The good news of Christ
It matters not that men don’t see,
Nor ears be never pleased by praise;
I live, O God, for you alone,
To walk beneath your gracious gaze.
Make it so, O Lord! that I
Be a man against the world’s hard sway,
To passions of the flesh immune,
To do your will without delay —
Without delay to oft return
When feet would stray from the narrow path.
Let the heart be won by Jesus’ love,
The mind be warned by your righteous wrath.
It’s common knowledge that it’s a bad idea to bother bear cubs. So fierce is the expected retribution that determined and fierce ‘soccer moms’ who seek advantages for their human kids are often called ‘mama grizzlies.’ Normally referring to Himself as male in scripture, God does refer to His love for us and how He feels when we sin in more feminine terms–as a bear robbed of her cubs.
I. Hosea 13:4-8. With His people falling into spiritual adultery, God has Hosea, in the 8th century BC, take a prostitute for a wife to illustrate how His people’s unfaithfulness hurts Him (Hosea 1:2-3). Then, in a series of comparisons, God shows His justice as a lion devouring them, His patience as a leopard lurking, and His love and hurt as a bear robbed of her cubs.
II. 2 Samuel 7:12-16. It is the unfaithful and who drag others away by their unfaithfulness who have robbed God of His cubs–us who strive to be His treasured possession. And like a true mama grizzly, He is angered and hurt by how we turn away from His commands. That’s how He loves us! David desired to build a temple for God, but God said it would be a son who would do this.
III. Romans 8:31-39. Fulfilled at first in Solomon, we see that this is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus whom He disciplined by the cross. God’s love was so fierce for His Son … and for us that He had Jesus bear our sins in the punishment that should have been ours. This love for His people today is so strong and fierce that nothing can separate us from it in Jesus Christ our Lord.
So, we must imagine that our sin has the same effect on God as it did so long ago, that when we are dragged away by it, He is a bear robbed of her cubs. How fitting that the closest thing on this earth to explaining how He feels towards us is a mother’s love. Happy Mother’s Day!
If we are not engaging our whole selves while we sing, then the impact of a song’s words can often escape us. In “The Battle Belongs to the Lord,” we sing that God will fight for us in our battle, but how much we believe those words and truly trust Him to do so may not be known until we are in the midst of a difficult struggle and choose to rely on Him or on our own limited resources for help.
I. Psalm 18:1-5. After witnessing God’s power in the 10 plagues that allowed them to leave Egypt, the Israelites left freed from slavery “equipped for battle” (Exodus 13:18), idealistically ready to walk straight up to the Promised Land. As they got to the Red Sea, however, they saw Pharaoh’s army marching after them, and “they feared greatly” and “cried to the Lord” Exodus 14:10. How like them we can be as Christians until we face adversity. The first verse of the song says it like this:
In heavenly armor we’ll enter the land, The battle belongs to the Lord. No weapon that’s fashioned against us will stand, The battle belongs to the Lord.
Though we call the Lord our strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn of my salvation, and stronghold, it is easier to say the words than to apply them. The psalmist does have to apply them as he was encompassed, assailed, entangled, and confronted by struggles to the point of death. Would he choose to have faith or to rely on himself?
II. Psalm 18:6-19. After God had rescued them with such a mighty hand already, how could the Israelites not trust in God’s power to save? But they complain and believe that they will die (Exodus 14:11-13), the very opposite of trust. God would fight their battle, Moses told them, but their responsibility was different than the Lord’s; they had to “fear not,” “stand firm,” and “see” God’s salvation. In other words faith is a lot of work, harder work than fighting an impossible battle for ourselves and the choice not often made. Why? Probably because God can’t be made to do anything. We must submit to His will, not He to ours. The second verse says:
When the power of darkness comes in like a flood, The battle belongs to the Lord. He’s raised up a standard, the pow’r of His blood, The battle belongs to the Lord.
