Expositional Archives - Page 61 of 109

The Day of the Lord

Christ Church on October 4, 2020

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INTRODUCTION

As we work through this next portion of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we want to continue to hold the various elements of “the last things” loosely, and in the palm of our hand. After we have all the pieces on the workbench before us (e.g. after 2 Thess. 2), we will then look at how they relate to one another. For the moment, to help keep things clear in our minds, I am going to begin referring to the end of all things as the Final Coming, and not the Second Coming.

We should work through all of this in humility, remembering that Augustine, one of the greatest minds in the history of the church, once said of 2 Thess. 2: “I frankly confess I do not know what he means.”

THE TEXT

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (1 Thess. 5:1–11).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul had not had the opportunity to teach the Thessalonians everything he had wanted to, but he had already covered this. You know the “times and seasons,” he said (v. 1). The day of the Lord would be sudden and unexpected, like a thief in the night (v. 2). Be aware that throughout Scripture, “the day of the Lord” is commonly used for any number of historical judgments. The day of the Lord is not necessarily the Final Coming. When they are expecting peace and safety, they will suddenly give birth to “sudden destruction” (v. 3). But their complacency was a moral darkness, not an intellectual one (v. 4). The believers in Thessalonica were children of the day, children of light, which would prevent the day from overtaking them like a thief (vv. 4-5). So his exhortation is that they remain awake and sober (v. 6). Sleep and drunkenness belong the night, not the day (v. 7). Those who are of the day should be sober, putting on the helmet of the hope of salvation, and the breastplate of faith and love (v. 8). The reason for this preventative behavior is that God has not appointed them to wrath (as He did the others), but rather to obtain salvation through Christ (v. 9). Christ died for those believers who were already dead, and for those who remained alive, so that all would live through Him (v. 10). These were to be words of comfort and edification, which Paul assumed the Thessalonians would continue in (v. 11).

THE SOMEWHAT OBVIOUS

Paul obviously has the Thessalonians of the first century living in a state of high alert. They are to be awake, and with their armor on. If they could read his words to them, and not be looking out the window at what might be happening in their day, then it would the result of not paying close attention. That tone of urgency is very clear in this passage. Just as I have argued that the presence of the general resurrection is an indication we are talking about the Final Coming, so also the presence of an “any minute now” vibe is an indication that we are talking the events that run up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In the two letters of Thessalonians, we have both elements weaving in and out with each other.

And looking ahead to 2 Thess. 2:6-7, we see something similar, in that Paul tells the Thessalonians that “he that restrains” is currently restraining, and that is why the man of lawlessness has not yet appeared.

A BASIC TAKE

As the first century Christians were navigating their way through a very dark pagan century, they were warned by Paul against some very real perils in their day. Formal emperor worship had begun under Augustus, and Thessalonica had a temple to the emperor. In 41 A.D. Caligula had ordered a statue of himself to be set up in the Temple at Jerusalem, which was only forestalled because Caligula was murdered. To give you a sense of the atmosphere of the times, in the forecourt of one of his homes, Nero had a bronze statue of himself built, a statue that was 120 feet tall—like a twelve-story building.

There were certain signs that indicated the pending destruction of Jerusalem (the day of the Lord), and that destruction was something that had to occur before there could be a Final Coming. That Final Coming was in Paul’s view, but it was like a very high and distant mountain range behind the mountain range that they were about to cross.

The Jewish War would “fill up” the sins of Israel (Matt. 23:32). That time would begin the “times of the Gentiles,” a period of time that would eventually be completed. I take that completion as being marked by the conversion of Jews, an event that has not yet happened (Rom. 11:15).

REMAINING ON HIGH ALERT

Once the judgment begins, that is no time to begin to prepare. The judgment might be temporal and historical (a day of the Lord), or it might be the Final Coming. In either case, the daylight is coming, and so Paul’s charge to us is to act as though the day has already come. We are not to be ethically groggy for whatever reason. You don’t want to be among those who were appointed to wrath—because that appointment will be kept. Rather, we should yearn to be among those who will “obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.”

