Jesus After the Resurrection: The Emmaus Road

The Bible presents a real view of life, and I want to be real about life. Today we are going to look at the Emmaus Road story to take a look at life that I hope will both encourage and challenge us.

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing (reasoning) together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 

And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad (skuthropos, gloomy, sullen, dark.) Then one of them, named Cle'opas (probably Jesus’ uncle), answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"  And he said to them, "What things?" 

And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,  and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. 

Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. (“Nothing seems to make sense, confuse, amaze, astound.") They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see. 

And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" (“heavy or weighty.”) And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them.  When he was at table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.

 They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?"  And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"  Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

What do we learn about Jesus  - and real life - on the road to Emmaus?

1. Life is hard, but Jesus joins us in our journey

Through Jesus, God entered a world He created in which grief and joy cross paths constantly. 

• Jesus’ baptism moves into the temptation in the wilderness

• Jesus does miracles, and people set traps for him

• Lazarus lives/Lazarus dies/Lazarus lives

• Crowds love Jesus/villages hate him

• Triumphal entry/crucifixion/resurrection

This tension continues. Apparently, Jesus’ followers can expect to experience this too because now, on the Emmaus road, despair is followed by great joy. The resurrected Christ did not demonstrate the fullness of His glory by removing all the uncertainty and turmoil from life – He demonstrated the fullness of His glory by redeeming these things. 

You may have noticed that Jesus has not removed all the turmoil and uncertainty from your life. 

• Coronavirus roller coasters…

• Marriages overwhelm us one day with happiness and bury us the next day in anger or frustration…

• Jobs fulfill and crush us, sometimes on the same day…

• Physical health comes and goes…

• Freedom from temptation/overwhelmed by temptation…

• Or, like those on the road to Emmaus, the way in which you sense God near – or far - can change dramatically. 

Jesus walks with us spiritually like he walked with them physically.  That’s the promise of the Holy Spirit, right?  Jesus did not remove his disciples from this tumultuous world, and he does not remove us - yet.  One day He will. He joined them, and he joins us, and he offers redemption and restoration that point the way toward our ultimate reconciliation with Him. In the midst of this ebb and flow of life, look for him. He will show up with his Holy Spirit, his Word, and his people. Read the Bible, pray, and put people on the road next to you. Don’t walk alone. God will open your eyes when the time is right, and you will recognize that Jesus has been walking with you all along.

2. Jesus is content to remain hidden at times even though He is always near.

We do this with kids all the time, especially when they are young.  They have no idea that we are listening or watching, and yet we are. We care; we want them to mature on their own, but we know that can’t mature properly without us. We watch, and wait, and in our imperfect ways we help, and give them distance, and let them figure it out, and intervene, and correct and challenge and encourage…. In our imperfect way, we are trying to figure out how to balance being obvious and being hidden as we let them go and hold them close at the same time.

When Jacob was traveling (Genesis 28:11) he had a dream that he was in the presence of God. God spoke to him there. Jacob said, “Surely God is in this place and I did not know it.” If historians are correct, the Emmaus road revelation happened at the same place that Jacob dreamed he was visited by God.[1]  At the same place, the same thing happens: “Jesus was in this place and we didn’t know it.”

God could have miraculously revealed himself to Jacob at any time.  On the Emmaus road, Jesus could have instantly caught up with those guys and BAM, thrown back his hood and said, “Guys! It’s me!”  But he didn't. 

•  God could have spared me two major breakdowns I’ve had in my life, but he didn’t. 

• God could have healed my father, but he didn’t.

• God could have averted my heart attack and the depression and anxiety that followed, but he didn’t. 

• God could take away my ADD now that I can’t take medication for, but he hasn’t. 

• God could remove the coronavirus with a snap of his fingers, but he hasn’t.

 Does this mean He is absent in these cases? No, and this geographic location in the Bible –with first Jacob’s story and now the Emmaus road walkers –remind us: “Surely, God is in this place, and I didn’t know it.”  

It’s relatively easy to follow Jesus when he is right in front of you casting out demons and raising the dead.  But when you don’t know where He is?  When you can’t sense His presence?   I wondered if God is honored even more when we continue to be His disciple even when we think we are walking alone?

There is no doubt in my mind that in all of these situations, God’s Spirit is present and working. In all these situation, I know that the message of Scripture stabilized and sustained me. (More on both of those in a second). But I’ve been thinking a lot about a third provision of God’s grace: walking with friends.  

It is much easier to keep going when you have a walking buddy. Many times we don’t sense God is near; one way to we find strength is by walking with others.  This is why we stress relationship at our church.  Nobody needs to walk their Emmaus road alone.  

I don’t have a verse for this – this is Anthony, not the Bible – but I suspect that when we want to see God, more often than not God meets that desire by sending us His people, his ambassadors/representatives/ icons. His image-bearers.

3) Jesus will reveal Himself in His time 

    The two disciples did not recognize Jesus on the road. Revelation is required. 

 He reveals His Glory Through His Word. Jesus could have just made them feel it without opening the book – I mean, the book is about Him after all. He could have just skipped that step and popped out.  But they had the Scriptures, so He walked them through the Scriptures as the way of revealing Himself even though He was right there. The early church continued this tradition: pointing to Jesus by pointing toward the Bible.

• Old Testament quotations and allusions found in the Gospel of Matthew (which was written especially for Jewish readers)

• The apostles' sermon material found in the Book of Acts (Genesis 22:18; 26:4; Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Psalm 2:1-2, 7; 16:8-11; 110:1; 118:22; Isaiah 53:7-8; 55:3; and Amos 9:11-12)

 If you are walking the Christian road, and you need to see Jesus….read the Bible.  This is the FOUNDATIONAL revelation. 

He reveals his glory through His suffering. Jesus tells them: “Wasn’t it necessary that the Messiah suffer to reveal His glory?” Then Jesus showed them through the breaking of the bread: At the Last Supper he had said,  “Take, eat, this is my body which was broken for you.” The Messiah must suffer to enter in to his glory.  Jesus was SHOWN through the Bible.  Jesus was KNOWN by them through the breaking of the bread, just as His glory was revealed to the world through His suffering.

Jesus wants us to share in His glory. How will this happen?  Through our suffering.

Romans 8:17-18 (NIV) “Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

 There are all kinds of suffering.  We will never pray in the Garden of Gethsemene while sweating drops of blood, but we will experience our own gardens, where we see death or what feels like a kind of death coming, and we will pray for our cup to pass…and for God’s will to be done.  In our suffering, the glory of Christ revealed in us is heavy. 

Have you ever been around people who have suffered, and in their suffering God brought out a weightiness to them, a maturity, a profound sense of wisdom and godly transformation? That's the glory that is revealed in us, I think. The glory of a faithfully transforming God who corrals all things into the service of transforming us into the image of Jesus.

But that is actually is not the focus of the kind of suffering mentioned in Romans.   This is suffering specifically for the cause of Christ. If mere suffering ushers in God’s glory, imagine what happens when we suffer for the sake of our commitment to Christ. 

• Jesus commands us to be pure, and we suffer in our struggle to remain pure in our thoughts and actions. Saying no to sexual temptation and opportunity can be epic.   But if I want to share in the glory of Christ’s purity, I must be willing to suffer the hardship of sexual restraint.

• Jesus commands us to love people, and we suffer as we taken on the burdens of relationships with others.  But if want to share in the glory of true Christ-like love, I might have to be deeply wounded and still come back for more.  I’m not suggesting there are never times we should walk away. Abuse is a thing. Even the  disciples “shook the dust off their feet” at times and moved on. But in the normal course of life in a fallen world, love demands sacrifice. We will be broken and spilled out for those we love. 

• Jesus wants us live lives of self-sacrifice, and generosity, and patience…and we can suffer as everything within us wants to be selfish, and greedy, and impatient.  But if we want to share in the glory of Christ, we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow. 

• You might suffer as you stand for the truth of Scripture, and because you love Christ so much you will not compromise.  But you are sharing in the glory of Christ.

 Can we all agree the world needs to see the glory of Christ?  It was seen in the suffering of Jesus on the cross; today, I suspect it will often be seen when we pay a spiritual price for the cause of Christ. 

2 Cor 4:7-11 (NIV). “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.”

He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.  “Do this in remembrance of me.“ I think the world will see His glory, as we are broken too. Amy Carmichael, a missionary who worked in India for 55 years, once wrote (and I paraphrase):

‘Have you no scar? No hidden scar on foot, or side or hand? I hear you described as mighty in the land: I hear them hail you as a rising star: Have you no scar? Have you no wound?  As the master is so shall the servant be.  Pierced are the feet that follow me; but yours are whole. Can you have followed far if you have no wound? No scar?’”

We share in God’s glory when His glory fills us – and we display God’s glory when it leaks through the cracks as our lives are broken on his behalf, and for His glory.  But we do not lose heart, because we realize:

1 Peter 5:10 (NIV) “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Life is hard, but Jesus walks with us. Sometimes He hides, but He always reveals Himself and His glory through His word and His life. If you are willing to be broken for the cause of Christ, God will reveal His glory through you, and will one day restore you. 

And actually, that’s going to be our focus next week: the restoration of Peter, in the final chapter of the record of Jesus’ life on earth. 

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[1] “When Jacob was travelling the sun set (early Jewish legends explained the pointed reference in Genesis 28:11 by saying God had caused it to set prematurely to force Jacob to stop there) and he had a dream that he was in the presence of God. God spoke to him there. And the name of the place was originally known as Luz — in the Septuagint it is Oulammaus. In the Codex Bezae this is the name used for Emmaus in Luke 24. In an early reading of Luke (perhaps the earliest) the Emmaus road revelation happened at the same place that Jacob dreamed he was visited by God.” http://vridar.org/2007/11/17/the-logic-and-meaning-of-the-emmaus-road-narrative-in-luke/

The Passion And Resurrection Of Jesus

There are several ways we can look at Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection.

1)   Historically (proofs of the Resurrection of Christ). I posted a video this week on our Facebook page.

2)   Theologically (discussion of what Jesus accomplished spiritually in terms of what we call “substitutionary atonement” – God himself, in the person of Jesus, fulfilled his own judgment on sin and paid the eternal consequences for our sin so that “whoever believes on him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

     I have preached on both of these before, and I will again, but this morning I want to take a different approach.  Other than making a few comments at the end, I just want to read the story of the passion, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ. It’s a combination of the passages in the gospels, all of which offer something unique to the story, so I can’t give you one passage in which to follow along. 

There are going to be a few points where I stop and just let music play so we have time to meditate on what’s been read. Feel free to post your thoughts on the live stream thread as we go through the morning. 

* * * *

“Early in the morning the leading priests and the elders met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the king of the Jews?” the governor asked him. Jesus replied, “So you say.”

     But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.  “Don’t you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?” Pilate demanded. But Jesus made no response to any of the charges.

    Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted.  This year there was a notorious prisoner named Barabbas.  As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

     The leading priests and the elders said, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.” They persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death.  When Pilate heard this, he was frightened. 

 He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. “Why don’t you talk to me? Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”

Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. Those who handed me over to you have the greater sin.”

Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”

Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!”

And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death—his blood be on us and on our children!”

So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?”

The crowd shouted back, “Barabbas!”

Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

“Crucify him!”

“Why? What crime has he committed?”

 “Crucify him!” yelled the crowd.

 Pilate responded, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find him not guilty.” 

So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.     The soldiers stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.  They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”  And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it.  When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

    Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.  They went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).  The soldiers gave him wine mixed with vinegar, but when Jesus had tasted it, he refused to drink it.

       The soldiers nailed him to the cross, then gambled for his clothes while keeping guard. A sign fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head announced the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.

    The leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”

    Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

    The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery.  “Look at you now! You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

  The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus.  “He saved others but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him!  He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  

   Two criminals were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.One of them scoffed and said, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

    But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?  We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

    At noon, darkness fell across the whole land.  At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

    Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.  One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink.  But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”

     Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.  At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. 

    The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

   The Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath.  So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down.  So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus.  But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 

 As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth.  He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.  

    The next day, on the Sabbath,  the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate.   “Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’  So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”

    Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.”  So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.

    Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.  Suddenly there was a great earthquake! An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.  His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

    Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.  And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

    The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message.  And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. They ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

    Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.  When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

    One of the twelve disciples, Thomas, was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

   But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

    Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you. Thomas, put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

    “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

     Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.  But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

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“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that whoever believes on Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but so the world through Him could be saved.”

There are plenty of things in this world that deserve condemnation – that deserve to be “brought to trial” (literally).  

•  abusers deserved to be brought to trial

• Mass shooters deserve to be brought to trial

• Meth makers and dealers deserve to be brought to trial

• Depending on who you talk to, apparently everybody in government needs to be brought to trial over what’s happening with the virus, and even some nations

 In each of those cases,  we are convinced that someone needs to answer for these things so that the situation can be made right (if possible) and won’t happen again. 

But let’s make it more personal. 

Maybe we have had things done to us that have damaged us, and we know that what happened needs to be brought to trial in some way.  These are the things that we see or experience and we know deep in our souls, “This is not okay. That is not the way life is supposed to be.”

 On the other hand, maybe we have done things to others that deserve condemnation.  Its’ not meth or murder, so we give ourselves a pass. And yet we have contributed to the brokenness of the world by breaking someone. We have no idea what the ripple effect of that is. We did or said something that was not okay, and honestly, we are the perpetrator, not the victim, and if we could see how our actions ripple out into the world we would be appalled. 

Let’s be honest: we have all done things that deserve condemnation. There is plenty of guilt to go around.  

Jesus did not come to rub it in.

Jesus doesn’t have to add to our shame, guilt, and despair. 

Jesus came to offer redemption for this. He came into the world to literally rescue, heal, and make whole not just the victims but the perpetrators. 

• Jesus came to save those who abuse and who have been abused and all those who feel the ripple effect.  

• Jesus came to save those who abuse and those who have been abused and all who will feel the ripple effect.

• Jesus came to save the meth dealers and the meth users and all who experience the ripple effect. 

• Jesus came to save those who self-destruct, and hate, and judge, and lash out, and hurt others.

• Jesus came to save the proud, the self-absorbed, the cuttingly sarcastic, the stingy and greedy, the petty, the passive-aggressive, the cowards and buffoons, the Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Constitutional and Green Party, the conservatives and liberals, the deep and shallow state, the poor and the rich, the ugly and the beautiful, the famous and the unknown, the 1% and the 99% because we all need to be saved. Have you seen the world lately?

 We know this is true. We need saving. And if we are honest, we know we need saving because we are part of this.

Jesus came but to save all of us, and that’s great news.  

Jesus said 2,000 years ago that he came to seek and to save all who were lost.  That is still true.All of us are still visited by this God who enters the world to seek us out and save us.

We can respond like the crowd, and try to kill him to get rid of his presence, but He will still be there. 

We can respond like Pilate, and think we can be neutral, but washing our hands so that we don’t have to make a decision won’t resolve it.

We can respond like the women and the disciples who saw Jesus, were filled with awe, and worshiped the risen Christ. 

We can even be full of doubt like Thomas, and Jesus will meet us at the point of our doubt. For some of us, real, genuine faith is hard. “Can I see those wounds again…I just have to know.” And Jesus is faithful.  

But no matter what you have done, or what has been done to you, or what you think of Jesus, it is still true:  That by believing in Him you will have life through the power of the Name of Jesus Christ.

“Since we have been justified through faith in Christ, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King.  Jesus leads us into a place of radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing God’s glory.

But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us.  As a result, the blood of Jesus has made us right with God now, and certainly we will be rescued by Him from God’s wrath in the future. If we were in the heat of combat with God when His Son reconciled us by laying down His life, then how much more will we be saved by Jesus’ resurrection life? In fact, we stand now reconciled and at peace with God. That’s why we celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed.” (Romans 5:1-2; 8-11 - The Voice)

When God Is Silent (Silent Saturday)

The Bible is full of ‘three day stories”[1]: Jonah in the big fish; Joseph’s brothers in jail in Egypt; the plague of darkness in Egypt; Rahab hiding the spies, Jesus in the tomb, Paul’s blindness after being struck by God. On the third day is when the bad stuff ends. That’s the day we celebrate, and rightly so. But Third Day stories aren’t clear until the Third Day. On Day One and Day Two, it’s not yet clear how the story will end.

 The First day of Third Day story is often a brutal one. Crucifixion Friday was the First Day of a Three Day story. That’s hard enough, those days when it seems like death has won.

 But there is still Saturday before Sunday. It’s not the day when the tragedy occurred; it’s not the day when Resurrection brings hope and life. It’s that troublesome (and often very long) middle day. It’s not the day the first coronavirus case hit the US; it’s not the day we get the “all clear.” It’s the months in the middle.

 Here’s what the Bible records the followers of Jesus were doing between Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday. (This is a combination of the details as they appear in Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20).

 At the rising of the sun, after the Sabbath on the first day of the week, the two Marys and Salome came to the tomb to keep vigil. They brought sweet-smelling spices they had purchased to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Along the way, they wondered to themselves how they would roll the heavy stone away from the opening…

[They encounter the Risen Jesus]

 They brought this news back to all those who had followed Him and were still mourning and weeping. They recounted for them—and others with them—everything they had experienced. The Lord’s emissaries heard their stories as fiction, a lie; they didn’t believe a word of it until Jesus appeared to them all as they sat at dinner that same evening (Resurrection Sunday). They were gathered together behind locked doors in fear that some of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were still searching for them. Out of nowhere, Jesus appeared in the center of the room and said, “May each one of you be at peace.” 

There’s not a lot of info, but what is there is insightful. What do we see the closest followers of Jesus doing?

