Undermining God's Purpose

Luke 19:45-48.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 9, 2015.

The term “undermine” has no shocking origin.  It refers to the fact that valuables are often underneath large amounts of overburden (earth that has no value to the miner).  Even though mining has been honed to quite a science we still have cave-ins today.  In 2010 a mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile had a single block of stone break free from the mountain and fall through each layer of the mine in a collapsing chain reaction.  When the dust settled it was recognized that this “stone” was at least 45 stories tall and had trapped 33 miners half a mile under the surface.  It took 17 days to drill a hole to the location of the miners and find out that they were still alive.  After 69 days, the world was able to see these miners return to the light of day.  The greater the thing you undermine the greater the consequences if you don’t do enough to mitigate your actions.

Today, Jesus reminds us that God has purposes that he is accomplishing.  It is easy for his people to lose sight of those purposes and, in fact, undermine them.  The eternal purposes of God are far “heavier” than that 45 story block of stone.  If we do not let God correct us, we will eternally endanger ourselves and the lives of our loved ones, and eventually suffer a spiritual collapse.

Jesus Removes That Which Offends God

On the heels of being declared King-Messiah by the large crowds of people, we see Jesus resolutely head to the temple and begin to clean house.  Over time the leaders of the temple had instigated and allowed practices that were undermining the purpose God had in having a temple in the first place.  Let’s take a closer look at the problem.

The temple presented a very practical, logistic problem.  People were required to bring animals for sacrifice, and those animals needed to be inspected and judged.  Also, once a year a temple tax had to be paid in the Hebrew coinage.  Some people were traveling great distances and thus would have trouble trying to bring animals to Jerusalem.  They would also have foreign money and would need to exchange it to pay the tax.  On top of this many people didn’t have their own flocks and would need to purchase animals once they got to Jerusalem.  Thus people would bring money with them in order to exchange currency and secure an acceptable sacrifice.

Now sometimes the solutions to problems can create other problems.  So, at first, people would get animals in the surrounding area and bring them to the temple.  At some point, the place of getting an acceptable animal kept moving closer to the temple until it was moved into the outer court of the temple (also known as the court of Gentiles).  On one hand this was more convenient for the people and allowed them to buy “pre-approved” animals.  This convenience led to what it always does, higher prices.  In fact Jesus called it a den of thieves.  They were price-gouging the people.  This solution had begun to undermine the purposes of God.  The people were commanded to come, give sacrifice and pay the tax.  Yet, the priests and vendors were taking advantage of that situation to “rob” the people.  When leadership takes advantage of those who are trying to obey God’s commands, it has crossed a line that God will not tolerate for long.  This happens in the Church today.  Many false leaders have taken advantage of the fact that people are commanded by God to believe on Jesus and become a part of his Church.  They undermine God’s purposes as they fleece the flock and abuse their authority. 

Another problem is that the vendors in the court of the Gentiles had become an added distraction to worship.  Now let me first say that even if everything was done perfect, there would still be plenty of distractions to worshipping God.  They still had to bring an animal that would be relieving itself wherever.  They would also have the slaughtering of the animals and other people.  We should never fool ourselves that worship of God in this flesh is meant to be a perfect event.  The flesh is always distracted.  Part of the challenge of a believer is to learn to see God in the midst of those distractions.  In fact, salvation and redemption is messy business.  But the lust for money and convenience was adding more distraction than was necessary.  Also, the rip-off prices would fill the heart of people with anger at men, and ultimately anger with God.  “Why should I come to Your temple and get robbed?  Is this just?”  It is hard to worship when you feel like you have been abused.  Commercialization within the Church diminishes and trivializes our participation within it.  Leaders may think they have created a wonderful thing, but they are undermining the ability of people to truly worship.

