sermon – Page 10 – jeffersonvann

STAY

STAY

John 15:4-7 NET.

⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me — and I in him — bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.

Back in February, I was preaching from Matthew 20, where Jesus described the work of the kingdom by comparing it to work in a vineyard. He told a parable about a vineyard owner who hired a bunch of people to work in his vineyard. The vineyard owner paid all the workers the same regardless of how many hours they worked in the harvest. That parable was actually a description of God’s grace. It taught that all of us who sign up for God’s coming kingdom will be blessed with that kingdom when it comes, and the eternal life we get will all be the same, no matter how much kingdom work we do. That’s because salvation is by grace. It is not brought about by our work – even our kingdom work. It is all bought at the same price, and Jesus paid that price on Calvary’s cross.

Today’s message is by the same Jesus, and it also mentions a vineyard. But in John 15, he is not talking about kingdom work. In this parable, Jesus is not the vineyard owner – he’s the vine. And we are not the workers in the vineyard. We are the branches of the vine.

Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard was intended to remind all believers that God initiates our salvation, and he blesses us with the promise of eternal life not because of the quantity of our work for him but because of the quality of his grace toward us. It is helpful for us to know this because even on our best days, we are not going to accomplish anything by ourselves that would warrant any unique standing with God. Salvation by grace tells us that whatever God accomplishes through us or however much we are blessed, it is all because of his grace and his sola gratia – his grace alone.

Today’s parable puts the accent on the other side of the coin. It reminds us that even though we are all saved by grace, and we supply nothing to add to it, God still requires that we persevere in our faith. It is not totally passive – as if a person could be saved without ever knowing it.

Jesus says that his Father is the gardener and He is the vine. He says that the gardener will attend to every branch in him that does not bear fruit and take away all the branches that do not bear fruit. Even the branches that are bearing fruit will undergo pruning so that they can become even more fruitful.

Again, salvation is not described as passive. God himself is involved in the lives of every believer and works out the details of their lives so that they are fruitful. So, even though Jesus is telling us that he expects us to stay committed to him, he is not suggesting that our commitment is the only thing that matters for our salvation.

Before he tells us to stay in him, he tells us that his Father is already working in the background of our lives to produce that commitment. This gives Christians a whole new approach to the problem of suffering. We see every instance of suffering in our lives, not just as the work of the devil. We see the Father’s hand—the gardener’s hand—at work, building commitment and fruitfulness by means of suffering.

That is the background to today’s text. Now, let’s look at what the text tells us.

The text tells us where we should stay (4-5).

Jesus commands us to remain in him and promises that if we do, he will remain in us. He said that he is the vine, and we are the branches. The only thing he requires of his branches is that we do not jump off his vine and jump onto some other vine. It is a ridiculous thing to ask, in a sense. Have you ever noticed any grapes jumping off their vine and jumping on another vine?

Jesus was well aware of how unnatural that sounded. I imagine one or two of the disciples who heard Jesus say these words might have giggled at the notion. But they might also have remembered that low point in Jesus’ ministry when the crowds stopped coming, and even some of those who had been following him earlier decided to stop.

Jesus had been teaching using another illustration. He was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum and said that unless people eat his flesh and drink his blood, they will not have eternal life and be raised on the last day. After that, “many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer” (John 6:66). So, Jesus asked his disciples if they wanted to desert him too. That is when Peter said, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!” (John 6:68-69).

What was happening? It was a separation of the sheep from the goats. It was a church split that revealed the authentic believers and the inauthentic wannabe Christians. To use the wording of today’s text, some of the branches stopped staying in the vine.

I know that there is a considerable theological debate about whether a person can lose their salvation. This text does not actually speak to that issue. The parable that Jesus uses does not suggest that true believers can jump off the vine. Instead, it indicates that many who claim to be true believers or who want to be true believers will not stay with Jesus. They will depart. They will apostatize. They will not remain in the vine. They will jump off. As ridiculous as that picture is, it does describe what happens when people discover the cost of following Jesus and decide that they are not willing to pay the price.

True believers will never make that choice. But it is not always possible to see who is the true believer and who is the imposter. Judas did everything that the other apostles did. The eleven were shocked to find that he was the betrayer. If the parables in Matthew 25 inform us regarding this issue, they teach us to be diligent to be found faithful and not to assume that we are the elect and, therefore, not in danger of defection. Today’s passage teaches the same thing. Jesus had just told the eleven that they were clean already because of the word that he had spoken to them. But he didn’t follow that up with: “Relax, you are safe.” No, the very following words he said were, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” He did not want his disciples to hide behind the doctrine of election; He wanted them to stay committed to him and to remain diligent in doing his work.

I should also point out that this word translated “remain” or “stay” is the Greek verb μένω. It is directly related to the noun Jesus had just used in John 14:2. He said that in his Father’s house there are many dwelling places. That word is μονή. So, when Jesus commands us to stay, he is pointing back to that promise. He’s saying that we not only have a future in God’s presence when he returns, but we can stay in that presence now. We do that by staying faithful to Christ and staying in Christ.

