The simple, beautiful - and impossible - plan of the Almighty

The Gift of the Spirit

(1 John 3:23-24, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 27, 2016)

[23] And this is his commandment,

that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ

and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

[24] Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.

And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

His Commandment: Faith Working Itself Out Through Love

He is God. He is above us. He has the right to give us His demands. These are fundamental truths of our faith. He is the “I-AM.” Not us. We are the image-bearers, not the Original.

What He gives by way of commandment, is so simple and beautiful. Trust God. Let Him love through you, especially in His household, the church.

Trust God: This is what true belief is. We rest in the “Name” of Jesus the Messiah, the eternal Son of the Father. To lean on His Name is to fall into His reliable arms. Our ability to stand before God is entirely based on the obedience and death of Jesus for us.

Let Him love through you: Love is willing to suffer for the good of the beloved. Love is never me first. It is always my life for yours. Christian love is divinely initiated and comes back again to the Source. The parent who finds insight in a trying moment and the child who is made to know that someone great has just lowered himself or herself for the benefit of someone small are part of a divine drama working out in real life. Christ empowers the giver (Romans 5:1-11) and Christ insists that He is the receiver (Matthew 25:40). It all starts in the church, but whatever takes hold in the church can never be contained within that family. Whether good or ill, it spreads out into the world.

Only by the Spirit of God

So, trust God, and let Him love through you, especially in the church. Simple and beautiful? Yes. Easy to do? Not entirely. In fact, as the history of Israel amply proves, impossible. Why? Back again to Jeremiah 29:19 quoted last week: “But you would not.” Yet when faith and love are impossible with fallen man, with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

What do we need from God? What does He have for our success in this mission of faith and love that we lack? The best gift known among humanity—the gift of Himself.

How does that gift work? We live in God and He lives in us by the person of the Holy Spirit. But you may wonder if you have the Holy Spirit. Yes, you may wonder, and of course none of has enough of the Holy Spirit. But we know that we are different than we once were. We once lived for ourselves in this contemporary world of me first, and my feelings above everyone else. God has changed that forever (not yet perfectly, but most definitely) through the Word of the cross and the work of the Spirit of love—a love supremely expressed in the death of Jesus.

“He gives more grace.” (James 4:6) Grace means gift. The two concepts are forever together in true religion. For John to refer to the Spirit as a “gift” means that we don't receive the Spirit based on our works. It is the other way around. We do works because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The works of true faith carried out in Christian love, especially for one another in the family of God, are signs that we have the gift. All of the benefits of the Christian life, including the privilege of suffering—it's all from the grace of Almighty God. Therefore, all of our faith and our works are for His own glory and not a reason for own boasting.

What does the popular but false theology of autonomy say? It insists on the autonomous way and rejects the way of the cross.

The autonomous way: I walk away from my obligation to pay what I owe. “To my own self be true.” Sorry, I have reasons for not paying you what I owe. Plus I don't have the money.

The autonomous way: I walk away from my marriage and family responsibilities. “To my own self be true.” Sorry, this no longer works for me. I need to get out of this relationship.

The autonomous way: I walk away from the church. “To my own self be true.” Or another proposition: “To my own experience of Jesus be true.” Sorry, but I think that the institutional church is not a good place for me now, or maybe ever again.

Whether money, marriage, or worship: Sorry, I am sure that my Jesus understands me and the choices that I have had to make for my own well-being, even if you don't. So long!

The way of the true Jesus of the cross and the resurrection: “Glory to God, both in life and death.” Therefore, “Believe in the Name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.” And again, “Love one another, even when it hurts—maybe especially when it hurts.”

Not a bad plan. No, this is God's good plan—His only plan. Back to point one. He is God. But that's the root of the issue where the autonomy theology begs to differ: How could my Jesus ever get in the way of me being me. Me first. No one is allowed to get in the way of that, even Jesus. But then He would never get in the way of me, would He?

Has it come to this? Yes it has. And many will hold this me first truth to be self-evident. But we have a better message to bring to others. We would rather be inconvenienced and pained by love than to have no love at all. Our cry: “Take not your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11)

The Christian life is a truly good life of faith, hope, and love. It is only possibly by the grace of the Almighty. The good news for us: He who began a good work in us gives more and more grace to His children. How else could we survive in the Babylon of this dying world?

