Into What Then Were You Baptized?

“John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” – Jesus (Acts 1:5)

May 19, 2013 on the church calendar is Pentecost, which is the name Greek-speaking Jews gave for the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot in Hebrew. It marks the end of the seven week holiday between Passover and Shavuot, and was the first day on which the faithful could bring the first fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem. Shavuot/Pentecost also commemorates the giving of the Law by God to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.

Keep in mind that the Old Testament Law was given to provide hints that would point God’s people to Christ. So went we look at the account of Pentecost in Acts 2, we see the first fruits of the kingdom in the form of about three thousand souls being baptized. And as Pentecost commemorated the giving of the Law in the Old Testament, we also see in Acts 2 something much greater was given by God to His people, namely the outpouring, or baptism of the Holy Spirit.

That is what I want us to briefly look at. The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not get much press in traditional Southern Baptist churches today, largely because we don’t understand it, and we are afraid we might go off the “Charismatic” deep end. This is a shame, because in dismissing it we miss out on the incredible power and freedom that the baptism of the Holy Spirit brings.

In fact, if you ask the typical church member what comes to their mind when they hear the word “baptism”, most often it will be act of immersion in water. But water baptism is only a symbol of the reality of spiritual baptism. We tend to overemphasize the rite of water baptism at the expense of true baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Let me try to explain: Both Mark and Luke record that, in preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry, John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mk 1:4; Lk 3:3) But John himself said, “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me [Jesus]…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matt 3:11) And just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus instructed His disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they received what the Father promised, “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 1:5)

Both John and Jesus mark a distinct difference between the two baptisms – John’s was one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and Jesus’ was one of the Holy Spirit. So what does that mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?

If we look further in the book of Acts, we come across a man named Apollos. According to Luke, he was a Jew who was eloquent and “mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and…was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John… But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” (Acts 18:24-26)

So Apollos’ teachings about Jesus were accurate, but they were incomplete until Priscilla and Aquila explained to him the way of God more accurately. I think this is a good reminder for us that our doctrine about Jesus may be accurate, but it does not necessarily mean that it is complete. So what was it that Apollos’ teaching was missing? The first indication we get was that, although he was teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, he was acquainted only with the baptism of John – one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

It is no coincidence that Luke follows up Apollos’ story immediately with another that deals with John’s baptism. Acts 19 begins, “It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul…came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” [Note that Luke refers to them as “disciples”, and Paul indicates that they were believers, not just God-fearing Jews] And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.”

To be frank, I think that is where at least some, if not many of us are today. We are still in John’s baptism. Sure, we are taught that there is the Holy Spirit who is given to everyone who comes to Christ, but we are caught in the endless cycle where we sin, we repent, we acknowledge God’s forgiveness. We sin again, we repent again, we are forgiven. But just as the writer of Hebrews said, “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works…,” (Hebrews 6:1) But that is where many of us are, laying foundation on foundation of repentance from dead works; we remain in John’s baptism.

Clearly, Scripture does not teach, nor is the writer of Hebrews saying that becoming mature means that you will no longer sin or have to repent from dead works. Repentance is a defining mark of every true believer throughout their entire journey with Christ. As long as we are in this physical body we will succumb to sins. The Apostle John makes it abundantly clear: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10)

However, as we are being sanctified, as we are pressing on to maturity in Christ, we begin to grow beyond the seemingly endless spiral where our lives are focused on sin and repentance. We begin to move toward a deeper intimacy with Christ and a powerful outworking of the Spirit through love and good deeds. We move from the “wretched man” in Romans 7 to the  freed man in Romans 8 who walks according to the Spirit.

Paul writes in Romans 6, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death…” That, I believe, correlates to John’s baptism – repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But Paul does not stop there; he says “so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life… For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

I believe the death correlates to John’s baptism, while the newness of life is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The problem is that many of us acknowledge that we have died with Christ, but we have yet to leave the tomb with Him. We have yet to experience the newness of life, the new creation, the truth that “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20) Christ in us is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is Christ living in us through the indwelling and power of the Holy Spirit. It is a new life; not an improvement on the old, but an “exchanged life”, as Hudson Taylor put it.

As I was studying, I came across this statement: “The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience to be sought, but a truth to be believed.” That is a tragic statement. To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to experience a new life. When Paul asked the disciples at Ephesus if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed, his assumption was that they would know whether or not they had based on experience. Yet preachers tell us to be careful with experiencing things. We are not Stoics! God has given us emotions, feeling, senses so that we can experience Him. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a truth that must be experienced!

John Piper spoke of the experiential reality of the Spirit, saying, “When you read the New Testament honestly, you can’t help but get the impression of a big difference from a lot of contemporary Christian experience. For them [the believers in the New Testament] the Holy Spirit was a fact of experience. For many Christians today it is a fact of doctrine… In Protestant evangelicalism [the gift of the Holy Spirit] is equated with a subconscious work of God in regeneration which you only know you have because the Bible says you do if you believe. It is easy to imagine a spiritual counselor saying to a new convert today, ‘Don’t expect to notice any difference: just believe you have received the Spirit.’ But that is far from what we see in the New Testament.”[1]

Aspiring pastors, worship leaders, and teachers, as part of your training, one of the best things you can do is to get out of your Southern Baptist (or Presbyterian, or Methodist, or…) context. I’m not saying that you need to renounce being a Southern Baptist or your Southern Baptist heritage. But I do believe it is healthy and good to experience how other godly, gospel-saturated followers of Jesus Christ worship, pray, and pursue fellowship with one another. If you go as a learner and not a critic you will find that it will broaden your view of the Holy Spirit, the church, and worship, and will increase the effectiveness of your ministry.

