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If the Lord is With Us

In the midst of a culture that was reaping the consequences of sin and turning away from God, God calls Gideon and declares that He is with them.  Citing the great ways of the past in which God showed Himself to truly be with them, Gideon asks a question that Christians could certainly ask today, “If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?”

I. Matthew 14:28-33.  We have the same reassurance that Gideon received–that God is with us (Matthew 28:20) and that He will never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6), yet we, like Peter stepping out of boat, take our eyes off Jesus because the winds around us are so fierce.  Our circumstances and situation in a dark world are going to rage (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  This doesn’t mean that God is not there.  We must fix our eyes on Him (Hebrews 12:1-3) to not grow weary or fainthearted.

II. Judges 6:11-32.  More than just his circumstances, Gideon was overwhelmed because he saw his weaknesses and helplessness in the midst of the culture he was a part of.  Most Christians feel this way today.  We, like Gideon, can take great reassurance that this is exactly the situation in which God works (1 Corinthians 1:25-29) so we may not boast.  Paul, in pleading for the ‘thorn’ to be removed from him, was told that God’s power in his life was made perfect in Paul’s weakness (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

III. Judges 6:33-40.  Jesus said if we had faith as small as a mustard seed, then nothing would be impossible for us (Matthew 17:20).  God readies Gideon to take on His people’s enemies by first taking a ‘smaller’ step at home.  After he tears down his father’s altar to Baal and burns his Asherah pole, Gideon is defended by his earthly father and his heavenly Father sends him an army.  We too need our faith tested if we are to become mature and complete (James 1:2-4).  Are you willing to take that step?

Are circumstances or weakness coloring your perspective?  Or, are you seeing clearly through faith?

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She Gave Him Milk

To ‘fight like a man’ is to overtly confront a problem with brute strength.  Somehow to ‘fight like a woman’ has come to mean that the fighting is weaker–but only if compared to how men physically fight.  Women fight in subtler ways–we often call them ‘wiles’–that are just as strong or perhaps stronger than a man’s way–and they learn young!

My wife likes to tell the story of how our youngest at two years of age came to me with her blond pigtails and big, pleading eyes upset because her favorite pink nightgown was in the dirty clothes hamper.  I reassured her that when it was washed she could have it back.  She replied with a cute smile, “That would make me happy!”  A minute later I had to explain to my wife why I was doing laundry in the middle of the week.

I. Judges 4:17-22.  Sisera failed to understand this.  After Barak did not have the courage to ‘fight like a man’ and do what God had told him to do in defeating Sisera, Israel’s judge, Deborah, told him that a woman would claim credit for the victory over the Canaanites.  Although the Kenites were part of Israel, Sisera had no doubt found hospitality in Heber and Jael’s tent before.  Running from Barak, Sisera begs Jael for water, but she gave him milk and a place to sleep.  Then she put a tent peg through his head!  That was not what he expected, but Jael was praised for fighting like this (Judges 5:24-30).

II. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11. Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) fights through deception.  Failing to ensnare God-in-the-flesh in the normal way he trapped men (Luke 4:1-13) and losing Jesus’ followers to the gospel, he really tries to outwit us with his schemes.  A lion seeking to devour at any opening (1 Peter 5:8), Christians must truly take up the armor of God against Satan’s ‘wiles’ (Ephesians 6:10-11).

III. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.  Jesus, however, fights like God–through obedience, truth, and sacrifice found in the gospel.  Through these ways and because He was made like us in every way, He has defeated the devil and death (Hebrews 2:12-14).  Now we, in Him and through Him, are able to fight like Him–if we can clearly see through Satan’s deceptions that would keep us blind to how powerful we truly are when restored to the image of God that we were created in through the gospel.

How do you fight:  Like a man?  Like a woman?  Or like God?

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With You I Am Well Pleased

A humorous series of pictures on social media shows dogs’ expressions before and after being told that they are “good dogs.”  We, too, want to hear from God one day, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” but are we willing to make it our goal to please Him and walk in obedience?

