Hearing From God Through the Bible--Life with God Series

            When I graduated from high school, I walked across the stage with people who were my best friends in the whole world. Some of them I had known since I was in kindergarten, and I had so many great memories with them. On that day, I couldn’t have even imagined that just one year later, I would have very little contact with most of those people.

            That’s how it goes for many people with their high school friends, and it’s all because communication dies off. When you were in school together, it didn’t take any effort at all to communicate. You saw them every day, you were in the same classes and activities together, and so you were always communicating.

            But after graduation, you may have gone to different schools; you now lived in different places. All of a sudden, communication took effort. You didn’t just run into each other anymore, so now you had to initiate communication if it was going to happen. And for many people, that communication with their high school friends slowly fades away, and the depth of those relationships goes with it.

            This is a principle that’s as certain as death and taxes – if you don’t communicate with someone on a regular basis, the depth of your relationship with them will disappear. Communication is the heartbeat of a relationship, and when that heartbeat grows weak, the relationship will atrophy and eventually die.

            A lack of communication with God is likely the main reason why many Christians do not enjoy the close bond with God that they would like to have. Now last week, we learned that the main way in which God has made himself known to us was by sending Jesus into the world. And today, the way that we get to know Jesus is by reading about his teachings and actions in the Bible. So God’s channel of communication to us today is the Bible. If we want to communicate with God, we must hear what he has to say in the Bible.

            Today, I’d like to show you what kinds of ideas and information God communicates to us in the Bible. We have a great summary of these ideas in 2 Timothy 3:16, and alongside that verse I’m going to bring in numerous statements from Psalm 119—a psalm that is all about the Word of God.

What kinds of ideas does God communicate to us in the Bible?

            2 Timothy 3:16 is one of the most important verses you will ever read about the Bible. It is the Bible’s testimony about itself, we might say, and the last part of the verse gives us a helpful word picture for understanding what it is that God communicates to us in the Bible. Let’s read this verse, and then we’ll focus on each of the four parts of this word picture [READ 2 Tim. 3:16].

            The picture here is that in the Bible, God reveals to us the proper path to follow in life. He also alerts us if we get off that path and shows us how to get back on the path. Finally, he instructs us in how to stay on the path from that point forward. Let’s look at each of these ideas in turn.

Teaching

            In its teaching function, the Bible shows us how to think and how to act in the proper ways. It tells us the true story of how we got here, why we are here, and what we are supposed to do in life. In this way, the Bible shows us the path that we should follow in order to live out God’s will.

            Psalm 119 describes this teaching function in verses 9-11: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

            Notice the emphasis at the end of verse 11 – if I want to stay on the right path and avoid sin, my heart has to be a warehouse for the word! I have to store up God’s message in my heart so that I can then distribute it to my mind, my emotions, and my will. Otherwise, how will my mind know the proper ways to think? How will my will respond in ways that are proper for me to act? Yes, I can always look up God’s teachings in the Bible when I have a question about them, but that’s a far cry from having those teachings tucked away in my heart to where they become part of me.

            College basketball coaches often talk about how young players think too much when they’re out on the court. The plays aren’t yet like second nature for them; they’re not yet familiar with their teammates’ tendencies, and so young players tend to make a lot of mistakes because all of that information hasn’t yet been internalized. They have to slow down and think about a lot of things, but the game doesn’t slow down for them, and so it forces them into a lot of mistakes.

            Isn’t that just how life comes at us? We have to make 100 decisions off-the-cuff every day! Life has no pause button, so when your toddler throws a fit and your temper flares up, you don’t have the opportunity to say, “Stop! Let me go to Bible Gateway and look up 10 verses on anger.”

            The Bible gives us God’s teachings, and we need to internalize those teachings in order to know them and obey them. Even if you never memorize very many verses word for word, you have to know the essence of God’s message – the gist of it – so that you’ll know how he wants you to think and how he wants you to act.

But we don’t always stay on the right path, so God also uses the Bible to express another kind of idea.

Reproof

            A reproof is a statement of correction; it’s a declaration that you have done wrong. That’s not always the kind of thing we want to hear, but if we have in fact done wrong, we need to know it! God is very kind to provide reproofs and rebukes for us as we read the Bible. He has accomplished this by naming sinful attitudes and actions in the Bible, so as we study the Word, we discover instances where some of our own behaviors are labeled as being sinful.

            Though it’s not always pleasant to be told that you’ve done wrong, it is necessary and it is very beneficial for us if we will learn from it. The author of Psalm 119 recognized this. In verse 67, he wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” He repeated that thought just a few verses later in verse 71: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

            So reproofs are to the soul what physical pain is to the body. Pain tells us that something is wrong; something about our physical condition needs to be addressed before we have greater and greater problems. Reproofs give us that same kind of alert about our spiritual condition, and so they are very good for our souls if we will respond to them properly.

Now God, in his grace, doesn’t just tell us that we’ve done wrong – he also tells us how to correct the situation. And so, we find that the Bible expresses a third kind of idea.

Correction

            In the Bible, God also explains to us how to get back on the right path after we have wandered off of it. And so, we read about actions like repentance, which is a change of mind about what we have done. When we repent, we move from thinking that our actions were okay to deciding that they were not acceptable – and in fact they were sinful.

            We also read about an action like confession, in which we express our change of mind to the Lord. When we confess our sins to him, we lay aside any justifications or excuses that we may have had for our actions, and we acknowledge that he is right to call our actions sinful. God encourages us to confess our sins by giving us a promise like that in 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

            How wonderful it is that God has given us that promise! When we come to understand that we have sinned, we may be devastated by that realization. We can then echo the words of Psalm 119:28 – “My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!” It is the promise of God that gives us reassurance and comfort after we have gone astray, as the psalmist acknowledges in Psalm 119:58 – “I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.”

            So once we have repented of our sins and confessed them to God, we are ready to get back on the right track. If we have harmed anyone else by our actions, the Bible also teaches us how to ask for forgiveness and pursue reconciliation with others. So we can leave that bad detour behind us and get going again down the proper path.

As we get heading in the right direction again, our desire is to avoid taking any more disastrous detours, and so the fourth kind of idea that God communicates to us is training in righteousness.

