O, Say Can You See?

This week we have much to celebrate and great reason to be thankful.  First, we recognize the many men and women who have served this country by volunteering to defend it and the debt that is owed to them by society.  Further we recognize that those who serve as police officers and fire-fighters also serve us in ways that should cause us to give thanks.

Among Christians there is a concern for America because, more and more, we find ourselves surrounded by a culture that wants nothings to do with the righteousness of God.  This concern generally leads to a call for the Church in America to repent and pray from the Scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

I do want to affirm this message.  The churches and Christians of this land do need to repent of following our own thinking, turn back to God, and pray for our nation.  However, when you look closer at this passage, you find that the challenge goes deeper than just Christians getting their act together.  Let’s look at 2 Chronicles 7:12-22.

Repentance Is For The Nation As A Whole

The context of this passage is the completion of the Temple in Jerusalem by Solomon.  The whole nation had turned out to celebrate and had now gone home.  God appears to Solomon with a promise and a warning for Israel and its leaders.

In verse 13 God warns of future punishments or disciplines that will come upon the nation.  There is no “if” in the verse.  Just as Moses did in Deuteronomy, God lets Solomon know that discipline “will” come upon Israel in the form of extreme weather, crop damage, and pestilence.  Pestilence is a general term that means destruction and death.  Generally it referred to a plague of some sorts, but could be used generally to refer to raiders or foreign armies.  It is easy to day to be afraid to recognize that these things could be God’s discipline.  But throughout the Bible we are taught to see God’s discipline in all calamities that come upon us.

Now in verse 14 the phrase “My people” is not a reference to a select group of people within Israel, but rather to the nation as a whole.  I am not saying every person in Israel was a true believer.  But God himself had made the nation of Israel, and had given them his name (Israel means prince with God).  He is not calling for the repentance of true believers or any select group of Israel.  He is calling for a wholesale national repentance.  I am not saying that means 100%, but it is more than just a part of Israel.  In fact wouldn’t you agree that the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel, all repented and turned towards God in prayer?  However this did not save their nation.

Here it is.  Even if Christians repented and turned towards God in prayer, this and this alone will not save America.  It is a foundational step, but this passage is not saying that all God wants is for Christians to live for him.  God is incrementally holding America more and more accountable for casting Him off in all we do.  This will not change until there is a greater awakening than just Christians.  The nation as a whole needs to repent and pray.

In verse 19 God tells Solomon that if he turns away it will have an impact on the nation.  Leadership is critical and does have an impact on a nation.  In fact, God raises up the leadership that our actions as a people deserve.  So the Leadership of America needs to repent and pray in a public way.  We used to have leaders who would do such a thing.  One of the most famous is the declaration of Abraham Lincoln that stated the pride and arrogance of America and how we needed to repent and pray for God’s help.  You see, the ultimate problem is stated in verse 22 of 2 Chronicles 7; we have forsaken the God of heaven and his Son Jesus.  This is the same God who has raised us up.  This is the same God who has blessed us greatly as a nation.

We are in the middle of great calamity economically, politically, socially, and with many natural disasters and weather extremes all over the place.  God is trying to get our attention.  Can you hear?  Can you see?

Our History of Awakening

Though historians don’t always agree, most state that there have been at least 3 great awakenings or revivals in America.  The first was roughly from 1730 to 1750.  This move was mainly within churches and had an emphasis on a personal relationship over the top of ritual and tradition.  Personal salvation was the focus.  Names like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield are associated with this awakening.  Many point to the importance of this event (240 years after people started coming from Europe) in preparing for the societal ideals that would arise during the Revolutionary War.

The 2^nd Great Awakening was from 1800 to 1830.  This had an emphasis that anyone could be saved, even the worst of sinners.  This began an explosion of people coming into the Church and the number of denominations.  Alongside this was the social change groups that surfaced from within churches: temperance groups, abolition of slavery groups, and women’s rights.  Names that are connected with this are Alexander and Thomas Campbell and Charles Finney.

The 3^rd Great Awakening was from 1857 to 1910.  There was an emphasis on the life of the believer after salvation.  Within this period was the rise of the Holiness groups and the Pentecostal groups.  Dwight Moody was associated with this period along with others. 

