How do I know I am not an Esau?

Roman 9:13 contains the statement:

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  (ESV)

This verse comes in a discussion of election. 

According to Romans 9 in the verses immediately following this, not all Abraham’s physical descendants are recipients of God’s promises to Abraham.  God promised Abraham that through his seed all the nations on earth would be blessed.  However, the promise did not pass to Ishmael, only to Isaac.  Then Isaac had twins, Esau and Jacob.  But, the promise did not pass to both, only to Jacob.  God’s “hatred” of Esau was not an active despising.  Rather, God passed over Esau in favor of his brother Jacob.

While we do not understand why or how, this is how grace works.

The Bible ends with this invitation from God:

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come."  Let anyone who hears this say, "Come."  Let anyone who is thirsty come.  Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.  (Revelation 22:17, NLT)

Although the invitation is open to all and Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, not everyone will be saved.  Jesus actually says:

"Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord!  Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.”  (Matthew 7:21, NLT

According to John 3:36:

And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life.  Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment.  (NLT)

God is absolutely sovereign.  In other words, He does what He pleases.  He could save every person.  However, He does not.  He allows those who choose not to believe the freedom to choose not to believe.  Since God could overpower their will and force them to believe, in that sense God passes over such people.  He allows them to go their own way.  This happened to Ishmael and it happened to Esau.

According to Ephesians 2:1, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.”  (NLT)  This is true of all of us, of every human being on the planet.  Because of this truth, the saying of Jesus in John chapter six is also true.  He says, “For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me…”  (John 6:44, NLT)  There is a mystery in this that we cannot understand.  In John 3, Jesus explains the working of the Holy Spirit in a person being born again and says:

“The wind blows wherever it wants.  Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”  (John 3:8, NLT)

We are told that God chooses some and passes over others (Romans 9). 

The way we know we are one of the chosen is based on God’s word and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. 

First, we know we are saved because of God’s word.  John 3:16 tells us that whoever believes will not perish.  Romans 10:13 tells us that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.  These promises are from God.  Therefore, we trust them completely.  There is no reason to doubt that you are saved if you are trusting in these promises. 

In fact, the Holy Spirit confirms we are saved.  Romans 8:16 says, “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.”  (NLT)

If you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, then you are not an Esau.

Is it a sin to work on a Sunday?

Exodus 20:8-10 says:

⁸“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  ⁹You have six days each week for your ordinary work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God.  On that day no one in your household may do any work.  (NLT)

As one of the Ten Commandments, the command to observe the Sabbath was a fundamental law for the nation of Israel.  In addition to one day a week, every seventh year was to be a “Sabbath year” in which no crops were to be planted and the land was to rest.  Then every seventh Sabbath year was to be followed by a year of Jubilee.  In the year of Jubilee, debts were forgiven, slaves were set free and property was returned to its original owner with exceptions being allowed for debts, slaves and property depending on circumstances.

This practice of Sabbath and its strict enforcement allowed for a healthy people, land and economy.

However, we are dead to the Law.  Romans 7:4 says, “⁴So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ.”  (NLT)  Therefore, we are free to keep the Sabbath or not. 

This being said, two qualifications need to be kept in mind.

First, whatever is not of faith is sin.  Using the example of our freedom to eat what we please, Romans 14:23 says:

But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it.  For you are not following your convictions.  If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.  (NLT)

Second, although we are free to do as our conscience directs us, not everything is good for us.  1 Corinthians 10:23 says:

You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you.  You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is beneficial.  (NLT)

Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”  (Mark 2:27, NLT)  Our minds and bodies need rest.  To deprive yourself of rest is to invite fatigue, accidents and illness.  Although it is not a sin to work on Sunday, God established a day of rest for our benefit.

The Ten Commandments are part of the Law, and as such, we are free from the Law.  However, the Ten Commandments are based on God’s perfect moral law.  Thus, they are based on how the universe works.  The principles behind the Ten Commandments are inviolable and unchanging.  Whether a person is a believer or an atheist, any person who observes the principles laid out in the Ten Commandments will be better off for it.  