We too often discredit as “fringe” things we don’t understand or have never personally experienced. We are too busy being “correct.” Meanwhile, people on the “fringe” are doing mighty things for Christ and His kingdom. Scholars may wrangle over differences between terms like “baptized with the Holy Spirit”, “filled with the Holy Spirit”, “second work of grace,” and “receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Regardless, pursue the experiential reality of the Holy Spirit in your life that is firmly based on the truth of the gospel. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, do mighty things for Christ and His kingdom.

So let me ask you the same question Paul asked those disciples, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Or are you still living in John’s baptism?

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[1] By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/how-to-receive-the-gift-of-the-holy-spirit

Mary and the Resurrection

“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time.” – Martin Luther

It should have been just a normal Sunday. As a child, Mary Magdalene had always loved this time of year – the rebirth of the earth at spring, the warmer days, but most of all the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. She enjoyed helping her mother prepare the Passover meal, the family ceremonially cleaning out all of the leaven from the house, and especially sitting in her father’s lap as he told her how God had delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. She never tired of hearing that story.

And this Passover held so much promise. It seemed as though Jesus’ words had become more urgent, more intense, as if – like spring – something was about to be birthed. Jesus had shown Himself to be a prophet, but so much more than a prophet; a priest, and not just a priest, but a king; yes, a king. After all, a week earlier He had made a triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, just as the prophet Zechariah had foretold. Mary’s mind replayed the conversations with the others about that day. “He is the One,” they exclaimed, “who will restore Israel! The Messiah really has come!”

But that week leading up to the Passover had taken some strange turns. Jesus had been telling His closest friends that He had come to Jerusalem to die. That was certainly not the talk of a triumphant king. Yet Mary heard purpose in Jesus’ words. She would remain with this prophet regardless of the outcome. After all, the one who had delivered her from the torment of seven demons deserved her devotion.

And remain with Him she did. It still made her feel faint when she thought of Him on the cross, bloodied and gasping for air. “Tetelestai!” she heard Him shout. But what did He mean, “It has been fulfilled”?

Yes, it should have been just a normal Sunday. Instead she found herself walking in the cold of the predawn darkness to the tomb of the One who was supposed to restore Israel to the glory of King David’s reign. She was carrying the spices they had prepared on Friday, because they were commanded to rest on the Sabbath. Rest…yesterday was anything but rest. Her eyes still swollen from the tears, Mary made her way to the tomb, still unsure how she was going to remove the stone to get to the body. Consumed with grief, Mary had not noticed that the dawn had just begun to break.

When she arrived she saw that the stone had already been removed from the entrance. “So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.” When they arrived, they saw the stone removed just as Mary told them. And in the tomb lay only the strips of linen “as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.” The disciples “still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” So they “went back to where they were staying.” (John 20:1-10)

But Mary remained.

As she stood weeping outside the tomb, “she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” [At this point, nothing seemed to faze Mary, not even the presence of angels] “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:11-18)

St. Augustine rightly calls Mary Magdalene “the apostle to the apostles.” (Greek: apostolos: a messenger, one sent on a mission) After all, she was the one chosen to be sent with the fullness of the good news to the “sent ones.” Jesus said, “My sheep recognize my voice, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) The redeeming love that Mary recognized in Jesus’ voice is a love that preceded that moment. It was a love that had resounded throughout redemptive history; a love that extends to you and to me.

When we take communion, we are proclaiming the Lord’s death until He returns. But Jesus’ death without His resurrection would be meaningless. As Paul writes, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain…your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins…If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead.” (1 Cor 15:14, 17, 19-20)

On this depends the only hope of humanity. It is your only hope.

As we eat the bread that represents the body of the Lord Jesus that was broken for our wholeness, we eat in hope.

When we drink the cup that represents Jesus’ blood spilled for the cleansing of sins and the ushering in of a New Covenant, we drink in hope.

But our hope is not one of blind, wishful thinking. Instead, it is a resurrected Hope; a hope that is set resolutely on the only sovereign God of creation who’s Word has never and will never fail.

Jesus Christ has risen.

The Exchanged Life

 “Now I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called Salvation. (Isaiah 26:1). Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back.

“He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulcher [grave; tomb]. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.” (John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress)

John Bunyan paints a beautiful picture in The Pilgrim’s Progress of when the burden on Christian’s back fell off at the Cross. It is important to note that this happened well into Christian’s travels to the Celestial City. He had already encountered Evangelist who pointed him to the wicket-gate. He had run from his City of Destruction with his fingers in his ears, crying, “Life! Life! Eternal Life!”  He had begun his journey along the King’s Highway. Yet all of this still under the load of his heavy burden on his back.

Christian writers have used various terms to describe this experience of deliverance: E.M. Bounds used the term “secret of full consecration” (Essentials of Prayer); A. W. Tozer refers to the “blessedness of possessing nothing” (The Pursuit of God). Jesus himself said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”

But if we are really honest with ourselves, I think many (most?) of us still feel the burden on our backs. We strive and strain under our load. We live divided lives, tiptoeing across the line between sacred and secular. We say we belong to Christ, and we truly believe that in our hearts, but in truth we still live like hired hands; clocking in and clocking out – now on God’s time, now on our own. We have begun in the Spirit, but we are fighting to be perfected in the flesh.

Please do not hear words of condemnation in this. Condemning words would only bring more burden, and along with it more striving and struggling under the load to try harder and do more to find that place of peace in our hearts that seems to evade us so easily. There is a better – much better – way.

I recently read a book entitled Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. It is a biography of Hudson Taylor written by his son and daughter-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, which tells of his life and work as a missionary in China in the latter half of the 19^th century—amazing, God-wrought, Spirit-filled work.

