us to God. That connection must be genuine and powerful.

The psalmist in Psalm 105 wanted Israel to maintain a healthy sense of identity. He was much aware that their healthy sense of identity depended on their awareness of their historical connection to God.

1. Psalm 105:1-7 Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.
   1. The psalmist issued a call to gratitude to Israel.
      1. A proper remembrance of the acts of God would produce gratitude for what God had done for them.
      2. He challenged them to stimulate their memory and gratitude by reflecting on their past.

   2. “Israel, when you realize what God has done for us:”
      1. You will find it natural to call upon God and express your gratitude.
      2. You will want to praise Him for what He has done.
      3. You will glory in His name.
         1. It will give you the kind of boldness that rejoices.
         2. You will see yourself differently because you see God at work.
      4. You will be glad.
         1. Remembering is a good experience.
         2. Without hesitation you will turn to Him for your strength.
         3. Without hesitation you will declare, “He is our Lord.”

2. Why should remembering their past cause Israel to have deep, genuine feelings for God?
   1. First, it should give them deep, genuine feelings of gratitude for God because God always remembers His agreements.
      Psalm 105:8-15 He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance,” When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
      1. That is why they existed.
         1. God made an agreement with Abraham.
         2. God refused to forget that agreement.
         3. In spite of all that happened, God remembered and kept His agreement.
      2. He entered the agreement with Abraham.
         1. He renewed it with Abraham’s son, Isaac.
         2. He renewed it again with Isaac’s son, Jacob.
      3. That is why they had Canaan as their homeland; their living in Canaan was not an accident of time.
      4. That is why He had protected them.

   2. Second, they should have deep genuine feelings of gratitude for God because God rescued their family of origin from starvation.
      Psalm 105:16-24 And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him. The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house And ruler over all his possessions, To imprison his princes at will, That he might teach his elders wisdom. Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries.
      1. God used the famine for His purposes to give them their future.
      2. God used the slavery of Joseph as the means of keeping His promise.
      3. Joseph endured some horrible experiences, but God was at work in every experience.
      4. In the end, God gave Joseph a powerful, prominent position in Egypt, and the result was that the whole family moved to Egypt and became a huge people.

   3. Third, they should have deep, genuine feelings of gratitude for God because God physically rescued them from slavery.
      Psalm 105:25-36 He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants. He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He had chosen. They performed His wondrous acts among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs Even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came a swarm of flies And gnats in all their territory. He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in their land. He struck down their vines also and their fig trees, And shattered the trees of their territory. He spoke, and locusts came, And young locusts, even without number, And ate up all vegetation in their land, And ate up the fruit of their ground. He also struck down all the firstborn in their land, The first fruits of all their vigor.
      1. The future generations of those people who welcomed that family into their country hated their descendants.
      2. They were deceitful and dealt craftily with Abraham’s descendants.
      3. So God sent Moses and Aaron to lead them out of an impossible slavery.
      4. It was God’s acts that convinced the Egyptians to free them.

   4. Fourth, they should have deep, genuine feelings of gratitude for God because He not only did the incredible, but He did it in unbelievable ways.
      Psalm 105:37-45 Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled. Egypt was glad when they departed, For the dread of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to illumine by night. They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout. He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor, So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the Lord!
      1. Though they were oppressed slaves, they left Egypt with incredible wealth.
      2. God used a bright cloud in the day and a fiery cloud at night to give them physical guidance in the wilderness.
      3. He fed them in a wilderness that had no food.
      4. He gave them water in a dry desert.
      5. Though conditions were harsh, He gave them every reason to have joy.

   5. He deserves to be obeyed, and He deserves to be praised.

3. Among the significant problems that we face as Christians is this: we have lost our sense of identity as God’s people.
   1. Why would I say that?
      1. Too many of us have lost any personal sense of God rescuing us.
      2. Too many of us have lost conscious awareness of how long and how hard God planned and worked to send Jesus to our world.
      3. Too many of us have lost conscious awareness of the cost to God and Jesus for Jesus to be human.
      4. Too many of us have lost conscious awareness of the agony of the cross to God and Jesus.
      5. Too many of us have lost conscious awareness of the power of the resurrection.
      6. Too many of us place much too little value on the grace, the mercy, the forgiveness, the redemption, the atonement, and the sanctification that every man and woman in Christ receives.

