Christ Church

Efficacious Love

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Introduction

This message is directed at men, and husbands and fathers in particular, but there will be plenty of applications to go around for everyone in the room since the basic message can be summarized as “if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 Jn. 4:11). We begin with God’s efficacious love, and then we press that into the corners, beginning with the men and then to all.

A Summary of the Text

This final book in our Old Testament begins with a “burden” or a judgment from God against His people, sometime in the late 5th century B.C., most likely during the days of Nehemiah (Mal. 1:1). This burden comes as a stinging rebuke to those who had returned from exile and rebuilt the temple and were seeking to reestablish Israel as a nation. The difficulties of rebuilding have piled up and discouraged the people to the point of significant moral compromise, such that when Malachi opens with the announcement of God’s love, the point was clearly to address the fact that they have come to the point of questioning it (Mal. 1:2). Malachi’s answer is God’s election of Jacob over Esau, and traces that out in history, pointing out that Esau’s rebuilding projects have not succeeded since God’s wrath abides on Esau/Edom forever (Mal. 1:2-4). Malachi concludes this opening salvo with the promise that the eyes of Israel will be opened to see the Lord’s efficacious love and then they will proclaim the glory of the Lord (Mal. 1:5).

All the Excuses

These people were the dedicated ones. They had sacrificed much. They had moved back to Jerusalem, endured hardships, and were painstakingly seeking to rebuild Jerusalem. But the work of Reformation is never easy and is often long and slow. The rest of Malachi addresses three areas of significant problems which all flow out of the initial question posed in Mal. 1:2. Forgetting God’s sovereign love has led to polluted worship, unfaithful marriages, and robbing God of tithes. All of these areas demonstrated a significant breakdown in the Israelite families. The men put up with weak and lying priests because that gave them an easy pass with their own wives and children. And when men fail to love and lead their families faithfully, they frequently try to buy them off, which often results in robbing God of tithes. But the root cause of it all is pride. “How has God loved us?” is perhaps one of the most insolent questions a creature can ask, even if true hardships preceded that appalling point. At its heart, it’s the resentful sentiment of the older brother in the parable: “Lo, these many years I have been serving you… and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends” (Lk. 15:29).

Jacob I Have Loved

God’s answer is intended to humble Israel: “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau” (Mal. 1:2-3). The answer is one of startling, sovereign freedom. Not only were Jacob and Esau twin brothers, but God chose Jacob in the womb before they were even born (Gen. 25:23). And Paul underlines the point: “For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that called – it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom. 9:11-13). The answer to Israel’s discouragement and frustration and pride was a straight shot reminder of God’s free and sovereign love. God might have chosen Esau. There was nothing intrinsically better about Jacob. The reason for God’s choice to love Jacob was not in anything in Jacob or Esau or anything good or evil they might do. It was merely “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that called.”

What follows is the evidence that God had stood by His choice: despite all the difficulties, Jacob (Israel) had rebuilt Jerusalem, but all of Esau/Edom’s building projects were doomed (Mal. 1:3-4). The book of Malachi ends with a promise that God will save His people and destroy the wicked. He had already done this, but He will continue. He will remember His people like jewels and spare them like a son (Mal. 3:17). He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers (Mal. 4:6). This is the sovereign, efficacious love of God, finally accomplished in Jesus.

Husbands Love Like That

The startling thing is that this standard of love is held up for husbands to imitate toward their wives, and by implication, their children. “Husbands love your wives as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). Malachi had condemned Israel for forgetting God’s love and putting up with polluted worshiped, being unfaithful to their wives, and financial folly, and here Paul calls men of the new Israel to remember God’s love in Christ and so be faithful and diligent in their love of their wives, which is connected to the church honoring Christ (worship) and building households of wisdom (finances).

