Believe For Greater Things- Hannah

1 Samuel 1:1-28.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 10, 2016.

Again, I remind the reader that this series is an adaptation of a sermon preached by General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God USA, George Wood, at its 2013 biennial meeting in Orlando, Florida.

We first looked at Sarah who laughed at what God promised to do in her life.  Then we looked at Naomi who plodded through until she obtained what God promised.  Today we look at Hannah who wept in the midst of the promises of God.  Hannah’s weeping is not the weeping of doubt and fear, but that of faith that wrestles with God and gives birth to the things that God is building in us and doing through us.  Hannah will stand as an important person as her son Samuel would become a prophet, priest, and judge of Israel.  He would also be the one to appoint and anoint both Saul and David as king of Israel.  Let’s look at this story in 1 Samuel 1

The Faith of Hannah

In verse one it may appear at first that Elkanah is of the tribe of Ephraim.  However, the word can also be used of a person who only resides in that area.  Elsewhere it is made very clear that he is from the tribe of Levi, but lives in Ephraim.  You may remember that the Levites did not have their own “territory.”  Rather they had cities throughout all of Israel.  During this period the temple had not been built yet, and Jerusalem was still under the control of the Jebusites.  Shiloh was the place where the tabernacle was set up and all Israel brought their sacrifices.  This was also not a time of great spiritual fervor.  During the time of the judges Israel was very manic in its faithfulness to God’s commands.  Samuel will become the one to turn Israel back to the Lord and help them navigate the transition from judges to a king.

I will also give a few moments to point out that a polygamous marriage lies at the heart of this story.  Some will point to the fact that God did not outlaw them in the Law as a sign of His approval.  However, Jesus answers this line of reasoning in Matthew 19:8 when he says, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.”  If God had given Israel a law that outlawed everything that was sinful, none of them would have survived.  The purpose of the Law was not to correct every wrong.  But rather, it was to convict every one of sin and guilt before God.  The Law was perfect at teaching religious people that they too were sinners, guilty before God, and in need of a sacrifice to cover their sins.  God allowed things like divorce, slavery, and polygamy not because He approved of them, but because they would serve a purpose in His plan of salvation.  These things become word pictures of very real spiritual things that we would not be able to understand otherwise.  Every time we see a polygamous marriage in the Bible, we see friction and problems.  It was not this way from the beginning.  God gives Adam one wife and together they are to become one flesh, working and operating as a cohesive unit before God and the world.  That said, this family does seem to be a family that is devoted to the things of God and worshipping Him.

Hannah’s faith endured difficult circumstances.  In verse 5 we are told that the Lord had closed her womb.  It is common in the Bible to see God as responsible for all things.  This is not the tendency of modern Christians.  We wince at such statements and try to ameliorate them through some means of protecting the righteousness of God.  The ancients did not think this way, or at least the Holy Spirit that was inspiring them did not.  God is not afraid to stand and declare that if something happens then He has sent it.  Of course this raises all sorts of questions and the answers to those things vary depending on the circumstances.  We do know that God never does moral evil.  However, He does allow things that we call bad to happen in our lives.  We are told that He does so because bad things can have good impacts.  We also see throughout the Old Testament that women who are unable to have children are a vital part of God’s plan of salvation.  Sarah couldn’t have children.  Rachel couldn’t have children.  These became a template of the barren made fruitful by the miracle of God.  This did not make it any easier for Hannah.  Her faith had to wrestle with the fact that God had let her be barren.

On top of this verse 6 tells us that the rival wife, Peninnah, taunted and provoked her.  Peninnah had no problem having children and became proud and arrogant over this fact.  She was not content to enjoy her blessing.  Instead she rubbed it in the face of Hannah through mean and spiteful words.  Perhaps, it was more in response to the love that Elkanah had for Hannah.  Regardless, Peninnah makes a choice that is wicked and evil.  Hannah’s faith was severely tested by such persecution.

