Election Day
Grace and peace saints! It's election day. I don't know how you are feeling—torn, discouraged, indifferent, frustrated, filled with confidence in God's sovereign goodness, or some combination of them. I encourage all of you to follow your consciences today, whether that is a vote or a non-vote, on all levels of the ballot. We are citizens of this world and have obligations to do good to those around us, which includes making informed political decisions as free citizens.
What I want to emphasize is that the most important election already happened in eternity past, God's election of sinners to faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation and life. Rest in your position in Christ today, act according to your conscience, and trust God with the affairs of this passing world. Let's keep our hearts humble and hold our heads high, as is fitting for children of the King of the universe. Remember, he's coming back.
The unwillingness of Christ
"I AM UNWILLING TO SEND THEM AWAY HUNGRY" MATTHEW 15:32
Unwilling. The negative can be as encouraging as the positive. His willingness to do for us is matched only by his unwillingness to let it be undone. Both sides are covered. He is as willing that we are provided for as he is unwilling that we are not. Why? Because he really does care about us.
The crowds had lingered for three days to be with him, and there was nothing left to eat. He healed them, and was not willing that they faint on the way for lack of food. If he has done the greater good, he will hardly leave you without the lesser. If he has healed your soul with the bread of life, he will not let your body faint for lack of its earthly shadow.
In your pursuit of Christ, he will never let you be without what you need to do his will. You have his promises for spiritual well-being and physical care. "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread." (Psalm 37:25).
You will have what you need every step of the way. "As your days, so shall your strength be." (Deuteronomy 33:25). It's his promise: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33). Your concern is to set your face toward Zion. A heavenly mind is your business, your earthly needs are his.
Every careless word
"I TELL YOU, ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT PEOPLE WILL GIVE ACCOUNT FOR EVERY CARELESS WORD THEY SPEAK, FOR BY YOUR WORDS YOU WILL BE JUSTIFIED, AND BY YOUR WORDS YOU WILL BE CONDEMNED." MATTHEW 12:36-37
Fruit trees effortlessly produce fruit. It's what they do. In the same way, human beings effortlessly produce words. It's what we do, by nature. This is what's meant by the word careless here.
I think this verse is often misunderstood. In context, it doesn't mean that believers will be made to answer for every single careless, evil word they have ever spoken. In fact, it means quite the opposite. The words of interest for believers will not be careless, evil words, but careless, good words.
The verse means that everyone's unplanned, naturally-spoken (and long-forgotten) words will be examined, and no other evidence will be needed to determine if we are God's children or children of the devil. Children of God speak effortlessly for God; children of the devil speak effortlessly against him.
You who are yet in rebellion against God, your spontaneous words against him will be proof enough of your condemnation on the terrible Day when all your life is laid bare. Who would speak like that but a cosmic rebel? You who are regenerate, your spontaneous words for God will be proof enough of your justification. After all, who would speak like that but a forgiven sinner?
This is not a call to reckless speech. It's a call to examine how you talk when you can talk how you want. How do you speak in the privacy of your own home, in the break room, at lunch, with friends? When you are quite at your ease, what kinds of words find their way out of your mouth? These words are the truest judge of your soul condition; they are the fruit that prove what kind of tree you are, healthy or rotten.
Jesus spoke perfectly out of the majestic overflow of a perfect heart his entire life, and he did that for us. If you find yourself in a lost condition, know that Jesus lived for sinners just like you, and he drank God's judgment on the cross for sinners just like you. Run to him! Throw yourself entirely on his finished work, and you will be safe.
HE WILL MAKE YOU NEW WITHIN, WHICH WILL MAKE THE WORDS YOU SPEAK NEW AS WELL. BRAND NEW.
Church repent
"HOLD FAST WHAT YOU HAVE" REVELATION 3:11
The so-called red letters of Jesus don't end with the gospel accounts. There are red lettered direct words of Christ up through the very last chapter of the New Testament. With the Risen One, it is never merely that he was, but that he is. He's alive.
In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 the resurrected Lord of the universe dictates letters to seven historical local churches. Some, he calls to fierce repentance; to others, he says not a word of correction but only leaves them with strong encouragements to keep up the good work.
Would Jesus stand outside of a faithful local church and call it to repent? Perish the thought. Is Christ divided against himself? He's busy walking in its midst and strengthening its faithful members; how then could he stand outside and oppose himself?
Where two or three have gathered together in the name of calling faithful churches to some sort of ultra repentance, he is not there among them. That is rather a synagogue of Satan. Jesus doesn't call faithful churches to repent. He calls those who call faithful churches to repentance to repent.
