Blog | Pastor Duane

September is here and life in The Resolved Church is in full swing. We have more going on now than ever before. There are new ministries happening, other ministries expanding, and discipleship relationships are thriving. All of it is quite exciting as we look forward to the future as Jesus continues to grow and build his church.

Perhaps most important for us is to remember that our confidence is not in our plans but in Jesus. It is not our methodology which propels us but our theology. We are a people who have been gripped by the gospel and because of it sent on a mission for God’s glory and we believe he will accomplish all his purposes. As Proverbs 19:11 says “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

Below is a brief list of all the things going on and links to blogs and information about them. Please take a few minutes to read through them, pray over them, and entrust them to the purpose and glory of the Lord.

• Building Transformation Ministry – A Blog by Dan Calvert
• College Ministry – A Blog by Caleb Zeid
• Community Groups – Gospel Growth & Mission
• Family Ministry – A Blog by James Martin
• LampPost Café – A Blog by Sean Hutchinson
• Leader Development – A Blog by Duane Smets
• Resolved Church Plants – A Blog by Duane Smets
• Resolved Playgroup – Moms & Kids
• TRC School of Theology – Upcoming Classes
• Women’s Discipleship – A Blog by Kathy Broersma

Blog | Dan Calvert

Every Sunday at 8:30am a crew arrives to turn our building into a sanctuary for people to come in, feel comfortable, and worship our God. After their initial greetings, prayer begins. Then they being to work together to transform the building to what is seen when you walk in the doors at 10am. These people do a great service for God’s church, and together are what’s affectionately known as “Building Transformation Ministry” (BTM).

Since I began coming to The Resolved in January 2009, I quickly became a team member of BTM, then known as set-up/tear down crew. After services, I concluded that the folks tearing down would get done faster if I pitched in. So I did. It had been a while since I served anyone besides myself or for anything other than money or praise. I remember how fulfilling it was to help this crew of fast friends.

One Sunday I was asked if I’d like to help set-up in the morning. I was stoked to help even more. A fire had been lit in my heat. I didn’t understand fully why until I came that Sunday morning. After everyone arrived, we began to pray. It wasn’t the “Lord, please wake us up because the coffee isn’t ready yet,” prayer that I was half expecting. They were praying for each person that would walk in that day. They were praying for the space to truly become a sanctuary for the people to come and meet with God. They were praying for servant hearts for God and that every act they did would be for His glory for His work here.

I realized I had been helping the crew after service for selfish and prideful reasons. I wanted to make others happy by serving them instead of first serving God. The more I learned being God’s servant through his church, it was hard to stay away. I longed to fuel the fire in my heart by following God’s will and call.

As the months went on, a couple of us realized that set-up/tear down crew was not a proper title for what happened before, during and after service. This was something bigger. First, it is a chance to do one of God’s highest callings: to serve his bride, the people of the church. Second, it is a chance to change and humble your own heart as you become more like the ultimate example of a servant, Jesus Christ. And third, it is a chance to prepare a space for God to come and do work in others’ hearts. These acts of service not only transform a building, but also allow for the transformation of hearts to take place. We had to give it a new name because these acts are truly a ministry.

I have been blessed to be a part of and oversee BTM. We have three Godly leaders running a month at a time. They gather teams together, continuously look to raise more leaders, and make sure ministry is happening every Sunday.. The Resolved Church is a family and we are called to serve one another for God’s glory. BTM is a great way to serve your brothers and sisters and bring heart change to all of our lives. We are always looking for more people to be a part of a team so come get involved! Just email me at dan@theresolved.com 

It’s an honor serving you all, but it’s deeply humbling to serve our God.

- Deacon Dan

1 Peter 4:8-11 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

At our last church member meeting we introduced James Martin as an elder candidate to be watching and praying for in the next year. This fall James will be leading the charge in ramping up our ministry to children and equipping parents in the home. Below is a brief blog from James about the heart, vision and plan of The Resolved Church (TRC) Family Ministry. – Pastor Duane

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Blog | James Martin

I have grown convinced that my understanding of the Gospel (my sinfulness, need for a savior and dependence on God) impacts every aspect of my life. And as a husband and father I know that as my head and heart go, so goes my home. For example, if I’m confident in my rightness before God as a result of the finished work of Jesus, I feel close to my Heavenly Father and can confidently face anything. The struggles of life won’t hold me long and even if they do, they don’t define me. In seasons such as this it is easy for me to lead my family and demonstrate my dependence on a savior. On the flipside, when I feel distant from God, I am sure we are at odds and I’m constantly seeking his approval.

Obviously these beliefs seep into every aspect of my life. As a man my identity and view of self, as a husband in the way I resolve conflict and love my wife and as a father the way I discipline and disciple my children. In short, every aspect of my life comes back to my working theology and belief in the Gospel. In the years I’ve been in discipleship and in community with other men I have learned that I am not alone in these experiences.

Several years ago God radically changed my life. He converted my heart at a time that my wife and I were headed for certain divorce. At the time we didn’t have kids and frankly I didn’t want any. I was a punk dude who loved and served me. The gospel grabbed my heart and I didn’t have a choice but to change. Over the next several years my wife and I grew in our love for each other and for the Church. My heart broke for families (and punks like me) who were working through their theology while balancing the stresses of life. I found myself in countless conversations with young men a lot like me. Conversations that often centered on our inability to effect change and the resulting struggles that seemed to easily beset us. Conversations that revealed our true beliefs. I saw men who were weak and confused. Marriages and relationships setup for and defined by failure. Kids who were told they couldn’t earn favor with God or change their own hearts yet dads who insisted they change their behavior to win their approval (or at least that’s what the kids heard). Over time and with the help of godly men who had come before me it became very clear that change starts and ends with our grasping the Gospel.

I’m very excited about the season ahead of us at The Resolved Church. Starting this fall we are rolling out our Family Ministry and starting pre-school classes on Sunday mornings with the Show Me Jesus curriculum. While we believe that dads are ultimately responsible for the spiritual nurturing of their households we know they can’t go at it alone. God has saved us through community and into community and we are called as the church to make disciples and love one another. The Family Ministry will seek to call and equip the dads of TRC to be shaped by the gospel and lead their homes with Jesus at the center.

I’ll leave you with a message from Paul who wrote to the church in Ephesus (Chapter 6:1-4), Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. And in Deuteronomy 6:6-7 we read; and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Men, let us love and lead well. Let’s start with grasping the Gospel.

- James

Matthew Series | Matthew 19:1-15 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 19:1-15 where we Jesus addresses the importance of marriage and family as well as the pain and hard heartedness of divorce. Current statistics, the story of Genesis, cultural trends, and joy and purpose of children are all highlighted in grappling with Jesus’ words in this passage. This sermon was originally preached on September 5th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
September 5th, 2010

“Jesus Deals With The Demise of Marriage & Family” | Matthew 19:1-15
I. Divorce Defies The Divine Intention For Marriage
A. The Creator’s Creation (v4-6)
B. Moses and Hardness of Heart (v7-9)
C. Eunuchs and a Heart for Heaven (v10-12)
II. Children Are Essential To The Kingdom Family
A. Children Ought Not Be Rejected (v13-14)
B. Children Are Blessings Of Jesus (v15)

Introduction

Today, we’re in The Gospel of Matthew, heading toward the final stretch of Jesus life. This fall will essentially consist of going through the last nine chapters of Matthew which cover the events and teachings of Jesus in the very last week of his life in physical bodily form here on earth.

We’re not quite there yet but this morning we’ll enter Matthew’s fifth installment of material beginning with Jesus leaving Galilee to go toward Jerusalem and a very significant conversation which happens once he’s probably a little more than half-way there…about 20-30 miles south of Galilee.

So let’s read the story from the Bible, pray over it, and then talk about it, learn from it, and apply it to our lives. (Read Text and Pray).

All right. Jesus has alluded to the importance of marriage and family several times in the last two years of his preaching and teaching ministry. Jesus’ speech and theology is saturated with talk of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters as analogies or parallels for who God is and what the relationships of his followers is supposed to be like. But up to this point, he has not directly addressed the husband and wife relationship.

And this is a hot topic. It was a hot topic in the first century and is a hot topic today…marriage and family. I know I’m jumping into hot water. There are land mines all over the place. So I’ll just warn you ahead of time…I’ll do my best to be nice and “sensitive” as my wife says. But you might need a little bit tougher skin today and a warning for parents, things might get a little PG-13, or even R as we try to work through Jesus’ words here.

Marriage and family is a sensitive and hot topic in our day, it was in the first century and in reality it really has been since the very first marriage and family of the whole human race. Adam and Eve set us off in a course of brokenness and tension when it comes to marriage and family and Jesus takes it on and directly addresses it. He doesn’t avoid controversial and sensitive issues but takes them head on. So the title for my sermon today is “Jesus Deals With The Demise of Marriage & Family.”

Alright…so the Pharisees are the ones who initiate this conversation. They are not new characters to us, if you’ve been around. Basically they were supposed to be the pastors of the people…but rather than caring for people’s lives and their hearts for God they had turned into authoritarian rule enforcers who loved their titles and position of status and respect. Jesus comes on the scene and is getting a lot of attention so they’re not happy about it and are frequently coming around and trying to trip Jesus up and cause division and controversy concerning him.

So they come up and ask Jesus this question about divorce. Here’s the deal. There were two main ideas about this…it was a hot political topic in the day, sort of like the debate of whether or not two gay people can get married is a highly debated issue in our day.

One school of though was the Hillel school who said a man could divorce his wife for whatever reason he wanted…if she burnt the food, got leprosy, or basically did or didn’t do anything the man didn’t like.

The other school of thought was the Shammai school which said a man could only divorce his wife if she was unfaithful and had sex with another man.

So they’re trying to trap Jesus and get him to side either with Hillel or Shammai and as a result get a bunch of the people who are following Jesus to turn away from him.

But Jesus won’t be boxed in and he goes far deeper and further back, surpassing Hillel and Shammai and instead deals with the divine intent for marriage and heart issues involved in divorce.

I. Divorce Defies The Divine Intention For Marriage

So my first main point for today is, “Divorce Defies The Define Intention For Marriage.” But before we get into what Jesus actually says, let’s just address the elephant in the room and talk about our personal experiences of divorce and what a huge issue it still is today, nearly 2,000 years after this conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees took place.

First some statistics. We are acutely experiencing the demise of marriage and family. Multiple surveys and studies show that the current divorce rate in the US is between 40-60 percent. The National Center For Health says right now it’s 60%. That means more than one out of every two marriages end in divorce.

Now let me give you a little perspective. The divorce rate in 1950 was about 8%. Nobody got hardly ever got divorced except for extreme cases. Ask anyone who got married in the fifties or earlier and they will tell you this, “Divorce was not an option.”

Since the divorce rate has been steadily increasing those who have been touched by the pain of divorce has been increasing as well. Psychologist Patrick Fagan wrote a book titled “The Effects of Divorce in America.” His studies showed that 50% of children will experience the divorce of their parents before the age of 18 and 40% of those kids will grow up without a father in the picture.

I’m not going to ask you to respond but I’m sure if I asked you…we would find these numbers true for us right here in this room. And by the way, according to the Barna Research group the statistics are no different for Christians, virtually identical.

Here’s some effects of that. Children and parents who have experienced divorce are more likely to become dependent on anti-depressants, children get lower grades, parents business ventures fail, both develop deep seated bitterness and are more likely to have anger issues which result in violence, and the suicide rate is twice is high for those who have experienced divorce (From Eighteen Shocking Statistics About Marriage and Divorce).

So the elephant in the room is I know that many of you have experienced divorce, whether you yourself are divorced or you’re parents are and you may have or have not also known those negative effects. I know that this is likely a very painful subject, hits close to home…and because of that our opinions, feelings, and thoughts about it are pretty heavily loaded.

So what I want to do is simply ask for you, to the best of your ability to suspend judgment just for a few moment are hear Jesus out. Anyone who has experienced divorce wishes it didn’t happen and that’s what Jesus is really getting into, why it happens, why it shouldn’t, and even how there’s grace and healing from it.

Okay, Jesus responds in three different way to the question and issue of divorce. His first and main point is to appeal to the purpose and intention of marriage as it was created by God.

A. The Creator’s Creation (v4-6)

Rather than getting into the mix of the debate between Hillel and Shammai Jesus goes farther back, all the way to creation and essentially says, marriage is the “Creator’s Creation.” Check it out. Verse 4, “Have you not read (in Genesis, the first book of the Bible), that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female.”

So first, Jesus says that God is the creator of human being…we exist because God created us. We are creatures, he is our creator. Second thing Jesus says by this, we were created with gender…male and female. This includes different body parts physically and different roles spiritually and relationally.

Now let’s follow Jesus logic. Verse 5. “Therefore (because God created two different kinds of people, male and female…) a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” This is a direct quote of Genesis 2:24. So what’s Jesus saying?

It’s very basic but foundational. Jesus says, because there is gender, because there are males and there are females…that says something about God’s purpose and design. Our biology says something about theology. Man is meant to be with a woman and a woman is meant to be with a man and they are supposed be with each other in a special type of union, where they “become one flesh.”

Is he just talking about sex…that there is a brief physical union during the act of intercourse? Well that’s surely included but this “one flesh” is much more, it’s a marriage. Look at verse 6, “So then they are no longer two but one flesh..” They have entered a new state of being or union…a marriage union where they are one.

What’s kind of union is this? Verse 6 continues, “What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate.” That tells us something. That tells us it’s a union or a state of being where somehow God is involved in the union or the joining and it’s never to be separated. So it has to be more than just sex…because that would be impossible to never separate physically from. Thus marriage is primarily a spiritual and relational union under God. Marriage is a union where two become one never to be unjoined. Sex is an outward demonstration, privilege and pleasure of that union.

Today marriage is mostly thought of as a legal contract, you get a marriage license and tax benefits from it. But according to the Bible that has nothing to do with marriage. If you are not getting joined together under God, I don’t even know what that is.

Marriage in the Bible is a deeply profound and supernatural union. One of the great privileges I have as a pastor, one that most of you will never experience, is the joy of being the physical representative of God’s joining presence in marrying people. No one sees a wedding from my perspective…being right there and being the one to pronounce God’s blessing on the marriage. When a man makes a vow to a woman and a woman makes a vow to a man and when they exchange rings and we covenant them to one another under God…there is a supernatural union which takes place in that blessing. The closest thing I can describe it to is like some of the experiences I have had in taking communion…where the presence of God feels so thick and tangible that you can almost touch it.

Marriage under God’s joining is a mysterious and profound physical and spiritual union. As Genesis 2:24 states, it is a deeper bond than children even have with their parents. That bond is deep. You can’t get rid of your parents, your family…they are blood. Most children throughout their life feel and know a deep connection to their parents. And God says here in his word that the marriage bond is even deeper than that because children go out from their parents and become one with another in a way that is deeper than their blood ties. Marriage is heavy and serious and glorious.

Alright, so two main implications from this.

One, if you are single, you are supposed to get married. Ideally, by the age and time that you are capable of living on your own and leaving your parents house. Here’s what God says, Genesis 1:24, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” If you’re single, it is not good and life is not going to be very good…until you get married.

We’ll talk about the special and rare gift and calling of a eunuch in a minute but for most all people…God means for you to get married. It’s not a question of whether you want to or feel like it. It’s a matter of design. If you have genitals, God means for you to get married. Not only so that you can use them, in a God glorifying way, but so that you can no longer be incomplete but become one, and whole with another.

So that’s the first thing. God means for humans to get married.

Second implication from this that Jesus states, that marriage is not supposed to end, ever. What “God has joined together, let not man separate.” You are commanded by God to not ever end your marriage. You are to, what’s it say? ”Hold fast” in your marriage. You are not to let it go.

Malachi 2:16 says, “God hates divorce.” God unites, man divides. John Calvin said something interesting in his commentary on this passage. He said that because the two become one in marriage, that because of that, “Whoever divorces his wife tears himself into pieces.”

For those of you who are divorced…you probably know that too well. You know what it’s like to be torn into pieces. You have known and felt that pain. And those of you whose parents were divorced, you too probably know too well what it’s like to see your parents lives be torn apart into pieces.

Church, can you see why God hates divorce? Do you get it? This topic today is so crucial. We don’t want people to be torn into pieces. It’s one of the reasons I have every couple who goes through pre-marital counseling with me write up a one page paper for me titled, “Why This Marriage Will Not End In Divorce.” That way when things get hard they can go back and read it.

Okay, so this is Jesus main point: God’s divine intention for people is for them to get married and to stay married, never separating. Then come the objections, one from the Pharisees and one from the disciples.

B. Moses and Hardness of Heart (v7-9)

First, the Pharisees objection. What I’m calling, “Moses and Hardness of Heart” in verses 7-9. The objection is that in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 Moses mentions the ancient Mesopotamian cultural practice of writing certificates of divorce and puts restrictions on it.

What Jesus points out is that there is a twisting of Moses’ words and intent. Check it out with me. In verse 7, they, the Pharisees say, Moses “commanded” a certificate of divorce. Well…if you go back and read it that’s not really what it going on. Moses is addressing the practice of giving certificates but never commands to write one. In fact, if you keep reading the passage in context, Moses concludes it by saying, it is “an abomination before the LORD” and “brings sin upon the land (Deut 24:4).”

Jesus points out their twisting of the Scriptures and corrects the Pharisees in this in three ways.

First, Jesus goes behind the letter of the law and addresses the heart. Again and again and again Jesus brings up the issue of our hearts. That all sinful behavior is an outplay of what is going on in our hearts. Look at it, Jesus says the only reason this thing was written in Deuteronomy was because of “hardness of heart.”

In fact, Moses was not commanding divorce but disapprovingly allowing it and putting constraints on it. Jesus corrects them immediately on that by changing the language from commanding to allowing. The instructions Moses gives are actually protective measures for the woman so that she is not sent away without cause and is not thought then to be a runaway adulterous. Moses is putting a restraint on wicked men’s desire to fulfill inflamed lust and providing a protection for the women.

Jesus says here, such a thing was because of hardness of heart. All divorce, all the time is because hearts get hard. First hearts get hard toward God and his word and will. Then spouses get hard toward one another, resistant to opening up and working through things. And then ultimately they become hardened and one or both parties cannot receive or extend forgiveness.

The second thing Jesus does is reiterate his first point about God’s divine intention by saying, “from the beginning it was not so.” In the beginning, before sin and the fall in the Garden of Eden, before man first sinned against God and then against one another…divorce was inconceivable. Jesus point again, is divorce ought never to happen, it is not God’s design.

Then Jesus says something surprising. You would almost expect for that to be his last word about it but then there’s verse 9. All verse 9 does is basically restate what Moses already said in Deuteronomy 24. By doing that, Jesus not only holds up the Bible rather than discount it but he ends up doing the same thing Moses did. He gives a concession or allowance for what he has just said is hardness of heart. Yes, even in the case of sexual immorality and adultery.

Now the funny thing is, at least in the Christian world, these words of Jesus get so abused. Whenever a marriage has difficulty and it is not addressed, divorce doesn’t happen out of a vacuum, often times it leads to adultery. When that happens people often automatically jump to this verse and say something along the lines of…well he or she cheated on me and because of that Jesus said I can divorce him or her.

On top of it our culture, our city, makes it so easy and encourages divorce…telling you “you’re justified to get a divorce if you’re not getting your needs met, are not happy, or just are not in love anymore.” There’s that van over by In-N-Out which says “Fast Divorce” on it, anyone ever seen it? That thing makes me so mad. Every time I see it I have to resist ramming my car into it. Actually I’d love to go on a secret holy mission and car bomb that thing sometime.

Okay, let’s be real here. Jesus says you can get a divorce. But let me ask you. After reading and hearing Jesus and what he said up to this point, do you think that is what he wanted us to take away from this? If so and so cheated…”well then go ahead, forget them.” Is that what Jesus is saying and getting at here?

No. That completely misses his tone and the context. When we do that we’re doing the same thing the Pharisees are doing here, which Jesus just corrected. When I have sat in counseling sessions with couples who quote these words of Jesus’ to me and just want out…what I ask them is, are you telling me you have a hard heart?

So why does Jesus allow for this concession? I think it is because of grace. Because God is a God who has grace for hard hearts. He realizes that sexual adultery of a spouse is sin and is a very difficult thing to work through and God is a God of grace, healing and forgiveness for sin.

Let me tell you a story about the grace of God and how he sees it from his perspective. Has anyone ever heard of the book of Hosea in the Bible. It’s one of the smaller prophet books in the Old Testament right after Daniel.

Here’ story of Hosea. God comes to Hosea and he tell him that he wants him to go marry this woman named Gomer. And he tells him ahead of time that Gomer is going to cheat on him, multiple times, have children from other men but each time he does to take her back and take the kids as his own. Nice calling on Hosea’s life huh?

Hoeas is obedient to God though. Things start off okay and they have a baby together named Jezreel. But then sure enough Gomer starts sleep around, gets pregnant and gives birth to a daughter. Hosea names her “No Mercy” and takes his wife back. But it’s not long before she cheats on him again and gets pregnant again from another dude. But he takes her back and calls the son “Not My People.” But then she leaves him again and actually ends up being an official whore employed by a pimp. What’s Hosea do? He goes to her pimp and buys back his wife, from the pimp with a bunch of money.

Who ever said the Bible wasn’t R-rated or interesting? Crazy story huh? Any of you like, “Why the heck did God want Hosea to do that?” Here’s the answer. God told Hosea he wanted him to do this because his people had committed “great whoredom by forsaking [him] (Hos 1:2) but despite their whoring he loved them and was going to buy them back and then they would come and “fear to the LORD “ and know “his goodness” all their days (Hos 3:5). God had Hosea do this because it was a picture of his love for his us.

When a couple goes to court to get divorced the legal terminology that is used is “irreconcilable differences.” But here’s thing…with God, there are no irreconcilable differences. All can be reconciled and forgiven and restored. There is no situation a couple goes through that the grace of God is not able to touch and redeem. God can soften hearts and heal and restore.

Interestingly, this whole section comes right after Jesus just taught about forgiveness and restoration. Marriage more than any other is a relationship where there has to be much forgiveness that takes place. In marriage we easily and regularly hurt one another and we must easily and regularly forgive one another.

Divorce flows out of hardness of heart, so in your marriages keep a watch on your hearts, guard them, check in with on another often, and grant each other grace and forgiveness when you don’t meet one another’s expectations. Only Jesus ever perfectly meets our expectations, so if we keep him the center of marriage, the motivation of our hearts will not be our spouse’s performance.

C. Eunuchs and a Heart for Heaven (v10-12)

Okay, the second objection, which is the disciples’ response to this. I’m calling this part, “Eunuchs and a Heart for Heaven.” Basically the disciples are like…”man Jesus, that’s gnarly…maybe we just shouldn’t get married since marriage is a such a big deal and is so permanent?”

Jesus’ response is pretty straight forward. One, in verse 11 he says that’s a thing that must be “given” to you. It’s a gift or a calling. The apostle Paul has a helpful cue in 1 Corinthians 7:8 for how you know if you have the gift…he says it’s when you don’t “burn with passion.” So if you “burn with passion” you don’t have the gift. I think you know what he means. It’s a nice way of saying aroused or stimulated.

Not too many people have that gift. The technical term for it is being a Eunuch, which is the term Jesus uses. Jesus says there are three kinds of Eunuchs.

One kind are those who were eunuchs from birth, they either were born without certain sexual organs or born without desire.

Another kind are those who were made eunuchs so they could serve in some official capacity, a common ancient practice of king’s was castrating his officials to make sure they didn’t intrude on their wives, harem and/or other practices.

Then Jesus mentioned a third kind and that is those who are choose to become Eunuchs either by castrating themselves or by finding a sinless way to put a bridal on their desire. Interestingly Jesus commends this, if it is for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

Now some in Christian history have wrongly thought that if you’re a dude and you castrate yourself you are some how more spiritual or holy or more Christian or whatever. No that’s not what Jesus is saying here. He’s pointing out the simple fact and truth that without the responsibility of a wife and kids, you don’t have others depending on you so you’re able to do more ministry freely.

For example, since I’m a husband and a father my primary ministry is to my family. So every evening except the night we have community group, I’m home with my family spending time ministering to them. If I wasn’t married I would be able to spend that time doing more ministry with people…which would be good for the kingdom.

Here’s what I think we ought to get from this.

There are some, very few, whom God has designed and called to be single for life because he has a special ministry assignment for you to do. So I would say if you think you have that gift, you better devote yourself to the ministry of the kingdom. And that is honorable.

The other thing I think is relevant here for us to talk about is a fourth kind of eunuch Jesus doesn’t mention here but is an outflow of the same sentiment of the disciples concerning marriage and divorce and that’s the functional eunuch, where you’re not really a eunuch but you’re not about marriage either.

This is quite popular today. The cultural idea is that you don’t want to get married because that will tie you down…marriage is a “ball and chain.” Instead you should protect yourself so you can be free and hook up with as many girls as possible. I regularly talk to guys who will straight up tell me, “Man I don’t ever want to get married…at least not until I’m after 30.”

And this is happening on a large scale. Earlier we were talking about how things have changed in only 50 years. For most of history and still for most of the world, besides the US and Europe…it would be rare that you would not be married before the time you were 20 years old. That would be late, most people would marry off somewhere between 17-19.

Now if you get married here, even at like 26-27, that’s considered getting married young by today’s current standards. Why is that happening? There’s a number of factors, like the age of college and quarter life crisis, the breakdown of gender roles, but we don’t have time to go into all that today. I’ll just mention one of the big factor since it’s in our text and that’s divorce.

What has happened because vast epidemic of divorce and the pain involved, is that children who have gone through it do not want to get divorced. Like the disciples, they’re like…yeah, let’s avoid that. And there has been three main popular solutions. One, don’t get married, at all. Two, wait until you are older and wiser, post thirties. Or Three, live together before you get married to make sure it’s going to work.

The funny thing is, the older people get the more difficult those people say it is to find someone to marry. And those who co-habitate before marriage, live together before, actually have a 65% higher divorce rate according to a study done by Georgia State University.

Why mention this? Because these solutions just don’t work. The only solution is to simply trust and obey God and his plan…to live under the rule and reign of God from heaven rather than thinking we can be smarter or do things better our way. The creator tells the creature it’s purpose and design not the other way around.

Apparently the disciples got what Jesus was saying. According to tradition, out of the twelve, only John was given this gift…all the others embraced the joy of marriage according to God’s divine plan and design.

I’ll say this one last thing. Some of you are in college and I just want you to hear me…there’s sort of this perception that college is the time when you are supposed just have fun and then grow up later. I don’t think so, I think it’s the time you ought to be getting married, so I think you ought to be looking for a husband or a wife and getting on with it.

If you’re body is old enough so that it is functioning in a way that you can make a baby (i.e. ovulation, erections, etc.) you’re old enough to get married, that’s what your body is telling you. Our biology says something about theology. Our biology is saying find someone to marry and make some babies.

II. Children Are Essential To The Kingdom Family

Okay, last point for today, “Children Are Essential To The Kingdom Family.” I’m just going to take both these sub points together about children not being rejected and instead being blessings.

A. Children Ought Not Be Rejected (v13-14)
B. Children Are Blessings Of Jesus (v15)

I don’t think it’s coincidence that right after this discussion about marriage there’s this scene with children. Some people bring kids up to Jesus but the disciples reject and rebuke them. Why? Because Jesus was the king of the kingdom and there was certain protocol for behavior when before an excellency.

Jesus was and is the king but he was never the type of king who forced unneeded ceremonies and performances. So Jesus here corrects the disciples and says let the children come, “for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” and then he lays his hands on them and blesses them.

Here is what I want to say about this. Children are extremely important in the Bible from beginning to end. We already talked about how biblical theology is fraught with familial language but even more so than that, children are essential to the story of God and his people.

The whole story of the Bible from beginning to end is the story of God making a people for himself. He does this in two ways: through births and new births. That is through procreation, where actual babies are made and then through new creations, when people are born again and redeemed through the gospel.

God promises Abraham he will have as many children as there are sand and stars…Then as we we’re talking about earlier through the story of Hosea and Gomer…God’s people have sinned and strayed from him and so he has bought us back in Jesus and through Jesus, we are born a new God becomes our Father.

Now here’s the thing. I know sometimes I say it jokingly about people needing to get married and have children. But I believe this a very serious biblical issue and that there is a very big a cultural lie we have begun to buy into.

The biblical issue is that God commanded, the very first thing he tells man to do, is “Be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28).” Sure, there are other reasons and benefits to sex, but one of them is procreation. The issue of biblical commands is not, “follow these rules or else” but follow these commands because this is how God designed you and obeying them is what will make you happy in life.

So many couples I see struggling with their identities and careers and their marriage and sometimes Amy and I will just say to them… “You know what? You guys just need to start having kids.”

The cultural lie we buy into is that it is a choice of our to decide if “we want” to get married and if “we want to have children.” The truth is that is not something for us to decide but rather to obey because God our Father knows best because he made us. When we don’t obey him, that’s called rebellion.

This is really where sin and the brokenness that first came into marriage which causes divorced first came into the world…it was when Adam and Eve decided that they thought they knew better and could do better if they did not obey God’s commands and instead did their own thing. They didn’t have a whole lot of commands in Eden. Three commands: make babies, take care of the garden and don’t eat of this one tree. But Adam and Eve disobeyed doing their own thing and we have been following that pattern ever since.

Statistically, another result we are seeing along with couples get married later in life is that they are then not having kids until years later after that if they do get married and by that time the women are approaching the age for medical risk in pregnancy and giving birth.

But I think that is just a symptom of how widespread this non-biblical ideology has become, because the ideas about getting married later in life and not having kids until way later does not come from the Bible but from a culture who thinks they can fix themselves and be happier if they just do our own way.

On top of it, as Amy and I personally have discovered…the ability to have children is not guaranteed. I’m speaking both from personal experience and repentance. Most of you know now that Amy is pregnant again…what you may not know is that we had been trying to get pregnant for almost two years but Amy had two miscarriages.

Which by the way I know there are probably some of you out there who have gone or are going through that. I would just say to you, you are not alone, there is story after story of couples in the Bible who wanted and tried to have children and were faced with the pain and difficulty of not being able to fulfill both their desire and the biblical command. Every time, they cried and cried out to God. So cry out and we cry with you.

For Amy and I we waited to start having kids until later in life because we “wanted to be financially stable” and then we though that having kids was just like math, it’s automatic, you just don’t use a condom. We feel as though we bought into the lie and tried to play God rather than trusting God.

Here’s the thing and this is the last thing I have to say about it. Children are a blessing. Jesus here says let them come. Let them come and then he blesses them. Marriage isn’t a ball and chain. Marriage is the good life. And then having kids is the really really good life.

Children shouldn’t be rejected, they are a blessing. Let them come. Let them come into the world so they might come unto Jesus.

Conclusion

All right, let’s conclude. We’ve covered a ton of ground and a ton of stuff. We’re going to go to Jesus’ table and worship and receive his provision of grace. I can think of three things that may need to happen for some of you today.

One, you don’t know Jesus…you’ve left God and not lived for him and you need to be bought back. Two, some of you may know Jesus but you’re still holding the reigns on your life and your in rebellion and need to repent. Three, some of you are hurt, still with the wounds and pain that come from hardness of heart that has wrecked marriage and family close to you and you need healing and restoration. Fourth, you’re married and having kids and you have a lot to be thankful for in Jesus blessing in your life and you need to stay dependent on him for it and keep a soft heart.

Here’s where today’s message hits home for all of us in the gospel. We all have hardened our hearts toward God and divorced ourselves from him and gone after other loves. Yet, like Hosea, God has reached out to us and made away to bring us back and redeem us into his love through Jesus. Jesus lived the life we have failed at and died the death we deserve so we might be brought back into the grace and love of the Father.

So let’s go to Jesus with our needs, with our worship and with our thanks.

Let’s pray.

Blog | Pastor Duane Smets

The Resolved Church is part of the Acts 29 Network. Acts 29 exists to “band together Christian, Evangelical, Missional & Reformed churches, who, for the sake of Jesus and the gospel, plant churches across the United States and the world.” Part of our Acts 29 covenant is to devote 10% of our resources (time, talent & treasure) to planting new churches.

We believe that many people need Jesus and that planting churches is the most effective strategy for reaching people with the gospel. It has been said that, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.” We take that to be true.

Currently (Fall 2010) there are two brand new church plants launching this fall whom The Resolved Church is supporting and a third one in the wings. Please take a second to check out their websites and pray for the church planter who is leading them.

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Nathan Downey is planting The Town Church | www.thetownchurch.com

Nate served as a virtual elder of The Resolved Church during it’s first three years of existence. During the last two years Pastor Duane has been working with Nate to plant The Town Church and is now one of his two church planting coaches. Nate is married with three children and recently graduated from Retrain and launched The Town Church in August 2010. Here’s a word from Nate about it:

The Town Church is a new church in Eureka, California. What’s the big idea? Simply put, The Town Church is a people gathered and sent by God to proclaim and live out the good news of Jesus in Eureka, Humboldt County, and beyond for the glory of God.

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Jesse Winkler is planting Westview Church | www.westviewchurch.com

Jesse planted The Vine church in Seattle, Washington in 2005. In 2009 The Vine was adopted as one of the sites of Mars Hill Church and God put a calling on Jesse to move back down to Southern California and plant a church in Rancho Penasquitos of North County San Diego. Jesse is married, has four children and has been a guest speaker at The Resolved Church a number of times. Currently Pastor Duane is serving as one of Jesse’s virtual elders until he is able to find and develop qualified elders. Jesse is currently having soft launch vision and core group gatherings and is officially launching in November 2010. Here’s a word from Jesse about it:

Westview Church is being changed by the gospel, in Christ treasuring community, sent on mission for the glory of God in San Diego, California.

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Alan Giles is at The Resolved Church for our Theo 221 – Church Planter Internship

Alan was assessed by Acts 29 in 2009 and encouraged to acquire some theological education and missional church planting experience. The result was God’s leading Alan to move his wife and two children to San Diego and enter a season of training at The Resolved Church under the guidance of Pastor Duane Smets. The goal is to train up and send out Alan to plant a church after this equipping season concludes and Jesus opens the doors. To read updates from Alan on what he is doing and learning check out his blog here: www.alangiles.wordpress.com. Here’s a word from Alan on what he’s doing:

We’re in San Diego, immersing ourselves in a missional church, studying under another of God’s chosen vessels, and calling on Jesus to take us and use us… all for the Glory of God.

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For more on the importance and need for church planting see:
• Why Plant Churches? by Tim Keller
• How To Get Involved In Church Planting by Winfield Bevins

Blog | Pastor Duane Smets

Do you sense a call to be a leader in Jesus’ church? Have others witnessed leadership skills in you? Are you desirous of discovering and developing your natural and spiritual giftings?

Everyone Christian has been given gifts which are for the building up of Jesus’ church. “Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift…the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love (Eph 4:7,16).” Everyone who is a member of a church is a minister.

Two particular giftings or ministry callings Jesus gives are the roles of elder and deacon. Both serve under the head pastorship of Jesus in local churches. Elders are the male leader shepherds of the church who are also called “pastors” “bishops” and “overseers” throughout the Bible (Acts 20:28; Eph 4:11; 1 Pet 5:2). Deacons are the male and/or female leaders of the church who serve as helpers to the elders in practical matters.

We take seriously the Bible’s call to train up and develop elders & deacons in the church (1 Tim 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). The way we do this is through leader development. Leader development now has two tracks. One track is for those who believe they may be called to be an elder. It is 3 years and led by Pastor Duane. One track for those who believe they may be called to be a deacon. It is 1 year and led by Deacon Dan. Both groups meet a couple times a month, go through a book together, talk and pray together, and work through heart issues involved and the specific ways giftings are being exercised and established.

Leadership development this fall is every other Wednesday from 6:30-8:00am beginning September 15th. If you are not yet involved and sense a call to either elder or deacon and want to join the leader development group email leaderdev@theresolved.com

Blog | Pastor Duane Smets

Most definitions of forgiveness go something like this… “Letting it go.” “Getting over it.” “Moving on.” Maybe in some way they describe some of the results of forgiveness but they don’t really get into the how and there’s actually still a note of hurt and pain still involved in those sentiments.

In last Sunday’s sermon text we read in Matthew 18 of Jesus saying to Peter that his followers are to forgive 70×7 (490 times, a euphemism for as many times as it takes) when they are wronged and that God the Father will eternally sentence us if we “do not forgive our brother from our heart (Mt 18:35).” What we didn’t have time to look at was what exactly forgiveness is and how it works.

One of the most common things we hear today is that sometimes a person just needs to “forgive themselves” and then they’ll feel better or be better. Is such a thing possible? How does forgiveness actually work inside of us?

