Discovering God through the Book of Jonah (Part 4)

THE BIGGER PICTURE

“But the Lord replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?” ~Jonah 4:4 NIV

What do you see in these pictures?

full frame abstract microscopic shot showing the cellular structure of a red rose petal

What do you think? I bet these pictures are not what they seem to be. Here is what they are, from a zoomed out view:

Part of the issue with the fallen state of humanity is we often do not look beyond our own circumstances. We even often do not think big enough about God. When we read the book of Jonah, I hope we can get a big picture of who God is.

Remember a question we started this series with: “If you only had the book of Jonah, what could it teach you, and what could you teach others about who God is?”

REVIEW WHAT WE KNOW OF GOD THROUGH JONAH, SO FAR

  1. God knows our hearts; yet he still calls us
  2. We cannot hide from God. God never leaves us
  3. The Lord is the One who created everything à even you!
  4. People come to know God through our lives
  5. God offers grace and desires life for people
  6. God answers prayer
  7. God has not abandoned you or forgotten you
  8. God relentlessly pursues you and I so we can reach the people we’re called to reach
  9. God desires holiness from all because he is holy
  10. God even cares for our enemies

Jonah 4

Jonah has left Nineveh after reluctantly obeying God and warning the people of coming destruction. Chapter three ended with Jonah seeing that God did not bring the destruction that was foretold. This made Jonah angry. Do you know why he was angry?

First of all, we have to understand anger is not a primary emotion. Anger comes from another emotion/feeling that has grown. Most of the time it is because of being hurt. When we get hurt, we can easily nurse that wound (emotional or physical) until we get into a place of anger toward something or someone else. The reality is, we are really just upset because of another cause.

Look deeper into who Jonah is. Remember prophets were only considered authentic and valid if the prophesies they gave actually came true. From what we have learned about Jonah, both in this biblical book and in 1 Kings 14, we see Jonah has not seemingly done very well. This could have been eating away at him. When he gave the message Nineveh will be overthrown, he went and sat down to make sure it happened. When Nineveh was still there, imagine how he felt about himself being a prophet.

There is a good chance Jonah was realizing people would view him as a false prophet which would make his life much more difficult because people would no longer listen to him. This would be a valid concern if the prediction he gave (from God) did not come true. I am sure the anger he was beginning to feel came from not tending to the deep emotional hurt he was feeling.

Let’s pause for a moment and ask the question, “Why was Nineveh not overthrown (destroyed), or was it?” Jonah had it in his mind Nineveh would be wiped clean from the face of the earth.

But from what we have learned about God, through this short prophetic book, we learn, even more, how God does not work like we work and think like we think. Jonah had one end goal vision for Nineveh – to be destroyed. But remember in chapter 1, God tells Jonah, “it’s wickedness has come up before me.”[1] This was God’s concern the whole time. So, when the text says Nineveh repented, God relented from destruction.

Anytime people turn away from wickedness, sin, self-love, self-pity, and turn to God, that person (that city, culture, country) has been overthrown by grace. So, Nineveh would have been overthrown, just not how Jonah was thinking it would be.

After we understand this, now we can look at what Jonah says to God. “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, and abound in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”[2] What is amazing is that Jonah says that God is good. He names the good attributes about God. This is part of what God says about himself to Moses in Exodus 34. What amazes me is how Jonah knows the incredible goodness of God, yet is still angry at God.

This is the part of the story where we get to witness Jonah throwing a hissy fit and a temper tantrum. He says this is why he tried to flee from God, because he knew God would not bring the destruction as promised. He was viewing his mission, and life, like this:

When God desires he/we look at the world with a much bigger picture, such as this:

This is one of the things I love about reading scripture. Every time I read it, I see a much bigger and deeper view of God than I had before. I also see how much God is working in and through humanity. We see a picture of just how far the journey is to, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.”[3] Showing this kind of love is difficult because 1) we are not God and 2) humans, in our fallen state, love conditionally (i.e. if you treat me good then I will love you; if not, I don’t like you).

When things to do not go our way, it is easy for us to throw a fit and get angry at God when the reality is we are really upset because we realize we are still so far from perfect. God has not even placed earth as the center planet. Our solar system is not even in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The weight of this realization is too much for us to bear at times, so it will manifest in anger and self-loathing. This is why the concept and truth of God’s grace is so important for us. We have the opportunities to remember we are not the center of the universe.

Fast forward to the New Testament, Jesus never says “get your life in order and then follow me.” He simply says, “Come…Follow me.”[4] This is an incredible picture of grace. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.[5]

We can get to a place where we understand and praise God for the grace that we did not earn. We can begin to follow Christ, but we also have to battle constantly with the urges we have (deep within us because of Sin) to not retort back to our fallen nature.

Jonah was a prophet of God. He knew the goodness of God. Jonah knew how merciful God is. Jonah still wanted to see his enemies go down. This is what we have to be careful of. There are people we don’t like. There are people who don’t like us. Yet, through it all, God is for all the world, not just you or I. If God can save you, through Jesus Christ, why do we forget God can save the people overseas? The people in the slums? The people in the White House? The people coming to our borders? Why do we still allow our anger to burn against other people, that God is also for (as we saw in the last chapter)?

Jonah was allowing his prejudice to creep in and take over. He was allowing his desire for revenge to be demonstrated. Remember, this book was written during the time of the Jewish exile to Babylon, where Nineveh was. These people took away the livelihood and freedom the Jewish people had in Israel. For them, this book would have been really close to home. Why wouldn’t God take care of and destroy our oppressors when they did this to us? Remember that God is still trying to work on, even the oppressors too.

What we have to be careful of is not allowing our prejudice and our stereotypes of other people groups to be the lenses with which we view the world. When interviewed about the future of planet earth, God skeptic and physicist, Stephen Hawking had something interesting to say. “When asked what human trait he’d like to change, Stephen Hawking replied, ‘Aggression.’ He said it could lead to irrational behavior, like sparking nuclear war and ending the world.”[6] This is why what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount is so important.

“Don’t you see that whatever goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, slander. These are what defile a person…”[7]

And what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4, Galatians 5, and Titus 3:

29 Don’t let any foul words come out of your mouth. Only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so that it benefits those who hear what you say. 31 Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. 32 Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ.[8]

18 But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law. 19 The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, 20 idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry,21 jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.[9]


1 Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities. They should be obedient and ready to do every good thing. 2 They shouldn’t speak disrespectfully about anyone, but they should be peaceful, kind, and show complete courtesy toward everyone.[10]

What does this teach us about God? It all goes back to being holy which means being perfect in love. Which means we have to look beyond ourselves and our families and friends to try to grasp the bigger picture—God is working toward remaking (not destroying) the world. Redemption is God’s plan.