   2. Because we lost these things, we lost our sense of gratitude and our desire to praise.

We need to remember. We need to reflect. We need to appreciate what God has done and is doing for us.

What Is Needed: Prohibitions or Values?

Posted by David on under Sermons

Recently one evening about 9 p.m. I was checking on someone who had been admitted to an emergency room in Fort Smith. As I waited to talk to a nurse, I noticed how full the emergency waiting room was. Someone was seated in every chair, and people were standing. It was a collection of people who were obviously sick or very concerned about someone who was sick.

This emergency room is fairly large. A young mother hurried by me. She was carrying an infant, and a three or four year old trailed her, running to keep up. As she passed to the middle of the waiting room, I noticed the remains of a potato chip on the floor. This chip obviously had been stepped on repeatedly so it was nothing but a collection of crumbs.

The mother, only as mothers can, sensed her three year old was not trailing her. She quickly stopped and spun around. The three year old already had stopped dead still from his run. In one quick, smooth motion, he stooped down, picked up some of the potato chip crumbs, and put them in his mouth.

Mom turned just in time to see what he did. Distraught, she immediately called his name and told him not to do that.

How would you feel if you watched your child eat potato chip crumbs off of an emergency room floor?

Obviously, the child, like all children, needed to learn something about what he put in his mouth. What did he need to learn? Would he understand everything he needed to know if all he learned was, “You don’t do that!”

1. A major priority in Jesus’ teachings and in the epistles was helping people learn God’s value system.
   1. I want to illustrate that truth by using Jesus’ lesson we call the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. He taught this lesson to a Jewish audience whose primary religious influences came from Pharisees and Saduccees and whose country was occupied by Roman soldiers.
      1. Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
         1. God’s value system.
         2. That was a difficult value in a society who had the Pharisees as religious watch dogs.
      2. Matthew 5:28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
         1. God’s value system.
         2. That was difficult for a Jew in a society in which prostitution was open.
      3. Matthew 5:39 But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
         1. God’s value system.
         2. That was difficult in a society policed by Roman soldiers.
      4. Matthew 6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
         1. God’s value system.
         2. That was difficult when major religious influences stressed human praise and honor.
      5. Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
         1. God’s value system .
         2. That was difficult when some religious leaders declared vengeance was godly.
      6. Matthew 6:19-21 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
         1. God’s value system.
         2. That was difficult when religious influences in your society believed God’s primary avenue of blessing was material things.
      7. Matthew 6:34 So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
         1. God’s value system.
         2. That value is difficult for anyone living in any society.
      8. Matthew 7:12 In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
         1. God’s value system.
         2. That also is difficult for anyone living in any society.

   2. I want you to recognize the emphasis on seeing, understanding, and adopting God’s value system was routinely stressed to first century Christians.
      1. Consider Romans 12:17-21 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
         1. In the church at Rome, Paul wanted them to understand that God was in charge of vengeance; they were not.
         2. A part of God’s value system for Christians is to put God in charge of mercy and vengeance.
      2. Consider 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
         1. These Christians lived in sin city–the port city of Corinth was especially known for its sexual lifestyle.
         2. A part of God’s value system for Christians is for us to separate ourselves from sexually immoral activity.
      3. Consider Galatians 6:1,2 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
         1. The Christians in Galatia needed to understand the importance of helping each other instead of rejecting each other.
         2. A part of God’s value system for Christians is helping troubled people just as Jesus did.
      4. Consider Ephesians 4:25-32 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
         1. The Christians at Ephesus needed to understand that life had changed; they were not the same old pagans they used to be.
         2. A part of God’s value system for Christians is to learn to live a different existence based on different motives.