·      Keeping a vigil of mourning

·      Planning how to perfume the body of the dead Messiah

·      Hiding in fear

·      Mourning and weeping together

·      Refusing to believe that Jesus was alive

 For the most part, it’s not a great resume builder, really. You would think that the biblical writers might want to put a better spin on what happened here. “As the disciples were praying and rejoicing over Jesus’ impending Resurrection, Mary returned and told them the good news. And they said, “Of course! We knew it all along!” This is one reason, by the way, you can take the biblical writers seriously. They aren’t afraid to show warts and all of even the best people in the story.

No, they were mourning the death of their long awaited Messiah. They thought he was gone. They thought he had failed – and in that failure shown that he was not, after all, the promised deliverer. As far as they knew, he was never coming back. 

 Crucifixion Fridays are hard, but Silent Saturdays may be even harder. 

 Funeral days are hard, but they are at least full of adrenaline and crisis management and we are surrounded by support. But then the next day, when family drifts back home, and friends go back to their routine…that’s when Silent Saturday sets in. The loneliness and the emptiness…

 It’s hard enough when it involves earthly things. But what about when our relationship with God is best described as a Silent Saturday kind of relationship? What if there is a spiritual loneliness and emptiness, a sense that God is aloof at best and gone at worst. What about the times when the heavens seem empty, and our prayers just seem to drift off into a void? What about the times when God is silent?

ANDREW PETERSON – THE SILENCE OF GOD

It's enough to drive a man crazy, it'll break a man's faith, It's enough to make him wonder, if he's ever been sane. When he's bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod, And the Heaven's only answer is the silence of God.

It'll shake a man's timbers when he loses his heart, When he has to remember what broke him apart. This yoke may be easy but this burden is not, When the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God.

And if a man has got to listen to the voices of the mob who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they've got, When they tell you all their troubles Have been nailed up to that cross, Then what about the times when even followers get lost? 'Cause we all get lost sometimes…

There's a statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold. And He's kneeling in the garden, as silent as a Stone, All His friends are sleeping and He's weeping all alone.

And the man of all sorrows, he never forgot, What sorrow is carried by the hearts that he bought. So when the questions dissolve into the silence of God, The aching may remain but the breaking does not. The aching may remain but the breaking does not. In the holy, lonesome echo of the silence of God.

 John Ortberg tells the following story:

“From the time she was a young girl, Agnes believed. Not just believed: she was on fire. She wanted to do great things for God. She said things such as she wanted to "love Jesus as he has never been loved before." Agnes had an undeniable calling. She wrote in her journal that "my soul at present is in perfect peace and joy." She experienced a union with God that was so deep and so continual that it was to her a rapture. She left her home. She became a missionary. She gave him everything. And then he left her. 

At least that's how it felt to her. "Where is my faith?" She asked. "Deep down there is nothing but emptiness and darkness …. My God, how painful is this unknown pain … I have no faith." She struggled to pray: "I utter words of community prayers—and try my utmost to get out of every word the sweetness it has to give. But my prayer of union is not there any longer. I no longer pray." 

She still worked, still served, still smiled. But she spoke of that smile as her mask, "a cloak that covers everything." This inner darkness continued on, year after year, with one brief respite, for nearly 50 years. God was just absent. Such was the secret pain of Agnes, who is better known as Mother Teresa.

 So what do we do with the Silent Saturdays of our lives? I want to offer a number of suggestions not so that you will be immediately aware of God’s presence, but so you can be purposeful and grow from this kind of season of your life. 

Be honest with God. The Bible gives us permission to voice our hearts during Silent Saturday. Look at a few of the Psalms:

·    Psalm 6:2–3  “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul is greatly troubled, but you, O Lord, how long?”

·     Psalm 13:1–2 “How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” 

·    Psalm 90:13–14 “Return, O Lord. How long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.”

·    “I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.” (Job 30:20)

After my dad died, I kept a journal for years and did my best to be honest before God about my anger, fear, grief and depression. 

I was talking to a friend recently going through some deep family wounding and her lament –during our conversation, looking to the heavens – was “Why? What is going on? How are you letting this happen? Where are you?”

N.T. Wright recently wrote an article about lamenting during the time of the virus. 

At this point the Psalms, the Bible’s own hymnbook, come back into their own, just when some churches seem to have given them up. “Be gracious to me, Lord,” prays the sixth Psalm, “for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.” “Why do you stand far off, O Lord?” asks the 10th Psalm plaintively. “Why do you hide yourself in time of trouble?” And so it goes on: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?” (Psalm 13). And, all the more terrifying because Jesus himself quoted it in his agony on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22).  

Yes, these poems often come out into the light by the end, with a fresh sense of God’s presence and hope, not to explain the trouble but to provide reassurance within it. But sometimes they go the other way. Psalm 89 starts off by celebrating God’s goodness and promises, and then suddenly switches and declares that it’s all gone horribly wrong. And Psalm 88 starts in misery and ends in darkness: “You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me; my companions are in darkness.”  

A word for our self-isolated times. It is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain [why all this is happening]—and to lament instead. As the Spirit laments within us, so we become, even in our self-isolation, small shrines where the presence and healing love of God can dwell.

 God knows your heart and mind; he already knows your deepest internal struggles. Voice them. Lament is okay. God is big. He can handle it. 

2. Keep the vigils

In the spite of the pain of their loss, the Marys did what they had always done, which was part of the ritual of living in Jewish community. What Jewish people believed and what they did in almost every aspect of life were so intertwined that it’s hard to imagine that the vigil was not considered part of what God called them to do. There is something to be said for keeping the faith through an active commitment to obedience and faithfulness. I would like to offer four vigils I believe are helpful. 

Pursue Church community. Don't forsake gathering together (Hebrews 10:25). The disciples did at least one thing right: they hung together in the midst of their grief. It’s important that we remain connected and not withdraw. In community, others came back and reported their experiences with the Risen Christ. Even in the midst of doubt, there was hope. We stay in community so that we can be challenged, encouraged, and held close. We need to feel the nearness of God’s people when God feels distant. We need the hope that lives in others when our sense of hope is gone. 

If you are like me, you are feeling the importance of this right now. Honestly, there’s an introverted side of me that doesn’t mind some social distance. But there’s a spiritual side of me that longs for the physical proximity of Christian community. The church is God’s body; you and I are parts of that body. Without it we wither away. We ought to be longing to be reconnected in person. The Bible stresses the crucial nature of this.

So…let me step on toes. I can do that virtually as well as in person. If stats for church attendance are correct, some of you are in the process of experiencing your normal amount of yearly missed services, it’s just that now they are going to be all in a row. I don’t mean to be rude, but don’t make a big deal about this now if you didn’t then. I am not anti-vacation, but if travel sports and good beach days and staying out too late Saturday and camping and fishing took you away from church quite a few times this past year – well, church has never been the most important thing that oriented your weekend anyway. 

But, if you’ve been thinking, “I don’t think it’s good to miss this much church” during this social distancing….remember that all year long. It will do your soul and our church community good. 

Pray and Read Scripture. I don’t know that there is a formula for the best way to do this. There are all kinds of cool ideas about how to read through the Bible or how to pray. I don’t think they are bad; I just don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all kind of approach. 

·    Listen to or read the Bible. 

·    Pray alone - or get together with others online.

·    Pray for a block of time - or throughout the day.

·    Sing. There are theologically rich songs that    

     are good reminders of the hope we find in Jesus.

 Dive Into Devotionals (podcasts, books, teachings). This is one way to experience the community of the church. It’s also a good way to find clarity about the Scriptures and to hear the testimonies of others. What did they do when they were in the First and Second days of their stories? Biblegateway.com; biblehub.com, preceptaustin.com, The Bible Project, the history of sermons and posts on our facebook page and website and churches all over the world. I just started posting a series on our church Facebook page on how to study the Bible. You can start there if you would like. 

Practice Obedience. One of the greatest dangers we face is giving up and saying to God, “You know what? If I can’t feel your presence, I am going to live as if you’re not there.” We shake our fist at the heavens and begin to sow sinful things that can be forgiven and healed but will nonetheless be harvested (Galatians 6:7). 

The Bible describes the way of obedience as “the path of life” (Psalm 16:11). There is something about faithful obedience that is not just healthy; it is wise and stabilizing. This, too, is sowing actions that you will one day reap – but this time it won’t be the wages of sin. It will be the fruit of righteousness.  Also, I believe obedience is one of the ways we are conformed to the image of Christ – and in that conforming – as we begin to see what it means to ‘be like Jesus’ -  we begin to appreciate the wisdom of the One who guides our life. 

One thing I’m glad I did in the Silent Saturday years following my dad’s death: I put one foot in front of the other in the path of life, not perfectly and not energetically and more often than not just going through the motions, but they were motions in the path of life. Godly habits steady us in times of storm. 

I wonder if it’s why I love a song Ashley Cleveland sings called “Don’t Let Me Fall Too Far.” That sounds like an odd request, but I get it. It starts, “I know the places where the ice is thin, too many cracks, you could slip right in…Don’t let me fall too far.” She finishes with, “I will hope for the things that I cannot see, I know you’ll finish what you started in me, Don’t let me fall too far…” I think it’s an honest request: I feel like I’m falling off the path; O God, in your strength, steady me and keep me going.

 Practice obedience. One step in front of the other. When you start to stray on to ice that you know is thin, get back on the path that is thick, and solid, and will walk you in and toward life even if you can’t see it at the time. Right now, if you are stuck at home, that obedience begins in your relationship to your family. What does it look like to honor the image bearers around you? 

Learn to wait

·      Psalm 37:7  “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way.” 

·      Psalm 27:14  “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.”

 I’m not good at waiting. I want problem resolution. Give me a task!  This “shelter in place” time is strange one: What’s the best thing I can do? As multiple memes have reminded me, I can save the world by sitting on the couch. I mean, that’s an exaggeration obviously, but the idea that doing nothing is doing something….Ugh. 

We so often want to be “human doings” that we forget what it it’s like to be “human beings.”  The Bible talks a lot about the patience of God. That’s probably more than a hint that there’s something important about growing in patience as God’s people as we wait. I like what Jon Bloom wrote in an article entitled, “When God Is Silent.”

Why is it that “absence makes the heart grow fonder” but “familiarity breeds contempt”? Why is water so much more refreshing when we’re really thirsty? Why am I almost never satisfied with what I have, but always longing for more? Why can the thought of being denied a desire for marriage or children or freedom or some other dream create in us a desperation we previously didn’t have?  Why is the pursuit of earthly achievement often more enjoyable than the achievement itself? Why do deprivation, adversity, scarcity, and suffering often produce the best character qualities in us while prosperity, ease, and abundance often produce the worst? 

Do you see it? There is a pattern in the design of deprivation: Deprivation draws out desire. Absence heightens desire. And the more heightened the desire, the greater its satisfaction will be. It is the mourning that will know the joy of comfort (Matthew 5:4). It is the hungry and thirsty that will be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). Longing makes us ask, emptiness makes us seek, silence makes us knock (Luke 11:9). 

Deprivation is in the design of this age. We live mainly in the age of anticipation, not gratification. We live in the dim mirror age, not the face-to-face age (1 Corinthians 13:12). The paradox is that what satisfies us most in this age is not what we receive, but what we are promised. The chase is better than the catch in this age because the Catch we’re designed to be satisfied with is in the age to come... It’s the desert that awakens and sustains desire. It’s the desert that dries up our infatuation with worldliness. And it’s the desert that draws us to the Well of the world to come.

 Sometimes, the best way to hand over the weight of the world is to wait on Christ. Right now, there is no doubt we are experiencing deprivation: of church meetings, of physical contact with friends, of going places – remember places?   It may be the deprivation of job security, financial stability, or even health, from the virus or because you can’t get other things treated because the health care system is making you wait. 

 Is this awakening a desire for the peace of God? What does it look to pursue God in the midst of deprivation? David said his soul longed for God like a deer panting for water. If that is our situation – we are desperate for something refreshing and life-giving – to whom or what are we turning?  Remember Jesus’ admonition to the Samaritan woman: he was the water that brings life.  

Don't confuse what you feel from what is real

The followers of Jesus huddled in their homes felt like it was over. It wasn’t. Just because something feels a certain way doesn’t mean that it is. I heard a wise man say once, “You will either judge truth by your feelings, or you will judge your feelings by what it true.” What is true is that God may feel absent, but He is not. God is with us always. Why does He feel absent? I don’t know. 

·      It could be that we are in rebellious sin. 

·      It could be that we are tired. 

·      It could be that God has removed the sense of His presence as a way  of transforming us into the image of Christ as deprivation draws out desire. It could be that we are distracted. I don’t know. 

But I know that God is near and faithful no matter how we feel.  The sorrow of Silent Saturday may last for a time, but joy comes in the morning of Easter Sunday. Next Sunday, we celebrate a risen Savior as Silent Saturday gives way to Resurrection Sunday.

___________________________________________________________________

[1] I got this idea from a brilliant teaching called “Saturday: Living Between Crucifixion and Resurrection,” posted by Richmont Graduate Universityon youtube. I don’t know who the speaker was. You can access the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U90EKNZPKCU

Crucifixion Friday: The Importance Of The Cross

The arrival of God on earth was a pretty disruptive event.

• As if it were not disruptive enough that Jesus was born to an unmarried Mary, Mary was still a virgin.  The former was socially scandalous, but the latter was simply not in accord with the normal order of things. And this wasn’t just about Mary. This reflected on Joseph and both their families.

• The angels announced His birth with these ironic words: "Peace on earth!" to a terrified group of shepherds guarding sheep in the shadow of the Herodian, a monumental construction reminding the Jews that they were a captive people living in occupied territory. 

•  When wise men from the East who had traveled for months to track down the Messiah finally showed up, they had to hide from Herod so that he didn’t kill them.

•  Speaking of Herod, the first recorded political act after the birth of Immanuel— whose name means “God with us”—is the mass murder of infants by King Herod.  Not God’s fault, obviously, but the arrival of “The King of the Jews” scared the Roman king over the Jews so much so that a slaughter commenced.

•  Jesus was only 12 when he stayed behind in Jerusalem to teach in the temple after his parents had started home. That’s like Vincent filling in for me on a Sunday without asking. His parents said, "What on earth are you doing?" which is somewhere close to what I would ask Vince.  But their 12-year-old son rebuked them for not recognizing his mission (Luke 2:41–49). “I must be about my father’s business,” he said to JOSEPH. Ouch.

•  As an adult, in Nazareth, his home town, he had an opportunity to win the favor of family and friends before He began His focused mission the last few years of his life.  Instead, he called them out for their narrow-minded view of the Kingdom of God. It seemed that God loved the Gentiles too. They tried to throw him off a cliff (Luke 4:29). The first act of his public ministry touched off a small riot.

•   He hung out with people of bad reputation – tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, and even traitors and backstabbers like Judas.  He did this so often his enemies called him a “friend of sinners” thinking that would bother him – but it didn’t.  

•  At the time when Jewish men would pray and thank God that there were not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman, he welcomed women to participate in his mission, an almost unheard of concession. (see Luke 8 and Mark 15 for more on this)

•   In a time when actions mattered almost without concern for the motivation, He questioned why people were fasting, tithing, and praying the way they were.  Jesus said, “People look on the outside, but God looks on the heart. If you are going to fast, or tithe, or pray to impress people, God’s not interested.”  In other words, why bother doing all those ritual acts of holiness if your heart’s not right?”

•  In a time when there were a TON of obsessive laws about Sabbath observance, he encouraged his disciples to break the Pharisee’s rules about the Sabbath if needed because “People were not made for the Sabbath – the Sabbath was made for people”. 

•  One Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. (Luke 6:6-11)  The "scribes and Pharisees" were present, as was a man whose right hand was withered. The religious leaders had come to catch Jesus healing on the Sabbath. The Bible does not record that the man with the withered hand asked for healing. Jesus didn’t have to deny the request to heal or flaunt religious custom. Jesus could simply have done nothing, or waited a few hours and the healing would have been perfectly legal. The man could have waited one more day after a lifetime of sickness. Jesus could have made everybody happy. But the Bible simply says that Jesus knew they were watching, so he healed him.  

•   Once, Jesus made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and animal merchants off the Temple grounds. He told them their presence made the temple a “den of thieves.”  This is not a chapter in How To Win Friends and Influence People.  That initiated a three-year-long conflict with society's most distinguished religious leaders.  

•   One time, Pilate ordered his men to murder some Galilean Zealots who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and then mingled their blood with the sacrifices they were offering. At about the same time, a tower fell in nearby Siloam and killed eighteen more. Jesus was asked about what the cause was of these back-to-back tragedies. From the nature of his reply, we can assume that people were lobbing what they thought were softballs that Jesus could hit out of the park and make everybody happy. “Oh, yeah, those were exceptional sinners who had what was coming to them. God hated them.” But Jesus said, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-5).

 Jesus was pointedly, deliberately, and dogmatically counter-cultural in almost every way. It’s not that he came to be counter-cultural: He came to save the world. It’s just that the world was so broken – even in the midst of His chosen people – that what He said and did changed everything. He upset expectations about God, about the expected Messiah, about the people’s understanding of what God wanted from them. 

He didn’t come to be a revolutionary; He couldn't help but be revolutionary, because so many things had gone bad or become distorted.  

• He said God did not focus His attention on the self-centered pious and the legalistically pure, but on the poor, the mourner, the meek, those hungry for God, and the pure in heart.

• He said being rich was not necessarily a blessing from God; God is concerned that we might gain the whole world and lose our soul.

• He said that rather than getting vengeance, we should forgive.

• He said that rather than hating our enemies, we should love them.

•  Rather than keeping what we deserve, we should freely give it away.

• Being “good” wasn’t just about out actions; it included thoughts and intents of the heart.

 No wonder the movers and shakers of his generation were so hostile to him. He said, “You’ve got it all wrong.  You believe wrong, you act wrong.  Some of you are making disciples, but they are disciples of hell. You have missed it, and I have to make it right. You need truth.  And all who love truth will listen to me, because I am the Truth.”