Be encouraged, faithful flocks. God is with you and he will continue to bless your efforts for the spread of his kingdom through the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified for sinners.
Stay woke
"WHEN HE SAW THE CROWDS, HE HAD COMPASSION ON THEM, BECAUSE THEY WERE HARASSED AND HELPLESS, LIKE SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD." MATTHEW 9:36
"I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death." So goes the Nas lyric. Is it true? Well Nas the rapper certainly sleeps, because he's a creature. But when you sleep, you're oblivious to the world, and therefore more susceptible to danger. So yes, in a sense sleep is a sort of next of kin to death.
Maybe you've never heard this saying before, but you've probably heard the term sheeple. It's a derogatory word used to belittle folks who are easily led astray, the gullible masses as compared to the relatively few, self-declared "woke" ones. In a sense Jesus also saw people as sheeple, but he didn't look down on them. He had compassion on them. He saw their helpless wanderings, felt their lostness, and was moved to help.
What sort of help did he offer? "He began to teach them" (Mark 6:34). They needed knowledge, but not knowledge of earthly injustices or conspiracies. They needed spiritual shepherding in matters of eternal importance. No matter how "woke" you think you are, if your eyes are shut to the majestic living God and the reality of your guilt before him, you are fatally sleeping, and death stalks you.
In the very next verse, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "The harvest is plentiful." In other words, the wandering people were ready for this kind of shepherding. The Great Commission was given to Paul in these words: "I am sending you to open their eyes" (Acts 26:17-18). The preaching of the gospel is the real "woke" movement and the only one that wakes up dead souls and makes them live forever.
MAY THE LORD HELP US TO SEE LOST AND TOSSED PEOPLE AS A GREAT HARVEST OF SOULS.
A grief observed
"YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TOMORROW WILL BRING. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? FOR YOU ARE A MIST THAT APPEARS FOR A LITTLE TIME AND THEN VANISHES." JAMES 4:14
Many people know these words by heart. How many times have I said them? You don't know what tomorrow will bring. But today was proof that yesterday, I didn't really believe them.
I went to bed dog tired after a late Sunday night meeting. August at Redeeming Cross is Evangelize August, a treasured month in which we concentrate evangelism efforts. I knew I would wake up and post a nice #EvangelizeAugust to my Facebook page and hit the study in preparation for a great week.
Instead, I was greeted with a strange notification on my phone. My sleepy eyes struggled to read it but certain words stuck out immediately: "grief...Jamison...Kathryne...Ezra...Violet...Calvin...all killed...car accident". These were the names of our friends and they weren't supposed to appear in the same sentence with those other terrible words.
We were supposed to see them in a few short weeks and send them off to the adventures God had been preparing them for. They had just worshipped with us two weeks ago. Angel and I and the kids had just seen them on Wednesday, standing on the Engels' porch and waiving as we drove off.
My wife was great friends with Kathryne. They had been part of a women's small group at our church. The preachers' wives they were called. They had walked with each other through early marriage into motherhood. The bearing of precious little ones was their passion and joy. The news was unbearable to her.
Before we left them on Wednesday I asked little Ezra what they were going to do in Japan. "Tell people about Jesus," he said. "Do you fly on airplanes?" was his follow-up question. "Yes," I said. "Then maybe you can you fly us to Japan!" He thought I was a pilot. I told him I very much wished that I could.
Our little girl was friends with Ezra. It was my hope that Ezra's life on the mission field would inspire her to live her life so that people who never heard about Jesus would come to know him. Jamison and I frequently talked about this. But it would appear that Ezra's lesson to my little Aleah was much more fundamental: trust in Jesus and die well.
Why did God take them? For take them he did. Because they had finished their course. My Facebook feed is evidence of the number of lives they touched, but the sharp pain in our hearts is the best proof of all that their lives were not in vain. They were ready. They were happily surrendered to whatever adventure God would send their way. My friend Jamison was my senior in grace and he makes me want to be a better man.
As horrible thoughts of violent death gripped me this morning the only thing I could think of was the train wreck in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle, a book which I know Jamison held near to his heart. The Narnians were taken off to their beloved country by what they thought was strong magic, but the reality was more severe and much more wonderful:
"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are–as you used to call it in the Shadowlands–dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."
The sudden passing of the Pals family seems more of a translation than a death. Looking at a few pictures we took of them last week, the words burning in my bones were inescapable: "They walked with God, and they were not, for God took them." God wanted them, and he took them for himself.
THEIR REAL ADVENTURES HAVE NOW BEGUN.
