Test the Spirits

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Introduction: What does it mean to test the spirits to see whether they are from God? The passage comes from the apostle John’s first epistle:

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 Jn 4:1-6)

Discussion: The issue revolves around the locus of rightful authority. Who is the true God? Are we to worship a Caesar? Should we worship a fickle mythical god like Zeus or Poseidon? Are we to offer a pinch of incense to Domitian, Nero, or any political tyrant or charismatic leader? Who’s the legitimate authority? The answer should be obvious: God. Not an idol, but God alone. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). The issue is the locus of rightful authority. Those who oppose Christ’s lordship are by definition anti-christs, i.e., opposed to God’s revelation. They are, to use the apostle John’s words, “from the world” and “speak from the world” and “the world listens to them.” What John means by that is the world system. There’s always a god of the system. If there’s no transcendent God above the system, then the system is the idol-god.

Encouragement: There is a high calling for followers of Christ. It involves testing the spirits to see whether they are from God. That means we are called to be a wise, discerning people, people who discern the reality from the appearances, the heart of the matter and not the facades.

CDT #494: Micah to Christ

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I was reading in Micah. Specifically, I was in chapter 5. Micah prophesied to Israel and Judah from the time just before the fall of Samaria through the time of Hezekiah of Judah (c. 740s B.C.). He was a contemporary of Isaih and Hosea. Michah’s themes were judgment and forgiveness. The Lord was and is the Judge, but is also believers’ Shepherd-King. And what does He do? Gathers, protects, and forgives His flock. Why? Because He is faithful to His covenantal nature. 

    Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;
    siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
    on the cheek.
      But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
    from ancient days.
  Therefore he shall give them up until the time
    when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
    to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.
  And he shall be their peace. (Micah 5:1-5a, ESV)

The progression of the recurring plot is all here: 1) Judgment is to fall upon the flock because the sheep have strayed; 2) but out of a seemingly insignificant tribe (Bethlehem), a ruler is promised “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2b); and 3) He will “shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD” (Micah 5:4). 

Just as David was a type of this in the 900s B.C., a shepherd-boy who became king and ruler, so the covenantal promise is fulfilled ultimately in Christ, the Good Shepherd, who leads His people “in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Ps 23:3). And He bore the judgment the flock deserves.

All of the Bible points to Jesus. All of it. One coherent story. And God is the Hero.  

Grace & Mercy

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Question: What does it say that we desire law for others but mercy and grace for ourselves?

Text:

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,[a] and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant[b] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.[c] So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Context, Context, Context: The reluctant, self-absorbed, narcissistic Jonah did not want grace and mercy for others. In this case, the “others” were the people of Nineveh. Yet Jonah had proclaimed an 8-word message to them, and many were saved: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). And do you know what God did through that message? He saved people.

And we might think that Jonah would have rejoiced. But no. Jonah pouted. Why? Because it wasn’t about Jonah. It was about the message of redemption. It was about repentance and faith. And that infuriated Jonah. Jonah loved nothing quite so much as Jonah.

Encouragement: What does it say that we desire law for others but mercy and grace for ourselves? One of the beautiful works of the gospel is that it humbles us. It redirects our focus from being on ourselves, our own comforts. It makes us others-focused. Jonah very often failed to live out that transformation. He wanted mercy and grace for himself but he desired law for others. The pattern continues, sadly. How might we be of much more beautiful use if we desired others to experience mercy and grace as much as we long for those things for ourselves?

Appearance vs. Reality

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After returning from coffee with a friend this morning, I sat down to study and write out my homily for tomorrow. It is based upon my favorite book of the Bible: Ecclesiastes. And tomorrow we are in chapter seven, perhaps my favorite of Ecclesiastes’ twelve chapters.

And the overarching theme I long to impart to the hearers is one of the Bible’s–and one of history and literature’s–greatest and most enduring themes: appearance vs. reality, and the need for wisdom to discern the differences.

If you’re in the area, please check us out in-person or online @ Christ Covenant Church in Canton or @ 3cs-canton.org

We’ll post the recording on YouTube tomorrow afternoon, too.

Where Is Salvation Found?

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Question: Where is salvation found?

Text: When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
    forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (Jonah 2:7-9)

Context, Context, Context: Once again, here was Jonah, this stubborn, recalcitrant, self-centered prophet. And he was praying from inside the “belly of the fish” (Jonah 2:1). And God, through sheer sovereign grace, yet again spared Jonah, saved him, and delivered him onto dry land: “And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10).