 He stepped into a world that had a lot of things wrong, and He confronted it head on, and he claimed he had the power and authority to do so because he was, in fact, God in the flesh, the long awaited Jewish Messiah, the rightful king of the world in ways that had nothing to do with acres of land and gold.  Even the language the Gospel writers use makes clear that Jesus was challenging Rome not because he wanted to be Emperor of Rome, but because the King of all things had come, and there was no way that was not going to step on the toes of the world’s powerful. 

An inscription dated around 9 B.C. shows Augustus being worshiped as a divine savior.  The people of Asia Minor declared him divine and actually changed their calendar to mark his birthday.  Here’s what they wrote:  

“Since the providence that has divinely ordered our existence has applied her energy and zeal and has brought to life the most perfect good in Augustus, who she filled with virtues for the benefit of mankind, bestowing him upon us and our descendants as savior– he who put an end to war and will order peace, Caesar, who by his epiphany exceeded the hopes of those who prophesied good tidings [euaggelia]… and since the birthday of the god first brought to the world the good tidings [euaggelia] residing in him… For that reason, with good fortune and safety, the Greeks of Asia have decided that the New Year in all the cities should begin on 23rd September, the birthday of Augustus.” [1]

•  Lk. 2:10 describes the birth of Jesus as good news [euaggelia].  

• He is the savior of the world (Lk. 2:11)

• He said he was the only perfectly good one (Mark 10:18)

•  Only he can order peace (Luke 19:42)

• N. T. Wright[2] explains that the emperor was kyrios, the lord of the world, the one who claimed the allegiance and loyalty of subjects throughout his wide empire.  That’s a word that gets applied to Jesus in Philippians 2:11 (and numerous other places)

• Augustus was known as the “son of a god” (divi filius) because his adopted father, Julius Caesar, had been declared a god after his assassination. Augustus put this on the coins. Jesus was called dei filius, the Son of God (not a god)

• When he came in person to pay a state visit to a colony or province, the word for his royal presence was parousia (the word used to refer to the coming of Jesus in 1 Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23, and elsewhere).

John Dominic Crossan – whom I don’t actually recommend as a good source for information about the Bible,[3]  had at least one important point to make that is noteworthy if for no other reason than that Crossan has a LOT of skepticism about the biblical account of Jesus: 

“Tt)here was a human being in the first century who was called 'Divine,' 'Son of God,' 'God,' and 'God from God,' whose titles were 'Lord,' 'Redeemer,' 'Liberator,' and 'Saviour of the World.'" "(M)ost Christians probably think that those titles were originally created and uniquely applied to Christ. But before Jesus ever existed, all those terms belonged to Caesar Augustus… They were taking the identity of the Roman emperor and giving it to a Jewish peasant. Either that was a peculiar joke and a very low lampoon, or it was what… we call high treason. "[18]

We cannot understand how profound a claim Jesus and his followers were making if we don’t realize Jesus was claiming to be King of King and Lord of Lords in a way that challenged every authority and power in the world. He was THE way, THE truth, THE life.  

 It wasn’t just the Romans, of course. This claim to Kingship was a claim to be God, which scandalized the Jewish leadership. It was blasphemy. It was going to get him killed. Yet over and over, Jesus insists - by dropping hints that his Jewish audience clearly understood - that he was indeed the long awaited and true Messiah, the Savior, the fulfillment of all the prophecies. GOD HAD ARRIVED.

Then God was killed. In an execution designed to be excruciating and humiliating. He appeared to follow the path of so many others who claimed to be the Messiah. His followers were convinced he had failed (more on that next week). 

But He wasn’t.  

 His holy disruption continued. His resurrection changed everything. 

“[Jesus] tilted His head back, pulled up one last time to draw breath and cried, "Tetelestai!" (teh-tell’-es-tie) It was a Greek expression most everyone present would have understood. It was an accounting term. Archaeologists have found papyrus tax receipts with "Tetelestai" written across them, meaning "paid in full." With Jesus' last breath on the cross, He declared the debt of sin cancelled, completely satisfied. Nothing else required. Not good deeds. Not generous donations. Not penance or confession or baptism or...or...or...nothing. The penalty for sin is death, and we were all born hopelessly in debt. He paid our debt in full by giving His life so that we might live forever.” ― Swindoll Charles R.

Now that’s a holy disruption.

The dead can live again. His power over physical death proved He had the power over those whose souls were dead as well. Now, everything that has lost its life—everything that is stale, lifeless, and seemingly dead—can be made vigorous, free, lively, and new.

When God came to earth in the person and life of Jesus Christ, He forced everyone to make a choice: hold on tight to the life lived by our expectations, with our plans/hopes/dreams, with our own power, with us at the center, serving a God made in our image, living a life in which our culture seeps into us until we have absorbed so many incorrect and damaging views of the world that we know longer know what it true, and good … or listen to Jesus, be strong enough to see the brokenness, sinfulness, and deception within ourselves. 

“Unless you see yourself standing there with the shrieking crowd, full of hostility and hatred for the holy and innocent Lamb of God, you don’t really understand the nature and depth of your sin or the necessity of the cross.”― C.J. Mahaney

This is the start of the road to redemption - seeing ourselves in the crowd that needs the same cross we want to ignore at best or rage against at worst.  Coming to grips with this might not be not easy.

• When God had to get Paul’s attention, a blinding light threw him to the ground and left him in darkness for three days and nights. 

• When God had to get Peter’s attention, he sent him a dream which left him sleepless and anxious because God told him to abandon a life-long prejudice against the Gentiles.

 God didn’t deliver messages like a Facebook event notification.  You couldn’t click, “Hmm, maybe I’ll attend,” or “Like.”  It wasn’t an easy message to hear.  

Jesus is not a Muzac Savior, whose goal is to make us feel better about ourselves and comfortable with where we are.  These are okay things, but they are not the mission of Jesus. He's not a tame lion, and he’s not interested in tame people. And sometimes he has to bring a little disruption into our lives to help us become the people he's called us to be. Anne Dilliard once wrote, 

“It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”

IF JESUS DOES NOT UNSETTLE YOU, YOU HAVEN’T MET JESUS.

This countercultural Jesus of the New Testament is going to bring upheaval into your life too. We are embedded in a culture; it’s going to seep into us. If you are not feeling the challenge Jesus brings to how we think about life, you are not fully experiencing the life-changing nature of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.   

•  If you believe the most important thing is “You’ve got to follow your heart,”Jesus responds with, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” (Mark 7:21-22, NIV 2011). We need to follow the heart of Jesus, and in that process our hearts conform to his.

•  If you believe that you must “Be true to yourself, ”Jesus responds with, “Take up a cross…you must lose your life in me to find it.” We are most true to our true selves when we are true to Christ, in whom we have our identity.

•   If you believe that the Good Life is the Moneyed Life, Jesus responds with ,“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil… Seek the Kingdom of God FIRST.” Getting that first is the only way your money won’t destroy you.

•   If you believe that “The good life is a life of self-expression and experimentation. Have fun and be safe!” Jesus responds with,  “The pure are blessed. Our body is God’s temple…the presence of God in your life brings self-control and purposefulness.” 

•   If you agree with reality TV that “I deserve my 5 minutes of fame!  Do you know who I am? My office smells of rich mahogany!” Jesus responds with, “The last shall be first. The people who are greatest among you are the ones whom you think of as the least.  Why don’t you wash somebody’s feet?”

•   If you are content with saying “There is no truth. Question everything.” Jesus responds with, “I am the Truth.  Those who love truth love me.  You will know the Truth, and it will set you free.”

•  To those who say to God, “I’m okay! Spiritually, I feel fine! I don’t need anything from you!”  Jesus says, “You’re spiritually sick; sin has broken you, and you are in need of a physician.  If you don’t get help you will die.”

•  To those who respond, “Okay, fine, I don’t feel so good, but I’ll fix myself,” Jesus says, “You can’t, but good news. I am the Great Physician, and I can.”

 The presence of Jesus brings holy disruption into the unholy places in our life. 

These challenges may leave us uncomfortable, confused and bewildered for a time.  He challenges our self-deceptive existence in which all these competing voices around us sound so good but lead us so badly astray. 

Jesus will destabalize us so that He can re-stabilize us on the solid foundation of Truth.  God is going to lead us toward crucifixion so we can experience resurrection.

“The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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[1] According to John D. Crossan, God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now.  

[2] “Paul and Caesar:  A New Reading of Romans”

[3] God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now. Like I said, I don’t recommend you run out and buy his books. 

Following God: The Sanctity Of Human Life

“We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image (Genesis 1:27). Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life” (Psalm139).

________________________________________________________________

The current name for this is the Whole Life movement, which I encourage you to check out. It focuses on what it means to value human life in every way all the time.  

Our statement could potentially cover a lot of issues: capital punishment, Just War theory, incarceration, immigration, health care, pollution - all issues in which lives are at stake. Then there is valuing all of human life: human trafficking, exploitation in all forms… WHOLE LIFE is a big tent, and I think for us to be consistent, we should be cramming everything in there that has to do with defending, protecting, and valuing human life.  It’s one reason why all of us who claim to be pro-life should be taking COVID-19 seriously. If we say, “Only 1-3% of people will die,” we are badly misunderstanding what it means to be pro-life. 

 Pregnancy creates image bearers who are meant to become temples. From start to finish we are to honor, protect, and value people.  Think of Jesus’ parable: when we visit those in prison, clothe the naked, give food and water to the starving, it’s as if we have done those things for him. There is a reason the Bible talks about justice. The WHOLE LIFE of people matters. 

The valuing of the unborn is a crucial part of that - it may be the foundational part, since that is where life begins - so I am going to focus on that today because it is probably the most ‘front and center’ part of this discussion in our culture. Human value, worth and dignity starts when human life starts and does not end until human life ends. 

I am going to give four different arguments for this position: from scripture, church history, biology and philosophy.

1. THE ARGUMENT FROM SCRIPTURE

Old Testament

• "Did not He who made me in the womb make him, and the same one fashion us in the womb? (Job 31:15)

• “For You shaped me, inside and out. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb long before I took my first breath. I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe.
You have approached even the smallest details with excellence;
 Your works are wonderful;
I carry this knowledge deep within my soul. You see all things; nothing about me was hidden from You
As I took shape in secret,
carefully crafted in the heart of the earth before I was born from its womb. You see all things;
You saw me growing, changing in my mother’s womb…”(Psalm 139:13-16

• “But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not…” (Isaiah 44:2)

• “…the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you before birth…’” (Isaiah 44:24)

• The Eternal One singled me out, even before I was born.
He called me and named me when I was still in my mother’s belly. Even then, God was preparing my mouth to speak like a sharp sword... And now the Eternal who watched, shaped, and made me His own servant
from the womb has determined to restore Jacob’s family…” (Isaiah 49:1,5)

• "Before I even formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew all about you.
Before you drew your first breath, I had already chosen you
to be My prophet to speak My word to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5)

 Some claim that this language is merely poetic, or that it may just be that certain individuals are granted this kind of personhood before birth. I suggest it’s worth looking at how the original audience understood the message here.

 Probably because of the worldview behind verses like this, there is no discussion in the Old Testament about what we would call elective abortion (“a legal abortion without medical justification”) because a Jewish mother would not have even contemplated choosing to do this. 

“That an Israelite parent might consider intentionally aborting a foetus seems almost beyond the moral horizon of the Torah's original audience. For in the moral environment where the law was first received, the memory of genocide and infanticide was still fresh [and] every birth was precious.”  Lenn E. Goodman, Judaism, Human Rights, and Human Values

However, there is at least one specific reference in the Mosaic Law about what to do if someone causes harm to a pregnant woman:

"And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that the child comes forth, yet there is no injury [premature birth], he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any injury [to the woman or the miscarried baby], then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise...." (Exodus 21:22-25)[1]

New Testament

Once again, we don’t see a clear injunction in the New Testament against elective abortion, most likely because the books in the New Testament were written by Jewish people coming out of a culture where abortion simply was not done.[2] However, the humanity of the unborn is once again supported.

• Of John the Baptist: "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother's womb." (Luke 1:15)

• “At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s babe leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 1:41) The Greek word “babe,” brephos, is used equally of an unborn child and an infant (see Luke 2:12, 16; Acts 7:19).

•  Paul talked about God, “He who had set me apart, even before I was born, and called me through His grace…” (Galatians 1:15)

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and responded to Mary’s voice while in his mother’s womb; Paul was called by God’s grace while still in the womb. 

THE ARGUMENT FROM CHURCH HISTORY

In Judaism, there was a consensus on a number of important things: 

• people were made in God’s image

•  children were a blessing (so elective abortion was unthinkable)

•  the unborn were humans deserving of protection

 However, they did not have access to the scientific knowledge we have now about how the unborn develop, so there was not always a consensus about when that humanity with all its moral status ‘kicked in.’ Some argued that full humanity began at conception, others when the baby was fully formed, others at the moment of quickening, others at viability. [3] In all cases, moral status kicked in when life was present as best as they understood it, and that was before birth.

In spite of this uncertainty, there were clear teachings about how seriously they viewed the issue. Josephus (a first-century Jewish historian) stated, “The law orders all the offspring be brought up, and forbids women either to cause abortion or to make away with the fetus.” A woman who did so was considered to have committed infanticide.

When specifically addressing the issue of abortion, the early Church built on the foundation already in place and unhesitatingly condemned abortion as the killing of an innocent person.

• The epistle of Barnabas (approx. 125): "Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born."

• The Didache (approx. 140): " Do not murder a child by abortion, nor commit infanticide.” 

• Athenagoras wrote A Plea for the Christians (approx. 177) to debunk the charge that Christians kill infants during their worship services in order to eat their flesh and drink their blood.  “And when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very fetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God’s care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it.”

• Clement of Alexandria, in The Tutor (approx. 200): “Those who use abortifacient medicines to hide their fornication are causing the outright destruction, together with the fetus, of the whole human race.”

• Hippolytus of Rome, in Refutation of All Heresies (approx. 210): “Whence women, reputed believers, began to resort to drugs for producing sterility, and to gird themselves round, so to expel what was being conceived on account of their not wishing to have a child either by a slave or by any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family or excessive wealth. Behold into how great impiety that lawless one has proceeded by inculcating adultery and murder at the same time!” 

•  Tertullian, in Apologetics (approx. 213): " It makes no difference whether one take away the life once born or destroy it as it comes to birth. He is a man who is to be a man; the fruit is always present in the seed.” 

• The Council of Ancyra in A.D. 315 decreed: “Concerning women who commit fornication and destroy that which they have conceived or who are employed in making drugs for abortion, a former decree excluded them [from Communion] until the hour of death and to this some have assented. Nevertheless, we have ordained that they fulfill ten years [of penance], according to the prescribed degrees.” 

• Basil the Great, in Letter to Amphilochius (approx. 360): “The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice enquiry as to its being formed or unformed. . .” 

•  Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and Resurrection (approx. 370): “But there is no disagreement or doubt that those which are being nourished in the womb have growth and spatial movement. So the remaining alternative is to suppose that soul and body have one and the same beginning.” 

• Chrysostom, in a homily on Romans (approx. 390): “Why sow where the ground makes it its care to destroy the fruit? Where there are many efforts at abortion? Where there is murder before the birth?” 

•  Jerome, in Letter to Eustochium (approx. 400): “Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion,” which he called “child murder.” 

• Sixth Ecumenical Council (in Trullo) in 680: “Those who give drugs procuring abortion and those who receive poisons to kill the fetus are subjected to the penalty of murder.”[4]

 Throughout early church history, there is a consistent message: abortion is the taking of human life. In addition, you begin to see clear statements that the body and soul are connected, and that life begins from the moment of conception. 

 THE ARGUMENT FROM BIOLOGY

I’ve talked before about how the revelation of the Bible coincides with God’s revelation through His creation.  In other words, if all truth is God’s truth, we would expect the Bible and the world, when properly understood, to give the same message. In the case of the unborn, we see science and biology bringing clarity to the question of life. There is a clear consensus that life begins at conception.

• "It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and resultant mingling of the nuclear material that each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual." (Bradley M. Patten, Human Embryology, 3rd ed., New York: McGraw Hill, 1968, page 43.)

•  "Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition." (E. L. Potter and J. M. Craig, Pathology of the Fetus and the Infant, 3rd ed., Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1975, page vii.)

• The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter - the beginning is conception."  (Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, Report, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981.)

•  "Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings." (Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, Ibid.) 

•  “Although life is a continuous process, fertilization (which, incidentally, is not a ‘moment’) is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed when the chromosomes of the male and female pronuclei blend in the oocyte.” (Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Muller, Human Embryology and Teratology, 3rd ed., New York: Wiley-Liss, 2001, p.8.)

•  “A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo).” (Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th ed., Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003, p.2.)

•  “It is possible to give ‘human being’ a precise meaning. We can use it as equivalent to ‘member of the species Homo sapiens.’ Whether a being is a member of a given species is something that can be determined scientifically, by an examination of the nature of the chromosomes in the cells of living organisms. In this sense there is no doubt that from the first moments of its existence an embryo conceived from human sperm and eggs is a human being.” (Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp.85-86.)[5]

•  Former Planned Parenthood President Dr. Alan Guttmacher was perplexed that anyone would question these basic scientific facts. "This all seems so simple and evident that it is difficult to picture a time when it wasn't part of the common knowledge," he wrote in his book Life in the Making. (A. Guttmacher, Life in the Making: The Story of Human Procreation, New York: Viking Press, 1933, p. 3.)

