jeffersonvann

Surprising Lessons about Love

I woke up this morning exegeting the love chapter, and I was anxious to get to the text to find out if I was getting it right.

My thought was that many of the things that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 actually go against the grain of conventional wisdom about love. Our songs and poems celebrate something different than what he described.

less about passion, more about maturity

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways (11).

The love we have celebrated this month is driven by youthful passion. The love Paul urges upon the believers in Corinth has put away the passions of youth and is able to make deliberate decisions about how it performs.

Our world is upside down when it thinks about love. It talks about “adult movies” and films for “mature audiences” when in fact the those things feed on the most childish passion driven things in our nature. Paul tells us that true love is not passion driven.

The context of 1 Corinthians 13 is spiritual gifts – notably how the Corinthians were abusing those gifts by forcing them down each others’ throats. He was trying to get the Corinthians to act more loving with regard to their ministry. He wanted them to be more mature, less passion driven.

less about doing, more about being

Another surprising lesson we find here is that love describes a person’s heart not his hands. It is demonstrated by works, but cannot be reduced to works. In fact, you can do all those works that the world recognizes as spiritual, and yet still not have love, and all those works will be useless.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing (1-3).

Love is a reflection of who we have become because God’s Holy Spirit has changed our character. It cannot be quantified by how much time or money you choose to spend on the beloved. There is nothing wrong with spending time or money, or even giving of ourselves sacrificially for the ones we love. But those are acts of love. They demonstrate love, but they do not define it.

less about possession, more about surrender

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth (4-6).

Our culture continues to play with the concept of love as a dominating force. It is something that you fall into and out of. It is the result of an enemy’s weapon (cupid’s arrow) and now someone owns you. You are forced to want them against your better judgment. The passion rules now, and if it ever lessens, you will break free and be yourself again.

The truth about love is that we choose to love. We willfully surrender the selfish part of our nature, and we do so not under compulsion, but out of joy. We realize that our true happiness is never going to come from owning things or people. It will only come from choosing to surrender self and becoming the answer to someone else’s needs and desires.

One of the most ridiculous things people have ever said about love is that it means never having to say you are sorry. What a crock of bull feathers! Love means constantly apologizing, changing, adjusting because you do not want to hurt or keep hurting your beloved. It is a lifetime of saying “I’m sorry, I did not want to hurt you.” It willfully surrenders the self with its envy, boasting, rudeness, and its getting its own way.

LORD, help us to demonstrate true love to a world lost in selfishness and immaturity.

two cars… two Englishes

Both U.S.A. and New Zealand speak the same language – ostensibly. But it is a case of the two nations being separated by a common language. You can see this well by comparing how the two cultures talk about their cars.

Penny and I have a car in the States … a nice PT Cruiser. I love that car, and my sister Gina says that it’s me. It’s a kind of retro thing.

We also had a car in NZ. It was a Hyundai Sonata. It was a gift horse – so we didn’t look it in the mouth.

They pronounce the “y” in Hyundai there, but not in the States. In the U.S.A. it would be called a “HUNDAY”.”

One of differences between the two cars is that the Hyundai is built for driving on the left side of the road. For some reason, Kiwis like doing that. The steering wheel is on the right side, and the wipers and the directional signal devices are reversed. All of this makes for some rather surreal experiences once one decides to give driving a try. It took months before Penny and I remembered which side of the car to get in on.

The Cruiser has a windshield, but the Sonata has a windscreen.

The Cruiser has a back hatch, but the Sonata has a boot – which in the States would be called a trunk.

The Cruiser has a hood, but the Sonata has a bonnet.

The Cruiser has tires, so does the Sonata, but they can also be spelled TYRES.

You can adjust a nut on the Cruiser with a wrench, but to do the same thing on the Sonata you would use a spanner.

The Sonata is older, but in ok condition. If it were in disrepair, Kiwis would call it a bomb, Americans would call it a clunker. The Sonata has had its share of dings (which we Americans call fender benders). We had one the other day, and had to go to the Panel Beaters instead of the auto body shop. We had to replace the driver’s side door, because it had a bad prang (dent).