The text answers the question, ‘What if we don’t stay?’ (5, 6).

There are two outcomes that Jesus highlights in today’s text. There is the present-day outcome and the ultimate outcome. The present-day outcome for those who decide to jump off the vine is that they will “accomplish nothing.” Someone who claims to be a Christian but does not stay in Christ will not bear any fruit for Christ. They might stay in church, but they are outside of Christ. As a result, their lives will be unfruitful for Christ’s kingdom.

They might look like they are working toward a harvest, but at the end of the day, they will have no produce to show for their work. In Jesus’ day, the nation of Israel had whole groups of committed workers who were not really in the vine. The Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees were such. They had the appearance of being committed to God but Jesus called them out for their hypocrisy. He said they were like whitewashed tombs. Outwardly, they looked clean and tidy, but inside them were dead people’s bones.

Jesus pictured the ultimate outcome of such lives by describing them as branches that fall off the vine, are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. What Jesus is describing is Gehenna hell. Jesus had said that we should not fear human beings, but we should fear God because he “is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Here, Jesus is saying that those branches that do not stay in him will be gathered all together in one place at one time. The place is hell, and the time is judgment day. When Jesus throws those branches into hell, they will NOT burn forever and ever. They will be destroyed. According to today’s text, they will be burned up.

The prophet Malachi predicted the same thing. He said, “The day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the LORD who rules over all. “It will not leave even a root or branch” (Malachi 4:1). Imagine that. Malachi even used the same word that Jesus did in today’s text. Rebellious branches will not be given the privilege of eternal life – even in hell. They will be burned up, obliterated, annihilated. That is the ultimate result of not staying in the vine.

The text also answers the question, ‘What if we do stay?’ (4, 5, 7).

Jesus was not aiming at scaring the disciples with the parable. He used the parable of the vine and the branches to encourage them. He told them that choosing to stay in the vine – that is, remain in Christ – will result in the ability to bear fruit. After all, that is what the vine is for, and that is what the branches are for. A branch that does not bear fruit is pruned because it is not accomplishing the task it was created for. If we do stay in Christ, we can expect a fruitful life and fruitful ministry.

In fact, Jesus promises in verse 5 that if we stay in him we will not only bear some fruit, but we will bear much fruit. Apart from him, we can do nothing, but in him, we can do anything. We should all be looking at our lives and expecting Jesus to use us to bear much fruit for his kingdom. We should be praying for more than “Lord, get me safe into the coming kingdom.” We should be praying, Lord, make good on your promise to make my life bear much fruit for you today.

If we get into that mindset where we expect to bear much fruit for the Lord now, we will have no problem fulfilling the other promise that is in today’s text. In verse 7, Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.” This is an actual promise from Jesus. Some people think that the promise no longer applies because they don’t see any evidence that Jesus is answering their prayers. So, they come up with a doctrine that the gifts and miracles have ceased.

I want to challenge you on this issue because I am not such a person, and I do not believe the Bible teaches that the gifts and miracles have ceased. Instead, if we look at the context of Jesus’ promise here, we will find out why there seem to be so few examples of answered prayer. The context is that of remaining in Christ and having a fruitful life and ministry for him. The two conditions of the promise are these: “if you remain in me” and “if my words remain in you.”

The condition “if you remain in me” speaks of maintaining an authentic relationship with Christ. The condition “if my words remain in you” speaks of learning and living by the commands of Christ and trusting in the promises of Christ. We all have a long way to go before we can claim that we have met those conditions. But, again, Jesus is not asking us to despair. He wants us to aim at fulfilling those conditions because he wants to create an army of faithful Christians who are well-known for answered prayers.

John Wesley commented on this verse, “Prayers themselves are a fruit of faith, and they produce more fruit.” The devil knows that there is one sure way to prevent us from bearing fruit as Christians. He can keep us from being productive if he can convince us to stop praying. Praying is not an additional condition that Jesus adds to the ones Jesus already pointed out. Those are having a relationship with Christ, learning and living by the commands of Christ, and trusting in the promises of Christ. So, when Jesus says, “Ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you,” he is telling us to pray because we are in him, and his word is in us. Prayer is not a third condition. It is a natural outflow of meeting the two conditions.

That means that anytime we get into our prayer closets and are determined to spend some quality time praying, we can pray with confidence. There are only two conditions that Jesus lists for fruitful prayer. Perfection is not one of those conditions. His grace covers our inadequacies and faults. His love overlooks our obvious failures and imperfections. We need only concern ourselves with two questions: do we have a relationship with Christ by faith, and do we know and trust his word? If we can answer “yes” to those two conditions, then we can pray with confidence.

Now, I know what happens when I pray and I don’t see an immediate answer. I begin to doubt my ability to pray productively. That doubt is the devil’s work. Jesus did not add any further conditions to his promise. So, what will happen if I give in to that doubt and stop praying? Remember what the command is. Jesus said, “Remain in me.” We honor him when we keep praying and keep staying. We show our trust in his promises by persevering through the dry times and waiting for him to produce the water from the rock. Our Lord wants people who dare to persevere.

