A Father--not Formulas

Human beings are incorrigibly preoccupied with self:  selfish, self-confident, self-conscious, self-righteous, and the list goes on.  The reason why self-help books continue to be perpetually popular is because we recognise we are the weak link, we are not completely content, and if there are benefits or life-hacks out there to improve our lives sign us up!  We are naturally bent to seek out formulas which promise to guarantee beneficial results in things like weight loss, how increase our net worth, superior cleaning products, and also in spiritual matters.  Passages from the Bible can be used like a maths equation, imagining if we plug the right good works or words into a formula God will bow to our will and provide the end result we desire.

Consider this passage in 2 Chronicles 1:7-12:  "On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask! What shall I give you?" ⁸ And Solomon said to God: "You have shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place. ⁹ Now, O LORD God, let Your promise to David my father be established, for You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. ¹⁰ Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?" ¹¹ And God said to Solomon: "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honour or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life--but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king--¹² wisdom and knowledge are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honour, such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like."

God appeared to King Solomon and bid him ask for anything.  By the way, if God offered you anything what would you ask for?  Solomon wisely framed his response in light of who God was, God's promises, and in acknowledgement of his inability to rise to the great task God had called him to as king.  Solomon's request for wisdom was not so much for himself but for God and the good of His people Israel.  God was pleased by Solomon's unselfish request and graciously chose to bestow all the things upon him people naturally desire:  riches, wealth, honour, victory over his foes, and long life.  I remember at one point of my life reading this passage and foolishly making a formula out of it, imagining wisdom was the thing to ask for as the means to receive all those other things I valued more than wisdom to walk in God's ways.  There is nothing wrong with asking for wealth or for a long life in themselves, but if these are our primary desire this can be an indication we do not value the true riches God has already provided by the Gospel.

When it comes to gifts our tendency is to desire and ask for things we can use.  Since we are the LORD's, having been purchased with the blood of Jesus, it is wise for us to follow Solomon's lead to ask for what God's will is for us.  Without wisdom Solomon would never do what was right in God's sight, and therefore Solomon's request was in submission to God.  See, verse 11 shows God knew the motives of Solomon's heart:  he was not asking for His own personal benefit but for God's sake.  Having been loved and chosen by God as His anointed, King Solomon sought to be made divinely fit for the task and God graciously rewarded this humble posture with much Solomon did not ask for.  I am reminded of what Jesus said in Mark 10:29-30:  "So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, ³⁰ who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life."  To call God Father like Jesus and be loved by Him!  To have the presence of God now and the promise of eternal life with Him puts the greatest comforts the world can offer in proper perspective.

Vitality of the Vine

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

John 15:4-5

When my dad taught me to ride a bike my parents gave me for my birthday, a point came when his hand was removed from bike and I was on my own.  It was up to me to keep my balance, steer, and apply the brakes as needed.  This is not the model Jesus gave to His disciples, nor the pattern for any of God's people in scripture.  The people of God have always needed to be dependent upon God for the ability to do all He has said.  The picture Jesus supplied of our relationship with God is the connection between the vine and branches.  The vitality of the vine extends into the branches and that is the only way the branches can be fruitful, and it is our connection with Jesus which gives us life, wisdom, and power to do good.

God told Joshua on the border of the promised land, "Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and of good courage."  God met with Gideon in Judges 6:14 which states, "Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"  Gideon didn't understand:  he protested he was of a poor family and the least in his father's house.  The might of Gideon was not based upon his tribe, monetary wealth, or political pull but was in God who was with Him!  David was not proud to imagine he could fight with lion, bear, or Philistine but his God had given him the victory.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego stood calmly before furious King Nebuchadnezzar and said as the furnace was heated seven times hotter, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us."  This courage, boldness, and power to overcome comes from God alone in the Old and New Testament.

The Great Commission was often put to me in my youth as something all followers of Jesus needed to do in Matthew 28:19-20:  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen."  Since verse 19 begins with therefore, why and how shall we go?  Matthew 28:18 makes all the difference:  "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."  Because Jesus has all authority and is with us we are enabled to do what He says.  The connection between Jesus and doing His work is also seen as Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12-13:  "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."  See, we aren't alone!  Even when we are separated from other people, we are able to do good works because God is already at work in us.

Our ability to do what God directs us is not then based on our ability but connectivity with God, that we are walking in humble reliance upon Him.  This is more than availability, for the branch grows out of the vine as an extension of itself.  Even so the resurrected life of Jesus Christ is lived out through us when we die to self, take up our cross daily, and follow our risen LORD.  Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11-13:  "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  As Paul pointed out, the ability to be content and walk in the Spirit is a learning process.  Our spiritual regeneration is not some sort of magic which compels us to lay down our will and experience perfect peace in all situations.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and continual communion with Him is key.

Wonder of the Gospel

While preparing a sermon this week, I was struck by the wonder of the Gospel.  The Law written on tablets of stone could only condemn and revealed beyond doubt men are sinners deserving of God's judgment.  One shortcoming of the Law was the people who needed to keep it wouldn't, nor could they, as it held forth the standard of God's righteousness.  So according to God's grand design, He used the Law to lead sinners by the hand to Jesus Christ the Saviour who provided atonement with His shed blood.  After three days He rose from the dead like He promised, proving He is able to grant forgiveness and eternal life for all who trust in Him.