Cars have to be periodically inspected in NZ. If they pass, they get a WOF (Warrant of Fitness), which allows you to keep driving them.

In New Zealand, I could drive the Sonata to a dairy, and park in the car park. In the States, I drive my Cruiser to a convenience store, and park in the parking lot.

Most of the road signs are the same, except for the speeds being in kph. 100 kph seems high to me. Their “Yield” signs there say “Give Way” instead. Speed bumps are called judder bars.

Now that we have returned to the States – back to our PT Cruiser – we have fond memories of our times on the road in New Zealand with the Sonata. We will probably use words like “interesting” and “remarkable” to describe the experience. It has been both.

Expanding Your Circle

2 Corinthians 10:9-16 ESV

9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. 13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. We were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence.

Nobody ever does anything of significance without collecting a few critics. History has been very good to the apostle Paul, but in his day there were a lot of people who did not care for his ministry – both within and outside the church. His 2nd letter to the Corinthians bears that out. Here are just a few of the things some people in Corinth were saying about him: “1) He had a lot of bad luck. Obviously God was not blessing him for a reason. 2) He can’t be trusted. He promises to visit, then backs out at the last minute. 3) He’s too harsh. When someone got out of line, Paul ordered him excommunicated. No grace. 4) He’s not really an apostle. He is so much different from the real apostles from the Jerusalem churches. He is actually a wannabe tentmaker.”

In 2 Corinthians Paul addressed these criticisms. He was concerned to set the record straight, as we all should be.

Often criticism comes from a lack of understanding. That is the case with the Corinthians who criticized Paul’s ministry. They did not understand the driving force behind the decisions that Paul made. Three times in today’s text Paul talks about a person’s “area of influence” (13,15,16). What drove Paul more than any other principle — and affected the choices he made – was the desire to expand his area of influence to the widest scope possible. Notice in verse 16 he says that he wants to preach the gospel in lands beyond the Corinthians.

Paul began his life as Saul of Tarsus. Most of the choices he made for himself narrowed his area of influence instead of expanding it. He wound up rejecting Jesus as the Messiah because Jesus did not fit within his worldview. He persecuted Christians because they were outsiders, and outsiders were not to be tolerated. When Paul met Jesus on the Damascus road, he not only converted to Christ, the direction of his circle changed. From that time on, Paul was dedicated to reaching his world with the gospel.

What about you? In what direction is your circle moving? Is it getting narrower of broader? My guess is that if you could be a missionary right here in McAlpin without crossing any oceans, you would want to do it.

I think that if we look at the life of the apostle Paul, we can get some ways of doing just that. First, I want to suggest that you keep learning. Foreign territory is scary, whether it is another culture in another nation, or just another part of town. The more you know about the territory outside your present circle, the better you will be able to expand into it. Paul probably knew five languages. He had Roman citizenship, which enabled him to travel extensively. He had learned to adapt to different ways. He did not compare himself to those who were criticizing him. That’s what they did (12). He learned how to do ministry differently.

During our 13 years in the Philippines as missionaries, Penny and I encountered lots of challenges. But we were able to endure those challenges partly because we had spent a few years training specifically for cross-cultural ministry at seminary. Education is not the answer to every problem, but a good education can at least let you know what kinds of problems you are going to encounter. During those same 13 years we saw many missionaries come and go, and some of them had no preparation whatsoever. It was like they just felt the call and got on a plane. I don’t recommend that. Anything worth doing is worth learning how to do. So, if you want to reach your town, or city for Christ, let me suggest that you first learn what needs you can meet that will draw the people in your town or city to yourself.