One last thought: Being a parent or a friend in a world of exile sometimes requires saying hard things. Sometimes we remind each other about who we are—and whose we are. No, we can't just walk away from our debts. No, it is not God's voice telling us to leave a spouse. No, Jesus is not on our side when we reject the institutional church and decide to just be Christians all by our lonesome at home. Mordecai had to challenge Esther out of love. Haggai had to speak to selfish Israel out of love. Sometimes love may even sound a bit pushy, a tad nasty. God's Spirit will eventually show us through the Word that self-first living is simply not the love of Christ, and that love truly is the reason why we have come to the kingdom at such a time as this.

Old Testament Reading—Haggai 1:12-15 – I Am With You

Gospel Reading—Matthew 5:11-12 – Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Good Morning, Lord! I'm "All In."

True Confidence and Answered Prayers

(1 John 3:21-22, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 20, 2016)

[21] Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,

we have confidence before God;

[22] and whatever we ask

we receive from him,

because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Christian Assurance and Confidence Before God in Prayer

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, is there something wrong with the church in the United States? Do our hearts condemn us, or do we have confidence before God?

When a son disobeys his father, in the early stages of rebellion, he can feel the guilt and shame of violating his father's instruction. But as time continues, and disobedience spreads, is it possible that he loses the ability to care about the breach? All that may be left is the dullness of a distant relationship. But life goes on.

Is it possible that our churches are not “all in” with Jesus in our concern for “the least of these my brothers?” Is the church at least tithing, worshiping on Sunday morning, and taking time for a daily with God through some Bible reading and prayer? What about more than the minimum?

Isaiah 58 is a passage that demands our careful consideration. It calls God's people to certain duties, but it also holds out some beautiful promises. First, the duties of love for the weak:

1. Loose the bonds of wickedness
2. Undo the straps of the yoke
3. Share your bread with the hungry
4. Bring the homeless poor into your house
5. When you see the naked, cover him
6. Don't hide yourself from your own relatives
7. Don't point your finger in harsh judgment against others
8. Pour yourself out for the hungry
9. Satisfy the desire of the afflicted
10. Call the Lord's Sabbath a delight. (Either you rule over your work or it rules you.)

Then come the wonderful promises, which is the the hope of the righteous:

1. Your light shall break forth like the dawn
2. Your healing shall spring up speedily
3. Your righteousness shall go before you
4. The Lord's glory shall be your rear guard
5. You shall cry out to the Lord and He will say, “Here I am!”
6. Your gloom shall be as the noonday
7. The Lord will guide you continually
8. He will satisfy your desires so you will be a watered garden in otherwise desolate places
9. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt
10. You shall take delight in the Lord.

These good words of the Almighty are not different from the blessings that the Lord set before Israel if she would obey His Word in the Promised Land. Yet the nation was sent into exile and Old Testament history reinforces God's conclusion: “But you would not.” (Jeremiah 29:19)

Then along comes the Savior of the world. He is Sabbath. He does Isaiah 58 and becomes a fountain of life for the church. Now He (and 1 John 3) call us to join Him in caring for the weak, the lonely, the desperate, and the abandoned. This Jesus way of life is hampered by a money idolatry, a rest idolatry, or even a misery idolatry where we choose to ignore the hope of the righteous. I was struck recently by this beautiful verse: “Through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of the righteous.” (Galatians 5:5) Hope makes a difference!

The end result of money idolatry, rest idolatry, misery idolatry, or any other kind of idolatry will be the same: No hope. Loss of connection with God and the church. Loss of creative engagement with others all around us—a kind of spiritual exile that we can readily see in those churches that have given in to the slow drift away from historic Christianity.

J. Gresham Machen and the Orthodox Presbyterians in the 1920s and 30s knew they were fighting a war for truth against formidable odds. Everyone else was going for looser theology. Like the small group of exiles that went off to Babylon six centuries before the birth of Christ, the church in every age is a community of fellowship, ethics, and doctrine enlivened by the Holy Spirit. We are always a small community of restoration in the midst of a dying world.

We speak and hear the prophetic challenge as the Jews did from the restoration prophets in their day. (Haggai 1:1-11) We catch ourselves in self-serving lies and find hope in Jesus again. Shall today's small remnant be quietly and uneventfully swept away in the next generation by a theology of autonomy that insists on self above all? I don't think so.