Born Again

Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel, a Pharisee.  The Pharisees were often in conflict with Jesus, and thus we have Nicodemus coming at night to visit with Jesus.  The Topical Bible on Bible Hub dot com says this about the Pharisees:

…a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, so called from perishin, the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word perushim, "separated.”[i]

We see from their name that the Pharisees remained separate.  This would be consistent with trying to be Holy.  God said, “For I am the LORD your God.  You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”  (Leviticus 11:44)  One of the main ideas behind the word “holy” or “consecrate” is separation, to be set apart.  The Pharisees then appear to be trying to follow God’s Law.  However, the Topical Bible goes on to say:

The fundamental principle all of the of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews, is that by the side of the written law regarded as a summary of the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people there was on oral law to complete and to explain the written law, given to Moses on Mount Sinai and transmitted by him by word of mouth.  The first portion of the Talmud, called the Mishna or "second law," contains this oral law.  It is a digest of the Jewish traditions and a compendium of the whole ritual law, and it came at length to be esteemed far above the sacred text.[ii]

This is the point at which the differences with Jesus began.  Jesus said to the Pharisees, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?”  (Matthew 15:3)[iii]  And, in another place, He said, “And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition.  And this is only one example among many others.”  (Mark 7:13)

This argument centered on the Word of God and what God required of His people.  As the teachers of Israel, the Pharisees were entrusted with the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus told them:

What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.  Hypocrites!  For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces.  You won't go in yourselves, and you don't let others enter either.  (Matthew 23:13)

As an aside, it was this very argument that divided the Church at the time of the Reformation.  Is the sacred text the final authority, or are the traditions handed down to us the final authority?

The point of being a Pharisee was to be right with God, to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Therefore, we can assume that this is what is behind Nicodemus’s visit to Jesus.

According to John 3:2, Nicodemus came to Jesus and said:

“Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us.  Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”  (John 3:2)

Here is a teacher who wants to know the truth.  The main question for a Pharisee would be how one enters the Kingdom of Heaven.  How is a person made right with God?  Nicodemus does not address this question.  He opens the dialogue with Jesus by acknowledging that they all knew that God sent Jesus.

Jesus zeros in on what the real issue is. 

Before he was an apostle, Paul was a Pharisee.  He said of himself:

…I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could.  Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

⁵I was circumcised when I was eight days old.  I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one!  I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.  ⁶I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church.  And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.  (Philippians 3:4-6)

Jesus is talking to a man like Paul, a man who was a leader and teacher of Israel.  Therefore, Jesus does not waste time on issues that had no importance, and starts out with the question that is at the heart of Nicodemus’s lifestyle.  Jesus says:

“I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  (John 3:3)

This statement summarizes salvation for us.  In its most condensed version, to be saved is to be born again.  However, there is much to be understood about what it means to be born again.  The Holy Spirit moved John to record the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus so that we can understand what it means to be born again.

Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus meant.  He is thinking in physical terms.  Therefore, he asks Jesus, “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”  (John 3:4)

Jesus’s response gives us a basic understanding of rebirth (also known as regeneration).  He says:

⁵Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  ⁶Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.  ⁷So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’  ⁸The wind blows wherever it wants.  Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

In closing his statement, Jesus makes it clear that “you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”  Being born again is a mystery.  Through the Scriptures, we have a measure of understanding, but rebirth is a work of God.  We can see the results in a person’s life, but we cannot see the rebirth take place.

Jesus begins by pointing out that one must be born both physically and spiritually.  Jesus’s statement concerning being “born of water and the Spirit” is further explained in the following statement, “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”  (John 3:6)

To state the obvious, you cannot eat a McDonald’s hamburger if you have never been born.  It is foolish even to speak of it.  In order to participate in any of the activities of life, it is necessary first to be born, to have physical life.

In order to enjoy any of the activities of the Kingdom of Heaven, it is necessary first to have spiritual life, to be born spiritually.

All the rules and goodness of the Pharisees were physical.  All the rules were about what they did with their physical lives.  However, no amount of physical reform, training, discipline and good deeds could bring about a spiritual birth.

