It’s Time to Grow Up

Hebrews 5:12–13

[12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, [13] for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

Here the author of Hebrews insults us. He tells us, “By now you should be teachers of truth but you are still children. You need milk and can’t handle solid food.” Children start eating solids around 6 months so he’s actually saying you’re not just children, you’re babies.

A few months ago, a couple in New York sued their own son in order to force him to leave the house. He was 30 and unemployed. They tried multiple times to tell him to leave and offered to help him find a new place but he refused. Eventually they decided to sue him to get him out of the house. They were saying, it’s time to grow up!

That is what this passage is telling us. All of us have things in our lives that we have been putting off – sins we have delayed fighting, wounds we have delayed trying to resolve. We have weaknesses but just laugh about them rather than feel urgency to ask God to transform us or work in our lives.

Now, God is not simply saying try harder as He knows we cannot change our own hearts. But do we pray, seek help, or fight at all? Some of our weaknesses remain weaknesses because we don’t fight them. We don’t make progress in the faith because we don’t really care to. And God is saying, “It’s time. You may not care about your freedom but I do. You may be fine with lukewarm faith – just enough faith to ruin your fun but not enough faith to truly enjoy my goodness – but I’m not fine with it.”

Powers of Good

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

With every power for good to stay and guide me,
comforted and inspired beyond all fear,
I’ll live these days with you in thought beside me,
and pass, with you, into the coming year.

The old year still torments our hearts, unhastening;
the long days of our sorrow still endure;
Father, grant to the souls thou hast been chastening
that thou hast promised, the healing and the cure.

Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving
even to the dregs of pain, at thy command,
we will not falter, thankfully receiving
all that is given by thy loving hand.

But should it be thy will once more to release us,
to life’s enjoyment and it’s good sunshine,
that which we’ve learned from sorrow shall increase us,
and all our life be dedicate as thine.

Today, let candles shed their radiant greeting;
lo, on our darkness are they not thy light
leading us, haply, to our longed-for meeting?

Thou canst illumine even our darkest night.
When now the silence deepens for our hearkening,
grant we may hear the children’s voices raise
from all the unseen world around us darkening
their universal paean, in thy praise.

While all the powers of good aid and attend us,
boldly we’ll face the future, come what may.
At even and at morn God will befriend us,
and oh, most surely on each newborn day!

A Quiet, Faithful Pastor

Bonhoeffer
Eric Metaxas  

By war’s end more than 80 of the 150 young men from Finkenwalde and the collective pastorates had been killed… 

Bonhoeffer wrote a circular letter to the brethren on September 20:

I have received the news, which I pass on to you today, that our dear brother Theodor Maass was killed in Poland on 3rd September. You will be as stunned by this news as I was. But I beg you, let us thank God in remembrance of him. He was a good brother, a quiet, faithful pastor of the Confessing Church, a man who lived from word and sacrament, whom God has also thought worthy to suffer for the Gospel. I am sure that he was prepared to go. Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words. They should remain open. Our only comfort is the God of the resurrection, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who also was and is his God. In him we know our brothers and in him is the biding fellowship of those who have overcome and those who still await their hour. God be praised for our dead brother and be merciful to us all at our end.

All My Life Through

The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life
Dale Davis

When 67, she [Ruth Clark] was crossing a street and was knocked to the ground by a speeding horse and cart. This accident brought on a more serious illness and she was in her last days. One of the Venn daughters [the family she worked for] was visiting her and asked if she had any doubts about her hope in Christ. Ruth simply confessed, ‘Oh no, none.  He that has loved me all my life through will not forsake me now. I have no rapturous feelings, but I have no fears or doubts.’ She was simply repeating Psalm 1:6a in other words.  He that has loved me all my life through will not forsake me now.  The God who cares about every step his righteous servant takes will surely care for her when the next step is into the judgment.

Unstoppable

Exodus 1:6–7, 11-12, 16-17, 20 (ESV)

[6] Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. [7] But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them…

[11] …they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. [12] But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel…

[16] “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” [17] But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live…

[20] So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.

My plans are easily frustrated.  If I plan something as simple as a nice outing to the park with my family, it can be ruined by an endless number of factors that are outside of my control.  Bad weather, unexpected sickness, or moodiness (my kids’ or my own haha) can prevent us from even getting to the park, let alone having a great time.  But while my plans may be easily frustrated, God’s plans are unstoppable.  

