Category: sermon

HIS MAGNIFICENT REPUTATION

HIS MHIS MAGNIFICENT REPUTATION

Psalm 8 NET.

For the music director, according to the gittith style; a psalm of David. 1 O LORD, our Lord, how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth! You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! 2 From the mouths of children and nursing babies you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. 3 When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made, and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4 Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them, 5 and make them a little less than the heavenly beings? You grant mankind honor and majesty; 6 you appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority, 7 including all the sheep and cattle, as well as the wild animals, 8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea and everything that moves through the currents of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth!

We are now in the 19th book of our English Bibles, the Psalms – the songbook of the Bible. It is poetry, but our translations rarely rhyme or have a metrical rhythm. The originals are not about that either. Hebrew poetry focuses more on pairing two or more expressions of the same idea than on rhyming sounds.

We recognize poetry in the 1784 anonymous nursery rhyme: “The rose is red, the violet’s blue, The honey’s sweet, and so are you.” Over time, the poem has changed a bit, but it still says what people wanted to say. The original used rhyme and paired similar syllables in 4-3-3-4 meter. Our modern version is a 4-4-4-4 meter.

Many Hebrew words of the same type rhyme, so rhyming is not a characteristic of Hebrew poetry. Instead, they pair statements of the same idea. For example, here is what that poem would look like if written in Hebrew poetry:

Roses are red, like a brilliant sunset

Violets are blue, the color of berries

Honey is sweet, as sweet as syrup

And you are sweet and precious to me.

The emphasis is shown by the repetition of an idea, using different words. In today’s text, verses 3-4 are good examples:

3 When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made,

and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place,

4 Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them?

Of what importance is mankind that you should pay attention to them?

That gives us insight into the structure of what we are reading. But what is the purpose of the Psalms? As poetry, the Psalms focus not on historical facts but on the feelings connected to them. In the Torah, God speaks to humanity. In the Psalms, humans talk back to him. They share their feelings. They use these words to encourage others to trust God and continue obeying him. Songs can sometimes inform us, but their main purpose is to go beyond instruction. They are meant to make us feel something – to evoke emotion. They are expressions of emotion.

Reading the Psalms can be difficult because they include feelings we might prefer not to acknowledge. These songs often involve a lot of complaining. They were written by people who experienced suffering and brought their laments to God. Consequently, they give us a view of a God who is large enough not to be bothered by our honest frustrations. He loves us and wants to hear from us, even if what we say falls short of praise.

The Psalms are also meant to bring us back to God when we’re distracted by our problems. When we struggle to make ends meet, it’s comforting to remember that we have a Shepherd watching over us, leading us to still waters, and guiding us with his rod and staff. When we feel confused and everything around us seems dark, we are encouraged to think of the LORD as our light and salvation.

Many of the Psalms were written by David, and this seems to be one of them. The inscription informs us that David wrote this song, dedicated it to the music director, and composed it in the Gittith style. Some parts of the psalm make sense when we consider that David was the author. The writer clearly understands musical styles. David was a skilled musician. The writer also reflects on the importance of human authority. David was a king. The writer has gone out at night, gazed at the open sky, and thought about the moon and stars. As a young boy, David was a shepherd and likely spent many nights watching over the flock.

As we explore the details of this ancient poem, it helps to visualize not just the facts David conveys, but the feelings they evoke in him. These feelings are what David wants us to experience.

The Shepherd King looks up.

David is sitting on his throne, but in his mind, he is back in the fields, watching his flock by night. Once the stray sheep are brought into the fold, there isn’t much to do. You spend most of your time just standing around. It gives you time to think. You probably get to know the night sky very well. David is not an evolutionist. He looks up into the night sky and does not see a bunch of random orbs that accidentally came together to make up that sky. He sees the heavens that the LORD God has made. He sees the moon and stars that the LORD God has set in place. The night sky is a testimony to the divine artist who created it as a testimony to his existence, greatness, and power. No human being could do that. The sky (as it says in another psalm) declares the glory of God. It displays his handiwork.

In the Psalms, the sky is where God sits, laughing at the proud claims of mere mortals. Birds are up there, along with the sun, moon, and stars, but even above all these wonders is the glory of God. His throne is there, and from it, he looks down on humanity. He spoke, and the sky came into existence. Now, he looks down from there to see if anyone understands and seeks him. The sky joins the divine chorus of all creation in praising its creator, even when human voices are silent. From the sky, the LORD speaks, and it rains water onto the ground. From the sky, God provided manna for his people to eat. All the gods of the nations are just dumb idols, but the LORD made the sky.

The sky symbolizes God’s character and work. Just as the sky is high above the earth, God’s mercy is great toward those who fear him. His mercy, truth, and glory are as boundless as the space between the ground and the stars. He also possesses infinite power. He is in the sky and does whatever he chooses. The sky represents the highest realm we can reach, and the psalmist says that even if he were to go there, he would find the same God as here. There is no escaping his presence.