This is why the Church is not here to help you be good.  We are not here to reform anybody or even to teach a particular set of rules.  We are here to be transformed.  We are here as disciples of Jesus, to learn from Him, and by calling on His name we now are alive spiritually.  We have been born again.

John 1:12-13 says:

¹²But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.  ¹³They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

Upon hearing of this spiritual birth, Nicodemus asks, “How are these things possible?”  (John 3:9)  In the verses that follow this question, we have Jesus’s explanation of how these things are possible.

First, Jesus makes it clear that Nicodemus should have understood.  He was a teacher of Israel, an expert in the Old Testament Scriptures. Later on Jesus says to a group of Nicodemus’s peers, ³⁹“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life.  But the Scriptures point to me!”  (John 5:39)  To Nicodemus Jesus points out his unbelief by saying:

¹¹I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.  ¹²But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

Unbelief is the problem for most people who do not believe.  God provides plenty of testimony, but people do not believe the testimony.  Jesus says, “…we tell you what we know and have seen.”  Jesus is alone, but He is saying “we.”  In the context, Nicodemus has said, “We know you are a teacher sent from God.”  Jesus is drawing in the testimony of all the teachers sent by God, the testimony of Moses and the prophets.  The plural is purposeful. 

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus tells of a rich man who ends up in hell.  The rich man ends up begging for someone to go back from the dead to warn his family of what is to come in the afterlife.  Here is the response he received:

If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even if someone rises from the dead.  (Luke 16:31)

God has not put this out of reach.  Jesus rose from the dead, and many still do not listen.

Jesus takes His rebuke one step further when He says:

No one has ever gone to heaven and returned.  But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.  (John 3:13)

The works Jesus did proved that He was the Son of God.  He rose from the dead.  We should receive His testimony.  Nicodemus and the Pharisees were not accepting the evidence they had.  They did not believe Moses, the prophets or Jesus. 

The works Jesus did proved that He was the Son of God.  He rose from the dead.  No other religious leader or teacher did this.  How is Buddha supposed to know anything about heavenly things?  Has he ever been there?  Did he come back from the dead?  How is Mohammed supposed to know anything about heavenly things?  Has he ever been there?  Did he come back from the dead?

The miracles accompanying the prophets of the Old Testament gave evidence that they spoke from God.  The works and resurrection of Jesus Christ gave evidence that He is the Son of God.  Now we have a simple test to show us who speaks from God.  1 John 4:2 says:

²This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.

If someone does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, we know that person is not from God. We have no more excuse than Nicodemus did for his unbelief.  Why do you not believe?  Do you know something Nicodemus did not?  Do you know something Jesus did not?  Or, perhaps you have never looked at or considered the evidence.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Examine Jesus’s claims for yourself.

According to Jesus, God accomplishes the new birth by giving His one and only Son.  His Son had to be lifted up just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.  Nicodemus would have understood the story of the serpent in the wilderness.  When a plague of serpents was killing the children of Israel, God delivered them by having Moses make a serpent on a pole.  Those who were bitten just needed to look at the serpent to be healed.  This is a picture of Jesus on the cross.  We just need to look to Jesus on the cross to be born again.  This is what it means when it says that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

God did not send Jesus to condemn the world.  Jesus was clear about this.  However, there is great condemnation for any who do not believe in Jesus.  Jesus put it like this:

…whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  (John 3:18, ESV)[iv]

Being born again is not something we do.  Being born again is something we receive.  We receive it by believing in the name of the only Son of God.

Have you been born again?

For those of us who have been born again, there is an important question.  Having begun by believing, are we now somehow trying to be right with God by what we do?  Are we starting to go back to dependence on our flesh?

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[i] biblehub.com/topical/p/pharisees.htm.  Accessed April 25, 2017.

[ii] ibid.

[iii] Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[iv]Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved. 

“Follow Me”

Have you heard the call of God on your life?

How will you know or how do you know?

Matthew 4 and Matthew 9 contain three examples of people who were called directly by Jesus.  Let’s look at these passages and see what we can learn about God’s call.