Although some would argue others, none seem to have impacted society as a whole like these three did.  It is clear that we need revival in America.  But it cannot be a revival of Christians having a good time in church.  It must be a revival that breaks out into the non believing population and impacts society.

So what should Christians do?  First we must make sure we have repented of any wicked ways (as the Bible defines it) and pray for God’s mercy.  Second we must focus less on saving institutions and society and more on saving individuals.  Sure, perform your social duty with passion, but society only changes as people’s hearts are changed.  Thirdly, we must live a life that trusts God’s Word instead of giving lip service to it.  This world needs people who are truly willing to die to themselves in order to love it.  But better than that, the people around you who don’t know Jesus need Christians who are truly willing to pick up their cross and follow Jesus.  Will you be the one?

Holier Than Thou

Today we are going to be in Isaiah 65:1-5.  This passage is the source of a phrase that many will recognize, but perhaps not know exactly where it came from.  This is the phrase, “Holier than Thou.”  We would be inclined to think that it was coined by an irreligious person who was sick of a certain kind of attitude put off by religious people.  But the truth of the matter is that it is religious people who coined the term and it was God who was the first to refer to it as a bad thing. 

As much as God is merciful, he does have a boiling point that requires him to hold mankind accountable.  God opened Isaiah’s eyes to the actions and words of Israel in the midst of God’s long and patient mercy.  Let’s look at the passage.

God’s Mercy is Given to Those Who Never Had a Part in Israel

In verse 1 you might not catch what God is saying.  It is clear from the passage that he is not happy with Israel.  In Romans 10:20, Paul makes it clearer that this passage is God talking about the coming Church.  Don’t confuse this with any institution.  But rather that group of people among all earthly institutions who truly have put their faith in Jesus as God’s Son.  God had given Israel mercy over and over for centuries, but now he contrasts them with another “nation.” 

The Church is not a nation like any nation in the world.  It does not have an earthly headquarters in Rome, or Springfield, or any other city that men have set up.  Its headquarters is the very throne of God where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father.  It is a nation without boundaries, without a particular race, and without particular social customs.  God tells Israel that he is going to pour out his mercy in three ways to this new nation.  He will reveal himself, He will be found, and He will offer himself.  God in his mercy steps forward and manifests his glory at the same time he draws them near.  The interesting thing is that God says this nation of people weren’t looking for him.  They were lost without any idea of where to turn.  This is in contrast to Israel who had the truth of God.  No matter how much mercy he gave, though, Israel continued to rebel.  Thus the heart of God is seen as he turns and pours out his grace on those who weren’t even looking for it, those who never had a part in God’s special people Israel. 

Peter points this out in 1 Peter 2:9.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that  you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (NKJV).

Although Isaiah does not refer to it here, I should mention that elsewhere he notes that God is faithful to save a remnant of Israel.  He takes that believing part of Israel that had not spurned his mercy and makes them to be the foundation of this new nation that he is making, the Church.  Thus the Church is built upon the foundation of Jesus and his apostles, all of whom are Israelites.

Now notice that God does not save the “cream of the crop,” as Israel would have judged it.  Not many great priests and rulers of Israel were saved.  But many “unconnected to power” and “rejected of society” were saved.  God is not impressed with our pomp and greatness.  He is looking for those who have a great trust in Him.  So if you feel like you have no place with the religious and thus with God, think again.  He is not looking for those who have it all together.  We all receive God’s grace and mercy when we are undeserving of it.  In fact this is a hallmark of God’s Grace.