We have the cross and often don’t believe in Jesus’ power to save us. So, does God act on our behalf out of obligation or love? In the Psalm, the Lord literally overturns heaven and earth because He was angry at the people or circumstances distressing His child. Then we read that it is because He delights in him. Could He have the same love for us?
III. Psalm 18:20-30. How the Israelites took Moses’ words to “fear not,” “stand firm,” “see” God’s salvation, and to “be silent” is not clear (Exodus 14:13-14), but how do we wait in faith for the Lord to act in our lives when we are in distress? Repeating that God is our refuge and that we should not fear, Psalm 46:10 tells us to “be still and know that I am God.” While our backs are against the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army bears down on us in life, choosing faith and letting God fight our battle is the harder but better decision. As the third stanza says:
When your enemy presses in hard, do not fear, The battle belongs to the Lord. Take courage, my friend, your redemption is near, The battle belongs to the Lord.
According to the psalm, it is those who choose to have faith and trust in Him, being still in obedience that the Lord rescues. The one who is “haughty” by trying to fix it himself by his own resources finds God “tortuous.” It’s about the relationship the child has with his or her heavenly Father.
If God is truly your refuge, then you can truly sing the chorus when we are rescued:
And we sing glory, honor, Power and strength to the Lord. We sing glory, honor, Power and strength to the Lord.
In our relationship with God as in our earthly relationships, we would all insist that we love the other, but to what degree do we love? The transition to love for God begins when we recognize ourselves in the first stanza of this song and obey the gospel:
O, the bitter pain and sorrow That a time could ever be,
When I proudly said to Jesus, “All of self, and none of Thee” …
[In brackets, I will tell the story of four Valentine’s Days or my spiritual journey: In our last semester of college while student teaching, my wife and I both obeyed the gospel on Sunday, February 14, 1993, just four months before we would graduate and be married, and thus we began our married life together as new Christians.]
I. 1 John 4:7-12. Growing in our relationship with God, however, progresses from our second birth–just as a baby grows from his first birth or a marriage grows from a wedding. Sadly, many Christians stagnate for years with a head knowledge of God and the gospel. They can often cite book, chapter, and verse and can tell all about the love of God (Romans 5:6-8) without truly loving Him in return. They are caught in the second stanza:
Yet He found me; I beheld Him Bleeding on th’ accursed tree,
And my wistful heart said faintly, “Some of self, and some of Thee” …
[On February 14, 1994, my wife gave me a study Bible to celebrate our first birthday in Christ. I dove into knowing everything I could learn about it, God, and salvation, even completing a Bible degree. While my wife was always a solid rock of faith–even through a cancer diagnosis of 2012 and a first brain tumor diagnosis of 2017, I used the gifts God gave me to teach and preach for the next three decades with a strong head love for Christ that went up and down through the years.]
II. 1 Peter 1:6-9. In the Old Testament, God speaks about refining His people in the furnace of affliction. In the New Testament, He speaks of using various trials to test the genuineness of our faith that hopefully leads to the salvation of our souls. In most places today, the freedom to worship and general lack of persecution has made Christians complacent in our spiritual growth and content living with a low level of faith. Struggles can stir us to a heart love for God as seen here:
Day by day His tender mercy Healing, helping, full and free,
Bro’t me lower while I whispered, “Less of self, and more of Thee” …
[The previous summer had my wife reacting to air quality, chemicals, surfaces, electricity, and wifi. In desperation, she attended a naturopathic clinic in Kansas in January that showed a mold toxicity in her system. I began mold remediation and reconstruction in the house to prepare it to sell while also cleansing, storing, trashing, or burning our possessions. Living with a friend with similar issues, my wife met me for dinner on February 14, 2020, less than a month before her second diagnosis of brain tumors, where we spoke about our uncertain future. Through radiation, a host of physical struggles, and months of hospice care, God gave us a last season together while He and I worked to break through my wall and I could grow in my heart love for Him.]