HEAVENLY FATHER, thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ. Thank you for his sacrifice on Calvary’s cross that made it possible for us to be saved by grace. Thank you for the privilege of being in Christ by faith. Oh, Lord, we want to stay in him. Protect us from the temptation to defect from him, to stop trusting in his finished work, or to doubt his sure promises. We thank you that he is the way to your eternal presence. We ask you for the strength we need to stay in him as we wait for the fulfillment of all his promises. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

John 13:34-35 NET.

³⁴ “I give you a new commandment — to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples — if you have love for one another.”

For several years now, we have been studying the commands of Christ. I plan to finish that major study this year. But it seems odd that we are at this point in the history of Christ and his message as represented in the Gospels, and it is here that we find Jesus giving a new commandment. After all, the commands we have studied tore down traditions and upset the whole nation of Israel. But there must be a sense in which everything that Jesus had said up to this point is not new.

First, let’s look at the context of the commandment (John 13).

Last time, we witnessed a a foot-washing. Jesus got together with the twelve and took a towel. He washed the feet of all the disciples. They sat there in amazement and were probably quite embarrassed. He wanted them to follow his example. As I mentioned before, Jesus was not establishing a new ordinance. He was just meeting a real need that all of the disciples had. He wanted to teach them that meeting the needs of other Christians is a high priority for the life of every believer. His taking up the towel was an illustration of that truth. It was also something that neither of them would ever forget.

This chapter also records three predictions that Jesus made at this time. First, he predicted a betrayal. He said it mysteriously. He had just told the disciples that they were now clean because he had just washed their feet. Then he added, “But not every one of you.” He told them that he knew the ones he had chosen but that a prophecy made in the Old Testament had to be fulfilled. The prophecy is found in Psalm 41:9, which says, “Even my close friend whom I trusted, he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.”

The disciples were trying to understand that prophecy. They knew that each of them had disappointed Jesus. There were times when they just seemed to stumble all over themselves and fail him constantly. But this was something different. This was a betrayal. This was joining the other team. This was selling out to the enemies of Christ who wanted him dead. Naturally, everyone wanted to know who the betrayer was.

Jesus identified Judas as the betrayer, but only to let Judas himself know that he knew. Then Jesus told Judas to do what he was going to do quickly. The other disciples had no idea that the mission Jesus had sent him on was the very act of betrayal that he had just predicted.

The second prediction Jesus makes in this chapter is even more earth-shattering. He predicts that he is going to go somewhere that none of the twelve can follow. They seem to sense that he is once again predicting his death.

Peter boldly announces that even if everyone else might abandon him, he will follow even to death itself. That is when Jesus makes his third prediction: Peter is going to deny him.

Now we know the context in which these two verses of Scripture are found. It seems an extraordinary place to put a new commandment. But Jesus has his reasons for everything he does. Judas had been the leavened loaf. Once he left to go about his business of betrayal, the crew that was left was the pure symbol of the body of Christ. They were now ready for his new commandment. Jesus wanted his true church to love one another.

Now, let’s look at the standard of the commandment (34).

Jesus had previously taught his disciples to love their neighbor. We read the command in Matthew 19:19, but it was itself a quote from the Old Testament.

In Leviticus 19:17-18, we read, “You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” Jesus’ command for his kingdom citizens to love their neighbors was not a new commandment. It had its basis in the Old Testament Law. It was basically a command not to hate other people. Hating others would bring about guilt and lead to sin. The standard of the Old Testament was the love of self. It was in the best interest of those under the Mosaic Law to love their neighbors because if they did not, they would be harming themselves. God demanded neighbor love, and failing to do so would bring contamination and sin-debt.

Jesus had expanded the concept of neighbor love to include those who had not previously been seen to be neighbors. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45). This is still the Old Testament requirement; only the scope of the command is changed to include those who were not understood initially as targets of neighbor love. So, this is still the old commandment, even though it is an expansion of its scope. The standard is still the same. We should love our enemies as we love ourselves.

But with this new commandment, the standard changes. Jesus tells his disciples to love one another just as he has loved them. The standard is no longer how much we love ourselves; it is how much Jesus loves us.

This is the mature love that Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 13. It is a love that goes beyond what we learn from our parents and our politicians. It is not self-serving love. It is sacrificial love. It is patient, It is kind, it is not envious. It does not brag; it is not puffed up. It is not rude; it is not self-serving; it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. We now love for a whole new reason. We love because he first loved us and showed us how to love others.

Now, let’s consider the purpose of the commandment (35).

Jesus said that when we love each other sacrificially, the rest of the world will have no trouble seeing the difference between the true disciples and the lookalike goats. He said that if we love one another, everyone will know that we are his disciples. This solves the question of Christian identity.

Notice that Jesus did not say that if we profess the right doctrine, then the world will know we are authentic. We have fought wars among ourselves over the question of right or orthodox doctrine. But the result was that the world looked at us and saw us hating one another and concluded that either Jesus is not real, or we are not, or both. You cannot hate yourself into the kingdom of God. You certainly cannot hate your enemies into the kingdom.