Matthew 4:18 says:

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee…[i]

Here is what we know about the Sea of Galilee today: 

The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest freshwater lake.  The sea is about 13 miles long and 7 miles wide, but only 150 feet deep, and it lies 650 feet below sea level.  The Sea of Galilee is currently surrounded by Israel from about the 3 o’clock position to the 12 o’clock position, and by the Golan Heights from 12 to 3.  It’s a primary source of drinking water for Israel as well as a popular area for recreation and tourism.  It is fed by the Jordan River, which then drains to the south and flows to the Dead Sea (aka: Salt Sea).  Lately, a lack of rain has threatened the water level in the Sea of Galilee and induced the proliferation of desalination units.  It’s also a significant site in the New Testament.[ii]

Jesus spent much of His three-year ministry on the shores and land surrounding this very lake.  In the days of Jesus, Galilee was also a source of food.  Peter and his brother Andrew owned their own boat, and made their living by fishing on the Sea of Galilee. (Luke 5:3 refers to Jesus sitting in a boat owned by Peter.)  James and John worked with their father, Zebedee, in the family fishing business.

At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River.  Then, immediately after being baptized, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested.  After His testing, Jesus began preaching, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17)  He also chose disciples to be with him and so that He might send them out to preach.  (Mark 3:14)  His first disciples came from Galilee, where His ministry began.

Galilee was a normal place.  It was like your hometown or my hometown.  People lived, raised their families and died there.  God does not go to exotic places in search of exotic people.  He comes to normal places, places like where you are right now, and calls normal people.

Matthew 4:18 tells us:

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers--Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew--throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

Jesus was on the shore of Galilee, and He saw two brothers.  This seems like a chance meeting, but it was not.  Speaking to the prophet Jeremiah, God said, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”  (Jeremiah 1:5)  This was true of Peter and Andrew, the two brothers Jesus saw.  This is true of all of us.  Your meeting with Jesus was no accident.  Peter and Andrew were throwing their nets into the water.  Fishing is what they did for a living.  This was a normal day for them.  They were going about their everyday business.  Jesus interrupted their lives.  The call of God comes to us when we are going about the normal path of our lives.

Jesus’ call is to “Follow Me.”  He gives this call to all, but few listen and fewer heed.  The first thing we notice about Jesus’ call to follow is that it is an interruption.  For Peter and Andrew, James and John, and Matthew, who we are looking at today, Jesus’ call was an interruption.  They were busy.  They all had things to do and they all presumably had plans.  Jesus’ call is rarely convenient.  It is often uncomfortable and it always calls us to leave something behind.  For Paul, it was an interruption on the Road to Damascus.  He left behind His pursuit of righteousness through works.

Let’s consider Jesus’ call to Peter and Andrew.  Matthew 4:19-20 says:

¹⁹Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”  ²⁰And they left their nets at once and followed him.

Verse 18 just told us they made their living by fishing.  What did Jesus mean by “fish for people?”  Was this how they were going to make a living?  It sounds intriguing.  However, Jesus asked them to leave their regular employment and step out in faith.

Hebrews 11:6 says:

And it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

The call to follow is always a call to faith.  God may or may not call you to leave what you are doing, but He will always call you to trust Him.

Peter and James left their nets and followed Jesus.  Matthew 4:21-22 continues:

²¹A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets.  And he called them to come, too.  ²²They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

If the call to give up their livelihood was a call to faith for Peter and Andrew, the call to give up the family business was a call to loyalty for James and John. 

They were in the boat with their father.  Mark 1:20 says they left their father in the boat with the hired men.  They had a family business, and they left it.  This brings to mind Luke 14:26 which says:

"If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison--your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even your own life.  Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.

Or, Matthew 10:37 which says:

If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.

The call of God on our lives is a call to commitment of the deepest kind.  It has always been thus.  At the very outset, when God gave the Law, He said:

⁴“Listen, O Israel!  The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.  ⁵And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.  (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

This is a call to a mutual commitment.  God has already given His one and only Son for you.  Jesus loves you so much He chose to die for you.  He loved us first.