Instead of lashing back at Peninnah we are told that Hannah wept before the Lord.  She took her pains and sorrows to the Lord in prayer.  The difficulties that we face in life will do one of two things.  It can harden us towards God and man as we learn to take others on and make our own way.  Or, it can break us and soften us towards God and man as we learn to depend upon the way of the Lord.  Hannah chooses the second.  She turns towards the mercy of God rather than to the things of this world to satisfy.  No amount of food will satisfy.  No amount of favoritism from her husband will satisfy.  Nothing in this world could take the place of the mercy of God for her.  A problem that Christians in America have to deal with is the tendency for us to be so satisfied with the many blessings of God in our life that we have little passion for the things that really matter.  We can give intellectual assent to the plight of those who are not believers, but do we weep in prayer over them?  Do we weep in prayer over our spiritual barrenness and the wholesale rejection of God by our society?  Or, do we just shrug our shoulders and move on to the next entertainment?  God help us to have a passion for His things to the point that we are weeping in prayer before Him.

Though our Lord warns us against making vows, in verse 11 we see Hannah making a vow to the Lord.  Notice what she is asking for.  She wants a son and yet she asks not for herself alone, but for God’s purposes also.  Yes in some ways asking for a son is selfish and yet, she then says she will give the child back to the Lord to serve Him at the Tabernacle.  Here we see that having a child is about more than just the physical.  Yes, she wants a child, but she wants the mercy of God more.  Somewhere in her struggles with Peninnah a spiritual insight develops in Hannah.  Two contrasting spirits are depicted:  the proud, arrogant ability of mankind, and the broken feeble frailty of mankind.  Hannah’s prayer is about finding out which of these two spirits God loves.  In fact the love and compassion of Elkanah becomes a picture of God’s love.  God despises the fruitfulness of the proud and arrogant, but He gives grace to the humble and feeble.  The first problem we have with prayer is that of simply doing it.  We are too often guilty of simply not praying like we should.  But, when we do pray, we can make the error of praying for things that satisfy our desires alone.  Thus we become guilty of gobbling up the grace of God without much thought to the purposes of God in giving them to us.  Peninnah was physically fruitful and a blessing to her husband.  But, instead of seeking to honor God with this, she only satisfies her desires.  In that she becomes like the devil and antagonizes another.  The gifts in our lives are given to enable us to serve Him.  They are not badges of God’s approval for which we are entitled to be smug over one another.  Am I guilty of looking at my child as a source of my happiness, fulfillment, and pride, without giving thought to how I can honor the Lord with this young person?  Do I pray for a better paying job without giving thought to how I would honor God with it?  Our actions prove which manner of spirit we are choosing to embrace.

While Hannah is weeping she has a discourse with Eli the High Priest.  It is in this encounter that Hannah senses that the Lord has heard her prayer.  We are told in verse 20 that Hannah gave birth to Samuel.  She raises him until he is weaned and then takes him to the tabernacle to hand him over to the Lord.  The normal joy of raising a child and watching them grow would not be hers.  Yes, she would see him each year and even give him a new change of clothes, but it would only be a shadow of what she would have if she raised him.  Hannah is putting her son on the altar and giving him over to the Lord.  This is a perfect picture of worship.  It is a form of honoring the Lord.  Hannah gives to the Lord what is most precious to her and thus honors Him in front of all, especially Peninnah.  We see Hannah joyful as she worships the Lord even as she gives up what she prayed for.  But for Hannah this is about more than having a child.  If you take time to read the rejoicing prayer of Hannah in chapter 2 you will see that Hannah’s faith took her thoughts much deeper than the struggle between rival wives in a polygamous marriage.  By the Spirit of God Hannah prophesies about an Anointed King (Messiah) that God would send to bring His judgment to the ends of the earth.   In fact this is the first mention of the term Messiah in relation to a promised deliverer.  May God help us to follow the example of Hannah and take our difficulties and the difficulties of people around us to the Lord in prayer.  May we learn to weep over the things that really matter in life and seek the throne of grace for help in our time of need.  May we intercede for our families, cities, nation, and world and weep over the reality that they are lost and without God.

Hannah audio

Giving Thanks in All Things

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 15, 2015.

Today we are going to turn to the subject of Thanksgiving.  Our generation has far more material and technological help in life and yet we are often less thankful than those that have gone before.  Don’t get me wrong.  Every generation has unthankful people.  However, my point is that the abundance of things or lack thereof is not really the problem that lies behind a lack of thankfulness.  In fact, many times when we express thankfulness, we do so more because it is the socially polite thing today, rather than out of sincere thankfulness.  If we could pull back the curtain that hides the true motivations that lie beneath even the good things that are done in our society, we would be surprised at the number of people who are doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.

