What Christ has done for us

You may have heard people say, “All religions are basically the same”. Actually that is totally untrue. Every religion in the world teaches something different. All religions are radically different from each other. Some religions believe there is a God (Islam, Judaism, Christianity), others believe there are multiple gods (Hinduism), and others believe there is no God (Buddhism, Wicca, atheism). Each religion is different in what they teach about death and eternal life. Some teach reincarnation, others death as an end all, and others heaven. And those who teach about heaven disagree about that: Islam believes that heaven is place where we basically live like kings, the Jews say maybe there is a heaven but our focus should be on this world, and Christians say heaven is a place where God dwells and we go when we die.

Religions do not all teach the same thing. Here is one thing they all have in common though, except one. They all tell you what you need to do to be saved. Islam teaches that you need to submit to the will of Allah but obeying the Q’ran (Islam means submission). Jews say you need to keep the Torah, the Law and you will have Shalom, wholeness and fullness. Buddhism teaches that through virtue and meditation you can reach Nirvana, a peace and happiness. Hinduism is all about Karma, doing more good than evil. It is all about what we must do. Jesus taught something radically different. He taught that it is not about what you do to be saved, it is about what he has done for us.


You cannot keep the Law, or achieve shalom or gain enough karma or reach nirvana by what you do. You are guilty as a sinner before an All Holy God. But Jesus lays down his life for you. It is not about what we must do, but what has been done for us.

This morning I want us to look together at the letter to the Galatians. In the book of Galatians the apostle Paul is going to be looking at this very thing. That salvation comes not by what we do, but by what Christ has down for us. And in it he argues against legalism. We use the word legalism all the time, and I think we often misunderstand it. Legalism really only has two definitions.

1. Legalism is a belief that adds to what the Bible teaches “No dancing, no card playing, no loud music”. Sadly we do this all the time. We add our own traditions or our own feelings to what the Bible actually teaches.

2. legalism is a belief that we are saved by obeying the Law: “What I do, will make me right in the eyes of the Lord.”

Both of these are deadly to our souls. Both of them are spiritual diseases. In the Letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul will be dealing with the second kind of legalism: a belief that we have earned our salvation by our own works. I want us to look at the whole letter together and see if we can understand what the problem with legalism is.

Now because we are going to be looking at the whole book of Galatians, probably it is best to have your Bible open to Galatians chapter 1, and try to follow along with me as we go through the book pretty fast.

First a little background. This is a real-life letter from the Apostle Paul writing to the church in the region of the Roman Empire called Galatia. There was a group of Christians living there whom the Apostle Paul had told about gospel and who believed in Christ. Sadly soon after he left a group of people whom Paul calls the Judaizers visited them. The Judaizers were Jews who taught that, “Yes you need to believe in Jesus as Savior, but after that you need to obey the Law to be saved, especially circumcision.” Circumcision was the mark of a true Jew, and anyone who wants to be saved needs to be circumcised.

In this letter, Paul is furious. If you are someone who doesn’t read the Bible too often, you may be surprised at how furious he is here. He will say to the Galatians “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (3:1), He will say about these Judaizers that teach you need to be circumcised to be saved “I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (5:12). You can use your imagination as to what he is saying there.

In fact you will notice this right from the way he starts of his letter. Normally Paul will give a greeting and then a thanksgiving and then jump into his letter. In this letter, right after he gets the greeting out, he skips the thanksgiving, and jumps right into his criticism. Look with me at verse 6,


1:6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
The Apostle Paul is furious. Now you might ask, why? Why is he so upset at the Galatians? The reason why is, he knows that the spiritual sickness of legalism is deadly to our souls. To try and be good enough for God is impossible. We can never do it. It either leads to guilt “I’ll never be good enough” or to pride “I must be better than everyone else.” Legalism is a false gospel he says. It does not save.



The Apostle Paul goes on to use his own life as an example. Paul was the ideal Jew. He was rising quickly within the ranks of the Pharisees. He was like a shooting star, passing every exam, doing everything right. He was more zealous and more obedient to the law than anyone around him. And then God called him, revealing to him that he was a sinner, and saved him not by works but by grace.

1:15But [when] God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles

Paul knew like no one else, that salvation by works would be impossible. It would kill us spiritually. You can’t earn your salvation.

There was another man who came to a similar conclusion about 1500 years later. Martin Luther was a monk and a priest and a professor of theology. He used to go to confession daily and often up to six hours at a time, the priest basically told him not to come back until he had committed a big sin. Luther said, if monk a man was saved by his monkery, it was I.” But he came to realize that all his good works, all his fasting and praying and giving to the poor, were infinitely unworthy before God. He was still sinful, guilty and condemned in the sight of an all Holy God. And that his hope was in Christ alone.

Paul wants to spare the Galatians the danger of legalism. He is angry with them, not because he doesn’t like them, but because he loves them. He doesn’t want to see them go down the same path he did only to realize that there is nothing but spiritual death down that road.

He tells the story about how he had to confront Peter about this very thing. Peter comes to visit Paul. The two of them are eating together along with some Gentiles. Now according to the Law, Jews shouldn’t eat with gentiles. But Peter and Paul both know that Christ has made us all clean, so eating together is no problem. But when certain other Jews show up, Peter slyly picks up his tray of food and sneaks away from the Gentile table over to the Jew table. Paul writes, in 2:11,

2:14When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”

Paul is saying Peter don’t be a hypocrite. We are not saved by the law and we should not force these gentiles to obey Jewish customs as if they are saved by the law. The gospel doesn’t divide us up “gentile sinners over here” “Jewish sinners of there” No we are all sinners who are saved sheerly by the grace of God. So Paul confronts Peter.

Now you have to understand that is not an easy thing to do. Peter is the disciple who was with Jesus during his life, he was one of the first one’s at the tomb, he was with him after the resurrection. He is like a celebrity. This would kind of like confronting Billy Graham or Rick Warren on something. Pretty intimidating. But Paul knows the gospel is too important. He says at the end of chapter 2

2:21: I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

He goes on to explain once again to the Galatians what this gospel is all about. Paul explains that all who rely on the Law are under a curse, but that those who trust in Christ recognize that Christ has taken that curse for us

3:10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, …13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

Breaking the law brings a curse upon us: God’s judgment, his righteous wrath. But Christ took that curse for us by dying on the cross in our place.

This is the time of year for sicknesses. The Flu, colds, coughs are flying around. I know a lot of people have been getting this head cold that is going around. I have never met actually enjoys being sick. They might enjoy getting to stay home from school or work for a day, but they don’t actually enjoy getting the flu. Of course having a cold is not the worst thing in the world, there are much worse sicknesses than these: there is heart disease, or cancer, or Alzeimers. These are more serious. Well there are even worse sicknesses than these, there are also spiritual sicknesses. Physical sicknesses eventually go away. Either we get better, or God forbid we die, but eventually we get over them. Spiritual sicknesses effect us forever. They so often go unnoticed. In fact many of us here today may have a spiritual disease and not even know it. The disease is legalism. It is deadly to our souls. To believe that what we do can save ourselves will only lead to a curse. But Christ is the great Physician, and the gospel is the cure.

He tells the Galatians that those who believe in Christ become sons and daughters of God through faith. Not slaves to the law, but sons and daughters.

3:26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.






Think about it, what do you have to do to get adopted? Nothing. It is not something you do, it is something someone does for you. Someone who says to a kid, “You mow the lawn twice a week, take out the garbage, babysit for my kids, and then maybe I’ll adopt you.” Is not fake. No God adopts us completely by his grace, not based one what we do, but on what Christ has done for us.

Now, don’t think that Paul is just some theological academic, dealing with the fine points of systematic theology. No, Paul cares for the Galatians. He loves them, that is why he is trying to be so clear about this. He knows that their joy is dependent on their trust in Christ alone as Savior. God’s salvation alone can bring true joy. You see since the Galatians have started accepting legalism, they lost their joy. That is what always happens. The most legalistic churches are the most joyless churches. Somebody said, we need to put the fun back in fundamentalism.

4:12I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. 13As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?




Just as a side note, parents do you want your kids to love God? Make sure it is a home filled with grace. If you have a legalistic home, you know what will happen? You will turn your kids off to God so fast, you won’t even know what happened. Make sure your kids understand that you are a sinner just like them. Make sure they understand that you need to extend them the same grace that God has shown to you. That is a family with joy.

Next, is probably the most confusing part of the letter, but try to follow it. He gives them a little lesson from the Old Testament. He tells them the story of Sarah and Hagar. Now, probably most of us don’t know too much about Sarah and Hagar. But Abraham had two wives, and two sons one by each wife. God promised him that God would use his son to bless many nations. But he and Sarah never got pregnant. So years go by and he loses faith in God’s promise. So he takes Hagar as a sort of second wife, and has a son by her, Ishmael. He did it, not God. Then, year later, Sarah gets pregnant and has her son Isaac. One was the work of Abraham, the other the work of God. Paul’s question to the Galatians is, “Which of the two do you fit under?”

4:24These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother…Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.”


Are you slave to the law, unable to fulfill it, or are you a son or daughter, by the grace of God? Are you of Ishmael, or of Isaac?

