Bart Bryant

May 7, 2016  by

Stopping Jesus Cold

Mark 6:1-6

Jesus begins his ministry.  He teaches, like no one has ever taught before (Mk. 1:22). He heals and casts out demons and performs unprecedented mighty works (Mk. 1:27).

The public response is overwhelming.  People come from everywhere, and they come in great numbers to hear him and to see his works for themselves.

  • 1:28 – “his fame spread everywhere”
  • 1:32 – “the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.”
  • 1:48 – “Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.”
  • 2:12 – “they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’”
  • 3:20 – “Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.”
  • 5:20 – “everyone marveled”
  • 5:24 – “And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.”

And then Jesus comes home, back to Nazareth.  What a happy occasion! The hometown hero returns! Now his neighbors and friends can congratulate him personally and hear his remarkable teaching for themselves.  Now they too can witness the miracles done by the hand of Jesus.

So Jesus starts teaching (Mk. 6:2), and the result is sheer astonishment on the part of the hearers.  But the flavor of the astonishment is bitter, and it is played in a minor key.  It is a cold, questioning (note the 5 questions in v. 2-3), defensive response to Jesus.  Listen to them, “Where? What? How?” It is as if they were asking, “ Who does Jesus think he is?  Where did all his specialness come from? He can’t pull this over on us; we know him better than anyone.  Ultimately, he is just a carpenter.  There is nothing extraordinary about him.”

Yet his wisdom is unmistakable (“What is the wisdom given to Him?”).  His works are undeniable (“How are such mighty works done by his hands?”). This could only come from God. These are the obvious conclusions from what everyone can hear and see.

But the hometown folks do not accept His divine authority, let alone His divine origin, because they will not believe.  And the Healer will not heal people who question His identity, authority and person. Jesus is stopped cold; “he could do no mighty work there.” The sick could have been healed, but they remain sick. The lame could have walked home, but they hobble away. Sins could have been forgiven, but the burden and the guilt remains.

And what could we see Jesus do, if we would just take Him at his word? What would Jesus do in our lives, if we would just think about what He has said and what He has done and reason from the evidence of His divinity, power and faithfulness to the obvious conclusions of who He really is? What might Jesus do in your life, in your family, in your church, in your neighborhood if you will just believe in Jesus, the Son of God?

Are you praying for and waiting for Jesus to act, when in reality He is just waiting for you to believe Him? Don’t stop Jesus cold;  He is ready to perform His mighty works in you and for you. He is eagerly looking for your faith (“when Jesus saw their faith, he said…” Mk. 2:5) so that He can proceed to work His mighty works.

Let it be done for you as you have believed.   (Mt. 8:13)

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February 24, 2016  by

Meditations toward Purity – #3 – Proverbs 23:26-28

26) Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes delight in my ways.
27) For a harlot is a deep pit
And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.
28) Surely she lurks as a robber,
And increases the faithless among men.

The focus of the battle is the heart

Solomon says, “Give me your heart.” He knows, and he longs for his son to know, that the fight for sexual purity will be won or lost on the battleground of the heart. (Proverbs 6:25; 7:25) It will not do merely not to sin outwardly, with the body and in the flesh. We can be, to all outward appearances, clean and circumspect, but still be overrun by sin in the heart. We may refrain from outward acts of sin, but in our hearts be eagerly desiring to sin such that we are consumed by our wants. Solomon knows the battle is for the heart, so he focuses his son’s attention on the real issue and priority in life.

My focus on my heart must be voluntary

Solomon begs his son to give his heart. This yielding of the heart (to God) must be entirely voluntary; it cannot be out of compulsion or external constraint. Rather, because I know what God requires and what is good for me, both in this life and in eternity, I choose to give my heart to God. I am not simply trying to be respectable or good to please other people or even to comply with some laws or expectations forced on me. I desire inward purity because I know God gazes deep into my heart, and because I want to protect my conscience from defilement, from screaming pain, and from draining regret. I make a free choice to take my heart and to point its desires, not at pleasing myself or in drenching myself in the readily available showers of illicit sexual pleasure, but to keep my heart dry and to give myself to God.