Yes there will be some seeds that fall on the path. And some will fall on rocky ground or among thorns. But there will always be some good soil—some Isaiah 58 well-watered gardens. Don't you agree? And why not us?

God's Plan to Work through People like US!

The Lord intends to work through people like us—needy recipients of grace who call Jesus our Sabbath and our delight and go forth in the joy of the Lord. We may recognize that we are lacking power in prayer today, but does it have to always be that way?

An Additional Encouragement to the Godly

We need a godly imagination of what it might mean for us to call upon the Lord with greater assurance and with the expectation that He will hear and answer us when we cry out to Him.

One more thought on Isaiah 58: In no way is the success of God's plan based on how much money we have to spare, or how busy or capable we are. We can do very small things moment by moment and He can bring the increase. The success is His. See Galatians 6:9-10.

The right kind of confidence—God confidence—is important for the church to do the work of the Lord. Christ works through us, and He calls us to a simple life life of prayer and obedience, even in the midst of persecution. (Madan's decision to put out a call to prayer for the orphans of the world or to keep a street clean, Gopal's retelling of the story of the church in Dhangadhi)

Old Testament Reading—Haggai 1:1-11 – Because of My House

Gospel Reading—Matthew 5:10 – Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Don’t Miss This Banquet!

(Luke 14:12-24, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, November 13, 2016)

[12] He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.  [13] But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, [14] and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

[15] When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”  [16] But he said to him, “A man gave a great banquet and invited many.  [17] And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’  [18] But they all alike began to make excuses.  The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it.  Please have me excused.’  [19] And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them.  Please have me excused.’  [20] And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’  [21] So the servant came and reported these things to the master.  Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’  [22] And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’  [23] And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.  [24] For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

God has prepared a feast of the richest possible delights, a banquet of never-ending, ever-increasing joy in his eternal kingdom.  For centuries he prepared the Jewish nation for this coming banquet.  The coming Christ, the Anointed One, the one who would be God’s perfect Prophet, Priest, and King—he would bring this great time of joy and victorious celebration to God’s people.  Through the prophets of old, God sent out the invitation to his covenant people.  The day of feasting was coming.  The night would flee when Messiah and his resurrection kingdom shone upon Israel.  Get ready for the coming Christ, for everyone who eats bread in the kingdom of God will be forever blessed.  It would be the greatest tragedy to miss out on this banquet.

When the time of the banquet had come, God sent out the second invitation to his people.  The feast was ready.  But when the nation of Israel received the word that the day had come, many refused to come.  They were wrapped up in their lives, and even in their religion.  The banquet had come because Messiah had come.  He said that those who feasted on him would never go hungry.  Those who drank from him would never thirst.  Those who believed in him would never die.  He came to bring life that was abundant and free and eternal.  He was God’s anointed King who came to usher in God’s kingdom.  He was the Resurrection and the Life, who would die for the sins of God’s people and three days later rise from the dead.  He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one would enter God’s kingdom feast apart from faith in him.  God sent his Son to his own people, and many of them, including many of their religious leaders, rejected him.  By doing so, they shut themselves out of the very kingdom feast they professed to anticipate.  A tragedy indeed!

One of these religious leaders, a ruler of the Pharisees, invited Jesus to his house one Sabbath day for dinner (verse 1).  It wasn’t because he genuinely wanted to learn from Jesus, but because he and his friends were suspicious of Jesus and intended to watch him carefully.  Jesus, unfazed by what he knew was a disingenuous invitation to dinner, took advantage of the occasion to shake things up a bit for them.  He did not need to do this.  Jesus was being very gracious to these unbelieving, self-righteous Pharisees.  His shaking things up for them was an act of love toward them.  First, he healed a sick man before their eyes, when they considered it wrong to heal on the Sabbath (verses 1-6).  Next, Jesus taught them lessons on humility and service (verses 7-14).  He noticed the guests at the dinner were scrambling to secure the most honored seats at the table for themselves.  So he told them that the path to honor is to put oneself lower than other people, not above other people, and to let God be the one to exalt them in due time.  Jesus then had words for those who host a dinner or banquet.  Don’t invite people who can return the favor.  Why?  Because they might return the favor.  Invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.  Why?  Precisely because they cannot pay you back.  God will repay you at the resurrection.  Jesus’ intent is not to encourage us to be calculating in our service to others: “If I do this, I will get a bigger reward in heaven.”  On the contrary, he wants to set us free from calculating, so that we would genuinely love those in need who cannot repay us, just like he came to serve us by dying for our sins when we cannot repay him for this in the least.  I think Jesus, knowing that we do tend to only do things for people when we think we’ll get something out of it from them, is pointing out that God will more than repay us at the resurrection for sacrifices rendered now.  So we don’t need to worry about people repaying us here and now.  We are free to serve, knowing God will repay us in due time, just as we are free to take the place of dishonor now, knowing God will exalt us in due time.