Now what kind of life should we live if we are saved by grace and not law? First a life of Freedom

5:1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

Now probably a lot of guys here are circumcised, I am not going to ask for a show of hands, don’t worry. Don’t worry he is not saying you are not a Christian. He is saying if you try to be saved by the law (get circumcised for that reason), then why do you believe in Christ as a Savior? You can’t have it both ways. Either Christ is a savior who sets us free from the burden of the law to save ourselves, or you are still under the law. Which is it? Christ wants us to be free.

Now you can guess what the next question often is. If we are free, does that mean we go out and sin? It is amazing how sinful we are that is so often our first question. We are not under the law, so we can live fully for Christ. It has been said that the good works we do is simply gratitude to God for saving us?


Let me give an example. Let’s say a woman is married and her husband cheats on her. She is devastated. But she recognizes that it was a horrible mistake her husband made, that he is truly repentant, that he is totally broken about it. The wife somehow finds a way to forgive him. Imagine if his next question was “So does that mean I can go out and cheat all the time and you will forgive me? I mean how much can I do and still have you forgive me?” You would say that guy doesn’t have a clue about forgiveness. How much more so friends when God forgives us for our sin, should our response not be “What can I get away with?” but “How can I love you more?”

The difference is we have the Holy Spirit. Look at 5:22, the Fruit of the Spirit. If we are in Christ, we have been given a new life.

5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.



As Paul comes to the end of his letter, he emphasizes one last extremely important point. If our salvation is all of God and none of us, than there is no boasting, no pride, no bragging, except in Christ.

6:14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. 16Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.

When we recognize that our salvation is all of grace, how can we be proud? How can we look with judgment upon another sinner? How can we look down on someone else when we know it is only by Christ’s death are we saved? It is not about what we do to be saved, it is about what Christ has done for us.

This is where Jesus was worlds apart from religion. They couldn’t be more different. The idea of Heaven, or Shalom, or Nirvana, or Loka is not something we can earn. No obedience, submission, or karma could ever earn it. It is not found it what we do. We are sinners who stand guilty in the sight of an All Holy God. Eternal life is found it what Christ has done for us. Trust in him and what he has done for us. May we never boast except in the cross of Christ our Lord

The Gospel at Starbucks

The Gospel at Starbucks
Acts 17:16-34

New Englanders are a unique breed. How do we reach New Englanders with the gospel? How do we reach non-Christians friends and family with the gospel?

I want to read you a story right out of the book of Acts. The book of Acts is all about how Christianity spread throughout the world. It is telling the story of how people started becoming Christians all over the world. It began in Jerusalem, after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and from there it spread outward. How did it do that? What was the message of the Christians to the world? How do people become Christians? In Acts 17 we see the apostle Paul coming into the city of Athens.

Now one thing you have to understand about the city of Athens is it was a lot like New England. It was a place of a lot of history and tradition. Athens was the place of all the great Classical Greek authors, and politicians, and philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. Boston of course was the place where a lot of great thinkers and the founding fathers of our country came from. Athens was a place of learning and education. People from all over Roman Empire went there to learn and discuss ideas. New England still remains the educational center of the country: Harvard, Yale, MIT. Athens was a place that valued free thinking. They wanted to be on the cutting edge culturally. New England is considered the most liberal and cultured part of the country.

How does Christianity spread in a place like Athens? How does Christianity spread in a place like New England? Or to put the question practically, ‘Living in this area, how do my next door neighbor about being a Christian?’ But how do we go about this? Let’s read together how it happened in the book of Acts, 17:16-34


I. Be grieved at the idolatry of sin (vs 16)

16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

Paul was an extremely educated man. He had what was equivalent to 2 Ph.D.s Read through Romans and you will get a sense of how logical his argumentation is. He studied under the Rabbi Gamaliel, who is known outside of the New Testament as a great Jewish thinker. He probably spoke at least three different languages: Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. Not only does he know his Torah and Mishnah as a former Pharisee, but he also knew his Greek poets. In this passage he quotes Greek writers at least twice, Euripedes and Epimenides. He is about as logical and careful a thinker as you will ever read.

So you might think for someone like Paul to come to Athens he would just be in awe of the history and tradition and learning and cultural brilliance of a place like that. Here is a scholar coming to the city of scholars. He must be excited. But he isn’t. In fact, quite the opposite. He is grieved. “Greatly distressed” Luke tells us. Why? Because the place is full of idols. One commentator describes Athens as a ‘veritable forest of idols’ Paul is grieved because in all their learning and in all their cultural brilliance, they have missed the true God.



This doesn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate all the architecture and art and beauty of Athens. But he is not distracted by it. At the heart it is no different than any other city he has been to. It is a place that is taken by the deception of sin. It is overrun with idolatry and blind to knowing the true God.

Friends, if you are trying to share the gospel with someone, don’t get distracted from the reality of sin. Someone with a Ph. D. is no different than someone with a GED when it comes to sin. All of us are sinners who need a savior. We have the same struggles, the same temptations, the same need of a Savior. The same is true of every doctor or lawyer, every college professor, every Senator, every President. Just like it is true of every mechanic, carpenter, or customer service rep, or stay at home mom. Sin is sin, and does not discriminate based on education or vocation. C S Lewis said, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”

Friends we need to grieve over the sin in our culture. Grieve over the fact that so many people don’t know the true God. Living in New England we have our share of liberal churches. They are an easy target to beat up on. “They allow gay ministers there. They don’t believe in the Trinity there. They worship Mary there.” But instead of getting angry, we should grieve. Instead we should grieve over the fact that they have missed the true God. What a tragedy! What a sad sad situation.

Ask God to give us an opportunity to share the true gospel with the people in our city. New England is still full of idols: cars, money, jobs, family. Which brings me to the second point.

II. Be willing to engage a seeking world (vv 17-21)

17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

Notice Paul goes not only to the synagogues but also the marketplace. He tries to reach the religious folks and the pagans. In New England we have both right? We have the religious folks who would say they believe in God. They don’t think of themselves as sinners who need a savior. They don’t have a relationship with God through Christ, but they are in some sense religious.

But we also have those who are non-religious. Maybe they are agnostics, they just don’t know if there is a God. Maybe they are into New Age or Wiccan philosophy. Maybe they are Atheists, who believe there is no God at all.

But notice in our passage, Paul tries to engage both. Part of his time is in the synagogue and part of it is in the marketplace. Interestingly enough in Athens it is the pagans who are more open to hearing about Christ!

Some of those in the marketplace hear him and are interested.


Two particular groups of thinkers engage with him: the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans would kind of be like our modern day Self-help books. Basically life is all about seeking long-term pleasure. Eat, drink, be merry, enjoy the brief life you have and that is it. The Stoics would be more like our legalists. Life is all about living a disciplined and reasonable life and being an upstanding citizen. Don’t get to passionate or too emotional just be a good person.

They hear Paul and say, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Not the nicest remark, but at least they are listening. Others get confused and think he is talking about different gods. That’s because he mentioned Jesus and the resurrection, which in Greek is Jesus and Anastasis. But he peaks their interest enough to get an invitation to the Areopagus. Maybe you have heard the term ‘Mar’s Hill’, well that is what this is. Areo from Ares or Mars and pagus meaning ‘Court’ or ‘council’. By the first century it was no longer used for legal purposes, but had become just a public discussion place. Luke tells us that it is a place where everyone comes to ‘do nothing but talk about and listen to the latest ideas’ Kind of like Oprah. Paul just got an invitation to the Oprah Winfrey show. Or on the small scale it is sort of like getting an invitation to Starbucks to talk to a group of friends. But nevertheless it is an opportunity for Paul to engage with a non-Christian world and tell people about Christ.


Friends what are we doing to engage non-Christians with the gospel? Are you intentional about trying to start up conversations with non-religious people? The gospel doesn’t just belong in churches, it also belongs at starbucks, at the Areopagus, around the water cooler at work, over the fence talking to your next door neighbor. You may find that those who are non-religious are more open to hearing about the gospel than those who think they are all set with God.


Christianity will stand up to any philosophy or religion. Just like it will stand up against Epicurean and Stoic philosophies, it will stand up against naturalism, or new age thinking, or agnosticism, or atheism. It will stand up against Buddhism, or Islam, or Hinduism, or Judaism. We need to be willing to engage people who have radically different beliefs than us and explain the gospel of God’s grace through Christ with them.

The gospel is kind of like a lantern. If you stay in the cabin all the time, you never get to see how bright it is. It shines the brightest when you take it out into the night. Then people can see it and say, “Wow look at that. A light here in the middle of the woods at night.” The Bible says, go take the lantern out into the woods where people can see it. Engage with non-Christians, let them hear about God, and his Son and the gospel. Trust me friends, you will see how bright the gospel looks against atheism or Buddhism, or Islam.

Just as a quick test. What percentage of your friends right now are Christians? If it is about 50/50 we are probably doing well. If it is more like 90/10 we might want to make some changes. Remember Jesus was called a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He made it a point to engage non-Christians. I wonder how many non-Christians are in our city who haven’t yet accepted the gospel simply because they don’t know any Christians yet! Nobody told them yet!

Don’t get me wrong, the point is not, “Go hang out with non-Christians all the time.” The point is to engage with non-Christians so that they might know Christ as savior too. Jesus didn’t hang out with sinners and tax-collectors because he thought, well they are just more fun to be with. No, he spent time with them because he loved them enough to want them to know the grace he offers them by his death and resurrection. This brings us to our last point.