My eyes are the gateway to my heart

The point is not what the eyes see, but what the eyes delight in – what they settle upon, feast on, and drink in. Solomon calls for his son to choose (“let your eyes delight in”) to let his eyes find their delight in the ways of God, the ways of holiness, the ways of purity and not the ways of the world or the ways of his sinful flesh. This is not to deprecate delighting in legitimate sexual pleasure (Prov. 5:15-19) for these pleasures are not excluded from “my ways,” the ways of holiness.

There is a close connection between the eyes and the heart. Job makes a covenant with his eyes not to gaze upon a virgin (Job 31:1) knowing full well that the danger is that his heart will follow his eyes (Job 31:7) and the result may be that his heart will be enticed by a woman (Job 31:9). Sexual temptation begins with the eyes, but the pipe from the eyes to the heart is very short, and the heart quickly is touched by what the eyes are drinking in and delighting in.

God calls me to delight as well as denial

Solomon does not call on his son to retreat into asceticism and the denial of all pleasures, but rather he beckons him to find positive delight, with all his heart, in the ways of God and of righteousness. God created all the trees of the garden and directed Adam to eat freely of any of them. Except one. So God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Ps. 84:11).
Three solid reasons for purity of heart

The “For” at the beginning of verse 27 points us to three very good reasons why Solomon is urging his son to exercise control over the cravings of his heart.

The first reason is that the loose woman, a “deep pit” and a “narrow well,” represents a fall and a trap for the eager participant in her amorous adventures.
A deep pit and a narrow well. Both figures convey a drop into an abyss, a sharp decline down a precipice where descent is easy but the return trip is far more challenging. The descent into fornication is easy, effortless, pleasurable and rapid. But once you have plunged into the deep pit, returning to level ground is not so easy.
Many are hurt by the fall. And all will find it very difficult to climb out again.
A sexual fall is enslaving. He that commits sin is the slave of sin. (Jn. 8:34) Once you have acquired a taste for those delicious, forbidden pleasures, you will not find it so easy to go without.
A sexual fall opens the eyes. Like the serpent promised Eve, “in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened…, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5) Your eyes will see evil and temptation where before you were innocent and oblivious.

The second reason is that “she lurks as a robber.” This is shocking, isn’t it? You thought she would give pleasure, not take something! You are the fool. You had it all wrong all along. She is a robber. She will rob you of innocence, of a good conscience, of the ability to enjoy legitimate sexual pleasure, and of the freedom to delight in God and good without defilement and regret.

And the third reason is that she “increases the faithless among men.” Every man who engages in illicit sexual liaison breaks trust with someone. Always with God, who designed us for purity and holiness. Perhaps with your wife, who is one flesh with you and who trusts you to remain wholly committed to her. Perhaps with your children, who look up to you and who expect you to show them how to live. Perhaps with other Christians, who count on you to be an example to their children and to uphold the spotless name of Christ that we bear. Perhaps with some unbelievers who look to you to back up your words with actions and to demonstrate to them that Christ really does change lives.
Adulterers and fornicators are always faithless, trust breakers, men you cannot count on.
Solomon gives us these three critical reasons why we should be pure in our hearts and with our eyes.

O Lord, I would give you my heart. I want to hold nothing back. You know how readily I look and how quickly I want and how vulnerable I am to fall. Keep me by your grace and your Spirit, for only by your Spirit can I give you my heart.

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February 8, 2016  by

It Is Not For You To Know

Acts 1:7

We have many, many questions. And there are not enough answers. We live with unknowns and uncertainty.

Will I marry? Whom? What is ultimately meaningful? What should my career be? Should we have children? Will I get cancer? Are we headed for political or economic doom?

The disciples of Jesus had pressing and urgent questions for Jesus in the few moments remaining before he left them for good. Is it now? Is now the time that the long-anticipated kingdom will be restored to the nation of Israel? Isn’t this why you, the Messiah, came? Haven’t you come to restore justice and to relieve the nation of Israel from Roman oppression?