Training in Righteousness

            As God trains us, he shows us how to stay on the right path even when we might be tempted to go astray. Training in any endeavor is meant to teach us how to successfully accomplish the task that is set out for us. Training on the job is meant to show you how to do what you’ve been hired to do, and so you learn the computer systems that you might have to use or the techniques for your job, and you also get some instruction in how to troubleshoot problems that you may encounter. Training in a sport is meant to teach you the skills that you need to be successful and to train your body and mind for the demands of the game.

            God’s training gives us the “how to” of the Christian life. How do we follow the commands that he has given us? In the Bible, we learn about the resources that we have – like the power of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual gifts that he has given to us, and the bonds of support and encouragement that we have with other Christians.

            God’s training also answers the “why” question about our motivation for obeying him. In the Bible, we learn that even little creatures like ourselves can bring tremendous praise to God as we obey him. We can also gain rewards from him for faithfully obeying his commands. By learning about these things, we come to see that we have tremendous motivation for walking down the path of obedience.

            As we learn about the how and the why of obedience from the Bible, we can learn the attitudes of the psalmist in Psalm 119. We can learn how to obey despite opposition from others – “Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes (v. 23).” We can learn to honor and adore the Lord as we see his promises carried out – “Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared (v. 38).” We can learn to love and delight in the word of God – “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces (v. 72).”

            God communicates with us through the Bible, so make it a point to regularly read what God has to say in the word. Read it or listen to an audio Bible; memorize it or ask someone else to read it to you. Whatever it takes, get familiar with God’s teachings in the Bible, then continue to learn them until they become part of you – until they control the way that you think before you even think about it; until they direct your will before you even realize it. If you will devote yourself to hearing from God through the Bible, you will find the deep friendship with God that you desire.

How Do We Get to Know God?--Life with God Series

            A few days ago, my family and I were at home, being silly, and my daughter piped up and said, “Take a video and post it on Facebook!” For some reason, I was totally taken aback by her statement. It dawned on me that when I was her age, it wasn’t even possible to make that statement! Internet access at home was still about a dozen years away, and Facebook was even farther still.

            But today, we live in a world where communication is dominated by technology. Many people wonder how well our face-to-face communication skills are going to survive. That’s an important question, because while it can be very convenient to communicate through technology, there’s no good substitute for face-to-face communication.

            We understand this well in our relationships. FaceTime and Skype are great for what they’re worth, but you just can’t beat being in the same room with someone you love. Consistent face-to-face communication really helps a relationship grow deeper.

            This fact presents a bit of a challenge for us, however, when we start talking about having a relationship with God, because we can’t communicate with God face-to-face today. Even though we would love to, we can’t sit down across the table from the Lord and enjoy a cup of coffee together. We cannot choose to visit Heaven and see Him there. So how do we get to know God?

How do we get to know God?

            Since we don’t have the same kind of interaction with God that we do with human beings, God has revealed himself or made himself known in a variety of ways so that we can get to know him. The universe that he created gives us a glimpse of his power and wisdom. The way that he gives all people certain good and necessary things like sunshine and rain testifies to his kindness and love. At times, he has communicated with us through messengers like angels and prophets. But above all, God made himself known to us by sending his own Son, the Lord Jesus, to be a flesh-and-blood example or demonstration of what he is like. So more than anything else…

We get to know God by getting to know Jesus.

            Let me show you how a few passages lay out this truth for us. In John 1 for example, we read in verse one about a divine person whom John simply calls “the Word.” He writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Down in verse 14 then, we read something fascinating about this divine person: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

            Now since we’re familiar with the rest of the story, we know now that the Word is none other than Jesus Christ. But notice what John goes on to say about him in verse 18: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father side, he has made him known.” This verse gets us into some of the deep waters of the Trinity, but notice that the emphasis here is that although we cannot see God ourselves, Jesus has made him known to us. Jesus was a visible display of the nature of God here on Earth.

            The author of Hebrews makes a similar point in the opening verses of that letter [READ vv. 1-2]. Then in verse three, the author gives us two word pictures to show us how Jesus was the visible display of the nature of God here on earth. First, he wrote that Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God.” For a bit of a modern-day explanation of this word picture, think about the way that we see the sun with our eyes here on Earth. Space travel and technology have allowed us to get pictures of the surface of the sun from outer space, but of course, those images are not what we see with our own eyes here on the ground. We see the rays of light that have come out from the surface of the sun. The dazzling rays are what the sun looks like on earth. In the same way, Jesus is what God looked like on earth. He was the visible display of something that we could not see with our own eyes.

            Second, the author goes on to write that Jesus is “the exact imprint of his nature.” In our area, many of us have had the experience of branding cattle. I had that experience once with my father-in-law, and let me tell you – I never knew that cows could make noises like that until I got to help with branding them!

            When you brand a cow, the imprint that ends up on its hide is the same pattern or design that’s on the end of your branding iron. It’s the very same pattern, now imprinted on that cow’s flesh. In the same way, Jesus is the imprint of divinity into a human life. So Jesus displayed what God is like in a way that we could see it – by observing a human life.

            Now at this point, we run into another difficulty in knowing God, because as we all know Jesus is no longer on this Earth in the flesh. He has gone to heaven for the time being, until he returns. So if we get to know God by getting to know Jesus, how do we get to know Jesus even though he is not right now here with us in the flesh?

How do we get to know Jesus?

            Fortunately for us, we have the Bible, which is a record of his actions and teachings and descriptions about him. And it’s not just the Gospels that serve this purpose, even though they focus on the life of Christ. The entire Bible – from Genesis to Revelation – teaches us about Jesus. In the Old Testament, it is by way of introduction; in the New Testament, it is by way of description and explanation. Let’s unpack that statement just a bit.

The Old Testament is a grand introduction to Jesus, which is still valuable today!

            When you’re getting to know someone, especially in the early stages, is very helpful to have some introductory information about them. When you meet someone, if you already know that they’re a member of the Jones family or the Smith family, it gives you a head start for getting to know them.

            The Old Testament gives us all kinds of wonderful information about what Jesus would be like when he came to the Earth and what purpose he would serve by coming. Jesus himself illustrated this when he encountered two of his disciples very soon after his resurrection. He could tell they were having a very difficult time understanding what had happened, and in Luke 24:25-26, he said to them “Oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then Luke adds in verse 27, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

            Now, Moses wrote the first books of the Old Testament, and the books of the prophets come toward the end. So from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of it, there are lessons to be learned about Jesus. These lessons are still highly relevant for us today!

