A Living Hope! I Peter 1:3-5

A Living Hope!

I Peter 1:3-5

Introduction: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” My father-in-law was born to Russian immigrant parents and he held on to aspects of their traditions. At Easter, it was customary to greet one another with a standard greeting, in Russian, “Christ is risen!” The reply, which always seemed more difficult to pronounce, was “He is risen indeed!”  We always tried to speak first so we would get the easier part!  What I like about that greeting is that it immediately shifts the focus, this Resurrection Sunday, to where it belongs, and away from rabbits and colored eggs and candy, to the empty tomb.  When Paul was summarizing the gospel that he preached at the beginning of I Corinthians 15 he pointed to an unfolding drama of history:

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain.  ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures...

After pointing out the historical events that formed the foundation of the Good News he preached, Paul underscores the historicity of what happened, it was not only a story, it is history...

  ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Later in that chapter Paul makes the point that Christianity rises or falls on the truth of the resurrection, if it is not true, if it did not happen, it is empty, a waste of time. But it did happen! The historical evidence is so compelling that there can be no reasonable doubt. And his victory over death means he is who he claimed to be and that we will live also if our trust is in Him. Dr. Ed Clowney was referring to the opening of another letter written by a different apostle when he said: “Our hope is anchored in the past: Jesus rose! Our hope remains in the present: Jesus lives! Our hope will be completed in the future: Jesus is coming (I Peter 1:5,7,14)!”  Our message today is entitled, “A Living Hope!” And we have a “living hope” because we have a living Savior!

The Maine Idea: The resurrection means that Jesus is who He claimed to be and our hope is sure if our trust is in Him.

I. We have hope if we worship the God who is – it matters what (and who) we believe! That is where Peter starts in I Peter 1:3,

                          “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...”

       As Peter begins this letter, he speaks words of blessing and worship to God.  Notice that he is being very specific, some might say, very exclusive, in terms of who he is speaking.  Today we have a lot of encouragement to be “inclusive” in our language.  In certain cases that is probably a good idea, especially if people might misunderstand what is being said.  Personally, I don’t mind saying “humankind” instead of “mankind,” or “brothers and sisters” instead of “brethren.” We want to be clear, as precise as we can be in expressing what the Bible is really saying.  However we don’t want to change what the Bible actually teaches. Some would suggest that “it doesn’t really matter what you believe, as long as you believe it.” And that “we all really worship the same God, we might just call Him (or her!) by different names.”  Well there is only one true God.  He is the God who is, the God who exists.  He has revealed himself in human history and he has spoken to us in this book (the Bible).  And He has revealed himself in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

      Peter was a Jew, and his Bible, which was now being interpreted in the light of the coming of Jesus, was what we call the Old Testament.  The apostles were present, bringing the revelation of Jesus to the church, and writing the documents that would eventually become the New Testament.  The phrase that we see here in I Peter reflects on what appears in the Hebrew Scriptures, “blessed be God...” (Gen 14:20; Ps 18:46; 66:20; 68:35; Dan 3:28; cf. 2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; I Pet 1:3).  Read a few examples from the Law, the writings, and the prophets...

Genesis 14:18-20   ¹⁸ And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)  ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;  ²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Psalm 18:46 - The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation!

Psalm 66:20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

Psalm 68:35 Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel- he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!

Daniel 3:28  ²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command...

Do you see what is going on? In each case, as the Old Testament character reflects on God’s presence, His intervention in human history, His faithful love toward His people, and then he responds with worship to God.  God gets the glory! Worship is the response of the heart to the God who is real and present and who acts in history.  Three times in the New Testament the exact phrase that we have in I Peter 1:3 occurs also in two letters of Paul.  Once we see it in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians,

2 Corinthians 1:3-4   ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Ephesians 1:3  ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...

Peter uses the same language, word for word, here at the beginning of I Peter. The apostles have taken up the language of the Old Testament and filled out a little the fuller significance. The God of the Old Testament, the God who is real and who is present, who made promises to His people and demonstrated His faithfulness in history, is God, the Father of Jesus. So the apostles offer him praise. Of course the greatest intervention in history was when God did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  He sent the sinless, perfect Son into the world to suffer rejection and torture, and ultimately death, so that sinful humans like us could be reconciled to God.  That is a message worth believing! C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity is only worth believing if it is true...”

       If I told you that I saw a pink elephant this morning, would you believe me?  That might worry you, or you might think about some stuffed animal Mary Ann might have at home for the grandchildren’s visits... Or you might think that some professional help would be in order!  But if I explained, and gave more detail, or even showed you a video I had seen... of a baby albino elephant that was recently born on a reserve in Africa, that might be different!  Disbelieving doesn’t make it untrue!

       In this case, believing me or not would not be of great consequence. But when we are talking about forgiveness and reconciliation with God, or a new, abundant life here on earth and eternal life with God in the new heaven and new earth it makes all the difference in the world if what we are claiming is true!  C.S. Lewis is correct, “Christianity is only worth believing if it is true.” After all Paul said in I Corinthians 15, if we have hope in this life only, in other words, if the resurrection is not true and there is nothing beyond this life, then we are of all people most to be pitied!  But, as Paul said and as Peter affirms, God is real, and He loves us, and he sent the Son so that sinful humans could have a way to be reconciled to Him. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. The resurrection means that Jesus is who He claimed to be and our hope is sure if our trust is in Him.

II. We have hope because God’s mercy, not our effort is the basis of a new life!    We can’t save ourselves any more than we could choose to be born!   I Peter 1:3 says,

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again...”

     “Mercy” and “grace” are closely related ideas in the Bible. “Grace” talks about receiving blessings that we don’t deserve. God’s unmerited favor.  “Mercy” refers to not receiving what we do deserve, that is to be judged for our sins.  We all need God’s mercy, because we are guilty (Eph 2:1-5; Rom 3:10,23).

