Category: Uncategorized

Rest, Assured

adbLeave a comment

(Matthew 11:25-30)

Spend any length of time listening to a conversation between teenagers and time yourself. See how long it takes for the blank stare to come across your face when you have no idea what they’re saying.

I am not talking about mumbling or being soft-spoken, as teenagers can often be. Rather, the words and phrases they use will likely come across as either completely foreign to you or have an entirely different meaning attached to them.

For example, it might surprise you to find out that “bussin” does not refer to a method of transportation one might take, nor does “shippin” involve how one might send a package. Preaching a “fire” sermon has nothing to do with brimstone or heavy-handed law. I know it might sound like I’m “cappin,” but I assure you I am not. That’s the “tea.” 

My point? The words we use to communicate can only serve that purpose effectively if we know and understand what they mean. You’ve likely also experienced this when someone in a specific line of work explained to you what they do for a living and used words and phrases that totally flew over your head.

We can do it within Christianity, too, when we try to describe our faith using terms like redeem, atonement, justification, or sanctification – terms that are totally unfamiliar to non-Christians. 

That brings us to the overall theme on which we’ll be focusing over the next several posts, Define Christian. What, exactly, does it mean to be a Christian? How do we define it? What do we mean when we use that label or identify ourselves as Christian? Does it have anything to do with politics? What does the Bible have to do with it? What is the connection between a Christian and a church? And of course, since one can see the word “Christ” in Christian, who is he and where does he fit in?

With each post, we’ll look at how God’s Word defines “Christian” by exploring teachings and truths that guide us to a clear understanding. Today we see it defined by where a Christian turns for rest. 

We ought to first take the step of making sure we’re clear on our definition of “rest.” Rest, too, carries a lot of different meanings for a lot of different people. A hiker may need to stop and rest his legs and grab a drink of water at various points throughout the trail. A sick person or one recovering from surgery needs rest to allow the body to carry out its natural recovery processes. Ask someone who is sleep-deprived about the importance of being able to get good sleep or rest. Rest can also simply mean taking a break from something for a time or season in life.

So which rest do we have in mind as we determine where the Christian turns for rest?

Jesus’ personal invitation begins to clear it up for us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). There is the invitation to receive rest from Jesus. He clarifies exactly the sort of rest he has in mind in the very next verse. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (v.29). There it is. The kind of rest Jesus offers is rest “for your souls.” 

How does one come to receive this kind of rest? We should first note that there are those for whom this rest will always remain out of reach. Jesus described them. “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do’” (v.25-26).

What? Two things here might catch us off guard. One, it sounds as if God deliberately keeps some people in the dark regarding his rest and certain other truths of Scripture. Two, Jesus sounds like he is on board with this, even going so far as to praise his Father for it. These two observations appear to be at odds with the character of a God who says he wants all people to be saved. Why wouldn’t God’s invitation to find rest be extended to all people? 

To better understand the point, consider the result if Jesus’ words were reversed – if he had said that he praised his Father because he revealed these things to the wise and learned and kept them hidden from little children. If that were the case, then certain people – those who lacked a certain intellectual ability – would automatically be excluded. No matter how hard they tried, they’d never be able to achieve the level of wisdom and learning required for salvation. They’d never be able to understand and believe Jesus’ teaching or ever find rest in him. We would have to conclude that God isn’t genuinely interested in saving all people; he’s just interested in saving the smart ones, the ones with the heightened intellectual ability to achieve a higher level of enlightenment. 

But Jesus didn’t say that. Instead, he praised the Father for revealing his truths to little children – to those with a child-like, simple trust and understanding. Therefore, to those who are too smart for their own good, who have either concluded they don’t need rest for their souls or that they don’t need Jesus to provide it for them, Jesus’ rest will always be out of reach. 

However, even for them, there is always the opportunity for the wise to set aside their prideful know-it-all-ness and humble themselves to receive the rest Jesus offers like little children. So Jesus’ invitation is for all people in search of rest who have realized they won’t succeed in finding it themselves. 

As we consider Jesus’ word choice in his invitation to rest, it also might strike us as odd that his invitation involves terms like “yoke” and “burden.” Those are terms that carry the idea of hard work and manual labor, not rest. Animals that share a yoke aren’t the animals resting in the barn, but rather working in the fields. So what can Jesus mean?

It’s important for us to nail down and be certain of what Jesus isn’t saying. Observe that Jesus doesn’t say his yoke is easier and his burden is lighter. In other words, Jesus isn’t inviting us to partner up with him so that it will be easier for us as long as we just do our best and he does the rest. This isn’t Jesus calling us to try our hardest to please him, to be pretty good people, with the assurance that he’ll take it from there so long as we’re yoked to him. 

No, Jesus wants us to know that the reason his yoke is easy and his burden is light is because he has done it all. He has done all the heavy lifting. He has done all the hard work. He has carried out every single detail of every single requirement the Father expected. There is nothing left to be done. 

Have you ever gone tubing down a river or floated around a lazy river at a resort or water park? Some find it so relaxing because once you’re parked in that tube, there is no effort required on your part. You are carrying nothing, but rather are being carried along by the tube and the flowing water. There is no burden. No weight – just a floating weightlessness that is perfectly relaxed and at peace. 

So when Jesus invites us to put on that yoke and learn rest from him, it is nothing more than this: an invitation to experience complete relief from the impossible burden of trying to perfectly please God on our own. That work has been done, and Jesus is simply inviting us to benefit from it by basking in the joy of his job perfectly done.

Suppose you hired a landscaping company to overhaul your entire backyard. After several weeks of watching the crew dig and ditch and haul away and pour concrete and build and plant and all of the labor under the hot sun, they finally finish. It looks absolutely breathtaking. There you sit, cold beverage in your hand, beaming as you take in the view. Although you didn’t lift so much as a finger, let alone a shovel full of dirt or a wheelbarrow, nonetheless, you are fully enjoying the work of others. 

So it is with Jesus’ rest. He has done all of the work. All of it. And his invitation is simply to come to him and bask in the results. He has fully satisfied the Father. He has fully paid for sin. He has fully prepared a place for us in heaven. There is nothing left to do but rest and enjoy the peace that is ours. 

Now return briefly to that backyard project once again. While you didn’t move a muscle to contribute to that backyard that you enjoy, assuming you’re satisfied with the work, you might take a step or two to reflect that. You could provide a glowing review for the company online. You could refer them to others looking to have work done on their yards. It would be natural for you to pass along how satisfied you are with their work.

Is that any different than the rest we have in Jesus? When we are satisfied and at peace with what he provides, isn’t it natural for us to point others to the rest they can find in him? Or do you suppose they already have it? Do you suppose the couple you know who just filed for divorce already has that rest? Do you think your day-drinking friend has that rest? Does your neighbor with a new toy every other week have that rest?

Or… is it possible that those priorities in their lives are either misguided attempts at seeking alternative rest or masks covering up their real need for rest? If so, don’t miss an opening to help them understand what it means that you’re a Christian. It means that you turn to Jesus for a rest that cannot be found in anyone or anything else, a rest that is assured. A rest that is for them, just as much as it is for any one of us. Invite them, as Jesus did, to personally join to find out why we gather in this place for rest. 

You may never understand the lingo that teenagers use, but you do know where to find rest. Take advantage of it. Go often to the only place where you can find rest assured: to Jesus.

Loved, to Live What You Learn(ed)

adbLeave a comment

(2 Corinthians 13:11-14)

I want to begin with a story. It’s the story of a believer named _________ (insert name here). The end.

That’s the end of the story. Because it isn’t finished yet. It’s still being written. And now is a great opportunity to pause and think about how you want the rest of your story to play out. To help us, Paul provides some guidance for believers. 

This letter has every reason to end in a different tone than it does. If you don’t recall why, go back and read the rest of 2 Corinthians and then review 1 Corinthians. If you want to see what a dysfunctional congregation looks like, this is it! Division, discord, immorality, legal action, etc. – they had it all. And not only was the congregation all over the map in spiritual disarray, but remember Paul’s own life and ministry and all of the trauma he experienced. To wrap up his communication with the encouragement to rejoice seems a bit out of place in light of all of their challenges!

REJOICE

But Paul is 100% correct. Because their joy wasn’t based on circumstances; it was based in Jesus. And when he is the source of joy, not even messy external circumstances can rob us of the joy we have in Jesus. So rejoice – you have every reason to in Jesus. 

RECONCILE

It is that same joy in Jesus that prompts the following encouragements that Paul gives. Because of our joy in Jesus, we can reconcile. That’s what Paul is getting at with the phrase, “strive for full restoration” (v.11). When believers share the same joy in Jesus, there’s no place for withholding forgiveness from each other and allowing bitterness to take root and establish itself.

We recently had some plumbing issues on the night of our school play and had to open up the restrooms in our school because the ones here at church were backed up. That’s what happens when roots worm their way into the plumbing. However, once the plumber came and cleaned out the roots, everything was in working order again. 

