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Gospel Presence IV: Who is My Neighbor?

Joe Harby on April 21, 2013

Introduction

We live in a relativistic and postmodern age, one that loves to muddy distinctions and blur the lines. This is all done with high-sounding language, which the first thing that happens is that we find we have lost the Creator/ creature distinction, which puts us in the idolatrous violation of the greatest commandment. The next thing we discover is that we have blurred the lines between us and our neighbor, which places us in selfish disregard of the second greatest commandment.

The Text

“But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves . . . Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves” (Luke 10:29-36).

Summary of the Text

The parable of the Good Samaritan follows hard after the episode where the seventy returned from their mission. The issues involve individuals, households, cities, and nations. The parable cannot be filed away in one spot. Jesus tells His followers to rejoice because their names are written in heaven (v. 20). He says that great things have been revealed to them (v. 24). And then a lawyer challenges Jesus (v. 25), and they have an exchange about the two greatest commandments (vv. 26-28). But the lawyer, stung by this, wanted to parse things out (v. 29). Jesus then tells the very famous story about the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan (vv. 30-36).

There are of course national implications, and ethnic implications, and first century implications, and the central implication is that such implications don’t matter anymore. So let us not lose the trees because of the forest. Jesus told His followers to rejoice that their particular names were written in Heaven (v. 20). The set-up question from the lawyer concerned what he individually had to do in order to inherit eternal life (v. 25). He uses the pronoun I. Jesus answer him in kind—do this and you shall live.

The Basics

We begin by noting that having a neighbor to love means that there is somebody else out there. There are, out in the world, other centers of consciousness which don’t look out through your eyes at all, and whom you are to love as you do yourself. That is a tall order.

Note that you are not summoned to love an abstraction like “mankind.” To love everyone is very similar to loving nobody. What could it possibly mean for you to say that you love every last person in China, one billion of them? This would simply be to confess that you love none of them.

Neither may we—in our rascal hearts—settle for loving the idea of loving our neighbor, instead of our neighbor himself. One understands the temptation. The idea of loving your neighbor doesn’t have any bad habits, doesn’t need to take regular showers, and doesn’t return things he borrowed busted.

John asks how can you love God whom you have not seen, when you do not love your brother, whom you have seen (1 Jn. 4:20)? In the same way, and on the same principles, how can you love your “neighbors” whom you have not seen when you don’t love your neighbor, whom you see daily? The priest and Levite who passed by the man beaten up could have been busy composing prayers that they would present in the Temple on behalf of all men everywhere. But “all men,” Jesus taught, were, in an incarnational way, present in that ditch through their appointed representative.

The Options

So we are not allowed to slip off the point by loving everyone indiscriminately. That kind of gaseous approach is nothing but self-absorbed good intentions, which amounts to the bad intention of remaining self-absorbed.

So your neighbor is someone else, and not everybody else. But if this is the case, then which someone is it? The answer to that question is found in the parable that Jesus told. Your neighbor is not everybody else; your neighbor is anybody else. Your neighbor is not everyone, but he is Everyman. When Christ was born among us, He was born in a particular town, of a particular woman. This is why you can always find Christ in your neighbor. Jesus loves humble dwellings—He lives in us, doesn’t He?

So your neighbor is assigned to you by the providence of God. Your neighbor is the one that God has placed in front of you. This is why it is not possible to have a robust theology of your neighbor without a robust theology of God’s sovereign control over all history. How did this person wind up in front of you in the first place?

Answered Prayers

One of the things we have urged you to do is get to know the names of five of your neighbors—straight across the street, two catty-corner across the street, and one on each side of you. Five neighbors. Start praying for each one by name.

Now let me say something about two different kinds of reluctant prayers. One prayer is hesitant to pray because of an instinctive knowledge that such a prayer couldn’t possibly be the will of God—say a prayer for your company to transfer you to the Big Rock Candy Mountain division of your company, where nubile assistants feed you grapes incessantly, and the skies are not cloudy all day. You think, perhaps, that such a prayer might be a tad selfish. God might say no. But the other kind of reluctant prayer is just the opposite. You aren’t concerned at all that God might say no. You are dreadfully afraid that He will say yes. A prayer for patience might be answered affirmatively, along with the trial that makes the patience necessary.

If you start praying for your neighbors, God might throw them spang into your life. He might say yes. They might track stuff in. In fact, they almost certainly will. The problem with this is that you had just gotten your life set up the way you wanted it, the cruise control all adjusted, with nothing left to do but finish your road trip to glory—and no hitchhikers.

