Category: Theology for Life

The Power of the Word

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life, Why I BelieveLeave a comment

Micah Wilder is a former Mormon missionary who was powerfully transformed by Christ during his two-year mission trip in Florida. While a Mormon missionary, he was passionate to see everyone he met come to what he deemed “the one true church of Jesus Christ.” His great ambition was to convert a Baptist minister. Ironically, God used the love and patience of a Baptist minister to turn Micah’s world upside down.[1]

As Micah explains, “Much like Saul of Tarsus, I had a zeal for God, but that zeal was misplaced. I was ignorant of the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and I was seeking to establish my own righteousness by my works.”[2]

Micah thought of himself as a righteous young man, a deeply devout Elder in the LDS church. And yet, it was shortly after an encounter with a Baptist pastor named Alan Benson that his life began to radically shift. Pastor Alan lovingly challenged Micah to “read the New Testament like a child” and see that salvation is entirely the work of Christ. Determined to prove the minister wrong, Micah accepted the challenge and began reading the New Testament every day.

As Micah will tell you, it is the power of the Word of God itself that transformed his thinking, something every Christian ought to expect. Scripture claims to be God-breathed text and thus able to supernaturally work in hearts and lives.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13, ESV)

The Word of God has the power to cut right through to the heart, exposing our innermost thoughts and intentions. Micah has said, “In Christianity, it can be all too easy for us at times to focus so much on history, apologetics, and the intellectual side of the gospel that we forget the greatest tool we have: the Word of God.”[3]

Christians should never be ashamed of Scripture or think it is ineffective when sharing our faith. Many Christian apologists will encourage their fellow believers to set aside the Bible when interacting with unbelievers because they don’t accept it as divinely authoritative.[4] But the question is: Do you see the Bible as divinely authoritative? Do you believe it has the power to transform hearts that are hardened to the gospel?

A Rock-Breaking Hammer

Consider how Scripture speaks of itself:

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7, ESV)
“Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29, NIV)

While we cannot force people to believe through clever persuasion, the Word of God has the power to break through the hardest of hearts and humble the greatest sinners so that they see their need for Christ.

This doesn’t mean that sharing your faith should be reduced to quoting Bible verses. However, it’s important that you make clear from the beginning that your authority is the Word of God. It’s crucial that Christians challenge their unbelieving friends to get into the Word itself.

Martin Luther, the courageous Protestant Reformer, said this about Scripture:

“I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26-29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.”[5]

This is classic Luther, making profound theological statements colored with wit and earthy humor. But Luther’s point is simple: he was not responsible for the Reformation. It was the Word of God itself that exposed the corruption in the papacy and transformed people with the truth. That is the power of the Bible; it is sufficient to regenerate souls and renovate hearts.

God’s Word never comes back void, and it always accomplishes what God intends (Isaiah 55:10-11). Not only is it like a hammer, but it is also like a well-watered seed that germinates and grows. “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

God’s Law as a Mirror

In his classic passage on evangelism, Paul begins by saying how he prays for his fellow Jews, “that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1). Like the former Paul, his fellow Jews are passionately religious, but are “ignorant of the righteousness of God” and so they are trying to earn a right standing with God through their own righteousness (Romans 10:3). Such efforts are always fruitless, because while we may think of ourselves as “pretty good,” Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18).

When we are confronted with the Law of God, we see our paltry righteousness next to the perfect and righteous standard of God. The Spirit of God uses His Law like a mirror to show us who we truly are—desperate sinners under the just wrath of a holy God (John 3:36; Romans 1:18). That’s exactly what Jesus did for the young man who asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Jesus took this young man through the Ten Commandments:

“You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” (Mark 10:19, ESV)

The Law of God shows us our brokenness. Take the ninth commandment, for example. Have you ever lied? We all have, and yet we all know it is wrong. That’s why we like to call our lies “white lies” and try to justify why we lied when we are caught telling one. It’s for this same reason, that people are easily offended for being accused of sin—a word that speaks to how we have each violated God’s Law. We are rebels, but we are rebels in denial.

But after people have heard and understood the Law’s diagnosis, the remedy in Christ must be presented.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17, ESV)

“Thy Word Is Truth”

The Bible says we are truth suppressors, because we know we aren’t everything we should be or even everything we would like to be.[6] These are all indications that something has gone terribly wrong with us. That is what the Word of God does. It shows us the error of our ways. Like a surgical scalpel, it wounds so that it can heal. And that healing can only come through the cross of Christ, where Jesus bore our sin in His body and endured the wrath of God in our place (Isaiah 53:4-6, 10; Romans 5:8-11).

Jesus prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth” (John 17:17, KJV). He said that what will mark His followers is that they have been set apart by the Word of God.