When believers avoid or put off reconciliation with each other – when we are slow to repent or forgive each other – we let those roots grow and establish themselves. Instead, Paul says, don’t even let them take root in the first place. But if they do, get rid of them through reconciliation. When you have an issue with a brother or sister in Christ in this congregation or any other congregation (and you will – just as you do with your biological brothers and sisters!), pull out the roto-rooter of reconciliation and do everything in your power to be restored to each other. Take the first step. If you need to confess and apologize, don’t wait for the other person. If someone else has wronged you, don’t harbor that resentment in your heart; make it known to them so they can repent and apologize. Those are the very things Jesus came to heal and forgive, so look for every opportunity to lovingly apply his grace and forgiveness so that this may continue to be a place of reconciliation.

REASSURE

Closely related to reconciliation is Paul’s next closing thought to reassure each other. Really, that’s what we’re doing when we “encourage one another” (v.11), isn’t it? Christian encouragement isn’t the empty promise that “everything is going to be alright,” because each day that passes in this broken world proves otherwise: not everything is going to be alright. We will experience great loss. We will suffer. We will face hardship.

Those things will happen, so when we speak of encouraging each other, we aren’t pretending that bad things won’t happen; rather, we’re reassuring each other with the promise that Jesus has overcome those troubles. He’s made sure they are temporary. When we reassure each other, we assure each other again and again of God’s gracious promises – both for this time and for eternity. That kind of encouragement can’t be found in the world, so if we Christians aren’t reassuring each other with it, then we can easily become discouraged and disheartened.

REALIGN

Next, Paul says to “be of one mind” (v.11). We might think of that as realignment. While he is not saying that Christians must agree on every detail about life or ministry, we do routinely need to make sure that our way of thinking is brought back in line with God’s. Just as wheels on a vehicle need to be realigned and rotated over time so they don’t wear out unevenly and result in a flat tire, we can also get off-center. 

Not surprisingly, the more removed we are from regular time in the Word and worship, the more naturally this takes place. What happens is the world’s thinking begins to shape more of our own. The world’s values and philosophies start to influence us and the world then informs our theology rather than God’s theology informing how we see the world.

This can be subtle or it can be severe. It might cause us to struggle a bit with this teaching or that, or might lead us to dismiss doctrine altogether and allow our own personal views and ideas of God to take over. Being of one mind means caring enough about each other to point this out and encourage some realignment so that our souls don’t wear out and leave us spiritually stranded on the side of the road for eternity.  

REST

Finally, pursue peace, or to keep our alliteration going, rest. That is what it means to “live in peace” (v.11). There is no shortage of ideas on how to achieve peace in our world today. Cut negative people out of your life. Unfollow social media accounts that consistently crush you with feelings of inadequacy. Be true to yourself, no matter what others think or how you get labeled. I could go on, and while a few of these approaches may provide us with some relief, none of them will give us real rest, the kind of peace we find in only one place. 

Paul even indicates that source of peace. “And the God of love and peace will be with you” (v.11). If God is characterized as the God of love and peace, that kind of makes it his thing, doesn’t it? To be revealed in such a way is to make a clear connection between God and peace. If God is the source of peace, then we must go to the source when we desire the rest he provides. And we will always find it.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Also, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20). If we desire rest, then we must have peace, and if we are to find peace, look no further than to the God of peace.

Rejoice. Reconcile. Reassure. Realign. Rest. These are tall orders! But it isn’t just any God who calls us to this thing. It is the triune God, the Holy Trinity, who equips us to carry them out. 

God is never interested in just telling you what to do without reminding you of who you are. Who are you? “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (v.14). These are not just three randomly mashed-together phrases that Paul threw together because they had a nice ring to them as a closing thought. Rather, these are the unique characteristics of the eternal God incorporated into a blessing by which God desired to touch the hearts and lives of believers for the rest of time. 

How appropriate, then, to remind us of the grace – undeserved love – that is ours in Christ! An understanding of grace is foundational to our relationship with the true and triune God because it establishes the undeserved nature of our relationship with God. That is hugely important anytime you ever feel worthless and undeserving, whether those feelings come as a result of what someone else has said to you or about you, or those feelings are the result of your own regrettable words or actions. When we are left feeling worthless, grace is the reminder that we’re in great company – Christ came to win the worthless, the undeserving, the sinners and screw-ups, the don’t-have-it-all-togethers, the shameless and those in shambles. You aren’t disqualified when you feel undeserving; rather, you are God’s target audience! Jesus didn’t come for those who think they deserve him or are worthy of him on their own merits; he came for those who know they don’t deserve him. That’s grace – and it is and always will be yours in Jesus Christ.

That is love, as the next portion of the blessing reflects, “the love of God,” to be specific. Grace is proof that God’s love is different. More than an emotion or a feeling, God’s unconditional love is an action. It’s a real love based on real action that God took and continues to take on behalf of his people. I can say I love my wife and my kids – and I do say it – but my actions don’t always back it up.

Not so with God. He says he loves us, and then recorded for us in his Word action after action after action on behalf of his people that backs up his love. That amazing love captured in John 3:16 is yours today and forever.

Finally, fellowship. “The fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Healthy Christian congregations enjoy strong fellowship – a bond of faith and friendship that surpasses that of other friendships. But your fellowship isn’t just with each other. It is also with God. It is with our church body, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). It is with all Christians whose names are written in the Book of Life by faith in Jesus Christ. 

Fellowship by definition is God’s reminder that his plan for you was never a relationship with just him but with his body, the church – with other Christians. The popular idea that one’s faith is one’s own and is only between God and that person has no basis in Scripture. God wants your faith to grow in fellowship with other Christians, too. Yes, your faith in Jesus is personal – it’s yours, but that doesn’t mean it’s private.

It’s not at all private. Each Sunday we make a public confession of our sins and publicly confess our faith with the words of the creed. That’s not private at all, and I pray that your faith never becomes so. Instead, may it continue to be fanned into flame to burn brightly as you rejoice, reconcile, reassure, realign, and rest. Do so blessed by and empowered by the grace, love, and fellowship of the Holy Trinity. That deep love of God for you will not only lead and equip you to live for him but will also guarantee the absolute best ending to your story.

Life for the Dead

adbLeave a comment

(2 Kings 4:17-37)

“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” So wrote Benjamin Franklin to the French Physicist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy in 1789. Although it does not appear that Franklin was the originator of the phrase pertaining to the certainty of death and taxes, it was very likely his use of it that made the phrase popular. And it is a rather timely phrase, not only because the deadline for filing taxes is right around the corner, but also because two of the three readings in worship this same Sunday reminded us of the certainty of death. 

In the Gospel of John (ch.11), we hear of Lazarus, whose resurrection from the dead is arguably the most well-known biblical account of a person being raised from the dead – outside of Jesus himself, of course. In 2 Kings, we find a much less familiar account of an unnamed boy of unnamed parents who was raised by the prophet Elisha. While the two accounts do relate to the Benjamin Franklin quote, Franklin’s words also demonstrate something else: man’s inability to provide any real hope or comfort in the face of death.

Admittedly, one could argue that offering comfort or hope is not the intent of the Franklin quote. True, but couldn’t that just as easily be because that’s all the world can offer regarding death – no hope or comfort – just the certainty that death will come to each of us one day? 

You’ve very likely experienced the world’s inability to offer any hope or comfort if you’ve wrestled with the death of a loved one. It is a different thing to hear a non-Christian make such attempts. “Sending condolences or positive thoughts your way”, being “sorry for your loss”, and any other number of people’s personal ideas of what happens to us when we die – they all have this in common: they miss the mark terribly. 

But God has plenty to say in the face of death. Better yet, God has something to show us when words can sometimes fall short: he shows us life in the face of death. God shows us that it isn’t only death and taxes that are certain, but so is life from death. So as we consider one of the ten occasions recorded in Scripture in which the dead are brought back to life, we want to be reminded that when we face death, God provides much more for us than some empty, fast-forgotten phrase: he provides life. Real life. 

Though perhaps not as familiar as the other resurrection accounts in the Bible, the one before us from 2 Kings hits differently, as do any such accounts that involve children. While old age and long-lived lives ready us somewhat for the arrival of death, the death of the young increases its sting even more. But not even dying young allows death to put up such a barrier that God cannot overcome.

If we back up a few years before where we pick up in 2 Kings 4, it will provide some background. The Shunammite woman was a believer with not only the desire to support the Lord’s work but also the financial means to do so. She took on a building project to provide a place for Elisha to rest and recover as the itinerant preacher frequently traveled through her area. It was a room constructed on the top of the flat roof of her home, perhaps with its own external set of stairs to allow the prophet access to and from his room as he needed. 

As an expression of gratitude, Elisha offered to put in a good word for her. After all, Elisha not only had the backing of God’s generous hand but he also held a measure of influence among some of the royal officials. After she declined his offer, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, pointed out that she had no son and the age of her husband seemed to rule out the possibility of her bearing a child in the future. So Elisha promised her that in a year’s time, she would be holding her own son in her arms. Sure enough, it happened just as Elisha said it would and the woman had a son, which is where our account picks up. 

After the boy was older, “one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. He said to his father, ‘My head! My head!’ His father told a servant, ‘Carry him to his mother’” (v.18-19). Although the cause of the boy’s suffering is not clearly revealed, it’s most commonly presumed that the boy was suffering from sunstroke – not at all uncommon in the region. While sunstroke could certainly be fatal, it didn’t appear that the boy’s father presumed it was that serious at this point. Thinking his situation was still treatable, the father directed a servant to take the boy inside to his mother to be cared for. Unfortunately, it was too late, as the boy died shortly thereafter on his mother’s lap. 