I am distressed to find that even my own denomination seems to be circling the wagons and seeking to exclude others on the basis of doctrinal purity. I understand the desire to proclaim the truth and the need to be biblical. But I fear that we are failing to live up to the new commandment. Jesus said this new kind of love will demonstrate our Christian identity.

If you look closely at what Jesus commanded, you will find a new kind of love that demonstrates three principles—first, the principle of mutuality. Jesus didn’t say that only some of us could measure up to this new love standard. He said it was to be the measure of all true believers. Love is not the work of an elite team. It is the identifying mark of the whole kingdom.

The second principle is equality. Since we are all called to love each other, none of the things that other people see as a basis for hatred and exclusion are to matter to us anymore. Paul told the Galatians that “in Christ Jesus (we) are all sons of God through faith, for all of (us) who were baptized into Christ have clothed ourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek (so no ethnic superiority or inferiority), there is neither slave nor free (so no social or financial superiority or inferiority), there is neither male nor female (so no gender superiority or inferiority)— for all of (us) are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). Since we are all equal in Christ, we are free to love each other on the basis of that unity.

The third principle is reciprocity. We are to love not just our best and brightest, not just our leaders, but each other. The Apostles who wrote the epistles in the rest of the New Testament took hold of this principle of reciprocity and taught that reciprocal love implies:

thanksgiving for each other (Ephesians 5:20),
encouraging and building up each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11),
belonging to one another (Romans 12:5),
being devoted to one another and honoring one another (Romans 12:10),
living in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16),
welcoming one another (Romans 15:7),
greeting one another (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20),
having mutual concern for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25),
serving one another (Galatians 5:13); (1 Peter 4:10),
carrying one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2),
bearing with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13),
being kind, compassionate, and forgiving one another (Ephesians 4:32),
submitting to one another (Ephesians 5:21),
treating one another as more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3),
confessing to and praying for one another (James 5:16),
being hospitable to each other (1 Peter 4:9),
being humble toward one another (1 Peter 5:5).

All these reciprocal commands are ways of obeying the one new commandment that Jesus gave us – to love one another. It is how we identify ourselves as disciples of Christ. It is also how we go about accomplishing the mission that he has given us to make more disciples.

Jesus wants us to demonstrate this radical new love and so draw the lost to him. If we love each other, the lost will seek our Savior. If we hate each other, they will look elsewhere. Our love of each other is a means of proclaiming God’s love to the world.

IMITATE!

IMITATE!

John 13:12-17 NET.

¹² So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? ¹³ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example — you should do just as I have done for you. ¹⁶ I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Penny and I have been watching the latest season of “The Chosen” at night. If you are not familiar with the show, it depicts the life of Jesus and his disciples. One thing that struck me as we binge-watched it recently is that the characters in the show are constantly traveling from one place to another. Of course, they are always walking except for a brief ride on a donkey’s colt that Jesus took for his triumphal entry.

You have to understand that walking long distances was just how people traveled back then. That helps to set the stage for the event that today’s text highlights.

Jesus washed their feet because they needed it (12).

People traveled long distances by foot back in those times. Penny and I can sympathize with people back then because, as hikers, we have literally traveled thousands of miles by foot. Taking care of one’s feet is essential for hikes like that. We can get by with cheap food and clothing, but proper footwear is crucial. But back in the days that Jesus and his apostles walked the earth, most people walked in sandals. That created a need. To meet this need, most homes had a jar of water and a towel outside their front porch.

If a family were wealthy, they would have a slave whose duty was to wash the feet of everyone who came to visit their home. If they were not rich, they would still provide the water jar and the towel so that the visitors themselves could wash their feet prior to entering the house. On this particular occasion, Jesus and his disciples were heading to a home without a foot-washing slave. That meant that one of the disciples would have to do the job. But before they drew straws to find out who got the dirty work, Jesus himself grabbed the towel that day.

Now, some denominations treat this story as if Jesus was proclaiming another ritual that Christians should follow. They put this incident right up there with baptism and the Lord’s Supper and proclaim it as an ordinance of the church. I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind. The reason Jesus washed his disciples’ feet that day was that they needed their feet washed. He was taking care of a basic need of the whole group. It was something that they all usually experienced. The only thing that was abnormal about it was that it was Jesus who took the towel. He was the master. The students should have jumped at the chance to help one another, but they didn’t. So, Jesus did what was needed.

Jesus washed their feet as an example for them to imitate (15).

The disciples were students of Jesus. That is what a disciple is: a student. But it is probably best that we don’t just call ourselves students of Jesus today. We have a poor concept of what it means to be a student. Our classes are filled with teachers who teach and students who learn, but more often than not, nobody ever changes. Jesus intended to teach his apostles the gospel, yes. But he intended more than that. He planned for them to become evangelists who pass on the gospel to others. He wanted them to, at some point, stop learning and start teaching themselves.