   3. Trust me, I could illustrate this again and again from New Testament writings.
      1. People converted to Christ, who belong to God, learn a value system that is completely new.
      2. Their everyday life is motivated and guided by this new value system.

2. Warning: I am going to meddle for minute.
   1. Please understand.
      1. I am meddling because I am concerned about a serious problem.
      2. I am not meddling because I have it all figured out.
      3. I am not meddling because I consider myself the expert who should tell you what to do.

   2. First, I want to identify with you and with the problem.
      1. We live in a stressful society that constantly keeps all of us under extreme pressure.
      2. The time demands placed on our lives are outrageous.
      3. The lifestyle that many of us try to live ruins us.
      4. The primary reason that we adults endure the stress, the time demands, and the lifestyle demands is simple: we want our families to live better than we did.
         1. We are scared to death something will place serious handicaps on our children.
         2. Many of us are paranoid about our families.

   3. My question: what value system are we teaching our families?
      1. Summer is over and many of our children start back to school next week.
         1. This summer, how many weekends did your family devote to “having fun”?
         2. On those weekends did your worship consist of sitting in an assembly once on Sunday morning?
         3. This summer, did you create this impression: if you sit in a church building for an hour on Sunday morning, if you arrive late and leave early, if you can say that you took the Lord’s Supper, you fulfilled your religious obligation.
         4. Is that the spiritual value system you taught this summer?
      2. This is the reality of school life: our children’s lives will be filled with more activities than we can possibly care for as parents.
         1. The financial demands will be enormous.
         2. The time demands will be unreal.
         3. The scheduling demands will be utterly ridiculous.
         4. In the list of school year things that must be done, will the spiritual be last?
         5. If something has to be bumped, will it be the spiritual?
         6. If something has to be neglected, will it be the spiritual?
         7. If something has to be compromised, will it be the spiritual?
      3. What do our families learn just by watching us?
         1. How often does your family hear you make a last minute call saying you cannot do something you committed to do for the congregation?
         2. How often do they see you arrive late for Bible class or skip it all together?
         3. How often do they see you actually studying the Bible, actually praying, or actually preparing for your Bible class?
         4. From weekly observations, where in your list of priorities does the spiritual fit?

[Prayer: Father, forgive us for reducing your values to a system of obligations. Help us open our hearts to your values, for in your values is the key to life and the meaning of existence.]

As we rush through life’s emergency room, our families run behind us. Sometimes we sense they are not following. In alarm, we stop and turn around. And we see them indulging an addiction. Or we see them sexually active outside of marriage. Or we see them having an abortion. Or we see them living a lifestyle that has nothing to do with God. We see them unaware of the danger. And we watch as they eat the crumbs of stepped on potato chips off the emergency room floor. And we shout, “STOP! Don’t you realize that can make you sick? Don’t you understand that could kill you? Surely, you know better than that!”

And they look at us bewildered. And silently they say, “Our priorities are not that different from yours. What’s the big deal?”

When your children become adults, if they live by the values you practice, will they be a spiritual person?

Our families need more than prohibitions to avoid. They need God’s system of values to live by.

The Ignored Verses

Posted by David on August 13, 2000 under Sermons

We must study scriptures to discover the individual messages of the books before we decide the collective message of the Bible. Preaching, teaching, and study must focus on understanding the message of scripture. Much too often we do not study to understand the message. Much too often we study to “support” our convictions.

When we read a scripture that does not seem to “fit” our perspectives or our conclusions, we typically respond to that scripture in one of these ways. # 1: we decide what that scripture says is not important, and we give its message no consideration. # 2: we do not want to think about it or try to understand it because that would require too much effort. # 3: we feel a sense of fear because the scripture threatens an important conclusion we hold, so we put it out of our mind. # 4: we “explain it away” by forcing it to say something the writer never intended it to say. # 5: we accept the responsibility to consider the message.

