Nine Meditations and a Sermon… from Armenia
On my teaching
visit to Armenia, the first half of October 2012, I shared a small
"meditation" each morning, for nine mornings, with the students and
staff at the seminary, and also preached a few times, in churches on Sundays as
well as the seminary's weekly chapel services. So I thought I'd share with you
here (just as if "you were there!") some of what I regaled the
Armenians with. First, the morning meditations, all on the Epistle to the Romans.
Before that, however, a word of clarification: In some of these meditations, I
use a phrase, "Israel-fanatics". By this term I intend nothing in the
least connection to today's state of Israel or political controversies over it.
I am talking strictly about the "judaizers" of Paul's time, the
faction of Hebrew-Christian "missionaries" from Jerusalem who
insisted on a Law-and-Israel-based Gospel, relegating Jesus to the status of
mere channel to the "higher good" of perfect Law observance and,
thereby, inclusion in the family of Abraham. I believe the term
"Israel-fanatics" fairly well sums up what was ultimately wrong with
their "gospel" and their theological "horizon".
1. ROMANS 10:1-13
Today and
in the coming mornings I want to take a look at the thinking of the apostle
Paul, how he saw everything "fitting together" in the great,
theological, universal scheme. We'll be looking specifically at the things Paul
writes from chapter 10 to nearly the end of "Romans". Let's begin by reading Romans 10:1-13 (read).
Here Paul
is talking about what I'll call the "categorical Gospel". Salvation
is for all, but only on one basis: the Gospel. The Gospel is the message of
that salvation. A definite message requiring a definite response (read vv. 9-10
again). If you respond right, you will be saved. God won't accept a different response—no, not even zeal for the law (v. 4), because "Christ is the end of the law…."
There is
one cross, one Savior, and so there is one Gospel, and it is a powerful Gospel
(v. 13)… "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Powerful enough for everyone.
Redemption
required the accomplishment of a feat that we would have to call impossible—that
one man could carry all the world's sin and destroy it by his own death. And rise from the dead. Impossible! But Jesus Christ really did it. He did the impossible.
That is why we cannot do any great feat to accomplish our salvation: in the
first place, it's impossible for us; in the second place, He already did it. An
already realized salvation can't be realized again.
So what's
left? What's left to us who are incapable of realizing salvation, and wouldn't
have to even if we could (because it's already been done)? What can we do?
Believe. It's not only what we must do; it's the only thing we can do. And this
is what Paul's talking about when he emphasizes the "word" in verse
8, the "word" that is near and living and strong and saving, the word
that is Christ Himself.
Usually in the
NT, "the word" means the Gospel, what we preach. But here it seems to
have two meanings: it is the word of faith that is proclaimed but it is also the "word of faith" that is confessed (read v. 9). The only thing you
can possibly do in response to God's accomplishment of the
"impossible" is… believe, accept, concur, confess and embrace it.
The Gospel
is categorical, absolute, leaves no room for other options or alternatives.
There's no "third way". Paul is categorical: God has done this; now,
you choose. I realize this is an unfashionable message in a
"postmodern" world, but this categorical Gospel is the supreme revelation
of God's absolute love. "Absolutes" are anathema to postmodernism,
but God will never apologize to anyone for His absolute love and what He did in
that love. Postmodernism prides itself on "inclusiveness" and the
quest for "justice". Well, like
nothing else in heaven or earth ever could, the cross of Christ has included us
all in the justice of ultimate atonement, and his Gospel presents all the free
gift of life. This is the "Categorical Gospel" that Paul knew as
coming from the Throne of heaven itself and ultimately defining all people and
all times with a single, piercing, perfect light. This is the same Gospel, the
same order of reality, that we take our stand on today, for the Lord Jesus
Christ and His glory.
2. ROMANS 10:14-21
(First,
read vv. 14-15)
Usually, the preacher reads these two verses with the goal of
stimulating Christians to share the Gospel. That, of course, is a valid
application of the verses. But it's worth it to examine the context more
deeply. Remember that, here, Paul is discussing the spiritual condition of the
Jewish nation, and the question is: is God fair? Has He abandoned His chosen
people? Or has, even, the Jewish nation's rejection of Jesus shattered God's
plan of redemption? In this context, Paul asks this whole series of questions
(read 14-15 again).