In Tim Keller’s book “The Reason For God” he says that real forgiveness is “costly suffering.” For example, say my neighbor is having a party and one night a drunk dude is leaving his house and he accidently puts the car in drive rather than reverse and crashes into my parked car in my driveway. Someone is going to pay for the car to get fixed. Either the drunk dude, my neighbor, me or a combination of people. But it will cost some money to get it fixed even if I don’t get mad at the dude for jacking up my car.

When we’re talking about wrongdoing that needs forgiveness though we’re usually talking some inter-personal pain or hurt we’ve experienced relationally. When someone really wrongs and hurts us there’s a couple ways to respond.

One, you can seek to may them pay by…withholding relationship, say/do mean things in return, talk trash about them to other people etc. If it works and they are hurt, you think you will feel better.

Two, you don’t do anything to make them pay but simply internalize it…get more guarded, closed off, feel sorry for yourself, etc.

Forgiveness isn’t in either of the two. Forgiveness is when you simply absorb the pain and hurt done unto you and yet continue to love and serve the person who wronged you. The problem is we don’t naturally have the capacity to do this. We tend to always lean to either punishing the person or punishing ourselves.

The Gospel

In the gospel there is a God, one whom we have all eternally wronged since he is our Creator and we have not worshiped and loved him rightly. This God became a human being in Jesus and thus a God-man. This God-man Jesus then died on the cross for our eternal wrongdoing against God. He absorbed it into himself and could do so because he was eternal God. Jesus paid the price needed so that true forgiveness could take place.

The gospel shifts the way we feel and react when we’re wronged because when we’re wronged we’re reminded of the wrong we have done to God and how he has treated us in response. When we remember that we remember that he paid a price to forgive us, absorbing the debt of wrath we incurred and as a result spilling his blood on the cross. That great act turns our heart and truly enables us to forgive others.

You see we could never forgive ourselves and just make the pain and the hurt go away. Pain, hurt and wrongdoing has to paid or absorbed. When we try to absorb it ourselves we just end up bitter and resentful. When God absorbes it, he punishes it in himself in His Son and then restores relationship with people he created. If we’ve been restored to God we can be restored to others who have wronged us because there is a true source available for the cost forgiveness requires.

How could Jesus say to Peter forgive seventy times seven? Because the eternal Jesus paid a cost with his perfect life, worth an infinite amount of wrongdoings going far beyond 70×7. That in turn changes us so that we can “be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us (Eph 4:32).”

A Story

Maybe you ask, what’s this look like in real life…in real relationships? Here is a story of one of my friend and former professor mine about him and his dad.

“I was raised by a stepfather who caused my family and me a great deal of pain. He left our family when I was in my early teens, and I carried a deep animosity toward him for years. When I was in Vietnam, my animosity become almost obsessive, and I vowed that the first time I saw him on my return, I would kill him. I would make him pay for what he had done to our family. I returned a few months later and within a year had become a Christian. My world began to change and I put that stepfather out of my mind.

I had not thought about him much until about four years later, when he suddenly showed up where my wife and I and our little girl were living. He had tracked us down. My wife, being the loving person she is, invited him in.

As we sat and talked politely, that vow come to my mind. I then told him, ‘I made a vow in Vietnam that the first time I saw you, I would kill you. Today is that day.’ I will never forget the look of terror that came over his face. He started to sweat and slide down on the couch.

I went on, “But I know know that I’m no better person than you. God has forgiven me. And if he can forgive a sinner like me, I can forgive you. I will not allow you to hurt my family again, so don’t think this is made out of weakness. Rather, I forgive you because I have been forgiven.

I probably was as shocked as he was. I had not thought about saying those words of forgiveness, but they came easily. I was deeply aware of the mercy and forgiveness that God had extended to me. I knew my sin better than anyone. I may not have been as abusive as my former stepfather. I may not have hurt people in the same way he had hurt our family. But I had also abused and hurt people in my own self-seeking way.

When I came to that awareness, I knew that I needed mercy and forgiveness. And in receiving the gift of life that Jesus extended to me through his work on the cross, extending mercy and forgiveness to my former stepfather was a natural response. My vow had been the rash, irresponsible reaction of a deeply hurt, bitter young sinner. However, my ability later to forgive came from the eternal, loving grace in Jesus’ sacrifice for my sin.

I discovered that the key to forgiveness is to stop focusing on what others have done to us and focus instead on what Jesus has done for us.”

Conclusion

Lashing out usually ends up making us feel more dirty and dark. But we don’t have the capacity to simply absorb pain and forgive, hurts just cuts too deep. Yet God has made a way by giving up his Son on the cross so sin might be dealt with and we might be forgiven.

Where do you need God to deal with pain and hurt in you? Who do you need to forgive? How have you been trying to forgive but failing? Forgiveness costs a lot and Jesus paid more than we could ever imagine. May God continue to work his forgiveness into our hearts so we might be forgiving toward one another.

- Pastor Duane

Matthew Series | Matthew 18:15-35 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 18:15-35 where we hear Jesus continue to respond to the question of how to have a place with him and be great in his kingdom. In response Jesus gives five job qualifications of what is required by his employees. This week looks at the last two: community unity, and limitless forgiveness. This sermon was originally preached on August 29th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

Listen

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The Resolved Church | www.theresolved.com
(619) 393-1990 | contact@theresolved.com
All Rights Reserved © The Resolved Church

Permissions: you are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material provided you not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee. For web posting a link to this document is preferred.

The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
August 29th, 2010

“Jesus Hands Out The Kingdom Employee Job Description” – Part 2
I. Childlike Dependence: Great Humility Required (v1-6)
II. Death Of Ambition: Drastic Measures Required (v7-9)
III. Missional Mindset: Shepherd’s Heart Required (v10-14)
IV. Community Unity: Loving Confrontation Required (v15-20)
V. Limitless Forgiveness: Gospel Identity Required (v.21-35)

Introduction

So we’re hanging with Jesus today. We’re in Matthew 18 again and we’re hitting up the second half of the chapter. For those of you who were not here last week and for those who were, let me remind us real quick what’s going on.

It’s been a couple years since the disciples have been hanging with Jesus. They’ve heard him talk a bunch about his “kingdom” that’s supposed to happen, where Jesus is the king and makes everything better. And they’re seemingly really starting to believe that it’s actually going to happen…Jesus being the king and his kingdom taking over in the land.

That prompts a question. “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Chapter 18 starts off with this question. They want to know how they can get the good jobs in the kingdom when it all goes down and the powers and authorities of the land are taken over. It’s sort of like they were looking for the inside track, wanting some inside information in order to be in the know ahead of time…like a stock tip or a friend deal for a good job or who to pick for their fantasy football league.

They’re seeing great opportunity. This is their chance to not be at the bottom rung of society anymore and be one of the little people. This is their chance to make it big and be one of the great ones who is respected and powerful…to have the good life.

Jesus responds in a very interesting way. He actually never condemns their desire to be great but completely redefines greatness by essentially handing a job application form out to them with five main character traits and requirements for those who are great in Jesus’ kingdom. We went through the first three last Sunday.

First was “Childlike Dependence” with great humility required. Jesus said the great ones in his kingdom don’t have any sufficiency in themselves but depend on him for everything just like a child does with their parents. To act like that when you’re an adult is not easy, it takes great humility.

Second was “Death of Ambition” where drastic measures are required to make sure that sin and selfish gain doesn’t sneak in and corrupt Jesus’ people. Being great in Jesus’ kingdom takes a lot of hard heart work and battling against sinful desires in us and pressures outside of us.

Third was “Missional Mindset” where having a shepherd’s heart like God the Father is required. There are both those on the outside who need to be brought into Jesus’ great kingdom and there are those on the inside who tend to wander away from dependence on Jesus because of sin which creeps in.

That took us all the way through up to verse 14. The other two things Jesus says are necessary for greatness in his kingdom are in the second half of chapter 18. We just didn’t have enough time to do all five of them in one 45 minute sermon. But really the whole chapter all goes together and is one conversation or teaching. You’ll see that in a minute.

So let’s read the second half of the chapter, pray over it and then get into it. (Read text & pray)

IV. Community Unity: Loving Confrontation Required (v15-20)

Alright, so the fourth thing Jesus brings up which is an expectation and requirement for those in his great kingdom is that when they see one of their own blowing it, they don’t just let it slide but actually lovingly go to the person and work it out with them. So I’ve called this fourth thing, “Community Unity: Loving Confrontation Required.”

This is actually a passage in the Bible which either gets notoriously ignored or notoriously abused. Often times it’s referred to as the passage where Jesus talks about “church discipline” on how you handle difficult matters in the church. Basically it’s a passage about confrontation.

When it comes to confrontation most everyone falls within two groups. Either you hate confrontation and so you avoid it at all costs…it just makes you tense and nervous and you’re like “get me outta here!”

Or you kind of enjoy it and don’t mind telling people what you think and you don’t mind being in tense situations…you’re like “you know what you’re problem is!”

Sociologists call it fight or flight and usually we’re prone to one or the other. And, we’re usually prone to sin in both directions…either by not going to a person when we really need to or always going around trying to correct others and rarely doing it out of love and genuine concern.

One of the many reasons I love the Bible is that it has given us a perfect instruction manual for life if we would just follow it and know it. And one of the many reasons I love Jesus is because he knows and understands how the human heart works so well and he gets how it effects our relationships with one another and leaves us these instructions for how to deal with difficult stuff.

So what I want to do is simply walk us through Jesus’ words here. And just to tell you I think this is a hugely important passage for us as a church. This is something we need to get a handle on.

Albert Mohler, theologian and current president of Southern Seminary has said that not knowing and exercising “church discipline (as it is described here) is perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church.”

Some of you may have heard of Mark Dever. He’s a pastor and author back east who has written a very helpful book titled “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.” Mark seven is church discipline. He writes, “Neglecting corrective discipline can be deadly for a church. No one likes the prospects of going under the knife. But sometimes it is the knife which saves your life.” Churches must practice church discipline in order to show true love for one another, in order to realize the seriousness of sin, and in order to healthy grow in holiness as we worship a holy God.

I tell you more in a minute but in 13 years I’ve been a pastor now, I think this is one of the most important things the groups of believers who call themselves a church are called to do. So, so, so, so many problems would be avoided and handled so much better if we really knew and practiced what Jesus lays out here for us. So I pray, that God, by his Spirit, especially helps us today…that the teaching of God’s Word on this subject would land in you and become one of the key things you know and believe about what it means to be a Christian and be a part of a church.

A. Motive: Family-like Care (v10-15)

Okay, enough set up. I’ve broken it down into three main pieces here to help us hopefully see the full orb of what Jesus gives us here. First it begins with the motive. What is the reason or cause for why we would ever go confront someone about something? Notice a few things with me.

The first thing is to see that verse 15 does not happen out of a vacuum. One of the most important things you can learn about how to read the Bible and read it rightly is context. Context, context, context. That’s what comes before and after the words you read. Unless you are reading the book of Proverbs, context is hugely, extremely important for every other book of the Bible. That’s why I’m always telling us what’s going on in the book, before and after every passage that we ever study.

So what’s the context here? The immediate context from the paragraph right before verse 15 was all about the missional mind and heart of God the Father toward his “little ones” who like a shepherd goes out in search of his sheep when they stray away. So we’ve already got family language. A dad and his kids. And he loves and cares for his kids and when they go off and do stupid stuff that could end up getting them hurt, he goes after them like a shepherd goes after sheep who could get eaten by a wolf if they were all by themselves up on a mountainside.

Then notice a second thing with me. What is the third word in verse 15? “Brother.” Now, it doesn’t mean just dudes, it’s a general word for siblings, so we could even say “brother” or “sister” here if we wanted to. So we’ve got family language here…father, children, brother. Jesus kingdom, like most ancient royal rulerships, is a family affair. And this is what the Bible calls us to when calls us to be a part of a church is to be a good loving family with one another.

But what’s significant about that? It implies relationship. One of the main ways people abuse and misread this passage is they think it means the Bible gives you right here to just go out and correct anyone you think is wrong or off about anything. But this is in-house business. Within the church and not only that, but likely specific relationships between people in the church, like discipleship relationship and community groups. Actually just a few chapter back Jesus physically pointed to his disciples and told his biological mom that they were his brothers and sisters.

You see the motive which bring about the need to confront someone is supposed to be genuine concern because you have really grown to love someone and care for their life and don’t want to see something bad happen to them. We could even go so far as to say that because of your relationship with them, you have already earned some right to speak into their life.

Realizing that also means that if you really do love and care for something that you will not just keep silent. It’s been said that the “opposite of love is not correction but indifference.” For some of you who are so passive, you’re not really loving your Christian brothers and sisters if you see an area of concern in their life and you don’t go talk to them about it.

B. Method: Four Steps

Okay, so how do you go about doing this, what’s it look like. Maybe I should give you some examples. If you’re wondering about what sort of thing you might need to go talk to someone. Well, coupled with just being sensitive about someone’s heart and life, it’s anything that the Bible clearly says is sin. In Jesus’ kingdom, we live under his rule and reign and his Bible gives us the laws of his land.

Some examples. Drunkenness. A number of times I have had to talk to dudes about getting drunk or high on illegal drugs or recreationally using prescription drugs. Dating people who don’t love Jesus. Being a bad steward of God’s money. Pornography addictions. Sex outside of marriage. Dudes not working. Married couples not trying to have kids. Skipping out on church. Lying. Stealing. Cheating on taxes. Church members suing one another.

You name it man, I’ve had a conversation with someone about it. And I’m not even one of those people who likes confronting. I hate it. It’s not fun. But like with my daughter I can’t just sit by and let her run out into the street where cars are rushing by. It’s not loving of me to her to just sit by and be silent.

So what do you do? What are the steps?

1. First Meeting – Go to the person one on one to try and restore them. (v15)

First step, first meeting. You go meet with the person one on one alone and try to restore them. It’s about restoration. That’s always the goal. Here’s what Galatians 6:1-2 says, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Way too often going to the person one on one alone is the last thing a person does rather than the first. Here’s how it usually goes. And I’ve been guilty of this for sure. You see or hear about someone and you’re genuinely concerned…but what do you do, you go start talking to other people about them asking them what they think when you haven’t even gone directly to them yourself yet. The Bible calls that gossip, which is a sin too that ought to be confronted.

So many times people will come to me about some issue they are having with someone in the church and always my first question is, “Well, did you go talk to them first?” If they say no, I’m like, “Why are you talking to me then? I’m still two more steps down the road! It’s not time for pastor involvement yet…that’s step 3.”

You’d be surprised how many things can easily get resolved if you just go sit down with a person one on one and talk it out. If you go to someone in love, as Ephesians 4:15 says, “Speaking the truth in love.” Often you will gain your brother or sister and see them restored.

We need to do this with one another. Everyone needs to gets confronted and everyone needs to be confronting. It’s not fun but it’s what it means to really love and care for one another. Ron confronted me about some stuff just two elders meetings ago. I didn’t like it and I didn’t want to hear it. But he said, “Duane, I’m just telling you this because I love you.” It’s kind of like a flu shot, it stings a bit but it helps you.

2. Second Meeting – Go to the person with others to try and restore them. (v16)

If you go to a person one on one and they still don’t listen. Then it’s time to bring some other people in. Having a third and/or fourth party can help not only to arbitrate but sometimes people just are listening to each other or if you’re the one being confronted, you might think the person’s crazy and they might be. But if two or three other people say and see the same thing, then it’s pretty likely you’ve got something you need to deal with.

Still the goal is restoration, not conviction. Don’t misread Jesus’ words here when he says for every charge to be established “by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” I know our minds automatically jump to a courtroom when we hear those words and we imagine someone on trial who we’re trying throw into prison. That’s not what’s going on here. Verse 17 begins, “If he refuses to listen to them…” So the goal is still for the person to listen, which is repentance and restoration.

3. Third Meeting – Church pastors go to the person to try and restore them. (v17a)

The third meeting is when the pastors get involved. If still, after a small group of Christian brothers and sisters from the church sit down with a person about some sin and they still don’t listen then you’re to go get the pastors. When Jesus says here go tell it to the church it’s implying the church authorities or leaders, the pastors (we’re already in the context of church in addressing “brothers” and in the second part of this verse he distinguishes those who are outside the church).

You go get the pastors because sometimes pastors can get through to people when others can’t. Pastors are not only an authority but if they’re good pastors they’re usually trained in these things and especially gifted and equipped by God to deal with the difficult messes people get themselves into.

4. Fourth Meeting – The person is asked to leave the church for refusing restoration. (v17b)

If the pastor(s) sit down with the person and they are still obstinate and hard and don’t want help and won’t work with you and even try and change…then church discipline and restoration fails and it is sad and heartbreaking. It’s then that you let them be as a “Gentile and a tax collector” which is a way of saying, then you treat them as though they are on the outside, no longer a part of and welcome to be part of the church. Gentiles were seen as evil pagans and tax collectors were traitors.

Sometimes when people hear about church discipline they always think about this last step, but if you reach this last step it’s because you’ve tried everything else and it’s all failed and you’re brokenhearted over it. Every time I’ve had to do it’s been with a lot of tears.

It happens, it’s a real reality of church life. Even in the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 5, you can go read about the story of a dude in the church who wouldn’t stop having sex with his mom and they had to kick him out. If ongoing unrepentant sin is not dealt with in the church, it will spread like a virus and Jesus’ bride will be dirtied and his leaders weak and corrupt.

Not long ago we had a dude who came from one of our sister Acts 29 churches. Turns out he was under church discipline there for sexual immorality, sleeping around with multiple girls in the church. He showed up here. I met with him. Turned out he was unrepentant and didn’t want to make it right. So I looked him in the eye and told him that by his own confession he was a moral wolf and that according to Acts 20 it was my job to protect the flock from him. I told him that if he wanted to repent, be restored and be in fellowship here, we’d welcome him with loving and open arms but if he so much as looked at one of our girls in a way I didn’t like we’d come and tell him to get out. We love our women too much for that. I haven’t seen him since.

C. Means: Prayerful Authority (v18-20)

So those are the steps. Out of a motive of love and genuine care you confront someone. Step one, you go to the person one on one. Step two, you bring some other people with you. Step three, then you go get a pastor. Then step four, if they still don’t listen, you expel them until they want to be restored.

Now there is a danger and often overlooked and terribly misread addendum Jesus adds to this protocol. And that’s the means of prayerful authority or leadership described in verses 18-20 (re-read). Let me explain.

Binding and loosing is an agricultural analogy which developed into a popular idiom in reference to the authority of the law, or the Torah. Basically they would take bundles of grain and bind them with a rope wrapped around them or they would untie the rope and let the grain be used. Whenever that happened, either binding or loosing it was because someone had the authority and made the decision to do so. Just two chapters ago, Jesus told Peter he was giving him an authoritative job to do and he referenced this same thing binding and loosing.

Here, after the first three steps loving confrontation fail, then the fourth step is taken by the whole church under the directive of the church authorities…the person will be bind-ed or loosed. But to make sure it’s not just treated mechanically Jesus adds this addendum about prayer.

Time is taking place between these meetings and all along, seeking the Father and asking him for wisdom, discernment, grace, repentance…all those things, a lot of prayer ought to be taking place. So here’s what Jesus says, if you follow the procedure, the directives I’ve given you, and you’re praying all the way along…then you can be sure that what you did was right and was exactly what I would do, so you can put my name on it.

The whole phrase is actually a slight variation of a tractate in the Jewish Talmud, which said “If two sit together and the words of the Law are spoken between them, the Divine Presence rests between them (Abbot 3:2).” Which is amazing because Jesus not only is making a reference to his deity by naming himself as the “Divine Presence” but is also in this putting his very person and words on part with the Bible or the Law. His name and presence carries that kind of authority.

This verse, verse 20 has been so grossly abused and manipulated. I’ve heard so many times people praying and they say something to the effect of, “Jesus you said, if two are three are gathered in your name, you’re among them and will grant their request, so we ask you to do this.” And I just cringe because Jesus is talking church discipline, not some trick to get him to answer your prayer.

Plus, if Jesus is actually God, he is everywhere present, you don’t need another person for him to be present. I mean, if you needed two, does that mean Jesus doesn’t hear my prayer if I’m just praying by myself? No! So please just do me a favor and don’t pray that way. That prayer is meant for asking God to bless an authoritative church decision that’s been made to kick someone out of the church.

So let me pull this together and then we’ll hit our last point for today. Do you have someone you need to go talk to and confront in love? But you’ve just been too passive, or passive aggressive about it? Or on the other end for some others of you…have you been looking down on others, being overly critical, confronting people but it really hasn’t been done out of a spirit of genuine love and care? Or maybe someone has confronted you and you’re not listening? Or maybe there’s something you need to be confronted about?

May God help give us the courage to confront when needed and to do it the right way.

V. Limitless Forgiveness: Gospel Identity Required (v.21-35)

Okay our last qualification and requirement Jesus gives for those of his great kingdom is “Limitless Forgiveness” where Jesus brings things full circle and calls us to be changed by the gospel and to live out of that identity. Jesus began his speech by talking about needing a new identity, the one of a child’s status and dependence. Now Jesus also calls us to live out of a forgiven identity.

Peter is the first to speak up in response right after Jesus has spoken about loving confrontation. Peter hears what Jesus says and it’s almost like you can hear the wheels turning in Peter’s head trying to figure out what the implications are to Jesus’ teaching on it. Peter realizes that the whole scheme of loving confrontation and going after the sheep is going to require a lot of forgiveness.

You see, often the times we have to go lovingly confront someone is when they have personally hurt or offended us. Peter realizes this and so verse 21-22 say, “Then (he) came up and said to (Jesus) ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ But Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” And then Jesus tells a story to illustrate the point.

There’s a couple interesting things going on here. One pop Jewish law, said you only had to forgive 3 times and then the forth you didn’t have to forgive. So Peter thinks he’s going to be styling with Jesus by doubling the required amount. In response Jesus decides to take that amount and multiply it by seventy. Jesus is essentially saying, you forgive limitlessly. You don’t ever stop. He didn’t mean if someone wrongs you 490 times on the 491st time you can give ‘em the finger.

And this is exactly what Jesus’ story is about. Basically you’ve got a guy who owes the equivalent over a billion dollars, that’s how much 10,000 talents would be. So he begs and pleads his master for mercy who grants it to him. Then that guy goes out and finds a dude whom he lent 100 denarii (one denarrii would be a days wage, so basically about three months worth of work, compared to his lifetime of an unpayable debt…but he beats him, doesn’t forgive his debt and instead has him thrown in jail for it.

Jesus points out the hypocrisy and wickedness of the man and makes this key statement in verse 35, which pulls the whole parable together and states its point, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, If you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Jesus’ point is that, through him we have been forgiven of an unpayable debt to the Father and it ought to make us forgiving to others who hurt and wrong us. Forgiven people ought to be forgiving people no matter what it takes. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Our identity has to become one where we see ourselves through the lens of the gospel. The truth is by nature we have not seen ourselves as with the humble status of a child, but been self-confident, success driven creatures of ambition who get caught up into all kinds of sin and have wandered away from God. Yet God has seen fit to lovingly confront us about it and through Jesus and he has welcomed by paying all the debt of wrath and justice we deserve for our sin with his blood.

It’s amazing how easy it is to hold and harbor bitterness and unforgiveness toward people who hurt us. And yet God has not held it against us when our crimes toward him have been far more treacherous than the ones done to us. Do you have someone you need to forgive? Someone you’ve been holding something against? Do you see yourself as a sinner who has a big debt you owe to God? Do you see what Jesus did in paying that debt for you in your place by dying on the cross?

Only having that kind of identity, a gospel identity can free us from the pain and the hurt we so easily harbor. Only having a gospel identity like that can we receive loving correction from our brothers and sisters because we know we are just sinners saved by forgiving grace whom God is changing and transforming.

Conclusion

Let’s conclude. Today’s sermon really is all about restoration and forgiveness. The whole point of church discipline is restoration. In Hebrews 12:6 the Bible says the Lord disciplines those he loves like a parent does with their child. We have all sinned and erred and fallen short of God’s glory.

The gospel both confronts us of our sinfulness and then restores us through the forgiving work of the cross applied to our hearts. It’s such good news. Let’s pray.

A little over a month ago Caleb and I began chatting about what it would look like to have a college liason for The Resolved Church. The result of much prayer and discussion is a new role and ministry of The Resolved. We are super excited to announce Caleb Zeid as our first college liason. The Resolved Church College Liaison will function as a mediator between the colleges of San Diego and the church by being a source of information & a relational contact point for those who may find themselves interested. Below is a blog from Caleb about his heart and vision for this ministry.   - Pastor Duane

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Blog | Caleb Zeid

When looking at the places Jesus has taken me over the past two and a half years, I see the transformation that has been wrought by my involvement with the Resolved. I am filled with the mission of the gospel towards the college population in San Diego. Originally I believed my mission was specifically for the USD community, but recently that view has been expanded. I have started to feel the need all college campuses in San Diego have for the gospel. In light of this, I have accepted a position as the Resolved church’s college liaison.

As college liaison I will be reaching out to students around San Diego County and letting them know about the Resolved. I do this for two main reasons:

1. The majority of college students do not have a church home.

This is due to a number of factors. The belief that “college is a time to be ‘free’ and that figuring out the religion stuff is for after graduation” is rampant. Involvement in parachurch ministries often takes the place of church membership. And even the idea that “God is everywhere so we can just worship him in our own way when we feel like it” is a reason why students do not become involved in churches.

As a leader in a parachurch ministry and a college student I see and hear these arguments frequently. I believe that Jesus is calling the people making those arguments into his Church. The Resolved believes that “You cannot love Jesus and not love his church” and because of that we have a desire to see growth in college student church involvement. Not so we can look hip as the church with all the college students, but so that they can experience a deeper more intimate relationship with Jesus through his people.

2. The desperate need for truth.

This is not an attempt to bolster our Sunday attendance numbers. Rather it is an attempt to point young adults away from the lies of college and toward the truth in Jesus. There is no doubt that the college atmosphere is filled with lies. College students are told lies about how much alcohol to consume, lies about sex, lies about body image, lies about manhood, lies about womanhood, and lies from professors about God.

Even the private religious schools suffer from a lack of truth in their Theology departments. These lies have created a desperate need for truth in San Diego’s college population. I know I am part of this population. I have been told the lies and heard religion professors spout falsehoods. The truth we all need is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

The dream I have as the Resolved’s College Liaison is that people are directed away from lies and towards Jesus and his transformative gospel by his work through our church. Please pray for me as I take on this new ministry.

- Caleb

Blog | Pastor Duane Smets

In last Sunday’s text we read the words of Jesus, “It is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish (Mt 18:14).” We couldn’t take the time to dive deep into the meaning of God’s will on Sunday so I promised a blog on it this week. This topic could be much more than a blog, like a long article or book. But others have done that elsewhere, so I’m going to try to state and explain it as clearly and succinctly as possible here. Here’s three great resources:

• Are There Two Wills In God? by John Piper
• Are There Two Wills In God? by Sam Storms
• Are There Two Wills In God? MP3 PDF by Matt Chandler

Theologians have long recognized that there are two wills of God referred to in the Bible and have given them different names in order to differentiate between them…

Sovereign Will	&	Moral Will
Efficient Will	&	Permissive Will
Secret Will	&	Revealed Will
Will of Decree	&	Will of Command
Decretive Will	&	Preceptive Will
Will of Sign	&	Will of Pleasure

I’m simply going to use the first designation (Sovereign Will & Moral Will) here though all the other terms are equally helpful and descriptive of the two wills of God. Here is a definition of each:

God’s Sovereign Will is what God, by his limitless power and knowledge, has eternally ordered and determined to happen from beginning to end in all of his creation, all for his glory.

God’s Moral Will is what God, by his limitless perfection and holiness, has revealed about his character and the righteous requirements for men and angels who live under his Sovereign rule and reign.

In the Bible it is clearly stated in several ways that God has a Sovereign Will, which rules over all things and cannot be overcome or defeated by anyone or anything.
• Job 42:2 “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”
• Psalm 139:4-5,15-16 “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before…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.”
• Isaiah 46:9-10 “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”
• Daniel 4:25 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have you done?’”

In the Bible it is clearly stated in several ways that God has a Moral Will, which he declares as holy commandments to be obeyed by his people.
• Leviticus 19:2 “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
• Deuteronomy 6:25 “It will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’”
• Matthew 7:21 “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.”
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3 “This is the will of God, your sanctification.”

Here is where the apparent difficulty comes into play. Matthew 18:14, 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Timothy 2:4 all say that God does not will for anyone to perish but for all to be saved. Yet we know many are not saved but are thrown into hell by God (Mt 10:28) who has planned it to be so since before the foundation of the world (Rom 9:22) along with his ordering of all events that have yet to take place.

So here is the question, what will of God (Sovereign or Moral) is being referred to by Jesus in Matthew 18:14 when Jesus says God is not willing that any should perish? Since some do perish, this reference to God can only be his Moral Will. But how are we to conceptualize such a thing? Whenever we run into theological challenges the best place to look is to Jesus and to his cross.

In the Bible it says it was the will of God to crush Jesus on the cross according to God’s definite plan and foreknowledge.
• Isaiah 53:5-6,10 “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes 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…it was the will of the Lord to crush him.”
• Acts 2:23 “Jesus, (was) delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, (whom) you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

On the cross, the Sovereign Will and the Moral Will of God collided. According to God’s Sovereign Will he allowed his Moral Will to be violated in order that the greater purpose of his glory, in the saving of his people, might be accomplished. So we learn this principle, sometimes God does that which he hates (in the case of Jesus: murder) in order to accomplish his greater good plan.

Now back to the will of God that none should perish. When we read those words I think we are hearing about the love and passion God has for his holiness and his righteousness. God is a complex being. On one hand, morally, he never wills that any should perish. Perishing is sad and terrible, it’s eternal damnation in hell. Yet, in the greater scheme of things, his goodness and justice is seen more brightly and rightly if some do in fact perish…so he sovereignly wills their perishing. In having holy justice occur upon the perishing the true heinousness of sin is shown. In saving some from perishing the true and deep nature of his mercy and love is shown. Thus once again, as with Jesus on the cross, we have God doing that which on one hand he hates, in order to on the other hand accomplish the greater good of his glory.

Conclusion

Often I have seen and heard those who would accept the theology presented above to the extent that they overemphasize God’s Sovereign Will and as a result dismiss or do not allow the Scriptures to say or mean anything when they clearly tell us God doesn’t will for any to perish. Since the Bible does tell us God doesn’t will any to perish, God means for it to be good to know…even if it is describing the complexity of God and his affections and presses the bounds of what our small brains can comprehend. So then what is supposed to be our response? What is he after?

I think it is an invitation. I think when Jesus tells us God is not willing for any to perish, he means for us to be drawn into the heart of God so we are not willing any to perish either. I think he means for us to work with every effort so that people might hear the gospel and believe and thereby be spared from perishing. In fact this is what the Bible call us to. Jude 1:23 says, “Save others by snatching them out of the fire.” Ironically then, it seems the purpose of God revealing to us that he has two wills is an intently missional purpose.

Understanding, believing and accepting the two wills of God described in Scripture is meant to propel us toward mission. We are to think, feel and work to bring as many as possible to Jesus because that is the heart of God.

May God help us in the mission he has called us to and give us great confidence since we know he has sovereignly willed for not all to perish but for many to indeed come to repentance.

- Pastor Duane

Matthew Series | Matthew 18:1-14 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 18:1-14 where we hear the disciples of Jesus who ask how to have a place with him and be great in his kingdom. In response Jesus gives five job qualifications of what is required by his employees. This week looks at the first three: childlike dependence, the death of ambition, and a missional mindset. This sermon was originally preached on August 22nd, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

Listen

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
August 22nd, 2010

Jesus Hands Out The Kingdom Employee Job Description
I. Childlike Dependence: Great Humility Required (v1-6)
II. Death Of Ambition: Drastic Measures Required (v7-9)
III. Missional Mindset: Shepherd’s Heart Required (v10-14)

Introduction

Let me start right off this morning by reading the text and asking for God’s help as we look at it today and then we’ll put it in context and start working through it. (Read Text & Pray)

First off before we get into the section of Scripture, let me quickly remind you of what has been going on in the book. Two main things have been happening which we’ve seen and heard in various ways. One, Jesus has more openly been declaring and demonstrating that he is in fact the messiah and is God. In chapter 16, he said he is in fact the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Then in chapter 17 he took a few of his disciples up on a mountain and let them catch a glimpse of his deity by allowing his face to light up like the sun and have a voice speak out of heaven. Pretty amazing stuff.

The second main thing which has been happening is Jesus has started saying that he is going to leave the disciples. Three times now he has said he is going to die and rise. And we know the whole story and have the whole book, so we know that’s just around the corner.

Now, hearing these two things were difficult, not easy, both for Jesus’ disciples and for others. Just like how some of us and many in our city have trouble with Jesus being God and have trouble with his death and resurrection. It seems far fetched to many. It was tough for people back in Jesus’ day too and we’ve been reading about that…the questioning and challenging of it.

In response, Jesus has been pretty sharp, calling out his disciples’ little faith and then most recently, at the end of chapter 17, telling the tax collectors that he doesn’t need to pay taxes because his dad is the king and creator of the whole earth. But he ends up paying the tax anyway by performing a miracle which demonstrated his omniscience, that he knows everything happening in his creation all the time, including future events. You can read the story, it’s quite amazing.

That brings us to this morning and chapter 18. In chapter 18, Jesus turns his attention to a whole new subject. But it’s spawned by a question from one of the disciples which is in reaction to what just happened in chapter 17. Let me show you.

Chapter 18 starts out, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Two things are going on here.

First, when you hear “At that time” it kind of just sounds general, like “Once upon a time…” But it’s actually a lot more specific than that. In Greek, which our English Bibles are translating from, the Greek literally reads, “In that hour…” So all of chapter 18 really happens within sixty minutes of what happened at the end of chapter 17.

Now here’s what’s significant about that. Jesus just said his dad is the king of the earth and that he is his son. And all through the book he has been talking about his kingdom. Chapter 16 concluded with him saying his kingdom is coming. But like we mentioned a minute ago, the disciples have been having trouble believing that.

So on one hand their question, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” is good because it shows that they are finally starting to believe that this kingdom of heaven thing with Jesus as the king is in fact real and is going to happen. But on the other hand it’s not so good because what does their question demonstrate? What is the focus and desire of the disciples’ question here? What are they asking for or wanting?

To be great! They are vying for position. If Jesus is in fact the king and his kingdom is going to take over everything…then I want to be one of his right hand men. I want to be in the king’s inner court. Essentially they are asking for a job. They are asking how they can become one of his court officials. If we wanted to update it for today, they are asking for how and who gets to be Jesus’ CEO, CFO, board members, managers and employees.

I mean their question is actually somewhat understandable. Okay, Jesus if you’re going to rule over all and be the most successful business in town, how to we get a seat at your table and get in on the action?

Jesus response is both coy, direct, and penetrating. Jesus goes beneath and behind the dreams and aspirations of the disciples and directly addresses the heart issue which is driving their imagination and desire for position in the court of his kingdom. So I’ve titled my sermon this morning, “Jesus Hands Out The Kingdom Employee Job Description.”

His answer to their question actually spans the whole chapter, but we’re only go to go through half of it this morning and then do part two next week. This week we’ll look at the first three qualifications Jesus gives as requirements for gaining a seat in his kingdom.

I. Childlike Dependence: Great Humility Required (v1-6)

First one today, “Childlike Dependence: Great Humility Required.” Jesus decides to bring a child before the disciples as an object lesson in response to the disciples question of who is the greatest in his kingdom. Now there’s a lot going on here that is difficult to see on the surface, which perhaps is one of the reasons that this is a passage of Scripture has often been misused and misunderstood.

First, I’ll tell you how this passage commonly gets referred to. Say you’re in a conversation with someone and you’re talking about how God is holy and cannot tolerate sin and how we are all sinners and so he sent his son Jesus, as a God-man in order to live the life we’ve failed at and die the death we deserve in our place on the cross and then rise again.

But the person you’re speaking talking to doesn’t really think that they are really that bad of person, they have a hard time understanding how Jesus could be both God and man at the same time, and the whole idea of the cross and his resurrection just seems way too far fetched.

Then suppose a third dude comes along, and he tries to correct both parties and bridge the gap and he says…man you’re making it way to complicated. God is just a loving father and wants his children to love him. Jesus came to bring love and he said to have a child like faith…to be like a child who readily and easily runs up and sits on their dad’s lap.