The Law was unable to keep thieves from stealing and liars from lying, but Jesus came to change the hearts of people and make new creations through faith in Him.  Even as Jesus was raised from the dead glorified, so tax collectors, harlots, and liars are raised changed to new life through faith in Jesus.  Paul wrote to people who had been duped to thinking it was righteous to attempt to relate to God through Law after being born again in Galatians 6:14-16, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. ¹⁶ And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God."  Isn't it good news for sinners that Jesus cleanses and makes us new creations?

When He walked the earth, Jesus was surrounded by sinners--people who the religious people wrote off as wicked and beyond redemption.  Yet Jesus called Levi (a tax collector) to be one of His apostles, and He also invited Himself over to the home of Zacchaeus for a meal.  It was unthinkable to the religious rulers Jesus could be viewed as a righteous man for keeping such company!  If He was righteous, surely He would not mix with people known for their greed, theft, and abuse of power.  But Jesus came to this world as a doctor tending to the most ill patients so they might be saved.  On a field of battle the idea is to tend to victims who can be saved, yet Jesus can save all who trust in Him.  Jesus alone can justify us by faith and save sinners the Law could only condemn.

The transforming power of the Gospel is seen in greedy people changing into generous givers, thieves admitting they have stolen and restoring four-fold.  Those who were demon possessed were suddenly in their right mind, people born blind had their sight miraculously restored, and harlots became chaste and devout in their devotion to God.  The power of God through the Gospel is able to fundamentally change a person from within, the very thing the Law or all the willpower a person can muster could never do.  Having been born again God begins to grow in us new desires for what pleases God and conviction of our sin we never noticed before.  This is evidence of what God promised by grace, to write His laws on our regenerated hearts that go beyond what is written in stone.

Pestilence and God's People

Plagues and pestilence are found in the Bible of such great scope and severity the worst we experience can be termed of "biblical proportion."  Though these are acts of God who is to be feared, He is our Deliverer and Saviour.  His proud enemies will be made to cower before Him, yet those who trust in Him are protected like Noah and his family in the ark.  The God who strikes the earth and man is able to heal and restore.  The sons of Korah wrote in Psalm 46:1-3, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; ³ though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah"

It is because God is good, gracious, loving, merciful, and faithful we were not consumed long ago by our own pride, greed, selfishness and folly because the wages of sin is death.  God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust and is longsuffering towards the worst of the worst.  But we do see many scriptures where God judged His own people because of their sins.  It is true He afflicted the Egyptians and their gods with 10 severe plagues, yet it is the action God took upon His own people for their ultimate salvation.  Even as a surgeon removes necrotic flesh which sickens and places the entire body at risk of death, God judged the children of Israel many times so they might be restored to fellowship with Him.  Like a farmer uses the right implement and force to thresh grain, God metes out corrective judgment wisely.

When Moses received the 10 Commandments from God on Sinai, during that short space of time the high priest Aaron, at the urging of the people, made a molded image they worshiped as the "gods who brought you out of Egypt."  Exodus 32:35 says, "So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made."  On another occasion the people murmured against God and Moses for his dealings with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.  Notice how the passage describes how God was involved in the plague for sin and causing it to cease in Numbers 16:47-50:  "Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident. ⁵⁰ So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped."  The sin of the people was the cause of this plague, and a righteous God is not at fault for dealing justly--though unrighteous men stand foolishly in judgment of Him.

There was another time when the Hebrews entered into sexual sin and idolatry with the women of Moab.  Numbers 25 describes in detail the command of the death penalty for those who sinned, and how the plague which claimed 24,000 people ceased when Phinehas zealously obeyed God in executing judgment.  Still another plague occurred after David numbered the people of Israel without receiving the census tax (Exodus 30:12).  King David was given the choice of three years of famine, three months of being defeated by their enemies, or three days of pestilence.  1 Chronicles 21:13-15 reads, "And David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man." ¹⁴ So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. ¹⁵ And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the LORD looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, "It is enough; now restrain your hand." And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite."  The severity and swiftness of these plagues make the current pandemic small in comparison.

What is so comforting about our great God is His great love, grace, and compassion in judgment.  He could have destroyed the nation without remedy, but He looked upon His suffering people and said, "It is enough."  He went further than determining the measure of judgment but was able to stop it.  He said to the angel, "Now restrain your hand."  God is able to stop deadly plagues and pestilence dead in its tracks.  This is the comfort and consolation available today to followers of Jesus Christ, for we know He is on the throne and supreme in power.  We are wise given the current situation to do everything in our power to practically prevent the spread of illness and protect the vulnerable, yet without God we cannot do anything.  Doctors who treat the sick are able to become sick themselves and this reveals the vulnerability of all people to a microscopic organism.  There is much we cannot know, but what we can know is God according to His grace has the power to heal bodies, save souls, and say "It is enough."  Then restoration can begin.