• A Planned Parenthood brochure in 1963 noted, “Abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun.  It is dangerous to your life and health.”[i]

•  Faye Wattleton, the longest reigning president Planned Parenthood, told Ms. Magazine: “I think we have deluded ourselves into believing that people don't know that abortion is killing. So any pretense that abortion is not killing is a signal of our ambivalence, a signal that we cannot say yes, it kills a fetus.”[6]

•  Bernard Nathanson co-founder of NARAL, in an article for the New England Journal of Medicine in 1974: "There is no longer serious doubt in my mind that human life exists within the womb from the very onset of pregnancy..."[7]

A short parable summarize the biological arguments: 

“Suppose we are back in the pre-digital photo days, and you have a Polaroid camera and you have taken a picture that you think is unique and valuable — let’s say a picture of a jaguar darting out from a Mexican jungle. The jaguar has now disappeared, so you are never going to get that picture again in your life, and you really care about it. (I am trying to make this example comparable to a human being, for we say that every human being is uniquely valuable.) You pull the tab out and as you are waiting for it to develop, I grab it away from you and rip it open, thus destroying it. When you get really angry at me, I say blithely, ‘You’re crazy. That was just a brown smudge. I cannot fathom why anyone would care about brown smudges.’ Wouldn’t you think that I were the insane one? Your photo was already there. We just couldn’t see it yet.” (Richard Stith, “Does Making Babies Make Sense? Why So Many People Find it Difficult to See Humanity in a Developing Foetus,”)

 THE ARGUMENT FROM PHILOSOPHY

 Philosophy supports the Biblical narrative, historical Christian position, and biology. Scott Klusendorff (Life Training Institute) and Greg Koukl (Stand To Reason) have highlighted the four ways in which an unborn child differs from one who is born (Size, Level of development, Environment, and Degree of dependency), none of which justifies the elective killing the unborn. 

Size

 The unborn is clearly smaller than a born human. This does not mean they are not a person. Three-year-olds are smaller than a teenagers. Can we kill them? Our value is not based on our size. In the same way, though the unborn is smaller than a born child, this is not a justifiable reason for killing the unborn.

Level of development

The unborn is also less developed than a born human being, but this is irrelevant to personhood. A four year-old girl can’t bear children because her reproductive system is less developed than a fourteen year-old girl. She is still as equally valuable as a child-bearing teen – or a seventy-year old grandmother. We can’t disqualify the unborn from personhood simply because they are less developed than older human beings, and this includes going back to the most fundamental starting point of our development. 

Another way of thinking of this is asking the question: Were you ever not you? Of course not. If you were to walk backward through your life history, you would walk back to the moment of your conception. 

Environment

You location has no bearing on the value of who you are. Being inside or outside a house changes nothing; being inside our atmosphere or out of it does not change an astronaut’s humanity. In the same way, a journey from inside the womb to outside the womb changes nothing about one’s humanity or personhood. If you are a person when you are born, you were a person the moment before that too. Even Peter Singer agrees with this. Singer, an ethicist at Princeton, argues that infanticide should be legal for at least a month after birth. That’s a horrible but consistent idea for him. He wrote in his book Practical Ethics:

“The liberal search for a morally crucial dividing line between the newborn baby and the fetus has failed to yield any event or stage of development that can bear the weight of separating those with a right to life from those who lack such a right.” [8]

  I agree. To Singer, that means if we can kill the unborn we can kill the born. He badly misses the point. If we can’t kill the born, we shouldn’t kill the unborn either. 

Degree of dependency

Sometimes people cite ‘viability’ as a marker for when the unborn should be considered human. But newborns and toddlers are hardly viable in the truest sense of the world. They must be fed and cared for by someone else. Is Peter Singer right? Should parents be allowed to kill children until they are independent in terms of their need for basic sustenance? No. Your humanity is not connected to your dependency. If it were, people in hospitals would be less human. People at the end of life would be less human. People who are handicapped physically or mentally would be less human. Yes, the unborn depends on her mother, but this says nothing about their humanity and value.[ii]

This SLED acronym actually speaks to a broader pro-life position: no human being – regardless of size, level of development, place of residence or degree of dependence – should be excluded from the community of human persons and the rights and protections that follow.[9]

 Abraham Lincoln once challenged those in favor of slavery by pointing out the dangers of their position. The very criterion they were using to treating the slaves as less than human were the criterion that would condemn them as well.  

 "You say ‘A' is white and ‘B' is black. It is color, then: the lighter having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are a slave to the first man you meet with a fairer skin than your own. You do not mean color exactly—You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again: By this rule you are to be a slave to the first man you meet with an intellect superior to your own. But you say it is a question of interest, and, if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you."

If I may paraphrase Lincoln on the issue of abortion, “You say A is unborn (and can be killed) and B is born (and cannot).  Your reasons are size, level of development, environment, or degree of dependency. Take care. By this rule, you can be killed by those who are bigger, more developed, better situated and less dependent than you are.”[1]

THE RESPONSE OF CHRISTIANS

There are at least four ways in which Christians can be faithfully present in our culture on this issue: 

First, use your voice and your vote in the public square. We have the privilege (if not the duty) of being involved in a political process that gives us a vote and a voice. The early church could not do that. We can. [10]  We need to educate ourselves, then be truthful, bold and tactful in defense of the unborn. We have plenty of platforms and opportunities to speak about these issues. Write, speak, re-post articles on Facebook, learn how to hashtag so pro-life articles and stories trend to the top of a news feed. It makes a difference. 

 Second, when abortion numbers trend down, most pro-life sites credit two main things: ultrasound images and relationships. Ultrasounds show what goes on in the womb in a way that is intuitively strong. Watching someone’s baby develop on Facebook as the mom posts ultrasound pictures is powerful. Relationships are an increasingly necessary context for conversations that are loving, truthful, and bold. If you want to see abortion numbers continue to drop, put yourself in situations where you will become part of a personal discussion about the unborn in a way that displays truth and grace. Position yourself to help in practical ways. 

 Third, be involved in caring for physical and emotional needs. Get involved with places like Pregnancy Care Center, El Nido (in Costa Rica) or other organizations that provide tangible acceptance and care for physical and emotional needs (or simply look around you for opportunities). It’s what the early church did. 

“The early Church provided places of refuge for pregnant women in desperate situations (usually convents), places where women would find acceptance and medical care. Not only did the Church try to provide for the physical needs of mothers, it also provided for their psychological and spiritual needs—needs that abortion completely overlooks. The early Church also ran orphanages for the children born of unwanted pregnancies, and it is perhaps no co-incidence that many of the Church’s greatest saints started life as such orphans. As pagan antiquity became a thing of the past with the triumph of Christianity, so in large part did abortifacient poisons and infanticide.” – T.L. Frazier

 Fourth, help to create a church community that embodies the grace, forgiveness and hope that only Christ can offer.[11] There is a danger that we will just be known for being against abortion, when in reality the church is called to be for Christ – and the salvation, forgiveness, healing and hope that is found only through Christ (and hopefully embodied by his people, the church). 

There is also a danger we will stand on a spiritual pedestal on this issue. In Luke 18, Jesus contrasts two people offering prayers. The Pharisee says, “I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector!” Meanwhile, the tax collector, a Jewish traitor and one of the most reviled men in the community, is praying a prayer that honors God: “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.” Jesus said, “"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” 

Remember: the ground is level at the foot of the cross. There is no place for superiority, pride, or shaming judgment. We all must confess our sins, receive Christ’s forgiveness, and constantly be renewed in newness of life. 

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

The Case for Life. http://www.caseforlife.com

The Bible and Abortion. http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/prolife.html

Argument for the Silent: A Biblical Case Against Abortion. http://www.reasons.org/articles/argument-for-the-silent-a-biblical-case-against-abortion

Abortion and the Early Christian Church.

http://www.godandscience.org/abortion/earlychristian.html

The S.L.E.D. Test. http://www.str.org/articles/the-s.l.e.d.-test#.VktEzkvM-H0

Life News. lifenews.com

“Five Bad Ways To Argue About Abortion.” http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-bad-ways/

·AfterAbortion.org. http://afterabortion.org/help-healing/

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FOOTNOTES

[1] “What Exodus 21:22 Says about Abortion.” Stand To Reason.  http://www.str.org/articles/what-exodus-21-22-says-about-abortion#.VlhaGEvM-H0. Some think this just refers to a punishment if the mother dies or is injured. This article makes a clear and compelling argument that the punishment applied equally if either the mother or the child was the victim.

[2] “Dead Silence: Must The Bible Say Abortion Is Wrong Before We Can Know It’s Wrong?” http://www.equip.org/article/dead-silence-must-the-bible-say-abortion-is-wrong-before-we-can-know-its-wrong/

[3] The State of Israel is now worlds away from the Old Testament perspective. See “Israel’s abortion law now among world’s most liberal.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-abortion-law-now-among-worlds-most-liberal/

[4] The Early Church on Abortion. http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/EarlyChurchAbortion.php

[5] The list so far was taken from “Even “Pro-Choice” Philosophers Admit: Human Life Begins at Fertilization.” /12/02/even-pro-choice-philosophers-admit-human-life-begins-at-fertilization/

[6] “A new human being comes into existence during the process of fertilization.” http://www.abort73.com/abortion/medical_testimony/

[7] Ibid.

[8] “Peter Singer’s Bold Defense of Infanticide.” http://www.equip.org/article/peter-singers-bold-defense-of-infanticide/

[9] You may have noticed I did not reference any “hard cases” such as rape and incest, serious medical difficulties in the baby, or times the mother’s life is in danger.  These are situations that need to be answered carefully, compassionately and truthfully, but they are broader than my time permits in this post.

[10] “But so long as Christianity remained a disfavored--and sometimes persecuted--religion, their appeals to the pagan government to act against infanticide were ineffectual in changing government policy. Even so, Christians worked against infanticide by prohibiting its members from practicing it, voicing their moral view on infanticide to the pagan world, and by providing for the relief of the poor and actually taking in and supporting babies which had been left to die by exposure by their pagan parents." http://www.christiancadre.org/member_contrib/cp_infanticide.html

[11] “Can God Forgive Abortions?” http://www.epm.org/resources/2007/Dec/01/can-god-forgive-abortions/

Following God: Marriage, Sex and Sexuality (Part 2)

“We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. Together they reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 19:5-6). It is intended to be a covenant by which they unite themselves for life in a single, exclusive union, ordered toward the well-being of the spouses and designed to be the environment for the procreation and upbringing of children.”

 * * * * * 

“If we are made in the image of God as male and female, and if joining and one flesh as a profound mystery that refers to Christ and the church, then our understanding of the body, gender, and sexuality has a direct impact on our understanding of God, Christ, and the church. The body is not only biological. The body is also theological, because it tells a Divine Story. It does so precisely through the mystery of sexual difference and the call of the two to become one flesh. This means that when we get the body and sex wrong, we get the Divine Story wrong as well.”[1]

Here’s the Divine Story as it unfolds from Genesis to Revelation: 

·      The Bible opens with a Trinitarian God acting as Creator, “maker of heaven and earth.” In Genesis, God is a generative God who is an “infinite communion of person.”

• He creates the imago dei who are told to be in communion (“common union”)(Genesis 1:27; 2:24).[2]  

• Throughout the Old Testament, God compares his relationship with Israel to a marriage.  “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5)  “I’m going to marry you, and this time it’ll be forever in righteousness and justice. Our covenant will reflect a loyal love and great mercy; our marriage will be honest and truthful, and you’ll understand who I really am—the Eternal One.” (Hosea 2:19-20)

• Jesus, the new Adam, leaves the home of his father in Heaven and the home of his mother on Earth for the sake of his bride, the church (Ephesians 5), with whom he will become one (Romans 6:5) and through whom we will become one with others[3] as we fill the earth and make disciples  

• The Book of Revelation describes the final wedding Feast of God and his people, the lamb and his bride. [4]

If the Divine Story of the Bible uses marriage as an analogy, it seems important to understand not only how marriage, but how sex (male and female) and the act of sex all contribute to this story. We are going to dive into this with the following foundation: 

God intends sex to be an act of covenantal initiation and renewal in a ‘dualitarian’ unionthat points us toward the nature of God and Jesus’ love for the church.

Christians are essentialists. Let me explain.

• As imago dei, we are "male" and "female," which together point toward who God is and what God is like – “let us make male and female in our image,” says Genesis.[5]

•  Because the God of Genesis is generative, it should be no surprise that his imago dei are essentially gendered; how we will “generate life” is built into our genitals and our genes and passed down in our geneology ever since Genesis.[6]

• The means by which we have the inherent capacity to generate life reveals our essential nature; together, men and women reflect on the essence and nature of the God who made us.[7]

•  We experience “common union” during sex. We aren’t just animals. “Animals are able to mate, but they're not able to enter communion. Only persons are capable of the gift of self that establishes a ‘common union’”….[8] Two become one as a finite communion of persons, an echo of triune infinite communion of persons. .

Look at the “common union” of Adam and Eve.[9] When Eve arrives on the scene, the imagery is that of Adam's flesh and bone being divided and separated “according to the opposite of him” so that they are suitable and matching.[10]

When Genesis notes that a husband and wife "become one" in marriage, the Hebrew word for that oneness is echad, which is also used in the most famous Jewish prayer, the Shemah: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is echad." The linguistic connection is not accidental.[11] To quote Tim and Kathy Keller at length from The Meaning Of Marriage:  

“There is a hint that the relationship between male and female is a reflection of the relationships within the Godhead itself – the Trinity. Although all people, men and women, are bearers of God’s image, resembling him as his children, reflecting his glory, and representing him as stewards over nature, it requires the unique union of male and female within the one flesh of marriage to reflect the relationship of life within the triune God.

 As Genesis says, male and female are “like-opposite” each other – both radically different and yet incomplete without each other. God’s plan for married couples involves two people of different sexes making the commitment and sacrifice that is involved in embracing the Other and performing different roles in the act of creation, which brings about deep unity because of the profound complementarity between the sexes. [This] tells us something of the relationships between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

 There may even be echoes of the church here[12] – one body with many parts, one “corpus” comprised of two, uh, corpuses (?) Corpi (?).[13]

“This is why the two become one flesh: to reveal, proclaim, and anticipate the eternal union of Christ and the church. There will be no marriage in heaven not because it will be deleted but because it will be eternally completed...”[14]

 Koinania is an overlooked work in the New Testament. According to the NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon, it means “fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse; intimacy.”

1.   “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to koinania,to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42)

2.   “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a koinania in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a koinania in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16)

3.   “ And do not neglect doing good and koinania, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16)

4.   “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have koinania with us; and indeed our koinania is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ….but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have koinania with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:3,7)

 The church, I believe, is meant to offer another place of communion – “common union” – that anticipates eternal communion with God and God’s people.[15]  By immersing ourselves in the life and calling of the church, we intertwine our body (in a very practical sense) with the spiritual church body in a way that points toward future eternal koinania with the saints in the presence of Christ.

In fact, we can all be spiritually fruitful  - generative - by making disciples[16]. There is still room to image God’s creative and procreative nature outside of marriage (though the procreation is of a different kind).[17]

This, too, is part of the Divine Story: there is a koinania community (the church) in need of both male and female image bearers; there is a spiritually covenantal marriage with God (through salvation) that anticipates our eternal marriage; there is a fruitfulness that follows (disciple-making). 

 * * * * *

God intends sex to be an act of covenantal initiation and renewal in a ‘dualitarian’ union that points us toward the nature of God and Jesus’ love for the church.

In biblical times, a covenant was a strong bond in which two people would pledge mutual faithfulness and commitment, often at the cost of their life. Covenants were complex, serious, and deeply binding. God is a covenant-making God. The Bible cannot be understood without the concept of covenant.[18]  When Adam and Eve “cleave,” that’s a covenant word (Genesis 2:22-25).[19]

I am going to quote Tim Keller and his wife extensively here from The Meaning Of Marriagebecause they explain this better than I can.

“The covenant brings every aspect of two person’s lives together. They essentially merge into a single legal, social, economic unit… they donate themselves wholly to the other… Sex is understood as both a sign of the personal, legal union and a means to accomplish it. The Bible says don’t unite with someone physically unless you are also willing to unite with the person emotionally, personally, socially, economically, and legally. Don’t become physically naked and vulnerable to the other person without becoming vulnerable in every other way, because you have given up your freedom and bound yourself in marriage. 

 Then, once you have given yourself in marriage, sex is a way of maintaining and deepening that union as the years go by.. Sex is perhaps the most powerful God-created way to help you give your entire self to another human being. Sex is God’s appointed way for two people to reciprocally say to one another, ‘I belong completely, permanently, and exclusively to you.’ You must not use sex to say anything less.  

So, according to the Bible, a covenant is necessary for sex. It creates a place of security for vulnerability and intimacy. But though a marriage covenant is necessary for sex, sex is also necessary for the maintenance of the covenant. It is your covenant renewal service.”

 In the biblical narrative, sex is an act intended by God to initiate and renew covenant – marriage - that is meant to be indissoluble. [20]  It’s not as if covenants dissolve if a married couple can’t have sex. Age, illness, circumstances – these can all get in the way of sexual covenant renewal.  This is also not suggesting that nothing else renews, sustains, or deepens covenant. I’m just making a point about sex: it is intended by God to be experienced as an act of covenant initiation and renewal. 

I Corinthians 6:17, which is often quoted in reference to this binding nature inherent to sex, makes it clear. Paul notes, 

“Do you not know that a person who is united in intimacy with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall become one flesh.’”

 Paul wasn’t just saying, “Do you know if you combine bodies you will combine bodies?” That’s pretty obvious. Paul is simply referring back to Genesis 2:24 (and Jesus’ affirmation of it in Matthew 19) where a husband and wife ‘cleave’ together, reminding his readers that every sex act is an act that brings about a “oneness” whether we want it to be or not. 