And this is what brings us back to the everlasting center—Christ, our Lord. Because He was not overcome by the night, it becomes possible for all those who have trusted in Him to follow Him and to do the same.

Sixteen Precious Words

Christ Church on October 4, 2020

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INTRODUCTION

Where do you find comfort? Distraction? Netflix serves up a seemingly endless supply of that. More data? Every day there’s a new study warning of this or that danger related to the pandemic, or brain eating amoebas. Politics? Well there was a food fight on national TV the other night, a Supreme Court vacancy, and a president fallen ill. Booze? The end of the bottle will come sooner or later. Where is your comfort?

THE TEXT

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

MIDNIGHT SONGS

These sixteen precious words are a sweet balm to the soul of the saint. In these words we see a gentleness and encouragement unrivaled; no other work of literature could, in so few words, offer encouragement so great. So, let us treasure these words, and make of them, as Spurgeon would say, a song which we might sing in the night. Indeed, this earthly sojourn must often traverse sorrowful, difficult, and dark paths. When all the lights goes out, will you (even with a faltering voice) have a song to sing? You must.

Sunday morning at church, the truth of God’s comfort is clear and your senses are not confounded. We often describe it as that summer camp high, where you’re ready to take on the world. But there will come a day of testing in the not too distant future which will assail you and buffet you for all you’re worth. In that day, the mettle of the saint is tested, and may it be said that when all around your soul gives way, Christ remains your hope and stay. Even though all the natural realm might imply that He has forsaken you, the saint clings to precious promises such as this one.

If I might, I will indulge for a moment in two stories from Narnia. First, remember what Aslan once said to Jill Pole, after he had given her signs to follow in order that she might fulfill the mission he had assigned her: “Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.”

Second example, in The Horse and His Boy, Shasta is exhausted after many long adventures, his companions are incapacitated, and yet they still have an errand to complete. So, despite his burning lungs, tired legs, and dizzied mind he is pointed in the direction of the King he needs to warn of the coming enemy army. Lewis leaves us this wonderful insight in the narrative: “If you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one.”

SIXTEEN WORDS OF COMFORT

I want to make four observations on these sixteen simple words of comfort. First, our Savior simply says, “fear not.” He implies that there will be causes for fear, worry, and anxiety. But rather than saying, “yep, all hope is lost, you may as well despair,” He buoys us with two simple words: “fear not.” He does not qualify this statement and say that it is only for certain times or circumstances. He exhorts us to never fear. This is a precious hope.

Secondly, he says, “Fear not, little flock.” Couldn’t he have encouraged us more if he had said, “Fear not rippling muscled army!” Or, “Fear not, brave and gallant troop!” Or, “Fear not, you that are more than conquerors!” Indeed, all those statements are, to a certain extent, true. Nevertheless, Christ calls forth an intimate image of a little flock of dumb, foolish, needy, prone-to-wander sheep. He gives us three pictures of God’s character in this verse, so that the saint might stand firm in the midst of difficulty. This is the first image He paints for us, one of a tender shepherd watching over a little flock. A little flock is easier for wolves to prey upon, therefore this little flock ought to stay near to its Shepherd.

Third, He tells us that it is “your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” So, not only is He to us a Shepherd, but He gives an even more human, intimate and loving picture of a Father who delights to give what His child needs. He shows us that our Father is a gentle, loving Father, interested in providing for our every need. We need only ask, trust, wait and live in the knowledge that He will always make sure that we are protected, nourished, loved, and free to grow to full maturity.

Fourth, notice that Christ tells us that this loving Father delights to give. We must not muddle the nature of God our Father, with the often tainted image of our earthly fathers. He is not begrudging in what He designs to give, He is lavish, generous, and, above all, jubilant in offering unto us that which we most desperately need! He doesn’t say, “it is your Father’s obligation, job, duty, or malignant hatred to give you the kingdom.”