The New Testament is a record of the actions and teachings of Jesus, as well as the teachings He communicated through His followers.

            You know that the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record the actions and teachings of Jesus. But the other books of the New Testament are no less teachings of Jesus even though they have come to us through his human followers.

            On the night before Jesus was crucified, he explained to his disciples that he was going to continue to give them his teachings even though he would no longer be with them in the flesh. How would this happen? Well, in John 14:25-26, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” So the Holy Spirit would be a “stand-in” for Jesus, we might say, and He would continue to give them the teachings of Jesus.

            We see this same thought again in John 16:12—“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

            So as Peter and James and John and Paul wrote their letters, they were communicating the teachings of Jesus that had been given to them through the Holy Spirit. So from beginning to end, the whole of the New Testament is a record of the teachings of Jesus. As we read it, we get to know his thoughts, and we learn what he values and what he despises.

So we get to know God by getting to know Jesus, and we get to know Jesus by reading about his actions and his own teachings that are recorded for us in the Bible. But there is one final factor in all of this that we need to take to heart…

As we read, we must be willing to embrace the message to properly understand it!

            When you talk with other people and you’re sharing opinions back and forth, there are times when you can tell that another person really isn’t interested in hearing what you have to say. They might let you speak your peace, but you can tell they already have their mind made up and they’re not interested in giving you a fair hearing.

            It is entirely possible for us to read the Bible with that same attitude – and many people do! They’re perfectly happy to read the Bible, but they really don’t give it a fair hearing. They already have their minds made up about what they think is true and false or right and wrong. So when they read something in the Bible that disagrees with their own thoughts, they simply say, “Well now, I don’t think God would really say that, so this part must simply be the human author’s own opinion.”

            Biblical teaching is frequently dismissed in this way when we use our own thoughts to edit the Bible rather than allow the Bible to judge and correct our thoughts. To get to know God through the Bible we must be willing to embrace the Bible’s teaching whatever it may be! Yes, we must study carefully to gain an accurate understanding of the Bible’s message, but our attitude should be the same as little Samuel in the Old Testament when God was trying to talk to him. Whenever we open this holy book, our declaration must be, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening!”

            In John 7, some of the Jewish people were amazed at the wisdom of Jesus’ teachings because they knew he had not been to one of their “Ivy League” institutions, so to speak. Jesus said to them in verse 16, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”

            Unless we are willing to do God’s will, we will never understand it, and thus we will never understand God. So as we seek to get to know God by getting to know Jesus through the Bible, we must be willing to embrace what it says – not force it to say what we want it to say. Only then will we gain an accurate understanding of what God is like, and thus have a better relationship with him.

           

A Passion to Know Him--Life with God Series

            There are certain relationships in life that only thrive when you have a passion to get to know someone. I think a relationship with a good mentor is like that. When you find someone you really admire, someone that you want to be like, you have a strong drive to learn everything that you can from them. You want to be around them and learn how they think and ask them a million questions to learn why they do the things they do.

            Romantic relationships certainly belong in this category as well. In those early stages of a romance, could you even imagine having an attraction to someone and NOT having a passionate desire to get to know them? That wouldn’t even be an attraction anymore! And many couples can attest that romance grows cold when the passion to get to know each other fades away.

            Your relationship with God is certainly a relationship that is worthy of your greatest passion. The simple fact that we are relating to GOD calls for that kind of passion from us! You cannot let a closer bond with God slip on to that list of “things I’ll get around to someday.”

            We all have a list like that in our minds, don’t we? Maybe you’ve had a desire for years to remodel your kitchen, but when it was time to either make plans or set it aside, you said, “we’ll get around to that someday!” Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, but every time you’ve seen a used one for sale you’ve said, “Well, it’s just not the right time. I’ll get around to that someday!”

            Only God knows how many Christians have remained infants in their faith because they’ve said, “I’ll get around to knowing God better someday!” Maybe when things quiet down a little bit around work; maybe when the kids are out of diapers; maybe when the kids graduate; maybe when I retire.

            We all know that song and dance, don’t we? We sincerely have the best of intentions about prioritizing our relationship with God, but we wait for a time when we think it might be easier to do than right now, and that time just never comes! The key is that we must choose to prioritize our relationship with God above everything else. We must assess the things we value in life and choose to put our relationship with God at the very top.

            God Himself summed up this need very well through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:23-24. In these verses, the Lord considered a couple of things that we might be tempted to value highly, and then he reminded us of what we should prize more than anything else: “Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

In the rest of our time together today, I want to look with you at a little piece of autobiography from the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3. In this chapter, he describes for us how he came to value knowing God more than anything else.

Philippians 3:7-11

1. A change in Paul’s “personal accounting”

            In vv. 5-6, Paul described the accomplishments that he used to value before he became a believer in Christ. He had valued these things because he thought that they all added up to put him on very friendly terms with God. Let me quickly run through this resume that Paul provides:

·         Circumcised on the eighth day—This, of course, was required in the Law of Moses. It shows that Paul came from good stock—he had faithful parents.

·         Of the people of Israel—They were the ones who had heard from God through the prophets, and they had his promises.

·         Of the tribe of Benjamin—The Benjamites had faithfully served King David from the very beginning of his reign, so this carried some prestige.

·         A Hebrew of Hebrews—Even though Paul was not born in the land of Israel, his parents brought him up in the language and culture of his ancestors—unlike some other Jews who were leaving those things behind.

·         As to the law, a Pharisee—He was a member of the strictest sect of Judaism.

·         As to zeal, a persecutor of the church—He had tried to stamp out the Christian faith initially because he thought it was an insult to God.

·         As to righteousness under the law, blameless—No one could find fault with Paul by the standards of the law, because he kept it so faithfully.

            But after Paul met Jesus in that fateful encounter on the road to Damascus, he began to see all of these things in a different light [READ v. 7].