 I suspect that’s why Paul says that sexual sins are unique (1 Corinthians 6:18). There is no other act that by its very nature is intended by God to initiate or affirm a covenant. [21] This was as radical of an idea then as it is now.[22]

* * * * *

God intends sex to be an act of covenantal initiation and renewal in a ‘dualitarian’ union that points us toward the nature of God and Jesus’ love for the church.

The New Testament writers add another theological layer to marriage by claiming that the sacrificial love of a husband for his wife is supposed to image the love of God (the groom) for His church (the bride). [23] So, to the Christian, marriage and sex have always been about far more than a skin-on-skin act or a social contract. John Paul II described the body and sexual union as ‘prophetic’. Prophets speak for God, revealing mysteries God has given to them. Marriage and even marital sex is a prophetic proclamation of God’s love for the church.[24]

This idea of sex as covenantal would have entirely changed the dynamic of sex for a husband and wife. To a Christian, sex is a way of saying, “You are the one with whom I wish to bind my life. I have committed to you, I have pledged to give myself wholly to you. We are bound together in every way and on every level. We have no secrets; we are naked and unashamed; we are a covenanted union of service, sacrifice and love.”[25]

This brings us back to where we started: 

God intends sex to be an act of covenantal initiation and renewal in a ‘dualitarian’ union that points us toward the nature of God and Jesus’ love for the church.

 ____________________________________________________________

 [1] Our Bodies Tell God’s Story, by Christopher West

[2] Some have argued that because Heaven (masculine in Hebrew) and Earth (feminine) are the first things generated, and they “bring forth” living things – they are fruitful – they might be the first example of this pattern in Scripture. 

[3] (Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:13), 

[4] Revelation 19:7-8.

[5] I suspect this is part of Paul is referring to in Romans 1:20. “The body… has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and us to be a sign of it,” says John Paul II, as quoted in Our Bodies Tell God’s Story.[5] Our creation as male and female is what Christopher West calls a “sacramental reality: a physical sign of something transcendent.”  This is the theological reason why the Bible never discusses the marriage covenant as the union between people of the same sex. In the biblical narrative, same-sex couples cannot be the “like-opposite” union of “otherness” that represent the triune image of a complementary and generative God.

[6]  “From stem of Latin genus (genitive generis) "race, stock, family; kind, rank, order; species," also "(male or female) sex," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.” – Online Etymology Dictionary 

[7] Genesis 1:27: “ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

[8] Our Bodies Tell God’s Story, by Christopher West

[9] The Bible places them in the Divine Story as ‘archetypes’ - real people whose lives are universally significant. Simply the definitions of their names suggest as much: Adam means “man” or “earth” in Hebrew; Eve is “life” or “life-giver.”

[10] The Hebrew expression כְּנֶגְדּוֹ (kÿnegdo) literally means this. 

[11] As Nancy Pearcey notes, “Biblical morality is teleological: The purpose of sex is to express the one-flesh covenant bond of marriage.”

[12] Puritans called marriage “the little church within the Church,” a place to test and also develop spiritual character.

[13] Ephesians 5 - marriage reveals the mystery of Christ and the church. 

[14] Our Bodies Tell God’s Story, by Christopher West

[15] There will be no marriage or sex in heaven; they are sacraments (a visible expression of an invisible reality) that will pass. Not so, the communion with Christ between saints.  

[16] Paul refers to Timothy as his son in the faith (1 Timothy 1:2); he refers to himself as the father of many children in 1 Corinthians 4.

[17] “The New Testament Church conceived of marriage and singleness as alternative locations, each a worthy form of life, the two together comprising the whole Christian witness. The one declared that God had vindicated the order of creation [in Genesis], the other pointed beyond it to its eschatological (“end times”) transformation. In other words, marriage points to Genesis, singleness to Revelation.” – Christopher West

[18] There are three main ways we see this unfold in the Bible: God’s covenant with His people; the covenant of marriage; and the covenant fellowship within the church.

[19] Malachi 2:14 and Proverbs 2:17 also use ‘covenant’ to describe marriage.

[20] “Sexual intercourse in marriage is not merely the satisfaction of individual appetites, as eating is, but it links two persons together – literally and spiritually. It brings about what it symbolizes (the bond of oneness) and symbolizes what it brings about.”  Richard Hayes, The Moral Vision Of The New Testament

[21] Think about it: every covenant in the Bible has physical sign: Covenant of Creation (Adam) – Trees of Life and Knowledge (Genesis 2); Noahic Covenant – rainbow (Genesis 9); Abrahamic Covenant – circumcision (Genesis 17); Mosaic Covenant – Sabbath (Exodus 31); New Covenant – baptism (Romans 6) and communion (Luke 22)

What is the physical sign of the marital covenant? Sex.

[22] Martha Nussbaum has written that the ancients were no more concerned with people's gender preference than people today are with others' eating preferences: “Ancient categories of sexual experience differed considerably from our own... The central distinction in sexual morality was the distinction between active and passive roles. The gender of the object... is not in itself morally problematic. Boys and women are very often treated interchangeably as objects of [male] desire. What is socially important is to penetrate rather than to be penetrated. Sex is understood fundamentally not as interaction, but as a doing of some thing to someone...”

[23] “When we scan a menu, we think, what will be the tastiest? What do I fancy right now? And with sex we can instinctively think, what would satisfy me the most? This is a natural way to think. But if this is all that dominates our minds, we risk missing something that's right at the heart of what sex is for: giving. Paul didn't write that each partner is to take their marital rights from the other, but that each is to give to the other what is their right. Sex is not a commodity to be transacted but a means of devotion to the other.” - Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With? Sam Allberry

[24] As Rick Warren has written, “To redefine marriage would destroy the picture that God intends for marriage to portray. It's the picture of Christ in the church.”

[25] There are two times in Song of Solomon that the bride says, “I am my beloved’s and he is mine; he browses among the lilies” (2:16 and 6:3) Have you ever wondered what that means? What does belonging to each other have to do with browsing through a flower garden? In Song of Solomon 4:5, Solomon praises his wife by saying, “Your two breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.” When it’s her turn, she says, “I am my beloved’s and he is mine,” then borrows his metaphor and makes him the gazelle: “he browses among the lilies.” Why? The marital covenant is designed to be initiated, sealed and celebrated by sexual love. For more on the imagery in Song of Solomon, “The Hunt” is a decent introduction to the language of Song of Solomon (http://www.christdeaf.org/bible/TheHunt.html.)  See also, “What’s The Difference Between Erotica And The Song Of Solomon?” (thegospelcoaltion.org)

COVID-19 And Church Life: An Important Announcement

CLG family,

After prayerful consideration, our leadership team has made the decision to suspend our Sunday church services as well as youth group and AWANA on Wednesdays, out of respect for the recommendations of our governing authorities, and as an act of love and service to those in our church family and local community who are susceptible to serious complications from the COVID-19 virus. (If you are in a small group, check with your leaders concerning their plans). 

We will be streaming or posting video of the message. Check the church Facebook page or website (clgonline.org) for video, audio and notes. Note that social distancing is not the same as relational distancing.  We are still accessible! We just aren’t going to meet with 100 of you at a time – for now. 

This is temporary, or course. We will be closely monitoring governmental recommendations and local church practices. We plan to resume our regularly scheduled meetings and gathering together as soon as seems wise.  

This is also a decision motivated not only by the current State Of Michigan recommendation for community and faith-based organizations, but by our witness as well. A missionary in Hong Kong has noted about what has been happening in their area: 

“In Singapore and Korea, huge shares of the infected became infected via religious gatherings. In many cases, these were Christian gatherings… If we are reckless and allow our churches to become centers of disease, then we damage the reputation of the Gospel in our communities. Don’t do that. Do no wrong in the eyes of anyone! In a time of plague, Christians should not abandon their posts, and should be examples of good disease management. Christians invented hospitals during the first 5 centuries of our faith, because Christians thought it was important to have a good witness through our care for the sick. Let’s keep up that good record passed on to us from the saints of the past.”

 I appreciate what Andy Crouch has written on how churches should respond to this current crisis. 

“The reason to alter our practices, especially the way we gather, is not self-protection. For one thing, in the case of this particular virus, if individuals are young and healthy, infection may pose not much more threat than the ordinary seasonal flu. The change is needed because our vulnerable neighbors — those of any age with compromised immune systems, and those over 70 years old — are at grave risk. One of the basic axioms of the Christian life is that the “strong” must consider the “weak” (see Rom. 15). We are making these choices not to minimize our own risk, but to protect others from risk.

At the same time, some people are taking steps, sometimes extreme ones, to protect themselves and their families, often out of terrible anxiety, and this will likely increase in the coming days. This is not a Christian posture. We do not change our behavior out of fear. In a very different context, the Apostle Paul wrote, “I want you to be free of anxieties” so that his community could serve the Lord (1 Cor. 7:32). We prepare for our expected needs, and others’, so that we can be free of anxieties and serve freely when the time comes. It is entirely possible to prepare, even to prepare urgently, out of love.”

 Once again, we will be streaming or videoing the message. Check the church Facebook page or website (clgonline.org) for video, audio and notes. The church office will continue to be open during the week. 

Also, we encourage you to continue giving to the mission of the church. You can do so online, https://www.clgonline.org/give, or you can mail/drop off offerings at the church. There are two important reasons for this. 

•  First, we still have to pay the bills. 

•  Second, we expect that there will be a financial impact from COVID-19 closings on people in the church whose jobs are suffering, and who also have to pay bills. Your generosity can make possible our generosity toward church family members in need.  

 And if you have too much toilet paper, give some to your neighbor :)

With hope and peace from the God of all comfort,

Anthony (on behalf of our church elders and staff) 

Following God: Marriage, Sex and Sexuality (Part 1)

“We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. Together they reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 19:5-6). It is intended to be a covenant by which they unite themselves for life in a single, exclusive union, ordered toward the well-being of the spouses and designed to be the environment for the procreation and upbringing of children.” [1]  

____________________________________________________

Sam Allberry asks the question, “Why does God care who I sleep with?” The answer: because he cares deeply about people who are doing the sleeping.[2]

I’m going to make a case for a biblical view of sex, sexuality and marriage[3]. I’m not going to talk much about roles in marriage[4], and I’m not going to spend time on overcoming or recovering from sexual sin[5] - which, to be sure, are important topics, but they are not the focus of this short series, which is already longer than I anticipated. 

I am going to talk about a biblical view of human sexuality, which means we are going to talk about sex and gender (male and female[6]), sex (the activity[7]), and marriage[8]. Whatever your status in life, I hope this can serve to biblically ground your thinking about God and these issues, so that as we all commune together in church community and go out as salt and light into our city, we can all bring a shared biblically informed view into situations we encounter. 

Biblically speaking, there are at least five common misconceptions about sex found either in church or in our culture. 

1. Sex is simply a natural appetite like eating or drinking, and so is no big deal. This ‘food” terminology is as old as the Bible. Proverbs 5 reminds married folk to “drink from their own well.”  “"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food" was a popular phrase among the sexually immoral in Corinth (1 Corinthians 6:13). This idea still has momentum 2,000 years later. People who find someone else deeply attracted to someone are referred to as “thirsty.” We use the term “food porn?” to describe pictures of food for people who like food. It’s just another kind of porn  - if all appetites are the same. We don’t care if people watch the Food Network; why not Pornhub? 

Sex is just hungry and thirsty people indulging. Evolution has hardwired us to be promiscuous, right? Ignoring or stifling our impulse is unhealthy. 

2. It’s private and personal. It’s my business and no one else’s. “Get your laws out of my bedroom!” You live your life, and I’ll live my mine. Nobody has any business telling me what I should or shouldn’t feel or do, or how I ought to perceive myself. 

3. Sex is embarrassing, maybe even shameful, and our sex drive is something that needs to be squelched. I grew up in a church culture that unintentionally sent this message. When people got married, they had this nagging thought that they probably shouldn't be enjoying sex. They had absorbed the notion that sexual desire was dirty and sexually desirable people were somehow bad, and that was not an easy lesson to unlearn. 

4. Sex is a critical form of self-expression and personal fulfillment, a way to ‘find yourself’ and be truly happy. In this view, sex is primarily for individual fulfillment and self-realization. Those who want to put boundaries around sex are actually stifling the personal growth of others. At best, these moral policemen are jealous of the sex lives of others or scared by the power of sexuality. At worst they are bullying or coercing people to accept the bully’s notion of sexuality morality. 

5. Our sexuality is an almost irresistible flood on which we are carried to whatever consensual destination it takes us. That’s just my creative attempt at saying there is a cultural message that we should follow our heart, our urges, our desires, whatever wells up inside of us. There are no boundaries other than what the law puts around you. As long as someone else consents, we’re good.[9]

The Bible offers what I believe is a far more complex and compelling view. 

1. Christians agree that the sexual urge is a powerful drive that God places in us, but disagree that ignoring or stifling impulses is necessarily unhealthy. Sexuality and sexual desire is a gift. The challenge is stewarding that part of our nature in line with God’s design. Alexander Men, a Russian Orthodox priest, writes,

“The Pharisees were constantly stumbling into passerby. They were afraid to lift their eyes lest they should accidentally look upon a woman. They were called, in jest, khitsay,  ‘don't-hit-your-head.’”

It‘s not as if Jewish women were dressing in revealing ways, so this is not the same as avoiding pornography or averting our eyes from blatant immodesty. It seems the Pharisees were afraid of even glimpsing a female lest they experience anything that was even remotely a recognition that God wired us to find people attractive. That’s not a sign of spiritual, emotional or sexual health.  That’s trying to pretend that we are not the kind of people God designed us to be. 

Refusing to acknowledge God’s purposeful design in this area doesn’t do anyone any good. This is about stewardship. To the Christian, our sex drive needs boundaries not because sex is something to be feared, but because sex is something to be revered.

Like our drives for food and drink, the sex drive has been distorted because of sin. I like C.S. Lewis’ analogy about the food/drink/appetites comparison:

“Suppose you came to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let every one see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food?”

 Food has its place, but that’s not it. If the belly always gets what it wants, eventually appetites will control us. The more we align our desire for and use of the food and drink around us with the design of our bodies, the healthier we are. Our challenge is to align our sexual appetites with God’s design, which means we have to understand the importance of bodies and boundaries. Shipwrecked sailors get so thirsty they might drink sea water out of desperation. It won’t help at all. Boundaries matter for all kinds of thirsts.

Practical example: biblically speaking, there is one woman who is the rightful recipient of my sexual thoughts and desires and the expected accompanying activity. That is my wife. Even if someone else offers themselves to me, their body is not mine to take. Even if I want someone else, my body is not mine to give. It belongs to God[10], and God tells me that my wife is the only one who has a rightful claim, and the only one on whom I have a claim and toward whom my eyes, heart, thoughts and actions are to be sexually oriented.[11]

As for evolution wiring us to be promiscuous, I wonder, if that were the case, why evolution did not also wire us to be more resistant[12] to STDs[13] or equip us better for the emotional fallout?[14]  Let’s go back to food and drink. If you misuse them, you will get sick. The use did not match the design. If getting physically or emotionally sick is a natural and/or expected cause-and-effect scenario from your sex life such that you have to take active steps to try to stop those things from happening, it may be time to consider that the your use does not match God’s design.[15]

The Bible never presents sex as simply recreational; it is never casual, meaningless or insignificant. In sex, one body signals to another body, “We are in covenant now.”[16] This purpose is found through both general revelation (nature) and special revelation (the Bible). They both tell us that our sexual organs have a design, and thus our sex life does as well.[17]Nancy Pearcey says,

Pick up any recent book on sexuality and you will read about the role played by hormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin…The chemical is released when a mother nurses her baby, and it stimulates an instinct for caring and nurturing. It is often called the attachment hormone. Imagine the surprise when scientists discovered that oxytocin is also released during sexual intercourse, especially (but not exclusively) in women… As one sex therapist puts it, when we have intercourse, we create “an involuntary chemical commitment.” 

Even when you intend to just have casual sex, “biology might trump your intentions.” The same holds true for men. The main neurochemical responsible for the male response in intimate sexual contact is vasopressin. It is structurally similar to oxytocin and has a similar emotional effect. Scientists believe it stimulates bonding with a woman and with offspring. Vasopressin has been dubbed ‘the monogamy molecule…’ “You might say we are designed to bond.”

Think of the phrases, “This is ‘no strings attached’. This is just a hook-up. We are just friends. Let’s not read too much into this.” But the words we exchange and the desire to ‘not let it get complicated’ won’t change our bodies or God’s design. A young lady wrote in to Glamour Magazine: 

“After casual sex, I often get emotionally attached to whoever I slept with, even if I know I don’t want to be with them. I’ll snap out of it later, but how can I better separate emotions and sex? Sometimes I just want to orgasm without catching feelings.” —L.G., 26, Los Angeles

Glamour’s response? 

“Just be glad people are willing to sleep with you. If you get emotionally attached, so be it. Nothing heals that more than time, a cheese plate, and a little alcohol. (Just go easy on the cheese.)”[18]

 That’s not just bad advice; that's destructive advice. There is a rising epidemic of alcoholism on college campuses as more and more coeds drink themselves into a place where they will be able to detach emotionally from a sexual game they feel forced to play. This is not freedom. This is not abundant life. 

Our words try to tell one story (“This is no big deal”) while our bodies can’t help but tell a different - and true - story. Whenever this tension exists, all kinds of tensions will follow.

2. Christians agree it’s a private act – or at least should be – but it has public consequences. Sex is not meant to be a spectator sport. Even our secular laws make people ‘get a room’. Why, if it’s just two mammals enjoying each other? Because there’s more to it than just bodies in motion, and we all know it. 

The consequences are very public. Children are the most practical example, of course, but what if I, even as a married man, sexually pressure my wife or simply become calloused to her experience? That’s not just a ‘me and her’ issue; that’s going to change how she views men in general, and it’s going to form how I view women. My kids may well pick up on what’s going on not because they see us having sex, but because my attitude can’t help but permeate everything I do with my wife, and that will permeate my family. 