¹  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-  ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved…

     In his mercy He intervened, we see divine initiative, “...he caused us to be born again...”, or as Paul said, He “...made us alive together with Christ...”

     “...to be born again...”  This isn’t reformation, it is transformation. It isn’t turning over a new leaf, it is receiving a new life.  The prophets anticipated this day, when a New Covenant would come that would be bring a new life. Ezekiel for example said,

²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

One of the most direct conversations we see in the Gospels about this idea of a new birth came, in the dark of the night, between Jesus and a religious leader named Nicodemus. We read it in John 3:1ff.,

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him."  ³ Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  ⁵ Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" 

Not only can these things be, this is our only hope! As we see our helpless situation and turn to God, putting our trust in Him, He is working in us and giving us a new life.  We were dead in our trespasses and sins, but He made us alive, by grace through faith we are saved. The basis for such mercy is that Jesus took the penalty for us, and was raised again the third day. He lives, so we have hope!  We don’t get our life right and then come to God. There are no perfect people in church! We come as we are, and He begins to change us from the inside out. The resurrection means that Jesus is who He claimed to be and our hope is sure if our trust is in Him.

III. We have hope because Jesus proved he is the Son of God in the resurrection (See Rom 1:1-3; I Cor 15:1-3)!   Peter says in 1:3 that we have been born again...

“...to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...”

     Earlier this year we spent about six weeks going through I Corinthians 15. That chapter starts off, in 1-11, talking about some of the evidence for the resurrection, specifically the eyewitnesses. As Paul wrote he was essentially inviting his readers, if they had any doubts, to investigate and to ask questions of those who had seen Him. There could be no doubt!  I would also point to the transformed lives of those witnesses.  How did a fearful band of disciples become courageous proclaimers of the Gospel? They knew that Jesus had defeated death, so their future was sure!  This is not the popular idea of hope, which amounts to basically wishful thinking. Like the little boy who said, “Hope is wishing for something you know ain’t gonna happen!”  That isn’t biblical hope. We have a living hope, a confident expectation about the future, because the tomb is empty! Christ is risen!   The resurrection means that Jesus is who He claimed to be and our hope is sure if our trust is in Him.

IV. We have hope because God has promised us an inheritance that will not perish or fade (4)! An inheritance undefiled, not fading...

“...to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you...”  (I Peter 1:4).

Another translation of the word Greek word diatheke, “covenant,” is “testament.” It is sometimes used that way in the New Testament. The death of one brings forth the passing of an inheritance on to His heirs. The document, a “last will and testament,” might guarantee a future “inheritance.” That is if it is still there when then testator dies! Peter is talking about an imperishable and unfading inheritance for believers in Jesus, under guard in heaven itself.  Peter had heard Jesus teach about earthly and heavenly treasures in the Sermon on the Mount,

¹⁹ "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also...” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Peter is not just talking about treasures in Heaven, but an eternal, unfading inheritance. Think of what that implies: Heirs receive the inheritance. We are heirs because He has made us His children in the new birth (see I John 3:1)! His resurrection means that Jesus is who He claimed to be and that our hope is sure if our trust is in Him.

V. We have hope because God promises to keep (guard) those who believe!

“...who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (I Peter 1:5).

       If you have put your trust in Jesus as the one who died for your sins on the cross, how do you know you won’t fall away?  Notice v.5, “...who by God’s power are being guarded...” I’ve mentioned before the two dogs one of our neighbors had, Mary Ann and I called them “tiny” and “Hercules.” Tiny was a Great Dane that had a deep, powerful bark that guaranteed no intruder would try to enter that yard. And “Hercules” was a little Shitzu or something that would stand underneath the big dog, yapping away at passersby!  He might have thought the security of the house was his responsibility, but “Tiny,” the Great Dane, is the one who kept the place safe. Jesus said, “No one can snatch you out of my Father’s hand. “ That is a promise. We have a sure hope, because it doesn’t depend on us. God is the one who keeps us.

       N.B. “...in the last time...”  As surely as the resurrection was a historical event, so will be His return...  Now is the acceptable time, today is the day of salvation!

What is God saying to me in this passage? The resurrection means that Jesus is who He claimed to be and our hope is sure if our trust is in Him.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? It may be that you are reading this, and you feel a little like Nicodemus, “How can these things be?” The invitation to you is to come, there is hope in Jesus. He defeated the greatest enemy, death, and He has purchased eternal life and forgiveness for all who will believe. Will you put your trust in Him as your savior and Lord?

       Perhaps you have believed in Jesus at a time in the past, but circumstances in life caused you to drift away, to push Him back into a corner of your life.  Maybe you are asking questions, wondering if this is true. But here you are. That is not by chance. God planned this moment in your life. He wants you to know, grace is inexhaustible. His mercies are new every morning. You know the truth. Confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. There is no need to feel hopeless. There is no reason to lose hope. Christ is risen! Easter means a living hope for all who will trust Him!

Is Jesus Your King? I Peter 1:1,2; John 12:12-18

Is Jesus Your King?

I Peter 1:1,2 (cf. John 12:12-16)

Introduction: I have this card in my Bible, I know it came from David Jeremiah’s ministry, but I am not sure how it came into my possession. It has a reflection on John 14:1-3 on the back, and on the other side it says simply, “Keep calm, carry on!” That is a good admonition in an election year!  With the cast we have before us and the delegates adding up, it would be easy to get cynical, angry, or even to despair. Calm down, trust God! We don’t know who the next “Caesar” will be, but we know the King of the universe!  The Jewish nation was looking for a leader 2000 years ago. They wanted a king like David or Solomon, a leader who could give them life and security in the Land.  Their trust should have been in the King of Kings!  One of the great ironies in the gospels is that last week of the earthly ministry of Jesus. The scene described by John, an eyewitness to the triumphal entry is related in John 12:12-16...