Don’t Be Afraid

When it comes to your neighbor, don’t be afraid to go small. Don’t be afraid to go particular—this is a symphony and you are just the third piccolo. Just do your part—your neighbor is not all neighbors.

Gospel Presence I: The Resurrection of the World

Joe Harby on March 31, 2013

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Introduction

The resurrection of Jesus was not an odd circumstance in an otherwise unchanged world. This world is not what it used to be because this world is the place where a man once came back from the dead. And when He came back, it was not as a resuscitation, as happened with Lazarus, but as a true resurrection. And as the Bible plainly teaches, when a man comes back from the dead, He pulls the whole dead world after Him. The resurrection was the introduction of an irrevocable principle into a dead world—and there is not a single thing that dead world can do about it except to wait on the approaching life.

The Texts

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:17-21).

Summary of the Text

First we are told what happens when a man is in Christ. When a man is in Christ, he becomes a new creature. Everything old passes away, and everything becomes new in and through Him (v. 17). This is what happens to any man who is in Christ, but how extensive is this phenomenon? The answer is global in scope—all things are of God, who has reconciled the Church to Himself (already) and has given to this Church the ministry of reconciliation (for everybody else). So the message is broadening, and it is enormous in scope (v. 18). What is the heart of that ministry of reconciliation? Paul lays it out—God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing the world’s sin to it, and as a result committing the ministry of reconciliation to us (v. 19). As a consequence we are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God Himself were speaking through us (v. 20). We therefore implore everyone—be reconciled to God (v. 20). This is all based on a glorious and unbelievable exchange (v. 21). But even though the transaction is unbelievable, we are called to summon the whole world to believe it.

Heralds or Campaigners?

As we think about the task of evangelism, it is crucial that we get our mission straight in our heads before charging off to fulfill it. Alacrity in obedience is no virtue if you have gotten your task all muddled in your head.

So here is the issue. We are heralds announcing a salvation for the world that has already been accomplished. There are certain things that people in the world must do because it has been accomplished, but one of the things they don’t have to do (and indeed, must not do) is install what has already been installed. Another way of putting this is that we are heralds, not campaigners. We are proclaiming that Jesus has been enthroned; we are not canvassing for votes trying to get Him elected. We are not manning the phone banks on election night. Jesus has been wearing His crown for a long time.

Our message is x has been done, and so we summon you to y. It is not x is desirable, and so we invite you to join us in making x a reality. The gospel is good news; the gospel is not a good platform.

Man in Christ, God in Christ

If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. We are then told, by implication, that “all things are new,” which is to say, that God has reconciled the world to Himself in Christ, and He was able to do this because God Himself was in Christ. Nothing can be the same. Nothing is the same. We have no authority to consider anything outside of Christ.

The key is to learn how to “implore” those who are not yet in Christ (through faith) in a way that does not drag us into their unbelief. The sun is up, and we implore those hiding in coal cellars to come out and lift their face to the sky. We must never beg them to come out of their coal cellar so that the sun might come up, and so that we might live in this new world.

One other thing must be said in this regard. Note that God is making His appeal through us, and note that it is not supposed to be a lackluster appeal. We implore, plead, beg, beseech non-believers to come to Christ—and we do not do this because we are frail, emotional humans and have run out ahead of the taciturn decrees of God. No, when we plead, God pleads. When we implore, God implores. How can He do that? God was in Christ, remember? God was in Christ, bleeding for the world, and can He not weep for the world? God was in Christ, shedding tears over Jerusalem, and can He not shed tears over a world that He has already purchased? Why will you die, o house of Israel? The world is alive—there is no point in you staying dead.

The Resurrection of the World

What has God done for the world? What has God already done for the world? It says here that He has reconciled the world to Himself. It says, second, that He is not imputing their trespasses to them. And it also says— undergirding this—that we have had the word of reconciliation entrusted to us. But since that word has been given to us, as in a trust, we must take care to be faithful to it.

In Christ, we were raised to life again. In Christ, the Church was raised to life. In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself. In Christ, we plead with the world to be reconciled. Now there is no reconciliation apart from resurrection, and this is why we declare that (in principle) the world is a world of resurrection. We are preaching the resurrection of the world in the resurrection of Jesus.

And so this is the glorious pattern of the indicative and the corresponding imperative. You have been reconciled; therefore, be reconciled. This has been done; therefore believe that it has been done.

Concentric Circles (Advent 2012)

Joe Harby on December 2, 2012

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Introduction

This might seem an odd Advent text, a text more in keeping with Ascension. But as we remember the Lord’s life, we want to remember the beginning at the end, and the end at the beginning. In the blessing of Simeon, Mary was told that her heart would be pierced through, and here, when Jesus departed, He told them that they would be witnesses “unto me”—witnesses of the whole story, as we can tell from the story these men went out and told. When they served as these witnesses, they started with the Lord’s birth.

