Protecting Ourselves And Others From The Cross

I saw it happening and there was nothing I could do; at least nothing I could do then. I will hopefully be able to address it in a larger setting sooner rather than later. It happened so quickly.

Something the small group facilitator read caught the attention of one of the participants and he asked her for a copy, she said, “You can have it” and gave it to him.

He quickly read it to himself and said, “Oh my. How have I been living my life? This is challenging me.”

Immediately those around him began telling him that he was doing fine and not to worry, that he was living his life just fine. I don’t think he believed them…at least at first.

We are so accustomed to wanting to make everyone feel good, we are so locked-in to making ourselves feel good, that we resist the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Our desire is no longer to be conformed to Jesus Christ, it is no longer to allow the work of the Cross to have its way in us, but rather to feel good about ourselves. Ministry today is not the ministry of the Word and Sacrament as much as it is the ministry of high self-esteem and good feelings. Christ calls us to come and die, to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him; but we act out a message of self-preservation, pain avoidance, and living our best life now.

In Mark Chapter 8 we read:

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Helping one another avoid the Cross of Christ, protecting one another from the Cross, is nothing less than aligning ourselves with Satan, it is setting our minds not on God’s interests, but man’s. It doesn’t “feel right” as I write these words, but the words are true for they are based on the words of our Lord to Peter. Jesus follows His words to Peter with His words to us all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Well now…how shall we preach and teach? How shall we live?

Am I protecting people from the Cross of Christ?

Are you?

What Matters?

Yesterday, after my Tuesday-morning men's group, one of the guys and I were talking about "what really matters." This morning I wrote him the following note:

Good morning friend,

As we were leaving yesterday we were musing about what is important in life, particularly with respect to our careers. 

One of the things I used to do when dealing with highly-pressurized situations is to ensure that I kept copies of critical correspondence at home, as well as at the office...after all...you never know when you'll need documentation as back-up.

So then, I've been cleaning out files at home - lightening the load you might say. Yesterday I came across a file containing highly-charged communications between a client (a financial institution) and me. At the time it was quite the mess and I was telling the client things the client didn't like - they had gotten into a bad deal without performing due diligence and they needed to cut their losses. 

Anyway, yesterday I looked at the file and thought, "That goes in the trash." It was just paper to me. It was morning dew on the grass. It was gone. It wasn't important. 

On the mantel in my downstairs office is a group photo of some of my staff, given to me as a retirement present, on the margins of the photo everyone wrote something. Now that's important. 

Just wanted to share these thoughts.

Blessings,

Bob

The Wrath of God

Tomorrow I am preaching on Romans 1:18 - 32, the Wrath of God. Not exactly a touchy-feely subject, but certainly Biblical. Below is one of the handouts I'll give to the congregation. One of the great benefits of expository preaching that it that forces the pastor to engage the entire Bible and not cherry-pick passages and topics, nor avoid them. 

I think I may also share the article by Joe Carter on hell, it's titled How Dismissing the Doctrine of Hell Leads Us to Hate Our Neighbors, you can find it here:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-dismissing-the-doctrine-of-hell-causes-us-to-hate-our-neighbors/

Here's my handout in its current form - how would you answer the lead questions?

Bethlehem Congregational Church – February 17, 2019

Romans 1:18 – 32

Pastor Bob Withers

The Wrath of God

How am I suppressing the truth?

How am I exchanging the glory of God?

How am I exchanging the truth?

Am I living a thankful like?

Am I honoring God?

How do we, as Bethlehem Church, answer these questions?

·         Just as the righteousness of God is “revealed” (Romans 1:17), so the wrath of God is “revealed” (Romans 1:8). This means that unless God gives us eyes to see that we will not see His works and His ways – we will not “see” either His righteousness or His wrath.

·         We are being taught to suppress the truth and to deny our inborn sense of right and wrong, of good and evil. Our children and grandchildren are being taught this. We are being transformed from being human to being lab rats whose behavior and thinking is controlled. What are we doing about it?

·         We deny the Creator as He is revealed in creation. We cannot read His message in nature, in the mountains, the plants, the animals, in the heavens. We are denying one of the most basic aspects of what it means to be human – the common sense that if something has a design that it has a Designer.

·         When we do not honor God nor give Him thanks, when we exchange the glory of God for self-created glory, worshiping ourselves – then God gives us up to what we want.

·         God made us in His image, yet we are not only rejecting His image, we are doing all we can to destroy and repudiate His image in our society by an aggressive agenda that will stop at nothing until we speak, think, and act as dehumanized people – perhaps the current zombie craze is indicative of what is really happening around us…and in us?