This passage and it’s parallels in Mark and Luke are where the phrase “child-like faith” comes from. Usually child-like faith is reduced to simply being a call to just love God and leave the details and the barriers to faith behind. Now to be fair, there is some truth to that. There is a simplicity to the gospel and to believing in and loving and following Jesus. Deep down we know it is true and it is right and it’s what we need and we simply need to be simple and move forward with Jesus. But the question is, is that here? Is that what Jesus is calling for here?

I don’t think so. Let’s think about a few things together. First, remember the question on the table here is status. How do you status or position in Jesus’ kingdom.

Second, consider the status of children in the first century. Children were at the bottom scale of status, they had none apart from their parents status. Children were considered of little or no value until they got older when they then were seen as an asset to the family. But until then there were supposed to be seen and not heard and considered useless because they couldn’t fight and couldn’t work and thereby contributed nothing to the family household and name.

Third, children rarely act humbly. Children constantly think they can do anything and everything all by themselves. At least if you have a three year old like my daughter. She’ll be brushing her teeth, which for her consists of sucking and chewing on the toothbrush…so I’ll be like, Adina, “let me help you sweetheart.” “No Daddy! No! I can do it! I don’t need you!”

The other day I let her help me move the cars around, so I had her sit on my lap while I moved the car out of the driveway and onto the street. I go to start turning the steering wheel and she grabs my hands and throws them off the steering wheel and says, “No Daddy, I’m driving.” She thinks she could just drive off herself. Not humble at all. Constantly with our kids when they are playing together we are referee-ing between them because they fight over toys…mine, mine, mine. Kids are not humble.

So what is Jesus getting at. I believe he is getting at status and dependence. You see children, do not have a high status, they don’t get a say in things. It’s the opposite, they are dependent on their parents for everything…to protect them and provide for them. If a child does not have a parent doing that, they will simply not live. They will die, literally. If we just left our daughter at our house by herself for a few weeks and went on vacation, she would die. She is utterly and totally dependent on us. That’s why when you file your taxes you mark, “dependent.”

So I think when Jesus says, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” I think he means who ever becomes utterly and totally dependent on me, will not only not get a place of high standing and status in my kingdom, he won’t even get in!

Check it out. There’s two other textual clues which help us see this. One is in verse 3 where Jesus says, “unless you TURN and become children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” It’s easy to miss, that word, “turn.” The word here, “strephomai” in the Greek isn’t just a simple turn, like your turning left or something. It’s a radical change in direction or nature. It’s a total shift not only in value system but identity, the way you see yourself here.

One commentator said Jesus most certainly here is speaking of conversion…which if that’s true means Jesus is saying here that some of the disciples still did not yet really believe because they had not experienced a radical shift or turn in their fundamental identity. They did not see themselves as weak and sinful people who were dependent on Jesus for life and salvation but instead saw themselves as strong and confidence and were beginning to compete with one another for status in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus wasn’t having any of it.

The second textual clue is in verse 6, where Jesus tells how one becomes a child. He says these “little ones…believe in me.” The key to child-like faith is giving up your own righteousness and own efforts at being good and saving yourself and gaining for yourself and instead putting all belief or faith in Jesus.

Jesus is so serious and so intense about this that he actually goes on the offensive after this against those who would encourage anything else. The first thing he says is actually kind of funny and sarcastic…I think.

He basically says, if you’re trying to become great yourself and save yourself and encourage others to do likewise…you might as well go have a great milestone hung around your neck and be drowned in the sea. It’s quite picturesque.

The great milestone was this big stone weighing several hundred pounds shaped like a cone. A rope would be tied around it hooked up to a beam with a donkey on the other end and the donkey would then walk in a circle trampling over grain in order to mash it down into flour. Everyone knew what this milestone was. Jesus says, if your going to fight for your own status and position in my kingdom and set others on a course of climbing up the ladder of success you might as well go tie that thing around your neck and throw yourself in the sea…because that’ll be better than what I’m going to do to you if you try and get away with that in my kingdom.

It’s kind of a funny analogy. Jesus didn’t mince words. Can you imagine me bringing my daughter up here? Have her sit on my lap and me saying to you…she depends on me for everything and unless you humble yourself and believe in me and wholly depend me for everything you might as well go throw yourself off the Coronado bridge.

The question, the real heart question here is what does it truly mean to be humble? How do you humble yourself? Jesus first job qualification here is that great humility is required. So what really is humility and how do you be humble?

A pastor, theologian and writer named C. J. Mahaney wrote a great little book titled humility. In it he suggests that humility is the opposite of pride and that sometimes humility is best seen by understanding what pride is. Interestingly here is how he defined pride, “Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence on him.”

Pride then is essentially robbing God of his glory…which helps us understand why Jesus says it is so serious. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

It’s sort of easy to look in on this story from the outside and to think “stupid disciples” and praise “child-like faith.” But really where are we in the story? We may not be literally asking Jesus for jobs and positions of power but where is their pride and self-reliance and a lack of child-like dependency at work in us?

What are the things we are really desiring or aspiring after in life? Do we look as Jesus as being good but he’s not enough to where we feel like, “Yeah, you’re good Jesus, but I really need and want this to”? Are we truly dependent like a child on Jesus for everything or do we really think deep down..what I do is what matters most? Where and how are you relying on yourself instead of Jesus today? Where do you need to turn and humble yourself and believe in him?

Well, Jesus will continue this family language and analogy of children, the Father, and brothers and sisters throughout the chapter. And in this next section he continues on the offensive attack the idol of success and ambition.

II. Death Of Ambition: Drastic Measures Required (v7-9)

Let’s look at verses 7-9 together and talk about Jesus’ second job qualification, “Death Of Ambition: Drastic Measures Required.” In this next section Jesus does three things.

First he doles out a couple “woes.” “Woe to the world for temptations to sin” and “woe to the one by whom temptation comes.” A woe is essentially a death curse. It’s a serious warning with massive consequence if not heeded.

The second thing he does in this is basically generalize the whole desire and quest for position, power and prestige as the world’s way, which he calls both sin and a temptation. Success is the whole underlying assumption which drives the entire business, political, and religious worlds. There are hundreds upon hundreds of books written on how to achieve success. Kinkos has a whole stand full of them. There is “Success Magazine”, success conventions and even success mantras you can repeat every day before going to work.

John Calvin wrote in 1555 that “among the children of the world…the more desirous a man is to obtain renown, the more insolently does he grasp at power, that he may be raised to a lofty station.”

Pastor and theologian Tim Keller wrote a great little book last year titled, “Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters.” In it he quotes David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times who notes that “our culture has produced a class of high achievers with ‘rank -link imbalances.’ They have social skills for vertical relationships (and) for improving their rank with mentors and bosses but none for genuine bonding in horizontal relationships with spouses, friends, and family…presidential candidates say they are running on behalf of their families, even though their entire lives have been spent on the campaign trail away from their families.”

Ambition and achievement is a problem and we are bred for it in our schools where we are taught that the number one goal in life is to accomplish your dream, make a lot of money, and be recognized. Ever wonder why social media and reality TV has become so popular?

I’ve been doing some reconnaissance study because I’m speaking up at LA Baptist high for a week of chapels next month. So I’ve been reading Seventeen magazine and Teen Vogue a lot. And it is crazy to the stuff that is on there. There is so much about building your online identity and how much it matters.

Teen Vogue offers advice on how to get more Facebook followers. Some suggestions. Post prettied up pictures of yourself and ask people to comment on them. Share personal moments. Post supportive messages on your friends pages. “Julie” admits, “If people ‘like’ your status or comment a lot, your self-esteem goes up.”

Casey from Seventeen magazine agrees, she says, “No one can deny though, that having that little red box on the bottom right hand side of the screen is always the most exciting thing. Hearing that little pop noise or seeing some has sent you an IM on Facebook is also always super exciting. I really don’t even know where we would be without Facebook.”

What’s the draw? It’s because with online social media like Twitter and Facebook you, who are a nobody, can become somebody, you can become your own little mini-celebrity, with people following you and commenting on your life, you can achieve greatness in the kingdom of the world and feel better about yourself.

The problem is that whether it is success and power in the business world or esteem in the social media world…the goal and the hope of life is happiness and satisfaction in other people’s approval than gods and a personal striving to get it no matter what the cost. Childlike dependence and love for the Father gets ripped away…when it’s the only thing which can ever truly satisfy.

Jesus says this is serious. It is serious to slight God and to attempt to be God and seek glory and fame for ourselves. He says it is so serious we ought to take drastic measures and do whatever it takes to cut these out of our hearts because eternity is at stake.

He lists three, examples…hands, feet and eyes. He says it is better to cut out and off our hands, feet and eyes than end up in hell for buying into the world’s temptation to sin in all kinds of ways which lead us away from God. What’s he getting at with hands, feet, and eyes? Jesus is using the literary device known as a hyperbole, an extreme example to make a point. He is not telling you to get into self-mutilation as some other religions encourage.

Hands, feet and eyes…it’s all encompassing. Hands, what you work for and reach for. Feet, where you go to get what you want. Eyes, what you have your sights on, your goals and dreams. You can break them down in a number of ways.

How are you using your hands, what are you working for? Who’s kingdom are you striving to build, God’s or your own? Are you overworking because you feel like you have to or else all will fall apart, so work is your number one priority and people and family and church all play second fiddle to your job? Or maybe you’re not using your hands at all? If you’re a dude and you’re just sitting on your hands waiting for the perfect job and doing nothing that’s not good. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

Some of you got to start taking some drastic measure when it comes what you’re doing or not doing with your work.

Where do you go with your feet? Where do you spend your time? Do you go places you know are not going to be good for your soul and your motives are wrong? Do you not go anywhere and are isolated and disconnected? What about internet sites? Current statistics says one out of every seven dudes is addicted to pornography. If you haven’t realized it yet, it will eat away at your insides and destroy any relationship with a girl you ever have. Some of you got to take some drastic measures with that thing.

Lastly your eyes, what do you have your sights set on? Where do you want to be in ten years and why? Are your goals Godly or are the main things you desire have more to do with you and your personal status or state in life. What immediately comes to mind? Your character and who you are influencing for Jesus or more stuff, a house, higher paying job etc.? Some of you have hot to take makes some drastic changes in the direction and hope for your life.

In this section Jesus really goes deep, underneath the surface and questions the very things which drive our everyday life asking us whether we have bought into the world’s temptations or whether we are looking to him for our sense of accomplishment, direction and success. Eternity is at stake. Really, if Jesus does not become Lord over all of your life he will eventually not be lord at all. If your hands, feet and eyes are not set on him anything else you set them on will lead you away from him. Jesus says, you want to be great in my kingdom? Then humble yourself and give up anything that separates you from me.

III. Missional Mindset: Shepherd’s Heart Required (v10-14)

Well, let’s move on to our final point for this morning, “Missional Mindset: Shepherd’s Heart Required.” In this third requirement Jesus gives for his kingdom employees he draws our attention to missional heart of God the shepherd toward his “little ones.” In the last section we heard Jesus be very blunt, almost harsh, and talking about judgment and the consequence of hell. Here in this next section we see Jesus being very soft, tender and talking about the loving moral will of God that none should go to hell.

Now just to be clear…I’m going to throw out a couple disclaimers for our budding theologians here. So if the next few sentences don’t make sense to you that’s okay. So a few disclaimers…

One, I don’t think Jesus makes is clear here or not if “little ones” or “children” in this chapter are those who having saving faith. They definitely have the ability to fall away, which would prove that they never really were true children.

Two, I’m not going to get into angels and guardian angels here. We have at other times if you want to look it up and learn about them you can but the stuff about here angels really doesn’t effect the interpretation of the chapter.

Three, we do have a reference to the two wills in God here in verse 14. I might write a blog on it this week as a follow up but we’re not getting into it today. If you can’t wait, go read the “Are There Two Wills In God” article on the Desiring God website (http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/1995/1580_Are_There_Two_Wills_in_God/). So since I’m not going to address that here, I’m just going to treat the text as it stands and say that in the affections of God, yes, just as 2 Peter 3:9 says, “God is not willing that any should perish.” Though we know that some do in fact perish according to the eternal plan of God.

All those disclaimers are side note rabbit trails I don’t want to get into so we can focus on the main point of the paragraph and that is the missional mind and heart of God the shepherd. Ok. Whew.

Now, what we have here is a classic biblical analogy. Throughout all the Bible God is pictured as the Great Shepherd of his people. The famous Psalm 23 declares, “The LORD is my shepherd.” In addition, shepherding was one of the most common jobs people had in the ancient world. A normal or average flock of sheep that one man could shepherd was about a hundred sheep.

The shepherds’ jobs is to guide, protect and watch over the sheep. One of the most notorious challenges for shepherds is that sheep have no sense of direction and at times will wonder away from other the other sheep and end up caught up in a thicket or behind a rock or something which makes them easy targets and prey for predators like wolves, bears, and lions.

When that would happen a good shepherd would not think, well I’m not going to go after that one sheep because while I’m gone a wolf could come and just take that whole flock. He would leave the 99 and go after the one. Why, not just because it’s his job but because he has grown to love the sheep. Shepherds shepherd the sheep from the time they are little baby lambs and are usually the ones to name them. The way a shepherd guides and leads his flock is by calling out their names one by one calling them to follow him. A good shepherd would not leave a single sheep to be inevitably be devoured and die at the hands of another animal. He good shepherd loves every one of the sheep in his flock.

Jesus here, takes this common and well known thing and says that is what the heart of my father is like toward his children. He goes out in “search” of his sheep and when he finds it he “rejoices.” This is mission and Jesus way of calling us to mission here. Look at verse 10. He says, “do not despise one of these little ones” and then goes on to tell this story about the heart of the Shepherd Father. So despising a little one would be not seeking it out and working to bring the sheep back into the fold of the flock.

Jesus call here is to, as he says in Luke 19:10, “Seek and save the lost” or as he says in John 10:16, there are “sheep that are not of this fold” which must be brought in. Jesus calls us to a missional mindset, to be on the lookout for lost sheep and be working to bring them in.

So the mission here plays out in two different ways depending on whether we are saying these “children” are professing Christians are not. And remember, we’re talking children not in the strict literal sense but children as in those who are fully depending on and believing in Jesus.

There is a looking for those who are on the outside, who have never believed and need to make the turn to really become children. Ones who need to hear about both the consequence of sin and the love of the father for them. And there is a looking for those who are on the inside, who have believed but are wandering off up into the mountains, doing their own thing, and not living for or loving God…and they need to be called and brought back in.

Jesus says, you want to be great in my kingdom? Then be humble like my father who stoops down and seeks out lost sheep. Job qualification, you have to be a missionary.

So let me ask you. Are you on mission? Are there people you are praying for, spending time with, and talking to about Jesus who don’t yet believe in him? If not you need to get some people like that in your life. There’s a lot of ‘em. Only 6% of San Diego claims to believe in and follow Jesus. So you don’t have to go far. Go make some friends.

Or how about the other end, are there people whom you know have been professing Christians at one point but are not now and they need your help and love and friendship to be brought back in?

I’m amazed at how many times I pursue someone because I haven’t really seen them around lately at church or community group or whatever and we get together and I find out they are really struggling with their faith or some sin and they’ve been wandering…when they listen and repent and come back it is one of the greatest joys to see. It takes a ton of guts and humility but it is beautiful. Sometimes the greatest missional work we do is caring for the people in our church.

Do you know of anyone right now that’s coming to mind, someone you’ve been wondering about if they are doing okay and you really need to go sit down with them and have a talk? That is the missional heart of the Father. He is on the lookout and he cares and takes action.

May God make us good missionaries after both those in our city and those in our church.

Conclusion

Well let’s conclude and pull all this together and prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Supper.

The disciples asked Jesus how to be great in his kingdom. When Jesus heard that he heard the heart behind the words and said a massive change of identity had to take place because such a question showed that at the root of the disciple reason for following Jesus was what they could get out of it for themselves.

It is so easy to treat God like a cosmic vending machine or to try and use Jesus as a self-help scheme to try and make our lives better or more successful. Jesus call here is for us to humble ourselves and stop pursuing our own glory and instead depend on and look to him for our sense of status, acceptance, and joy…just like a child does with their parents.

And that is not easy. Jesus says it takes drastic measures to fight against pursuing our own glory because our hands, feet and eyes fight against us. We are bombarded with temptation of the world which constantly tells us to make something of ourselves and that we can make ourselves good and great.

Then Jesus tells us we not only have to deal with that within ourselves but we need to help others see this and realize this and be on mission working to bring people back to God just like a shepherd does with lost sheep.

Here’s how I see these things connected to the gospel. The gospel is one of an upside-down kingdom. Jesus calls us to be humble because humility is at the heart of the gospel. We all, like sheep have gone astray, every one of us and God has sought us out. He did so by laying aside his divine right to heavenly glory and prestige and allowed himself to be seen as weak and dependent by becoming a man in Jesus. He took drastic measures and gave up his life on the cross, so that we might not end up in hell because of the sins of our hands, feet and eyes.

Jesus calls for an self-identity change. The amazing, good and beautiful thing about the gospel is that the sense of status and approval we long for and fight for in the world’s scheme of success and ambition is simply given to us. God who knows the worst of us, all of our sin and how deep it goes, accepts and approves of us through our belief in Jesus. No one’s approval could ever come close to that because their approval is always based on our good performance. And that’s why the gospel is so good and so superior.

So let’s go to the table this morning and let’s thank God for his love, let’s remind ourselves of who we are in Christ, let’s remember what he did for us on the cross, let’s confess our sins and repent and deal with areas in our heart which have been seeking our own glory and satisfaction in things other than him…like little children let us go and confess our belief and dependence and love for him.

Let’s pray

Blog | Pastor Duane Smets

“So many people are so twisted and sick.” “I can’t stand it when people ____________.” “No one thinks about ____________.” These are common phrases in our world and workplaces as people talk about one another and things and people they don’t like.

You would expect Christians to have a different demeanor as those who have been touched by the grace of Jesus but more often than not such language is heightened and emphasized in churches and contexts where Christians are encouraged to see themselves as the good guys and those who are not Christians as the bad guys. In this “us versus them” combat mentality Christians act as though the church and its people are pure and it’s the people “out there” who are impure and have the sin problem.

Even more surprising is how Christians (brothers and sisters of Jesus) treat one another when the sin of one in the family is brought to light. If a person opens up about their struggle with sin, very often Christians will look down on them as somehow being a less than Christian who has not yet achieved the high spiritual state and status of others who conceive that they do no have any indwelling sins or struggles.

Now, to be sure. As Christians, we are called by Jesus to be “in the world” but “not of the world” (Jn 17:14-16). So there is a difference and a distinction to be understood and cherished. The good news of the gospel opens up a hope and a home to us which is far greater than any temporal and damaging pleasure the home of this world can offer. However, this does not mean a Christian is without sin and no longer in need of the gospel to work in them because they have come to profess faith. In fact, the Apostle John says if we as Christians say “we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 Jn 1:8).”

The gospel gives the Christian a security…we are loved and kept by God no matter what because he sent his son to die for us, even though he knew we were sinners (Rom 5:8). That gives us the freedom to open up about the sin of our hearts and to have Jesus work in us and change us, making us more like him (Rom 8:29). This is why Martin Luther said, “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ…willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Progress (aka “sanctification”) is made as a Christian through repentance. It’s where we begin to increasingly recognize how our hearts works, has bought into lies, become enslaved to sin and how the gospel counters those things and works change in us by bringing those things to light (Eph 4:13-14).

Growth as a Christian is not meant to happen individually and in isolation, no one is that strong or that good. We are meant to work through things together with God’s help. When a person genuinely, honestly, an authentically opens up about their struggle and even failure in sin…if we berate them and beat them up with law and not the gospel it will not only be crushing to their spirit and encourage them to simply work harder instead of being freed to enjoy Jesus and thereby not fall into sin. Grace is what changes the allegiance and actions of the heart.

Here is the kicker. The times when we find ourselves most angry or upset at another’s sin are often the same times when we are failing to see how are own hearts are looking to other Lord’s and loves, in a different yet similar way.

For example, say a Christian brother or sister fails sexually. Now I personally may not struggle with sexual sin and it would be very easily to look down on that person and feel spiritually superior because of that. Yet if I looked internally in my own heart I would likely find other pleasures and temptations I have given into (other than Jesus) in hopes that they would fulfill me, bring me pleasure, or even righteousness. For example, my day off could easily become my mistress, where I not only check out from work but from God and work all week long just to have the pleasure I get from having a day to do whatever I want. Such a thing is just as ugly and heinous as sexual sin, it just looks a lot prettier on the outside and doesn’t have as many practical or immediate ramifications.

Late theologian and Pastor Jonathan Edwards had this to say. It was the 8th personal resolution by which he endeavored to live his life (Note: He had 70 and you can read them here: RESOLUTIONS).

“Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.”

Jonathan Edwards’ advice works well both for our attitude toward our fellow Christian brothers and sisters as well as toward those who are not yet Christians. It’s a call for us to humbly, openly, and to continually put our faith in Jesus’ person and work and not in our own moral goodness. It’s a call for us to work together for the work of the gospel in our hearts, minds and lives both by confessing sin to one another and confronting one another. It’s a call for us to live a life of repentance.

All people everywhere, including ourselves, are dealing with the same thing. Sin and the need for a savior. We need someone to save us both from the just wrath we owe and from the present battles we find ourselves in. Jesus is that savior. Only his gospel enables us to admit we are far worse off than we would ever want to acknowledge and yet far more loved than we could ever think possible.

May God help us to be a community of people who are not fighting against our city and against one another but instead be a community of people who are repenting, turning to Jesus, and being changed because he is good and his gospel is at work in us.

- Pastor Duane

Blog | Pastor Duane Smets

I haven’t done a book report list in awhile and a number of people have been asking me what I’ve been reading lately so I figured I’d write a brief blog on it. This summer I’ve had my head in number of new books addressing various subjects. So here’s list of what’s been on my desk along with a short reaction to each from me.

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BOOKS ON PARENTING & FAMILY MINISTRY – Parenting in many ways is like crash course learning on the job. My wife and I don’t do everything right all the time but we are learning and growing and attempting to sharpen up the way we parent.
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Perspectives on Family Ministry: 3 Views Ed. Tim Jones

This is a great book, edited by Tim Jones whom I first became acquainted with in a training at Piper’s Pastor’s Conference a few years ago. The book analyzes three different approaches to family ministry and the church. As a church we are moving forward in this area and this book analyzes three basic approaches: age-based programmatic ministry, all ministry is in the home and no church programs, or an integration of ministry between the church and the home.

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Shepherding A Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp

This is a phenomenal book my wife and I have been learning a ton from and changing the way we do a lot of things with our daughter. The main thrust of the book is that we ought to parent in such a way that does not only deal with behavior but the heart…why our kids do the things teaching them that. It has a very gospel centered focus, which is extremely helpful and practical.

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BOOKS ON A THEOLOGY OF MISSION – I’ve been needing to buff up on the theology of mission. So I’ve been reading several heavy weight scholar books on mission. So this section is pretty nerdy.
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Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World by Richard Bauckham

This short little book, written by a University of St. Andrews professor, which attempts to provide both a theology of mission by developing a missiological hermeneutic as well as providing some guidance for how the Christian story relates and can function in the postmodern context we live in.

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The Missionary Nature of the Church by Johannes Blauw

This is a classic and well respected book on missiology I’ve been meaning to read for a few years. It was originally written in 1962 but I’ve been amazed at some of the biblical exegesis and insights into the theological and cultural milieu and attitudes of the 21st century regarding “mission.” Blauw is on right on target in several points that still stand true for today.

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The Mission of God by Christopher Wright

This book is a beast, 581 pages. Wright’s goal is to develop a “missional hermeneutic.” Which basically means using “mission” as a grid for exegesis throughout all of Scripture. Wright points out some amazing things and is especially strong in looking at mission in the Old Testament, which is often neglected. He definitely does “missional hermeneutics” but think he begs the question of whether or not “missional hermeneutics” is the what ought to be an overarching method for interpreting the Bible. I would opt for beginning with a more distinctly God-centered approach to begin with and I would subjugate “missional hermeneutics” as one element of hermeneutics underneath the historical grammatical method and Christotelics.

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Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became An Urban Movement And Conquered Rome by Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark is a historian and sociology professor at Baylor University. This book is a unique look into how the preaching of Jesus spawned Christianity which very quickly became the largest religion of the world. I’d been wanting to read this book to further understand some of the things which take place when large visions are accomplished, like seeing whole cities convert and the world turned up-side down with the gospel. So far it’s very interesting to look at these things from an outside perspective.

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MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS – There’s a smattering of other books I’ve been reading on various subjects.
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Jesus and Community by Gerhard Lohfink

Most books on Christian community tend toward the practical and pragmatic aspects for church health and growth. It’s actually tough to find books on community which are solid theological works. Lohfink is a Catholic, but he does some good scholarly work in this book on individualism and the social aspects of Jesus’ ministry with the disciples and the way it effected the early church.

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Liberating Ministry From the Success Syndrome by Kent & Barbara Hughes

This book has been rocking me literally. At several points when I’ve been reading this book tears have begun streaming down my face. It’s raw and digs into some of the most difficult things pastors deal with in their hearts when it comes to ministry, expectations, and working with people. More than anything else I’ve been reading this book has been ministering to my soul. The push and the drive for success, numbers and peer approval can be so strong and so easily pull attention away from Jesus. Kent and his wife openly share about their own experiences and struggles and champion that true success is faithfulness, serving, loving, believing, prayer, and holiness.

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You Can Change: God’s Transforming Power for our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions by Tim Chester

This is a good little book addressing how the gospel practically works itself out in our lives changing our hearts and actions. Many books on sanctification tend toward moralism or simply behavior modification and leave the heart and the gospel untouched. “You Can Change” recognizes that we all have things we wrestle with and that need to change and illustrates how the gospel is the only thing which really actually changes us as people instead of just covering up our failures or leaving us in a cycle of sin and struggle.

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One or Two by Peter Jones

Peter Jones is a solid theologian and professor at Westminster Seminary. This is a book on worldviews, looking at them both historically and culturally. Peter Jones argues there are really only two worldviews, one with God as Creator and us as creatures who are to worship him or where there is no God and we essentially worship ourselves and our own ideas. The book is great at emphasizing how important it is that we see and know that God is the Creator and we are his creators. Such a perspective and faith radical change what kind of life we end up living.

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Elders and Leaders: God’s Plan for Leading the Church by Gene Getz

My other Elder and I are reading through this book together right now. Tons of good practical advice as well as solid, biblically saturated material. So far it’s been both challenging and encouraging.

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Small Favor by Jim Butcher

Upon recommendation of one of my seminary professors I try to keep something fun and fiction in the mix and not only read heavy theological or heart wrenching stuff. This is the tenth book in the Dresden files series I have slowly been reading through. It’s pretty entertaining stuff in the sci-fi category and Jim Butcher is a pretty good writer most the time.

Blog | Pastor Duane Smets

“Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is a question I am frequently asked. I think it’s one most have asked at one time or another in their life. Christians and those who are not yet Christians often find themselves baffled over the complexities of this question and are unsure what if anything the Bible has to say about it.

When people ask me, first I attempt to discern why they are asking. If they are hurting, rather than attempting to answer the question theologically I attempt to exercise empathy put Romans 12:15 into practice and “weep with those who weep.” For others, of who are genuinely searching for solid answers, I offer the following lines of advice…

• There are no good people. The Bible is pretty clear on this one. Much of the confusion surrounding this question comes from us presupposing we are good people who deserve good things done to us. It’s actually quite the opposite. The harder question really is “Why do good things happen to bad people?” Romans 3:1-12 says this about our human nature: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one.”

• God is good and does all things well. One of the core attributes of God is that he, in his very nature, is good and purely good. Good is who he is. Mark 10:18 “No one is good except God alone.” Ephesians 1:11 “(God) works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

• Only Jesus is good and he died for bad people. In the gospel, Jesus, the God-man, who alone among humans has ever been good, suffered the worst bad, for us, in our place. 1 Peter 2:22-24 “He (Jesus) committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”

• God intimately knows the pain we experience when bad things happen. Jesus is our high priest who knows what it’s like to suffer. Hebrews 4:14-15 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

• Christianity is NOT Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion which believes there are two equally opposing cosmic powers of good and evil who are ever waging war against each other. This is the classic Star Wars worldview but it’s not the worldview of Christianity or the God of the Bible. In the Bible God is and always has been in control over Satan and evil, which God uses to accomplish his sovereignly good purposes. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” At times God sends messengers of Satan so our conceit might be crushed and his grace might be glorified. The story of the book of Job is another practical example of this as well.

• God uses bad things to discipline us because he loves us. God is a loving father who disciplines us. We ought to receive it and learn from it. Hebrews 12:5-11 “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Jesus is with us no matter how bad things get. For those who are Christians we have this great promise which has proved true for thousands of Christians throughout the ages who have suffered through great and many bad things. Romans 8:35-39 “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.”

May the promises of the Scriptures give your minds confidence, soothe you in the day of your suffering and enable you to offer solid responses to those who genuinely ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” As always, the gospel provides the most comprehensive and compassionate answers to the questions of our minds and the longing of hearts.

- Pastor Duane

Guest Speaker | Josh Carstensen | Selected Texts

This week’s sermon is a special address where our South Korea missionary, Josh Carstensen, shares an update and report of life on mission. In addition, Josh talks about cultural barriers for the gospel both in South Korea and here in San Diego with things such as individualism, consumerism, and authoritarianism. This sermon was originally preached on August 8th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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See who’s playing next: LampPost Café Facebook
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Building the city within our city…
by Sean Hutchinson

I have been really stirred lately by the words of Harold Best, inspired by the Word of God. Best is a musician, pastor, worship leader, and theologian and he writes both convicting and arousing words in his book Unceasing Worship.

I have no doubt that the deeper we go into the unseen things of faith, hope, and love, the more we will revel in the temporal stuff of life, the intertwining of divine and human handiwork, the sights and sounds of earth and art. Christians should be as delighted in the things of sight and sense as God is himself, when at the instant of every creational act, he declares goodness to be observable, enjoyable and usable. Of all people, Christians should have the best noses, the best eyes and ears, the most open joy, the widest sense of delight.”

Unfortunately, this has not always been the case for the art, music, media and creativity coming out of the Church (at least not in San Diego). Too long have we just scraped by trying to compete with our culture and making poor reflections of the good art, music, and media we have today, especially in San Diego. Christians should be amongst the greatest musicians, artists, creative hearts and minds for we know the Creator Himself. Our God is a God of wonder, majesty, and glory. The Psalmist declares, “You show me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy, in Your right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11). Our lives are to reflect this truth. We are commanded to “sing the glory of His name, to make His praise glorious” (Psalm 66:2). Is the work of our hands, hearts, and minds glorious? Or does it pale in comparison with the “professionals.” The church should be producing the best graphic designers, film makers, songwriters, musicians, bands, poets, artists, construction workers, doctors, writers, etc…

I believe the Church is recognizing this and we are learning to live lives that reflect the glory of God in all that we do. We are learning to make His praise glorious! Not just our songs in our worship services but every aspect of our lives.

In light of this we are on mission to be a “GOSPEL DRIVEN, GLORY CENTERED, CITY WITHIN OUR CITY.” In doing so we are launching The LampPost Cafe, a once a month coffee house/music venue as an extension of the Music/Worship Ministry of The Resolved Church.

The “Lamp Post” is inspired by the great C.S. Lewis and the lamp post that connected the regular streets of London with the majestic and magical world of Narnia. The LampPost Cafe exists to be a collision of worlds, to connect a city of creativity, art, music, and city life through a community of musicians and artists. To connect those sojourning in the Kingdom of Grace with those outside the walls of our churches and worship gatherings. Our vision is simply this: Music – Coffee – Community. We want to be a reflection of our Creator and the work of the Gospel in our lives.

In the beginning God created….and saw that it was GOOD. And God who said “let the light shine out of darkness” has shone in our hearts to reveal the light of the glory of the Gospel in the face of Jesus (2 Cor 4:6). We are new creations in Christ. God has breathed new life into us, regenerated our hearts that were once dead in sin. Let’s reflect this great light that God has shone in our hearts. Let’s reflect the creativity of heaven as we are being transformed into the image of the Son, in the image of grace, truth, hope, and love. We are called to be a city within our city. We are called to be a light that shines in darkness, illuminating this beautiful Gospel of Jesus, this eternal life that God has brought us into through faith in his Son. May every creative act, expression of art, music, melody, and sound reveal our great and glorious God, who flung out the stars with His fingertips and spoke all creation into existence, and with His most beautiful act of Redemption sent Jesus to the cross and made ALIVE IN CHRIST.

Be alive in Christ today, live like sons and daughters of God who has lavished you in His love. Join in the mission and vision of The LampPost Cafe where every creational act declares God’s goodness to be observable, enjoyable, and usable. Be a reflection of the Creator and the work of the Gospel in your life.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14).

- Sean Hutchinson

The Journey
by Kathy Broersma

We are very pleased to announce that Kathy Broersma will be teaching a women’s discipleship course in her home on Tuesday evenings this fall called “The Journey.” This course is the result of years of female wisdom and study all developed by Kathy herself. Kathy is an immense treasure to our church, you ladies will not want to miss being a part of this.

Titus 2:3-4 “Older women…are to teach what is good, and so train the young women.”

The course will addressing things like: Is believing in Jesus something good that we simply add into the mix of who we are and how we live our lives – or is it something more radical? More intentional? More intimate? You will learn for yourself how the Bible helps us answer questions like: Who am I? Does my life have meaning? Does it matter how I live my life? What happens when I die?

Schedule
09/21 —– Introduction
09/28 —– The Intentional Life
10/05 —– The Roadmap
10/12 —– The Journey Begins
10/26 —– The Journey Matters
11/02 —– Deserts, Detours & Rules of the Road
11/09 —– Journey’s End

For more information or to sign up contact Kathy Broersma at: kathy@theresolved.com

Fall is a time when college kids return to school, new people move into town, and folks in general get interested in joining a church. On Sunday, Sept. 26th we’re going to have a Potluck Lunch after our morning worship service. This will be a great time to connect with one another and get to know some new people. For more information talk to Kathy Broersma or email her at: kathy@theresolved.com

Matthew Series | Matthew 17:14-27 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 17:14-27 where we see a clashing of worlds between the divine Jesus who was just blazing in brilliant light and a world which doesn’t recognize or realize who he is. The stories and words of Jesus in this passage declare and demonstrate Jesus’ power of demons, death and denarii. This sermon was originally preached on August 1st, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church | www.theresolved.com
(619) 393-1990 | contact@theresolved.com
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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
August 1st, 2010

Jesus Exhibits The Extent Of His Kingship
Matthew 17:14-27

I. Jesus Rules Over Demons: A Faith For A Fallen World (v14-21)
II. Jesus Rules Over Death: A Promise Built For Grief (v22-23)
III. Jesus Rules Over Denarii: – A Security Beyond Wealth (v24-27)

Introduction

We’re back in Matthew this morning carrying along in our study through the book…if Matthew were arranged in a strict time chronology we’re probably in the last stage of Jesus ministry in the final months before he enters into Jerusalem for the great climax of the whole book when he dies on the cross and rises again.

We are coming off a week last week, last Sunday where through Matthew’s words we watched Jesus take three of his disciples high up on a mountain and he pulled back the veil allowing them to see a glimpse of who he really was in all of his fully glory. Jesus is a fully a man, but he is also fully God and he lets them see that and when he does his face and his clothes all lit up like the sun and a voice spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.”

The scene is nothing short of phenomenal and breathtaking. This week follows up that story with Jesus coming down from the mountain, meeting up with the other disciples and when he does there’s a crowds of people and we see and hear three more scenes. Really, in each of the three scenes were going to look at today, what we’re seeing is this clashing of worlds between this divine Jesus we just saw blazing in brilliant light and a world which doesn’t recognize or realize who he is.

This is what we’re going to see Jesus point out for us today, so I’ve titled my message, “Jesus Exhibits The Extent of His Kingship.” Let’s read the text and pray over it, Matthew 17:12-27.

I. Jesus Rules Over Demons: A Faith For A Fallen World (v14-21)

Alright, our first point for this morning “Jesus Rules Over Demons.” What we’ve got here is a dad, who obviously loves his son, somewhere along the way he has heard about Jesus and the miracles and the healings he and even his disciples were doing, he brings his son to the disciples while Jesus is up on the mountain but they couldn’t heal him…then he see’s Jesus and when he does he runs up to him, kneels before him and begs, “Lord, have mercy on my son.”

At this point, so far this is nothing new for us. We’ve seen several people run up to Jesus who need a miracle of some kind and they beg Jesus to heal him. What really makes this story unique, besides some weird details about demons (which we’ll talk about in a second), is how Jesus responds.

