THE TEXT: 1 Timothy 3:14-16
We live in a world full of anxiety and stress. And far too often, Christians default to unbelieving assumptions, diagnosing their problems as circumstances, environment, diet, or chemicals. While sometimes material changes can help, God’s Word says our central need is Christ. In Him is a peace that passes all understanding, a peace that is a fortress for our hearts and minds.
The Text: “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing…” (Phil. 4:
As Paul brings this letter in for a landing, he exhorts the Philippians to stand fast in the Lord and to be likeminded (Phil. 4:1-2), which leads to a series of four commands and a promise, with a final exhortation for doing so. The first command is a doubled: rejoice in the Lord always, and again, rejoice (Phil. 4:4). Obedience to that command goes a long way toward making your gentleness obvious to everyone around you (including your kids), which is the next command, but the foundation of that gentleness is the presence of the Lord: the Lord is near (Phil. 4:5). The third command is to be anxious for nothing (Phil. 4:6), which is greatly assisted by obeying the fourth command: to bring your requests to God with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6). Obedience to all of these commands brings with it the promise that the peace of God will be an impenetrable castle around your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7). And Christians practice that joy and peace by meditating on all the true, lovely, and virtuous things (Phil. 4:8).
Before talking about these commands in particular, we need to talk about what we should think about biblical commands in general first. There are two fundamentally different approaches to God’s law and commands. One approach says that if you obey God’s law, you can achieve righteousness, and be accepted by God. The other approach says that you cannot obey the law perfectly, and therefore you can only be accepted by God through Christ’s perfect obedience for you (Phil. 3:9, Gal. 3:10-13). The Bible says that the second understanding is correct: even if you obeyed most of the law but disobeyed at one point, you have broken the whole law (Js. 2:10). This is because breaking God’s law is personal defiance of the living God, and the same God who said not to steal, also said not to commit sexual immorality and not to lie (Js. 2:11).
So those who insist on trying to keep the law to achieve their own righteousness will be condemned by the law, but those who trust in Jesus Christ, are released from the demands of the law and accepted by God (Rom. 8:1). Christ is accepted in their place both as perfectly righteous and obedient and as the One who receives the penalty that we deserved for our disobedience (Rom. 8:2-3). And those who trust in Christ for all of this also receive His Holy Spirit who begins to work in us the power and desire to obey (Rom. 8:4-5). These two paths are called “works righteousness” and the “righteousness of faith.” Works righteousness is a treadmill of despair, but the righteousness of faith is God’s escalator carrying you to glory.
It’s important to begin with those two paths because if you are on the “works righteousness” treadmill, “rejoicing always” will seem like an impossible task. Then add “let your gentleness be known to all men” and “be anxious for nothing,” and it’s like somebody keeps dropping bricks into your backpack and pretty soon you might be ready to let something else be known to all men. Nobody rejoices always, much less is anyone ever gentle to everyone or never anxious about anything. These commands, like all the commands in Scripture, can only be received in one of two ways: either as raw law (“do this and live or fail and die”) or else as the righteousness received by faith alone (“Christ has done this for me, and His Spirit will work this in me”). One is a “got to,” and the other is a “get to.” One is the burden of a continual threat and a whip; the other is the grateful response to incredibly good news. The demand of the law condemns every infraction, but the righteousness of faith is first of all the announcement, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). And what is the believing response to that verdict from God the Judge? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! Hallelujah, what a Savior! What’s the response? Rejoicing. Rejoicing in the Lord always. And when that saving God is near, God’s kindness and gentleness cannot help but be known to all men. All anxiety fades away.
Being accepted by God for the sake of Christ is the foundation of an anxiety-free life. But God gives two additional tools here for fighting anxiety: thanksgiving and petition. The first step is thanksgiving. We are to make our petitions known to God with thanksgiving (Phi. 4:6). Sometimes prayers are just worrying in front of God, but thanksgiving is the God-ordained package we are to deliver our petitions in. Gratitude is what prepares us to actually present our requests. So whatever the trouble, whatever the worry, begin by thanking God for it. The same God who sent His only Son for you has allowed this trouble, this challenge in your life for your good. So thank Him. And then having honestly thanked God for the hardship, ask Him to take it, ask Him to deliver you, ask Him to change it. Present your request.
