Royals: Always Give Up, Always Surrender to the King of Kings

Royals: Always Give Up, Always Surrender to the King of Kings

Focus statement: True faith in God cannot be customized to fit a lifestyle or belief but must be submitted to fully. God will reign in our lives; we can submit now or when it is too late. 

Setting the Scene:

The Israelites have been exiled to Babylon! After the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and Northern Kingdom (Israel) split due to dueling factions of King Rehoboam and King Jeroboam, the kingdoms each experienced a series of kings (and one queen) that led them down a path of self-destruction. Israel had all bad kings, but Judah (whose kingdom we will focus on today) had a few kings who did right in the sight of the LORD. However, this ebb and flow of evil, somewhat compromised, and good kings could not stop Judah’s steady drift towards judgment. When King Jehoiakim takes the throne, he is besieged by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire and Judah is taken into captivity. This is where our story begins.

We will now shift our focus from Kings of Judah to the King of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar’s story is covered in the first four chapters of Daniel and it will mirror many of the themes of the Kings of Judah. In his story we will see that he consistently acknowledges God but also consistently lives in the way he wants to live and rebels against God’s sovereignty. It is not until he is forcefully humbled and broken that he truly turns to God at the end of his story.

We will consider his story and our focus statement in four sections: The Diet, the Dream, the Furnace, and the Beast.

The Diet:

In the beginning of the Israelites’ captivity four faithful characters emerge: Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar) and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (whom were called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego). They are brought into the king’s palace along with others to be educated about the kingdom’s culture and laws and will eventually stand before the king.

These four young men refuse to eat the king’s food because it is against the law of God. They strike a deal with the steward of the king to eat the food sanctioned by God for 10 days and then they will compare with the other men. At the end of the 10 days, they are proven to be in far better condition than their counterparts and the steward orders their diet to replace the king’s. Finally, they are brought before the king and are found to be 10 times better than all of the king’s current advisors and are raised up to prominent positions in the kingdom. (Daniel 1:8-21)

Through this story, King Nebuchadnezzar is given a taste of this fact: God’s ways are better. It is his first of many encounters with this truth.

The Dream:

In Daniel 2:1-16, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that troubles him and keeps him up at night. He summons his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans and commands them not only to interpret his dream, but he challenges them to reveal his dream without him telling them. They cannot do this and try to extrapolate the dream so they can make up an interpretation.

“Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.” (Daniel 2:4-5 ESV)

Seeing that their fate is all but decided, the wise men seek our Daniel, whom they know possesses the gift of interpretation. Daniel stops their execution and comes before the king. He then reveals the dream and interprets it thus: God has a plan to raise up kingdom after kingdom, all of them rising and falling until a kingdom rises up that is not made by human hands that will rule supreme over all of the previous kingdoms. 

(Daniel 2:24-45)

The dream is an illustration of God’s sovereignty to all kingdoms and kings, including the kingdom of Babylon and the great king Nebuchadnezzar. It is a stark statement that God is ultimately in control despite the successes of Babylon over Judah.

To this, King Nebuchadnezzar falls on his face and declares a seemingly complete acknowledgment of Daniel’s God, our God:

The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king's court. (Daniel 2:47-49)

It would seem that Nebuchadnezzar has learned and retained a valuable lesson. But the very next verse in chapter 3 tells a different story, which emphasizes the first part of our focus statement: True faith in God cannot be customized to fit a lifestyle or belief but must be submitted to fully.

The Furnace:

Daniel 3:1a opens with this statement:

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold…

But the king had acknowledged God fully in the previous story, didn’t he? And yet, he constructs an image of gold for all to bow down to and worship in complete contradiction with the laws of the “God of gods and Lord of kings.”

Ultimately, an acknowledgment of the One True God is meaningless if it does not result in full submission to Him.

The story continues. Nebuchadnezzar constructs a 90ft golden idol that is placed in the middle of Dura, which was in the province of Babylon. He commands that whenever the residents of Babylon (including the captive Jews) hear the distinct sound of instruments, they are to respond by bowing down and worshiping the golden image. If they do not, they will be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse. They are brought before the king and when asked to do it they respond thus:

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 

(Daniel 3:16-18)

The king then heats the furnace up 7x more than it was originally, to really make sure he takes care of these fools, and has some of the mighty men of his army bind the three men and throw them in. The fire is so hot that the men who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in die.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

 (Daniel 3:24-30)

Nebuchadnezzar not only saw this miracle but he saw the One who performed it in the fourth man of the fire. Many interpret this individual to be Jesus Christ Himself, standing with and protecting those who refused to bow down to anyone but Him. This is a stark exhortation to Nebuchadnezzar that the only One worthy of full submission, of worship, of bending the knee to is Jesus – the One True God. Not a golden idol, not himself, but only God deserves such praise and honor. The king proclaims:

King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. 

How great are his signs,

    how mighty his wonders!

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

    and his dominion endures from generation to generation.

(Daniel 4:1-3)

Nebuchadnezzar has seen three wonders, each one better than the next, and he has acknowledged the superiority of God every time and especially this last time. But… our story will continue in Daniel 4:4-27.

The Beast:

After the story of the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar is given a second dream. When Daniel interprets it, it is found to be a warning to the king that if he does not break off from his sins by practicing righteousness and all of his iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, he will experience a humbling so harsh that he will literally live like a beast of the field. (Daniel 4:4-27)

Once again, Nebuchadnezzar receives a mercy from God in the form of a miracle and he chooses to acknowledge it, then ignore it. We see him walking on the roof of his palace and praising himself: 

At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:29-30)

Let’s Talk About It!

Let’s revisit our focus statement: True faith in God cannot be customized to fit a lifestyle or belief but must be submitted to fully. God will reign in our lives; we can submit now or when it is too late.

Nebuchadnezzar over and over again pays grandiose lip service to God, statements that when read seem like he is turning the corner. He has fully acknowledged God and said all the right things one should say when encountering God’s wonders and God Himself, but ultimately his words are empty because they are followed by Nebuchadnezzar’s insistence to live the way he wants to live. His faith in God has stopped at mere acknowledgement and has not followed through with obedience and submission.

Have you ever done this? Do you know someone who has?

It is an all-too-common thing to customize our belief system to fit with our preferences. If you don’t like the idea that homosexual acts are sinful, you can find a belief system that doesn’t teach that. Don’t like the idea that some people go to hell? There are plenty of belief stystems that deny its existence.

Nebuchadnezzar essentially did this. He did not like that a belief in the Most High God would make him submit and obey God, so he decided he would praise God, yes, but then make a golden idol, attempt to kill the servants of God, and praise himself, his actual god, when observing his perceived greatness. It was a belief system that included the One True God but precluded any disruption in his preferred lifestyle. He made up his own belief system.

But we should not believe in Christianity simply because it is our preferred belief system. In fact, for anyone who is intellectually honest, Christianity is a harsh pill to swallow: loved ones will go to Hell if they do not repent and believe, we are called to lay down our lives and take up our crosses to follow Jesus, we are promised hate, persecution, and even death for our beliefs, it’s not all roses! 

But the reason we should believe in Christianity, in Christ, is because it is true.

It is a fact that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead on the third day. Since that is true, Jesus is who He said He is: He is God, the God of gods and Lord of kings. If we do not submit fully to that reality then we would deny reality itself.

But the reality of Jesus is also that Jesus is love, that He died for us so that we might live through Him, that He wants our best and desires to walk alongside us through this life and the next. It is a beautiful reality not just to be acknowledged, but to be submitted to fully. Don’t you want to place the outcome of your eternity on the truth?

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12)

But, the wrath of God remains on those who do not submit to God:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

We don’t get to acknowledge reality without submitting to it and think that everything will work out in the end. If you believe in the reality of gravity yet deny it by jumping off the Sears Tower in attempts to fly, guess what will happen?

So here is the challenge: Seek that which is true.

Start with the empty tomb. Seek and find the truth as to why Jesus Christ’s tomb was empty. Every theory falls flat, like it leapt off the Sears Tower, except for the truth that Jesus Christ said He would rise from the dead and He did. Since that is true, what does it demand of your life? Will it be simply nodding to this truth or will it be a transformative recognition that Jesus loves you and that Jesus is God, Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is the only one who can save you from the wrath of God?

So we need to make a decision. If Christ did not rise from the dead then Christianity is pure evil. It would demand complete submission and self-sacrifice for nothing and Christians will waste their life and are to be pitied among all (1 Corinthians 15:12-19) But if He did rise from the dead, He is worth it all.

The Beast (cont.)

Let’s finish our story. Remember the focus statement, especially the last part: True faith in God cannot be customized to fit a lifestyle or belief but must be submitted to fully. God will reign in our lives; we can submit now or when it is too late. 

Nebuchadnezzar has received a warning from his second dream to break off from his sin, practice righteousness, and show mercy to the oppressed or he will become like a beast of the field.

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws. 

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,

for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

    and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;

 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

    and he does according to his will among the host of heaven

    and among the inhabitants of the earth;

and none can stay his hand

    or say to him, “What have you done?”

At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

(Daniel 4:28-37)

We see in this final passage that Nebuchadnezzar was able to “successfully” customize and limit his submission to God until God literally humbled him by making him a beast of the field. Then, and only then, did Nebuchadnezzar truly submit.

Jesus promises that this submission will happen within all of our lives, whether we like it or not.

By myself I have sworn;

    from my mouth has gone out in righteousness

    a word that shall not return:

‘To me every knee shall bow,

    every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

(Isaiah 45:23)

…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

(Philippians 2:10b-11)

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

(Revelation 5:13)

So this is the truth: you will submit to Jesus and proclaim that He is Lord. But your choice is whether to do it on this side of glory or the next. Nebuchadnezzar was fortunate enough to have God intervene in his life and humble him to the point of submission before he died. That is not a promise God makes to all, but a merciful choice He makes to few. 

What he promises is that if you bow to him now, He has a way that is better for you as exemplified in Daniel’s diet, He has truth and revelation for you in His Word as modeled in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and that He will protect and walk alongside you as shown in the fiery furnace. 

Don’t be like Nebuchadnezzar and pick, choose, and customize your relationship with God’s truth until God humbles you, likely when it is too late. Instead, choose Jesus. Choose truth. Bask in the security that His death, burial, and resurrection provide to your eternal soul and live a life dedicated to honoring Him and leading others home. It is the best God has for you in this life.

So if you do not yet believe or if you have lived your life on the fence, come home. Come home to Jesus. He is true, He is the God of gods and Lord of kings, He is so, so good.

Royals: Raising the Next Generation

Royals: Raising the Next Generation

Happy Mother’s Day! 

Focus: Natural and spiritual are appointed by God to help form the next generation for Christ.  

• Project Hail Mary

• Prophetess and a King 

• Our Passover Lamb

Project Hail Jesus

Mothers are appointed by God to help call out the purposes of God. 

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭22‬:‭1‬-10 ‭ESV‬‬

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.” And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.”

God already has in his heart and mind what he desires for each person to be and do.  

King David would have this revelation when he said:

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139‬:‭13‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

Josiah and who he would be in the Lord was spoken about generations before. 

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’”

Project Hail Mary told the story the story that is true of all of our lives:

We are trying to figure out who we are 

When called to mission we think, “It can’t be me!”

Natural mothers and spiritual mothers in the faith help call the purposes of God out of people. 

Natural and spiritual mothers help us remember that life isn’t just about us, but it’s about Christ, his gospel and his Kingdom.  

“Family is a gift to enjoy, but it makes a terrible god. And it can become a god whether one is married with kids, married and childless, or single. The church itself is rightly family-oriented, and the desire to have a family is a wonderful, God-given desire, but family does not belong on the throne of our hearts. The throne of our heart is reserved for Christ alone. The family is not the good news we need; it is not our gospel message, however many put all their hope in parents, grandparents, siblings, and children. 

If we aren’t careful, family can impede the gospel, instead of drawing us further into the gospel. The family was designed by God to reflect him and the love within the Trinity, the love we are brought into through the good news. Family must point us to God and his gospel. We must love our family through Christ, and for Christ. 

The family is God’s means for us to drive upward into a far more important relationship and a far greater love. As Paul says in Romans 11:36, “For from him and through him and to him are all things,” so the family obviously falls inside these lines. 

Family is from him, family is through him, and family is to him.”

….

“The alternative to worshiping family as god is to worship God through our family. Family is not meant to impede the gospel, but to further it — to secure our hearts for God, not distract us from him.”

-Liz Wann.  She is the author of The End of Me: Finding Resurrection Life in the Daily Sacrifices of Motherhood.

‭‭

2 Kings‬ ‭22‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.””

*Natural and spiritual mothers help our worldview be shaped by the word of God. 

Prophetess and a King 

Mothers are appointed by God to help affirm the word of God. 

Huldah the prophetess helped shape King Josiah’s worldview with the word of the Lord.  

‭‭

2 Kings‬ ‭22‬:‭14‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king.”

Both natural and spiritual mothers in the Lord are important for helping build lives on the word of God.  

As Josiah was influenced by natural and spiritual mothers, he rose up to be a national reformer, notable in the eyes of the Lord.  

“NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE THAN BEING ONE OF GOD'S TOOLS TO FORM A HUMAN SOUL.”

-Paul David Tripp

What were Josiah’s reforms when he heard the Book of the Law (I Kings 23)?

• No more privatized spirituality - Josiah brought worship back to the Temple in Jerusalem 

• An outright attack on idolatry - Josiah burned the items devoted to the false gods Baal, Asherah and astral deities found in Yahweh’s Temple, and destroyed those used for child sacrifice.

• Went to the root - Josiah ventured into the former Northern Kingdom and destroyed the altar at Bethel built by Jeroboam. 

• According to his Word - Following the discovery of the Law, Josiah would have the people of God renew their covenant with Yahweh. 

All of Josiah’s reforms culminated with the restoration of the Passover celebration - the first since the time of Judges. 

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭23‬:‭21‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.”

*Scholars estimate this would have been 300 to over 400 years where a central festival and expectation of worship that Yahweh ordained was unseen amongst the people of God. 

What things are we neglecting in Scripture because it has been generations since these truths have been upheld?

i.e. - the person and power of the Holy Spirit was unfamiliar to me until I read I Corinthians 12-14. 

*This implies how long elements of Scripture can remain neglected, yet still important to God, while we suffer all the while because of our willful ignorance and disobedience.   

Our Passover Lamb

Mothers are appointed by God to help lead us to the Lamb of God. 

Jesus is our Passover lamb that is central to all of our worship. 

Whereas Josiah’s reforms were built on the word of God, that word all leads to Jesus, the Lamb of God and the truth found in his gospel.  

So what should a mother let their natural and spiritual children know to call out the truths and purposes of God in their lives?

Paul would later say in the New Testament to the people of God:

‭‭

Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Christ our sinless, unblemished Passover lamb was sacrificed on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.  

Jesus died but rose three days later so that as we turn from our willful ignorance and disobedience, we might not only see Jesus reform our lives, but our families, our cities and the nations in which we live. 

Just as we celebrate mothers today, let’s even more importantly celebrate Jesus who came to redeem all of our broken lives from Hell.  

The Break-Up: New Family Dynamics

The Break-Up: New Family Dynamics

Focus: In every family line, there are patterns that Jesus comes to break to the glory of God. 

Where you started is not where you will end, nor is today meant to be your destiny - let Christ break the chains.  

• What Needs to Change?

• How is it Going to Change?

• Faith for change
  
  

What Needs to Change?

Before we can see the glory of God in our families, we need to identify what needs to change. 

This is a story that begins with David, is sidetracked by Solomon, his son, continues to go astray under David’s grandson Abijam and is finally turned with Asa, David’s great-grandson. 

So let it not be missed that this is a family that had exposure to God and should have known the Lord.  

The point is that no matter where we begin, we all need the salvation that can only come through Jesus.  

So we know about the curse of control in the northern kingdom of Samaria under Jeroboam. 

What was happening in the southern kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam? 

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭14‬:‭21‬-‭31 ‭ESV‬‬

“Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.  And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place.”

Now we begin to see the generational effects of Solomon’s sin. 

*Just because you can quote the Scripture doesn’t mean you’re living in the reality or benefit of it - you need to obey it by faith. 

Solomon wrote proverbs but didn’t obey the words God inspired him to write.  

Among his many wives was a woman named Naamah the Ammonite.  

Remember that as Solomon’s heart clung to these foreign women, his heart drifted from Yahweh and was turned to the worship of false gods introduced by his wives.  

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”

Ammonite worship involved high places, burnt offerings, and sometimes child sacrifices, which were strongly condemned by Yahweh.

According to 1 Kings 11:5, 33 and archaeological finds, Milcom was the chief deity of Ammon. 

Milcom is an epithet likely related to the Canaanite supreme god El or meant "great king".

Several scholars believe Milcom and Molech are either the same deity or that Molech was a title for the sacrificial aspect of their worship, which is strongly associated with child sacrifice by fire.

Scripture records that King Solomon was influenced by his Ammonite wives to build high places for Milcom in Jerusalem, leading to severe judgement by Yahweh.

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.”

Abijam would follow in the sins of his father Rehoboam. 

Some sins of the family are obvious and rejected - no one wants anything to do with them because of the pain that they’ve caused.  

*Other sins have so deceptively woven themselves into the ethos and story of the family that they have found acceptance, and therefore don’t even register as candidates for change. 

The sins of Solomon were passed down to his son Rehoboam who continued the family patterns of sin without realizing things needed to change.  

Solomon had been judged, Rehoboam had had ten of the tribes removed from him, but Abijam would still continue in their error. 

How often is it the case that we don’t have the discernment to identify the sins that God has resisted in our lineage, considering them normal because to us, they are simply a part of what defines our family?

We feel the effects of the sin and judgement, but don’t know what to do.  

These are destructive patterns and cycles that Jesus comes to break. 

*What are those patterns and cycles in your family that are not congruent with the word of God?

Is it how you communicate with one another?

Is there a critical, cynical or sarcastic pattern that squeezes out the fruit of kindness?
Has there been a pattern of infidelity or violence?

Is there a self-absorption that crushes considering others' needs above your own?

Have money, status and success been your family’s God?

What about keeping up appearances at all costs?  

Is there a comparison to others that has you living under a weight of judgment that is not the Lord?

In the midst of the Israelites erecting false gods, we see the enemy’s plan to bring division amongst the people of God. 

Remember, the nation of Israel was one big family. 

However, when the family wasn’t right with Yahweh, choosing to disobey his commandments and choosing to worship other gods, the Israelites turned on one another and were at war with each other rather than their enemies.  

*When we are not fighting our true enemy, the devil, and like Christ, looking to destroy the devil’s works, the people of God instead turn on one another.  

Writing from prison, chained in persecution for the gospel, the apostle Paul would exhort the church in Philippi this way:

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”

We don’t have time to fight when we are doing the Lord’s work together. 

This is true in our church family as well. 

How is it Going to Change?

We need to see through the eyes of the Lord if we are going to see a change. 

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭15‬:‭9‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. And he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.”

The change we need comes when we see through the eyes of the Lord, not our own, and get a heavenly vision for our lives.  

Asa did what was right by looking to do what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord above what was pleasing to his family.

He couldn’t just do what his family had always done and be right with God. 

Asa had to make changes. 

These changes more than likely cost him a momentary sense of identity, belonging and security - but he would ultimately find these in Yahweh.  

King Asa would lead his family and people to do the same. 

There was love in the family, or at least respect - enough to keep grandma Maacah around.  

However, her influence had to go because she was causing the family, and as a result, the people of Israel to sin by introducing the Asherah image to the people of Israel.  

Jesus said that a sign of his work in our lives is that we begin to love people as he does.    