God’s Mercy is Given Long After it is Undeserved

In Verse 2 God points out that he had offered himself and his mercy to Israel in the face of rejection and rebellion.  The picture of open arms is an offer of intimacy.  Instead they followed a way that wasn’t good, that is, a way of their own devising.  In fact not only did their “thoughts” lead them away from God’s offer of intimacy, but it led them to do things that they knew were a provocation to him.  This insolence or arrogance makes the matter worse.  Thus verses 3-5 list some examples of their sins.  They openly embraced idols and false religions when God had clearly commanded them to not do so.  They followed occult rituals in order to obtain power and wealth, rather than turn to God.  The last thing on the list, and perhaps the worst, is their attitude.  These rebels who were openly and flagrantly rebelling against God were abusing God’s stuff to pretend like they were better or “holier” than others.  God says that this attitude was like the smoke of a fire in his nose.  Now God does not have a nose, but uses a metaphor for us to understand.  It doesn’t take long for the smoke of a fire to bring your eyes to tears and your lungs to coughing.  But God says that they were a fire that burned all day long.  This puts God’s mercy in a clearer light.  In fact when we truthfully understand the situation we will not question the righteousness of God’s judgment.  Rather we will question whether or not it is right and wise to offer grace and mercy in the face of such obstinacy.

The problem with a holier-than-thou attitude is that only God is holy by definition.  That is God is the only thing that is holy by nature.  We are holy only because God makes us holy.  We cannot make ourselves holy by certain actions other than fully trusting in God himself.  If they were truly holy they would not be pushing people out of their way in self protection.  Rather they would be laying down their life in order to save the unholy.  God rebukes those who take great pride in their “position” with him over those who do not have such.  This pride itself is unholy.  True holiness is willing to be hurt, cursed, provoked, and spit upon in order to try and awaken faith in the unholy.

In many ways the Church of Jesus Christ has come full circle.  We in many ways are like Israel of old.  We do things that are in direct disobedience to God’s Word.  We mix in beliefs and practices from false religions.  We arrogantly make others aware of our special status in God’s eyes.  Paul warns Christians in Romans chapter 9-11 that we need to be careful of our attitude.  God in his mercy will once again save the people of natural Israel, not because it deserves it, but because it is his nature to give mercy to the outcasts and the rejects of this earth.  At the same time he will cleanse his church of all that is not of faith in him and humble before him.  Let us be careful of our attitude in this day.  Let us reject the attitude of entitlement and embrace the attitude of humble gratefulness.

Holier Than Thou Audio

On Pride And Humiliation

We are going to look at a passage today that is needed in a day where we live in one of the greatest and most powerful nations in the history of the world.  Daniel 4 includes several first-hand accounts from a Babylonian king who had come to know that the God of Israel was indeed the ruler over all things.  He was so impressed and so powerful that he sent this proclamation to all the nations of the world that were under his control.  In it he reveals that the God of heaven is not impressed with our great pride.

The Reasons For Pride

In Daniel 4:1-4 we find several reasons for the pride that King Nebuchadnezzar had.  He ruled from the 600’s to the 500’s BC, at a time when God was judging Jerusalem.  God gave him the power to subdue even the Assyrian empire that had risen before him down to even the Egyptian nation.  Yet, God would not hold back judgments upon Babylon and its king.

Nebuchadnezzar, in the first person, sets the scene by pointing out that he was at rest in his house, and flourishing in his palace.  He was at rest.  Everything was going well and his mind was tranquil and secure without any major worries.  This is a dangerous time for us because it tends to lead to pride.  Not only was he tranquil, but he was flourishing.  All that he had put his hand to seemed to come easy.  He dominated the nations that he moved against.  He is the instigator of that wonder of the ancient world we know as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  Like a plant, he had grown quickly and fruitfully in the things of this world. Notice his statements “My house,” and “my palace.”  He had accumulated many possessions that were his and he attributed them to his own power.

Later I will come back to another reason for pride.  But it is easy to see why Nebuchadnezzar would think highly of himself and think all was okay.

The Grace of God Humbles Us

God in His grace gets Nebuchadnezzar’s attention through a dream.  This dream was a very ominous dream in which it was clear that something bad was going to happen.  It troubled him greatly.  He had called his counselors to interpret it.  Earlier in chapter 2 there was a dream that they couldn’t interpret.  However, this time it simply says, “but they did not make known to me its interpretation.”  It almost seems that they knew the answer but were afraid to tell him.  Daniel comes and tells him what the dream meant.