God continues to show his creative nature with what happens next with Jonah.

Jonah goes east of the city. He finds a place, makes a shelter, and waits. He would have waited at least 38 days in this spot. (He walked one day journey into a three day journey length of Nineveh. This meant he would have 38 days until the destruction of the city.) It’s easy to imagine the scene. We do it all the time when we’re watching our favorite movies and television shows with a character that is supposed to have something bad happen to them. We get our popcorn and drink, sit back, relax, and wait in anticipation (sometimes happiness) that the character will get what’s coming to them.

But God is not one to be mocked, or break from his character. While Jonah is (patiently?) waiting for Nineveh to be destroyed, God causes a plant to grow which helps produce shade for Jonah. Oh, Jonah likes this. Not only does Jonah get to wait for the destruction of the city, but God was so good to him that a plant was provided for his own comfort. (Sense the humor here?)

But the very next day, God created a worm (irony) that ate the plant. Jonah’s anger continued to burn, this time more so at God. Not only does God send the worm, but God also sends a “scorching east wind.”[11] Imagine how Jonah was feeling now? Did he finally repent of his actions and attitude? Nope!

Jonah continues to have the gall to be upset with God. This time he stays mad because God provided and took away the comfort and shade. Jonah uses the excuse he does not want to live anymore because, as Jonah says, God is too good and compassionate.

Does God deal harshly with Jonah? Not really. Instead, God asks some real important questions about how Jonah’s view of the situation and the world needs to change. This is where the book of Jonah ends:

God asks Jonah, “should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from the left—and also many animals?”[12]

Not only does God ask this of Jonah, but God also asks us this same question today.

So, I have to ask, where is your heart toward God? I’m sure I would hear that our hearts are great with God. This is definitely something we all desire. Now, where is your heart to the people of the world? The person who cut you off in traffic? The boss who isn’t fair? The person who harmed you or stole something of yours? Where is your heart toward the judge who did not give a strong enough sentence to the defendant? This is where it gets difficult.

I sure hope the book of Jonah has come alive to you in a different way than before. I hope you are seeing new aspects that were not visible before. Above all else, I hope we all come away with a much larger picture and view of God than we had before.

God is big enough that we can be mad at him, yet he still seeks to offer grace. This is where the picture and person of Jesus Christ comes clearly into focus.

Not only did God create the universe, create the world, create each and every individual person, God decided to come down and live life here on earth, as a human, for a time, so he could live and dwell among us. High and powerful people did not like Jesus Christ, still don’t, and had him put to death. But catch this. Jesus willingly went to the cross. He willingly was humiliated, tortured, wrongly convicted, wrong executed. With his arms outstretched on the splintery cross, Jesus said, “forgive them.” He demonstrated his incredible compassion and love for all of humanity (past, present, and future). What an incredible picture of God’s compassion, love, and mercy for you and I today.

May we continue to seek to live in true peace with each other. May we continually repent and turn our lives toward God. May we constantly praise and glorify God, even when we do not get what we want. Above all, may we seek to know and love God, and God’s people, more and more each day.

Amen

[1] Jonah 1:2b NIV

[2] Jonah 4:2b NIV

[3] Matthew 5:48 CEB

[4] John 1:39a, 43b

[5] Ephesians 2:4-10

[6] https://nypost.com/2018/03/14/heres-how-stephen-hawking-predicted-the-world-will-end/

[7] Matthew 15:17-20a NIV

[8] Ephesians 4:29,31-32 CEB

[9] Galatians 5:18-21 CEB

[10] Titus 3:1-2 CEB

[11] Jonah 4:8a NIV

[12] Jonah 4:11 NIV

Ryan StrattonLeave a comment

Discovering God through the Book of Jonah (Part 3)

RELENTLESS PURSUIT

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give to you.” ~Jonah 3:2 NIV

One of the things I hope we are understanding in this book of Jonah is that God never gives up on you. God is relentlessly pursuing you. God is relentlessly pursuing his people. God is relentlessly pursuing the world in so many ways. The Apostle Paul writes in his first letter to Timothy, “[God] wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.”[1]

Cory Asbury, a contemporary Christian artist has a song out called Reckless Love.” I love the lyrics. The chorus goes like this:

Oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God 

Oh, it chases me down fights til I’m found leaves the ninety-nine

And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God 

Now that really sums it up, doesn’t it? I think people can get concerned about saying God’s love is reckless; so we’re using we’re saying that God’s love is relentless. This means he never gives up. One of the verses for the song says:

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me 

You have been so, so good to me

When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me

You have been so, so kind to me 

Isn’t this a picture of God in the Book of Jonah. Think about it. Jonah has been running away. He’s been trying to escape God. He’s been trying to go where God is not; or he thinks that God is not. He knows, because he is a Hebrew prophet that God is everywhere. That part of God’s nature is that God is omnipresent. God is also all-powerful (omniscient) because God knows what Jonah will do; yet calls Jonah anyway for this mission.

But when Jonah was his foe God fought for Jonah to do the mission that God wanted Jonah to do. The mission was to go to the city of Nineveh and proclaim the word of the Lord that he was given in the first chapter. God told Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before him.[2]

We have been looking at how we can see and experience and appreciate the nature of God by finding out more who of God is through this short book of Jonah. As we continue our journey through this prophetic book, we have to understand is this is act 2 of the story. Act 1 of the story was God speaking to Jonah, Jonah running away, Jonah getting swallowed by a fish and then God speaking to the fish.

The book ends of act 1 for Jonah shows a word coming from God first to the person of Jonah and second to the fish who spews, vomits, disgorges Jonah from its belly because it is sick of Jonah being there.

In Act One, the very first thing we learn is how God is persistent God is. How relentlessly he desires his word to be to go to the city of Nineveh and he wants no other person besides Jonah to deliver this message.

Beginning Act Two, chapter three, verse 1 says, “then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” [3]Not only is God persistent, God is gracious in giving second chances. 

I bet there are people reading this here and now that may need to go back to remember, a main point from last chapter is that God is not done with you. God is a God of second chances and he’s constantly working in us and through us so we become the people that he has called us to be. All so we can reach the people that he has called us to reach. Remember Paul’s words in Romans 10:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”[4]

This is something very important, God is a God of second chances. Now you may not have done everything right the first time around, or the second, or the third, or the fourth, or the 50th time around. God is patient. God is relentlessly pursuing you and I so that we are going after the people that he is pursuing. The people he desires to know his salvation which is his eternal life, his presence here and now, and in the life to come. That is one of the beautiful aspects about the Christian faith, that we can have assurance of knowing that we are going to be in God’s presence. We know that this life is not the end of the story. God is saving up for us to be with him in all eternity. Not only that but God is desiring to use our lives to be part of the redemptive story of the world’s transformation. 

