Pastors, assistant pastors, elders, and even aspiring to be pastors are invited to our first Healthy Pastors Conference. There’s a story that we will share at the conference that gets at what we are trying to do with this gathering. I will share that story later but I hope our story will be that story too.
If we want healthy churches then one of the pieces needed to accomplish that or maintain that is having healthy pastors.We want to fan the flame within them through preaching and singing and fellowship with other pastors.
Consider buying a ticket for your pastor and providing for his travel and stay here in Nashville. Here’s the link to sign up.
It seems I notice more and more our faith in Christ becoming visible through gladly obeying Christ’s commands each time I read the Scriptures. Today, John chapter 13 ends in that way.
John 13:34-35
[34] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
As you might know, Jesus is beginning his farewell to his disciples. Obviously everything Jesus says is important but this is the first thing he says which gives it an added emphasis.
To circle back to what he said might bring up a question—what’s new about the commandment? If we compare this commandment with loving your neighbor as yourself then we can easily spot the difference. Jesus has raised the standard of love to say—love each other the way I have loved you. These disciples have seen how he loved them and others for nearly 3 years.
His ultimate display of love is wrapped up in the farewell. He knows that he is about to lay down his life for them. He asks his disciples to do the same for each other. Why? Well, the way we know Jesus loved us was clearly displayed on the cross. So too if we lay down our lives for each other then ALL MEN will know that we are Christ’s disciples.
Of course laying down your life for each other will not likely mean physical death though it’s possible. But it most certainly means that we are dying to self. It means we are gladly serving others and their needs not just ourselves.
This extraordinary love has massive implications in the world. To make Jesus known comes not only through word but also deed. When we focus on and believe in how Christ has loved us—his enemies who are tax collectors and sinners—then we should not find it so difficult to love each other.
The difficulty in reaching people in the nation and community in which I live with the gospel is that most people seem very comfortable and really think they don’t need anything. We find ways to block out the bad news and brokenness within our own hearts.
For those who have been redeemed, we see our neediness and the evil of this world. We may wonder why the wicked prosper. We may see the foolish and arrogant rule us. We may become weary under their reign and cry out to God, “How long, O Lord?”
The reply is always this—“Not forever. Wait patiently, dear child. Trust me.”
Well, each morning I usually decide between one of the four places in my reading plan to use for the daily encouragement. This morning I was torn between two. Instead of picking which one I will try to tie the two together.
The first is the amazing story of Daniel 3. It is so clear that anyone can understand it. It’s so dependent on faith that it’s easy to see how hard it is to trust the Lord. But after seeing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trust the Lord in the fiery furnace we are left with exposed hearts likely wondering what we would have done.
While it may seem hard to trust the Lord whom you cannot see verses your enemies whom you can see and you can feel the ropes binding you and you can feel the heat from the furnace before you, the hidden reality and the deliverance available comes only by faith which cannot be seen. You might point out that there is no mention of faith in that story. You are correct.
However their faith is more obvious than if it had been said that they had faith. Their actions say it loud and clear. They resist Nebuchadnezzar’s command but gladly obey God’s command at the risk of their lives.
Daniel 3:16-18
[16] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. [17] If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. [18] But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Not only were they delivered but those who bound them were consumed by the furnace. Furthermore, the Most High God was made known through their glad obedience. And they were promoted as rulers of the land of Babylon. That pattern should be kept in mind. This is how it ends for all who trust the Lord. Maybe not in this land but later we will rule with our King.
But what would cause a man to give up on God in these moments? It’s simply this: John 12:43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. The approval of men will deliver you in the present temporarily but even that is no guarantee. The approval of God will deliver you later in the future eternally and that is guaranteed forever.
How do you know that you have faith? What does the test scores say? What does the fruit say? What did the life of the three Hebrew boys say? Whose approval do you seek? Do you want self preservation now or later? Temporary or eternal?
Trust the Lord like these guys and know your approval rests in the finished word of Christ who trusted the Father all the way to the cross and he was raised to life eternal. And so will we if we trust him and gladly follow him.
There’s a common phrase used to describe that people’s lives have changed over the passage of time—How it started; How it’s going. From pictures of dramatic weight loss to financial gain, the comparative pictures show that life has gotten better.
I could create a few of this memes myself but I would avoid follow-up memes where things had gone south. It’s often the Instagram vs. reality struggle. There are moments where we can muster up a photo of ourselves that looks beautiful on the outside while there’s chaos within. The attention from the comments sweeten up the reality only briefly but they diminish pretty fast.
I finished reading Ezekiel this morning and it could be somewhat explained with the meme—How it started; how it’s going. The story begins with the city of God ransacked and the people of God hauled away into exile.
All along the way God speaks clearly to his people in ways that have this purpose—and you will know that I am the LORD. Everything he said and did through Ezekiel was for this end.
Why? Because even though how it started and how it’s going were disastrous what matters in each moment is that you know the LORD. And that’s important because judgment is coming for all. And for those who know and love God there’s a magnificent ending.
The book ends like this—Ezekiel 48:35
[35] The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD Is There.
His glory may have left the temple because they had broken the covenant with God but there was a path to redemption for those who turned their hearts back to him and trusted the Lord. And one day there will be an eternal—how it’s going—in the city of God and he is there forever.
I suppose that it’s easy to doubt the things we believe about God. We have an enemy that is working to deceive us. It seems that there is a passive deception in the world when we see so many things that are evil and wrong. The glimpse of reality is darkened by the clouds of doubt that actively or passively seek to hide the truth.