Mom didn’t waste any time. Placing the boy in Elisha’s bed in his room, possibly to keep avoid drawing attention to his death at this point, she made arrangements to visit the prophet Elisha. The timing surprised her husband, as there was no religious reason for her to be visiting the man of God. After the trip of between 15-20 miles, Elisha saw her arriving from a distance and sent Gehazi out to ask her if everything is alright. Determined to discuss the matter with the prophet himself and not his servant, she does what we still do today when we don’t wish to discuss our genuine feelings or concerns with someone by brushing aside any concerns with, “I’m fine.” 

But we already know that she wasn’t, and that became clear immediately as she came to Elisha. After reminding the prophet that she had never asked for a son in the first place, she fully trusted Elisha to do something about his death. She showed her persistence by insisting on remaining with Elisha even after he sent Gehazi ahead to try his hand at raising the boy by laying his staff on the boy’s face.

While we don’t know the significance of this action, it has been suggested that Elisha possibly knew the staff would not do anything and was setting the stage for superstition or other means to be ruled out so that it would be clear that the Lord alone would be responsible for this miracle. Regardless, after Gehazi returned to Elisha with word of his unsuccessful attempt, God’s prophet soon after arrived at the house.

What does Elisha do first? He models for us a great first step for every occasion: he prays. He knows that any miracle that would take place would only be the work of the Lord’s hand, so he rightly takes the matter to him first. Then, perhaps because it was the same manner used by his mentor, the prophet Elijah, in raising the widow at Zarapheth’s son from the dead, Elisha stretches his body on the boy. A dead body doesn’t take long to grow cold, and we’re told that the boy’s body started to become warm.

Yet this miracle wasn’t instantaneous (did God wish to stretch Elisha’s faith, too?). Elisha paced in the room, patiently allowing the Lord to work in his own time, and then persistently repeated the same action, stretching himself on the boy again. Finally, the sign of life, for dead people don’t sneeze! “The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes” (v.35). The Shunammite’s son lived! Elisha directed his servant to call for mom to come and hold her living son, which she did after falling to the ground at Elisha’s feet in humble gratitude for this miracle. 

The Lord’s hand in this account is evident. It was clearly a miracle that the boy was raised back to life in the manner he was, for there is no holistic reason or medical explanation for a life being restored by means of a living person stretching out on a dead person. No one who has died or is nearly dead is brought into a hospital’s ER so that the doctor can empty the room of all its medical equipment in favor of lying down on top of the person to save him. That’s not how it works! But, as we see in Scripture, it certainly can be how God chooses to work. 

Besides the miracle itself, which is always an amazing show of God’s power, what is the point? Why are the dead raised to life in the Bible? As I wrote earlier, including Jesus’ own resurrection, we have ten occasions in the Bible on which dead people are raised to life. But why?

Through these miracles, God tightens the connection between his physical and spiritual promises. What we see happen physically when God raises the dead solidifies for us the reality of what God also promises spiritually. 

We are all born dead in sin, but made alive only through faith in Christ (Eph. 2). As true as this spiritual truth is, it’s not always easy for us to grasp abstract spiritual truths. So what does God do? He shows us his power over physical death. He demonstrates what is possible by taking a lifeless corpse and making it alive.

What he has done physically he does for us spiritually. And because we believe he has brought us to life spiritually, we in turn have the confidence that he will do it for us physically. Do you see the relationship? 

God alone gives life to the dead – both spiritually and physically. We have the assurance of this because we believe. We have faith, the same faith in God as the Shunammite woman, very likely on the mind of the writer of Hebrews who wrote, “[By faith] Women received back their dead, raised to life again” (Heb. 11:35). Faith fills us with the doubly-blessed assurance of spiritual life and physical life forever. 

Outside of faith, there is no such guarantee. Outside of faith, a person may appear to be very much physically alive while at the same time remaining spiritually dead. If that person remains spiritually dead when he or she physically dies, the final result will be eternal death in hell. There will be no more opportunities for spiritual life after this physical life is over. This life, our “time of grace” as it is often called, is the time God has allotted for us to be made spiritually alive through faith. It is the time for us to see who Jesus is, what he has done, and to believe that as our Savior, he alone offers spiritual and eternal life to all who believe. 

At what cost? The events of Holy Week remind us, as the Holy Spirit takes us from the hosannas of Palm Sunday to the heartache of Good Friday. Jesus died so that there could be life for the dead. And in Jesus, that is what we have: life. And we aren’t just talking of spiritual life, but physical life. Real life. Eternal life. Through Jesus, death will not be your end, for he gives life for the dead. 

Come, Lord Jesus! – as Immanuel

adbLeave a comment

(Matthew 1:18-25)

While the concept of karma has no basis in Scripture and therefore is not covered in any lessons in our Bible Basics class, the idea of it has certainly crept into our American way of thinking. We may rather flippantly comment on karma playing a role when someone pretty universally considered to be a jerk has a stroke of bad luck. Our usage of karma tends to be more negative than positive – that when bad things happen to bad people, it’s karma coming back to get them.

On the flip side, maybe the slightly twisted Christianized version of karma is this: “Do the right thing, and everything will work out.” Sure, there may be a few detours or unexpected potholes along the way, but generally speaking, when we do the right thing, everything works out. That’s why we have the Ten Commandments after all, right? Follow those pretty closely, and things will go our way. Be nice to people, tell the truth, don’t take what isn’t yours – do those kinds of things and generally speaking, everything works out. 

I wonder if that’s why we’re so drawn to a guy like Joseph in the Christmas account. Here is a good guy that the Bible always describes as doing the right thing. The verse today tells us he was “faithful to the law,” (Mt. 1:19), which used to be translated simply as “righteous.” He did the right things. Even after the angelic explanation for what was going on, we see Joseph doing the right thing. “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” (v.24). And later, after Jesus’ birth, Joseph again follows an angelic mandate to take his family to Egypt to avoid Herod’s wrath. We don’t see Joseph dismissing or disregarding what he is told to do. We don’t see him calling an audible and changing the game plan to what he thinks might be a better option or solution. We see him faithfully following orders – a good guy just doing the right thing. 

Yet, look what this good guy had to go through! The quiet, humble, do-gooder Joseph was going about everything the right way in his relationship with Mary. He had been faithfully honoring the period of engagement before marriage, which could have been a rather lengthy time as the families negotiated the details of the marriage, and then the bombshell dropped: she was pregnant, and Joseph was definitely not the father. So much for “do the right thing, and everything will work out,” huh?!?

It’s happened to you, too, hasn’t it? You did all the right things, but still, look what happened. You’ve been prudent and disciplined with your finances, budgeting wisely and refusing to get caught up in a buy everything and buy it right now culture, but still cannot seem to get things into the black. You’re the model employee, following company policy and always getting your stuff done in a timely manner, and no one ever takes notice. You take care of your things far better than your negligent neighbor, and yet you’re the one who always has car trouble or the leaky roof. You really felt you were doing all the right things as a parent, but your heavy heart questions it as you watch your child’s life continue to crumble in one part of life after another. You’re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not working out! 

That carries over into our spiritual lives, too, doesn’t it? You’re doing the right things God calls you to in your marriage but the burdens are far outnumbering the blessings. You’ve been much more deliberate about being active and engaged at church, but your problems persist. You’ve been reading your Bible, but rather than experiencing clarity, confusion continues. You committed to the three-month challenge of increasing your giving over the final quarter of the year, but it’s been much more difficult than you thought it would be. You’re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not working out!

It gets more troubling as we get more personal. I’m talking about trying to do the right thing after you’ve done the wrong thing – that internal scale that we try to balance inside our own minds. Our history of exploding in a fit of sinful rage has resulted in physical damage or scathing words more times than we can count. Therefore, we work really hard at being more patient… only to inevitably lose control again. The next morning we tell ourselves last night was the last time we’re ever going on that website… and then after visiting it again the very next weekend we have to establish a new “last time we’re ever going to visit it.” Your dismal financial situation, caused by credit card debt racked up through your unnecessary purchases leaves you feeling ashamed and guilty, so you end up making it worse by trying to escape the guilt with more buying. You know you should forgive the person who sinned against you as readily as Jesus forgives your sins, but… you just can’t. You’re trying to do the right thing – even when trying to balance the scales because you’re the one who’s done the wrong thing, but it is definitely not working out! 

If you are frustrated or discouraged by this struggle, the Bible provides some insight to help explain what’s going on. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25). “By the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). That’s pretty sobering news for those hoping to make progress by taking the “do the right thing and everything will work out” approach. It won’t work out. It doesn’t work out.

That misses the whole point of God’s law, which is really summed up by “do the right thing.” Or, to put it another way, love perfectly at all times. That isn’t just a tall order; it’s an impossible one. And that’s what God needs us to realize. Even guys like Joseph, guys we’d prefer to look up to and emulate as “good guys” – they are never good enough. We’ll never prove ourselves worthy or free from guilt by getting to the point of good, because it’s an unattainable goal. 