And yet, in 1869 – some fifteen years into this remarkable work in China – Hudson Taylor had written to his mother, “I have continually to mourn that I follow at such a distance and learn so slowly to imitate my precious Master.” The weight of the burden on his back can be felt in those words.

And then, six months later, Taylor received a letter from a fellow worker named John McCarthy:

I do wish I could have a talk with you now [he wrote], about the way of holiness. At the time you were speaking to me about it, it was the subject of all others occupying my thoughts, not from anything I had read…so much as from a consciousness of failure—a constant falling short of that which I felt should be aimed at; an unrest; a perpetual striving to find some way by which one might continually enjoy that communion, that fellowship, at times so real but more often so visionary, so far off!

Do you know, I now think that this striving, longing, hoping for better days to come is not the true way to holiness, happiness, or usefulness. It is better, no doubt, far better than being satisfied with poor attainments, but not the best way after all. I have been struck with a passage from a book…entitled Christ is All. It says, “The Lord Jesus received is holiness begun; the Lord Jesus cherished is holiness advancing; the Lord Jesus counted upon as never absent would be holiness complete…He is most holy who has most of Christ within, and joys most fully in the finished work. It is defective faith which clogs the feet and caused many to fall.”

This last sentence, I think I now fully endorse. To let my loving Savior work in me his will, my sanctification, is what I would live for by his grace. Abiding, not striving nor struggling: looking off unto him; trusting him for present power; …resting in the love of an almighty Savior, in the joy of a complete salvation. “from all sin”—this is not new, and yet ‘tis new to me. I feel as though the dawning of a glorious day had risen upon me. I hail it with trembling, yet with trust. I seem to have got to the edge only, but of a boundless sea; to have sipped only, but of that which fully satisfies. Christ literally all seems to me, now, the power, the only power for service, the only ground for unchanging joy…

How then to have our faith increased? Only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all he is for us: his life, his death, his work, he himself as revealed to us in the Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts. Not a striving to have faith…but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need; a resting in the Loved One entirely, for time and for eternity.” (Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret)

“As I read, I saw it all,” Mr. Taylor wrote. “I looked to Jesus, and when I saw—oh, how the joy flowed!” (Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret)

Taylor referred to this as the exchanged life. In the truest sense, it is no longer “I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20

Paul writes in Colossians 3:2-4 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

It is in this release, this tumbling of our burdens off of our backs into the grave never to be seen again, where our very lives are exchanged at the cross; we are no longer hired-hands but bond-servants. Our entire life is freely given to the will of our Master. Our ears are pierced, as it were, and we become lifelong servants of love to Christ (see Deuteronomy 15:12-18). The sum of our thoughts and actions are no longer for ourselves, but for the One who purchased us with His very own blood. Therein lies all joy.

“Thus far did I come laden with my sin,
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,
Till I came hither. What a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from off my back?
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack?
Blest cross! Blest sepulchre! Blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me!”
(John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress)

Holy Spirit, may You initiate the glorious release in Jesus’ words, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

A Soothing Aroma

Michelle and I had the opportunity to visit our daughter, Grace, who is serving on staff with the mission organization YWAM (Youth With A Mission). It was amazing to spend a week at their training base and to be surrounded by a thousand missionaries. We learned a phrase there that the students were using “being wrecked by God.” This is actually a good thing. And by the end of the week, God had wrecked Michelle and me.

One of the things that was so encouraging was to see so many college-age students in white-hot blaze of passion for the glory of Jesus Christ among all the nations. It had the excitement of a youth camp, except they were being trained to go immediately into the harvest fields. Michelle commented to Grace, “Wow, why would you ever want to leave here?” Her response was, “Mom, we are not being trained to stay, but to go!” The hand of the Lord has been on Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM) and his work; he understands what it means to disciple.

One of the things that the Holy Spirit clearly spoke to me while at the YWAM base was that my prayers were too small. So it has been no coincidence that my Bible reading has recently led me through Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. One of the phrases that continued to stand out to me was that the offerings presented by the priests were “soothing aromas” to the Lord (17 times in Leviticus alone). It always perplexed me why God would phrase it that way. Why would the aroma matter to Him?

Aromas were clearly important in the worship in the tabernacle. Exodus 30 describes the altar of incense that was to be placed in front of the veil that was near the ark of the testimony, where God met with the high priest. Every day, the priest was required to burn fragrant incense on it every morning and every evening at twilight. Verse 8 states, “There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.”

When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year, he was required to carry incense. Leviticus 16:12-13 says, “[The priest] shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die.”

The theme of aromas and incense was continued into the New Testament. The magi brought frankincense and myrrh (both aromatic resins used as incense) as gifts to the newborn king Jesus (Matthew 2:11). Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume (John 12:3). Paul says that God “manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” (2 Corinthians 2:14), and that Christ “gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:2)

As I have said many times, the writer of Hebrews tells us that the earthly tabernacle in the Old Testament was a shadow and type of the true heavenly one. So what is the reality that the earthly incense was to point to?

Revelation gives us an explanation. Revelation 5:8 states, “…the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders…Each had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”

Revelation 8:3-5 “Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

As I had been meditating on these things, I saw the connection and thought it interesting that our prayers are somehow stored in golden bowls in heaven. But the immense weight of it had not hit me.

And then at 4:30 in the morning the Holy Spirit woke me up, and I began thinking on these things. I pictured myself beside the altar of incense with the sweet aroma of the countless prayers of the saints – your prayers; my prayers. And then I entered into the very Holy of Holies, the throne room of God, because the veil was torn in two from top to bottom, heaven to earth, signifying that the tearing was initiated by God Himself, not man. And the smoke of the incense filled the room. Only in heaven the cloud of incense does not obscure the sight. And who do you think is there in the middle of the throne? A Lamb standing, as if slain. Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, has made a way through the torn veil (that is His body) so that we could enter into the very council of God Almighty.