King David authored this psalm. He once faced a giant and did not fear him because he knew someone greater and more powerful than Goliath. David had reached the pinnacle of the metaphorical ladder — he was king. No one was more powerful or more prominent. Still, King David looked up. Later kings would look down on their insignificant subjects and declare themselves gods. But David knew better. One of the healthiest lessons leaders can learn is that there is a God on the throne in heaven, and they are not him.

What is the Shepherd King feeling as he gazes up at the sky? He feels humbled by God’s greatness and understands his responsibility to Him. But that feeling of responsibility is more than humbling.

The Shepherd King looks around.

David was once in charge of a flock of sheep. Now he oversees an entire nation. He is amazed that small humans like himself have been given the authority to rule over anything in God’s creation. He mentions sheep first, which I find important. Then he talks about cattle, wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the fish and other creatures in the sea.

David sees himself as a model of exemplary leadership because he leads others by following God. He believes dominion is possible because that is what God designed all humans to do. He created us (as David mentions in verse 5) a little less than the heavenly beings, but he gave us charge over all the earthly beings. David is in awe that God even pays attention to us. He is amazed that God would delegate such power into our small hands.

Here we are, the human race. We have the potential for greatness, but we can also fail miserably. We can build, but we can also destroy. We can clean the air and water, but we can also pollute them. We can heal diseases, but we can also infect others and cause pandemics. We can blow up a mountain and mine its jewels. Yet, we can also use that same dynamite to blow up our neighbors. We can get it right, but we can also get it oh, so wrong.

God’s reputation is magnificent. But the strange part is that he has not chosen to protect that reputation by restricting us. Instead, he has entrusted us with the task of controlling this world. God’s power is impressive, but the fact that he has delegated some of that power to us is unbelievable. Compared to him, we are all children and nursing infants.

The Shepherd King looks beyond.

After David considers all that he and other humans are responsible for, he becomes prophetic. We only get hints from the Holy Spirit in this psalm, but the hints are there. Those children and nursing babies are praising God for something. When the crowds shouted Hosanna, welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, the religious leaders were furious at them. But Jesus said that they were fulfilling the prediction in Psalm 8:2. David was a great king, but he also knew that one of his descendants would be an even greater king— the Messiah himself. He would come to Earth to redeem the lost and restore humanity, and God had prepared praise for himself because of this coming king (Matthew 21:16).

Another hint that David is becoming messianic in this Psalm is his use of the word translated as “mankind” in verse 4. The Hebrew phrase is בֶן־אָדָם – son of man. We know that Jesus often used that phrase as his own title. What’s happening in this psalm is that David is saying that God gives humans authority, but we all fall short of ruling with God’s perfection. However, there will come a human being in David’s future who will embody all that humanity is meant to be. He will reign with God’s glory and perfectly reflect God’s magnificent reputation.

The New Testament passages we read in today’s responsive reading[1] highlight that theme and expand on it. The author of Hebrews tells us that we don’t yet see everything under Jesus’ control, but that day is coming. Paul says that Jesus will reign until all of his enemies are defeated – with death itself being the final enemy. He also mentioned that Christ currently serves as the head of the church. As we submit to him, we are simply acknowledging him as the rightful King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Eventually, every knee will bow to him, so it is right and fitting for us to bow our knees to him now. David did not live to see his descendant begin his reign, but he will be raised to life to witness the moment when that reign becomes universal.

If we want to live out the message of Psalm 8 today, we should keep looking up at the sky and recognize God’s greatness and that everything belongs to Him. Then, we should look around to see how we can bring God’s order to the chaos caused by sinful humanity. But, most importantly, we should look beyond what we can do and long for the day when the rightful King of the universe will restore things to God’s original design. When Jesus returns, He will bring the world back to a state where we all reflect God’s magnificent reputation.

[1] Hebrews 2:5-9; 1 Corinthians 15:25-27; Ephesians 1:22.

WHERE IS UNDERSTANDING?

WHERE IS UNDERSTANDING?

Job 28:20-28 NET.

20 “But wisdom — where does it come from? Where is the place of understanding? 21 For it has been hidden from the eyes of every living creature, and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed. 22 Destruction and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’ 23 God understands the way to it, and he alone knows its place. 24 For he looks to the ends of the earth and observes everything under the heavens. 25 When he made the force of the wind and measured the waters with a gauge. 26 When he imposed a limit for the rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, 27 then he looked at wisdom and assessed its value; he established it and examined it closely. 28 And he said to mankind, ‘The fear of the LORD — that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'”

This is our final peek into the Book of Job (for a while, anyway), so I decided to focus on chapter 28. In this chapter, Job comes closer than anywhere else to the message of the other wisdom literature books. The subject is wisdom, or its synonym, understanding. But the other wisdom literature books tend to encourage people to seek wisdom. Solomon wrote his Proverbs to teach people how to be wise and make discerning decisions. In Ecclesiastes, he says that wisdom is like a sharpened axe head, which makes one’s work easier and makes it more likely for one to succeed.