III. Be clear as crystal about what the gospel is (vv 22-34)

22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

Here is where I want to spend the majority of our time. Paul is in the middle of the Areopagus, and he gets a few minutes to explain what Christianity is all about.

Notice how Paul starts off his address, verses 22-23. He doesn’t immediately condemn everything about the Athenians. He doesn’t say “You all are a bunch of pagan idolaters who are going to hell, and now let me tell you how much God loves you.” He starts off by making a connection. He looks around and sees that they have an altar in the temple to ‘an unknown God.’ What is the point here? The Athenians worshipped so many different gods, that they wanted to make sure they didn’t miss any of them and get that god or goddess upset. So they set up an altar to this unknown god to make sure they didn’t offend him. What Paul is saying is ‘You did miss one, you missed the real God, now let me tell you about him.’ But he is finding a way to relate to them. He is finding something good about them to connect with.



Friends, we don’t have to condemn everything about someone who doesn’t believe. Just because someone doesn’t believe in God, doesn’t mean they can’t say or do anything beautiful or good or wonderful.

Look for the good in what they believe. Let me give you a couple of examples. Someone says “I believe I’m a good person, I give to the poor and I help people out, so I must be going to heaven.” You might say, “Well, it’s important to give to the poor and help people out, but how good is good enough for God? God says, “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” Are you holy?” Make a connection with people in order to let you know where your coming from. Or someone says, I think God is in nature. You might say “Well God created the whole world, including the trees and the mountains, they reveal his glory, but God is so much greater than his creation.”

Notice what he does next in verses 24-28. He starts to lay the groundwork for the gospel. He tells them that God made the world and everything in it. That he is Lord of heaven and earth. That he doesn’t live in temples made by us. That he doesn’t need our sacrifices, in fact he is the one who gives us life and breath and everything else.

He goes on from there and talks about God’s sovereignty. He is not like the pagan gods who don’t really care about us. He made the every nation from one man and determines the times and places set for them. He does this so people will seek him and find him. In other words, he is not just the God of the Jews, he is the God of everyone. We are all accountable to him.

He is laying the foundation for the gospel.

Now, if he was in the Jewish synagogue he wouldn’t need to say this. The Jews already believe God is the creator, that he is Lord of Heaven and earth. They already know that God is sovereign.

But he is not talking to Jews, he is talking to pagans. And when he is talking to pagans, he cannot assume the same things. He recognizes the people he is speaking to.

The same is true of us. If we are talking to someone who is say, a non-practicing Roman Catholic, you probably don’t have to start with: God is the Creator, there is only one God and he is Triune, he gave us his Word in the Bible. You probably can assume they understand that. Now they may not trust in Christ as savior, but some foundation is already laid for you to start talking about the gospel.

But friends, more and more people we will meet have no religious background at all. You have to start even more basic. You have to lay the foundation. There is a God. He is good. He loves us and cares for us. He made us in his image. God is sovereign over your life. You are not an accident. He has put you in this place and in this time for a reason. And so on. Paul is laying the foundation for the gospel.

I got into a brief conversation with a group of atheists on an internet discussion recently and I was amazed at how difficult it was to talk to them about God. Because we couldn’t even agree on the most basic things: like human beings are more than animals. Or there is a moral authority to the universe. I would say, “Where does our sense of morality come from?” Now if I was speaking to a Muslim, it would be totally different. I could assume that they believe God exists, and that morality comes from Him. The conversation would be about what this God is like.

Sometimes this takes awhile. We need to make sure we are on the same page first. Not everyone has the same idea in their mind when they say ‘God,’ or ‘Jesus,’ or ‘Christian.’ But Paul doesn’t take long to get to Jesus. The point is not to linger here long. Get to the gospel. That’s the goal. Get to the gospel. And that is what Paul does starting in verse 30.

Verse 30, God calls us to repent. Repentance from sin is a non-negotiable of the gospel. If someone doesn’t believe they are a sinner, they can’t believe in a Savior. Repentance from sin is where faith begins.

One of the most confusing and hurtful things you can say to someone seeking to be a Christian is, “God doesn’t care what you do or how you act, he just wants you to believe in him.” That is like saying to a drowning person “I love you, but I think you should just stay in the water.” The gospel requires repentance from sin. And repentance is a turning away from sin and a turning to God.

Next verse 31, he mentions Jesus. He does mention him by name hear, although he did earlier, he simply says the man God appointed. God has set apart a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. You can’t have Christianity without Christ. The gospel is not ‘just believe in God,’ or ‘love God,’ or even ‘trust God.’ The gospel is that God sent his Son Jesus as the savior.


And lastly again verse 31, he talks about Christ’s resurrection. And therefore assumed is Christ’s death for us. “He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” The resurrection of Christ is the heart of the gospel. By the resurrection God reveals that Jesus is the savior, the Son of God, whose death was in behalf of our sins. As the Bible will say elsewhere, “If Christ is not raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

In verse 32 we learn that many of those listening are turned off by this.

Understand that to the Greeks, resurrection was looked at as morbid and unthinkable. The body is evil, the soul is good. When we die we get to leave our bodies behind and becomes purely spiritual. You might think, why doesn’t Paul just compromise a little here? Couldn’t he just talk about Christ as ‘spiritually risen’? But Paul won’t budge here. The resurrection of Christ, which demonstrates him to be both Savior and Lord is a non-negotiable. Without belief in the atoning death and the resurrection of Christ, there is no Christianity.

But we do learn that some of those listening come to faith. He mentions two in particular Dionysius and Damaris come to know Christ as savior. Paul was clear about the gospel, and because of that some came to faith in Christ.


Conclusion

How do we reach New Englanders for Christ? The truth is there is no super secret. There is no magic method. You reach people in this part of the world the same way you reach people anywhere. You reach educated people the same way you reach uneducated people. You do so with the gospel. And what is the gospel? It is the good news of the saving death and resurrection of Christ.

Friends as we seek to bring Christ to New Englanders, whether at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts or anywhere, it always the same message. We need to grieve at the idolatry of sin. We need to be willing to engage a seeking world. And we need to be clear as crystal as to what the gospel is.
The Gospel is God saving sinners from our sin, and faith in him is what saves. Charles Spurgeon, "If the Lord's bearing our sin for us is not the gospel, I have no gospel to preach."
Billy Graham, the well known Evangelist, tells the story of a time he spoke at Cambridge University in England. Cambridge of course is this great school, probably one of the best in the world. Billy Graham gave his first sermon there attempting to sound intellectual, thinking this would be the best way to reach the intelligentsia of Cambridge. But he says there seemed to be little impact. Before he gives his next sermon, he comes to realize something. He writes in his autobiography,

“Then, on my knees with a deep sense of failure, inadequacy, and helplessness, I turned to God. My gift, such as it was, was not to present the intellectual side of the Gospel. I knew that. What those students needed was a clear understanding of the simple but profound truths of the Gospel: our separation from God because of sin; Christ’s provision of forgiveness and new life; and our hope because of Him.

Finally, on Wednesday night, I threw away my prepared address and preached a simple Gospel message on the meaning of the Cross of Christ. That night more than 400 Cambridge students stayed behind to make their commitment to Christ…For the rest of the week, I strove to be as simple and yet as direct as possible, and the response continued to surprise us all. (259)

What Billy Graham recognized is what Paul knew entering Athens. For all the culture and learning and education, sin is sin, and sin takes us away from knowing the true God. The gospel is what saves us and redeems us no matter who we are.

Imagine the life it would bring our church if we were constantly reaching non-Christians with the gospel. What a statement that would be to our New England culture. Imagine us as a church not blown back and forth by the newest cultural trend or latest religious fad. Instead we grieve at the way sin takes people from knowing the satisfaction of the true God.

Imagine us as a church that is not afraid to engage people with all different types of beliefs: Wicca, atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or just plain agnosticism. Imagine us like lanterns in the dark night engaging an unbelieving world. The darker the belief the more bright the lantern shines.

And most of all imagine being a church that is super clear about the gospel. We are not fuzzy on this one at all. No matter who we are talking to, our message is always the same: God sent his son into the world to save sinners, like us, believe in him and receive the grace of eternal life. I pray and hope that we as a church could be like that.

The Persistent Pray-er

Luke 18:1-8, The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Introduction

Can you imagine running a race perfectly and never making it to the finish line? I remember seeing this video on Youtube about this bicycle race. One guy was in a race and he was coming right to the finish line. He was probably 20 or 30 feet away. He began to celebrate and put his hands in the air, and his bike spun out and he crashed.

Or how often do you see guys in professional football, who make an amazing catch, run down the field for the touchdown, and instead of sprinting into the end zone they slow down and begin to celebrate early. Then out of no where comes another jersey who hits him before he scores.

What a shame to come that close to the goal, that close to the finish line and not make it.

For those of you who like math, maybe you have heard of the race between the Tortoise and the hare, or the turtle and the rabbit? They both have to run a hundred feet. The turtle runs at about a foot a minute. The rabbit runs half the remaining field every minute. So the first minute the turtle is only one foot into the race, and the rabbit is 50 feet. Then the next minute the turtle is only 2 feet in the race, and the rabbit is 75 feet, running half the remaining field. But of course the rabbit never crosses the finish line, because one half the field never actually gets you to the end, and in 100 minutes the turtle wins.