The dream was simple.  A huge tree was like a skyscraper up into the heavens and its branches reached all the way to the ends of the earth.  The birds lived in its branches and ate its fruit.  The animals lived in its shade and ate from its fruit.  But then an angel called a Watcher comes down.  He proclaims a heavenly decree that the tree is to be cut down, the branches cut off, and stripped.  But the stump is to be left in the ground with an iron/bronze band around it till 7 times pass.  Also, the pronoun becomes personal when the angel adds at the end, “let his heart be changed from that of a man to that of an animal…”   The interpretation Daniel gave was that Nebuchadnezzar would lose his kingdom for seven years and at the same time he would lose his mind.  He would become like an animal.

Now Daniel in verse 27 warns the king that he would be wise to stop his wickedness and begin living righteously.  He also instructs him to quit oppressing the poor.  “Perhaps,…” God would relent or give mercy.  We do not know whether Nebuchadnezzar tried to follow Daniel's advice or not.  But verses 29-33 show that it was a year later when Nebuchadnezzar was walking through his palace that his judgment came down, losing both his mind and his kingdom.

This brings me back to reasons for Pride.  God always sends warnings before his judgments.  This length of time has a way of being misinterpreted by men.  We tend to think either that it won’t happen, or that what we have done to try and appease God has “worked.”  Either way, we often continue in that lifestyle of arrogant pride before God and people.  Nebuchadnezzar was in the middle of boasting about his kingdom when a voice comes from heaven basically saying that his time was up.

God gives periodic judgments, not because he is a mean God, but because he loves us.  In his grace he puts things in our path to trip us up and hold us back along the hurtful paths we choose in this life.  In verse 17 the angel tells why this judgment is coming down.  First it is to demonstrate that God rules over any kingdom of men.  Also that God puts whomever he will in charge of those kingdoms, even the lowest of men.  In our ability and power, whether we are king or an average Joe, we forget that God is our sovereign.  We answer to him and if we choose the path of pride, he will humble us.  Why?  Because he loves us and those around us too much to let us continue without warning and judgments.

The whole reason for judgments in this world is so that we will repent.  This is for the person being judged and those who are watching it.  Repentance is always the proper response to God’s warnings.  It is the proper response whether it “works” to avoid difficulty, or not.  However, through it all, we can trust that God means us good even when he dispenses judgments in this life.  Of course this begs the question of the ultimate judgment when we stand and give an account for our life.  Am I ready for that?  Are you ready for that?

Cooperate With God’s Grace

At the end of 7 years, God graciously gave Nebuchadnezzar’s mind back to him.  Jewish tradition makes reference to Daniel taking care of this king gone mad.  When his mind comes back to him, he blessed, praised, honored, and extolled the Most High God.  Nebuchadnezzar finally “got it” that God was greater than even him.  This led him to witness to the world around him of God’s power.  But Nebuchadnezzar also references the Justice of God.  Justice is more than doing what is right.  It is the sense of balancing out an evil.  A just punishment is one that fits the crime.  To overly punish a crime is not just and to under punish a crime is not just as well.  God is just in his judgments.  Nebuchadnezzer sends a proclamation to all the nations under his power to witness to God’s power and justice.  He ends with the powerful statement that God is able to put down those who walk down in pride.  However, the Bible takes this point one step further.  God has put mankind on warning that he is not only able, but completely decided to judge the pride of all mankind. 

Has God humbled you recently?  Perhaps he is speaking to you about your life.  Turn to him and cooperate with this grace.  Listen to his instruction and walk in the paths of living according to God's Word.

On Pride and Humilation Audio

On The Journey

On this Sunday we celebrate the time that we have had with Dr. Caleb Tindano of Burkina Faso.  He will be going home on June 12 and we are going to miss him.  This brother has been on a journey both literally and metaphorically.  Similarly we are all on a journey through this life.  The Bible uses this same imagery in Hebrews 11 to teach us how to walk in this journey of life and how to do it well.

Believers Live By Faith

In Hebrews 11:8-12, the Holy Spirit reminds us of the life of Abraham and Sarah.  They were called to leave their home country and to travel to an unknown place.  There they would live in tents with a nomadic lifestyle.  They would also have kids at an extreme age (90 and 100).  Lastly they would be the source of multitudes.  These descendants are more than just the biological, but more importantly, include those who are children of Abraham by their faith in Jesus Christ.