However, Jesus also stated that any other love must pale in comparison to him as he also said:

‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

King Asa started the change by removing the male cult prostitutes and idols that his grandfather Rehoboam had allowed to enter the land.  

Removing Maacah from her place of influence was next. 

“We forget that God’s primary goal is not changing our situations or relationships so that we can be happy, but changing us through our situations and relationships so that we can be holy.”

-Paul David Tripp 

For some of you on the precipice of or just getting married, it will be about establishing a new, Christ-ordained and gospel-centered vision for your family.  

You can honor that which was godly from your 

family line, but make sure to invite Christ in to develop new patterns around that which was not God-honoring, that you might see Jesus write a different story, for his glory, going forward.   

This is also important for those who have been married for years or have families that have already been ravaged by years without the Lord at the helm. 

There is still hope for you as you invite Jesus to be the Lord of your present and future. 

And may I suggest to you that this is where we find the true grace of God, and unlock a supernatural joy that can not be taken because it is both authored and preserved by the Holy Spirit?

May I suggest to you that this is when our families are put in God’s right order and are truly blessed?

Faith for Change

Jesus, the miracle working God, tells us to repent and believe the good news that through his power alone, our families have the ability to change and be saved.  

‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!””

We can have faith for ourselves and for our families.  

Our families should be some of the first people for whom we pray and make efforts to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Many of our own people have taken the time to do the One to One and Purple Book with family members, seeing them come to Christ and be baptized! 

Going back to Philippi, we see the conversion of the hardened jailer who would be saved by Jesus and open the door for salvation to his entire household:

‭‭Acts‬ ‭16‬:‭29‬-‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.”

Because of Jesus’ sinless life and substitutionary death on the cross for humanity’s sins, we all have an opportunity to see family curses broken and the hope for new patterns of worship unto Christ.  

Through Jesus, we have the hope of true forgiveness and eternal life.  

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭13‬-‭21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Remember that the apostle Peter was writing this as an Israelite himself, who had empty ways of life handed down to him from those who should have known better.  

Let’s respond to that which God wants to change and come into the fullness of the freedom and transformation that Jesus wants to bring to our family lines through repentance and faith.  

The Break-Up: The Curse of Control

The Break-Up: The Curse of Control 

Focus: The blessing of God comes through faith and obedience. 

Jeroboam, desiring to control his own destiny,  contrived his own version of spirituality and directly short-circuited the blessing God would have brought through faith and obedience.  We need to make sure not to do the same.  

• God’s Initiative 

• Golden Ticket

• God to the Rescue

God’s Initiative 

Trying to control your life will forever be at odds with serving Jesus Christ.  

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭11‬:‭26‬-‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes.”

The call of God on our lives can begin in the midst of turmoil and tragedy. 

How we interpret and respond to those circumstances is of utmost importance to our walk with God.  

Jeroboam came to the throne of Israel as a result of non-ideal circumstances. 

Because of King Solomon’s sin, God divided the nation of Israel into the northern and southern kingdoms. 

The northern Kingdom would consist of the ten tribes of Israel and come to be known as Samaria, after its capital city.  

The southern kingdom would still be ruled by Rehoboam, King Solomon’s son, and King David’s descendants.  

The southern kingdom would be known as Judah and Jerusalem would be its capital, found in the territory of Benjamin.  

God used Rehoboam’s lack of esteem for the counsel of the older men who had served his father Solomon to tear the kingdom from his hands and turn it over to Jeroboam, who Yahweh chose to lead the northern ten tribes (I Kings 12:1-20). 

What Jeroboam should have understood from this is:

• God had chosen him, was for him and appointed him for successful rulership, service and blessing.  

• All Jeroboam had to do was trust God, love him and serve him in his ways.  

It is the same for us.  

We often try to forge our own way with our own wisdom, but God’s blessings are directly wrapped up in his grace released through faith and obedience to his commands.  

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

This simply means learn to pray about things before you do them.  

God has thoughts on how you spend your life - your time, talents, resources and pursuits.  

Don’t presume, pray. 

Don’t decide for yourself, determine what the Word of God has to say. 

Following Jesus always has God’s Kingdom as the centerpiece and our blessings as a benefit of being a part of that kingdom (Matthew 6:33).  

However, his kingdom is an eternal one and eternity is the place where God’s rewards will be fully realized.  

In the meantime, there is a daily cross to bear as we honor Jesus and participate in his great commission to make disciples of all the nations. 

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭11‬:‭38‬-‭40‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’” Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.”

Jesus' life instruction to the disciples was summarized in this statement - FOLLOW ME.

But what does that truly mean?

What is it that causes us to go astray when God has set his people up for nothing but eternal good?

• The momentary cost

• Fear that God won’t come through on his promises. 

• Thinking we have a better plan or could get a better result. 

*The truth is God is always trying to set us up for what will be best for us and to his glory in the long run - though we often buckle because we are too short-sighted to see it.  

This is where Jeroboam would fall short.  

Golden Ticket

The things that we fear often try to control us at the expense of choosing to trust Christ whom we serve. 

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭12‬:‭26‬-‭32‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their Lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.”

When you attempt to maintain control in your life, you erect false gods to replace Christ that will inevitably give you what you think you want rather than what God ordains. 

How was Jeroboam responding to his fears?

Jeroboam was creating a spirituality of his own making - one that Yahweh would ultimately reject. 

Though the levitical tribes held cities all throughout Israel, they would eventually migrate to the southern Kingdom of Judah after King Jeroboam established golden calf worship to the abhorrence of Yahweh. 

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭11‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived. For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord, and he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the calves that he had made.”

By placing one golden calf in Bethel and one in Dan, Jeroboam was reinforcing the boundaries of his new northern kingdom.  

In essence Jeroboam was saying, “I will worship God as long as it fits into my life plan with the goals and boundaries I have placed in life for myself.”

The problem with making these declarations is that Jesus says unless we deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him, we can not be his disciple.  

What many people desire is their own version of controlled, sanitized Christianity. 

How we know what we are gravitating to such a false faith is how we respond when someone comes near to, threatens or touches what has functionally become our idols. 

*Just as in the time of Aaron when he erected a golden calf for the wayward Israelites, so any bull we attempt to substitute for God and his ways will ultimately disappoint and be judged. 

This was seen in the fictionalized life of Madame Bovary.   

“But the disparaging of those we love always alienates us from them to some extent. We must not touch our idols; the gilt comes off in our hands.”

-Gustave Flaubert in Madame Bovary

The same was dramatized in the Brad Pitt movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. 

So the question is:

Who or what are you really serving?

An article from the Gospel Coalition reminds us of an historic parallel:

In 1534, Henry VIII—whom the Pope dubbed “Defender of the Faith” because of his work opposing Luther’s teaching—broke from Rome and established himself as the head of the newly formed Church of England. What caused the change? Henry wanted to retain his grip on power, and to do that, he needed the male heir his wife couldn’t provide him—yet the Vatican wouldn’t grant his divorce.

Henry didn’t break from Rome because he held to the doctrine of justification by faith alone but because he held political power as his ultimate good. Politics, not religion, motivated his nefarious deeds. That’s why he put to death both Catholics like Thomas More and Protestants like Thomas Cromwell.

Esteem power and control above personal piety, and you’ll invariably follow a similar course. That’s exactly what happens in 1 Kings 12 to the first king of Samaria.

*What happens when God tells you to do something that cuts against your comfort, will or plans?

*Many of us can’t think of such an instance because we don’t acknowledge him to ask how we are making decisions in our lives - whether we are on his trajectory for us or our own.  

How are you strategizing and building your life without God, his Word or his counsel? 

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭12‬:‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.”

*Where do you try to control the outcomes of your life and make decisions that put you at odds with God’s commands? 

1 Kings‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before.”

‭‭

*Why do we opt to try to maintain control in our lives, even when God’s ways are different and better?

*Possibly because of his need to escape to Egypt until the death of Solomon, Jeroboam had developed a survival mentality rather than a sanctified mentality (understanding that he was called to live in faith, set apart to Yahweh).  

We often do the same because of:

Past disappointments 

Trauma

Fear of the future 

Etc. 

*We all have choices to make when we are hurt, disillusioned or disappointed in life - with our relational status, with our careers, our health, with our marriages, with our children, with our station in life.  

*Will we trust God and continue to sow the seeds of faith and obedience to his Word or will we get disgruntled, bitter and take life into our own hands to our own detriment.  

It was ironic that Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam as Jeroboam was a threat to Solomon’s kingdom, just as Saul had tried to kill Solomon’s father, David, when God anointed David to be Saul’s successor.  

When Solomon’s heart drifted from the Lord, so did his ability to see similar destructive patterns. 

*Unlike King David, in his hurt, Jeroboam did not trust the Lord, but attempted to take his fate into his own hands and ended up rejecting the God who had called him to the good things Jeroboam desired. 

The truth is that people are often forgotten by others in suffering, but God does not forget you.

The prophet Isaiah would later write around 559-539 BC, during Israel’s Babylonian exile:  

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭49‬:‭14‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Your builders make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the Lord, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does. “Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land— surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: ‘The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.’ Then you will say in your heart: ‘Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; from where have these come?’” Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.””

Jeroboam wanted to seize the man of God that confronted him so that the man of God would not interrupt his plans or his vision of how his world should function. 

However, God was not having it.   

When we resist God’s instructions to try to maintain control, it always comes back to bite us - but as with Jeroboam’s dried up hand, in turning back to God, there is restoration.  

*Even in the discipline, God was giving Jeroboam a chance to turn by restoring his hand to health.  

This is always the heart of God, but it’s like the modern news cycle - our proclivity is that if it isn’t directly in our face, we forget about it.  

The problem with Jeroboam, much like Pharaoh of Egypt, is that when his hand was restored, he returned to his hardness of heart and sin.  

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭13‬:‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places.”

*Where have you been hard-hearted, refusing to turn to the commands of God despite repeated warnings from those who would share the word of God with you?

God to the Rescue

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the commands of God and therefore became both our perfect king and perfect savior.  

How was Jesus different?

Jesus didn’t look to sidestep the commands of God - he looked to fulfill them.  

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus understood that life and peace were found in following the ways of God and did so as a perfect example for us.  

‭‭

Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Because Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law of God, he could be a perfect substitute, taking our punishment for sin on the cross. 

Because he was perfectly innocent, Jesus rose from the dead to give forgiveness and eternal life to all who would turn from their sin, choosing to follow him in faith and obedience.

Let’s turn back to the God of grace today who, through Jesus, gives us the hope of a good inheritance as we turn from our own ways to his benevolent future as we trust and obey him. 

The King We Long For… The Life We Want

 The King We Long For… The Life We Want

—and Why Neither Is Enough

Part 1: Introduction— Royals, a Lookback

Part 2: Solomon in 3 Acts

Part 3: Conclusion— Jesus, King of the Universe, King of our Hearts

OPENING TEXT

Jeremiah 2:1-13 ESV

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, 

“I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it incurred guilt;
    disaster came upon them,
declares the Lord.” 

Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:

“What wrong did your fathers find in me
    that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
    who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
    in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
    in a land that none passes through,
    where no man dwells?’

And I brought you into a plentiful land
    to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.

The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
    Those who handle the law did not know me;
the shepherds transgressed against me;
    the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and went after things that do not profit.

“Therefore I still contend with you,
declares the Lord,
    and with your children's children I will contend. 

For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,
    or send to Kedar and examine with care;
    see if there has been such a thing.

Has a nation changed its gods,
    even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
    for that which does not profit.
Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,

for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Part 1 - Introduction: A Recap of Royals

Over the past several Months, since we started our Royals series in February, we’ve been asking one central question:
 

What kind of King is Jesus—and will we recognize Him when He returns?

And along the way, we’ve uncovered three defining truths:

Revelation → Jesus is the true King (Chosen One)

Reframing → His kingship is not what you expect (suffering → glory)

Response → You must choose who rules your life

Comparing Jesus with all the Royals so far, we’ve seen the identity of the true King—that Jesus was not driven by ambition, is not self-appointed or culturally constructed, but God’s chosen King. 

The one who not only perfectly embodies justice, mercy, and righteousness, but ultimately satisfies our deepest longings. 

He’s our shepherd, our light, our daily bread… our very life. Everything that He claims in the Gospel of John, pointed to what the Israelites- like us- continually long for.

As if directly addressing Jeremiah’s admonition that the Israelites “dug their own cisterns” after being provided for, in John 7, during the Pouring of Water ritual at the Festival of Tabernacles (or Sukkot), a major week-long Jewish harvest festival (the 15th-21st of the seventh month) celebrating God's provision and wilderness protection, Jesus offers Himself as the "living water":

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

John 7:37-39 ESV

Secondly: We’ve seen the inversion of kingship—that Jesus doesn’t rule the way we expect. He doesn’t dominate; He serves humly. He doesn’t grasp for power; He lays it down. He is the King who is crucified before He is crowned.

Several passages in Isaiah point to Jesus being a different King, more so, as the King who truly offers what we desire:

Isaiah 11:1-5

 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

    the Spirit of counsel and might,

    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

    and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah 12:3-5

 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.  And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the Lord,

    call upon his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples,

    proclaim that his name is exalted.

“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

    let this be made known in all the earth.

 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

    for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

There it is again: wells, water, everlasting quenching…

Doesn’t this resonate? Because we always wrestle with the rival kings of the heart—that every one of us is ruled by something that we thirst for like water. Power, success, approval, control—these things compete for the throne. The question is not if you have a king, but who that king is.

And here’s what ties all of this together:

The kind of king we long for reveals the kind of life we want for ourselves.

What we desire in a king—security, influence, success, peace, significance—those aren’t just abstract ideals. They’re deeply personal. They reflect the life we would choose… if we could.

And that’s why Solomon is so compelling.

Because Solomon doesn’t just look like the king we want— he looks like the life we want.

He stands at the pinnacle of human achievement:

• Unmatched wisdom

• Unimaginable wealth

• Global influence

• Political peace

• Cultural brilliance

If you could design a life marked by success, stability, and significance—it would look a lot like Solomon’s. And for a moment, it seems like it works.

The kingdom flourishes. The temple is built. The promises of God feel close—almost within reach. But Solomon’s story doesn’t just show us the height of what we can become.

It reveals the limits of everything we long for.

Because the same things that make Solomon great… become the very things that lead him away from God.

• The wisdom that should have anchored him… becomes detached from obedience

• The success that should have pointed to God… becomes centered on himself

• The blessings he received… become rival kings that capture his heart

Solomon reflects our longing for a true King—but he cannot fulfill it. He embodies the kind of life we think will satisfy us— but ultimately shows that it won’t.

And that’s why his story doesn’t end with him. It points beyond him.

To a better King.
A truer King.

A King who would not just possess wisdom—but be wisdom.
 

A King who would not accumulate power—but lay it down.
 

A King who would not be divided by rival loves—but remain perfectly faithful.

Solomon shows us the life we want. Jesus shows us the life we need.

And today, as we walk through Solomon’s story, we’re going to see both:

• The height of human kingship

• And the deep need for a greater one

Because in the end, this isn’t just about Solomon.

It’s about the same longings—and the same competing kings—that still fight for our hearts today.

Part 2 - Solomon in Three Acts

• Act 1: A Divided Heart

• Act 2: A Distracted Heart

• Act 3: A Decayed Heart

Act 1: A Divided Heart

1 Kings 3:3 (ESV)

“Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.”

Solomon begins well. He loves the Lord, he walks in David’s ways, and when God invites him to ask for anything, he asks for wisdom. At this point, he looks like the fulfillment of everything Israel hoped for in a king.

It’s hard to not imagine Solomon not knowing what an undivided heart looks like when we read this passage from one of the books he himself wrote:

Song of Solomon 2:1-6, 2:16

As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my beloved among the young men.

With great delight I sat in his shadow,

 and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the banqueting house,

and his banner over me was love.

Sustain me with raisins;

refresh me with apples,

for I am sick with love.

His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

My beloved is mine, and I am his;

he grazes among the lilies.

So we know that Solomon was very much aware of what it looks like to be fully and intimately captivated by our true love. Yet, sadly, because He seems to have forgotten, many years later, we also see him writing in Ecclesiastes, another book he wrote:

Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

So after many years, Solomon goes back to “remembering God”. Note that the final chapter of Ecclesiastes begins with what is echoed by Jeremiah after the exile: Remember God in your Youth / I remember the devotion of your youth.

In this passage in 1 Kings, the narrator, Jeremiah, introduces a tension immediately: “only.” That word signals that something is already misaligned. His devotion is real, but it is not exclusive. Worship at the high places reflects a tolerated compromise.

The narrative of Kings consistently evaluates rulers not by their achievements but by their covenant fidelity. Solomon’s story is no exception. From the beginning, the issue is not capacity nor competency—it is consistency of heart.

This is where decline begins. Not in open rebellion, but in divided allegiance. What appears minor early becomes determinative later.

Act 2: A Distracted Heart

1 Kings 6:12-13 (ESV)

“Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

By chapters 6–10, Solomon’s reign reaches its peak. The temple is built, Israel prospers, and Solomon’s wisdom is internationally recognized. This is the high point of the monarchy.

Yet right at the center of this success comes a conditional word from God: “if.”

This reflects a central theme that reads like it was intentionally emphasized by Jeremiah in the passages before Solomon— that God’s promises to the king are covenantal, not unconditional. The presence of the temple does not replace the necessity of obedience.

At the same time, Solomon begins to accumulate what Deuteronomy 17 explicitly warned against: wealth, military strength, and many wives. These are not presented as neutral developments. They represent a gradual reorientation of the heart.

Deuteronomy 17

 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 1And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Solomon embodies both the ideal and the failure of kingship—he builds the central symbol of Israel’s worship while simultaneously undermining its theological foundation.

In fact, interestingly enough, there are two details to point out:

• The passage clearly states not to acquire horses from Egypt, but what does Solomon do? He marries Phaoroah’s daughter

• It also states not to accumulate wealth. Yet, you also see throughout 1 Kings through 11, that the palace he built for himself was actually bigger than the temple.

This is the stage of distraction. God is not rejected, but He is no longer central. The heart becomes occupied with success, stability, and expansion. Outwardly, nothing appears wrong. But inwardly, devotion is being displaced.

Act 3: A Decayed Heart

1 Kings 11:4 (ESV)

“For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God…”

By chapter 11, the evaluation becomes explicit. What was once partial is now decisive: Solomon’s heart is no longer wholly true to the Lord.

This is not a sudden fall. It is the outcome of a trajectory. The divided heart of chapter 3 and the distracted heart of chapters 6–10 have now become a decayed heart.

The author of Kings makes the theological conclusion unavoidable: this failure is the turning point that leads to the division of the kingdom and, ultimately, to exile.

As D.A. Carson often emphasizes in his treatment of biblical theology, the greatest dangers in the life of faith are rarely abrupt—they are the result of slow, incremental drift. Solomon is a clear example of this pattern.

Even more striking is that Solomon retains his wisdom, influence, and accomplishments. What he loses is his devotional center. And in the theology of Kings, that loss outweighs everything else.

Part 3 - Conclusion: 

The King We Long For… The Life We Want—and Why Neither Is Enough

When you step back and look at Solomon’s life fully, it’s not just a story of sudden decline— it’s a slow progression.

• Divided — loving God, but not exclusively

• Distracted — succeeding, but slowly shifting

• Decayed — turned away, and no longer whole

And if we’re honest, that progression doesn’t feel distant. It feels familiar. As Pastor Rollan said in one of our Royals sermons:

Because it rarely starts with rejection.
 

It starts with division—small compromises we learn to live with.
 

Then comes distraction—good things that slowly take God’s place.
 

And over time, it leads to decay—a heart that drifts further than we ever intended.

Solomon’s decline echoes 1 John 2:15-17: 

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

And here’s what makes Solomon’s story even more sobering:

God spoke at every stage.