The center of the faithfulness required is love that imitates Christ, and that love is efficacious. It is efficacious because it takes responsibility and sacrifices for the assigned outcome. Responsibility means you fully embrace her challenges as your challenges, just as Christ took our sins upon Himself. Sacrifice means laying your life down to sanctify and cleanse your bride from every spot or wrinkle. Perhaps most importantly, it means laying down your pride and dwelling with your wife in an understanding way (1 Pet. 3:7). Efficacious love sees the goal of glory and beauty and holiness, and it drives eagerly toward the goal, doing whatever it takes to get there. This kind of love is to be as efficacious as a man’s love for his own body (Eph. 5:28). This is a persistent, uncomplaining, humble, joyful leadership in every area of life. And wives your love for your husband is to be primarily communicated through submission and respect, as the church is to Christ (Eph. 5:22-24).

Conclusion: Love One Another

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 Jn. 4:10-11). Why did Christ die? To turn away God’s just wrath (propitiation for our sins). “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly… But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us… when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10). For whom did Christ die? For the ungodly, for sinners, for His enemies.

“He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Eph. 1:4-6). For whom did Christ die? For those He chose before the foundation of the world. The cross was not an attempt to save everyone but successful with only some. Everyone God has chosen, He loves, and Christ died for them and will not lose one. They will be made holy by His efficacious love. Why? So we would praise His grace and proclaim the glory of the Lord (Mal. 1:5).

How are we to love one another? Like that. Plotting blessing. Giving freely. Without growing weary. Not expecting anything in return. Keeping vows. Out of sheer joy in Christ for His efficacious love.

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To Live is Christ

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The Text

Phil. 1:19-30

Introduction

This sermon is for everyone here because everyone here is preparing to die. There is a 100% mortality rate (Heb. 9:27). But not everyone dies the same because not everyone knows Christ, and knowing Christ changes everything. The adventure of Christian life is rooted in eternity.

A Summary of the Text

Paul is writing from prison (Phil. 1:7), and after reporting on the spread of the gospel in prison (1:13), expresses his conviction that whatever happens next it will be for his salvation (1:19). Christ will be magnified in his body whether in life or by death (1:20). For Paul, to live is Christ and to die is to win (1:21). Paul knows that living on in the flesh allows him to continue his labor and be a blessing to the saints (1:22, 24). And even though he would rather depart to be with Christ (1:23), he seems fairly sure that his time is not yet, for the blessing of the Philippians and the furtherance of the gospel (1:25-26). But Paul writes all of this to the Philippians that they might stand fast in the faith, not being terrified of their enemies, but taking courage from Paul’s example of suffering (1:27-30).

What Happens?

One of the basic questions all people have is what happens when someone dies? Paul answers that question here saying that to depart from the flesh is “to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). Elsewhere, Paul says, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6-8). But in the same place, Paul describes dying as being “unclothed” (2 Cor. 5:1-4). So we understand this to mean that at death the spirit/soul of a person leaves the body and in that “unclothed” condition is immediately ushered into the presence of Christ, where the spirits of just men made perfect are (Heb. 12:23).

Heaven & the Resurrection

So, when saints die they go to heaven, but this is an intermediate stage, in which they wait to be clothed again, that our mortal bodies may be replaced by immortal life (2 Cor. 5:4). And Paul says that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee, the down-payment of this resurrection promise (2 Cor. 5:5), and this is why we ought to be confident in the face of death (2 Cor. 5:6). Our mortal bodies go into the ground like seed (1 Cor. 15:35-38), and what is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption; what is sown in dishonor is raised in glory; what is sown in weakness is raised in power (1 Cor. 15:42-44). This is why, all things being equal, we should prefer burial to cremation, since it more clearly honors the body that will rise and pictures the image of seed going into the ground. The resurrection of Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection, but if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead then we have no such hope (1 Cor. 15:17-21). This resurrection of the body will happen at Christ’s second coming when He has put all of his enemies beneath his feet (1 Cor. 15:25). The last enemy that will be destroyed is death itself in the resurrection of the body (1 Cor. 15:26). “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible…” (1 Cor. 15:52-58)

What Do We Believe About Infants & Children?