¹²The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  ¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"  ¹⁴ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,  ¹⁵ "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"  ¹⁶ His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

Notice the end of verse 13.  The crowd cried out, quoting from Psalm 118, but they added the last phrase to the quotation, fleshing out their understanding of who this One was who came in the name of the Lord: the King of Israel!  The crowd hailed Jesus as messiah and king on Palm Sunday.  Ironically, they were right. He was the King and is the King just as surely as He will be the King.  But they were still thinking like their fathers in the Old Testament times: they wanted a king like the nations around them, a military leader, someone who would restore the glory of David and Solomon.  They didn’t understand that He was the Passover-King, the King who was also the Lamb who would be slain for the sins of the world. Later that week the leaders declared, “We’ll not have this man to be our king! We have no king but Caesar!” Pilate ironically got it right when he wrote on the placard that was nailed to the cross: “The King of the Jews.”  John’s gospel makes it clear that Jesus was in control, no one took his life, He laid it down of his own accord. The question for you, for each of us, today is: Is Jesus your King? He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but the question is will we submit to His Lordship? Bill Bright used to use the illustration of a throne in our heart: do we insist that we are our own master? Or do we submit to Jesus, giving Him his rightful place as Lord of our life?

The Maine Idea: If we realize who’s we are we will live in submission to His rule, and remember we are foreigners and exiles in the world.

I. If He is our King, He has authority to send us!

       Peter... Think about who is writing this letter.  Peter. He is certainly one of the more colorful characters among the disciples of Jesus. I don’t think we would describe him as “meek” or as an introvert! He was a leader among leaders. Sometimes it may be (as our governor once said of himself!) that his mouth ran a bit ahead of this brain. For Peter it happened when, a couple of times, he tried to correct Jesus!  He was the one who walked on water, at least a few steps before he looked away from Jesus and started looking at the waves and began to sink! When I think of Peter my mind goes to the night of Jesus’ arrest, when first, Peter took a sword and cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant who had come with the others to take Jesus. Jesus told Peter to put his sword away, and like the other disciples, as Jesus was seized, he ran. He did follow, along with John from a distance, and you know the story, that night, three times, he did what he said he would never do, he denied Jesus. You might think about Peter running to the tomb on Easter morning, or being restored, gently by the master, “Peter, do you love me?” “Feed my sheep.” I think about the transformation after the resurrection, starting on the day of Pentecost.  Peter stood up in front of the Temple and boldly preached Christ. Threats, arrests, even beatings didn’t change anything. Jesus had conquered death and as long as he had life Peter would continue to proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Savior.

       Remember how he got his name? He was born Simon bar Jonah, but Jesus gave him a new name. It was that scene in Matthew 16:15-18,

¹⁵ He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  ¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.  ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

People have different ideas about what Jesus was saying here, but I believe that the key idea is that Peter was among those who had received revelation from the Father. And so Jesus is talking about building His church on this idea that a few were chosen by God to be recipients and stewards of His revelation. That is part of what is in view in the title “apostle.”

      “...an Apostle...” The title literally referred to one sent with a mission, as an authorized representative, with authority to represent the Sender.  In Hebrew the term was Shaliach, a “sent one,” but always with the idea of being commissioned by the sender as his representative.  When we went on the mission field we gave limited “power of attorney” to the treasurer of our mission. He could sign checks for us, file our taxes, represent us in financial matters.  The shaliach or apostolos was more than that however.  It was more like being an ambassador, the representative of one nation before another government.  He spoke for the president and for the people.  The apostles were commissioned by the One who is above all powers and all thrones.

       “...of Jesus Christ...” We are so familiar with the word “Christ” that it is easy to forget it’s meaning: Messiah, Anointed One (i.e. King!).  As Paul does at the beginning of some of his letters, Peter identifies himself as an apostle ­of Christ Jesus. This was the uniqueness of the apostles’ office.  After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, in the foundational period of the church, they were called to be His representatives, His ambassadors. It seems like a strange plan, not one that I would have come up with. But Jesus has chosen, in this age, to work through the testimony and preaching of His people. Could He send angels with flaming swords to proclaim the truth?  Could God himself speak in a booming voice from heaven and say that Jesus is the Savior, put your trust in Him alone?  Of course. But God chose another path. He chose to use His people to bring the Gospel to the world.

       In the first century, before the documents that became our New Testament were completed and circulated, the Apostles had authority to speak in the name of Jesus and to bring authoritative teaching, showing that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised One, the fulfillment of the hope of the Old Testament Scriptures.  So Paul, in describing the church as a “building of God,” said in Ephesians 2:19-22,

¹⁹ ...you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,  ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Do you see the picture Paul paints in that passage?  Jesus himself the cornerstone, but in some sense the apostles and prophets of the New Testament age had a foundational ministry upon which the church would be built. That might call to mind what Jesus said to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church...”  The Father had given Peter revelation, and the apostles and prophets were the conduits of God’s revelation to the church during its foundational period. They brought the word of Christ with unique authority as His authorized representatives. As we bring the Christ centered truth of the Bible to the world, as we share the “Good News” with our friends and neighbors, He would send us as well.  He said, “All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and make disciples...”  If we realize who’s we are we will live in submission to His rule, and remember we are foreigners and exiles in the world.

II. If He is our King it is because of His love for us, not our love for Him.

       We are Chosen (Elect) Exiles – This particular term, “exiles,” only occurs three times in the New Testament, twice in I Peter, and once in Hebrews.  The Hebrews passages comes in that great chapter 11,  following the “Hall of Faith” list, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth...” (Heb 11:13).  They were not “at home in the world. That is true of us. We are here, in the world, but we are not of the world. We hold residency in this land, we have legal rights, but we are not home.  During this election year there has been a lot of talk about citizenship and foreigners, about exiles and aliens and walls and bigger walls. It might be helpful to us to remember that we are “elect exiles of the dispersion.”  The word “dispersion” is most frequently used to describe the Jewish exiles who were displaced from the land, and ultimately “dispersed” among the nations.  It seems pretty clear to me that Peter is using that word more broadly here, and that his audience is predominantly gentile believers in Jesus.  For example he says in 1 Peter 2:10, “¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” That language is unambiguously applied to gentile believers.  It seems that Peter is using it in the same way here:  “...of the dispersion...” then is referring to the believers, Jew and Gentile, who are scattered among the nations like seeds.