When we moved to New Zealand, we had to learn that culture as well. We could have just assumed that everyone would understand us because most people speak English there. But we would have been wrong. Just like in the Philippines, the English spoken there has differences that we have to pick up on to communicate. For example compare the car we drive here with that we drove in New Zealand. My P.T. Cruiser does not have a boot, a windscreen, a bonnet. It doesn’t have any dings or prangs, but if it did, we would not go to the panelbeaters to repair it. Mt PT Cruiser does not know what a WOF is, but the Hyundai had to have one every six months. And when I take the Cruiser to the Jiffy Store I park in the parking lot; but I took the Sonata to the dairy and parked in the car park. So you see I had to learn how to talk about the Sonata as well as how to drive it on the left side of the road.

My second suggestion that matches Paul’s strategy is Keep Changing. Be flexible. Paul was the first to try reaching the Corinthians (14). Paul had a strategy during his ministry among Gentiles that the first thing he would do was go to the Synagogues. There he would make some converts among the Jews, but eventually he would get kicked out. Then he would concentrate on winning the Gentile God-fearers to Christ. He would do that until he had established a church, or until he got ran out of town. His strategy worked because he was flexible enough to change direction when that is what it would take to reach his objectives. There are a lot of things that people have done to reach others for Christ, but times change. We have to be willing to try new ways.

Our church in New Zealand has a movie night once a month in the church lounge. We provide the Christian movie and refreshments, and send flyers out to the neighborhood. Sometimes it is only our people who show up, but it has been useful as a way of introducing people to the church in a non-threatening way. This is just one of many ways a church can help its members expand their circles. And that is what it is all about. It is not about attracting people to the church. Think outside that box. It is about the area of influence that God gives each one of us. You see, all of our pastors have outstanding gifts, but they will not be able to reach the people that you can reach because those people are in your circle.

My third suggestion that matches Paul’s strategy is Keep Investing. Notice what Paul says in verse 14: “our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged.” Paul did not plan to single-handedly reach the Gentile world for Christ. He led key people to faith in Christ and expected them to plant churches in their geographical area. His investment was in people, and those people produced churches. Sometimes those churches needed help, so Paul send other members of his missions team to help develop those churches (like Titus in Crete, and Timothy in Ephesus).

My point is this: all that time, effort, prayer and money invested was worth it because of the goal behind it all. In the same way, I believe we will see more church growth when we invest ourselves in our communities. The reason that the apostle Paul’s area of influence was so great was that he invested his time, money and prayers and energy in his missionary journeys. He did not just sit in Damascus and wait for somebody somewhere else to do something for somebody else. If we want to expand our circles, we are going to have to make room for other people, and some of those other people are going to be different than us.

I go back the question I asked earlier. In what direction is your circle moving? Is it getting narrower of broader? Is there room in your area of influence for new people? That is a very important question for a Christian. Jesus commanded up to make disciples of all nations, which includes McAlpin, Lake City, Obrien, and Dowling Park. I want to challenge you to be like the apostle Paul and strive to reach beyond your present limits.

______________

LORD, give us the insight to see beyond our present boundaries. Give us the courage to make new friends, to join new groups, to begin new habits … whatever it takes to expand our circles of influence so that we can reach more people with the gospel.

ACST 34: Christ: The Teacher

Systematic theologies usually contain a section – like this – on Christology. They usually divide that section into two parts: the person of Christ (where they discuss his nature) and the works of Christ (where they describe what he has done). There is an issue that falls somewhat between these two categories which is often missing: the teachings and commands of Christ. One does not really know someone else unless one knows that person’s message. For that reason, it is helpful to spend some time learning what Jesus taught while among us.

Jesus affirmed that his disciples were right in calling him “Teacher.”[1] He came not just to die on the cross but also to share God’s word with humanity. The messages that he taught explained the heart of the scriptures, and charted a new path for us all to follow. He also taught about our future. Both the path we are to follow in obedience to his teachings and the hope that his teachings gave us are called the same thing: the kingdom of God.

Savior of the World

Christ taught that he is the savior of the world. He answered the question that he posed to his disciples: “But who do you say that I am?”[2] “With keen anticipation, he guided the conversation toward the crucial issue of their understanding of his identity. … He knew that their eternal destiny and the success of his mission on earth depended on their accurate perception of him and his ministry.”^{^[3]}Likewise today the church needs an accurate understanding of who Jesus was and is. Jesus provided a clear picture of his identity, but it takes faith to keep that picture in one’s mind because there are plenty of substitute pictures of Jesus that contend with it.