What a shame to be so close, and never make it past the finish line. As Christians, as disciples of Christ, we can fall into the same trap. You see there is a danger, that we as disciples become like the cycler or the wide receiver who make it close to the end but don’t cross the finish line. Like the Rabbit in the race we start off running fast, studying God’s Word and praying and serving, but we give up before we make it to the end.


I. Retell the Story

Jesus tells the parable about a certain persistent widow and an unjust judge. This judge is basically a corrupt and immoral man masquerading as a judge. He doesn’t fear God and he doesn’t care about man. Maybe over time he’s given up on the concept of justice. Maybe he just wants to use his position of power to receive bribes and look out for number one. Maybe he is just a cold-blooded guy that doesn’t care about anything.

Nevertheless a certain desperate widow kept coming to him and asking for justice. She appears to have no sons, as she comes alone to the judge and his desperate. We are not told what the issue was, but she is persistent. Maybe she is looking for justice for her husband’s death. Regardless, she is determined. She will have her justice.

Of course at first the judge doesn’t care about the widow. This just shows how bad of a judge he really is, because judges were supposed to especially care for widows and orphans. But to him, she’s just another lady asking him to do more work and it makes no difference to him. But she keeps coming and keeps coming.

Eventually the judge is annoyed with her, and he says, “Even though I don’t care in the least about what is right and wrong here, and even though I couldn’t care less about this widow, I’m going to give her justice simply so that she will leave me alone.” The judge answers her request and she gets what she so desperately longed for.

Shockingly Jesus applies this to God. He says we are supposed to be like the widow crying out for justice. And God is like the judge who is responsible for giving justice. Now, you hear this and may think, ‘Huh?’ How can God compare himself to the unjust judge? He is nothing like God.

But that’s the point, Jesus is using an argument from the lesser to the greater. If this is true of an unjust judge, how much more so is it true of God. God is not like the unjust judge, he is infinitely greater.

· This judge couldn’t care less about justice. God is infinitely concerned about justice.
· This judge did not fear God. God does not merely fear God, he is God
· This judge did not care about man. God cares more about us than we could ever imagine.
· This judge didn’t know this woman from Adam. God has chosen and loved his people like nothing else in the universe.

But if even this unjust judge will hear the request of this widow, then how much more so will God hear our Prayers. If this unjust judge will hear this widow, God Almighty will certainly hear us.

II. Big Idea

The good thing about this parable is we don’t have to guess what it is about. Luke tells us what this parable is all about from the outset in verse 1 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”

As disciples of Christ, Jesus is very concerned that we continue to pray and not give up. He calls us to make it past the finish line, make it to the end. It would be tragic for us to come all the way near the end in prayer, and give up. Disciples of Jesus continue to pray and never give up.


III. Application

I. Continue to Pray

(Hymn 517, bookmark ‘Pray without ceasing’)

As disciples of Christ, God calls us to pray without ceasing. Sometimes people ask, “How often should I pray?” And the answer to that is: continually. In fact, many people take this to mean we need to have to maintain a spirit of prayer. We need to try to live life in such a way that we are constantly talking and listening to God.

"You may as soon find a living man that does not breath, as a living Christian that does not pray." Matthew Henry

Friends if you want to grow as a Christian, I don’t know another way besides prayer. This is it. This is huge. Prayer has got to be central. There is no loophole around this one. There is no escape hatch from the prayer. But here is the funny thing about prayer, the more you do it, the more you will love doing it. Paul said that we train in godliness like physical training. It is a lot like going to the gym. (FBC people at the gym). The first time you go the gym, it hurts, you get sore, you feel weak. Then you start going consistently, once a week, twice a week, three times a week, and it starts to get easier and you start to look forward to it. It sets off the endorphins in your body and you feel more energy. In fact if you miss a week you feel bad, because your body feels icky. The same is true of prayer.

The more you pray, the more prayer will be a sweet retreat and refreshing oasis to your week. Prayer ceases to feel like a chore or a duty. Instead we look forward to praying, like we would look forward to talking to a loving Father.

Reverent but real. When we speak to God we speak to him reverent, but real. Be reverent. We shouldn’t talk to God like he’s some guy we met at mechanic shop. “Hey Gawd, you gonna do something for me today or what?” But at the same time God is not interested in you simply using fancy language. “I thank thee for thine bounty and for thine excellencies.” In fact Jesus said make sure you don’t babble like the pagans when you pray. Reverent, but real.

“God you are Holy and I am not, so I need you now to be with me as I go home to my family now. Give some grace to be a good husband and father, even though I’m exhausted. Amen.” Reverent.

“God. I just want to thank you for giving me this day. Thanks for that delicious breakfast I had this morning. Homemade waffles with real syrup (none of that sugar-free low-fat junk). And that bacon and sausage.” Real


That’s not a chore. That’s not a duty. That’s a conversation with someone we know and love. Reverent, but real. You are talking to a loving Father. I have one of those. I recently called up my dad for advice. I presented this situation to him, and said, what do you think I should do. So we talked about it, he gave me some advice. I took his advice and the situation was resolved. I thought, “My dad has learned a few things in his 55 years.”

Mark Twain once said, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

Here are a list of ideas that may help you in prayer. Some may be helpful for you, others may not be helpful for you.

1. Pray the Scriptures

2. Have a place and time of prayer

3. Journal when you pray

4. Come to Wednesday night, There is group prayer and there is private prayer.

5. Be willing to pray out loud

6. Sometimes just be silent

7. Pray with your family.

8. Pray while driving alone

9. Learn breathing prayers

10. Structure your prayers (ACTS, written)

II. Never give up

Jesus said disciples never give up. Persevere to the end in prayer. Think about this widow, she bugged this judge night and day. She was persistent. She stuck it out. That’s how determined we should be about pray.

Think about it, why did Jesus tell this story? I mean if God is not like the unjust judge and he loves us, and he always answers our prayers, why even tell this parable?

All of us know the answer from our own experience. Things aren’t so nice and tighty. God doesn’t always seem to answer us when we pray. Sometimes we feel like the widow who isn’t receiving justice. Sometimes we pray for something over and over, “God help me find a job”, and still no job. “God help my wife be healed of her cancer”, and still no healing. Why is that? I mean if God loves us, and wants what’s best for us, why then does he not give us that job or heal her of her cancer? That’s why he told this parable.

You see friends, God’s answer to our prayers are not always what we want them to be. God always answers the prayers of his people, but he doesn’t always answer them as we might expect. So, if it seems like God is not answering our prayers, we just keep asking him and begging him, but nothing seems to happen, what should we do? Jesus’ answer, Disciples continue to pray and never give up.

God is mysterious. This is deep stuff friends, this isn’t Christianity 101, we’ve moved on to 201. I remember teaching a class on prayer about a year or two ago. And one of the questions that kept coming up was “If God knows the future already, what does it matter if we pray or not?” And my answer was there is a mystery here. “You see, God not only knows the future, he also knows whether or not we are going to pray. So God is not only sovereign over what he wills for the future, but he is also sovereign over whether or not we pray for that will.” I think that caused more confusion than help. But here is what we can say God is completely sovereign over everything, AND God calls us to pray. How it all works together is not for us to know.

God is mysterious. He is not easy to understand. He is not like a giant candy machine. If I put in two prayers for health, then he gives me health. If I put in four prayers for a better marriage, then I get out a better marriage. Doesn’t work that way. God is mysterious. He is not a giant candy machine. He is a wise Father who doesn’t always explain himself to us. He doesn’t always give us an answer to the ‘why’ question. Instead he gives us himself, which is better by far.

God why are you not answering my prayer? God why did you not heal my spouse? Why did you not fix my marriage? Why did you not watch over my teenager that rainy night? And it is almost as if God puts his hand our shoulder like a wise old Father and says “You don’t need to know the answer to the ‘why’ question right now, but here’s what you need to know. I am right here with you. I am not going anywhere. You may not have what you asked for, but you have me. Don’t give up just because things haven’t turned out as you asked. Stick to it, in the end it will all make sense.”

We need to be persistent in prayer, like George Mueller. George Mueller was an evangelist in the 1800s in England. He was known for his orphanages, but also for his deep love of God. I recently came across this quote about Muller:

“One day George Mueller began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.”

Just like this persistent widow got an answer in then from an unjust judge, so God will give us an answer in the end. Just don’t give up. Persevere to the end in prayer. Finish the race. Don’t be like the bicyclist or the wide receiver who stopped before the finish line. Don’t be like the rabbit who runs fast in the beginning but never crosses the finish line.

This parable that Jesus told is not so much a parable about prayer as it is about perseverance. The context in Luke is about the end times. Oftentimes people will talk about the end times, and whether or not the end is near. You know what Jesus concern was? Not that his disciples would know the end, but that they always remain faithful to the end. People ask, ‘Do you think that we are near the end’. The truth is I don’t know, I don’t have a clue. Here is what I do know, whether Christ comes back tomorrow, or comes back in 10,000 years, he calls me to be faithful and pray. He calls me to never give up.

Just like the persistent widow never gives up, so it is true that we as Christians must never give up. We are called to persevere to the end. Notice how Jesus ends the parable, verse 8, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” When Jesus comes back will we still be persevering in prayer? Will he find us praying, or giving up?