         “...according to the foreknowledge of God the Father...”  This word, prognosis, literally mean fore-knowledge, knowledge that antedates our experience.  In popular thinking people sometimes suggest that God “knows beforehand” who will believe. That is certainly true, He is omniscient after all, but is that the full significance of the term? Let’s look at a few other passages...

Acts 2:23 “...this Jesus, delivered up according to [or, “by means of”] the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

God’s plan and His foreknowledge are both causal here, the means by which Jesus is delivered up. To really get at the sense of the meaning of the word, it is helpful to think about the simple form of the noun gnosis when it refers to the knowledge of God. It seems the ideas “to know,” “to choose,” and “to love” are closely connected. 

Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

This is clearly more than simple objective knowledge about a person. It is knowing in a more intimate and immediate sense.  

Romans 11:2 “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew...”

What does it mean that God “foreknew” the Jews?  I think we get a sense of the meaning in Deuteronomy 7:6-8,

⁶ "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.  ⁷ It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,  ⁸ but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Likewise the word is used to describe the Father’s “foreknowledge” of the Son...

1 Peter 1:20 “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake...”

That may be the most striking example of the word “foreknow.”  It was not the Father doubting or monitoring if the Son would stand the test, or even knowing beforehand that He would do so.  The point is that the Father knew and loved the Son from eternity.

       In our passage, I Peter 1:1,2, the recipients of the letter are “elect... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father...”  I think that is referring to the truth that God knew us and loved us from before the foundation of the world.  We do nothing and did nothing to earn our salvation.  Of HIM you are in Christ Jesus... That is grace, the unmerited favor of God.  John described how that was demonstrated when he said in 1 John 4:10,   “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” And so we are not our own, we are bought with a price. And if we realize who’s we are we will live in submission to His rule, and remember we are foreigners and exiles in the world.

III. Our Sovereign King, the Triune God, chose us on purpose, for a purpose.

       Notice how Peter, in this greeting, ties together the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, as the one choosing us and saving us, on purpose, for a purpose. He mentioned already that we were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, now he speaks about the Spirit and the Son.

              “...in the sanctification of the Spirit...” Like the word “salvation” “sanctification” can refer to God’s work in setting us apart in the past, in the present, or in the future. There is the idea of the progressive transformation that God works in us.  It is also true that the moment we believe we are positionally “set apart” but the ongoing work of changing us to be more like Jesus will continue all our life. Guess what, none of us is perfect! We all fall short. We are all, in practice, a work in progress.  Be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet! One day we will see him, and we will be like him, without the presence of sin. It seems here the next phrases clarify the sense here...

       “...for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ...”  God chose us on purpose, for a purpose. In Exodus we read about Moses sprinkling the people with the blood of the sacrifice, and then going up on the mountain to receive the tablets from God (Ex 24:9).   The blood of the Old Testament sacrifices couldn’t take away sin, couldn’t “sanctify those who were unclean.”  That would require the blood of the Lamb.  We are not our own, we were bought with a price.  If we realize who’s we are we will live in submission to His rule, and remember we are foreigners and exiles in the world.

IV. He chose us to bless us, and to make us a blessing. Peter uses the words of familiar greeting, “Grace to you and peace...”  But it is clear that from the pen of an apostle this meant much more than simply “Greetings!”

       “...grace to you...” The greeting becomes a blessing as Peter speaks of God’s “grace,” His unmerited favor. The grace of God that brings salvation is a blessing that is beyond what we could imagine. God “lavished” his grace upon us. One writer suggests that “grace” signifies “God’s love in action in Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners.” I would add the qualifier, “God’s extravagant love in action... etc.”  He reconciled us to himself, he gave us new life, and what’s more, He made us his sons and daughters!

       “...and peace be multiplied...” And “peace” was more than a hope for an absence of conflict. It would call to mind the biblical idea of shalom, which was life as God intended it for his people, in relationship with God and experiencing his presence and blessing. It’s part of what Jesus had in mind when He said “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly...” (Jn 10:10b). At the heart of the idea is know that we have peace with God, and that we have the peace of God. 

       The crowd spoke words of hope and blessing as Jesus entered Jerusalem the week of the feast. “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  But they forgot the fuller context of the Scripture they quoted,  Psalm 118.  They forgot that the psalmist had predicted that He would be “the stone that the builders rejected.” It was Palm Sunday, but Good Friday was just a few days away.

What is God saying to me in this passage? If we realize who’s we are we will live in submission to His rule, and remember we are foreigners and exiles in the world.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? If we know Him, and submit to Him as our Savior and Lord, our heart will be moved to obey Him. The debates and political ads are tiring and can be irritating. It is easy to become frustrated when we don’t like the options that we are being presented. Stay calm. Trust Him. Remember, one day every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!  

       If we love Him, let us obey Him. He said “...you will be my witnesses...” and “Go, make disciples...” We have a mission. Remember there are at least two aspects of outreach, one is to bring the gospel to those around us, our 8/15, those in our “sphere of influence.”  Have you made a list of folks around you that need Jesus, or maybe who are saved, but need to get back into church?  Write it down, commit to praying for them daily. Ask God to give you opportunities to speak, to give a reason for the hope that is in you. (We have resources on the book table that can help!). So we bring the gospel to people, we can also bring people to hear the gospel.  Next week, resurrection Sunday, would be a great opportunity to do that!    AMEN!

