Your Reward
We all love rewards whether it is the skymiles we earn for using our credit card, the A we get on the test we studied so hard for, the free scoop of ice cream we receive after buying the previous nine, or a year-end bonus from our employer. In Genesis 15 God says, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” God declares to Abram and to us that he is our reward. Do we not tend to think of God as the giver of the rewards we want in life, but fail to see him as the reward itself, the greatest possible reward there could ever be?
About this promise of God to Abram, John Calvin wrote, “In calling himself his ‘reward,’ [God] teaches Abram to be satisfied with himself alone…since men, surrounded with various and innumerable desires of the flesh, are at times unstable, and are then too much addicted to the love of the present life…God declares that He alone is sufficient for the perfection of a happy life to the faithful…God is the highest and complete perfection of all good things… he not only pours upon us the abundance of his kindness, but offers himself to us that we might enjoy him…He who has God for his inheritance does not exult in fading joy; but as one already elevated toward heaven, enjoys the solid happiness of eternal life.”
The "solid happiness of eternal life" Calvin speaks of is ours now to the degree that we are satisfied in God himself as our great reward. That "solid happiness" can be hard to come by though. We live in a man-centered culture and we have a self-centered nature, and we are easily enticed by the innumerable things promising to reward us with happiness. All the while there stands Jesus, who has guaranteed the promise of Genesis 15:1 with his own blood at the cross. How will we respond? Here are a few questions to ponder:
What am I looking to for joy and satisfaction?
Am I satisfied in God, or am I constantly striving for something more, thinking that if only I could just have this thing or that, then I would be satisfied?
Is God himself the "end," or is he for you merely a "means" to all the "ends" you are really after in your life?
Friday, September 3, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
I Will Be Your God, Part 2
Never Again
Last time we considered the promise of God to Adam and Eve to send a Redeemer to come and fix the mess made by the sinfulness of mankind. In spite of God's promise, in the generations that followed Adam, the practice of sin grew worse and worse until it reached the depth of which we read in Genesis 6, "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart." So in the great flood God "blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens" every living thing, that is, except Noah and his family and those on the ark.
After the flood was over, they came out of the ark to start life on earth again, and God said to Noah, "I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
Last time we considered the promise of God to Adam and Eve to send a Redeemer to come and fix the mess made by the sinfulness of mankind. In spite of God's promise, in the generations that followed Adam, the practice of sin grew worse and worse until it reached the depth of which we read in Genesis 6, "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart." So in the great flood God "blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens" every living thing, that is, except Noah and his family and those on the ark.
After the flood was over, they came out of the ark to start life on earth again, and God said to Noah, "I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
The promise to Noah and to us is "NEVER AGAIN!" God declares that he will never again bring such destruction on this world and its inhabitants. It is a promise to preserve his people and his world, and his promise of redemption. God is committed to his promise to have a people and to be their God forever.
But given God's actions in Genesis 6 & 7, how can we know that God will not unleash his fury again and destroy us and all he has made?
The fact that God (who is holy and perfectly trustworthy) made a promise and has a consistent history of keeping his promises should be enough for us, but he gives more. He attaches a sign to his promise, a sign of the covenant he has made. The sign he gave Noah was what we call a rainbow. It is God's bow which he places in the sky to remind us and himself of the promise he has made. God's bow is a battle bow aimed away from us and toward himself as an expression of the depth of his commitment to preserve his people even at his own expense. Because of our unfaithfulness Jesus went to the cross and took the "arrows" we deserved restoring and assuring forever a relationship with God for us.
So the next time you see a rainbow, in addition to enjoying the beauty which God has made, remember his promise, "NEVER AGAIN!" which means he will preserve us and his world until Jesus comes again with glory to make all things right forever, and remember what Jesus endured to make that promise sure.Wednesday, August 25, 2010
I WILL BE YOUR GOD: Part 1
A Promise of the Promise
In Genesis 3:15 we find God’s determination to maintain a relationship with the people he has created in spite of their foolish rebellion against him. In the verses that precede, we read the account of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin resulting in alienation from God, alienation from each other, alienation from the world in which they live, expulsion from the garden, and the certainty of physical death. Yet here in the very first interaction God has with Adam and Eve after their rebellion against him, God makes a “promise of the promise.” God pronounces a curse on the serpent (the serpent whom we know to have been Satan himself) who tempted and deceived Eve saying, “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” In saying this God is offering what has been referred to as the proto-euangelion, the first gospel. It is the first mention of the Redeemer who would come and fix the mess mankind has made. It is the first promise of the Messiah, Jesus, who would come and save his people from their sins. This promise of the promise is the subject of the first sermon in our new series for Sunday Evenings.