Joseph, the second in command in Egypt, dies, but the people continue to multiply and grow.  The Egyptians actively seek to weaken the Hebrews through systematic oppression and slavery, but “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied.”  The king of Egypt commands that all male babies be killed at birth, but God grants the midwives the fear of the Lord and the people continue to multiply and grow strong.  The Lord is almighty, He has a purpose for His people, and no opposition, human or otherwise, can stop Him.

In our day-to-day lives, the power of circumstances or even other people appear to be impossible to overcome.   We aim to progress in various areas of life (relationally, financially, etc.) yet so often we feel as if we are behind and things are not going according to our plans.  In response, we may invite God to bless our plans and empower us to accomplish them, but He invites us to something far better.  Jesus invites us to give up our easily opposable and stoppable plans and embrace His certain, unstoppable, glorious plans.

May our time and energy be invested in the plans of our sovereign Lord in whom we have hope that will not fail us.

Questions

Media, Journalism, and Communication
Mercer Schuchardt

What do you want to do with your life? How many hours would it take to achieve that level of expertise or excellence in your chosen field? Where can you find those hours?…Does a selective sacrifice of media intake allow you to achieve your dreams? 

What is media costing you? Write down your actual costs of cell-phone, data plan, cable, electricity, and other media-related expenses. How much money is that? To what better use could this money be spent? In a world of ubiquitous Wi-Fi hotspots, how much of your media budget could be had for free if you were willing to be slightly inconvenienced? 

Where are you right now? Are you here? Or are you there? Are you in the room you are in, with the people in it? Or are you physically present but emotionally absent? Do you have “anywhere is better than here” syndrome? When you are in Paris, do you wish you were in New York? When in Manhattan, do you look for French cafes? What role does media play in creating the constant dissatisfaction with where you are right now and what you are doing right now?

The Internet is information is knowledge is power. Yet the highest spiritual calling has always been humility. How will you use digital media technologies to enhance not your knowledge, pride, and power, but your servant’s heart, your humble wisdom, your deference to others as better than yourself? 

The sin of despair (literally, to lose hope) is on the rise. Suicide surpassed homicide, car crashes, and war as the leading cause of death among American youth in the past ten years. The future belongs to those who can create a future by making a family and producing offspring. In what ways has digital media enhanced or destroyed your vision for your own personal future? What media habits might be worth changing to increase your hope and decrease your despair?

Essentially 5,778 years of human history have gone by without needing modern technology. Why do you need it now? Can you imagine living a day, a week, a month, or a year without new technology? Can you imagine living your whole life without it? What will be gained or lost by making such a decision?

Sent to Reveal the Father’s Heart

John 20:21

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

In Luke 4:18 Jesus declares, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” to help you speak in tongues? To empower you to raise a nice family? To give you the power to live a life so secure and worldly that you won’t even need God? No, Jesus has been anointed “to proclaim good news to the poor.  [The Father] has sent [Him] to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, [19] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”!

Jesus left His perfect home in heaven to dwell in the mud and misery of this fallen world. He wept, suffered, died in order to tell people who were as good as dead that there is good news for them! I know a young man know who has been in jail since he was 15. At the age of 18 or 19, he was sentenced to life without parole. His little brother is doing what he can to throw his life away. And it is my privilege to tell them that their lives still matter. That God is still calling them to come home and His offer of grace and forgiveness still stands. That one day they can live with Him forever!

My city and yours is full of sinners. Our homes are filled with 100% sinners. This does not mean we’re all bad people. Some of us are very nice sinners. Sin is living like Jesus does not care about us, living like the Father does not love us at all. The Father wants sinners who reject God and do not love them to know He gave His only Son in order that we would not perish but instead have eternal life and dwell in His house as His beloved children forever! Many people in our world, many people in your city, have no one to tell them, no one to show them love of the Father. And so Jesus declares, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

The Future is Your Friend

Jesus in the Present Tense
Warren Wiersbe

When Jesus is your Shepherd and you follow Him, the future is your friend, and you don’t have to be afraid.