God Desires Prayer From All Nations

Jesus reminds the priests that God’s purpose was that the temple be a place of prayer for all nations.  He does this by quoting from Isaiah 56:6-7, which says, “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants-everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant- even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”  Thus God wanted His temple to be a place of prayer, and not just for Israel.  That passage says that God wants to make the Gentiles joyful in his house.  Prayer is basically a person reaching out to God and interacting with Him.  This was done with sacrifices and words.  Whether to cover sins or to honor God, prayer is our approach to God.  The symbolism of the temple speaks to the importance of approaching God correctly.  But we should never lose sight of the main point.  There is a way to approach God, interact with Him, and be accepted.  This is a joyful thing.  Whether we are glorifying Him, petitioning Him, or confessing and repenting before Him, we can know that He accepts us.  This was being lost through the actions of the leaders of that day. 

God’s heart is to take those who are separated from Him and to bring them near.  The whole chapter of Isaiah 56 is worth reading because he is dealing with the reality that some people were separated from going all the way into the temple.  In fact, the closer you got to the temple the fewer people who could continue.  Thus those who were not Jews could only approach the first level.  Then the next level was the Court of Women.  Only the Jewish males could go in to it.  Then there was the temple building itself.  Only the priests could enter the Holy place.  And then only one priest, the High Priest, could go into the Holy of Holies, and it only on one day out of the year.  Some people see this cynically and say something to the affect that they couldn’t worship a God who appears so racist or misogynistic.  However, they are completely misreading the reason for these barriers.  Isaiah 56 is a prophecy to Eunuchs and Gentiles who could feel badly about being separated.  He encourages them not to be discouraged.  You see the whole point was to show that no matter how “qualified” a person was in the flesh, it still couldn’t guarantee their hearts were in the right place.  The High Priest in the days of Jesus wasn’t even a son of Aaron.  He had manipulated and bribed his way into the post.  It was those who were most removed from God in the flesh who were the most easily brought near in the Spirit.  In fact, Israel as a nation rejected Jesus and when the Gospel went to the Gentile nations it was initially received my many.  Thus instead of thinking God is racist, recognize His well illustrated point that no race, biology, sex, station in life, or physical ability can ensure a person’s heart will truly believe God and worship Him.  Yes many worshipped God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him.

The New Covenant

So what does this say to us today?  Yes, it can apply to us under the New Covenant.  First of all, we should receive Jesus as our King.  Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and God requires all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).  There also is no other name under heave given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).  Jesus is the master and we are His disciples.  Thus His Word is authoritative in our life by His position.  Yet, he has also saved our lives by dying on a cross for us.  Thus His Word is authoritative in our life by His value to us. 

We should also let the King cleanse our life.  Jesus knows exactly what it is that is getting in the way between us and God.  If we accept Him as king then we should also accept His judgments of the things in our lives.  He prunes us and enables us to be fruitful.  Thus the true believer in Jesus is in a relationship of learning to surrender to the wisdom of Christ.  It is easy to say that all our sins were covered 2,000 years ago and thus we don’t have to worry about sin at all.  However, this overlooks the fact that to embrace Jesus as our savior is to admit that we need saved, aka “I am a sinner.”  Jesus didn’t die so that we can keep on sinning.  Rather, He died so that we can be freed from our sins and enabled to truly change.

Lastly, we should draw near to God in Spirit and in Truth.  Regardless of what you are in the flesh, God has enabled you to come into the Holy of Holies through Jesus.  Regardless of race, gender, or lineage, you can come into the holiest place of all, the throne of God.  He accepts you not because of your flesh, but because you put your faith in His Son Jesus.  Let embrace and worship Him today!

Undermining audio

Our Choice Of King

Luke 19:28-44.  This message was given by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 2, 2015.

Today we are going to look at what is called the Triumphal Entry of Jesus.  The week before he was crucified, Jesus came to Jerusalem in such a way as to make it very clear that he was presenting himself to Israel as their Messiah.

This sets up an important theme of the New Testament.  God is the King of the whole world and yet we really do not want Him.  When given the choice the majority of mankind will reject God and choose to serve someone else.  Let’s look at this passage.