Conclusion

Jesus tells us to continue to pray: to pray without ceasing. And he calls us to never give up: to persevere in prayer to the end.

Imagine if our church made prayer central to everything we do. Imagine if the first thought that came into people’s minds when they heard First Baptist Church is that is a church that loves to pray. That love to talk to God there.

Imagine what God would do to our church if we all prayed without ceasing; where we all maintained a spirit of prayer; where when someone expressed a difficult situation we come together and pray. When something great happens to our church, we thank God about it in prayer.

Imagine a church where we persevere in prayer; where we look to God as a loving Father who even though we don’t understand why he does things, we never give up.

The whole culture of the church would change. That would be a church that I would dream of being a part of. Continue to pray and never give up.

Follow the Leader

Exodus 13:17-22

Last summer Jess and I drove down to Florida to take the kids to Disney World. That is a long drive with two kids. In fact we took two nights to do it, one night in North Carolina, and one nigh in Savannah, GA. On the way back we decided to try and do it with only one night on the road. So we drove for hours straight through the day and late into the night. Sometime around midnight I believe we tried to find a hotel to stay in. What we didn’t know was that it was college football season in the Virginia area, and that virtually every hotel would be booked. So we kept driving and tried calling hotel after hotel trying to find a vacancy for miles, nothing. Finally it turns to around 2am. As you can imagine we are both extremely tired, the kids are sound asleep, and it is pitch black outside. I could barely keep my eyes open. Something needed to be done. I turn to Jess and say, ‘Here is the plan. We find a Starbucks at a rest stop and get a large caffeinated ice coffee. You drive for an hour and let me get a short nap. After that, I’m going to go ahead and just drive straight through the night. It may not sound very good, but we have no other choice. But before we do that, let’s pray and call one more hotel.”

So we pray, we are both tired and upset, and we try one last place. You guessed it, vacancy. We had called dozens of places before that. Thank God. Something became evident to me on that ride back. God was leading us the whole way. He allowed us to sweat a little, just to test how we would act. Just to see if we really trusted him throughout this journey. But the whole time, he was going before us.

Friends, How does God lead us, his people? How does he guide and direct his people? Turn with me if you will in your Bibles to Exodus 13:17-22.

Let us examine together how God’s leads us.

I. God sometimes leads his people by surprising detours (17-18)

Consider where “God did not lead them…” We read that God specifically did not lead them through the Philistine country. Now if you are trying to get to Israel from Egypt, that would be the road to take. Or so you would think. It was a whole lot shorter, 4 or 5 days. Instead God takes them around by the desert toward the Red Sea. So instead of taking them 4 or 5 days to get to where they are going, it takes them 40 years! So imagine you are trying to get from Boston to Los Angeles. You have two choices, you can take the shortcut, and drive down to Logan Airport, and fly out there in a matter of hours. Or you can take the scenic route and walk there wandering around the US for the next 40 years. You would think that was a no brainer, but God had different plans.

Consider with me for a moment where God has not lead you. Look back on your life and think for a moment. Think about the person you almost married but didn’t. God did not lead you there. Think about jobs you almost took but eventually felt lead not to. God did not lead you there. Think about the number of bad decisions you just about made but by God’s grace didn’t. God did not lead you there. Isn’t it amazing that decisions we made 10 or 20 years ago have shaped who we are today? Consider where God does not lead you. Step by step God has directed you in certain ways to shape who you are.

The reason why he lead Israel away from the short road is that direction would lead them into sin. If they went the short road they would face war, and would return as slaves back to Egypt. So, instead he takes them the long way to mold and shape them on the journey. For 40 years in the desert God was molding Israel. Sometimes that is why God has us take the long road. To protect us and mold us. God is not just interested merely in where we are trying to go. God is also interested in how we get there. He is also interested in the process.

This is true of us individually. And this is true of us as a church. Thinking about when we face big decisions, like with the building for example. God is not just interested in the outcome. He is interested in the process, whether we will seek first the kingdom; whether we will genuine seek him in prayer; whether or not we will be faithful even through difficulties; whether or not we will work together and be the church.

When you think about it, we will never really be at our final destination. Even when Israel returned to their land, they still had new challenges, new problems, and new adventures to go through. The same is true of us, even if we had a surplus budget, a perfectly restored building, a growing congregation, we will still not have arrived. We will still have new challenges, new problems, and new adventures. The question is how are we doing on the journey? How is God shaping and molding us through it all? God leads us sometimes through surprising detours.


II. God leads his people by His Promises (19)

God not only leads his people by his surprising detours, he leads them by his promises. Look at verse 19.

Why is this little section about carrying Joseph’s bones in here? Does that throw you off? Is that sort of like a useless aside? Doesn’t have anything to do with God leading Israel, but Moses wanted to throw it in.

It demonstrates a trust in God’s promises. God promised that Israel would eventually leave Egypt and come back to their land. So that even Joseph 400 years before they left Egypt, asked that his body be brought back when God fulfills his promise. He knew he could trust God’s promise. He could stake on that promise. God knew the end from the beginning and promised Israel that they will return. Think about Israel looking at the box of Joseph’s bones year after year for 400 years knowing that God would eventually bring them home. He gave his word. He made a promise.

It also shows the Israelites trust in the promise of the resurrection. The people of Israel took extreme care for the physical body even after death. The reason why is, they knew God will raise the dead. Now, they weren’t stupid, they know that the body decays, and eventually it will turn to dust, even the bones in time. God can raise his people from the dead, even from dust. He made us from dust once, he can do it again. But even still because God is the creator of the body, and the body will eventually be raised, the greatest respect should be given to the body even after death because the promise of resurrection.


God’s promises are always trustworthy. You and I make and break promises all the time. God doesn’t. Ever. If you want to know how God leads, look to his promises. They are like stakes in the ground that you can hold on to. They don’t move.

We need to know what God promises and what he does not promise. God does not promise health and wealth and prosperity. He does not promise a wonderful marriage and a great job, a big house with a dog and a cat in the yard. Search the Scriptures from beginning to end, and you will never see that promise.

Sometimes you will hear someone say “I can’t trust God, because he let my down. I lost my job and my marriage is falling apart.” That has nothing to do with trusting God. God may give you those things. It may be his leading for you to be married and to have a job you love. But never does he promise them. In fact God clearly says there will be trials and struggles and suffering. God’s sovereign over the journey, he’s in control of the global mapping system, but he never said it was going to be an easy go-lucky journey.

What does God promise? He promises grace and forgiveness for our sins through faith in Christ. He promises the Holy Spirit to comfort and sanctify us. He promises eternal life and resurrection. He promises that there can be joy in the midst of suffering and hope in the midst of trials. Those are promises that you can stake your life on. Study the Scriptures to know what God promises.

But friends, how amazing it is that we do have God’s promises to trust in. God sees the whole picture, he sees the end from the beginning, he knows where we are going before we even know we are going. His promises are trustworthy. He is leading us in a very specific direction to a very specific destination. Follow his leading by knowing his promises.


III. God leads his people by his Presence (20-22)

There used to be this old bumper sticker that said, “God is my co-pilot.” Then they came out with another bumper sticker that said, “If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.”

Look at verses 20-22. The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were physical representations of God’s presence. There is a big word used to describe this, it is called a theophany. There are times in Scripture where God reveals himself using some temporary image (Burning Bush, Ark of Covenant, Dove, etc)

Why the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire? Because they show God’s care. The cloud would block the hot desert sun during the day, and the fire would give light and warmth to the cool dark night.

But notice how God leads. The cloud and fire never leave them: while they ate, slept, or walked. God’s presence never leaves his people. He leads them by his own presence with his people. He’s not sitting in the control room up in Heaven somewhere, he’s the pilot. He is present with his people. He leads by his presence. To lead by presence is different and more powerful than leading merely by directions.

If you go flying on a Boeing 747, you are going to want to have a pilot with you. Or to take another example, if you go trekking through the Amazon jungle, you are going to want a guide with you. That is how God leads his people, with his own presence.

There are few leaders that people trust more than doctors. I can remember when Jess and I had Isaac, I was only 22 years old, and Jess and I had only been married for 1 year. We arrived at the hospital and they induced her into labor. I don’t know about you, but that is a pretty intense situation. I didn’t know anything about having a baby. I went through that short little class with Jessica, and we had those videos in High School that made everyone feel uncomfortable, but that’s about it. As we waited hour after hour for the time to come, things get a bit crazy. And the doctor doesn’t come until your pretty close to ready. Instead, you get a nurse assigned to you. Now the way it worked with our nurses is we ended up having three of them over the 14 hours or so of labor. For us, they got progressively better. The last nurse was great. The first one was new, and not the most friendly, and she didn’t seem very competent. So as time goes on Jess’ labor is getting stronger and stronger. She is in more and more pain. I’m trying to stay calm. And the nurse doesn’t seem to know what she is doing.

Finally the Doctor comes in. Doctor Weiner. He yells out a couple of orders to the nurse, does a couple of medical things to Jess, and says a couple of humorous words to me. And wow, what a feeling of relief. The Doctor is here. And as some of you know we ended up with some complications and we had an emergency C-section. But the Doctor was there to lead us through the whole process.