God says go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message he gave to Jonah. The very next verse says Jonah obeyed, this time. The New Testament, in Matthew 21, has a parable of Jesus about a father and his two sons.

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.[5]

Jesus explaining the first son is the one who obeyed God because he did what God desired. This time Jonah obeyed. So he went out, he was probably reluctant as we have seen through Jonah’s character so far. 

The text says that Nineveh was a very large city, and it would take three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown”[6]

What we see here is a picture of a reluctant prophet, reluctantly doing what God has called him to do. He’s not even halfway in the city. He waits until he is about a third of the way in (about a day’s journey), and according to the text, he proclaimed the Lord’s proclamation once. This means Jonah did not go through the entire city. Jonah stopped after just one day, after only going a third of the way in. That is when he proclaims the single message, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” He doesn’t even say this is God’s declaration for them. It is almost as if that Jonah is not wanting to tell the Ninevites the whole story. But the very next verse says the Ninevites believed God.

What’s interesting about that is Jonah, as we have said, did not say anything about God in the proclamation, but the Ninevites, the text says, believed God and all of a sudden a fast was

Proclaimed. All of them, from the greatest to the least put on sackcloth and the message even went up to the king who gave a decree that went out to all the people. Now what does this mean?

Think about what this is saying for who God is in our world. Number one, as we have seen in Chapter 1, it says that Nineveh’s wickedness has come up before God. This is saying that God is concerned about holiness. God is concerned about us being holy. His people, really the not just his people but the entire world being holy, being recast into his image, being perfect, being just like him. In New Testament terms this means being like Christ.

God is concerned about our holiness. Here’s the deal with that. None of us can measure up to this standard. None of us, as it says in Romans chapter 3, have lived up to the glory of God

because it says it all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. 

The other thing that we see is that Jonah went a day’s walk, about a third of the way, into the city. He did kind of this half-hearted proclamation, but what we see is that when he proclaimed the Word of God, when we proclaim God’s truth, God’s Spirit works incredible wonders amid our timidity, in spite of our prejudices, in spite of our reluctedness to go.

Remember, as it says in Hebrews four, “the Word of God is sharper and active than any double-edged sword.” God’s Word works incredible wonders. Now, what happened? 

In Jonah’s message, he doesn’t say “repent” but the people hoped that if they repented, God would relent from the destruction of their city being overthrown.

Let’s talk about repentance for a moment. Repentance is one of those words, Church Words, that we like to say; but here’s the thing about repentance, repentance means doing a 180 in our actions, in our words, and in our thoughts so we are not going on our own path anymore. The path we are turning around to, is God’s direction.

Repentance means that we are going to have to make a change in our heart and life. That’s what repentance means. In Greek, the word is metanoia, which is a change of mind, a change of heart which means that all of us are going to change and be given over to God’s will. We like to say “repent” because we don’t like to hear change, that we have to change in order to become holy in order for Christ to shine in and through us. That’s a challenge for us; but see the incredible thing about grace is that God works in spite of us. We are all called to repent.

Jesus’ very first sermon was, “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand” which means change your heart and life because God’s eternal presence is here. His kingdom of heaven is already here. Change your heart and life so that you are able to live in and experience this incredible place called heaven.

Verse 10 says, “when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” God desires holiness but God is about forgiveness.

We have an incredible picture of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. When he was on the cross, his arms were stretched out wide. He looked down and in the crowd. It was as if he looked through time past, present, and future. He said these incredible words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” Think about that. What he was doing was looking at you and I because we do not know what we are doing because our desire is to follow our own heart. Our desire is to do things our way, our desire is to be in control of our lives. Our desire even, if we profess Christ, is most of the time to do things our own way. God desires to forgive. 

One of the attributes of God is found in the book of Exodus chapter 33 verse 19. I love this verse because it’s repeated multiple times throughout the scriptures. God is speaking to Moses and he says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

What we have not said up to this point is that Jonah, a Hebrew, is going to the pagans, the Gentiles, in Nineveh. Now, Nineveh is in the area of Babylon place that had many gods and worship the king. Jonah was going there to a place that the Hebrews did not like. In fact this was an area that captured the Hebrews and put them in captivity in exile.

Jonah was called to go there to tell Nineveh it’s wickedness has come up before God. Why should Jonah care about this city? Because God cares about our enemies. When we read Joshua chapter 5, we see the commander of the Lord’s army appearing before Joshua. Joshua bows down and asks, “are you on our side or you for the other side?” The commander the lord’s army says, “neither I’m for God.”

That’s one of the things that we have to understand and remember as Christians. When Jesus says pray for your enemies he means, “don’t let anything come between you and other people. Find a way to make it work.”

God desires forgiveness. God desires holiness. God’s Word works wonders in the world. When we live by God’s Word we see how our enemies are overthrown. We’ll talk about that next week.

Maybe our enemies are not overthrown in the manner in which we want but in the manner in which we may lead them to God.

God is relentlessly pursuing you and I to do the mission we are called to. Are you ready for this work? It will not only change your life, but will change the world!

[1] ! Timothy 2:4 NIV

[2] Jonah 1:2

[3] Jonah 3:1 NIV

[4] Romans 10:14-15 NIV

[5] Matthew 21:28-31a NIV

[6] Jonah 3:4a

Ryan StrattonLeave a comment

What is Christian Worship?

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.” (Tozer 47) How we worship God during the week reflects how we worship God together at weekly gatherings. What is worship? Worship is more than something we do. It is more than something we attend. It is more than something we know the order of. Worship is a lifestyle. More importantly, worship is a response to the Living God who is here, who gave life, who continues to work and move in and through the believers.