III. James 4:7-10. A total submission to God in a Christian’s head, heart, soul, and strength is required for him to truly love God and live (Luke 10:27-28). This soul love can only come with a yielding of oneself to Him entirely and is beyond a head and heart love. It comes through much prayer and perseverance. When seeking of His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33) is added to fear of God and the keeping of His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13), submission can be achieved. It is beyond the first four stages of grief after a great struggle or loss: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. It is found in acceptance and is spoken about in the last stanza of the title song:
Higher than the highest heavens, Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered, “None of self, and all of Thee” …
[I did not arrive here when my wife died in mid-December. It was only in the past couple of weeks when I finally gave up in my fight against God, no longer struggling to make provision for the flesh (Romans 13:11-14), that I awoke to that soul love for God and Christ, my Savior. Not that I no longer face temptations, but I am wearing the armor of God while fully submitting to Him and seeking for Him. And so, this is the lesson I am preaching this Sunday, February 14, 2021, on the 28th anniversary of when my wife and I first professed our love for God, having first realized His great love for us.]
Which stanza of the song do you find your love for God?
Lord of all, you love in spite of mood —
What joy to know that what I feel —
With constant ups and downs — my attitude
Does not reflect your mind — your love is real.
Your mercy cheers me — grace, that daily morsel —
I, like the sparrow hopping on the ground,
With beak dipping here and there for his portion —
What wells of peace and strength in Christ I’ve found!
So raise me up from little dips of sorrow —
This foolish heart so heavy with its burden —
For Jesus is the same today, tomorrow!
Remind me of the Savior’s blessed mountain!
The man in the WWII hat shuffled towards the door of the bank I was exiting, and even though I was in a hurry, I waited and held the heavy door open for him. Surely my general courtesy could extend so far. Then, he stopped in the doorway, thanked me, and asked if I knew of a Volkswagon dealership in the area. I didn’t and it would have been so easy to politely tell him that so I could get to my errands, but instead I took out my smartphone and googled the information for him right there.
I. Philippians 2:1-8. So often we tell ourselves that we love others and, of course, love God when we really are just looking out for our own interests. God says that if we love others, we first love Him by making His joy complete by being like-minded and one, focused as one on the goal of heaven.
II. 1 John 3:16-18. We need to love others like Jesus did us: dying for our sins and rising for our redemption. This means action and sacrifice! We understand this as parents, but we must extend this to others, some who have done nothing for us or may even be enemies (Romans 5:6-8).
III. 1 John 2:3-6. When Jesus took on flesh, He did not take a vacation among His creation. He emptied Himself of His Godness and became like us in every way, so that He could suffer, die, and rise from the dead–for us! We are to have that same attitude; we must obey to walk as Jesus did.
This time the sacrifice of my time took about half a minute, and I was able to tell this elderly veteran what he needed to know. Referring to my phone, he said he might have to get himself one of those “frizzly-frazzly” things. Though it may cost, how do you look out for the interests of others?
To you belong the power and praise,
O Ancient of Days!
No season, age, or dawn confines
Your eternal times!
Your grace is high — let no one miss
That heavenly bliss!
Our blackened root of bitterness
We soon confess!
To know your love is our desire,
Our zealous fire!
Our souls renew, our bodies raise
To joyfully praise
Your righteous ways.
Eternal God, Lord over all, the One
To whom we owe both life and breath,
Reveal your love to us in the Son,
To know its height and width and depth.
O Savior, come to us, abide
In mercy with your humble creatures;
Your words of power our surest guide,
Your many works our able teachers.
For us your presence is all we need,
Our only good and pure delight;
Upon your healthy grace we feed,
To keep our holy Lord in sight.
Thank you, Creator of man’s free will, for our freedom. May we never take it lightly. May we never misuse it. May we employ it for the salvation and edification of many.
Give me wisdom, Lord, that I may always choose what is good and sound and spiritual. May my choices always reflect your holiness and goodness. Continue reading “Freedom, wisdom, ways, love”