“This same question rings down through the centuries. ‘Who is Jesus Christ?’ ‘Is He just a man?’ ‘Is He a religious prophet?’ ‘Is he a great moral teacher?’”[4] Jesus taught that he was more than that. The angels declared when he was born that he was “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”[5] The people saw and heard him speak and do miracles and then proclaimed “we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”[6]

Jesus said it this way: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”[7] By so doing, he placed himself above every prophet, every sage, every guru, every religion, every philosophy, and every political movement. If one’s goal is a relationship with God, then Jesus Christ is the only way.

God has given bread to sustain us from heaven, and Jesus Christ is it. Jesus said “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”[8] He was talking about the hope of eternal life which no normal bread can offer. If we eat bread from the local bakery, we will hunger again. But God offers a bread that promises eternal sustenance. The manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness was a sign promising that gift. Jesus was the gift. The manna sustained the temporary lives of the Israelites. Jesus will sustain us permanently. The Israelites accepted the manna by eating it; we accept Christ by believing in him.

Other teachers have claimed to have insight from the divine, but Jesus claimed more than that. He said “I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”[9] His knowledge of God was not learned through meditation or study. It was the result of an eternal relationship with his Father. What he taught us can be trusted because it came directly from the source.

Other teachers have claimed to have solutions to the world’s problems, but Jesus claims to be the solution. He said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”[10] The darkness that threatens to destroy this planet is no problem for him. He is the light, and his followers have access to that light for their journey. He is called the light of life because the end of the journey will be eternal life. The metaphor of light speaks of both the path we follow today, and the hope we have for eternity.

Christ claimed to be of an entirely different category than all the other inhabitants of this planet. He said “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”[11] If his claim was not true, and he was just another human being and nothing else, then there is no salvation and no hope for humanity. If he is merely one of several who are divinely inspired, then he is a divinely inspired liar, because he claims more of himself than just insight.

God has a flock in this world and as the world’s only savior, Jesus is both the way into that flock, and the only one who can shepherd it. He said “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”[12] He also said:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.[13]

Some have suggested that there is wiggle room for some other saviors in this statement. But consider this evidence to dispute that claim: There is one shepherd and one flock. The one shepherd owns all the sheep. The sheep of other folds are owned by the same shepherd. They are simply not situated in the fold at present. This would suggest that Jesus is referring to people who would come to faith after the time of his speech recorded in John 10. They would come to faith (or into the fold) the same way these did. They would trust in Christ as their savior. At the end there are not several ways to God, but one flock, one shepherd.

What of those others who claim to have a way of salvation, and invite the world to follow them instead of Christ? Jesus calls them hired hands. They do not own the sheep, and when danger comes they flee, and fail to protect the sheep. Jesus was not like that. He faced the danger head on, went to the cross, and laid down his life for the flock. There is only one good shepherd.

Salvation from Christ is by means of resurrection from the dead. He is the savior from death. Many people in Jesus’ day assented to the concept of a future event where people would be raised from the dead. That was a correct theological assumption. But Jesus challenged the people of his day to connect that concept with himself. He was the savior because he was to be the one who does the raising on resurrection day. He said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”[14]

Jesus was not promising that believers will never die. The phrase “though he die, yet shall he live” makes that clear. Death will come to us all at the appointed time, and believing in Christ does not change our mortality. Lazarus was a case in point. He was asleep in Christ, and would have remained in that state until the resurrection day. But on the resurrection day, Lazarus would live. To prove that reality, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. He has power over death.

But Jesus made another point. His other statement to Martha was not a contradiction to what he had just said. He had already established the context of his promises to Martha, and that context was resurrection day. It will be on resurrection day that Jesus will raise to life those (like Lazarus) who believe and die. Jesus’ other statement pertains to those who believe and are still living on the resurrection day. Those people who are living and believing in Jesus when he comes to raise the dead “shall never die.” Instead, they will be made immortal without ever having gone through death.