If the people of God are to be living a life of worship, then the order of worship reflects how lives should be lived. In each worship setting, almost no matter what “style of worship” a person participates in, there is a four-fold movement to help the worshipper move closer to the throne of grace and experience the presence of the Living God. This movement appears in the book of Isaiah chapter 6. In a vision, Isaiah has found himself to be in the throne room of God. Here God is meeting with the heavenly beings, worshipping God, and talking about what should be done on earth. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’” (Isaiah 6:8 NIV) Isaiah decides to be the one to respond and say, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8c NIV) After Isaiah responds, he receives the mission and the gifts to do what needs to be done. This shows the movement of worship (Gathering, Word, Table/Response, Sending Out), and describes our life with God through Jesus Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Flow of Worship

Isaiah has been transported, in a vision, to the throne room of God. This is the first movement of worship called the Gathering. In this movement, people are finding themselves to be in the presence of God. This is where the people gather their hearts and spirits together to worship and begin to celebrate, as a community, all God has done, is doing, and will do. The Gathering is the time to center our hearts and our entire being on the reality of the presence of God. An example to help the worshippers understand the presence of God is among the worshipping community is to proclaim, “Welcome to God’s house where the Risen Christ is ready to receive our praises! I invite you to add your praise to those of your sister and brothers as we rejoice together in this day that God has made.” (Cherry 64) Many different components may be used in this movement. When the people wake up to the fact the presence of God is with them, and they are in the presence of God, the worship leader can offer a call to worship, song, opening prayers, prayers of confession and pardon and/or more. Isaiah has found himself to be in the presence of the Holy One and says, “Woe to me!…I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5 NIV) Isaiah understands where he is and whose presence he is in. He confesses and then one of the heavenly beings comes to cleanse Isaiah from his sin. Being in the presence of God changes lives. There is a need to be cleansed and receive forgiveness, so the people’s hearts are open and ready to fully worship and receive the blessings, peace, and most importantly, the presence of the Living God that is already among them. The point of the Gathering is to help the worshippers understand and appreciate the presence of the Holy Spirit inviting each person to participate in the worship of God Almighty that is already taking place in the heavens.

Since worship is a way of life, one way the worshippers could get ready for the community worship experience is to pray, sing, and read scripture. Psalms 120-134 are called songs of “ascent,” meaning these psalms help the reader, and person of prayer prepare their hearts, minds, the whole being for what is about to happen in the community worship event.

After Isaiah pays attention that he is in the throne room of the Lord, the presence of God, he begins to listen. Through all of the praises going up, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; heaven and earth are full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3 NIV), Isaiah hears God speak. This is the next movement the worshipping community goes through, hearing the Word of God read, spoken, proclaimed. During this movement, the worship leader, lay reader, pastor, read the scripture passage(s) for the day and the people are ready to hear the Word of God proclaimed and explained. Since it is the Word of God heard, it is usually a good idea to ask God to open the hearts and lives of the people so the Word can be fully understood and transferred and the Word of God can come in people’s lives and do the work of transformation. This is usually done through prayer, such as a prayer of illumination which calls upon the Holy Spirit to speak to the people through the Word and the sermon of the day.

When the Word of God is read and proclaimed, it is always a good idea to focus on the entirety of the message of the whole Bible, specifically the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. This can be done through several scripture passage readings (Old Testament, Psalms, Epistles, Gospel readings) so the worshipper can keep the full message of scripture in their minds. One way to do this is to follow the Revised Common Lectionary readings which cover most of the Bible over three years. If the lectionary is not being used, it is important to still use more than one text or at least a more extended passage, so the full Word is heard in the context it was written.

God is always speaking. This is something the worshippers (all people) need to remember. So it is not just through the scripture reading(s) the worshippers hear from God; it is throughout the community worship event. When scripture is used throughout the service, the presence and Word of God is continually brought to the forefront of people’s minds and lives.

When God speaks, the only thing there is to do is respond. Isaiah’s response was “Here am I! Send me!” To respond to God means the people are ready and willing to do what God is asking. In the flow of worship, the response to God’s Word occurs in the sacraments (baptism and communion) or through song, prayer, or in the way the worshipping community decides. It is essential to give a response to the God who is present, active and speaking. The response “is an acknowledgment that we have truly listened to what God spoke to the community through the Scriptures and the sermon, and that as a result, we intend to offer back an appropriate affirmation.” (Cherry (99) Acts 2 demonstrates why the response is essential.

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter and the 119 other disciples are gathered together. Suddenly the Holy Spirit comes upon them in the form of tongues of fire, and the people hear a loud gushing wind. Peter stands up to address the crowd witnessing these signs. He boldly proclaims Jesus is still alive and gives a sermon that God uses to “cut to the heart” of each person there. The Word of God is strong, “alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12 NIV), that the people had to respond. As a result, three thousand people decided to follow Jesus Christ and the world began to witness the saving, powerful work of God through Jesus Christ guided by the movement of the Holy Spirit. The world was starting to change. Responding to God means the people are acknowledging the desire to be part of God mission and work in the world. As a result, God fills the people with the Holy Spirit and equips them to do the work they are called to do.

The beginning of the community worship event takes the worshippers into the presence of God. The people are taken to God’s presence. This would be an upward movement, primarily because God’s people are always being worked on to be holier each day, with each experience of God. Then the worshippers have the chance to hear from God. This is God’s Word coming down to the people. When the people respond, the praises, voices, and cries of the people are brought back up to God. The response of the people is essential because the spirit of the people is lifted to God. This is the time when the people have the chance to get “on the same page” like God who is working, moving, and inviting the people to participate in the work being done.

Isaiah has found himself to be in the presence of God. He has been cleansed. He has heard God speak. He has responded. Now, Isaiah is sent back to the people for the mission of God. In the flow of worship, this is called the Sending. What happens in the Sending is the people are sent back into the mission field. The mission field is not a place in another country. The mission field is home, work, the community, the store(s). Wherever the people go, God is working there and inviting the people to participate with the Spirit to work in the world. Robert Webber says “when God blesses us, God confers on us a power to fulfill our calling in righteousness and holiness in Jesus Christ. God’s blessing on us is a gift—an actual pouring out on us the Holy Spirit.” (Webber 184) This is what the Sending is, going back into the world, out of the safety of comfort with other believers, and living into the life and power of God wherever we are and whatever we do.

Liturgy – The Work of the People

Liturgy happens in all worship services. “’Liturgy’ comes from the Greek word leitourgia, translated as “work of the people.” It refers to the actions that worshippers undertake in order to do the work of worship.” (Cherry 39) Cherry goes on to say, “whatever worship acts we offer to God constitute our liturgy.” (Cherry 39)

In traditional worship services, the liturgy will be more formalized and corporate. This means there will be a specific way to pray, to recite, to sing, a particular order. More relaxed, contemporary worship services, still follow a liturgy; however, it may seem more relaxed, or not as obvious. Liturgy is more than what the people say in worship. It is something done in worship. The flow of worship is the liturgy. “Since all worshippers engage to some degree in the actions of worship, all worshippers engage in liturgy.” (Cherry 39)

Time

To help keep the focus on Jesus Christ all year long, the Christian calendar has been introduced and utilized. Time is something sacred. All time is God’s time. “In the tapestry of history, in which God is ever active even if often hidden, that central, brilliant blossom is Jesus Christ who enables us to see so many other evidences of God’s presence, and causes us to know that God is always with us, even when hidden from view.” (Stokey 24) It is through celebrating the Christian calendar, beginning with Advent and go through the year, we have the chance to celebrate the full life and presence of Jesus Christ with us always.