Over and over again the passage states that they did all this by faith.  Now this is important because in Hebrews 10:38 it says that “the just shall live by faith.”  This is a quote from the Old Testament passage of Habakkuk 2:4.  It is similar to Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “we walk by faith, not by sight.”  Now what did they do by faith?  Several verbs are given to explain their actions of faith.  First is “obeyed.”  Obedience is something we naturally resist.  However, faith enabled them to go to a country that they didn’t necessarily want.  They also, “dwelt,” “waited,” and “bore.”  Each of these were things that were not easy to do.  They dwelt in a land in tents, as nomads, and among hostiles.  They waited when all of us would vote or now.  And, Sarah gave birth at 90 years old.  When do you say, “no thanks, but I changed my mind.”

Faith is that inner knowing and trust that God will do what he has said he will.  But far simpler than that, faith knows this: at the end of the day God is good.  The strange thing about believers is that they could look at all the stuff going on around them and quit trusting God.  But instead they continue to trust that God is what he says he is, he is good.

Believers Die in Faith

In Hebrews 11:13-15 we are reminded that Abraham, Sarah, and all other righteous people died while having faith in God.  To those who don’t believe in God this would probably be the strongest argument for walking away from this “God.”  The Spirit reminds us that though Abraham didn’t see all that was promised to him, it wasn’t because God wasn’t good or that he doesn’t really exist.  It does mean that the scope of his promises is far greater than our life.

There is a modern phenomenon that psychiatrists increasingly encounter called “Truman Show Delusion.”  The Truman Show was a movie in which a man’s whole life was secretly filmed and he eventually discovers that everyone in his life, even his wife, is an actor in a show in which he was the only real thing.  However absurd this may seem we sometimes act like this in regard to life.  God’s promises are greater than you and your life on this earth.  They encompass all believers of all time and all life, both this temporary life and the eternal life we have begun to enter.

Abraham didn’t see all the promises.  But he did see them by faith, “afar off.”  He was also assured of them.  This assurance can only really come from God himself.  When we assure ourselves it only works so long.  This is a supernatural assurance that is in the face of even death itself.  They “embraced” those promises as well.  They changed their lives and raised their kids in the environment of a full embrace of God’s promises.  “We want them and we will see them someday.”  By doing this they were confessing their true identity as nomads in this world.  God’s promises are about things that are beyond this life, which makes us nomads among those in this world who see this life as all there is.

By faith, believers are citizens of a heavenly kingdom (vs14).  Just like people who go to another culture experience a cultural dissonance, so believers feel that dissonance everywhere they go, even in their home town.  This world does not value true faith in the One True God.  Spiritually it is not our home and this makes us homesick for that place we have never been.  We know it by faith.  It is a country and a capital city that will be supplied by God himself.  No civilization or world of man will create them.

The reason I entitled this section, Believers Die in Faith, is because of the words of verse 13.  Believers not only live by faith, but when they come to the end of their life, that same faith continues.  It looks forward with the trust that God is good and it is not over yet.

God Rewards Our Faith

Ultimately our very salvation and eternal destiny is tied to our faith in God, specifically the Lord Jesus.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

But another aspect of this in Hebrews 11:16, is that God is not ashamed to be called their God.  More than that, he is not ashamed to claim us in the life to come.  He walks into a room of the world’s rich and powerful, beautiful and strong, and picks up those whom the world looks upon as weak, poor, ugly, undesirable.  They are beautiful to God simply because of their faith in him; faith that endures through death.  You are beautiful to God to the degree you trust him.

Thus God has prepared this place for those who have trusted him in life and in death.  God’s kingdom will come down and not just be in our hearts.  Jesus will literally come through those clouds and establish a world of peace that operates on the basis of trust in God.

No matter where you are on this journey, your faith will be tried.  You are a stranger in a strange land and that is an uncomfortable feeling.  May you remain faithful to Him who is always faithful and in the end will be found to have been completely good.

On The Journey Audio