Now, I’m sure that the nurses were probably more competent than I gave them credit for. But there was something about having the doctor present. The one who knows what’s going on, the one who has done this hundreds of times, the one who is skilled, trained, gifted, to do this very thing. That was leadership.

That is how God lead Israel in the desert. Now, what does this have to do with today? I mean we don’t have a pillar of cloud directing us, or a pillar of fire telling us what to do next? How is God present with us today?

The cloud and the fire were just a shadow of God’s most stunning theophany to come. God’s presence was shown in Christ and his incarnation as the ultimate theophany! Christ was the image of the invisible God, the actual presence of God with us in human flesh. And as Christ died for us and rose from the dead, his promise is that he would be with us, by His Spirit forever.

You know what the goal of a church is? To follow the leader. It’s not to get complicated with numerous strategies and methods. It is not to rely on specific programs and unique ministries. It is not to try and be as attractive and appealing as we can to the culture. It is much simpler than that. It’s to follow the leader. Where is God leading us? What is God calling us to? What is God doing among us? What detour is he calling us to? What does he promise in his Word?



God leads his people by surprising detours. God leads his people by global mapping. God leads his people as the pilot. God leads his people.

I started getting into rock-climbing. One thing I learned is that if you are going on a serious climb, let’s say 400 feet in the air on steep rock wall. Perhaps the most important thing is to follow the leader. The leader is going to be the one with the experience. He is the one with the right tools. He is the one who has you in mind as you go. As the leader climbs, he will decide the path that everyone should take. It may be that he will take you on a detour that you don’t understand. Maybe he is trying to avoid a section of rock wall that is impossible to climb. Maybe he is trying to take you in a direction that has a ledge to take break. But he knows something you don’t.

He is the one who has studied the mountain and knows where to wedge stakes in the mountain. Stakes that you will need to trust in. If you fall it is those stakes that will need to hold your rope. Without them you will not only fall but will take everyone with you.

And finally he is the one who you have to trust. He will tell you what you need to do. You can ask him questions, let him know if your stuck. Let him figure things out for you. Because he’s the leader and he is right there with you.

We as Christians need to follow the leader. We need to recognize the detours God may be calling us to. I don’t have any in mind. But it may happen. Even when a certain direction seems to be the shorter direction, God may still be calling us to another direction. He is more interested in the process than merely the destination.

It means we need to trust promises. God is sovereign. He knows everything. He is in control. Look to his promises and stake in them. Study the Scriptures with an eye to God’s promises. Know where to stake your life. What does he actually promise, and what are things that he may or may not give.

And finally we need to look to his Presence. He is present with us. His Spirit is real and truly with us. The church a congregation lead by God’s Spirit. He has given us His Word, he has given us pastors and elders, but he Himself is also present with us. Let us faithfully follow the leader.

Adoption

The Authority of Adoption
John 1:9-13

Introduction

Ask someone near you who is a parent to tell you about their kids...What did you notice about the way people talked about their kids? People adore their kids. Mothers and Fathers love to talk about their kids. And the funny thing is they assume you like to talk about them too. Because they like to talk about their kids they assume that you do to.

While as any father, I’m going to do the same thing right now. I have two kids, a 6 year old and a 2 year old. My son Isaac, is the apple of my eye. He is just this very peculiar and very smart little boy. He loves to read and play with his animals. He will literally sit and read the Bible by himself for 30 minutes. But more than almost anything he likes to spend time with his dad. I can remember driving down to Disney World last summer and he and I talking at 2am as I drive. Just talking and talking while Jess and Sophie slept.

My daughter Sophie is the sweetest and most sensitive little thing in the world. She cries if you look at her funny. She’s the apple of my other eye. She is the slowest eater on the planet. We’ll sit down for lunch together and it will be dinner time before she finishes what’s on her plate. But she loves to dance, she loves to laugh, and she loves to cry.

There is no relationship like a mother or father has with their kids, right? Imagine if we could be like that to God. Imagine if we could have the right to be called children of God. Turn to John 1:9-13 where we are told that those who receive Jesus are given the right to be called children of God.

Read Passage

This passage is right at the prologue of John’s gospel. He is describing who Jesus is and what his purpose was. And he is saying that those who have been reconciled to God, those who have been justified in the court of God, have been given the right of sons and daughters. God has adopted us. The Greek word for ‘right’ literally means the ‘authority’. We have been given the authority of adoption, the right of sons and daughters

Just two points this morning. They are really two sides to the same coin.


First side, the Authority of Adoption means God is our Father (heads side)

As a Father God provides for you

Now one thing that must be said is not all people are God’s children. Notice in our passage, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” Most people have not recognized Christ to be Lord, they have not received him as Savior. What percentage of human beings are genuine Christians, there really is no sure way to tell. I hope it is growing percentage.

Sometimes you’ll hear someone say, “We are all God’s children.” Or “God is the Father of everyone.” Well in a very limited sense this is true, the Bible says “We are all his offspring” or in Ephesians God’s fatherhood is described as extending towards those in heaven and earth. God is the Creator to all, so in one sense yes he is the father of all. But this is not the normal understanding of God as Father. Sadly most people reject God. Most people do not receive Christ. And yet he is the provider even of them. God’s Fatherhood is much more specific. God adopts as his own those who receive Christ, those who believe in his name.

To them he gives the right to be called children of God. To them there is a re-birth. Born not of physical bodily birth, but of God, spiritually. To them is given the authority of adoption. To them God provides in a unique way.

Just like any good Father, God looks at his adopted children as his own. He treats us as his very own children. It is the highest privilege of a Christian. J I Packer says, “Adoption is…the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification” (Packer, Knowing God)

God could have justified us and saved us and not made us his children. But God does even more than that: he adopts us as his very own.

As a father God provides for his children. Father’s feel the need to provide for their kids. Every good father I know wants to provide for their children. How many fathers do we have here today? Let’s say you take your child hiking in the woods. You get lost and stranded. A few days go by and you have almost no water left. In fact dehydration is starting to set in. All you have is a sip left in your canteen. What do you do? You give it to your child. You provide even if you have to die for it.


God is a father that loves to provide for his children. Jesus tells us “…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” God provides for his children as a Father.

Think about the prayer Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread. As a father God provides for us

As a Father God disciplines us

Even as children of God we will face hardships. They are seen as a discipline to endure that God as a loving Father allows to happen. In Hebrews 12 we read:
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
Discipline is never fun to receive, but it is evidence of our adoption. When we know that it comes from a loving Father who really cares and has our good in mind, it’s easier to take. One more story about my kids. I promise this will be the last one for this sermon. I can remember one time specifically Isaac didn’t want to brush his teeth. But I told him, “Isaac you have to brush your teeth.” So he has the toothbrush in his mouth. He’s standing there in the bathroom looking at the mirror. But he’s not brushing. So I told him again “Isaac brush your teeth” and he said “I don’t know how” So we went back and forth a few times, same answer “I don’t know how” Finally I gave him a swat in the gluts, and instantly he remembered how to brush his teeth!

Friends when God disciplines us, that’s what it is. It is not a wrathful vengeance upon us. It is the loving discipline of a father. It is the careful swat in the gluts that gets us back on track.

One of the worst things a parent can do to a kid. One of the meanest, most hurtful, most devastating things a parent can do to their child: nothing. Apathy. Ignorance. Just to not care either way. “Whatever you do, son or daughter, go to college get arrested, I just don’t care.” That is wicked. And God is not wicked. He disciplines us and he cares for us. This is not one to one, as if every time we do something wrong we are going to a get a little swat. I think there are times when God uses blessings to discipline us as if to say, “See how much I love you even when you’re disobedient.” Nor does it mean that when something bad happens, if we get cancer, God is somehow punishing us. If we learn anything from the book of Job we learn that. But God does discipline us. He uses hardship to draw us to himself.

As a Father God loves us


This is something that it would be so easy to assume that Christians know, but is so deadly to overlook. Did you know that God loves you? If you have received Christ, if you have believed in his name, God loves you. Not just the person next to you, you. How much? like a son, like a daughter.

Jesus said, 27the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

Don’t make the heretical mistake of thinking, Jesus loves me, the Father doesn’t. The Father is angry with me, so it is a good thing I have Jesus. No, the heavenly Father loves you. He cares about you. He looks out for you. He knows you. He knows everything about you, and he still loves you. That’s a hard thing to do.

This is the difference the gospel makes. In the Old Testament it was common to see God as the Father of Israel, of the whole nation. But in Christ God is the Father of each of us individually. In fact I have an Israeli friend whom I was talking to. We were talking about how in Hebrew the word for father is abba. Do you call God abba? He said no, we call God abinu “our Father” but not abba. Friends, as Christians we call God not just our Father (the father of a people) but also abba, Father as in me individually. God has adopted you personally. God loves you.

Mac Anderson and Lance Wubbels tell the story about an old man who while searching through his attic finds two journals. His own journal from years passed, and his sons.

he sat down at his desk and placed the two journals beside each other. His was leather-bound and engraved neatly with his name in gold, while his son's was tattered and the name "Jimmy" had been nearly scuffed from its surface…
As he opened his journal, the old man's eyes fell upon an inscription that stood out because it was so brief in comparison to other days. In his own neat handwriting were these words: Wasted the whole day fishing with Jimmy. Didn't catch a thing. With a deep sigh and a shaking hand, he took Jimmy's journal and found the boy's entry for the same day, June 4. Large scrawling letters, pressed deeply into the paper, read: Went fishing with my dad. Best day of my life.