The Westminster Confession wisely says, “Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how He pleaseth: so also, are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word” (10.3). This answer insists that even children need to be regenerated and saved by Christ. If they are saved, it is not because they are cute, but by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. But I think we can say a little more while honoring the wisdom of this statement. In the gospels, Jesus clearly extends a particular blessing to children, making their faith the standard for the kingdom, and warns against those who would cause them to stumble, even saying that they have angels before the face of the Father (Matt. 18). Given the promises of the covenant, Christian parents have good reason to believe God for the salvation of their children dying in utero, infancy, and childhood (Gen. 17:7, Acts 2:39). Finally, the book of Jonah ends with God’s question to Jonah about sparing those who cannot discern between their right and left hand (Jon. 4:11).

End of Life Considerations

Of course, sometimes death comes unexpectedly, but sometimes a long illness or sickness gives saints time to make various end of life decisions. While there is a great deal of freedom left to individuals regarding treatments, the primary biblical principle we want to uphold is honoring the gift of life, including honoring the Giver of life. Any sort of assisted suicide is murder (2 Sam. 1:5-16), but it is not murder to let someone die whose body is clearly dying. At the same time, we live in a culture of medication idolatry. This can be an idolatrous demand for medications and treatments to fix our problems, but it can also be an idolatrous demand that we/they feel no pain. We want to walk by faith in God, weighing to the best of our ability the information we have, pursuing lawful treatment options, trusting God that he is not tricking us, seeking to preserve life as long as we reasonably can, and then trusting God in death when we have done all we can. The Bible says that it is fine to give (medicinal) strong drink to those who are perishing, presumably to help with pain (Prov. 31:6), but this should be balanced with a desire to be as sober and lucid as we can for as long as we can (Eph. 5:18-19), remembering that we and our dying loved ones need spiritual sustenance as they finish their race.

Conclusion: Not Terrified by Any Adversaries

Death is a curse and an enemy, but Christ has commandeered this enemy by His death and resurrection, such that now it serves Him – He holds the keys of death (Rev. 1:18). But Christ became man in order that “through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15). The power of the devil was the power of accusation. This is why the sting of death is sin, but if Christ has suffered for our sins, then our sins are taken away, and we sing, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is they victory?” (1 Cor. 15:56). This is also why death is frequently described as mere sleep in the New Testament (e.g. Jn. 11:11, 1 Cor. 15:6, 51, 1 Thess. 4:14). Who’s afraid of falling asleep? And if we are not afraid of death, what is there in all the world to fear (Rom. 8:31-39)? So we may serve the Lord without fear of shame, with all boldness, sure that Christ will be magnified in us. This is the way of Christian adventure.

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The Gideon Plan

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Introduction

Any time we gather with our families, there can be temptations to squabble or complain or fear or stress. Christ did not come to give us serene, placid lives. He came in order to fill our hearts, so that His light would shine through our troubles, causing Thanksgiving to abound.

The Text

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us…” (2 Cor. 4:5-7)

Summary of the Text

Paul is in the middle of defending His apostolic ministry to the Corinthians. His first letter was a bit tart, and since it had been a while since they had heard from Paul, there were apparently rumors starting to go around that Paul was fed up with Corinth. But the truth was that Paul had been tied up, and his previous plans just hadn’t worked out (2 Cor. 1:8-9, 13-16). But Paul was determined not to come to Corinth for fireworks if at all possible (2 Cor. 2:1). While one man had repented, some still wondered if Paul only came around for offerings, and besides, Paul wasn’t on any of the lists of apostles (2 Cor. 3:1-3). However, Paul insists that His ministry is authenticated by the work of the Spirit in the Corinthians themselves (2 Cor. 3).