Hebrews 7:24-25 says that “because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Our High Priest is right now in the Holy of Holies before the Father unceasingly offering up the incense of intercession for us! (Could this be the smoke that Isaiah saw in his vision? (Isaiah 6:4))

And Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence (KJV says to come boldly) to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

With confidence. Boldly. Is that how you pray? The Father wants us to pray that way. He loves to smell the sweet aroma of our prayers before Him so that He can answer them. Remember Revelation 8:5 where the angel takes the censer and throws it to earth? I take that to mean that all of the prayers that had been stored in the bowls will be answered according to God’s will and in His time. Not one prayer that is for the glory of God will be wasted.

John G. Paton (Missionary to the New Hebrides Islands of the South Pacific during the 1800’s) wrote,

Did ever mother run more quickly to protect her crying child in danger’s hour than the Lord Jesus hastens to answer believing prayer and send help to His servants in His own good time and way, so far as it shall be for their good and His glory.

And the Father loves hearing us pray His Word to Him. I hope when you pray, you have your Bible open before you, or that you use the scriptures you have memorized as points of prayer. Because the Father loves hearing His children humbly but boldly say, “You said, Lord; You said!”

You said, Lord, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” You said, Lord; You said!

You said, Lord, that You “will not allow [me] to be tempted beyond what [I am] able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that [I] will be able to endure it.” You said, Lord; You said!

You said, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest.” You said, Lord! You said!

So as we take communion, let us enter through the veil, that is, by way of the spilled blood and the torn body of our Savior Jesus Christ, and offer up sacrifices of prayers and praise as a sweet aroma before our Father.

When I See the Blood

Recently, my Bible reading plan led me to the book of Exodus, which records the account of the Israelites being rescued from Egyptian bondage by the hand of God through ten incredible plagues as He executed judgments “against all the gods of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12)

I don’t know how many times I have read through the story of the exodus, and yet this time a single phrase jumped off the page and pierced my heart.

The context is during the tenth and final plague when God instructs the Israelites to sacrifice an unblemished lamb at twilight. They were then to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorpost and lintel of their front door. This was to mark their homes so that those inside would be spared from God’s judgment He was executing throughout all of Egypt.

And the Lord said, “…when I see the blood I will pass over you.”

When I see the blood I will pass over you.

And then it hit me – everything that I am physically, emotionally, and spiritually, is riding on the truth of that one phrase: “when I see the blood I will pass over you.” If that is not true, then my life is completely worthless and all would be for nothing.

What’s important to note is that God who is the omniscient Creator of the universe who knows the heart and mind of every person did not actually need to see the blood on the lintels and doorposts in order to keep things straight in His mind as to who was His and who wasn’t. He knew the heart of every person with the blood smeared on the doorpost as well as the heart of every person who did not have it. So the blood served as a reminder, not for God but for those inside the house. It was to show them that it was out of their hands; their salvation depended wholly on God alone. The Lord told them, “I am about to release a judgment on the land of Egypt so fierce and terrifying that there will be a great cry throughout the land such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. And this judgment will be so encompassing that it will strike every single household in Egypt. But I have made a way of escape for you. Just do what I tell you and trust Me.” This is the theme throughout redemptive history that would point not just to a symbol or a shadow of things to come, but the reality of Christ being the source of salvation for all who trust in God alone.

Picture in your mind an Israelite family by faith sacrificing the lamb, by faith preparing the unleavened bread, by faith spreading the blood on the doorposts, and by faith eating the Passover meal. Their hope was beyond themselves; it rested in the One who said “when I see the blood I will pass over you.”

Martin Luther wrote in his classic Bondage of the Will:

God has surely promised His grace to the humbled: that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another – God alone. As long as a man is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God. Such a man plans out for himself – or at least hopes and longs for – a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation, but which will not. Conversely, the man who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God, despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation.

The Feast of Passover is also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. God commanded them to remove all of the leaven from their homes and to bake their bread without leaven because they would not have time for their bread to rise before they were rescued. So with that, it is much easier to understand Paul’s words to the Corinthians: “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

The bread and the cup of communion before you are to serve as a reminder that Christ is our Passover lamb and we, by faith, consume all that He is, and by faith we place our hope firmly and exclusively on the Person and work of Jesus Christ so that when our heavenly Father sees the blood, He will pass over us.

Epiphany

January 6^th on the Western Church liturgical calendar is the Feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means “to appear, or to become visible.” Epiphany is among the oldest Christian feasts dating back to the 4^th Century and traditionally commemorates the visitation of the wise men to the baby Jesus. In the broader sense it is the celebration of the “epiphany” or the manifest presence of Jesus Christ – the Son of God in human flesh – to the Gentiles.

The fact that God the Son took on flesh and bone is of supreme importance to us. One of the reasons Jesus became Immanuel – God with us – was so that we could experience Him. Or to use biblical terminology it is so that we could have fellowship with Him. It is what Jesus meant in John 15 when He instructed us to abide in Him. Christ came so that we could experience the manifestation or the epiphany of God in a very real, tangible way. And He returned to the Father so that He could send the Holy Spirit to us so that we would be able to experience the manifest presence of the Spirit in our lives daily.

John Piper spoke of the experiential reality of the Spirit, saying, “When you read the New Testament honestly, you can’t help but get the impression of a big difference from a lot of contemporary Christian experience. For them [the believers in the New Testament] the Holy Spirit was a fact of experience. For many Christians today it is a fact of doctrine… In Protestant evangelicalism [the gift of the Holy Spirit] is equated with a subconscious work of God in regeneration which you only know you have because the Bible says you do if you believe. It is easy to imagine a spiritual counselor saying to a new convert today, ‘Don’t expect to notice any difference: just believe you have received the Spirit.’ But that is far from what we see in the New Testament.”