The Text

“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:7-11).

Summary of the Text

When Jesus came to earth, the shepherds were on the ground, the angels were in the sky, and the Lord Jesus was in a manger. When He left this earth, the angels were on the ground, the future shepherds of the Church were on the ground, and the Lord Jesus was ascending into the sky.

The disciples asked when the kingdom was going to be established, and the Lord told them that it was not for them to know the times and seasons, which the Father kept in His own power (v. 7). At the same time, they were going to receive power when the Spirit was poured out upon them (v. 8). They were going to receive power, not talking points. When they received power, the gospel was going to spread in concentric circles outward, as when you throw a large rock in a pond—the splash was Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and then out to the rest of the globe (v. 8). After He spoke this, He was taken up (v. 9). As the disciples were gazing skyward, two men in white appeared next to them (v. 10) and asked why they were doing that (v. 11). Jesus is going to come again, the same way that He left (v. 11).

You can take this passage as almost a table of contents for the book of Acts. The Spirit falls in the next chapter, in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12; 2:1ff). That initial splash reached the men of Judea (Acts 2:14). We see by the ninth chapter that there were churches throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria (Acts 9:31). The rest of the book takes us out through the rest of the Roman world, with intimations of more to come after that—and here we are, on the other side of the world entirely.

Power and Place

The angels didn’t tell the disciples to hit the road as soon as Jesus left. They were to wait for His divine replacement, the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God, when He manifests Himself, is not shy and withdrawn. In the Christmas story, He overshadows Mary so that she conceives, and here He overshadows the 120 in the upper room in Jerusalem, so that the world might conceive. The power and Spirit of God came upon Mary (Luke 1:35), and the power and Spirit of God came upon the disciples (Acts 2:1-2).

Places don’t give you power. Power takes you places. Your spirituality is not a function of your GPS coordinates. The first place it takes you is right where you already are, the way you are. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that becoming a missionary will fix your problems—in many cases, it will only amplify them. Mission-heartedness will address your selfishness problem to the extent that such a heart gives itself away to people here. The power falls where you are first, you see the results of it there first, and then you take the show on the road. Power is in the drive train. Place is just the steering wheel.

The Church and Mission

The church does not do missions; the church is missions. So what is the assigned task? Think about this for a moment. Jesus did not say to go out into the world and get a representative sampling. He did not say to get a smidge from here and a smidge from there. He said to disciple the nations (Matt. 28:18-20). How discipled is discipled? Well, how wet is the ocean floor under the Pacific (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14)?

Mission Accomplished?

One of the dangers in sending out church planters and missionaries to Judea and Samaria is that this might make you think you can check Jerusalem off the list. But it doesn’t work this way.

You send out church planters and missionaries to establish a foothold or a beachhead in a new place as soon as you have consolidated a foothold or a beachhead in the old place. The fact that we are ministering in places like the Ivory Coast, or are involved in planting churches in other places in the Pacific Northwest does not mean that we have become a sending church in distinction from a mission church. We remain a mission church (as well as a sending church), and we must remain a mission church so long as a mission remains.

Resisting Mission Drift

Mission drift occurs in different ways. One of them is when the mission is redefined. Why are we here? What is the point? The point of the church is two-fold—birth and growth. But if we get our building (as we may in the foreseeable future), how easy would it be for the mission to change, and turn into “pay for upkeep on the building,” “keep attendance at acceptable levels,” and “become a community fixture?” No—building are staging areas for the next offensive. The mission is not done here until there are only three unbelievers left in town, and they are acting pretty worried.

The Fire of Evangelism

Joe Harby on November 25, 2012

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Introduction

God has two ways of destroying His enemies. One is the old school method—the fire coming down out of the sky method. This is the method that leaves a smoking crater. But the other is a far more glorious method, and that is His method of destroying enemies by turning them into friends. That is a far more wonderful destruction indeed. In order to accomplish the former, all He had to do was exercise His power. But to accomplish the latter, His Son had to die.

The Text

“The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the Lord, And an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: Thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee . . .” (Obadiah 1-21).

Background of the Text

The most likely setting for this book is after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and before Babylon’s campaign against Edom in 553 B.C. Edom was a mountainous region, due south of the Dead Sea. Just to get you oriented, this was the era when Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) was born in Nepal, King Croesus ruled in Lydia, and when the temple of Artemis was built in Ephesus. The Edomites were descended from Esau, and godliness was not unknown among them (e.g. Job). But in this instance, they had rejoiced in an ungodly way during Judah’s Babylonian crisis, and Obadiah pronounces a judgment upon them as a consequence. At the same time, this prophecy extends far beyond the immediate fulfillment.