            Paul used some terminology here from the world of accounting, and he paints a word picture like this—he used to think of those things as being like deposits or credits in his spiritual bank account. He thought he had great spiritual health, then, and was firmly in God’s good graces because his spiritual bank account seemed so large. But after he met Christ, he realized that those things had been more like debits from his spiritual bank account. Just as financial debt can hold us back from important goals, Paul’s spiritual resume had been holding him back, blinding him to the truth that he needed to be saved from his sins by the Lord Jesus Christ.

            So Paul came to realize that the spiritual resume that had once given him such pride had actually been a barrier that kept him from coming to Christ. That experience taught him that he must not allow himself to value anything as much as he valued getting to know Jesus well.

2. Nothing compares to knowing Christ

            Notice in verse eight how Paul looks beyond his old spiritual resume to take stock of everything in his life [READ v.8a]. Now keep in mind here that Paul is making a comparison. We know from his writings that he certainly valued his friendships and he valued his possessions – even though they may have been meager – but compared to the value of knowing Jesus deeply – well, by that comparison, nothing else had much value at all! In fact, if any of those things would hold Paul back from knowing Jesus better, he understood that he would be suffering a great loss.

            This attitude sustained Paul through all of the real-life losses that he did suffer. He did lose friends for the sake of Jesus; he probably lost family members as well. He speaks of these losses as we continue in verse eight [READ v. 8b].

            This is a very interesting statement from Paul, and I think what he means is that whatever he lost for the sake of Christ, he doesn’t want it back if it means he would have to be unfaithful to Christ. When Paul converted, he lost significant fame and prestige among the Jewish people and perhaps even significant wealth, but in the same way that you no longer want the trash that you set out on your curb every week, Paul no longer wanted those things because he now had something so much better. He wanted nothing at all to keep him from knowing Jesus better and better.

            Paul then goes on to tell us his purposes for adopting this attitude [READ v. 9, beginning in v. 8 at “in order that”]. Paul never again wants to think that his spiritual life is like a resume of his own accomplishments. Even as he grew in Christ, he wanted to remember that all of that growth came simply by trusting in God. On his part, Paul could take no credit even for his spiritual maturity or the powerful ways that God used him. It all came about simply as he continued to obey God in faith.

            And then in verse 10, we read of how thoroughly Paul wanted to know Jesus – to understand the Lord’s thoughts and attitudes and motivations and strength [READ v. 10 through “resurrection”].

            When God raised Jesus from the dead, he did what was seemingly impossible, and in our lives today, that same power can still accomplish things that are seemingly impossible. God can empower us to forgive people who have hurt us no matter how deeply those wounds have cut. He can reconcile us with people about whom our world might say, “There’s no hope for their relationship! It’s too far gone.” But God can do it!

            God’s power can help us control our inner desires and urges that will dominate and destroy us if we give full expression to them. Our world thinks that we will be psychologically harmed if we don’t let our anger erupt somehow or if we say “no” to any lust that we might have, but that’s because our world does not understand the power of God!

            Paul wanted to know that resurrection power by experiencing it in his own life as it transformed him and put to death the sinful desires within him, truly giving him a new quality-of-life. And then Paul goes on to say something perhaps even more profound [READ v. 10 from “and may share”].

            We love all that talk about resurrection power, but talk of suffering is a harder pill to swallow! But if we want to understand Jesus thoroughly, we have to remember that as the Scripture says, he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And he willingly embraced all of that, so if we are going to know him well, we have to learn why he was willing to endure those sufferings in obedience to God the Father, and we have to learn the attitudes that allowed him to remain faithful to the Father through it all.

            Paul describes some of those attitudes back in chapter 2 when he told the Philippians that it was great humility that led Jesus down the path toward the cross. He didn’t view his powers and position as God as things to be used simply for his own advantage, but he considered our needs and set out to meet them even though it required great humility and sacrifice from him.

            If we want to say that we know Jesus well, we have to come to understand why he so highly valued attitudes like humility and a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of others. And if we want to understand why he thought that way and why he lived that way, we will never understand it through a casual effort. We must embrace this passion that leads us to say everything else is loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

            If I achieve great success in this world but never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss. If I earn unimaginable wealth but never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss. Even if I simply piece together a nice life for myself with my wife and kids and a steady job and a gold watch when I retire but I never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss.

            My friends, you will never get to know Jesus well until you decide that that is the most valuable thing you could possibly pursue in your life. Understanding him requires you to become like him, and the sacrifices to do that are great enough that you will never do it unless you decide that it’s worth it. So decide today that everything else is like a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord. Put that kind of passion in your relationship with him because that relationship will never grow without it!

Someone I'd Like You to Meet--Life With God Series

            I never thought I’d be able to say this, but it felt strange not to see the Royals in the playoffs this year. But even though I didn’t have the chance to cheer for them, I’ve still been able to cheer for my favorite player—Ben Zobrist of the Chicago Cubs!

            Many of you heard about my distant connections to Ben while he was playing for the Royals last year. Several members of his family attended the same Bible college that I went to, so I have some connections to his family. I’m on a first-name basis with his sisters, and I have some acquaintance with his dad, who is a fellow pastor.

            I’d be lying, though, if I said I had a relationship with Ben, because the truth is, I’ve never met him. Until that might happen, I won’t have a relationship with him no matter how many of his family members I know and no matter how much I know about him!

            For all of us, this principle holds true in every area of life—if you want to have a relationship with a person, you have to meet him first. This principle also holds true when it comes to God—if you want to have a relationship with Him, you have to meet Him first!

            Now, what’s it like to meet God for the first time? Well, that really depends on who you ask. As it turns out, you would get a very different answer to that question if you listened to the dominant idea of our culture or whether you listened to the Bible! Let’s talk about the different answers that we would receive.

What is it like to meet God for the first time?

Our culture—It’s like meeting a distant relative. There’s no reason to think we can’t hit it off just fine! I can build a closer relationship with my relative through my own efforts.

            Think about it like this—imagine meeting your third cousin for the first time. Your third cousin is someone who has the same great-great grandparents as you. I’ve never met my third cousins, but if I did, I don’t have any reason to think that we couldn’t have a great friendship from the get-go. We don’t have any bad blood between us because we’ve never even met, so it seems like we could hit off pretty well. All that seems to be required is for me to look them up and contact them. And as I long as I put in a little effort to stay in touch with them from now on, maybe it could be the start of a beautiful friendship!

