Marvel

Second Thessalonians 1:11 is becoming one of my favourite verses about the end of time. It tells us that Christ will return to be 'marveled at'. When Christ returns we will be weak at the knees with astonishment, our minds well and truly blown by the majesty and shear marvelous-ness of Jesus.

But we needn't wait until that day to marvel at the Son of God, in fact i'd argue, and base my preaching and teaching on the argument, that to survive, and thrive as a Christina we must marvel at Jesus. We have a view of Jesus that makes every other attraction and distraction in the world, look dim and boring. We must make the world to Jesus as every other woman is to our spouse. Our marriages won't survive if we are as interested in other women, our faith won't survive if we are as interested in other gods.

Hebrews exists to help us do just that. I think (because John Piper told me) that the money shot of the whole book is Hebrews 13:13: 'let us go to Him...' The author spends the preceding chapter telling us who 'Him,' is and why He's worth it. Oh and He's worth it. worth reproach instead of riches, worth living in a cave, worth the confiscation of your property. 

Chapter 2:10-18 paint this truth in bold colours for us. Jesus is our salvation author. He's the pioneer and leader of our salvation. The stunning truth is that it was fitting for Him to taste death for us. Fitting! us! Are you marveling yet?! It fit God's character and attributes for Jesus to lay down His life for you and me! What sort of other-worldly good news is this?

Jesus is our sanctifying brother. He is not ashamed of us in the midst of the congregation, He claims us as His own, because we all have the same source, God. He calls us to trust our common Father, and to delight in trusting Him. Maybe you're ashamed of what you've done this week or today. But Jesus looks at you and says 'sanctified!' 'Not ashamed!' 'Brother!'

 Jesus is our Satan-conquerer. He tasted death, drank it down, drained the cup, and left it in the grave. Satan took his best shot, and lies defeated on the mat. And because of that we're free. Free from the fear of death. In fact it's even better than that. The devil's greatest weapon has become our greatest vehicle. Where oh death is your sting? Taken by Jesus, all the way into the grave, and left there.

And Jesus is our sympathizer. It's not angles that He helps, it's you and me. This lion is the lamb. This king is the feet washer. This God is here for us. The Gospel is not 'help wanted,' but 'come and eat.' Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted, much much more than any of us.

What else in the world offers this? Who else in the world offers this? There's nothing, there's no one. Let us out rejoice, out marvel, the offers of sin, and let us go to Him.

God's Commitment To His Mission

God is totally, eternally committed to bringing glory to Himself by bringing people to Jesus.

God’s first concern is His own glory. It has to be, because God is not an idol worship, and God is the only being in the universe for whom this is not idol worship. The best news, the Gospel news, is that God’s is glorified on Earth primarily by the salvation of sinners, that’s you and me. Remember in John 17:1 Jesus prays ‘father glorify your son that your son may glorify you.’ That is, send me to the cross, that the whole world may look to me an be saved, and as they are saved they will glorify you.

Since this is the story of God, and the story of the church, we should expect it to be the story of the Bible. And it is. From Genesis to Revelation we find a God bringing glory to Himself by bringing a people to Jesus. It’s a lifetimes’ study to unpack all of this, so we’re going to land in four different places this evening, Genesis 3:9, 2 Samuel 7:13, Habbakuk 2:14, and of course, Matthew 28.

Look at Genesis 3:9. The Lord called out to Adam and Eve. He came looking for them. He knew what they had done and He knew they were hiding, but it didn’t stop Him. He came out looking for them. And so must we. He came looking for them in their sin, He came looking for us in our sin, now He sends us to look for others.

In 2 Samuel 7:13 we read ‘He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever.’ What’s happening here? David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, but God told Him that He was going to do something instead. And what was that something? One of David’s sons would sit on David’s throne forever. Who is this son? Jesus! That’s why Mathew’s Gospel starts with a long list of names, so that we know who Jesus is. David’s Son who sits on the throne. And if He sits on the throne as our King, shouldn’t the greatest ambition of our lives be to serve Him and honour Him and extend His kingdom? We are ambassadors of the King, we have to tell people that He reigns!

And this King really will reign over all the Earth. Look at Habakkuk 2:14. ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters fill the seas.’ Habakkuk was depressed and confused about God’s plan, and how did God remedy that? By showing Him a glorious vision of the future. God’s glory filling the whole earth, as the waters fill all the sea. This is why in Revelation 21 we learn that the Heavenly city is 12,000 stadia cubed, that was the size of the known world back then. Jesus says something similar in Matthew 24:14, this Gospel will be preached to all kingdoms of earth, and then the end will come. So the challenge is, get involved in the great commission, or waste your life. There’s no need to wait and see which team will come out on top and then join in. the church comes out on top. So join in!
And that brings us to Matthew 28:18-20.