Read Genesis 3.
Questions for thought and/or discussion:
1. Who is speaking to who in verses 14-19?
2. Who or what is “your offspring,” the offspring of the Serpent (verse 15)?
3. Who is “her offspring,” the offspring of the woman (verse 15)?
4. How is the offspring of the woman’s heel bruised, and how is the offspring of the serpent’s head bruised?
5. What is the significance of these statements for us today?
Points of Application
1. Do not underestimate the depth of your sinfulness, and it’s deep, thorough impact on you, intense alienation, resulting in deep need for the gospel.
2. God is never taken by surprise by anything. He is always one step ahead. Adam and Eve sin, and God responds immediately, definitively, graciously. He already had a plan.
3. God is the initiator of conflict against the evil one and his schemes against you. He does not just allow Satan to go unchecked. God established enmity between “his offspring” and “her offspring.” The conflict is painful but good. The only other option would be certain defeat having been given over to Satan, and God would not allow that.
4. God upholds his relationship with his people. God’s commitment to have a people and be their God is the core of his promise. God demonstrates his commitment to have a people even at great cost to himself. We sinned against him, but rather than turning his back on us and walking away, he turned his back on his own son, allowing him to be crushed for us (Isaiah 53), so that we would not have to be crushed, and so that he could have a people forever.
5. In his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection, Jesus has won the definitive victory that was necessary for sinful people to have a relationship with God.
In Genesis 3:15 we find God’s determination to maintain a relationship with the people he has created in spite of their foolish rebellion against him. In the verses that precede, we read the account of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin resulting in alienation from God, alienation from each other, alienation from the world in which they live, expulsion from the garden, and the certainty of physical death. Yet here in the very first interaction God has with Adam and Eve after their rebellion against him, God makes a “promise of the promise.” God pronounces a curse on the serpent (the serpent whom we know to have been Satan himself) who tempted and deceived Eve saying, “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” In saying this God is offering what has been referred to as the proto-euangelion, the first gospel. It is the first mention of the Redeemer who would come and fix the mess mankind has made. It is the first promise of the Messiah, Jesus, who would come and save his people from their sins. This promise of the promise is the subject of the first sermon in our new series for Sunday Evenings.
Read Genesis 3.
Questions for thought and/or discussion:
1. Who is speaking to who in verses 14-19?
2. Who or what is “your offspring,” the offspring of the Serpent (verse 15)?
3. Who is “her offspring,” the offspring of the woman (verse 15)?
4. How is the offspring of the woman’s heel bruised, and how is the offspring of the serpent’s head bruised?
5. What is the significance of these statements for us today?
Points of Application
1. Do not underestimate the depth of your sinfulness, and it’s deep, thorough impact on you, intense alienation, resulting in deep need for the gospel.
2. God is never taken by surprise by anything. He is always one step ahead. Adam and Eve sin, and God responds immediately, definitively, graciously. He already had a plan.
3. God is the initiator of conflict against the evil one and his schemes against you. He does not just allow Satan to go unchecked. God established enmity between “his offspring” and “her offspring.” The conflict is painful but good. The only other option would be certain defeat having been given over to Satan, and God would not allow that.
4. God upholds his relationship with his people. God’s commitment to have a people and be their God is the core of his promise. God demonstrates his commitment to have a people even at great cost to himself. We sinned against him, but rather than turning his back on us and walking away, he turned his back on his own son, allowing him to be crushed for us (Isaiah 53), so that we would not have to be crushed, and so that he could have a people forever.
5. In his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection, Jesus has won the definitive victory that was necessary for sinful people to have a relationship with God.
New Sermon Series: I WILL BE YOUR GOD
THE PROMISE OF GOD
The natural tendency we all have is to invest in certain people, things, institutions, opportunities, pursuits, and activities looking for them to “deliver the goods” in our lives. We tend to give ourselves to those people and things which PROMISE us the most.