God desires His people to have a deep-seated thankfulness that is not based upon improper motives, or on our material circumstances.  He wants us to be thankful people simply because we are loved and cared for by Him.

Give Thanks In Everything

In the passage today we will focus upon the last of 3 commands that the Holy Spirit gives to us, “in everything give thanks.”  The emphasis of this is upon the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  It would be nice to leave it at that, but in Ephesians 5:20 we are also told, “giving thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Thus we are not just to be thankful in every circumstance, but we must also learn to be thankful for all the things we go through.  Is that possible?  In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul reminds us that these commands are not made up by him, but rather they are the will of God.  It is not His will in the sense that He is going to force it upon us.  But it is His will in the sense that this is what He is committed to producing within us.  He is building within us the Image of Christ, and Jesus was a thankful person.

So just what is thankfulness?  It is often the general response to the good things that we receive in life.  We are made happy by what another does and we give words back to that effect.  However, in the Bible it is more than this.  The word translated here literally means “to give good,” implying words of thanks.  The emphasis, however, is on what I am giving and not on why I am giving it.  Thus it is easy to fall into the poor habit of only being thankful to people and God when we get good things.  Yet, you can’t be a Christian long without having to deal with the fact that, though He loves us, God allows bad and difficult things to come into our life.  We are still supposed to be thankful people towards God.  Thanksgiving is about more than letting others know we are happy for giving us good.  It is something that resides in our heart despite what may be in our life.

So how can I give thanks in every situation and for everything?  Notice that the injunction to thanksgiving comes on the heels of Rejoicing and Prayer.  There is much in life that can rob us of thankfulness.  But if we make it a spiritual discipline to rejoice always, and to pray without ceasing, then we will be able to secure a heart of thankfulness regardless of what we may receive.  The preacher Spurgeon once said about this, “When joy and prayer are married their first born child is gratitude.”  Thus joy is the heart of praise and worship in our Lord.  It is recognizing His greatness and our relationship to Him.  It is not based upon the circumstances of this life, but our closeness to Him.  Think of it this way.  If you receive something bad in life or from another person, does it change anything about God and His love for you?  Yes, we can doubt God’s love.  But, the cross points out the truth of the matter.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Prayer becomes that arena where we wrestle with the Lord to understand the negatives in our life and ask for His aid.  But it is also where we learn to say, “Nevertheless, Your will be done.”  True thankfulness is a shift of our attitude and outlook on things.  That can only happen as we are transformed through the spiritual discipline of turning to God for everything we face, and rejoicing in His love for us.

We see this modeled by Paul in 2 Corinthian 6:4-10.   “But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”  At first he lists things singularly like: tribulations, needs, and distresses.  The he adds contrasting situations: honor and dishonor, evil report and good report.  But lastly he contrasts the material with the spiritual: poor (materially), but making many rich (spiritually), having nothing yet possessing all things.  You can almost feel the shifting of your own attitude as you read through this.  Our focus is moved from the thing I do not like, to those things that are far better and matter far more.  Paul knew that he was a minister on behalf of the Lord.  Therefore if we suffer we do so in the name of Jesus.  Though we may appear as lacking to the world, in Christ we lack nothing that we need.  Think of it.  If the God of the universe has guaranteed that He will take care of you, then you lack nothing you need and have everything at your disposal that He desires.  We may be tempted to complain and give “bad words” of complaining and grumbling to Him, but we must learn to trust the Lord and His discipline in our lives.

Discover Deeper Levels of Thanksgiving

It is good for us to see that there is a deeper thanksgiving that God wants to build within us.  The surface level of thanksgiving is learning to see what is good in your life over the top of what is bad.  This is important and should not be minimized.  It is Thanksgiving 101.  All of us have to learn to see beyond a difficulty and be thankful for the things we do have in our life that are good.  Have you ever noticed how certain things do not stick in our mind?  Illusionists will take advantage of this to trick our minds into seeing something that didn’t really happen.  It is common for our minds to give greater emphasis to the bad things that are happening.  They can overwhelm us to the point that we no longer see the good in our life.  Why must we only focus on the bad and not rejoice in the good even more?  The truth is that we allow our attitude to spoil because of the bad, and refuse to enjoy any good as long as the bad remains in our life.  It is a type of childish temper tantrum that we throw.  Many a person has ruined and destroyed the good things in their life because of something that they saw as bad.  A marriage can be ruined because of difficulties at work.  A family can be ruined because of the personal difficulties of those involved.  The many blessings of God can be ignored and in fact despised because I am resentful of certain things happening in my life.  This is not good.  Job reminds us of this when he told his wife that it was wrong to accept the good from God and not the bad.