Christians are not people who do not notice problems or dangers. Christians are people who know what to do with all of those cares: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Pet. 5:6-7). In a strange irony, anxious people are actually being supremely arrogant. Anxious people insist on carrying their own burdens and refuse to cast them on the Lord. But your hand is not mighty enough; that’s why you’re so stressed out. That’s why your gentleness is not known to all men. But God’s hand is mighty; He can handle your cares and He cares for you like no one else. And the promise is that when you pray like this, God’s peace that passes all understanding will stand guard at your heart and mind in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7).
The final exhortation is to make a list, to count, to log all the true things, all the honest things, all the just, pure, lovely, praiseworthy, and virtuous things. This is biblical therapy, if you like. How do you break bad habits of worry, or bad habits of any disobedient thoughts? Make a list of what to think about: beautiful things, true things, just things, praiseworthy things: the air in your lungs, refreshing water, sunrises and sunsets, chocolate, Psalms, good jokes, forgiveness.
John 6:35
John 8:12
John 10:7
John 10:11
John 11:25
John 14:6
John 15:1
If you ask a muslim, “Who is Jesus?” he will say, “Jesus, peace be upon him, is a prophet of Allah.” And while Christians will agree, He is a prophet of God, He is not merely a prophet of God. And of course when they use the term Allah (God) they mean a very different thing than we do. If you ask a Latter-Day Saint, “Who is Jesus?” they will say, “He is God the Father’s firstborn spirit-child in heaven and the spirit brother of lucifer. He was begotten on earth by God the Father by natural means, not by the Holy Ghost and is now one amongst many millions of other gods.” If you ask a Jehovah’s witness, they will say, “Jesus is not God almighty, he is God’s son. Jesus is God’s first creation, inferior to God the Father. And Jesus is actually Michael the archangel.” Like any lie, satan prefers to sprinkle truth in amongst falsehood so as to feign authenticity. Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is a prophet of God, but He is not created. His origin is one of eternity, begotten of the Father. He is the firstborn of all creation, but this is a title of preeminence, not descriptive of a point of time where he came into being. Like the person of the Father, the son has eternally existed. And so when Christians are asked who is Jesus, we recite the Athanasian creed.
What meager means and humble beginnings does bread have. Surely there is not another recipe that has such ancient origins. And what meal can be called rustic if it has not bread? You will find it in the hand of a beggar, and likewise on a king’s table. You will see a wandering Israelite gather it from off the ground, and likewise see it be displayed in gold vessels in the tabernacle. It feeds the child, the adult, and the elderly. It nourishes us all. It feeds us all. And Psalm 104 says it strengthens a man’s heart. The Lord’s prayer instructs us to ask for this bread daily. And thanks be to God, he does not run out of it.
Who amongst us has not used the flash light app on their phone to see where they’re going, to look for something in the dark, to avoid bumping into something or tripping. Light mitigates danger, and it provides us with new opportunities as well. For the vast majority of human history, you did not travel at night. It was too dangerous. But now our vehicles shine light on Hwy 8 allowing us to travel safely with the knowledge that we are going the right way. Darkness is most content when its victims are blind and directionless. But Jesus Christ, the great physician heals the blind. When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” he says it while he is healing a blind man. A bit on the nose, but we need to be instructed as little children. The disciples mistakenly assume that the blindness was a result of the man’s sin or perhaps his parents. But Jesus says, “No, he is blind that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
A door by its nature is a separator. But unlike a wall where you cannot pass through to the other side, a door provides utility for both restriction and access. And in this case it is access to the sheepfold. Still waters are there, green pastures are there for the grazing, there is a hedge around us, and the shepherd armed with rod and staff, watches the walls, ready to catch the thief who climbs over. Our shepherd calls to us and we follow him, “This way to paradise. Come and find your rest all you who are weary and heavy laden.” We follow him to the door. But Jesus is not only the shepherd, but he also is the door itself. He is the separator.