I.  John 12:42-43.  Ever donate to some cause just to get a trinket in return?  Though our motives are often selfish, we often tell ourselves that we attend church and do good deeds because we love God and others.  But, it is with ourselves mostly that we are pleased.  Fear of many things keep us from obeying God’s commands and pleasing Him.  We must be careful not to be at home in this world (2 Corinthians 5:1-5).

II.  Mark 1:9-11.  The life of Jesus is a good study in how to live to be pleasing to God.  When He was baptized, we see His Father expressing this.  We also see this at His transfiguration in Matthew 17:5.  We understand that Jesus pleased God because He was even obedient to death (Philippians 2:5-8), but the great thing is that through His obedience, He gave us the opportunity to please God (Hebrews 5:7-9).

III.  1 Corinthians 10:1-6.  God is not a soccer mom who has an over-inflated view of His child.  Nor does He lavish fake praise when He knows how separated from Him because of sin we are.  Heaven is not a participation trophy!  Instead, we are warned not to repeat the sins of those who have gone before us because God was not pleased with them.  By living by faith, we are able to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:6-10).

No, we don’t earn our way into heaven by good works, but we must be an obedient child to one day hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  That would not be possible for us to hear if Jesus had not gone before us and obeyed perfectly to the cross.

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Gave Him as Head Over All

As I’ve taught my four kids how to drive, I’ve wished for a brake on the floor of the passenger side of my vehicle.  It’s just so hard to give up control over many realms of our lives–but especially when it comes to spiritual things.  Allowing Jesus to be lord or head over us is difficult.

In answer to the popular bumper sticker, “God is my co-pilot,” Christians who understand this principle of Jesus as head have said, “If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.”  This doesn’t mean at all that God should control us as robots, but rather that we need to live our lives in submission to Him.

I.  Ephesians 1:15-23.  Our Head is exalted above every name.  All other churches, groups, clubs, organizations, and businesses are temporal.  Many do a lot of good in the world for a lot of people, but when one day the elements melt in the heat, all of them will be gone.  Only the church that Jesus promised to build (Matthew 16:18) and bought with His blood (Acts 20:28), His bride, His body is eternal.  God invests so much, including His great power, into those who make up His body.

II.  Matthew 8:8-10.  For the church, our Head is over all things.  All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Jesus through His death, burial, and resurrection.  Even sinners will be put under His feet in the Judgment to come (Hebrews 10:12-14).  He understands what it means to be our Head, but we struggle to submit to our Head.  Sin and selfishness or adding or taking away from our Head’s Word exalts ourselves as Head over us, no matter how we justify it to ourselves.

III.  2 Peter 1:3-4.  Our Head’s body is the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  In all other groups, there is a separation between the management and the workers.  Not so in the one eternal organization, the Lord’s church.  Using marriage to illustrate the relationship of the Head to His body (Ephesians 5:22-24), we understand that Jesus gives us every blessing so that we may be partakers of the divine nature.  In other words, He fills us and we are His fullness.

Now that is a Head that we can freely submit ourselves to!  His bride does submit to the Bridegroom.  The big question is–are we as individuals submitting to our Head to be part of His bride?

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Will Not Lead to Your Glory

When we look at the time of Judges as God’s people seeking to live for Him in an evil world all around them without compromise or complacency, the parallels to today are evident.

One of the greatest struggles is having the courage to do what God asks when it is so easy to shrink back.

I.  Judges 4:1-10.  Barak had already been told by God to free His people in battle.  This is what the prophet, Deborah, told him when she summoned him.  Yes, Barak was reluctant to obey.  Lacking the courage to do what God had asked of him, he put his trust in Deborah rather than God.  If she would go with him, he would obey.  This road, she told him, would not lead to his glory.

II.  James 4:17.  We often read this account and teach about headship.  Because a man wouldn’t obey, his glory was given to a woman.  But there’s more going on here.  Barak’s sin was one of omission.  He knew the good he ought to do, but he chose to do nothing.  This was Adam’s sin as well.  While his wife was being tempted by the serpent, Adam, who was with her (Genesis 3:6) did and said nothing.  The saddest struggle God’s people have today in an evil culture is our inaction in the face of opportunities for the Kingdom that God gives us each and every day.