Love, Ministry, and Mission I Corinthians 16:14-25

Love, Ministry, and Mission

I Corinthians 16:14-25

Introduction: In a letter that is replete with harsh criticism and stern rebuke, Paul nonetheless lets the Corinthians see his pastoral heart. There is no doubt but that he loves those who have been under his care. In allowing that truth to shine through Paul is teaching by example how foundational “love” is to the Christian life. It is the kind of love that flows from the Gospel: God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us, for our sins, so that we could be reconciled to God. John said it in 1 John 4:9, “this is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him...” (I John 4:9). Paul said it also in Romans 5:8, “But commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That depth of love, if we even begin to grasp the surface of it, will grab our hearts and motivate us to love God in return.

       And if we love God who we have not seen, we will also love our brothers and sisters who we have seen. Love God, love people. And remember God demonstrated his love in the Gospel. Love shows itself in actions.  Remember the story of the boy who was dying of a terrible blood disease. His only hope was a transfusion, but the problem was, he had a very rare blood type. Neither of his parents were a precise match, but his little brother Billy was.  The parents talked to their younger son, “Johnny is very sick, but you can save him by giving him your blood. We won’t force you, we want you to decide if you want to give your blood to save him.” The next morning at breakfast the younger brother announced he would do it, he would give his blood for his brother.  Later in the day, Billy’s mom noticed that one by one his friends were dropping in, and carrying away some of Billy’s favorite possessions. When his mother asked him what was going on, he said, “Well, I am giving my blood to Johnny, I won’t be needing those things anymore.  Mom, does it hurt to die?”  He thought that in giving his blood, he would be giving his life.  Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. That is the love we see in the Gospel. Love shows itself in actions, it certainly did at Calvary. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

       As Paul draws this letter to a conclusion, that principle again bubbles to the surface.  We start this week where we ended the last message: “Let all you do be done in love.” (v.14).  Notice the letter ends with a reference to love.

The Maine Idea: Love for God and for His people should motivate us as we share in His mission in the world.

I. In love, Encourage Mutual Respect, including our Leaders (15-16).

¹⁵ Now I urge you, brothers - you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints-  ¹⁶ be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.

      Paul is “encouraging” or exhorting the Corinthians to live out their love. “Now I urge  you, brothers...” Parakaleo – The term that was used to describe Barnabas, the one called “Son of Encouragement” by the disciples. Paul has used this word several times in this letter (see 1:10; 4:13,16; 14:31; 16:12).  In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth one passage is particularly illustrative:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  ⁶ If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.  ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort (2 Cor 1:3-7).

Christ endured suffering so that we could experience God’s comfort. And so we seek to bring His comfort to those who are suffering. Then later in that letter he returns to the theme:

⁴ I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.  ⁵ For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn- fighting without and fear within.  ⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,  ⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more...” (2 Corinthians 7:4-7).  

Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit who would be our Comforter. One of the means he uses is to bring God’s people around us in our times of crises, so that we can “bear one another’s burdens...” Paul has written a stern letter, not out of anger (well, maybe a little righteous anger!) but especially out of love.  So now he is urging them, encouraging them, as brothers and sisters, to accept and learn from others that God was sending to them. Receive the comfort of the Gospel!

       Respect those who have been converts for a while – “elders.” Stephanas was one of the first converts in Achaia. We know from the first chapter that he and his household were among the few there that had been baptized by Paul, which probably implies that Paul had led him to faith in Christ. He devoted himself to serving the church. He had a track record that showed his commitment and that demonstrated his love.

       When Wycliffe translator Doug Meland and his wife moved into a village of Brazil’s Fulnio Indians, he was referred to simply as the white man (not a compliment!).  After they had lived there a while and learned the language and began to help the people, they started to call him “the respectable white man.” When he had been there longer and began adapting to their customs and culture he gained greater acceptance and called him “the white indian.” Then one day, as Doug was washing the dirty, blood caked foot of an injured Fulnio boy, he overheard a bystander say to another, “Who ever heard of a white man washing an indian’s foot? Certainly this man is from God!”  From that day, when they saw him coming, they would say, “Here comes the man God sent us!” So we show Jesus when we submit to one another, when we serve one another.

      Stephanas had showed the heart of a servant among the Corinthians. That kind of commitment to the church merited respect. He was a servant-leader. Paul says, “Be subject to such as these...” i.e., follow the leaders God raises up. It may be that Stephanas was in the position of an elder, but the principle here goes beyond that. We learn from each other. We believe in the priesthood of believers. And if we see those around us who have walked for a time with the Lord we should respect their experience and learn from them.

       Congregational government is a strong tradition in America, including among Baptist churches like ours.  I believe that stems from our idea of the “priesthood of believers.” So “we the people” elect officers to lead us. We try to discern who God is gifting and calling. This passage reminds us that their commitment to the church, their history of faithful service, their years of walking with Christ, all help us to discern God’s work and God’s call.

       Of course we know in a certain sense that love calls us to “...submit to one another in the fear of Christ...”  (Ephesians 5:21). That ties into Paul’s description of love in this letter, back in chapter 13,

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Remember what Jesus said, that by our love for one another people will know that we are His disciples.  “Let all you do be done in love.” Love for God and for His people should motivate us as we share in His mission in the world.

II. Love for the brothers leads to rejoicing and to the refreshment of fellowship (17,18).

¹⁷ I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence,  ¹⁸ for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men.

       Paul found joy in the visit of these three men, brothers in Christ. Their presence “made up for” the absence of others from Corinth, and it brought “joy” to Paul’s heart to see them. Do you feel that way when brothers or sisters from the church come to you in your times of need?  Do you feel joy in your heart when you see them coming? Does their presence bring comfort? Paul rejoiced at their coming and says “they refreshed my spirit as well as yours.” There is something supernatural that goes on when we are in the company of other believers, and we know that they love us. They bring “refreshment” to our souls.  Paul says, “Give recognition to such men.” That is where we should be as a church family, and I hope that is where we are. Why is it “refreshing” to be together?  The story of Jesus and the woman at the well comes to mind.