But Jesus did not give a clear answer to their burning questions. “It is not for you to know.”

Jesus says we are not to know when He will return, what time and date the Father has selected for this glad event. It would not be good for us to know. We might be tempted to abuse the grace of God and delay repentance until just before He comes back. Jesus wants us to live watching, trusting, praying, seeking Him until He returns for His own.

And more broadly, we want to know things and times and explanations that God does not intend for us to know. But we want to know, for knowing gives us the illusion of control. Nothing new here. In the garden, the serpent tempted Eve by saying “…you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” To know is to be like God, to rival God Himself. God is the one who knows all and all things. And God is the one who controls all and all things. For God there are no unanswered questions, no mysteries, no paradoxes and no ambiguities.

But Jesus says, “It is not for you to know.” Or as Moses once said, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.” Some of our questions must remain unanswered. Let God be God. Learn to be human, and trust God in your finiteness and limitations and knowledge with boundaries. God made you for this. He wants you to trust Him where you do not and cannot know (Proverbs 3:5). Trust Him where you cannot see. Trust God in the dark (Psalm 139:12).

Faith in God will take you where your limited knowledge cannot. It is not for you to know.

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January 18, 2016  by

It Ain’t So Bad To Get Old!

Next month marks my 60th birthday. I would not be honest if I didn’t tell you that I struggle with growing old. I tend to fixate on what is lost and what is past, what will no longer be, rather than what has been gained and is now possible. Yes, silly, I know, but that’s where I am. It has not just readily fallen into place for me.

Solomon brings wisdom and clarity to the subject of aging, its significance and its advantages in Proverbs 20:29.

The glory of young men is their strength,
And the honor of old men is their gray hair.

Here are the relative advantages of youth and age. The young are strong. They have energy, capability to do, vigor, and youthful beauty.

The old have lived long, and through their success and failures have (normally) increased in wisdom. Frequently they have advanced in responsibility and authority, and therefore honor. The gray hair is emblematic of all this.

Our culture is fixated upon youth, human beauty and physical attractiveness. We are unable to accept what is lost in the process of aging, because we value beauty and youth over wisdom. Furthermore, we fear the loss of strength and the approach of death. Yet God through Solomon tells us that while the glory of young men is their strength, there is a peculiar honor that is associated with old men. It is not the same as the glory of youth, strength and attractiveness, though there is a particular beauty in gray hair and a serene acceptance of who I am as an older person. What is this honor? What is gained? This honor is the wisdom that accrues to the person who has lived long and learned from the process. This honor is the respect that is accorded to and often the authority invested in the wise older person.

Solomon gives me a new, game-changing perspective. Getting older is not just about losing the vigor and beauty of youth, but aging brings with it a peculiar honor and advantage. Getting older actually brings something to seek and to celebrate! Here is a whole new perspective for us to get and to maintain.

Let’s focus on and value what is gained in the aging process. Wisdom. The entire book of Proverbs is written in praise of wisdom; it is written to call the young to prize and seek wisdom. The good news is that wisdom is what we have been gaining (hopefully) as we have walked along this road of life. Wisdom. Learning how to live. Learning how to avoid the waste of our lives and energies. Learning to be cheerful, patient, loving, diligent, pure and virtuous. And in so doing, earning the respect of others and becoming a model (though imperfect) for the young as to how to live wisely.

What is gained is more, much more, than what is lost. It ain’t so bad to get old!

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January 4, 2016  by

Meditations toward Purity – #2 – 2 Corinthians 7:1

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Paul urges us to cleanse ourselves. The matter of growing in holiness, of cleansing the dirtiness and defilement in our conduct and in our hearts, of moving closer to purity, is not something we can just pray about and leave to God. There is a work to be done here that only we can do. God expects and requires us to take the initiative. Many a battle for purity has been lost because I failed to act decisively, waiting for Someone else to do something. If I fail to cleanse myself, no one else will step in to do it for me.