Jesus Present Himself As A King

Israel had been waiting for a particular king to come who would be God’s Anointed One (Hebrew= Messiah, Greek= Christ).  The prophets had promised the people that God would raise up a perfect king who would be anointed by His Spirit to give Justice and Peace to Israel and the world.  It was popular among the common people to believe that Jesus was this Messiah.  But up to now he had rebuffed any attempts to make him king.  However, in this event, Jesus openly declares himself as the Messiah of God and King of Israel.  This puts the ball into the court of the leaders of Israel: What will you do?

The passage starts out with Jesus giving some very specific instructions to his disciples.  He must have a donkey’s colt to ride on.  If you don’t know your Old Testament prophecies you would miss that Jesus is purposefully fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah chapter 9.  Now some people say that the reason Jesus appears to fufill the Old Testament prophecies is because he conspired to make it look like he did.  However, though it is true with this one prophecy, most of the prophecies were out of his hands.  He couldn’t determine where he would be born and perform the amazing signs surrounding it such as: the star, the wise men, the angels, and the shepherds, etc…  Thus Jesus fulfills this prophecy on purpose so as to give the people of Israel a choice.  Will they agree with him and accept him, or will they reject him?

Now when we look at the prophecy in Zechariah 9, we see that Jesus is everything that it said.  It says very clearly that the messiah would present himself to Israel on the back of a small colt of a donkey.  Verses 9-10 say, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off.  He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from The River to the ends of the earth.”  Notice once you get past the setting of his arrival on a donkey’s colt, you get to the character and administration of this king.  He would be just, upright, and doing what is right with all men.  The ministry of Jesus demonstrates what true justice looks like, whether he is rebuking the Pharisees or having mercy on a woman caught in adultery.  The messiah would also have salvation.  The stories of the healings and grace of Jesus are the heart of salvation.  It is a word that simply means to be delivered, rescued, or avenged.  Even the name of Jesus means “God is salvation.”  It also says that the messiah would be lowly.  Now, the word for lowly is not just humility of attitude.  It means poor and afflicted.  Thus Jesus is born into a poor family.  He lives as a poor person.  He has felt the crush of a society that cares less for the poor.  Why a donkey’s colt?  He does not ride in on a battle horse, but on a small beast of burden that has never been used before.  It also says that the messiah would cut off the means of military ability and instead speak peace to the nations.  This is critical because most people in Israel missed this.  They wanted a king to rise up and destroy the Romans.  But Jesus allowed himself to be crucified and spoke a gospel of peace to Rome and the rest of the world.  The word cut off in this prophecy is the same word that is used in the prophecy of Daniel 9:26.  There it says that the messiah would be executed.  Thus the work of Jesus would “execute” or kill Israel’s ability to fight.  It should be noted that Jesus was not just speaking peace to the nations.  He was also speaking peace to Israel.  He was not the King they wanted in their hearts.  Do we really want world peace?  It is easy to give lip service to such concepts and yet go on to do everything that keeps it from happening.  This is where we are as a world today.  We say we want peace and yet we choose the wrong leaders and the wrong kings. 

The People Give Lip Service

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, the crowds recognize what he is doing and loudly give full-throated declaration of his kingship.  Yet, I call this lip service because in one week the cries will change to “crucify him.”  What went wrong?  It wasn’t their understanding of who he was.  The people clearly understood that he was the messiah.  They throw down their cloaks and strip off palm branches to wave and throw on the path.  Thus they rolled out the red carpet.  They even use as their chant a declaration of his kingship by quoting Psalm 118, which is a prophecy about the messiah.  “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The leaders also clearly understood that Jesus was presenting himself as messiah and that the people were accepting it.  They become incensed because they have already made up their mind that Jesus could not be the messiah.  So they turn the situation to Jesus.  Rebuke your disciples!  Thus they challenge Jesus to reject his own calling as messiah.

The response that Jesus gives helps us to see that he knew who he was.  He was not making himself messiah.  God the Father had given this to him.  Thus it wasn’t up to Jesus.  Jesus will be honored because God the Father has determined it to be so.  The question is, Will you honor him or dishonor him?  Jesus has fulfilled the prophecies of the messiah, but which side of this fulfillment will you be on?  Will you be helping it and receiving it, or will you be standing against it?