• In the beginning → inviting devotion

• In the middle → warning with conditions

• Before the end → clearly naming the danger

Solomon did not lack:

• wisdom

• opportunity

• or warning

He lacked a whole heart.

And that’s where this becomes deeply personal.

Because Solomon shows us that it’s possible to:

• Love God… and still drift

• Receive wisdom from God… and still wander

• Experience success under God… and still fall

It’s possible to build a life that looks full on the outside…
and still be quietly divided on the inside.

And that’s the tension we’ve been sitting in all series:

The king we long for reveals the life we want.

We long for security, influence, success, peace—
and we spend our lives trying to build those things.

But Solomon shows us something we don’t want to admit:

Even when you get that life… it’s not enough.

It cannot hold your heart together.
It cannot keep you faithful.
It cannot satisfy your soul.

Which is why Solomon doesn’t resolve our longing—
he deepens it.

Because what Israel needed—and what we need—
is not just a wise king,
and not just a successful life—

but a King who is perfectly faithful.

A King who will not drift.
A King who will not be divided.
A King who will not be pulled away by lesser loves.

And where Solomon failed, Jesus stands.

Because God is not ultimately after:

• your insight

• your achievements

• or your legacy

He is after your heart—
undivided, anchored, and wholly His.

And only one King can lead you there.

Not the king we would choose.
Not the life we would build.

But the King we truly need.

Revival in Tears

Revival in Tears

Jim Critcher

Intro Graphic

1) Paradox of Revival 

Learning to Lament and Repent - lessons from Jeremiah

Jer. 20:10-14; Lam. 3:19-26, 2:19

“Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ” (Joel 2:17, NIV84)

The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading. (Lamentations 2:14 NIV84)

Lament will most often lead us to repent

We are not “hardwired” to repent (Adam, Cain)

Lifestyle repentance comes as a result ofrevelation of WHO God is and WHO we AREN’T (1Timothy 1:15-16, NIV84) 

2) Person of Revival 

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13, NIV84) 

At its essence, revival is a redefining and rediscovery of God Himself

“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11, NIV84)

“To please God . . . to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness . . . to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delightsin his work or a father in a son — it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”  C.S. Lewis

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” John Piper

3) Promises of Revival 

“When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”(Psalm 126:1–6, NIV84)

Cost of revival 

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Hebrews 5:7, NIV84)

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Rev. 21:4

Tears condition the soil for the rains of revival

Supernatural, unusual reaping lies ahead … from “seeds to sheaves” 

The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten … vss. 24-25

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5, NIV84)

Royals: The King That We Need

Royals: The King That We Need 

Every Easter is an opportunity for us to look at the evidence for the resurrection and why we need Jesus. 

Focus: Jesus was charged and crucified but ended up exonerated and crowned - we need him to be our king. 

• Charged

• Crucified

• Crowned

Why we believe - 

700+ years before Jesus Christ showed up on the scene, Isaiah the Israeli prophet made his fourth prediction about the suffering servant of Yahweh who would eventually be crowned king.  

Years before crucifixion became a torturous instrument of the Roman Empire, you could hear the gospel being preached through Isaiah’s song.  

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭52‬:‭13‬-‭53:12 ‭ESV‬‬

“Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.” “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

In this prophetic declaration, we see the gospel, the good news of God’s salvation clearly laid out and pointing to the biographies of Jesus of Nazareth.  

*There are at least twenty distinct details in this one passage that point to the sinless life, sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. 

1. His appearance was so marred (Jesus was beaten and scourged before being crucified)

‭‭Mark‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.”

1. He would sprinkle many nations with blood

2. Kings would shut their mouths because of him

3. He was despised and rejected by men

4. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief

5. We considered him stricken, smitten by God

6. He was Pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities

7. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all - (Jesus would be our Passover lamb and called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world - John 1:29).

8. By oppression and judgement he was taken away

9. He was assigned a grave with the wicked (2 criminals on cross)

10. And a rich man In his death (Joseph of Arimathea)

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭27‬:‭57‬-‭60‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.”

1. He had done no violence

2. No deceit was in his mouth

3. ***Cut off from the land of the living - he died

4. Opened not his mouth (Jesus didn’t defend himself at trial)

5. It was the will of the Lord to crush him

6. His soul makes an offering for guilt

7. ***He shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (After dying, he will live!!!  Resurrection!!!)

8. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities (Christians are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus)

 Corinthians 5:21

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

1. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Charged

Though charged, Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing.  

We need Jesus because when charged, we are all found guilty of sin. 

‭‭Mark‬ ‭14‬:‭53‬-‭65‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.”

We need Jesus because though he committed no wrong, he would substitute his innocence for our guilt at the cross so that we might have the hope of a better tomorrow. 

“Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression? The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and for ever to your past. Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ. Never look back at your sins again. Say: ‘It is finished, it is covered by the Blood of Christ’. That is your first step. Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you. What you need is not to make resolutions to live a better life, to start fasting and sweating and praying. No! you just begin to say: ‘I rest my faith on Him alone Who died for my transgressions to atone.”

-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures 

What caused the high priest at the time to decry Jesus as a blasphemer?  

It was that the high priest understood that Jesus was declaring himself to be the divine king whose dominion would be everlasting and whose kingdom would never end.  

Jesus was making reference to the prophetic vision of the Prophet Daniel who held fast to God after being exiled to Babylon following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC by ruthless King Nebuchadnezzar. 

‭‭Daniel‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

So even in the midst of suffering, God was providing hope to us for the king that we needed.  

Crucified

Though crucified, death could not hold Jesus because he never sinned.  

We need Jesus because we have earned death through our sin. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus is the only hope for a judicial forgiveness given by atonement and grace.  

‭‭

Mark‬ ‭15‬:‭2‬, ‭22‬-‭27‬, ‭29‬-‭32‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.”

And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.”

Notice that the only charge that they could bring against Jesus was his identity - the fact that he was king of the Jews and coming to rule our lives as well.  

In our rebellious natures, the first reaction is to buck against God’s rule in our lives and even revile Jesus - until we realize our need.  

We need Jesus because he is the only one who can pay the price for the debt that we have accrued - death and hell are the destiny of our own making without him. 

“So, because in no other person but Jesus of Nazareth did God first become human (in his birth), then bear our sins (in his death), then conquer death (in his resurrection) and then enter his people (by his Spirit), he is uniquely able to save sinners. Nobody else has his qualifications.”

-John Stott

Crowned 

Though condemned to death, Jesus would rise in his innocence and power to reign as the forever king. 

We need Jesus because he is our only hope for life after death - eternal life.  

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Jesus died to give us hope in the present amongst all of the war, poverty, ethnic tensions, fear of lack, fear of the future, genocide, mysogeny, human trafficking, rape, murder, political strife and all else that has been produced by mankind’s falleness and sin.  

Jesus came to be the only unadulterated king who would truly be a savior.  

“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.”

-D. A. Carson

Jesus was resurrected from the dead to be that Savior.  

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.””

This is why the apostle Paul would make clear that the focus of our faith must forever be Christ’s reconciling work.   

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”

In the same way that Isaiah gave a forward looking evidence for Jesus, the suffering servant who would come to save, so the apostle Paul gave his contemporaries reasons to believe and have an eternal hope in God. 

Paul points to the evidence of:

• Prophecy - “in accordance with the Scriptures”

• Appearances - Peter, the twelve, the more than 500 at one time, to James, all the apostles

• His own conversion

Reconciliation with God is and will forever be the issue.  

*Our world needs hope, but it is only as we turn to Jesus who paid the price for our crimes, that our hearts can be changed and the world redeemed by the one who made it and loves it.

Jesus died to redeem the past. 

He was resurrected to usher us into a new future with him as our perfect king.  

“Easter always brings hope to all of us. For the Christian, the Cross tells us that God understands our suffering, for He took upon Himself at the Cross all of our sins and all of our failures and all of our sufferings. Our Lord, on that cross, asked the question, “Why?” “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”  And he received his answer, he knew.  To redeem the world, to save you and me from our sins, to give us assurance that if we died we’re going to heaven. He was saying from the cross, I love you and I know the heartaches and the sorrows and the pain that you feel. Easter points us beyond the tragedy of the Cross to the hope of the empty tomb. It tells us that there is hope for eternal life for Christ has conquered death. It also tells us that God has triumphed over evil and death and hell. This is our hope and it can be your hope as well.”

-Billy Graham

As we turn from our sin and put our trust in Jesus’ redeeming work at the cross, we have this hope both now and forevermore.  

Royals: Guard Your Heart

Being a person after God’s own heart doesn’t exempt you from the temptation to fall into the  trappings common to humanity.  

King David would learn this all too well.  

Focus: To live a life pleasing to God, we must learn to guard our hearts above all things and perpetually cry “Hosanna”!

• Eros 

• Ego

• Exactly What We Need 

Eros

God instructs us to guard our hearts above all things - especially from the trappings of the sinful nature (the flesh). 

Proverbs‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

‭‭

Biblically, your heart is the seat of the emotions, affections and desires.  

What types of good things can fill a heart?

Love for God, his word, love for family, friends and neighbors - love for the people of the world - can all fill your heart in a good way.  

What kind of things can pollute or ensnare a devoted heart?

Love of the things of this world including the love of money (which is the root of all kinds of evil - I Timothy 6:10) or even lifestyles that compete with the call of God can be things that try to ensnare our hearts. 

‭‭1 John‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

The author of Hebrews points to bitterness and fleshly cravings that can derail a man or woman. 

‭‭

Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”

Perhaps most importantly, the apostle Paul gives this exhortation to those who are doing well:

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

What can we learn from King David and how would he exemplify this?  

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his Lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his Lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’” So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.” When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”

When King David should have been about God’s business and off at war, he stayed behind in the palace. 

Both our attention and thus our worship will always be directed - if it is not towards God, enjoying life’s benefits with Christ and his purposes in mind, it will find somewhere else less desirable to land.  

When David was just “browsing” on his rooftop, he stumbled across a beautiful woman named Bathsheba bathing.  

Many people try to downplay lust - not just for other people, but for things.  

Please do not overlook what God says is sin because it is the norm in our culture and throughout the cultures of the world.  

Think about its effects:

What does it do to our relationship with God?

What does it do to our romantic relationships or marriages?

The reason why lust is dangerous is because lust sets you up to do the illicit thing that you fantasize doing if you thought you could do it without getting caught.  

It is what would play out with King David. 

It why Jesus would later warn:

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭27‬-‭30‬ ‭ESV‬‬

““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

King David thought that with his power and position that he could indulge this desire without consequence. 

He took advantage of both his power and position. 

This is where King David made his mistake. 

He sent for Bathsheba, slept with her and then sent her home thinking there would be no reverberations.  

However, Bathsheba went home having conceived a child.  

At this point, rather than admit his wrong and look to make amends, David tried to cover up his sin.  

But as we will see with King David, one unrepentant sin inevitably leads to another - David’s adultery with Bathsheba would ultimately lead to King David arranging the death of her noble husband Uriah to cover his tracks.  

Yet God sees and God always knows.  

We can not forget - this is the man after God’s own heart committing these sins.  

When David was living in unrepentant sin, it warped his rulership and even the way that he looked after and treated his men. 

“Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another.”

Many have been burnt thinking someone in authority in their lives or even who represented God got away with a violation against them and ultimately the Lord.  

*But God did not excuse even David’s sin and would send Nathan the prophet to both denounce David’s sin and follow with extraordinary discipline.  

Once confronted, David would admit his sin and pen the now famous Psalm 51. 

It is a picture of how we should respond if we find that we have been ensnared by sin and chosen to transgress God’s commands. 

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭51‬:‭1‬-‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.”

*King David asked God to create in him the clean heart and steadfast spirit that he felt he did not have on his own - and we need to do the same. 

There would be ripple effects of David’s sin as the child conceived from the adultery would die, but as David chose to make things right by taking the widowed Bathsheba into his home, King Solomon would be born from their union. 

*This was not because David was good, but because God is redemptive. 

David would still be severely disciplined as he would be ousted from his kingship for a period of time by his own son Absolom, who would betray his father leading to David’s temporary exile.  

Though much more can be said regarding this subject, what we need to know is that for the strength of our identity, calling, marriages and respectable human interactions, sexual purity is a big deal to God and it should be to us as well. 

Ego

We need to guard our hearts from an elevated sense of self and self-sufficiency.   

Whereas the incident with Bathsheba would highlight King David getting ensnared with illicit passions, this other curious narrative shows the king’s failure to hold to the Law of God as self-sufficiency and pride of life crept into his heart.  

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭24‬:‭1‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my Lord the king still see it, but why does my Lord the king delight in this thing?” But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000. But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.” And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded. And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. And Araunah said, “Why has my Lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.” Then Araunah said to David, “Let my Lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.”

Why the plague here?  

David had not followed the Lord’s commands which the king was charged to uphold (Deuteronomy 18). 

‭‭

Exodus‬ ‭30‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The Lord said to Moses, “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.””

When the census was taken, it was to be a form of worship, used as a memorial for the people to make atonement for their lives.  

*It was an acknowledgement of the people that their lives depended on God’s mercies and could be directed by his benevolent rule wherever he thought best. 

David failed to collect the ransom of a half shekel for each man’s life as an offering to the Lord.  

This is important because as seen by the ark in II Samuel 21-24, God was dealing with unresolved sin with the Israelites.  

And so God led David to take a census. 

The issue here was atonement and it could be said that God was attempting to reconcile with Israel. 

By each man and woman offering the temple tax, not only would they be making provision for the ongoing upkeep of the tabernacle, and eventually temple, but they were acknowledging their life belonged to God and was meant to be lived in service to him.  

*It was a memorial of God’s kingship in their lives that they might not drift into the pride of life, thinking their accomplishments were their own or their achievements were meant to be anything less than worship to Almighty God. 

*What bothered Joab and should be a check to our own hearts is that King David was not familiar enough with the Law of God (which he was supposed to write out and read daily to be careful to do everything directed in it) to be careful to carry out the Lord's directives from Exodus 30.  

So the census became about David’s own military strength communicating a drift from his heart reliance on God for victories. 

David would forget the truth of a Psalm not directly credited, but often attributed, to him:

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭33‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.”

How often do we have this similar drift into self-focus and self-reliance?  

So because the shekel was not collected, according to the word of the Lord, the plague began amongst the people. 

It was only as King David resumed his consecrated role in providing a sacrifice for the sins he and the people had now committed, was the plague stopped on the threshing floor of Araunah.  

*What is powerful is that God had already determined the place that the plague would be stopped, the very place that King David would make the costly sacrifice on the threshing floor of Araunah.  

This is once again a foreshadowing of the provision that Yahweh would make himself to stop the plague against humanity’s sin in offering his own son Jesus.  

The threshing floor of Araunah, located on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, would be where David would make the sacrifice to stop the plague. 

It would be the exact location where King Solomon would eventually erect the first temple for worship to Yahweh. 

It is also the same general area where Jesus would be crucified to bring reconciliation between God and sinful humanity.  

In David making atonement for the Israelites, he was foreshadowing the work of king Jesus who would be the mediator between God and humanity to save us from our sins.  

Exactly What We Need 

Jesus comes as our humble king to provide us the salvation that we need.  

As you may know, we’ve been celebrating Lent which leads us to today, Palm Sunday. 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21‬:‭1‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.””

What was happening here?

Matthew refers to Jesus’ entry on a colt as a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9.  

It is Jesus openly declaring that he is the righteous Davidic Messiah for whom the people had been waiting.  

In response, the cloaks on the road symbolized the crowd’s submission to Jesus as king.  

The palm branches symbolized Jewish nationalism and were waved in prominent Jewish victories.  

Jesus was coming to save the people. 

Again, the significance of the triumphal entry was that both Jesus and the people were acknowledging Jesus as king.  

*He too would enter Jerusalem to stop a plague - the plague of sin that was ravaging humanity. 

*But this time, the sacrifice that the king would offer would be his own life.  

*Unlike with King David’s failing, Jesus would be the faithful king who would come in humility  

not to take advantage of his people, but to save them.  

By coming on a donkey rather than a warhorse, Jesus was declaring that he was coming to bring peace, not be a military conqueror. 

Christ was highlighting that his kingdom was being built on humility and through his eventual sacrifice on the cross he would defeat Satan, sin and death to provide peace between us and God. 

When the people shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were making reference to and celebrating Jesus’ as the promised forever King from David’s line. 

Their cry “Hosanna” literally meant, “O save!”  

The people were expressing their moment by moment need for the Lord to save them - not just from Roman oppression, but their own sin.

Jesus can work with this. 

Jesus had said earlier in the Beatitudes:

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The poverty described by this Greek word implies not someone unable to pay bills, but a state of destitution so deep that unless someone comes and does for you, you will not survive.  

As opposed to David’s momentary neglect, Jesus understood without wavering that his mission was to perfectly fulfill the law of God so that he might make atonement for our lives.  

This is the reality of what Jesus would accomplish in the sacrifice of himself on the cross.  

Unless he paid the price there for all of the wrong that we’ve committed because of what has crept into our hearts over the years, there is nothing but judgment awaiting us.  

*But if we turn from our self-sufficiency and put our trust in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, we are offered forgiveness and new life.  

This is because the Father demonstrated that  he was willing to offer that which cost him more than we could ever imagine in offering his own Son to make atonement for our sins. 

As we now look to consecrate ourselves in this Lenten season, we can be given a new heart and a new spirit to be men and women who are  truly and completely saved by our trustworthy king. 

Royals: After God’s Own Heart

Focus: We must endeavor to be people after God’s own heart - learning to fight the Lord’s battles as God is with us to point people to Christ. 

• In the Sheepfolds

• In the Wake of Saul

• In the Line of Christ

In the Sheepfolds

King David learned to love and serve God when he was hidden - we should too.  

One of our highest aims should be to be  people who are known by God as being after his own heart.  

What does it mean to be after God’s own heart?

It means to be one who is concerned with the Lord’s affairs and is willing to do all that is necessary to please, love and obey him. 

David would be described by God as one who would fulfill his commands and be about God’s business - ruling and caring for his people. 

Saul was rejected because he failed to do this. 

1 Samuel‬ ‭13‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.””

Who was David?

Of the tribe of Judah, David would be the second king of Israel, the son of a shepherd named Jesse. 

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭16‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.””

Again, David was chosen as a man after God’s own heart. 

How did David cultivate such a heart?

Through devoted times of meditation on the truths of God (which we find in Scripture), worship (song writing) and prayer, David likely sought God in the fields as he tended his fathers’s sheep.  

Familiar Psalms regarding the vastness of God’s greatness seen in nature or David’s reflection on God’s care for his people as mirrored in a shepherd’s care for his sheep intimate this.  

Each of the Psalms that follow were inspired of the Holy Spirit and penned by David:

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭23‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The important point to follow is that God says he would choose men and women not based on their outward appearance, but their heart towards him. 

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭16‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.””

So what was happening at this time and what was God’s business?

In this period, the Philistines continued to make war against God’s people Israel, and God was determined to have a defender rise up to challenge the oppressor.  

It parallels our times in which God would ‭‭raise up King Jesus to defeat sin, Satan and the demonic hordes of hell that look to continually torment the lives of the people that God loves. 

Jesus would come as a champion, to give life to those who would receive him.  

Jesus would later say:

John‬ ‭10‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

David would be a prototype of the shepherd-king, in many ways foreshadowing, though imperfectly, the life of Christ. 

Now the rise of David would come with his encounter with a Philistine giant named Goliath.

It would be an important shift in the story of Israel’s rulers as David, anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king and replace Saul, would step up to be the Israelite’s champion against Goliath, whereas Saul had not risen to that challenge.  