But in Job, the people who claim to be wise are Job’s “friends” who are proven to be fools. They were experts in the conventional wisdom of their day, but they used their wisdom to condemn Job. The Bible never calls Job wise. Ezekiel calls him righteous, and James praises his endurance. But the point is not that Job was wiser than his two friends. The fact is that wisdom is only one tool in the box. There is a tool that is even more important than wisdom – even more vital than understanding.

Truly wise people understand this. After all he wrote about wisdom, Solomon revealed that humanity’s whole duty can be summed up as fearing God and keeping his commandments. Wisdom is a helpful tool, but respect and obedience finally get the job done. So, Job encounters the wisest of the wise, and he prevails over their arguments, not because he was wise but because he had a right relationship with God.

Job argues that you cannot find wisdom.

If you want some silver or gold, or iron, there are places on the map where you can go, and there are mines you can mine. You can dig deep enough into the mountains that you can bring out precious jewels. You can pan for gold along the streams and get the valuable items you desire. But there are no places on the map where you can go to find wisdom.

This is Job’s point in the first eleven verses of this chapter. At first glance, we might want to object to Job’s argument, though. Some of us have paid good money and gone to several places of higher learning. I, myself, have paid out lots of cash and gone to several educational institutions and added some degrees to my title. Is Job saying that I wasted my time, energy, and resources? No, he is not saying that. But he is saying that if my educational pursuits only get me as far as they got his wise friends, then they were futile.

Job is saying that there are always limits to our understanding. We might find some valuable nuggets along the way, but we never strike the mother lode. Wisdom is a good thing, but it should never be the only thing. Even Solomon eventually conceded this. He had made several fortunes, collected all the wise sayings he could find, written many books, planned and supervised many building projects, but in the end, his reputation was tarnished by his bad moral choices.

Job argues that you cannot buy wisdom.

Again, if we have invested a lot of our resources in education, we might be tempted to counter Job’s argument. But Job is arguing that a wisdom exists that is not part of any school’s curriculum. Even if we had the money to go to every university on every continent, we could not purchase the wisdom that Job is describing. It exists, but it might as well not exist for us, because we cannot access it. There are limits to what we can know.

One of the reasons God gave us the Book of Job is to reveal this fact. The whole plot centers around an event that neither Job nor any of his friends were aware of. They could not figure out what was happening to Job. For the miserable comforters, the lack of that information was not a problem. If they did not know why Job was suffering, they would guess. They figured that they already knew all the data they needed in order to make an approximate guess as to why it was happening. But we learned about the conversation between the LORD and the devil. If Job’s friends had known about that, they could have been actual comforters for him. But the point of Job is that they did not know. They angered God by their proud assumptions. Instead of displaying true wisdom, they displayed their ignorance.

By way of application, we should all remember this fact and learn to keep our assumptions to ourselves. If we do not know the whole story, we should not be quick to accuse others of causing their problems. As I suggested last week, when people are suffering, we should seek to help them, pray for them, and share Christ with them. We should not make the mistake that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did. We should not assume we know more than what has been revealed.

Job argues that only God has wisdom.

What Job had experienced had humbled him and put him in his place. Job’s question was, “Wisdom — where does it come from? Where is the place of understanding?” His answer was, “Only God knows.” Not a creature created has ever accessed that divine wisdom. Before we even dare to proclaim that we know anything, we should bow our knees to the heavenly Father. To fear him is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding. That is the least we can do because that is where wisdom begins.

  • “Fearing the LORD is the beginning of moral knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).
  • The LORD created wisdom before he made the dust of the world (Proverbs 8:22-26).
  • “The beginning of wisdom is to fear the LORD, and acknowledging the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).

Knowing how much we don’t know should humble us as it did Job. It should make us cautious about the cause of anyone’s problems – even our own. We should go to prayer – not as a last resort, but as our first response. Being quick to pray acknowledges that only God has the whole solution to any problem. The doctors have their place, medicines have their place, our wisdom has its place, other people’s advise can help, but we have to start with acknowledging our limits and deficiencies.  

Knowing how much we don’t know should make us more compassionate when we see others suffering. Instead of looking for the obvious solution and seeking the quick fix, we should be willing to stay beside the sufferers and be there for them as they face their trials. It is sad, but many of us have grown up in a culture that tends to hide our suffering. When we have problems, we try to avoid bothering others with those problems. We get sick, and we might go to a doctor or two, but we often keep it from our loved ones and fellow believers. Sometimes those closest to us only find out what we had when they read our obituary! That culture of hiding suffering keeps us away from sharing the compassion of Christ with others.

Knowing how much we don’t know should make us more intentionally evangelistic. We can’t figure everything out for others, but we can lead them to the one who has figured everything out. In the Book of Job, the story significantly shifts when God appears and sets the record straight. Even before Job experiences his healing and the restoration of all his blessings of family and wealth, Job is vindicated. We find out what we already knew. God is sovereign over the affairs of humanity; He rules over everything. But knowing that there is a God who knows everything and we do not is not really a problem. There is a way to God. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and we can come to God through him! No one comes to God through anyone else. The best thing you can do for your non-Christian neighbors is introduce them to Christ. In John, chapter 12, we learn of a group of Greeks who approached Philip. They said, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” That was a very wise request. Like Philip, we can tell people about Jesus, but what we really want is to lead people to get to know Jesus himself.