What is Jesus calling us to? To be a witness. To tell people about Him. We all know how to witness. In a few weeks the parents among us will be witnessing about new class schedules and morning routines, by the end of the month, the college football fans among us will be witnessing about that pass, or that catch, or that tackle. Psalm 45:1 teaches us that our hearts will overflow with whatever our hearts find pleasing. Lets hope it’s Jesus most of the time.

Where does Jesus tell us to go? Everywhere! Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the outermost part. Across the street, across the state, across the world. Acts ends when the Gospel had reached Rome, the outermost part in those days, the world will end when the Gospel reaches the outermost part of this planet.
And why should we go? It’s scary isn’t it? Moreso to cross the street that to cross the state sometimes. But look at the two promises Jesus makes to us. Firstly, He has all authority in Heaven and on Earth, so we’re never on enemy territory, or even neutral territory, and secondly because He’ll be with us as we gfo. He’ll be with us as we preach, disciple and baptize.

The Happy Ending (part ii)

In Revelation 22:10 we’re reminded that time will soon run out for those who don’t trust in Jesus, and in verse 12 Jesus promises us that He is coming soon. And when He comes, we’ll be blessed if we have washed our robes. Read verse 14 with me. What does it mean to wash our robes? Well remember in chapter 7 when the great multitude stood before Jesus and worshiped Him, their robes had been washed in the blood of Jesus. This obviously isn’t literal, but figurative. The blood of Jesus cleanses our consciences, the blood of Jesus cleanses our past, the blood of Jesus makes us clean. Sin makes us feel dirty doesn’t it? Sometimes it feels like mud we just can’t wash off, and we can’t wash it off, but Jesus can.

Why is it Jesus blood? Because when Jesus shed His blood for us, He was dying for our sins and He was providing a way for us to be sanctified. You’re saved by faith, and you’re cleansed by faith. The faith that saves is the faith that changes. Thursday morning’s Bible reading in Zech 3 showed us that. Joshua stood before the Lord in filthy clothes, but the Lord gave Him clean ones. And the same is true with us.
How do you know if your faith in Jesus is real? Because you’re cleaning your heart and your mind and your actions in His blood. You love sin less and Jesus more each day.

Finally in this book, and in the Bible, we see that blessed are those who wait faithfully. Read the last four verses with me. We see the call for faithfulness in verses 18 and 19. God is no longer writing the Bible, the Bible is closed and finished. He has said exactly what He wants to say. It is our joy as Christians to spend our lives reading, understanding and applying this word. But the opposite is also true. We must make sure we obey all of it. James tells us that anyone who breaks part of the law breaks it all. You can’t comfort yourself that you’ve never stolen anything while you commit a murder! God takes his word very seriously, as the warnings in verses 18 and 19 show us.

But if we don’t meddle with the Word, if we don’t make it say something it doesn’t, or stop saying something it does, then Heaven, the beautiful city, the tree of life and Jesus Himself will be ours forever. Jesus tells us four times in these verses that He is coming soon. If we wait for Him, we will be rewarded. Maybe He’ll come in our lifetimes, maybe He won’t. Maybe there will be massive, worldwide revival in our lifetimes, or maybe we’ll be mocked, or worse for believing that Jesus will come. But whatever happens we’re told to wait patiently, to obey God, and promised it will be worth it. Phul 3:20 reminds us that we are citizens of Heaven, and our responsibility as citizens is to wait for a saviour who will come.

God is a God who invites. In verse 17 we can almost see Him holding out His hand. Look at that with me as we close. Come, says the Spirit, come says the bride, come says the Lord. Come and drink, comes and be filled, come and be satisfied. You worship a God who wants all of you, who wants to reward you with more than you can possibly imagine, who wants to give you a better future than you can dream of. And He asks us to come.

Have you come?

Stones in the Easter Garden

This week, in a field a thousand miles away, my family says goodbye to Beryl Sparks.

That won't mean much to most people, but indulge me for a moment. Beryl was the closest thing to family there is without actually being related. She was my parents' friend, she was the first person my mum left my sister with, she took me to my first Wycombe Wanderers game, she was one of the people that made my childhood special.

It's an odd thing death isn't it? Odd to think about, and odd not to think about. And over the last few months, i've thought about it a lot. My maternal Grandfather, Beryl, and in between, our faithful, lunatic hound, Limestones Burt have all died this summer. It still astonishes me that Grandfather, such a force of life, such an exuberant fount of joy should be gone. He doesn't walk to the Bowjey stores for his Times anymore, he doesn't do his stretches overlooking Newlyn Harbour any more.