Even more, Jesus intended the apostles not just to learn what he taught but also to reproduce what they saw. He was an example that they were supposed to follow. Remember, he called them to himself and told them to follow him. They were not just supposed to learn from him; they were supposed to follow him—to imitate him.

So, when Jesus took the towel that day, he intended to teach his apostles to do what he did. This went further than simply being on the lookout for dirty feet. Jesus wanted his apostles to anticipate all the needs of their congregations and the communities they lived among.

Remember Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats that we just studied. In the parable, the king said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’” In each case, the king praised the authentic true sheep because they recognized a need and met that need. That is what Jesus was teaching with his example of foot-washing.

On that particular day, none of the apostles was thinking about the need that his fellows would have when they reached the house. They were too busy with their grand ideas of their importance compared to the others. They had needs that they could have filled, but they expected someone else to do it. They were shocked when their master himself took up the towel. But he did it to show them the attitude they should have as believers.

Looking for the needs of those around us is something that every Christian should do. I did not say every minister. I did not say every church officer. When Jesus spoke to all his apostles that day, he intended the whole church to hear his words. He expects all of us to focus on meeting the needs that present themselves all around us.

Jesus washed their feet to demonstrate mutual submission (14).

There is a widespread understanding of what it means to be a Christian that contradicts what Jesus did that day. A false doctrine has embedded itself into the fabric of the Christian Church even though Jesus taught against it. Even today, whole churches and denominations are swept up in this false doctrine. I call it the heresy of hierarchy.

The heresy of hierarchy says that the church is made up of levels of leadership. It asserts that some people are supposed to look after the needs of others within the community, but others are too important to do that. It’s the totem pole concept.

Now, I have already spoken on this subject in my sermon on Mark 10. That is where Jesus told his apostles that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. But he said it is not this way among believers. Instead, whoever wants to be great must be a servant.

We are not very good at living up to that instruction from the Lord. We call our leaders ministers, but we mean by ministry something different from what Jesus meant. A minister is a servant—a slave—someone whose job it is to take care of the needs of all the others.

The Apostle Paul instructed the congregations at Ephesus not to get drunk with wine but to be filled by the Holy Spirit. How was that fullness of the Spirit supposed to manifest? Those who the Spirit fills would be “speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-21).

Most preachers quickly go on to the next verse and teach wives that they are supposed to submit to their husbands. They are more comfortable with that verse because it appears to establish a hierarchy: wives are under husbands, kinds are under the wives, and dogs are under the kids. So they make submission into a one-way thing. They think God wants us only to submit to those higher up the ladder.

That is not what Paul said. He said that the church is supposed to submit to one another. We are supposed to wash one another’s feet. We are supposed to find a need and fill that need, regardless of what our title is or who has the need. Mutual submission means every foot must be washed. There is no totem pole.

Jesus didn’t say, “OK, I’ll wash Peter’s feet, but the rest of you lowly disciples are going to have to take care of yourselves.” He didn’t set up a rank system. He did the work of the buck private for everybody in the company.

The lesson of foot-washing is that everybody counts or nobody counts. Our ministry is not to a select segment of the church or the community. We need to submit to one another. That command is not obeyed when we simply follow our leaders. It is obeyed when we look for needs and meet those needs regardless of who has the needs. When Jesus picked up the towel, it was to wash the feet of the whole congregation.

Jesus wanted each of his apostles to aspire to greatness, which can only happen when someone dares to be the slave of all. To teach that lesson, Jesus himself picked up the towel and became a slave, washing the feet of all his team. Imitating him means letting go of our self-imposed levels of status and importance. It means always doing our best for everybody.

Obeying this command is one of the hardest things you will ever do as a Christian. It attacks your pride and sense of superiority. It offends your sense of fairness. But if we all dared to submit to one another and put the needs of everybody above our desires, the world would be shocked. They will wonder why we are doing this. This will be a perfect opportunity to share Christ.

BE HOLY

BE HOLY

Leviticus 19:1-4 NET.

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses: ² “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. ³ Each of you must respect his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God. ⁴ Do not turn to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am the LORD your God.

God has always called his people to be holy. This command is found in today’s text and elsewhere in the Old Testament. It is also repeated in the New Testament, just in case believers under the New Covenant might think that holiness is no longer important to God.

The Apostle Paul reminded the Christians in Ephesus of this command:

“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love” (Ephesians 1:3-4). I don’t know what goes through your mind when you hear the words “every spiritual blessing.” Still, when I read those words, my mind did not automatically go to the idea of holiness. But for Paul, to be blessed spiritually is to be holy and unblemished.

I want that. I want it more than I want to be blessed physically. I want it not just as a hope for my future but also as a present reality that I experience now. It is comforting to know that God has already blessed me with that holiness in Christ. But I’m not satisfied with a mere expectation of future holiness. I want what God wants for me now.

The Apostle Peter addressed this two-fold reality – the fact that we have a hope of future glory and a need to manifest that holiness in the present. He said:

^“Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, “You shall be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:13-16).