Check it out with me, verse 17, here’s how Jesus answers, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” Does this sound like a odd response from Jesus to you? I mean he sounds frustrated and almost annoyed doesn’t he? Being with them is burdensome? I thought Jesus liked healing people? Isn’t that kind of his thing? What is going on here? Why is he upset?

To make matters worse, later when the disciples ask him to clarify this is what he says, verse 19-20, “‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them because of your little faith.” What is going on here? This sound like insult to injury. Do you guys feel the tension here? What we’re dealing with here is a colliding of worlds.

Let me explain to you what I mean. First, let’s talk about demons. This isn’t just our normal run of the mill blind dude or sick person who needs healing. Verse 15, says he’s an epileptic, nice clinical term…the guy has seizures. Only when he has a seizure, he ends up either convulsing in a fire or drowning in water. Most likely, the fire is a fireplace in their house and the water, a water basin out in the courtyard. But apparently, Jesus doesn’t just see a medical condition here because he moves immediately to casting a demon out of the dude.

Now for us, our western, American, scientific, psychology inundated mindset has an especially hard time with this one. Maybe somehow we can accept some of these other strange healings and miracles Jesus did but demons, really? Isn’t that just a little far fetched? I mean we all know those ghost hunter tv reality shows are a big hoax…and we all love a scary movie every once and awhile but we know none of that is real, right?

I mean we’re talking epilepsy here. You can get medicine for that, well for most cases. I mean just because someone has to wear one of those little silver bracelets that say “epileptic” on them doesn’t mean they have a demon.

The interesting thing is that according to several journals of medicine, 30% of epileptic cases are incurable and usually co-diagnosed as having some form of schizophrenia produced by unknown neurological causes. Here’s the thing, we know our emotional and spiritual health can have a direct effect on our physical well-being. Ask any doctor. They will tell you the more sleep and less stress you are experiencing the better your body will be. So if there is actually a real spiritual world with such things as demons, it’s not too crazy to think they can cause cases of epilepsy.

Now, whether demons or real or all this technical stuff about epilepsy is really beside the point. The Bible’s view is that there is a real, largly unseen, spiritual world going on where Satan and his demons are working and fighting hard to get us to fall into sin and temptation which is ultimately going to be spiritually and physically destructive to us. Ephesians 6:12 says, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. “

Here is the real point. Where did Jesus just come from? The mountain. And what just happened there? The divine power and glory of the son of God was exposed! Jesus is the source of light and life itself! Jesus has all authority over sin, sickness and Satan! Do you think a measly case of demonic epilepsy is too big of a thing for him to handle? No way!

Jesus is frustrated at crowd and the disciples because of their failure to recognize the fullness of who he is and why he was there. There are worlds colliding in this text. Jesus comes from the father into to the world, to be with men…and faithless me who do not recognize him are weary some. Jesus in his incarnation put up with a host of things he simply just had to bear with.

I think this particular demon maybe got a little extra whipping from Jesus because Jesus sounds almost downright angry when he heals the boy. Verse 18 says he “rebuked him” and the demon came out of him and the boy was healed instantly. The story and the scene shines with the power and authority of Jesus over evil and wickedness.

But the disciples weren’t getting it. Like us, they fail so often to see Jesus right in the middle of where he is at work. The disciples are focused on themselves and what they are doing or not doing right. They’re sitting there wondering…why couldn’t we cast it out…maybe we didn’t say the right words, or maybe we weren’t mean enough to the demon…they’re focused on themselves and their own ability and power rather than Jesus.

Which is why Jesus tells them look, if you have even the slightest faith in me, the grain of a mustard seed (the smallest one), there is nothing I can’t do…nothing is impossible. It’s amazing that even with Jesus‘ words here, which are meant for us to focus on Jesus, have even been so abused. People have taken his words here to mean, “Oh, since we’re Christians we can just name and claim whatever we want because we have faith in Jesus…if we just well up enough spiritual confidence we can make things happen.”

Let me quote my old professor Michael Wilkins here, “(Faith) is not a gift of magic that can be manipulated at will. Rather faith is confidence that we can do what God calls us to do…faith is either existent or non-existent…Jesus (here) is getting them to look at the real nature of faith. It is not the amount of faith that is in question but rather its focus.”

There’s so much for us to learn here. First, do you realize that really everything is spiritual? Or do you compartmentalize your world and see some things as spiritual and some things not. There really is no distinction. I mean we don’t have to get all crazy and start casting demons out of one another, unless we need to…but ask yourself really, where can you see demonic forces attempting to wreck havoc in your life?

Here’s a sure fire way to recognize them…any place or way that pulls your focus and confidence off Jesus. Satan and his demons’ number one goal is to get you to look away from Jesus and look to yourself. How often we, like the disciples here, get so focused on our own performance…how we’re feeling, how we’re well we’re doing, and we fail to focus on Jesus…we’re just relying on our own ability and our own identity rather than Jesus.

Let me be really bold here. Living our lives legalistically, just purely according to a set of morals, treating Christianity as though it were a religion…rather than living day to day with a focus and a faith and trust on Jesus is downright demonic.

That is what Jesus is calling for here…rather than being faithless and twisting things up…he is calling us to have him as the center of our lives. Then we are not a burden he must bear with! Then we become delights because we praise his name! Oh that Jesus might grant that to us and in increasing measure. May he give us the faith of a mustard seed in the Lord of the mountain.

II. Jesus Rules Over Death: A Promise Built For Grief (v22-23)

Well, the next little section is short and sweet but I think there is a special nugget in it. It’s in verses 22-23, our second point for today, “Jesus Rules Over Death.” This is the third prediction Jesus gives that he is going to die and rise. He doesn’t really say anything new in it but there is a new reaction.

Let me re-read it with you, “As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.” So we get the same basic facts from this personal prophecy from Jesus about himself: he’ll be killed and he will be raised three days later.

What is different this time is the disciples’ reaction. Verse 23 says, “they were greatly distressed.” The English word “distressed” here actually isn’t the best translation because the Greek word behind it is “lup-e-o” which mainly means “to make sorrowful” “affect sadness” or “cause grief.” That’s significant. Here’s why…

The first time Jesus told the disciples he was going to die and rise was in chapter 16 and Peter straight out rebuked Jesus telling him, he wouldn’t let Jesus die and was ready to fight for him to make sure it didn’t happen. That didn’t go to well for Peter because Jesus turned around and told him that to keep him from going to the cross was from Satan.

The second time Jesus told the disciples he was going to die and rise was last week in chapter 17 when he was talking with them right after he was transfigured on the mountain. That time when Jesus told them, they were simply confused and started to try and piece together how it fit prophecies about Elijah.

So here, in this third time it seems the disciples have at least somewhat moved to acceptance that Jesus is in fact going to die and they are sad, they have grief. At first they fought against the idea. Then they were confused about the idea, not sure if that’s what he really meant. Now they realize, Jesus means it, he is really going to die…they’ve been with him already for at least two years and come to love him and are learning massive things from him and now he’s going to die. So they find themselves overwhelmed with grief.

Now here’s why I point it out. On one hand it’s good, they’re slowly making progress. On the other hand, there is something that doesn’t fit for me. When I read Jesus words about himself, “they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day” and then immediately hear that the disciples’ response is that they are grieved…it seems at least a little bit out of place to me. Do you see why? Do you know what I am getting at?

Grief is a completely understandable response. Jesus is going to die. That’s sad. But…there’s doesn’t seem to be any taking into account of the second part of Jesus’ prophecy here that “he will be raised on the third day.” It’s almost as if the disciples only hear the first part of the prophecy and then tuned out…completely missing out on great promise Jesus just held out to them which overcomes all grief…he will rise!

So here is what I want to say about it…the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the crowning piece of our faith. If Jesus did not rise from the dead then my preaching today, according to 1 Corinthians 15:14, my preaching today is in vain…if Jesus did not rise from the dead nothing I am saying to you is of any value. None it will help you. And you are all fools for listening to me!

But if Jesus really and truly did rise from the dead then that changes everything. Here’s how. Grief is real. Suffering is real. And it is painful. A major burden of my heart and what I pray will be part of the legacy I leave to this church when I am dead and gone is to teach you how to suffer well.

We have a long way to go in that…and that’s okay. But there is nothing in all of the Christian faith, there is nothing in all the religions or the philosophies of the world that is better built to handle suffering and grief then the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

We will grieve. We live in a fallen world subject to death and decay. We, like the disciples ,will face the death and suffering of ones we love. Without Jesus, that experience is an one we as human beings are not built to cope with…it only leads to despair. If when we die, we die and that’s just the end. Suffering and death is an extremely hopeless and bitter knife to the soul. But if Jesus rose from the dead then our grief gets tempered with hope and joy for those who know and love him.

So what I want to say today is if you or someone you know and love is grieving right now, for whatever the reason…hear me say this today, “My Redeemer lives…and there is hope beyond grief and the grave. Look to Jesus and you will see it and know it. Allow him to comfort and minister to your soul. 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 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus rules over death and in him we have a promise that is built for grief like no other.

III. Jesus Rules Over Denarii: – A Security Beyond Wealth (v24-27)

Well, let’s move on to our third and final point for this morning, “Jesus Rules Over Denarii.” This is a third scene we’re including today which seems to be set in contrast to the picture of Jesus seen when he was transfigured on the mountain…neither demons nor death is any match for him and now we’ll see that denarii or money is no problem for him either.

It’s been awhile now since we read this part at the beginning of the sermon so let me re-read it and get it fresh in our heads once again. Beginning at verse 24. “When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the tax?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?’ And when he said, ‘From others,’ Jesus said to him, ‘Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.’”

Okay, so here’s what’s going on here. The “two-drachma” tax, which was about two days worth of wages (so you can do the math), was a yearly tax which every male over 20 years old, except ordained rabbis, was supposed to pay once a year for maintenance on the Jewish temple.

So once again we’ve got these corrupt religious leaders who are coming try and trap Jesus one way or another…hopefully either catching him not paying, because he’s poor, but then he looks like an unlawful dude when he’s supposed to be all holy…or catch him saying he’s a rabbi so he doesn’t have to pay, in which case they would condemn him for claiming that status when he wasn’t officially ordained as a rabbi for its privileges.

In classic Jesus fashion he takes things to a whole new and unexpected level in how he responds. He asks a question to which everyone knows the answer…”From whom do the kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” Everyone knows that no king who own and rules over and runs a land ever would charge his sons tax. I mean think about it this way…have any of your ever borrowed money from your parents? I bet if you did none of your parents charged you tax on what you borrowed…because they’re your parents and they’re trying to help you out.

Jesus asks the question who kings charge tax to and the answer is everyone but the sons, the sons go free. What do you think Jesus is implying, what’s his argument? That he is not just a rabbi, he is prince and his father is the king over all the earth who owns everything, so he goes free! It’s amazing and astounding logic isn’t it. I mean Jesus just has guts here. It’s another very direct claim of Jesus to deity.

Then what’s he do? He proves it. He doesn’t want to start an actual physical brawl so he tells Peter to go cast out a line with a fishing pole and tells him he is going to catch a fish and that fish is going to have a coin in it which will be the exact amount to pay for both his and Peter’s temple tax.

This is insane. In the first story Jesus demonstrated his omnipotence, his divine power over demons and devils, he is all-powerful. In this story Jesus demonstrates his omniscience, his divine knowledge of everything in all of his creation…even before it happens, he is all-knowing. He really is the prince king over all the earth and owns all the money.

When my daughter first started saying that word every parent hates to hear, “mine” we tried to curb it by telling her nothing was hers and that Jesus owned everything. It kind of worked for awhile until she would go to other kids houses and take their toys…when they got upset she would tell them it was okay because it was “Jesus’s.”

Here’s where I think this one hits home with us…in our sense of security and hope. You see for Jews in Israel at this time, the temple was the central focus of everything. The temple stood as the ultimate hope of God’s redemption and forgiveness. The thought in the land was if they could just have the temple restored to it’s former glory then they would be able to gain deliverance from Rome and be a powerful and happy nation.

How often do we buy into these same gospels? We think if we we’re just financially prosperous enough, if we made enough money or keep making enough then we will feel secure and okay. Or we think if government, our political temple, if it just went right then things would be good. But is it ever good? No one’s ever really happy with politicians and congress.

Again Jesus calls attention to himself and points to himself and being the source for financial security and the hope for the earth. He says and shows that he owns all the money and he rules over all the land. So the smartest thing is to trust him because those who are with him go free.

Isn’t that what we are really so often longing for…to be free? Free from the worry and burden of money. Free from the worry and burden of the economy and our land and our family. Don’t we all just want to be free?

And that’s exactly what the gospel provides for us and we have a beautiful picture of it here. Through the gospel we get adopted into Jesus’ family and become co-heirs, co-sons along with him and we go free too gaining all of his provision. It’s exactly what Jesus does with Peter here. He includes Peter and gets a coin to cover his tax too, so he can be free, because Peter is with him and he’s the Son of God.

For some of you the worry over money looms over your head and weighs down on your shoulders. Hear Jesus words today, “the sons are free.” Look to Jesus, he owns all the money and doesn’t mean for you to bear that burden and look to wealth for your security. If you’re faithful and responsible and you look to Jesus, he will provide for you.

Others of you do well financially and you worry that you have to keep doing well to be okay or your overconfident in your wealth for your security. If that’s you, then recognize the implications of Jesus’ words today…all you have come from him. Whether it’s in a fish’s mouth or your bank account he put it there and can extract it at any time he chooses, so trust in him and not yourself or your money.

Conclusion

Well, let’s conclude this morning. We’ve looked at three areas today where Jesus, who shines like the sun stands in direct contrast and opposition to…demonic forces, grief and depression, and the material hope of money.

We’re going to receive the Lord’s Supper and go to the table and spend some time before Jesus in a minute. As you do ask yourself and your heart about each of these areas and allow Jesus to work in and minister to you.

Are there areas where you know there are things which are not of God, which in the big picture are probably demonic, which are fighting against what you know God wants to do in your life? On the cross Jesus defeated Satan once and for all. Go to the table and have Jesus cleanse you and empower you to fight against sin and tempation. Put your faith, the mighty faith of a mustard seed in him.

Are you sorrowful today and especially need the grace of the savior to minister to wounds in your heart where there is grief? Look to the arms of Jesus, the bread and the wine are piercing reminders that in Jesus you have a savior who knows what your going through and suffered immensely for you and he rose again. Go to Jesus and find healing and hope.

Lastly, does money have a grip on you? Do you feel like money is controlling your life? Go to Jesus today. Though he was rich he became poor in order to set us free. And he paid the highest price to do it in giving up his life. Jesus owns and rules over all the money anyway, so go to him, relinquish control and have him minister to your soul.

The gospel is the good news that though we have sinned and failed God has had mercy. Where we failed Jesus succeeded and he gave up his life paying the penalty we deserve in our place and then rose again. And that has changed and is changing us as we continually put our faith in him. Let’s go to him in worship, thanks and love.

Let’s pray.

I tend to the heady more theological way of addressing things. But sometimes just giving blunt, to the point examples can be extremely helpful. So here’s a number of ways we can hedonistically pursue the greater pleasure found in living by and for Jesus.

• Deal with difficult details and plan out a special date for you wife. This includes budgeting, getting a babysitter, knowing where your going ahead of time, scoping out some good spots, making dinner reservations, and maybe even buying some flowers. If you don’t have a wife yet, this is a good way to work on getting one. Such things will result in Godly pleasure.

• Wage war with your soul when sex is not readily available to you. Fight in your mind, fight with the words of Scripture, fight with your computer, have friends help you fight. Don’t give into porn, you’ll be a lot happier.

• Work and work hard. Get up and go to work when you don’t feel like it and when you’re there work with all your might. If you don’t have a job making finding a job your job, doing whatever you have to do to provide if you’re a dude (minus prostituting out your body). At the end of the day you will fill satisfied and complete for fulfilling God’s pre-fall mandate on men who are made to work.

• Play with your kids because little kids toys are fun. Don’t work so much that you don’t have time for your family. Take your daughters on dates and teach your boys to love and protect girls. And enjoy the Bible with your children. You will end up being one of the happiest parents around.

• If you drink, don’t drink too much. When you know you’ve already had enough and more would make you cross the line of drunkenness, hold back and don’t drink anymore. God will be pleased and you won’t have to deal with the pain of a guilty conscience or puke on your clothes.

• When you want to buy something and you can’t afford it, don’t spend the money. You’ll end up being a lot happier when you don’t get a credit card bill and have a huge looming debt hanging over your head. Much satisfaction comes from being a good steward of the money Jesus give you.

So when I say that life is about pleasure and we are meant to pursue a life of pleasure and happiness in Jesus, these are some examples of the type of things I mean. Enjoy the simpleness of a life lived with the God of all pleasure.

- Pastor Duane

We all naturally seek and want happiness or pleasure. Jonathan Edwards said it is the spring which moves all men to action. This is true of grand scale life motivations, identities, and goals as well as day to day activities such as eating and going to the bathroom. Blaise Pascal noted it is even the motive of the man that hangs himself…he is hoping to achieve a happier state. In the Bible God is a God who pursues his pleasure (Is 46:10) and God is a God who calls us to find pleasure in him since he is its ultimate source (Ps. 37:4; Phil 4:4).

Most don’t have difficulty embracing the concept that we are made for pleasure. No one ever says they hate being happy. It’s either when we run into suffering or sin that we pause and wonder whether such an idea could perhaps be harmful instead of helpful.

When suffering strikes we want out of it.

When suffering strikes, we want nothing but out of it and relief does not seem to come or come quickly enough. It’s then we wonder if the enjoyment of health and happiness is a sham we would do better if we could find a way to turn off the desire and need to feel well. Eastern meditation and western nihilism are both different ways of giving up on joy by an eternal embrace of suffering. The pursuit of pleasure is then replaced by an acceptance of pain.

Would we be better off to quit the quest of pleasure?

When sin results, we realize its destructive and damaging force both externally in the world and internally in our hearts. It’s then we wonder whether our pursuit of pleasure is at fault and if we all would be a lot better off if we simply quit the quest. Stoicism and legalism are both attempts live a life a part from things which please us. The pursuit of pleasure is then replaced by abiding by a set of rules.

The gospel gives us a third option which protects us from the perils which come from suffering and sin and enables us to be the happy creatures we were made to be.

Suffering will not have the final word.

The gospel says suffering is real and is a great inhibitor to our quest for joy. The gospel says the God who is all about pleasure did something about suffering for us, he entered into it in order to put an end to it. In Jesus God took on the nature of humans becoming a God-man and then suffered both a physical and eternal death on a cross and then rose again, defeating that suffering. The gospel then offers a very real and tangible hope in the midst of suffering…that the suffering will not have the final word for those who believe in Jesus…they will rise again.

Stronger desires for ultimate satisfaction begin to work.

The gospel says sin is real and is always the result of us pursing pleasure in things which do not please God. Rather than tell us to stop pursuing pleasure, the gospel calls us to deny those pleasures (Mt. 16:24; Lk 9:23) and instead hold out for the greater joys which come from seeking the things which please God (Heb 12:2). One of the effects of the gospel’s work in the lives of those who love Jesus is that the things which do not please God no longer bring the pleasure they once did. So new, stronger desires for ultimate satisfaction begin to work and take over.

The two biggest perils I see to a life of pursuing pleasure is the inability to handle suffering and the partaking in anything one feels like which makes them happy. The truth is these are the two areas we most often fall in.

When we’re sick or when those around us are hurting…we want the suffering gone immediately and forget the greater thing Jesus accomplished and prepared for us us ahead in the ultimate end of all suffering. Instead we, like Jesus, need to be willing to suffer for the joy that is set before us by going through the valley of pain by depending on God.

When we begin to enjoy God’s world and the pleasures around us…we quickly begin to enjoy it apart from him forget the greater joys Jesus makes available to us by giving us a new taste for the holiness of God which permeates all things. Instead we, like Jesus, need to be willing to deny ourselves from finding pleasure in things we know don’t please God.

What we need most is the gospel’s work in us.

What we need most is the gospel’s work in us. The good news that Jesus lived, Jesus died and Jesus rose again for our sin. The more that works itself out in us, the more our desire for evil pleasures get crucified, Godly pleasures get resurrected, and we live a life of joy.

So don’t allow suffering to stifle your pursuit of pleasure and don’t allow your pursuit of pleasure lead you into sin. Instead enjoy Jesus, walk with him, and live life for the pleasure of God.

- Pastor Duane
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The outlook on life as a pursuit and enjoyment of pleasure is known as “hedonism” and the Christian form which says only God can truly satisfy such a longing is known as “Christian Hedonism.” Several men both in our day and days gone by have written many helpful things for us on this topic.

Books
• Desiring God, by John Piper
• When I Don’t Desire God, by John Piper
• The Pleasures of God, by John Piper
• The Religious Affections, by Jonathan Edwards
• The End For Which God Created The World, by Jonathan Edwards
• The Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis
• Penses, by Blaise Pascal
• Pleasures Forevermore, by Sam Storms

Articles
• Christian Hedonism by John Piper
• What Is Christian Hedonism? by Sam Storms
• Defining & Defending Christian Hedonism by Duane Smets

The following classes will be offered this fall 2010 during the month of October and November:

Theo 101 – Theology of the Resolved
An 8-week course covering the range of theological beliefs essential to the gospel. Topics include: the existence of God, the truth of the Bible, the depravity of humans, the good news of Jesus, the order of salvation, and the role of the church, art & culture. This class is necessary for membership in The Resolved Church. Sunday Evenings from 5-6pm.     REGISTER HERE

Theo 211 – Hermeneutics
A 10-week long course addressing the discipline of Bible interpretation. Topics include: rules of interpretation, aberrant theories, the historical grammatical principle, genre analysis, textual analysis, determining historical/cultural backgrounds and it’s significance, and the proper place of word studies. You will walk away from this course with a much richer understanding of the Bible and the tools to know how to study it on your own better. Sunday Evenings from 6-7pm.     REGISTER HERE

Theo 221 – World Religions
A 8-week long course addressing the scriptures and beliefs of eight of the world’s major religions including Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism. In addition, this course takes an in depth look at the belief of religious pluralism (the idea that all religions teach basically the same thing and are equal paths to god). You will walk away from this course with a better understanding of the world’s beliefs and what the gospel of Christianity has to say in connection to them. Sunday Evenings from 7-8pm.     REGISTER HERE

An 8-week course covering the range of theological beliefs essential to the gospel. Topics include: the existence of God, the truth of the Bible, the depravity of humans, the good news of Jesus, the order of salvation, and the role of the church, art & culture. This class is necessary for membership in The Resolved Church.

Sign up by September 26th

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Matthew Series | Matthew 16:24-17:13 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 16:24-17:13 where Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship, the meaning and purpose of life, and then peels back the veil and shows a few of the disciples a glimpse of his full deity. This sermon was originally preached on July 25th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
July 25th, 2010

Jesus Makes Demands & Un-Masks His Deity
Matthew 16:24-17:13

I. The Cost of The Christ (16:24-28)
A. Killing Yourself to Live
B. Living For The King
II. The Christ of The Cross (17:1-13)
A. The Beloved Son
B. The Beaten Son

Introduction

Today for the time when we show and express our love and worship to God by reading, studying and preaching through his book, The Bible, we’re back in Matthew and we’re looking at sort of the second half a sequence of events and conversation that Jesus has with his disciples right after a major shift has taken place in his three year ministry on earth. In chapter 16 we entered into the last phase of Jesus’ life and ministry, probably the last few months. In just three chapters we will enter Jesus’ last week of life on earth before his death and resurrection.

So what we see in these chapters really from here on out is a ramping up from Jesus. He ramps things up by being a lot clearer than he’s ever been about who he is and what he is after and all about. So some of his words are harder and more demanding and some of his deeds are more fantastic and revealing.

In our last time together in the book of Matthew we looked at this phenomenal passage where Jesus queries his disciples and asks them…”what are people saying about me, who do they think I am?” They give various responses and then he says…”okay, now who do you think I am?” Peter then speaks up for the rest of the disciples and says “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus seems somewhat excited at this response and basically says, “Yes! That’s it. That’s who I am and what I’m going to do is start a church and the gates of hell won’t prevail against it.” But Peter and the rest of the disciples mishear and misunderstand Jesus because they think Jesus wants to start a war instead of a church and they get all excited and are ready to fight. That’s what Peter basically tells Jesus…they’re ready to fight and they won’t let anyone kill him, their leader. I think maybe all he heard was the “gates of hell” part and his inner dude complex came out and he was like…”Yeah, now we can finally fight!”

Sadly, some people think that’s what being a Christian and being part of a church is all about…going to war with the culture and people and fighting against them…thinking we’re the good guys and they’re the bad guys, it’s us versus them, and we got to protect ourselves from them and if they ever come near us either run away or throw our Bible at them.

Where we left off two weeks ago with this story was with a summary of Jesus strong statements to the disciples.  He is the Christ, the Messiah. His main mission on earth was to create the church. The way he creates is by giving up his life to death and then rising again. Whoever and whatever attempts to stop or stand in the way of that comes from Satan and will not be successful.

This week, we pick up the second half of a whole sequence of conversations and events which go together…so today we look at what Jesus’ strong statements mean for his followers, like us, and then one of the most sublime scenes of Jesus where he shows who he really is in all of his glory. So let’s read the text and pray over it and work through it. Matthew 16:24-17:13.

I. The Cost Of The Christ (16:24-28)

First let’s look at “The Cost Of The Christ.” The disciples have just confessed Jesus as the Christ. Jesus has admitted that he is in fact the Christ. The disciples have said they are willing to fight to keep Jesus from being killed. But Jesus says fighting to keep him from being killed is from Satan. Now Jesus goes a step further, flips that on its head and pretty much says says if you really want to be my disciples you have to willing to kill yourself in order to live. Let’s check it out.

A. Killing Yourself to Live

In verse 24-25 Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” What’s he mean? That sounds kinda of cryptic at first glance doesn’t it? Sort sage, wordsmith, philosopher status or something…

Let’s break it down into parts…that makes it easier. “If anyone would come after me…” This is clearly discipleship language. Remember Jesus goal is not just to get people to confess his name and pray some prayer as some sort of magical spiritual trick that gets you into heaven. He is after people who will follow him…”come after me” means a life of following Jesus. That’s what it really means to be Christian, you follow Jesus…not just following him on Twitter and Facebook but you are living life with Jesus day in and day out just as if you were physically there on earth with those disciples and Jesus literally following him around.

That’s not easy. Which Jesus knows. So he says, look if you’re going to come after me, you’re not going to be able to unless you deny your “‘self’ and take up (your) cross” in order to follow me. What’s that mean? This is a radical statement. Probably one of the most gnarly things Jesus has said to the disciples yet in his entire ministry.

First, what is to deny one’s self? Does that mean if you ever feel good or get any pleasure from something or do anything for yourself that is bad and you shouldn’t do it? No. As we’ll see in a second in Jesus’ logic he is really appealing everyone’s true for life, for happiness and satisfaction in life. Even the man who hangs himself does so pursuing a happy and better existence. Plus, on top of it God is a God who is all about pleasure.

In Isaiah 46:10 God says, “I will accomplish all my pleasure.” And in Philippians 4:4 he commands us to be happy. “Rejoice in the Lord, I say it again Rejoice.” So Jesus can’t mean here, don’t do anything you like…anytime you think you might enjoy something, just deny yourself and that’s the way you follow me. If that’s true then what does he mean?

There’s a key word here, which will actually make things worse for a minute. Look at the word “cross” there. This is big. I mean Jesus says this before he even went and died on the cross. But crosses and crucifixions were common. It was the most common form of execution in the land. And often times in war they would crucify their enemies…so you could go outside the city gates and just see fields with hundreds and thousands of crosses up at one time. Everyone knew about crosses and most had eyewitnessed crucifixions. They had seen many solider make men physically pick up a cross and drag it up on a hill to a place where they would then be crucified on that very cross.

We are so detached from this. Let me try and make it a little more real for you. In the US, which does practice Capital Punishment, the two forms of execution are electric chairs and lethal injection. The last person executed in California was in 2006 for killing three people and he was put to death by lethal injection.

So let me read Jesus’ words this way…for our culture. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up lethal injection needle and follow me.” “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his electric chair and follow me.”

What!? What are you saying Jesus? Is Jesus some crazy cult leader who is telling us all to drink cyanide in hopes that we catch a ride on Haley’s Comet like the Heaven’s Gate group up in Rancho Sante Fe a few years back?

That’s what he could’ve sounded like here, initially. But he helps us out here. Look at verse 26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?” These are rhetorical questions. The answer to both is ”nothing.”

If you gain the whole world and yet miss out on the meaning and purpose of life itself…you gain nothing. What can a man give in exchange for life? What object or relationship is more valuable than life itself? Nothing. The cross then, here, according to Jesus, is not only a physical reality but also a metaphor for the meaning and purpose of life itself.

HBO has a new documentary out called “Lucky” which follows the lives of five people who win the Lottery. Seventy percent of people who come into large sums of money end up squandering it and thirty percent end up committing suicide.

Quang, was a Vietnamese immigrant who won $22 million dollars. Before winning the Lottery his family was close, worked hard and loved and depended on one another. Now he and his wife don’t know what to do with themselves so they built five houses in a row on the same cul-de-sac just to try and keep the family together…but everyone is lost and confused.

James was a homeless bum who won $5 million. He got himself cleaned up and bought a house…but didn’t know what to do with himself. So he decided to sell the house and now he’s a bum again and lives in a motel and gets a different hooker every night.

Kristen and Steve were a middle class couple who one $110 million. They ended up buying all kinds of stuff and moving to Florida to live on the beach. But now they admit they have no idea who they are anymore and can relate to no one and are extremely lonely.

Robert was a professor, a Mathematician, who won $22 million. His wife ended up divorcing him, he lost his job, so he decided to move to California and just start life all over again.

Buddy was from a small town. He won $16 million and spent money on all kinds of crazy stuff. Several people including family members tried to kill him to get his money. But then he ran out and ended up in debt. He ended up having to get rid of everything and now lives in a shack and works for a minimum wage sorting mail for a old friend.

Every single one of the people in these stories gained the whole world and yet seemed to forfeit their soul. A few years back Chuck Klosterman actually wrote a book titled, “Killing Yourself To Live” which asks this question by taking a trip to the death sites of two famous rock and roll musicians who committed suicide, Duane Allman from the Allman Brothers and Kirk Cobain from Nirvana.

Some of you probably remember where you were when they died. I remember. I was a Sophomore in High School in the middle of pottery class when we heard about Kirk Cobain’s death. Girls literally started crying. Klosterman’s underdeveloped thesis in the book basically boils down to classic postmodern existentialist cry that we are all searching and longing for meaning but there is none to be found. For Klosterman, he would agree with Jesus…if you gain the whole world, you gain nothing…but for Klosterman there is no alternative, there is no difference in how or what you live for, there is no soul to be redeemed.

Jesus offers an alternative…another way to live and something much greater to live for. For him. For his sake. “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

B. Living For The King

Let’s look at this closer, “Living For The King.” Verse 27-28, “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

First, notice Jesus says, “for.” “For the Son of Man is going to come.” “For” then means that because the Son of Man is going to come with all his glory, we don’t have to gain or give anything in order to get life…because if we have the Son of Man, Jesus…then we have everything. He is life itself from heaven. Do you see that? You can’t gain the whole world get life and you can’t give to get life FOR life comes the Son of Man who is the author of life. He must give it.

Life is not something we can gain or acquire. You can try, you can try until you amass everything the whole world has to offer and you still will not gain life. You see you cannot earn your own salvation. Salvation comes from the Son of Man from heaven.

Neither is life something you can give anything for. There’s nothing you have, no material or immaterial possession you can give to God in order to get life. Salvation is not for sale from God, it is the gift the Son of Man brings.

If this is true, then what it implies is we don’t need riches and we don’t need health for happiness, because when it comes down to it those things are not the substance of life. Life is something more, something greater and that greater thing, the heart and the essence of life and happiness itself…is Jesus!

This passage holds out something greater for us to live for than just life here on this earth. Jesus! With excruciating pictures of death and a cross Jesus tells us the meaning of life is not found in stuff but in him. Everyone will die and no one takes anything with them.

Matt Chandler is a well-known fellow Acts 29 pastor who re-planted a church in Texas called The Village. Last year he developed a tumor on his brain that turned out to be cancer and has had surgeries and chemo and all kinds of stuff. In a recent interview he talked about his experience with cancer, you can go check it out on the Act 29 website. In it he says something interesting the doctor told him.

The doctor said, “You could get killed in a car wreck on your way home today…nothing’s really changed for you – you just get to be aware that you’re mortal. Everyone is, but they’re just not aware of it. The gift that God’s given you is that you get to be aware of your mortality.”

So here’s Jesus point. He says something here to help remind us of our own mortality and calls us to give up the pursuit of anything but him. Give up thinking anything will satisfy us and give a greater joy than him. Denying one’s self doesn’t mean living a sad and poor life without any joy, it means denying the temporary fleeting pleasures which most often end up causing pain and destruction. Denying one’s self means denying the temporary joys in order to hold out for the greater joys that come from knowing Jesus. If you have Jesus than you can handle anything and your life is not over because your life is not about you…it’s about him, you exist for his sake!

The thing really before us today is…what we do with Jesus? Notice Jesus says, when he comes with his angels, he will repay each person according to what he has done. Well Jesus already said there’s nothing we ourselves can do to gain life. So what’s he mean? I think he means we will be repaid according to what we did with him.

Jesus just gives a few of the details here in verse 27, other places in the Bible give a lot more details out. The Bible says there is a day when Jesus will return to earth a second time and when he does he will not return in a poor carpenter’s robe as a humble suffering servant. Revelation 15 says that when he returns he will return as a warrior with a warrior’s robe dipped in blood and that he will come with an army of angels from heaven blowing trumpets, with a golden sash around his chest, he’ll have a sword, he’ll be riding a bright white horse, and his eyes will be glowing with the light of the sun.

On that day Philippians 2 says every knee will bow, Christians and non-Christians alike, and the one question Jesus will have to ask us each and every one is what did you do with me? Did you love me and believe in me and trust me? Did you deny yourself and follow me? Or did you deny me and follow yourself? What did you do with me? And Jesus will repay each according to what he has done.

Let me just pause and ask you…where are you at with Jesus? Are you living for his sake and his fame and success…or your own? Are you seeking the greater joy of knowing and being known by him or have you been pursuing other things hoping and thinking they might satisfy you? Have you been indulging in things you know do not please God and only bring destruction and misery to your soul or are you losing everything in order to have Jesus and not letting anything keep in the way and come between you and him? I’ll hit up a couple specific areas real quick.

Jobs…it is so easy to find an identity in a job. Think if you had just the right job with the right people and made the right amount of money and things went just right…then you’d be happy. We have to deny ourselves thinking any job can give us the life that only Jesus can.

Relationships…it is so easy to find an identity in a relationship, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a husband or wife, a son or daughter…thinking that if you just had the right guy or girl, or if your marriage was going just the way you wanted it too, if you just had the kids you wanted or if your kids would just behave the way you wanted them too…then you’d be happy. We have to deny ourselves from thinking any person can fully satisfy our need for a close relationship that never fails…only Jesus provides that.

Money…how about this one. We have to deny ourselves from thinking riches and things will make us happy. Debt and consumerism is a huge problem in America and in San Diego…we buy buy and buy even when we don’t have the money which just put it on the credit card. I’ve fallen into the trap with this one before.

Have you ever done this? Have you ever gone out to a meal and you just live it up, order whatever you want…you’re tired of saving and being careful about money…so you just let go. And then you’re sitting there eating and drinking like a king and you even start to wonder what the waiter thinks…You start to think I wonder if the waiter is wondering who I am and thinks I might be someone famous or important? You see how easily our wicked hearts creep in and corrupt things and why Jesus tells us to deny ourselves and know that life is not found there.

We must deny ourselves things that will not satisfy but only scar and warp us. C.S. Lewis once said, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

We all have areas we need Jesus to work in us in and to work deeper in us. Holy Spirit press God’s word into our hearts.

II. The Christ of The Cross (17:1-13)

Well, after Jesus mentions his second coming he turns to the disciples and tells them some of them standing right there would not taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Now Jesus has not returned yet to earth for his second coming at this point. He hasn’t even left yet from his first coming…he’s still there. So what is Jesus doing here speaking of his second coming right then?

What he’s doing is actually quite phenomenal…instead of getting a taste of death Jesus gives them a taste of his heavenly glory to come. When he says some standing there would not taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom…the “some” refers to Peter, James, and John whom we read about right away in the next chapter who get to see a glimpse of the full glory of King Jesus as it will be when he comes.