Again, Saul was merely concerned with his own affairs, where David was consumed with God’s. 

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭17‬:‭32‬-‭37‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!””

In the Wake of Saul

King David learned to trust God for public victories that came from the secret place - we should too. 

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭17‬:‭45-‭48‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.”

Why was David so confident in fighting Goliath?

It was because he understood that he was not simply fighting his own battle, but he was fighting the battle of the Lord and therefore had God’s backing and endorsement. 

*This is the same confidence that we need to have as we are building lives, marriages, families, careers and ministries to the glory of God.

Whose battles are you fighting in this life?

Where is your trust in terms of who is fighting for you and why?

As King Saul fell from grace, he gave David the opportunity to build his life on the firm foundation of God’s affairs. 

This is always the right order in which to build, even as Jesus would later instruct:

Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭31‬-‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Though it looks different for different people, David would learn that there is reward in putting God first. 

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭18‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.””

Abigail, David’s future wife would remind him to stay locked in to the focus that brought blessing to his life and the people surrounding him. 

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭25‬:‭28‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house, because my Lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.”

*In every endeavor, David not only involved himself in the Lord’s affairs, but lived his life in such a way to make sure that the Lord was pleased to be with him.  

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭18‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him.”

What did it mean that God was with David?

*God being with us is different from us simply having knowledge about God.  

*It implies God’s not only God’s presence, but his endorsement, blessing and favor.   

This was so important that when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, he made this appeal to the Lord after God threatened to send them into the land, but not to go with the Israelites:

God would say after the incident with the golden calf:

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.””

Moses would reply:

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.””

King David would undoubtedly have these lessons in mind. 

Question:

Can you say that you live a life that God would be willing to endorse? 

God gave King David victories in battle because the Lord was with David.  

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭5‬:‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.”

Are we walking with God in such a way that we are representing God well and he would be happy to bless because he is with us?  

Again, David’s walk with God would prepare the way for the covenant promise that God would make to David that would forever impact all of human history to follow: 

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭7‬:‭4‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.”

So again, in trying to understand all of the warfare of the Old Testament, we see that even in David fighting the Lord’s battles, it was also about him being a benevolent king reflecting the Heavenly Father who looks to care for and defend those he loves. 

In the Line of Christ

King David’s entire life and ministry would point to Jesus - our’s should too.  

The gospel of Matthew, written to a Jewish audience familiar with the law, prophets and promises of God, would establish Jesus’ legal right to the throne of King David via Joseph (through Solomon, King David’s son). 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Luke would be written to a Gentile audience and trace the lineage of Christ all the way back to Adam (through the natural descent of King David’s son Nathan), emphasizing that Jesus would be the Savior of all of humanity.  

‭‭Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon,”

Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭38‬ ‭ESV

“the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”  

Why is it significant that Jesus is the Son of David?

Because Jesus would be the better king promised of God who would rescue his people by providing both freedom from and forgiveness for our sins. 

‭‭

Acts‬ ‭13‬:‭21‬-‭41‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’ For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about: “‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’””

Because of Jesus’ sinless life, death on the cross in sacrifice for our wrongdoing and resurrection from the dead - we can have not only forgiveness of sins but eternal life in Jesus.  

Jesus descended from David to forever rule on David’s throne.  

He was the only one who had a perfect heart before the Father and blamelessly fulfilled all that the Father desired - even to the point of his death on the cross. 

‭‭

Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

"There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him".

-C.S. Lewis

As we now turn from our self-centered living to God’s eternal affairs, we can have confidence that our benevolent shepherd-king will both free us from our oppressors and bring a better blessing than that which we would have sought to obtain for ourselves. 

May we turn from our sins and put our trust in Jesus today. 

May we be men and women after the Lord’s own heart and live to glorify him today as we follow God to make Jesus known, making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). 

03/15/26 - Sunday Sermon - Guest Speaker

Royals - For All the Right Reasons

Royals - For All the Right Reasons

It has been said that if history doesn’t exactly repeat itself, it at least rhymes.    

A good rule of thumb is to pay attention to instances in Scripture when God is repeating a theme.  

As with a teacher and a test, it means that this theme is of utmost importance to God. 

We will see this as we continue with King Saul’s tragic story today. 

Focus: Partial obedience is still disobedience - you need to obey the whole of God’s word. 

• For God’s Sake

• For All the Right Reasons

• Faithful King

For God’s Sake

All that we’ve been gifted and graced to do is for God’s sake, not just our own. 

After Saul is rebuked by Saul for his rationalized disobedience in I Samuel 13, things don't get any better.  

King Saul is left with about 600 men situated less than two miles from Micmash where the Philistines are entrenched and are sending raiding parties (literally meaning “destroyers”) to the north, west and southeast of Israel.  

Because of the longstanding “weapons control” laws and economic warfare of the Philistines, the only Israelites with any weapons to defend themselves when the attacks begin are King Saul and his son Jonathan. 

Saul and his men relocate to safety while leaving Jonathan and a small troop to defend themselves.  

In Chapter 14 Jonathan, showing courage and a trust in the Lord, goes with his armor-bearer and once again catalyzes a great victory from the Lord against the Philistine oppressors.  

Saul responds by continually taking the best men for his team, while leaving others to do the heavy lifting and reap victories for Israel by putting themselves in danger.   

1 Samuel‬ ‭14‬:‭52‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.”

Maybe you recognize this from the workplace.  

King Saul was continually concerned with his own image of success, but not the mission of God. 

Once we get to chapter 15, God is giving Saul another opportunity to make his kingship about something more than himself - another opportunity to express obedience to the Lord and fulfill his purposes.  

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.”

First we need to understand the battle.  

The lesson of the Amalekites is that God’s justice will be done, sooner or later (Exodus 17:8-15; Deuteronomy 25:17-19).  

We need to trust God and make sure that we are on the right side of his judgments.  

Now this warfare into which God called King Saul was not genocide or mere imperialism, but Kherem warfare.  

The Gospel Coalition notes that “The distinguishing character of kherem warfare is evidenced in Saul’s sparing the Kenites, whom the Lord had not commanded him to devote to destruction (15:5–6).”

It also foreshadows the dispensational imagery of how God will bring a day to judge all sin. 

Though there will be a final judgement where all those committed to unrepentant sin who have not come under the Lordship of Jesus will be consumed, the New Testament implores followers of Christ to advance his Kingdom with the gospel and love, not violence.  

At the same time, you can not be romantic, at the time of King Saul, the only way to stop the Amalekites was with force.  

Do not be misled by chronological bias. 

Modern diplomacy was not a part of ancient near eastern culture. 

The Amalekites were violent people who committed atrocities and genocide.  

Amos 1 and 2 speak about the violence and atrocities of the surrounding nations. 

Yet God in essence said, “I will not allow you to use force on them the way they use force on other nations.”

*Historically, all nations attack others to enrich themselves - not just to kill, but to get land, slave labor, natural resources and capital. 

In I Samuel 15:1-9, God says to smite the Amaliekites as a form of divine justice, a terrible but necessary thing, as divine justice, not imperialism.  

It is a foreshadowing of the eschatological judgment God eventually brings against all sin, and which Jesus bore on himself for humanity on the cross. 

*Whereas other nations made war on others to profit in the form of imperialism, God was saying here in his divine justice that the Israelites were not to profit even one cent from this campaign.  

God knows people say they go to war in the name of “truth and justice”, but really are motivated to enrich themselves and therefore speaks to Saul accordingly, giving instruction about what not to do. 

Yet as we will see, King Saul once again chose to sin.  

For God’s Sake!

We also have to see what God intends to be the purpose of the gifts he entrusts to us, but what we often do with them instead, bringing destruction in the end because of our disobedience. 

For example:

*What is the purpose of your marriage and family unit - is it just companionship and postcards or is it something more?

(Grant Cardone clip about wife saying he needs to be a billionaire) 

According to Jesus, even the gift of your family is a vehicle for you to make disciples, advance the Great Commission and bring glory to his name.  

For All the Right Reasons 

Partial obedience is still disobedience and will be judged by the Lord.  

I Samuel 15:9-23

“But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.”  The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret[c] that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”  And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”  Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.”  Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’  Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”  And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams  For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

*Partial obedience is disobedience.

*Your self-made sacrifices and spirituality do not please God - faith in and obedience to his Word are the only things that he will accept. 

*King Saul sins when he focuses not on God’s divine justice against sin, but on the capital, the wealth that he could gain from the campaign. 

*Saul, in essence adopts the very same violent, imperialistic values of the nation that he was sent to destroy. 

In so doing, he forsakes Israel’s God given mandate to be different, a light to the nations to turn them from the historic patterns that bind individuals, families, societies and nations in sin. 

King Solomon would later rightly write by the Holy Spirit:

‭‭

Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Yet the purpose of this text is not to have you think simply about a nation’s foreign policy, but about yourself and how you are similar to Saul in the destructive trappings of partial obedience. 

Worldly wisdom says we all need to be a little selfish. 

What are the “best things” in life that you thought were good to hold back for yourself and ended up costing you in the end?

Was it choosing career over family?

Was it choosing sexual freedom over devotion to a God-given spouse? 

Was it time pursuing your own ambitions rather than cultivating time with your children?

Did you forsake church, Christian community and service in the name of worldly success and mere monetary pursuits?  

Could it be that like Saul, your sin was that you were determined to make a name for yourself and fulfill personal ambition at all costs? 

Like King Saul, were you driven by selfishness and pride?

Maybe you didn’t know or didn’t choose to trust that God opposed the proud, but gives grace to and exalts the humble. 

*Bruno Mars sang a song about it…. “I should’ve bought you flowers, I should have held your hand…”

Understanding sin from an irreligious worldview:

“Sin is building your identity—finding your greatest meaning, significance and security—on something besides God. Everyone centers his or her life on something, and whatever that is becomes by definition and function a) your god—something you adore and serve with your whole heart, and b) your “savior”—something you have to have in order to feel spiritually and emotionally significant and meaningful. So even the seemingly most nonreligious people are living lives of worship, working for their “salvation” though not expressing it so to themselves.”

-Timothy Keller 

King Saul in his disobedience would eventually express this in erecting a monument to himself.  

How are we similar to Saul?

What is the monument that you are erecting to yourself that is driving you?  

Here’s the point:

*It is sin to do what you would prefer to do or you think is wiser, when God has already told you what he expects.  

*God’s commands take into account his purposes and not just your preferences.  

We convince ourselves that we are obeying God when really we are doing what we want to do and calling it an offering to God.  

You have to know that God rejects this. 

People often ask me why their prayers aren’t answered when we both know they are in the middle of sin. 

For all the things God is in his grace, he is by no means an enabler. 

The Psalmist would learn:

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭66‬:‭16‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!”

King Solomon would write:

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15‬:‭29‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”

*The reason God gives you provision is, yes for our enjoyment, but also for worship so that the gospel of the Kingdom could go to the nations (Matthew 24). 

But Saul kept the best for himself. 

Ultimately, Saul’s sin could not be hidden. 

And it would be found out. 

Lesson: Your sin will be found out and come back to bite you. 

“A sin takes on a new and real terror when there seems a chance that it is going to be found out.”

-Mark Twain

Do what is right before God even when you think no one is watching - because God is. 

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭5‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.”

*We often try to protect our favorite sins.  

*What are the best things that we try to keep for ourselves but God tells us to destroy because they are destroying us?

It’s easy to want to get rid of the weak and despicable things. 

Saul likely kept Agag alive to parade Agag as a captive and to display his combatant prowess and personal glory to other nations. 

When confronted with his sin, Saul began to employ religious speech and excuses as we all do.  

Saul told Samuel that he kept the devoted things “to sacrifice to the Lord your God…” not Saul’s God. 

Saul’s heart had already departed from the Lord and thus abdicated his commissioning to be a ruler under God. 

King Saul exemplifies the infinite capacity of human beings towards self deception - knowing something at one level but choosing not to know it at another because it threatens our preferences and desires. 

Blameshifting is always a part of the self deception 

Now here’s the sad part - God did not accept Saul’s final admission of guilt. 

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.””

*Why didn’t God accept Saul’s admission of sin?

There was no godly sorrow, but simply worldly sorrow - being upset about the consequences of his sin, not that he had offended and rebelled against God.  

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.”

*How do we need to turn from such sin to show our obedience rather than sacrifice?

Do not pick and choose. 

All sin matters to God. 

‭‭

James‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

When Samuel rejected Saul, Saul’s greatest concern was that Samuel would honor him in the eyes of the people.  

Though Saul wouldn’t die for many more chapters, the summation of his rule was evidence that things were over for him here.  

Like the Kings of the other nations, Saul was described with his victories in battle, not his heart before the Lord as in I and II Kings - in relation to God.  

*At the end of the day what matters is not what you think you know about God, but what God thinks of you. 

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

*How would the Lord speak about you?

Faithful King

Jesus was the faithful king who obeyed all of the commandments and purposes of the Father without fail to completely save those who put their trust in him. 

How was Jesus the better king?

For those of you recently tuning in, we’re not talking about politicized, hollow Christianity, but a Biblical faith with teeth that looks to give life rather than destroy from the throne of the Son of God.  

Jesus was the better king because he was a prophet, priest and king who lived fully devoted to God. 

‭‭

Hebrews‬ ‭7‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭NIV

“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Author John Ortberg described Jesus this way:

“Who is Jesus? He is the hinge of history. He is the hope of the oppressed. He is the inspiration of the despairing. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the greatest teacher who ever lived. His is the greatest mind that ever thought. He sparked the greatest movement that has ever spread. He offered the greatest gift that has ever been given. He alone mastered life. He alone conquered death. He alone overcame sin. He alone grows more present with each passing year. He is the Son of God. He is the Savior of the world. the victorious risen king.”

—John Ortberg

Jesus came not to destroy us, but to save us from destruction and redeem our lives.  

Yet he does so only as we recognize the excuses we’ve made for our own exaltation that have ironically led to our own destruction.  

We must turn from our self justified, self deceived reasoning, humbly repent of our sin and receive the righteousness that comes from Christ alone.  

Jesus was the better king because he looked perfectly for the pleasure and honor of the Father, knowing his ways best and good. 

Jesus would live sinlessly, putting to death all of the works of the flesh, die sacrificially on the cross to take the punishment the rebellious deserve and rise three days later to provide forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who would trust in him.  

There are really two types of people in here today, represented by the story of the prodigal son and his elder brother - both of whom tried to find satisfaction outside of God and suffered for it.  

Yet God calls us to the complete obedience of our perfect king Jesus to save our souls.  

“What must we do, then, to be saved?  To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but if that is all you do, you may remain just an elder brother. To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right.”

Timothy J. Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith 

Why?

*Because partial obedience is still disobedience and God wants not a partial life, but a whole devotion with a righteousness, identity, purpose and security that he alone provides.  

When you are adopted into the family of God, you become part of a royal priesthood, and are then set apart in all of life for the divine purposes of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  

May we love Jesus as he’s loved us, not in part, but in whole, and by so doing become the men and women God has called us to be.  

Royals: Hidden in Plain Sight

Royals: Hidden in Plain Sight 

Focus: We need to acknowledge who is actually ruling our lives - Jesus or us, and stop pretending we are submitting to Jesus as Lord when we are not.  

• Devil in the Details

• Didn’t You Say It’s All About Me?

• Dying to Make a Change

Devil in the Details

Our acceptance or rejection of God’s rule in our lives is often more subtle than we would like to admit. 

We want to help you understand the history of the Bible and how it all leads to the person of Jesus Christ.  

Coming out of Egypt and following the death of Moses after forty years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites went into the promised land, taking initial possession of it under the leadership of Joshua (Moses’ aide) over the course of approximately 25-30 years. 

During this time, the Israelites would have the Book of the Law as summarized in Deuteronomy  to guide them.

Deuteronomy would be the summation of God’s law and regulations by which Israel would be measured in regards to their covenant faithfulness to God or lack thereof.  

*In essence, would Yahweh and his commands in regard to identity, relationships, family structure, finances, civic responsibility, sacrifices and the rhythms of worship be their governing compass or would the ways and idols of the surrounding nations define them?

The same question is asked of us today.  

Now in that Law, the Holy Spirit had Moses predict a king that God would provide to rule his people, one that would be “after his own heart”.  

This is how the king that God would provide would be described:

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭17‬:‭14‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”

Yahweh said he would allow a king, but one that was ultimately representing and serving God, and not simply himself as king.  

*Thus, the sin would later be not in Israel asking for leadership or a king, but in Israel putting their ultimate trust in someone or something other than God for their protection, provision and purpose. 

The next period, which included the book of Judges and Ruth included a period of between 300 and 350 years where Israel moved in and out of periods of disobedience to Yahweh with subsequent subjection to the surrounding nations. 

It was a time when Israel had no king, and everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes.

This reflects the trouble we create for ourselves when instead of obeying God’s word, we reason what will be best for our own lives and end up suffering because of it. 

Yet the judges were God’s appointed deliverers to turn the Israelites back to the law of God as given by Moses, so that they would stop doing what was right in their own eyes and be freed from the tyranny of the foreign oppressors.

The Israelites at this time were being led by a series of deliverers, from Othniel to Deborah and eventually Samson and Samuel, who was the last recorded judge of Israel and also a prophet of the Lord. 

*The Israelites eventually came to a time where they wanted to be like all the other nations and have a king rule over them.  

*This was at a time when the pressures of Philistine and Ammonite threats were front and center for Israel’s leaders and they no longer considered a direct theocracy, where Yahweh was their ruler, to be sufficient. 

*The Israelites wanted other means of defense, having a human king who would lead them into battle for their national security. 

In doing this, they were denying the covenant of the Lord, rejecting confidence in God and his commands as their sole provider, leader and giver of purpose.  

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭8‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

So the front was subtly towards not just Samuel, but God himself, since the people were asking for a king not like the Lord, but like all of the other nations.

*The people wanted to continue, like in the book of Judges, to do what was right in their own eyes, yet this time with a king.  

How do we do this?

God, you’re good, but what I really need is…

Just as our modern democracies, art or music are a reflection of the condition of the hearts and ideologies of the people that make them, so the kings of Israel would become a representation of the devotions and pitfalls we would experience in serving other things other than Yahweh, and why we’d need the ultimate king, Jesus, to reconcile us to the one true God and out of a return to self-imposed slavery. 

People in the church today want to be like everyone else, without God’s direct instruction already given in his word.  

God tells Samuel to grant their wish, but let them know all of the trouble that will come with it.  

Saul was anointed to be King by the prophet Samuel to deal with the oppression of the Philistines, a theme that had continued from the book of Judges.  

‭‭

1 Samuel‬ ‭9‬:‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”

Saul peaked early in his kingship. 

*May we take warning and grow in our devotion to God over the years rather than coasting and finding an inevitable decline. 

The example of my college friends was that many were on fire for Jesus at first, but when hit with the trials and pressures of life,petered out on divergent paths.  

Matthew 13:22 ESV

“As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

Though Saul confirmed his kingship in I Samuel 11 by engaging and defeating the Amorites, he was dragging his feet to address the problem for which God had anointed him - dealing with the Philistines.  

By I Samuel 13, Saul is thus enjoying the role of the kingship without fulfilling his God ordained mandate or duties.  

This is a precursor to the pick and choose pattern that Saul would employ to eventually have him rejected as king. 

Why does being rejected as king matter before Jesus?

Much of the western church lives with a mentality that they can live a “blessed life” still having all that they want while not obeying God fully. 

However the New Testament writers give us some strong warning from God that we will see foreshadowed in King Saul’s life:

I Corinthians 3 - anything not built on Christ will be burned up and we will lose our reward. 

Galatians 5 - those living in unrepentant sin will not inherit the kingdom of God, will be sent to Hell. 