⁷ There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."  ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)  ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" ( For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)  ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."  ¹¹ The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?  ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock."  ¹³ Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,  ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  ¹⁵ The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water..." (John 4:7-15).

       The only One who can quench the deepest longing of our soul is Jesus. The “refreshment” we receive from being with God’s people is Christ, the water of life, flowing through them!  I look forward to Sunday mornings and to seeing God’s people come together for feeding on the Word and worship. Each one of us is a story of God’s faithfulness and His grace. I look forward to Sunday night and the teen meeting and the reminders of God at work in molding these future leaders of the church. Tuesday morning, 6:30, a few of us come together for prayer and encouragement (and a cup of coffee!) and it is a time of refreshment. We have a faithful group of prayers who meet Wednesday night to lift of the needs of the church, the community, and the world. Thursday night is a high point of our week as a small group meets in the parsonage for worship and fellowship.  There is joy in community, we were created to be interdependent, to bear one another’s burdens and to encourage each other in our walk with the Lord.  There is refreshment in the family. Love for God and for His people should motivate us as we share in His mission in the world.

III. Love for the brothers is evident in our genuine affection for one another (19-21).

¹⁹ The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.  ²⁰ All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.  ²¹ I, Paul, write this greeting with own hand.

       Paul sends from the churches of Asia, from Aquila and Priscilla, and from all the brethren, greetings in the Lord. He is writing a personal letter, responding to needs in the fellowship, but he is also speaking for others in the body of Christ, others who share in the struggle of living as pilgrims in a fallen world. No one was writing off the Corinthians, we are one in the Lord, part of His church.

       Aquila and Priscilla, together with the church in their house send greetings. The early church, in most settings, probably met in homes. Eventually the synagogue model that they were accustomed to probably moved them to look for larger meetings places where they could gather together when it was safe to do so.  But even from the beginning, we read in Acts 2, they were meeting “from house to house.” That kind of community, openness is part of God’s design for the church. And so, “All the brothers send you greetings...”  The call to “Greet one another with a holy kiss” – should be read along those lines: a culturally appropriate sign of affection, something visible that can be seen and understood by others.  In Brazil everyone greets each other with a “hug” and a tap on the back. Woman greet other women, and men greet women, with a “beijinho,” touching cheeks and kissing the air.  Men don’t kiss men! (except once my son-in-law, but that is another story!).  For an American like me, a handshake please!

       Paul writes the personal greeting with his own hand, just so there would be no question that the letter was from him.  They were his people and he wrote from his heart. Love for God and for His people should motivate us as we share in His mission in the world.

IV. Love is the indispensable factor that should characterize true faith (22-24). (see I John, love for God and love for the brethren are connected, in fact, inseparable!).

²² If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!  ²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.  ²⁴ My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

       Paul, in concluding his letter, returns to the “more excellent way” he had set forth in I Corinthians 13, the way of love. Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.  It all starts with love for God.   Paul said, “...If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed...” There is a play on words here.  Two Aramaic words, transliterated into Greek, are set side by side,  “...Anathema...”  “Maranatha!”  The love for the Lord Paul speaks of in verse 22 is fileo, “tender affection.”  Paul’s preferred word for “love” in this letter has been “agapao,” to love sacrificially, unconditionally (as well as the noun form, agape). Remember the exchange between Jesus and Peter after the resurrection?

¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love [agapao] me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love [fileo] you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."  ¹⁶ He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love [agapao] me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love [fileo] you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."  ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love [fileo] me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love [fileo] me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love [fileo] you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

It may be that Peter didn’t pick up on the parallel terms he and Jesus used, until the third time that is, and he was grieved by his own dullness.  Was he capable to unconditional, sacrificial love? Was he even capable of “tender affection”?  Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all in Christ... My love be with you all in Christ Jesus...” Paul ends expressing the heart he has revealed throughout this letter, his love for them all in Christ. The last word, so to speak, is Jesus.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Love for God and for His people should motivate us as we share in His mission in the world.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Do you love Jesus? He gave His blood in dying for you. If you love Him, carry out the mission He has entrusted to you, “feed His sheep,” use your gifts for his glory. You are the person God has sent to your 8/15, to those in your sphere of influence.   Love them enough to point them to Jesus. Pray about who you can invite to our Easter service.  Let’s see what God will do!  AMEN.

Always Abounding in the Work of the Lord! I Corinthians 16:5-14

Always Abounding in the Work of the Lord!

I Corinthians 16:5-14

Introduction: This is an election year, and it would be easy to mistakenly try to find hope in the next human leader that comes along. Or, if you’ve been watching the debates, maybe not!  We need to let this year be one more reminder that we are sojourners, and that our hope is in the Lord!  Might these days drive us deeper in our walk with the Him. His faithful love endures forever! We believe every thing in the Bible is there on purpose, by God’s design, and has something to say to us.  So even as we look at these seemingly incidental comments that Paul includes at the end of I Corinthians, we can see some principles that can guide us as we seek to live and serve in a fallen world. In your outline I alluded to “principles of leadership,” but in reality these principles apply to the Christian life more generally as well.

       Remember Paul was writing to a church he had planted in a corrupt, immoral, and pagan city. The love of money, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life ran rampant. But before we are too hard on the Corinthians we need to recognize that many of the struggles then and there are not too different from what we must deal with here and now, half a world and 2000 years distant! In some ways you might say that in America, in the 21^st century, yes, we live in Corinth. Is there hope?

The Maine Idea: For our church to be successful, together we need to live by faith, as we carry out the mission He has entrusted to us.