I’m afraid we fall into that contemporary Christian experience category where the presence of the Holy Spirit is more an academic exercise than an experiential reality. And I hope you realize that. I hope you don’t think that we have arrived. I pray you begin to long to experience the Holy Spirit like they did in the New Testament, even if you are a little uncomfortable and are not quite sure what that would really look like.

Three Rivers, you are approaching a divide in the road. To the left is a well-worn path taken by most because it is easier, neater, more manageable, status quo, indifferent. That path is well-traveled and easier because it can be done on our own strength and with our own wisdom. But straight ahead is a narrow path with steep grades and cliffs on either side, but it is the path that leads to life. That path is impossible to negotiate without the epiphany, the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit at each step.

Can I just be real honest here? I’m tired – not of the ministry or the pastorate – I’m tired of apathy, of indifference…in my own life and the life of this church. I’m tired of 20-25% participation in connect groups. I’m tired of seeing a prayer ministry that only has 2 to 3 college students and has to be led by a college student because no one else is willing. I’m tired of not seeing older men and women not stepping up and teaching the younger men and women.

Have you ever wondered where the Jewish religious leaders were when Christ was born? They knew the prophecies; they saw the star; they knew where the Messiah would be born. (see Matthew 2:4-6) Isn’t it ironic that they were not in the stable worshiping their King? Instead, there were pagan astrologers who had traveled hundreds of miles and uneducated, dirty shepherds who gathered around the newborn God-man in worship. The religious leaders knew the scriptures, had all the knowledge, but they did not act on what they knew. They were indifferent; they were apathetic. Their knowledge had not transformed their hearts. (see http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-irony-of-the-epiphany)

A.W. Tozer wrote in The Pursuit of God, “We have been too blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire anything better than the poor average diet with which others appear satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another’s notions, copied one another’s lives and made one another’s experiences the model for our own…we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.” (Chapter 5)

Frankly, I am growing weary of walking down this worn-down path of dry academic theology here in the Western church lined with cold stone walls that have chiseled in them the oldness of the Law, which can still be full of emotion, but it lacks real spiritual power. I’m tired of persuasive words of wisdom instead of the demonstration of the Spirit and of power (1 Cor 2:4). I want to begin walking in the newness of the Spirit. I want to begin experiencing Isaiah 30:20, that says, “[The Lord], your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”

What if you woke up every morning longing to hear the voice of God? What if the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit was a fact of daily experience in your life? What if you trained yourself to discern the voice of God behind you, telling you, “This is the way, walk in it”? Many of you are uncomfortable with that. Good. I want you to be. I’m not going to explain that away and say, “Well, what Isaiah really meant was…” No, what Isaiah really meant was hearing the voice of God in our daily lives.

Now, there are some who think, “Well, you know Brad, Hebrews 1 says that in these last days, God has spoken to us in His Son. That’s past tense; He has spoken. Jesus is God’s final word to mankind.” And in one sense that is very true – but it is in the sense that final means ultimate, not finished. Because it is nonsense to think that God, the omnipotent Creator who spoke creation into existence, and who has communicated to mankind since the days of Adam, the One who said that man cannot live on food alone, but by every word that proceeds from His mouth, the One whose very name is The Word, should somehow have ceased to communicate to His people once the last word in scripture was penned. God is not just a God who has communicated; He is a God who communicates.

An integral part to the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the use of spiritual gifts. What if we took Paul at his word and “earnestly desired spiritual gifts.” And then we began using our spiritual gifts in a way that edifies the church? I’m not talking about simply our talents or skills – those are of our own strength and wisdom. We trivialize the importance and uniqueness of spiritual gifts when we lump them in with talents or things we just enjoy doing. I’m talking about biblically-based supernatural Holy Spirit driven gifts for the building up of the church like prophecy, and helps, and administration, and healing, and tongues. See, I think Satan has done an amazing job at making spiritual gifts taboo in otherwise biblically sound churches.

Why are we content on just knowing that the Holy Spirit is with us instead of longing to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in our church?

So before you take the bread and the cup of communion, I want you to pause – not to rest, but to consider: Are you able to drink the cup that Christ first drank, or to be baptized with the baptism with which He was baptized? (Mark 10:38) In other words, are you willing to pursue the manifest presence of God regardless of what lies ahead? Are you willing to say with Job, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” (Job 13:15) If so, then drink deeply of His cup, and savor the richness of His bread. He died to bring you near to God. And He returned to the Father so that you could experience the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Father, forgive us of our sinful preoccupation with our own pursuits in our own strengths and with our own efforts. Holy Spirit, we want to experience You, we want to fellowship with You, we want to abide in You. We want to grow to discern Your voice telling us “This is the way, walk in it”. Now bless this cup and this bread, I ask, as we honor Christ’s death and eagerly await His return.

Taste and See

Honey. We all know that honey is made by honeybees. The bees collect nectar from flowers and then transform the saccharides in the nectar into honey through a process of repeated regurgitation until it is partially digested. The last regurgitation is still high in water content, so the process continues through evaporation and enzymatic transformation. The enzyme invertase synthesized by the bees and digestive acids hydrolyze the sucrose from the nectar to give the same mixture of glucose and fructose. So, honey gets its sweetness from these monosaccharides, and depending on the variety is slightly sweeter than granulated sugar.