This is a Bible. [Hold a Bible up.] We look at it as a one volume book in the same way we look at any other single volume book. We declare it has two major sections: an Old Testament or covenant and a New Testament or covenant. Most Christians pay token tribute to the Old Testament because we decided it is not that important. Typically in the Church of Christ we make no intensive effort to understand the Old Testament. The greater percentage of our efforts in studying the Old Testament are spent on what I would call narrative books: Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Kings. We take stories from Daniel, Jonah, Nehemiah, Job, and Esther. Typically, much of this material is taught in our children’s classes. Perhaps the fact that shocks us as we consider how little emphasis we place on the Old Testament is this: the Church of Christ has never produced a series of commentaries on the Old Testament. An attempt was made, but not completed. Publishers cannot print what members will not buy.

As adults we typically concentrate our concern and study on the New Testament because we conclude it is essential.

We not only look at the Bible as a single volume book, we study it as if it were written by a single author as we study any other single author book. We rarely discuss the fact that its writings were produced over a period of about 1400 years and were written in different parts of the world. We freely, easily interchange verses from books as if they were all written by the same person in the same period under the same circumstances and situations at the same place.

If we just consider the New Testament, we are looking at a collection of letters written by different people to different people in different areas of the world. Look at a map and notice the distance between Rome (Italy), Corinth (Greece), and Antioch (Syria) are. Even today, do Italians, Greeks, and Syrians think alike and have the same culture?

First century Christians did not have a book called the New Testament. Concern for identifying the writings that should be accepted as scripture did not begin earnestly until the second century. From what I have read, it was the late fourth century before the twenty-seven books of our New Testament were widely accepted as the twenty-seven books of scripture.

Look at the obvious: there were Christians who died in the first century that never heard, never read, never knew about many of the books you and I read in the New Testament.

You and I would study the New Testament differently if we realized they were independent letters that were placed together. If we seriously consider the ignored verses in many of those letters, these verses would contribute powerfully to correcting our understanding. The ignored verses are the statements that end the letter.

1. We need an improved awareness of long distance communication in the first century.
   1. Basically, the goal or objective of communication has not changed.
      1. The goal of communication is to share information, concepts, and understandings from those who have the information, concepts, and understandings with those who do not.
      2. Through the ages, communication needs and objectives have changed little: accurately share and inform to make aware and create understanding.
      3. The means of long distance communication have changed radically.
         1. In the first century, few of our means of mass communication existed: no printing, no radio, no television, no faxes, no copiers, no Internet, no telecommunication system of any kind.
         2. In the first century, the basic methods we use in personal communication did not exist: no postal service, no telephone, no e-mail.
         3. Can you imagine what our world would be like if we had no printing, radio, television, faxes, copiers, Internet, telecommunication systems, postal service, telephone, or e-mail?
         4. They used two primary means for long distance and personal communication: the hand-delivered letters and the spoken word.
            Colossians 4:7-9 As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts; and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here.

   2. If a person was sending a hand-delivered letter any distance, he or she would commonly send it by friend or acquaintance.
      1. You did not write a letter and send it any day you wished.
      2. You sent a letter when someone you knew was traveling to the area where the recipient lived.
      3. Tychicus was to make the long journey from Rome where Paul was in prison back to Asia Minor.
         1. It is possible that Tychicus delivered four letters for Paul: one to Ephesus (Ephesians 6:21,22), one to the Laodicea (Colossians 4:16), one to Philemon, and this one to Colossae.
         2. We do not know why Tychicus was in Rome with Paul and Timothy.
         3. He was a native of the region of Colossae (Acts 20:4) who was in the group with Paul when Paul made his last trip to Jerusalem.
         4. Perhaps on that trip he was one of the delegates from the churches who sent a gift from Christians who were not Jews to Christians who were Jews (1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8:19-24).
         5. On other occasions, Paul also sent Tychicus with a personal message to Titus (Titus 3:12), and with another message to Ephesus (2 Timothy 4:12).
      4. As Tychicus came back to his home area with these letters, Onesimus came back with him.
         1. Onesimus was Philemon’s slave who ran away from Philemon in Colossae and eventually found and was converted by Paul in Rome (Philemon).
         2. Paul thought it only proper for Onesimus to return to Philemon, so Onesimus traveled back to Colossae with Tychicus.
         3. Paul presented Onesimus to the Christian community at Colossae as a faithful and beloved brother who was one of their number.
      5. Tychicus and Onesimus would verbally inform the Christians all about Paul and what was happening to him in Rome; they would share the word of mouth message with the Christians.