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

One unfortunate thing that can happen as we study theology, is that our systematic theology becomes to overgrow our biblical theology. Notice that as Jesus is teaching us and comforting us, we are not given syllogisms, or theology to the fifth decimal point. He gives us pictures. We can begin to think of God as blocks of attributes stacked and assembled. But if we are doing systematic theology correctly, we should know that God is simple, not made of parts. Further, we should start from these Scriptural images that are given and revealed, and move forward from there to fill in the blanks of our understanding of systematic theology.

Jesus, here, gives us a threefold portrait of our God’s character: tender Shepherd, loving Father, good and generous King. He could have chosen other imagery more grand, powerful, large, or intimidating. It could have read, “Tremble, my pathetic minions, for it is your imperial, ruthless, high-Potentate’s dastardly will to give you the stale crumbs from His table.”

Instead, He chose to show us that He is a Shepherd who gently guides His own, a loving Father who delights to provide for our every need, and a generous King who provides us with the leadership, resource, and protection we need.

HE GIVES A KINGDOM

What is it though, which is God’s good pleasure to give us? He is delighted to give us a Kingdom.

He wants to give us a kingdom that is like leaven which a woman works into a lump of dough, and that leaven gets into the whole lump (Mt. 13:33).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a father running to meet a prodigal and rebellious son, embracing him, clothing him, putting a ring upon his finger and killing the fatted calf and that same father once more going outside to remind an older brother that everything the father has is his (Luke 15:20).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a man sowing good seed, but his enemy sowed tares in the same field, but in the end the tares were destroyed and the good corn was saved (Mt. 13:24).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a mustard seed, that though it may be small it turns into a mighty tree (Mt. 13:31).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a merchant seeking goodly pearls, who when he finds a most precious of pearls sells all he has to buy that one pearl (Mt. 13:45-46).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a net that when hauled in the good will be saved and the bad will be cast away (Mt. 13:47).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a householder looking for laborers for his vineyard, and at the end of the day He rewarded them all with more than they deserved (Mt. 20:1).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a king inviting guests to his son’s marriage supper (Mt. 22:2).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a master entrusting his estate to his servants and recompensing them according to the faithfulness of their stewardship upon his return (Mt. 25:14).
He wants to give us a kingdom that is like a treasure hid in a field, which a man, for joy thereof, sells everything he has to buy that field (Mt. 13:44).
He wants to give us a kingdom whose builder and architect is God, and which cannot be moved (Heb. 11:10, 12:28).
He wants to give us a kingdom whose very light source is the glory of Jesus Christ (Rev. 21:23).

CONCLUSION

So indeed, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Stand upon these sixteen precious words. Rehearse them in the good seasons, when the sun is brightly shining, so that when the blackest of midnights surrounds you, and the wind and storms beat upon your life, and the howls of the fiends of night are swirling in the air, you might cling fast to the unchanging nature, and therefore the trustworthy promise of our Shepherd, Father, and King!

So I close with the question I started with. What is your comfort? Stock markets fail you. Presidents and Supreme Court Justices will fail you. The Netflix binge will leave you bleary eyed. The needle and the bottle will not ease your fears. Your only comfort and hope, in life and in death, is Christ.

The Law of Female Captives (Christendom 2.0)

Christ Church on September 27, 2020

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THE TEXT

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, ¹¹and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife, ¹²then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. ¹³She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her” (Deuteronomy 21:10–14).

John 3:1–21—The New Birth (CCD)

Christ Church on September 20, 2020

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The Text

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ²This man came to Jesus^[a] by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’ ³Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’ . . .” (John 3:1–21).

1-8 You must be born again

9-13 No one has ascended to heaven but the Son of Man who is in heaven

14-18 The Son of Man must be lifted up

19-21 The light has come into the world

Earthly Good and the Heavenly Mind

Christ Church on September 6, 2020

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INTRODUCTION

In this next portion of this letter from Paul, we find a marvelous balance between our daily mundane concerns and our ultimate eschatological concerns. A taunt is sometimes leveled against certain Christians that they are “so heavenly-mined that they are no earthly good.” But this not how it works, actually.