Peter and Andrew show us faith.  James and John show us loyalty.  If we look at Matthew 9:9-13, we will see repentance.

⁹As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth.  “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him.  So Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.  ¹¹But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”

¹²When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.”  ¹³Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’  For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Notice that Matthew’s friends were disreputable sinners.  Notice that Jesus says that He did not come to call those who think they are righteous.

When Jesus calls us, He calls us first to change our minds, to view things from God’s point of view.

Matthew had a good thing going.  He apparently had a big house because he had many guests over.  He apparently had a staff, because certainly he did not prepare all that food himself.  He apparently had influence, because many disreputable sinners and tax collectors gathered at his table.  In addition to giving up the money, house and influence, Matthew had to change His mind about what was important.   He had to acknowledge that what he was doing was sin.

When asked if they think they will go to heaven, most people will say yes, and the reason given is they believe “I am a good person.”    Jesus’ statement is:

“For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

The message of John the Baptist and then the message of Jesus was:

“Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17)

It is normal to believe what we are doing is right, and to insist on doing things the right way, which usually means my way.  However, the call of Jesus is to do things His way.

God’s call requires us to trust Him.  It requires faith. 

God’s call requires us to commit.  It requires loyalty.

God’s call requires us to change our minds.  It requires repentance.

Salvation is free.  Call on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.  However, the call of God on your life and mine is all-encompassing.  Jesus calls us to follow Him.

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[i] Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] https://www.gotquestions.org/Sea-of-Galilee.html.  Accessed April 19, 2017.

He is Not Here

The night is darkest just before dawn.

What a picture of our world today.  Terror attacks happen around the world.  Politics and ideals divide us.  Threats of war concern us.  The world is dark.  For the world, it is Friday.  But, we know Sunday’s a comin.

On that morning so long ago, some women went to the tomb to find a body.  It was still dark, terribly dark.  It was dark in the garden.  It was dark in the world, and it was dark in their hearts.

But, the stone was rolled away.

Luke 24:1-7 tells the story like this:

¹But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ²They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. ³So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

⁵The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? ⁶He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

The tomb was empty.  What glorious words!  “He is not here!  He is risen from the dead!”  The world was suddenly and gloriously no longer dark.  The darkness of their hearts – gone.  Their lack of hope – gone.  Their despair and sadness – gone.

If you are looking for a corpse, He is not here!  He is risen from the dead!

If you are looking for hope, if you are looking for light in a dark world, if you are looking for a Savior, rejoice, shout for joy because He is risen from the dead!

His Suffering

We all suffer to some degree at some time.  Not all suffering is the same. 

We all experience physical pain, some more than others.  Pain describes a toothache, a broken leg or a burn.  However, these certainly are not all the same, and some pain is much more debilitating than other pain.  Some people endure chronic pain that never goes away, and again there are varying degrees and types of chronic pain.

Pain and suffering cause many to question God, and some to reject the faith.  Many question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?”

Job and his friends tried to explain and understand Job’s suffering and ended up repenting before the wisdom of God.  Job said:

²“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.  ³You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’  It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.  ⁴You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!  I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’  ⁵I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.  ⁶I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”  (Job 42:2-6) [i]

We have a hard time understanding our own suffering.  So, how are we to understand the suffering of Jesus Christ our Savior?

Isaiah 53:10 tells us, “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief…”  (ESV)[ii] 

We often speak about the suffering of Christ, and we remember His body that was broken for us.  Surely, He suffered greatly.  However, physically His suffering was such as is common to man.  He suffered willingly in my place for my sins.  Therefore, in that sense His physical suffering is different from all others.  However, I want to draw your attention to the last half of Isaiah 53:10.  The whole verse is:

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  (ESV)

The King James Version says, “…thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…”  The New Living Translation says, “…Yet when his life is made an offering for sin…”  The point here is that His soul, His person, His very life was the offering for our sins.  His physical suffering is nothing compared to the suffering He went through in His soul.  Luke 22:39-46 gives us an inkling, just a glimpse of the suffering of His soul.

