Pharisees and Pharaohs

This week I preached on John chapter 9. In this story we see what happens every time God reveals himself to humans. There are one of two options: "See" God like you've never seen him before or go from blind to worse.

In John chapter 9, the blind man goes from vaguely knowing about "the man called Jesus" to saying "Lord I believe" and laying flat faced in the dirt. The Pharisees go from being slightly annoyed by their latest competition to conspiring for the purpose of committing the murder of God himself. These extremes are seen throughout the Bible - both Old Testament and New.

This morning, my family and I were looking at the story of the ten plagues from the book of Exodus. God reveals himself to the Egyptians and specifically to Pharaoh in an amazing way. He starts with minor annoyances like the Nile turning to blood and frogs popping up everywhere. It's not without purpose though. For the Egyptians, the Nile was divine as was the sun (remember the plague of darkness?). One of their gods even resembled a frog.

God was sending a specially designed revelation of himself to the Egyptians and to Pharaoh. The result? Some see and some go from blind to worse. Pharaoh goes from blind to worse. Think of what he would have to do to believe in the one true God of the Hebrews. He'd have to completely dismantle the Egyptian religious system. A system that actually declares him divine. Then he has to kiss off most of his labor force and completely tank his economy.

He's not much different than the Pharisees of Jesus' day. They both stand to loose a great deal. Others are impacted by God's revelation. Even from a distance. Miles away in a town called Jericho, stories are flying through the streets about the God of the Hebrews. How that God delivered them from the hands of the most powerful military force on the planet. A prostitute named Rahab hears these stories and when she meets up with a few Hebrew spies on a fact finding mission, she says this to them:

"I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. ¹⁰ We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. ¹² Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign ¹³ that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death." Joshua 2:8-13

Something tells me she would have been a better Pharoah. She has been impacted by the way that God has revealed himself through the exodus. Instead of seeing what she could loose for trusting in God, she sees what she can gain. Life and protection for her and her family. The blind man is in much the same situation. Nothing to loose and everything to gain.

The truth is that this is all of our predicaments. The control that we think we have over our lives is only an illusion. The only thing that we can know for sure is the character of God. That He is the "Lord God in heaven above and on the earth below" and can be trusted with our lives. So as God reveals himself to you this week (ultimately through Christ) think not of what you will loose if you believe - and therefore harden yourself to him. Remember the Pharisees and the Pharaoh and realize that in comparison to what you will be gaining, you have nothing to loose.

The Ultimate Weapon in the War

We've been talking about the war that every Christian finds themselves in. How Jesus actually sends us into the fire fight and gives us His Joy and Truth as powerful weapons against a real life enemy. In Jesus' prayer for his disciples in John 17 we discover the ultimate weapon:

"For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified." (Jn 17:19)

As was said earlier, this sanctify word keeps popping up. It means to make holy, to be set apart for the purposes of God. Jesus uses it to describe his going to the cross. He means that his going to the cross is an expression of him being set apart for the purposes of His Father. Because He is willing to do that, he then makes a way for his disciples (and us) to be "truly" sanctified.

Earlier Jesus mentions that we are sanctified by truth (the word of God). Here he reveals that we are sanctified by His death on the cross. This is our ultimate weapon in the war against sin, death, the demonic. For one, we've already won. That's right, we've already won this battle in Christ. The Apostle Paul says it this way in Romans chapter 8:

"³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Notice that he says we "are" conquerors. No matter how successful or unsuccessful we are in this very messy spiritual battle that we find ourselves in, our victory is certain. It's sort of like watching Return of the King for the 50th time with my sons. Every time I watch Frodo decide to not throw the ring of power into the pit of molten lava below, I feel a little twinge of disappointment, wishing he would do the right thing, hoping maybe this time he will act like a hero and throw it in.

Then I remember, I know the ending. Yeah, he's not going to be the perfect hero, but victory is sure. Evil will be defeated and Frodo and the other hobbits will be seen as heroes, though imperfect and unlikely, but heroes.

So remember today as you battle. As you succeed and fail. Victory is sure because of the cross. The perfect hero has defeated sin and death and the demonic and transfers that victory over to us both in this life and the life to come.

Sent Like Jesus

Bullets are flying everywhere. All you want to do is duck for cover and hope it all blows over. Jesus' disciples find themselves in such a predicament on the Thursday night before Good Friday. Tension is running high and Jesus starts praying (John 17). It calms their hearts and helps them believe that everything is going to be alright. Then they hear several disconcerting phrases in the prayer, one of which is this one:

"As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." John 17:18

Earlier Jesus had said that the world hated the disciples. Now He says that He is sending the disciples into the teeth of that same world and doing so in much the same way that God the Father sent God the Son. What does He mean by this?

In a word, "Incarnation". God the Son stepped out of the heavenlies in order to become human, live like a human, hurt like a human, be tempted like a human, and then die like a human. This identification with human beings was God's way of communicating His love for us. It's now a model for the disciples (and all other Christians) for how they are now sent to impact the world.