Paul names the scope of my concern as all personal defilement. I am not just targeting the big and obvious reprehensible sins, the ones that other people might gasp at if they knew. But I am aiming at every kind of sin and behavior that will defile my purity, even the little, hidden ones about which some may ask, “Why are you worried about that little thing?” The battle is not done if one guerilla fighter is still on the loose. The shirt is not clean if one small black spot remains. All defilement.

Paul focuses on defilement of the flesh and of the spirit. It’s not just about what you do, but it’s about what you think and what you want. God cares about what is hidden and invisible in my heart, not just what I do with my body. Jesus makes it clear that, contrary to our common conclusions, the source of our defilement is what comes out in our lives from our desires and thoughts. Keeping myself from engaging in visible and obvious sins does not make me a good boy; purity is far more than that.

All our obedience is built on faith in God’s promises. Therefore, having these promises… God has taken the initiative. Seeing our weakness and helplessness, God moves near and commits Himself to us and commits to help us. God does not give us commands to obey without offering to us power to obey and incentives to obey Him. With God’s promises in hand, believing obedience to God becomes an entirely different thing.

Not just any promises, but these promises. Here Paul refers to some very specific promises of God, quoted from the Old Testament in 2 Cor. 6:16-18. Promises of what God will be – their God and a Father to them (relationship, not alienation or isolation). Promises of what God will do – He will dwell in them and walk among them (God is near, not far away). Promises of what God will do for us, if we will only separate ourselves from sin – He will welcome us, be a Father to us, make us His sons and daughters (identity, security, significance and purpose). God promises I am not alone and I am not on my own. Though the fight against impurity is harder than anyone will ever know, I have these promises from God. Based on these very promises, I tackle the challenge of purity.

Father, thank you that You have not left me on my own. My sin is blacker and more deeply rooted than I once imagined. And though You do not lower Your expectations for my purity, You promise Yourself to me, as my God and my Father. Lord, you are enough for me. Help me to believe these promises in the moment of temptation.

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December 16, 2015  by

How does God regard my prayers?

As incense… As the evening offering…

Ps. 141:2 – May my prayer be counted as incense before You; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

What is “prayer” for David?

  • Prayer is when he calls upon God, when he calls to God. (Ps. 141:1) Prayer is not just something he is supposed to do, a religious formality. David has something to say, and he has to say it to God.
  • Here David is praying when he is in trouble (Ps. 141:9-10). He is weak and vulnerable. When he is in need, where does David go? He is not calling upon his own resources, but he goes to God. This defines prayer for David; out of a sense of his need, he calls out to God.

Listen to David pray about his prayer.

  • He asks (Ps. 141:2) that his prayer would be regarded by God as incense. Saying the same thing with different words, David asks that the lifting up of his hands (in prayer) be counted as the evening offering.
  • What does David mean by this? Let’s zero in.
  • What is incense? Why do people burn incense for religious purposes? They imagine they will please the deity with the aroma.
  • How did incense fit into the Old Testament religion instituted by the true God (David’s context)? God designated an altar in the tabernacle for burning incense every morning and evening (Ex. 30:1, 8).
  • What does incense symbolize in the broader picture of God’s salvation? Prayer from God’s people (Rev. 5:8; 8:3).
  • What about sacrifice? Why do people offer sacrifices in religion? To appease the deity and turn his anger away from them when they have offended him.
  • How did God regard sacrificial offerings in Old Testament religion? Among other things, they (like incense) were a soothing aroma to Him (Ex. 29:18, 25). God was pleased as He saw (“smelled”) men retreating from themselves and appealing to Him.
  • How does this relate to Christ and the New Testament? Jesus is the ultimate realization of what an offering to God should be, and as such He is a fragrant aroma to God (Eph. 5:2).

What can I take away from this?