Summary of the Text

The small book begins with a “vision” concerning Edom (v. 1). Armies are already gathering against her. As they had held Judah in contempt, so they were going to be held in contempt (v. 2). They were a small nation, misled by their pride and apparently invulnerable mountain fortresses (vv. 3-4). Who will bring Edom down? God will. Ordinary thieves would usually leave something behind—but not here, not now. Esau will be stripped bare (vv. 5- 6). Just as Edom betrayed Judah, so also will Edom’s allies betray them (v. 7). Just as they “cut off ” Judah’s refugees (v. 14), so also will they be cut off (vv. 8-9). Mount Esau is a way of referring to Edom, and Teman was a chief city of theirs, named after Esau’s grandson (Gen. 36:9-11). They failed to help their brother Jacob in the day of violence (hamas), and will be judged for this sin of omission (vv. 10-11). Failing to intervene led them into even worse sin—gloating, rejoicing, boasting, looting, and even capturing and turning over refugees (vv. 12-14). The day of the Lord, the day of recompense, was upon them (v. 15). To drink sin is to drink wrath, and destruction is the result (v. 16). But deliverance will come to Zion, and everything will be restored (v. 17). The house of Jacob will be on fire, and the house of Esau will be fields of stubble (v. 18), with predictable results. People from all over will possess Edom (vv. 19-20). Deliverance will come, and Zion will judge Edom, and the kingdom will be the Lord’s (v. 21).

Learning to Read

The Bible teaches us—comparing passage to passage—that you all are part of the fulfillment of Obadiah’s prophecy. In Obadiah 18-20, the prophet quotes Amos 9:11-12. And the prophet Joel quotes Obadiah 17 inJoel

2:28-32. The phrases in question are these: “that they may possess the remnant of Edom” and “in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said.”

This is significant because that very section of Amos is quoted by James, the Lord’s brother, at the Council of Jerusalem, referring to the inclusion of the Gentiles through the gospel (Acts 15:12-21). And the relevant passage in Joel is quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16), with the claim that it was all fulfilled on that day. So though neither James nor Peter mention Obadiah by name, they do tell us what he is talking about by direct implication.

In what day will Mt. Zion rule over Edom? What day will that be? It will be the day the Tabernacle of David is reestablished. And what will be the day of escape for those in Jerusalem? It will be the day of Pentecost. Where are you from? “I am from northern Idaho.” And what are you doing here at Christ Church today? “I am possessing Mt. Esau” (vv. 19-20).

The Sin of Schadenfreude

This is the sin of delighting in the misfortune of others with a vindictive spirit. Take care. Remember the deadly progress of malice in vv. 12-14. It is a small step from rejoicing when someone falls to kicking them as long as they are down. God hates it, and the sin of Edom in this regard was quite striking. It is rebuked in Ps. 137:7 and again in Lamentations 4:21. Remember this perverse tendency of the human heart—once you have wronged someone significantly like this, you might never be able to forgive them.

Be angry and sin not. Do not rejoice over your enemy’s failure, even if he is your lawful enemy (Prov. 24:17-18). Indignation, even at its best, is like manna—it will rot overnight. Remember that Judah deserved her destruction (as Jeremiah was telling them), but Edom added an ungodly amen. Do not be like those who do not know what spirit they are of (Luke 9:55). But the way to avoid this sin is not to search out some sort of room temperature tepidity.

Men of Fire

John Chrysostom once said something striking about the apostle Peter. “Peter was a man made all of fire, walking among stubble.”This is the image that we have at the end of Obadiah.The house of Jacob (that’s you) will be a fire and a flame (v. 18), and the house of Esau (the unbelieving world) will be fields of dry stubble. God’s people are called to be a fiery people—fire came down upon our heads at Pentecost (Acts 2), and fire comes out of the mouths of the two witnesses (Rev. 11:5). Our spirits are supposed to be on the boil (Rom. 12:11). We are a fiery people in a combustible world. This is not surprising, for our God is a consuming fire, and we are in Him (Heb. 12:29).

Psalm 65: The God Who Hears

Joe Harby on August 5, 2012

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Introduction

Nothing about this world comes as a surprise to God. He knows what is in the heart of man, and He knows what His Spirit can do to the dry earth of sinful disobedience. As we look around us, let us never forget that God has the situation (our situation) well in hand. He governs all things, our century included, and He does all things well.