What do
these questions mean in this context? I think Paul is saying that, in a certain
sense, nothing has changed. That's why he quotes Isaiah! The "plan of
redemption" hasn't changed but been consummated in Christ. The
"Word" was always preached, in one way or another. It was preached by
the prophets who called Israel to repent and return to God. Now, the prophetic
word has become the Word of Christ, which is preached to all people, both Jews
and Gentiles. By God's wisdom, now all people have the opportunity to make a
choice, for or against the "Word of faith", the "categorical
Gospel".
So it's no longer a question (you see what Paul is getting at?) of God's relationship to
one nation; the witness is universal. That's why Paul quotes Psalm 19 here in
verse 18: (read Psalm 19:1-6) And God warned about all this and foretold the
reaction of the nation (read v. 19). Through the prophet Isaiah God foretold the revelation of his majestic, magnanimous grace and redemption to the whole world
(read v. 20). And finally Paul applies stern words from the prophet Isaiah to
the Israel of his own day (read v. 21).
And that
means what – a final judgment? End of the story? Absolutely not. Even these
severe words reflect grace, because they remind us that God was working with
this "disobedient and obstinate people". When the text says
"disobedient and obstinate people", that's a realistic assessment of
human beings, but when it says "All day long I have held out my
hands", that's a powerful revelation of the grace of God, a grace that has
now exploded onto the universal stage and included us all in one, all-embracing
appeal. We are all in the same boat.
For the
Israel-fanatics of Paul's time, however, that wasn't good enough. They still
wanted Israel to be the focus and aim of the Gospel. But for Paul, the fact
that all of us, Jew and Gentile, are in the same boat, with the opportunity to
know Christ, Who really is the focus and aim of the Gospel—for Paul, that was
grace and glory!
3. ROMANS 11:1-15
Revolutionary
events in history bring confusion and fear and many other reactions. Paul lived
at such time. The historical "Jewish" faith suddenly exploded into a
universal Gospel, embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. It's hard for us now
to really feel how new and shocking this was.
Yesterday I
mentioned "Israel-fanatics"—these were Jewish believers in Jesus as
Messiah, but they understood Messiah's task as converting the world to Judaism,
as they understood it. These were the preachers who caused so much trouble in
Galatia.
And,
probably, they were accusing Paul of insulting the Jewish nation and blasphemy against
God's law. And, probably, when Paul writes this epistle, he is to a large degree
refuting those accusations.
In verse
one, we read a categorical "no"! God hasn't "rejected"
Israel. But the fundamental reason is, God hasn't "rejected" any
nation. The Gospel isn't a Gospel of rejection; it's a Gospel of
reconciliation! God's faithful remnant comes from all nations, including the
Jews.
(Read
verses 1-5)
But no
matter which nation we're talking about, the conditions are the same for all
(read v. 6).
And this
truth was especially difficult for the Jewish nation at that time to accept (read verses 7-10)
Paul talks about
a "spirit of stupor" (v.8). I think this is true of any nation, of
every nation. Each nation has that certain thing of its own that blocks the
Gospel's light, that fights against the Gospel's force and authority. For one
nation, it might be religion; for another, fear; for another, money; for
another, hatred.
But, there
is always a remnant for God. And in everything God is pursuing His redemptive
purpose. This is what Paul is saying in verses 11-15 (read). He sees God's
redemptive purpose even in Israel's stumbling. Salvation itself was purchased at the price of rejection! Man can't do anything that will stop God from going ahead with His glorious intention. This is why their falling is
"riches" to the world—not because we rejoice at their unbelief. No,
it's because the living God always overcomes evil by making it the opportunity
for His greater glory.