Dr. Baucham says that there are four questions all human beings will wrestle with despite their religious beliefs or their lack thereof. They are: who am I? Why am I here? What is wrong with the world? And how can what is wrong be made right? It is the 3rd and 4th that I wish to address. What’s wrong with the world is a result of the fall: sin, guilt, shame, suffering, pain, depression, anxiety, woes of all manner, and finally death. These things are foreign alien invaders to this planet. Death is not a native resident. But Christ is the resurrection! He is the solution to righting wrongs. Dead things come back to life.
You woke up this morning and you assume that you will wake up tomorrow, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. I think we all want to reach our deathbed, look back at our life and be able to say, “I lived it for the Lord. I didn’t waste my days with nonsense.” I stand here as a 43 year old man. If the Lord blesses me with an average life span, I am more than halfway done. And as I think about or perhaps better stated, if I lament over how I conducted myself in the first half of my life, I don’t want to waste any more time. I want to spend my life encouraging you all. And I want you to spend your life encouraging each other.
Jesus Christ is the true vine. Psalm 80:8 says, “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.” This obviously is referring to the nation of Israel as being God’s vineyard. And this motif can be found all throughout scripture.
In conclusion, do we have enough to be thankful for? Is who He is, enough? I would say it’s more than enough. We have 12 baskets full of leftovers. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. He is able to bless us abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that we need, we will abound in every good work. Bring your tithes into the storehouse saints and see if he will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store it. So as you sit together with your family this Thanksgiving, taste and see that the Lord is good! Amen.
Acts is about the continuing work of Jesus through His Spirit bringing the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Not only is Jesus doing this, but what we find is that He has also prepared the world for this: synagogues functioned as open doors for the gospel, but the Gentiles were also being prepared for faith. And Jesus continues to work this way, going ahead of His people, preparing the way, turning everything, even trouble and tribulation, into a door that leads to the Kingdom.
The Text: “And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked…” (Acts 14:8-28)
Paul heals a man in Lystra, lame in his feet from birth, and the city erupts acclaiming Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercury (Acts 14:8-12). As the priest of Jupiter was preparing a sacrifice in their honor, the apostles tore their clothes and interrupted the proceeding, urging the people to turn to the living God who made heaven and earth, and thus barely restrained them (Acts 14:13-18). Sometime after, the Jews from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium showed up in Lystra and stirred up a mob that stoned Paul and left him for dead outside the city (Acts 14:19). However, as the disciples gathered around him, Paul rose up and the next day he was able to go to Derbe before retracing their steps back through the very same cities he was previously chased out of: Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch, encouraging the saints and ordaining elders in every church (Acts 14:20-23). Returning to the region of Pamphylia by the sea, they sailed back to Antioch where they had begun their journey, and told the saints all that God had done, particularly for the Gentiles, and remained there for some time (Acts 14:24-28).
It might seem strange or surprising that the people of Lystra see the healed man and immediately assumed that Paul and Barnabas are Jupiter and Mercury. But it is likely that they knew the legend of Baucis and Philemon told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, the story of the time Jupiter and Mercury came down in the form of two ordinary men and were refused hospitality until a poor, kindly couple took them in and fed them. The gods sent a flood to punish the Phrygian valley (not far from Lycaonia), and only the poor couple escaped to a mountain. The couple’s hut was spared and transformed into a glorious temple to Jupiter. The couple were made priests of the temple, and by their wish, later died at the same time, and turned into an oak and linden tree, where it became customary to lay garlands in their honor.
