The Most Negatively Positive Message

Hebrews 13:5-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 28, 2021.

The promises of God are “yes,” and “amen!”  If He promises something then all that is left is for us to say, “Amen,” and then believe it. 

Today, we are going to look at a promise from Jesus that we need to hold onto more tightly in these days.  It is the promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us, even to the end of the age (where we are).

Let’s look at our passage.

We should choose to be content

The verses that we are looking at are in a series of exhortations to godliness.  In them, we are reminded to live in a contented way.  On one hand, we have very little excuse for not having contentment.  We are surrounded by plenty compared to others in the world.  Yet, on the other hand, that very fact can stir up a fear within us that we are going to miss out on what others are enjoying.  We can adopt an entitled attitude.  It is here that we see; contentment begins in the mind and heart of a person.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they should live without the love of money.  The idea for conduct or living is that of the turnings of our mind in looking at things, which then lead to the turning of our life in its choices and decisions.  This “way of living” should not be directed by the love of money (the word is literally not a lover of silver).  People love money because of the power that it gives us to obtain whatever it is that we need, or desire.  The money is just a proxy, a stand-in, for the multitude of things that our hearts and minds desire.

As Christians, we must choose to be drawn into this world where the power of money becomes the source of our thinking, the director of our life, and even the hope of our heart.  The reality is that there is no contentment in that world.  How much more money does a millionaire need to be content?  The answer is just one more million.  It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if your heart looks to it as your answer, then you will always need more to be content, which is another way of saying that you will always be discontent.

Instead of looking to money to get us the “things that we need,” believers are told to be content with what they have.  It is literally “the things that are present.”  What do I have right now?  This is what God has provided for me, and part of gratitude is learning to be content with what we have.  This doesn’t mean that we cannot pray and ask God for things.  However, it would be better for us to ask God for His help rather than asking for things.  When our focus is on the “things” themselves, we see God as a cosmic means to satisfying ourselves.  God knows how to help us, and what we need, far better than we do.

When Joseph was taken captive to Egypt, or later when he was in prison, he probably did not feel like he had everything that he needed, but God was helping Him all along, even through those very bad things that others did to him.  His brothers bound him and sold him as a slave.  Potiphar’s wife lied and said he tried to sexually assault her.  These were not good things, but God used them to put Joseph in the right place at the right time in order to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and cupbearer.  We can choose to be content and embrace the things that we have, and the situations that we find ourselves in, because we know that God has supplied them for us and is working it towards a good end (Romans 8:28).  Learn to embrace the things present in your life instead of always looking to the hills for something “better.”

Our Lord has given us a promise

The writer then reminds us of a promise from the Lord to his followers in the last part of verse 5.  In English, we see that he promises something good by stating that he will not do a bad thing.  He will not leave us.  This is a positive message that is stated in a negative way.  If he will not leave us, then that means he will always be with us!  However, there is more going on here than can be seen in English.  Here is the Greek text of the statement translated as “I will never leave you.”

Οὐ  μή  σε  ἀνῶ

The first two words that are underlined are both negations.  They are essentially the word “not.”  The third word is the pronoun “you,” and the last word is the verb, “I will leave” (roughly). 

Normally, to say “I will not leave you,” you would just use words 2-4.  However, in this case, a double negative is used.  Of course, they are not the same word, but more on that in a second.  In English, double negatives would cancel each other out.  “I will not not hurt you,” means that I will hurt you.  This is not the case in Greek.  A double negative actually emphasizes, or intensifies, even more that one will not do the thing.  It could be translated, “I will not, no not, leave you.”  The NKJV uses “never” to cover both negatives; “I will never leave you.”  This is well enough, but there is one more layer to this double negative.

They are not the same word, and therefore do not negate in the same way.  Together, they form a more powerful negation than either one of them can give alone.  The first word of negation negates that it will ever be a fact.  It will never be a fact that I have left you.  You may think and feel this, and others may say this, but it will not be a fact.  The second word of negation negates that it would ever be a possibility, or that it would never be a desire of the Lord.  Not only will it never be a fact, but it would never even be a thing that I could possibly desire.  It is hard to bring all that across in English, but now you have a sense of how strongly our Lord is trying to tell us that he will not leave us.

The second half of this promise from Jesus says the same thing, but it uses a different verb and adds another word of negation.  Here is the text of the second part translated as “nor forsake you.”

οὐδ  οὐ  μή  σε  ἐγκαταλίπω

Words two, three, and four are exactly the same and have the same meanings.  The last word is a verb, but is clearly a different word.  This verb is more than just leaving, and has a sense of leaving so as to abandon or forsake someone.  This would broaden or deepen the first statement.  I will not leave you, and even more, I will not abandon you.