So what does this mean for us as Christians being sent back into the war zone? It means that we step out of our comfortable heavenlies and into the lives of people who are in need of the good news of the Gospel. It translates into really practical actions:

Introducing yourself to people
Helping your neighbor shovel their snow
Sending a card on a special occasion
Making a meal for someone who is sick
Inviting someone to dinner, or to a hockey game, or game night
Asking people questions about their lives
Helping someone move, or paint their house, or . . .
Watching someone's house or pets for free
Complimenting someone on the good job that they do
Giving money to someone in need
Offering your tools, cars, house . . . with generosity
Being available to people who are in crisis
Offering to pray for people who are in tough situations
Celebrating big moments in the lives of others

The other day, I was shoveling snow in my front drive. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my elderly neighbor struggling to get his car out of a snow bank. I quietly prayed that God would help him get unstuck so I wouldn't have to go over and help him out. Now that I think of it, that was a pretty dumb prayer. A lot of good it would have done my neighbor if God would have answered that prayer completely unbeknownst to him.

Of course he remained stuck, so I walked on over. For the next hour I shoveled and chipped and pushed and still the car stayed stuck. Every few minutes I would look around to see if any of the other neighbors were around to help out. Not one car in anyone's driveway. Finally, after the hour was up, my son Kory and I were able to get the car out. Immediately, as if on que, neighbors were driving into their driveways just missing the opportunity to help out. The result, thank God, was incarnation. An opportunity for me to sacrificially love my neighbor for a whole hour in the name of Christ.

It's these kinds of actions that not only bless people, but communicate something to them about the Gospel. As we step out of ourselves and into the lives of others, we are modeling what God did for us in the incarnation. He, who had every right to focus on Himself, got down on his hands and knees like a parent loving a little child and made it abundantly clear that He loved us. I'd say that most of us didn't believe that this love was real, until we first knew at least a facimile of that love from another person who claimed Christ as their source of love. So with that in mind, armed with joy, truth, and love, it's out of the bunker and back out into the world. See you in the battle.

Another Weapon for the War

So last post I broke the disappointing news that Jesus is not going to extract us out of the combat zone that is our lives here on planet earth. I also said that weapon one for this battle is joy. I got all this from Jesus' prayer for his disciples in John 17. After praying about joy, he then moves on to another topic - that of holiness.

This seems to be a very important issue for a people who are supposed to be holy while living in an unholy place. So what would you expect Jesus to say? I know what I would expect. That He would pray about his people being protected from those bad ole nonchristians on planet earth. That they would stay pure and listen only to Christian music and only see G movies. Things like that. But that's not what he prays at all. Here's what He says:

^"17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." John 17:17

Notice the word "sanctify" popping up quite a bit. It's a word that means to make holy, to set apart for the purposes of God. In Jesus' prayer, He prays that this process would come about by exposure to truth and not a reduction in exposure to bad influences. Now don't get me wrong, there is a place for limiting the negative things (including some people) that influence us but listen to what Jesus is praying here.

He's saying that more important than isolationism is the regular exposure to truth and that through the power of God's Spirit, that truth makes us holy. It's another weapon in the war. Part of why truth is so important in this battle is that our enemy (not people but the evil one) has only one weapon and it's the lie. Hear Jesus describe the enemy's strategy:

"He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44b

Because the enemy is lobbing lies at every possible opportunity, we must be constantly reminded of the truth. The obvious source of this truth is the Bible. It is our storehouse for God's truth and is essential in the fighting off of a myriad of destructive influences that surround us every day.

It is this truth driven santification that then gives us the holiness to enter back into the war zone and keep ourselves in the fight as holy soldiers in an unholy world.

Weapon one for the war - JOY

So we're in a war zone. Now what? How do we go about fighting, even winning, in this war? Take a look at a portion of a prayer of Jesus from John 17:

¹³"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them."

Weapon one: Joy

Notice that Jesus explains what he hopes his training and prayers will lead to for the disciples - Joy. Not just any Joy, but the full measure of Jesus' joy within them. At first glance, we might be thinking that this must mean that Jesus is going to shield us from all of the blows of the battle. Maybe even evacuate us out of the combat zone. Not so. Read the next part:

^"14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

He makes it clear that the disciples are going to be hated and that there is a real enemy (the evil one) who is waging a war against them. He also makes it clear that He is not asking the Father to extract them out of harms way. So where's the joy in that?

Notice that Jesus says that the disciples are not of the world any more than Jesus is of the world. Now I can certainly understand how Jesus is not really at home on ole planet earth - but the disciples? Come on. These guys are about as "down to earth" as you can get.

Jesus is speaking of their citizenship. Even though the disciples have never hung out in heaven (like Jesus has) heaven is their home. They are no longer citizens of Israel or Rome or any other earthly designation. Their home is heaven. Now that is cause for Joy.

It's also a very needed concept for people living in a war zone. The fact that this earth is not our home, frees us up from being crushed every time it doesn't live up to our expectations - which is often. This helps us keep our heads up and our hearts full of courage as we meet the onslaught experienced in the battle.

It also helps us enjoy the abundant life that Christ is offering in the here and now. Knowing that we will always be hungry for deeper relationships, more rest, absence of pain . . . (aka heaven), we can see the good in life as glimpses of the eternal life to come. This way our soaring expectations can come down to earth and we can experience the Joy of knowing God through his good, through fallen, creation.

So here's to Joy in our eternal future. Relish in it often and do not lose heart in the fight for your life and the lives of those around you.