I. Look ahead: We need to have a clear vision, and to remain flexible as God’s plan unfolds (5,6).

⁵ I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia,  ⁶ and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 

       Vision (5) is something we have talked about quite a bit recently in our church.  Here we see Paul looking ahead, planning, envisioning what God was doing and what God would have him to do. Mary Ann made a cross stitch sampler for me early in our marriage based on something Howard Hendricks had said in a teaching series we listened to.  He was reflecting on Ephesians 3:20, 21. The scripture says that God is able to more than we would ask or think, to His glory. Hendricks spoke about us being able to think big, to envision what God might do if we were available and willing, all for His glory. To challenge his hearers to have vision and to trust God Dr. Hendricks asked, “If you knew that you couldn’t fail, what would you do for the glory of God?” The idea was to encourage us to look ahead in faith, to believe that God is that powerful, and that he will work out His plan for our good and for His glory. Will we think big?  Remember the cartoon of two eskimos ice fishing. One had a small, standard sized hole in the ice with his line dropped in. The other had his line in the water as he sat by a huge hole the shape of a whale! Vision!  Our vision statement could be simply something we recite superficially, just words on a page, or it can be an ongoing reminder and challenge concerning what God would do in us and through us.

“We envision a community of Christ followers, rooted in the Word, treasuring God as supremely valuable, proclaiming the riches of His grace to the world.” 

       “We envision a community of Christ followers...” As we’ve been working through a curriculum called “Believe” in our youth meetings our theme for the teen message tonight is “Biblical Community.”  What does that mean? Why is it important?  Think about the kind of radical community that the early church experienced! Meeting together daily from house to house. Taking meals together. Sharing with those in need. I think that part of our vision statement is starting to take root, I see real expressions of the “one anothers” of the New Testament lived out among our people. And I think you will agree that we can excel still more in loving one another in such a way that the world sees something real here! What really distinguishes the community of God’s people, is God’s presence in our midst. We are His temple, His Spirit dwells in us!

       “...rooted in the Word...” One of our core values is understanding the importance of the Bible as God’s revelation to us. The God who is has spoken, and He inspired humans through the ages to write down those things that would be important to his people in every age. So we insist on biblical preaching. I hope that you will hold me, and those who come after me, accountable, that we would stay true to the Bible. We study the Bible in our Sunday School classes and in our small groups, we encourage each other to take time for daily devotions. We want to be grounded, rooted in the Word.

        So we are “...a community of Christ followers, rooted in the Word, treasuring God as supremely valuable...” The more we know God, the more we love Him. Ideally we get to the point of understanding How precious He is, the Pearl of great price that is more important, more valuable, more to be treasured, than anything this world might offer. It means to be able to say with Paul that nothing compares to the privilege and pleasure of knowing Christ,

...Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith... (Phil 3:8,9).

       When we arrive at that point, it seems to me, that the last phrase of our vision statement will be unavoidable: “We envision a community of Christ followers, rooted in the word, treasuring God as supremely valuable, proclaiming the riches of his grace to the world.” The news that has been entrusted to us is too important to keep to ourselves!  We need tell others of the hope that is in us. Are we there yet? Is that our vision?  I think we want it to be. We are in process, the idea of “vision” is looking ahead, in faith. It is what we are becoming, what we want to be. We need to embrace a clear vision. We need to not only see where we are, but we need to look ahead to what we can be, what God wants us to be. If love each other in the way the New Testament says we should, if we love God more than life itself, we are going to want to share the message of His grace with the people around us. 

       Listen, let’s get to an application right now.  Easter, Resurrection Sunday, is just three weeks away.  According to one seminar I heard recently, 90% of the people who don’t attend church say they would be open to going if they were invited.  Now it may not be that high in Maine, but even if it is 50%, people are more open to visiting church than we realize!  Every one of us have people around us, in our sphere of influence, who don’t know Christ, or people who have professed faith but drifted away from church attendance.  Easter is going to be a special service with great music and an emphasis on the Gospel.  We have been talking about outreach, and there are really two aspects of that. One is taking the gospel to the world. That is our day to day living out of our faith before our family and co-workers, our classmates and our neighbors.  There are also times when it is a good idea to invite, to bring our neighbors in so that they can hear the gospel. That is outreach too!  If we can each bring at least one, we’ll be needing to set up the red chairs in the back for supplemental seating! That would be great!  Be praying now for those you can invite. And be praying for the service that the name of Jesus would be lifted up, and that He would draw people to himself.  We need to have vision!

       Flexibility (6) - While it is essential that we have vision, while it is important to plan ahead, our plans must always be subject to the Lord’s revision. On Paul’s second missionary journey we encounter the following scene:

⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.  ⁶ And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.  ⁷ And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.  ⁸ So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.  ⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

We don’t have the details of the means God used to close the doors of ministry in Asia and Bithynia, simply that they weren’t allowed by the Spirit to minister in those areas. God had another plan, the gospel needed to go outward and cross over into Europe. And so the Macedonian vision. The point is that Paul and Silas and their team were sensitive to discern God’s direction.  We will make mistakes. We will decide to do things, even good things, at the wrong time or in the wrong way, or even with wrong motives. We need to together seek God and discern his leading.  It is rare that God speaks to us in a powerful voice from a burning bush. More common is a still, small voice. But He will lead us if we are seeking Him. For our church to be successful we need to live by faith as we carry out the mission He has entrusted to us.

II. Be Thorough: We need to take time and dig deep if we want to be well grounded and effective (7,8).

⁷ For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.  ⁸ But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost... 