            This idea of connecting with a distant relative is probably the dominant way that most people in our culture think about meeting God. They might say, “No, I’m not very close to God right now, but if I just started praying more often and going to church a bit more, me and God could get along just fine! We could probably get pretty close if I just stayed in touch a bit more!”

The Bible, though, paints a very different picture of what it’s like to meet God for the first time.

The Bible—It’s like making peace with someone whom I’ve deeply offended. Our relationship is broken, and it can only be repaired by God’s grace and mercy.

            When I’ve deeply offended someone, there are problems there that must be resolved before I can have a close relationship with that person again. And when I’ve committed the offense, I’m the one who has to ask for forgiveness. And as far as repairing that relationship, that ball really isn’t in my court. That ball is in the other person’s court – he has to decide whether he is going to extend forgiveness to me and whether he is willing to rebuild that relationship.

            According to the Bible, this is a more accurate picture of what it’s like to meet God for the first time – or to be a little more precise, we might say that this is what it’s like to meet him on friendly terms; to establish a friendship with him. We do learn in the Bible that we have always had a relationship with God, but unfortunately, it has been a broken relationship – even a hostile relationship! The Bible uses some very unflattering terms to describe what we are like in relationship to God because of our sinfulness:

·         An adulterous spouse (Hosea)

·         A rebellious child (Luke 15:11-32)

·         Lovers of darkness and haters of the light of God (John 3:19-20)

·         Following the spirit of Satan (Ephesians 2:2)

·         Ungrateful creatures (Romans 1:21)

·         Exchanged the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:25)

·         Enemies of God (Romans 5:10)

            The reality of our broken and hostile relationship to God is why the Bible uses such dramatic word pictures to tell us what its like for us to come to be on friendly terms with God. A few of those word pictures are:

·         Moving from a state of spiritual death to a state of spiritual life (Ephesians 2:5)

·         Being forgiven of an oppressive, unpayable load of debt (Matthew 18:23-27)

·         Being freed from slavery (Romans 8:15)

·         Becoming a citizen after being a foreigner (Ephesians 2:19)

·         Moving from a domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Colossians 1:13)

·         Being crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20)

To make sure we all understand what is necessary for us to get on friendly terms with God, I’d like to focus on two more word pictures that tell us what is necessary for this to happen—one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.

I Need a New Heart! (Ezekiel 36:22-27)

            The prophet Ezekiel ministered during the time when the Lord had allowed the people of Israel to be conquered and taken out of their land because of their sins against Him. We call this “The Babylonian Captivity” because they were taken as captives to Babylon, which was in the area that is now modern-day Iraq.

            One result of all of this is that the surrounding nations had started to really look down on the Jews and their God. They saw them as weak and powerless and thought that their god must be the same because he apparently wasn’t able to save them (though in reality, God had allowed all of this to happen as a discipline upon the people of Israel).

            In Ezekiel 36, God told the Israelites what he was going to do to restore His honor among the nations and provide forgiveness and spiritual life for the people [READ 36:22-26].

            Think about that word picture literally for a moment. If my physical heart is stone cold, then I’m dead! My heart cannot sustain life in that condition. It is the same with my spiritual heart, or my spirit. God is telling me as I read this passage that my heart cannot sustain spiritual life in its natural condition. I need a new heart, which only he can give.

            And the new heart that he gives is even a fitting place for his Holy Spirit to live! Notice verse 27 [READ v. 27].

            So here in this passage we read a very dramatic word picture that describes what it’s like to meet God. Coming to be on friendly terms with him is like receiving a heart transplant! He removes my heart which is stone-cold dead and gives me a new heart in which his own Spirit actually lives!

I Need to Be Born All Over Again! (John 3:1-7)

            One of the dominant word pictures in the New Testament for meeting God is just as dramatic as the idea of receiving a new heart. Let’s read in John 3 about an exchange between Jesus and a religious leader named Nicodemus [READ 3:1-7].

            So according to Jesus, nothing that we received in our physical birth is sufficient to give us a home in the kingdom of God. God’s Holy Spirit must give us spiritual life, which we can think of as being born all over again. We are receiving a new kind of life from a new source, the Holy Spirit.

            Don’t miss the fact that Nicodemus was a devoutly religious man! He was a Pharisee, and the Pharisees were famous for the great care that they took to obey God’s commands as closely as possible. If there ever was a man who could have been on friendly terms with God through his own efforts, it was Nicodemus! Yet Jesus told even this devoutly religious man that he needed to receive new life from the Holy Spirit if he wanted to enter the kingdom of God.

            The question before us now is, “How do we do it?” How do we come to be on friendly terms with God? How do we get this new heart; how do we receive this new life from the Holy Spirit? Well, the answer is described for us in this very same chapter – John 3. Look at verses 16-18 [READ 3:16-18]

            To receive this new life from the Holy Spirit, here is what you must do. First, you must acknowledge to God that what he says about your spiritual need is correct – that if you do not trust in Jesus, you are condemned already because you have sinned. You need to confess that you have been in rebellion against God; that you have done things you should not have done and that you should do no longer.

            And once you have admitted that God’s assessment of you is correct – that you are guilty and deserving of punishment – then you only need to accept the forgiveness that he offers to you through Jesus Christ. Place all your hope of being forgiven in what Jesus accomplished for you by dying for your sins on the cross. He, as the son of God, came into the world, died to pay for the penalty of your sins, and came to life again to achieve new life for anyone who understands their need for it and trusts him to give it to them.

            If you desire to have a closer relationship with God, you must meet him in this way if you never have before. Get on friendly terms with him today by acknowledging your guilt to him and receiving the free gift of forgiveness that he offers through Jesus Christ!

Baptism--A Public Step of Obedience: Matthew 3:13-17

            When we study the life of Jesus, we run across some events that we certainly can’t repeat and can hardly even imitate. For example, we read about Jesus telling people precisely what they we’re thinking in their own minds. Despite what our children may think from time to time, we all know that we can’t read other people’s thoughts! We also read about an event like the Transfiguration, when the glory of Jesus’ divine nature began to shine through him and make his body glow. We certainly have no way of imitating Jesus in that.