Each of us has the responsibility not to push our agendas and flaunt our wisdom. We have one primary goal: to get others to know Jesus. Once we lead them to Jesus, we can turn our attention to spreading the gospel among others. We should have the attitude of John the Baptist. Once he introduced Jesus and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, John stepped back. He said Jesus must increase, but John must decrease.

We have to be comfortable with our limits. That does not mean that we should be willfully ignorant. We should always ask God to open our eyes to the wonderful things he has revealed. But everything we learn is not to magnify our own position and status. Our purpose is to reflect his light, not to draw attention to ours.

I don’t know how true it is, but I read a story this week about a little town in North Carolina called Pershing. This town had just built a new high school and installed the latest technology—a series of generators that powered the latest battery-operated lights. The city was so proud of its new technology that it decided to rename itself after the brand of lights—they were called Delco lights.

The Book of Job begins by introducing a man named Job, whom God had blessed. It ends by saying that God blessed Job again. The LORD blessed the second part of Job’s life more than the first. You and I may not experience that kind of blessing in this life. But we can know the same God that Job knew. We cannot know everything, but we can have a relationship with the one who does know everything. What we know is not half as important as who we know.

HOW OFTEN?

HOW OFTEN?

Job 21:17-26 NET.

17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger? 18 How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind? 19 You may say, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his children!’ Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may know it! 20 Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the anger of the Almighty. 21 For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off? 22 Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high? 23 “One man dies in his full vigor, completely secure and prosperous, 24 his body well nourished, and the marrow of his bones moist. 25 And another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted anything good. 26 Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both.

Since we’re reading two chapters of the Bible each day, we’ll find ourselves in the book of Job for three Sundays. It’s going to take a little longer for us to get through Job because there are 42 chapters. But once we’re finished with Job, we’ll move on to the Psalms, and we won’t be done with them until November.

Last week, I explained how the Book of Job plays an important role in our biblical understanding. It is part of wisdom literature but acts as a counterbalance to many other books in that genre, which focus on what I call conventional wisdom. As we go through Job, we’ll see that all of his miserable comforter friends are experts in conventional wisdom. However, each of them views the concept of conventional wisdom from a different perspective.

Today’s text is part of Job’s reply to Zophar’s argument. Zophar argues that Job is guilty of a secret sin but that God knows about the sin and has brought this calamity on him as punishment.

Zophar’s argument.

Before we examine Job’s words in today’s text, let’s review the context. Zophar’s second speech is in chapter 20, and I want to highlight some of what he said there.

Zophar acknowledges that wicked people exist and sometimes prosper, but he argues they won’t prosper for long before their sins catch up with them. Zophar states that “the elation of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment” (20:5). This view is ancient and common in many religions worldwide. It reflects the principle of karma – what goes around comes around. A person’s evil actions are the cause, and they lead to suffering as the effect. In many of these religions, this effect appears in the person’s next reincarnation. It can also be seen in the troubles a person faces, which might otherwise be blamed on bad luck.

Zophar did not believe in reincarnation, but he did believe that Job had committed a secret sin, and all the calamity and pain he experienced were the result of God’s effecting a balance in his life. He was telling Job that even though he had experienced elation and joy for a while, it was now time to pay for his sins, and this suffering was all his fault.

Zophar tells Job that his ill-gotten gain was sweet when he devoured it, but it turned into snake venom in his stomach, so he had to vomit it out. “Nothing is left for him to eat; that is why his prosperity does not last. In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress overtakes him. The full force of misery will come upon him. While he is filling his belly, God sends his burning anger against him, and rains down his blows upon him” (21-23). He implied that lasting blessing only goes to the righteous. In a sense, that is true. But Zophar infers from that principle that the righteous would never experience the kind of calamity that Job did. The book of Job teaches against that inference.

Zophar is essentially acting as a prosecuting attorney, presenting Job’s suffering as evidence that he had committed a crime. The suffering proves that Job’s claim of innocence is a lie. All the while, we have been presented with evidence to the contrary in chapters 1-2. We know that Job is not suffering because of his own sin. He is not being punished because God is angry at him. He is being tested because God is proud of him, and the devil hates him.

Job’s question.

When we get to Job’s reply in today’s text, we discover Job acting as his defense attorney. He needs to present evidence that contradicts Zophar’s accusation that his suffering is evidence of his guilt. The prosecution has made its case and presented its evidence. It is now up to the defense to poke holes in that evidence – to create reasonable doubt in the jury by showing that there is some evidence not accounted for in the prosecution’s theory.