However, on a deeper level, we also must learn to see how the bad is used for good in our life.  We are told in Romans 8:28-29, “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  God is working the bad things in our life into a good goal.  Think about Jesus being crucified.  It is a bad thing to be put to death unjustly and horrifically.  Yet, the Father asks the Son to do so because of a greater good it will produce.  Of course the Son embraces the Father’s plan and suffers the difficulty by keeping his eye upon the good it was producing.  We don’t always know how God is going to bring good out of a particular bad thing in our life.  We are tempted to doubt, complain, even walk away in those times.  Remember, this verse is not given to us by a man who is not acquainted with suffering.  Paul had suffered many things that could have made him ungrateful and bitter towards God and men.  There is a mystery in life that we see.  Some who have had the worst of lives are often the most thankful, and others who have had the best of lives can be among the most unthankful.  It is not about what you got, but what you do with it.  A person who has been abused becomes a person who is keenly sensitive to the hurts and wounds of others.  They can relate with other individuals with a gentleness and wisdom that cannot be learned in a school.  It will be precisely because of the sufferings of this age, that we will be perfected and look like Jesus in the age to come.

The deepest level of Thanksgiving is to see the higher, spiritual things that are more important over the top of the lower, material things that are less important.  Thus Paul was poor in material things, but had the riches of the knowledge of God’s offer of salvation.  Paul had next to nothing in this life once he followed Jesus.  But he knew that Jesus would take care of Him.  He had learned to live with little or much.  It didn’t matter.  He had learned to go through good and bad, and all for the glory of Jesus.  The cross teaches us to look through the bad to the good that is on the other side.  Thus Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”  The glory of God Himself is being caused to shine out from us.  It is impossible for that to happen without having to deal with both good and bad things in this life.  May God teach us to shift our attitude and mindset out of reverse and into a forward gear.  May we see the things of our life through a heart and mind that are rejoicing in a good and great God, and are wrestling daily with Him in prayer.

Giving Thanks Audio

Jesus Reveals The Future- Part VI

Luke 21:29-38.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 08, 2015.

Today we will finish this chapter and return to the events of the last days of Jesus leading up to the crucifixion.  I plan to pause our study through Luke for the next 2 months and then pick it back up next year.

Having finished his revelation of the things that are in the future, Jesus ends with some final instructions regarding how that should affect their minds and lives.  It is important to recognize the difference between receiving information from the Lord and having that rightly impact our lives.  We must not only hear the Word, but we must also recognize the imperatives that the Spirit of our Lord is pressing to us.

Instructions From The Lord

Jesus starts his instructions with a parable regarding vigilance.  Several times he commands us to watch, look, and see the things that are happening around us and within us.  Thus earlier he commanded his disciples not to fear and not to be deceived.  Both involve the things that we may or may not see.  The people of God are called to be a vigilant people as opposed to those who are spiritually sleeping, drunk, or dead.  The first thing he points them to watch for involves all the signs and events that he has prophesied.  It is not enough for us just to know that he believed these things were coming.  We need to be a people who watch for these things.  On one hand we watch for the things that fit the descriptions that Jesus gave.  But on the other hand we make distinctions based upon what he said.  Thus we know that some things were going to happen in the first century, other things were going to be indicative of the whole age of Gentile domination, and then some things would be indicative of the end of this age and the Second Coming of Jesus.  Part of our watching is coming to a better understanding of what Jesus was saying.