Sweetness is almost universally regarded as a pleasurable experience. Foods rich in simple carbohydrates such as honey are those most commonly associated with sweetness. The tongue uses a different taste receptor pathway for each of the five basic tastes: sour, bitter, savory, salty, and sweet. So, when incoming sweet molecules in the honey bind to their taste receptors, it causes a conformational change in the molecule. This change activates certain proteins, which in turn cause the release of ions that ultimately cause neurotransmitter release, which is then received by a primary afferent neuron. So basically it takes all that for your taste buds to tell your brain that honey is sweet.

Now, I have just described to you more than you probably ever wanted to know about how the human body determines the sweetness of honey. But one thing I did not do, in fact cannot do, is cause you to experience the sweetness of honey.

The following quote comes from Jonathan Edwards’ sermon A Divine and Supernatural Light –

There is a twofold knowledge of good of which God has made the mind of man capable. The first, that which is merely notional…And the other is, that which consists in the sense of the heart; as when the heart is sensible of pleasure and delight in the presence of the idea of it…Thus there is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind.

In other words, there is this “head knowledge” of God where you believe certain truths about Him. But then there is a “heart knowledge” where you not only acknowledge these truths about God, but you sense them, you feel them, because you experience the pleasure of His presence with you. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible to accurately describe the taste of honey. That is because honey was not meant to just be described, and analyzed and studied. Honey is meant to be tasted and experienced; its sweetness is to be enjoyed. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is not Someone merely to be described and studied, but He was given to us as a pledge of our inheritance, a deposit, or a taste, if you will, of the sweetness we will experience when we are with the Father for all eternity.

This may be overly simplistic, but it seems there are two extremes in churches today. Some emphasize knowing the truth of God’s Word. Others emphasize experiencing the Holy Spirit. But shouldn’t there be both? Isn’t that what Jesus meant when He said to the Samaritan woman, “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” (John 4:23)

Which extreme do you think Three Rivers leans towards? And if you think we are a good balance, then I would suggest you are guilty of what is called confirmation bias; you have surrounded yourself with people and information that confirms your own beliefs and bias. But how many of you woke up this morning and begged the Holy Spirit to impart to you a supernatural gift so that you could edify the church? How many truly understand what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit? I don’t mean you can write a paper on it, but you understand it because you have experienced it. It has been real to you. None of us have arrived, not your pastors, not Mitch, not Emmett, and especially not me. The Apostle Paul himself confessed that he hadn’t obtained it, but he longed to gain Christ so he pressed on to make it his own, because Christ Jesus has made him his own (Philippians 3:12-14). He wanted more of Christ.

Many of us stop short of a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit because we are satisfied with good theology. Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with good theology; it is essential and without it we will not come to a saving knowledge of the truth. Just before Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman about worshiping in spirit and in truth, He told her that she worshiped what she did not know; the Jews worshiped what they knew. The Jews knew, but they had not yet experienced Immanuel – God with us. As someone once said, “The word of God is to lead us to the God of the word.” People without experience tend to be overly confident in their beliefs or theories, or good theology. To continue the analogy, they can describe to you down to the molecule the sweetness of honey, but they have rarely if ever tasted it. But people with experience tend to long for more; they crave the frequent and tangible interaction of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Christ came to earth to die and be resurrected so that we could experience Him. He left earth so that He could send the Holy Spirit to be with us and in us so that we could proclaim to the world with King David: “O taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8)

Holy Spirit we confess that we do not know You as we should. We know about You, and we are intrigued with the idea of You, but the realness of You in our lives is sporadic at best. We want to know You in a deeper way. We want to experience You. We want to be continually filled with You. Jesus, You suffered and died to make that possible. You purchased that on the cross. Father, You are seeking worshipers of You in spirit and in truth. Seek us out, Father; make us pleasing to You. Let us taste and see that You are good.

The World in Which We Live

Many of you, no doubt, have heard by now the imbroglio surrounding Louie Giglio and the benediction for the president’s inauguration. For those of you who do not know, Pastor Giglio is the teaching pastor at Passion City Church in Atlanta and the founder of the Passion Movement Youth Conference; many of you have attended, I’m sure. Pastor Giglio has also raised millions of dollars to bring awareness and combat human trafficking and slavery around the world. It was primarily for this reason that he was asked by the Obama administration to offer the benedictory prayer at the inauguration.

Shortly after that announcement was made, ThinkProgress, a liberal watchdog group, dug up a sermon preached by Pastor Giglio some 15-20 years ago in which he had stated that homosexuality is a sin and that the “only way out of a homosexual lifestyle … is through the healing power of Jesus.” (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/01/09/1422021/inaugural-benediction-to-be-delivered-by-anti-gay-pastor/)

And then, as you can imagine, the firestorm ensued. Jonathan Capehart member of the editorial board for the Washington Post went so far as to say, “President Obama should not have to share the stage with an unrepentant bigot.” (retrieved January 10, 2013 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/01/10/louie-giglio-out-from-inaugural-good )

Because of the controversy, Pastor Giglio withdrew his invitation and issued a statement in which he said, “Due to a message of mine that has surfaced from 15-20 years ago, it is likely that my participation, and the prayer I would offer, will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration. Clearly, speaking on this issue has not been in the range of my priorities in the past fifteen years. Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ.” (http://www.passioncitychurch.com/blog/?p=1436)

A statement was then issued by the Presidential Inaugural Committee that stated, “We were not aware of Pastor Giglio’s past comments at the time of his selection, and they don’t reflect our desire to celebrate the strength and diversity of our country at this inaugural. Pastor Giglio was asked to deliver the benediction in large part because of his leadership in combating human trafficking around the world. As we now work to select someone to deliver the benediction, we will ensure their beliefs reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance for all Americans.” In other words, their definition of “inclusion and acceptance” is that you have to have the same beliefs as they do.