            But when we look at the Lord’s baptism, we discover that we can imitate him in this through our own baptisms – not in all the details of course, but certainly in the spirit of why Jesus was baptized. So today, we’re going to take a look at the baptism of Jesus to see how we might be able to follow his example.

Setting the Stage

            To understand part of the significance of Jesus’ baptism, we have to place it in the overall story of his life. As you all know, Jesus was born into this world with tremendous fanfare and a number of supernatural events. The angels were working overtime, we remember, as angelic visitors came to speak with Mary, Joseph, and Zechariah, and then a whole choir of them appeared in the sky to announce the Lord’s birth to the shepherds. A supernatural light led some Wise Men from the East to the place where Jesus was, and they referred to him as the King of the Jews!

            And after all of those incredible events, we read about – well, we read about not much of anything until Jesus was around 30 years old! Apart from one story of Jesus demonstrating his knowledge in the Temple when he was 12 years old, the Bible doesn’t record any details about Jesus’ childhood. Apparently, he just lived a quiet and normal life for all those years!

            I have to think that the fact that Jesus lived such an ordinary life for so long must’ve been very confusing and frustrating for all of the people who knew about his incredible birth. Surely for so many years they were on pins and needles, just waiting for amazing things to happen through him, yet here he was, growing up just like a normal Jewish boy.

            Jesus’ baptism was the event that began to change all of that. From that day forward, Jesus’ life was anything but ordinary. It was extraordinary in every way, so the Lord’s baptism marked a major turning point in his life.

            This moment began to take shape when Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, began to baptize some of their fellow Jewish countrymen in the Jordan River. John likely earned his nickname “the Baptist” because what he was doing was so unusual to the Jewish people. You see, the Jews did not use the ritual of baptism for themselves – they used it exclusively for Gentiles who wanted to convert to their religion.

            The Jews thought of the Gentiles as needing a fresh start – a whole new beginning, which is part of what baptism symbolizes. They didn’t see themselves in the same light, however. Sure – they were aware that they committed sins now and then, but they believed their connection to Abraham put them on good terms with God from the moment they were born.

            But John came along and warned the Jewish people that that was not true. If they wanted to be on good terms with God, they needed a fresh start, too – just the same as the Gentiles did. They had to realize that your family tree does not make you right with God – your faith does, so they needed to repent of their sins and express their faith in God.

            So John’s call for the Jewish people to undergo baptism was very unusual. His ministry drew a lot of attention, and the fact that the public was focused on John seems to have been at least part of the reason why Jesus came to him to be baptized as well. Jesus’ baptism served as his coming-out party. This was his big entrance onto the public stage, and with the supernatural events that took place, it made for quite an entrance!

            Baptism is supposed to serve a similar role for us. It serves as our entrance onto the public stage as followers of Christ. When you place your faith in Jesus, that decision begins to transform you, but nevertheless, other people will not know that you have made that decision unless you tell them. Your baptism is meant to serve as your formal declaration that you are a follower of Jesus and that you want to be identified with him.

Matthew 3:13-17

            Let’s take a closer look at what happened when Jesus came to be baptized by John [READ vv. 13-14]. Notice how John initially resisted Jesus’ request to be baptized. After all, John’s baptism was designed for people to express repentance, and he knew full well that Jesus had nothing to repent of!

            But Jesus persuaded him with this reply [READ v. 15]. Jesus knew that it was God the Father’s will for him to be baptized, and this statement is just one of many that highlight the care and concern that Jesus had at all times to carry out His Father’s will. In John 4:33, Jesus described obedience as the very food that sustained his soul: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”

            In his eagerness to do the Father’s will, Jesus has given us precisely the example that we should follow. We must also have a careful concern to obey God’s will in everything. Before the Lord Jesus returned to Heaven, he spoke these words to his disciples in Matthew 28:18-20: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit (here is another reason why we baptize – because Jesus commanded it for his followers), teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

            It’s almost as if Jesus could have said, “Teach them to follow my example. Just as I obeyed the Father in everything, teach my disciples to obey all that I have commanded you.” For us, choosing to be baptized is an expression of our commitment to do all that Jesus has commanded us. And with such a public expression should come a new level of accountability with your brothers and sisters in Christ. We should celebrate with this young lady today and affirm the decision that she has made to follow Jesus. We should renew and recommit to our efforts to encourage her and help her learn as a child of God.

            Jesus was very careful to carry out the Father’s will, and on this occasion of his baptism, the Father wanted to make his opinion of Jesus publicly known so that everyone who witnessed this event might begin to understand exactly who Jesus was. Notice what took place after Jesus came up from the water [READ vv. 16-17].

            The Jewish people in this crowd who witnessed these things and who knew the Old Testament well may have had their thoughts turn toward Isaiah 42:1-2, which says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

            For everyone who witnessed Jesus’ baptism that day, the man that they saw go down into the water may have just seemed like a young man from Galilee. But when he came up from the water, they had unmistakable signs that this man was unique and special. From this moment on, Jesus’ life would never be quiet or private ever again. These people had heard from heaven that Jesus is the Son of God, and if they followed his life, they would start to learn exactly what that meant.

            God the Father’s declaration from heaven is filled with such love and compassion. It would be a terrible oversight for me not to remind you today that when you accept Christ as your Savior, you enjoy what we might call the “spillover effect” of the pleasure that God the Father has in God the Son. When you are born again, on the spiritual level your life becomes hidden in Christ, so that the deep pleasure that God the Father has in Jesus spills over onto you as well.

            Just because of your new status as a child of God, He takes great delight in you as well. This fact that we are joined together with Christ is also part of what we symbolize through baptism. The act of going under the water and coming back out again symbolizes that we have been joined together with Jesus in his death, his burial, and his resurrection so that now our destiny is tied up in his destiny. Because of what he has accomplished, we are a new creation – dead to ourselves and our old passions and desires and alive to God as his own children.

            May we rejoice today in all that Jesus has accomplished for us, and in how the act of baptism reminds us of that and symbolizes it for us. May we rejoice and celebrate with this young girl who is taking such a great step of obedience and setting a great example for us all!