  • What David desired for his prayer = what God designed for incense and offering to be in Old Testament religion = a fragrant aroma to God.
  • In other words, God is pleased when we pray. It smells good to Him. Like when you drive down your driveway to home and smell steak on the grill. Our prayers are especially pleasing and fragrant to God.
  • Sometimes we think that we have to pray long and hard to coax an unwilling God to hear our prayers (a la the unrighteous judge of Luke 18). Not so, for God is eager to hear our prayers, and He is absolutely delighted when we pray to Him. He is pleased when we ask Him for our needs rather than resorting to our own resources. He is pleased when we honor Jesus by coming to the Father through Him. He is pleased when in our weakness we come to His strength.
  • So let’s pray! Let’s pray with faith, in confident hope that God will regard our prayers with delight!
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October 27, 2015  by

Meditations toward Purity – #1 – Psalm 119:9

What shall I do when I am in the fire? How do I prepare for those times of sexual temptation that are so compelling, so magnetic, and so seductive that I feel my strength ebbing away and my will to resist melting like a spoonful of butter in a frying pan? How can I endure? Where is the way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13)?

God has granted only one offensive weapon in the Christian’s armor; it is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). The other weapons enable me to resist the blows of Satan and his gang, but only the sword of the Word of God is given to me so I may hack and hew my way out of the spiritual combat.

But how do I wield this sword, the Word of God? Surely not by glibly reciting the words of the Bible as if they were a magical incantation. Rather it is by meditating upon portions of Scripture relevant to the particular temptations at hand and allowing their nutrients to soak into my spiritual bloodstream so that I will be strong for these intense spiritual conflicts. As my mind dwells on spiritual realities, I find that earthly attractions and their seducing power grow dimmer. As I think on eternal truth, the lies of Satan’s proffered pleasures are exposed. As I contemplate the warnings and promises of my Savior, my desire to please Him and my motivation to holiness surges stronger.

So we will blog occasionally on the topic “Meditations toward Purity,” offering thoughts on various Scripture texts that, when meditated upon, should help us all in our fight for purity.

Q. How can a young man keep his way pure (Psalm 119:9)?
A. By keeping it according to your word.

Purity is the issue. What is purity? It is sexual purity. An absence of moral defilement, whether in action, word or thought. This is the challenge, of course. Just one dead fly in my glass of milk defiles it. I will toss the milk out and pour a new glass of milk because of that one little dead fly. So with sexual purity, God is looking for purity, a total absence of defiling actions, thoughts and motives.

Young men are the focus. The Psalmist asks this question on behalf of young men, for who more than young men feel violent desires propelling them toward immoral thoughts, words and actions? How can a young man successfully battle these raging impulses?

Keeping pure is the name of the game. The writer emphasizes keeping pure, stating it twice in the passage. It is one thing to respond to a crisis, when my sin gets me in trouble, by turning away from sin and living clean for a while. A screaming conscience, the shame of being exposed, and the consequent guilt secrete spiritual adrenaline and accelerate my pace of fighting impurity. But keeping it up for the long term? Not so easy. Yet that is exactly what is in view in this verse. How can a young man keep pure, for the long run?

The Word of God is the key. “According to Your Word.” In fact, the Word of God provides the template, the model, the prescription, and the blueprint for a life of purity.

  • What does purity look like? A simplistic “Thou shalt not,” true as it is, does not tell me all I need to know. What does purity mean? How do I live it out in various situations and seasons of life? What are the attitudes, behaviors and habits that are the necessary building blocks of purity? The Bible tells me.
  • How will I recognize impurity? The culture, my flesh, and the father of lies team up to provide a thousand disguises for sin to masquerade as something quite acceptable. Plus I always tend to believe the best about myself. The Bible shines a light where I have trouble seeing clearly (Hebrews 4:12) so that I can distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and sin from righteousness.
  • How can I learn to walk in purity? The Bible tells me stories and gives me examples of victories and defeats and struggles and growth in the battle for purity. The gospel gives me hope and the new beginnings of forgiveness of sin through Jesus. The Holy Spirit uses the Word that He Himself wrote to help me when I falter and to strengthen me where I am weak.