Now, the first word is another type of negation and would fit our word “neither.”  As in, I won’t do this, neither will I do that.  Again, it will never be a fact, neither something that Christ could possibly desire, that he has forsaken us.  The Greek has 5 negatives in this one promise, and is why I entitled this sermon, “The Most Negatively Positive Message.”  It is impossible to translate this word for word in English and still make sense.  “I will not not leave you, neither, I will not not forsake you.”

I have taken the time to go through this to ask this question.  Why would it be stated with so many negatives rather than just stating it in the positive?   This is exactly what Jesus does in Matthew 28:20, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV).  This is speculation on my part, but I think the prevalence of negatives has a power to it that is very different from the positive.  It reminds me of the circumstances of life that cause us to doubt the promises of God.  Such negative thoughts and fears, and turnings of our mind, are a kind of inner negative world that we can fall into.  It is as if the Lord says, “You want to be negative?  Then, I will say it in a way that might break into your negative mindset.”

Oh friends, if we really knew just how much He is committed to us, we would never doubt him.  It is one of the reasons why he hung on a cross for you and for me.  He did it so that we would never doubt his love for us.  The cross is itself stating a positive thing within a negative event.  “I love you this much!”

We must deal with fear

So, why do we doubt his promise to always be with us, even to the end of the age?  It is because we fear all the wrong things.  If I fear the Lord, then I would dare not doubt His promise to me.  But, if I fear not having all sorts of things that my heart wants, if I fear people and what they can do to me, then I will never have contentment.

Verse 6 says that we are to say, “The Lord is my helper!”  We are not to say this because we are arrogant and conceited, but because the Lord of heaven has stated it in such a way that you can’t deny it.  Wow, the Lord has come alongside of me to be my helper.  I don’t deserve such a thing, but I can’t deny it either.  He has loved me this much anyways.  Now, we might be tempted to say that we are supposed to be his helper and on his side.  That is true, but it is not what the Bible says here.  It is also true that he is on your side in order to help you.

This first statement should spur the next choice.  “I will not fear!”  Again, of course we will fear the Lord because He is our judge, but the context is everything else that we tend to fear.  I won’t be afraid of things that I don’t have, or enemies that I do have.  In fact, when we fear things other than the Lord, we diminish him and act as if he really isn’t enough.  The Lord is on your side; nothing else should matter.  Joseph didn’t need anything else, and neither do you!

Verse 6 pictures a person who is realizing that God is on their side and so they are choosing not to fear what they see around them, or the lack thereof.  They are choosing to disregard the messages of fear that come from their heart and mind, and instead, choose to trust in the Lord.  This is David before Goliath.  David did not do what he did because he thought he had the perfect slingshot, rocks, and aim.  He went against the giant because he knew that the Lord was with Him.  He was not cocky and arrogant like Goliath, but acted with faith in God alone. 

Satan’s greatest weapon against us is our own fear that God has left us, and abandoned us.  We fear that if we don’t try to make it happen, and “leave it up to God,” it will never happen.  Such cynicism, does not lead us to the joy and peace of God.  It leads to emptiness.

This leads to a question, “What then can others do to me?”  This question is not being asked in the literal sense.  Of course, others can beat me, put me in jail, kill me, etc.  The question is not about that.  The question is grander than that.  I mentioned Joseph earlier.  His brothers intended and did great evil to him, and so did Potiphar’s wife.  It appeared that no one cared for Joseph, and was on his side, but the truth is that God had not left Joseph, nor forsaken him.  His brothers couldn’t really hurt him because God was on his side.  What they meant for evil, God was turning to the good.

So, why doesn’t God get rid of Satan and his minions, and the countless people who do his bidding?  At least for now, He doesn’t because He is using it for our good.  Like Joseph, God is bringing us to that place where we can be raised up into an exalted position, and when we get there, we will be tried and proven faithful, warriors who know how to stand in truth against evil.  In the end, all man can do to you is promote you, unless you give into fear and do to yourself what they can’t.

Negatively Positive audio

A Trial of Tricks and Traps

Luke 20:20-26.  This sermon was preached on August 30, 2015 by Pastor Marty Bonner.

In the last week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, he was at the temple each day teaching the people.  Unable to challenge his authority successfully, the religious leaders resort to different tricks and traps in order to try and stop Jesus.  Their rebuff by Jesus only led to a more determined desire to get rid of Jesus.  Today we will be looking a a specific type of trap and that is a political one.

It is important as believers in a difficult situation to observe how our Lord deals with this trap and learn from him.

The Schemes of the Wicked

In verses 20-21 we are told that they were watching Jesus as he was teaching, both obviously and in a hidden way through spies.  They were looking for anything to use against Jesus.  As brothers it is good for us to look out and watch out for one another.  However, these were looking for anything they could use either to neutralize Jesus or to apprehend him.    It also says that they were hoping to find something that would legitimize handing him over to the Roman authorities.  This attempt to trap people in order to take them out is not a path of righteous people.  It is a hallmark of the wicked.