I want to make two points here, and they are not about political views or even specifically the views on homosexuality – which by the standards of the current administration and sexually liberal groups would not allow any Muslim imam, Orthodox Jewish rabbi, Orthodox Roman Catholic priest, Mormon preacher, or even the Dalai Lama (nyti.ms/SxdH9r) to pray at the inauguration. Giglio’s view on homosexuality as a sin has been the orthodox view of the Church for over 2,000 years.

But my first point is this: this is now the world in which we live. Followers of Jesus Christ who trust in the Bible will continue to be more and more marginalized and maligned. It is just as Paul warned Timothy, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come…For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim 3:1; 4:3-4) And in one sense at least I say this is good. The lines are being more clearly drawn and there will be no place to hide in easy, cultural Christianity. You and I will have to decide, “Do I really trust Christ? Am I willing to be marginalized and maligned, to have my reputation smeared and possibly lose my job?” Society itself will begin to separate the wheat from the chaff.

However, the more important point I want to make is that we as humans, every single one of us, are irrevocably broken. We – you and I – are desperately wicked. God, as an overflow of His love and creativity, created the entire universe – seen and unseen – to bring glory to Him, to worship Him, to delight in Him and to revel in His glory; as the catechisms say, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” But Satan deceived our first parents, Adam and Eve, into thinking that they did not need God but instead could become their own gods. And thus evil and sin was introduced into the world and has infected every aspect of it, most importantly our own hearts. Although God created us to enjoy Him, we have turned our backs on Him and have sought out things that are not only pitiful imitations of that enjoyment, but they are the very things that bring us death, whether it’s homosexuality, or lust, or greed, or gluttony, or lies, or pride, they all bring a death both physically and eternal separation from God – the One in whom there is the only true joy.

Because we have been so corrupted by this sin and evil, we are no longer able to even discern what will bring us true joy. We are so blinded that we settle on a steady diet of these pathetic imitations.

As C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, Eerdmans, 1965, pp. 1-2)

But God, not willing for His entire creation to perish, has offered a way of escape to all who would trust in Him. Jesus Christ stood in our place and took the punishment for our crimes against the Source of all Joy and has given us His righteousness so that we could revel in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in all their glory. He did this by coming to earth as a man and offering His physical body as the perfect sacrifice for our sins in suffering and death on the cross. He then was physically raised to life three days later by the power of God so that we, too, can be raised to be with Him when He returns and experience the fullness of immeasurable joy in God for all eternity.

An Eternal Weight of Glory

This week I was in Northern California for work inspecting several properties for a client. And since I had never been to the wine country there I took the opportunity one afternoon to drive to the Sonoma Valley. Even in the winter time the countryside was every bit as beautiful as I imagined. While I was there, I had a chance to talk to a winemaker. I was able to learn a lot of interesting things about winemaking. For example, the Sonoma Valley actually has several microclimates that produce 25 different varieties of wine grapes from the cooler Carneros region in the south that produces lighter, fruitier grapes like Merlots or Pinot Noirs to the Dry Creek Valley in the north where it is much hotter and drier, producing bold grapes like Zinfandels and Cabernets. He told me all wine grapes need plenty of sunshine, a dry growing season, low humidity, and cool nights. And Sonoma Valley provides all of those.

But here is what really caught my attention: the winemaker told me that the best wines are produced by vines that have grown under difficult circumstances. He said if you want to make a rich, deep wine with a lot of character, you provide very limited water to the vine, or you plant it in poor, rocky soil. That way, the vine is forced to grow its roots deep. When that happens, the massive root systems are able to draw more nutrients and the minerals from the soil that produce a deep complex character necessary for making truly fine wine. Otherwise, he said, if you give the vines plenty of water and fertilizer, the vines have no incentive to go deep and the root systems remain on the surface, which not only makes the vine weak, but the fruit also lacks character. The oldest vines, some being 100 years old, are the ones with amazingly deep roots because they have been put under difficulty and tested over time, and they produce incredible wines full of depth and character.

We live in a risk-adverse society. Protection and self-preservation permeates everything we do. We have life insurance, health insurance, auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance. We even have AFLAC – which is insurance for when we don’t have enough insurance. We do everything we can to hedge our bets and minimize our risk. And even more, we try to find diversions when we do find ourselves in the midst of pain or hardship. Someone commented to comedian Jim Gaffigan on social media regarding the shootings in Connecticut, saying “You’re a father and a funny comedian. Say something to make us feel better right now.” Gaffigan’s response was appropriate: “We shouldn’t feel better.”

We live in a world that is rotting away because of sin. And we as people of God must be willing to be stressed and tested for the sake of living out the gospel. We must begin seeing that the testing of our faith causes our roots to go deep, producing fruit that is full of depth and character. (see James 1:2-4) Instead of running from suffering, we should be on the front lines of it for the sake of this decaying world. The question is: are we really willing to be “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”? (2 Corinthians 4:10-11)

I suggest that we will not be willing to do that until we understand the truth that “momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) That, by the way, was written by a man who was received thirty-nine lashes on five separate occasions, beaten with rods three times, stoned and left for dead once, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and ultimately beheaded. (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28) The crazy thing is that he truly believed all that to be momentary light affliction in light of the weight of glory that was being produced in him. Think of that for just a second; can you imagine what Paul’s back must have looked like after countless beatings? In fact, Paul finally told the Galatian church, “From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.” (Galatians 6:17) And yet, all the gaping wounds that probably never fully healed and those deep, painful scars he considered just momentary, light affliction when he compared it to what it was producing in him – an immense weight of glory.