Lord, I acknowledge my sins of impurity. I have sinned against You, first of all and most of all, in my sexual sins. I acknowledge my weakness, my tragic inability to keep my ways pure on my own. I need You, Your Word, and Your Spirit to change me and to purify me. But I hear Your promise of forgiveness in the gospel, and I believe in Your power and faithfulness, and I will meditate on Your Word.

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October 12, 2015  by

Psalm 46

1. A Psalm for God’s People Together

When the Psalmist writes this Psalm, he does not say “I,” “me” or “my.” Rather the personal references are to “our” (v. 1), “we” (v. 2) and “us/our” (v. 7, 11). The Christian life is most certainly a relationship between the individual and God, but it is expected to be lived in community. We are in this together; this identification of himself with a larger body of God’s people was on the Psalmist’s mind, and so this is what comes out of his mouth.

God puts us together with other people, rather than in solitude, for many reasons. One is that it exposes our sins, our vulnerabilities and our need for grace. When I live all by myself, I don’t annoy myself or exasperate myself, so I conclude that I am pretty patient and self-controlled. But when I live with a roommate, a spouse, my children or my brothers and sisters in Christ, I begin to realize that I am not nearly as patient as I thought I was. Living together exposes who I really am, and I begin to see my need for grace and help from God. Or I think I am content, until I come into contact with people who are what I wish I was or who have some things I have an itch for, and then my discontent starts to rev up. I think I am loving and generous when I live in my own world, but when I am called to go out of my way and take my precious time to listen to or to help others, I can be annoyed with the inconvenience.

Another reason that God puts us together with other people is because it gives help and encouragement. On my own, I may be down and low, but then a brother comes along and gives a mere word or a hand upon my shoulder or an ear to my concerns. The result of his connection with me with an expression of concern is that I have a whole new outlook on life!

2. A Psalm for God’s People in Trouble

What’s going on in this Psalm? Very clearly, according to verse 1 (“a very present help in trouble”), the Psalmist is in trouble.

What kind of trouble? All kinds.

His world is experiencing physical upheaval. Verses 2 and 3 speak of geological cataclysms, the earth changing, mountains slipping into the sea, along with seas roaring and foaming. The Psalmist is in the midst of earthquakes and tsunamis!

Further, the Psalmist’s world is experiencing political upheaval. Verse 6 speaks of the nations (not just one nation) in an uproar. The political equilibrium and balance of power is threatened. Kingdoms totter. There is global insecurity and instability.

What does God offer and promise in such times of trouble?
God offers a place of safety and security. Where can I go in times of trouble? To God Himself; He is the refuge and strength we seek. God offers a place of unassailable security. Even if we are in jail, in a war, in an ambulance, in ICU, God is still accessible. You cannot take Him from me, or me from Him.

God also offers freedom from fear.

Now this is a radical statement. Remember the physical and political upheaval that is happening all around him. These are real threats, not computer-generated visual effects. What could be more calculated to induce fear? Yet the Psalmist says in verse 2, “Therefore we will not fear.” Why no fear? Therefore… Strictly because God is our refuge and strength.

Perhaps you struggle with fear, anxiety, or panic. I offer you an antidote. “We will not fear.” God Himself as your fortress, refuge and place of security. This theme pervades the Psalm.

God is in the midst of her (verse 5). God will help her when morning dawns. The help does not come immediately, though I might wish for that. Not now. Not yet. Now it is night, but dawn is coming; it always does. The sun will come up tomorrow. Wait for God.

See what God will do (verse 8). God can destroy what man builds. God can even make wars to cease. God breaks the bow, cuts spears and burns chariots. Wars and their widespread threat of destruction are completely under the power of God.

Relax (verse 10). Cease striving. Know that God is God. I am not my own Savior. I am too little, too weak to rescue much of anything or even escape my troubles. But God is God. He will be exalted in the earth as He exercises His strength and power.

This God is with us (verse 11). Therefore we experience freedom from fear.