Friends God is not that type of father. He is not a father who sees you as a waste of time. He doesn’t see time with you as a day lesser spent. In fact it is us who so often neglect time with him. God delights in you as his very own.

God loves you. God adopted you.


Second side, the Authority of Adoption means we are children (tails side)

Children are supposed to adore their Father

Now, of course it is true that not all children adore their father. There are bad fathers. There are fathers who abuse their children. There are fathers who walk out on their children. There are fathers who spend so much time at work that they mine as well have walked out on them. Chances are that some here have had a really hard time with their fathers. Seeing God as Father for you is going to take a little work, going to take some time and patience and rethinking.

So we must understand that God is a good Father. In fact he is a perfect Father. He never ever acts evilly. He may do things we don’t understand that may hurt for the time being, but He never acts sinfully. With a good father, children adore their Father.

Often, this just happens instinctually. Oftentimes you don’t have to tell a kid to honor his father, he just does. You walk in the door, and the kids come running. But this is commanded in Scripture too. It is one of the 10 commandments “Honor your mother and father”. This is repeated in the New Testament in Eph 6 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother’ –which is the first commandment with a promise—‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” There is a Scriptural precedent for honoring your father.

For those who have been adopted by God, this is the type of relationship we are to have with God. For God, one of the ways this respect or honor is expressed is worship.

Now, there is a certain worship that comes with knowing God as God. Even if God were not our Father, we would worship him. God is King, God is Judge, God is God. But, there is something even more worshipful knowing God is Father.

Because God is also your Father, this doesn’t make you worship him less but more. Subjects in a kingdom will respect a king as king, but the son or daughter of the king will respect him even more than the subjects, not less.

Let us adore God as father!

Children are to feel safe from their Father’s wrath

Now, this doesn’t mean children don’t need good old-fashioned punishment every once in a while. We’ve talked about that already. I mean children are safe from their father’s wrath: A guy breaks in the back door in the middle of the night when the wife and kids are sleeping, dad jumps out of bed and grabs a baseball bat and runs after him. That type of wrath. Full-out, no-holds-bar, you can run but you can’t hide, wrath. A father doesn’t use that kind of wrath on his children. If he does, he’s abusive, and he’s a bad father. That wrath is meant for an intruder, not a son or daughter.

The wrath of God is not meant for his children, those who have been adopted. There is a wrath of God in Scripture, and it is meant as judgment for sin. Don’t misunderstand God, adoption does not mean that the eternal Almighty God has turned into a big teddy bear. God is a consuming fire, who maintains a terrible wrath upon evil. Read Revelation. But it is not for God’s children. No we have received Christ and have believed in his name. We are justified and reconciled to God. We are adopted as his own. Just like your kids should never have to fear your wrath (a spank on the bum yes, wrath no), so we do not have to fear the wrath of God.

We read in Romans 8:15, For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Children are supposed to model their father

My dad is an airline mechanic. My brother Mike is an airline mechanic. I have no idea how to fix an airplane, but my dad loves sports and I love sports. A son or daughter begins to model their parents. This is true of work and this is true of godliness.
Al Sanders writes in his book Crisis in Morality of the descendents of two men, one an atheist and the other a studious Christian minister Jonathan Edwards.
"Max Jukes, the atheist, lived a godless life. He married an ungodly girl, and from the union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. His 540 descendants cost the State one and a quarter million dollars.
"But, praise the Lord, it works both ways! There is a record of a great American man of God, Jonathan Edwards. He lived at the same time as Max Jukes, but he married a godly girl. An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards of which 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice-president of the United States, 80 became public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries. His descendants did not cost the state a single penny. 'The memory of the just is blessed' (Prov. 10:7)."
Children model their parents. Again this isn’t always true. If you had parents who weren’t Godly, it doesn’t mean you will be ungodly. But oftentimes we do model our parents. I like to read books, my kids like to read books. Jessica likes to do arts and crafts, our kids like to do arts and crafts.

In Scripture we are called to model our heavenly Father. Of course this is a pretty high calling when it comes to God. Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48). Some people complain, ‘I will never be as good as my dad.’ While as a Christian friend, you can be absolutely certain, you will never be as good as your Heavenly Father. Nevertheless it is something we strive for, we pursue as sons and daughters. To model your earthly father is to honor him. It honors God as father that we strive to be like him.

The Authority of Adoption means we are God’s children.


Conclusion

I hope friends, that the reality of adoption will become more and more larger in our thinking. God as Father and we as children will begin to be central in how we view God.

God adopted you. He took you as his very own. I’m not sure if anyone here has ever adopted a child or who here is adopted. But let’s imagine an adoption. You finish all the extensive paperwork. You finish making all the payments. Adoption is expensive these days, easily costing in the tens of thousands. You travel far to go and find your child. Many adoptions nowadays are in Russia or China or Vietnam. You have to go there and pick up your child. So you travel halfway across the globe to your child.

You finally find the place and walk into the adoption agency. It is probably a dirty dingy place. It’s loud and smelly, with more babies than the workers can handle. You walk past all the different babies. You finally stop at one particular place. You turn towards one particular little crib. You see your particular little child. Alone, helpless, crying. You reach in and you grab hold of your child. The one you adopted. You pick him up. You hold him high above your head. And you say “This is my son, my very own. You will come home with me. Everything I have is yours. I’ll protect you and take care of you and love you.”

That is what God did to you. God adopted you. He paid for you. At the price of Christ’s death and resurrection in our behalf. He traveled a great distance to get you. He went into the dingy and dirty sinful world for you. He saw you helpless. He reached down and grabbed hold of you. He lifted you up and held you high and said “This one is my very own.” “My son or my daughter” “you will come home with me.” “All that I have is yours” God loves you. God chose you. God adopted you.

Men we have the rights of sons. Women you have the rights of daughters. To have a Father who provides, and disciplines, and loves you. To be children who adore, and feel safe, and model our Father. Let’s use these rights as children of God.

Glorification

Glorification
Matthew 25:31-46

What is it like to be glorified? Jesus actually doesn’t tell us a whole lot about it. He doesn’t describe in detail what we will be doing, what we will look like, what we will be thinking. It’s a bit mysterious. We know it is going to be wonderful, we know it is going to be joyous and worshipful. But the emphasis is not on what we will be like, but on our preparation for it. We are called to live in such a way as to prepare for eternity.

Jess and I just came back from a trip to Louiseville, KY (two syllables). We went there to attend a Pastor’s conference Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, didn’t end up getting back till Friday. And we are so different when it comes to preparing. I find it best to not concern myself with anything that I can figure out when I get there. Jess is a civil engineer, enough said. Before we left Jess asked me a number of questions about preparation that I could care the least about. Things like “When is check in?” or “What time does the flight arrive?” or “What are we going to do with our luggage?” you know little things like that. After the conversation I was convinced that I should at least figure out how we are going to get from the airport to the hotel.

I can’t blame her though, it’s important to be prepared. When you are heading into something major, like being away from the kids for three days in a different state, you want to be ready. Well friends, what if you were heading into a new life of eternity, wouldn’t you want to be prepared? Shouldn’t we at least give it some preparation before it comes? We are heading to a new Kingdom, an eternal Kingdom? Shouldn’t we be ready?

Let’s look together at Matthew 25:31-46, where Jesus gives us a description of what this eternity will look like. We are called to know and love Christ to prepare for an eternal Kingdom.

I want to look at two ways to prepare for an eternal Kingdom

I. Know the King

The most important way we can prepare for an eternal kingdom is by knowing a few things about the King. Here are a few things we need to recognize about the King in preparation for his eternal kingdom.

Recognize Jesus is the King

In this passage one thing is certain: Jesus is the King. He is the eternal King of the Kingdom. He will come in his glory surrounded by angels and sitting upon his throne. He gathers all the nations before him. This is serious power.

Jesus’ coming the second time will be very different than his first coming. The first coming is one in which he comes as the suffering servant. The second coming he comes with glory and power. Matthew Henry writes, “his first coming was under a black cloud of obscurity; his second will be in a bright cloud of glory.” In his second coming, there will be no mistake that Jesus has the right to rule. In preparation for eternity we need to recognize Jesus rightful rule over everyone and everything. He is King of all Kings.

Anyone here ever meet the President of the United States? Not just the current one, but any president of the United States? I think it would be awesome to meet the president and shake his hand (or her hand!). I’m not talking about politics here, Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative, I would like to meet the President. Just out of respect for the Office I think it would pretty cool.

I would get dressed up. Make sure I’m clean shaven. When he walks by I would probably unconsciously stand up straight. My voice would probably drop a few levels “Hello, Mr. President, very nice meet you.”

Here’s what I wouldn’t want to do. Mistake his identity. Hello Mr…begins with a B. Bosh, Bish, Bush! I thought so, I knew it was George something. Your dad was president too right? Yeah. Gotcha. Same name.

That would not be a good way to start a relationship with the President.

In preparation for eternity, recognize Jesus as the rightful Ruler of the Universe. He will come and he will reign.