·         We are now exceeding what Paul visualized in this passage with forcing destructive thinking and behavior on our children, with destroying what is good and beautiful and true – we are living in a wicked generation that God has “given over” – how are we going to live? Who are we going to worship?

Why are we uncomfortable with the idea of the wrath of God? There are two ways to be uncomfortable, a healthy way and an unhealthy way. The healthy way is when we worship God and believe what He says about Himself. God teaches us that He is holy, righteous, and just (Exodus  34:5 – 7). This means, among other things, that He judges sinners, those who suppress the truth and are in rebellion against Him. This includes those who trust in their own righteousness and well as those who make no pretense to righteousness. We ought to be uncomfortable about God’s wrath because His judgment is beyond our comprehension and we ought to be motivated to tell others about Jesus Christ so that they too will come out of darkness and spiritual death into God’s light and life in His Son Jesus Christ.

The unhealthy way to be uncomfortable about God’s wrath is when we have substituted what God reveals about Himself with an image of God that we want to have – this is typically the image of Santa Claus or a Divine Sugar Daddy who winks at our sin and unrighteousness and says, “That’s ok, I understand…but please don’t do that again.” Then when we continue in lives of sin and disobedience he says, “Oh now, didn’t I ask you to please don’t do that again? You naughty boys and girls, whatever shall I do with you? I’ll have to put you in time-out and take away your ice cream for a few hours.”

Sin is so dreadful, so hideous, so eternally lethal that Jesus Christ came to die for us, suffer for us, taking our sin upon Himself, taking our sinful selves upon Himself – becoming our sin-bearer and also becoming the object of the wrath of God in our place. This is how destructive and evil sin is – Jesus Christ became sin for us that we might be forgiven and given new life in Him (2 Cor. 5:17 – 21).

When we avoid talking and thinking about the wrath of God we avoid the stark reality of the Cross of Jesus Christ, for we minimize our need for the Christ of the Cross and we minimize the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Eleven Words

I know the eleven words are coming. If there is another pastor involved he or she knows that those eleven words are coming. “They” didn’t talk about the eleven words in seminary – why did “they” miss so much? – after all, the tuition was hefty.

I think had I been trained by a Church Father that the eleven words might have been discussed; not only their effect on a family, but also the Biblical theology behind them. After all, most of the Church Fathers were also pastors – they didn’t do theology within the confines of a sanitized academic setting.  

Whether I’m with the family when their loved one passes away, or whether I receive the news via a phone call, I know something the grieving family doesn’t, unless there is a pastor in the family…I know about the eleven words. I know that at some point I will say those eleven words, and I know as I say them that the reality of death will strike into hearts like a bolt of lightning; I know that hearts and souls will be pierced.

I saw it today in the cemetery. A husband lost his wife of almost 60 years, and as I approached the eleven words I knew what was coming, and once again those words found their mark.

Perhaps until the eleven words are heard, until they are spoken, perhaps we hope that it is a dream, that our loved one really isn’t dead, or that a miracle will occur at the grave site. I often have that hope, I often entertain the possibility – why not? We can hope can’t we?

Of course a Day will come when the eleven words will perhaps not even be a memory, for those in Christ will see the face of God and all tears will be wiped away. Will Vickie hear those words first, or will I? Whose heart will be pierced – will it be Bob’s or Vickie's? Well, these things are best left in the hands and heart of our gracious and kind Heavenly Father.

Those eleven words are irrevocable, they are final – and yet for the Christian they are not the end of the story – but to be sure they bring pain – yes of course there is our assurance in Christ, but of course there is pain…let us not be fools and deny the grief and pain we experience on this earth, in this fragile life.

Below I’ve italicized the eleven words (the name is of a man I knew years go, his memory is with me tonight) – I know they are coming, I know I will say them…and before I say them I always pause…I always pause. I pause because I know what is coming, and I know when I next speak that my words will pierce hearts and bring tears. This family has trusted me, they have invited me into their grief and pain – and now I will speak words that will shock them…yes…these words are surrounded by other words of hope and comfort and assurance…but for a moment these eleven words will have their way, burning into hearts like a branding iron – and the mark will remain, there will be scare tissue surrounding it.

I love this family…but now the time has come to speak these eleven words:

“Hear the Word of Holy Scripture:

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people and God Himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe away all tears from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

“Forasmuch as the spirit of John Roughly has returned to God, who gave it, we therefore tenderly and in love commit his body to the grave in sure trust and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall give to us new bodies like unto His glorious body.  Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”