But why does death so astonish? Why does death surprise? If, as enlightened minds tell us, death is just part of life, why should it shock us any more than, say, being hungry. Why does death leaves such a gash in the living if it's normal? Not just death, why does the passing of of time shock us so? Five o'clock already? Time to get up? Time to go back to school? If we are supposed to be people that live in a world marked by time, why does time catch us out so? Are fish caught out by being wet? If we're supposed to die, why does death puncture those it leaves?

Well, you know the answer, it's because we're not. Because we're made to be like the One who is outside time. The One who entered time to take us out of it. Jesus, He who was before time began, He for whom time exists, came. Time had no hold on Him except what He gave it, and we are made in His image. So of course time is an unwelcome impostor on our reading, our summers and our lives.

This is our hope, that Jesus came, submitted to time, and bested it, skipping out of the tomb on that first Easter Sunday, Psalm Two playing around His lips. It's our hope that time points to the day He'll come again. He'll come not this time to enter time, but to end it. Earth and sky flee from His presence, and time too. Because He left the tomb, we know one day He'll climb His war horse, and knock time off it's throne.

And death too. Oh yes, and death. Jesus rose, defeating death, and so will we. We'll hear His voice, rise from the stones planted in the Easter garden, and be with Him forever. We'll be outside time, as we were meant to be, we'll be healed of death's sting by our groom. We'll see His face, and He will wipe the tears from ours.

The Happy Ending (part i)

This chapter is the ‘happily ever after’ of the Bible. The end of Revelation is the ultimate eucutastrophe, because the end of the world is the ultimate eucutastrophe. As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, Jesus returns on a war horse, destroys His enemies, and we will reign and live with Him for ever and ever in a beautiful and secure city. As you might expect, the last chapter of the Bible sums up the story of Revelation, and in fact, sums up the story of the whole Bible. What Jesus has promised to His people has never changed, whether it’s the first or the 21st century. We see three of those promises in this chapter.

In the first six verses John finishes his vision of the new city, the holy city, made of gold and pearls and jewels. Verses 1 and 2 tells us a river, the river of life flows through the city. Isn’t that a great picture, that the city is so alive that the river of life itself runs through it. This city is more beautiful, more attractive the more we learn about it. On either side of the river is the tree of life, which heals the nations. We’re told that nothing accursed will enter the city and that we will reign, with Jesus’ name on our foreheads, forever and ever.
Everything that was lost to us in the fall, access to the tree, access to healing, freedom from the pollution of sin and being cut off from Jesus will be restored. Everything will be new, everything will be mended, and we will live and reign in this beautiful city with Jesus.

How could you not want that? To live in purity, to live with Jesus will be better than we can possibly imagine it. And it will always get better. Always Christmas, never winter.

We can trust these words, because of what we read in verse 6. These words are trustworthy and true. We have no need to doubt them, The Bible isn’t the latest press release from a self interested company, or the latest news report spun to make a point, the Bible is the true and sincere and trustworthy Word of God. And if we keep this word, we’ll be blessed. Happy, richly rewarded by Jesus in Heaven. That’s what verses 7-9 tell us, look at those with me.

What does it mean to ‘keep the words of this prophecy?’ well I think it is a call to be faithful to the Word of God. To obey it, to live it and to do it. This is a prophecy about Jesus, about how He wins for the sake of His people. Are we going to live like that’s true or not? If you were in one of the seven churches this letter was originally written to you’d know what you were supposed to do to keep these words. Stop tolerating sin. Stop being lukewarm. Keep persevering in your faith. And things haven’t changed that much for us. We need to read the Bible to draw closer to Jesus, so that our hearts are shaped more by the Word than by the world, we need to be sharing our faith, which is the most radical, counter cultural, revolutionary thing we can do. If you want to be radical, live for Jesus and speak for Jesus! Keep the words of this prophecy.

Will I Be Bored In Heaven? (ii)

We see in Revelation 21:5 that Jesus makes all things new. And, what’s more, these things are trustworthy and true. If you trust Jesus for this life, for forgiveness of sins, for guidance, for whatever else, why shouldn’t you trust Jesus here as well? If you’re a Christian, no matter what happens between now and then, this is how your life will end up, this is where you’ll spend eternity. Everything is going to be new. Everything is going to be exciting. Nothing is going to be sinful, nothing is going to be boring. We’ll enjoy the newness of Heaven forever.