Our text picks up with Paul explaining how the Spirit has been manifest in his ministry, specifically the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as a treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:5-7). Paul admits that his ministry (and that of the other apostles) is a bit raucous: pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed – all a manifestation of the death of Jesus in their bodies (2 Cor. 4:8-12). Paul quotes from Psalm 116, a song of praise for deliverance, insisting that this is God’s pattern of death and resurrection (2 Cor. 4:13-14). If we understand that God is working all things together to spread thanksgiving among the saints, we will not lose heart, and we will see with eyes of faith what is in an eternal, lasting weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:15-18).

A Thanksgiving Text

This passage fits well with preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving on several levels. The first level is the sociological circumstances. Paul is preparing to see old friends he hasn’t seen in a while, and there has been some tension between them. If you are in a family, then you know what Paul is dealing with. There are no families on the planet without challenges or tensions of one sort or another. And Thanksgiving is a moment where many families gather together for the first time in a while. If there aren’t troubles yet, there’s generally plenty of flammable material laying around. None of us are Apostles, but we can all relate. And the message here for us is that trouble is part of the plan. To follow Jesus is to take up a cross. And crosses are painful, humiliating, difficult, and full of trouble. Jesus was not a slick, used car salesman. There was full disclosure on the front end: “For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household… he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:35-39). Paul added his own encouraging assurance: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). The point is not to go looking for trouble; the point is that if Christ is in you, trouble has already found you (2 Cor. 4:10-11). To follow Jesus is to follow Him in the trouble of the cross – the trouble of confessing sins, the trouble of forgiving those who sin against you, the trouble of telling the truth in love, the trouble of enduring hardship/suffering with joy, the trouble of being unashamed of Jesus, and more. The trick is to have the wisdom to see the difference between needless fleshly trouble (petty bickering, bitterness, bad attitudes), and the glorious trouble of following Jesus. While the Apostles were put on special display with this plan, these are the only two options for faithful Christians.

“I Believed & Therefore I Spoke”

This quotation is from Psalm 116, which is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving for deliverance, but it’s striking that Paul quotes this particular partial verse because it cuts in at least two different ways. The rest of the verse says, “I am greatly afflicted,” and the next verse says, “I said in my haste, ‘All men are liars.’” In other words, this appears to be the thematic center of the Psalm, and at this center we find faith crying out to God in trouble, but also temptation to despair. This quotation cuts against those who are tempted to despair in the face of trouble (“all men are liars”), but it also cuts against those who are tempted to turn on the faithful who have seemingly “caused” the trouble (“I believed therefore I spoke.”) Paul had spoken/written hard words to the Corinthians, and some of the Corinthians were tempted to be bitter against Paul. Which one are you? Are you generally tempted to just throw your hands up in despair or are you desperately trying to hold everything together and tempted to blow up at anyone who steps out of line? Both kinds of temptations need to hear this: Christ is risen (2 Cor. 4:14). And what trouble, difficulty, sin, brokenness can stand against that power?

The Gideon Plan

From the beginning, God has determined to run all of His plays from positions of physical, human weakness. Even where the odds seemed better – like say when David was king – God allowed numerous weaknesses to hamper David. Why? In order to cause “thanksgiving to abound” (2 Cor. 4:15). That’s the plan. The plan is to maximize thanksgiving. But God wants our thanksgiving to go all the way down to our bones. He wants to give us something that only thanksgiving can give (an eternal weight of glory), but in order to do that, He has to give us the kind of trouble that breaks it out of our selfish hearts.

So call it the “Gideon Plan,” which is another great example of fighting from a position of weakness, starting with an army of 32,000, reduced down to 300 (Jdg. 7). Then Gideon divided the three hundred into three even smaller parties. And their main weapons were torches inside of earthenware pitchers in the dark. The plan was to blow trumpets and break the earthen vessels open. And so, this is still the battle plan. We have the light of Christ in our hearts, and we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that as we are struck by trouble, the light of Christ might shine. This is what it means to be pressed but not crushed, etc. So that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us, in order to cause thanksgiving to abound among many.

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