Entering His Kingdom

The metaphor Christ used most to explain spiritual things was that of the kingdom of God. Christ is king in God’s kingdom. Christ explained how to enter his kingdom. To enter his kingdom is to believe and follow Christ as the kingdom’s king, and to be prepared when that kingdom comes to earth to rule over the planet. The kingdom of God is not a metaphor for heaven. Heaven is where God is, but the kingdom of God is about where God wants to be. His throne in heaven is secure, but it is on earth that Satan’s rebellion had dared to supplant God’s dominion.

Jesus claimed that it is possible for human beings to become part of God’s kingdom today. He called it entering the kingdom. In a sense, what he was talking about is a kind of insurgency. People who have entered God’s kingdom before it comes to earth are like rebels. They live among the established nations but their allegiance is to the coming kingdom. Their goal is not to destroy the kingdoms of men, but to promote and recruit for the coming kingdom and its Lord.

There were a number of groups in Jesus’ day who thought that in order to enter the kingdom one had to be just a little bit more righteous than the next guy. So they established rules to follow to make sure everybody could tell the difference. The problem is, Jesus warned, those super-spiritual groups did not make the cut! He said “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”[15]

The Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day tried hard to live up to God’s expectations. If human effort could accomplish the task at all, they would certainly have been granted a passport. But they failed to recognize three theological truths. First, sin is a problem too difficult for anyone to handle without divine intervention. Second, God has provided an atoning sacrifice for the sin problem in the death of Christ. Third, only through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit can a person overcome the sinful nature and reflect the righteous life God requires for citizens of his kingdom.

Jesus taught that in his day most people would reject his way into the kingdom and try to get in some other way. But he urged his listeners to “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”[16] He did not mean that it is hard to “become a Christian.” Lots of people “became Christians” in his day, as they do today, only to fall away when their faith is tested by adversity. Entering the kingdom involves more than that.

Jesus taught that there would be many who claim to be his followers but would also fail to enter the kingdom. He said “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”[17] Christ requires that we enter his kingdom through a process of repentance (like a spiritual death) and faith that he describes as a spiritual rebirth. He said “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” [18] To be born of water is natural birth. To be born of the Spirit is a supernatural rebirth that enables one to live according to the principles of the kingdom that Jesus taught us to live by.

Living in His Kingdom

By teaching those principles, Christ explained how the subjects of his kingdom are supposed to live. Central to living Jesus’ way is the doing of good works as a witness to the new life within. He tells his followers to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”[19] But, unlike the super-spiritual groups of his day, Jesus warned against doing good works just for show. He told them to “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”[20] A good work is only a true good work if it springs from the Holy Spirit within, and is done for the benefit of others, not to put notches on one’s spiritual belt.

Miracles are expected as kingdom citizens go about their lives. Jesus said to his disciples “if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” The idea is not that we have to build up our faith until it gets strong enough. Just a little faith – the size of a mustard seed – will do. What matters is not the size of our faith but the power of our king. We are citizens of his kingdom, so when the king wants a mountain moved, nothing is going to stand in his way. What our king requires of us is the courage to stand before the mountain and risk making fools of ourselves by telling it to scram.

Living in the kingdom means making the kingdom itself our priority and all other things become second place. Here is how Jesus put it:

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.[21]

Notice that Jesus compares citizens in his kingdom to the other nations of the world. God knows the people in the nations and he sees to it that they get the things that they spend their lives worrying about. But citizens in Christ’s kingdom are to seek the kingdom itself, and not to get caught up in the rat race for those insignificant things, like their next meal.

Christ taught us to seek the kingdom for two reasons. First, the kingdom of God is going to manifest as dominion over the whole universe when Jesus comes again. To seek the kingdom is to strive to be in that number when the saints go marching in. Nothing should be a higher priority than being there. Second, to seek the kingdom is to allow the king to live his life through you. It is striving to live the way of life expected of a kingdom citizen. That is a full-time job. No wonder that Jesus added to his counsel that we should not fear because the Father wants to give us his kingdom.