So what did Joseph do when that bombshell of Mary’s pregnancy dropped? Well, since he was the kinda guy who did the right thing, that’s exactly what he stuck with – he did the right thing.

But there’s a monumental difference between doing the right thing in hopes of satisfying God and doing the right thing once you find out God’s more interested in satisfying you. That, after all, was what was revealed to Joseph in his dream. The angel explained the significance of Mary’s pregnancy and birth. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). “Joseph, did you hear that? You don’t have to be good enough! You don’t have to try harder! You don’t have to live in limbo, wondering if you’ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you, Joseph – from their sins!”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, did you hear that? You don’t have to be good enough! You don’t have to try harder! You don’t have to live in limbo, wondering if you’ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you – from their sins!

And he wouldn’t leave us wondering where we stood by remaining in heaven and barking out directions or to-do’s that could we could follow to be saved from our sins. He had to do it, and not from heaven, but here on earth. Matthew connected the dots for his readers to no one would miss that Mary’s Son would be God’s Son, the Savior who, just as Isaiah had promised, would come to be with us: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)” (v.22-23).

Immanuel, “God with us,” is not just the stuff of nostalgia; it’s the stuff of necessity. In Christ, God came to be what Joseph couldn’t be, what we couldn’t be, what no one could be: both perfection and payment. Jesus was the good we all strive so unsuccessfully to be. Jesus was the perfect that we’ll never pacify. Jesus was the payment we could never make. 

Christmas is Christmas because it had to be. Out of necessity. I need that child born on Christmas Day. You need that child born on Christmas Day. You love that child and you love Christmas when you are emptied of the notion that you can just do the right thing and everything will work out. It won’t. So God had to fix what we couldn’t, what we can’t, what we will never on our own be able to fix: ourselves. 

For all of his righteousness, his faithfulness to the law, his doing the right thing, Joseph still needed Jesus. So do we. Good news: on Christmas, we celebrate that God gave us just what we needed: Immanuel.

Focused Finances

adbLeave a comment

(Luke 12:13-21)

Consider the source. That phrase can mean a lot of things. We might apply it to some juicy gossip being passed along by someone with a questionable reputation. In such a case we either avoid him or at least don’t put much stock in his words. Consider the source. Another person provides guidance or direction on a matter in which they have zero expertise. We don’t weigh their advice heavily. Consider the source. A threat is made by someone with little to no ability to actually carry it out. We brush it off. Consider the source. 

This morning we hear Jesus warn us, “Watch out! Be on your guard…” (v.15). Do you consider the source? Does this warning hit you differently than the “Caution: wet floor” sign on a newly-mopped surface? It should, shouldn’t it?

After all, it is Jesus warning us, the same Jesus who just before this had warned the crowds, “Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has the power to those you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” (12:5). Yikes! The hypocrisy of the Pharisees revealed their greater concern for how they appeared to others on the outside than how their hearts actually appeared before God – the only One with the power to condemn any soul to hell. That’s the Jesus who responded to the man in Luke 12’s request with the warning to watch out. 

Notice that Jesus didn’t chastise the man in the crowd for his request. He didn’t call it wrong for him to discuss the matter of dividing the inheritance with his brother. In such matters it was the normal practice for a rabbi to help carry out the division of property so that the older son received the double portion of the inheritance. So whether this brother was the older or younger, it didn’t matter – it wasn’t a sin for him to be concerned about his financial situation, so Jesus didn’t call it sin.  

But I wonder if it would have been easier if he had. If Jesus had clearly stated in no uncertain terms that it was sin, it was wrong to be concerned about such things, it might have been easier. If Jesus had laid it out in black and white then it would have been so easy for him – and us – to know when we’ve crossed the line between right and wrong. Laws serve that purpose. Clear rules make it known to everyone when they are being followed and when they are being broken. 

And wouldn’t the managing of God’s gifts to us be so much easier if Jesus had done that for us? He calls us to manage his blessings faithfully. How much easier that would be if only a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” accompanied the call to be faithful so we could gauge whether or not we are! He calls us to give generously. How much easier if we just had a formula where we plugged in income and expenses and it spit out our own personal number representing God’s definition of “generous” giving! He calls us to meet the needs of others. How much easier if we had a simple quote laid out for us that we had to meet each week or month!

All of that would be easier. Instead, Jesus doesn’t even call it wrong – but he did seize the opportunity to give a warning. “Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’” (Luke 12:15). Consider the source and take very seriously Jesus’ urging to be careful. Watch out – greed is tricky, Jesus says.

He doesn’t say it’s a sin to be rich or to build wealth. He does say that greed is something to be on guard against, because it can so easily lead one to believe the lie that the best things in life are things in life. Stuff. Belongings. Clothes. Possessions. Technology. Memorabilia. Cars. Vacations. Etc. Greed wouldn’t dare go so far as calling those things sin – because they’re not; greed is content in its role of serving as the gateway drug to idolatry – to loving those things more than the gracious God who granted them to manage in the first place. 

If we are going to have a healthy relationship with God’s physical blessings, if we want to be focused financially, then we have to better understand the relationship between greed and idolatry. In fact, they are so closely related that in our Colossians, Paul equates greed with idolatry. When we define idolatry, we think as the explanation to the First Commandment has taught us to – we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. “Well, I don’t fear, love, or trust in anything more than I do God,” we reason, “so I must not be an idolator.” Wrong. 

Think differently with me for a moment. It’s quite easy for us to claim to fear, love, and trust God above all else, but our hypocrisy is often exposed when something – or someone – in our lives is suddenly taken from us. What loss could you experience that would rattle your soul? What would leave you absolutely devastated tomorrow if no longer in your life? A family heirloom? Your pet? An empty bank or retirement account? Your child(ren)? Your spouse? 

Greed and idolatry are partners in crime, and it’s not always the love of a thing, but the loss of it, that might more effectively expose them in our lives. When we comfortably convince ourselves that loving something too much isn’t an issue for us, it might be the loss of it that reveals a sinful fixation. It might be the loss of it that reflects where our hearts truly are.

Consider how this applies to Jesus’ words elsewhere: “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:20-21). Jesus said that in order to find out what it is that we treasure, we only need to look where are hearts are. But our hearts deceive us. So how does our heart often come to speak the truth? How does our heart finally fess up and reveal what it truly treasures? When what it loves most is taken away from it. 

I miss church for a Sunday or two. Oh well – my heart can manage. I go days or weeks without reading my Bible. Eh – my heart tends to hold up OK. I make no effort to engage in any Bible study. My heart learns to live with it just fine. 

But a tanking stock market and depleted retirement portfolio? The death of a family member? A word or action that disrespects me or makes me look foolish in front of others? A president or politician who tramples on my Constitution? Now the heart rate has jumped! Now the heart is engaged! Now the emotions follow and the passion is flowing! Because now… my heart has shown its true colors and revealed where its true treasure is.

And it’s not Jesus. It isn’t the God we claimed to fear, love, and trust in above all else. And for that idolatry, we deserve the very hell Jesus warned about. And we deserve to spend eternity not with the God who gave us everything we’ve ever owned or experienced, but with those empty and vain things to which our hearts attach themselves.

Dismiss greed then. Disregard Jesus’ warning. Take lightly his urging to be on guard against all kinds of greed. And you will regret it for eternity. 

Or, like the man in the parable, be sure to focus on how to hoard and protect as much as you can during this lifetime, while leaving God out of the picture – with the exception of the occasional Sunday morning appearance of course! For that is surely what he is interested in! That is surely what will tide him over! Never mind the fate of the rich man who was not rich toward God. For him it was too late. Do not let it be too late for you! Do not let your possessions possess you! Do not let the this life be a stumbling block that forfeits your eternal life. 

Instead, let this life be an opportunity for you to be rich toward God. And that doesn’t come naturally. It springs from an awareness of how rich God has been toward us. 

Do you know when we often see this most clearly, when we truly grasp how rich God has been toward us? It’s when he brings into focus for us what truly matters, and that often happens in the thick of heartache and hardship.

I had been home three full days from vacation, and in that time have had three different opportunities to be reminded of this bittersweet truth. A young couple whose only son, not even a year old, was taken home to heaven. A man unexpectedly and rather suddenly hit with a cancer diagnosis. Another cancer fighter found out it is no longer contained, but has spread to other parts of his body. 

As devastating as these things are, and as heavily as they weigh on our hearts, they have a way of clearing out the clutter in life and focusing our attention on what matters. What matters is how richly God has treated us in lavishing us with his love, even when our own love is extended so freely to the world and its trappings. Paul wrote it beautifully in his letter to the Christians in the church in Ephesus: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (1:7). God’s grace is so rich because it has no limits. It doesn’t run out. There is no end. It is an account that will never be depleted, an abundance out of which he has an endless supply of forgiveness, which he lavishes on us.

For him to treat us so richly naturally begs us to respond in kind. With all that we have. With all that he has given us. With a focus that sees every physical blessing and every gift that he has given us as a means to an end – his end and his purposes. To love him first and best is the only way to have a healthy relationship with the stuff of this world. It allows us to see the stuff of this world as resources to help focus our attention – and the attention of others – not on this world, but on the world to come, the heaven that has been won for us already. 