For Peter, holiness was not just a future hope. It was a standard of action in the present. Holiness must be more than an idea. It must be a calling and a lifestyle. But Peter recognized that there would be obstacles to living by that standard. He challenged his readers to stop following the evil urges that they used to follow when they didn’t know better. He called them to stop letting the world around them dictate their behavior. The Apostle Paul directed the Romans to do the same thing when he said, “Do not be conformed to this present world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). That is another challenge for New Testament Christians to walk in holiness.

The world is telling us that holiness is impossible, but the word tells us that it is not only possible; it is our calling. A holy life today is proof that we will inherit a holy universe in the future. If we cannot learn to live in holiness today, we will always be subject to the accusations of the enemy that we are not authentic. Now, the question for us today is how do we walk in holiness? How can we live so under God’s control that the accusations bounce off?

When we go up and down the highways, there are cars with blue lights that flash. They catch people who disregard the speed limits. There are two ways to avoid blue light anxiety. You can listen for warnings that the police are present in your area and adjust your speed when they are near. Or you can monitor your speed and always drive within the limit. As far as holiness is concerned, we cannot use avoidance tactic number 1. The reason is – unlike the patrol cars – God is always present. The only avoidance tactic that works is maintaining control of your life at all times. Holiness has to become our normal.

So, again, the question: How do we walk in holiness? How do we spend our days doing the right thing so that we never have to fear heaven’s blue lights? Today’s passage from Leviticus 19 gives us some insight into what holiness means to God. It is written under the Mosaic covenant, but it spells out four principles that can be applied to the life of any believer anywhere, anytime. I want us to get familiar with these principles because they can help us live in God’s standard of holiness.

First, the principle of identity (1-2).

The whole congregation of the Israelites was required to be holy—not just Moses, the leader, Aaron and the priests and Levites, the tribal leaders, the fanatical super-committed Nazarites, or the soldiers. Every man, woman, and child were required to be holy. They were united under God, and it was God’s holiness that formed the ground and purpose for their holiness. God told them that they must be holy because He is holy.

In his book, The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses, Vern Poythress writes, “The people could not survive alongside the tabernacle unless they respected the holiness of God and maintained holiness among themselves. Or, to put it another way, now that the people themselves had in some sense become a dwelling place of God through the erection and consecration of the tabernacle, they had to maintain practices exhibiting the principles of God’s dwelling.”[1]

Not only had God rescued them from Egypt and promised to bring them to the promised land, but he also agreed to go with them as they traveled. Every step they took was as representatives of God, who was among them. They were no longer just the children of Israel. They now had the identity as a nation of being God’s own. Hence, their actions and lifestyles had to correspond to that new identity.

Every aspect of their lives now had to conform to God and his will. They could not decide to go somewhere apart from where God was going. Their tribes camped around the Tabernacle. They advanced when God told them to advance. They stayed put when God told them to stay put. God was among them – making decisions for them – keeping them from danger. But God could not endorse their sins, nor could he look the other way when they rebelled. Being delivered did not make them free from accountability. They were even more accountable to God now that they had identified with him.

Second, the principle of morality (3a).

God told them that they had the moral responsibility to respect their parents. Of course, there were more moral responsibilities than just that, but that was an excellent place to start. This chapter contains a mix of ethical and ceremonial obligations. It shows that God is concerned with both. There would always be Israelites who were only worried about looking like good followers, so they focused on the ceremony and omitted the weightier matters of the Law. Those weightier matters were the moral obligations.

Nowadays, some take grace for granted and flaunt their sinfulness. They say things like, “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.” What people hear when we say such things is, “I am a believer in grace, but I cannot be trusted with your teenage daughter.” God’s word never condones immorality. We saw in Matthew chapter 25 recently that there will be many who appear before the Lord on Judgment Day convinced that they are true Christians only to discover that they were not. They may have talked about eternity, but they were not prepared for it. They had the opportunity to use their gifts for the gospel but did not. They thought they were sheep, but they were goats. Jesus said that the true sheep cared about others. Moses told the Israelites that to be holy, they had to respect their parents. Loving others had to start at home.

Third, the principle of conformity (3b).

God tells the Israelites that to be holy, they had to keep his Sabbaths. This had nothing to do with going to church on Saturday. There was a whole barrage of rituals and regulations prescribed by God for his people to adhere to. There were sacrifices and offerings. There were Feasts and fasts. There were rules and regulations about what to wear, what to eat, what to say when, who to marry, and who not to marry. God expected every Israelite to conform to his standard of living. The reason for this requirement is also stated three times in today’s text. The reason is ‎

אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם. In English, “I am Yahveh, Your God.” The reason for all of these regulations was not to get saved. The reason is that the Israelites claim that Yahveh is their God. So, they are responsible for conforming to his will.