   3. It was and still is common to send “hello” greetings from people who are with you.
      Colossians 4:10-14 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’ cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him); and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.
      1. There were three Jewish Christians with Paul in Rome who send “hellos:” Aristarchus, Mark (Barnabas’ cousin); and Jesus who was called Justus.
         1. These three men were Paul’s encouragers; many Jewish Christians were Paul’s enemy.
         2. Aristarchus also sent a “hello” in the letter to Philemon (verse 24).
            1. He was with Paul at that very dangerous time when there was a riot in Ephesus (Acts 19:29).
            2. He was with Paul when Paul made his last trip to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4).
            3. Perhaps he was one of the delegates from Thessalonica who accompanied Paul as he took the gift to Jewish Christians.
            4. He also traveled with Paul when Paul was transferred from the prison in Caesarea to the prison in Rome (Acts 27:2).
         3. Only here are we told that Mark and Barnabas were cousins.
            1. That provides a valuable insight into why Barnabas and Paul had such a confrontation about Mark going on the second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-41).
            2. It also gives another valuable insight: Paul refused to take Mark on his second missionary journey, but years later Mark is with Paul when Paul is in prison at Rome.
            3. We do not know any other information about Jesus who was called Justus.
      2. There were three Christians with Paul in Rome who were not Jews that said “hello” to the church in Colossae.
         1. Epaphras, who came from Colossae, was with Paul.
            1. He was deeply committed to and concerned about the Christians in that area.
            2. He was constantly praying for them–note he “labored” for them by praying for them.
            3. Paul said he was a witness to the fact that Epaphras was concerned for them, the Christians in Laodicea, and the Christians in Hierapolis (Laodicea was just ten miles away).
         2. Luke was with Paul, and it is here that we learn Luke was a doctor.
         3. Demas was with Paul.
            1. He was one of Paul’s mission companions.
            2. But, when Paul faced execution, Demas deserted Paul and returned to Thessalonica because “he loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10).

   4. Paul sent personal greetings to the Christians in Laodicea.
      Colossians 4:15-18 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. Say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you.
      1. He mentioned Nympha and the church that met in her house.
      2. After the church at Colossae read this letter, Paul asked them to swap letters with the church at Laodicea, and each congregation read the other’s letter from Paul.
      3. Paul asked them to encourage Archippus.
         1. Archippus’ name is in the address of the short letter to Philemon–the letter is actually addressed to Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus.
         2. It is possible that Archippus was a member of Philemon’s family.

2. Paul wrote the last statement with his own handwriting and signed the letter.
   1. It was not unusual for a letter to be dictated.
   2. Paul closed the letter in his own handwriting with his own signature.
      1. This was a way of authenticating a letter.
      2. It was Paul’s way of saying, “You know this letter truly is from me by looking at my handwriting and signature at the end of the letter.”

When you study the “ignored verses,” (1) you see this is a letter, (2) you see that it is from a real person, and (3) you see that it was written to real people.

The New Testament did not just fall out of the sky as a book. It is a collection of letters written by people who lived in the real world written to people who lived in the real world. Surely, they were guided by God’s Spirit as they wrote. But just as certainly, they wrote.

We need to understand that God’s word is for real people in the real world. We need to understand its message is for real people in the real world.

“Lord, Use the Chains”

Posted by David on under Sermons

I wish it was easy to figure out what is happening in life. Don’t you? Do you ever wonder, “Is everything trying to kill me? At every curve in life’s highway it seems some force wants me to wreck. Something always is trying to turn my life upside down. I try to make good decisions. I try to use good judgment. I try to make wise choices. But I look up, and life is out of control. I am just dragged along.