Sacraments in Worship

One of the most significant aspects of Christian worship, for many people, is the participation in the action and practice of the sacraments. The Protestant Churches recognize two sacraments—Baptism and Holy Communion.

Holy Communion, sometimes called Eucharist or breaking of the bread or Lord’s Supper, is best placed within the worship service after the hearing and proclamation of the Word. This is a time of responding to Jesus Christ through the participation of joining him in this meal. When a person participates in this sacrament, sacred moment, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the participant joins in and celebrates the victory of Jesus Christ. “In the heavens, there is a constant and eternal historical recitation of Christ’s great victory over the power of evil and death.” (Webber 129)

The time of Communion helps the participants remember, celebrate, be part of the community, and join in the meal of heaven. During this act of worship, the worshipper is responding to the real presence of Jesus Christ by coming forward to receive the grace, life, and forgiveness Christ offers. This is not something the people go into lightly, nor haphazardly. The people have been building to this time throughout the whole worship service. Now, through the consecration of the elements, the bread and wine (juice) are used to demonstrate the presence of Jesus Christ going into and living through the worshipping community. “The purpose of the table is to engage in acts of worship that enact and celebrate the story of how God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, raised Christ from the dead, overcame the powers of evil, and offers to us the forgiveness, healing, love, and power for victorious living in community and in the world.” (Cherry 86)

Baptism is the second sacrament celebrated and practiced by Protestants. “Baptism, as it is known in the New Testament…is administered only once, at the point of initiation into the Christian community.” (Staples 120) This is an important thing to remember. A person is only baptized once because it is God doing the work, not the people. Baptized people do have opportunities, and should participate in, to remember their baptism by the symbol of water.

John Wesley, in his Treatise on Baptism, says, “The matter of this sacrament is water; which, as it has a natural power of cleansing, is more fit for this symbolic use.” (Wesley) Staples writes, “[Water] helps to create life, but it can destroy life. It nourishes life, yet it can drown it. It can be healing, yet it can be destructive. The Biblical writers knew this.” (Staples 126) Water is also used because Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River.

In 1982, the World Council of Churches published a work called “Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry.” In this document, baptism is described as having five purposes: to participate in Christ’s death and resurrection (by going in the water and coming out), outwardly demonstrate an inward working of the Spirit’s cleansing power, it is a gift of the Spirit, incorporation into the Body of Christ, and baptism is a sign of the Kingdom. Just as circumcision was an outward sign for the Jewish people of their status as God’s chosen people, baptism is an inward sign that a person is marked, sealed and set apart as God’s person to live life in a covenant community sharing, showing, and expanding the Kingdom of Heaven wherever the believer is located.

There are many ways a person is baptized—sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. It does not matter how much water is used. The critical thing to pay attention to is how the Holy Spirit of God is working in and through the individual to be a vessel used for the redemption and transformation of the world.

Both Holy Communion and Baptism use symbols to represent the real presence of God through Jesus Christ as experienced by the Holy Spirit. The complete Triune God is present in the sacraments, and the people experience the saving grace of God through these acts of worship which are then transferred to everyday life.

Conclusion

Worship is a way of life. As the people of God gather together in God’s presence each week, they remember the saving act of God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christian worship is centered around the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and shapes the people of more into the likeness and image of Christ. When the people of God are transformed, by the Holy Spirit, the world will look more and more like the Kingdom of God here on earth. This happens when the people of God live out their worship each day. Alexander Schmemann sums this idea up beautifully:

“The Church is the sacrament of the Kingdom—not because she possesses divinely instituted acts called ‘sacrament,’ but because first of all, she is the possibility given to man to see in and through this world the ‘world to come,’ to see and to ‘live’ it in Christ. It is only when in the darkness of the world we discern that Christ has already ‘filled all things with Himself’ that these things, whatever they may be, are revealed and given to us full of meaning and beauty.” (Schmemann 113)

The Church is the people of God, worshipping, celebrating, and doing the work of Christ in this world, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Bibliography

Cherry, Constance M. (2010). The Worship Architect: A Blueprint for Designing Culturally Relevant and Biblically Faithful Services. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Schmemann, Alexander. (1963). For the Life of the World. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. Kindle Edition

Staples, Rob L. (1991). Outward Sign and Inward Grace: The Place of Sacraments in Wesleyan Spirituality. Kansas City, KS: Beacon Hill Press.

Stookey, Laurence Hull. (1996). Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan House, 1984.

Webber, R. E. (1998). Planning blended worship: The creative mixture of old and new. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

Tozer, A.W. (1961). The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper

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Victory Over Goliath

We all have “giants” in our life that attempt to hold us back from the life God has designed for us. Some of our giants include fear, anger, rejection, comfort, addiction. Join us for this 7-week sermon series as we understand some of the “giants” in our lives and how they can be overcome because of Jesus Christ.

This series takes us through an in-depth study of 1 Samuel 17: the story of David and Goliath.

“Goliath Will Fall” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

“Giant of Fear Will Fall” (1 Samuel 17:1-11)

“Giant of Rejection Will Fall” (1 Samuel 17:26-33)

“Giant of Comfort Will Fall” (1 Samuel 17:16,25)

“Giant of Anger Will Fall” (1 Samuel 16:7, 17:28)

“Giant of Addiction Will Fall” (1 Samuel 17:33-40)

“Living in Freedom” (Galatians 5:1)

SERMONS ON THE GO! Click here to listen to and subscribe to the weekly sermon on iTunes!

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Experience the Power of the Holy Spirit

Live,Laugh and Love

Do you have your copy of the daily devotional on the Book of Acts?

Get your copy here. Paperback version. Kindle version.

The Book of Acts tells the historical events that shaped the early church through the powerful, dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit. This power is still available and working today all over the world. As we encounter the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have the great opportunity to watch God do incredible work in and through us. This daily devotional walks us through the book of Acts so we can experience a personal revival and help us experience a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

FOR ALL ORDERS DURING THE MONTH OF DECEMBER, I WILL BE DONATING ALL OF THE PROCEEDS.

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Risen & Lives Forever

Where are you in your faith in Jesus Christ? Do you believe all of this stuff you have read so far these past 6 weeks? How would you complete the statement, “Jesus is __________.”?