Our views of men and women as a group are formed one relationship at a time. Each man and each woman, like it or not, bears the weight of doing PR for their entire tribe. That’s a public consequence. The Atlantic published an article about the woman who accused a popular comedian of a sort of #metoo moment. The author notes at one point:

“Eventually, overcome by her emotions at the way the night was going, she told him, ‘You guys are all the f****** same’ and left crying. I thought it was the most significant line in the story: this has happened to her many times before. What led her to believe that this time would be different?”

 How we act on our sexuality and our sexual urges is remarkably formative of our character, and it inevitably impacts those around us, because the self that we have formed interacts with them, and that self interacts with others...  

3. Christians better not agree that sex is something about which we should be ashamed.God created sex and sexuality; the Bible celebrates it;[19] the New Testament actually commands it for people who are married.[20] The Bible is clear that sex is supposed to bring, pleasure, joy, laughter, intimacy, trust, self-giving, mutual care and comfort…

Sex is one of those unique things that can go from exhilarating to embarrassing in a moment. If someone – say, a 4-year-old -  has ever walked in on you parents, you cover up and lie about what you and mommy were doing.  And yet moments before there was no embarrassment. 

 If we are not careful, we can focus on the embarrassment in a way that suggests sex is shameful, when it is not. It’s actually pretty cool, and we parents hide ourselves not because something is wrong with what we are doing, but because what we are doing is sacred  – or at least it’s meant to be. 

Being particularly careful about something is often a sign of its special worth and how much we value it. I treat a playing card of vintage Jordan much better than the card of some journeyman who played three games in the NBA.  One is protected; it’s not a public plaything. The other – I just don’t care. I'm particular, protective and secretive about physical intimacy with my wife- as is she with me -  not because we value each other and sex so little, but because we value each other and it so much.“[21]

 4. Christians agree that sex has the potential to bring individual happiness and relational fulfillment (read Song of Solomon if you have any questions), but disagree that this is the purpose of sex.

Throughout the rest of this mini-series I will be making the case that sex is not less than this, but is much more than this. In brief:

• First, I think sex (and marriage) are meant to primarily to function as spiritual analogies that teach us something about the nature of God and the love of Jesus for the church[22]. It’s not the only way to learn it, but it’s certainly one way to do so.

• Second, it is the means by which we fulfill the mandate to Adam and Eve as well as Noah to “fill the earth” with image bearers. Anyone can do this spiritually, but parents have the mandate to do so physically.

• Third, it’s the means of having a darn good time in covenantal initiation and renewal with our spouse.[23]

5. Christians recognize the sexual river on which we have been placed, but we let Jesus take the helm, and the rudder, and whatever else steers our sexual boat. [24]Why? Because God designed us, and he will steer us in a path of life.  Sex either unites us individually and culturally, or it tears us apart.[25]

 It is meant to permanently intertwine our lives by intertwining our bodies. When done as God designed, it unites with ever increasing bonds of intimacy. But this same powerful act can be remarkably destructive.[26] If someone is used or abused, treated as an object rather than a person, loved only when they “put out,” well, that’s terrible. 

The body is not a meat playground, and our genitals are not just playground equipment. We are image bearers;[27] our bodies are designed to be temples;[28] are genitals are part of a “holy space” in which God intends to dwell. When they are misused, the temple is defiled; when it is abused, a holy place is being desecrated. 

I think the community feels the weight of this too. Watch reality shows – or not – where sex is just a commodity, and people bounce from partner to partner. If I could choose one word to describe what follows, it’s “drama.” It turns out that two people from Jersey Shore can throw all of Jersey into turmoil. 

Neither individuals nor communities thrive without boundaries in this area.[29] We aren’t designed to. We are inescapably sexually covenantal, and covenants thrive in boundaries. It is one of the holy things that we dare not throw to the dogs[30]; it’s a pearl of great price that we out not throw into the muck to be trampled. 

________________________________________________________________________

[1] RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

·      The Meaning of Marriage, Timothy and Kathy Keller

·      The Mingling of Souls, Matt Chandler

·      Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, John Piper and Justin Taylor

·      Real Sex, Lauren Winner

·      The Thrill of the Chaste, Dawn Eden

·      Fill These Hearts: God, Sex and the Universal Longing, Christopher West

·      Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With? Sam Allberry

·      Our Bodies Tell God’s Story, Christopher West

·       Love Thy Body, Nancy Pearcey

[2] “God made us sexual, and He glories in his plan for our union and joy.  Evil hates what God loves, and it has found that more harm can be done through sex then perhaps any other means.  Often the chief battleground for the human soul is the terrain of sexuality.”  - Dan Allendar

[3]  Which will include some discussion on how this applies to those who are not married. Some recommended resources: “Confessions of a Sex-Starved Single” (todayschristianwoman.com); “ Single In Christ And A Sexual Being (equip.org);“The Single Person’s Good Desire for Sex” (desiringgod.org).

[4]  “Made…In Complementary Community” – Part 1 and Part 2 (clgonline.org)

[5]  “Erasing Shame: Finding Forgiveness For Sexual Sin” (boundless.org)

[6] As articulated in Genesis 1 and 2 and confirmed by Jesus (Matthew 19:5; Mark 10-6-9) and the New Testament writers (Ephesians 5:31)

[7] Proverbs 5: 15-19; Proverbs 6:32;  Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:13-20; Matthew 5:27-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5; 1 Corinthians 7:3-5; Ephesians 5:3; Romans 13:13-14; Song of Songs; Genesis 39:7-10; Romans 1; Jude 1:7; Acts 15:29.

[8] Genesis 2:22-24; Ephesians 5; Proverbs 5; Matthew 19:4-6; 1 Corinthians 7; Colossians 3; Malachi 2:13-16; 1 Peter 3; Hebrews 13

[9]  “Consensuality isn’t wrong; it’s simply unable to provide the moral framework to produce true human flourishing in sexuality, since even our individual choices and desires are shaped by our complex and not-so-moral environment…No decision is made in a vacuum.  Consensuality isn’t bad; it’s just not enough… All good sex should be consensual, but not all consensual sex is part of human flourishing.”   - Preston Sprinkle, “Divine Sex Part 3: Sex In A Culture Of Consumerism.”  Also, see my blog post entitled “Consent Is Not Enough,” https://empiresandmangers.blogspot.com/2018/01/consent-is-not-enough.html

 [10] 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

[11] Proverbs 5:15-20

[12] Teenagers account for 30% of the population but have 50% of the STD’s in America.

[13] See Meg Meeker's Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids.

[14] Laura Sessions Stepp's book Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love, and Lose at Both offers a sobering view of both the physical and emotional toll promiscuity takes on women in particular.

[15] Galatians 6:7

[16] “We all know that we can speak through the language of our bodies without uttering a word. A wave of the hand says hello or goodbye. Of the shrug of the shoulders says I don't know. A raised fist express his anger. The body also speaks and amazingly profound language in sexual intercourse. Through gestures and reactions, through the whole dynamism of tension and enjoyment, whose direct source is the body and its masculinity and femininity, the body and its action and interaction, through all this the person speaks.” Christopher West, Our Bodies Tell God’s Story

[17] “Sex is God’s appointed way for two people to reciprocally say to one another, ‘I belong completely, permanently, and exclusively to you’” Tim and Kathy Keller, The Meaning Of Marriage. Sex was made to unite and bind us in the communion of an exclusive, permanent covenant, not make us wonder if we performed well enough, or if the other person will be there in the morning, or how we can go about it next time without getting so emotionally involved.

[18] Thanks, Carey Waldie, for pointing me toward this example, and for letting me shamelessly plunder all your notes on this issue for my sermon series. 

[19] Song of Solomon; Proverbs 5:19

[20] 1 Corinthians 7

[21] I like the distinction Christopher West makes between lust and love in the context of lovemaking: “Marital intercourse is meant to be passionate.  But the passion of lust is one thing, and the passion of imaging and expressing Divine Love is another. The former is like an untrained person banging recklessly on a piano, making meaningless noise. The ladder is like a professional musician who sits at the piano and makes music that lifts our souls to the heavens. Which kind of passion do we prefer?

[22] Ephesians 5

[23] A US News and World Report story from State University of New York and the University of Chicago noted that of all sexually active people, “the people who reported being most physically pleased and emotionally satisfied were married couples… Physical and emotional satisfaction started to decline when people had more than one sexual partner.” “A monogamous sexual partnership in formal marriage evidently produces the greatest satisfaction and pleasure.” (Social Organization of Sexuality)

[24] True story: Everyone agrees that not every sexual desire is equally good, and that some may even be harmful. Christianity is not unique because it has boundaries; it just draws those boundaries in different places for different reasons. 

[25] Pornography clearly undermines the dignity of individuals and the coherence of community For some introductory information, the following articles from Salvo Magazine (salvomag.com) may be helpful:

·      “Slave Master How Pornography Drugs & Changes Your Brain”

·      “Porn Is Not Free”

·      “Porn In The USA”

·      “The Porn Factor”

·      “The Science of Pornography”

[26] “Sexual assault is a violation of sacred space. To mistreat someone is to mistreat something God has made. David realizes that what he has done to Bathsheba is a sin against God precisely because her sexual integrity is something God has given her. David violation of Bathsheba is no less than treason against God.” Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With?Sam Allberry

[27] Genesis 1:26-27

[28] 1 Corinthians 6:19

[29] Boundaries are a HUGE deal in the Old Testament, from property markers (Proverbs 22:28; Proverbs 23:10) to all the separation in Genesis 1 to not mixing seeds and fabrics in the Law.

[30] Matthew 7:6

Following God: A Body Of Ministry

Recap

What is the Church?

What is the church? The bible uses the word a few different ways. Last week we discussed the primary meaning: The church is the people of God[1]. A family he assembles[2].

Another use of the word is to refer to a specific group of Jesus-followers who gather in a region. A number of the books in the New Testament were written as letters to these groups. The opening verses illustrate the point:

• Romans:  To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints

• 1 Corinthians:  To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours

• 2 Corinthians:  To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia

• Galatians:  To the churches of Galatia

• Ephesians:  To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus

• Philippians:  To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi

• Colossians:  To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae

• 1 & 2 Thessalonians:  To the church of the Thessalonians

• 1 Peter:  To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion

• Jude:  To those who are called

• The first three chapters of Revelation contain letters to various churches in the region

The context shows that not everyone gathered in these places were Christians. So, while the primary meaning of “church” is the people called out by God, in actual practice these gatherings were primarily believers with some unbelievers as well. Some categories might help clear this up.

Visibility of the Church

The Invisible Church 

As far back as Augustine, the term “invisible church” has been used by theologians. This sounds like a reference to the X-Men, but Augustine did not have a School for Gifted Youngsters like Xavier did. The idea of the invisible church is that we can’t see all believers. Some are in other churches in other places. Many have died and some have yet to be born. A lot has happened in 2,000 years, and there’s likely more to come. The invisible church is all true believers in Christ[3] – those who have been, are, or will be adopted into God’s family. And on top of that, when we look at the church today, we don’t always know with certainty who the actual believers are. So the invisible church[4] is the collection of all true believers throughout all of time who will spend eternity with God, whether we see them or know about them or not.

The Visible Church 

That means the visible church is what we can see. Not the ones who are called to gather, but the ones who actually do gather. Some inside those gatherings aren’t believers and don’t claim to be[5]. Some claim to be but are not[6]. I said at the beginning that the church is the people called by God. That is the intended meaning. The bible also uses the word church to refer to the gathered body, who are sometimes a mixed bag. That’s the visible church.

• When Paul writes the Corinthians, he mentions a man in the church[7] that they are to throw out

• When John writes the seven churches, it is evident that some people are faithful, and others are not

• And despite popular opinion, it’s worth noting that every use of the word “anti-Christ” in scripture refers to a person in the church, not in government.

I mention this for two reasons:

One, to understand the terms and have some mental categories for understanding the varied uses of the word “church[8]” in the bible.

Second, as a warning. Be found faithful. Run the race. Press on. Don’t be hearers only, but doers also. Don’t pretend to be a follower. Continue to work out your salvation. If this makes you nervous, it probably shouldn’t. If it doesn’t make you nervous, it probably should.

Desertion and Abandonment

While we’re on the topic of warnings, I want to say something more about what I introduced last week. Last week, I paraphrased “forsaking the assembly” as skipping church, but the bible uses much stronger language.

The writer of Hebrews says, “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some[9]”

The word “assembling” or “gathering” is built on the word for synagogue, the Jewish worship gathering. He was saying “don’t forsake synangogue-ing”. Keep gathering together to worship God. It’s a verb, not a noun[10]. It’s not talking about a place or people that is named the church – it’s the action of gathering with the church at the church to be the church.

Forsake is the word I think I’ve misunderstood the most. It sounds to me like “don’t forget!” Like, “don’t forsake brushing your teeth!”  But that’s not the meaning at all. Let’s look at other uses of this word:

• You probably know the phrase that God will not leave you or forsake you[11]. This is the same idea.

• When David spoke about being abandoned to the realm of the dead[12] – same word

• When Jesus was arrested, Mark says[13] all the disciples fled. They abandoned Jesus in the garden.

• Then when Jesus hung on the cross, Jesus quoted[14] David “Why have you forsaken me?”

• When Paul said[15] we would be persecuted but not abandoned. Same word.

• Paul[16] also used this word to describe Demas and the others who left him stranded and betrayed

This is not merely good advice or encouragement. It’s not a life lesson. This is something almost like a rebuke. It’s a warning. Do not abandon the gathering. Don’t desert the worship service. Don’t leave! Press on! Don’t leave us in the lurch!

I don’t reiterate this to condemn you, but I do want to warn you. When we say “I don’t go to church”, that’s what the bible calls abandonment and desertion. That is a sobering thought.

The Church as an Ark

We are in the last days. We have been for 2,000 years[17]. Soon the end will come. God will destroy the world and remake it. He has told us this would happen. But it’s not the first time.

It's not the same thing, but something similar has happened before. The earth grew wicked. No one followed God. For a long time, He warned them that the end was coming. He made a promise to the righteous. He provided a vessel to protect the faithful remnant.

He has done it this time as well. This ending will be much more catastrophic. This end will be final. The results will be eternal. The stakes are much higher, so the warnings have gone on longer.

The church is something like the ark[18]. Those who enter and remain within will be protected from the ultimate devastation God will bring. Like the Israelites who were delivered from watery death[19] and guided into their rest[20], the true church will pass safely through this life because of God's miraculous intervention.

A Recipe for Disaster

Not only is it a miracle that God saves us from destruction – it’s a bit of a miracle that God saves us from each other. This came up in Message Plus last week. Since day one, the church has been a group of men and women, Gentiles and Jews, slaves and masters, young and old … you name the division, and it was likely represented in the church. You might be in a pew with a sworn national enemy – that’s over. You might be a slave sitting next to his master, but in the gathering you were equals. Whatever national, cultural or political distinctions might have existed between men and women were irrelevant in the gathering. How could this possibly work? This sounds like a recipe for disaster!

In Christ, things are different. Our primary bond is not to each other, but to Jesus. In finding our primary allegiance there, competing commitments fade into the background. Things that would fail miserably anywhere else work because of our unity in Christ.

Safety in the Church

Our unity in Christ also brings safety[21]. We are often at risk of breaking this though.

One of the Reformation goals was to translate the bible into the common tongue. If you were German or English, you should have a bible you could read in German or English. At the time, bibles were in Latin and were kept inside the church building. Few people read Latin besides priests, and not many of them even did at this time. So, in effect, the bible was unavailable to the common man. All that people would know of scripture is what they were told by their priest.

The Reformation happened alongside the introduction of the printing press. In God’s providence, the desire to get the bible out to everyone in their own language happened at the time it was actually possible.

The Catholic critique was that this would be dangerous because common people were not smart enough to understand God’s word. This is false, but the concern was valid. The Reformers spoke of the “priesthood of all believers” to refer to the idea that any Christian could lead a person to God and even understand God’s word without the intervention of a church official.

Many then, and today as well, misunderstood this to mean “the priesthood of each believer”. The Reformers did not suggest that each person could come to a complete and unblemished understanding of every concept in scripture. Most of scripture is clear, but there is safety in community. The properly functioning church was to be a place where ideas could be discussed by common believers and evaluated against scripture, and in doing so would be a guardian of doctrine[22]. This is also part of the reason for the church offices[23]of elder, pastor, and teacher.

Unfortunately, the misunderstanding of 500 years ago still flourishes today. If you are contemplating a new[24] idea, book, or teacher, ask around. There is safety in the church – and I don’t just mean the visible members today, but the invisible church that has gone before.We ignore these resources to our peril. We are here for one another.

Identity

The safety in our church can also be threatened by our other commitments. We are each individuals with our own interests and passions. Some are appropriate and some are not. Some are compatible with Christianity and some are not.

Such Were Some of You

When writing the church at Corinth, Paul pointed out the clear contrast in their lives before following Christ and life after. He gave a laundry list of sins – drunkenness, stealing, bullying, homosexuality, adultery, idolatry – all sorts of things that were markers of unrighteousness. Afterward, he said “such were some of you[25]”. You used to be like that, but no more because Christ gave you a new identity.

All of us had our own identities before Christ, but now Jesus is our identity. We don’t all become identical, but we have a shared identity. And that identity is not political. It’s not racial. It’s not our sexual orientation. Our identity is found in Christ and nothing may be allowed to compete with it.

Compatibility

Some of these identities are actually logical opposites of Christianity and cannot be held together without destroying the meaning of one. Even when our allegiances are compatible, it is worth taking a look at our priorities. Are you a Christian first, or something else? What story would your bank account show? Your Facebook wall? Your calendar? Your internet history? The words you say?