4. ROMANS 11:13-24
When I was
reading verse 13, my eyesight "slipped" and I saw it wrong, and the
result was rather comical. Paul says (in the NIV), "I am talking to you
Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I…." But what I
saw was, "I am talking to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am the apostle to the
Gentiles"! I confess to laughing. As if Paul were saying, "You know,
I'm only talking to you because that's my job (and if I had my druthers, I
wouldn't be)." Of course, that's not what Paul said at all, and it was
just a momentary visual slip, probably due to bad lighting (I can't imagine
what else it might be).
But you
know what? There is truth in the "mistaken" version I first saw
there. Paul really is communicating with the Gentiles, in Gentile language,
using Gentile terms, because he's the apostle to the Gentiles. I know that
seems a simple, obvious statement, but I don't think we even begin to
understand what kind of emotional, psychological effort was required of Paul to
do that. Loving his own nation and grieving over their disbelief, Paul
nevertheless invested his life completely in the Gospel to the Gentiles. That
means, in a way, Paul was always a foreigner, a stranger, never completely
"one of them", always exiled from the environment that formed his
earliest attachments and joys. A man without a homeland.
Yes,
indeed, Paul is talking to the Gentiles because he's an apostle to the
Gentiles. He died to himself and became anything that Christ wanted him to be.
Most
biblical scholars say that we don't know who wrote the epistle to the Hebrews.
They say it can't be Paul because the whole style of the epistle is radically
different from Paul's epistles. But for myself personally, having studied
"Hebrews", having reflected on its theological horizon, its
fundamental vision, I've come to the conclusion that Paul could have written it.
And the explanation for the radical differences in style can be put this way:
"I'm writing to you Gentiles as a Gentile; I'm writing to you Hebrews as a
Hebrew." I believe Paul was capable of that—even to sound like two
different men in his style and terms, but always communicating one,
unchangeable (categorical!) truth about the new life and world of the Spirit
which we have entered by Christ's grace.
(Read vv.
14-16)
Yesterday, or the day before, I talked about how God's plan always moves
forward. You can't stop it. But it would be a terrible mistake to think this
means God is continually leaving the past in the past, like a trail of bread
crumbs: separate, isolated pieces fading and disappearing in the distance
behind us. No. Time and God's purposes aren't like that, like a trail of bread
crumbs. They're more like a train—a train that has a front, middle and caboose,
but all the parts are moving together, constantly connected, to their
destination. Today, you and I are moving on to our destination in God's plan.
The day of Pentecost is moving to its destination, the resurrection, the cross,
the birth of Christ, the exile in Babylon, the vision of Isaiah, the songs of
David, the Exodus from Egypt, God's covenant with Abraham, the Great Flood, the
death of Abel, the Fall in the Garden, the day of Creation, all, all are
moving together, like a great connected train, to their destination in God's
plan.
(Read verse
16 again)
If the root
is holy, so are the branches. It's all one tree. What God did in Abraham,
Sarah, Moses, Ruth, David, Esther, Jeremiah, all of that is here, right now, in
us, growing in its meaning and moving toward its realization in eternity.
And that's
why it was just crazy, ridiculous, to accuse Paul of anti-Semitism. I mean,
besides the fact that he was a Jew himself (!), but even more importantly, Paul
recognized "Israel's" true meaning in Christ. And I don't need to
tell you how Paul felt about Christ. Paul loved God's Israel immeasurably more
than the "Israel-fanatics" did, because he understood the meaning of
Israel better than they did. And he knew that the meaning leads, finally, for
all of us, to this: (read 2 Corinthians 3: 17-18).
5. ROMANS 11:17-21
(Read the
text)
Faith in
Christ is incompatible with arrogance. Verse 20: "you stand by faith". You
don't stand by your works, you don't stand by your education or your history or
social status—you stand by faith.
Therefore, do not be arrogant… but be afraid.
"The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
As soon as
we are arrogant, two things happen: 1) we are putting our faith in ourselves,
and that is not the faith that saved us, and 2) we are not fearing the Lord or
hoping upon Him. To put it in simple terms, we're not living like Christians!
And that,
essentially, is what Paul's talking about here: if a Christian life doesn’t bear
any resemblance to the source and root of a Christian life, something is wrong.