Is that how you feel? Do you feel like something is always dragging you around, always trying to turn your life upside down? It is your parents’ divorce. It is your critical wife. It is your selfish husband. It is your impossible children. It is your deceitful boss. It is your dishonest competition. It is corrupt officials. It is your addiction. It is the death of someone you love dearly. Something constantly tries to turn your life upside down. It happens so consistently that we get nervous when things are going too well.

Then we face the most difficult question of all: is God behind what is happening, or is Satan behind what is happening? Is God trying to rescue us, or is Satan trying to destroy us? That is one of life’s most complicated questions.

Hebrews 12:7-10 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

1. Barbara Brown Taylor wrote about a visit she made to an outer bank island.
   1. She made this visit when loggerhead turtles were laying their eggs.
      1. She watched one evening as a huge female crept out of the ocean and struggled up to the edge of the sand dunes.
         1. With an exhausting effort, this huge turtle dug a deep hole and laid her eggs.
         2. Barbara was afraid that she would disturb the turtle, so she did not stay to watch the turtle fill the large hole with sand and return to the ocean.
      2. The next morning she went to see if she could see the nest.
         1. She could not locate the nest, but strangely the trail of the turtle headed into the dune.
         2. Curious, she followed the turtle’s trail into the dunes until she found the huge turtle almost dead.
         3. It was caked in sand, the sun was getting hotter by the minute, and she knew the turtle would be dead soon.
         4. She carried water from the ocean to moisten the turtle, then she hurriedly found a park ranger and told him the situation.

   2. The ranger sped to the turtle in a jeep, turned the turtle on its back, attached chains to its front flippers, hooked the chains to a trailer hitch, and sped away dragging the turtle upside down through the sand dunes to the shore.
      1. She watched in horror as she saw the turtle’s mouth fill with sand and its neck extend and flop under its shell.
         1. At the water’s edge, the ranger unhooked the chains and turned the turtle right side up in the shallow surf.
         2. The turtle looked dead.
         3. Gradually the water renewed its color, gradually the water revived it, and with a large wave, the turtle pushed out into the ocean.
      2. As she witnessed these events, this is what she thought: “Watching her swim slowly away and remembering her nightmare ride through the dunes, I reflected that it is sometimes hard to tell whether you are being killed or saved by the hands that turn your life upside down.”

2. To save people from themselves, God at times turns people’s lives upside down and drags them with chains.
   1. Jonah was determined not to do what God wanted done (the book of Jonah).
      1. God told him to go to Ninevah, the Assyrian capitol, and tell them that they would be destroyed for their great wickedness (1:2).
      2. Jonah wanted God to destroy them; they were Israel’s enemy.
      3. Jonah was afraid if he went to Ninevah that they would repent and God would forgive them (4:2).
      4. So Jonah tried to run away from God (1:3).
         1. God turned his life upside down and brought out the chains.
         2. A huge fish swallowed him (1:4-17).
         3. Jonah cried to God for help (21-9).
         4. The big fish vomited him out on land (2:10).
      5. Jonah went to Ninevah unwillingly as the worst missionary that ever worked for God; he warned them; they repented; and God forgave them (3).
      6. And Jonah was so angry at God that he asked God to let him die (4:1-3).
         1. I do not know what happened to Jonah.
         2. He certainly did not want to assist God’s purposes.
         3. Turning his life upside down did not change his attitude or his heart.

   2. Elijah genuinely wanted to turn the ten tribes of northern Israel back to God (1 Kings 18,19).
      1. From the time that these people became an independent nation, they worshipped idols (1 Kings 12:25-33).
      2. Elijah, one of God’s greatest prophets, lived among them.
      3. On one occasion Elijah knew that he proved that God was the living God and that idols were nothing.
         1. He and the prophets of Baal had a contest on Mount Carmel that was witnessed by many of the nation.
         2. Elijah won the contest; four hundred fifty prophets of Baal were executed by the witnesses; and Elijah knew that the nation would turn back to God (18:19,40).
         3. But in less than twenty-four hours Elijah knew that the nation would not turn back to God (19:1-3).
      4. He fled into the wilderness asking God to let him die, and God directed Elijah to a cave where God had a talk with Elijah (19:4,10).
         1. God said, “Elijah, you are not the only man who serves me in this nation.”
         2. “There are 7,000 prophets here who have never worshipped Baal” (19:18).
         3. “Go back; be controlled by my purposes” (19:15-17).
         4. “It is not all up to you; stop acting like it is.”