From relationships we look for companionship, love, pleasure. From career we look for significance, worth, power. From material possessions we look for reputation, happiness, security. And these are just a few samples. In these examples people, career, and money can easily become functional idols in our lives. An idol is anything that takes the place in your heart that only God should have. It is something from which you seek life, fulfillment, joy, hope. Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, says, “The human heart takes good things…and turns them into ultimate things. Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle said it this way: “Idolatry is taking a good thing and making it a God-thing and that’s a bad thing.” We are looking to have the goods delivered in our lives.
So then my question is: How’s that going for you? How’s it working? To what degree are the “goods being delivered” to you by whatever it is that you are looking to in your life?
What if there was one source from which ultimate “delivery” of all these things would and could come? The answer to that question is: there is just such a source, and he is God.
Don’t misunderstand; the point here is not to reduce God to some sort of “cosmic delivery boy” who brings us what we think we need. That is, in fact, the very opposite. The point to embrace in all of this is not that God delivers “the goods” but that he delivers himself – which is infinitely more and better.
There are those who would describe that which God promises to deliver as health, wealth and prosperity. There are others whose characterization would reduce what God offers to little more than fire insurance, a way to remove the risk of hell when you die. Still others would suggest that their pursuit of God, religion, or faith brings some sense of inner peace. And then there are the many who seek God only when crisis comes and desperation sets in. Add to that the reality that all of us, to some degree, are looking to idols in our lives (which we do not think of as God or gods at all) for meaning, comfort, security or hope, and what you end up with is throngs of people looking to “get” from their preferred “god” but not looking to encounter God in any real, meaningful, relational way.
Standing in contrast to all of this is the God of the Bible. From the beginning of God’s revelation of himself in the Old Testament book of Genesis to the end of it in the New Testament book of Revelation, he is not about giving us things or meeting our needs, but instead he has determined to give HIMSELF to a people. The recurring promise of God throughout the Bible is “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” We have a God who has promised himself to us. The name Immanuel means “God with us,” and that is precisely what we have through 1) Jesus – who was born and lived for a season among us; 2) the Holy Spirit – who was sent to be present with us now; and 3) the certain promise that Jesus will come again and take us to be with him forever. God does not just promise to give us stuff or do us favors; he promises us a relationship with him that is sure, rich, and eternal. All the things we desire and needs we feel are either fulfilled or cease to matter in relationship with God.
Join us on Sunday evenings this Fall as we explore the reality of a God who promises us nothing less than himself. The question we will ask ourselves over and over again in different ways is: Do we want what we think God has to offer us, or do we want Him - Immanuel, God with us?
The natural tendency we all have is to invest in certain people, things, institutions, opportunities, pursuits, and activities looking for them to “deliver the goods” in our lives. We tend to give ourselves to those people and things which PROMISE us the most.
From relationships we look for companionship, love, pleasure. From career we look for significance, worth, power. From material possessions we look for reputation, happiness, security. And these are just a few samples. In these examples people, career, and money can easily become functional idols in our lives. An idol is anything that takes the place in your heart that only God should have. It is something from which you seek life, fulfillment, joy, hope. Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, says, “The human heart takes good things…and turns them into ultimate things. Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle said it this way: “Idolatry is taking a good thing and making it a God-thing and that’s a bad thing.” We are looking to have the goods delivered in our lives.
So then my question is: How’s that going for you? How’s it working? To what degree are the “goods being delivered” to you by whatever it is that you are looking to in your life?
What if there was one source from which ultimate “delivery” of all these things would and could come? The answer to that question is: there is just such a source, and he is God.
Don’t misunderstand; the point here is not to reduce God to some sort of “cosmic delivery boy” who brings us what we think we need. That is, in fact, the very opposite. The point to embrace in all of this is not that God delivers “the goods” but that he delivers himself – which is infinitely more and better.
There are those who would describe that which God promises to deliver as health, wealth and prosperity. There are others whose characterization would reduce what God offers to little more than fire insurance, a way to remove the risk of hell when you die. Still others would suggest that their pursuit of God, religion, or faith brings some sense of inner peace. And then there are the many who seek God only when crisis comes and desperation sets in. Add to that the reality that all of us, to some degree, are looking to idols in our lives (which we do not think of as God or gods at all) for meaning, comfort, security or hope, and what you end up with is throngs of people looking to “get” from their preferred “god” but not looking to encounter God in any real, meaningful, relational way.