We want others to consider the source. We want others to know how richly God’s grace abounds and extends to everyone in the world. We want others to look beyond the gifts to the source of those gifts, the Giver himself, who has so much more to offer than the fleeting stuff of this world. Let us focus on how we manage his blessings to us in a way that shows he has freed us from being possessed by our possessions and freed us for a focused life of managing what he gives us for his kingdom purposes.

He Lifts Up the Humbled

adbLeave a comment

(Luke 1:39-55)

How many gifts will it be this year? Do you have a record of how many gifts it’s been in the past? You know the ones I’m talking about – the ones we made a big deal about, the ones we convinced ourselves and others we really wanted – no, needed… only to see them end up unused, forgotten, or re-gifted to someone else. I would imagine you could spend some time over the holidays just looking back on everything in your home, your garage, and/or a storage unit if you have one, and so much of it would be a record of things that at one point were “must-haves.” Going through that process would probably serve to give us pause the next time we convince ourselves that we have to have something. We may not want it as badly as we think we do.

Couldn’t we say that about humility as well? We’ve reflected on humility for the past three Sundays, and honestly, isn’t humility a bit like that gift you think you want, but when it comes right down to it, isn’t as interesting as we thought? We even know that humility is one of those desirable qualities God wants us to have, so we should want it, but really we don’t. Because humility means giving up something I’m really good at: me. Humility means actually doing what Jesus called us to by denying self. Humility means going against my natural self-interest and doing what I’m best at by nature, making my life about me. So humility sounds virtuous and noble and it should be not only on our Christmas list, but an ongoing pursuit of ours, but… the reality is that we aren’t too willing to part with our pride. Like a child throwing a tantrum after being stripped of a toy for misbehaving, we naturally kick and scream against anything that threatens our pride. And humility does just that. 

That’s what makes it so difficult. “No pain, no gain” – it’s unlikely you’ll open up a Christmas card to find those words inside. I don’t recall the phrase being included in any Advent or Christmas hymns. Spend as much time perusing the aisles of Hobby Lobby for something to add to your collection of Christmas decor, but you won’t see the words, “no pain, no gain” painted across a piece of wood in some nostalgic font. The words would seem to be out of place for this time of year.

But maybe they’re more applicable than we might think. As we conclude our Humble Expectations series this morning and you reflect on the past three weeks, has the concept of humbling yourself or being humbled resonated with you as a pleasant experience? If so, forgive me for saying so, but I think you’re a little bit weird. Being humbled – more specifically, the repentance required for that to take place – is a tough pill to swallow. Who likes to be put in their place? Who enjoys having their faults found out and exposed? Who likes being at the dead end where no blame, no excuses, and no rationalizations allow us any outs, where there is nowhere to turn for escape? No one! Provoking our pride is a painful process!

But it’s a necessary one, and this morning we focus on why. Today we look at the end result of that process of humbling and being humbled; today we look at the gain that results from the pain. 

How refreshing it is this morning to see what humility looks like in not one, but two of the women, Elizabeth and Mary, who played important roles in the birth of our Savior. While what has come to be called The Song of Mary, or The Magnificat, is the focal point of these verses, don’t miss the humble greeting that Elizabeth expressed upon Mary’s arrival. “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (v.41-43). Remember that Elizabeth was the once-barren, but now-expecting mother herself, and she could have very understandably been bitter toward Mary for arriving and stealing her thunder, or for rubbing it in that she was the one chosen to be the mother of the Savior. But we don’t see that from Elizabeth at all. Moreover, Elizabeth not only acknowledged Mary’s blessed privilege of being the mother of the Savior, but counted herself unworthy of a personal visit from her. This was not false humility. This was not Elizabeth trying to butter up Mary or get on her good side. This is what genuine humility looks like. And Mary takes a page out of the same book of humility.

Mary didn’t spring into a self-centered song spelling out all of the understandable reasons why she was in fact such a good candidate to be the mother of the Savior. Instead, notice who is at the center of her song: the Lord. Her song is not filled with “me’s,” but “He’s.” 

That’s an important element of humility. Humility doesn’t toot its own horn. Humility doesn’t call attention to itself. Humility doesn’t announce its presence in the room. Instead, humility is made known only when all attention is directed elsewhere. Mary does just that, highlighting God’s glorious resumé of rescuing his people throughout history. And how might we describe that resumé? She points out that God has a track record of doing two things: 1) humbling the haughty who think they can stand against him, and 2) lifting up the lowly, those who in genuine humility know and believe that they have zero business seeking an audience with a holy God. 

Mary described the various ways the Lord has for humbling the haughty. “He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts… has brought down rulers from their thrones… has sent the rich away empty” (v.51-53). To those thinking they can hide their pride by keeping it limited to their thoughts – he shoos them out of his presence. To those in positions of power or authority who pat themselves on the back as if achieved by their own doing – he topples them from their lofty place. To those relying on riches or truly believing there is such a thing as a “self-made man,” he sends them away empty-handed. 

Here’s the problem with pride: we think our pride is justified. We think we actually have some good reasons not to be humble, that being humble is actually beneath us. Actually, we don’t even see it as pride. We wouldn’t call it that at all. It’s rather just who we are. We know that no sinful pride is justified, so what we feel, what we think about ourselves must not be pride, because we know that’s not acceptable for God’s people… so we don’t identify it as such. Nevertheless, we still struggle with humility, because we think too highly of ourselves to think humility should apply to us. Mary’s song glorifies God for humbling the haughty, for not allowing others to pridefully rob him of his glory.

Mary’s song also glorifies God for lifting up the lowly. “He has… lifted up the humble… has filled the hungry with good things” (v.52-53). The good news for those who know they have no business in God’s presence is that he will in fact lift them up in his presence! Those who know how spiritually starving they are on their own will be permitted to taste and see how good the Lord truly is! God has no time for the proud because his schedule is booked with raising up the repentant to the joyful heights of forgiveness and salvation! He is far too busy filling up the empty-hearted with grace and all of his richest gifts!  

So as we wrap up this series, into which of these categories do you wish to find yourself? The haughty will be humbled while the lowly will be lifted up. I think we all know what the answer should be, but will our attitude and actions reflect that, or will everything stay the same? Will we continue thinking of humility as a virtue, a noble thing to pursue, but defiantly refusing to trade in our pride for humility? Or, can we see the bigger picture and in humility make our lives less about us, confident that in due time, Jesus will lift us up to himself and exalt us in a way the world never can? Knowing that it isn’t natural to us to desire humility, consider bringing that desire before the Lord. Ask him to help us imitate the humble spirit demonstrated by Elizabeth and Mary, who found genuine joy, not based on all the pregnancy preparations they had to do, but on what God had done. Let your joy this Christmas be based not on your planning and preparations, but in humble gratitude for what God has done.

And ask him to wrap you in his humility. Ask him to help us see that apart from him we are nothing so that we truly embrace that in him, we have everything. Bow low then, as you prepare to gaze again at the manger and see with eyes of faith the one born into humility, that he might raise you up and fill you with good things for now, for Christmas, and for eternity. 

When God’s Not Part of the Plan

adbLeave a comment

(Judges 9:1-25, 46-57)

I wasn’t planning on leading a group of 50 hikers to the top of Mt. San Gorgonio (11,500 elev.) this past week at Good Shepherd Bible Camp, but that’s what ended up happening. In hindsight, one of the biggest takeaways for me was the importance of planning. Making sure everyone stays in their group, has enough water and snacks, and knows what to expect is hugely important. 

As we continue our series in the book of Judges this morning, we also see how important planning is. Actually, not just planning in general, but planning that involves God. Or, as in the case this morning, what it looks like when God’s not part of the plan.

Previously in our series on the book of Judges, the Lord spoke to Deborah. The Lord also came directly to Gideon. Today, we see that the Lord did not come to Abimelech; neither did Abimelech seek out the Lord. And, while the time of the Judges can in general be characterized as a spiritual dumpster fire for the Israelites, Abimelech takes us to a new low. As we look at his particular cycle of the downward spiral of Judges, he shows us quite clearly what happens when God’s not part of the plan. 

Before we go any further, we have to address this reality: sometimes non-believers have it really good in life. Maybe that’s no news flash to anyone here, but we need to acknowledge and understand that so we don’t walk away this morning with the wrong idea that so long as God is in the picture, then life is a dream; if he’s not, then it’s a nightmare. It just isn’t true! Some non-believers have a fantastic life and many believers have one burden to bear after another. Why doesn’t God make life more miserable for the non-believer? There are two different ways he can use an abundance of earthly blessings for his eternal purposes. In one case he might desire that his kindness and generosity lead the non-believer to repentance (cf. Romans 2:4). He might also use an abundance of worldly blessings to lead the non-believer that much sooner to the conclusion that worldly wealth without the Lord is ultimately meaningless (cf. Ecclesiastes). So even when he’s good to the non-believer, his goal is still very much an eternal one that has the concern of souls as its focus. 

For you and me, then – for believers, God shows us what is a general truth in the life of the Christian, based on a real promise that Jesus made in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In worldly terms, God’s generous goodness can shower non-believer or believer alike. But only a God-centered life will yield spiritual blessings and joys that can simply never be experienced when God’s not part of the plan. 