This is the historical lesson for us from Israel (read Romans 10:3).
There is a
principle here that is universal, that is much bigger than simply the question
of Israel. Paul's talking about Israel, of course, because that was the
question at the moment. But the spiritual principle applies to all people at
all times. It's not only Israel that can be cut off, so that the Gentiles might
be grafted into the tree. Europe can be cut off and Africa grafted in. America
can be cut off and China grafted in. The Orthodox world can be cut off and the
Hindu world grafted in. South Korea can be cut off and North Korea grafted in! (Read
Romans 10:20)
"Do
not be arrogant… but fear."
Now, you
might say all this sounds like we're saying the Kingdom of God is a little room
somewhere with only so much square footage and any time somebody new wants to
come in, somebody else has to get out! No, of course not. We're simply
recognizing, as Paul seems to, that, in history, it seems each nation has its
"time", its "shot at it". We certainly see this in terms of
empires and various nations' "golden eras"; the same can be true
spiritually.
Europe was
the first geographical recipient of the Gospel after the Near East; the entire
continent was ultimately transformed as a result. Today, the great cathedrals
of Europe are simply money-making tourist sites. Yet the Gospel is sweeping powerfully
through Africa, and, I think, through China, too.
"Do
not be arrogant, but be afraid."
"Remember,
you were bought with a price."
Salvation
is salvation, not a birthright.
But let me
correct the last statement: Salvation is a birthright. Salvation is the
birthright of the Firstborn from the dead, the Head of the Church, the
firstfruits of the new creation, Jesus Christ. It is His birthright, his
treasure by right… and ours as long as we remain in Him….
"Do
not be arrogant, but be afraid."
"For
God has bound all men over to disobedience, so that he may have mercy on
all." (v. 32)
6. ROMANS 11:25-32
(Read text)
Today I
want to talk about a mystery.
Israel has
experienced a partial hardening until the full number of Gentiles come in. Then
the apostle says, "And so…." That is, "therefore",
"consequently", "as a result": SO all Israel will be saved.
All Israel will be saved because the full number of Gentiles will come in. How
can we understand this?
There's
only one way. We have to understand it in agreement with what the apostle says
elsewhere. Remember, we're trying to understand Paul's way of thinking here; we
want to see Paul's theological horizon. So, when Paul says, "All Israel
will be saved", this doesn't contradict his thought perfectly well
expressed elsewhere; all of it expresses one theological horizon.
In Romans
9:6-7, for example, Paul says (read verses). In other words, this Israel which
will "all be saved" is defined by the heart, not by genealogy.
In any case, common
sense tells us Paul can't possibly mean that mere Jewish descent constitutes a
get-into-heaven-for-free ticket; otherwise, that would include Judas, and
Caiaphas, and, by the way, all those false gospellers from Jerusalem who were
causing so much trouble in Galatia, the ones Paul pronounced
"anathema" on.
It would automatically include, too, the Hebrew
Christians addressed in the epistle to the Hebrews, who were teetering on the edge
of rejecting Jesus and going back to their traditional Judaism. Yes, it would
include them regardless of their final decision on this presumably critical
question—which would make us doubt why the issue was so critical…. Why all the
fuss, warning these Hebrew-Christians not to abandon Jesus when, anyway,
"all Israel will be saved"? Doesn't "Hebrews" then become a
meaningless epistle?
But of
course we understand that that can't be the sense of Paul's words. Paul never
preached a Gospel that said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you
will be saved… or, if you're Jewish, you're automatically in, anyway, so it
doesn't matter." You can study the New Testament "24/7" and you
won't find that "gospel" there.
What Paul
is thinking when he says "All Israel will be saved" is quite obvious.
We see it first, right here in this statement that all Israel will be saved
because the full number of Gentiles must be saved. We see it secondly in Paul's
teaching in chapter nine, that they are not all Israel who are born from
Israel. In God's final plan the word "Israel" denotes a state of
heart, not a genealogy. And, thirdly, we see it intrinsically in the revelation
of Christ: we see it when the Magi from the east come to worship the King of
the Jews, foreshadowing the ultimate fulfillment of the prophet's words, that
all the nations will flow to Jerusalem to worship the Lord and be fed by His
teaching.