Hearing Jesus mention the resurrection of the just, one of the guests exclaims how blessed those will be who share in the resurrection banquet.  My study Bible’s note on this verse suggests the man might be trying to change the subject, since Jesus’ talk about inviting in the poor and disabled is making him feel uncomfortable.    Whatever the speaker’s motivation for his statement, Jesus uses it to shake up the dinner guests even more.  Yes, those who partake in God’s resurrection banquet are blessed, but sadly, many in Israel whom God has invited refuse to partake.  Jesus makes this point by telling a parable about a master who threw a party, but those who were originally invited to be guests wouldn’t come.  They made up lame excuses.  Obviously if a person has just purchased a field or oxen, he would have already inspected them.  And anyways, the field and the oxen would still be there.  And the guy who just got married?  Why is that a reason not to come to a party?  So the master gets angry, and rightfully so.  The refusal of these invitees to come is a major slap in his generous face.  He commands that the poor, crippled, blind and lame be invited instead, the same kind of people Jesus has just told the Pharisee and his guests they should invite to their own parties.  When the master learns this has been done and there is still room, he commands that the highways and hedges outside the city be searched and people be compelled to come to his party until the house is full.  The word “compel” might mean “strongly persuade.”  Jesus might also be referring to the fact that the grace of God compels us to come to his banquet in the sense that he gives us a new heart that desires his banquet when in our sin we would never want to come.  God doesn’t compel us to come against our will.  But he changes our will so that we freely come.  Otherwise, we’d all simply make excuses for ourselves and refuse God’s invitation.  Whichever way we interpret Jesus’ use of the word “compel,” the main picture in all of this is of God inviting the Jewish nation to the feast he had prepared for them through Jesus, but many refusing to embrace Jesus.  Many rejected God’s banquet, so God invited those others had rejected.  The people whom you and I might not want to invite to our dinner, God invited to his.  Yet this was not enough.  God would bring his invitation beyond Israel to the Gentiles, those out on the highways, and the vagabonds taking shelter in the hedges.  He is bringing us in too until his house is full.

Paul wrote that God has chosen the foolish of the world to shame the wise.  He has chosen the weak of the world to shame the strong, that we might boast not in ourselves but in him (1 Cor. 1:26-31).  If we have received Christ and await the fullness of his resurrection kingdom, if we get the fact that it is pure grace on God’s part to throw such a feast and invite undeserving sinners like us, then we will be a people who extend love to the marginalized, the broken, and those who cannot repay us and may even make us feel uncomfortable.  This will be our joy, for we were poor, crippled, lame and blind in our sin, and God reached out to us.  I conclude by urging that you and I not be among those who miss God’s banquet in Christ.  Don’t make up silly excuses when God is offering us everlasting fullness of joy, at the cost of Jesus’ own life.  Don’t be so caught up in your possessions, your career, your marriage, or anything else in this life, so that you ignore God’s invitation to be part of his kingdom banquet.  Let go of your excuses.  Come be part of God’s feast.  Only God in Christ can satisfy our hearts forever.  And as we make our way to the feast, let us show God’s kindness to those the world has rejected, that they too might know the love of God in Christ and come to his banquet.

We Shall See God

Reassuring Our Heart

(1 John 3:18-20, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 6, 2016)

[18] Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

[19] By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;

[20] for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart,

and he knows everything.

In Deed and in Truth

God calls us to do more than talk. Love is proven not by words, but by deeds and truth. But it is common for us to face doubts and even self-accusations when we are undertaking a good work for God and for His people. How can we fight the good fight and not give up?