        Paul moved around a lot during the thirty or so years between his conversion and his being martyred. But Paul moved so much usually because of persecution. So he would make some converts and establish a church, stay as long as he could to build them up in the faith, and then, when it seemed to be God’s time, he moved on.  I remember when we came here to this church, after a long search and with a tired search committee, one of the things that we were asked was how long we might stay.  As long as God wills!   My hope when I came was to stay to retirement which would mean another six or seven years, but we need to be discerning and obedient to God’s leading.  The idea is to invest ourselves in the lives of the people. To be here not simply to maintain the status quo, but to make a difference in people’s lives, and to be faithful in equipping the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. The mission of the church is to make disciples. That requires time, commitment.  We have a community that desperately needs to know Jesus. Our mission is to know Him, and to make Him known.  For our church to be successful we need to live by faith as we carry out the mission He has entrusted to us.

III. Be ready: Opposition will come (9).

⁹ for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 

       First Paul states his positive reason for staying in Ephesus, “...for a wide door for effective work has opened to me...” That is what God does. He is in control. He opens doors, and He closes doors.  I remember when we were asking God about serving long term on the mission field it was quite a process of discerning God’s will and hearing His call.  He used His Word, He used His people, and He used circumstances in the process.  The great commission in Matthew was one passage that spoke to us.  His mission is the “Great Commission,” to go and make disciples (see Matthew 28:18-20).  So we needed to be available and obedient. As we sought counsel God confirmed that our training and gifts could meet needs in Brazil, pressing needs at that moment in history. And He made it possible for us to go as he supplied financially through the gifts of his people. He holds the keys, and what he opens no one shuts (Revelation 3:7-8).  God opens doors, and part of living by faith is being willing to step through. Whether it means leaving NJ to go to Brazil, or leaving Brazil to come to Maine, or taking your family for a short term project in Uganda or Haiti, He is the Lord of the harvest! He opens doors.

       Be warned however, that opposition will come, “...there are many adversaries...”  First of all we are in a spiritual war and “...our adversary the devil is going about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.”  Do not doubt it, he wants you isolated and vulnerable, and he is an expert on human weaknesses. Opposition will come, but be encouraged, God is in control, Jesus is building His church. Will we trust Him? For our church to be successful we need to live by faith as we carry out the mission He has entrusted to us.

IV. Be a Team: Working together, all engaged  (10-12).

¹⁰ When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.  ¹¹ So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.  ¹² Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. 

       Respect the leadership God has raised up (10,11).  Paul is concerned that his young disciple Timothy, his son in the Lord, be accepted and respected by the Corinthians: “...put him at ease among you... let no one despise him...” Listen, if God sends someone to serve with us, we need to respect one another.  Paul was sending Timothy to the Corinthians. Perhaps he was younger than some of the other leaders the Corinthians thought much of, like Peter, Apollos, and Paul. But he was called and chosen by God. Jesus is the head of the church.  The context is a leader Paul had sent, but the principle of accepting one another, loving one another as brothers and sisters, making people feel welcome, is normal, healthy Christianity.  We are a welcoming church, let’s excel still more!

       There is no room for envy or mistrust (12).  Remember early in I Corinthians Paul pointed out a problem with divisions, people aligning themselves with one leader or another: “I am of Paul, I am of Cephas, I am of Apollos, I am of Christ...” It would be easy to get defensive, or to envy the popularity of others. It would be easy, but it would not be Christian. And it was not what Paul did.  He in fact urged Apollos to visit the Corinthians. Why? It seems that he felt they could benefit from his encouragement and spiritual gifts.  Their edification was more important to Paul than his own security.  Why should we be envious? After all, one plants, another waters, but God causes the growth.  Either He is the Lord of the harvest, or he isn’t.  If He is, then we can trust Him. For our church to be successful we need to live by faith as we carry out the mission He has entrusted to us.

V. Be Committed: It’s time to “man up” (13,14)! Paul ends with a series of exhortations that encourage us to be engaged in God’s mission.

¹³ Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  ¹⁴ Let all that you do be done in love.

       Be on guard! Be watchful!  According to some historians the success of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that decimated our fleet and catapulted us into World War 2 could have been the result of a failure on our part to be vigilant. We assumed that such an attack would never happen and our forces were not as watchful as they should have been. The Bible warns us to be watchful, to stay vigilant.  Because we live in a fallen world, and because we have an experienced, powerful adversary, we need to be on the alert.  

       Stand firm in the faith!  It’s the opposite of those described in Ephesians 4 who are easily “...carried about by every wind of doctrine...”  Positively it is the attribute called for at the end of chapter 15, “Be steadfast, immovable...”  We need to be rooted in the Word, well grounded in our understanding of Scripture, so that we can “stand firm” against the wiles of the devil.  Remember the serpent in the garden, “Did God really say...”  By knowing His word we can respond with scripture, as Jesus did when tempted of the devil. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God...”

       Man up!  Be strong!  The imperative here is a single word, translated “act like men” in some English versions, followed by the exhortation “be strong!” There is an expression used today, “Man up!” The idea seems to be to be mature, to take the responsibilities of an adult. In light of the tone of the recent political debates you could see the application for the candidates, “Be adults already!” Remember the contrast in this letter, Paul has already told the Corinthians they were acting like mere “babes in Christ.”  They need to grow up if they were going to be faithful disciples.

       Do everything in love! I hope that immediately makes you think of I Corinthians 13, “Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” I hope it causes you to remember the first and greatest commandment: to love God whole-heartedly, and the second, to love your neighbor as yourself. Love God, love people. That should guide and motivate all that we do.  One of the most loving things we can do for our neighbor is to “bring the gospel to them,” or, “to bring them to the gospel.”  Think about the Easter service as an opportunity to pray, and to invite, motivated by the love of Christ.

What is God saying to me in this passage? For our church to be successful we need to live by faith as we carry out the mission He has entrusted to us.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? So, my brothers and sisters, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  ¹⁴ Let all that you do be done in love.” As we prepare our hearts for the table, let us reflect on the supreme demonstration of love: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins...” (I John 4:10).    AMEN!