Fast-forward to today, and there have been a few changes because we are no longer under the Mosaic covenant. Christ fulfilled the law by becoming our one sacrifice. His death atoned for sin once and for all, so there is no longer a need for sacrifice. We are no longer under obligation to conform to the regulations about the Sabbath days. But there are still some things that God expects us to do in order to identify with Jesus, our Savior. Baptism is the initial rite of admission into the New Covenant community. The Lord’s Supper is the ongoing rite. In addition to this, the instructions given to us by the Apostles in their letters to the churches help us to set standards of behavior so that we identify ourselves as Christians and our fellowships as Christian churches. The means of conformity have changed, but the principle of conformity remains.

Finally, the principle of loyalty (4).

God commands his people not to turn to idols. When they were in Egypt, their captors worshipped idols. God instructs them not to go back. He tells them to forsake their old way of living and their old way of thinking. They would be tempted to go back to the old way of doing things, but God says don’t. He also instructed them not to make for themselves gods of cast metal. Egypt had been filled with gods, goddesses, and idols. The nations surrounding the Israelites, when they arrive at the promised land, will also be filled with gods, goddesses, and idols. But holiness cannot be achieved by being religiously inclusive.

This same principle of undivided loyalty is found throughout the pages of the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians, Paul warns believers not to eat food offered to idols because it could lead to participation with demons. Paul lists idolatry as one of the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:20). John tells his readers to guard themselves against idols (1 John 5:21). In Revelation, he predicts that this world will suffer great pandemics, but they will still refuse to repent. They will “not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood — idols that cannot see or hear or walk about” (Revelation 9:20).

Those dead idols are still with us in this generation. We have not rid ourselves of them. Anything that competes with your loyalty to God and Jesus Christ is an idol. We are warned to guard ourselves from them. You cannot be holy and idolatrous at the same time. Holiness is a matter of undivided loyalty. It makes no sense to brag about not having any idols in your house if the house itself is an idol. There are people today who live in their idols, drive their idols, work for their idols, play with their idols, watch their idols on the screen, and plan for retirement so they can spend more time with their idols, but still insist that they are not idol worshippers.

We need to start asking ourselves what things in our lives are competing with our devotion to Christ and his gospel. God instructed the Israelites through Moses to live as a holy nation. They failed to live up to those instructions. The same God who called them to be holy is calling us to live holy lives today. Be holy because your God is holy.

[1] Poythress, Vern S. The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses. P & R Pub., 1991. p. 42.

SHEEP?

SHEEP?

Matthew 25:31-46 NET.

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!

⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

We have been looking at the parables our Lord gave to illustrate his teachings about the last things. Three parables appear in Matthew 25: the ten virgins in verses 1-13, the Talents in verses 14-30, and the sheep and goats in today’s text. The overall theme of the chapter is authenticity. Each parable describes two groups. The ten virgins are separated into two groups. One group was wise because they waited for the party with extra oil for their lamps. The other group did not. The Talents were divided among three slaves. Two of the slaves invested what they had been given. One slave did not. He was a group of one. The parable part of today’s text also highlights two groups, identified as sheep and goats.

I thought it convenient to feature an animal on each slide presentation for these three weeks. An owl represented the wise virgins. A dog represented the faithful stewards. It wasn’t too hard to figure out which animal to use to represent the sheep.

This passage describes the coming judgment. The sheep and goats parable is mostly not a parable. It is actually a description of a conversation that Jesus says will happen on Judgment Day. It has one sentence in it which is parabolic. The rest is instruction about the coming judgment day.

On Judgment Day, Jesus is going to return.

He is not going to come as a baby in a manger but as the glorious Lord of the universe, with his angels to accomplish his will. You will remember that the disciples had asked Jesus what the sign of his coming would be. They knew that he was going to return in triumph as the king of kings and Lord of Lords. They didn’t know when to expect that event. Jesus taught them always to expect that event and live accordingly.

When Jesus does return, the first thing on his “to-do” list is to raise the dead. He said, “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out — the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation” (John 5:28-29).

Then, we who are in Christ will join those who have just been raised. Paul wrote, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). That reunion is described as a marriage celebration both by Jesus and by John in the book of Revelation. We don’t go to be with the Lord when we die, but we will go to be with the Lord and each other when he returns.

The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus “will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation” (Hebrews 9:28). We talk about being saved now, but our present salvation is only partial. Complete salvation comes when Christ brings it. We are presently saved from the penalty of sin. When Jesus returns, we will be saved forever from the presence of sin.

On Judgment Day, Jesus will gather all the nations to himself.

This gathering of the nations is the reversal of the scattering to the nations at the tower of Babel. God divided humanity at Babel in judgment. He will bring us all back together again at Christ’s return for individual judgment.

He had commissioned his followers to go into all these nations and preach the gospel to them, to make disciples of them. God the Father had sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world. Jesus has sent us to reach this world for him. Judgment Day is when we find out how well we accomplished his Great Commission.

On Judgment Day, Jesus will judge individuals.

He will sit on his glorious throne to judge. He will separate the sheep from the goats. Actually, the text says, “he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” That is individual judgment. Jesus is not going to judge us based on which nation we live in. It will not matter which flag we are under when Jesus gathers the nations. Nationality, ethnic identity, gender, social status – none of those things will matter on Judgment Day. Only our identity in Christ will matter.