Here are some questions worth thinking about over the coming week:

• Are my allegiances, alliances, commitments and preferences compatible with Christ’s teachings?

• Do I identify as a Christian first, or something else?

• If someone were to ask those around me, how would they answer those questions?

Again, I don’t want you to feel guilty … unless you are guilty. But even so, this isn’t intended to condemn anyone – that’s not my job. But the Holy Spirit does use messages like this to bring conviction. That’s when you feel uncomfortable pressure on a tender spot. And in the church, it’s our job to sharpen one another, speak truth to one another, correct one another and sometimes even separate from one another[26].

We Should Reflect Well

I’ve heard people tell their kids, “We don’t do that” when they see them misbehaving. It’s shorthand for saying, “I know other people might do that, but our family doesn’t act that way. Your actions reflect badly on the family.”

The church is a family. We have an understood code of conduct. A family identity. What we do reflects on the family. Remember Anthony’s recent message when he said “you’re the type of person who does that sort of thing”? The church is a type of people who do certain things and don’t do other things. Are you a church sort of person? The name for that sort of person is a disciple of Jesus Christ.

The Community of the Church

Together, we are the body. Our individual gifts are for the body. All the spiritual gifts that are mentioned in scripture are meant to serve the church. The fruit of the spirit is not limited to expression within the church, but it ought to be evident there[27].

Writing the churches in Galatia, Paul says that the “fruit” of the Spirit is love[28]. In other words, those in the fellowship of the Spirit can be identified because of their love. What does it mean to love the body? If you keep reading[29], he tells you[30]. It is to be patient with fellow members (long-suffering is a better word that paints a vivid picture). It is to be kind to others in the church. It is to be humble, to share in suffering. It is a life of joy and peace and goodness – faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

It is a life that is lived as a reflection of our maker. We are his. We are the gathered ones. Gathered to hear from God and gathered for a mission.

Mission

We are not community just for fun, but it’s not exactly a slog. This is not the Rotary, but it is rewarding. God made this people and there is no other group like it.

The Church is Trinitarian

In scripture, we are the people of God, the disciples of Christ, and the fellowship of the Spirit. God is three persons, but one essence. The church is described in trinitarian terms that are complementary.

• God called his people to come listen to him.

• Jesus called his disciples to come and follow him[31] and make other disciples and teach them[32].

• The fellowship of the Spirit[33] has been called to one another.

The Church’s Three-fold Ministry

The church has a calling to ministry, and it is three-fold as well[34].

As a body, we are called to minister:

• to God in worship

• to the saints in nurture

• the world in witness

To God in Worship

The church has always worshipped God together in song. Not merely because of tradition, but because worship has always been happening since before the beginning[35]. Think of it as part of Jesus’ prayer[36] “on earth as it is in heaven”. For a short time each week, we on earth join in with the heavenly chorus that has been glorifying God for eternity. This is part of the church’s call. It’s worth showing up on time to participate.

To the Saints in Nurture

I already spoke about nurturing the saints a bit. The New Testament is loaded with “one another” verses. The one another refers to our brothers and sisters in the church body[37]. We accept[38] one another. We tolerate[39] one another. We forgive[40] one another. We confess sins[41] to one another. We love and serve[42] one another. We honor[43] one another. We bear[44] one another’s burdens. We speak truth[45], sometimes an uncomfortable truth[46], or even a stern rebuke[47] – all out of love for one another. We encourage[48]one another, pray[49] for one another, and on and on and on. Honestly, this is all just continued exposition on what it is to truly love.

To the World in Witness

Two things could be viewed as our witness to the world: what we show them and what we tell them. I think we have lost a lot of ground on that first one in recent years.

Showing them

What does the world see when they look at us? I don’t mean the show that we put on. I mean the way we are when we don’t know the world is watching.

• Does it look like we love one another?

• Do we look like we have turned from sin, or do we still cling to some of that “for such were some of you” stuff?

• Do we show that God is our highest priority, or are there other allegiances that are more evident?

• Of whom are we more critical – fellow Christians or the world? The bible reserves judgment for within the church[50]. We are not instructed to judge the world.

• Are we consistent?

• Do we love what God loves and hate what God hates?

• Do we judge all with the same scale[51]?

• Do we excuse sin?

What we do reflects on the church and what we stand for. We need to be aware of what we show the world.

Telling them

I don’t think I need to say too much about what we are supposed to tell the world. Or do I? It’s popular to say, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words[52].” I get the point. It’s meant to make the point I just made – that our actions count. But I’m saying more. I’m saying we ought to live consistent lives, AND use words.

I was all ready to say that “we all know the Great Commission[53]”, but then I wondered... do we? 

I think the general sense is that we are supposed to make more Christians. I guess that’s part of the package, but it’s not that easy. That makes it sounds like we should hop on a plane to a foreign land where people don’t know anything and do our best to lead them to Jesus. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but that isn’t quite what Jesus said to do.

To strip it down, he said to “make disciples”, which means followers. He says to baptize them, so he is talking about the sort of follower that repents and turns to Jesus. But the kicker is the end. He says “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you”. That’s more than a church mission trip. That’s more than a meeting at Starbucks. Teaching everything takes a lot of time. There’s teaching at the beginning of the process to make sure people know what they’re signing up for, and there’s a whole bunch of teaching afterwards too. Some people call it discipling, which just means teaching people who are now disciples.

Where Can We Make Disciples?

You know where there is an amazing opportunity to meet both believers and unbelievers and make them disciples? Wednesday night in this building.

It fills my heart to come here and watch Karl and his team teach kids what it means to follow Jesus, play games together, and memorize God’s word. There are few things that give me as much joy as hearing your kids recite their verses to me. A close second is looking around the room at all the other adults who show up to hear the same thing. This is the Great Commission. This is church.

I’ve been inside the youth room during youth group on Wednesdays too. Believers and unbelievers in their teens bare their hearts and bear one another’s’ burdens. They hear the bible explained. They ask questions. It’s deep stuff. It’s church. It’s the Great Commission.

Sunday morning, you can actually impact an entire room of unbelievers without leaving the building. The nursery is full of fallen humanity. Three of them are mine. They are small and you barely need a first language, let alone a second. It’s not mindless babysitting – it’s the Great Commission. And, it’s a two-for-one deal! In one act, you can serve your fellow believers and make disciples of their kids. This mission field exists on the other side of that wall. Who wouldn’t want to do that?! Again, it fills my heart to the brim when I see what happens in there.

You Can Even Make Disciples Outside of Church

Of course, the Great Commission can be carried out many other places. I’ve been part of philosophy groups, debates, pub theology, lunches with friends, Facebook conversations and elevator rides with strangers. There are endless opportunities to talk to non-Christians about things that are important to you. And I promise you, it’s not weird at all.

But you don’t have to limit your discipling to non-believers. You should do both. There are bible studies, small groups, Sunday School, evening classes, Message Plus and more. Some of my favorite time with fellow Christians happens at breakfast, around a backyard fire, on a car ride, game night at Tom and Amy’s…

The great news is that you don’t have to just choose one! You should grab a few from each group! Not only is it participating in the church growth movement that Jesus started, but it’s loads of fun.

But, please - don’t just tell them. You must do both. Show them too. Nothing you say will make up for a bad representation of the church. The people of God have a bad reputation these days, and much of it is deserved. We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. We are his body created for ministry. Let’s do our best to worship God, serve the body, and witness to the world.

Closing

Be the Church

We’ve covered a lot in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, you’ve seen that the bible’s description of life in Christ follows the model of the first[54] church[55]. They devoted themselves to learning, fellowship, communion, and prayer. They provided for one another. They shared meals in their homes. They met regularly. They told others. And the church grew.

I don’t want to end this with the assumption that we’re all on the same page. If you’re here and you have never repented for your sins, then the last two weeks may have been very confusing. The fantastic news is that you don’t have to stay on the outside.

A Bleak History

This church does not have any power over you. No church does. By the 16th century, the Catholic church had become a world power. It was not a body, it was a machine – a force to be reckoned with. The church was never supposed to be an institution or a bureaucracy. But it had become all that. The church was a body of government, organized from the top down. You needed to submit to that church and hope for a good hearing. 

The church was never meant to be an oppressor. The church was to be a light to the world shining hope from the mountaintops.

How do we become the church?

“The church” as an institution does not add us to God’s family. Rather, God adopts us and adds us to his family, and as a group we are called the church.

The way it’s explained in the bible is this:  God chose us before the foundation of the world[56]. Because of his love for the world, he sent his Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life[57]. Through this he adopts us[58] as an act of grace[59]that we do not deserve[60].

This all happens because of our faith[61] in Christ[62]. We are established on the confession of truth[63]. That is our foundation. Paul[64]continues this language and replaces our confession with the apostles and prophets. He clarifies[65] that the foundation is Jesus himself. The point is that the apostles taught what they saw and heard[66], which was what the prophets foretold[67] and what we confess – and all of that refers to Jesus Christ being the promised hope for mankind. When we acknowledge our faith in Christ, we are confessing our agreement with the apostles and the prophets. On this foundation[68] a structure is built[69]; which Paul says is “a holy temple – a dwelling place for God by the Spirit”. The church is the assortment of stones[70] built on the solid apostolic witness that Jesus is Lord.

Come Inside the Church

If you are an outsider, you don’t have to be. You simply need to see your own sin and recognize you have no excuse when you stand before God. And understand that your best attempts still fall far short of what God requires. But also understand that Jesus lived the life you should have and suffered the fate you should have. And see that he is the one the apostles taught that the prophets spoke of. If you believe all this and trust God to save your life, then you are already on the inside. You are one of these living stones. If you’re not quite there yet, that’s ok. But please talk with someone about it. 

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[1] At least that is the intended meaning. The word is also used to refer to the assembled body that may include unbelievers. More on that later.

[2] Hosea 2:23; Romans 9:8; Romans 9:23–26; 1 Peter 2:10; Galatians 3:26-29

[3] John 14:23; Ephesians 5:25

[4] Also called “universal church”

[5] 1 Corinthians 14:24

[6] Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Matthew 7:15-23; 24:11-28; Acts 20:30; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Revelation 2-3

[7] 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

[8] I should mention one other nuance in biblical use. Sometimes church means the local assembly – an individual congregation, and sometimes the word means a collection of gatherings (regional, for instance) or even all churches worldwide

[9] Hebrews 10:25 - NKJV comes the closest to communicating the force of the words used. I made some slight adjustments for readability

[10] Some suggest the meaning is “Don’t deny the invisible church” – IOW, don’t apostatize. But this word used here never means a “church body”. It is always an action, and an imperative: gather!  (See also Matthew 23:37; Matthew 24:31; Mark 1:33; Mark 13:27; Luke 12:1; Luke 13:34).

[11] Deuteronomy 31:6 – Same verse quoted in Hebrews 13:5

[12] Acts 2:31

[13] Mark 14:50

[14] Matthew 27:46

[15] 2 Corinthians 4:9

[16] 2 Timothy 4:10,16

[17] Joel 2:28–32; Hosea 3:5; Micah 4:1; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Acts 2:14-21; Hebrews 1:1-2; 1 John 2:18

[18] The ark was something like the visible church. Both are safe places on this earth, but only the true Christian will be judged by God on the merit of Jesus. - 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 2:13; Hebrews 8:12

[19] When they crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptians were drowned – Exodus 14

[20] When they crossed the Jordan to enter the promised land of Canaan - Joshua 3

[21] Proverbs 11:14

[22] 1 Timothy 4:11-16; Acts 17:11

[23] Titus 1:9

[24] 2 Timothy 4:3-4

[25] 1 Corinthians 6:11

[26] 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:13-15

[27] John 13:35; Galatians 6:10

[28] Galatians 5:22

[29] Galatians 5:22-24

[30] He repeats himself in other books too. See 1 Corinthians 13

[31] Matthew 4:19

[32] Matthew 28:16-20

[33] 2 Corinthians 13:14; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 1:9

[34] From The Biblical Theology of the Church, by Edmund Clowney

[35] Isaiah 6:2-3; Revelation 4-5

[36] Matthew 6:10

[37] And don’t miss the many instructions for the church to take care of the weaker among them. For instance, Paul's letters to Titus, Timothy, Corinthians, and others talk about the importance of caring for widows.

[38] Romans 15:7

[39] Ephesians 4:2

[40] Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13

[41] James 5:16

[42] John 13:34, 15:12, 17; Romans 13:8; 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11, 4:7, 11; 2 John 5; Galatians 5:13

[43] Romans 12:10; Philippians 2:3; 1 Peter 5:5

[44] Galatians 6:2

[45] Ephesians 4:25

[46] Matthew 18:15-17; James 5:19-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:15

[47] Titus 3:10-11; 1 Timothy 5:20; 2 Timothy 4:2

[48] 1 Thessalonians 5:11

[49] James 5:16

[50] 1 Corinthians 5:12

[51] Matthew 7:2

[52] People usually cite St. Francis of Assisi. The trouble is that he never said this. And what we do have from him actually says quite the opposite.

[53] Matthew 28:16-20

[54] Acts 2:42-47

[55] Much could be said about the marks of a true church. We are the people called out by God to hear from him and minister to him, one another, and the world. “Hearing from God” involves the proclamation of the word and proper exposition. Also, a true church historically must properly administer the sacraments/ordinances of baptism and communion – one to admit new members, and the other to feed them and show continued good standing. Then there are the issues of proper church offices and discipline. Lots more could be said.

[56] Ephesians 1:4

[57] John 3:16

[58] Ephesians 1:5-6

[59] Ephesians 2:8

[60] Romans 5:6-8

[61] The Reformers spoke of faith as notitia + assensus + fiducia. Or in English, awareness of biblical truth, agreement with this truth, and a life lived as evidence of our trust in that truth.

[62] This is not just grit or determination. Our faith has an object, and that object is a person.

[63] Matthew 16:13-20

[64] Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Corinthians 3:10

[65] 1 Corinthians 3:11

[66] 1 John 1:1-2

[67] 1 Peter 1:10-12; Hebrews 1:1-2

[68] Revelation 21:14

[69] 1 Corinthians 3:16

[70] 1 Peter 2:5

Following God: What Is The Church?

We believe that the Church is Christ’s symbolic body in the earth[1], and that it should reveal His character, His message, and His love to the world. We believe that the Church is to go into all the world, preach the gospel, and make disciples. This will lead people to have fellowship with God[2] and community with others[3].

From our statement we’ve got two things being explained: what is a church is and what does it do. We’ll cover the larger “what it should do” part next week, but first I want to make sure we understand what the church is.

Why Are We Here, Anyway?

Church is kind of weird. Why do we do it? Is this like a country club that people get to come to once they’re Christians? Sometimes churches have that vibe. Is it a perq? A requirement? A tradition? A fun activity? A gathering? A way to earn something?

It’s worth spending a minute to think about. I wonder if it’s something we ever really consider. Is church just “the expected thing to do” if you’re a Christian? Do we come intentionally or because of expectations?

Perhaps We’ve Over-Corrected

Attending Church Doesn’t Make You a Christian

When I was a kid, I learned some clever sayings. For instance, I learned that being in a church doesn’t make you a Christian just like being in a garage doesn’t make you a car. I don’t know if people still think that, but if they do, I suppose this is a good reminder. Attending church doesn’t make you a Christian. Hopefully you’ll learn some things and get to know some people, but if you don’t place your trust in Christ, you’ve missed the point. The church service is for believers. We are here as part of the process of becoming more like Jesus[4]. If you’re checking things out, that’s fantastic. Ask questions and press in. But if you’re here for a long time and you’re not a believer, the bible says there’s danger there[5].

The Church isn’t a Building … Or is it?

We also liked to point out that this building isn’t the church – we are. That’s true, but I think it has some baggage too. This building is not what the bible means when it uses the word church, but it sure is convenient. It’s cold outside! I’m glad we’re in here! And having a stationary building makes it handy to give people directions. So no, it’s not about the building. The church is about much more. But in saying it was about the people, I think we gave an unintended message. I remember the point being made that “church isn’t here – you take the church with you when you leave”. I get what they were wanting to say, but I think in fixing the building problem they made a new one. The new problem is that people think they are the church, so they don’t need to come to the building. I believe that in saying that we (individually) are the church, we’ve accidentally devalued the assembly.

So, What is the Church?

Definition

Our word church doesn’t actually come from the bible’s word for church. The word church is the English version of the word that Scots and Germans pronounce ‘kirk’, and it means “The Lord’s house”. The biblical word translated as “church” is “ekklesia”. If you’ve ever heard the words ecclesiastical[6] or ecclesiology[7], these come from the same Greek word. Ekklesia has to do with being called out, from, and to. The church was called out and from the world and called to follow Christ.

Reformation Principle

The definition and role of the church was a huge dispute in the Reformation. Catholic doctrine said that people could receive God’s forgiveness through the ministrations of the church. In their view, the church was a body with authority to grant or deny access to God. The Reformers responded that no man stands[8] between us and Christ. Because the church is the called out ones, salvation makes us part of the church automatically. So to restate it, no church body controls the access to salvation – but rather, salvation is the point of access for joining the church. I think it is worth looking at how this works.

What Happens When We’re Saved?

Adoption

Part of what happens when we are saved[9] is called adoption. After we respond in faith and repent, we are justified by Christ’s work and then are adopted into his family. What is it to be adopted? Adopted by whom? Adopted into what?

Biblically speaking, we are adopted by God. Peter says[10] to believers, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God”.God adopts us.

Paul says[11] that too. He said we are joined into the body of Christ. He also speaks[12] of us being grafted in. Those who were not God’s people become God’s people. But God’s family is not a birth family. It is a family that is assembled by God. The Holy Spirit calls, the Son saves, and the Father accepts. This is adoption.