Job does that by asking questions of Zophar. One of his questions is found in verse 7: “Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power?” That question suggests that if Zophar were correct in his assumption, there should be plenty of examples of evil rich men who wind up like Job. But Job says that is not the case. Plenty of rich evil people keep getting richer and never experience the significant reversal Zophar says is bound to happen. Those prominent religions that teach karma recognize this fact as well. That is why they invented reincarnation, to teach that the reversal occurs in the next life.

Another question Job asks Zophar is found in verse 29: “Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?” Job asked Zophar if he had actually surveyed to see if evil people finally get theirs. The evidence actually shows something different. Plenty of people actually get away with their crimes because they are rich. That was true in Job’s day, and it is just as true today. Justice is supposed to be blind, but she has a bit of a hole in her mask.

But I want us to focus for a bit on the other question that Job asked Zophar. He actually repeats the question four times in today’s text. Look again at verses 17-18:

17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger? 18 How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?

Zophar has accused Job of sinning and presented as his evidence the principle that God judges sin by punishing the sinner in this life. The sin that goes around in a rich man’s life eventually comes around and punishes him in that same life. Job’s question is, “How often does that actually happen?”

Now, Job is not asking, “Can such a thing ever happen?”  He knows that God is sovereign. Our Bibles tell us that God can punish sinners like Pharaoh and Saul, Haman, Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod. But we all know that these are actually exceptions to the rule. They are not evidence of any principle of Karma that is taking place in the world.

If we actually do survey the stories on the road, we find that most of the time, evil rich people keep getting more and more evil and richer and richer. Prosperity is not proof that you have done the right thing.

Job does present evidence of a kind of leveling that happens at the end of life. He says that when rich, healthy people die, they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them. When poor, sick people die, they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them.

Job is arguing that Zophar has not made his case. There is no evidence that people are always held accountable for their sins during this life or that they experience judgment for their sins at death.

The gospel answer.

The book of Job leaves us there, but Job’s question still stands, challenging everyone who believes that people experience God’s judgment and that we can judge if someone is righteous just by their outward appearance.

We have to fast-forward to the New Testament for a gospel answer to Job’s question: “How often are people judged for their sins in this life?” The ultimate answer is never. Some criminals are caught and punished, and some sinners are found out. But God’s judgment is not taking place now, and it will not take place at death.

The texts we read this morning in our responsive reading[1] describe another time and day. They talk about Jesus the Judge, sitting on a large white throne, with both the great and the small standing before Him, being judged based on what was written in the books. The graves are emptied, and the sea releases its dead. The Lord has returned and called all our names. We have risen from our tombs because Judgment Day has arrived.

Everyone has their day in court. There are no exceptions. The wealthy cannot buy their way out of this trial. The powerful cannot use their influence to escape it. Each of us will give an account of himself to God. There are only two verdicts: life or condemnation. Those who are chosen for life will be set free from death forever because their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Those who are condemned will face the second death in the lake of fire, never to live again.

Job’s question was, “How often are people judged for their sins in this life?” The ultimate answer is never. That is because judgment for personal sins awaits that judgment day. What goes around does come around, but it’s going to take a long time. So, if we see people who are suffering today, we would do well not to turn our backs on them. God is not judging them; that comes later. It may be that we see someone suffering because God wants us to help relieve their suffering. Like the Good Samaritan, we may have encountered the sufferer so that we can be a neighbor to them and show love to them.

Or perhaps, when we see someone who is suffering, God has placed that person in our path so that we can pray for them. God has brought that poor sufferer to our doorstep so that He can perform a miracle in that person’s life. All He asks from us is that we pray.

Or, it could be that when we encounter someone who is suffering, God has placed that person in our path so we can introduce them to Christ. The hardship they are experiencing might be God’s way of grabbing their attention so they seek the salvation they need. If we turn away or cross to the other side to avoid the difficult situation, we might miss the opportunity to share Christ.

All of these responses to suffering are good and healthy. But the sad fact is that many of us, even if we are Bible-believing Christians, tend to react to suffering the way Zophar did. We don’t show love, pray, or share Christ. Instead, we judge those who are suffering. We assume that if something bad is happening to these people, they must have done something to deserve it.

Our Lord instructed us not to judge. He understands that when we act like Zophar, we are condemning ourselves. We are depriving ourselves of the joy that comes from helping the helpless, witnessing God’s work through our prayers, or lifting the lowly by leading them to Christ. That joy arises from seeking opportunities to love others in Jesus’ name.

Judgment Day is coming, and when the day arrives, we will all be there. But today isn’t judgment day. It’s not a time for us to judge others or ignore their pain. Today is our opportunity to show love, heal the wounded, and save those who are lost.

[1] Rev. 20:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Matt. 12:36; Rom. 2:16.

BE BRAVE

BE BRAVE

Esther 4:12-17 NET.

The stories in the Old Testament serve as lessons for us. They show the actions and behaviors that are expected of God’s people or reveal the opposite—the things believers should avoid. We need to pay close attention when reading because some Old Testament characters change their roles halfway through. They might start rebellious and then repent, or begin righteous and make a wrong turn or a terrible mistake. Therefore, reading these Old Testament narratives is not always easy.