           

The Trinity--Definite Convictions Series

            There are many things in life that we don’t totally understand and can’t totally explain, but we know they’re very important—things like:

·         What your health insurance covers

·         How your retirement plan works

            For most Christians, the doctrine of the Trinity falls into a category like this. We barely have the foggiest idea of how to explain it, but we know it’s very important, and we know we’re supposed to believe it, so we do. Today, I hope I can take a bit of the mystery out of this doctrine for you as we look at the second section of our statement of faith, which says this:

We believe in the eternal Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each Person being equal, yet there not being three gods, but One. (Gen 1:26a; John 10:30; John 1:1,2; John 14:16; Deut 6:4; John 15:26; 2 Cor 13:14; Acts 5:3,4)

            Before we look at a couple of the specific words of this statement, let’s make sure we have a basic idea of what we’re actually claiming when we say that God is a Trinity. One of the best ways to clarify this claim is by comparison. For example, consider me—I am one being with one mind. I am not two beings or three beings—there is only one of me (even when I wish I could be in two places at one time!). Also, there is only one thinking part to me, not multiple thinking parts.

            In contrast to this, when we say God is a Trinity, we’re saying that God is one being with three minds. God is only one existing thing, but within that one existing thing there are three minds—or three persons we could say, these three persons who refer to themselves as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

            As Christians, we make this claim because it’s the only way to make sense of everything that the Bible says about God. The Bible is quite clear that there is only one God—not many gods or several gods, but one God. In Deuteronomy 6:4, Moses states, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” God Himself declared this in Isaiah 44:6 and 8: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god… Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

            And yet the Bible also assigns the same divine powers and honor to three distinct Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of them is called “God” in different passages, and they are consistently given the same honor, yet we know they’re distinct because we also read about them communicating with each other and performing different actions at the same moment in time.

            So when we put all of this together, we come up with the doctrine of the Trinity—that God is only one being, within which there are three distinct minds. Now some people have said that this claim is just a bunch of nonsense. Muslims, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses have all said that its impossible for God to be one being with three minds because that statement is self-contradictory, they say.

            But in reality, that accusation simply is not true. A truly self-contradictory statement would be something like, “George is a married bachelor.” That’s a contradiction because a bachelor, by definition, is not married.

            But you can probably see that the claim that God is one being with three minds simply is not like that statement about George. It’s true that we can’t understand completely what God must be like, but that’s no reason to say that it’s impossible for God to be one being with three minds.

“eternal”

            Let’s take a closer look now at just a couple of the words in our statement of faith. First, our statement correctly says that the Trinity is eternal. Each of the three divine Persons has always existed. There was never a time when only the Father existed, then the Son came along later on, then the Holy Spirit after that. No—each of them has always existed.

“each Person being equal”

            Next, notice how our statement says, “each Person being equal.” There is a true equality between the three divine Persons even though they have played different roles in their interactions with Creation. For example, it wasn’t the Holy Spirit who was born into the world as Jesus, it was the Son. And it wasn’t the Father who then came to live within us, it was the Holy Spirit. But nevertheless, they all have the same traits and abilities, and they are all equally worthy of our worship.

Monday Matters

            Once again now in this series, we need to talk about how this doctrine relates to the matters that concern us in daily life. It can be very tempting for us to think that the doctrine of the Trinity has very little relevance to our daily troubles. Sure, we understand that faith in God and obedience to Christ are very important, but why does it matter if we know that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all equally divine? Let me briefly point out two ways in which this doctrine is important and relevant for us.

1. The Savior who died for me was nothing less than fully divine.

            The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us that Jesus – God the Son in human flesh – was equally divine with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was not on some kind of lower-level – he was fully divine, and so we don’t need to doubt if his sacrifice is truly able to save us.

            This truth is highly relevant to our daily lives. Once we come to acknowledge that we have sinned against God, all of life becomes burdensome and meaningless until we come to know that we have found forgiveness. If Jesus were on some lower level than God, then there might always be some room for us to doubt whether his sacrifice was truly enough to save us. But since he was fully divine, that fact should silence any concerns that we might have about whether his sacrifice was truly enough. The knowledge that Jesus is God is part of the knowledge that can put to rest our troubled consciences and satisfy the intense longing that we have to know we are forgiven.

2. The Holy Spirit who now lives within me is fully divine.

            The New Testament teaches this great truth that the Holy Spirit now lives within every child of God. He does so much to teach us and guide us and comfort us and reassure our hearts, and the doctrine of the Trinity reminds us that all of these things are done for us by someone who is no less than fully divine.

            And so, as we learn more about all that the Holy Spirit does for us, we don’t have to have any doubts about his ability to actually accomplish those things. Can he truly transform me from the inside out? Yes he can! Can he help me so that I no longer fulfill the sinful desires inside my heart? Yes he can! He has nothing less than divine power to transform our lives, so we can have total confidence in his abilities.

            Though the doctrine of the Trinity will always remain a bit mysterious to us, the basic claim of this doctrine is not difficult to understand, and this doctrine also gives us great confidence in the things that God has and will accomplish for us. This doctrine reminds us that God is truly unique – He is unlike any other being that we know. He truly is in a class by himself – God in three persons, the blessed Trinity!

Getting Dressed from Christ's Wardrobe--1 Peter 5:1-5 (1 Peter Series)

            Every so often, I find myself thinking about the first person to try out some dangerous thing—like the first person to jump out of an airplane with a parachute. I wonder—was it hard to find someone who was willing to be the first person to do it? Or how about the first person to go under the ocean in a submarine? What did they have to do to convince that guy to get behind the controls of that thing?

            Sometimes when situations are particularly challenging or dangerous, it can be hard to find people who are willing to go first—people who will be out front and in the lead. The Church has found this to be true on occasion during times of persecution. Leaders can become a special target for persecution, so people might shy away from a leadership role or from leading with any real effectiveness.

            These believers that Peter was writing to in Asia Minor may have been facing that dilemma, which is perhaps why Peter’s thoughts turned toward the elders among the people in the passage we’re going to look at today.

Central Idea: To be a strong church in all seasons, each of us must be like Christ—some of us by leading, all of us by embracing humility.

1. Some of us by leading…

            This little word “so” in v. 1 has been fascinating me as I’ve been thinking about this passage. It tells us that what Peter is about to say to the elders is not a diversion from this whole discussion about persecution, but a logical extension of it. What is needed when a congregation finds itself facing persecution? Godly, Christ-like leadership.