I’m calling this section “The Christ of the Cross” because that’s really where the story ends up and also because I think when we read the stories of Jesus in the gospels we tend to get a picture or a view of him as merely being a man, a human being like you and I and he’s so much more.

In this next section, in verses 1-13 of chapter 17 we get to listen in and watch what happens when Jesus literally peels back the veil of his deity and allows his glory as the eternal son of God to shine forth. It is essential, utterly crucial that we recognize that the Jesus who died on the cross is the same Jesus we’re about to see…the one who underneath his human skin suit is the divine son of God who created the world and in whom dwells brilliant light and majesty.

A. The Beloved Son

So first let’s get the story in our heads and then we’ll look at what Jesus says about it. Jesus takes three of his disciples, Peter, James and John up on a high mountain. I’m not sure how all this went down exactly…maybe they all finally reach the top after an all day hike, it’s probably dark by then. Peter, James and John are tired and maybe they sit down.

But not Jesus. Jesus looks up to heaven and all the sudden his face starts beaming brighter than any light they have ever seen, like the sun. They can’t even look at him and make out his face because it is so bright. And it’s not just his face but his clothes. And then all the sudden two other dudes appear and are standing next to him talking to him.

This is nuts. It’s straight out of something from Comic-Con. Like some Jean Gray, Green Lantern, or Neo from the Matrix action. Matthew here uses the word, “transfigured” to describe it. Verse 2 says Jesus was, “transfigured” before them. The Greek Word behind the English Word “transfigured” here is literally “metamorphisis.” It’s literally saying Jesus metamorphisized before them.

What do you do with that? I mean you’re there, you’re one of the disciples. You’ve seen Jesus do some pretty crazy stuff, some pretty phenomenal miracles. But nothing like this. You’re sitting there and you’ve got to be thinking who is this guy.

Then…then all of the sudden there’s a voice telling you who it is. “This is my beloved Son with who I am well pleased, listen to him.” This is the exact thing you the heard a voice from heaven say when Jesus first started his ministry and was baptized by John. But now seeing Jesus blazing there in brilliant light…you’re realizing this guy is God’s Son is a way far beyond anything we have ever dreamed.

It’s stuff like this which helped the disciples realize that Jesus was really and fully God. It’s memories like this that got burned in their brains and passed down to the church so that songs, like the one in Colossians 1:16 were sung. Colossians 1:16 says, “By (Jesus) all things were created in heaven and one earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created by him and for him.”

The disciples here realized Jesus was God, the same God who created the world. They realized it. There’s a little textual clue. It’s in verse 6 of chapter 17. It says they “fell on their faces and were terrified.”

Why did they do that? Apparently they’re not worshipping, they’re downright scared. They are hiding their faces and are terrified because these three guys are Jews. They know the Torah. They know God says in Exodus 33:20 “no one may see my face and live” and they have just seen the face of God shining like the sun. They figure it’s done time. They weren’t supposed to see this. Somehow they did. The voice is upset. We’re gonna die.

But then there’s this beautiful little foretaste of the gospel and redemption. They are on their faces in fear and Jesus walks over to them and touches them, tells them not to be afraid…and then look at what Matthew says, verse 8, “When they lifted their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

In literature and writing that’s called a double entendre…where you are saying two things with the same words. Here, seeing Jesus only not only describes what happened but puts out a call to see Jesus only. These words have an imperative beneath them don’t they…do you hear it? See Jesus only. See who he is. Behold the fullness of all that Jesus is and put your trust in him. Jesus is the beloved and only Son of God.

This story is so good it seems almost too good to be true…you couldn’t dream up a better story because right after this majestic revelation of the deity of Jesus, when they’re coming down the mountain Jesus connects the dots for the disciples and tells them just how human he is as well and what he’s going to do for humans. Basically he says the Beloved Son is going to become the Beaten Son to the point of death.

B. The Beaten Son

“The Beaten Son.” It arises out of a discussion about Moses and Elijah and some questions the disciples have. I don’t know how they knew it was Moses and Elijah who were up there with Jesus, I’m guessing when they heard Jesus talking to them he heard them use their names. Essentially the disciples’ questions are one about sequence and order of events…which they’re all messed up on.

It’s usually what happens whenever Christians try to figure out what’s going to happen in the future…you get screwy ideas, like people disappearing out of airplanes and crazy movies called “Left Behind.” Here there’s some questions about Elijah’s return, the Messiah forerunner and John the Baptist.

We’re not going to get into any of that today. The final thing I want us to see this morning is Jesus prophecy of his own death here again…which is really the most important thing Jesus says in response to their questions and in lieu of all that just took place.

So look at verse 11-13, Jesus says, “I tell you Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.” John the baptist was killed. Jesus is saying here that he…the divine God-man…the one he has just peeled back the veil and allowed them to a glimpse of a his full glory…he is going to allow himself to be killed.

This is the wonder and the beauty of Jesus that “though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…(and) humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus never calls us to do anything he has not already done for us. Earlier he calls us to deny ourselves and pick up our cross and follow him. Here we see and hear Jesus deny himself all his heavenly rights and glory…all the acclaim, all the angels, all the light and recognition…and allows people to think him a mere human and a poor carpenter one at that…and then, and then allows weak, dumb, poor, sinful humans crucify him on a cross. What humility! What self-denial! What a God who would do such a thing for us to save us! The Beloved Son allows himself to become the beaten son.

Conclusion

Here’s how I want to conclude today. There are two basic thrusts to today’s text. Our self-denial and the splendor of the person and work of Jesus.

I think if we’re honest with ourselves we know we are all very self-centered and that it’s not good. We know we need to deny ourselves…and to a certain extent we may even try. Here’s the thing. If my message concluded by just saying, “so deny yourself, because that’s what you’re supposed to do” I think that would be crushing…because you won’t really be able to do that…at least for very long.

And that’s where the true power of this story comes alive in our lives because where it lead us to Jesus…to see him as he is, in the full force of who he is and what he has done for us. The more the that this amazing gospel grips our hearts…the message that God set aside his right to eternal glory and fame, denying himself and taking on our nature and then dying for us in our place…the more that gets ahold of us…the more it will change us and enable us to truly deny ourselves too and live for the greater glory of God.

We’re going to go to the Lord’s Table now and let’s go in these ways. Let’s remember who Jesus is, fully, and all that he has done for us, completely. Let’s repent of our own self-centeredness and fails attempts at self-denial. And let’s receive his grace for us, his body and blood given up on the cross to once and for all deal with our sin and unrighteousness.

Let’s pray.

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Summer is the time of vacations, sabbaticals, getaways, travel, and time off work for many. I myself just returned from 5 days of vacation with my family. We took a little trip north into the whole other world of California on the other side of the grapevine. The lack of buildings, cars, people is a kind of culture shock for our young urban city family. Seeing the plethora of fields, cows, horses and barns my daughter kept asking me “Where are we Daddy?” I told her we were in Narnia.

Really we we’re up near Fresno for a few days…seeing a few friends, swimming in 100+ degree heat, and wakeboarding at Manna Wake wakeboard park. My wife and I also took a couple day detour leaving our daughter with friends and headed west to Monterey, CA for a wedding. While there we stayed in the beaux art hotel The Inn At Del Monte Beach and had some good husband and wife time, complete with walks on the beach and rooftop sunsets.

For some the ideal life would be an endless vacation and their sole motivation for work is the payoff in play. The documentary Lucky was just released, which takes a candid look at the Lottery and lives of lottery winners after they finally have endless amounts of money and no need to work. Interestingly, every person or family who was filmed was not satisfied after winning and most of them ended up worse off because of it. The dream of the ideal life simply didn’t pay off.

For others, their life and identity is so wrapped up in their work that it is very difficult for them to take a vacation, even when they’re on vacation. A 2007 study said the average American now works 70 hours a week and twelve more weeks a year than Europeans.

For Christians, those whose life and identity revolves around knowing and following Jesus, there is a third challenge. It’s that when we vacation we often end up vacationing from Jesus too, thinking vacation means a break from everything, including him. This ought to raise questions like… “Is there a good or right way to vacation, a way we are supposed to do it?” “Does the Bible have anything to say about vacation?” “How do we vacation without taking a vacation from God?”

The word for vacation in the Bible is “rest” and it has some good things to say about what makes good rest.

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God Rested

It’s the very first thing he did after he created the world (Gen 2:1). He rested not because he needed to. God is all-powerful and does not grow tired or weary (Is 40:28). He rested as the perfect example for us so that we would take seriously the need to rest. God rested so we ought to rest (Ex 20:11).

A number of years ago now I came across this little book The Hard Work Of Rest which has helped me understand and develop some good principles from the Bible on how to rest well while vacationing.

• Rest is a commandment from God. Rest is not an option depending on whether or not you can afford the time or money. You have to budget and calendar not only a day off a week (Ex. 20:11) but also weeks of vacation in the year (Ex. 23:14).

• Rest is not the opposite of work. Rest is not working your daily job but there is still work involved in resting. You have to be intentional about how you spend your time while resting so that it results in you being refreshed (Ex. 31:17). This means putting in the work to do things you find enjoyable and fun, going to places which are out of the ordinary, turning off your cell phone and most of all incorporating things which are going to help you seek God.

• Rest comes from God. Rest is not something which can be attained in doing anything if it does not involve God in some way. You have to use times of rest to be opportunities for God to strengthen and renew you (Is. 40:29-31). This means things like spending some special time reading the Bible, reflecting on your spiritual growth, and asking God to help you in the upcoming season of life.

• Rest is the result of the gospel. Rest is not something we earn or achieve through any work of our own. You have to remember that Jesus, the Lord of Rest (Mt. 12:8), paid and provided for your rest through his death and resurrection. This means we neither have to feel guilty for resting nor feel the freedom to do whatever we want while resting.

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Rest is a good thing which comes from God and we need to make sure we rest. While we are resting we need to be careful not to forsake God and fall into laziness and sin. For our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8).” Rest is a time for us to increase our pursuit and love for God not abandon it.

Many end up going on vacation and come back tired, wiped out, bummed to go back to work and guilty for spiritual lapsing and indulging in sin…most often this is because God was not really sought as the source of rest. So go on trips, go on vacation, do fun stuff, enjoy times of rest with your friends and family but most of all make sure you are ultimately getting your rest from the Lord of Rest in the midst of your time of resting.

- Pastor Duane

Guest Speaker | Pastor Tim Cain | Ephesians 1-3

How do you approach the rules of the Bible? Are they a burden to you? Are they holding you back from happiness? Or are they the sweet call to freedom by abiding in the way of Christ? In this sermon Pastor Tim talks about the motivation and call to obedience. We will see that when we disobey it’s as if we are thinking God is holding out on our true joy, but in fact, his commands are the pathway to pleasures evermore! This sermon was preached on July 18th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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Scott Thomas(President of the Acts 29 Network) recently wrote a blog titled, Why Every Leader Needs A Shepherd. It is well worth the read. In it he writes…

Pastors deal with an array of emotions as a result of ministering to a group of people. The stress of preparing sermons, developing leaders, handling boards, raising funds for the budget, caring for the sick and elderly, encouraging the wayward, challenging people to get on mission, bringing unity, reconciling conflicts, conducting worship, handling facility issues, counseling, weddings, funerals, social functions, praying with others and the responsibility of having an exemplary marriage and family.

Some of the statistics about pastors are staggering:
- 25% have been forced out of or fired from their ministry.
- 90% feel inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands.
- 80% believe that pastoral ministry affects their families negatively.
- 45% experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence.
- 40% have serious conflict with a church member 1x/month.
- 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
- 66% families feel pressure to model the ideal family to their congregations and communities.
- 20% admit to having an affair while in the ministry.
- 37% admit that Internet pornography is a current struggle.
- 72% stated they only studied the Bible when preparing a sermon
- 26% stated they felt they were adequately fed spiritually.
- 14% of pastors spend an hour or less in personal devotions each week.
- 77% said they felt that did not have a good marriage.
  (sources available here)

These statistics are a staggering warning. In light of them I thought it would be helpful for me to offer both some encouragement to our church in how I am attempting to protect myself from these dangers and how our church might help me be a good pastor.

FIRST – Some of those statistics are invariably true and sort of come with the territory. Just this last year CNN reported that the job of a minister was one of the most stressful jobs with the least amount of pay. I’m not sure anything can adequately prepare one to be a pastor. But these things are true:

• Conflict is part of the job description. Titus 1:9 “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

• Pastors and likewise their families are judged more strictly…both by God and people. James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” 1 Timothy 3:4-5 “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?”

SECOND – Many of those negative statistics result when a Pastor is not regularly “guarding his heart (Prov. 4:23)” by regularly spending time with and relying on Jesus, his wife, and his pastors. Reading them made me grateful that God has been gracious to me in allowing me…

• To daily feed on him and his word (and not just for sermons). God’s word burning within me keeps me from burning out (Lk.24:32).

• To have a beautiful and godly wife whom I love being married to. Amy is a huge support to me. We have fun together, we pray and process the gospel together, she gives me great feedback and counsel on my sermons and ministry situations, and she takes care of pretty much all the other practical things most dudes like me are either inept or sinful in trying to handle.

• To have older men in my life who function as my pastors. There are three different men, who are more than twice my age I regularly talk with, vent to, get counsel from, and pray with. They are immense blessings in my life. In addition to them, every six weeks I meet with the Southwest Acts 29 pastors for prayer, trainings and support.

• To have a church who has increasingly taken up the responsibility to be the church by discipling one another, leading and serving in various ministries and needs, and being on mission for the city. I feel privileged and honored to work among such a great group of people.

THIRD – I am a sinner whom God is working in and changing and making me more and more like Jesus. One of the faults and traps we can easily fall into as pastors is not showing or sharing our weaknesses and telling people how they can help us. So here are a few practical ways you can really help me as one of your pastors under our Head Pastor Jesus (1 Pet 5:1-4).

• Pray for me. The Biblical writers were constantly asking for people to pray for them (1 Thess 5:25). And prayer is commanded for all those in are in roles of authority. I need a lot prayer. I constantly am trying to recognize that apart from Jesus I “can do nothing (Jn 15:5).” So pray for Jesus to help me. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions.”

• Encourage me. This comes in two forms…either telling me when I’m doing a good job or respectfully telling me when I need to work on something (both as a person and a pastor). Most probably are not aware of it, but I get a lot of criticism, so a few nice comments here and there put wind in my sails. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Encourage one another and build one another up.”

• Rebuke me. If I ever fail the qualifications set forth in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 & Titus 1:5-9 please bring another person with you who has seen it as well and lovingly rebuke me with the Word (2 Tim 3:16). I have holes and blind spots and sometimes say and do some dumb stuff…if it’s small come talk to me, if it’s big bring someone with you. 1 Timothy 5:19 “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

• Follow me. God has called me to be a mouthpiece leading the mission and vision of The Resolved Church under the authority of Jesus, His Word, and our eldership. I love it when I know we’re on the same page working together but I hate it when it feels like I’m pulling teeth to get people excited about Jesus and His Mission. Let’s accomplish great things together here in San Diego. Hebrews 13:7,17 “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith…Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

I love The Resolved Church. It is an extreme joy for me to be a pastor among you all. May Jesus continue to bless and build his church. Soli Deo Gloria.
- Pastor Duane

Matthew Series | Matthew 16:13-23 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 16:13-23 where Jesus is declared the Christ and Son of the Living God, Jesus says he means to start a church and will be the one to build, protect and lead it, and Jesus speaks of his plan to accomplish that task and defeat Satan by dying and rising again. This takes a special look at the Catholic form of church government and classical Protestant interpretations, as well as church growth strategies and the centrality of the cross. This sermon was originally preached on July 11th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
July 11th, 2010

Jesus Unfolds His Plan For The World
Matthew 16:13-23

I. Jesus Is The Christ & The Son of The Living God (v.13-17)
  A. Peter – The Mouthpiece Man
  B. God Reveals His Person & Mission
II. Jesus Is The Builder, Protector, & Leader of His Church (v.18-20)
  A. Peter – The Pentecost Preacher
  B. God Gives Charge To The Church
III. Jesus Is The One Who Died & Rose Again (v.21-23)
  A. Peter – The Stumbling Stone
  B. God Triumphs Over Satan In The Cross

Introduction

Good morning. Good to see you church family. If you don’t know me, my name is Duane and I’m one of the pastors here who serve underneath our head pastor Jesus.

This morning we’re in Matthew for a big text today, so let me read it and we’ll jump right into it (read text and pray).

Aright, now this is a thick text, not only because of the theological bombs it drops, but there are some big debates and disagreements that have taken place about how to rightly understand several aspects of this passage. So here’s the plan today. We’re going to work through the text and I’ll do my best to let you know about the various ideas out there without getting bogged down it.

But most of all I’ll just tell you straight out this morning, that my goal today is to help us see how Jesus really is the hero here. In working through all the theology, commentaries, character lessons and church practices which spring out of this text, I’m amazed at how often Jesus gets left behind in all of it and isn’t really even talked about when it’s really all about him. So my number one goal today is to help us see, know, and love Jesus.

I put together an outline for us to help us get that. By God’s grace today Jesus will shine as the Christ & Son of The Living God, the Builder, Protector and Leader of His Church, and the One Who Died & Rose Again.

First let’s get a little flow, a little context here. Last week we really saw the conclusion and summary of Jesus’ miracle ministry and this week we transition into the last phase of Jesus life on earth, probably the last year. From this point on Jesus will make a steady move toward Jerusalem and the cross and until then we really see him putting in place his final preparations.

There’s only two more miracles, all that’s left is pretty much teaching. There’s only four more chapters and then he’s in Jerusalem for his final week. And in this week’s text we’ll hear Jesus give the first of four predictions about his death and resurrection. Here’s where we see the transition, a big textual clue. Check it out real quick, verse 21, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer…”

So in many ways, last week’s text here at The Resolved was a big deal because in it we had Jesus looking back and reflecting on probably at least two years of his ministry and summarizing the purpose of it for us. He looked backward at two miracles, where he fed thousands of people and told the disciples straight out that the reason why he did was not just humanitarian. He said it was not about bread…but about the teaching, Jesus’ message.

Okay, if it isn’t about bread and it’s about the teaching, what teaching is Jesus talking about? We get that in full this week as Jesus instigates another pivotal discussion with the disciples and tells what the main things he is about and wants us to know and understand. So I’ve titled my message for today, “Jesus Unfolds His Plan For The World.”

I. Jesus Is The Christ & The Son of The Living God (v.13-17)

First point for today, “Jesus Is The Christ & Son of The Living God.” So Jesus and the disciples are traveling and they come into the district of Ceasarea Philippi. That’s important. Let me tell you some things about Ceasarea Phillipi.

One, it’s a Gentile region. Pretty much all Greco-Romans. Philip is the one who rules over the region and he’s the husband of Salome, who the girl who got John the Baptist beheaded. Two, this region, Ceasarea Phillipi was known for it’s pluralistic pagan worship.

You see, the idea that all ways are ways to God and how you worship doesn’t matter is not a new idea. Two of the biggest and most popular gods and religions there were to a god named Pan and a god named Baal. Pan means “all” and the god pan was very closely connected with nature, seen and worshipped as the god of the animals and the mountains and fields. Baal was the god of the sun, rain, and agriculture, so he was worshipped both for his control of the weather and business productivity.

They’re actually very San Diego-eque gods. Here in San Diego we love our sun and we love animals and we love the beach. Seriously something seems broken here lately with the weather since it’s been so cloudy and cold here in the middle of summer. And everyone’s all upset about it. It’s all over the news. Everyone’s talking about it at the grocery stores, at work places, everywhere. Including me…we’re all torqued that our weather and nature gods are not performing well.

So Jesus and his boys cruise into Ceasarea Philippi and they sit down for a serious discussion. Jesus asks them, verse 13, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Son of Man” was Jesus’ favorite way of referring to himself. Mark and Luke just have him saying, “Who do people say that I am?”

They give four different answers. John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. They didn’t have video cameras and TV back then and some had never seen or heard John the Baptist and thought maybe that’s who Jesus was, just going by a different name now. Some were superstituous, seeing ghosts and the like and thought maybe John the Baptist had come back from the dead in Jesus. That’s what the ruler Philip thought we learned earlier in Matthew.

Elijah’s, one of two dudes in the Old Testament who never died. He ascended on a chariot of fire up into heaven. So some thought he had come back now in Jesus because Jesus is doing all this crazy miracle stuff.

Jeremiah was a prophet of doom and gloom and some of the things Jesus had been saying lately didn’t sound too good for Israel and the Jews, so Jesus reminded them of Jeremiah. Then there was the catch all…”one of the prophets.” Numerous Old Testament Scriptures speak of a special prophet that God would eventually send.

So there’s a bunch of different ideas out there about Jesus in Jesus’ day. It got me thinking, what are the different ideas out there about Jesus in our day and culture? So I did a little research.


We’ve got Rasta Jesus, apparently Jesus can get you good weed and make you feel good. We’ve got Bobblehead Jesus who you can put on the dash of your car, and he’ll bring you good luck and protect you. We’ve got Political Jesus, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican Jesus is for your team. We’ve got Yoga Jesus, who can help soothe you and exercise you at the same time. We’ve got Sex Jesus, who hooked up with Mary Magdalene, who can help liberate your inner sex drive. We’ve got Homeboy Jesus, who’s just cool. He’s a good person to hang with and is like to roll with the homies. And then perhaps the most common and popular Jesus…South Park Jesus, he’s buddies with Vishna, Buddha, Moses, and the superheroes and the founding fathers of America.

There are a lot of varying ideas about Jesus out there and Jesus’ question to his disciples is perhaps one of the most important questions we could ask of ourselves…”But who do you say that I am?” Who am I to you really? In all seriousness, when all is stripped away and when it comes down to it who is Jesus to you?

Really…I mean right now, just stop and think about, who is Jesus to you really? Is he just your get into heaven card? Is he just some sort of spiritual belief or religion or thing you pray to hoping that in doing so it will make your life go well? Is he just a good teacher, one who has some good things to say who lived a good life and has some good advice for you to follow? Who is Jesus to you? If you were there, sitting with Jesus and he asked you, what would you say?

A. Peter – The Mouthpiece Man

Jesus asks this question of disciples. Notice that, verse 15, “He said to them…who do you say I am?” And then Peter answers on behalf of the rest of the disciples. This really is Peter’s role we see him functioning in throughout the book of Matthew and really in all the gospels. He is the one who says what everyone else is thinking, repeatedly. We’ll come back to that.

For now, how does does Peter answer on behalf of the disciples? It’s phenomenal. Verse 16, he says “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Phenomenal. This is astounding. He says, “you are THE Christ.” You see “Christ” is not a last name, it’s a title for Messiah, which means “anointed one.” In the Old Testament when God picked out a dude to deliver and lead his people they would take a whole jar of oil and pour it on their head in order to signify them as being the dude…it was a sign of God’s blessing and favor.

Israel at this time in history is being ruled by the Romans and several dudes claimed and tried to be Christs and lead a political and military revolt against Rome. All failed. Peter says here, you Jesus, you are The Christ. You’re the one. You’re the one who was prophesied of, your God’s man who will save, deliver and lead us. As we’ll see, Peter and the disciples didn’t fully understand what they were saying, how much of a Christ Jesus was.

Same the with the second thing said about Jesus, “Son of the living God.” They realized something about Jesus was unique and divine. Seeing him heal, perform miracles, walk on water, rebuke the winds and the waves and they obey. They new there was something different and powerful about him and they identify him over and against the gods of Ceasarea Philippi.

Essentially what is being said here is that Pan and Baal are not gods at all, they are dead gods. There is only one true living God and you Jesus you are that God’s Son in a way we don’t quite fully comprehend.

This confession of Peter on behalf of the disciples is one the most theologically blatant and spiritually tender confessions in all of Scripture. I often think and fantasize about what it will be like when I finally see Jesus face to face with my eyes. And when I try and imagine what my affections will be like and what I would say, I don’t imagine being able to say much. I think I will probably just fall on my face in worship and exclaim, “Christ, Son of the living God.”

What will it be like for you? When you see Jesus will it be seeing him as a stranger for the first time or will words of worship and adoration and love just pour forth from your lips?

B. God Reveals His Person & Mission

Jesus response to Peter is not to praise him for his theological astuteness or for his wise and insightful understanding. Jesus is not taken off guard or surprised but he immediately redirects Peter, and us, to God. Look at it, in verse 17 Jesus says it’s God who reveals Jesus person and mission. “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.” So seeing, believing in and loving Jesus this way is not natural, it does not come from natural ability, in fact if we really wanted to go into it it’s the opposite. “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father in heaven.”

So we learn this principle. Not only can we not take credit or pride ourselves for believing in Jesus…but one of the major things God does is reveal the person and mission of Jesus to us. It’s God who enables us to see and understand and know that Jesus is his son and that his mission in the world is to be the Messiah.

This is the universal view of the Bible. Jesus says this repeatedly. In John 6:44 Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” God must reveal the person and work of Jesus to us. What does that mean for us?

It means two things. One, if you’re not yet a Christian…if right now, inside you know that…you’re not sure about all this stuff and if you were honest you know, you don’t really believe…if that’s you, it means that right now what you ought to do is to pray God, if you’re real, reveal this Jesus to me. Help me to see and know and understand this.

The other thing it means for us is for those of us who do consider ourselves Christians is not only can we not take credit for our belief in Jesus, thinking it is of our own goodness, spiritual openness, or insight…but it also means that what we need most in life is to be able to see Jesus as he is. Whenever we get confused or frustrated about life, 100% of the time it’s because we’ve got our eyes off Jesus and we need God to open them to see that Jesus is our Messiah and he is God and because of that no hell in this life or the life to come can overcome us.

II. Jesus Is The Builder, Protector, & Leader of His Church (v.18-20)

Well, that’s the first part of Jesus’ response…to immediately direct things back to God and our dependance on God. The second part is to talk about some details concerning his future plans. So let’s look at how Jesus is “The Builder, Protector, & Leader of His Church.”

This is where we jump into some hot water. A lot of ink has been spilled over these three verses. It’s probably one of the top most debated texts in the entire Bible. But rather than to shy away from it and just assume that since a bunch of scholars can’t agree that there can’t be one right answer, we’re going to tackle it because I don’t think it’s wise for us to allow Satan to determine for us what parts of the Bible we can use based on the passages he can stir up controversy over. It seems to me that if there is a Satan then it would be a good strategy to stir up controversy and confusion over the most precious and essential truths and passages of the Bible.

So here we go. I’m going to oversimplify a bit and give you the two main schools of thought here on these verses.

The first school of thought is the traditional Catholic perspective which hears Jesus’ words to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church….(and) I will give you the keys (etc)…” and thinks Jesus is instituting Peter as the first Pope to infallibly have authority over all the church as the chief leader, including stating his successors.

The second school of thought is in various forms and is of the traditional Protestant perspective in reaction to the Catholic interpretation which hears Jesus’ words to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” and says Jesus wasn’t referring to Peter himself but either to Peter’s confession of faith or Jesus himself. So they understand Jesus as either saying he will build his church on the rock of faith…or they see Jesus stopping mid-sentence and saying upon “this rock”, meaning pointing to himself, I will build my church.

A. Peter – The Pentecost Preacher

Here’s the deal. I don’t think either view is right. Here’s why. Put on your thinking caps with me. We’re going to get a little more technical today but that’s good because it helps you all learn how to work with the words of the Bible better.

First, Jesus IS referring to Peter. He emphasizes it. Look at it. Jesus says, “I to ‘you’ (first person singular in the Greek), ‘you’ are Peter (whose name actually means “rock” ..so there’s a word play here) and on this rock (you Peter, whose name means rock) I will build my church. So very clearly Jesus is in fact referring to the person Peter. Any other interpretation requires some crazy hermeneutical gymnastics which are not textually driven but politically or theologically driven.

But second thing. If Jesus is in fact referring to Peter here does that then mean that the Catholic Church is right? That Peter was given a higher authority than all the other apostles (Popedom), that he could never err (Papal Infallibility), and that he was to name his successor who would have all the same role (Papal Succession)? No. There is nothing in the text here which suggests any of those things, they’re all extreme extrapolations.

In fact, Scripture leans hard in the opposite direction. Mid, the book of Acts we don’t really even hear much more of Peter as God begins to use Paul increasingly. At the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 Peter is just one among the group of Apostles who share an equal authority. Peter himself in his own letters says that elders, plural, are all supposed to lead under the one Chief Shepherd Jesus (1 Pet 5:1-4) and in those same letters he defers to the leadership of Paul (2 Pet 3:15). So there goes Popedom.

On top of it Peter blows it just a few verses later as we’ll see in a minute. And in Galatians Paul has to confront Peter of personal and leadership sin (Galatians 2:11). So there goes Papal Infallibility.

If that’s all true then what is Jesus saying about Peter here? It’s really actually quite simple I think. Often times the most plain simple reading of a text is the right reading…it’s us who like to overcomplicate it. I think Jesus is simply referring to Peter as the mouthpiece. Peter speaks up for the disciples here and he ends up doing it one other really significant time. You know when?

Pentecost Sunday in Acts, the day the church got started. Here’s what Acts 2:14 says, “Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and…” began to preach. I think what is going on here is real simple. Jesus is recognizing Peter as the mouthpiece spokesperson and giving him a job to do for when Jesus starts his church.

Now you can agree or disagree with me and that’s okay, I’m just dealing with the words straight out. And I’ll say this. If you’re Catholic and you’re here, we love you, we’re glad you’re here, I’m not trying to attack you or your tradition…we just simply think that the Pope like all of us is a sinner too who needs Jesus and that Jesus is the only head of his church.

B. God Gives Charge To The Church

Okay, onto what really matters. The unfortunate downfall of all this debate is what I said at the beginning of this sermon and that is it can so easily distract us from Jesus. So I want us to look at three things real quick which we can derive here from Jesus words. Jesus, the living God here gives charge to the church. We’re a church, so we need to hear ‘em.

First thing, Jesus intended to start a church. Increasingly popular today is the idea that Jesus never intended to start a church. He was just a good guy, who taught people how to be loving and nice and it was his followers who hijacked everything and institutionalized his teachings creating all the structure and authority of “Church.”

So really the idea is that Jesus doesn’t like church and if you really love Jesus you won’t like church either. Thinking Jesus just wasn’t into all that stuff…he’s a lot mellower. It’s also what’s implicit anytime someone who is not a part of church says things like, “I have my own church.” Or yeah, “I just stayed home and had my own church today.”

No you didn’t. You just baked cookies and watched TV…by yourself. That’s not church. Joel Osteen on mute in the background doesn’t count…actually that’s probably a good thing but we won’t get into that now. Jesus likes and loves church, he calls it his bride and his house and he fully intended for it be.

Second thing, Jesus is the one who grows and protects his church. Jesus says, “I will build my church” and says “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” So that means two things for all of us and especially pastors like me.

One, we’ve got to realize Jesus is the one who builds his church not our clever strategies, programs, coolness, or methodology. The best thing we can do if we want our church to grow is to put our focus on Jesus.

Two, we need to know if a church gets shut down and doesn’t make it, it’s Jesus who does that and not Satan’s work from hell. In the book of Revelation, Jesus says he shuts down churches who practice sexual immorality, who do not exercise church discipline and keep out false teaching, who put all their confidence in works, who don’t do any works, and those who plain out just don’t love him (Rev 2:1-3:22).

Jesus is the one who grows and protects his churches and the capital “C” Church will never be defeated. It’s been nearly 2,000 years and we’re going strong.

So the first charge from Jesus is he intends his church, second charge is he grows and protects his church, and the last charge is he gives leaders to his church. We’re not going to spend a bunch of time working through all the stuff about the keys and binding and losing in verse 19 except for this one thing. It’s talking about church leadership and authority.

In just two chapters, in Matthew 18, Jesus will expand on what this binding and loosing means and it’s in reference to a plurality of elders who co-lead the church, overseeing it practically and spiritually under Jesus’ authority, which includes church discipline, direction, and declaration.

Here’s the simple thing to get from that. When you’re a part of a church, really part of it, God means for you to be under church leadership who serve under the chief leadership of Jesus. I’ll quote Hebrews 13:17 here, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Look, I know. That’s hard for me to say since I’m a leader and I’m the type of guy that doesn’t like hearing it. I don’t like cops, security guards, judges, or anyone else who is an authority figure. But God means for us to live under authorities. Most of all his. Then leaders both in our land and in our church.

Here at The Resolved Church, Ron Broersma and I are the undershepherds under Jesus and we’ve got 6 other dudes in training and testing right now to become elders or deacons. And we do that not because we’re power hungry but because Jesus has called us to and because we genuinely love and care for your souls and your life.

III. Jesus Is The One Who Died & Rose Again (v.21-23)

Alright. Let’s move on to our last point for today, “Jesus Is The One Who Died & Rose Again” and see how Peter becomes a different kind of rock and how Jesus plans to accomplish his great goal of the church.

Verse 21-23, let’s re-read it and get it fresh in our heads, “21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

So Jesus has just told the disciples about his great plan for his church…then Jesus, in truly prophetic fashion, prophesies or predicts his own death and resurrection as the way he is going to accomplish that. And the disciples just don’t get it. They are still thinking of Christ, in terms of a political and military Christ…they are still thinking Jesus will be like the other Christs they had seen only Jesus will be successful.

There were a bunch of them, even after Jesus…dudes like Menahem, Simon bar Giora, Simon bar Kokhba, and Theudas. Some made it so far as developing some soldiers and actually winning a few skirmishes. Others didn’t make it that far and just exercised some guerilla warfare. My favorite is this one dude known as the Sicarii, who led a group after that name. The sicarri is a small dagger they would keep in the folds of their robes and then when they were walking by a solider or a government official they would whip it out real quick and stab ‘em.

So when Peter speaks for the disciples here and says “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” …what he’s really saying is Jesus, we won’t let that happen to you…we’re ready to fight for you and you’re going to win.

A. Peter – The Stumbling Stone

It’s here, in Peter’s great lack of understanding and destitution of spiritual insight that he becomes a far different kind of rock, a stumbling stone in Jesus way. Peter, the stumbling stone.

This is why Jesus is so stern with Peter and calls him Satan…because Peter is being a stumbling stone attempting to keep Jesus from his mission, to keep him from being the kind of Christ he came into the world to be. And it’s the same thing we saw Satan do when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness…every one of the temptations was really an attempt to keep Jesus from going to the cross by trying to get Jesus to forego the humble suffering servant mission of saving souls and instead demonstrate his deity and take the world by force.

So Jesus calls Peter Satan, because he’s doing the same thing Satan did in the wilderness and Jesus says he is being a hindrance. Now there are a ton of interesting character lessons we could dive into here about the two pictures of Peter, or how to deal with temptation when Satan seeks to deter us…and there’s a lot of good stuff here.

I mean how we, like Peter, can go from such great spiritual highs and progress to great lows… How when we are tempted, sometimes we need to take a strong stance of authority like Jesus here and say, “get behind me Satan.” There are some good lessons here.

But I want to keep the focus on Jesus today, so we’ll just go with Jesus’ words here today because they’re actually probably the most helpful. “You are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man.”

Look, whether it’s our theology or our lives…like we said earlier, 100% of the time when there’s problems, it’s because we’ve set our mind on ourselves instead of God. I know there’s some complicated things about Christianity, but the heart of it is simple, it’s that childlike faith which says, it’s all about Jesus, just look to him and set your mind on him.

How easily our thoughts are pulled away from God in our minds and turned inward onto ourselves. We need to look to Jesus. Are there things today you know have been distracting you? Stuff that has you worried? Or stuff that has you excited? And whatever it is, is causing a spiritual vacuum and deadness. Look to Jesus, set your mind on him.

B. God Triumphs Over Satan In The Cross

The last thing here is what we can read between the lines. Jesus plan is to go to the cross. Satan wants to keep him from going to the cross. But we’re on this side of things aren’t we? We know Jesus made it. On the cross, Jesus defeated Satan.

You see Jesus was a warrior and he did come to be the Christ and to fight and to overthrow an evil ruler. It just wasn’t the one the disciples we’re thinking of. Jesus was going after the most evil ruler of all, sin and Satan. And he came not to fight with swords and spears but with his body and his blood. And he came not just to win a temporary physical battle but to win an eternal one for the very heart of our life.

Whatever you are dealing with Jesus dealt with victoriously on the cross and he declared the victory but his resurrection from the dead and he is alive today. Jesus is what we need.

Conclusion

And this is where we end up and conclude today, with Jesus’ body and blood. We’re going to receive the Lord’s Supper here in a minute. Here is how I’d suggest we go to the table today…

As we go to the table spend some special, intimate, personal time with Jesus. Hear his words to you today, “Who do you say that I am?” Go to the table and tell him.