Luke 22:39-46 says:

³⁹Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives.  ⁴⁰There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”

⁴¹He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ⁴²“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me.  Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”  ⁴³Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.  ⁴⁴He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

⁴⁵At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief.  ⁴⁶“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them.  “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

This account takes place just after Jesus had celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples.  Judas had left that meal to go and betray Jesus to the high priests and Jewish leaders.  Although Jesus’ physical suffering had not started, this passage says, “…he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.”

This agony of spirit was more than anticipation of physical suffering.  Many of the martyrs faced physical torture and death with joy and songs.  Hugh Latimer was burned at the stake with Nicholas Ridley on October 16, 1555.  He is quoted as having said to Ridley:

Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.[iii]

I do not believe that Jesus would show less courage than His followers would in facing death.  However, I do believe that Jesus was facing a suffering like no one else has ever faced, not physical suffering, but an anguish of the soul.

No one else has borne the sins of the whole world.  The Bible tells us, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)  We cannot begin to understand the suffering this involved.  However, shame is one of the more painful emotions, comes as a result of sin, and is blamed by some as being the hidden root of most psychological problems.[iv]

There is another aspect of Jesus’ suffering that we will never fully understand- His broken relationship with the Father.

If a friend of a few days rejects us, we experience some level of pain, regret and/or anger.  If a friend of a few years rejects us, we experience a correspondingly greater level of pain, regret and anger.  If a parent or a spouse rejects us, we experience pain beyond almost any other pain in this life.  This pain is emotional and psychological, an anguish of the soul.

Now think about Jesus.  He said, “I and the Father are one.”  (John 10:30, ESV)  John 1:1-2 says, “¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  ²He was in the beginning with God.”  (ESV)

Jesus enjoyed an intimacy with the Father that goes beyond anything we know as humans.  The only comparison we have is the unity between a husband and wife.  What is more, this intimacy or oneness with the Father was from all eternity.  It was the breaking of an eternal oneness.  Therefore, the extent of anguish and suffering was correspondingly infinite.  Consider what Jesus cried out on the cross.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46, ESV)  In these words, we see a glimpse of the suffering of Jesus that goes beyond anything you or I will ever suffer.

The suffering of hell is just this, being forsaken by God and condemned by Him.  Jesus took that punishment for us.

If you have never received Christ as your Savior, do so now.  Flee from the terrible suffering of those forever forsaken by God.  His invitation is for anyone who will come.  Jesus suffered our punishment for us.  Do not choose to pay for it yourself.

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[i] Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Latimer

[iv] http://www.bettertherapy.com/blog/shame/

The Gospel

He is risen!

These familiar words from Easter are used as we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior.  Jesus, who died and was buried, is alive.  He lives forever and is seated at the right hand of the Father where He makes intercession for us.

This is GOOD NEWS!

Another word for good news is “Gospel,” and I want to look with you today at what exactly is contained in the Gospel.

In the two thousand years since that morning, errors, arguments and confusion have been added to the story of the resurrection.  Some still look for His bones, the remains of His body.  Some still spread the story that the disciples stole the body.  Others suggest that maybe He was not really dead when they put Him in the tomb.  The really radical fringe claims He was not a historical person.

These claims and confusion do not bother us.  We are the redeemed.  We know the Lord and His power in our lives.  However, ours is not a mindless, blind faith.  Historically, we know Jesus rose from the dead.  Historically, we know He lived and taught in Judea some two thousand years ago.

When conflict from within and without threatened to derail the Church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to help, correct and strengthen the Church.  That letter is 1 Corinthians.  Toward the end of the letter, Paul gives a synopsis of the Gospel.  In his brief summary, we have laid out for us what is essential to the Gospel.  In 1 Corinthians 15:1, Paul says: 

Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before.  You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.[i]

Paul wished to remind his fellow believers of the Good News he preached to them.  They still stood firm in it, but the reminder was necessary.  It is also good for us to be reminded.  Celebrating Easter is a reminder.  We remind ourselves every year and will continue to do so until Jesus returns lest we forget the glorious Good News.