Living in the kingdom is simply a matter of obeying the commands of our king. Jesus gave us those commands as part of his teaching ministry. The Great Commission from Christ includes the order to pass on those commands to those we bring into the kingdom. Jesus told us to make disciples by baptizing believers in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to “observe all that I have commanded you.”[22]

It is amazing how the church teaches about so many things, and even exegetes the texts of the New Testament, but so often ignores these foundational principles – the ones found in the commands of Christ. The commands can be summarized as follows:

1. Make your choices based on God’s permanent realities, rather than the world’s temporary ones. Invest your life in eternity.

2. Put Christ and his kingdom first in your life. Be devoted to him.

3. Be genuine: don’t pretend to be something you are not, and don’t forget who you are in Christ. Be what you claim to be.

4. Trust your heavenly Father to take care of your needs, and to win your battles. Rely on God to do what you cannot do.

5. Keep in contact and communication with God through prayer.

6. Concentrate on learning, living and proclaiming the truth.

7. Expect the power of the Holy Spirit to make up for your weaknesses and insufficiencies. Be used by God to fulfill his will.

8. Live in expectancy because the king is coming! Be alert, and ready for his arrival.[23]

Besides these, and foundational to them are the two greatest commandments from the Old Testament (that we should love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves). The third greatest commandment is that which we call the Great Commission, that disciples of Christ should make more disciples of Christ.

Enemies of His Kingdom

Christ denounced his enemies as well. It is interesting to see who is on that list, and who is not. Caesar, the emperor of the Roman world, is mentioned in 19 verses of scripture, but Jesus never calls him his enemy.[24] In ancient times a prophet would identify God’s enemies by pronouncing a woe upon them – a kind of prophetic curse.[25] Jesus pronounced woes upon his enemies, and so identified the enemies of his kingdom.

Counted among the enemies of Christ’s kingdom are those places where the gospel is preached, but the people respond with indifference or rejection. Jesus said:

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”[26]

The miracles accompanied the message, but for the inhabitants of those cities, the miracles were not enough. They refused to seek the kingdom about which Jesus preached. They probably prided themselves on the fact that a great prophet had been among them, and enjoyed telling stories about his miracles. But on the judgment day, the ancient enemies of God’s people to the north – Tyre and Sidon – will fare better than them. Even Sodom will suffer less.

Also counted among the enemies of Christ’s kingdom are the people, institutions and things that cause sin. Sin cannot endure where Christ’s kingdom reigns, and Christ’s kingdom cannot abide where sin reigns. Jesus said:

“”Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”[27]

Any system (whether political or religious, economic or social) that encourages sin and tempts people to transgress God’s will is set against the gospel and against the kingdom of Christ. These are all identified by Christ as his enemies. Christ taught that we cannot escape the temptations because we will have to live in the world and so we will have to operate within those systems. He said “it is necessary that temptations come.”[28] But he warns us not to be part of the problem. He said “woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!” People will not be judged for the sinfulness of their society, but they will be judged for their personal contribution to it.

If the number of woes applied to them is the standard of judging who gets the “worst enemy status” then the Pharisees and scribes win that title. Jesus pronounces seven woes against them in Matthew 23.[29] From what Jesus said about them, it is clear that what made them kingdom enemy #1 is their hypocritical attempt to replace God’s kingdom with one that looked righteous on the outside, but was corrupt within.

In the kingdom of God, our biggest enemies are going to be the groups that want to be our friends. They will want to snuggle up to us and work with us on community development projects, and things like that. They will want to join with us in community minister’s organizations, and will praise us for our social welfare programs. But they will draw the line at proclaiming Jesus as Lord. When push comes to shove, they will show themselves our enemies, because they are his enemies.