   3. Peter believed he was the strongest, most loyal disciple Jesus had.
      1. When Jesus told him that he would deny Jesus three times before the night was over, Peter thought that was preposterous.
         1. “If I need to, I will die with you.”
         2. But Peter never believed that Jesus would be arrested and tried.
         3. After Jesus was captured, Peter ran fearfully into the night.
         4. Later he slipped into the courtyard where Jesus was being questioned by Jewish authorities.
         5. Three times he was recognized; three times someone said, “You are one of his disciples; three times he denied knowing Jesus.”
         6. The third time he cursed and swore that he did not know Jesus; Jesus looked at him; and he fled into the night weeping.
      2. That night his life was turned upside down, and in John 20, Jesus fastened the chains.
         1. Three times Jesus asked, “Peter, do you love me?”
         2. Three times Jesus told him to take care of his sheep.

   4. Paul experienced having his life turned upside down and the chain experience (Acts 9; 22:6-21; 26:2-18).
      1. He was on his way to Damascus, Syria, to arrest any Jews at the synagogue who had become Christians.
         1. A light brighter than the noon sun drove him to the ground (26:13,14).
         2. The Jesus whom he said was a fake, an impostor, a grave threat to the will of God spoke to him.
         3. Jesus: “Why are you persecuting me? All you are doing is hurting yourself” (26:14).
         4. Paul: “Who are you?” (9:5)
         5. Jesus: “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. I am making you a minister and a witness, and I am sending you to open people’s eyes so they will turn from darkness to light in order that they may receive forgiveness and the inheritance of those who are sanctified by faith in me” (26:15-18).
      2. For three days Paul was blind, and for those three days he prayed and fasted (9:9).
         1. Then Jesus sent Ananias to him (9:10-12).
         2. Jesus told Ananias, “He is my chosen instrument. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake” (9:15-16).
         3. Among the things that Ananias told Paul was this: “Get up, and be baptized, calling on his name” (Acts 22:15).
      3. And the great Christian persecutor became the great Christian servant.
         1. But not before God turned his life upside down.
         2. But not before God dragged him to Christ.

[Prayer: God, do anything necessary to bring us to you.]

I do not pretend to think like a turtle. But a couple of things are obvious. When that exhausted turtle crawled deep into the sand dunes, it was convinced that it knew what it was doing and where it was going. Had someone tried to turn the turtle toward the ocean, the turtle would have resisted.

We are like the turtle. We are so sure that we know what we are doing. We are so sure that we know where we are going. If anyone dares try to help us understand that we do not, we resist him or her. Oh, how we resist him or her!

So, exhausted, we wind up deep in the dunes far from life and close to death. The sun in the hot sand is sucking the life out of us. “Sometimes it is hard to tell whether you are being killed or saved by the hands that turn your life upside down.”

Question: do you want God to rescue you? “I do not need rescuing!” You answered the question. “Yes, I want God to rescue me, but I do not want Him to turn my life upside down doing it.” You answered the question. “Yes, I want God to rescue me, but there has never been an emergency.” You answered the question.

If God sees you dying in the hot sand dunes of life, what do you want God to do? If God just knows the direction you are going will kill you, what do you want God to do? Do you want God to do anything necessary to rescue you–even if it means turning your life upside down, and dragging you with chains to where you need to be.

I am not talking about God taking any person’s will or power of decision from him or her. I am talking about God placing us in circumstances that let us choose life instead of death. Do you want God to do anything necessary to place you in those circumstances?

[Quote source: Tales of Terror, Times of Wonder, Barbara Brown Taylor, http://www.theotherside.org/archive/mar-apr00/taylor.html]