C.S. Lewis sums the situation up nicely when he says this:

“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next . . . It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither” (Mere Christianity)

THE TEXT

“But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:9–18).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul begins the next section by saying that he does not need to teach them about brotherly love—for God Himself had taught them that (v. 9). And they were doing what they had been taught to do, loving all the brothers throughout Macedonia (v. 10). Paul’s plea was that they do what they already knew how to do more and more (v. 10). However, this active love is not a busybody love. It studies to be quiet (v. 11), to mind its own business (v. 11), work with its own hands (v. 11), as Paul had commanded. The reason for this ethic was so that they could walk honestly before outsiders, and not lack anything (v. 12).

He does not want them to be in the dark over what happens to fellow believers who “fall asleep in the Lord” (v. 13). They should not sorrow over them in the same way as those who have no hope (v. 13). For if Jesus died and rose (v. 14), even so those who have fallen asleep will be brought by God (v. 14). For Paul assures them by the word of the Lord that those who survive to the Lord’s appearing will have no advantage over those who died beforehand (v. 15). The Lord will descend from Heaven with a shout, an archangel’s voice, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise (v. 16). Those alive at that time will follow after (v. 17). These are to be words of comfort (v. 18).

TEND TO YOUR OWN KNITTING

The great Pauline principle here is “mind thine own business.” You do this, not because you are telling the rest of the body to get lost, but rather because you need to acquire something before you can give it. You cannot give what you do not have, and you cannot have something to give unless you came by it honestly. Paul says something very close to this in Ephesians, when he tells the thief to work with his hands instead of pilfering with them. The reason is so that he might have something to give (Eph. 4:28). Loving more and more means gathering more and more, and it also means being generous with it. We give to get, in order that we might be enabled to give even more.

Notice how this works. Paul tells the Thessalonians that they were already loving all the brothers throughout all of Macedonia, and he urges them on. Do this more and more, he says. With this as the basic baseline charge, what is the action he then demands? Study to be quiet. Mind your own business. Work with your hands. Conduct your business honestly. Save your money.

And do all your work with the Second Coming on your mind. This is a juxtaposition that has radical implications for societal transformation.

COMFORT ONE ANOTHER

Paul moves seamlessly into his next topic, and we learn that Monday morning in the workplace and the end of the world are actually all part of the same subject.

In the short time that Paul and the Thessalonians had been acquainted, some of the saints in the Thessalonian church had already died. There was therefore some concern among the Thessalonians that these departed saints were somehow going to miss out if the Lord came. What is going to happen to them? Paul says that it goes the opposite way. When the Lord comes, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then those who remained alive until that glorious day would be transfigured. That is when we will all be together with Lord, and we will be with Him together forever.

In an earlier message, we noted that not every Parousia in Scripture refers to the Second Coming. But this appearing unmistakably does refer to the end of the world. If you have any doubts, look at the events that surround it. There is a general resurrection of the dead. The living are caught up into the clouds. There is a great shout, probably that of the archangel. There is the last trumpet blast. The Lord descends from Heaven. This is not the demolition of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

HEAVEN AND EARTH KISS

So in the work of the saints, we should be able to see God’s declared purpose of bringing heaven and earth back together (Eph. 1:10). The Fall was the point where Heaven was “removed” to an almost infinite distance. But in Christ we are privileged to learn that Heaven is close, and by grace can be opened, and it is merely one short dove flight above the Jordan. When the Lord descends from Heaven, He will come down to your shop, your office, and your kitchen. He will come down to inspect His workmanship (Eph. 2:10), and He will look at your work as part of that (1 Tim. 6:18; Tit. 2:14; 3:8,14). This is because your work is part of His workmanship, and all of it is under a thick layer of grace.