The Text

“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: And unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come . . .” (Psalm 65:1-13).

Summary of the Text

This psalm divides nicely into three sections. The first deals with how God is to be approached (vv. 1- 4). The second records how God rises up in deliverance (vv. 5-8). And the last section bursts into a glorious harvest hymn (vv. 9-13). The occasion for this psalm appears to have been a fortuitous combination of a great victory in battle and a remarkably bountiful harvest. The vow will be fulfilled in Zion, which is where praise awaits (v. 1). God is the one who hears prayer, and all flesh comes before Him (v. 2). Iniquities rise up, but God purges them away (v. 3). Blessed is every man who is elect (v. 4). God answers prayer in terrible (i.e. awe-inspiring) ways (v. 5). He hoops the mountains around with His power (v. 6). He stills the waves (v. 7), which is a type for the nations of men. The people who dwell in the outlands are afraid of His tokens (v. 8). The earth is watered because God visits it, and this is how God enriches the world (v. 9). God softens the world with His showers (v. 10). He crowns the year with goodness, and fatness is the name of His game (v. 11). He makes the pastures lush (v. 12). The pastures are covered with flocks, and the valleys with corn (v. 13), and all of it sings.

Dealing with Sin

When we approach God honestly, the first thing we must reckon with is the fact that we are sinners. There are two things that must happen here. The first is the realization that iniquities prevail against us. The second is that God purges transgressions away. The first is conviction of sin, and the second is forgiveness. To have conviction without forgiveness is to live a life of despair. To have forgiveness without conviction is to coast along in cheap grace.

Iniquities rise and transgressions are purged. When this is not happening, it is usually because we want to be little lords of the definitions. We want to define sin ourselves, which gives us (we think) control of how deeply the conviction pierces, and how much the forgiveness takes away.

Whom He Causes

There is a whole course in theology to be found in verse 4. A particular kind of man is pronounced blessed. Who is blessed? That man is blessed if God chooses him. But God never chooses a man out of a crowd just to put a little x on him, showing that he has been chosen. God’s choice is not an end in itself. No, God’s choice of sinners is always directed toward a particular end. He chose us to be holy

and blameless (Eph. 1:4). God drafts us with a purpose in mind. There is a mission involved. It is the same here. He chooses this man in such a way as to enable him to dwell in His courts, and to be satisfied with the sufficiency and goodness of dwelling there. God gives the initial attraction (He causes the man to approach Him), and He gives the ongoing attractiveness of His own courts. He makes His own courts altogether lovely. Another way of saying this is that He gives conversion and He gives perseverance. God will complete what God has begun (Phil. 1:6).

Fearful Answers

God is the one who hears our prayers. That is how He is addressed at the very beginning of the psalm. All flesh comes before Him because He is the one who hears prayer (v. 2). This is the reason we come, but when He rises up and answers those prayers (in the way He loves to do), we are then startled and fall back. We pray earnestly for something and then say yikes when we get it. Those who dwell in the uttermost part of the earth are “afraid at His tokens” (v. 8). And earlier in the psalm it says that God answers our petitions “by terrible things” (v. 5). These terrible things are not horror story terrible, but rather awe-inspiring answers, numinous answers to prayer that will make our knees go loose.

The Coming Harvest

Where do we get all the flocks and the crops? The answer given here is that these are gifts from God. Without Him giving the gift of refreshing water, the earth would be desolate and brown. When He gives, He gives abundantly.

When we are struggling (with wealth, crops, profits, etc.), our unbelieving temptation is to think that it is because we have “run out.” We see this in the language of “conservation.” Let’s husband our resources carefully, we think, because we believe that the universe is a zero-sum game—anything we use will therefore be used up. But this is simply unbelief, and not prudence at all. Everything we use (under the blessing of God) is available for continued usefulness in the future, thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. God created a universe that can bear fruit.

And these things are a type. Why are there evangelistic droughts? God’s people often think of evangelism the same way the conservationists think about coal, or water, or soil, or you name it. We think we serve a stingy, tight-fisted God. But read through this psalm again. God brings a blessed man into His courts, and God makes our paths drip fatness. This is the same God, and He has the same style —whether we are talking about the grain harvest at the time of Pentecost or the people harvest as the result of Pentecost. Look, Jesus said. The fields are white unto harvest (John 4:35). Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers (Luke 10:2).

This means that our evangelism ought not to be ecclesiastical subsistence farming. Why does our conservative theology, with its thick fertilizer manuals and high tech equipment and state of the art barn and shops, be growing what can only be called Third World corn? Something is wrong—but it not the stated desire of God.