There is a world out there that is hurting and looking for answers. But here’s the deal: they are not interested in rhetoric. I think that that is probably one of the reasons that the church here in the South has made itself irrelevant to the culture in so many ways. The world is tired of hearing rhetoric. They have grown weary of our lists of do’s and don’ts because we somehow think that if we improve their moral condition, all will be well. Or, on the other hand, we think there is some benefit to wagging our fingers at them and telling them that they chose their path; therefore, they must live with their consequences. Thank God that He did not do that to us.

No; what the world is waiting to see are people who are living out transformed lives. “The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:19) There needs to be a people in whom “Jesus Christ is publicly portrayed as crucified.” (Galatians 3:1) “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21) When will we be able to say that “our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”? (1 Thessalonians 1:5)

When that begins to happen, the world will start looking to the church again because it will be relevant to the culture, not with simple rhetoric but with life-changing transformation.

Sam Adams, the proudly liberal and openly homosexual mayor of Portland, was approached by local churches in 2008 asking to partner with them in serving the Portland community by addressing six needs including hunger and poverty, homelessness, health and wellness, human trafficking, environment, and public schools. “We wanted to bless the city,” one of the church leaders remarked. “We wanted the city to miss the church if we were to leave.” So the mayor and city officials hesitantly agreed, and the churches mobilized some 26,000 volunteers to service projects in each of the six areas of need. The mayor and other city officials were surprised by the integrity of the churches in keeping their promises as well as their contribution of so many resources to the projects. Mayor Adams was asked how his perceptions of Christianity had changed as a result of the work. He said he realized he’d bought into groupthink and media stereotypes about Christians. Adams admitted “It’s been very humbling having the tangible experience of one’s own bias. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’re better for it.” (Information retrieved from How the Church Can Change a City)

Is that the goal, simply betterment of the community? No, but it is a start. And it is a clear witness.

Our daughter Grace was telling us about the schools in Kona where student discipline had gotten so bad with fighting and constant disruptions in the classroom that the school officials finally had to shut the school down and send the kids home. Where did the school officials turn to for help? They turned to local Christ-followers. They asked Youth With A Mission, the organization my daughter serves with, to provide mentors for the troubled kids, because they knew they had something to offer that no one else had.

Tragedies such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary serve as a reminder of the horrendous corruption of the human heart caused by sin. And the church is placed here to provide the answer to it, not in words only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction – even in the face of risk, hardship, and suffering.

Pastor Doug Wilson wrote, “This is a darkness that must be confronted, and it can only be confronted by believers who are prepared to wield the gospel—not as a sectarian talking point, but as real gospel for real sin, real balm for real pain, real light for real darkness.”

The bread and the cup of communion before you are to serve as a reminder that Christ suffered in the flesh to redeem this rotting and corrupt creation, leaving us an example to follow in His steps. “Christ Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

Repentance that Leads to Life

The Church has used catechisms throughout its history to teach people the truths about God and His relationship to His creation. Catechisms are set in the form of questions and answers to aid in the learning of biblical truths.

In The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question #87 asks: What is repentance unto life?

The answer is:  Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.

That is a mouthful, so I want to try to briefly break that answer down for us. First, repentance that leads to life is a “saving grace.” In other words, it is something that is granted by God. Remember, “grace” is God’s unmerited favor. Paul instructs Timothy to correct those who are in opposition “with gentleness…if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,” (2 Timothy 2:25). The implication is that they will not repent unless God grants it to them.

Secondly, we are motivated toward repentance not only because we grieve over our sin but because we begin to feel the depth of God’s mercy in Christ. Paul tells us that it is “the kindness of God leads you to repentance.” (Romans 2:4) As Pastor Ray Ortlund writes, “We have zero motivation to repent, unless we see the mercy of God awaiting us. Not the slap of God, but the embrace of God. Repentance is not just turning from sin, not even that primarily. Repentance is primarily turning to God, moment by moment, because He has promised His mercy to the penitent.” “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)

The Greek word that the New Testament writers used for repentance is metanoia, which means “a change of mind.” So to repent means to change your mind or your way of thinking about something. In other words, “I used to think this was okay, but now I see that it is wrong,” or “I used to believe that this was not worth my time, but now I believe it is of utmost importance.”

But let us not be deceived with our Western mindset that often somehow divorces “belief” from action and think that repentance is merely a logical exercise of the mind. Instead, true repentance is with “full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.” Pastor Ortlund continues, “the outcome of repentance is not a restored status quo, getting back to ‘normal,’ getting back to where we were before we sinned, evading the consequences of sin. The outcome of true repentance is new obedience, unprecedented obedience, perhaps unheard-of obedience. Newness of life.”

That is why John the Baptist rebuked the crowds coming to be baptized by him by saying, “bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘ We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.” (Luke 3:8) Repentance was to be evidenced by their actions, not by their pedigree.

And that is why Paul told King Agrippa that he “did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring…that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” So repentance – if it is true – must of necessity result in action that comes from a change in the inner man.

Jesus began His ministry preaching repentance: Matthew records “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matthew 4:17) After His resurrection Jesus ended His ministry instructing the disciples to preach repentance: Luke records that “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.’” (Luke 24:45-47)

When the crowd at Pentecost asked the apostles what they were to do in response to the gospel message, Peter’s instruction to them was to “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:28)

Repentance is not just a one-time event at the beginning of a Christian’s walk. Instead we are to develop a lifestyle of daily repenting – of changing or renewing our minds – as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We must be a people whose lives are marked with repentance through the renewing of our minds and the resulting action that comes from a renewed mind.

Repentance is a blood-bought grace of God where we not only grieve over and hate our sin, but we are embraced by the mercy of God that produces a “full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.” Repentance leads us to the knowledge of truth (2 Timothy 2:25). Repentance leads us to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). Repentance leads us to the foot of the Cross where we look up to the broken body and spilled blood of our Savior so that through His death we might have life.