Equipping His Church

As a teacher, Christ equipped his disciples to lead the church. The church was not a mistake. It was Christ’s intention to found it, and he spent years of his earthly life preparing the people who would lead it. On one particular occasion, he brought his disciples together and pointed out how the Gentile rulers lead by intimidation and domination. He told his disciples “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[30] Christ himself was to serve as the example for Christian leadership. He taught leadership with a towel and wash basin.

He trained by discipling. That is, he did things and his disciples watched, he said things and the disciples learned – and eventually it was their turn. When they were ready, he set them loose to preach and cast out demons. They did what they had learned.

Preparing His Church for Suffering

As a teacher, Christ prepared his disciples for the difficulties they would face as well. He let them know that they would not always have the honor of his personal presence among them. He told them “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.”[31] They would need to learn to face the challenges that they would face without his personal counsel. Instead, he would leave them with the third person of the Trinity: the other counselor.

It was he, the Holy Spirit, who would be with them as they faced trials and persecution. Jesus assured them that “the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”[32] He would also help the disciples to remember and take in the tremendous lessons that Jesus had taught and the significance of the events the disciples witnessed. Jesus said “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”[33] And because Jesus suffered in doing God’s will, they understood it when they suffered themselves.

His Role as Messiah

As teacher, Christ predicted the events concerning his own life, death and resurrection. There were no surprises with him. Everything that happened in his life was scripted and pre-measured to fit God’s plan. Perhaps the disciples did not quite make the connections when Jesus promised that “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself”[34] but Jesus repeated detailed descriptions of his crucifixion to them several times.[35] And after his resurrection he made the connections by going back to the Old Testament scriptures and showing how his death and resurrection were necessary.

His Return as Messiah

Christ also predicted current and future eschatological events. He understood his times, and marveled that those around him did not. He told them “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”[36] He spoke of his own generation in Jerusalem, and how they were going to suffer God’s judgment because so many would reject him.

He went on to describe that judgment in detail in his eschatological discourse on the Mount of Olives. He called them God’s “days of vengeance” upon Jerusalem.[37] Little did his listeners know that in a mere 40 years, those days of vengeance would come. Jesus predicted that Roman armies would surround Jerusalem.[38] The armies of Rome laid siege to Jerusalem and starved it for a matter of years. Jesus predicted that Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed.[39] That fateful event happened in 70 AD. He also predicted that the Jews would undergo another exile, being scattered in other nations, trample underfoot by the Gentiles until God’s vengeance is completed. It happened just as he predicted.

The great teacher of the future was just as accurate when he described the age that precedes his second coming. We are living in that age now, so it is easy to see the signs all around us that Jesus called birth pains.[40] Birth pains all have two things in common: they are intermittent, and they indicate that a birth is happening. The signs Jesus mentioned are: false Messiahs, warfare and its threat, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecution of believers, and divisions among families because of Christ. These realities have been with us intermittently for the past two thousand years.

But Jesus was even more specific in his predictions. He described his second coming in detail as well:

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.[41]

…the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.[42]

It is clear from these predictions that Christ is going to come physically, visibly and gloriously. His return will be a time of great joy for those who have entered his kingdom, but terrible distress and shame for those who have not. Like Jesus, the church should encourage believers with the hope of the full deliverance we will experience at the second advent, and also warn unbelievers of the great calamity they will face if they are not found in him.

Scope and Balance

The Teacher taught the kingdom of God, as the king’s rule present and continuously expanding in the lives of believers, and also their future hope. Christian teaching should seek the same scope and balance.

[1] John 13:13.

[2] Matthew 16:15.

[3] Gilbert Bilezikian, Community 101: Reclaiming the Local Church as Community of Oneness. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 169.

[4] Dan Story, Defending Your Faith: Reliable Answers for a New Generation of Seekers and Skeptics. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997), 75.

[5] Luke 2:11.

[6] John 4:42.

[7] John 14:6.

[8] John 6:35.

[9] John 7:29.

[10] John 8:12.

[11] John 8:23.

[12] John 10:9

[13] John 10:11-16.

[14] John 11:25-26.