As It Turns Out (Judah Part 1)

Judah is part of the most famous family in the Bible. His great-grandfather is Abraham, his grandfather is Isaac, and his father is named Jacob. Judah is one of the 12 sons of Jacob. Jacob has had children by four different women. Judah’s mother Leah is one of them. Jacob had never wanted to be with Leah. The only reason he married her is because he was tricked into it. In Genesis 29:31 we read how “Leah was hated.” Jacob only loves his second wife, Leah’s younger, beautiful sister, Rachel. And Judah and everyone else know it.

When I was kid, I was short and unathletic. In team sports I was often picked last. That’s kind of sad, I guess. But it’s not the same thing as being picked last by your own husband. It’s not the same as being picked last by your own father.

Jacob does not love Leah and he does not love Judah. In Genesis 37:3 we hear how Jacob “loved Joseph more than any other of his sons.” Judah knows that his mom has been rejected. He knows that he is rejected. And Judah responds with a deep, abiding hatred and an awful selfishness. Later in Genesis 37, Judah and his brothers act on their hatred. They decide to kill Joseph but the eldest brother, Reuben, convinces them to throw him into a pit instead. Judah has a bright idea in v. 26 and the brothers decide to sell Joseph as a slave. Then their hated brother will not only die as a slave, but they can get some money out of it. Judah is responsible for Joseph being sold into slavery and then suffering for years in a prison in Egypt.

When Judah and his brothers return home, they lie to their father and make it seem like Joseph was killed by a wild beast. They break their father’s heart. Jacob mourns for Joseph and he refuses to be comforted by his other sons. This reinforces the fact that he loved Joseph and not Judah or any of his other children.

After this, in Genesis 38:1, Judah leaves. He is done with this family. He becomes friends with an Adullamite and marries a Canaanite woman. Abraham and Isaac’s greatest fear was that their children would marry among the people of the land of Canaan and abandon the Lord and His promise to bless the line of Abraham. In choosing Shua the Canaanite for himself, Judah is not just done with his family but with the God of his family.

Judah is done with this God who allowed his father to hate his mother and who gave him a father who does not love him. But as it turns out God is not done with Judah.

Come Quickly

A Praying Life
Paul Miller

Look how God used the [Babylonian] captivity, this seemingly unfinished story, to prepare for the coming of his Son and the birth of the church: [during the 500 years of silence between the OT and NT]

• God used the destruction of the temple and the removal of the Israelites to Babylon to create the synagogue structure, a precursor to the local church. If temple worship had continued uninterrupted, the early church would not have had a model for local congregations. They learned to worship God without a temple.
• The Old Testament canon was organized during this time. Severed from their land in a virtual spiritual desert, the Israelites clung to their scrolls. That gave the early church the category of Old Testament, which in turn created the New Testament. God purified Israel of mixing with other religions.
• The dispersion of the Jewish people provided a base from which Paul and others could easily spread the gospel.
• Israel was forever purified of outward idolatry. Never again would the Jewish people worship idols. Monotheism became permanently central to Israel. This is the foundation of Christian thought and Western civilization. Because the Jews became devout monotheists, they got upset when Jesus claimed to be God. When Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God, the high priest tore his robe and delivered Jesus up to be crucified.  

God was weaving a spectacular tapestry through the suffering of Israel. Without the Babylonian captivity there would be no Israel, no cross, no Christianity, and no Western civilization. Haggai was right. The glory of the new temple was greater than Solomon’s.

But the Jewish poet who wept by the rivers of Babylon never saw the end of the story.  Like all the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, he lived with the story unfinished in his lifetime.  He lived by faith…

The first time I took Kim with me on a speaking retreat, a little girl came up to her as we were finishing dinner and asked, “Why don’t you speak?” Kim leaned over her speech computer, which was propped on the table, and typed, “I will have a beautiful voice in heaven.” We walked away with tears in our eyes.

Some stories aren’t tied up until heaven. Because of Kim, Jill longs for heaven. This desire permeates her conversation. Jill doesn’t say, “It’s a beautiful day outside.” She says, “This would be a good day for Jesus to come back. Everyone can see him.” Jill wants to go home.

Living in unfinished stories draws us into God’s final act, the return of Jesus. While we wait for his return, it is easy to predict the pattern of the last days. The book of Revelation pictures a suffering church, dying as creation itself is unraveling. Through suffering God will finally make his church beautiful and reveal his glory. In the desert you see his glory. In the last days the bride will be made beautiful, pure, waiting for her lover. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.