These are questions I invite you to ponder now because if there is anything that is challenging about anything we have read so far, take some time to pray (communicate with God) your apprehensions. This week we will talk about something even greater than the previous weeks.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Let’s read the scripture (Luke 24:1-12 NIV):

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Easter Sunday, all around the world, and throughout history, the proclamation is “Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!” This is the statement, the profession of belief, that reminds us no matter what goes on in this life, no matter how bad things get, no matter how dark our lives seem, Christ walked out of that tomb.

Let that sink in for a minute. The powerful grip of death, the grip that does not let it’s victims go, could not hold Christ. Jesus broke the grip of death on this world. He lives! Not only that. He lives eternally, which is a fancy way of saying he will never die again.

There are many people who will give some false claims about the resurrection. Some will say the disciples took Jesus’ body and hid it. Some will say Jesus just fell asleep and never really died. Some will say the crucifixion never happened and there is no evidence to prove it.

We actually do have written, historical evidence to prove the witness accounts of the resurrection. For one thing, we have 27 accounts that make up our New Testament. Not only that, but we have sources outside of the Biblical records. One example is a well-respected Jewish historian from the first century: Josephus.

Who was Josephus? “Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37 – c. 100) was a Jewish historian born in Jerusalem four years after the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth in the same city. Because of this proximity to Jesus in terms of time and place, his writings have a near-eyewitness quality as they relate to the entire cultural background of the New Testament era. But their scope is much wider than this, encompassing also the world of the Old Testament. His two greatest works are Jewish Antiquities, unveiling Hebrew history from the Creation to the start of the great war with Rome in A.D. 66, while his Jewish War, though written first, carries the record on to the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Masada in A.D. 73.”[1]

He writes:

“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.  For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease.  He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him.  And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.” [2]

The early followers of Jesus Christ staked their entire lives on the message and truth Christ had been raised from the dead. There was so much spiritual change in the lives they touched, and the world has never been the same. Many of the early followers even went to death sticking to the proclamation Christ is risen. So, why would they go to their grave living for a lie?

Now, I know there are people who live with a lie, or as a lie, their entire lives and still do not change or admit the truth, even on their death bed. The difference here is most of these people would not have the incredible results from their life as the disciples and followers of Christ had and have today.

Think about this. The people who were searching for Jesus went to the tomb. They were searching where they last saw him, but they were actually

LOOKING FOR JESUS IN THE WRONG PLACES.

This is something we do today. We are constantly trying to see “real”, tangible evidence Jesus lives. Our lives today are almost two thousand years away from witnessing the empty tomb ourselves, as it was originally, but this doesn’t mean the evidence isn’t around us.

People still want to know if Jesus had really been raised from the dead. Our world is filled with skepticism. We do not always believe the stuff we read about or watch (unless we see it on social media, then we seem to share without much fact checking”).

Professor and author, Stephen Seamands writes, “according to New Testament scholar, Timothy Johnson, the most important questions about Jesus is whether he is dead or alive. If he is dead, the memory of his life and accomplishments may still exert a significant influence, but his words and actions have ended. His life is over. Finished. Complete. The dead lie still. But if he is alive, then everything is radically different. He can show up on our doorstep. Do new things. Surprise, confront, encourage, instruct us. Encounter us as one living person encounters another.”[3]

So we have to pay attention to where it is we are looking for Jesus. He will not be found in the empty tombs, even though we go back every time to the last place we saw him. He will not be found, easily, where nothing good or eternally lasting happens. He will not be found in places of greed, lust, pride, laziness, etc.

Wherever Jesus is, there is life. In the Gospel of John chapter 20, we read about Jesus is doing the work of a gardener. He is restoring the creation by working it. He is bringing new life with him.

So we have to ask, “where can we find Jesus today?” Look in the dark places. Look where the people are who are more interested in themselves. Jesus is there, he’s just harder to see because there is a lot of work to be done.

But look in the places where lives are being changed. Look where people are choosing life over death. Look where people are working to transform the world into the Kingdom of Heaven even though it does not give them earthly riches or rewards. Look where drug dealers, prostitutes, gamblers, adulterers, abusers, etc. are turning their lives around because they are experiencing a change on the inside and they truly want to live in freedom.

That’s where Jesus is.

Jesus is also found in the seemingly ordinary places. When you see a mother nurse and feed her child. When you see a father encourage his children and love his wife. When you see people who once were enemies become friends. When you see teachers, construction workers, bank tellers, trash collectors, etc. do their work with a smile on their face because they have a joy inside no one can snatch.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ does all of this. Because Christ is alive, we witness and are part of incredible world changes that begin with the changed life of a single person who goes out to show people how their life can and will be changed because of Jesus Christ, because he lives.

To do this, we have to

REMEMBER WHAT JESUS TAUGHT

What was it Jesus taught? We will hear all kinds of things Jesus taught from other people. The best place to start is in the actual words he said. Now, here’s something that may not have been considered before. Jesus’ words do not begin in the New Testament.

Remember we have talked about Jesus as God in flesh. This means that he is God. Since he is God, Jesus has always existed and is eternal (has no beginning or end). Yes, he does have a human, earthly, beginning when he was born as a man; but Jesus is still eternal.

To find the words Jesus said and taught we really have to begin in the book of Genesis. The Bible has so much to say. So much history. So many names. So many places. If we’re not careful when reading it, we can get confused.

Where should we start reading? The New Testament. Specifically, I would recommend the Gospel of Mark. Why? Because it is the shortest Gospel and it shows the power and mission of Jesus clearly.

We have been going through this series looking at the Gospel of Luke. This Gospel shows Jesus’ humanity and his incredible care for humanity. I have heard people call it “The Gospel of Nobodies” because that’s who Jesus came to save “the lost.”[4]These are the people society has cast aside. These are the people no one seems to care about. These are the people who desire to be restored and redeemed. These people represent you and me.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he was demonstrating his incredible power over the final enemy of humanity—death. Jesus had already shown forgiveness of sins through his healing ministry. He had also defeated sin through his death on the cross. We see now that because Jesus is alive, death has no more power over the world.

Yes, we will still pass away and enter into the next chapter of our lives—life everlasting with Jesus Christ—but we do not have to fear it or have death reassert any power over us. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “’Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[5]

But what about us now? What do we do while we are still alive?

STAY OBEDIENT TO ORDINARY TASKS

Do you ever feel like the small tasks in life really do not count? They may be incredibly boring to us or a waste of time to us. Each of us has a different idea of what a small task is that we do not want to do. For my kids, it is keeping their room clean. For me, it is anything that will take me away from what I need to do at the moment.