Thus they operated in pretense.  They only pretended to be righteous and concerned about righteous matters.  But in reality they are wicked.  They use pious questions and religious cover to keep their wickedness from being recognized by people.  Of course this didn’t trick Jesus.  But we need to recognize how the wicked operate.  Not everyone who speaks piously has pure motives.  We need to have the wisdom of Christ and not take everything at face value.

Notice how they set up their question in verse 21.  They approach Jesus with flattery.  Now everything they say is technically true of Jesus.  But their motivation of flattery is intended to mask their true motivation.  We must be careful of those who talk us up and give us high praise.  It is not wrong to praise people where it is due.  However, if you are receiving praise you need to be careful to keep pride in check.  Also, on the other side, if you are giving praise, you need to be careful that you are not trying to make yourself look better in the eyes of the person you praise.  Keep it short and sweet and move on.  Do not use praise to try to obtain power or influence on others.

Is It Lawful to Pay Taxes to Caesar

In verse 22 we are given the question, which is a political trap.  “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”  I believe the response of Jesus, “Why do you test me,” is intended to let them know that he sees through their ruse.  Yet, it is an important question.  Whether we are questioning others or being questioned, the motivation of the questioner is key.  Often a questioner has no desire to actually learn anything.  They ask the question as part of a greater agenda.  This is not a marker of a righteous person.  Thus Jesus prefaces his answer with a challenge to these men to think about why they are testing him.

This question has some history in Israel.  Since Judea had been taken over by the Roman governors, taxes had to be paid.  Several tax revolts had surfaced over the years with the understanding that to pay taxes to this wicked country was compromise.  They usually taught that God would help them if they “quit compromising” and fought the Romans.  Each of these uprising were crushed quickly by the Romans.  So the question is a legitimate one for that day and age.  However, it was also a very dangerous question to answer. 

If Jesus says it is not lawful, then the Romans will see him as a threat and at least imprison him.  If Jesus says it is lawful, then it will undermine his popularity with the people.  They believe he is the messiah.  He has essentially refused to publicly renounce this.  Thus it would be strange to the people to have the Messiah teaching that they should be paying taxes to Rome.  Surely the Messiah has come to deliver us from Rome.

Jesus tells them to bring him a coin called a denarius.  By this time much of the trade and commerce of Israel and the surrounding area was done in Roman currency.  Thus Jesus points out the reality that they are using Roman currency.  If you are using Roman currency then you have an obligation to the Roman government.  Rome had conquered Israel.  Now Israel had the authority to fight to the death to the end and never surrender.  But in the end they did surrender to Israel.  Such a surrender is a recognition that God had allowed the other country to conquer you.  Thus Jesus tells them to give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God.

This reminds me of the prophet Jeremiah.  He had warned the king of Israel that God had given Israel into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.  Thus he counseled them to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, rather than fighting.  This was rejected by the leaders and things went worse for them.  Jesus here reminds them that it is lawful because God who gave the law had also given Rome authority over Israel.  They needed to submit to this and look to His timing for deliverance.

Yet, the master stroke of Jesus is to also remind them that they still have obligations to God as well.  “Give to God the things that are God’s.”  So what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God?  Caesar has much things under his authority, including Israel.  However, even Caesar belongs to God.  Tyrants and statists have often made demands on Christians throughout history.  Submit to us!  And, often Christians have submitted in many ways.  However, they have also stood up to them in other ways.  So what do we do?  Rebel against tyrants or submit to them?  The answer is determining when the tyrant or All-Powerful-State demands from us something that belongs only to God.  Yes we could abuse that by declaring that everything belongs to God and thus we should give nothing to such governments.  However, the Bible says that no power can rise up but what God allows it.  Israel can claim that all their money belonged to God, but that is a pious ruse that seeks to avoid the harsh reality that they were under judgment of God.  When we humbly admit and submit to our disciplines from God, then we will learn to wait upon Him for our day of deliverance.

We see this with the apostles.  When the Jewish authorities commanded them to stop teaching about Jesus, they answered that they had to obey God.  God had directed them to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thus they would not comply with such an unlawful order.  Yet, these same apostles submitted to the repercussions of such a choice.  In other words, they rebelled against the unlawful order without becoming rebels themselves.  If we are rebels then we are rebels against the demands of the flesh.

So what about a democracy?  Christians should exercise the rights that they have to their fullest extent without becoming belligerent to the results.  If such a society deems it “good” to persecute Christians for obeying God, then we accept that.  Sure, there is a time to flee such persecution.  There is also a time to stand and be a prophetic witness to that persecution, even a martyr.  Yet, each must be led by the Truth of God and the Spirit of Christ, not our rebellious flesh.

Today there are groups that seek to trap Christians with the politics of the day.  Christians need to be careful that they know exactly who they are serving.  May God give us wisdom in these days to see through the political traps that seek to make us fear.  We are His.  We can fulfill our obligation to the USA as long as it doesn’t conflict with God’s commands to us.  Take this to heart because it will be critical in the days ahead.

Tricks and Traps audio