There’s a clear connection between our confidence in God and our obedience to the Lord’s commands. When people who claim to believe the truth do not do what he commands of us that actively and passively hides the truth and attempts to deceive us.
When we gladly obey the good things God has told us to do such as loving our brothers not only word but in deed then we not only display that we believe the truth but we also know that we are of the truth. This assures our hearts before God. No doubt it also assures others that we and they are of the truth. Instead of deceiving your fellow brothers by disobedience you encourage them actively and passively.
1 John 3:16-21
[16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. [17] But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? [18] Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
[19] By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; [20] for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. [21] Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God
Let us know the love of Christ in that he didn’t merely say he loved us but proved his love by laying down his life for us. So too, prove your love for Christ by loving your brother and then you will also prove your love for your brother. And you will be confident in the truth because his love and truth have become visible and abides in you.
After preaching and hearing a strong warning from Hebrews 6 on Sunday, it is fitting to hear the assurance offered to those who believe. However one works out assurance of salvation, we must at least hold to that the promises of God are only for those who believe.
And if you believe which was a work of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Good Shepherd that laid down his life for the sheep then assurance is available because of the Good Shepherd.
John 10:14-16
[14] I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. [16] And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
He’s not like the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. He’s not like the hired hand who abandons the sheep when the wolf comes. He saves the sheep by laying down his own life for them. The thief and hired hand always seek to save their own lives but not the Good Shepherd.
It might seem strange that the sheep are saved by way of the death of the Shepherd. It seems normal to think that the life of the sheep lie in the life of the Shepherd. In this analogy, the life of the sheep that is eternal life rests in the death of the Shepherd but this Shepherd doesn’t remain dead.
John 10:18
[18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
He died but was raised to Shepherd his sheep to eternal life. Because he’s alive, we will be kept safe forever by our loving Good Shepherd.
Lament is a necessary action among God’s people. In a day that we forbid anything that’s not positive we wrongly cut off the means to praise and thanksgiving. Until we have grieved over our sin that has offended the Holy God of the universe we will likely not be moved to repentance and faith.
As I read the book of Lamentations, I’m thinking the glorious verses of chapter 3…
Lamentations 3:22-23 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
…do not come to mind without a thorough lament. And the book does not begin with the sentiments of 3:22-23, it begins with observing what merely has happened.
Lamentations 1:1-2 How lonely sits the city That was full of people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer! She weeps bitterly in the night And her tears are on her cheeks; She has none to comfort her Among all her lovers. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.
There’s no repentance in the beginning chapters BUT it was necessary to weep in the selfish reality of the consequences first. It’s not until verse 8 of chapter one that any mention of sin comes up. And a telling phrase pops up in that acknowledgment in verse 9–She did not consider her future.
When you live merely for the present you cannot live in light of the future. To trade living it up in this short and temporary life for eternal life just doesn’t make sense when you actually think about it. But that’s the problem, we find it hard to consider when sin is so much fun.
I mean the one lamenting doesn’t even mention God’s name until verse 9. And when the writer brings it up they are still not in the right place of repentance—See, O LORD, my affliction.
My question is how does one get from that statement which leads to chapter two’s rightful claim that God is their enemy in 2:5 and then to this posture of chapter 3–Let him give his cheek to the smiter.
The one in exile is now willingly receiving God’s just judgment against them in hope of redemption…in hope of God’s vengeance on the enemy he used to punish them by the end of chapter 3.
My conclusion? Do not bypass lamenting, even selfish lamenting because it is often the process we go through to bring our hearts into glad submission to the Lord and the hope of forgiveness through repentance and faith.
Giving your cheek to the smiter is a clear expression of faith in the Lord. It says I deserve this and more but I will wait upon my Savior because I’m banking my life on the Lord’s steadfast love and mercy.
This language of giving your cheek to the smiter shows up again in Isaiah 50:4-9 which I believe is describing the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. Jesus is the only one who continued to offer his face like a flint in perfect obedience to the Father. He obeyed to the point of death even death on a cross. Therefore this is what that obedience accomplished:
Hebrews 5:9-10 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
You can be made right with God through repentance and faith in Christ alone. Will you have him?
Be careful how you suffer. The reality is suffering will come to all people in some form or fashion throughout our lives. In part because we live in a fallen world and we are fallen people. God created this world and it functions a particular way and when we do not follow his way or someone else doesn’t follow his way then suffering occurs.
In 1 Peter 4, some of that suffering that happens to Christians is a test for us. Fiery trials are meant to reveal where we are and if we are in fact trusting the Lord. Indeed, each test either matures our faith or reveals a lack of faith.
How we understand suffering in our lives matters. Peter describes it as sharing in the sufferings of Christ in 4:13. He goes on to encourage us to rejoice in them because if you are rejoicing in your sufferings now you will rejoice with exultation when Christ returns. Peter even calls those who suffer for the name of Christ blessed. Why? Because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on us.
However, we can suffer wrongly. There are consequences for evil even in this world…even for troublesome meddlers. But if we suffer as a Christian, we are not to be ashamed. If we suffer due to consequences of sin then we ought to be ashamed. May our suffering be for the name and may it glorify the Lord.
How do you do this? Is there a “How to” YouTube video to learn this? Well here’s how it ends:
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
Trust the Lord and do what it right according to him. Let us pray for each other to know God’s ways and trust and gladly obey him.
The Word Is Not Imprisoned 