III.  2 Peter 1:3-4.  Jesus, however, seized the opportunity to die in our place, so we might share in His glory.  Because He obeyed, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-10).  Therefore, the road that leads to our glory is one of obedience to God’s commands.  We must NOT do what we should NOT do, and do what we should do.

This means, unlike Barak, living out what the pages of Scripture tell us to do or don’t do while surrounded by an immoral culture that calls for you to compromise or be complacent.

Do you have the courage to obey though you may be the only one around you to do so?

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Obtained with His Own Blood

When my dad would leave for his two weeks’ active duty in the Navy Reserves every year, he would tell me I needed to be “the man of the house” and take care of my mother.  He didn’t expect me to take care of things that were beyond an eight year-old like fixing the washing machine or drive to the store for milk, but it didn’t stop me having fantasies of wrestling a robber to the ground in the middle of the night to save mom.

In many ways, Jesus wants us to take care of His bride, the church, until He returns.

I.  Ephesians 5:25-27.  As Paul spoke with the Ephesian elders, he states that Jesus’ church was “obtained with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).  Like a medieval knight battling a dragon to rescue the princess, Jesus overcame sin and death on the cross to win those who would be His.  The church is His bride, His treasured possession, that He gave Himself for.  He died for His greatest love!

II.  Hebrews 13:7-17.  Jesus obtained His bride with His blood, but He has gone to prepare a place for her (John 14:1-3), and entrusted her to shepherds.  Speaking to those same elders, Paul states that they are to “care for the church” (Acts 20:28).  Like my dad trusted me to care for my mother while he was away, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-16) entrusts His greatest love with shepherds under Him.

III.  Revelation 19:7-8.  Every bride needs to make herself ready for her wedding day!  The church is no exception.  When the bells ring, it is not time to roll out of bed.  Knowing that our Knight, our King of Kings, has shed His blood for us to rescue us from such a foe (Revelation 5:9-14), we must don our fine linen (righteous acts) and be eagerly waiting for Him when He returns for us (Hebrews 9:28).

Are you by obedience and repentance making yourself ready for when the groom comes for His bride?

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Lessons in the Storm

A huge winter storm, dumping 18+ inches of snow on the North Country, is expected to continue through today, so we’ve cancelling our classes and worship service out of safety concerns.
My observations: shoveling snow during a storm with strong winds blowing is a great illustration of our Christian walks in the midst of a sinful world.
1. We must first prepare to begin the task by bundling up. No Christian should face the day without the armor of God!
 
2. It will be difficult and leave us exhausted. We must brace ourselves for the task, filling up with good spiritual food and trusting in God’s strength, mercy, and grace to get us through.
 
3. There often won’t be a great return for our labor. The snow may blow in the trough behind you and make you question the effort you’re putting in, but our labor for the Lord is never in vain.
 
4. God gives us fellow workers along the way. A good friend with a plow on the front of his truck, who had been plowing since 4 a.m., took a few passes on my driveway and encouraged me immensely!
 
5. Warm rest is waiting when the labor’s done! Just the thought of a cup of hot coffee by the wood stove was enough to keep me going. Heaven awaits God’s faithful servants!
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But He Could Not

A man went to his neighbor to borrow a shovel but was told that he couldn’t because the neighbor had to take his wife to the doctor next Tuesday.  “What’s that got to do with me borrowing your shovel?” the man asked.  “When you don’t want to do something,” the neighbor answered, “any excuse will do.”

We make excuses to not trust and obey God all the time: no one’s interested in the gospel!  I’m too busy to read my Bible!  I’m too exhausted to go to church this morning!  We placate ourselves with these, but does God accept any of our excuses?

I.  Judges 1:1-18.  God’s people had just lost a great leader in Joshua, but God had promised to be with them in conquering the land if they would just trust and obey.  As long as everything was going well, they did not struggle to do what God asked of them.