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October 1, 2015  by

A Very Big Task

Matthew 28:16-20
On the brink of leaving this earth, Jesus approaches the eleven disciples to give them, and through them to all the church in all ages, this Great Commission. Jesus gives no ordinary task; it is clearly a very big task, as evidenced by the four “all’s” in Jesus’ mandate.

1. All Authority

Here is the impetus and the enablement for the task. It is the Why and How of the Great Commission.

But first, how did Jesus get this authority, for Jesus says it was been given to Him. It is clear from Ephesians 1:19-23 and Philippians 2:6-10, that it is God the Father who gave Him this authority. It was given as a consequence of His humiliation and obedience to God to the ultimate point of His death on the cross. Because of this, God the Father raised him from the dead and exalted Him above every authority or power you can even conceive of, whether in the present or in the future. All things have now been put in subjection to Jesus. Jesus reigns over all things, and this authority will inure to the benefit of His church. This means that sin, Satan, the penalty of the Law and even death are under the sway of Jesus Christ.

Now back to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 20:18. Jesus’ all-encompassing authority provides the impetus for His commission to His Church. If the authoritative Jesus speaks, surely we should listen carefully and respond.

Jesus’ authority also provides the enablement for us to carry out this very big task. Jesus leaves the scene, because His work is done. We, the disciples and succeeding generations of disciples, have a role to play in Jesus’ plan for his church. Jesus will shortly send His Spirit to enable us to do our part in this task. Jesus will gather a people, His church, who will demonstrate by their weakness His power, by their love His love, and by their changed lives His transforming grace. He has the power and the authority to accomplish all this. No one can resist Him, thwart Him, or derail His plan.

2. All Nations

Here is the scope of Jesus’ commission to his church. Jesus says, “Go,” for His intention is to reach to world, not just the Jews, historically speaking, his favored people. God always had His eyes on a great diversity of peoples. This message kept coming through, from the God’s covenant with Abraham (“all peoples”) to Israel’s prophets.

Jesus tells us “Go,” not “Stay.” He does not direct us to stay in our comfort zones, but to reach out and touch the lives of others. For some this will involve a move to somewhere else, because someone has to go to wherever people are, worldwide. But for all of Jesus’ disciples it means that we are not to keep warm in our comfortable cocoons, but we are to get involved in the lives of others.

Jesus commands, “Make disciples.” Disciples are followers, and Jesus tells us to make people into followers of Jesus. Everyone follows someone or something, even if it is just the ephemeral image of independence or being myself (in this case, following my self-focused desires). God has designed us to be more than slaves to self; He has designed us to follow Jesus who will teach us how to live, how to maximize happiness in the present, how to prepare for all that lies beyond death, and how to deal definitively with the reality of guilt. Jesus will change us from what we unhappily are to become all we can be.

Jesus tells us to baptize these disciples, to demonstrate visibly the change that occurs when we repent and believe.

3. All I Commanded

This is the demonstration of the extent of the change that Jesus works in us when we follow Him. Jesus tells us to teach these disciples to obey all He commands us. We are to teach these new followers of Jesus from the Scriptures how to live out what God is working in us by putting into practice all of Jesus’ commands, not just the convenient ones.

God gives us a remarkably clear template for what we are to change into (the goal) as well as how we are to go about pursuing this goal (the process). It’s all in the Bible; the challenge is to take what’s in the Bible and get it into us, changing how we act and think. Teaching is the process Jesus prescribes to fulfill this challenge. Yes, there are other means as well, such as modeling (“example” in the NT) and counseling (Rom. 15:14), but predominantly it is teaching the Bible to disciples so that they would conform their thinking and their behaving to the commands of Jesus that will accomplish His purposes in His disciples.

4. Lo, I Am with You Always

Yes, it is a very big task. Indeed, it is an overwhelming task. All the nations, and it’s not like everyone is just searching for the answers. And superficial changes will not do in people; God wants us to change radically, from the inside out.