Revelation 3:14-22 - Jesus will spit out the lukewarm from his mouth. 

Didn’t You Say It’s All About Me?

We express our devotion to God by obeying his commands by faith - to accomplish that for which Christ laid hold of us (Philippians 3:8-16). 

At this point in the coronation, King Saul should have been about God’s business, dealing with the Philistines as he had been anointed to do, but instead his son Jonathan had to lead the charge.  

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel, Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.”

One of King Saul’s first recorded acts of disobedience was precipitated by a lack of trust in God’s provision and timing. 

I Samuel 13:8-15 ESV

He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash,  I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”  And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.  But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army; they went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.

*How often do we walk in this guise of spirituality, but at the end of the day decide what is right and wrong for us based on our circumstances?

*The Lordship of Jesus demands faith-filled obedience, even when worldly wisdom would dictate otherwise.  

Here’s the point: According to the word, you need to stop letting Your Circumstances Dictate Your Obedience to God.  

We need to learn to live by faith. 

*God knows better - stop trying to obey him only when you think it expedient. 

In impatience and defiance, Saul offers the sacrifice, an act of treason against God.  

***Do not take matters into your own hands - God often arrives at the moment we are ready to give up. 

*What we learn from King Saul is that rationalized disobedience is still sin that God will judge.  

*What things do we regularly do that seems a little deal to us, but are actually a big deal to God?

When you do these things over and over again, you are constructing a life that is not defined by Lordship but by you subtly and repeatedly saying that you know best and you are at the end of the day, master of your own life.  

*If you say you are a man or woman of faith, you must obey God’s word. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.”

‭‭

*It is sin to do what you think is right to do as determined by your circumstances when God’s word has already given you instruction about what he expects you to do.  

*Rationalized disobedience is still disobedience and will be judged by God. 

*God’s commands take into account you learning to build a life of faith - learning to trust and obey his word and not just what you think will save you.

Why was Saul rejected as king?

*He was living in the position of the kingship as if the privileges were all about his personal benefits and comforts versus being anointed and positioned by God to fulfill God’s purposes.  

*In essence, Saul forgot who was really king. 

In the moment of his great distress, Saul fails the test as to whether he would be a king under God or a king in place of God.  

We often do the same, treating our walk with God as merely a means to personal blessing, protection and provision rather than the relationship through which all of our time, talent and resources are utilized for the worship of God and the advancement of his Kingdom. 

How often do we say we are serving Jesus as Lord but are really attempting to use him for our ends and rely on other means of survival in place of God.  

Like King Saul, we all have to answer the question as to whether we are willing to wait on the Lord in complete submission and trust, regardless of how perilous the circumstances appear.  

We have to ask ourselves if we think we are above the Word and Law of the Lord.  

Think:

1. How does this play out in your desire for companionship and acceptance?

2. How does it play out in your use of time and career pursuits?

3. How does it play out in your relationship to finances?

Pious acts (Saul asking for the Lord’s help) and religious acts (making a sacrifice to God before battle) did not make up for Saul’s disobedience. 

Nor will it for us.  

You can not paper over disobedience with other acts of spirituality and hope to be right with God.  

God has already prescribed what he desires.  

Read his Word and obey it.  

If you’ve not completed the Purple Book, pick one up and start it today. 

“We habitually and instinctively look to other things besides God and his grace as our justification, hope, significance, and security. We believe the gospel at one level, but at deeper levels we do not. Human approval, professional success, power and influence, family and clan identity—all of these things serve as our heart’s “functional trust” rather than what Christ has done, and as a result we continue to be driven to a great degree by fear, anger, and a lack of self-control. You cannot change such things through mere willpower, through learning Biblical principles and trying to carry them out. We can only change permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts. We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting it and making it part of ourselves. That is how we grow.”

-Timothy J. Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith 

How are we similar to Saul?

*How do we need to turn from such sin to follow God’s commands even when it seems our circumstances would dictate otherwise? 

Dying to Make a Change

Jesus is the Father’s appointed king, who came as the spotless sacrifice, at the perfect time, to turn us from our sin that we might be saved from our enemies.  

How was Jesus the better king?

Jesus was a better king because he demonstrated total consecration to the glory of the Father and benefit of those he came to save.  

Jesus is God in the flesh who lived sinlessly in obedience to the commands of the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

On the cusp of Jesus’ entry into the world, Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father would prophesy this:

‭‭

Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭68‬-‭75‬ ‭ESV‬‬

““Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

To be a disciple, we must come to repentance and change the way that we are living.  

Jesus plainly said: 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

He would then speak about God’s care for his children saying that we shouldn’t worry about our daily needs like food and clothing because your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of such things.  

Especially in this changing economy, this is pertinent. 

To counter being ruled by fear, Jesus said:

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

This relates to any other master that would try to replace Jesus as king in our lives, whether it be a relationship, a career pursuit or even a sense of identity. 

Jesus would be both the king and the prophet to turn us back to God and his commands, perfectly fulfilling them himself and thus providing righteousness for those who would repent of their sin and serve him as King. 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

“In the end, Martin Luther’s old formula still sums things up nicely: “We are saved by faith alone [not our works], but not by faith that remains alone.” Nothing we do can merit God’s grace and favor, we can only believe that he has given it to us in Jesus Christ and receive it by faith. But if we truly believe and trust in the one who sacrificially served us, it changes us into people who sacrificially serve God and our neighbors. If we say “I believe in Jesus” but it doesn’t affect the way we live, the answer is not that now we need to add hard work to our faith so much as that we haven’t truly understood or believed in Jesus at all.”

-Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith 

When Jesus, in God’s perfect timing, went to the cross, he became the sacrifice that we needed to defeat our enemy sin, take the punishment we deserve and provide grace by his resurrection from the dead to stand in obedience to God by faith. 

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭4‬:‭3‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Let’s choose to trust him today, obeying him not only in times of ease, but the challenging times that we might fulfill that for which Jesus laid hold of us!

Royals: Dismantling False Gods One Plague at a Time

Royals: Dismantling False Gods One Plague at a Time

Focus: God’s dismantling of the Egyptian gods through the 10 plagues showcases His superiority in the past, in the present, and in the future. He is the One True God. Serve Him and Him alone.

Setting the scene: Roughly 3,300 years ago God’s chosen people, the Israelites, were settled in Egypt. Because of their great size, the Pharaoh (royal ruler) of Egypt was threatened and chose to enslave them. They were slaves for hundreds of years (215-400, depending on interpretation) and finally God responded to their cries for deliverance and sent Moses, a Hebrew child raised by Egyptian royalty to bring them out of Egypt. After killing an Egyptian as a young man and fleeing, Moses returns to Egypt from exile, sent by God, to lead his people out of captivity. Moses and his brother Aaron proclaim this command from their God to Pharaoh: let my people go. Pharaoh refuses, hardening his heart, and thus God sends 10 plagues upon Egypt to ultimately free His people.

Prior to the 10 Plagues, both Moses and Aaron met with Pharaoh and Pharaoh challenged them by saying, “perform a miracle.”

Exodus 7:8-13

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Before the 10 Plagues even began, God proved that He was superior to Pharaoh’s gods when the snake Moses and Aaron conjured swallowed up the sorcerers’ snakes.

While other gods of this world can imitate God, the One True God will always and forever remain superior to the counterfeits.

By this we can know: Not everything that looks like God, that feels like God, that acts like God, is of God.

Jesus confirms this in Matthew 7:21-23

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Jesus is dismissing those who did miracles. Just because someone may display a miracle does not mean that they are of God.

Have you ever received a prophetic word that was preluded by a miracle? Maybe a word of knowledge - someone telling you things that they could not have possibly known about you? While God does speak to us in this way, that does not necessarily mean that when someone displays a mighty work that he or she is truly of God.

We judge a prophecy by the prophecy itself, not a sign that seems to confirm it. Our awe and wonder should be reserved for the point of His miracles, not for the miracle itself.

Jesus tells us how to determine if something said is of God or not in Matthew 7:24-27

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The test is placing every claim of God made by man against His very word – the Word of God, the Bible. That is how you build your house upon the rock.

The Israelites had a broken spirit due to the harshness of their slavery (Exodus 6:9b) and likely were swayed by the very mighty works that the Pharaoh’s magicians performed in front of Aaron and Moses. But Aaron and Moses were not swayed because they had heard from God Himself - no miracles could convince them otherwise.

The Israelites likewise had the Word of God to rely on via the Abrahamic Covenant.                                                                      

In Genesis 12:6-7 God spoke to Abraham (who was called Abram at the time):

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Egypt was never promised as the settling place of the Israelites, so their hope was to be on things to come, not things that were (their captivity, the mighty works of the magicians, etc.).

Through the 10 Plagues, God will further demonstrate His superiority over Egypt’s gods.

Exodus 7:14-24

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’” The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels[a] of wood and stone.”Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.

God directly confronts the Egyptian god Hapi, the god of the Nile, by symbolically killing him by bringing literal blood and death to the entirety of the river, disrupting Egyptian culture, economy, and growth.

The magicians, however, replicate this miracle (on a much smaller scale) and Pharaoh uses this as confirmation bias that he and his gods are still in control. He does not yield.

Do we fall into the same trap? Are we looking so eagerly for a confirmation of our own beliefs that we do not stop to compare a sign or message to the ultimate standard of God, to the Bible? That is what Pharaoh did, and he proved himself over and over to be a fool.

The second plague is Frogs - Exodus 8:1-15

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’”So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of EgyptPharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.” Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.” “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said. Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

But we see it again – the magicians mimic this plague. This time, however, Pharoah does not accept this as an adequate dismissal of Israel’s God. He is growing tired of their copying and he even yields, asking Moses and Aaron to pray to their God to take away the frogs and he will then let the people go.

However, we see in v15 that once there was relief, Pharaoh hardened his heart again and would not let the Israelites go.

Does this sound familiar? How many times have we asked God for something, God delivers it, and then almost immediately after we return to our old ways?

We need to recognize that God is superior to our ways, to the things that bring us comfort, and not be like Pharoah who uses God like a genie, receiving that which we ask and returning nothing to His glory.

After his refusal, God sends the plague of gnats in Exodus 8:16-19

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.

Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

This time, the magicians could not use their secret arts to imitate God. They even admit to Pharaoh: “this is the finger of God.” Yet, Pharaoh refuses to listen.

This reveals the true god that Pharaoh served - himself. He used the mimicry of the magicians to justify his decisions, but at the end of the day he still had his power, economy, and slaves - those were his true gods. God will now begin to dismantle those gods one by one.

Plagues 4-9:

• Plague 4: dense swarms of flies all throughout Egypt (Ex. 8:20-30).

• Plague 5: death of the Egyptians’ livestock (Ex. 9:1-7).

• Plague 6: every Egyptian was struck with festering boils upon their skin (Ex. 9:8-12).

• Plague 7: Hail - where a hailstorm of ice and lightning killed all who ignored Moses’ warning of the imminent storm and who didn’t run for shelter, stripped the growth of the fields and the trees, yet did not touch the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived (Ex. 9:13-35).

• Plague 8: locusts that covered the land and anything that managed to survive the hailstorm and devoured it. The Bible says that they covered the ground so densely that it was black and nothing green remained on a tree or plant in all the land of Egypt (Ex. 10:1-20)

• Plague 9: darkness over all the land, a direct attack on perhaps the most important god of the Egyptian religion: Ra the sun god. God proved his superiority over the Egyptian gods so thoroughly that even the god they could always depend on, as dependable as the sun rising and setting every morning and night, was completely and utterly rendered obsolete. (Ex. 10:21-29)

Throughout plagues 3-9 Pharaoh attempted to barter with God, telling Moses that would give the Israelites certain privileges under his terms. Pharaoh was trying to “serve” God while also simultaneously clinging to his gods, that of power, status, culture, etc. But God rejected these compromises.

We cannot serve God half-heartedly. Our God has made it very clear – that if you choose to serve Him, you choose to serve Him and Him alone. He must be Lord of your life, that is what he is owed, that is what He demands.

What gods are you still trying to serve? What systems are in place in your life that you look to for provision, protection, and purpose?

Whether it is now or in the future, you can be sure that God will dismantle those gods and if you are still holding onto them, it will not be pleasant. When God ultimately does this, we want to be in Goshen, or in other words, we want to be on the other side of it. We want to cling wholly to the One True God and cheer as he destroys false gods and reveals himself as the only one who is worthy of our praise. We don’t want to be under the hailstorm, in utter darkness, covered in flies, gnats, locusts, and frogs.We want to be delivered from that judgment.

This brings us to the final plague. Plague 10: The death of the firstborn in Exodus 12:1-13

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb[a] for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

Through this plague we can learn this:

God is patient and He is waiting for you to turn to Him. But we are not privy to the extent of His patience.

The events of Plague 10 are known as the “Passover” and it was a rare time in history where God’s judgement had a declared time and date. We do not have the same convenience.

Yet God desires that no one should perish.

2 Peter 3:8-9

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

2 Corinthians 6:2

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
    and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

We must choose which god we will serve. What God should we want to serve? We should want to serve the God that tears apart every other god, the God of Exodus, who killed Hapi, Heqet, and Ra, and 2,000 others, who tore down every pillar of Pharaoh’s position: his power, his economy, his magicians, his deceit, his influence, his own self-proclaimed deity, the God who destroyed the land with ice and lightning, who blackened out the ground with locusts and the sky with darkness, THAT is the God that we want to serve. That is NOT the God we want to oppose, to barter with to share our hearts and services with other gods. He will not accept that compromise, He deserves our all and this story of the plagues of Exodus firmly displays why He was, is, and will be the superior choice over all other gods.

We must rely on Him and Him alone to save us. But save us from whom?                                                                                           

God is not saving you from yourself, He’s not saving you from your sins, from the other gods you may have in your life. When Jesus Christ came down to this earth to die on the cross on our behalf, He took our punishment – He took what we deserved. What did we deserve? Jesus took on the wrath of God. God, through the sacrifice of His son, is saving us from Himself. From His wrath that we justly deserve! But by His grace and mercy, through His deliverance, He will pass over us if we put our full faith and trust in the Lamb of God that was slain for us – just like the Passover lamb – Jesus Christ is our ultimate Sacrificial Lamb who received the judgment of God on our behalf.

I do not just want to be saved from the God of the plagues, of the hailstorm, blood river, and frog infestation, but the same God who spared the firstborns of whoever placed the blood upon their door frame is the same God who did NOT spare HIS firstborn to give us the ultimate justification that we did not deserve.

Romans 8:32-39

“If God is for us, who can be[i] against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.[j] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Egyptians brought everything they had against my God – they brought the power of over 2,000 pagan gods, wise men, sorcerers, a booming economy, an overbearing power, a ruler in Pharoah who was thought to be a god himself… and our God – He dismantled every single affront against Him and delivered His people from them.

He will do that for you as well

 He not only wants to save you, but He wants to adopt you into His family, He wants to be for you, He desires that no one should perish. So know this: today is the day of salvation. Put your false gods away, repent and serve no other gods, place your faith and future in the One who is Superior to everything else yesterday, today, and forever.

Royals: Egypt, Pharaoh and the Wilderness: A Plotline for Christians

Royals: 

Egypt, Pharaoh and the Wilderness: A Plotline for Christians 

About our new series: Royals

From Pharaohs and prophets to queens and kings, Scripture is filled with rulers who shaped history, formed empires, and defined entire eras. In Royals, we journey through the great (and terrible) leadership narratives of the Old Testament — Egypt’s Pharaoh, Israel’s kings, Esther in Persia, and the ruling systems that governed God’s people — not simply to study ancient power structures, but to understand them in light of Christ.

We’ll cast a wide lens across biblical eras to ground us in a deeper vision of authority, dominion, and government — helping us see how every human kingdom ultimately points beyond itself. As we examine these rulers and systems, we uncover not only their strengths and failures, but also the idols we still form today: our dependence on leaders, systems, politics, success structures, and power dynamics to give us identity, security, and meaning.

Royals leads us to Jesus — the true King — whose kingdom doesn’t operate through domination, fear, or control, but through humility, sacrifice, justice, and love. As we explore earthly rule, we are re-formed by a heavenly reign.

This series also opens space to explore how Christian Faith is lived out in real-world systems — including the marketplace, leadership spaces, and cultural institutions — helping us discern how to live faithfully inside earthly structures without being ruled by them.

Because in the end, the question isn’t just who rules the world, but what rules our hearts — and which kingdom we’re actually living for.

Focus: Situate ourselves in the finished and ongoing work of Jesus as our liberator and redeemer through the lens of the Exodus narrative so we can ultimately engage with our own “Egypt and Pharaohs”

Texts (Referenced in the sermon intro, but I may not read them out)

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

‭‭

Hebrews‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭16‬-‭21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

1. Intro: Exodus is also our story

2. Truth 1: God Intervenes

3. Truth 2: God Dwells

4. The Embodied Freedom Jesus Offers

5. Takeaways

“When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. 

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.””

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭14‬:‭5‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Introduction

The Red Sea as the Turning Point of Salvation History

It's hard to overstate the importance of the Red Sea crossing for the rest of the Bible. In In the New Testament, there's at least two dozen other direct references to the Red Sea crossing,  and there's  innumerable allusions to it. Here are the most direct:

• Matthew 2:15 references Hosea 11 > Matthew is making a very direct connection between Jesus' work and the Old Testament Exodus in the Red Sea crossing. 

• Luke 9:29-31 the transfiguration > Luke is hinting that what Jesus was going to accomplish in Jerusalem was the ultimate getting out, the ultimate Exodus. When Jesus is talking with Moses and Elijah, they talk about his “departure” - or Exodus in Greek if you look at the footnotes

• Hebrews 3 and 4 says that Jesus is the greater Moses, that Moses points to Jesus. And then in Hebrews 11 verse 29, it says that by faith the Israelites passed through the sea on dry land, but the Egyptians couldn't do it because they didn't have faith. And it's very clear Hebrews 11 is talking about Christian faith, and it's using the Red Sea crossing as a paradigm for Christian faith

• 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul makes that enigmatic statement that says that when the Israelites passed through the cloud and the sea, they were baptized into Moses. And then just a few verses later, it talks about that and several other incidents in verse 6, Paul says these things were written as examples for us, us Christians.

Paul tells us the church must read this story Christologically. He shows that the Old Testament people of God possessed the same essential spiritual realities as New Testament believers. 

Both the Israelite leaving behind Egypt and us Christians would say:

• I was in a land not my home, under the yoke of bondage and sentence of death

• I cried out for help and God heard my cry

• I took shelter under the blood of the Lamb and death passed over me

• My mediator led to safety through the wilderness

• Now I’m on my way to the Promised Land - I’m not there yet, but with my mediator, God is leading the way

• And he’s given us a tabernacle to dwell with us - a church - because that’s how we live by grace and forgiveness 

• Most importantly, God proved that His presence is in our midst, that He will indeed walk among us

Transition:

It’s all about redemption and salvation—about getting out. But saved from what—and saved for whom?

We see in the Exodus story two parallel truths:

1. God intervenes in what we think are closed social systems - like governments, workplaces, social statuses - to provide, protect and direct His people

2. God has been positioning Himself to dwell with us, He attaches himself to us and eventually, Jesus takes on our very humanity.

In both of these, we find God’s “I AM THAT I AM” becoming more “real” - The original Hebrew means "I will be what I will be," indicating God's promise to be present and act according to the needs of His people.

Since Jacob and his clan moved to Egypt, God was quiet for some 400 years. It’s no wonder that even after God, via Moses, had recounted His promises of land, prosperity and identity, the Israelites could not process it - they couldn’t have  “known God” in the same way their forefathers have because they haven’t experienced His outstretched arm. 