Here’s the thing about the small, seemingly insignificant, tasks…this is where we find out where our hearts really are. Read that again. You’ll find out the true state of your heart in the tasks you do not really want to do but know it still needs to be done. Do we do them with a spirit of love? Or with a spirit of contempt because we really do not want to do them?

Jesus was a busy man. He had many things to do and people to see. He got interrupted all the time. Every time he got interrupted he continued to show compassion to the people who needed help. He showed the heart of God. Re-read the Gospel of Luke and see how Jesus interacted with all people.

Think about how you respond when you get interrupted from the work or mission, you are doing? I have witnessed most people, especially myself, like to stay focused on the task at hand. (I know some people may do what they can to avoid the work – that is a different message for laziness.) We tend to like to feel accomplished and see what we can do. At least, this is me. I have a hard time, sometimes, switching tasks. What is even harder for me is switching tasks with the right attitude.

The ordinary of things in life show us our hearts and our real attitudes. Remember this when faced with a task that seems too small for you, one that is an inconvenience, one that you really don’t want to do.

Above all of this, know

JESUS CONTINUES TO LIVE. SO DO WE. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?

Jesus lives! Let us continue to proclaim with Christians all through history, “Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!”

This is the cry of victory. Because Christ lives, and we follow him and place our lives in his hands, we too get to live in and claim that same victory. When we share our faith with others, it is not to try to “win them to Christ,” rather it is to help them understand the war has already been won. The world’s enslavement to Sin and Death has been defeated. The individual battle still ensues and Christ’s victory. The victory and power we claim gives us the ability to win individually.

We do not fight for the world to try to bring victory. Instead, we walk in the world confident that Christ has already won. We live our lives from a place of victory. This is what makes the difference. Fear has no power over us. Sin has no power over us. We do not need to worry when faced with temptations because the power of God will keep us from giving in (if we listen and live into this power).

Philosopher Stephen Davis sums up Jesus’ resurrection well:

“[The resurrection] assures us that God will win and that accordingly, the world is not mad. Events do happen that we cannot explain. Irrational tragedies and horrible outrages do occur. But because God raised Jesus from the dead after the catastrophe of the cross, we can be sure that God will one day overcome all catastrophes…The resurrection is proof that no matter how bad things get, we can trust in God. God loves us. God has our interests at heart. God works to achieve what is beneficial to us. And in the end, God will win.”[6]

I fully believe that Jesus rose from the grave. I fully believe he is alive. I fully believe he is Lord. Not only that, I count on this each and every day. I hope you do too.

 

Works Cited:

[1]https://www.namb.net/apologetics-blog/josephus-and-jesus/

[2]https://www.namb.net/apologetics-blog/josephus-and-jesus/

[3]Seamands, Stephen. “Give Them Christ”. Page 99

[4]Luke 19:10

[5]1 Corinthians 15:54b-57 NIV

[6]Stephens Seamands, “Give Them Christ” Page 119

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Free From the Power of Temptations

Knowing who Jesus Christ is, this is the core of who we are becoming. A couple of weeks ago, we began a series on the life of Christ. We started with the question, “Who do you say I am?” Why would we start with that? How we answer that question determines how we view the life we have been given and how we’ll live our life.

Last week, we discussed Jesus is “God in flesh.” Remember, his birth and incarnation (becoming a real human being) are much more than a story we need to hear at Christmas. This is much more than the cute plays we watch. God coming down to earth is HUGE and changes everything. God, himself, is showing he is willing to do what it takes to bring people into a place of salvation, the place of being in his presence here and now AND in the life to come. God coming down to earth is the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecies about the Day of the Lord (for us Second Coming of Christ) where everything will be set straight, and earth, as well as humanity,  will return to the paradise state of Eden.

What we want to look at today are the temptations Jesus experienced.

First of all, let us remember what the writer of the book of Hebrews said,“we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”[1]

This really should be all we would need to say, but the truth is (especially for our culture and mindsets today) we need to unpack the meaning of that verse. It is challenging for many people (believers and non-believers) to fully believe Jesus did not sin, let alone be tempted in “every” way we are. Yes, Jesus did live in a different culture and time period from us, but we should always remember human nature, desires, and temptations are still the same. How they manifest themselves may look different than what people experienced, even 100 years ago, but we all live through these same temptations even today.

To understand why Jesus was tempted, we have to first begin with his baptism. Luke does not say much about the baptism of Jesus, but what is said is very important to what happens later, and how Jesus lives his life and does his ministry. Here is what Luke says:

LUKE 3:21-22 NIV

21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

One of the important things we can often miss when we get into the story of Jesus’ baptism is the Trinity is at work and is noticeably visible. Jesus, the Son, goes into the water. As he comes up, the Holy Spirit comes in bodily form. Then we hear the voice of God the Father.

This is crucial to understanding what happens when we are baptized. It is not a saving act, but rather a relational act. Through baptism, we are acknowledging the work God has been doing within us, and we are publically declaring we now know we are part of the family of God. Baptism brings us into God’s family, and we are living in a new relationship. Just as the Trinity is the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the world, when we are baptized we witness the relational work of the Trinity within our own lives.

We go to the waters, as Jesus (who is with us), as we are baptized, the Holy Spirit seals and anoints you to a position in the Kingdom of Heaven and makes you a prince or princess. Can you sense the Father’s voice speaking to you saying, “You are mine. With you I am pleased.”?

THROUGH BAPTISM WE ARE BROUGHT INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD

But this also means we are brought into the mission of God here on earth. Jesus’ ministry began at his baptism, the public declaration of his mission and purpose. The same is true for us.

Jesus understands all that we go through in this life. He was/is God in flesh, Emmanuel, God with us; but he is also fully human (Jesus was fully divine AND fully human at the same time). He has a deep understanding that he does not live or work without the relationship of the Father and the Holy Spirit. He does not do everything himself.

Do we feel like we need to do everything, at times? Yes. Especially when beginning a new business or mission venture. But the truth is, the mission and business we are in are not ours. It is Christ’s, and we are his people, his representatives in the world. Everything we do in the mission and business has the great possibility to bring people to a relationship with God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is setting the example of what it means to be in a relationship with God, the Father. He is also setting the standard for not working on his own but in conjunction with what the Father is doing through the Holy Spirit. It is all about relationships. The relationship with God, his people, and his creation.

Jesus knows we have a need to be in a relationship with others. But he knows we have a deeper need to be understood, loved, and have a relationship with God, the Father, the Creator of the universe.