In tackling this very big task, we face many obstacles, we are often bewildered, and we are sometimes discouraged. And this is exactly why Jesus tells us He is with us. Always. Here we rest and here we place our hope, in Jesus, who promised always to be with us.

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September 20, 2015  by

Going, Not Knowing

Hebrews 11:1-10
You probably know that Hebrews 11 is the chapter on faith in the Bible. So it is not surprising that the chapter opens with a concise definition of faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith essentially is assurance, conviction, or a certain confidence. But faith differs from other kinds of confidence in that what it is confident of is things that are not seen, things that can only be hoped for. Faith operates in the realm of things that haven’t yet been experienced. Faith is an assurance of phenomena that cannot be perceived by any of our senses, things that cannot be empirically validated, matters than cannot be scientifically verified. Yet faith is sure of them. Why? How can faith be so sure? What is the basis of this confidence?
Faith is based on the word of God (Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:11, 13, 17). Because God has spoken, I take what He says as true, even if it runs contrary to what I am presently experiencing or feeling. I believe God, even when I don’t feel like it or when I can’t see my way out of my current dilemma.
God Calls Abraham
This is what we see Abraham doing in verse 8, when “by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” This refers back to the historical incident in Genesis 12:1-4. There God spoke to Abraham, saying, “Go.” God called Abraham to leave his home, his family, and his homeland and to go to a destination which was not yet disclosed. In other words, God calls Abraham to leave everything known and familiar behind him and to depart for a completely unknown destination. This was a tall order, don’t you think?
Abraham Obeys Unhesitatingly

How did Abraham respond? “Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going.” At the very point when Abraham heard God’s call (“when”), he unhesitatingly obeyed. He did not procrastinate. He was not indecisive. He did not look back (like Lot’s wife as she left Sodom and all that was familiar to her). Once Abraham clearly understood God’s word, he obeyed. He did not stumble at the high cost of obeying his God, reluctant to part with his past or his possessions. Abraham “went out.”
Notice how simple obedience is. God’s expectations really aren’t that complicated. God says, “Go.” Abraham “went out.” And that constitutes obedience to God.
Abraham – Going, Not Knowing
The challenge for Abraham did not just consist in what he had to leave. No, that was just Part One of the saga. The second part of the challenge is that God had not yet revealed to Abraham where the journey was to take him. God calls Abraham to leave all that is familiar, to face the perils of a journey in a barely civilized world, and to travel on without knowing where he is headed. Undoubtedly Abraham wondered if it was a one-week trip, or a one-month trip or a one-year trip. And how would he know when he got there? And what challenges would he face on the way? Did he have enough provisions for the journey?
How can you go, not knowing where you are going? But then, isn’t this the very nature of faith, trusting God when you cannot see? Abraham couldn’t see the destination, yet by faith he went out, in obedience to the word of God who was calling him to go.

As Luther says, “This is the glory of faith, namely not to know where you are going, what you are doing, what you are suffering, and, after taking everything captive – perception and understanding, strength and will – to follow the bare voice of God and to be led and driven rather than to drive.  And thus it is clear that with this obedience of faith Abraham gave a supreme example of an evangelical life, because he left everything and followed the Lord.  Preferring the Word of God to everything and loving it above everything, he was a stranger of his own accord and was subjected every hour to dangers of life and death.”
What Does Abraham Teach Us?
For those of us at Redeemer Ann Arbor, we believe God has called us. In fact, the call is strikingly similar to God’s call to Abraham. God says to us too, “Go.” (Matthew 28:18-20). So we go, but there is so much that we do not know about our destination, or the challenges along the path. We too are “going, not knowing.” What does God have us to do and to face? We, like Abraham, go by faith in the Word of God. God’s call to Abraham contained both a command (“Go”) and a promise (“I will bless you”), and God’s call to His church likewise contains both a command (“Go”) and a promise (“I am with you always”). We trust His word, obey his command, and believe in His promise.
For all who name the name of Jesus, God calls you to a life of faith like Abraham. You too will have to go when and where you do not know; this is the essence of living by faith.

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