When it seems like God is silent in our situations at our workplaces and in our country’s national affairs — most people would say these are outside God’s authority - it’s important to ground ourselves in the Exodus story. It is OUR story too.

“God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Why was it hard to see God’s saving arm coming? Let’s take a look at how our heart’s inclination to form idols can get in the way even when God is ready and able to intervene.

 

Truth 1: God Intervenes - Physical Rescue

Pharaoh: The Anatomy of a Totalizing Ruler

The book of Exodus does not introduce Pharaoh as a cartoon villain. It presents him as a ruler who consolidated fear into policy, scarcity into leverage, and power into an unquestioned absolute.

But, let’s take a step back. He surely didn’t start that way. This is more than a change of administration for the Israelites, who at this point, has not really been addressed as a “people”. Yet, somehow, their situation signals the loss of covenant memory. 

Let’s a take look at the type of government they were under: From Exodus alone, Pharaoh is depicted as:

• Fear-driven (1:8–10)
  
   

• Economically exploitative (1:11–14)
  
   

• Violently coercive (1:22)
  
   

• Theologically arrogant (5:2)
  
   

• Manipulative negotiator (8–10)
  
   

• Emotionally hardened (7–9)
  
   

• Obsessed with retaining labor and productivity (14:5)

He monopolized:

• Labor
  
   

• Food supply structures (context from Genesis 47 backdrop)
  
   

• Population control
  
   

• Security
  
   

• Religious permission

But here’s the catch: In Egypt, under Pharaoh’s rule, the Israelites had what they needed. Exodus never says Israel loved Pharaoh, but it does show us why their dependence felt safer than freedom.

The text reveals something subtle: Israel did not submit because Pharaoh was good. They submitted because he appeared necessary for survival.

Old Testament scholars and historians alike often note that empires sustain themselves not merely by violence but by structuring life so thoroughly that alternatives seem impossible.

Why This Still Matters:

Pharaoh is not merely ancient history. He is a pattern. And how the Israelites continued to submit to him is also an inclination we all have when we consider the “good things” that we derive from closed systems - and even leaders who lead them - that provide what we need.

The relevance today is not partisan; it is spiritual. Exodus confronts us with a question:

What systems have we trusted to keep us alive?

Pharaoh’s regime promised food, stability, order. But it required submission, silence, and soul-deep compromise. We may not live under an Egyptian monarch, but the Pharaoh pattern persists wherever:

• Security justifies oppression
  
   

• Productivity defines worth
  
   

• Scarcity is manipulated to control behavior
  
   

• Authority refuses accountability

Tim Keller once wrote that the human heart is an “idol factory.” Exodus demonstrates that societies can become idol factories as well. When institutions claim to be our ultimate source of provision, protection, and purpose, they begin to resemble Pharaoh’s Egypt.

“We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life.”

― Timothy J. Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

Truth 2: God Dwells - Spiritual Rescue

You Can Take Israel Out of Egypt, but Can You Take Egypt Out of Israel?

Israel left Pharaoh geographically before they left him psychologically. Physical liberation does not equal mental liberation. Alec Motyer and other biblical scholars have noted that although Israel was physically freed from Egypt, their mindset remained shaped by slavery.

During the Red Sea crisis and the wilderness episodes (Marah, manna, Massah/Meribah), Israel repeatedly longed to return to Egypt, saying:

• “Let us alone, so that we may serve the Egyptians” (Exod 14:11–12)
  
   

• “We sat by the pots of flesh… and ate bread to satiety” (Exod 16:3)
  
   

• “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us… with thirst?” (Exod 17:3)

Israel crossed the Red Sea, but their imagination was still governed by Egyptian rule: security and provision turned out to be their gods. Deeply ingrained psychological and spiritual state resulted from generations of bondage in Egypt. This mindset persisted even after their liberation, characterized by fear, a longing to return to captivity, and an inability to trust in God's provision. 

Physically walking away from bondage is just the first step. We also have to learn how to dwell in the presence of God and live under His rule.

Exodus 18: God With Us

Here, we begin to see the shift in how the Israelites experience Yahweh. In Exodus 1–17, Yahweh makes Himself known primarily through:

• Mighty acts of deliverance
  
   

• Judgment against Pharaoh
  
   

• Miraculous provision in crisis
  
   

But in Exodus 18, something changes. More and more, the Israelites are depicted as a people whose real problem wasn’t the system, not even the oppressive leader. It was their hearts—they also needed a change in their identity and had to keep living it out.

Physical deliverance was not just the end goal after all. They had to learn over and over again that it was about knowing Yahweh: living under His statutes and becoming a covenant people.

Yes, we learn that God can intervene in Egypt and the Wilderness. But not just to display His redemptive power, but to prove over and over again that He was to be amongst His people.

Transition:

To recap, we see two Truths in how God saves us from the “doom” of closed systems”

1. He intervenes for physical rescue

2. He dwells with us to lead our hearts with a spiritual redemption

So you see, God does want to break through our physical needs. He can grant us favor with Kings. Even when Pharaoh asks:

“Who is the LORD, that I should obey him?” (Exod 5:2)

He speaks as if his will is ultimate. Yet Exodus quietly undercuts that claim. The repeated refrain about his heart—sometimes he hardens it (Exod 8:15), sometimes it “is hardened” (Exod 7:13), and sometimes the LORD hardens it (Exod 9:12; 10:20)—places his stubbornness within a larger sovereignty.

Proverbs 21:1 does not deny Pharaoh’s agency; it frames it. Pharaoh acts freely and culpably. Yet his heart is never beyond God’s governance. 

What is more important is that God has been intending to dwell with His people and lead them Himself. The physical rescue is important, but it’s only half the story.

But to be clear, God can intervene. He just does it to point His people back to Him—not necessarily to simply dismantle governments and displace the Pharaohs for the sake of it.

The Embodied Freedom Jesus Offers

Not Just Amongst Us, but One of Us

Fast-forward thousands of years, we now see what Paul realizes when looks back at his own people’s history taking a different “newness” (Isaiah) in Jesus.

When we arrive at Jesus, we are not leaving Exodus behind. We are watching it reach its fulfillment.

The God who said, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exod 3:14) now stands in flesh and blood and says:

• “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35)

• “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)

These are not random metaphors. They are Exodus claims.

In the wilderness, Yahweh gave manna from heaven. Israel learned daily dependence. But Jesus stands before them and says the manna was a signpost. The bread in the wilderness pointed to Him. The provision that kept them alive physically was preparing them to see the One who would sustain them eternally.

He is not just giving bread.
He is the bread.

And in Exodus, the people were led by a pillar of fire — light in the darkness. The presence of God blazing in the night, guiding them through chaos. Now, in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles — when giant lamps were lit to remember that wilderness fire — Jesus stands and declares, “I am the light of the world.”

He is reclaiming the story.

Walter Brueggemann writes that the Exodus is “the decisive act of God’s self-disclosure,” where God shows Himself as the One who sides with the enslaved and breaks imperial inevitability. But in Jesus, that disclosure becomes personal, embodied, and luminous.

And this is where our understanding of authority shifts.

Takeaways

Jesus offers abundance of daily grace, not bound by the scarcity we hear about every day. Pharaoh says, “Produce more or die.” Yahweh says, “Gather daily. Trust Me tomorrow.”

1. Under Pharaoh and closed systems, worth = productivity, our security = submission, our future = controlled. Matthew 11:30 (NIV), where Jesus promises that his "yoke is easy and my burden is light," offering spiritual rest to the weary

2. The all-in freedom Jesus offers:

   1. Not just freedom from Egypt. Freedom from needing Egypt for our identity and purpose.

   2. Not just rescue from darkness. Freedom to walk in the light.

So as we close, here is the question this Royals series is pressing into our hearts: Whose authority feels necessary to you right now?

• What system promises bread?

• What voice promises security?

• What structure promises light?

Royals: The Chosen One

Royals: The Chosen One

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭1‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coasout, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it antlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them d spirit to those who walk in it: "I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."

Throughout Biblical history, several individuals were referred to as royal emissaries for God, those set apart to accomplish His purposes. 

A constant subject of Isaiah's ministry is the servant of the Lord, who would turn people away from idols, false saviors, to the only true God.  

This suffering servant would also be humanity’s true king.  

Focus: For the salvation that we all need, we must look to Jesus, who is God's chosen one, perfectly expressing his justice, his mercy and his might. 

God’s Justice 

God’s Mercy

God’s Might 

God's Justice

God’s justice is perfect in wisdom, considering all things and is unsullied when he administers  what is righteous and good.  

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

Historical background of Isaiah, the Babylonian exile, Cyrus and Jesus Christ.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Justice is the Hebrew word mispat and determines the difference between right and wrong in the way that we walk out our relationships, conduct our business practices, execute societal governance and utilize our resources.  

Scripture is filled with references to God's love for justice.  

Justice is directly linked to God’s law and is a foundational attribute of His character.  

Humanity's downward slope begins when we think that we can liberate ourselves from God's commands.  

When we substitute anything else as having the highest value in our lives rather than God - whether it be our romantic relationships, careers, idea of beauty, financial or political success - we have succumbed to idols. 

As with the king of Babylon who would come to take Israel captive, these are the things that try to identify us, and if we place ultimate value upon them, when we lose them, inevitably ruin our lives.  

“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first-- wanting to be the centre-- wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan--and that was the sin he taught the human race. ... What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could 'be like gods'-- could set up on their own as if they had created themselves-- be their own masters-- invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history-- money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery-- the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

(C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity. Macmillan Publishing, 1978. Pgs. 49-54)

Luke 9:30-36 ESV

“And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.”

Jesus is the chosen one sent by God the Father to bring us back to God and his liberating law,  his ways.

God's Mercy

God sent his Son because though we wander, he is full of mercy, and does not leave us in the bondage that our wanderings deserve.

First to the faithful believer: 

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.”

Isaiah 42:3, 4 NIV84

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.  In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;  he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.  In his law the islands will put their hope.” 

Faithfulness is the Hebrew word Emet which means firmness, stability, security and continuance.  

It speaks of integrity; to be reliable and sure.  

It is was a term used frequently of God in the OT and is the primary Hebrew word for truth.  

This is what the chosen one provides.

Then to the irreligious:

According to studies, the spiritual but not religious are likely to face mental health issues, drug use:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/09/the-spiritual-but-not-religious-likely-to-face-mental-health-issues-drug-use-study-says/

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

Isaiah 42:6, 7 NIV84

“I, the  Lord , have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.  I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people  and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. 

God's Might

To come into God's freedom and salvation, we must identify what we have allowed to replace God as the one who defines us.  

What people or things have become our functional idols, our subconscious Saviors?

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, "You are our gods."”

Isaiah 42:16, 17 NIV84

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;  I will turn the darkness into light before them  and make the rough places smooth.  These are the things I will do;  I will not forsake them.  But those who trust in idols, who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’  will be turned back in utter shame. 

“Our need for worth is so powerful that whatever we base our identity and value on we essentially 'deify.' We will look to it with all the passion and intensity of worship and devotion, even if we think ourselves as highly irreligious. ” 

― Timothy Keller

‭‭

Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭33‬-‭35‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!"

Luke 23:33-35 NIV84

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals–one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” 

God most clearly expressed his might through Jesus' work on the cross, turning us through repentance and faith to the one, true King and Savior.  

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭52‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.”

So how shall we live?:

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

The Mission: The Church’s Mission

The Mission: The Church’s Mission

Notes Prepared by Pastor Brian Taylor

John 4:35–38

Do you not say, “There are yet four months, then comes the harvest”? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.

Summary:

The church is a partner in God’s mission, called to embody and proclaim the gospel, demonstrating God’s love, justice, and mercy in the world. This includes evangelism, discipleship, social action, and cultural engagement, reflecting God’s kingdom on earth.

Focus:

Jesus calls his disciples to see the urgency of participating in the harvest of souls, emphasizing the church’s role in evangelism and the proclamation of the gospel.

• What is the Harvest?

• What Did Jesus Say About the Harvest?

• What is my Role in the Harvest?

Background:

At this point in the gospel of John, Jesus was leaving Judea and heading to Galilee—his ministry base at the time. 

He passes through Samaria, stops at a well in Sychar, and encounters a woman.

In verses 7–26, Jesus begins a conversation with this woman. 

He was thirsty and needed a drink, but she needed living water. 

Jesus tells her of the living water and has her call her husband (v. 16).

Jesus reveals insight into her situation, and through this, the topic shifts from water to worship. 

As the conversation closes, Jesus reveals he is the Messiah she has been waiting for (vv. 25–26).

In verse 27, the disciples return and are amazed (θαυµάζω, to marvel) that Jesus was speaking to her—he was violating cultural norms. 

She was not only a Samaritan, but a Samaritan woman. 

Jews and Samaritans did not interact, and there were cultural taboos of talking with a woman in public.

In verses 28–30, she goes into the city to tell others about Jesus, and they all come to him.

Meanwhile, in verses 31–33, the disciples ask about food. 

Jesus replies, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (v. 34).

**What motivated Jesus is not what motivated others. 

Others were concerned about natural food, but Jesus was concerned about the mission of the Father. 

It is this mission that Jesus accomplishes while in Samaria.

Jesus understood that he was sent (John 20:21)—he was committed to the purposes of the Father, not a man-made agenda. 

Jesus knew there was something for him to accomplish. 

The context of this story sheds light on the statement Jesus made in verses 35–36.

‭‭John‬ ‭4‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.”

Verse 35

There is a contrast between what “you” say and what Jesus says.

Who is the “you” Jesus is referring to? 

The “you” here is second-person plural. 

Jesus is addressing his disciples at this moment but is also addressing a common adage in society.

What did the disciples say, and what did Jesus say? 

The disciples said, “There are yet four months, then comes the harvest.” 

Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”

**The disciples are looking to the future, while Jesus sees the opportunity right now in front of them.

Why would these two elements be contrasted? 

**It highlights that Jesus can see what we often cannot yet recognize. 

While they wonder why Jesus is talking to this woman, they only look ahead at what may be. 

In contrast, Jesus understands the opportunity of the moment.

* Implication: It is possible to be a disciple of Jesus and still fail to see and say what Jesus would say. 

Their contrasting view is not from rebellion but a lack of understanding.

What is the Harvest?

What is meant by “the harvest”? 

The harvest refers to people who are ready to believe in Jesus.

This is evidenced by the people’s response in verse 39: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him.” 

Other places in the gospels also refer to harvest. 

In Matthew 9:37, Jesus says, 

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” 

Verse 36 of Matthew 9 gives the context to who Jesus refers to as the harvest:

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” 

The harvest was those who were distressed and lived as sheep without a shepherd.

While the author is different, the reference to harvest seems to be used similarly. 

Jesus tells the woman in John 4:22, “You worship what you do not know.” 

When people from the city came, their hunger to be led by a shepherd is evident in verse 40: “So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them . . .”

*Why would Jesus use the term “harvest” to describe the people? 

*This term indicates worth and value. 

You get rid of weeds, but you collect the harvest because of its value. 

Even though the people in this town in Samaria were lost and confused, they were valuable to God. 

*To describe people as harvest is to see them with intrinsic value.

What Did Jesus Say About the Harvest?

First, Jesus tells his disciples to lift up their eyes. 

What does Jesus mean by “lift up your eyes”? 

*It means being alert to what is going on around you.

There is a harvest that they need to notice. 

This is not just the physical act of lifting up their eyes; it metaphorically speaks to an awareness of what is happening right in front of them.

*Implication: If you don’t lift up your eyes, you will miss what God is doing right now in front of you.

Why would Jesus say this to the disciples? 

They were not seeing as clearly as they ought to. 

The disciples did not understand what Jesus was doing talking with this woman. 

Jesus gives them an imperative: they are to lift up their eyes. 

Sometimes, we have to be told to look up when we are prone to not notice something.

Jesus said that the people right in front of them were white for harvest.  

What does it mean to be “white for harvest”? 

It means they are ready for harvesting now, and the harvest is ripe.

*Implication: Where the harvest may be future-oriented in the minds of most, the signs show us that the harvest is ready now in this moment.

Verse 36

Jesus uses the term “already” to describe the timing of the reapers receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life.

In what way are reaping and gathering already happening? 

This reinforces the point Jesus made in verse 35: the time for harvest is now. 

The fruit gathered for eternal life is the lives experiencing eternal life.

What is already happening? 

He who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal.

What does he mean by “already?” 

We don’t have to wait until one day down the road; this is a present reality.

Why does Jesus tell the disciples it is already happening? 

Perhaps if they are prone to waiting, they may miss out on what God is doing.

In what way is this fruit being gathered for eternal life? 

To believe in Jesus is eternal life (John 11:25–26), and the people of the town are coming to believe in Jesus (John 4:41).

• Implication: The reaping that is already happening seems to be out of the normal flow of what typically happens. 

Where the reaping may be expected to take place later in normal circumstances, it is already happening right now. 

Possibly this is a reference to Amos 9:13— “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed.’”

Some people live with what is known as F.O.M.O. (fear of missing out).

*Jesus was helping the disciples see so they wouldn’t miss out on what God is doing. 

I don’t want to miss what God is doing in my generation.

God is always working, preparing hearts to be harvested - we must join him in sowing into and reaping that harvest. 

What is my Role in the Harvest?

Jesus always makes things practical - not just for our knowledge, but for our involvement.  

Verse 37

What does it mean for one to sow and another to reap? 

It is an agricultural reference that speaks to the role different people play in the mission of God. 

It is similar to Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians 3:6–7—“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

Why would Jesus use this saying? 

It is a way to illustrate how, even in that moment, Jesus was fulfilling the mission of God. 

He was always at work with the Father and planted seeds in this Samaritan city.

•This seems to imply that the disciples will be engaged in both sowing and reaping as well.

EVERY EFFORT COUNTS!

*We don’t all play the same role at the same time, but we are all called to be involved with God’s mission of seeing lost people come into faith in Jesus.

Verse 38

What does it mean that Jesus sent them? 

There is a difference between going somewhere and being sent somewhere. 

Jesus understood what it was to be sent and what it meant to send others (John 20:21). 

The Lord Jesus sent the disciples.

What were they sent to do? 

They were sent to reap that for which they did not labor.

They were sent because the harvest was ripe. 

**Being sent to reap indicates that the harvest was ready to be harvested.

• Implication: Because Jesus sent them to reap the harvest, we see God’s heart for the people.

Remember, we only reap what is valuable.

•The people we are sent to may not mean much to others; they may not even mean a lot to us personally, but they mean a lot to God. 

**If we are going to be in mission with Jesus, we are going to have to prioritize what God prioritizes.

There is a contrast between those sent to reap and those who labored. 

In what ways are these groups different? 

The former group labored (sowed seed) for the harvest, but those sent to reap the harvest benefited from their labor.

Why would this contrast be emphasized? 

This is a way of showing how they are all working together for the same harvest.

• Implication: There should be gratitude for those that labor secretly.

*This should keep us humble when we are in times of reaping and encouraged when we are in times of sowing. 

One sows and one reaps, but God gives the increase.

Concluding Thoughts:

Summertime for our family typically means a road trip is around the corner. 

My kids are getting bigger, but we take advantage of the time to squeeze in a vehicle and travel together. 

Sometimes we pass scenic views, and I will tell my kids to look up and see the beauty of what is right in front of them. 

But it is easy to be so wrapped up in our phones and other distractions that we miss what’s right in front of us.

I believe that also happens to us when it comes to the mission of God. 

We can be so absorbed in our daily lives that we forget to look up and see the beauty of how God is working right in front of us.

**As the church on mission, we must see as Jesus sees to move as Jesus moves.

What does Jesus understand about God’s mission that we as the church must see?

Can we recognize the opportunity?

Jesus saw opportunity where others did not. 