The family we are adopted into is called the church. This community was not man’s idea, it was God’s idea.

Adoption Joins Us to a People

When Peter says, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God”, he is saying that we went from having no status, to having a status of the highest order. Not only did we go from no people to people – we went straight to people of God! And that status is not an individual status. Certainly, we are saved individually, but we saved in order to make us his people. Upon salvation, our identification became part of a group. The People of God[13]. The Body of Christ[14]. The branches grafted into the vine[15], or shoots grafted into the olive tree[16]. The family of God[17]. The house of God[18]. His field[19]. Foreigners who are now citizens[20]; distant ones who are now brought close[21]. The flock[22] who needed to be gathered together. And even more pointedly, we became part of the bride[23] who was to be married to Christ the groom.

These metaphors bring many things to mind, but what they do not suggest is separation. This language all suggests a tight community that knows and loves one another because of their proximity and frequent gatherings.

Paul calls the church a body. And it is a body in a very real sense – not in a figurative sense like a corporation.

Not a Corporation

A corporation is a legal fiction. My business is a corporation. It’s just an idea written down on paper, but the law treats it as if it were a person. Obviously, it is not a person. There are a number of people in my company, but if you hire my company, you don’t get a person – you get the whole shebang. On paper, that whole package is referred to as a unified whole. For legal purposes, we essentially pretend that it is a person that can act, uphold contracts, fulfill obligations, and be held responsible for them. But my corporation is just a fictional being.

The Body of Christ

It’s a Corpus

The body of Christ is not a corporation, but it has corporality. Corpus is Latin for body. The word corporation means “to assume to have a body” or “to treat as if it were a body”. The word corporality means “having a body”. The church is what a corporation pretends to be. It is a body. You may think of other related words… 

The “corporate gathering” or “corporate worship” refer to gatherings and worship done by individuals assembled together into one body. The language is inescapable. Like a legal corporation, the church is comprised of parts. The difference is that the church forms a real thing – the body of Christ. That is foundational and undeniable bible teaching.

Parts of a Whole

When we talk about corporations or bodies, we often call the parts “members”. Your limbs are members of your body. The body of Christ has members[24] as well. I know this can bring up some uncomfortable reactions sometimes but try and set that aside for now. It is an inescapable fact of language that bodies have members, and we see this in scripture as well. When Paul writes the Corinthians, he mentions Crispus and Gaius and Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus… We see the same in other letters. “The church” was not some ambiguous, amorphous, undefined unit. Rather, it was a specific gathering of specific people who were known to Paul. In his letters, he was aware of a couple women who were fighting, he mentioned men who were disturbing the congregation with their false teachings, he knew which people were generous…  In other words, the church was a collective body, but it was made up of specific, identifiable members.

No Parts Not Included

The inverse of this is true as well. Not only is the church described in the bible as being made up of individual Christians – but individual Christians are always said to be part of a church[25]. There is nowhere in scripture the concept of a “lone ranger Christian”. There are no families who stay home and call themselves a church. There are no people who identify with the body of Christ who are not also part of committed corporate gatherings. There is no example of a person who chooses to “go it alone” with his faith. These days, I know countless people who use that reasoning, but the uncomfortable reality is that they have strayed from the biblical description of life in Christ. 

The early church would have been boggled to hear that there would be people who claim to be “in Christ” yet not a part of his body. If you were to see a severed hand on the sidewalk because it needed to “find itself”, would you think that was a good idea? Would you expect clippings from a houseplant to flourish on the kitchen floor? If you knew a person who was married, yet lived estranged from their spouse, would you think that was the picture of a healthy marriage? You pick the biblical analogy – separation from the church is an alien and destructive idea. You can’t be “in Christ” and not in his body. That just doesn’t make any biblical sense.

Development of the Church in Scripture

I want to look briefly at the biblical definition of the church to help give us a framework for our thoughts and discussions.

The Foundation of the Church

After Peter’s confession of faith[26] that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus said that this confession would be the foundation of the church[27]. In other words, trust in Christ is what would identify people as the “called out ones”. This was not new language.

Ancient History

In Exodus[28], God tells Moses to approach Pharaoh and tell him to set the Israelites free. God actually repeats this command a number of times with greater detail. What he eventually says is “Let my people go so they may come worship (or serve) me on the mountain[29]”.

The first major ekklesia was God calling out his people from Egypt to Mt Sinai. When they got there[30], they gathered around to hear what God had to say through Moses. Today, we do the same – we gather together primarily to receive God’s word. We also respond in worship and prayer, and that’s a very close second.

A Biblical Pattern

When God gives us his word, he is “serving” us in a manner of speaking. I don’t mean this in the health and wealth sense. God is not a cosmic genie who appears to do our bidding. He doesn’t serve us according to our wants, he serves us according to our needs – and we need him. We gather in the service of the word. That’s actually where the word “service” comes from. God serves himself to his people.

This may sound familiar. Jesus is served to us at the communion table. In fact, God is always serving us, and he is always the first to act[31]. No one comes unless the Father first draws him[32]. We love because he first loved us[33]. We respond in faith because Christ first sacrificed himself for us[34]. Why should we think church is any different? God initiates, his people respond. That is the pattern. So too, in church, God gathers us together primarily to serve us with his word, and we respond corporately with grateful hearts in worship[35].

A Group with Authority

In Matthew[36], Jesus gives authority to this body of called out ones. Interesting note: Jesus says what to do if the person does not repent when brought to the church. He doesn’t say kick them out of the church – he says treat them as an unbeliever. Why? Because believers are part of the church! He doesn’t say let them go live their Christianity elsewhere. He’s saying their lack of submission to the church is indication that they are not believers. That’s worth some serious thought.

The Church is Born[37]

Luke ends his first book[38] with Jesus instructing the disciples to stay in Jerusalem. His second book begins[39] with the account of the Holy Spirit coming to live within the assembled believers. In this account we see a pattern: the gospel is preached[40], people come to faith in Christ[41], they are filled with the Holy Spirit[42], they are baptized[43], and they assemble[44] as a group[45] (church). After that, the group/church gathers to hear the word, to worship, and to serve one another[46]. But this isn’t a unique thing. This becomes the model that Luke describes occurring everywhere throughout the beginning of what we now call the church age.

The Church Age

From here on we see Paul follow the same pattern. Go to a new area, call unbelievers to repentance, baptize them, build a church, appoint elders to oversee it. We even see him give instructions on how to set up the churches, how the governing positions within the church are to work, what constitutes proper qualifications for service, and on and on. 

Recap of New Testament Church Language

So, we’ve seen that the idea of “called out ones” was an ancient concept that the Jews would have well understood. Even Greeks and Romans would have understood the more recent secular reference to the public assembly of the people. From the entire witness of the New Testament, we see that following Christ makes us new people. Paul says we are new people because we are each made a “new creature” in Christ[47]. Peter takes another approach[48] and says that once we were not “a people”, but now we are. So, by placing our trust in Jesus, we become new individuals with new hearts and we simultaneously become part of a new collective with a new allegiance.

Jesus talked about believers “abiding in the vine[49]”. He spoke of himself as the true vine and believers as the branches. He was the head, the originator, and the source of nourishment. True believers remained healthy attachments, but false believers were pruned away. Pruned away from what? Christ? Yes. The church? Yes. Because the church is referred to as the body of Christ, it’s all the same thing – just described with a different word picture.

Paul wrote extensively about the “body of Christ”. He says we are one body because we partake of his body in communion.[50] He spends an entire chapter[51] explaining that in the same way our own body has parts, the church too has parts. His point is profound: Though we are a unified corporate being, our individual identity is not lost[52]. There are parts of our bodies that might not seem as “glamorous” as others. But just because your face is seen by more people than your appendix does not mean that your appendix does not serve a vital function. Some are more visible, or more presentable, or more memorable, but that means nothing with regard to value. Each member of your body plays a vital role. Each member of Christ’s body plays a vital role. And related to that thought he mentions spiritual gifts[53] – these are abilities or ways of serving that are given to each member. There’s a passing verse that’s important here. He says that these gifts are given for the common good[54]. The point here is that the gifts are for the church. The body of Christ is a collection of many individuals, and they are to serve one another with their gifts. Just as there is no biblical concept of believers without a church, there is no concept of gifts of the spirit apart from the church.

Clarifications and Possible Objections

So am I the Church or Not?

This gets us back to the question I started with. If being a Christian joins me to the church, weren’t they right when they said we took the church with us when we left the Sunday gathering? In a manner of speaking, yes. We each take the message of the church with us. We share the witness of the church. But we are not each the church, per se.

This is what is called the “whole-to-part fallacy”. I only mention this because I know people love logic lessons.

• [Holding up a Lego brick] Is this a car?

• [Holding up a Lego car] Is this a car?

In Legos, a car is made from bricks. Without bricks there can be no car. However, it doesn’t work the other way around. Each brick is not the car.

Similarly, the church is comprised of individual believers. Without believers there is no church. But each believer is not by himself the church.

We are a part of the church. Collectively, you are the church.

Isn’t This Legalism?

Some will likely object that this is legalism. It is not. Legalism is when we take an issue of lesser importance or of personal conviction and set it up as a requirement for Christianity. If I say that Christians may not dance or play Euchre, or that they must get circumcised, I am taking things that are not biblical requirements for salvation and acting as if they were. But I’m not taking an issue of lesser importance here. We’ve looked at numerous examples that show the importance of this doctrine.

Is There No Valid Reason to Miss Church?

Now, we could get into legalism if we were to take attendance or place value on people because of how often they come. And this is not a caricature – I’ve seen this firsthand. I don’t know anyone here who is interested in that. We are interested in helping one another to flourish as human beings who are striving after God. The author of Hebrews warns against falling into the habit of skipping. There is no suggestion that a perfect record is mandatory. In fact, if you are sick and contagious, please don’t come to church! By staying home, you care for yourself and you love your neighbor by not infecting them. If you are traveling, I don’t see any mandate here either, though I do believe there is a blessing in finding a church service to attend if you are able. That’s one of the wonderful things about the family of God – you can drop in anywhere, because you’re family[55].

What About Work?

What if it’s more frequent? What if my job keeps me away from church?

I’m no authority, but the bible is. It says not to forsake gathering together[56]. In simple language, the author of Hebrews is saying “don’t skip church - even though there’s a lot of people who have that habit”. This is not a comfortable thing for me to say, because I know many of you in different situations. I’m not here to come down on anyone personally. Even privately, I may tell you what I think scripture teaches, but that doesn’t mean I dislike anyone or think less of them. All I can do is tell you what scripture says.

I suppose I can also tell you about my decisions, but those aren’t binding on anyone but my family. I grew up with the implicit understanding that if the church doors are open, we’re going. Sunday morning, Sunday evening, mid-week, father and son breakfasts – you name it, we were there. As I’ve grown, I’ve come to appreciate that. I don’t think that Wednesday night service or game night or similar things are binding on us, but I will tell you this – I try not to miss them. There are wonderful benefits to all sorts of corporate gatherings of the body that we’ll talk about next week. Like I said, we try not to miss those. However, when it comes to the Sunday morning service – the opportunity God has given us to meet with our fellow laborers, our brothers and sisters in the faith, and to hear from him? What possible reason would I have to miss that? The creator of the universe is holding open court. I can hear from him and be heard by him. I want to be there for that! I will plan my week around that. Work, play, all of it.

So here’s my bottom line. I would not recommend a career or a sport or anything else that would regularly take you out of the Sunday service. I’m not saying it’s the law, but would encourage you strongly. I could tell you countless stories of shipwrecked lives and broken families that might have had a different outcome had they ordered their priorities differently. I have been there myself. I enjoy sleeping in. I work Monday through Friday. We do chores Saturday. When else can I sleep in? I’ve had to work on Sundays before too. And each time, I’d say that though my priorities listed God first, my calendar told a different story. I’ve been on both sides, and I’m here to tell you that I would not go back. If there’s church on Sunday, my plan is to be here.

What if I Just Can’t Come?

I realize there are plenty of other circumstances. What about the disabled, the permanently homebound, and others who have legitimate and unavoidable reasons that keep them from coming?

If you are legitimately homebound for whatever reason, please don’t take any of this as guilt. There are always those in the body who we need to accommodate. There are those who visit members in the hospital and in their homes. We record and live stream the service for those who can’t make it for whatever reason. But we have the word ‘exception’ for a reason. The reason is because we know what the norm is supposed to be. If you are the exception to the rule, our hearts are with you and you should have no guilt.

I Go to Church Online

What about people who say that they go to church online? I am here to tell you that this is not church.

·       But can’t I hear from his word on my own in the woods?  …….   Absolutely you can.

·       Can’t we worship God while cleaning the house?  …….   Sure we can!

·       But I’m fed through sermon podcasts and books.  …….   That’s great!

Those are all wonderful, but they are not church.

I can love my wife wherever I travel in the world, but if I never see her, is that the same thing? I can take responsibility for my kids and get them in the right schools and the right youth groups and get them interviews for good jobs and all the rest, but does that mean I don’t spend time with them? These are horrible analogies, but hopefully you get the point. We work out our faith individually – we pray, we seek, we read, we worship, we listen to podcasts, we watch videos, we read books – and this is all good! But you cannot outsource church.

Do Not Forsake the Assembly

We know we are the body, and we know whether our circumstances are avoidable or not. We know we shouldn’t “forsake the assembly as is the habit of some.” We know we belong in community. You don’t need guilt from me, and I don’t want to give it. But if there is truth today that you need to hear, then I want you to be uncomfortable! I hope it digs in and festers, because that is how the Holy Spirit makes us better. This is life in Christ! This is life in the body. And the digging and festering sometimes come from the Holy Spirit through our friends, but that too is for next week.

Closing

God is everywhere. This is unquestionable. There is no place where he is inaccessible or unaware. However, he has always instructed his people to "come out" – to assemble before him. There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is receiving God's service. To remove ourselves from the church body and the gathering of the church is to separate ourselves from the primary means of grace[57]that God has instituted. This is why it is crucial to come to church.

And with that, I dismiss you with the words Paul wrote to the Romans,

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ[58].”

 _______________________________________________________________________

[1] Colossians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 12:27

[2] Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:15,16

[3] 1 Corinthians 12:13

[4] Romans 8:28-30

[5] Hebrews 6:4-8

[6] Related or pertaining to the church

[7] The study of the biblical doctrine of the church

[8] For instance, 1 Timothy 2:5 – “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”

[9] Theologians talk about something called the order of salvation. It’s the idea that salvation can be broken down into individual events or separate aspects we can discuss. There is the part where God knows about our future salvation. There is the time when we first hear the general call of the gospel. The Holy Spirit calls us individually. We each respond. On and on. Depending on your perspective, we could talk of up to eleven things that are related to salvation, or contribute to salvation, or result from our salvation.

[10] 1 Peter 2:9-10

[11] 1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:24; Ephesians 4:15-16

[12] Romans 11:11-24

[13] 2 Corinthians 6:16

[14] Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 10:17; 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27; Ephesians 4:12; Ephesians 5:23; Ephesians 5:30; Colossians 1:24

[15] John 15:1-17; Also read John 12, starting at v20. Why does it mention Greeks (non-Jews) coming to Jesus, then his response a speech about his imminent death? He knew that their arrival signaled the end of his ministry and his coming death. He gives clues about the grafting in when he says in v26, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

[16] Romans 11:11-24

[17] John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Matthew 12:49-50; Ephesians 2:19, 3:6; Galatians 3:29, 6:10; 1 Timothy 5:1

[18] 1 Corinthians 3:9-17, 6:19; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5-7

[19] 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

[20] Ephesians 2:19; Philippians 3:20

[21] Ephesians 2:11-13; Acts 2:39

[22] Acts 20:28; John 10:16

[23] Revelation 21:9; Revelation 19:7-8; 2 Corinthians 11:12; Ephesians 5:31-32

[24] Early on, we read that believers gathered on the first day of the week to commemorate Jesus’ rising from the dead. These were the earliest Christian church gatherings. When the apostles traveled, they set up churches wherever they went. The New Testament is written mostly to “the church at …”. There was the clear assumption and expectation that believers would gather together.

[25] To head off possible objections, of course Jesus was not – and the apostles and other church-planters were not either. So, barring people who were out planting churches, or who were in prison for doing so, Christians in scripture were church members.

[26] Matthew 16:13-20

[27] Not Peter, who Catholics claim to be the first Pope

[28] Exodus 3:10

[29] Exodus 3:12, 5:1, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, 10:3, and on and on

[30] Exodus 19

[31] Romans 11:36

[32] John 6:44

[33] 1 John 4:19

[34] 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Colossians 1:20; Romans 5:9-11

[35] Whether OT or NT, the pattern that emerges is that “the gathering” (synagogue or church) is the assembling of God’s people to hear from his word. This is what God’s people the Jews had done for millennia, so it was not an unusual thing for them to hear Jesus say.

[36] Matthew 18

[37] In its New Testament sense, at least

[38] Luke 24:45-53; Also recapped in Acts 1

[39] Acts 2

[40] Acts 2:17-36

[41] Acts 2:38a

[42] Acts 2:38b-39

[43] Acts 2:41a

[44] Acts 2:41b

[45] Or, in many cases back then, form one

[46] Acts 2:42-47

[47] 1 Corinthians 5:17, for one example

[48] 1 Peter 2:9-10

[49] John 15

[50] 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

[51] 1 Corinthians 12

[52] 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

[53] 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

[54] 1 Corinthians 12:7

[55] I’ve had a number of friends who have left Christianity say this is one of the biggest things they miss. They envy the belonging and kinship that believers (even those who are strangers to one another) share.   

[56] Hebrews 10:25

[57] Broadly speaking, the church service itself, but more specifically the sacraments of communion and baptism, which also occur within the church.

[58] Romans 15:5-6