Whether driven by true fear/piety or a mercenary opportunism, the priest of Jupiter and the people at least had a story to point to when they came with their oxen and garlands to offer sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:13). Of course the apostles object to being worshipped, but notice that they don’t contradict the cosmology. They don’t argue that no other supernatural beings exist or that they certainly could not appear as men. They do call that worship “vain/worthless” (Acts 14:15) and clearly call them to turn and worship the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth and Giver of all good gifts (Acts 14:15-17). It’s striking that we have our own “true myth” of the time two angels came to a city and were mistreated before receiving hospitality by the only faithful house, and only that family escaped to a mountain before judgment came upon that valley (Gen. 19). Furthermore, Daniel describes Michael and other angelic beings fighting with the angelic “princes” of Persia and Greece (Dan. 10:13, 20). Perhaps Jupiter and Mercury were real, fallen angelic “gods” that occasionally had shown up as men, and perhaps some good angels had prepared those cultures for the coming of the gospel.
God tells His story in our lives and in history in order to prepare the way for His purposes. We see this in the healing of the lame man which is very similar to the beginning of Acts: “a certain man lame from his mother’s womb, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple” (Acts 3:2). Both of these healings erupt in significant responses for the spread of the gospel. While sin sometimes is the cause of poor health, often, as in the story of the man born blind, God assigns tribulation in order “that the works of God should be made manifest” (Jn. 9:3). What no doubt looked and felt like a brick wall for these men, was God’s door. Check for sin, but look for God.
Both men “leap up” when they are healed, and here in Acts 14, they seem to be near the gate of the temple of Jupiter (Acts 14:13). The parallels seem to confirm Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles (as akin to Peter’s ministry), but it also suggests that the pagan temples (despite all the paganism) had their own role to play in preparing for the gospel, as God gave them good gifts, rain, fruitful seasons, and food and gladness (Acts 14:17). They wrongly attributed these gifts to false gods, but the gifts were preparing them to meet the Giver: another open door.
When the Jews from Iconium and Antioch show up and stone Paul, this echoes the earlier murder of Stephen, which Paul had overseen (Acts 7:58). Surely, this was not lost on Paul. Not only is it miraculous that Paul survived, but then he rose up, went into the city, and was able to depart the next day for Derbe (Acts 14:20). What is also astonishing is the fact that he then turned around and retraced his steps through those same cities (Acts 14:21). It seems likely that Paul still had marks on his body as he encouraged the saints to continue in the faith, insisting that they must enter the kingdom through many tribulations (Acts 14:22). What was meant for evil, Paul immediately saw God working for good. Paul saw an open door.
Almost everyone has some sense that nothing happens by accident. Even unbelievers will say things like that. But we really need to learn to turn it around: everything happens on purpose and this means that everything is sovereignly administered by the Triune God for our good (Eph. 1:11, Rom. 8:28). We need to learn to say about everything, “this is so I can go to heaven.”
The exhaustive sovereignty of God means that absolutely everything (every detail) has been prepared for us, and all of it is to prepare us for what is next and ultimately for the Kingdom itself, through many tribulations. Faith sees absolutely everything as an open door because Jesus is risen from the dead.
For far too long the Christian Church has been passive and apathetic, watching freedom and justice slip away from our land, but how does our Lord’s teaching about enemies and justice apply to us? Whether we are thinking about the way pagans are seeking to destroy our Christian culture, or international conflict in the Middle East or Europe, or interpersonal conflict you may have in your family, what does Jesus mean and how does this teaching apply?
The Text: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’: but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.”
Jesus quotes from the criminal law of Israel “eye for an eye” (Ex. 21:24, Lev. 24:20, Dt. 19:21), having just recently affirmed the ongoing validity of the law (Mt. 5:17-20), and He says that this criminal justice is not to be applied by individual persons as acts of vengeance. Rather, our personal disposition is to be patient and forbearing (Mt. 5:39). This includes when we are sued and taken to court and the judge allows our goods to plundered (Mt. 5:40). Given the nature of man and the tendency of courts to be corrupted, we should be fully prepared to surrender not only our hats, but also our coats (Mt. 5:40). Likewise, under foreign occupation, you may be compelled and commandeered like slaves, and we should be prepared to go the extra mile (Mt. 5:41). Our personal disposition is to be thoroughly and sacrificially generous to all (Mt. 5:42).