Not everything with a good final outcome is always immediately successful. This is the world that we live in. We may fail at many good endeavors before our Good Shepherd leads us to a place of green pastures and still waters. While we wait for the Lord's deliverance, we need to trust Him and move forward with our calling as worshipers and servants. (Matthew 21:28-32)

We Shall Know

These verses by John teach us that worshiping and serving are a great aid to our reassurance of the Lord's love and of His intentions for us. We have in front of us what the prophet Jeremiah called a good “future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:10-14) John instructs his readers that we can and will “know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart [note: singular] before him.”

While there is such a thing as false assurance, true assurance is a great benefit that is possible for us as a church and is very much worth pursuing. The theologians that composed our Confession of Faith in the 17^th century put it this way: “Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation (which hope of theirs shall perish): yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.” (WCF 18-1, cites 1 John 3:18-19)

It is hard to maintain a healthy sense of our eternal security unless we “walk in all good conscience before him.” As we think about the gift of assurance we can easily lose track of salvation by grace if we are not careful in our thinking. Tender hearts may and do struggle with their spiritual condition. With David they can cry out, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation.” Multiplying words of love for God may not help us here. We need to “love in deed and in truth.” Until we settle matters of obedience, we may find our heart rightly unsettled.

Hope in God

What should we do when we find ourselves longing for stability and rest but finding little or none? Where else can we go but to the arms of Jesus. We need to turn back to the Lord—in the words of Psalms 42 and 43, “Put your hope in God.” That is precisely the point that John is pressing upon his readers. Yes, our hearts may in fact condemn us. But God is greater than our heart. He knows everything. And He gives more grace. (James 4:6) Our only recourse is to humble ourselves before Him and to do what He commands.

Assurance of salvation is not the presumption of false pride, but a gift of God who knows everything. But how can we face the future with confidence if we treasure sin in our heart? Words of faith are not enough. God calls us to love in deed and truth. Above all, our confidence is that we are known and loved by the Almighty, who has saved us by the blood of His own Son.

Applying the truth of assurance in a difficult world

We may yet wonder why life is not working as we planned. Once again, judging the success of a story before its conclusion is an unnecessarily discouraging habit. Of course we do need to make sure that we are not treasuring sin in our vexed souls. “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalm 66:18) When we have done all we can to set apart the Lord as holy, not just in what we say, but in what we do, then we need to remember His good promises and stand on them. (Ephesians 6:13)

Consider the life of Mordecai for a moment. He served the Lord as a servant of Ahasuerus, the king over the vast Persian Empire five centuries before the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. At times it appeared that His good deeds had been forgotten by the king and by God. He found himself maliciously hated by a wicked man, Haman, who clearly had the ear of the king. Even his close relation, Esther, was at first unwilling to listen to his instruction at a key moment in the story. Mordecai had an understanding of the extreme present danger for the nation of God's elect that he loved so sincerely, but who was with him in his love for the Jews? Eventually Esther cared more about her people than about her own life, but that improvement in her character did not come easily. Mordecai had to challenge her, and everyone needed to humble themselves before the Lord in fasting. How alone was Mordecai? See Esther 4:1-3. It turned out that there was a great mourning among the Jews, but did Mordecai consider himself to be utterly alone when he put on sackcloth and wailed for his people? It would have been a bad time for him to evaluate the truth of God's love or of God's promises based on his own experiences.

What about Jesus? Even our Messiah seemed to be nearly out of strength right after the great moment of the Transfiguration. (Mark 9:19) Coming down from the mountain He was assaulted by the unbelief of all those around Him. He cried out, “How long am I to bear with you?” Yet He kept on going, even to His appointed death on the cross. Why did He do it? Was it because everything felt great? No. “For the joy that was set before Him,” He “endured the cross, despising the shame.” What now for Jesus? He is “seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

What must we do, then, if our hearts accuse us. Is there something to repent of? By all means do so. “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.” And do so continually, not believing any lie that would discourage you from the obvious duty of obeying God. Then we must “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Brothers and sisters, whatever else may take place in this fallen world, whether internationally or in our church, stand on the word and keep on going. Remember this good Word to all who will repent and believe, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

Old Testament Reading—Esther 10 – The Greatness of Mordecai

Gospel Reading—Matthew 5:8 – Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.