At the end
of "Galatians", after Paul's fiery argument against the judaizers,
after his passionate theological demonstration that all who are in Christ are
now Abraham's spiritual children, the apostle closes with these words (Gal.
6:16), "Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of
God." "Even"—that means, "specifically"… "to
wit". You know what "Israel" Paul is talking about here; it can
only be the "Israel" he has just spent his tears and sweat and blood
to defend against the false gospellers, the Israel that lives in Christ—in
Christ who, above all, has fulfilled in Himself everything that Israel means;
in Christ, who finally became the faithful Son, who endured the temptation in
the wilderness, who demonstrated perfect "khesed ve emet", love and
faithfulness, towards His Father.
He is the
SON, the ISRAEL whom the Father called out of Egypt; He is the Vine and we are
the branches; He is the mystery, and He is the only star on Paul's theological
horizon. And He is the reason why, in Him, "all Israel will be
saved".
(Conclude by reading 11: 33-36).
7. ROMANS 12:1
(In this morning meditation there was a collision, happily anticipated by me, between three languages: English, Armenian and Russian, leading to a sorting-out I did not in the least shy away from; indeed, I took the bull by the horns and ventured my own, slightly radical solution. Yes, it did raise a few eyebrows….)
(Read
verse)
Again,
we're trying to get inside the thinking of Paul. So, when he says, "Offer
your bodies as living sacrifices", why does he say that? Let's look at the
immediate context and try to catch Paul's train of thought, what's led him to
say this just now. In other words, why is this the right thing to say right
here, right now?
I see three
elements coming together that ignite, that spark such a passionate appeal from
Paul. The first element is very simple. Paul has just said (11:36), "For
from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory
forever! Amen." So, all things belong to God. So, of course offer up your
bodies, your lives, because they belong to God! He knows best what to do with
everything He has made; that includes, of course, us. And He will do it, to His
glory and our joy.
The second
element is a little less simple: "in view of God's mercy". It's in
light of God's mercy, which Paul has painstakingly explicated and unfolded for
pages and pages already. It's in view of this mercy, in response to this mercy,
we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. God's mercy spared us
the wages of sin—by not sparing His only Son. God's mercy gives us His Son and,
with Him, freely gives us all things. God's mercy grafts us into the holy tree,
and makes us a people who were not a people. God's mercy will bring us into a
new creation, into the glorious freedom of the children of God and the
redemption of our bodies. This is all what Paul has just been thinking about
for pages and pages now. And now the most instinctive and spontaneous and
sanest thing the apostle can possibly say is, "in view of all that…"
what's left—except to surrender yourselves unreservedly to God's glorious will?
The third
element is the least simple of all. Why ought we to offer our bodies as living
sacrifices? Because it's our "spiritual act of worship". Yes, I know
that in your Armenian Bibles it's says "verbal" [in Armenian, it's a
word that looks something like "word-ly"] where my English Bible says
"spiritual". And as you know, the Russian Bible says,
"reasonable," or "rational," service of worship. Now isn't
that intriguing? "Verbal", "spiritual" and
"rational". Why in the world would three languages translate the same
Greek text so differently? Surely Paul used a word there that has one meaning!
Well,
here's the problem. The Greek adjective there comes from the noun
"logos", which, as you know, means "word". That's why your
Armenian Bibles say "word-ly". Now, this adjective can mean
"logical" (notice logos?) or "reasonable" or
"rational", but fundamentally it refers broadly to that which makes
us human and not animals; it's our capacity to think, to respond to God, to
choose the good; it's our human capacity to know the divine source of our
existence. It's the Latin ratio, the Greek logos, that makes us man.
So, while
the Armenian translation says "word-ly", and the Russian says
"rational" and my English version says "spiritual", I will
dare to suggest my own translation, and I will say "human".
Offer your
bodies as living sacrifices because it's the human thing to do.