Standing in contrast to all of this is the God of the Bible. From the beginning of God’s revelation of himself in the Old Testament book of Genesis to the end of it in the New Testament book of Revelation, he is not about giving us things or meeting our needs, but instead he has determined to give HIMSELF to a people. The recurring promise of God throughout the Bible is “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” We have a God who has promised himself to us. The name Immanuel means “God with us,” and that is precisely what we have through 1) Jesus – who was born and lived for a season among us; 2) the Holy Spirit – who was sent to be present with us now; and 3) the certain promise that Jesus will come again and take us to be with him forever. God does not just promise to give us stuff or do us favors; he promises us a relationship with him that is sure, rich, and eternal. All the things we desire and needs we feel are either fulfilled or cease to matter in relationship with God.
Join us on Sunday evenings this Fall as we explore the reality of a God who promises us nothing less than himself. The question we will ask ourselves over and over again in different ways is: Do we want what we think God has to offer us, or do we want Him - Immanuel, God with us?
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
SIGNS
Signs are all around us all the time: advertising something; instructing us where, how much farther, or how fast to go; directing our attention to an idea; etc. The apostle John is unique among the New Testament Gospel writers in his use of the word “sign” (the Greek word, ‘semeion’). Matthew and Mark, quoting Jesus, use the word ‘sign’ negatively in their gospels, but John intentionally employs this term throughout the first half of his gospel, and he does so in a positive and helpful manner.
So what is a sign and why does John use this term instead of ‘miracle’? Encarta Dictionary defines a sign as follows: “Something that indicates or expresses the existence of something else not immediately apparent.” You might just simply say that a sign points you somewhere or to something. So it is with John’s use of the word. John uses the word “sign” instead of the word “miracle” in order to reveal not only the fact that Jesus performed acts of great power (which he did) but more importantly for John, in terms of his purpose for writing his gospel, to demonstrate a greater and deeper spiritual reality outside of the actual miracle itself. In his gospel John only includes seven of the many miracles Jesus performed, and in each case there is a deeper spiritual lesson he wants us to learn regarding who Jesus is and why he came.
With the exceptions of a brief chapter-or-so long prologue and similar epilogue, John’s gospel has two major sections of narrative. The first is built around the structure of the seven signs and the second is focused on the passion of Jesus – the week that included Jesus’ arrest, suffering, death, and resurrection. NT scholar Raymond Brown refers to these two sections of John’s gospel as the “Book of Signs” and the “Book of Glory.” This is a helpful way to understand the intentional structure of John’s gospel. Why does this matter? It matters because John wants us to see each of the miracles in the “book of signs” pointing us to the “book of glory,” the story of Jesus’ passion, i.e. the cross. Every one of the signs shows us some aspect of who Jesus is by pointing us to his glory, his death on the cross for his people. So each week that we look at one of these seven signs, I will connect the miracle to some aspect of the passion of Jesus, not because I am taking creative license with the Bible, but because that is precisely what John wanted us to do, in order that we might a) know who Jesus really is, b) believe in him as he has revealed himself to be, and therefore, c) have eternal life in him.
So the question before us each of the next few weeks will be: What is the greater spiritual reality Jesus is showing us in this miracle? What can we learn about Jesus… according to Jesus himself, through this sign?
Come join us at City on a Hill on Sunday evenings as we learn more about who Jesus is, as John shows us his identity through the seven signs.
So what is a sign and why does John use this term instead of ‘miracle’? Encarta Dictionary defines a sign as follows: “Something that indicates or expresses the existence of something else not immediately apparent.” You might just simply say that a sign points you somewhere or to something. So it is with John’s use of the word. John uses the word “sign” instead of the word “miracle” in order to reveal not only the fact that Jesus performed acts of great power (which he did) but more importantly for John, in terms of his purpose for writing his gospel, to demonstrate a greater and deeper spiritual reality outside of the actual miracle itself. In his gospel John only includes seven of the many miracles Jesus performed, and in each case there is a deeper spiritual lesson he wants us to learn regarding who Jesus is and why he came.