Jesus gives a parable of budding trees.  It mentions a fig tree but then adds “and all the trees.”  Sometimes a fig tree is used as a metaphor for Israel.  However, in this passage it is a picture of all the things Jesus prophesied (some of them having to do with Israel).  When a tree begins to bud then we know that summer is near.  Although we may think this a no-brainer, there is a subtle point being made.  We have dates on the calendar such as June 21 and September 21 (depending on the year) in which we declare the beginning of summer and its end.  However, our experience with this period of time called summer is not always the same.  Sometimes it comes late and sometimes it comes early.  Trees have a relationship with the earth and sun that is different than us.  They are more sensitive to the things that can go undetected by us.  Thus a tree buds when it has a certain amount of energy and nutrients from the soil and sun.  We can make educated guesses at when that will be, but nothing can take the place of seeing the trees and plants responding.  Thus the difference between computer models and real life cause and effect cannot be made clearer.  Those who watch the world and make their guesses as to when the times of the Gentiles will end and the Second Coming will occur have often demonstrated the inability we have as humans to sense spiritual things clearly.  The signs and events that Jesus has revealed are intended to be like buds on a tree.  They help us know that the Kingdom of God and the Second Coming is near, or not.  Clearly, Jesus is not referring to the spiritual aspect of the Kingdom of God that the disciples had already entered into.  Rather, He is pointing forward to the Millennial Age when Messiah will remove the wicked of the earth, depose its wicked kings, and hand the kingdom over to the saints.  What has happened spiritually will come into being politically at the Second Coming.

Next Jesus makes a statement that “this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.”  If this was the only information we had, it would seem that Jesus is pointing to the disciples and saying this generation (the one that exists now).  But when we look at the same account in Matthew 24 it is worded a bit differently.  “When you see all these things, know that it is near-at the doors!  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”  Here the generation being referred to is a generation that will see “all these things” in the future.  So here is the rub.  If all the events of Luke 21 happened in the first century then they were the generation Jesus was talking about.  However, I have made the case in the last 5 sermons that not everything happened.    In fact, the genius in how this prophecy is written can be seen in how the people of every generation will still operate with a characteristic of vigilance and it would do them in good stead.  Thus the first century believers saw many of these things and were prepared to avoid the wrath of God poured out on the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.

Yet, there are still some things that have not happened.  Matthew 24:15 mentions an Abomination of Desolation that did not occur in the first century.  There are some creative attempts at connecting this with events at the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem, but they are forced at best.  Matthew 24:14 mentions the Gospel being preached in “all the world.”  This also would not be the natural understanding of what happened before 70 AD.  Yes the Gospel spread greatly into the Roman world.  But the universal need of the Gospel requires a spread throughout all the nations literally.  Notice that it says all things that are written would be fulfilled (vs. 22).  This sets up many passages, such as Zechariah 14, that were clearly not fulfilled in the 70 AD destruction.  The times of the Gentiles ending and the Second Coming of Jesus did not happen in 70 AD.  Again, there are some creative attempts to say that Jesus came back spiritually.  But that is not what this prophecy predicts.  Lastly, we have not seen a convergence of the sun and moon darkened with stars falling to the earth.  See last week’s sermon for more on this.

Up to verse 34 Jesus is talking about our vigilance regarding the things in the heavens and on the earth.  But at verse 34 he begins talking about our vigilance regarding ourselves.  Believers must be watchers of their own souls as much as they are watchers of the times around them.  The word translated “take heed” in the NKJV has the idea of turning your mind and inspection upon yourself.  Thus we talk about introspection.  There are many temptations and fears that can sidetrack a believer from following Jesus.  If a person is not careful and does not watch themselves they will fall into sin and into its consequences.  If left unattended, these things can even jeopardize the soul of a disciple of Christ.  We only need to think of Judas to recognize this.  Jesus warned Peter, James, and John, when he asked them to pray with him on the night he was betrayed, that they needed to “watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41).  The love of God and the blood of Christ do not absolve the believer from vigilance over their soul.

