Never a Dull Moment With Jesus

I was recently blessed to be the speaker at a fruitful and enjoyable youth camp where the Gospel was proclaimed through many passages of the Bible.  Whilst there was positive feedback from leaders and campers, at least one camper found the talks dull.  I was greatly amused when a leader asked this boy what was his impression of the talks (with intent to encourage me) his response went something like, "I liked that you were enthusiastic but they were boring, so boring."  He smirked at me as he slow-clapped.  "Yeah, they were really boring."  The cabin leader wasn't quite sure what to say, so I thanked him for his honesty.

After our brief conversation, I was reminded of the passage that God has chosen the foolishness of the message preached to convey eternal truth.  Like God chooses to put His glory inside the earthen vessels of our flesh so the glory is all his, so He uses the teaching and exposition of His word to reveal divine truths that transform hungry and needy listeners from within.  Rather than making admission to the kingdom of God dependent on worthiness earned by good works and human achievement, God did all the work to provide the way of salvation through faith in the Gospel.  1 Corinthians 1:20-21 says, "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus explained the good seed is the word of God sown into hearts of various conditions.  Some hearts are like the hardened footpath where birds come and eat up the seed so it cannot grow.  The LORD said through the prophet in Isaiah 55:11:  "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."  Even if the good seed is stolen away by hungry birds, they can be the means of spreading viable seed when their waste is eliminated.  Who knows how many times the scripture has fallen on a hard heart and deaf ear and He miraculously has caused His marvelous Gospel of grace to spread further than we could ever scatter.  People who do not believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour have been instrumental in leading others to Him, and all glory goes to God.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase."  It is wonderful God chooses to use us to accomplish His will to bring people to salvation by faith in Jesus, and He also works in spite of us.  We may fumble over our words, mix up names and muddle doctrine in our ignorance yet God's word remains pure and spiritually viable.  He is able to break through hearts harder than flint with a word when all our effort is proved futile.  How great is God to open the eyes of the blind, bring those in darkness into His marvelous light and remain faithful to people whose faith fails.  Even when we are boring, He is working to seek and save. :)

The LORD God in Our Midst

"The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

After chapters describing fierce judgment, God brought light to people in darkness with His presence and promise.  Though they had forsaken God, He had not forsaken them or forgotten the covenant.  They had heaped many gods unto themselves, yet the Most High God in their midst would save them.  Saving is not just what God does but Who He is because He is a Saviour.

God's character is absolutely consistent with what He does.  Men do and say things people say are "out of character," and this is debatable.  What we say and what we do are actually good indicators of our character:  who we really are, not who we aspire to be.  Because God is love He loves completely; since the fruit of the Spirit is joy He rejoices over His people with gladness.  He comforts because He is a Comforter, and He delivers because He is a Deliverer.

How awesome it is that the God who dwelt in the midst of His people has sent the Holy Spirit to fill Christians with the light of His knowledge as it is written in 2 Corinthians 4:6-7:  "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  What a treasure we have in God who treasures us to such a degree, to fill us earthen vessels with His power for His glory.

Knowing the LORD our God is in our hearts and in the midst of His people who gather in His name provides great consolation and comfort, for He saves, rejoices over us with gladness and quiets us with His love.  There is no reason for a follower of Jesus Christ to remain in fear, bitterness or trouble when our God is so present and powerful, but we are not always reasonable creatures.  We can be forgetful, swept up in emotions, our perspective distorted by our own limitations and past failures, walking by sight rather than faith in God.  For all those who are in Christ we have God as our heritage, the one who rejoices over us with singing.

The prophet saw afar off what God would accomplish through the Gospel in Micah 7:18-20:  "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. ²⁰ You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old."  In light of God pardoning our sins, having compassion on us and His truth, we can have a song in our hearts and lips perpetually, for His mercies fail not.

The God to Seek and Serve

At Camp Kedron this week we are discussing times when God saved His people and showed His supremacy over all other gods.  God judged the gods of Egypt with 10 plagues, revealed He was greater than the gods of the Philistines by the defeat of Goliath and when God thundered against them in Mizpah.  God showed His power over the gods of Babylon with His deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the burning furnace.  Throughout scripture God demonstrates His power over all gods of men, sin, Satan and death.