With the exceptions of a brief chapter-or-so long prologue and similar epilogue, John’s gospel has two major sections of narrative. The first is built around the structure of the seven signs and the second is focused on the passion of Jesus – the week that included Jesus’ arrest, suffering, death, and resurrection. NT scholar Raymond Brown refers to these two sections of John’s gospel as the “Book of Signs” and the “Book of Glory.” This is a helpful way to understand the intentional structure of John’s gospel. Why does this matter? It matters because John wants us to see each of the miracles in the “book of signs” pointing us to the “book of glory,” the story of Jesus’ passion, i.e. the cross. Every one of the signs shows us some aspect of who Jesus is by pointing us to his glory, his death on the cross for his people. So each week that we look at one of these seven signs, I will connect the miracle to some aspect of the passion of Jesus, not because I am taking creative license with the Bible, but because that is precisely what John wanted us to do, in order that we might a) know who Jesus really is, b) believe in him as he has revealed himself to be, and therefore, c) have eternal life in him.
So the question before us each of the next few weeks will be: What is the greater spiritual reality Jesus is showing us in this miracle? What can we learn about Jesus… according to Jesus himself, through this sign?
Come join us at City on a Hill on Sunday evenings as we learn more about who Jesus is, as John shows us his identity through the seven signs.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Jesus According to... Jesus
People often speculate about the identity of Jesus. Many like to come up with their own ideas about who Jesus is based loosely on Scripture but more heavily on their own ideas of who they prefer or suppose he ought to have been. Others are simply unwilling to embrace the identity of Jesus as revealed in the Bible because the biblical Jesus does not fit all their cultural, personal, and emotional criteria. But the reality is that Jesus himself has spoken with clarity on the matter of his identity.
The Gospel According to John paints a particularly vivid picture of Jesus' identity for us. One aspect of the literary artistry of John’s Gospel was his intentional highlighting of seven occasions on which Jesus described who he was through the use of what are often called “I am sayings.” These “I am sayings” (I am the Light of the World, I am the Good Shepherd, etc.) give us a description, in his own words, of who Jesus is. Another of John’s literary devices was his description of miracles of Jesus. John includes only seven of Jesus’ miracles but he chooses those seven with careful intentionality. He is unique among the gospel writers in referring to them as “signs.” His use of this terminology highlights the fact that each of these seven miracles was not merely an example of Jesus’ power on display but that they were each signs pointing to some aspect of who Jesus is and what he came to do.
So Jesus' identity need not be as mysterious as some would make it out to be. On Sunday evenings at City on a Hill each week for the next few months we will be looking at the identity of Jesus based on the bold claims he made about himself and based on the miraculous deeds he performed as recorded in the Gospel According to John - seven I am sayings and seven signs. In each sermon in this series, entitled Jesus According to… Jesus, we will be challenging ourselves to consider what difference these realities of his identity should make in our lives. Join us on Sunday evenings at 5:30 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, and check back with the City on a Hill Blog each week for material related to the sermon for that week. This Sunday, February 21, we open the series looking at Jesus' bold claim in John 8:59, “…before Abraham was, I am.”
The Gospel According to John paints a particularly vivid picture of Jesus' identity for us. One aspect of the literary artistry of John’s Gospel was his intentional highlighting of seven occasions on which Jesus described who he was through the use of what are often called “I am sayings.” These “I am sayings” (I am the Light of the World, I am the Good Shepherd, etc.) give us a description, in his own words, of who Jesus is. Another of John’s literary devices was his description of miracles of Jesus. John includes only seven of Jesus’ miracles but he chooses those seven with careful intentionality. He is unique among the gospel writers in referring to them as “signs.” His use of this terminology highlights the fact that each of these seven miracles was not merely an example of Jesus’ power on display but that they were each signs pointing to some aspect of who Jesus is and what he came to do.
So Jesus' identity need not be as mysterious as some would make it out to be. On Sunday evenings at City on a Hill each week for the next few months we will be looking at the identity of Jesus based on the bold claims he made about himself and based on the miraculous deeds he performed as recorded in the Gospel According to John - seven I am sayings and seven signs. In each sermon in this series, entitled Jesus According to… Jesus, we will be challenging ourselves to consider what difference these realities of his identity should make in our lives. Join us on Sunday evenings at 5:30 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, and check back with the City on a Hill Blog each week for material related to the sermon for that week. This Sunday, February 21, we open the series looking at Jesus' bold claim in John 8:59, “…before Abraham was, I am.”
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