In Abimelech’s case, things got off to a selfish start. There is a noticeable distinction between this account and the two judges we have looked at previously. In each of their cases, God was a part of the dialogue with Deborah and Gideon. But he is nowhere to be found in Abimelech’s case – except when being rebuked by someone else. Abimelech wasn’t concerned about God’s wishes or will for his life – he wanted power, and he had a plan for how to secure it. With a little political prowess, he convinced the people of Shechem that they’d be better off being ruled by just one ruler – him – than some sort of divided rulership made up of his 70 brothers. Furthermore, since his mother was Gideon’s concubine from Shechem, he appealed to flesh and blood – he was one of their own! He went to the people and said, “Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man? Remember, I am your flesh and blood” (Judges 9:2). Abimelech’s plan was not guided by God in any way whatsoever – he got off to a purely selfish start.

How many times have we been stumped at that stage – the very beginning – because we, too, were far more interested in pursuing our plans rather than seeking God’s counsel on what he would have us do? Simply because we have faith in Jesus does not mean that it’s a given that we seek God’s guidance. A person may have saving faith in Jesus that ensures them a home in heaven, while also largely ignoring God’s guidance or direction for the better part of life. It may not be a matter of not knowing what God would have them do in a situation, but a consistent failure to actually act on that, to intentionally align their life with God’s guidance and direction. So while they see Jesus as Savior, he’s often left at the kiddie table when significant life decisions are being made. When a Christian considers a job offer or relocation opportunity without giving thought to the proximity of our nearest church, how much was God really a part of that plan? When I choose words or actions that dishonor God for the sake of my own popularity or attention, is God really a part of that thought process? When in general our approach is to plan first, then pray second and seek God’s blessings on our plans after we’ve decided what we want to do, is God really a part of those plans, or are we simply treating him like the stamp of approval we’d appreciate in order to move forward with our plans?  

Look at the result of Abimelech’s failure to include God in his plans. His selfish start resulted in godless gain. The citizens of Shechem pledged their allegiance to him with their checkbooks. What did Abimelech do with the money? “They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers” (v.4). He hired thugs. He assembled a gang. It wasn’t as if Abimelech’s fine reputation had earned followers genuinely or that soldiers would be willing to valiantly die an honorable death for him. No, he paid punks to push people around. 

And that’s exactly what they did. But it wasn’t just bullying or scare tactics that he had his men carry out; he authorized them to murder his own flesh and blood. At his dad’s house no less, he turned a stone into a slaughterhouse where he put to death almost all of his brothers. Only Jotham, Gideon’s youngest son and Abimelech’s youngest brother, escaped.

Ever notice how things rather quickly go from bad to worse when we do them our own way and God’s not part of the plan? Abimelech had established himself as a commander of criminals who had committed murder. After that, his little brother who had escaped his execution efforts proclaimed a pronouncement of judgment on him. We notice something else about Jotham’s prophecy against Abimelech: it’s the first time God is mentioned in the account. What Jotham essentially prophesies is that each of the parties involved in this whole shameful account – Abimelech and the people of Shechem who supported his rise to power – would get burned by each other. And that was exactly what happened. God turned the people of Shechem against Abimelech and they ended up throwing their support behind an adversary, Gaal, who was happy to bad-mouth Abimelech and welcome his dissenters (read through verses 26-45 of Judges 9 for those details). Long story short, Abimelech squashed Gaal and his men, forcing the people of Shechem to secure themselves inside the tower of the very same temple from which they first withdrew their financial support for Abimelech. There, trapped inside the tower, Abimelech burned alive a thousand men and women. But as he pressed on to the next city, where he encountered more citizens secured inside a tower, a woman lifted a millstone over the edge of the tower and cracked Abimelech’s skull, ultimately resulting in his death. 

Has it happened that way for you? Perhaps not to the extent of how it ended for Abimelech, but have you experienced things going from bad to worse when God was left out of the plans? A job offer or relocation that didn’t consider the location of a new church family results in at least a season – prayerfully not an eternity! – of drifting away from God. A greater concern over what others think of me than honoring God with words and actions results in sin becoming less black and white and more in the gray area as I justify my choices. I make my plans and then pray for God to bless them instead of praying for God to guide my process of planning in the first place and wonder why things seldom seem to work out the way I had hoped. Things can quickly, or sometimes even worse – very gradually – go from bad to worse when God’s not part of the plan. Abimelech’s story may hit frightfully close to home if we go the same route.

The fact that it hasn’t already, and that we can learn from this account in Judges, is a testament of how desperately God works behind the scenes to keep you as his own, even when we have allowed him to become an afterthought. This is grace: even when God’s not part of our plans, we’re always a part of his. Think of how often we include others in something with the expectation that they’ll do the same for us. We give someone a Christmas card only because we got one from them, or just to see if they’ll send one to us if we send one to them. We operate under the assumption that others will reciprocate our thoughtfulness when we include them. God didn’t wait for us to include him in our plans, but included us in his from eternity. From eternity, his plan of forgiveness and salvation included you, and nothing you can do will compel him to alter or change his plans. Jesus came on the scene to secure God’s plan for you. 

Abimelech raised himself up. Your Savior lowered himself. Abimelech appealed to flesh and blood to garner support. Jesus became flesh and spilled his blood to show you his love. And still today he gives his own flesh and blood for you in the Supper. Jesus was everything that Abimelech was not. Jesus was everything that you and I are not. No one in the world will ever devise a greater plan than God’s plan to save, a plan that included you. Your eternity is secure because his plan included you. Do you think it might be beneficial if more of your plans include him?

“Help Me See… that My Doubts are Unfounded”

adbLeave a comment

(John 20:19-29)

People don’t rise from the dead. People die. They die all the time. We are accustomed to daily news reports of accidents or tragedies that took place, and one of the most commonly reported details in such cases is the number of those dead. Sadly, mass shootings have been a regular occurrence this year so far. We may not be shocked to hear that there’s been another shooting, but we do look immediately to see how many died. Headlines and news stories report people dying. They don’t, however, report people rising from the dead. 

That being the case, we ought not be the least bit surprised by the reaction of Thomas at the news of the resurrected Jesus appearing to the disciples. Dying, sure – that was normal. Everyone died. Word had even spread that Jesus had died. But rising from the dead is not normal, so when this completely abnormal event was reported to Thomas, of course he doubted. Let’s not pretend we would have done otherwise. 

Doubt is most likely in situations that are most unlikely, right? In other words, when there is not a very high probability or likelihood of something taking place, doubt is quite common. Not too long ago when the lottery jackpot kept rising and no one kept winning, I did something I rarely do – I bought a couple of tickets. Do you suppose I had a high level of confidence that I was going to win? Absolutely not, but it’s a fun way to teach my kids that lottery tickets are an absolutely horrible method of financial planning for your retirement. Winning the lottery is reality-based reason to doubt – the likelihood of a person winning is extremely low – especially when the jackpot is high and more tickets are sold! The same could be said of aspirations to play professional sports or fly into space. The likelihood of some things happening is statistically so low that there are reality-based reasons to doubt.

But there is another cause of our doubt. It isn’t always just reality-based; sometimes it’s brain-based. When my mind is made up that something isn’t going to happen and I drum up enough doubt to derail it, or to see to it that a thing never even gets a chance in the first place, that’s a different kind of doubt. “I have been single this long, so I doubt I’ll ever get married.” “I can’t put thoughts to words like this author can, so I could never write a book.” “I’m not a strong enough Christian to serve in my church.” Regardless of what the reality of these situations is, the doubt isn’t based on overwhelming external evidence or statistics or probabilities – it isn’t reality-based, but brain-based. There is something to it when we tell others, “It’s just in your head.” So very often, doubt is, too. It’s just in our head, and as long as we let it take up space there, it will leave us limited.

Of these two types of doubt, reality-based and brain-based, which do you attribute to Thomas? When the disciples ecstatically announced that they had seen the risen Jesus, and Thomas responded, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25), was his doubt based on reality or was it just in his head? Wouldn’t we be inclined to presume his doubt was reality-based? Remember, dead people don’t rise! Not only is it statistically unlikely – it’s impossible! So it would seem Thomas’s doubts were reality-based. 

Jesus’ resurrection, though, is different. While resurrections in general are not only improbable, but impossible, not only was Jesus’ resurrection possible; it was also predicted! The prophets Isaiah (ch. 9) and Micah (ch. 5) had both predicted that the Messiah’s rule would never end. It would be eternal. Therefore, the Messiah would have to live forever; death could not be the end. Psalms 16 and 22, Jonah, and Isaiah (ch. 53) also make reference to death and rising or living again. Since David died, such references could not be to him alone, but to the Messiah who would not be abandoned to the grave, who would live to see his offspring. The resurrection, while not explicitly stated in the Old Testament, was clearly taught nonetheless.

And Thomas didn’t just have the Old Testament. He also had the words of Jesus himself. Jesus had predicted both clearly and directly on numerous different occasions that he would die and three days later rise again (clear enough, in fact, that even his enemies accused him of making such a claim!). So Thomas also had the words directly from the source!