A second creation
"HE SENDS OUT HIS COMMAND TO THE EARTH... HE DECLARES HIS WORD TO JACOB..." PSALM 147:15, 19
God gives his word to two specific parties in this psalm, to the earth (15-18) and to his people (19-20). Nature and grace mirror each other in many ways, and the parallel here is unmistakable and striking: they are both under the power of his word.
The word of God is a creative force. He creates what he speaks in the very act of speaking it. No sooner are the words uttered but the realities snap into existence. How did God create the earth? By speaking. "He spoke, and it came to be." (Ps 33:9). How does he create his people? By speaking. "You have been born again...through the living and abiding word of God." (1 Pet 1:23).
God's people are a second creation. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." (2 Cor 5:17). Redeemed souls become worlds of God's creative power and genius, pulled into his gracious orbit, and put on display before men and angels and devils.
His creative word to us is the gospel: "this word is the good news that was preached to you" (1 Pet 1:25). The good news of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners is the power of God to make shattered souls into new creatures, and to craft believers by and by into the image of his beloved Son. Place yourself and your family under its creative forces often.
THROUGH THE GOSPEL GOD IS GETTING US READY FOR THE DAY WHEN HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW.
The Famous One
"SO HIS FAME SPREAD...AND GREAT CROWDS FOLLOWED HIM" MATTHEW 4:24, 25
Jesus was quickly gathering a reputation for himself. Reports were spreading far and wide, and what people heard caused them to seek him out for themselves. The people were streaming to him.
He was known to them as a preacher and healer, and they did what anyone in their right mind would do: they went to him to hear and to be healed. The great crowds put into action the reports they heard about this Jesus.
I wonder if the fame of Christ has spread to us? Certainly if we are believers it has, for what is it that we believe but the reports about Jesus? But might we not stand to hear more of the great fame of Jesus Christ? Have we not only just begun to know him?
A steady diet of the wonderful love and works of Christ will stir your heart and compel you to seek the famous One anew. What drives prayer like the knowledge of God's mercy and our desperate need of him? What encourages going to Jesus like knowing that he loves to welcome those who need him?
Read Scripture, listen to sermons, fellowship with seasoned saints, work through solid books,. By all means keep the news of Christ's fame sounding in the ears of your heart, and you'll find yourself not only going to him, but bringing others with you.
Answered prayer
"I SOUGHT THE LORD, AND HE ANSWERED ME" PSALM 34:4
It's a very simple fact beloved: the LORD answers the prayers of his people. He will answer every one.
What forgotten prayers of yours are yet hanging about God's throne, awaiting an answer? What have you asked for? Whatever prayers you have offered, you will have your answers in due time.
If you've prayed according to God's will, your answer is Yes and you only need wait for it. Have you prayed for the advance of the gospel? For more faith and love and joy and patience and boldness for yourself and your fellow believers? To know Christ more? You will have your answer from on high and that answer will be in the affirmative.
Have prayers for lost loved ones shot from your heart like arrows to God's throne? You will have an answer, and why not a Yes? Would God get glory from their salvation, rather than their destruction, in which he takes no pleasure? Pray that way! Pray at all times and make all sorts of requests known to God—big prayers, small prayers, all prayers. Send them until they gather round his throne of grace in thick clusters, fruit awaiting the shouts of a joyful harvest.
Real healing
"BUT FOR YOU WHO FEAR MY NAME, THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL RISE WITH HEALING IN ITS WINGS." MALACHI 4:2
Righteousness brings healing, just as unrighteousness brings death and destruction.
The imagery here represents the coming promised One, the Lord Jesus Christ, who brought in everlasting righteousness and undid the destruction our unrighteousness brought with it. He is our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5-6).
The LORD warned Adam, “In the day that you [sin] you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17). Sin brings death. It is most evident then that righteousness brings life. In fact Paul says this very plainly: “Just as sin reigned in death, grace also [reigns] through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:21).
If we are to be healed, body and soul, we must have righteousness. We don’t. But the God of grace and mercy loved us and sent his Son to provide us with the righteousness he requires from us. The result is that, if we trust in Christ, his spotless perfection is imputed to us, is considered ours, and we get treated accordingly, because it is ours in Christ.
So the healing starts now, and will be finished when the sun of eternal day rises on a new creation. Death is being undone. All who trust in Christ are even now new creatures within, and will be brought to completed newness, body and soul, in glory when we will stand (and run and jump and, who knows, even fly) in resurrected bodies on a resurrected planet in a resurrected universe, "in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13). In other words, we will be "swallowed up by life" (2 Corinthians 5:4).