It is the
human thing to do in the highest sense of the word "human". It's the
human thing to do because, as Paul says elsewhere, we are being raised to the
stature of a new man in Christ—in Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us.
The perfect, ideal Human Being, Jesus of Nazareth, expressed His humanity
through total self-surrender. Now Paul says, "You, too, offer yourselves
completely to God, because it's the perfect human thing to do." It's
rational, it's spiritual, it's what makes you a child of God and not a tree or
a butterfly… even though trees and butterflies are very nice. But trees and
butterflies are not the lords of creation. Only the lords of creation can
freely surrender themselves and everything they have to the Supreme Lord, in
joyful reflection of the Supreme Lord's own self-surrender for them.
I think
Paul would have loved to start this epistle with this, for "12:1" to
have been "1:1" in the Epistle to the Romans. But for his readers and
their "issues" he had to work through a lot of other stuff first. This,
however, is where Paul lived. This is the starting point and the destination of
the Christian life:
"Be
real people and joyfully surrender yourselves to the Lord of all in
gratefulness for the indescribably wonderful thing He has done for you."
(Read
Romans 12:3-21)
8. ROMANS 12: 2-21
Yesterday
we were talking about a Greek adjective, "logikos", which the apostle
Paul used to characterize our rational, spiritual, human act of worship, i.e.,
to surrender yourself to the will of God.
Now, I take
what Paul says next as a confirmation of my interpretation (read verses 2-3).
Notice the
emphasis on the mind? Your mind must be renewed. Earlier, Paul said that a new life is the whole purpose for our baptism into Christ (read Romans 6:4). This
renewed life must start in the mind, in the part of us that carries God's image—the
logos. And then our whole life will be transformed, from the inside out. Notice
the process that Paul describes in these first verses of chapter twelve. You sort
of have to read it backwards to follow the progression: if your mind is renewed,
then you will be transformed; if you are transformed, then you won't conform to
the world anymore, and then you'll really be living out the full sense of your
humanity, which is to worship God in love and holiness.
And that is
why, as a mature child of God, you can begin making choices.
Choices.
That's what the apostle is talking about when he says, "then you will be
able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect
will."
And here I
want to bring together various things I've been talking about in Armenia,
whether in my sermons or my lectures. In our course on the Gospel of Matthew,
we've been looking at the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus calls the nation to
give up everything they're used to, not to depend anymore on the social,
religious trappings that shape their world, and, figuratively speaking, to get
on Jesus' ship, where He is the captain, and the power that moves that ship is
a new kind of righteousness, a righteousness that exceeds even the
righteousness of the Pharisees, because it's a transcendent quality of
righteousness. Yesterday, in my chapel sermon, I talked about the people, or
assembly, of Jesus—they are born by the power of Christ's resurrection, and the
eyes of their hearts are illuminated by a revelation from the Father in heaven.
Okay, this
is wonderful. But how do they live? What do they do? What are their rules? What
is the structure of their society? What is the format for their
interrelationships as the people of God?
In a
certain sense, there are no rules. That's what it means that we're not under
the Law. That's what it means, in Romans 8:14, that "those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God." Instead of rules, there is a new
power to know and choose the way of life. "Then you will be able to test
and prove what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." In
chapters 12, 13 and 14, Paul gives not so much a set of rules as much as a
description, a description of those who really have offered themselves as
living sacrifices to God, who have been transformed, whose righteousness comes
from the new world of the Messiah and His Spirit. In short, he tells us, this
is what the life of the Kingdom will look like, if you are really living it.
9. Romans 12-15
I see from
the clock that we have about 20 minutes, which should be enough for us to do a
deep study of chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15! J Well, not really. We're going to
take a quick look and try to encapsulate what Paul is saying here….
In chapter
12, verse 3, Paul says, "by the grace given to me", and these are
very significant words. It is by the grace given to him that the apostle
commences to draw a portrait of the "Jesus people", showing how the
inner life of the Kingdom manifests its own order and laws through them.
In chapter
13, the key concepts are "debt" and "expectation". With
intense anticipation of meeting Christ, our priority is to define what we owe
to whom, and not to waste time or energy on what's useless and meaningless. Our
highest debt is love.