**A simple request for water became an open door to a city. 

**The place of passing through became a place of revival. 

**Some of the most significant opportunities come disguised as inconveniences.

Can we recognize the urgency?

Jesus saw urgency where others did not. 

There will always be a contrast between what some say about the harvest. 

(“There are yet four months, then comes the harvest”) and what Jesus said about the harvest (“the fields are white for harvest”) revealed the moment’s urgency. 

We must understand the hour we are living in now.

Can we recognize our need for one another?

Jesus saw team effort where others did not. 

This is seen in verses 36–38. 

The ones who sow and the ones who reap rejoice together. 

Why is that? 

Because the kingdom of God requires both. 

Don’t be too discouraged if you have sown and not seen the harvest yet. 

And don’t be too haughty if you see the harvest and things happen quickly. 

It just may be that you are walking in someone else’s labor.

The Mission: The Spirit’s Power

The Mission: The Spirit’s Power

Notes prepared by William Murrell

John 20:21–22

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

“Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Summary

The mission is rooted in the Trinity. 

The Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Spirit, and together they send the church to participate in God’s work. 

This highlights the relational and communal nature of mission.

Focus:

The mission of Jesus, sent by the Father, is explicitly connected with the sending of the disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit. 

The Scripture illustrates the relational and communal nature of mission within the Trinity.

With His Pleasure

With His Purpose

With His People

With His Presence

Introduction

As the Father has sent me . . .

The Challenge of Mission

There are an estimated 430,000 Christian missionaries serving on the mission field today. 

According to the International Bulletin of Mission Research, every year, roughly 6.5% leave the mission field. 1

While this may not seem like a huge number, this steady attrition rate adds up to a third of missionaries leaving the field within the first decade of missionary work. 

What’s more, according to the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 70% of these missionaries leave for preventable reasons. 2

While these stats focus on the attrition rates of full-time vocational missionaries, they point to a larger problem. 

Whether we examine the burnout rate of pastors or the rising phenomenon of deconstruction among evangelicals, we find that the temptation for disciples to abandon God’s mission is ever-present. 

It is often easier to simply quit working than to labor diligently in the harvest field.

Why is this the case? 

Sometimes it’s a lack of confidence in the gospel. 

Sometimes it’s a lack of clarity of mission. 

Other times it is a lack of co-laborers. 

Sometimes it’s forgetting the real enemy, the one intent on destroying the work of the gospel in the nations and the laborers who are participating in God’s work in the nations.

While there are many helpful books and organizational resources that can help both vocational missionaries and ordinary disciples of Jesus to persevere in mission, nothing is more helpful than embracing and living into one key truth that Jesus gave his disciples on the day of his resurrection:

John 20:21–22

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” 

Let’s begin with a few Key Observations and Questions

Observation: The disciples were afraid of the religious leaders after the crucifixion of Jesus and unlikely candidates to risk their lives proclaiming the gospel. 

John 20:19

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”

Question: What changed in these fearful disciples?

Observation: When Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room on Easter Sunday, he proclaimed peace to them, and told them he was sending them as the Father had sent him (John 20:21).

Question: How would this truth fortify them for mission for the rest of their lives?

Observation: After making this stunning claim, Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).

Question: What role does the Holy Spirit play in our being sent on mission (as Jesus was sent)?

The key to understanding this text and these questions is to understand how the Father sent the Son on his mission to earth and what role the Spirit had in Jesus’ sending. 

How did the Father send the Son, and how does the Son send us?

• With His Pleasure

• With His Purpose

• With His People

• With His Presence

With His Pleasure

Luke 3:21–22

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

John baptized Jesus at the beginning of his mission, and two things happened: the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

Thus, before Jesus began preaching, before Jesus healed anyone, before Jesus had any followers, the Father assured the Son that he was pleased with him.

In short, the Father sent the Son with his pleasure. 

He wanted him to know he was loved and accepted before accomplishing anything. 

The world system works differently from this. 

We typically receive affirmation after the completion of a mission. 

However, the Son received affirmation from his Father before he started. 

Knowing that the Father loved him strengthened the Son as he entered ministry.

It is the same for us. 

To be sent on mission as the Father sent the Son is to know that our Father is pleased with us because we are his children. 

His pleasure precedes our successes and failures. 

It is essential to embrace the affirmation of the Father independent of our missional effectiveness.

Those who think that missional success precedes divine pleasure will live in anxiety and fear of failure. 

However, for those who know that divine pleasure precedes missional success, their work will be fueled by joy and faith-filled expectation.

With His Purpose

Luke 4:14–15

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 

Luke 4:40–44

Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.  And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. 

Luke 4 gives us a glimpse into the early days of Jesus’ ministry (after his baptism and fasting in the wilderness). 

Though Jesus’ ministry would take him to many different places and many other people, he was clear on his purpose. 

He preached the gospel of the kingdom and healed the sick.

Because of his powerful preaching and healing power, many people wanted him to stay in their town, perhaps to be their local rabbi (see Luke 4:42). 

Others wanted him to be king (John 6:15).

However, Jesus was never distracted by fame and popularity.

Why? 

Because the Father had sent the Son with his purpose. 

His mission was crystal clear. 

His time on earth was short, and his time in ministry even shorter. 

So, he did not waste one day straying from the Father’s mission. 

How was he so focused? 

Because God sent him “in the power of the Spirit.”

It is the same for us. 

To be sent on mission as the Father sent the Son is to have clarity of purpose and an abundance of power from the Holy Spirit. 

We will never be as focused as Jesus, but we can be assured that the same Spirit who led him into a fruitful and focused mission lives inside of us, giving us direction and dynamism as we go into all the world to make disciples.

With His People

Luke 5:1–4

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land.  And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 

Luke 5:9–11

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. 

In Luke 5, we see the moment when Jesus calls the first of his twelve disciples—the men who would follow him and partner with him on mission for the next three years while he was on earth and the decades after his death, resurrection, and ascension. 

This raises the question—why didn’t Jesus simply do his ministry as a solo act? 

Why recruit and mentor other disciples? 

Jesus did most of the preaching, teaching, and healing, and he did it much better than his disciples ever could; so why include them?

Because the Father had sent the Son with his people. 

It was the Father who led the Son to call disciples to himself. 

To teach them and live with them; to instruct them and empower them; to call them to himself and to send them out on mission. 

This is because the mission of God is fundamentally relational. 

This foundation of relationship begins with the Trinity and their inextricable yet distinct roles in the work of redemption. 

However, this relational quality to mission extended further when Jesus called his first disciples to join him on mission (“from now on you will be catching men.”) 

This was not incidental but part of the Father’s design for the Son’s mission on earth.

It is the same for us. 

To be sent on mission as the Father sent the Son is to be sent on mission with others. 

Note that in John 20, when Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you,” the “you” in Greek is the second person plural. 

Just as the Father did not send the Son to do ministry for three years by himself, the Son did not send his disciples on mission as individuals but as a collective. 

Why? 

Because there is greater power in going on mission together.

With His Presence

John 8:28–29

So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 

In John 8, when the Jews questioned Jesus about his authority and relationship with the Father, he made an interesting claim: “He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone.” 

Jesus claimed that even though the Father sent him, he was still with the Father. 

Usually, when one sends someone on a mission, they are, by necessity, separated from one another in time and space. 

Not so with the Father’s sending of the Son.

Why? 

Because the Father had sent the Son with his presence. 

This meant that the Father was with him wherever the Son went on earth. 

Not only was the Son sent with the pleasure of the Father, the purpose of the Father, and the people of the Father—he was sent with the Father himself. 

The Father never left the Son while the Son was doing the Father’s will on earth.

It is the same for us. 

To be sent on mission as the Father sent the Son is to be sent on mission with God himself. 

When Jesus sent his disciples into the world with the commission to make disciples (Matthew 28:18–20), he promised them: “I am with you always to the end of the age.” 

Jesus promised to be with us always. 

How is this possible when Jesus is in heaven at the Father’s right hand? 

Because the Son sent the Spirit to be with us and in us (John 20:22), so that, like the Son, wherever we go on mission, he who sent us is with us. 

It’s the constant presence of the Spirit with his church that reminds us of God’s pleasure (regardless of our results), of God’s purpose (despite the distractions), and of God’s people (especially when we feel alone).

Conclusion

What happens when the Father sends us as he did the Son?

As we go on mission to make disciples of all nations, let us never forget that the Son sent us in the same way the Father sent him.

When we remember that we’ve been sent with his pleasure, we will not engage in mission out of anxiety but rather work with joy because we know that God is pleased with us because of who we are and not what we have done.

• When we remember that we’ve been sent with his purpose, we will not be distracted by successes or fads because God has given us a clear focus and scope of mission—making disciples of all nations.

• When we remember that we’ve been sent with his people, we will not attempt to go on mission alone but rather embrace the relationships God has given us for our good and the good of others.

• When we remember that we’ve been sent with his presence, we will attempt great things not because we are great, but because of the greatness of him who dwells within us.

1

Zurlo, Gina A., Todd M. Johnson, and Peter F. Crossing. 2021. “World Christianity and Mission 2021: Questions About the Future.” International Bulletin of Mission Research 45 (1): 15–25.

2

See “When Missionaries Regret Being Missionaries,” OMF United States. Posted March 12, 2020, https://omf.org/us/

when-missionaries-regret-being-missionaries/.

3

See “Study of Pastor Attrition and Pastoral Ministry,” Lifeway Research. Accessed July 30, 2025, https://

research.lifeway.com/pastorprotection/.

4

See “Ex-Christians Aren’t the Only Ones Deconstructing Faith,” Barna. Accessed July 30, 2025, https://www.barna.com/

trends/ex-christians-deconstructing/.

The Mission: The Son’s Sacrifice

The Mission: The Son’s Sacrifice

Notes prepared by Jessica Lee

John 12:27–33

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Summary

God’s mission is the active work of restoring men and women to a relationship with him and one another. The cross of Christ is at the center of this mission.

Focus:

Jesus’ crucifixion is the turning point of God’s redemptive plan.  It is the means by which he draws people back into a relationship with him.

• The Problem

• The Solution

• The Application of the Cross

Intro:

On January 3, 1956, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian camped on a small sandbar along the Curaray River in Ecuador. 

After years of praying, dreaming, and planning, the men were about to contact the Waoroni people, an unreached tribe deep in the jungles of Ecuador. 

Five days later, they were all killed in a surprise attack. 

They left behind their wives and seven children, whose lives would never be the same after this tragic event.

A few months after Jim’s death, Elisabeth Elliot wrote in her journal: 

“Today I am thinking how my short time with Jim was not the End of all things. There are times when it seems so—as if it is all over, and I’ve nothing left now to do but put in time till [Jesus] comes. Not so. Marriage was not in itself the End of Desire — it generated further ones.  It was but a segment of the Journey which is Life, and called for obedience.  Now, what have I to do?  Obey.  And my eyes will be opened to the next thing.” 

-Elisabeth Elliot, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot

Just as God’s mission didn’t end with Jim’s death, the story of redemption didn’t end with Jesus’ suffering. 

In fact, that suffering was the very path by which salvation came.

Last week, we began this series by discussing God’s love and how it drives his mission to restore men and women to a relationship with him and one another. 

This week, we will examine the cross of Jesus and how the crucifixion is central to God’s reconciling work.  

Let’s first look at the Scripture 

Text Exegesis

V. 27—“Now is my soul troubled . . .” 

This passage in John starts by Jesus acknowledging that he is deeply troubled by his impending death. 

We could also look at Luke 22:44, Mark 14:35, and Hebrews 5:7. 

The Gospel of John does not portray Jesus’ struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Instead, we see it here in this verse. 

Jesus is deeply troubled in his soul about what is to come.

In this context, the verb used for troubled (Greek, tarassō) means “to cause acute emotional distress or turbulence.” 

Jesus, in his emotional distress, then asks the question (paraphrased), 

“Should I ask the Father to save me from this hour?” 

His answer is an emphatic “no” because it is for this very purpose that he has come—to die on the cross for our sins.

This leads us to ask the question that is as old as Christianity itself: “Why did Jesus have to die?”

The simple answer to this question is, “Jesus died to save us from our sins.” 

But for many, the lingering question remains: "Why was his death necessary to save us from our sins? 

If God loves us so much, couldn’t he just forgive and forget?

Robert H. Mounce gives us a clue as to why more was required when he said:

“The reason, of course, was to bring salvation to the human race.  Unable to save themselves, people are totally dependent on the work of the only One to have emerged victorious over sin and Satan.” 

-Robert H. Mounce, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 10: John, 537.

The Problem

God is more holy than we imagine.

It’s easy to be comfortable with the God described in John 3:16 who loves us so much that he sent his only Son that we may have eternal life. 

Even for those who have a hard time believing this could be true, it’s still something most would hope is true. 

We all want to believe there is a God who loves us unconditionally.

But while Scripture certainly reveals a God abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, we are also met with a God who is awesome and fearsome in the splendor of his holiness. 

Most of us are less comfortable with the God described in Hebrews 12:29 as a “consuming fire.” 

So, we often minimize his holiness, which can have no part with sin, and downplay his perfect justice, which must punish sin and make wrong things right.

And that’s what leads us to ask the question, “Why can’t he just forgive and forget?”

But imagine any one of the atrocities of the twentieth century — the Holocaust, Stalin’s Purges, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, or the genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, or Bosnia. 

Would God be just and good if he were simply to forgive and forget those sins?

Our sin is worse than we admit.

The problem of sin is far greater than most want to believe. 

We are not merely lost, in need of a teacher to guide us back to God. 

We are spiritually dead and in need of a new life. 

We have inherited a nature corrupted by sin and subject to the law of sin and death. 

Every intention of the thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually (Genesis 6:5).

The Solution

1. God’s justice was satisfied on the cross.

Now when we go back to the Scripture in John, we see that Jesus said in:

V. 31—“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”

As the perfect, incorruptible one, Jesus died in our place. 

On the cross, he bore the punishment and shame that our sin deserves, ensuring that perfect justice was achieved, and in doing so, set us free from the tyranny of the devil. 

Because Jesus paid the price, our sins can be forgiven.

This is reflected in the apostle Paul’s later writings when he said:

Ephesians 1:7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace . . .

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.”

And ultimately in Ephesians 2:1–10:

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

1. Death was defeated through the cross.

In the gospel of John, Jesus speaks several times about being lifted up.  

Ben expounded last year on:

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,”

Jesus also said:

‭‭John‬ ‭8:28 ‭ESV‬‬

“So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”

But going back to John 12, Jesus said in:

V. 32—“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 

The word translated “lifted up” is more frequently used in the New Testament figuratively to mean “exalted.” 

John is aware of the double meaning and uses the word intentionally. 

While Jesus is about to be lifted on a cross, it is by his humiliating death on the cross that the power of sin and death is defeated. 

Therefore, the apex of his humiliation is also the moment of his exaltation, because what appears to be Jesus’ shameful and humiliating defeat, in light of the resurrection, is his glorious victory. 

“Look at him there, spread-eagled and skewered on his cross, robbed of all freedom of movement, strung up with nails, pinned there and powerless. It appears to be total defeat . . . [BUT] What looks like (and indeed was) the defeat of goodness by evil is also, and more certainly, the defeat of evil by goodness. Overcome there, he was himself overcoming. Crushed by the ruthless power of Rome, he was himself crushing the serpent’s head. The victim was the victor, and the cross is still the throne from which he rules the world.” 

-John Stott, quoted in Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2022), 426-427.

EXAMPLE: 

When Harry Potter learns he’s a wizard and has been invited to Hogwarts, he heads to King’s Cross Station to catch the train. 

But he can’t find Platform 9¾. 

All he sees is a brick wall. 

He then discovers the way to this new world is to run headlong into this brick wall. 

Once he runs through it, what appears to be a dead end opens up to a new world.

Similarly, the cross is not the dead end or brick wall that it appears to be, but the start of a new, glorious future. 

What feels like the end is just the beginning of the story that God is writing, the story of him reconciling us to himself through the sacrifice of his Son.

His humiliation is his exaltation.

His defeat is his victory.

His death is the doorway to new life.

V. 32—“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Jesus’ humiliating and ignoble death on the cross has an attractive power. 

“His glory rises from his humiliation; his adorable conquest from his ignominious death. When he ‘became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,’ shame cast no shame upon his cause, but gilded it with glory. Christ’s death of weakness threw no weakness into Christianity; say rather that it is the right arm of her power. By the sign of suffering unto death the church has conquered, and will conquer still. By a love which is strong as death she has always been victorious, and must for ever remain so. When she has not been ashamed to put the cross in the forefront, she has never had to be ashamed; for God has been with her, and Jesus has drawn all men to himself. The crucified Christ has irresistible attractions: when HE stoops into the utmost suffering and scorn even the brutal must relent: a living Saviour men may love, but a crucified Saviour they must love.” 

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “The Marvellous Magnet,” sermon no. 1717, delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, accessed via The Spurgeon Library, Spurgeon.org, July 30, 2025, https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-marvellous-magnet/#flipbook/

Through his shameful death on the cross, Jesus opens the way for all people, Jews and Gentiles, to come to know God. 

“For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out.  And so it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles and unite both in himself.  For this is what he himself has said, signifying by what manner of death he was to ransom all:  “I, when I am lifted up,” he says, “shall draw all unto me.” 

-Athanasius, quoted in Joel C. Elowsky, ed., John 1–10, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, vol. 4A (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2007), ebook.

The Application of the Cross

What does this mean for you and me? 

It is through the Son’s self-emptying sacrifice that God has provided a solution for the problem of our sin. 

The cross is how we are reconciled to the Father.

However, the cross also has implications for our lives as disciples of Jesus because Jesus calls all his disciples to follow him in this death and resurrection pattern.

In John 12:24, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

When a seed is planted in soil and is in the right conditions, that planting that appears to be a burial is what’s needed for the seed to burst forth in new life. 

That is what we are called to, and that is what it looks like to embrace the cross-shaped life. 

It looks like dying so that new fruit and abundant life can spring up in our lives.

As we join God in his mission, we will face many situations that feel like dead ends. 

There will be a lot of dying to self, disappointments, and setbacks. 

In those moments, it feels like this is the end of the story.

But what feels like a death, what feels like the end of the story, is often the beginning of the story God is writing for our lives. 

Conclusion

For Elisabeth Elliot, Jim’s death felt like the end. 

At first, all she could do was get through each day.

But eventually, her eyes began to be open to the “next thing” God had for her. 

Two years after her husband’s death, she would step into her “next thing” when she, her two-year-old daughter (Valerie), and Rachel Saint (Nate Saint’s sister), went to live among the Waoroni people, working to translate the Bible into their native language and sharing the love and hope of Jesus with them.

In her book Through Gates of Splendor, Elisabeth included a quote from Jim’s journal:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

This became a guiding principle for Elisabeth in the years that followed Jim’s death. 

Despite what it felt like at the time, his death was not a dead end. 

The story was not over. 

Instead, as she trusted God, it became the doorway to a beautiful new life God had prepared for her. 

In the final page of her journal (the one she was using when Jim died), Elisabeth wrote lines from poet Frederic W. H. Myers:

“‘Yea, thro’ life, death, thro’

Sorrow and thro’ sinning

He shall suffice me, for He hath suffered:

Christ is the end, for Christ

Was the beginning.

Christ the beginning, for the End is Christ.”

-Vaughn, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot, 164.

As you join God in his mission, there will be a lot of dying to self, a lot of dead ends, and apparent defeats. 

But as you trust him and follow him in this cross-shaped life, he will show you that just as the cross has the attractive power to draw men to God, your life will have the power to draw people to Jesus.