As we go to the table, let us go in humble submission to Jesus our head pastor, who builds, protects, leads and loves his church. Hear Jesus’ words to you today, “I will build my church” and ask him either what he would have you to do for his church or to help continue doing what you are doing with a confidence in him and his power that is at work.

And lastly, as we go to the table, let us go in great remembrance of the cross, the gospel of Jesus Christ…that Jesus lived the life we have failed and died the death that we deserve, in our place, so that we might receive mercy and be redeemed.

Jesus’ life mission was to go to the cross for us. So let us be thankful and confident in his work and allow his defeat of Satan to defeat the sin and hindrances that arise in us in our hearts and minds.

Take your needs today to Jesus, whatever they are and have him work in you.

Let’s pray.

Some may be unaware but the topic of “social justice” is an extremely hot topic both for those inside and outside the church. There are dozens and dozens of humanitarian efforts worldwide and many “Christians” are now calling for the church to turn and devote it’s primary attention to such causes.

Where ought the church’s focus be? What are we supposed to think about social justice? What does God think? How did Jesus operate and what did he say about it? People tend to gravitate toward one of two extremes, either completely abandoning any sort of social action or fully immersing themselves in it. There are strong pressures and loud voices on both sides.

In order to sift through the issues involved on the topic of social justice, I’ve compiled what I think are some of the best resources on the web:

- A Brief History Of The Social Gospel by John A. Battle
- Biblical Mandate For Mercy Ministries by Tim Keller
- Carson On The Gospel And Social Action by D.A. Carson
- Creation Care: No Less Than Stewards by Albert Mohler
- Glenn Beck, Social Justice, and the Limits of Public Discourse by Albert Mohler
- Evangelism And Social Action: A Tale Of Two Trajectories by Bobby Jamieson
- How NOT To Be a Missional Church: Social Action-Driven by Jonathan Dodson
- Jesus & Social Justice by Duane M. Smets
- Monday is for Missiology: Evangelism and Social Justice by Ed Stetzer
- Musings on Missiology: Theological Approaches to Social Action and Transformation by Ed Stetzer
- Seven Passages On Social Justice by Kevin DeYoung
- Should Christians Be Concerned For The Environment by John Piper
- Should Evangelicals Use The Term Social Justice by Matthew S. Harmon
- 10 Theses On The Kingdom Of God And Social Action by Matthew S. Harmon

Matthew Series | Matthew 15:29-16:12 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 15:29-16:12 where Jesus talks about knowing and recognizing God and how he viewed his own miraculous works. It takes in in depth look at the popular cultural beliefs and practices of astrology, social justice and environmentalism. This sermon was originally preached on July 4th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
July 4th, 2010

“Jesus Talks Signs & Stomachs”
Matthew 15:28-16:12

I. Sign Seeking and the Sign of God (16:1-4)
What Jesus thinks about how we know and recognize God, his will & his work

II. Stomach Feeding and the Sermon of Jesus (16:5-12)
What Jesus thinks about what he does, says & how it’s received

Introduction

Things have been ramping up in the story of Jesus in the book of Matthew. It’s been a while since we’ve been in Matthew on Sundays together, so just to remind you here’s what basically been going on.

In the first part of the book we just sort of got introduced to Jesus, learning some stuff about his birth and coming into the world, seeing him get baptized, pick his disciples and then start his ministry. Right away there was a lot of hype surrounding him. People were astounded by his preaching, teaching and his miracles.

Then as Jesus starts increasingly calling out the crowds not just to be hyped but to really follow him and as he starts training and calling his 12 main disciples to the mission of making other disciples…we started seeing some backlash, particularly from this group of dudes called the Pharisees and the Scribes, who are basically these old school pastors of the day that didn’t really like Jesus. That’s a problem. If you’re a pastor and you’re not into Jesus that’s not good and there’s actually a lot of “pastors” running around today who are like that.

Well, what’s happened in the book of Matthew is that we’ve passed the mid-way point of the book and more than mid-way point of Jesus’ three year ministry. In just a couple chapters he’s going to cruise in Jerusalem where he’ll end up dying on the cross and rising again. And what we’re seeing where we are at in the book of Matthew is Jesus ramping things up, really pressing people to understand who he is and to put their faith in him, really challenging the disciples to get it, and really showing how far the divide is between him and the Pharisees.

So what we have today is Jesus in a Gentile region doing what we’ve been seeing him do already so many times. He heals a bunch of people…lame, blind, crippled, mute and then he does another big feeding, 4,000 last time.

Now, on the surface there’s not much new here with these stories…some healings and a feeding. On the feeding all the basics are the same as before, there bread and fish, Jesus has compassion on the people, it’s a large crowd, and there’s a bunch of baskets left over. The difference with it and when he fed the 5,000 is mainly details, the numbers of things…how many people were there, how much bread, fish, baskets and days there were.

But here is the real difference with this scene. If you go back and re-read through it, verse 29-38 of chapter 15, you’ll notice something if you look carefully. No teaching that takes place. In fact there’s barely any conversation at all. What we have is purlely a descriptive narrative.

And that’s wierd. Because almost every other time we see Jesus do something, perform some miracle, heal some person, it is intermixed with either a teaching conversation, sermon, or training for the disciples…but here there is none. Matthew just tells us what happened. At first.

Then in chapter 16 Matthew introduces the theological discussion and interpretation of what just happened, first by giving us a dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees and then a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples where he directly refers to the feeding that just took place.

So what I’m going to do this morning is pretty much skip verses 20-39 and go straight to 16:1-12 and deal with what Matthew and Jesus have given us for how to undertsand and interpret the healings and the feedings. So only two main points in my outline today: “Sign Seeking and the Sign of God” and “Stomach Feeding and the Sermon of Jesus.”

I. Sign Seeking and the Sign of God (16:1-4)
What Jesus thinks about how we know recognize God, his will & his work

Now we don’t have any direct textual clue here in verses 1-4 that this discussion with Jesus and the Pharisees about sign has in mind the healings Jesus just did, in fact Jesus was in a Gentile region, so it would have been unlikely for them to be there. Most likely Matthew is making the connection for us theologically by inserting this discussion right before he has Jesus directly talking to the disciples about what just happened with the feeding.

Here’s what I mean. Look at verse 1 of chapter 16. “The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign.” But what did we just read. Jesus doing a bunch of healings. Healings were seen as signs by the people. But that wasn’t good enough for the Pharisees. They want a sign from what? From heaven.

Jesus has been giving signs on the earth but they want one from heaven. I’m not quite sure what they were expecting. I mean when Jesus was baptized the clouds opened up and a dove decended down on Jesus and a voice speaks, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” But apparantly voices from the sky and healings on earth are not enough to convince them, or they just wanted him to do it again.

Most likely scholars have said they were wanting Jesus cause some supernatural phenomenea to take place on his command, like something in the stars, or a pillar fire or smoke as in the Exodus. But Jesus will not appease them. Interestingly, in the next chapter he does do something like this in front of the disciples when his face lights up, a voice speaks from a cloud and Moses and Elijah show up…but that’s reserved for just the disciples.

So Jesus will not allow people to maniuplate him, to say, oh, so you’re from God huh…then prove it, we’ll believe if you do this. Instead of choosing to exercise his divine power Jesus chooses to exercise his divine wisdom and attempts to get behind the motive that’s at work in this sign seeking.

Check out what he does. Verse 2-3, “He answered them, ‘When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You now how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.’”

This is interesting and genius. Jesus keeps with the sky motif and basically says, look even if I did do something like that you still wouldn’t believe because your so blinded. Here’s Jesus point. You know how to understand natural phenomena, understanding the weather. But I’m right here and I’m from God, I’m the messiah, I’m doing signs all over the place, the kingdom of God has been initated in me. This is the time. I’m the sign. The sign of the times is me, I’m what you’ve been waiting for and longing for. But you don’t believe me. If you don’t believe me now then there’s no way you’d believe if I did some supernatural wonder from heaven. You’d come up with some excuse or explanation and still reject me.

You see that phrase, “the sign of the times” is a loaded one. It’s not just casual, like we’re in a time of economic ressession. This is all of history language. In the grand metanarrative, in the grand story of God and humans and all of history…a key juncture and shift has taken place in me being here. The sign of the times.

When God became man in Jesus, that was a huge critical juncture in the course of human and world history. It was huge. When we understand that we better understand why Jesus remarks in verse 4 are so scathing…I mean he’s upset, he calls ‘em evil whores.

Check it out, look at verse 4. “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Let’s camp on this verse for a minute because Jesus hits some big things here about our motives and how we approach life and decisions.

First, he straight out says that sign seeking is wrong. So often, so many of us are constantly looking for a sign of what we’re supposed to do about this or that and we look for some sort of answer in all kinds of things.

Some of you are really into astrology, and you know your “sign” and you check your horoscope regularly to see what it means for you and your life. You’re probably not fully convinced but even if it’s just casual, you think that what month you’re born in and what the stars are doing and what other people have said that means actually provides some interesting, insightful and meaningful things for your life.

Some of you are not into astrology but you’re all hyper feelings based and you try to spiritualize your sign seeking by praying and asking God what he wants you to do and then when you think you’ve heard God you start going around saying “God told me this” and “God told me that.”

What’s Jesus say? First, just the fact that your seeking a sign is bad. So is Jesus saying we shouldn’t try and seek God about decisions of life? No, he tells us to do that. Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” What he’s condemning is the kind of seeking where we are testing God and asking God to prove something to us. It’s when we already know or ought to know the answer but don’t want to accept it.

Then what’s the second thing Jesus says about sign seeking? “No sign will be given…except the sign of Jonah.” Now this one really throws you for a loop. What the heck is that?

If you’ve never heard about Jonah, here’s the story of Jonah. It’s like something you’d read on the cover of the Weekly World News tabloid…”man eaten by fish, in his belly for three days, and lives to tell the story.” The difference is it’s actually in the Bible.

Here’s the story. God told a man named Jonah to go be a missionary to a place called Nineveh. He didn’t want to go, so he took a boat in the opposite direction. That didn’t make God happy, so he sent a storm on the sea that almost shipwrecked the boat. Jonah realizes his sin and tells the people on the boat to throw him overboard and everything will be alright. So they do. A big fish comes and swallows Jonah whole, he says in there three days and three nights in his belly. While he is in there he repents. Then the fish spits him back up and he goes and preaches the gospel to Nineveh.

Awesome fun story. Why’s Jesus bring it up? For one, it’s in the Bible. For Jesus and for us, the Bible is our guide and like him we treat every story as wholly true and factual and helpful.

So you want to know God’s will for your life? Here’s how you find out. Read the book God gave you. So many times we are asking God for direction when he’s already given us very clear directions in his book. Jesus is like, you want to know what to do with your life? I already gave you a whole book, go read that. It has everything you need.

The other reason Jesus brings up Jonah is because he already said that what happened with Jonah is a picture of what he was going to do which would be the greatest sign man would ever know. Here it is from Matthew 12:40 “Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the bellow of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three night in the heart of the earth.”

What’s Jesus talking about? His death and resurrection. Jesus died on the cross and rose again three days later and Jesus’ resurrection is the heart of the Chrisitian faith. The apostle Paul said that if Jesus did not rise from the dead our preaching is useless and our faith is in vain and we are fools (1 Cor 15:14,19). And truly if you look into it, we don’t have the time to do it this morning, but the evidence surrounding the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is insurmountable…it’s by far the biggest sign of all that Christianity is in fact true and that Jesus was in fact who he said he was.

But really this is quite a crazy thing for Jesus to say isn’t it? I mean it be one thing if he’d already died and rose but that hadn’t even happened yet at this point in the story of Matthew. But Jesus basically says that his death and resurrection is the key to understanding all of life.

So what’s that mean for us? It means this, who we are, what we do, how we live, the decisions we make…all of it, everything ought to be driven by the gospel, the good news that Jesus died and rose again for our sins. (repeat) Jesus is telling us that who he is and what he was about to do in dying and rising informs or has something to say about everything…more so than some crazy supernatural occurance in the sky.

How do you recognize God, his will, his work? Look to the gospel. Ask yourself how does this relate to the gospel. What does Jesus death and resurrection have to say about this? How is this going to help or hinder the gospel’s work in my life? How will this benefit others hearing and knowing the gospel? How do I know whether this or that is of God, well does it glorify or detract from the gospel?
So for example… You’re thinking of what you’re going to do for a career? Ask yourself how it will help or hinder the work of the gospel in your heart and your ability to spread it to others. You’re thinking of moving somewhere? Ask yourself how will this move help or hinder your ability to grow in the gospel and do you have a heart for the people where you’d go live. You’re thinking of considering a relationship or marriage with another person? Ask yourself will this person help me be more like Jesus and love Jesus more or will they distract me from him and pull me away from him.

The sign of God is Jesus. So let the gospel of Jesus inform and determine every major decision you make. Don’t just understand the natural phenomena of life, like the weather…understand how the supernatural pesron and resurrection of Jesus changes everything down to the smallest details of life. You need a sign? Don’t look to the stars or to voices in your head, look to Jesus. Jesus is the sign. Look to him.

II. Stomach Feeding and the Sermon of Jesus (16:5-12)
What Jesus thinks about what he does, says & how it’s received

Okay, let’s move on to our second point today. The first conversation happened between Jesus and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, this next conversation takes place between Jesus and the disciples after the boat ride probably back to Capernaum. So let’s check out what happens and work with “Stomach Feeding and the Sermon of Jesus.”

First let’s backtrack a little bit. Remember, there was no theological conversation that took place between Jesus and any of the people he healed or between him and the disciples in this second big feeding, the feeding of the four-thousand. Now Jesus decides to take what happened at the feeding and teach the disciples something about it.

And this is big for us. Personally I am especially concerned over a lot of sloppy handling of the stories of Jesus’ healings and feedings to the poor, which seem to easily get reduced to just doing good and nice things for poor, underprivileged or even abused people thinking whatever is done is the end goal in and of itself.

I’m afraid we too often and too easily jump to that conclusion without ever stopping to ask questions like: How did Jesus see what he did? What was Jesus goal and purpose in doing what he did? Why did Jesus do what he did? How did Jesus mean for what he did to be understood?

These questions are important for us, especially because of uniqueness of San Diego. Now I know some cities and some parts of cities are super snobby and rich and don’t give a rip about anyone else and don’t ever do jack about anything. San Diego, by and large is not one of those places. San Diego is one of the most activistic cities in the country. Activist San Diego lists over 180 different organizations based at and at work in San Diego for some form of social justice or enviromentalism. Here’s a few to give you an idea…

Depending on what race you are there’s Alliance for African Assistance, San Diego Alliance for Asian Pacific Islander Americans, Students For A Free Tibet, Raza Rights, Indian Voices.

If you’re for all the races there’s San Diego Coalition for Peace & Justice, The Unity and Diverstity, World Beat Center, Stop Esso, and Amnesty International. Depending whether you’re for border patrol or against it there’s either Save Our Centro or Stop Gate Keeper.

If you’re gay, there’s San Diego Pride, Gaycities, and The Center. If you’re old there’s the American Association of Retired Persons or the Voice Of The Elderly. If you’re young there’s Silent Tears Foundation, New Alternatives, Foundation For Change, Invisible Children or Stand Up For Kids.

If you’re homeless there’s Shelter From The Storm, Girls Think Tank, or Serving San Diego. If you’re an addict there’s Alcoholics Annymous, Narcotics Annoymous, Gamblers Annonymous, Pathfinders, Smart Recovery, Sex Addicts 101, Conscience Eating, and the OCD Recovery Center.

If you’re not into people but you like animals then there’s People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
La Jolla Friends of the Seals, Turtle & Tortoise Society, California Wolf Center, Ratty Rat Rattery.

If you don’t care about animals but just like the earth there’s, EarthSave San Diego, I Love A Clean San Diego, San Diego Earth Works, San Diego Earth Times, San Diego Oceans Foundation, People For Trees or the California Native Plant Society.

I mean the list goes on and on and on, this is just a sampling. These are only a few and it doesn’t even count the grassroots organizations that are not even sophisticated enough to develop their own non-profits and business or other international groups like Save Haiti, Africa and Afghanistan.

We live in a cause saturated city. It doesn’t matter what your cause is as long as you’ve got one and you’re passionate about it, right? If we’re involved in a “cause” then according to our culture that makes us a good person who does good things, right?

Here’s my question: what is a cause and why does it matter if there really is no such things as objective truth or morality? If everything just sucks and we’re all gonna die and that the end, what’s the big deal? If there’s no God why does it matter?

Most of these groups get categorized on some form of “justice”, social justice, environmental or animal justice. But what is justice? Isn’t that an ethical or moral thing? What is just or right? And if we’re going to bring God into the picture I don’t think we want to start calling him on justice and what’s fair because we know we’re a mess obviously.

We’ve jacked things up pretty good. If God rained down justice in response that would be the end of everything and the end of us. Justice equals judgment. If we need anything it’s mercy…not getting what we deserve.

Ok, so I know even though I haven’t really said anything, yet…I’m probably making some of you uncomfortable and ruffling some feathers in questioning the value of giving our time, energy and money to some of these efforts. But my goal isn’t to just make you all mad at me by the end of the sermon but to get us to grapple with how Jesus sees things and wrestle with what he would have to say about it. And this text is a massive help to us in attempting to answer some of these questions I’m raising. So hear me out as we look at what Jesus says here.

He starts up a simple discussion with the disciples to bring up this issue and he does it by saying, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The disciples immediately think Jesus is talking about not buying bread from them since leaven is what is used to make bread, so they reply, “We bought no bread.”

Now check out what Jesus says, pick it up in verse 8 with me, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered. Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you gathered? How is it you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread?”

Wow. Get this. Jesus, right here, just tells us something gigantic about how he sees his own ministry. He does three things here.

One, he says this is a matter of faith. So the fact that they are thinking outwardly and physically rather than inwardly and spiritually is a faith thing.

Two, he directly connects faith to being integral to truly understanding his feeding of both the five thousand and the four thousand.

Three, he says straight out, it’s not about bread. So if you think it’s just about bread you don’t get it. You don’t understand.

Wow. Do you see it? Hear verse 11, “How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread!” Jesus is not happy here. His charge is deep and sharp. Do you think it’s just about bread? Do you think that whole reason I fed people is simple because their stomachs were hungry? Do you really think I give a rip about where the food comes from? I make food out of nothing. That’s not a problem for me.

Okay Jesus. So what’s it about? Verse 12, look at it. “Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” So what’s it about? The teaching. His teaching versus the Pharisees. It’s the message that matters!

Why does Jesus do miracles, healings and feedings? The teaching! That’s what matters. The teaching. The message of the gospel. You can do all the social activism you want and if there is no gospel message in it, it is worthless because it’s not about the bread….it’s about Jesus.

Some of you who care so much about being active, being involved in causes, caring for the earth, people, animals…all of those are good things but is there any Jesus in it all or do you care more just about feeling like you’re doing a good thing and you don’t want to bring up Jesus because that might rock the boat and then they might think you have an ulterior motive.

Um…yeah you do or you shouldn’t be doing it. And it’s not just that we have an ulterior motive we have as superior motive…to do something that counts for eternity and not just for a few hours until someone’s stomach is hungry again. We have something and someone far superior, Jesus. It’s about Jesus. Do something for Jesus, don’t just do something!

If I sound like I’m torqued today it’s because I am mad. I’m sick and tired of losing people to veganism, environmentalism, animalism, and socialism that has no Jesus in it. I’m frustrated at four differnent things.

One, I’m frustrated at the fruitlessness of efforts I have personally given myself to and efforts of others that I have supported. And when I say fruitlessness I mean it never translated into anyone coming to know and love Jesus and his church. I’m not speaking from some high tower who has never got down in the mud and worked in these type of ministries, if they even deserve to be called that. I spent four years working with the homeless downtown here in San Diego and saw zero fruit. I’ve spent the last four years working at group home for abused kids and seen very little fruit. As a church we’ve done ministry to the homeless, beach clean ups, community service projects…all kinds of stuff in the past and seen very little gospel results. Which has caused me to ask the question, why?

Is this just part of our duty, our job, something we’re supposed to do as Christians but it’s never really going to go anywhere or make any difference? I don’t think so. We’re supposed to be fruitful and make disciples. And if it’s not happening, people are not receptive we’re supposed to kick the dust off our feet and move on. I think in part some of the fruitlessness has been because Jesus has not been the main motive driving some both my personal efforts and some of the efforts our church has been involved in, in years past.

Two, I’m frustrated by the reinterpretation of the gospel by “Christians” and pastors who think that the gospel simply means doing good works. And this happens from the top down from the academy to the local and popular level and has been at work for years in what is known as the social gopsel or liberation theology. The gospel is not do good deeds. The gospel is Jesus alone is good and he did the greatest deed of all in dying on the cross and rising again for our sin! Nothing else can save us.

The gospel is a message about Jesus, who he is and what he did. The gospel is not something we do. John Stott said this, “Man’s essential trouble is rebellion against God and his need of salvation, therefore (as D. Martin Lloyd Jones said) “preaching is the primary task of the Church.” This is what the Bible teaches. Romans 10:13-17 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” …So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Listen, no one will be helped or ministered to or really be benefitted in anyone UNLESS they are hearing the word of Christ. They’ve got to hear. They’ve got to hear. They’ve got to hear. If they do not hear the name of Jesus, who he is and what he has done, you can feed stomachs and clean up the earth until you’re blue in the face and dead and it will not help anyone one single bit in the end.

Three, I’m frustrated at Christians and Pastors who know the gospel is about Jesus but are encouraging all their people to put their energy and efforts in causes as though if we really loved Jesus and we really loved people that’s what we’d be doing.

I heard one Pastor I actually like and respect a lot, I won’t tell you who, but a very well-known Pastor, I heard him say recently…”at the end of your life what are you going to have to show before God, what are you going to say for yourself when you knew that people we’re hungry and dying in Africa and you didn’t do anything about it.”

Umm…if I stand before heaven’s gates and God asks me why he should let me in, if I point to any of my damnable good works as reason for why I should get in, he will reply “depart from me I never knew you.” The only acceptable answer is there is no reason why you should let me in God, I deserve hell. I could never do enough good works to gain my way in and work off the infininte debt I owe. That’s the religion of Islam by the way. The only acceptable answer is Jesus. I plead the blood of Jesus on my behalf. I am a sinner and I believe he died for me and that his good work of the cross is enough to cover all my sin.

I heard Pastor Kevin DeYoung say recently, “Many Christians are getting all excited about digging wells in Africa but not talking about the well of salvation that is found in Jesus.”

You see here’s the deal. Yes it’s true. Many in Africa are poor, hungry, thirsty and they are dying and they need help. But it’s their lack of money, food, and water which is blinding them to the gospel because they think if they just had those things then everything would be okay and it wouldn’t…they need Jesus most of all.

America is rich. We have a lot. It’s true. We are materialistic, consumeristic, individualistic and nationalistic and it’s blinding us from seeing how sinful we are so that we don’t see how much we really need Jesus. And it is personally offensive to me to hear another pastor tell me that even though I’m giving my blood sweat and tears for the sake of the gospel in San Diego, that if I really loved Jesus then I should just quit my job and leave and go dig a well in Africa. No. I’m not wasting my life by preaching the gospel and pleading all of you do something for the sake gospel in your life in San Diego. That’s a worth while cause.

Lastly, my last complaint, the fourth thing I’m frustrated about…I’m frustrated that so many of these causes are pulling people away from Jesus’ church. What’s happening is people are giving their time, energy, talents and money to these causes so much so that they don’t have anything left for Jesus’ church and many actually don’t think they need the church anymore because their already getting their religious fix through their social actvisim. It really does become a religion for many.

This happens even with Christian groups, often times parachurch ministries get started or people get involved with them because they have this negative bent toward Jesus’ church. It goes something like this…the church isn’t doing this, the church really ought to be doing this, but it’s not, so we’re just going to go do it without the church.

No. No, no, no no. Don’t do that. Jesus set up the church very intentionally in the way he did with elders and pastors who lead his churches. If you’ve got a vision to go do something, do it through the church under the covering, support and protection of the church leadership Jesus has provided for you. Don’t throw that away. It’s a blessing for you.

I mentioned Pastor Kevin DeYoung a minute ago. He wrote a great book along with a guy named Ted Kluck titled “Why We Love The Church.” DeYoung talks about how many today are into Jesus but just don’t like the church. There are many ministries and organization and people involved in them who may have a genuine love and committment to Jesus but they don’t love Jesus’ church.

DeYoung says that’s like decapitating Jesus. Jesus is the head of the church (Eph 4:15), you want to cut his head off? No. Jesus calls the church his bride (Rev 21:19). You want to invite your friends over to your house and make fun of Jesus’ wife and make fun of her and talk about how much she sucks and all the stuff you enjoy doing without her? No. Don’t do that.

For me, I’m a church planter. I love Jesus’ church. I’m trying so hard to show people how exciting, fun, and glorifying to God it is be a part of a church and to invest your life in it and I feel like I’m constantly faced with this battle that people would rather give their time to other things, that when it comes down to it…they believe is a more worthy cause.

Ok. Maybe you’re like dude, chill out…why you so worked up today? What’s the deal? Here’s the thing. This is an issue that has been brewing in me for awhile. I think I actually told all of you a few weeks ago, you’d hear more about it from me.

Here’s why. After being over five years in on our church plant here in San Diego, I think I’ve begun to understand something about our city. I think what I’ve begun to see is an overly active city whose getting fat on good deeds. I think the “cause-centric-ness” of our city has probably at least in some ways become one of our gods, one of our idols that we’re real proud of. I mean really. I’ve probably made some of you uncomfortable today and you might not be quite sure why. It may be because this good deedism has become engrained in us and has become a cultural idol.

If I’m right what’s the solution? Just say forget doing anything at all? Some that’s what some churches and pastors say. Their attitude is, “It’s all gonna burn anyway, so forget the environment. Bums, minorities, and other societal outcasts all deserve it anyway so forget ‘em. Let’s just hunker down. Hide in the church and protect the walls.” No that’s not the answer.

Yes, God’s going to remake the earth but he calls us to be stewards of it and to care for his creation. Yes, bums and outcasts are sinners and deserve judgment, we all do. But God’s a God of mercy and has had mercy on us in Jesus and calls us to take that message to the world.

So here’s what am I calling for. I’ll give you an example. Over two years ago a couple guys in our church found this group of homeless ex-cons who all live together in an alley in the industrial area over by the Sports Arena Group. On their own they just started going down there on Monday nights and handing out food. About a year ago they came to me and asked me to help them try and figure out how they could take from beyond just being food. So we ended up adopting this ministry as a church. You know what’s happening now? One they are regularly being prayed for. Two I meet regularly with these guys to oversee and support them. Three, now we got another leader from our church going down there teaching through the gospel of John. So they all eat and whoever wants to stay and learn from the Bible and be prayed for stays. And Jesus is working. I think that’s a good example of how you can do something cause oriented with a Jesus focus and a love for the church.

You want a real easy way to test if something is gospel-centered and is good for the church. Two simple questions. Ask how is this going to help people audibly hear who Jesus is and what he has done? And ask how is this going to help people get connected to and love Jesus’ church?

Use that a rubric and God can birth all kinds of things in, among and through us. You see, just because we may not have some ministry at The Resolved Church that you may be passionate about doing doesn’t mean you can’t do that. In fact I believe God often puts vision in people’s hearts to do things for his kingdom and that’s one of the ways a church grows and becomes increasingly healthier. So if there’s something you want to do we’re not doing, pray about it, maybe write out a proposal, set up a meeting with one of our elders and then let’s start working through it together.

So what I’m saying is go, go feed, go serve, go love and make sure you make it all about Jesus and do it with a love for Jesus’ church. In fact sometimes the most successful mercy ministry, that’s a better term than social justice, sometimes the most successful mercy ministry is the one that’s not just an big thing but something that’s done for an individual person…like your neighbor. Maybe someone needs help moving, needs their lawn mowed, needs a wheelchair ramp built. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes up to see the small things we can do that end up being great things for the glory of God and the spread of the gospel.

So get involved, go serve, do something…just do it because of the gospel and out of the gospel and not in place of the gospel gospel. Make sure it doesn’t end up being about bread. Make it about Jesus.

Conclusion

Here’s how I want to conclude. We’ve looked at a story of Jesus healing a bunch of people and then feeding a bunch of people. Then we walked through two different discussions Jesus had. One on signs the other on stomachs.

First, the Pharisees and the Sadducees wanted a sign in the sky that Jesus was from God. As sinners we will often find ourselves in a place of weakness, confusion, and even hardness against God where we feel we need some sort of sign from God to believe or to continue.

God in his grace actually answered their request. On a hill God hung up his son on a cross and Jesus with his arms stretched out in the sky bled and died for our sin, so that we might know God loves us and has provided a way for redemption. The cross of Christ hangs like a banner set in the sky, the ultimate sign of God forever saying, I am God and I love you.

There’s an old hymn titled, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” The first verse says this, ” Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” No matter where you are at today, look to Jesus for your every need, he is the greatest sign of all.

Second, the disciples misunderstood why Jesus did the things he did and how he meant for them to be received. They mistakenly thought it was just about bread, just about doing good deeds. After Jesus pressed them, the light came on and then they understood it was about the teaching, the message of Jesus.

Here’s the thing, we like the disciples can so easily get focused on what’s happening and what we’re doing that we miss the entire point and end up leaving the message of Jesus behind. We will make it just about bread.

So how do we avoid that? Avoid what Jesus called having “little faith” and “failing to understand.” Here’s how…In John 6:48 Jesus said this, “I am the bread of heaven.” In so far as we look to and have Jesus as our bread, it won’t be about our own works and deeds but his.

As we go to Jesus’ table today to receive his body and blood in the bread and wine, let’s go in repentance, thanks and worship. If you need to repent of seeking some other sign than Jesus then do that. If you need to repent of depending on other bread than Jesus then do that. But most of all let’s go to Jesus and worship him and thanking him for having grace and mercy on us and allow him to work in our hearts to be the kind of servants he calls us to be in the world for his glory.

Let’s pray.

There’s pretty much an “ism” for nearly everything out there. You can make an ism out of almost anything. Like In-N-Out-ism, where you only eat hamburgers at In-N-Out because all others pale in comparison. Or Apple-ism, where you only use Apple computers and phones because all others are clunky and ugly like driving a tractor down the freeway. But there are really only five “isms” that matter. All views of life can be boiled down to one of these five “isms”: Atheism, Deism, Moralism, Anti-ism, or Jesus-ism.

Atheism

Atheism is the view that we can conceive of a certain being called God, who is all powerful, all good, all knowing and everywhere present, but do not believe such a being exists. The atheistic argument is interesting in a number of ways because it uses reason to first define what it means by “God” and then proceeds to say that because of reason, such a God cannot exist.

In reality, the belief of athiesm is a belief of personal omniscience…that one as an individual can know all things because if there was anything not known then it could be possible one simply does not yet know the knowledge of God’s existence. Thus in reality, since saying a single human being can know all things is absurd, logical consistency makes it impossible for anyone to truly be an atheist but only an agnostic (one who doesn’t know if there is a God). Theologian/Philosopher Ravi Zacharias has described the inconsistent creed of atheism quite accurately in this statement: “(Atheism says) I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge.”

There’s a recent breed of atheists around on a mission to kill theism who have named themselves the “New Atheism.” They would like to see “God” take his place among the dead mythological deities like Zeus and Apollos because they believe religion is detrimental to society. They are quite popular figures with bestselling books, most notably Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. Interestingly, Christopher Hitchens’ brother Peter Hitchens is now a Christian and recently released his own book titled, “The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me To Faith.”

Many Christians abhor atheism yet whenever we act like we know everything we exercise practical atheism for there can truly only be one who knows all things and we are fools to think otherwise. Atheism teaches us how important it is for us to constantly recognize that God is God and we are not.

Deism

Deism is the view that there is a God but he is completely detached and uninvolved in this world and universe. Like a grand watchmaker, he put all the parts together and set it in motion. Now it just moves on its own without any dependence on him or interaction from him. In fact, withheld in deism is also an additional belief that God has made his creation in such a way that he cannot interfere or interact with it. God is out there but is unknowable.

Increasingly many secular scientists who have in addition to becoming disillusioned with the lack of explanatory power from the theory of evolution have also been overwhelmed by the biological evidence of irreducible complexities. Thus they have come to acknowledge the necessity of some great intelligent designer in the background and in the beginning and are thereby modern deists. Deism has been around for a long time. Many of the so called “Christian Founding Fathers” of the United States were deists including: George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin.

Many Christians acknowledge there is a God but when we don’t pray, worry, sin, and feel lost and alone we become practical deists acting as though God were unaware, uninvolved and unconcerned. Deism teaches us how important it is to constantly recognize that God does see and hear everything and is at work in this world and our lives with tender loving care and wisdom.

Moralism

Moralism is the view of ourselves and other human beings as basically good people who need to do good things and then we and everyone else will be okay. You can do this with or without religion, but the goal of life is to religiously work hard at being good and if you do, you will achieve happiness, peace, and/or spiritual enlightenment. Two types of moralists result. Ones who think they do a very good job at being good and are quite proud of it, often looking down on others who are not as good. Or ones who are constantly filled with guilt, beating themselves up for how much they fail at being good.

There are secular moralists and Christian moralists. Secular moralists are those who constantly push doing good things and being a good person. This includes people like Oprah, Dr. Phil, the social activists, environmentalists, and many other “-ists.” Christian moralists are often of the fundamentalist breed who think being a Christian is merely a matter of a certain ethical behavior wherein you abide by a certain set of rules as if the word “Christian” meant: you don’t drink, don’t cuss, don’t smoke, don’t have tattoos, vote Republican, go to church, read the Bible, and hate homosexuals. The technical theological term for this is legalism.

Many Christians are extremely confused on this one and the confusion happens when we focus on our own personal deeds and performance as the grounds for God’s acceptance and love for us. We become practical moralists when how we see ourselves and others is purely in terms of our behavior rather than a consideration of our hearts, motives and the work of God done for us. Moralism teaches us how important it is to practice brutal, honest, self-examination and constantly recognize how not good we are, how far we fall short, and how much God has done for us to save us from ourselves and the just consequences of our sin.

Anti-ism

Ant-ism isn’t technically an ism. The real word here is “antinomianism” which means anti-law. It’s a fancy way of saying you become against anyone’s rules or expectations and just do what you want. You make you own rules and live how you want. Pluralism, relativism, communism, irreligion and anarchy are all various forms of this one. Authority and truth are seen as the enemy and the destroyers of personal authenticity, life, and pleasure. So you throw off anything and anyone who would seek to constrain you.

Sometimes moralists are anti-ists as well, sometimes not. The difference with anti-ism is disregard for any real “good” inside or outside yourself because good is what you make it. In anti-ism you become your own creator, the master of your own world, will and destiny. Evil is seen as anyone or anything’s expectation or constraint upon you. Friends or those who love you are those who let you do whatever you want.

Many Christians know anti-ism is wrong and have actually become Christians after living a life of anti-ism which left them lost, lonely, and destroyed. However, we become practical anti-ists when we know something doesn’t please God but we do it anyway. It’s when we justify our wrong deeds by thinking that God loves us and will forgive us so it’ll be okay. It’s when we think we must have some thing whether it be an object or a feeling and we become willing to take whatever action necessary to get it. Anti-ism reminds us that we are meant to live under the rule of God, the authority of a church and are have lives characterized by obedience and submissive service.

Jesus-ism

Atheism leaves us without a God when we know there is one. Deism leaves us with a detached God when we need one to love us. Moralism leaves us with ourselves as God and we know we’re not that good. Anti-ism goes to war against God and we know we can’t win. Every worldview really ends up a dead end except one, the one which has Jesus at the center, what I’m calling Jesus-ism.

Jesus-ism is the gospel and the only truly Christian belief. Contra atheism there is a God and his name is Jesus. Contra deism God came into the world in Jesus and took on human flesh. Contra moralism we are not good but Jesus is and he died and rose again for our sin. Contra anti-ism life is joyous by living for Jesus in humble service.

Many Christians know that everything is supposed to be about Jesus Christ but we so easily hijack him and make it all about us. Jesus-ism is about seeing and making everything all about Jesus…who he is, what he has done, and how that has changed and is changing us. Everything is about Jesus. He is the most thorough worldview philosophy and the most satisfying way of living life.

Conclusion

There are a lot of different ways of looking at the world and different ways of living. It helps us to know what they are, what we can learn from them, how they creep into our lives and how superior life in Jesus is to every one of them. May God, by His Spirit, help us not to be practical atheists, deists, moralists, and anti-ists but simply be all about Jesus.