In chapter
14 (see, I said we'd be moving quickly), Paul describes the strong believer.
The strong believer isn't the one who keeps the longest list of rules, but the
one who does everything with a pure conscience before God and a heart of love
towards people. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God", and, seeing God, and seeing what God is doing, the strong believer
will be able to do what God does, just as Christ said, "The things I see
my Father doing, those I do."
God never
wastes His time, so Paul says in chapter 14: Don't waste your time on
meaningless, trivial controversies, but (14:19), "…make every effort to do
what leads to peace and to mutual edification."
And now, in
chapter 15, Paul continues to discuss the strong believer. He addresses the
strong believer directly (each of us might wonder, "Is he talking to
me?"). And Paul doesn't flatter or molly-coddle the strong believer. Quite
the opposite, "to whom much is given, of him much is required." Paul
orders the strong believer to reach for still greater heights of
self-sacrifice.
(Read
15:1-4)
In verse 3,
Paul quotes Psalm 69:9. Let's read it in the psalm (read). You notice, of
course, that this is the same verse quoted in the Gospels, about Jesus'
cleansing of the Temple. Everybody knows about the first half of this verse,
but fewer know about the second half. If we want to embrace one half of that
verse, however, and know the "zeal of your house", then we have to
embrace the other half, receiving the insults that fall on our Lord. Great zeal
comes at a great price. A high calling offers high rewards, but it demands
complete sacrifice… which is, of course, what Paul was talking about way back
in 12:1. If the truth of 12:1 isn't fundamental to our lives, then we almost
shouldn't waste our time reading chapters 13, 14 and 15, because they present
an impossible standard.
But, as the
epistle to the Hebrews says, "we think better things of you,
brethren!", and Paul, in verses 5-13, radiates hope and positive
expectations. He talks repeatedly about hope… and glory. After all, it is Jesus
Christ who is building His Church. (Read 15:5-13).
Our hope is
in Christ who is in us, who dwells in us by the Spirit of God. We have every
possibility of being strong. And Paul points to the fruit and outcome of our
strength, which will be praise and exultation in the glory of God and His
kingdom.
SERMON: "Where is the harvest?"
This sermon was delivered in the Baptist central church in Yerevan at their "Harvest Holiday" service.
(Read
Matthew 16:17-18)
The word
"church" appears rarely, quite understandably, in the Gospels. I say
"understandably" because, basically, it's too soon to be talking about
the Church, in any post-Pentecost sense, certainly in any way that we think about
it now. When Jesus mentioned His "Church" to twelve disciples on the dusty roads of 1st-century Palestine, what could that have meant to
them?
The word
Jesus used was most likely a Hebrew, or Aramaic, word that sounded something
like "q'hal", a word denoting an assembly, a congregation of people.
This word had a history to the Jewish people, a history Jesus' disciples would
naturally and immediately have thought of, a history and meaning that Jesus
knew his disciples would think of, and, therefore, a meaning that Jesus
actually wanted them to "get". And that's why I think we need to
"get" that meaning, too.
When Jesus'
disciples heard, "I will build my 'q'hal'", they must have associated
the word with God's work in Israel's past. There are very specific, deep,
powerful lessons from this word in biblical history.
"Q'hal"
referred to the people of God, the congregation or assembly of God. The people
of Israel in the wilderness, when Moses was leading them—they were the q'hal of
God. In other words, the first "church" of God was the Israelite nation.
The disciples knew that. And Jesus knew that they knew that. Therefore, the
Lord chose this word in order to say something amazing, something theologically
explosive to them.
When this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, says, "I will build my q'hal', my congregation, my people-of-God," immediately in the minds of these Jewish men the question
comes up, "Who is this? How can he say such things? Who can the people of
God belong to but… God?"
Yes, the
statement "I will build my church" derives its sense and power, first
of all, from the Old Testament and, precisely because of that, reveals Jesus as
not only man, but God.