On Judgment Day, Jesus will not judge us based on what we profess.

In today’s passage, Jesus speaks to two groups, and both groups call him Lord. The righteous call him Lord in verse 37, and the accursed call him Lord in verse 44. Both groups claim to be faithful Christians.

On Judgment Day, Jesus will judge us based on how we proved our profession.

Profession is a good thing. You cannot enter the kingdom without confession that Jesus is Lord. But our Lord wants us to back up our confession with a life of obedience. That is why Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). Jesus taught that “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven — only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Specifically, Jesus says in today’s text that true Christians will prove their profession by feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty something to drink, inviting strangers in, providing clothing, and visiting the sick and those in prison. All of these activities are examples of what it means to love one’s neighbor as he loves himself. But Jesus says that when we do these things for others, we are actually ministering to him.

On Judgment Day, Jesus will condemn the pretenders.

On Judgment Day, Jesus will condemn those who merely professed a relationship with him but did not prove that relationship by what they did. Again, I am not preaching salvation by works here. And neither is Jesus. No one is saved except by God’s grace on the basis of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. We cannot do what God has already done. We cannot save ourselves no matter how many good works we do. But God’s grace always changes people. The theologians call that change conversion. In conversion, we change from one person to another. We change inside. That inside change is reflected by what we will do from then on. An outer transformation manifests our inner conversion. It is a new birth – a regeneration. One day, our Lord is going to make a new universe, but right now, he is making new people who will populate that new universe.

How do you know if someone is not genuinely regenerated? You look at what they do not do. They do not feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink, invite strangers in, provide clothing, or visit the sick and those in prison. They may profess a relationship with Christ, but they do not demonstrate a Christlike attitude toward others.

Jesus did not teach this lesson to unbelievers. He taught it to the same audience that he had been speaking to in Matthew 24: the disciples who wanted to know about his second coming. He had taught them that they should stay alert and ready for his arrival. This parable is one of the answers to the question, “What does ready look like?” A Christian who is prepared for Christ to come again is not going to be a goat – a pretender. They will prove their identity in Christ by showing God’s love to others.

Because I am talking about Jesus’ condemnation of the pretenders here, I must address the question of hell. In today’s text, Jesus calls hell “the eternal fire” (in verse 41) and “eternal punishment” in verse 46. From reading phrases like that, many interpret hell as a process that will never end. They say that Jesus is going to throw people into hell, and they will keep burning and suffering forever.

If that is what Jesus said, then he contradicted something he had previously taught about hell. You remember that Jesus said that hell would destroy soul and body (Matthew 10:28). Someone who is destroyed soul and body cannot keep suffering forever. So, what is Jesus saying the fate of the pretenders will be? What is the eternal fire and the eternal punishment?

Our English word eternal has a particular meaning. It means something that endures perpetually or continues without intermission. But the word that Jesus used – and the word Matthew used in today’s text was more versatile. That word was αἰώνιος. It could mean perpetual, but it could also mean permanent.

If we were to have a fire in this building, and some of us were destroyed in that fire, it would be a tragedy. But it would not be a permanent fire. We know that Jesus is going to raise all the dead when he returns, even those who die in fires. But hell will be the permanent fire. There will be no resurrection from that destruction. It is permanent destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

It is also a permanent punishment. Criminals today are punished for their crimes, but when their penalty is paid, they cease to be punished. They get out of prison. All of their punishment is temporary. Even those who die in prison are not continually punished by the state after they die. They are released to be buried. Their punishment is temporary. But hell will be a permanent punishment. It will destroy the sinner’s body and soul. It will eradicate them.

In the New Testament, the word αἰώνιος is usually not used in comparison with something else, so we cannot tell what its specific meaning is. However, there are a few exceptions when it is used in comparison, so by looking at those texts we can tell what the word entails.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17, Paul compares our momentary, light suffering with an “αἰώνιος weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” Our present suffering is temporary, but our future destiny will be permanent.

In the next verse, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul says, “What can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is αἰώνιος.” It is clear that Paul is talking about something permanent, not a perpetual process.

In 2 Corinthians 5:1, Paul compares our present temporary bodies with the αἰώνιος bodies we will have after the resurrection. These present bodies wear out, but our permanent bodies will not.

In Philemon, verse 15, Paul tells Philemon that his slave Onesimus was perhaps separated from him for a while so that he would later be restored to him αἰώνιος – permanently.

These four examples show that when the New Testament uses the word αἰώνιος it refers to something permanent. Jesus’ point in using the word in today’s text is to warn that hell will destroy permanently, which agrees precisely with what he said in Matthew 10:28. There is no contradiction.

On Judgment Day, Jesus will condemn the pretenders. They will be destroyed forever in hell. Only those with a real relationship with Christ will survive Judgment Day. We know that we are real sheep when we love the least of these, just like Jesus did.

LORD, thank you for your promise to come again. Thank you for the warning you gave in today’s text. Help is to get real and stay real. Help us to prove our authenticity by loving others – as you commanded.