We need to read the stories in the order we received them because that provides us with context. Context helps us understand what the characters are doing and why they are doing it. For example, today’s text is set during exile. This is the period when the Israelites are no longer in the land of Israel. They have been condemned by God for their lack of faithfulness and punished by exile. Exile is when people are taken from their land and brought to a new land by their conqueror.

Esther recounts the story of the Jews in Persia. The king had dismissed his queen, and he chose a new queen who happened to be Jewish. The villain of the story is an Agagite named Haman, who was violently anti-Semitic long before Hitler. Haman schemes to use the king’s power to eliminate the Jews.

Another key character in Esther is Mordecai, the cousin and guardian of Esther. Mordecai discovers a plot to destroy the Jews and appeals to Esther to intervene. When she learns of the plot, she wants to help save her people, but there is a problem. The protocol for appealing to the king is that he must first summon you. But Esther had not been called into the King’s presence in a month. Anyone who dares to enter the King’s presence without an invitation risks being executed. Esther understood the situation and chose to bravely enter the King’s presence to plead for her people’s lives.

If we look a little further back, we can see that another layer is at play in the story of Esther. There is a broader background as well as a more immediate one. In Esther, the sovereign God is protecting the people of Israel, from whom the Messiah will eventually come. That is another aspect we should recognize in these Old Testament stories. All of them reveal something about our Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament prepares the way for Christ’s first coming.

The book of Esther highlights one aspect of faith. It is a quality of biblical faith that isn’t often emphasized when we discuss what it means to have faith. In the New Testament book of Revelation, we find a list of all the people who will be excluded from eternal life and will be destroyed in the lake of fire. It states this: “But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

I find it interesting that the first item on the list of those who will be destroyed in hell is cowards. Of all the things that the Bible describes as bad or evil, why put cowardice first?

I think there is a very good reason for this. Remember that the New Testament also tells us that our adversary, the devil, is prowling around looking for someone to devour. It does not ask us to hide from him. It does not tell us to run from him. It does not ask us to aim our rifles at him while he is far away and shoot him. It says that we are to resist him. Resistance requires contact. We must put ourselves in harm’s way and trust that God will accomplish his will. There’s no guarantee that we will always win.

There is no bravery without an obstacle.

We learned from Queen Esther not to let obstacles prevent us from standing up against enemies’ attacks. The obstacle Esther faced was that she had to enter the King’s presence to appeal to him on behalf of her people, but doing so could have cost her life.

Other biblical characters face the same challenge. Doing what is right could very likely cost them their lives. Daniel faced the lions in the den, his three companions faced the fire in the furnace, David faced Goliath, and Paul went to his death in Rome because he knew God wanted him to share the gospel with the emperor. One of the signs of faith in the Bible is that the people of God bravely set their sights on doing God’s will even when doing so is dangerous.

Another lesson we learned from Esther is that God is at work in every conflict, but we still must be brave.

I used to enjoy playing certain computer games where you faced dangerous challenges. I especially liked playing those games in what we called God Mode. If you set your settings to God Mode, then the bullets wouldn’t hurt you. The game remained challenging, but you had all the time you needed, and you could make all the mistakes possible without dying. Some people think that Christian life is like playing a game in God Mode. They believe they can face any challenge and don’t need to worry because their faith will protect them from losing. But that’s not what the Christian life is about. Esther is an example to follow, not because she was immune to danger, but because she wasn’t. She truly risked her life to do what was right. The world is full of cowards who aren’t willing to do the same.

God says that if we acknowledge Him before people, He will acknowledge us in the presence of His angels. But cowards hide behind their ignorance. They proclaim themselves as agnostics because they don’t want to offend anyone by claiming that Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords. They think they are saving themselves through their cowardice. But the fact is that refusing to bow the knee to Christ is like what Haman did. He built gallows, intending to hang Mordecai on them. However, he ended up being hanged from the very gallows he built.

The book we are reading today is called Esther because Esther showed faith to stand up and be counted to save her people. Esther had faith, and that faith was brave. But this is not just a story of one person’s faith. Before Esther went into the King’s presence, she told Mordecai to gather all the Israelites praying and fasting for her.

Not every Christian will face the kind of challenges she did, but we should all be ready to support those who do.

The New Testament encourages us all to pray and fast, but not solely for our preservation. Note these specific times when the apostle Paul asked others to pray for him.

  • He asked the Roman Christians to pray that he might be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea (Romans 15:31).
  • He asked the Ephesian Christians to stay alert and persevere in prayer for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18).
  • He also asked them to pray that he would stay bold in proclaiming the gospel even though he was in chains (Ephesians 6:20).
  • He asked the Colossian Christians to pray that God would give him and his team an opportunity to speak the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3).
  • He asked the Thessalonians to pray that as he and his team traveled to other places, the word of the Lord would spread quickly and be honored just as it was with them (2 Thessalonians 3:1).