This Good News is essential, critical, necessary.  Here is what Paul says about it.

It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.  (1 Corinthians 15:2)

The Gospel is essential because it is by believing the Gospel that we are saved.  This is why Paul goes on to say what exactly is contained in the Gospel.  He says:

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me.  (1 Corinthians 15:3)

Notice here that he says, “I passed on to you what was most important…”  What follows is an outline of the truths that are essential to the Gospel.  As an outline, it does not contain all the details.  However, it does contain what is necessary.

What is necessary? 

First, Christ died for our sins.

Paul says, “Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.”  (1 Corinthians 15:3)

The details not included here are the content of what “the Scriptures said.” All the many prophecies of a coming Messiah and the promises of God to His people are included in the phrase, “just as the Scriptures said.”

The prophecies about Christ’s coming are a great source of encouragement, and are convincing evidence for the reasonableness of our faith.  Many have tried to number the prophecies concerning the Christ, also called the Messiah.

In his Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, J. Barton Payne itemized 127 Messianic predictions involving more than 3,000 Bible verses, with a remarkable 574 verses referring directly to a personal Messiah![ii]

1 Peter 1:10-11 speaks about these prophecies when it says:

¹⁰This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.  ¹¹They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.

According to this passage, the prophets told about the sufferings of Christ in advance.  Isaiah 53 is a very good example of this, offering a picture of Christ’s sufferings written 700 years in advance.

The sacrifices of the Old Testament Levitical worship are a picture of the necessity of blood to pay for sins.  The fact of Christ’s sacrificial death in our place is an essential part of the Gospel.  Much truth and Scripture is brought to bear on this single essential point, “Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.”

The first truth necessary to the Gospel is that Christ died.  The second truth flows naturally from this first truth.

Paul states the second truth:

⁴He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

As in the case of His death, Paul states that the resurrection was “just as the Scriptures said.”  The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus are essential to the Gospel.  Just as the Scriptures foretold His suffering, the Scriptures foretold His resurrection and the glories to follow.  Once again, Isaiah 53 is a very good example of this.  Verse 10 says:

But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.  Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants.  He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.

His life will be made an offering for sin, and then He will enjoy a long life.  The previous verse of Isaiah 53, verse 9, says that He would be put in a rich man’s grave, but in direct contradiction to that statement is the statement that He will enjoy a long life.  These statements assume the resurrection.  In addition, Psalm 16:10 said of the Messiah, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.”

The fact that the resurrection was “according to the Scriptures” ties the teachings of the Old Testament to the teachings of the New Testament.  However, without the resurrection, Christianity would have no meaning.  Paul strongly makes this point in 1 Corinthians 15.  In verses 14 and 15, he says:

¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.  ¹⁵And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave.

The truth that Jesus rose from the dead is central to our faith.  It is our foundation.

Because of the importance of the resurrection to our faith, Paul offers evidence. He says:

⁵He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.  ⁶After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.  ⁷Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.  ⁸Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.  ⁹For I am the least of all the apostles.  In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

Paul and the Apostles, except for John, all gave their lives in testimony to the fact of the resurrection.  They believed it to be true.  In addition, Paul was writing when other eyewitnesses were still alive, and he lays out the invitation for the serious sceptic to interview any of the more than 500 eyewitnesses.  Historically, more than enough evidence exists for us to know beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus rose from the dead.

The resurrection proved that Jesus was who He claimed to be.  John 19:7 says, “The Jewish leaders replied, ‘By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.’”  As a good answer to this, Romans 1:4 says, “…and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The resurrection also proved that Jesus accomplished what He promised.  Romans 5:9-10 says:

⁹And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.  ¹⁰For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.

To sum up what I have said so far, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ are what make up the Good News, the Gospel.  These are the essentials.

“So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”  (Romans 5:11)

Because of the resurrection, we know we have new life.  Because of the resurrection, we can rejoice.  We can celebrate.

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[i] Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/november-2006/the-promise-of-the-messiah