And Thomas didn’t just have the words of Jesus – though even those would have been more than adequate! He also had the words of the other disciples. Perhaps if one or two had made such a claim, it might be easier to doubt. But all of them agreed. These were people Thomas trusted and respected. They were his friends. They saw Jesus – alive!

So in light of all of the evidence, was Thomas’s doubt in fact reality-based, or brain-based? Think of a similar situation. Suppose tomorrow a headline reveals that a doctor discovered the cure for cancer. Based on reality, you would have reason to doubt. We can’t cure cancer, after all, we can only treat it. But in addition to his claim, he also provides evidence of his studies and work. And on top of that he provides case studies of real-life people whose cancer has been cured, and their friends and witnesses who attest to it! Reality-based doubt suddenly falls by the wayside when a previous reality changes. So it was with Jesus’ resurrection. Dead people don’t rise. Until Jesus did. Any doubt about it at that point was no longer reality-based, but brain based. It was all in Thomas’s head. 

Let’s shift now from Thomas’s doubts to yours. From where do most of your doubts stem? Are they based in reality or in your own brain? 

Take our theological doubts. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian or not – there are plenty of teachings and concepts and characteristics about God that leave us doubting from time to time… even the event that is the reason for this season of the church year and the focus of this series: the Resurrection. There are times when we are pondering our relationship with God and doubts arise as to whether or not Jesus did rise. And, while we’re at it, let’s be totally honest and go back a step further – there are even times we doubt if God exists. There, I said it – do you feel better? Now those might be the big ones, but they’re just the tip of our theological doubts. Ever doubted the Trinity? Ever doubted Creation? Ever doubted that in respect to our roles as men and women, God actually did create us differently, and that it’s a good thing? Ever doubt that there’s a hell… or even a heaven? You’re not alone. 

But I don’t know how much of a comfort that is. See, you’re not alone because every doubt you and I have about God can be traced all the way back to the same seed of doubt planted in the Garden of Even. Tragically, it sprouted immediately into sin. Satan introduced doubt into Eve’s mind when he asked, “Did God really say you couldn’t eat the fruit?” (Gen. 3). Just as surely as that doubt snowballed into sin, so today it is no different. Our doubts about God aren’t merely the stuff of innocent ignorance, but rather willful rebellion. Doubts about God are natural for a human race that despises being beneath anyone else, that wants no one over us, no one controlling us, no one the boss of us. But even that false impression we have of God isn’t from God himself, but from his enemy. The relationship Adam & Eve first had with God was nothing like what Satan tries to sell us today! It was beautiful! Harmonious! No bossing or controlling – only perfect love seen for what it truly was! Before the Fall, when Adam & Eve had enjoyed the holy image of God, there was no doubt, because there was only perfect understanding. But where sin reigns in this world, doubt abounds.

So we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. Do we give in to doubt, keep our heads stuck in the sand about the reality of our doubts being indicative of our sinful nature and its ultimate destination of hell, or in repentance do we trade in our doubts for trust? Do I trust that my sin – all of it, including every ounce of doubt – has been forgiven? Do I believe that my doubts, while common to us all and which would rightly condemn us all, have been dealt with and disallowed as inadmissible evidence against me because of Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Do I believe that my gracious God actually wants to replace my crippling doubts with concrete trust in him? Do I believe that the Resurrection truly does help me see all of this? Do I believe that a former way of life that was riddled with doubt can give way to a life full of faith, of confident trust in a compassionate, gracious, forgiving God? Do I believe it can make a difference living a life that is secure and assured, not in self, but in my resurrected Savior and his promises? If you believe these things – when you believe these things, you experience the exact blessings Jesus promised to Thomas when he appeared to him a week later and said, “Peace be with you! Stop doubting and believe… blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (cf. v.26-28). As the Holy Spirit increasingly replaces your doubts with his trust, blessings will multiply in your life.

Finally, whether reality-based or brain-based, we doubt on a daily basis. But… we also trust on a daily basis. Every bite of food you eat, you are trusting that you’ll swallow it without choking. Every time you obey a traffic light, you trust others will do the same and not collide into you. Every time you follow the doctor’s orders and the directions on the pill bottle, you trust that doing so will be good for you. When you go to bed at night, you trust you will wake up in the morning. Everything I just mentioned amounts to a fraction of the times we exercise trust each day, and they all have this in common: not one of them is 100% reliable! Your personal experience has taught you that! Yet we still live daily placing our trust in these trivial activities. So what do you suppose happens when we place our trust completely in the one who is 100% reliable, in the God who has never failed to follow through with a promise, who has always had the best eternal interest of his people on his heart and mind, who went to the lengths he did to put you at peace? Friends, now as much as ever, it is time for us to leave Thomas and his doubts behind and let the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead help us see that our doubts are unfounded. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!

Church Is For Everyone

adbLeave a comment

(based on Romans 11:13-15, 28-32)

You’ve undoubtedly already done it if you’ve seen the image (“Church Is…”). You’ve finished the statement with some word or phrase that expresses your view of what the church is. Church is… what? Just what is the church? Is it a place? An event? Does it invoke positive feelings or negative? And it may very well be that the past 5 months have forced us to revisit previous thoughts we had about church and see if they have changed. Some churches have worshiped exclusively online during that time; many have at least in some way returned to a hybrid form of worship, and still others have closed their doors permanently. What, then, is church, and what role does it have in your life, my life, our lives, today? We will be spending five Sundays exploring the church’s identity and its role in our lives today. 

I personally have at least one specific outcome I will be praying for as a result of our time in the Word these next few weeks: that more eyes and hearts would be opened to see church less like a toothbrush and more like a phone. Sounds like a pretty weirdly specific prayer, huh? What I mean is this. The toothbrush has pretty much one specific purpose. You use it for brushing your teeth. You don’t grab it for anything other than that. People who view church as a Sunday morning gathering are viewing it like a toothbrush – while an important part of what church is, that’s not even close to tapping into the full potential of what church is for! Church is far more similar to a phone, which does much more than just make phone calls. Your phone is your calendar, your personal assistant, your search engine, your weather forecaster, your photo album, your camera,… etc. You get it – it does so many things! So does church, and I hope that becomes clear today and in the coming weeks.

My encouragement to you is this: be willing to challenge your own personal views, no matter how long-held they may be. If church has never even been on your radar in life, at least be open to hearing a clear picture of what you have (or haven’t!) been missing. If church has always been a part of your life for as long as you’ve lived, be open to the possibility that somewhere along the lines the routine and regularity of it may have allowed its role to become somewhat blurry over time – after all you aren’t the same person you were years ago, and chances are, neither is your church in some respects. If you’re somewhere in-between, where church has held varying degrees of importance in your life through different seasons of your life, perhaps the time is ripe for it to play a more consistent role. 

This morning as we seek to fill in the blanks, we want to focus our attention on who the church is for (disregard the grammar, because saying it the right way just sounds goofy these days). You probably have at least some idea of the type of person you think of in connection with church. Maybe your description of those you associate with church is positive, or it may very well be negative. The church might be the last place you’d expect to find hypocrites, but I assure you, there are plenty of us here, and you might even be surprised to find that we’ll quickly admit it. We know as well as anyone that God wants us to live a certain way, and we know as well as anyone that we fail daily. You may think of the church as being made up of a class of people who are pretty decent – so much so that you could never see yourself belonging, as your past record would somehow disqualify you. I totally understand that, and admit that sometimes we Christians are even guilty of making you feel that way, unfortunately. Some may loathe church-going people as small-minded caricatures of everything that is wrong with our society today. Others joke about lightning striking if they ever set foot in a church, and sadly, they’re only half-kidding in their own minds. So who is church for? 

A man named Paul provides us with the answer in the letter he wrote known today as the book of Romans in the Bible. Paul is well-suited to spell out who the church is for, as he experienced two vastly different types of “churches.” One church, the church in which he grew up, was fixated on rules and regulations, last names and lineage. The essence of church to him was based on who you were and how you lived. This church was made up of the Jewish people, who could trace their ancestry all the way back to the family tribes that would eventually make up the part of the world that we call Israel today. Only Jewish people belonged to this church. 

Those outside of this church – everyone who was not Jewish – are referred to as a Gentiles. There was a point in Paul’s life that he was so zealous for the Jewish church that he persecuted and hunted down Gentiles for speaking against it or believing a different message. Paul thought he was doing the right thing, until the Lord made it clear to him that his view of church was all wrong. In these verses from Romans this morning, Paul shares how he better came to understand who the church is for, and he shares his observation of the Lord God’s brilliant plan to ensure that it would be know that the church is for everyone. That’s right – everyone. Including you.

The way Paul explains it in these verses may be somewhat challenging, so permit a bit of a modern day parable to clarify. A man wanting to start his own business needed to hire some employees to work for him. Wanting to do things right, and to show them how much he appreciated them, he went above and beyond in taking care of his employees. They were paid well, they received generous benefits, plenty of time for family and vacation, and had the best working environment possible. On top of that all, the company was growing and enjoying great success. The employees were thrilled… at first. No one else enjoyed the level of compensation they did. But eventually they got used to it. They saw what others received and wondered what it would be like to work there. Either out of indifference or being enamored with others, eventually they left. 