Jesus is not setting aside this central principle of justice that requires magistrates to repay evil equitably. We know this because elsewhere magistrates are still required to uphold justice (Rom. 13:4), God executes justice by “repaying” evil (Rom. 12:19), and Jesus Himself says in the judgment He will repay each person according to what he has done (Mt. 16:27, Rev. 22:12). “Eye for eye” is known as the lex talionis, the law of exact retribution or literally “the law of such a nature.” The lex talionis itself was meant to require careful calculation and prohibit punishments driven by vengeance. When someone takes out your eye, your flesh wants to take off their head. Capital punishment is an example of “life for life,” and restitution for lost, damaged, or stolen goods would be another (Ex. 22:1-4). Zacchaeus honored this principle when he restored four-fold for his tax-thieving (Lk. 19:8). What Jesus prohibits here is using criminal justice as a justification for personal vengeance (Mt. 5:39). While not setting aside true justice, we must be willing to endure mistreatment.
Paul makes the same point in Romans 12 where he says not to repay any man evil for evil (Rom. 12:17), pursue peace with all men (Rom. 12:18), leave vengeance for the Lord to repay (Rom. 12:19), and do personal good to enemies (Rom. 12:20), overcoming evil with good (Rom. 12:21). Immediately after that, it says that the civil magistrate is the power ordained by God to minister God’s vengeance and wrath on evildoers (Rom. 13:4). This means if you caught a thief breaking and entering, you could call the cops, give him a glass of water while you wait, and then press charges. Likewise, we should note that Jesus does not forbid arguing our case before magistrates (Mt. 5:40), as we see Paul doing elsewhere (cf. Acts 25-26); rather, He forbids us from angrily refusing to be defrauded if the case goes against us (Mt. 5:40). And sometimes it’s better to be defrauded even before the case goes to court (1 Cor. 6:7).
Sometimes living in slavery and under tyranny is necessary, and sometimes rebellion and revolution is worse than slavery (Mt. 17:24-27). But the Bible broadly teaches that the goal of thriving societies is freedom which means using all the gifts and powers God has given us to their greatest potential (Lk. 4:16-19). If we can get our freedom, we should try, but if we can’t, we should live as the Lord’s freemen as much as possible (1 Cor. 7:21-22). Seeking to serve our masters as Christ is not apathy, since we all have a Master in Heaven who judges justly (Eph. 6:5-9, 1 Pet. 2:18-23). Christ submitted to the greatest injustice in history, and God saw and vindicated Him in the resurrection. Patiently doing good invites God’s vindication and blessing, and it puts us in a position to see most clearly what we can do now. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God (Js. 1:20).
The central point is that personal grudges and angst are the origin of all evil tyranny. And you can’t fight fire with fire. Returning evil for evil is not justice but flailing injustice. Grudges and feuds drive every revolutionary mob, and those mobs always end up destroying themselves.
Nothing here forbids Christians from exercising biblical justice in their assigned offices. Nothing here forbids Christians from practicing self-defense or just war or seeking the preservation and restoration of freedom and property. In fact, what Jesus says assumes the legitimacy of all those things. We are to overcome evil with good. Good what? Good families, good marriages, good hospitality, good business, good art, good churches, good neighborhoods, and good civil governments. The point is that you cannot achieve a truly just and prosperous society with rage and bitterness in your heart. Faithful parents need to practice this all day long (Gal. 6:1).
All earthly, human justice is at best an approximation. If you demand perfect justice in this world, you will be constantly disappointed and angry. This why the Cross of Jesus Christ is the only fully perfect display of justice in the history of the world. In it the justice of God was displayed from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17). This means it is received by faith and lived out by faith.
The just live by faith, both because we are justified by faith from all of our own sins and that gives us great peace and patience but also because this faith in the justice of God is what allows us to work for true justice in this world now while resting in God’s perfect timing to work it all out. This kind of faith allows us to leave vengeance to the Lord, do good to our enemies, and build something truly better.
Christ Church