They Miss Their Opportunity For Peace

It seems odd to us that he would not be overjoyed at this moment.  It appears as if everything is working and he has the crowds of people on his side.  But Jesus knows the truth of where it was all heading.  He knows that the praises will not last.  Within the week they will call for his death.  This one who knew what was in the heart of a man also knew that these praises were mostly people caught up in the mania of the crowd.  Their praises would disappear like the morning mist in the heat of trial and when things didn’t go their way.

This breaks the heart of Jesus.  He weeps as he approaches Jerusalem.  Yet, he does not weep over what is going to happen to him.  He is weeping because he knows what their rejection of him will bring upon themselves.  He knows what bloodshed lies ahead.  As they reject the one who speaks peace they receive the fruit of such choices: war and bloodshed.  Within 40 years Jerusalem would be surrounded by the armies of Rome and become a slaughter house.  The sad thing is that they didn’t have to make that choice.  Even then God was putting a path of peace before them.  There was a remnant of Israel that embraced this offer of peace and because they believed that Jesus was the messiah, they avoided the slaughterhouse that Jerusalem would become.  Why do we reject the very things that would make for our peace in order to embrace things that will destroy us?  This is the plight of God: that He is the only one who can give peace, but mankind resents Him for that.

Thus a day of visitation had arrived for Israel.  It is a day in which God comes into our life and puts a decision before us.  Our choice in that day determines what we will receive.  It is in essence a last offer of peace before judgment is poured out.  There always comes a day of visitation for individuals, nations, and ultimately one for this whole world.  Have you been waffling in regards to your own beliefs about Jesus?  Know this.  God has been working to help you see Jesus as the Anointed One that He has sent.  If we will put our faith in him we will come to know the peace of God.  But if we reject it we will be caught up, not only in our own judgment, but also in the judgment of our nation.  It is very clear that the USA is in the midst of a national rejection of Jesus.  May God help us to repent before it is too late.

Choice of King audio

Blind

July 12, 2015--Luke 18:35-43

This sermon was preached by Pastor Nick Hauenstein.  Please click the audio link in order to listen to it.

Blind audio

The Test of Freedom

July 5, 2015--Luke 18:31-34

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner.  The following is only a summary of it.  Please click the audio link at the end of the article to listen to it.

This weekend we are celebrating 239 years since our declaration of independence from King George of the British Empire in A.D. 1776.  Looking back, we can see how that freedom has been tested in many different ways over the centuries.  First it was tested by the War of Independence itself.  Once that test had been passed we were tested on whether or not we could govern ourselves.  This gave rise to the constitution in 1789.  Of course other tests involved the Civil War in the 1800's, our rise as a global economic power since WWII, and throughout the last 70 years the test of our spiritual and moral fortitude.  Freedom is not a right we can demand.  It is a condition we can enjoy, but will always be tested.  Our founding fathers believed that it was the right of all men to be free simply because they are created by God and He intends them to be free.  Do we still believe that?

The story of the Bible is one of the enslavement of men and God’s consequent work to free men from it.  It is not God who enslaves us.  We are enslaved by our own sins to do the will of the devil.  Jesus in John 8:36 tells us, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  We also see in the Bible, 2 Cor 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”  Whether or not America will pass the tests of today and remain free, every believer in Jesus needs to recognize that, regardless of society, they can remain free as individuals who have embraced Jesus, the only true source of freedom.

Jesus frees us to trust God

In Luke 18:31-34 we see that the disciples did not really understand the plan and purposes of God in Jesus.  In retrospect we can see it is all about freedom, but for them it looked like Jesus was refusing to free them.  The interaction of Jesus with the rich man earlier in this chapter is ultimately about a man enslaved by trust in his wealth, rather than God.  Thus Jesus calls this man to embrace freedom and let go of his slavery. Of course he walks away sad because he is not sure he wants to be free from what enslaves him.  He would rather have both.  I want to have my cake and eat it too.  However, freedom often requires us to choose what we want more.