Biblical faith is courageous faith. One reason we can be brave is that we know an army of prayer warriors is backing us up.

Communion Meditation

John 10:18

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this command from my father.”

We have discussed bravery as an aspect of faith. Esther demonstrated this bravery when she risked her life to save her people. She feared death, so she called for prayer and fasting on her behalf. Her bravery wasn’t the absence of fear; it was the courage to do what was right despite her fears.

Jesus is our example of that kind of courageous faith. He didn’t want to die, but he was brave enough to submit to God’s will and die in our place.

Today’s communion text tells us that God commanded both Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The father told the son to do it, and Jesus bravely did it. His one active obedience demonstrated both his compassion for us and his obedience to his father.

THE BATTLE IS HIS

THE BATTLE IS HIS

2 Chronicles 20:14-22 NET.

14 Then in the midst of the assembly, the LORD’s Spirit came upon Jachaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph. 15 He said: “Pay attention, all you people of Judah, residents of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Don’t be afraid and don’t panic because of this huge army! For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow march down against them as they come up the Ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the ravine in front of the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not fight in this battle. Take your positions, stand, and watch the LORD deliver you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! Tomorrow march out toward them; the LORD is with you!'” 18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face toward the ground, and all the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD and worshiped him. 19 Then some Levites, from the Kohathites and Korahites, got up and loudly praised the LORD God of Israel. 20 Early the next morning they marched out to the Desert of Tekoa. When they were ready to march, Jehoshaphat stood up and said: “Listen to me, you people of Judah and residents of Jerusalem! Trust in the LORD your God and you will be safe! Trust in the message of his prophets and you will win.” 21 He met with the people and appointed musicians to play before the LORD and praise his majestic splendor. As they marched ahead of the warriors they said: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his loyal love endures.” 22 When they began to shout and praise, the LORD suddenly attacked the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.

When we study the word of God in the Bible, it is meant to transform us. It’s like exercise. If we stay committed, it can make us stronger. But for that to happen, we need to keep increasing the challenge—adding weights to the bar or extending our running distance. Strength doesn’t come from doing the same exercise day after day, week after week, and year after year. That’s why we are spending some time this year on some lesser-known Old Testament passages.

Let me remind you again of those verses in the New Testament that describe the purpose of Scripture. “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching,  reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). That quote begins with the word “every.” In order to serve as messengers of God’s word, we need to know more than just the familiar passages from our favorite books. We need to add more weights to the bar. We need to go further than we did last year.

Amy Grant sang a song about a person who refused to do that. The song goes like this:

“I know a man, maybe you know him, too
You never can tell; he might even be you
He knelt at the altar, and that was the end
He’s saved, and that’s all that matters to him
His spiritual tummy, it can’t take too much
One day a week, he gets a spiritual lunch
On Sunday, he puts on his spiritual best
And gives his language a spiritual rest
He’s just a faaa…
He’s just a fat little baby!
Wa, wa, waaaaa…
He wants his bottle, and he don’t mean maybe
He sampled solid foods once or twice
But he says doctrine leaves him cold as ice
Ba, ba, ba, ba…ba, ba…ba, ba!
He’s been baptized, sanctified, redeemed by the blood
But his daily devotions are stuck in the mud
He knows the books of the Bible and John 3:16
He’s got the biggest King James you’ve ever seen!
I’ve always wondered if he’ll grow up someday
He’s momma’s boy, and he likes it that way
If you happen to see him, tell him I said,
“He’ll never grow, if he never gets fed”
He’s just a fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fa-at, fat…
Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fa-at, Fat…
Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fatttt…
Baby…”[1]

It’s funny when we think about it, but it’s scary when we realize that all of us can be guilty of that kind of attitude toward the Bible. We like certain parts, but there are whole sections of the Word of God that we don’t go to that often. We need to be reminded of the significance of that word “every.” God wants us to master every word, every book in both Testaments. All Scripture is inspired. All Scripture is profitable.

In today’s text, we are back in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. Last week, Solomon, and the week before that, David. All three kings were praying, but for different reasons. David prayed to halt a plague, and Solomon prayed to dedicate the temple. Today’s chapter begins with a prayer by King Jehoshaphat. He was one of the good kings of Judah. But at this time, his nation was facing an invasion. Three armies had gathered on the East side of the Dead Sea.

I want to talk a little about the King’s work today. We don’t often think about that aspect of what a king does, but we see it in these three kings of Judah. David prayed, his son Solomon prayed, and his great-great-grandson Jehoshaphat prayed. When the nation had a challenge, it was their leader’s first responsibility not to rule them, but to intercede for them. He declared a fast.

Then he stood before the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the LORD’s temple, in front of the new courtyard. He prayed: “O LORD God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you. Our God, you drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it as a permanent possession to the descendants of your friend Abraham. They settled down in it and built a temple to honor you, saying, ‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in it. We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will hear and deliver us.’ Now the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir are coming! When Israel came from Egypt, you did not allow them to invade these lands. They bypassed them and did not destroy them. Look how they are repaying us! They come to drive us out of the land you assigned to us! Our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless against this vast army attacking us! We don’t know what to do; we look to you for help.