- Pastor Duane

Guest Speaker | Pastor Jesse Winkler | Philippians 2:1-11

An exegetical sermon on Philippians 2:1-11 addressing the need for unity, what keeps us from it, the example of Jesus and how he is the one who not only saves us but changes us and our motives enabling us to turn away from ourselves to the needs of others. This sermon was originally preached on June 27th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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Special Sermon | Isaiah 6:1-7 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on the topic of God’s holiness. The sermon looks at how God is holy in grandeur, perfection, tremendum, condemnation, and salvation. This sermon was originally preached on June 20th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
June 20th, 2010

“The Holiness of God”
Isaiah 6:1-7

I. In Grandeur (v.1-2)
II. In Perfection (v.3)
III. In Tremendum (v.4)
IV. In Condemnation (v.5)
V. In Salvation (v.6-7)

Today we’re going to talk about the Holiness of God the Father by working through a great great passage of the Bible, Isaiah 6:1-7. So open in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah. It comes right after Song of Solomon and right before Jeremiah. If you’re new to the Bible it’s one of the bigger books around the middle, so it should be pretty easy to find.

Let’s read Isaiah 6:1-7 and pray over it.

Isaiah 6:1-7. An amazing passage of the Bible. We’re going to work through it exegetically and look at five aspects of God’s holiness we see in it: God’s holiness in grandeur, perfection, tremendum, condemnation, and salvation. It’s an amazing passage of the Bible.

The Grandeur of God’s Holiness

How do we even begin to speak about such a passage? I’ve read it many many times and every time the feeling I get is just to sort of jaw-dropping and speechless. This is an astounding passage of sacred Scripture. There’s a weight to it isn’t there? Do you feel it?

Then how do we comprehend or conceive of something like this? Maybe it was just a dream, some sort of picture in Isaiah’s mind, or maybe it was real. Isaiah dates this vision (the year King Uzziah died) and says he “saw” it. He doesn’t say it was a vision, like sometimes prophets do. He says he “saw” it.

Whether he saw it or not, either way the feeling of the greatness and otherness you get of God in this text is inescapable. It just drips with the power, righteousness, transcendence, greatness, and Godness of God.

So let’s imagine this scene together and talk about the Grandeur of God’s holiness. Isaiah is in the Jewish temple. The temple was roughly 90ft long by 30ft wide, about the size of a football field. And he sees a vision of God…seated on a throne. And God here apparently has his kingly robe on…and its train, the bottom part of it, filles the temple.

So God is massive in size here, huge. If the train, just the train fills the temple, the size of a football field, then we are talking about a vision of God where his legs, from the foot to the knee are as tall as the Hyatt towers downtown. And he is seated, on a throne. This throne then must be about the size of five Qualcomm stadiums on top of one another. Whether this was a actual theophany where God showed himself or if it was just a vision…it’s big. In comparsion to us little humans, it’s like us looking down at an ant. In this description the text points out that God is physically big. I don’t think that’s an accident.

If you’re Isaiah I’m sure you feel real small. Have you ever stood on the field of a huge stadium? Or have you ever been in a huge Cathedral with high ceilings and a bunch of stained glass windows? You feel real small.

So you see God on the throne and then there are these weird creatures, a type of angel called a “seraphim.” They have six wings, two covering their eyes, two covering their feet, and two flying and they call out over and over again, “Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory!” And their voices are so loud that the foundations, the very building of the temple starts to shake and fall apart and the whole room is filled with smoke.

What a vision! What a vision! This passage teaches us so much of what our God is really like and how we ought feel around him. So let’s dig in and really try and get this. I think the more we can try and grasp what this passage shows us about God, the more we will understand ourselves.

John Calvin called it the double doctrine of God, know God know thyself. Which basically means, the more we understand and know who God really is the more we will realize our personal place and purpose in this world.

When I say grandeur, that there is a grandeur to God and his holiness…what I’m simply trying to say is that God is a great, great God.

His size in this vision and that he is seated on a throne, depicts in physical picture for us what Scripture talks about when it calls God the king of universe. It’s all over the place. For example, Psalm 103:19 says, ” The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.”

Over and over again in the Bible God is described and stated to be the ruler over all…the universe, the earth and all that is in it. God made everything, God owns everything, and God presides over everything. God is a sovereign God, meaning he has complete and free reign over his creation and none are able to oppose him. It’s what makes him the one true king, because truly only he can do what ever he wants unimpeded. As he says in Isaiah 46:10, “My counsel shall stand and i will accomplish all my purpose.”

I like what J.I. Packer says in his book “Knowing God.” Some of you know who he is. He’s an old guy now, and he writes books that say good stuff in ‘em. He says, “Today vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal but this truth leaves the impression that God is a person of the same sort that we are – weak and inadequate and ineffective. Not the God of the Bible. God is not limited in any way. He is eternal and infinite and almighty. He has us in his hands but we never have him in ours. He is great and has unlimited dominion over all his creatures. He is the great I AM. He is the reality behind all reality, the underlying cause of all causes and events. Self-existent, sovereign, and wholly free from constraint.”

Another old guy, actually a dead guy now, named J.B. Philips wrote a book called “Your God is Too Small” and in one part of it he talks about how today many of us just picture God as the “grand old man.” As though God were the one who may be back there behind everything but is just sort of detached from this world and this life because he’s gotten old and kind of senial. J.B. Philips says if that’s the way you think of God then your God is too small.

Sometimes I joke and I say I feel like an old man trapped in a young body because when I read about the God of these old and dead guys I like it and I want to know and worship their God because he seems a lot greater than the God of our day. It’s a big passion of mine and of this church to know this kind of God. One who is great, that he is a king who rules on high and who watches over the affairs of this world with intimate care and detail and with supreme authority.

It is so easy just to think of God as just sort of out there and that he is just sort of ambivelant and that is not the picture of God in the Bible. God is strong and mighty and sees all and is all-powerful. All creation is subject to the power of his word and not only that but he organizes and determines all the events of this world and even the details of our lives.

His power and greatness is limitless. Thus there is a sense in which we should live our lives in a constant recognition and fear of Him. When we drive down the freeways in our cars and it is sunny this is the God who in an instant can cause a storm to cover the sky and strike down lightening and hail and earthquakes to wipe us out. He is a supreme ruler and ought to be revered as such.

How big is your God? Does your God sit on a throne and have a robe with a train that fills a football field? Does your God have angels who call out to him after day, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord!”? Or is your God just the old watchmaker in the background? Maybe for some of you, you know…you’re view of God need to change and get enlargened. May that happen today for many of us.

The Perfection of God’s Holiness

The second thing about God in this passage is that he is gloriously perfect. There are these angels, the seraphim. “Seraph” is a Hebrew word which literally means “burning.” So “seraphim” (plural) are, if you just tranlated it straight like that, they are “burning ones.”

What we have then is these creatures that are basically on fire and they have wings. And look what they do with their wings…they cover their feet and their eyes. This shows humility, that they are feel and believe they unworthy when before a glorious God. This is what they say. They speak of their unworthiness and of God’s glory when they say, “Holy holy holy is the Lord, the whole earth is filled with his glory.”

In the very presence of God these seraphs could not bear the dazzling lustre of the divine glory. They were conscious of the divine perfection before them and were ashamed to show their faces before the holy God. They recognized his power and complete purity.

The word holy means set apart, different, other. I mentioned that many of us went The Resurgence conference. The theme of the conference was what one of the keynote speakers, Peter Jones, wrote a book on titled “One or Two.” Peter Jones explained in depth that pretty much all worldviews can basically be boiled down to either seeing all things as sharing the same esssense, or that there is a God who is a completely different being than everything else in all creation.

When the angels cry out that God is “holy” they cry out that he is different. God is in a class all by himself. Particularly in regards to his moral perfection. When it comes to be righteous, or good, or pure…God is holy. God is completely, totally, and utterly pure in all that he is and all that He does. there is not a single ounce of evil within him. His being does not know sin, everything He does is just and good.

Here in San Diego whenever it rains there are always these advisory warnings up about not going in the water because of contamination from runoff and what not. When it is really bad they put up these red signs on the beach with this picture of a skull and cross bones as a symbol for contamination.

For something to become contaminated means for it come in contact with some foul outside source such as poison or some other pollutant. The purity levels are imperfect and unsafe in such cases.

In the Bible the word for “pure” in the New Testament is “sun-judge” (synkrisis). And the reason this word was used in this way was because much of the merchandise that was bought and sold in the first century was made of pottery. Often times pot could get a fine little crack in it. But the way to tell whether or not you got a good pot or not was to hold the pot up toward the sun and judge it to see if any fine cracks were visible. And if there was not then the pot would be considered pure, sun-judged.

Think about God…he is not cracked nor contaminated. There is not one single mark, error, or crack in all that he is and in the ocean of his existence there is not one single drop of contamination or impurity! He is holy.

It is absolute perfection of character. The very essense of his being is holiness. God doesn’t just subscribe to holiness. Meaning he doesn’t act holy because he is supposed to and he feels this obligation to. That’s how we experience it. But for God he simply is holy. It is who he is. Holinesss, rightness, goodness, it comes out of him. He cannot help but exude it. It emanates from his person.

What glory! A completely pure and completely powerful God. And that is why these heavenly angels could not help but call out, “Holy holy holy is the Lord! When you get near God you know it and feel it. There is a vast difference. You immediately realize he is God and you are not and everything is about him. He is far greater.

The Tremendum of God’s Holiness

The third thing about God here is this otherness, the sense of his transcendence or what I’ve called here a “tremendum.” When we consider the holiness of God there is this sense being overwhelmed or weight that comes.

Interestingly, that excatly what the word “glory” means. The angels first call out that God is holy and then they say the whole earth is filled with his “glory.” It’s “qavod” in the Hebrew. It means weight. The whole earth evidences bears the weight of God in it. Romans 1:20 calls it his invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature that can be perceived in things which have been made. Everything thing points upwards to God, giving him glory.

As John Piper says, “God’s being and his character are utterly undetermined by anything outside himself…God is absolute, everything else is derivitive.” God is beyond description and full understanding, all our catagories and terms fall short because he is simply incomparable.

Theologian Rudolph Otto wrote a book called “The Idea Of The Holy.” Trying to describe experiencing the holiness of God he said this, “The feeling of it may at times come sweeping like a gentle tide, pervading the mind with a tranquil mood of deepest worship… (But) It (aslo) has forms and can sink (one into) an almost grisly horror and shuddering…(or) hushed trembling and speechless(ness).”

The great saint, Anselm of Canterbury, said God is “that which none greater can be conceived.” Every single quality and attribute that there is…when it comes to God he is possesses it in infinite measure. God is tremendous.

Think about the stars. The sun is the closest star to earth. It’s about 93 million miles away. Traveling at 100 mph that means it would take you about 106 years to get there. And that’s the closest star. The farthest known star is 13.2 billion light years away. One light year is six quintillion miles. I tried to do the math after that but it broke my calculator. It’s a long ways. And God’s over and above all of that. God is tremendous.

The Condemnation From God’s Holiness

God is tremendous in all that he is and that’s why these angles cry out in worship. Isaiah cries out in different way. Isaiah becomes terrified and fully gripped with fear. Look at it with me as we talk about our fourth point today, “Condemantion From God’s Holiness.”

After he sees and hears this seen, Isaiah tells us how he responded. Verse 5, “And I said, ‘Woe is me!’” this is the end. the word “woe” is a word of judgement death. He essentially calls a curse down upon himself…kill me now, I must die. I am undone and lost forever. He probably felt like his body might just implode, that his insides would just fall apart as he melted in front of God. It was a traumatizing shock that caused Isaiah to utterly tremble.

John Calvin notes that “men (are) struck and overhwelmed whenever they behold the presence of God…men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.”

You see we so easily compare ourselves to one another making other’s opinions or perceptions of us the standard by which we perceive ourselves. When we compare ourselves to God a far different thing results.

Because of our sinfulness we deserve condemnation. Isaiah’s sin was immediately exposed for the light of God’s holiness uncovered and laid bare his complete humanness and he knew that he was doomed. Note how he calls himself “unclean.”

He says, “I am a man of unclean lips.” Being “unclean” in the Bible is much more than just the modern notion of something insanitary. As we’ve talked about before “unclean” in the Bible is a defilement.

One group of people who were consistently called unclean were people with the disease of leprosy. upon the appearance of “leprosy” the patient was to be examined after a quarantine of a week or two. If declared unclean, he was to wear torn garments, leave his hair unkept, cover his upper lip, and cry “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever anyone was around until he recovered, so not to contaminate others.

Isaiah’s moral guilt was uncoverd and revealed. In his human, unclean state of sinfulness, he saw the King, the Lord Almighty, and Isaiah knew that because of that, he would surely die and ought to. If God is totally holy then he cannot tolerate the presence of sin. His righteous purity immediately moves to eliminate the evil before him. It must be condemned and dismissed. If God didn’t and was just okay with it, then he wouldn’t be that holy.

Isaiah knew and understood this, which is why he immediately recognized that he was in trouble. Isaiah was a prophet, a messenger of God who served him in the temple and he sees God as he is and automatically recognizes he has no claim of goodness before him.

And this is really all of our stories. We’re in the same boat as Isaiah. Hebrews 4:13 says, “No creature is hidden from (God’s) sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” When we are uncovered and laid bare before a holy God…there is no question, we are not good. It’s foolish to even consider that we’re not bad.

Last night I asked Adina what she wanted to pray for before she went to bed and she said, “the bad man.” That’s because about a month ago there were like 20 cops on our street who arrested this guy with a gun and we told her they came to get a bad man. So when she said she wanted to pray for the bad man I told her, “You know what Adina, Daddy is a bad man too and so is Mommie and so is Adina.” Right away she said “Jesus died on the cross for when we’re bad.” I’m not joking. She’s a solid theologian. The dude who marries her is going to have to know his stuff. But we’re not there yet in the sermon.

Jonathan edwards preached a wonderful sermon called “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.” It gets a bad rap because it is filled with these graphic images of the fury of divine wrath and the horror of the relentless punishment of the wicked in hell. Which is really what we deserve. But Bible commentator and theologian, R.C. Sproul talks about this sermon of Edwards’ in his book, “The Holiness Of God.” Listen to what he says,

“Ours is an upbeat generation with the accent on self-improvement and a broad minded view of sin. Our thinking is..if there is a God at all, he is certainly not holy. If he is perchance holy, he is not just. Even if he is both holy and just, we need not fear becaue his love and mercy override his holy justice. If we can stomach his holy and just character, we can rest in one thing, he cannot possess wrath. Edwards had little need to justify a scare theology. He did this not out of a sadistic delight in frightening people, but out of compassion. He loved his congregation enough to warn them of the dreadful consequences of facing the wrath of God. He was not concerned with laying a guilt trip on his people but awakening them to the peril they faced if they remained unconverted. We reveal our natural hostility for God by the low esteem we have for him. We consider him unworthy of our total devotion. We take no delight in contemplating him. Even for the Christian, worship is often difficult and prayer is a burdensome duty. Our natural tendency is to flee as far as possible from His presence. By nature, our attitude toward God is not one of mere indifference. It is a posture of malice. We oppose his government and refuse his rule over us. Our natural hearts are devoid of affection for Him; they are cold, frozen to His holiness.”

Convicting words. They kind of feel like a sock in the gut. When R.C. Sproul says, “worship is often difficult and prayer is a burdensome duty. Our natural tendency is to flee…” I know those feelings too well. That is me. I fear for my life. I know that God would be within his full rights to strike me down this instant while I stand before you. I am a sinful man. I deserve death. Woe is me.

The Holiness of God Given in Salvation

What are we to do when we realize this? Let’s go back and look at how the story of Isaiah ends here where we see the holiness of God in salvation. Verse 5-7, “And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

For Isaiah God made a way for him to be saved on this occasion. One of these burning angels with six wings flies over to the place in the temple where they did animal sacrifices, takes the tongs and grabs a hot ember of coal and goes over to Isaiah and touches his lips and then says there, you are no longer guilty, your debt of your sin is covered, taken care of, satisfied…that’s what “atoned for” means. Fire touched Isaiah’s mouth to atone for his heart for out of the mouth the heart speaks (Mt 12:34).

In the year King Uzziah of Israel died, God manifested his glory before a man named Isaiah. At this sight Isaiah recognizes his guilt and God does something special for him on this occasion to take care of it. It’s a picture of what God would do at a later time for us in Jesus.

In Jesus God did something special for all people throughout all time, he did something to take care of our sin that is uncovered when we realize the holiness of God. What did he do?

It’s insane. God becomes a man in Jesus and comes down into earth. And Jesus says he’s the king and for all to put their faith in him and follow him and that he would save all who do.

So get the picture here. Isaiah sees a vision of God seated on the throne. Who did he see? He saw Jesus. Jesus seated on his throne. So Jesus gets down off his throne, comes down into a dirty and sinful world and allows himself to be hung up on a cross for us. In Jesus the coal of Christ’s body was taken to the cross, so that all who profess faith in Jesus would get the work of the cross applied to their hearts and lives and futures.

Here is how it works…when God look at those who have put their faith in Jesus, our moral corruption is covered by the cross of Christ. On the cross Jesus bore the full brunt of the wrath of God. God pours out the consuming fire of his holiness on Jesus. So if we embrace Jesus we escape the wrath because when God looks at us all he sees is the covering of the cross over us.

It’s just amazing what God has done for us in Jesus. God, holy, holy, holy God decided to save us by dying for us. This is God. The grand tremendum, this wholly other, the creator…dies for us so we might be spared from his wrath and might have a way to draw close and experience his holiness without being burned up. And as we draw close, we are changed and become more and more like him, more and more holy. It’s beautiful what the gospel is and how it works.

Conclusion

Well let’s conclude and receive the Lord’s Supper. Here is how I want to conclude today.

First, with a charge. People of the Resolved, strive for a greater vision of who God is. He is a great, great, sovereign, powerful, almost scary God. But he is worthy. This powerful God is pure, he is totally perfect in all that he is and does. Beware when you question his goodness. Remember from who and whence you have come and who has the power to end you. He is God, fear him. Do not think of him lightly or too small, there is no end to his expanse.

Second, with a call for repentance. God knows all of our sin anyway. Let’s just be honest for a few moments and admit it before him and humbly receive his gift for us. Jesus died on the cross and rose again for our sin. We are sinners and we have sin. We are unclean. Woe.

If you’ve never truly become a Christian then embrace Jesus today, he’s the king who got off a throne to get on a cross because he loves sinners like you. Put your faith and trust in him and receive his work done on the cross for you.

For those of us who are Christians, where do we need to repent today? Where has there been a lack of holiness in us? What needs to get burned up in the coal of the cross? Maybe it’s some specific sin and you know what it is or maybe it’s just some unholy habits you’ve developed? Or maybe you’ve just been acting like a practical deist, as though God is just out there and there’s no every day time with Jesus?

For the sake of God’s glory, for the sake of our salvation, for the sake of our kids…let’s repent and go to our God in worship and receive the wonderful gift of his grace once again.

Let’s pray.

Hey Resolved Family, this is your Lead Worshiper, Sean, writing some thoughts to stir our souls in worship this week. The Lord has been taking a number of us through some valleys in life, experiencing pain, sickness, heartbreak, loss of life, and hard times for the soul. There is good news though, we are not alone. We have a beautifully orchestrated and Holy Spirit inspired Bible that tells of the story of God working out His redemption through His people, even when they suffer and experience the gnarliest seasons of life.

Pastor Duane passionately reminded us last Sunday of how God uses suffering to show us His glory. He uses darkness to shine His bright light. He uses the shadow to prove the sunshine. He uses seasons of despair to reach down and rescue us, and show us His love and salvation, radically in the Cross of Christ. Paul writes that our present sufferings are nothing compared to the future glory that is in Jesus when we meet Him face to face (Romans 8:18). The great men and women of faith throughout the Scriptures use worship as warfare to endure and persevere every season of the soul. When the going gets tough, the tough get worshiping.

Job, in his great loss and affliction, worshiped through his suffering. Job responded to his loss by tearing his robe, shaving his head, and he fell facedown in worship confessing, “Naked I cam from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord as taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:20-22). Paul and Silas after they were unlawfully arrested, brutally beaten, shackled in a cold dark prison cell, responded by praying and singing hymns through the night (Acts 16). In the Old Testament when King Saul rebelled against the Lord and was tormented by an evil spirit, David played worship songs on the harp and the evil spirit left Saul and he was comforted (2 Samuel 16:14-23). The prophet Isaiah speaks of God giving His people a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness in place of mourning, and a garment of praise for the spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3).

The Sons of Korah, Temple musicians and full-time worshipers,write this in their psalm, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). David writes a psalm when he is hiding in a cave from a jealous and unhinged King Saul, “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed” (Psalm 57:1). Oh, when we gather as a church our songs are so much more than melodies, rhythms, and chord progressions. They are songs of the Glory of God, of His refuge and strength. When we gather as a church it becomes a holy assembly, a sanctuary of worship, the living room of the saints, a place where God inhabits the praises of His people, a place for the tired and weary to find rest and strength in Jesus. Worship is our warfare as we sojourn through this world.

May we be unquenchable worshipers through every season of our soul. May we find refuge in God when the disasters of life come. May we put on the garment of praise for the spirit of despair.

LOVE CAME DOWN

Brian Johnson

If my heart is overwhelmed and I cannot hear Your voice

I’ll hold on to what is true though I cannot see

If the storms of life they come and the road ahead gets steep

I will lift these hands in faith I will believe

I remind myself of all that You’ve done

Of the life I have because of Your Son

Love came down and rescued me

Love came down and set me free

I am Yours, I am forever Yours

Mountain high or valley low

I sing out remind my soul

That I am Yours, I am forever Yours

When my heart is filled with hope and every promise comes my way

When I feel Your hands of grace rest upon me

Staying desperate for You God, staying humbled at Your feet

I will lift these hands in praise I will believe

I remind myself of all that You’ve done

Of the life I have because of Your Son

Love came down and rescued me

Love came down and set me free

I am Yours, I am forever Yours

Mountain high or valley low

I sing out remind my soul

That I am Yours, I am forever Yours

]]> http://www.theresolved.com/4175/worship-is-warfare/feed/ 1 http://www.theresolved.com/4166/comfort-from-the-doctrine-of-the-providence-the-sermon/ http://www.theresolved.com/4166/comfort-from-the-doctrine-of-the-providence-the-sermon/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:44:07 +0000 Admin http://www.theresolved.com/?p=4166

Special Sermon | Selected Texts | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is special topical sermon the topic of suffering and the comfort which comes from believing in the doctrine of God’s Providence in all things. This sermon was originally preached on June 13th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

Listen

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
June 13th, 2010

“Comfort From The Doctrine Of Providence”
Selected Texts

Introduction

Last Sunday night my wife and I put my daughter to bed, sat down on our couch to talk for a bit and then turned on the TV to watch the MTV movie awards. Maybe five, ten minutes later I received a phone call from my mom, who was up in deep north Canada seeing family. She said she had a voice message on her cell phone from the hospital in Redding, California, where my parents live, that my dad had a heart attack. That’s all we knew at the time, so I took the next flight out of San Diego in to Sacramento to rent a car and then drove 2.5 hours straight to the hospital, not sure what condition, if any, I’d find my dad in.

So I have spent most the week in northern California in a hospital and just made it back in town the other night. One of my favorite quotes is from Charles Spurgeon who said to his students, “Do not preach what you do not live.” Recently I discovered that I think he stole that phrase from another older pastor named Richard Baxter, who said, “Preach to yourselves the sermons which you study, before you preach them to others.”

I’ve been living with my dad who had a heart attack this week, so rather than preach on the next section in the book of Matthew we’ve been studying here at The Resolved, today I decided I’d preach on what was going through my mind when I was flying and driving 11 hours north to the hospital…the doctrine of providence.

Most of you know I write a pastoral blog once a week which goes out in an email to all who sign up for it, if you don’t get it you can sign up for it at the back information table. It’s been ironic lately. Two weeks ago I wrote a blog about preaching titled, “Esteeming Preaching” and that following Sunday I got sick and lost my voice and couldn’t preach. Last week I wrote a blog titled, “Comfort From The Doctrine Of Providence” and then my dad has a heart attack. Kind of ironic. I’m going to start thinking twice from now on about what I write about. Maybe I’ll write about winning the lottery this week.

The other thing is that one of our jobs as pastors is to watch over the flock and be attentive to it’s needs and to what Jesus, our head pastor is doing and wanting to teach us. And lately it seems there have been several challenging things going on for many in our congregation. Two different couples in our church now, my wife and I being one of the them, recently suffered from a second miscarriage in a row. Two different individuals just recently had one of their grandparents die. Three weeks ago my 54 year old aunt all of the sudden got sick and ended up in the hospital with septicemia, also known as blood poison, and she died three days later. Last week Sean and I were both at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla seeing and praying with a family visiting our city and our church who had a heart attack at the zoo and ended up have quadruple bypass surgery. Then, just the other day as I was coming home I got a call that one of the people in our church had just checked into the ER because he was having a hard time breathing.

When I look at all those things together, it seems to me that maybe our flock here needs some comfort and there is no better comfort than the one that comes from the gospel in providence. So a very rare thing is happening today…I’m preaching a topical sermon from selected texts titled, “Comfort From The Doctrine Of Providence.”

Don’t let the title scare you. I know sometimes when we hear words like “doctrine” and “providence” and “theology” we tend to think about white bearded men sitting up high in an ivory tower stroking their beards and discussing ideas and speculating from a great distance. It’s actually quite the contrary. Doctrine and providence are extremely practical and relevant things to life here on earth

To be honest, our belief in God’s providence in all things is one of the distinctives of our church and the Acts 29 Network we are a part of. We don’t talk about it all the time here unless it comes up in our text and we talk about it one of the weeks in our membership class but other than that it doesn’t come up a ton because we don’t have a Calvinist or reformed axe to grind…we don’t force it. But we do consider ourselves being within the reformed tradition, we are five point Calvinists here (I’m actually a seven pointer).

I’m going to let that hang out a little bit today rather than hide it. Sometimes some have thought being reformed or accepting its truths makes no practical difference for everyday living. Quite the opposite, it actually effects the way we see and respond to everything, especially when it comes to suffering. So just to let you know, that’s on my agenda today too, to not only offer the strongest comfort the Scriptures give for suffering but also to help us see the great benefit for us as individuals and as a church in embracing the truth of the Bible that God is in control of and causes all things, which is otherwise referred to as the reformed convictions, doctrines of grace, or Calvinism.

The Book Of Suffering

So first off today, let’s talk about suffering. Sometimes the challenges of life seem to come in waves among those we know and love. Heart attacks, blood poison, miscarriages, sickness…suffering, illness, disease and death are a fact of life that no amount of medicine and good diet can protect us from.

And the Bible is no stranger to suffering. It is littered with passages and stories of suffering. Noah’s family experiences a flood, losing their land and their homes. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by fire. Abraham and Sarah after being a hundred years old were not yet able to have children they longed for so bad. A tornado comes and kills all Job’s children and Job gets boils all over his body. The Israelites suffer as slaves under the hands of the Egyptians. Hannah comes crying to the priest because she can’t have children. King David loses his child with Bathsheba after he has only been alive for ten days. King Uzziah gets leprosy. The people of Israel have their land taken over, the capital city of Jerusalem burnt to the grand and they are carried off to Babylon with hooks in their noses. Jesus comes on the scene and there is seemingly a non-stop flow of people who are blind, lame, deaf and mute. Jesus himself suffers and dies on a cross. Then the people of his church are killed off one by one.

The Bible in many ways is a book about suffering. We are not promised a life of ease free from these types of tragedies. Jesus himself said in reference to suffering and death, “In this world you will have trouble (Jn 16:33).” Peter similarly writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you (1 Pet 4:12).”

But that doesn’t take away the physical pain and the emotional trauma of actually walking through the valley of suffering. Human suffering is real and extremely painful. It causes bitter anguish deep in the soul. If you yourselves have suffered or had one close to you suffer then you know what I’m talking about. Deep sobbing. Wailing in grief.

Suffering is not easy. In the midst of suffering, the call of the Scriptures upon God’s people is to minister to one another with tears. Romans 12:15 “Weep with those who weep.”

If one does not know or have confidence in the doctrine of providence, then the hour of their suffering is not the time to teach them but to cry with them. When you’re suffering, hearing “God is in control, God has a plan” is often the last thing you want to hear. It can be downright annoying.

However, knowing suffering is promised, we do well to prepare ourselves ahead of time for our own hour of suffering. For this, it is my conviction that the doctrine of God’s providence in all things is one of the most comforting truths of the Bible.

What is the Doctrine of Providence?

What is the doctrine of providence? Providence comes from the Latin “providentia” and is God’s power over all things wherein he orders them according to his wisdom all for his good purposes. Simply put, God causes ALL THINGS. Scripture is littered with affirmations of God’s providence.

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 “O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might.”

1 Samuel 2:6 “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.”

Job 42:1-2 “Job answered the Lord and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Isaiah 45:7 “I form light and create darkness, I make well being and create evil, I am the LORD who does all these things.”

Acts 17:26 “He (God) made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”

Providence simply is where God is the controlling principle. God is the one who guides and provides the actions of all events. Here are some quotes of several wise men on providence.

John of Damascus, “Providence is the care God takes of all existing things.”

John Milton, “(Providence) is that power which erring men call chance.”

John Calvin, “The providence we mean is not one by which Deity, sitting idly in heaven, looks on at what is taking place in the world, but one by which he, as it were, hold the helm, and overrules all events.”

Charles Spurgeon, “I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses, the creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of devastating pestilence – as the fall of leaves from a popular as the fully ordained tumbling of an avalanche…Providence says whatever God ordains must be.”

This really is the historical position of the church. Here’s one last quote from the Heidelberg Catechism, “(Providence is) the almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.”

Rejecting Divine Providence?

Those are some powerful statements. Yet, they are not easy to accept. Some reject divine providence. Some who claim to be Christians, guys in the heretical open theists group like Gregory Boyd, Clark Pinnock and John Sanders are deeply grieved at the evil and pain of suffering and cannot conceive that a good God would allow his children to experience such turmoil.

For example, listen to Gregory Boyd in his book “Letters From A Skeptic”, “The earth has been literally sieged by a power outside itself. There is a power of pure evil which now affects everything and everybody on the earth. The Creator is not the only influence any longer…the entire cosmos…is in a state of chaos…God originally possessed all power…but with the creation of free creatures…God necessarily surrendered a degree of his power…When an individual inflicts pain on another individual, I do not think we can go looking for ‘the purpose of God’ in the event.”

So instead of being comforting they see the doctrine of divine providence as intensely infuriating because they cannot conceive that a good God with all power would allow suffering in things like rape and deformed babies to happen. Their answer is God didn’t have anything to do with that, there was no good purpose in it, God would have acted but he couldn’t, he was limited and unable.

However, this idea of rejecting divine providence in reaction to the pain of suffering is actually much more of an eastern idea than a Christian one. In eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism etc.), the road out of suffering is by detaching yourself from it and imagining you are not uniquely suffering but instead are simply one with the world. We are simply part of a world reaping the havoc of bad karma and the more we recognize and embrace this the more we will be able to come into balance with universe. This is simply the way things are, there is no God making or allowing it to all happen.

The motive of alleviating suffering by getting rid of God is the same in both open theism and eastern religion. They both reject divine providence and instead say God doesn’t have anything to do with suffering.

Divine Providence and The Gospel

I submit to you today that such an idea is more of a work of philosophy than the product of the Bible, which takes suffering and divine providence seriously, which culminates in the gospel. So let’s talk about “Divine Providence and The Gospel.”

The unique thing about the gospel is it takes suffering seriously. The gospel says our suffering is real, is not the way life was originally created to be, and that God entered into our suffering to do something about it. In many ways this is the story of the Bible, the book of suffering.

The Bible begins with suffering entering into the world in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned and God said now there will be pain and death. The Bible ends with suffering being eliminated from the world when Jesus will wipe away ever tear from our eyes and there will be no more sorrow, pain and death. The Bible is really a story that takes us from suffering to salvation through Jesus, who came into the world to do something about suffering by giving us the gospel.

At the very first church service the gospel was preached. Open your Bibles and look at Acts 2:23-24 with me for a minute. “Jesus, (was) delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, [you] crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death.”

Notice three things. One, God providentially had Jesus killed…”according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Sounds like providence to me. Who killed Jesus? God did. God had Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders collaborate to crucify Jesus. It’s the same thing Isaiah 53 states, “The LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all…it was the will of the LORD to crush him (Is 53:6,12).” It sure sounds like the view of the Bible is that it was God decision, action and power over men and all events that had Jesus crucified.

But according to Gregory Boyd, “God necessarily surrendered a degree of his power…When an individual inflicts pain on another individual, I do not think we can go looking for ‘the purpose of God’ in the event.” Last time I checked crucifying someone is inflicting pretty intense pain on them. But apparently according to Boyd, there could not have been any purpose of God in the crucifixion of Jesus…because it involved pain and suffering.

Second, notice God raised up Jesus from the dead. This is the heart of the gospel. Jesus really died. Jesus was dead three days. And then God raised Jesus up from the dead and he is alive today. The Christian faith says that if Jesus did not rise, then our preaching is useless and our faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:14).

Why is this so important? Notice the third thing here in Acts 2. The result is the “pangs” of death get loosed. Do you see that? God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death. So the resurrection of Jesus equals the loosing of the pangs of death.

What does it mean that the pangs of death get loosed? The word in the Greek for pang is “odeen” and is intolerable anguish. It’s a good word to describe the beliefs of nihilism (the belief in nothing) or annihilationism (belief in no afterlife) because then death is the ultimate end with nothing following and it is purposeless and meaningless.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, we have the hope, the promise, and the guarantee that death is not meaningless and that God did something to put an end to all suffering once and for all. So the pang is taken away because the anguish gets replaced with anticipation. We who believe in Jesus will be raised like Jesus.

This is the hope of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:22,51-57 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive…We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed…moral puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Jesus the pang and the sting of death gets taken away because in Jesus God did something about our suffering to put an end to it. And oh, that is comforting. That is assuring. That gives me something to plant my feet on.

Comfort Not Chaos

This provides “Comfort Not Chaos.” To say God has no control over suffering and evil does not offer comfort to anyone because then the world is spinning out of control and God cannot do anything about it.

God is then weak, powerless, and definitely not worthy of worship. It’s like he wished he could do something but something or someone greater than him has limited and constrained him. No comfort can be found by turning to such a God. And if there is some greater power than God which is limiting him, then I say we start worshipping that instead of God.

But there is none, there is no greater power than God. As Jeremiah 32:17 says, “Ah Lord God! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

To say God has all control over all suffering is to say that God has a greater and better purpose ahead for us which can only be seen as such by us going through the bitter valleys of pain and sorrow. If we believe that then God then can be a refuge and a help in time of need because he does not have his hands tied behind his back but is seated on the throne and by his great wisdom has our best in mind and is carrying that out.

Comfort is found because in turning to God our grief is turned into something meaningful because God cares and has a purpose in it.

The Purpose of Providence

Yet sometimes it’s hard to see that isn’t it? Maybe you’ve been there or are there right now and your wondering, “How can any good come of this? What good purpose can there be? There’s nothing good about this.” I mean maybe you’re like, “Okay so the gospel gives us hope for the eventual end of suffering and an afterlife…but what about now?” What about my uncle who cries himself to sleep every night lately because he just lost his beloved wife? What purpose of God is there in that?

So lastly let’s talk about “The Purpose of Providence.” What is God’s purpose? Turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8:18 “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” That’s a huge verse. Feel the weight of it. Suffering now is doing something in us so that the glory ahead will be seen as far greater, it won’t even compare.

So get it. Without experiencing the suffering we do now, the future glory would be comparable. It would not be seen as very great. Let me make it a little more pointed.

If we did not see glimpses of the darkness of hell God’s glory would not look very bright. Suffering allows us to peer into the despair God has protected us from by delivering up and then raising up his son.

Romans 8 continues to expound on this future glory by telling us that believers in Jesus are being made like him. Romans 8:29 says through suffering we are “being conformed into his image (8:29).” Sometimes it is only through suffering that the issues of sin in us that needs to be weeded out come out and get conformed to Jesus. Sometimes I have had to realize the only way I could learn and grow in the way I need to is by going through what I’m going through.

Jesus suffered immensely for us and in our suffering we get a taste of all he went through for us. And when we taste its bitter breath, we know we are not alone because we have a savior who knows what it is like. As Hebrews 2:18 says, “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

So we’re not alone. And we have the promise that suffering is not the end. 1 Peter 5:10 “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

Maybe you’ve heard the story of Joni Eareckson Tada. Over 30 years ago now she was involved in a diving injury that made her a quadriplegic. She is a Christian and since then has written and spoken extensively about her experience.