[15] Matthew 5:20.

[16] Matthew 7:13-14.

[17] Matthew 7:21.

[18] John 3:5.

[19] Matthew 5:16.

[20] Matthew 6:1.

[21] Luke 12:29-32.

[22] Matthew 28:20.

[23] See Jefferson Vann, The Commands of Christ (http://commandsofchrist.wordpress.com/).

[24] Matt. 22:17, 21; Mark 12:14, 17; Luke 2:1; 3:1; 20:22, 25; 23:2; John 19:12, 15; Acts 17:7; 25:8, 11f, 21; 26:32; 27:24; 28:19.

[25] Num. 21:29; 1 Sam. 4:7f; Isa. 3:9, 11; 5:8, 11, 18, 20ff; 6:5; 10:1; 24:16; 31:1; 45:9f; Jer. 4:13, 31; 6:4; 10:19; 13:27; 15:10; 22:13; 23:1; 45:3; 48:1, 46; 50:27; Lam. 5:16; Ezek. 2:10; 13:3, 18; 16:23; 24:6, 9; Hos. 7:13; 9:12; Amos 5:18; 6:1, 4; Mic. 2:1; 7:1; Nah. 3:1; Hab. 2:6, 9, 12, 15, 19; Zeph. 2:5; 3:1; Zech. 11:17.

[26] Matthew 11:21-24.

[27] Matthew 18:7-9.

[28] Matthew 18:7.

[29] Matt. 23:13,15,16, 23, 25, 27, 29.

[30] Matthew 20:26-28.

[31] John 7:33.

[32] Luke 12:12.

[33] John 13:7.

[34] John 12:32.

[35] Matt. 17:12; 20:19; 26:2; Mark 8:31; 9:12; Luke 9:22; 17:25; 22:15.

[36] Matthew 16:2-3.

[37] Luke 21:22.

[38] Luke 21:20.

[39] Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6.

[40] Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8.

[41] Luke 21:25-28.

[42] Matthew 24:29-31.

Goodbye, Takanini

It’s 12pm Auckland time, Sunday, January 30th, and I have just preached my last sermon at Takanini Church (for a while anyway). On Wednesday Penny and I get on a plane and go back to the U.S.A.

It has not been a peaceful year. We have had four funerals. Particularly, the loss of our friend, pastor David Burge, in July was devastating to the church. David’s sudden battle with leukemia was the reason Penny and I decided to come to New Zealand. Not only had he served here for many years, many of his family members (including wife Tarnya and eight children) attend here. The church bears the mark of David’s style: down to earth, humorous, and unique.

I will remember Takanini church as the place where Penny and I learned that we can still function in pastoral ministry. We had been teaching people how to pastor for thirteen years at Oro Bible College in the Philippines. But God sent us from there to here. We went through culture shock again, but it was not so bad this time, partly because New Zealand is more like the U.S.(as far as climate and culture are concerned), but mostly because we knew to expect the unexpected.

One thing I didn’t expect is the way Takanini church managed to contain so many talented and committed people who are “plugged in” to personal ministry. Several people of various ages make up a worship team that offers genuine worship in a variety of styles every Sunday morning. some members run their own missions programs, here and elsewhere. It was our honor to serve with elder Gary Schache, who manages oversight of the ministries of the church, and puts together the worship services. We were also joined by his father, Ernie, who came on as elder on the same day we joined the team. Ernie is providing exceptional leadership while still serving ACGC as a missions ministry manager.

We have also appreciated getting involved in the lives of several young couples who are in the hectic days of raising large families. The phrase “never a dull moment” comes to mind as I think about how the families of Takanini show what it means to serve Christ in a world where just meeting everybody’s needs is a challenge. Penny and I are almost past the child-rearing phase, and are learning the ropes on the grandchild-spoiling phase. We will remember with admiration the families of Takanini.

We are going to miss Takanini church. Our ministry here has enhanced our ability to serve Christ, and the friendships we have gained here have enriched our lives. God bless you, Takanini church.