And we can
understand very well why the Lord speaks such powerful words at just this
moment: because this is a powerful moment. Peter has just recognized Jesus as
the Christ and Son of God, and Jesus has said to him that it's not flesh and
blood but the Father in heaven who showed this truth to Peter, and for that
reason, Simon Peter will be called the "rock". What has happened
here? A revelation from heaven has illuminated a man's eyes of faith, so that
he knows and receives his Savior and Lord. This truly is the rock and
foundation of Christ's Church. This is how every living stone is added to the
spiritual temple of the living God.
And what
more does the Lord say about this people, His Church? He reveals, in powerful
terms, the amazing thing God is preparing to do with this new
"q'hal", this new people of God. Jesus says, "And the gates of
hell will not prevail against it."
Once,
Joshua led God's people through the river Jordan into the promised land. And
the walls and gates of Jericho came tumbling down before the power of God. But
now, the Lord Jesus Christ says He will lead His people, the nation of God,
across the river of death—He will go first, tasting death and the judgment of
sin, and before the power of His resurrection the gates of death itself will
come crashing down, and He will lead His q'hal into the promised land.
In the words
which Christ uses at this moment, there is deep meaning, a meaning which
reaches into the past, into what God has done, and applies it prophetically to
the future, to what God will do. Now, the nation of God is not Israel in the wilderness,
but the disciples of Jesus. The enemy is not Jericho but death. And the power
that destroys this enemy doesn't come through the blast of trumpets and the
people's shout, but through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the gates of
death cannot stand before this greater Joshua, and they will not stand before
the nation following Him into the promised land.
But who are these people, this "q'hal", which Jesus will "build"? Well,
to begin with, they are nonbelievers! Did you know that God's people are nonbelievers? Of course, you'll tell me, "No, God's people are
believers!" To which I'll say, "Yes, of course they are. But they're
also non-believers."
Why?
Because God, in His eternal foresight, knows all the non-believers today who
will be believers, who will be members of His holy nation. The final, ultimate
Church, in all her fullness, includes many who are today unbelievers.
Who are
they? Where are they? What are they doing right now? Well, they're everywhere.
At the moment they might be walking in the park, or drinking at a bar, they
might be laughing with friends, or fighting with their spouses, they might be
weeping at a funeral or celebrating a wedding, they might be sick in a
hospital, they might be dreaming about their future, or regretting their past.
They might be thinking about God, or trying not to think about God. But
wherever they are and whatever they're doing, they are part of the Church that will be, part of God's great harvest.
Where is
this harvest of God, the total "q'hal", Jesus' congregation who will
finally march in victory over the shattered walls of death? Let's quickly look
at some biblical portraits of God's "harvest" waiting to be found.
(Read Acts
3:1-8)
The harvest
of God is waiting, like this crippled man, waiting for help—maybe hoping for
money, or medicine, but waiting for some kind of answer, never imagining the
ultimate answer God has for them….
(Read Acts
14:8-10)
The harvest
of God is waiting, already with a kind of faith in their hearts, waiting for the
light of the Gospel to bring that faith to life….
(Read
Matthew 8:5-13)
The harvest
of God is waiting for the word of power and authority, and when they hear that voice,
they'll know it's the Lord. But they've got to hear it first….
(Read Luke
19:1-10)
Sometimes
the harvest of God is waiting in a tree… like an apple, or a peach, or a plum,
or… Zacchaeus! Waiting to hear the voice that says, "I know you; I've always
known you, and now it's time for you to let me into your house, into your heart…."
(Read Luke
7:36-39)
The harvest
of God is waiting with tears, waiting to repent and to hear the words that mean
everything, "Your sins are forgiven…."
And now
let's look at just one more biblical "portrait" of the Church, a
portrait that doesn't seem very flattering at first, but be patient. (Read 1
Corinthians 6:9-11) "Such were you", the apostle says. The emphasis
is on the past tense: you were such people. But now, in the present, "you
have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified." What
kind of power could do a miracle like that? It is the resurrection power of the
second Joshua, the power that tears down the ramparts of sin and death and
opens a new world to the people of God.