Their departure, of course, meant the owner needed to hire new employees. He had no problem finding new employees, as word of his generosity and appreciation as an employer spread quickly. Others were hired and soon enjoyed the same wonderful compensation that the very first employees had. After some time elsewhere, the original employees realized how good they had had it and saw it in the lives of the current employees. They longed to have their old jobs back and to be welcomed back into the company again. Of course they were delighted to find that the growth and success of the company meant that there was more than enough room to take on more employees, and they were rehired to enjoy the same outstanding benefits once again. 

Of course this analogy limps greatly in this – there is no work or effort whatsoever required for one’s salvation! But the rest of the parable hopefully helps us grasp the point Paul was making in these verses from Romans. “Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them” (v.13b-14). Paul didn’t hesitate to make a big deal about his ministry to the Gentiles – not shying away from pointing out that God wants them to be saved, too, and that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were all the proof they needed that God wanted to include them. In generating that kind of excitement about the one-of-a-kind good news found only in the Christian faith, Paul longed for his fellow Jewish people to be stirred up by the seemingly radical idea that everyone could be saved. HIs people then would be drawn back to the true God and find salvation in his Son, Jesus Christ, the very Messiah they had rejected, but who nonetheless died and rose for them, too!

Naturally, the Lord’s determination to take the good news to the Gentiles had the potential to fill them up with pride. Paul addressed that. “Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you” (v.30-31). Paul is reminding his Gentile hearers to remember that they were once the ones on the outside looking in, but that God opened up and extended his loving arms to embrace them with his grace, his underserved love, too. Now, the same is true for the Jewish people. Just as they turned away from the Lord’s mercy through the Messiah and were suddenly on the outside looking in, God’s plan in welcoming in the Gentiles was not to exclude the Jewish people, but to win them over again and see his heart for them, too. 

Paul summarized God’s approach in verse 32: “For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” This sounds irrational, doesn’t it? Why turn everyone to disobedience and not just to obedience? However, if you are an unbeliever, would you be OK if I forced you into believing? Of course not. So why should anyone turn around and take issue with God’s plan to let us have our own way, especially when his purpose for doing so is 100% purely noble – “so that he may have mercy.” God wants to extend his mercy to all people, and so he leveled the playing field and disregarded all of the different ways we humans have of categorizing and casting people to determine status. God did away with that and put everyone in the same sinking Titanic of unbelief and sin – everyone in the same boat. That way, as everyone comes to realize their grave situation, they would see their need for rescue and deliverance, and see that the Lord is always waiting with his mercy to extend to everyone who realizes their need of it.  

Church is for everyone. Everyone. Yes, that means church is for you. Now that we’ve established that, and that you know our doors, like Jesus’ arms, are open to welcome you, stick around for a few weeks to discover more about what church is.

God’s Good

adbLeave a comment
(based on Romans 8:28-30)

“Trust dies, but mistrust blossoms.” Though attributed to the Greek playwright Sophocles around 2,500 years ago, I wouldn’t fault you for assuming this quote was written in 2020, for it surely fits today as well as ever. Those more easily trusted only a generation or two ago are more commonly mistrusted today. Our trust in doctors has eroded as we become aware of pharmaceutical payouts and bonuses for pedaling certain pills, and hospital protocols or insurance limitations. Journalists and reporters used to do an admirable job of presenting the facts and details of an account in an unbiased manner, but today openly reveal – even overtly in the headline itself at times – their personal opinions, shaping their slanted writing. While “trustworthy” may never have been a common description applied to politicians, we trust them less today than ever. Sports heroes dope and cheat, charities and crowd-funding efforts are mired in scandal, and even religious leaders and their ministries mislead. Trust is not easy to come by today. 

That may be a contributing factor in why Romans 8:28 can come across as such a polarizing passage. In a society that breeds mistrust, even the words and promises of God are brought into question – both inside and outside the church. So Paul’s statement in verse 28 receives a mixed response. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (v. 28). Some things? Sure, but “all things?” We can read the verse, we rattle it off to others going through hardships, but to actually trust that it’s true that in everything – everything – God is at work for our good? Well, it may be a pretty tall order for many of us to buy into that one.

Good? Everything? Tell it to the mother who just miscarried. The spouse crushed by infidelity. The classmate mortified by what was posted about her on social media. The exhausted single mom straining to raise her children. The dad who discovers his adult son living on the streets. Stretched and stressed caregivers. Cancer. Unemployment. Abuse. Good? Everything? Can you really blame the unbeliever for scoffing at this verse when it pushes us as Christians to the limits of our own faith to fully trust it?

Let’s stop right there and reflect on one key understanding of this verse. If we don’t understand this, we’ll remain perpetually puzzled by this passage. Moreover, it could then have the exact opposite effect that God intended – it could drive us further away from God instead of closer to him. That key understanding is this: God’s “good” is not the same as your “good.” God is not promising here that he will work things out for good according to how you define and determine what is good. Now you may not wish to hear that right now, but it has been my experience that his good is always greater than my good.

One may actually appreciate that God’s “good” is greater than our “good” if we review some of what we thought was good at any given time in our lives, only to have experience later reveal otherwise. That boyfriend or girlfriend that we had our heart set on didn’t turn out so well. The job we thought would be best for us left us worse off than when we started. More money created problems instead of solving them. And how many times didn’t we think we knew better than our parents just to end up learning the hard way they were actually looking out for our good? Looking back at our own ideas of what was good and best over the course of our lives serves as all the evidence we need to see for ourselves that our own ideas of what is good miss the mark nearly as often as they hit it. Our notion of what is good is flawed. 

While that may be the case, you still may find it quite a leap to believe that God’s good is any better. Let’s allow him speak for himself and make his case. He doesn’t hide what his idea of good is. He spells out exactly what his purpose for us is: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (v.29-30). Now there’s a lot of theological jargon there, but if we break it all down, God’s purpose is for you to be numbered among the many brothers and sisters in his family, and for that to happen, a pretty big change has to take place: “being conformed to the image of his Son.” Put another way, God wants you in his family, and to be numbered among his family, you have to be like Jesus. That is God’s good purpose – for you to be like Jesus. 

Think of what that means! The fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (cf. Gal. 6) – these would all be fully yours, all the time. And consider how we see Jesus live and treat others in the Gospels – who wouldn’t want to be like Jesus?! Always forgiving, always caring, always genuine, always longing to carry out the Father’s will. Perfect. Holy. Without sin and therefore without guilt.

Oh, to experience that alone – no guilt! But the image of his Son, the image of Jesus in all his righteous glory – it is so far beyond our reach, so far out of our league. We could never attain it. The fruits of the Spirit so often serve as reminders of all that we’re not. Our animosity in place of love, bitterness instead of joy, quarreling in place of peace, impatience, cruelty, wickedness, unfaithful, harsh, out of control – these are all our spoiled fruits! As if our own spoiled fruit didn’t condemn us enough already, we return back to this promise of God to work things out for good and are reminded of how our trust in that very promise is so lacking. How on earth should we ever hope to be numbered among God’s family? We are nothing like the Son. Surely there is no place at the table for the likes of you and me if we must be like Jesus.

And this is where God’s good far exceeds what we could ever hope for or imagine. His good will be carried out, and nothing can stop it. Paul used the words “foreknew” and “predestined.” Those terms, which are the basis for the Bible’s teaching on what we call election or predestination, simply mean this: God determined that you would be numbered among his family. Period. It is that simple. You belong to God because God determined that you would belong to him, and he determined that not only long before you were born, but even before he brought creation into existence. He didn’t save you by peering into his crystal ball to see that in the future you’d believe or do enough good works for him to include you. He saved you because he wanted to save you. That’s grace, pure and simple.

What Paul then does to demonstrate this is lays out every step God took along the way to ensure it would happen. He chose you, he called you, he justified you, he glorified you. Notice what role you play in all of it? Nothing. From start to finish it is all God’s work. You do nothing but receive it. Since he chose you, he then called you to faith, made possible because in Jesus, who paid for your every last sin, you have been declared free of all guilt, and all that remains is glory, in part now, but fully when we’re brought home to heaven. 

God’s good is that he wants you to be like Jesus so that you can be a part of his family. God’s good is that because of Jesus, and through faith in him, you now are a part of the family. 

So then, if God has addressed every necessary detail to bring you into his family, is there even a sliver of a chance that he somehow could be unconcerned about your day-to-day life? Could you really fathom that the gracious God who handpicked you for his family even before time itself existed, could for a second, a minute, and hour, day, week, etc. not care about you or your life? Impossible. No, the God whose greatest good for you has already been accomplished in and through Christ Jesus, will also continue to orchestrate the ups and the downs in your life for your own good. 

To us it might look at times like the underside of a hand-woven rug. It appears to be full of loose ends and mismatches through and through. But to see that same rug from the other side is to reveal a beautiful work of art. Here on earth we see our lives as the underside of the rug. Home in heaven we’ll see a different view, the top-side, the life that God was weaving and working into a thing of beauty. So no, you may not always see the good that God promises to bring out of all things in your life, but you can still trust him in that promise. You can still trust him because he’s already taken care of your greatest good. He’ll do the same in your life today, tomorrow, and the next day, all the way up until we get to the place where there’s only good all the time.