II.  Judges 1:19-36.  It did not take long, however, for their faith to meet resistance.  As soon as the going got tough, those who thought themselves tough could not or did not do what God asked of them.  They began to make excuses instead and just accept that that was how things were.

III.  Luke 14:16-24.  Oh, how that sounds like God’s people today!  God has given us the same promise today that He will be with us (Matthew 28:18-20).  He has even said He will give us the same power (Romans 8:31-32) today that He gave His people all those centuries ago.  God was not pleased that they did not trust and obey Him (Judges 2:1-5).

Will we trust and obey (1 John 2:3-6) or make excuses?

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What Will it Profit a Man …?

Matthew 16:26 (ESV)
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

In a great illustration that I saw recently, a preacher had a rope stretched around the perimeter of an auditorium.  Holding up a short end wrapped in red tape, he explained that the rope represented eternity and the tape was our brief life on earth.  Then, asking this very question from Scripture, he lamented how we work so much to benefit the first inch while ignoring preparation for the rest of the rope.

Sadly, we are a society that thrives on immediate gratification.  Gone are our grandmothers’ days of pinching pennies to buy something big.  An item purchased at a rental store may cost three times its value by the time it’s paid in full, but the customer has it right away while TV and the internet bombard us with products we “can’t do without” at such a fast pace that they’re often obsolete before we buy them.

So, what about the rest of the rope?  Several versions of the Faust story from the 1500s on tell the tragedy of a man who sells his soul to the devil for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.  The day of reckoning comes, however, for Faust to pay for his extravagances as the devil arrives to collect what was bargained for.  For a very short time, he had gained the whole world at the cost of his soul.

Most of us do not go to the extremes of Faust.  No, we sell out at a much lower price.  We compromise obedience to the gospel and a true walk with God for a state of quasi-Christianity.  We give if it doesn’t inconvenience us, believe a mixture of information we’ve picked up in church and on social media, and tell of Jesus only if it doesn’t make us too uncomfortable.  True study, prayer, and service to strengthen our relationship with God is secondary to checking our watches to get on to our “real” lives.

If a command seems too strict, we call it outdated; if love and forgiveness, mercy and grace are too hard to offer, we justify a reason not to extend them.  Only half-gaining the whole world, we still forfeit our souls.  A deal with the devil has been struck—we’re just haggling on the price.

Instead of being so nearsighted, God would have us look beyond the temporary tape on the end.  James describes our existence as a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Rather, should we not prepare for the rope that stretches into eternity?

This article will also appear in the January/February 2019 issue of Christ For Today, David Tarbet editor.

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My Food is …

Many of our New Year’s resolutions have to do with food: the quantity, the quality, or the management of it in the form of exercise.  Many make resolutions as well about our spiritual food.

After all, we are what we eat, so be careful what you ingest!

I.  John 4:6-38.  Jesus starts speaking with the woman at the well in Samaria about physical water and ends up revealing to her that He is the Messiah.  As she goes away to tell her friends and neighbors, Jesus’ disciples return with food, only to find that He claims to have food that they know nothing about.  That food: doing God’s work and will!

II.  John 6:22-69.  The crowd that Jesus had fed wanted more physical food so badly they crossed the sea by boat to find Him.  Jesus calls them out on their limited diet, challenging them to seek Him the true bread from heaven.  He tells them that whoever comes to Him and believes in Him will never hunger or thirst spiritually.  Like the mother who whisks away the plate of cookies for veggies, Jesus offends many who just wanted more loaves and fishes.

III.  1 Peter 2:1-5.  In the same way that we are careful about what we take in physically, counting calories and watching sugars and carbs, we must beware of what we’re ingesting spiritually.  The internet, tabloids, and even good meaning family members and friends offer to fill our plates with junk food, but only the Lord is good.  We begin as infants on milk but must soon grow up into our salvation eating solid food.

What does your spiritual diet consist of?  Even in adulthood, I may not like the vegetables served at dinner, but I’ve come to know that they are for my good to eat them.