The call to freedom comes from Jesus to whoever will listen.  Leave everything else behind and follow me.  Peter recognizes that they had done that in verse 28. The disciples had successfully navigated the test that the rich man failed (at least in this moment).  Jesus of course recognized that what Peter says is true.  In fact the things they have lost have been replaced with something that is more and yet different, as Pastor Nick shared with us last week.  Though they left their families and jobs behind, Jesus had made them part of a new family with a new job.  They had trusted God and wanted Him more than their previous lives.

Yet something else needed to happen.  Jesus is not just a way of looking at the world and living life. He had to do a real work of freeing us from the guilt and judgment of our sins.  Thus Jesus takes the 12 aside in order to remind them where he was headed, that is the cross. Our sins keep us from freedom by leading us off the path of trusting God’s way.  No matter how much we want to be with God the desires of our flesh continually pull us away from God and separate us from Him.  They also keep us from freedom by the guilt and judgment that stands in the way of getting back on God’s path.  Jesus is not just our great example.  He is that and much more.  He is also our Sin Remover; our Punishment Surrogate; our Willing Scapegoat.  He sacrificed himself for our freedom.  Thus, it is one thing to embrace Jesus as a means of having a wonderful life.  It is quite another to follow Him through the cross and to the other side.

To stay free is to keep trusting God

Once having been given freedom it is important to hold on to it.  Your flesh, the world, & the devil fight against that freedom.  The only way to retain freedom is to keep trusting God.  "He who endures until the end shall be saved."  The endurance here is not about human strength, but about faith.  If we hold our faith in God and His Son, Jesus, we will remain in His freedom.

Our faith is never more tested than when we have to walk a difficult path and endure the hostility of sinners.  Jesus takes time to point them to the hostilities and difficulties that lie ahead.  This is the 3rd time Luke records Jesus telling them about the difficult death ahead of him. Yes, we are tested in just taking hold of the call to freedom.  But we are also tested in the holding on to it. Difficult paths can cause us to shrink away from freedom and retreat back into the slavery of self-life.  Jesus warned his disciples that to follow him, they would need to pick up their own cross. Difficult times lay ahead.  In fact he would be mocked, insulted, spit upon, scourged, and killed. They would not stand by him in his darkest hour, which would become a guilt and shame hanging over their head.  These things would test them severely.  What are we willing to endure in order to retain freedom as an individual?  As a nation?  The Israelites of the first century A.D. had a choice to make.  They could cling to the hope of national freedom of Israel, or they could let go of it and obtain the freedom that no dictator or terrorist can take away; freedom in Jesus.  Is there a hope for freedom of America in the days ahead?  As long as there is a God there is hope.  However, even nations can cross lines that bring about the judgment of God.  Yet, even if this nation is without hope of turning back, we as individuals must stand with Joshua and say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  We cannot lose the greater in trying to keep the lesser.  Perhaps the time has come for American Christians to make a choice.  Is your love for this country greater than your love for Jesus?  It is easy to conflate the two.

So how can one remain free when faced with such choices?  Ultimately freedom was won by the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.  In a similar manner, the natural freedom of our nation was won by the sacrifice of men and women who put their lives on the line. This principle cannot be avoided: freedom is only maintained by sacrifice.  As Christians we follow a Lord who sacrificed earthly glory in order to give us true freedom.  So how can I put my life on the line for this nation?  Yes we can join militaries and police forces and fight against evil.  But even that finds a dead end when whole nations embrace wickedness and reject God.  The way of the cross has never been about saving the body of a man or the body politic of a nation.  Jesus and his disciples are our model.  They did not shrink back because the path was difficult.  Rather, they pushed ahead even to the point of laying down their lives as fishermen and Israelites.  They did this for themselves but also for the sake of those who would follow behind them.  They wanted others to be free.

When you trust God it does not mean the path will be easy.  But God has always aided His people against the forces of tyranny.  Even when those forces seem invincible.  He has pledged to free the world from this age of the darkness of man’s rebellion and the tyranny that forever chases us like a howling wolf.  We must trust that.  We must pick up our cross and follow Him.  Let’s be the light in this dark and perverse generation so that some may believe and find freedom.

Test of Freedom Audio