Jesus points out that our hearts can become weighed down with sin.  The picture is of a person who is overly burdened and cannot follow where the Lord is leading.  Hebrews 12:1 touches on this same concept, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  Whether we think of the analogy of an animal that is so loaded down they can’t move, or of a runner in a race who is wearing boots and heavy clothing, both instances demonstrate that we will not be able to do what Jesus wants us to do, or go where he wants us to go.  Jesus mentions two specific sins and a general category.  They are: carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life.  The word translated as “carousing” is a reference to the state of mind of a person when they are drinking alcohol.  It involves both the giddy feeling of euphoria and the attending horrible pain of a hangover.  In both cases the mind of the person is messed up and not focused on Jesus.  In the first all inhibitions and ability to work well are overwhelmed by a false sense of well-being.  This false well-being takes the place of seeking our well-being in Christ.  Thus it is a form of idolatry.  In the second situation our mind is filled with pain and suffering to the point it is unable to deal with anything else that the Lord may have for us.  This cycle of drinking to feel good and then not feeling good has sidetracked many a person from being a faithful servant of the Lord.  The second sin translated “drunkenness” goes hand in hand with carousing.  It is a clear reference to the person who drinks too much alcohol and becomes intoxicated.  Believers are not commanded to be teetotalers, but they are commanded not to be drunk.  Both of these issues can be seen as spiritual metaphors.  The lusts of our flesh can become the directors of our pursuit of well-being.  The consequential cycle of dramatic highs and crashes, shipwrecks the faith of people in the way of Christ.  This leads us to the general category of the cares of this life.  Jesus referred to this in the parable of the soils.  He warned that the cares and worries of this life can suck up all the moisture and nutrition of our life and choke out the Word of God.  Thus a person does not grow in becoming like Christ and instead grow in becoming like the world.  All of these are like weights on our heart and must be jettisoned in order to follow Jesus.  It might be better said that the Christian life is one of learning to prune the things we need in order to continue following Christ.  This is a process that will not end as long as we are in this flesh.

The consequence of dilatoriness in the battle against the lusts of the flesh can lead to being caught unaware by the Day of the Lord.  Now the problem here is not that a person has sinned.  But that they have quit watching over their soul and have become like one of the drunkards.  Just because you have the label of Christian does not mean that your heart is really following after Jesus.   Several parables that the Lord told refer to servants who doubt that the master is coming back and begin to take advantage of their position in his “house.”  They end up receiving the same judgment as those who were his enemies and never a part of his house.  The Lord is coming back to judge the wicked of this world who reject him as Lord.  Yet, he will also judge the wicked servants of his house who have rejected him in their hearts.  Thus Jesus uses the picture of a snare or trap in verse 35.  The world and “Christians” who are following their flesh will be surprised at the coming of Jesus.  They will both be caught up in the judgments and wrath of the Lamb of God.  All traps have bait that the thing being trapped wants.  In this case both those who never follow Christ and those who only pretend to do so are trapped by the lusts of their own mind and body.  God has warned us for millennia that those who go after the lusts of the flesh will reap destruction.  Thus we begin to understand another side of the distress and perplexity experienced by those who see the wrath of God coming upon the earth.  They are trapped by their desire to do it any way but the way of Jesus.  The world is headed into a trap that it will not escape.  Do not listen to the songs of the singing sirens.  They call mankind to take hold of its “evolution” and become the gods it was destined to become.  This will lead to inescapable judgment and destruction.

Finally Jesus tells us to pray for ourselves.  Technically watching and praying are concepts that are tied together in the Scripture.  They are two sides of the same coin.  Yes we ought to pray for one another.  But a prayer life begins with a person who sees the assault of sin upon their own heart and has established a communion with Jesus regarding what is seen there.  Only then are we able to rightly pray and intercede for others.  A prayer of introspection concerns itself with being ready for the Lord’s return.  Regardless whether he comes back or we die, we know that we will have a day of accounting and this should be a daily concern of our prayers.  In fact, Jesus uses the phrase “counted worthy to escape…”  This is not talking about meriting our own salvation.  Only those who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ are worthy.  However, our response of faith to Jesus must demonstrate works that are worthy of true repentance.  In other words, “Don’t be deceived.  God is not mocked.  Whatever a man sows that will he also reap.”  If we sow to our flesh we are going to reap destruction.  But if we follow the Spirit of Christ and sow to it, we will find life.  Our pretense will not be over looked by him who can see all things of the mind and heart.  Thus we want to be able to stand before Christ as an accepted servant, rather than to fall as an unworthy servant who is cast out into utter darkness.  Many who think they should be accepted will be rejected in that day.  It is no mystery.  Christ has made these things abundantly clear.

Let me end by reminding us that God does not intend His wrath to be poured out on His people.  1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord, Jesus Christ.”  Also, Revelation 11:18 says, “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.”  Like He has often done, and like He did in 70 AD, the Lord pulls out the righteous before He brings down His wrath.  Thus He will do in the last days.  At some point Jesus will rapture His bride before He pours out the wrath of God upon a world that hates him.  Today is the day to choose what side you will be on.

Jesus Reveals Future VI Audio

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