The powerlessness of idols made by men is shown when Daniel was thrown to the den of lions for praying to his God.  The princes and presidents conspired together to put into law that for 30 days it was illegal to make a petition to God or man except to King Darius.  All who disobeyed the royal decree would be thrown into a den of lions.  Daniel 6:10 reveals Daniel was undeterred in his devotion to the Most High God:  "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days."

The rulers were pleased to report Daniel's disobedience to the new law to condemn him.  King Darius, the king to whom all petitions were to be brought was powerless to release Daniel from the law.  He knew the only hope of salvation was in the God of Israel Daniel served and prayed to.  Daniel 6:18 reads, "Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him."  The king who was deemed the only one worthy to receive petitions for 30 days was powerless even to sleep.  Darius felt the pangs of hunger as he likely broke the law stamped with his own ring to petition the God of Daniel:  was He able to do what Darius could not do?

Daniel 6:19-23 informs the curious reader, "Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. ²⁰ And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?" ²¹ Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever! ²² My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you." ²³ Then the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God."  Like all idols and gods fashioned by men, Darius was impotent and powerless to help whilst the living God is able to save all who believe in Him.

Blessed is the one whose God is the God of Daniel, the living God we are divinely enabled to serve continually.  We can continually seek God and find Him because God is, the God who hears the petitions of His people and preserves them in the face of certain death.  The Most High God does not grow faint, weary, tired or in need of sleep.  He knows all who are his and answers the prayers of His people according to His purpose and plans.  How great is our God, and how gracious He is to save us to serve Him continually.

Entering God's Everlasting Kingdom

In high school I remember being invited to a friend's house and it had features completely different from my home.  The first difference was an automated gate that required using an intercom to gain access to the driveway.  The house was perched on acreage overlooking the valley, and the property had a pool, a couple holes of golf and a tennis court.  As the gate slowly opened, it was like a whole different world opened up to you--by invitation only.  There was no way to drive down the driveway or enter the house unless your were a privileged guest.

It is special to be invited to an event like a wedding or party and find your name written on a card in anticipation of your arrival.  At such events it is not uncommon for some people to be unable to attend and for the seat to remain empty.  Drinks are poured, food is brought out, and it sits untouched unless it is taken by other guests or cleared by hospitality workers.  I find it sad for the host and the prospective guest, for both would have benefitted from the blessing to offer hospitality and the blessing of receiving it.

As special and exclusive as personal invitations can be, there is none that can really compare with the offer of salvation and a place at the table in the presence of God.  Jesus told a parable about the kingdom of heaven where a king invited his subjects to a wedding.  The day came when he sent servants to summon them to the feast already prepared only to find they would not come because they were busy or made light of it.  After executing judgment upon them, he commanded they invite anyone they could find so the wedding would be furnished with all manner of guests.  This the servants did.

Jesus said in Matthew 22:11-14, "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. ¹² So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen."  When the king came to see the guests, he saw a man without a wedding garment which would have been graciously provided for all guests.  For whatever reason, this man was fine to attend but refused to observe the dress code.  After being confronted by the king himself the man had no answer, was bound and thrown into outer darkness.

The man possibly bound with pride and self-righteousness on the basis of his invitation was rendered speechless because he had not submitted himself to his king.  One point Jesus made to His listeners is it is not enough to be invited or to accept an invitation, but for all guests to wear the suitable apparel the king provided for his guests.  The correlation is clear:  if any man will enter the kingdom of God, it must be through faith in Jesus Christ.  Those who trust in Jesus are adorned with a robe of righteousness by faith in Him.  Jesus gave His life so we could be invited and receive His offer of eternal life, and the irony is people can see it as a little thing--that our willingness to attend makes us worthy.  We are not worthy in ourselves and never will be, for the gift of God is all of grace.  If we will receive His gift of forgiveness and eternal life, we can only enter the kingdom of God one way:  by faith in Jesus.

The clothes guests wear to formal events matter to the generous host, and God does care if we are clothed with faith in Christ and humility.  Those who are born again are partakers of the divine nature and thus should be evidenced by virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.  2 Peter 1:10-11 says, "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; ¹¹ for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."