The good news of Christ
2 Chronicles 16.9
In cutting grief, you give me comfort;
In weakness, I have wonderful strength.
When troubles assault me, you bring salvation;
For hurt, you offer hope of heaven.
O Sovereign Lord, I lack for nothing—
When I look up, your hand is full.
Your eyes on earth are eager to help
Those saints whose hearts are wholly devout.
But foolish men refuse your power—
They seek their own success at war.
When armies attack, on you I call;
When trials befall, in you I trust.
In the patter of the rain,
The even morning light,
And the quiet of wet leaves,
I worship you, O God Creator
And Sustainer of all that is.
Before you are my worries,
My cares of life and fears,
My whispered pleas I speak
Only in your gracious ear,
The Receiver of human sighs.
What good I hold in my heart,
Unselfish love unequalled,
Desire to welcome and cherish!
Praise is yours, O Beginner
Of worlds and Lover of man.
May everyone be able to say amen,
Our goals the same, to glorify your name.
For that, O Lord, I place both life and limb
In your good hands — all that I am, the sum
Of me — do what you must to purify
And make me useful for the News of Christ.
So tear away the dross, tip over the gods,
Rebuild this life of straw, of cheap charades.
Let the Lord Jesus remain, so chip away
At names, traditions, ambitions that betray
The pattern you gave us. Here am I, O God,
The creature in need of your defining touch.
Inside my mind a constant prayer runs,
That drowns the violent voices and beating drums
Of self-destruction and Satan’s half-truth lies.
The prayer’s a plea — my desperate plea —
To not look right or left or down or behind,
But straight ahead in Jesus’ shining path.
The prayer’s a fervent plea for his return,
For the end of trials and time and pain and death,
For the new creation promised by the Lord.
The prayer’s a cry that God will save us all:
Both friend and foe, my house and every house,
The ignorant man in Amazonia’s hut.
The prayer’s a hope — and not the vaguest wish —
To be secure in what the Cross has wrought,
That mine is not the hand in Jesus’ dish.
Let me love you more —
My Lord who loved before,
Who loved until the end
And dared to call me friend.
Make my love be pure,
Your pain my daily cure,
Where self need not appear,
To seek you ever near.
Lord, you show the way,
So I can only pray
To know your saving grace
And see your glorious face.
The day begins with risen light,
With peace within to meet the fight
Without. Be glorified, O Lord,
In me, who in the beginning died
To self, whose will must daily die.
Look down with your benevolent eye
To bless with power, for foe and friend,
To reach with shining faith the end.
In recent years, the world has grown aggressively antagonistic to Christianity, and yet the church’s response has been to compromise with the culture and blend in to with every secular help agency to win souls. Rather, let us hold out the treasure of the gospel and point to Jesus no matter what the cost.
I. Acts 3:5-16. Peter healed a man lame from birth and an utterly astounded crowd soon came running. Had it been the expected alms, like the silver or gold that everyone expected, then perhaps no one would have taken note. But a complete healing of the man so that he could leap and praise God stood out dramatically. Instead of blending in, God’s power was at work. The gospel also heals us completely from sin, yet the church would rather be like every other agency to keep from being noticed.
II. Hebrews 7:11-16. Peter was quick to tell the gathering crowd that it was not by their own power or piety that the man was healed. Rather, he pointed to Jesus’ authority, power, and indestructible life. Being sinful, we can do little (Romans 7:18-20), but Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15). Christians have often served without thanks, but when great things happen because God worked through us, we should acknowledge Him who is able to do all things.
III. Acts 12:21-24. Peter then preaches the gospel to them (1 Corinthians 15:3-5), explaining that is faith through Jesus (John 8:24) that distinguishes us. Yet, the Lord’s church attempts to compete with the world by means of the world. We strive to have the same programs and ministries, the same facilities and advertising campaigns that the world has. In doing so, we hope we’ll stand out enough to grow in numbers while not enough to incur the world’s wrath.
Because our Savior was on a mission (Luke 19:10), we who wear His name must be as well. We must have the courage to stand out in a world that stands against us.
Psalm 91.17; Isaiah 55.11
Make your hand rest lightly upon us,
Lord, show your grace without delay.
Bless all our work with good success—
Yes, prosper our hands in all they do.
And when the plant is slow to bear,
The fields show little sign of fruit,
Work in our hearts, that we have faith
Your Word will not return to you empty.
Is fairness everyone getting an equal portion or what he or she needs? Was it fair that Uzzah died trying to steady the ark (1 Chronicles 13-15) or should the priests have stepped up to do what was only their job?
I. Numbers 18:20-23. God made the Levites priests and said that He would be their portion and inheritance in this life, and so as they served Him–which included carrying the ark of the Lord, He would care for them. A treasured possession the whole nation were priests (Exodus 19:5-6, Lamentations 3:21-26), and thus in the New Testament so are Christians (1 Peter 2:4-5). Thus, God is our portion too.
II. Joshua 21:41-42. God scattered his priests of the Old Testament and New Testament (Acts 8:1-4) so they could capture souls and keep others connected to Him. So, seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10) is our work (1 Corinthians 15:58). When we bury the talent with which we were entrusted (Matthew 25:24-29), then the Uzzahs around us touch the ark we should be carrying and die.
III. Jonah 4:9-11. When we don’t invest what God has entrusted us with to yield interest for Him, He tells us that even what we do have He’ll take away. Many times we justify not investing because we’ve judged others as unworthy of salvation. That’s what Jonah did. Rather, we must help others (Galatians 6:1-2) out of sincere love for them (1 John 4:20). Then we can run our race with perseverance (Hebrews 12:1).
We’ve been entrusted with the gospel message. How many Uzzahs are steadying arks on carts around us while we remain silent? Is the Lord your portion?
While singing with kids, I’d sometimes ask why we used an open hands motion for “Bible” rather than a closed hands one? Their honest answer was that we should be reading and living it. Far too often there’s dust on our Bibles. This was certainly true in Josiah’s time.
I. 2 Chronicles 34:1-13. Was God’s Word missing or hidden? After all, for the previous six decades, God’s people had endured Manasseh’s 55-year and then Amon’s 2-year idolatrous reigns. Would the 8-year old Josiah be any different. Then, we’re told that at 16 he began to seek God. At 20 he enacted reforms and at 26 repairs to the temple. That’s when God’s Word was brought out.
II. 2 Chronicles 34:14-21. The priest Hilkiah “found” it who gave it to the secretary Shaphan to read to the king who seemed to have a different spirit than what the nation had known. Josiah’s reaction was to tear his clothes and to take action. From his repentance, he asked that God be sought and laid their struggles upon their not doing “all that is written in this book.”
III. Psalm 1:1-3. The same restoration spirit is needed today. Rather than one copy collecting dust, we live in a time where we are surrounded by physical and digital copies of God’s Word, yet ours have just as much dust upon them. We need to recognize its usefulness in equipping us (2 Timothy 3:16-17), tear our clothes figuratively and take similar literal actions like Josiah did.
The decision starts with yourself to blow the dust off your Bible and devote yourself to its instruction and rebuke. Then we will see changes happen in our families and in the Lord’s church.