Encouragement: Does the Bible anywhere teach here that Jonah was saved by Jonah? Hardly. Jonah was the problem! Does the Bible anywhere teach here that Jonah merited favor with God? Again, no. Does the Bible anywhere teach here that salvation came by human works, human effort, human goodness, or human credentials? Again, no. Salvation belongs, according to the text, “to the LORD!” (Jonah 2:9b).

CDT #491: Man Overboard

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Text: Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. (Jonah 1:11-16)

Context, Context, Context: Ever the reluctant prophet, Jonah was beginning to get the picture, but not fully. When the pagans knew the ship was going down, they turned to this reluctant prophet as a go-between, a nexus, between the judgment of God and their deliverance. And what did even they do? They looked to another to save them. They “hurled [Jonah] into the sea.” And things changed. The men feared the Lord (the beginning of wisdom). Then they offered a sacrifice. In other words, salvation and deliverance came to unbelievers by way of the work of another man.

Teaching: All of Scripture is one coherent story. It’s filled with many stories but they’re all a part of one grand story of Creation>Fall>Redemption>Restoration. That’s the pattern. Unbelievers are grafted into the family of believers. But it all hinges ultimately on the One who was delivered over for others. It’s the ultimate story of sacrifice. And what do you know? This prototype Jonah would be under the waters for three days and resurrected onto dry land three days later. Sound like a precursor to the Gospel? That’s because it is. God is progressively revealing His story to redeem a people for Himself through the sacrifice of Christ.

Encouragement:  There’s a reason that we love hero stories. But hero stories always involve the sacrifice of the hero in the cause of the greater mission. And there is no greater hero story than the God-man sacrificing himself on behalf of His sheep.

“My Tie Broke!”

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Introduction: I had another Military Funeral Honors today. Nothing new about that. That is one of my duties I most enjoy. It is not that I am morbid or appreciate death. It is, rather, that I understand that death is a tragedy. It is a result of sin. It is a result of the Fall (Genesis 3).

But through the gospel–and through the gospel only–death is defeated for all those who are in Christ. That is a crucial prepositional phrase.

Story: I checked out the GSA vehicle from the motorpool. Our staff does a phenomenal job, and they are invariably helpful each week as I go to sign out a truck to take to the national cemetery.

I signed for my vehicle, drove to the national cemetery, got in my dress uniform, and went to put on my tie after I had put on my slacks, shoes, etc. Then . . . drama. My military clip-on tie broke. Suddenly, there I was. I had a Military Funeral Honors in less than an hour, and my little brown tie’s clasp had broken off in my fingers.

I called my wife. And I called a buddy, but got his voicemail. The message to both was identical: “Real-world issue. Need tie for funeral. Quick, fast, and in a hurry.”

My wife scoured my closet and found an old one. I threw the truck in gear and drove (perhaps over the speed limit) home. She met me on the drive in front of the house, passed the tie through my down-rolled driver’s-side window, and I pressed the accelerator again, and drove back to the national cemetery.

I made the funeral. The tie worked. I met with the family. I served as their chaplain. I honored the fallen.

But it had not happened without some, “Uh-oh! What now?” moments.

Encouragement: This is all kind of silly to some, perhaps, but not to me, and certainly it would have not been silly to my fellow Service Members or to the body of which I am a part, had I been out of uniform (even through no fault of my own). But it all worked out. I had an extra tie in my closet at home. My wife happened to be home. She happened to pick up the phone when I called. She happened to be able to meet me on the drive in front of our home. And the veteran Marine was honored before his family. It is these moments of grace, of comfort, of, how shall I say it, of trying and blessing, that remind me that it takes a team.

Ever Tried “Fleeing”?

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Introduction: This morning I was reading and thinking through the story of Jonah in the Old Testament book that bears his name. The opening passage is spectacular:

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” (Jonah 1:1-6)

Context, Context, Context: Jonah, writing and living in the 700s B.C, was a largely disobedient prophet of God. He was often plagued by self-interest, myopia, recalcitrance, and unforgiveness. He wanted grace but he wanted law for others. And often he found himself afraid and resentful.

Yet God was sovereign and Jonah was not. Stubborn, though? Yes and amen. Jonah was assuredly stubborn.

Encouragement: Ever sought to flee God? Ever thought, “Not today, Lord”? Ever sought to hide “down into the inner part of [your] ship? I certainly have. Yet God is sovereign. He knows what He’s doing–with Jonah, with you, and with me. The point of Jonah is that God is sovereign. God’s message is to go out. And He uses us (we who are often recalcitrant, fearful, and self-centered) to proclaim hope, truth, and redemptive grace to even the Ninevehs in our day.