Recognize Jesus as Judge

Friends, not only will Jesus rule, he will judge. He separates all people one from the other as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats. Sheep on the right, goats on the left. The sheep are the righteous ones and the goats are the wicked ones.

I remember I was talking about this passage to someone and I said, it is not as if Jesus has anything against goats, if he wanted to he could have switched it around and said the goats are the righteous and the sheep are the wicked. The person looked at me and said something like, “You don’t know much about goats” Well, I hadn’t then. But I visited Ingaldsby Farm last year a number of times, and they keep the sheep and goats in the same pen together. I have to agree with this person now. The goats are mean-spirit little devils. The kept head-butting the poor sheep. We would try to feed them and they were terrible little things. So I guess in hearing this in an agricultural society, this would make more sense than it did at first to me.

But Jesus perfectly separates all people into two categories. These categories are clear and unmistakable. We live in a time when people like gray areas. My friend is sort of a Christian. This girl I know is kind of saved. My co-worker she is like a Christian. In the end there will be no gray areas when it comes to Jesus’ judgment. And Jesus will make no mistake in his judgment. Again Matthew Henry writes, “This separation will be so exact, that the most inconsiderable saints shall not be lost in the crowd of sinners, nor the most plausible sinner hid in the crowd of saints, but every one shall go to his own place.”

Notice carefully how he separates people. Not by race or ethnicity. All nations are gathered TOGETHER. Friends, Jesus judgment is colorblind when it comes to race. There are no whites, Hispanics, blacks, Asians, Canadians. There are only sheep and goats in the end.

Jesus decides the eternal fate of every human being. He decides whether they are blessed or condemned. He decides their destiny. Friends, Jesus is the Judge. Prepare for eternity by recognizing his ability to judge. Recognize this carefully. If we don’t, we will be sorely sorry about it.


Recognize Jesus authority to give

Notice what Jesus gives. He tells those on his right, his sheep, “Come, you are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” What a gift friends! What an inheritance! A kingdom prepared for us since the creation of the world!

I was with a group of seminary students listening to a fellow student give a sermon. In the sermon he mentioned that he had a rich grandmother who was dying, and was leaving all of her inheritance to him. As he was preaching, you could see the emotion welling up inside of him as he said “But I don’t even care about it, I just want my grandmother.” It was pretty emotional. What do you think was going on in the minds of all us seminary students? Remember seminary students are sinners too. My guess is we were all thinking “Boy he really loves his grandmother, and at the same time, lucky dog, I wish I had a wealthy grandmother who was going to leave her inheritance to me.”

Friends, if you are a Christian, you and I have an inheritance coming that is far greater than any inheritance in this world. If Donald Trump or Bill Gates were leaving everything to you it would not compare. We have an eternal kingdom awaiting us. And who is going to give it to us? Jesus. He alone has the authority to give. Recognize this.

But also beware. Not only does he have a blessing to give, he also has a punishment to dish out. Verse 41, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Friends this parable is a passage of great comfort or of great warning depending on who you are. For some it is about a mighty inheritance. For others, it is a terrible condemnation. And friends, this is not a temporary ordeal. It is eternal.

Notice how Jesus ends this description verse 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” These are eternal destinies. So, prepare for your eternal destiny by knowing the King.


II. Love the King

It is not enough just to recognize who Jesus is, we must also have a relationship with him. We need to love him. I think we might be surprised in how he tells us to do this.

Love the King by being one of his own

One thing is clear in hearing Jesus’ words. You want to be a sheep. You don’t want to be a goat. Be a sheep. Now, how do we become a sheep? The thoughtless answer is “By doing what a sheep does” feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. But think about that a little more. If a goat tried to sound like a sheep, walk like a sheep, and eat like a sheep, what would it be? A goat. A goat can’t make itself a sheep no matter how sheepish it is!

How does one become a sheep? How does one become a Christian? By turning in repentance and faith in Christ, the Shepherd. Through faith in Christ, God transforms us into a sheep. Remember the fruit tree analogy. Fruit trees bear fruit that reveals that it is a fruit tree. God must first make us a fruit tree, then we will bear fruit. In the same way, God must first make us a sheep, then we will begin to act like sheep.

We don’t become a Christian because we act like one, we act like a Christian because we have become one. And we become a Christian only through trusting in Christ by faith.

Now some people may hear that and say, “I don’t know. It really does seem like Jesus is saying we are saved by our works. Maybe what we do makes us a sheep”

A few things make it clear that that is not what he is saying. This is so important I think it is worth spending some time making this clear.

1. Jesus separates the sheep and goat before the judges their actions. Jesus separates them based on who they are not on what they did. What they did is the evidence that follows.

2. The Father has already prepared the inheritance. It is prepared specifically for the sheep since the creation of the world. If we can end up going either way, at one minute we’re a sheep, another minute we’re a goat, based on our actions, then how can there be an inheritance ready for us since the creation of the world?

3. Jesus judges us as a group: In this parable Jesus doesn’t judge each sheep and goat individually, he looks at them as a group. Sheep, you did what was right, heaven is prepared for you. Goats you did what was evil, Hell is prepared for you. If we are saved by works, then you would think Jesus would have to examine each one individual and weigh their works.

4. The sheep are surprised. What are they surprised about? Not that they are sheep, they know that. They are surprised that Jesus would commend their works. They had no thought that their works were earning salvation. They did them out of love not trying to earn salvation.

D A Carson writes, “The surprise of the righteous makes it impossible to think that works of righteousness win salvation...The sheep did not show love to gain an eschatological reward…” (Carson 522)

Friends, the most important way we can prepare for eternity is by becoming a sheep, becoming a Christian. The only way you can become a sheep who belongs to the Good Shepherd, is by trusting in Christ as your Redeemer. It is by grace alone through faith alone.


Love the King by loving your neighbor

How do we love the King? Well yes we do it by worship and prayer and praise to Jesus. But Jesus points out another way we do it. We do it by loving our neighbor.

Loving “these brothers of mine” Specifically fellow Christians (Jesus calls them his brothers, which is always a designation of Christians), This doesn’t mean we are not called to love everyone, but Jesus is probably referring to fellow Christians in this case.

“The least of these” he is referring specifically to the ‘least of these’ in this case. Jesus calls us to serve the down and out. Who needs your help? Those are the ones Jesus says when you love them, you love me!

How important is this? Very important. It is our way of preparing for eternity. Clearly in Scripture there is a calling for us to act. Christians are not merely those who have come to a certain philosophy. They are people who act like Christ. We are called to serve and love our fellow Christians with compassion and love. If you are not doing that, take heed. Beware! Examine yourself. Though we are not saved by our works, our works are examined as evidence. Jesus will look at our works as the evidence of whether or not we have truly believed.

Jesus gives us a list. Feed the hungry. Give a drink to the thirsty. Clothe the naked. Care for the sick. Visit those who are in prison. Have you fed the hungry in the last 30 days? Cared for the sick? This is very convicting for me.

Shouldn’t we just send money? Let the experts handle it. I mean we can do a lot more with our money than we can by serving ourselves. Well, definitely give generously, but it’s more than that. Think about it, how can you put a price tag on what God does in your own heart when serving? How can you put a price tag on the one-on-one relationships you will build when you serve someone? Right now 5 people from our church are heading out on the mission field in La Romana. Yeah we could have just send money, but that is not what God calls us too. We need to get down and dirty and serve. Jesus is saying visit prisons, feed hungry people, care for sick people. Serve, and in doing so we will find ourselves serving not just our neighbor but Christ himself. Storing up evidence for the day of judgment.

Prepare for eternity by loving the King through loving your neighbor.

Friends, it is of first important for us to be prepared for eternity. For the simple reason that everything else is temporary. Sure you can prepare yourself for a career: going to college, finding a job, saving for a house. You can prepare yourself for kids, buying all the cribs, strollers, and high chairs. You can prepare yourself for retirement. 401Ks, social security. That will last 20 maybe 30 years if you are really diligent. But what about eternity? Are you prepared for eternity? Are you ready to enter into an eternal kingdom?

Are you prepared? God is prepared for you. Notice God’s preparation. God is very careful in his preparation. There are in this passage two places prepared by God. One place is for sheep and one place is for the goats. The one for the goats is actually prepared not for them, but for the Devil and his angels. God didn’t create hell for human beings made for his glory. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us this is the destiny of those who reject Christ. They neither know the King nor love the King.

But there is also another place prepared by God. God has prepared a kingdom since the creation of the world. An eternal inheritance. It took a lot of preparation. In order to prepare this place for his sheep, God planned to send his Son into the world. And God planned to crush his Son by the sins of the world. In fact if you read the chapters following our chapter, 25, you will see how God has prepared this kingdom for you. God prepared it with the atonement of his own Son. God sent his Son into the world to prepare a place for you and God crushed his Son on the cross instead of you to prepare a place for you. God is prepared. He is prepared for an eternal kingdom. He is prepared to judge between the sheep and the goats, between eternal life and eternal punishment. God is prepared. Are you? Do you know the King? Jesus is the King, he will judge, he has the authority to give. And if you know him, do you love him? Do you love him as a sheep, a Christian, his very own. And do you love him by caring for your neighbor? This is not a 3 day trip to Louiseville, this is eternity? Jesus calls us to be prepared.

Prepare for it by knowing the King and Loving the King who has prepared a place for you.