Here’s one of her many staggering confessions. “In a way I wish I could take to heaven my old, tattered Everest and Jennings wheelchair. I would point to the empty seat and say, “Lord, for decades I was paralyzed in this chair. But it showed me how paralyzed You must have felt to be nailed to Your Cross. My limitations taught me something about the limitations You endured when You laid aside your robes of state and put on the indignity of human flesh.” At that point, with my strong and glorified body, I might sit in it, rub the armrests with my hands, look up at Jesus, and add, “The weaker I felt in this chair, the harder I leaned on You. And the harder I leaned, the more I discovered how strong You are. Thank you, Jesus for learning obedience in your suffering…You gave me grace to learn obedience in mine.”

Often after God restores us, like with Joni Eareckson Tada, when we make it through the season of suffering…he’ll then bring others into our lives to minister to when they suffer. It’s amazing how often it works out like that.

Again, Scripture tells us this. A lot of Scripture today. Listen to this one. 2 Corinthians 1:3-9 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

If we never suffered we would never know how much God comforts us in suffering and if we never experienced his comfort in suffering it would be very difficult for us to help others when they suffer. Experience brings something powerful to the table.

So what’s the purpose of suffering? Four things we talked about. To help us to see how great the glory of God is, to make us like Jesus, to know the depth of what he did for us on the cross, and to enable us to minister to others in their hour of suffering.

There is great purpose in providence, the purpose of the gospel’s work in us. Oh that we would see it and embrace it.

Conclusion

Let’s conclude and wrap things up today. When I was driving up the I-5 to the Redding hospital unsure of what state I would find my dad in I had a lot of time to think and pray. At one point I had tears rolling down my face as I considered the thought that my dad could be dead. In that moment I gritted my teeth I said outloud in that rental car, “God, you control all things and I trust you no matter what.” It’s painful, but oh what a comfort it is to believe in God’s providence.

My hope and my prayer today is that you might be convinced of the doctrine of God’s providence and rather than buck against it you would embrace it so that in your hour of suffering you like a tree in an intense storm might bend from the blow but not break.

I beg you, don’t entertain foolish notions of weak reason which overmagnify man’s free will and conceive of catastrophes as accidents. Instead recognize God’s will which overrides and determines all things so that there are no accidents, only divine actions.

My hope and my prayer is to set you up so that when you suffer you would not throw rocks at God and his goodness but rather stand upon God as your rock. In the hour of suffering, lean on the doctrine of God’s providence for your comfort…no other arms can hold you like it can.

Remember Jesus suffered intensely. God is fully aware and knows exactly what you feel. Put your hope in him, so that like Jesus you might be able to endure the cross and despise its shame (Heb 12:2).

By God’s grace may he enable us to worship when worship is most difficult. May he enable us to do like Job did, to fall down on our face in worship crying, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD…Though he slay me, I will hope in him (Job 1:20-21; 13:15).”

So let’s do that this morning as we go before the table. In Jesus God suffered immensely for us so that we might have salvation and that he might put an ultimate end to suffering. Let’s spend some special time today thanking the Lord for his body and blood as we take the bread and wine. Let’s go to Jesus the great physician who knows all of struggles and pain and allow him to minister to us.

If you’re suffering today, tell someone and have them pray for you. If you’d like Ron or myself to pray for you we’ll be at the back. If you’ve never put trust in Jesus as your savior and don’t know the God and the comfort I’ve been speaking of today, let today be the day of your salvation. Repent of your sin and turn to Jesus. He has open arms.

Let’s pray.

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Matthew Series | Matthew 14:34-15:28 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon on Matthew 14:34-15:28 where Jesus calls some old pastors weeds and blind guides and then later calls a woman a dog. This sermon takes a close look at the nature of evil deeds, the heart, what does and doesn’t make one defiled before God, and how God wants us to come to him. This sermon was originally preached on June 6th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
June 6th, 2010

“Jesus Confronts The Heart & Heals The Helpless”
Matthew 14:34-15:28

I. Defiled and Rejected
A. The Word of God Versus The Word of Men
B. Blind Weeds and Evil Deeds
II. Defiled and Received
A. A Daring Dog
B. A Divine Deliverer

Introduction

This morning we’re looking at verse 34 of chapter 14 up through chapter 15, verse 28. So you can open your Bibles and we’ll read through it and pray over it.

I’ve titled my message today “Jesus Confronts The Heart & Heals The Helpless.” Let’s read the text and pray over it.

Okay so we left off two weeks ago with the story of Jesus walking on water and him calling himself the great I am, which results in the disciples bowing down in worship to him saying, “Truly you are the son of God.” Then there’s this quick paragraph which basically says Jesus went and healed a bunch more people.

There’s not a whole lot there, so I think it’s a set up for the next two stories. Matthew, the narrator of our book interjects this little piece to set up the next two episodes. With this little snippet about Jesus healing a bunch of people, Matthew reminds us that Jesus is the healer and then gives us two stories. One of some guys who don’t think they need healing and one of a gal begging for it.

As we’ll see, all the people Jesus encounters in these stories are defiled. Some don’t see it, realize it and repent thus are rejected but a woman does and she is received. First let’s check out Jesus encounter with the first type, the defiled and rejected.

I. Defiled and Rejected

This first group is the Scribes and the Pharisees. It’s not the first time we’ve seen Jesus tangle with them. If you’ve been here, you’ll remember they are like the ancient pastors. The ones who were supposed to teach God’s people and spiritually oversee and care for them. We first met them in the book of Matthew at Jesus baptism (3:7), then a couple chapters later they got all torqued about Jesus going to a party and drinking and hanging out with “sinners” (9:11), then just a couple chapters ago they got really bent at Jesus when he called himself the Lord of the Sabbath, so they called him a demon-lord and started plotting how they could kill him (12:2,14,24).

Now they’re back. This time these guys are apparently the heavy weights since verse 1 in our text today says they “came from Jerusalem.” They’re probably officials, either senior rabbis or at least sent by them from the capital city.

And they come to fight and interrogate Jesus on why his disciples are not washing their hands before they eat. They’re not just asking Jesus nice questions and trying to learn from him…there is harshness to these words, they’re an accusation. Their charge is that in not washing their hands, Jesus’ disciples, whom he’s responsible for, have done something heinously wrong….they have broken the tradition of the elders.

I mean get this scene in your head. It would sort of be like this…can you imagine, we all go out to eat somewhere after church and we all sit down to eat and in walks like Mark Driscoll and he comes up to me and he’s all upset at me because he didn’t see any of you wash your hands first…up at Mars Hill, we wash our hands first. If you don’t know who Driscoll is, think the Pope…well, maybe not, they’re probably not on the same level:)

That’s kind of like what’s going on here. I mean yeah there’s more too it but that’s basically what’s up. This is a weighty charge. Here’s what’s going on. Some of you will remember when we studied the book of Nehemiah last year.

That book was about how after God had kicked his people out of Israel for 130 years because they broke his law and sinned, God was gracious and brought the people back and they rebuilt the city and eventually the temple. What happened after time went by is the priests developed a bunch of extra laws for the people in order to help them make sure not to ever break God’s law in the Bible. That’s what the “tradition of the elders” is here.

The basic idea was they would build a fence around the law of God in the Bible so that no one would ever be able to come near breaking it. Washing your hands was just one of those things. And it didn’t really have anything do with sanitation like it does for us but for ritual purity.

In the Bible, in the Old Testament, before a priest would ever offer a sacrifice to God, he had to go through a bunch of washing procedures meant to symbolically cleanse himself to be a mediairy between the people and a holy God (Ex.30:17-21). What the tradition of the elders did, to build a fence around this, was extend that to all people, not just the priests…and they got very specific about.

Here’s what they said. We have it. The tradition of the elders is called the Mishnah, by the way. Listen to the Yadaim tractate in the Mishnah. “If a man poured water over the one hand with a single rinsing, his hand is clean; but if over both hands with a single rinsing, he is unclean unless he pours over them a quarter log more (Yad 2:1).”

Jesus and his disciples apparently didn’t do that. Bad Jesus. And because they didn’t, from the Pharisees perspective they were spiritually unclean or defiled and thus in sin and unacceptable to God.

So you see, we’ve got a lot more going on here than just not washing your hands at a restaurant even though the sign by the mirror in the bathroom says to.

A. The Word of God Versus The Word of Men

Jesus response to them is both brilliant and biting. He cuts through to the heart of the matter and minces no words. So let’s check it out and talk about “The Word of God Versus The Word of Men.”

Here’s what Jesus does. Right away, rather than even getting into talking about hand washing instead Jesus challenges the Pharisees on their fencing, on this “tradition of the elders” itself and why they have so elevated it where they put it on par with the authority of Scripture or even higher. And he gives an example. Check it out. Verse 3, “Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” And verse 6, “For the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God.”

So Jesus says, look you shouldn’t even care about the hand washing because what you are making a big deal about in us not washing our hands isn’t even in the Bible and what the Bible says is more important and is what they should be paying attention to. To illustrate this he uses an example about oaths.

His example is a little bit cryptic, this is one of those instances where being 2,000 years detached from Bible times make it somewhat difficult for us. So let me just try and make it simple as best I can.

The tradition, the Mishnah, has a whole section on oaths. You could make an oath of your person, your property or your money to God. One oath would be to pledge all your money when you die to the temple, where the priests worked. But in the meantime you could spend it however you like.

One thing the Bible is clear about is honoring your parents. So Jesus points out the 5th commandment of the 10 commandments that we are to honor our father and mother, which other Scripture passages say includes caring for them when they get old…which takes money and or property.

Well, in the first century you had a bunch of greedy dudes who would oath their money and property to the temple and then use that as an excuse for not taking care of their aging parents. Jesus says that’s jacked! You’re just coming up with these legal loop holes to benefit yourself and you say it’s all for God when in reality it has nothing to do with him.

Jesus actually sounds pretty angry. In verse 7, he outrages, “You hypocrites!!!” And then he uses his masterful knowledge of Scripture (Is 29:13) to call these con artists out on their game. Look at it, it’s sobering. Verse 8-9, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Seeing and hearing Jesus like this is shocking. Actually it’s convicting.

I started thinking…what things or ways do we come up with to get out doing what we know the Bible tells us to do? Loopholes. You know, where we’re more concerned about breaking some rule and figuring out what we can get away with rather than caring about what pleases God’s heart. Times where we’ll knowingly do something we shouldn’t do but we figure God’s a loving God and he’ll forgive us later. That’s a loophole.

Pastor Ron and I we’re talking and praying at our elder meeting this week and a burden we share is that God’s people would have a concern for holiness, living for God out a true and pure devotion, in everything.

It’s amazing how easily corruption can creep in…whether it’s in what we do with our money and especially our mouths. I’m astonished at my own wavering, spending money I know I shouldn’t. Or how easy it is to get caught up in ritual and sing songs right here in church…my lips moving…but my heart being far from a heart of adoring God and is instead thinking about other things.

What about this issue of elevating other things above the Bible? Reason, our experiences, our feelings, or our traditions. Most of us are probably not caught up in the Jewish Mishnah traditions but we develop all kinds of new ones on our own.

The Roman Catholic Church throughout the years has continued to affirm that divine revelation is transmitted in two forms: sacred Scripture and the teaching tradition of The Roman Catholic Church. Jesus here says no, everything must come under the authority of the Bible.

But in Protestant churches we’re often no better. We can easily traditionize things in our church. Things like where we meet for church, the structure of the service, the style of music, how we do communion…and we end up caring more about how we do those things than worshipping the God of the Bible.

Or how about in decisions, where the decisive factor in our decision making process so often comes down to what we feel rather than what the Bible says. That’s the human tradition of our day. Whatever “you” want and makes you immediately feel the best is what matters most.

We must be dedicated to the Word of God first and foremost in everything. Martin Luther of the Protestant Reformation speaks of the devotion we need to the Scriptures. He writes, “Since these promises of God are holy, true, righteous, free, and peaceful words, full of goodness, the soul which clings to them with a firm faith will be so closely united with them and altogether absorbed by them that it not only will share in all their power but will be saturated and intoxicated by them. If a touch of Christ healed, how much more will this most tender touch, this absorbing Word of God, communicate to the soul all things that belong to the Word (Luther, The Freedom of the Christian).”

May God give us that kind of devotion to his Word.

B. Blind Weeds and Evil Deeds

Well let’s move on and talk about “Blind Weeds and Evil Deeds.” Apparently after Jesus laid down the gauntlet on the Pharisees, calling out their duplicity, it sounds like they either left or Jesus walked away from them and then continued teaching the crowds and the disciples.

What Jesus says next takes things to a whole new level. What began as a challenge to Jesus about he and his disciples not meeting the spiritual requirements and expectations of the day turned into Jesus calling out duplicity and false devotion and then going even deeper and addressing the true source of defilement. And he says it’s the heart.

Let’s look at closely, I want us to see it. These are extremely important words for us to know that Jesus said. This is a doctrine text. This is the doctrine of sin and depravity. Verse 11, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Verse 18-20, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are not what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

This is a huge text. Why do we disobey God’s word and turn to others words? Why do we break the Ten Commandments? Why do we think bad thoughts and do bad things? Our hearts. Our hearts. Evil deeds come from wicked hearts.

And this isn’t some foo foo thing, like how we feel when Jesus talks about our hearts. No heart here is the seat of the person. It’s the core of who we are in our being and in our personality. It’s what makes us and drives us, our nature, the engine of our soul.

Now notice something with me. Notice Jesus just took out everyone. He went beyond just the Pharisees. Jesus just said everyone is defiled. Because everyone falls in this category. Every single person there and every single person here has at least had evil thoughts and committed slander, talking trash or gossip about another person behind their back.

Then if we include what Jesus said earlier in his Sermon on the Mount…if we’ve felt hatred toward someone then we’ve murdered (5:21-23) or that if we’ve lusted after one who is not our spouse then we’ve committed adultery (5:27-28). Interestingly, the word right after adultery here, sexual immorality in the Greek is the word “porneia” where we get pornography. Feelings of hatred…lustful desires…it all shows we have bad hearts.

It’s clear, we’re all defiled. We all have evil deeds which come from our evil hearts. Fun times today eh? I was talking to my wife this week and she was asking me how my sermon was coming. I told her, great, “I guess I have to go tell everyone at church this week that we’re all defiled.” She said, “I think I might be feeling sick on Sunday and not be able to come.”

In verse 12 the disciples tell Jesus that what he has been saying is offensive. Duh! In response Jesus just gets more offensive and starts calling the Pharisees more names. He says they are plants that God will uproot like one does with weeds and then Jesus calls them blind guides who leading other blind people into a pit.

Jesus’ words here are really a wake up call for us not to be blind but to instead recognize who we are and admit the condition of our heart. When we refuse to admit we are sinners that’s when we become blind and unteachable. When we think that we are all good and that there is not really anything wrong with us deep down, we are being blind. We’ve got to start getting comfortable acknowledging and calling ourselves sinners.

Paul David Tripp recently wrote about why using blind people as a spiritual analogy for our understanding and devotion to God actually falls far short because real life blind people know they’re blind…but when you’re spiritually blind you don’t even know you’re blind.

Now remember, Jesus called the crowd and the disciples to him when he said this. So for that reason, I think these strong words of Jesus’ are meant to evoke a reaction in us…namely one where we don’t want to blind and we don’t want to be uprooted. I think these words of Jesus are meant to make us say, “Okay, yes. I am a sinner. I’ve got a jacked up heart Jesus.” Are you able to say that?

I think that’s the thrust of this story because the story just ends. Jesus doesn’t say what the answer is for a wicked heart. It’s almost like it’s cut short. But we’re left longing for an answer. And that’s what we get in the next story…the story of one who knows they’re defiled but rather than being rejected is received.

II. Defiled and Received

So let’s move on and talk about this woman. She’s another defiled person, but instead of being rejected by Jesus as a blind plant to be uprooted, she’s received and her family is healed.

First off we see Jesus going up into the district of Tyre and Sidon, which is a pretty big deal because it’s not Israel. Tyre and Sidon are today’s Lebanon and Syria, northeast of Israel and approximately 20 and 50 miles of travel for Jesus. Tyre and Sidon were two of the ancient cities of evil, along with Sodom and Gomorrah…that’s how Jewish people saw them at the time. You don’t go there. If you were one of the Pharisees we’ve been talking about you’d have said the people there are evil, a defiled race.

But Jesus goes there and a woman comes seeking him out. Notice Matthew calls her “a Canaanite woman” which was unusual. In the gospel of Mark’s account, she’s called the more appropriate term, a Syrophonecian woman. To call her a Canaanite was to conjure up the Old Testament portraits of Canaanites, an evil and defiled people.

A. A Daring Dog

Okay. So this woman comes out after Jesus. In the last story the Pharisees came out after Jesus to question him. This woman, comes out after Jesus crying out to him, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

Quite the contrast. From the start she admits and recognizes she doesn’t deserve anything, but simply begs for mercy. She calls Jesus “Lord” and “Son of David”, which is huge. It shows that she knows some stuff. Whether she heard news of Jesus, knew of the Jewish prophecies, or God just opened her eyes, we don’t know…but she knows some stuff.

As a “Lord” she believes Jesus has some sort of divine power or authority. As the “Son of David” she believes he is a messiah from the line of the famous king David and as such could do something about tormenting spirits.

So we’ve just finished hearing all about these hard-hearted hypocrite Pharisees who can’t stand to call Jesus Lord much less acknowledge him as the messiah. And now we see someone who is not proud but humble, asking for mercy, and confessing Jesus as Lord and as the messiah.

But Jesus doesn’t respond. Verse 23 says he just completely ignored her. But she keeps coming and keeps crying out. The disciples either get annoyed or they don’t understand why Jesus isn’t responding to her and so they go ask Jesus to heal her and send her off.

Jesus’ response to them about her seems cold. He says he just came for Israel. It sounds like the woman overhears this and takes her chance. She goes, butts in and interrupts the conversation by kneeling down in front of Jesus and she says to him, “Lord, help me.”

Now she has his attention and Jesus finally addresses her. But what Jesus says next makes him sound like a total jerk if you just read it on the surface…because he essentially calls her a dog. Check it out, verse 26, “And he answered, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to dogs.’”

To call someone a dog in that day was a racial slur. It was what Jews called Gentiles that they didn’t like. Dogs back then were not cute things you put in a purse and carry around the mall. They were mangy homeless scavengers who roamed the streets looking for handout. Dogs were known to be dirty and dejected. Jews called Gentiles “dogs” because they didn’t like them.

What’s astounding is, she’s still not fazed. Jesus has ignored her, rejected the disciples’ request to heal her daughter, and now calls her a dog…but she doesn’t deny it or argue or give up…but merely begs for mercy.

This story is phenomenal. And I’m sure you’ve got questions.

First and most obvious, why is Jesus seemingly being a jerk here? Right? Well, two things here. One, this is the only thing we have Jesus recorded doing up in Tyre and Sidon. Everything we know says he’s up there for her and this one encounter.

Two, text is sometimes difficult to communicate tone in. Have you ever written an email or sent a text that was misunderstood? It happens all the time right, so we use smiley faces and everything so people can understand our tone. I think that’s what’s going on here. One Bible commentator said, “What we can’t see here is the twinkle in Jesus eye (France).” That changes everything doesn’t it?

Now instead of hearing Jesus negatively shut her down and say, “I was only sent to Israel” we hear him suggesting, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Right? So she replies, “Lord, help me.”

Then we hear Jesus respond to her in the way she would expect a Jew to act toward her, so Jesus simulates the sentiment in order to summon her response of faith, “It is not right to take children’s bread and throw it to dogs.” And now she gets it! The Lord has helped her to see. And she excitedly acknowledges herself as a dog and pleads for the crumbs!

Seeing the twinkle in Jesus eye changes the entire tone of this whole scene. It enables us to see a woman pressing in to Jesus and Jesus beckoning her unto himself. Jesus points out his mission to call lost Israel first, but in this story reveals he has a much wider plan in store for all types of people to receive from him.

There’s so much to learn from this woman. First, what a mom! A loving parent will stop at no cost to see their children know the healing of Jesus. She’s an example for us parents and you parents to be of the great lengths we sometimes must take to do everything we can so our kids come to know and love Jesus.

In general she’s a great example of tenacity. As a pastor one of the most disheartening things I see in people’s lives is that when the going gets rough, so often that’s when people bail on God. This woman didn’t do that. When it seemed like Jesus wasn’t hearing her she kept on.

Does it ever seem like to you that God isn’t hearing your prayers? Do you give up or do you press on?

In general she’s also a great example of humility. She accepts that she is defiled and asks for mercy. She’s willing to be a dog at Jesus’ table as long as she gets to be there and receive.

Do you have that kind of humility? Are you happy just being a dog and getting to eat whatever Jesus gives?

May God grant us the kind of humility and spiritual fervor we see in this woman.

B. A Divine Deliverer

Well, let’s look at Jesus response, the “Divine Deliverer.” Verse 28, it’s like Jesus can no longer contain himself and he erupts in joy, “‘O woman, great is your faith! Be is done for you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.”

In our earlier story today we learned of the critical condition we are in, corrupt hearts that defile us all. But the story left us wanting and wondering, what do we do? The answer, we see in this story with the woman. There’s nothing she can do to change her condition or her daughter’s. Only Jesus. She simply admits her condition and begs Jesus to act. And Jesus does, seemingly with great joy.

Notice, he commands the healing. Sometimes the most inconscipicuous statements are so powerful. Jesus just says, “Be it done.” At Jesus’ word all the universe bows down and obeys.

Now I know we don’t have a full-fledged doctrine of regeneration laid out here for us. But what we do have is beautiful. So often when I realize my sin and where I’m blowing it and I realize it’s because I’ve got some stuff going on beneath the surface I don’t fully understand. Sometimes I don’t even know where to start. And this woman’s words become my words, “Lord, help me.” Change me. Change my heart Lord. Heal me.

And you know…God is so gracious. Consistently throughout all of Scripture we find this principle at work: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. If we come to God self-righteously and demand, he will turn us away and we will have hard lessons to learn. But if we come to God humbly as dependant beggars, he always receives us and embraces us.

In this picture of Jesus we see him extend comfort to a very distressed woman. It’s actually ironic. A passage that on the surface makes Jesus look kind of harsh actually ends up being a very tender story where Jesus extends healing to a wounded heart.

Do you have areas you need Jesus to work in you today? Do you need the comforting words of Jesus healing? Jesus is the Lord, a very present help in time of trouble. The only one we can run to for all of our needs and the only one who can change our hearts and save our souls.

Conclusion

It’s been a good day today looking at these two stories, far different from each other.

The Pharisees belonged to the covenant people of God, Israel. The woman was a Canaanite and did not belong at all. The Pharisees challenged Jesus’ authority. The woman cherished Jesus’ authority and called him “Lord.” The Pharisees didn’t understand the Scriptures. The woman understood Jesus was the Son of David prophesied in the Scriptures. The Pharisees took offense at Jesus. The woman couldn’t be deterred by Jesus’ offense. The Pharisees rejected Jesus. The woman received Jesus.

As we go before the Lord’s Table today, the only question we have to answer is whether we’re going to be like the Pharisees or be like the woman.

The message from Jesus is clear. We’re all defiled. We’ve all got sin issues and need heart change and heart work. The good news of the gospel is that unlike us Jesus didn’t have a wicked heart and so unlike us he never sinned his whole life. Jesus took his perfect life and gave it up on the cross to satisfy the debt of wrath we owe to God. Three days later Jesus rose to new life and lives today.

Just as Jesus healed this woman so long ago he heals today for all who put their faith in him. Here is the promise of the Lord for us:

Ezekiel 36:26-28 “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your father and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

So let’s look to Jesus and have him work in us as we go to his table today to worship, repent, and receive his body and blood given for us.

Let’s pray

]]> http://www.theresolved.com/4155/jesus-confronts-the-heart-heals-the-helpless/feed/ 1 http://www.theresolved.com/4113/comfort-from-the-doctrine-providence/ http://www.theresolved.com/4113/comfort-from-the-doctrine-providence/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:32:39 +0000 Pastor Duane http://www.theresolved.com/?p=4113

Sometimes the challenges of life seem to come in waves among those we know and love. Heart attacks, blood poison, miscarriages, sickness…suffering, illness, disease and death are a fact of life that no amount of medicine and good diet can protect us from.

We are not promised a life of ease free from these types of tragedies. Jesus himself said in reference to suffering and death, “In this world you will have trouble (Jn 16:33).” Peter similarly writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you (1 Pet 4:12).”

But that doesn’t take away the physical pain and the emotional trauma of actually walking through the valley of suffering. In the midst of suffering, the call of the Scriptures upon God’s people is to minister to one another with tears. Romans 12:15 “Weep with those who weep.”

If one does not know or have confidence in the doctrine of providence, then the hour of their suffering is not the time to teach them but to cry with them. However, knowing suffering is promised, we do well to prepare ourselves ahead of time for our own hour of suffering. For this, it is my conviction that the doctrine of God’s providence in all things is one of the most comforting truths of the Bible.

What is the Doctrine of Providence?

Providence comes from the Latin providentia and is God’s power over all things wherein he orders them according to his wisdom all for his good purposes. Simply put, God causes ALL THINGS. Scripture is littered with affirmations of God’s providence.

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 “O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might.”

Job 42:1-2 “Job answered the Lord and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Isaiah 45:7 “I form light and create darkness, I make well being and create evil, I am the LORD who does all these things.”

Acts 17:26 “He (God) made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”

Rejecting Divine Providence?

Some, who claim to be Christians, heretical open theists (such as Gregory Boyd, Clark Pinnock and John Sanders etc.) are deeply grieved at the evil and pain of suffering and cannot conceive that a good God would allow his children to experience such turmoil. So instead of being comforting they see the doctrine of divine providence as intensely infuriating.

However, rejecting divine providence in reaction to the pain of suffering is actually much more of an eastern idea than a Christian one. In eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism etc.), the road out of suffering is by detaching yourself from it and imagining you are not uniquely suffering but instead are simply one with the world, which does not suffer but merely cycles and balances.

Divine Providence and The Gospel

The unique thing about the gospel is it takes suffering seriously. The gospel says our suffering is real, is not the way life was originally created to be, and that God entered into our suffering to do something about it.

At the very first church service the gospel was preached. Acts 2:23-24 “Jesus, (was) delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, [you] crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death.”

Notice three things:
   1. God providentially had Jesus killed.
   2. God raised up Jesus from the dead.
   3. The result is the “pangs” of death get loosed.

What does it mean that the pangs of death get loosed? The word in the Greek for pang is “odeen” and is intolerable anguish. It’s a good word to describe the beliefs of nihilism (belief in nothing) or annihilationism (belief in no afterlife) because then death is the ultimate end with nothing following and it is purposeless and meaningless. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we have the hope, the promise, and the guarantee that death is not meaningless and that God did something to put an end to all suffering once and for all.

So the pang is taken away because the anguish gets replaced with anticipation. We who believe in Jesus will be raised like Jesus.

Comfort Not Chaos

To say God has no control over suffering and evil does not offer comfort to anyone because then the world is spinning out of control and God cannot do anything about it. God is then weak, powerless, and definitely not worthy of worship. It’s like he wished he could do something but something or someone greater than him has limited and constrained him. No comfort can be found by turning to such a God.

To say God has all control over all suffering is to say that God has a greater and better purpose ahead for us that can only be seen as such by us going through the bitter valleys of pain and sorrow. God then can be a refuge and a help in time of need because he does not have his hands tied behind his back but is seated on the throne and by his great wisdom has our best in mind and is carrying that out. Comfort is found because in turning to God our grief is turned into something meaningful because God cares and has a purpose in it.

The Purpose of Providence

What is God’s Purpose? Romans 8:18 tells us, “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” If we did not see glimpses of the darkness of hell God’s glory would not look very bright. Suffering allows us to peer into the despair God has protected us from by delivering up and then raising up his son.

Romans 8 continues to expound on this future glory by telling us that believers in Jesus are being made like him, “conformed into his image (8:29)” and will be raised up like him (8:23). The beauty of the providence of the gospel is we do not have a God who has not suffered but suffered intensely for us so that we might one day no longer suffer.

Conclusion

My hope and my prayer is that you might be convinced of the doctrine of God’s providence and rather than buck against it you would embrace it so that in your hour of suffering you like a tree in an intense storm might bend from the blow but not break. Don’t entertain foolish notions of weak reason which overmagnify man’s free will and conceive of catastrophes as accidents. Instead recognize God’s will which overrides and determines all things so that there are no accidents, only divine actions.

My hope and my prayer is to set you up so that when you suffer you would not throw rocks at God and his goodness but rather stand upon God as your rock. In the hour of suffering, lean on the doctrine of God’s providence for your comfort…no other arms can hold you like it can. Remember Jesus suffered intensely. God is fully aware and knows exactly what you feel. Put your hope in him, so that like Jesus you might be able to endure the cross and despise its shame (Heb 12:2).

By God’s grace may he enable us to worship when worship is most difficult. May he enable us to do like Job did, to fall down on our face in worship crying, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:20-21).”

- Pastor Duane

]]> http://www.theresolved.com/4113/comfort-from-the-doctrine-providence/feed/ 0 http://www.theresolved.com/4089/acts-29-coffee/ http://www.theresolved.com/4089/acts-29-coffee/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:48:04 +0000 Pastor Duane http://www.theresolved.com/?p=4089

At our Sunday morning worship service we have a coffee cafe set up in the back offering free coffee for everyone. Recently we started serving Acts 29 Coffee.

Acts 29 Coffee is made in Gig Harbor, WA by Cutter’s Point who roasts premium Arabica beans. Coffee snobs agree, it’s good coffee. But what’s really cool about Acts 29 Coffee is that for every bag a person and/or church buys $5 of that money goes directly toward funding Acts 29 Church Plants (the church planting network The Resolved Church belongs to).

At The Resolved Church we are currently using about 4 Bags a month, which means that $20 a month or $240 a year is going toward churching planting just by using the Acts 29 Coffee. It’s great for churches, but not only churches.

Individuals and/or families who are coffee addicts can subscribe to Acts 29 Coffee straight from their website and have bags of coffee delivered right to their doorstep AND the same amount of money ($5 a bag) goes to Acts 29 Church Plants!

I encourage everyone to go to www.acts29coffee.com and read about their vision of planting churches “one cup at a time.” It’s a great company and a great way to support and spread the gospel simply by drinking coffee.

]]> http://www.theresolved.com/4089/acts-29-coffee/feed/ 1 http://www.theresolved.com/4086/in-the-world-not-of-the-world-but-for-the-world/ http://www.theresolved.com/4086/in-the-world-not-of-the-world-but-for-the-world/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:48:10 +0000 Admin http://www.theresolved.com/?p=4086

Guest Preacher | John 15:18-16:4,33 | Pastor Jesse Winkler

This week is an exegetical and missiological look at Jesus’ words to his disciples about their future and role after he would be crucified. It examines the four different ways we can find ourselves relating to the world: separate from it, against it, just like it, or for it. This sermon was originally preached on May 30th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

Listen

]]> http://www.theresolved.com/4086/in-the-world-not-of-the-world-but-for-the-world/feed/ 0 http://www.theresolved.com/4063/esteeming-preaching/ http://www.theresolved.com/4063/esteeming-preaching/#comments Fri, 28 May 2010 16:19:40 +0000 Pastor Duane http://www.theresolved.com/?p=4063

Grappling With Pragmatism Versus Preaching

In the fall of 1996, I like the disobedient Jonah gave up running away from God and accepted Jesus call upon my life to be a minister of the gospel. I simultaneously fell in love with the Bible and got involved in a number of campus ministries. Taking an “Intro To Ministry” class at the college I was attending seemed like a good idea, but after that class I avoided practical ministry courses like they were a plague throughout all my eight years and three degrees of theological education.

Now, after being a pastor and a church planter for some time, I realize that probably wasn’t the wisest thing and there is much I could have learned and gleaned from investing some time learning from the “how to” experts. Mostly because failure has made me more teachable, I have since gone back and tried to learn what I can from the practical guys and continue to do so.

However, what rubbed me wrong about practical ministry classes is that they were built on the concept of the “how to” rather than the “what is.” It seemed pretty basic to me, ministry was a product of the word of God at work in people. So I thought the question should be what does God’s word say and not a question of what works best. Thus, I figured I’d focus on theology instead and thought whatever I ended up doing in ministry would probably just work out because it was driven by good theology.

My attitude wasn’t always the best, especially when I was a youth pastor and a college pastor and even when I first began the church I now pastor at. Too often I was reactionary, thinking “you’re going about it wrong, I’m going to do it right.” Which at the time meant me busting out as many seven letter plus theological words I could think of. You can probably find old sermons of mine saying something along the lines of how you’re not really a Christian unless you understand that justification is the result of God imputing the dikaiosune of Christ to sinners on account of his propitiating work, which he planned supralapsariously before the foundation of the world.

Hopefully it wasn’t that bad and hopefully by God’s grace I’ve become more gracious. Yet the principle of doing ministry based on the conviction that the word of God does the work of God has stuck with me and continues to inform how I function day to day as a pastor and how the church I pastor is organized and goes about things.

I remember when we first planted The Resolved Church in April of 2005 and the major milieu of the time in regards to starting a church was primarily a pragmatic business approach. It was pretty nuts and bolts. The main idea went something like this… You come up with a cool name for your church, a good slogan, some core values, a mission statement, send out a truck load of flyers into the surrounding neighborhood and then you just start having service making sure to have entertaining music and a catchy, short message that people like.

Besides the fact that I didn’t really know how to do any of that because I had become a theologian and not a businessman, such an approach sounded about as appealing as eating dirt. If I were a little more mature at the time perhaps I could have realized not all of those things are bad things and some are in fact good and necessary. You’ve got to have a church name! But I couldn’t handle that, so instead my plan was to get together as many people as I could in my living room and just start yelling Bible verses at them and see what happened.

When I moved down to San Diego to plant the church I remember one of my pastor friends at the time asked me what our strategy was for planting and I took my Bible clenched in my fist, looked him in the eye and said, “My strategy is to preach the gospel!”

Now I realize I had a lot to learn back then but that conviction has never left me. The heart and the strategy of The Resolved Church is the preaching of the gospel. Our philosophy of ministry is to preach the word and to be a church that is formed and propelled by the preaching of the word. Everything we are and do flows out of that passion. We lead with our front foot forward by preaching.

What Does It Mean To “Preach”?

Etymologically (where the word comes from) the word, “preach” or “preaching” has a rich history. In the Pre-Homeric period the “Kerux” or the “Preacher” was an official position in the king’s court. He was an authorized herald of the monarchy and then later the state. Originally there were even four different classes or types of Preachers in Greco-Roman culture: a Preacher of Mysteries, a Preacher of The Games, a Preacher of Festivals and a Preacher of The Market. In order to become a preacher, one had to have a loud and resonant voice that was powerful and authoritative (Pollux, Onomasticon, IV, 94).

In the Bible “preaching” (kerygma – noun, kerusso – verb) becomes one of the chief words used to describe the presentation of the gospel by Jesus and his apostles. The word occurs in various forms 76 times in the New Testament alone and is used uniquely to describe the proclaiming the gospel with an authority that calls its listeners to respond and follow.

You get a strong sense of this in several passages. Matthew 4:17 says, “Jesus began to preach saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And likewise Acts 9:28 states that “He (Paul) went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.”

Preaching was the resident form and method of Jesus ministry everywhere he went. In fact in Luke 4:43 Jesus says he “must preach” for it was integral to the purpose for which he came into the world. Then Jesus calls and commissions his apostles to preach. “He (Jesus) appointed twelve [whom he also named apostles] so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach (Mk 3:14).”

This resulted in preaching becoming the central drive and forming principle of the early church in the book of Acts. The Church begins with apostles preaching. Acts 5:42 says that in those early days, “every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

When things started to take off and get busy and there were other ministries and aspects of ministry to take care of as well, the preaching of the early church was intentionally kept primary and protected. As the apostles state in Acts 6:2, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.”

All throughout the book of Acts, in nearly every chapter in connection with nearly every major movement of God, we consistently see preaching present (Acts 5:42; 6:12; 8:4, 12, 25, 40; 9:27, 28; 10:36, 42; 11:20; 14:7, 21; 15:35; 16:16; 17:18). In the very least, we see that preaching was extremely important to the early church.

So what does it mean to preach? To preach is to have someone who is called by God authoritatively declare the good news of Jesus life, death and resurrection for sinners who put faith in him and is the thing upon which the church centers herself on.

The History of Emphasizing Preaching

For most of Christian history, preaching has been emphasized in Jesus’ church. The word “gospel” itself is an amalgamation from a popular description of what happens to people who listened to authoritative preaching of the good news of Jesus. It was sa