            [READ vv. 1-2a] “Exercising oversight” is a summary of what elders are supposed to do, and “shepherding” is a picture of how elders are supposed to do it. The elders of a church are supposed to oversee every aspect of the life of that church. They can certainly delegate some responsibility to others, like deacons or other leaders, but to borrow that famous phrase from Harry Truman, the buck stops here! The elders are finally and ultimately responsible for the life of the church.

            Exercising oversight is what the elders are supposed to do, and they are supposed to do it the way that a shepherd would care for his flock. Shepherding back then was a job that has almost no exact parallel today. The shepherd would literally live with his sheep and look after their every need. Sheep were on the level of livestock, but maybe the best comparison to what that relationship was like is the way that we care for house pets today. We let them live with us and we look after their every need. We develop a personal bond with them and genuinely care for them.

            So elders are not supposed to lead in some kind of cold, detached, disinterested sort of way—our leadership is supposed to flow out of personal concern for the members of our church, built upon bonds of love. Peter then goes on to give three clarifications for how elders are supposed to go about their work.

            First, he writes, “not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you.” It might sound odd to think of an elder serving out of compulsion, but it does happen! For example, men become pastors for a variety of reasons, one of which might be pressure from others. Perhaps grandma has always dreamed of having a pastor in the family, and maybe no one really wants to do that, but one grandson jumps into it out of a feeling of obligation.

            Or perhaps a church’s constitution calls for a 5-man elder board, but only 4 willing elders can be found. What are you going to do then? The constitution says there has to be 5, so somebody might have to be pressured into it against their will. So a man could end up serving out of compulsion, but of course in that scenario his heart won’t be in it, so his effectiveness will be greatly limited.

            Peter’s second clarification is, “not for shameful gain, but eagerly.” A man should serve as an elder not because of what he might get out of it, but because of what he can give to others. An elder might receive financial support if he is also in the position of pastor, but this should not be his greatest motivation. He might also receive honor and praise from others, but he shouldn’t make those things the fuel of his service, either. He should be eager to serve, even if he gets no tangible benefits out of it.

            Third, Peter writes, “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” An elder should draw people toward Christ by his example, not drag them toward his own agenda through manipulation or pressure. Too many men have looked at the church as a place where they can feed their own appetite for power and control over others, but a godly elder must not be that way. He must remember that he is shepherding the flock of God, not his own flock. The church is not his own little kingdom where he can rule like a dictator—it is the flock of God that is to be cared for lovingly and with tenderness.

            If an elder will serve in these ways, he stands to receive honor from none other than Christ himself [READ v. 4]. The chief Shepherd, of course, is Jesus Christ. He is the true shepherd of God’s flock – the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep, as he said himself in John 10. This fact is an encouraging reminder for elders, because we are not perfect in our role. But despite our imperfections, the chief Shepherd is always on the job overseeing his flock. And if we seek to serve him well in this position, we will receive unique praise and reward from him when he returns.

            So a congregation needs godly leadership to oversee its spiritual life, and this is perhaps doubly important when a congregation faces persecution. Those times can be very uncertain times, and the flock of God needs clear, compassionate, and Christ-like leaders to lead the way. The elders of the church can acknowledge this by leading in the proper way, and the congregation can acknowledge the importance of leadership by following the lead of their leaders!

            [READ v. 5a] Here, Peter is acknowledging the reality that typically speaking, elders are going to be among the older generations of the congregation. So he refers to the others as “you who are younger,” and he calls them to be subject to the elders.

            This does not mean that there should be an unquestioning obedience of the elders or some kind of cult-like following, but it does mean that the congregation should submit to the guidance and oversight of the elders. That decision is a very Christ-like attitude as well, because you may remember that Jesus has submitted himself to the leadership of God the Father. That is perhaps the primary reason that we refer to them as God the Father and God the Son, because of that relationship of leadership and submission.

            For the congregation to follow the lead of the elders is also a very humble response, which leads us right into Peter’s statement about humility at the end of verse five.

So to be a strong church in all seasons, each of us must be like Christ – some of us by leading, all of us by embracing humility.

2. …all of us by embracing humility.

            [READ v. 5b] This word picture of clothing ourselves with humility is so telling. When you see another person, perhaps the very first thing you notice about them is their clothing. Or if you’re trying to describe a person to someone else, one of the first things you might mention is that person’s clothing – “he’s the guy in the red shirt over there.”

            Your clothing is the most dominant feature of your appearance, and likewise, humility should be clear and obvious in the way that we relate to each other. The life of our church should not be characterized by power plays or ego trips but by serving one another and a refusal to think of ourselves as being more important and valuable than others.

            Humility is one of the most obvious ways in which we can imitate our Lord Jesus Christ. Every movement of his life was marked by humility. The decision to be born into this world in the first place was clothed in humility. Philippians 2:6-8 says that Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

            Our Lord chose to be born into a family of simple peasants, common folk. Yes, they were in the royal bloodline of King David, but all the trappings of royalty had long since disappeared from their family. Our Lord then spent the vast majority of his life – 30 of his 33 years – living in humble obedience to his parents. And even after he had conducted his public ministry and become such a well-known figure, he could be found on the night before he died with a towel around his waist, washing the feet of his disciples – a task that was typically performed by the lowliest servant in a household. If there ever was a man who was clothed in humility, certainly was our Lord Jesus Christ. Reflecting on his life and actions will help us to know what such a life of humility looks like.

            And according to Peter in our passage for today, why must we clothe ourselves with humility toward one another? Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. How sobering to think that God himself might oppose the life of our congregation rather than support it, but if we are a proud and arrogant people, that’s exactly what we might find! Like the prophet Balaam who set out to curse the children of Israel, we might find God blocking our way to hinder us from moving forward if we are acting in pride.

            At all times in the life of our church, Christ-like behavior must be on full display. That is especially important when pressure from outside the church might be making life hard for us. For some of us, acting like Christ will mean taking the lead by setting the example for others to follow and being the chief servants who are overseeing the life of the flock. For all of us, acting like Christ will mean embracing humility – wearing it like a beautiful garment that adorns everything we do. With spiritual health like that in our church, we can be certain that God will not be opposing us but sustaining us with his grace to do his will.