Notice also the People’s work in today’s story. While the king was praying, the whole nation had gathered and was fasting—all the men, with their wives and children, even the infants.  The Holy Spirit spoke to one of those men. He was a Levite of the clan of Asaph. His name was Jachaziel. The Lord spoke through him and told the soldiers to march down to meet the enemy the next day. He told them exactly where they would meet the enemy. He also told them not to be afraid. He said they would meet the enemy, but they would not have to defeat them. He said the battle was not theirs, it was the LORD’s. He said they will not fight in this battle. He said, “Take your positions, stand, and watch the LORD deliver you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! Tomorrow, march out toward them; the LORD is with you!'”

The people had a responsibility to take their positions, even though the LORD himself would be the one engaging in battle. Even when our Lord Jesus was doing his great miracles of healing and deliverance, he always required the recipient to do something. He wanted them to show their dependence on him and their faith in him. That is what God was doing for the nation of Judah under Jehoshaphat. He is saying that he intends to fight for us, but he requires that we take our positions. Many are refusing even to do that. He wants to bless us all, and all we have to do is show up. But we don’t show up. We hide in our houses with our private religion, and we don’t dare declare our faith in God, yet we still hope that he might bless us.

God has ordained the gathering as one way for us to declare our allegiance to him and our dependence on him. When we gather, the Holy Spirit can come upon some like he did for Jachaziel. That was when God’s people got their marching orders. The king had ordered a fast and an assembly, but the people had to show up. The marching orders were given, but the soldiers had to take their positions. The people had a responsibility to take their positions, even though the LORD himself would be the one engaging in battle.

The people’s natural response upon hearing what Jachaziel said was to bow down and worship the LORD. Then, their natural reaction was to get up and loudly praise the Lord. They worshipped before the battle took place, before the victory came. Their worship was another declaration of their faith in God. That is what worship is for us today as well. It is not us getting together only when we have some testimony of something exciting the Lord has done for us. We come together to declare our faith in what the Lord is going to do for us. Even when we are down, discouraged, and heartbroken, we get together because we have a God who fights for us. We worship before the victory comes because our God is faithful and the battle is his!

Even during the battle, Jehoshaphat commanded that musicians play before the Lord and praise his majestic splendor. He appointed them to march ahead of the soldiers. They were chanting. They chanted the same chant we did last week when we responsively read Psalm 136: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his loyal love endures.”

Notice also what today’s text says about the LORD’s work. While the musicians were chanting praise to God and the soldiers were marching forward, the LORD suddenly attacked the opposing armies. He caused the Ammonite armies and the Moabite armies to attack the armies of the men from Mount Seir. The armies annihilated each other!

When the men of Judah reached the lookout overlooking the desert and saw the vast army, they noticed dead bodies on the ground—there were no survivors! Jehoshaphat and his men went to gather the spoil. They found a massive amount of supplies, clothing, and valuables. They took everything they could carry. The spoil was so great that it took them three days to haul it all away.

That is what happens when God’s people declare their faith in him and trust him to fight their battles. It could have happened very differently if the king hadn’t prayed, if the people hadn’t come together and fasted, or if Jachaziel hadn’t been open to the Holy Spirit.

God wants to do mighty work in this community as well, and he wants all the Christian congregations to witness that work. All he asks of us is that we gather, pray, fast, and take our positions. He wants us to praise and worship him like the victory has already happened.

The situation for King Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Judah was critical. They faced three enemy armies that might have destroyed them and taken their land. But God wanted them to know that they had nothing to fear. They had access to a power far greater than the power of these armies. They worshipped in faith, knowing that God would intervene, but not knowing the details. None of them could have imagined that they would be spending three days just picking up the loot left behind by those armies!

God was not caught off guard by this battle. It was not a surprise to him. In fact, he didn’t just allow it, he ordained it. It was his way of blessing his people with a blessing that they did not see coming. They should have brought croker sacks to this battle because they were going to need them. It was going to take a few days for them to haul off all the blessings that God intended. The ordeal that they had feared was actually a blessing in disguise.

The lesson for you and me today is that our God does not just want to prevent the battles we might face. He wants to fight those battles for us. He is prepared to go above and beyond what we can even imagine asking him to do. The battle is his. But are there people who dare to trust him and praise him before the battle starts? Where are our musicians confidently chanting, going ahead of the soldiers? Where are the soldiers, going where the battle will take place, following the orders of the Holy Spirit? Where are the congregations, praying and fasting and trusting in the Lord to intervene?

The New Testament tells us that our enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion on the prowl, looking for someone to devour. It tells us to resist him. Yes, it says we are to resist the devil, but we don’t have the power to resist him. Nevertheless, that is what we are told to do. To God belongs the power forever. The battle is his forever.

[1] Fat Baby (Songwriters: Rodney S. Robison / Steve Millikan).