Here’s something we can miss. Just because we have entered into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, does not mean everything will be perfect in our lives. Remember Jesus came to our world, this world. Why do we insist on our own comfort and safety, all the time, when Jesus was homeless and was humiliated, mocked, beaten, even crucified? Jesus knows that for our relationship with God to be strong, we will be going through trials and temptations that test our resolve to follow God and his word.

After his baptism, he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted and tested by Satan, the devil purposefully. Why is this important?

JESUS RELEASES US FROM THE POWER OF TEMPTATION AND SIN

Let’s read the temptations and hear what they might say to us today.

READ LUKE 4:1-12

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was temptedby the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.10 For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Notice what happens here. Satan comes to Jesus after Jesus had fasted (not eaten anything) for 40 days. Why didn’t the temptations come right after the baptism?

WE ARE TEMPTED/TESTED WHEN WE ARE AT OUR WEAKEST MOMENTS

Have you ever been around anyone who needs to eat, but hasn’t eaten? Have you met or encountered people who get “hangry” (the emotion of anger when you are hungry)?

Of course, we all have! This is why the snickers commercials are so appealing because they show us what happens if we do not get fed physically. Truthfully, if I forget to eat, or do not eat enough, I will get the same way.

If we have not gotten the proper nourishment for an extended period of time (food, love, affection, attention), we find we become “hangry.” In those moments, we are likely to do things we would not normally do or say things we would not normally say. It is in these times when we will be tempted the most to take charge and forget (not live into) God’s presence and Word that is with us always. The promise of Jeremiah is true, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”[2] There comes a time when we know (with our mind) that we belong to God; but when the physical, emotional, mental, relational needs are not met, then a new ruler of our hearts tries to take the throne and rule our lives in place of God.

Imagine the scene. You have just come through an incredible experience. You just got the job. You have found your mate for life. You have just become a parent. You have just experienced God for the first time in your life and have just realized he has been pursuing you all your life. Everything is great. For a time.

The high from the excitement will wear off and the reality of this world, this life comes back into focus. We have not been seeing the world as the rest of the world sees themselves. Instead, we have had the rose-colored glasses on that God had given us. There comes a time when we stop putting the glasses on and experience a time of feeling down (after the high has worn off).

This is when you can begin to feel the grip of Satan, the accuser, the devil, grasp your shoulders and pull you in close. You can hear the words, “If you truly trust and believe in God, then __________.” (Basically “prove it” by doing ________.) This is what is happening. It happens to all people.

We may not see a slithering serpent (as in Genesis 3) trying to lead us astray. We may not be whisked off to a distant land, not able to eat anything, and physically see Satan. But I bet we all hear the sound of his voice whispering in our ears trying to lead us against what God is doing in our lives. We all battle which thoughts to go with. We all listen to our own voice over God’s.

Do not be fooled into thinking we can “master” the tempter, the temptations we face all the time. Temptations have more power than we understand. Unless our minds can meditate on God and his word, we will think we can handle this on our own. If anyone says, “I am not tempted anymore,” that person has either succumbed to the temptations and have become so numb they cannot see the power the temptations hold. Or that person is dead. Remember 1 John 1:8 (NIV), “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Jesus knew he could not stand strong without God, the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit. He paid close attention to the words being twisted from scripture. He knew the only weapon to defeat the lies and temptations was to give truth through the scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit. Look at what he said:

“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”(Luke 4:4)

“It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” (Luke 4:8)

“It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Luke 4:12)

The temptations do not stop when we know and proclaim what the scripture says. We’ll keep hearing whispers of ideas that sound good, at first. But this is why we continue to rely on the power of God working in and through our lives.

A scripture that often gets misinterpreted is 1 Corinthians 10:13. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (NIV translation)

Notice, the verse does NOT say, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Rather the verse says that God will provide a way to endure the temptation. It says, “When you are tempted…”

Jesus knows we will all be tempted to be led astray from the movement of God in our lives. He knows that without the word of God, we cannot do the mission God has entrusted to us. Jesus knows how important relationships are for people and he desires us to live in the healthy relationships that will give us life, not suck the life or energy out of us.

We can be tempted to think that Jesus did not truly face the same temptations we face today. After all, it was a different time period. But the reality is, he did face the same temptations we face. We are just presented different manifestations of the temptations based on our context today.

We are always tempted to rely on our own hands, our own ability, our own work ethic, etc. to make things happen to make our life easier. This is what Jesus faced in the first temptation of hearing he could make stones turn into bread.

We all can be put in places and situations where we are going to have the desire to test God’s love for us. After all, IF he loves us, then he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to us, right? Jesus faced this as a temptation.

Side note: We can be freed from the grip the temptations have on us, but this doesn’t mean the consequences of following through the temptations will not still be present. If we’re not careful, we will live with the consequences of the sin for the rest of our lives. Broken relationships, loss of job, loss of self-worth, illnesses that could have been prevented. All because we decided to put things into our own hands, and “test” the chances of anything happening.

Jesus also knows we have the temptation to be famous, to rule over things and people. The real ruler of the world is Jesus, himself. Fame, power, greed, prestige, all come with a cost if we are not giving glory to the One who has given us life. When we place ourselves above God, then we think and believe we are God. For us, this is dangerous and leads us to a way of life that actually causes destruction instead of building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth because we can become complacent and indifferent to the suffering world around us by trying to keep things as they are instead of working with God toward transformation and redemption.

What do we do when we succumb and give in to the temptations? Understand,

THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE FOR GRACE, REDEMPTION, AND TRANSFORMATION.

Hebrews 4:16 NIV says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us out in our time of need.”

We are never too far off from God that we cannot be restored and redeemed (made right). We will all give in to the temptations we face in this life, but we do not have to let them continue holding a tight grip on us. We can be truly free from the temptations we face, and God is the source of our freedom, through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

James 4:7-8 (NIV) says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” We see Jesus do this in Matthew 4 when he said, “Away from me, Satan!”[3]

Jesus knows EVERYTHING we go through in this life. He has walked it. He has lived it. So “when we do succumb to temptation, ‘approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy’ from the one who knew temptation.”

Allow God to remove the guilt from your life so we can learn of his great power and forgiveness. Stand firm in who God says you are, his “beloved with whom he is well pleased.” Live into this truth and always remember Jesus is with you because he knows what you go through, and is giving you everything, every power, you need to live this life.

All of this is so we can be part of the incredible mission God has for his family in the world.

Hear these words from the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, “For it is by faith you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”[4]

 

Works Cited:

[1]Hebrews 4:15 NIV

[2]Jeremiah 31:33

[3]Matthew 4:10 NIV

[4]Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV

Ryan StrattonLeave a comment