God makes another statement in verses 6 – 8, read those with me. God can say it is done, because He knows He will do it. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, He knows the end, so He can say, before it’s done, that it is. The end of verse 6 is a promise, and what a great promise it is. What is the qualification to enter this holy city? Thirst, and poverty. He’ll give water that satisfies and He’ll give it freely. What a promise that is! Remember this is what Jesus told the woman at the well, and now this promise is for all of us. Do you feel thirsty? Do you feel poor? Well great, you’re in! and, of course, the water that satisfies is Himself. Only Jesus will satisfy, are you thirsty for Him? Thirsty for your heart to be like His? Thirsty to see His justice? Thirsty to obey Him? Verse 8 makes it clear that if you don’t thirst for Him you’ll thirst for something else.

Verse 7 tell us that the one who conquers will have this heritage. What does that mean? It means that one who stays faithful to the end will inherit, earn, gain, be given these things. We’ll be sons of God. I’m not sure it gets much better. Imagine hearing this letter read for the first time. You’ve been told that persecution is coming, that people will quit the church, that Christians will be killed and that the devil will make war on you. And then what? If you overcome, you’ll be called God’s son. Doesn’t that make it worth it. I love how the Bible appeals to our senses. It doesn’t help us fight sin just be telling us that sin is evil and destructive, although it does do that, it helps us to fight sin by telling us about something better. You could quit the church to make life easy now, or you could overcome, and be called a son of God! I love that. If you trust God and thirst for Jesus more than anything else, then everything promised in this book is yours.

But if not, verse 8 warns us there can only be trouble. We all worship something. Jesus, or ourselves basically. If we worship ourselves we’ll be filled with cowardice, faithlessness, detestable thoughts and actions, and sexual immorality. If you don’t thirst for Jesus you’ll thirst for something like that. And you’ll end up where you belong, the lake of fire, the second death. If you reject Jesus, and reject righteousness, if your thirst for the toilet water of the world instead of the spring of Jesus, you’ll spend eternity where you want to be…away from Him.

We started be asking is Heaven will be boring? The real question, I guess, is will Jesus bore us for an eternity? Is there enough of Jesus to satisfy us totally, forever? It’s like a bird worrying he’ll run out of air, like a fish worrying he’ll run out of water. There’s the old song, ‘every day with Jesus is better than the one before,’ which is not totally true in this life, but it will be true in the next. I want to let one of my heroes, JE have the last word about this; ‘To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean’

The God Who Comes Out

Last week i blogged about the parable of the prodigal son, and one of the phrases that grabbed my attention the the most was 'when he came to himself.' Sin makes us somehow less than ourselves, it makes us inhuman, but Jesus restores us.

The second phrase, or half-verse that really strikes me is verse 28b, 'his father came out and entreated him.' Whats going here? Well the prodigal son is home and the father is rejoicing. He's given him new shoes, new clothes, a new ring, he's killed the prize animal on the farm for him. But he's just heard some bad news.

'Joseph won't come in.'

'Joseph won't come in?'

'He won't come in sir.'

The older brother, still harboring resentment in his heart about his siblings theft and irresponsibility has come home from a hard day working in the field. By the sweat of his brow his determined to impress his father. His father, who had never given him so much as a young goat that he might celebrate with his friends. Maybe this would be the evening, maybe this would be the weekend. And then the sounds of songs waft towards him on the warm evening air, he sees dancing, what in the world is going on.

'Your brother's home, your father's celebrating.'

He can hardly believe what he's hearing. A hundred times he's played this out in his mind, his brother slinking home, put to work and made to pay back every penny he cost the family. That thought kept Joe going on the hard days where he had to pull double time just to stay above water. But now? It's like his father's lost his mind. Joseph isn't going in.

What does the father do? Send a servant? No, he comes himself. He leaves the crowds, the comfort and the joy, and comes and sits in the dust next to his older son. The father is the victim of a rant. I can't believe you're treating him like this, i can't believe he's getting a better deal than i am. I always obey, i always work hard, and i have nothing. Imagine the temptation of the father here. You always obey? well obey this: get inside. But no. He loves him, he talks to him, he reasons with him.

He goes outside.

The older son doesn't understand his father. he doesn't understand that, by birth, everything that is his dads is also his. He doesn't even understand this when he comes and sits on the ground next to him.

I wonder if we understand. Do we base our relationship with God on our work, or on Jesus work? Do we know that we have a God who comes out, or do we think of God as locked away in his study, waiting to be impressed. Remember who is listening to Jesus? The scribes and pharisees, grumbling that Jesus is talking and eating with sinners.

Friends, Jesus comes out to sinners! To you and me. He comes to get us, comes to invite us in, comes to share the fattened calf with Him. He doesn't want our slaving, He wants us. To misunderstand this is to be consigned to a life time of misery and uncertainty. Stop trying so hard, and come and enjoy everything that Jesus won for you. Everything that's mine is yours.