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.

Cool Things Happen On The Third Day

Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the great fish, on the third day he was vomited out. Cool things happen on the third day...

Abraham took the son of the promise up the mountain on the third day, and he was ransomed for a sacrifice that God provided. 

Genesis 22:3-5  So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy^[a] will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 

As they walked through the wilderness, it was on the third day that the LORD met Moses and gave Him the law. On the third day in the wilderness the story of revelation continued. 

Exodus 19:1-3 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. ² They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, ³ while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel

After being chased through the wilderness and fighting a war, on the third day, God's anointed King, David, was crowned King, with the news that Saul was dead.

2 Samuel 1:1-3 After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. ² And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.³ David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” 

On the third day, showing her total faith in God, Esther went before the King to represent her people. She was the only one who could have an audience with the King, and it might've cost her her life.

Esther 5:1-3 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. ² And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. ³ And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.”

On the third day, God's people will be revived, they will return, they will be raised up.

Hosea 6:1-3 Come, let us return to the Lord;

    for he has torn us, that he may heal us;    he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.² After two days he will revive us;    on the third day he will raise us up,    that we may live before him.³ Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;     his going out is sure as the dawn;he will come to us as the showers,     as the spring rains that water the earth

Mephibosheth

Who are you when you read the Bible? You know what i mean. Are you Paul, riding off into the sunset to plant another church. Are you Peter, overcoming past sins to commit your whole life to God? Are you Ruth, trusting God in the face of overwhelming circumstance?

I don't know about you, but i've never been Mephibosheth. Who was Mephibosheth? He was the grandson of Saul, which was a problem when the new king came to town. IN those days, particularly when the throne passed from one house to another, the new king was perfectly within his rights to round up, and at the very least, exile or kill the descendants of the old king. That's why verse 1 of 2 Samuel 9 is such a shocking verse. Is there anyone left of the house of Saul that i might (kill them? Finish them off? Chase them from the land?) show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? David and Jonathan had promised to show kindness to each other's descendants, should the Lord give them a chance, and here is David, fulfilling that promise.

In verse 10 we see this kindness fleshed out. Mephibosheth is given all of Saul's land, his servants, and will eat and drink at David's table. That's some kindness to show to the lame grandson of a former king! What has Mephibosheth to offer David? Nothing! Not insight on the enemy, they've been vanquished. Not strength in battle, he's lame. Not prestige to add to David's house, in a day when defects were attributed to the punishment of God. No wonder Mephibosheth is amazed in verse 8; 'what is your servant, that you should show regard for such a dead dog as i?'

Why does David do it then? You can answer that question by saying, 'for the glory of David's name, for the glory of his love.' Who knew about the pact between David and Jonathan? Not many people, it certainly doesn't seem to be part of Jonathan's family lore, if Mephibosheth's reaction is anything to go by. For the sake of his name, David shows kindness to Mephibosheth even though he has nothing to offer him.

Let's digress for a minute. What are 95% of the worlds relationships based upon? The fulfilling of mutual needs? Why are divorce rates so high? Because many marriages are based on one party meeting the needs of another. Why do some people never get married? Because they don't want to find themselves tied to a person who one day may not meet their needs. What do we mean when we say 'i love you.' Often times we mean 'you, at this moment in space and time, meet my needs.' It is this view of marriage that has so devalued marriage. If met needs + attraction = marriage, then why shouldn't a man marry a man, or woman a woman?

This is not what David means by love is it? It can't be. There are no needs that Mephibosheth is meeting for David. When David says love he means, 'i have set my steadfast favour on you, and you can not fall out of my favour.' It's from incidences like this that we understand how Jesus is King David's greater Son, and King David's Lord.

You and I are Mephobisheth. In the past we stood against God, but he sought us out to do us good. Why did David find a descendant of Jonathan? To keep his promise to do them good. Why does Jesus seek us out? To do us good. What sort of good? Life, and land and prosperity forever. There's even a feast in 2 Samuel 9, just like there is at the end of time. Jesus finds us, brings us into our house, and sits us down to eat and drink with Him.

Why?

Not because He needs us. How does that make you feel, that God doesn't need you? More loved or less loved? More secure, or less secure? If Jesus loves us because He needs us, first of all, He's not much of a God, much less of a Saviour, and we should be wary about laying all our trust on Him. More to the point, what happens when He doesn't need us? Imagine though, Jesus loves you because He loves you! He has set His face on you to do you good, and nothing can convince Him otherwise! We did nothing to earn our salvation, and, as we're faithful to the end, we won't forfeit God's favour. This is tremendous, life giving news.

What sort of life should this produce? Well, look again at Mephibosheth. Verse 8 shows us a picture of humility. None of us want to portray ourselves as a 'dead dog,' but that humility would do us good. It produced a life of favour. Mephibosheth ate at the kings table 'always.' He had constant access to David, as we, through Christ, have constant access to God the Father. I would imagine that all the tea in China wouldn't have stopped Mephibosheth from telling the story of David's kindness to him. Are we as vocal in telling the story of Christ's kindness to us? I wonder how the promise of David effected the way Mephibosheth lived his life. I doubt very much that the fact there was always going to be food waiting for him at the King's table and a kind word from David at the end of the day made him lazy, or complacent. I would imagine faith in this future grace of David made him determined to live in a way that pleased David, and confident that when he failed, there would be grace.

All the Bible testifies to Jesus, and sometimes we're in there two. We're in the Bible as the totally undeserving recipients of sovereign grace. Nothing in our hand we bring, simply to His cross we cling...