The Mission: The Father’s Love

The Mission: The Father’s Love 

Notes prepared by: Paul Barker

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Summary

Mission originates in God's heart, where he actively works to reconcile and restore creation to himself.  This reflects God's character as a sending God, as seen in the sending of the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Spirit to fulfill his redemptive plan.

Key Idea

God’s love for the world is the driving force of missions.

This single verse captures the heart of the gospel and lays the groundwork for the church’s missionary impulse.

The Greatest Love

The Greatest Gift

The Greatest Invitation 

The Greatest Escape

The Greatest Destiny

Intro

John 3:16 was a cornerstone of numerous mission movements. For example:

John R. Mott, the most influential leader of the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM), frequently quoted or alluded to John 3:16 in his writings and speeches. 

In his classic work The Evangelization of the World in This Generation (1900), Mott builds his appeal on the universal love of God: 

“God so loved the world — not merely a part of it or certain races or favored classes, but the world.” 

This emphasis echoed in countless SVM publications, student addresses, and training materials, where John 3:16 was treated not merely as an evangelistic slogan but as a theological foundation for the global missionary mandate.

Reports from SVM conferences show how John 3:16 was often highlighted in sermons, Bible studies, and calls for commitment. 

For example, the 1891 Cleveland convention and the 1898 Detroit convention featured keynote messages that framed God’s sending love (John 3:16) as the basis for students’ sacrificial commitment to missions.

In many testimonies preserved in The Student Volunteer magazine, students wrote that they were stirred to surrender their lives to missions after hearing John 3:16 expounded as a personal calling to reflect God’s love to the unreached. 

William Carey (1761–1834), known as the “father of modern missions,” was profoundly shaped by John 3:16’s universal scope.

In his influential 1792 booklet, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, Carey confronts the false belief that the Great Commission was only for the apostles. 

He argues instead that because God so loved the world, every Christian is obligated to care about the salvation of every person, regardless of nation or culture.

He wrote: “If the whole of the human race are equally objects of the divine regard, and under the same obligation to obey the divine commands, are they not all equally bound to love God with all their hearts and to promote his glory?” 

The London Missionary Society (LMS), founded just a few years after Carey’s pamphlet, explicitly built its missionary philosophy on the universality of God’s love. 

In their founding documents and early appeals, John 3:16 was repeatedly cited as the warrant and fuel for cross-cultural missions.

In an 1804 LMS report, they wrote: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. . . . That world still lies in darkness, and how shall they believe on Him of whom they have not heard?”

This connection made John 3:16 the heartbeat behind their missions to the Pacific Islands, Africa, and Asia.

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) sent and supported missionaries like Adoniram and Ann Judson. 

ABCFM’s commissioning sermons and fundraising materials were saturated with John 3:16.

For example, in Samuel Worcester’s 1811 sermon The Kingdom of Christ, preached before the ABCFM, he argued: “The love of God for the world . . . demands the labors and the sacrifices of those who know Him, that those who know Him not may believe and live.”

This language, anchored in John 3:16, became a consistent feature in missionary appeals throughout the 19th century.

The Greatest Love

“God so loved the world . . .”

God’s love is not limited to one nation or people; it embraces all humanity. 

That global love fuels the church’s mission. 

If God’s love reaches everyone, then our mission must aim to reach everyone.

John insists that the Son’s mission was the consequence of God’s love. 

The Greek construction behind “so loved that he gave his one and only Son” emphasizes the intensity of the love. 

The words “his one and only Son” stress the greatness of the gift. 

The Father gave his best, his unique, and beloved Son. 

It is atypical for John to speak of God’s love for the world. 

This makes the truth stand out as even more wonderful. 

Jews knew that God loved the children of Israel; here God’s love is not restricted by race. 

Even so, God’s love is to be admired not because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad. 

The world is so wicked that John elsewhere forbids Christians to love it or anything in it (1 John 2:15–17). 

Christians are not to love the world with the selfish love of participation; God loves the world with the selfless, costly love of redemption. 5

The Greatest Gift

 “. . . that he gave his only Son . . .”

God’s love produced the action of giving Jesus. 

God moved toward us before we moved toward him.

God “gave” his Son when he sent Jesus into the world. 

This pattern—God sending—becomes the model for the church’s mission. 

Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus explicitly ties this to the missionary calling: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). 

God’s sending of Jesus becomes the model for the church’s mission.

The word “gave” points us to both Jesus’ birth and his death—he was sent to die. 

Love always costs, and God paid the highest price. 

His mission is rooted in giving, not in taking.

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” 

The love of God is a wonderful thing, especially when we see it set on a lost, ruined, guilty world. 

What was there in the world that God should love it? 

There was nothing lovable in it. 

No fragrant flower grew in that arid desert. 

Enmity to him, hatred to his truth, disregard of his law, rebellion against his commandments—those were the thorns and briars that covered the wasteland, but no desirable thing blossomed there. 

Where did this love come from? 

Not from anything outside of God himself. 

God’s love springs from himself. 

He loves because it is his nature to do so. 

“God is love” (1Jn 4:8). Nothing on the face of the earth could have merited his love, though there was much to merit his displeasure. This stream of love flows from its own secret source in the eternal deity, and it owes nothing to any earthborn rain or stream; it springs from beneath the everlasting throne and fills itself full from the springs of the infinite.”  -Charles Spurgeon  6

The takeaway? 

God’s love isn’t just wide—it’s deep and sacrificial.  And that love fuels our mission.

The Greatest Invitation

“. . . that whoever believes in him . . .”

The invitation is open to “whoever believes.” 

This underlines the inclusive scope of the gospel message—it is not restricted by race, social status, or background. 

The church’s mission is to extend this invitation as widely as possible.

The Greatest Escape 

“. . . should not perish . . .”

Missions exist because people are perishing without Christ. 

**The gospel is not just about improving lives but about rescuing people from perishing and bringing them into eternal life with God. 

Without missions, many will never hear of the One who saves.

Although many people think primarily of John’s Gospel in terms of the bright side of love, it has a dark side that is perhaps more threatening to the unbeliever than almost any other document in the New Testament except the Apocalypse.

To overlook the dark side in John is to miss the full message of the Gospel. 

God’s judging (krinetai) is a negative theme that is also foundational to this Gospel and is obvious in these verses. 

The purpose of Jesus’ mission was life, not condemnation. 

He came to save, not judge.

John Calvin said in his commentary on Isaiah 28:21, where the prophet speaks of the Lord’s judgment as “his strange work” (“For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim . . . to do his deed — strange is his deed! and to work his work — alien is his work!”). 

Calvin writes: “The work of destruction is a strange work to God; it is more natural to Him to spare than to punish.”

Judgment is something he does only when necessary, in holiness and justice.

The Greatest Destiny 

“. . . but have eternal life.”

Eternal life begins now and culminates in the age to come. 

If we share God’s heart, we will share his mission.

Conclusion

John 3:16 is often called the gospel in a nutshell, but it is also the mission of God in a nutshell. 

It gives the why (because God loves), the who (the world), the how (by sending), and the goal (eternal life). 

**Without understanding this connection, Christian missions can drift into mere humanitarianism or cultural expansion. 

But rooted in John 3:16, missions stay centered on proclaiming God’s love through Christ for the world’ s salvation.

Do you need Christ’s salvation today?

From Resolutions to Reformation: Rewriting Our Story in Jesus

Preparing for our annual fast and the year ahead:

 

From Resolutions to Reformation: Rewriting Our Story in Jesus

 

Primary Texts: John 1 and Colossians 1

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Focus: When we look ahead, simply making resolutions won’t be the path to Christian maturity—we need to reinterpret our lives and allow Jesus to rewrite our stories based on who He says He is, so that we might become more like Him, each in our own unique expressions.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday season as we crossed into 2026. For many of us, this past stretch of days was a rare gift—time to slow down, to pause, to celebrate, to sit across tables with people we love and remember what actually matters. Those moments—unhurried conversations, shared laughter, quiet reflections—have a way of recalibrating us. They remind us that life is more than schedules and metrics and obligations. They remind us who we are.

For me, one of the greatest joys this season was getting to spend time with my brother’s kids—my nephew Jack and nieces, Maggie and Lucy. I’m especially close to my family, and I’ve been fortunate enough to watch them grow year after year. And lately, we’ve been joking about how they’re becoming “real people” right before our eyes. You know what I mean—no longer just kids reacting to the world, but young humans beginning to interpret it.

They’re developing distinct personalities. You can already see their inclinations—what excites them, what frustrates them, what lights them up. And now, they’re starting to talk about who they want to be one day. Not just what they want to do, but who they imagine themselves becoming.

Watching that even more so during the last month stirred something in me that also coincided with our annual fast, which starts tomorrow. 

Because as we stand at the beginning of a new year, I couldn’t help but remember how we all used to do the same thing. We told stories about our future selves. We had “personal missions”. We imagined the kind of people we’d be, the lives we’d live, the meaning we’d carry. That instinct—to frame our lives as stories, to give ourselves identities through narrative—isn’t taught. It’s human. It comes naturally, especially to children.

But somehow, as we get older, it becomes more of a luxury to keep going back to these stories, or even sustain the practice of reflecting on where and who we are.

To me, this annual fast has been the most transformative way of surfacing questions I usually avoid. It forces us to ask not just what we believe, but how we understand our lives. More specifically, for this year’s theme, it can press us to ask how we see God’s unfolding story—and whether we see ourselves living inside of it.

Last week, Pastor Rollan, in his last message on our series, Divine Movement, he shared something that also stirred me. It coincides with our inclinations as humans to find cohesion and purpose in our stories. 

He reminded us that when God moves in our lives, He shifts us—away from building our lives on temporary things, and toward building on the only thing that lasts forever: Christ and His Kingdom.

And he asked a piercing question: How many of us missed Jesus because we were expecting God to show up in a different way?

My hope today—especially as we prepare to fast and step into the year ahead—is that we learn to situate our personal stories within the ultimate narrative God the Father has been writing since the beginning of time. Because when we look ahead, we don’t simply make resolutions—we reinterpret our lives. 

Just like the Christians in Colossus who heard the story about Jesus:

And what if this year, we allowed Jesus to rewrite our stories based on who He says He is, so that we might become more like Him, each in our own unique expressions?

So today, let’s look talk about:

1. Why Jesus is the story.

2. Rewriting our stories in who He is - His “I AM” statements

3. Sustaining our fidelity in the “meanwhile”

Part 1: Jesus is the Story

Missing the Bigger Picture

There was an experiment once conducted by the psychology department at Princeton University. Every student had to participate. One by one, they were asked to look through a small hole into a room. Beforehand, they were given very specific instructions. There was a particular object in the center of the room, and they were told to study it closely. They would be quizzed on it afterward.

The students focused intently. And sure enough, when the quiz came, almost everyone could describe the object in great detail. But then came the final question—the real point of the experiment: Did you notice anything else about the room?

Most answered no.

What made that so fascinating is that the room itself was completely warped. One wall was much taller than the others. The floor and ceiling were slanted. The entire space was distorted. And yet almost no one noticed.

Why?

Because it wasn’t what they were told to look for.

That experiment may have been controlled, but it’s deeply revealing. Because growing up works much the same way doesn't it?

It’s essentially human to reduce our attention to what we need to focus on based on what’s being demanded of us. Like my nephew and nieces, we are born wired to imagine identities and futures. But over time, what we’re told to focus on becomes narrower and narrower. 

Find a career, save up for your retirement

Focus on what makes you happy, but be practical

Responsibilities pile up. Limitations press in—money, time, resources. Even internal limits—our talents, fears, skills, insecurities—begin to define the edges of what we believe is possible.

And eventually, without realizing it, we stop noticing the room. We focus only on that one object.

As “very skilled” Christians let’s admit it, sometimes living by a moral code and being consistent with religious practices can even become the focus. 

And that’s ok! Of course, we need these, but I would submit that even these can sometimes limit our vision from seeing the bigger picture.

Jesus is fully God and fully human, he is sinless, yet died for our sins. He rose from the dead, went up to heaven and is now our advocate. He’s taken up our broken humanness once and all, and reconciled it with the Father.

And what’s the bigger picture a life experienced with Jesus points to?

• Personal relationship with God Himself

• Eternity in Humanness

• Reconciliation of all things

“In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. 

I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except insofar as it is related to how He thinks of us. 

It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.

• C. S. Lewis, “Weight of Glory”

So in the Colossians passage, Paul very much picks up on how John depicted his realization about Jesus.

Our whole advent series - or any advent series for that matter - reminds us of how the birth of Jesus was in and of itself a break in the story when it takes a radical twist,.

And 30 years later, when Jesus makes His “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John, He isn’t offering metaphors for inspiration. He is revealing the new nature of reality that HE brought forth. These are clues to a new and everlasting chapter God is writing into the human story.

I personally love the Gospel of John. You could say I’m biased.

But really, most commentators will say more than any of the other Gospels, John depicts Jesus’ I AM sayings with more context clues to His personhood.

God becoming man.

A radical, unexpected twist in the God timeline.

History itself turned. Time was reoriented. Our calendars still testify to it—BC and AD. God didn’t merely influence the story. He stepped into it.

So the invitation today is simple: widen your focus. Look beyond inherited notions of God and yourself. Because like the students at Princeton, we often miss the person of Jesus and therefore miss the fullness of who we are.

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Jesus is the story.

Every one of us enters this year already living inside a story. A quiet script we didn’t consciously write but slowly absorbed. Stories that define success. Stories that promise safety. Stories that tell us what love costs and what wholeness requires.

Some of those stories promise life but deliver exhaustion.

Some promise freedom but quietly form chains.

Some promise certainty but leave us anxious and afraid.

Into a world full of borrowed stories, Jesus speaks simple, yet seismic words:

I AM.

He does not say, I will help you find life.

He does not say, I will show you the way.

He does not say, I will teach you the truth.

He says, I AM.

And when we fail to experience Jesus in all areas of life, we fail to experience the fullness of grace and truth in this lifetime. Faith begins with acknowledging sin—but it matures as we embrace the reality of a living Savior who is deeply interested in everything. 

Part 2: Rewriting our stories in who He is - His “I AM” statements

The “I AM” sayings of Jesus challenge every worldview. They redefine sustenance, security, identity, and hope. And they demand not partial belief, but a reordering of our lives around the One who says, I AM.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭15‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When we take a step back from our formal and learned Christian faiths, and just look at how humans have interacted with gods, and powerful beings, these I AM statements really transformed how we relate to God himself.

Jesus made these statements for us humans, to “humanize God”

1. “I AM the Bread of Life” (John 6:35, 48)

What Jesus is saying about himself:

• Bread — basic sustenance, that which keeps life alive.

• Jesus does not say He gives bread but that He is the bread.

Writing our story:

• Life with God is not sustained by religious activity alone but by ongoing dependence on Christ Himself.

• Faith is not a one-time act but continual “feeding” on Christ as we navigate the wilderness of our waiting and longing.
   

2. “I AM the Light of the World” (John 8:12)

What Jesus is saying about himself:

• Light — truth, life, revelation, and the presence of God.

• In the Old Testament, God Himself is light (Psalm 27:1; Isaiah 60:19).

Writing our story:

• Jesus identifies Himself as the source of divine illumination, not merely a teacher of insight. We do not merely receive instruction from Jesus; we live in His “light” - His presence

• Discipleship means walking in His revealed truth day after day rather than self-constructed meaning
   

3. “I AM the Door (Gate)” (John 10:7, 9)

What Jesus is saying about himself:

• We enter through Him with our weaknesses. He fulfills the promise that God Himself would come to rescue and gather His flock.

Writing our story:

• Salvation is not found in systems, morality, or identity but in entering through Christ.

• Assurance flows from His protection, not our performance.
  
   

4. “I AM the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11)

What Jesus is saying about himself:

• Of course, Psalm 23, the most quoted Psalm identifies Yahweh as our attentive shepherd who takes care of our most personal needs, and knows us by name

Writing our story:

• We trust His care

5. “I AM the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25)

What Jesus is saying about himself:

• Resurrection — victory over death; Eternal Life — divine vitality.

• Jesus collapses future hope into present reality: resurrection is not an event but a Person.

Writing our story:

• Eternal life begins now, not only after death.

• Grief is transformed by hope rooted in Christ’s living presence.
   

6. “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6)

What Jesus is saying:

• Way — access to God

• Truth — ultimate reality

• Life — fullness of divine life

Writing our story:

• Christianity is not primarily a worldview but a relationship with a Person.

• Confidence rests not in knowing answers but in knowing Christ.
   

7. “I AM the True Vine” (John 15:1)

What Jesus is saying:

• Vine — source of life, fruitfulness, and identity.

Writing our story:

• Spiritual growth comes from abiding, not striving.

• Fruitfulness is the result of remaining connected to Christ’s life.
  
   

Part 3: Sustaining our fidelity in the “meanwhile”

When David prays in Psalm 16 and 27, that the path of life is experienced in the fullness of God’s presence and that gazing God’s beauty is truly all we need to stay secure, we see that fullness in Jesus.

Our way forward in 2026 won’t simply have to be based on our own wills, but on the richer experience of Jesus himself in all of the different situations we will face this year.

“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Prepositions can be very eloquent. A man is "in" architecture or a woman is "in" teaching, we say, meaning that is what they do weekdays and how they make enough money to enjoy themselves the rest of the time. But if we say they are "into" these things, that is another story. "Into" means something more like total immersion. They live and breathe what they do. They take it home with them nights. They can't get enough of it. To be "into" books means that just the sight of a signed first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland sets your heart pounding. To be "in" books means selling them at B. Dalton's.

Along similar lines, New Testament Greek speaks of believing "into" rather than believing "in." In English we can perhaps convey the distinction best by using either "in" or no preposition at all.

Believing in God is an intellectual position. It need have no more effect on your life than believing in Freud's method of interpreting dreams or the theory that Sir Francis Bacon wrote Romeo and Juliet.

Believing God is something else again. It is less a position than a journey, less a realization than a relationship. It doesn't leave you cold like believing the world is round. It stirs your blood like believing the world is a miracle. It affects who you are and what you do with your life like believing your house is on fire or somebody loves you.

We believe in God when for one reason or another we choose to do so. We believe God when somehow we run into God in a way that by and large leaves us no choice to do otherwise.

When Jesus says that whoever believes "into" him shall never die, he does not mean that to be willing to sign your name to the Nicene Creed guarantees eternal life. Eternal life is not the result of believing in. It is the experience of believing. 

~originally published in Whistling in the Dark and later in Beyond Words

Takeaways:

1. Christian maturity is not about better resolutions, but deeper reformation.
   Growth doesn’t come from self-improvement alone, but from allowing Jesus to reinterpret our lives and rewrite our stories according to who He is—not who we imagine ourselves to be.
   .

2. We are always living inside a story—but not every story gives life.
   Human beings naturally construct meaning through narratives, yet many of the stories we absorb (success, security, performance, certainty) quietly exhaust or enslave us. Jesus invites us to widen our vision and recognize the larger, truer story God has been writing all along
   
    

3. Jesus is not a supporting character in our story—He is the story.
   Through John’s Gospel and Paul’s words in Colossians, the sermon emphasizes that Jesus doesn’t merely point to truth, life, or hope—He embodies them. When we miss Jesus, we miss both the fullness of God and the fullness of who we are meant to become
   .

4. The “I AM” statements don’t inspire us—they reorganize us.
   Each “I AM” claim challenges how we understand sustenance, guidance, belonging, security, suffering, and growth. To believe Jesus is not simply to agree with His words, but to reorder our lives around His presence and reality
   .

5. Faith is sustained not by striving, but by abiding in the “meanwhile.”
   The way forward is not willpower or control, but fidelity—remaining “into” Christ rather than merely believing in Him. Spiritual fruitfulness flows from ongoing dependence, especially in seasons of waiting, uncertainty, and formation