I have spoken with atheists who refuse to even touch a Bible, but isn’t their strong allergy to Scripture just one more indicator of its inherent power? Is there any other book they so vehemently hold at arm’s length? Some are so hostile, they are not ready for such a challenge. But for those who are open, you can always challenge them to read the Bible “as a child” to see if it doesn’t prove itself to be the very Word of the living God.

Although the Old Testament is equally God’s Word, I usually encourage people to start with one of the Gospels in the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. If someone just wants a full explanation of the Christian message, I sometimes direct them to the Book of Romans. But wherever you point them, have confidence that the Word of God has the power to break through the thickest barriers of the heart.

God’s Word is powerful because it alone is His perfect self-revelation. It is the Rock on which Christ’s followers can stand.

“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!”[7]

This proved true for Micah Wilder. In the Bible, Micah found that our only hope of being justified (declared in the right) before God is through faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished through the cross and resurrection. When people ask what’s different about him now, since the LDS church claims to follow Christ too, Micah explains it this way:

“When I was a Mormon, I would have claimed that I believed in, trusted, and followed Jesus Christ. In reality, He was only a portion of what I believed I needed in order to be reconciled to God. As a Mormon, Jesus was just one of many pillars of my testimony. Now He is the Rock and the foundation of my faith. He’s not just part of my testimony, He is my testimony! I know that my good standing with God is independent of any religious system, denomination, man, work, ordinance, or anything of my own merit. It is, however, completely dependent on Jesus Christ. There is salvation outside of Mormonism, but there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ.”[8]

To see the full testimony of Micah Wilder and other members of the band Adam’s Road, check out Unveiling Grace: The Film, found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl0c5nl6u48.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] See Micah’s full story in his excellent book Passport to Heaven (Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, OR, 2021).

[2] Micah Wilder, quoted in Eric Johnson and Sean McDowell, Sharing the Good News with Mormons, 111.

[3] Ibid, 112.

[4] I had a seminary professor who said if you use the Bible in evangelism, you’ll only turn people away. Micah’s story is but one example—there are countless!—of why that is simply untrue.

[5] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, 51:77.

[6] Romans 1:18.

[7] “How Firm a Foundation” is a Christian hymn written by John Rippon and published in 1787.

[8] Johnson and McDowell, Sharing the Good News with Mormons, 114.

No Ultimate Accidents

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments

Here’s a fun thought experiment. Think through all the things in your life that had to occur just so in order for you to be where you are today, including where you live and who is nearest and dearest to you. Films and novels have captured this fact that every event in our lives is but one link in a long chain (or network) of causes and effects that stretches back to the beginning of the world.

In my own life, I can think through the long series of notable events that had to take place in the precise order and time that they did for me to end up at the church college group where I met my wife, Whitney. If any one of these events had occurred even slightly differently, there is little reason to think I would have met her when I did.

If you are a Christian, the same thought experiment can be done for considering how you came to faith in Christ. Whether you consider the home in which you grew up, the time in history in which you were born, or the church where you ended up, there is a convergence of events that had to take place for you to even hear the gospel. We like to use the word “fortunate” when we think about all this, but we need to understand that according to the Bible, all these necessary events took place according to God’s design, not mere happenstance.

God Determines the When and the Where

When Paul preached to the Athenian philosophers, he said that there is one sovereign Lord and Creator who is responsible for all we have—including the very breath in our lungs. Paul then says God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him” (Acts 17:26-27a).

What a profound statement! God determined the when and where of every nation. But what is true of nations is also true of individuals. After all, He is a personal God who deals not merely with nations in general, but with individuals in particular.

Consider how personally God deals with King David’s life:

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb... Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13, 16, ESV)

Nothing about our lives—not even the when or the where—is accidental. God can tell Jeremiah the prophet that even before He formed him in his mother’s womb, the Lord had already set him apart for his life’s task (Jeremiah 1:5). Is this only true of Jeremiah? Or does God form each of us in the womb having already planned what our life would look like? Job speaks of everyone born of woman when he says, “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed” (Job 14:5, NLT).

None of this teaching on God’s providential planning of every human life nullifies the truth that we make real choices as image bearers of God. We are not just mechanistic cogs in a grand machine, but precious individuals with loves and fears, who are responsible for our actions.

J. I. Packer uses the word “antinomy” to describe this apparent incongruity between God’s absolute sovereignty and the genuine choices of His creatures.[1] While we tend to pit God’s sovereignty against human responsibility, the Bible never does. Both truths are taught in Scripture, so the Christian must accept both. Whatever cannot be reconciled in our finite minds can and is reconciled in the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-36).

If God is absolutely sovereign, there can be no accidents. Nothing about your life can be chalked up to mere happenstance or dumb luck.

“Forbidden by the Holy Spirit to Speak”

In the book of Acts, we read the story of Paul’s first journey to the city of Philippi. It’s fascinating to see all the events God used to providentially bring His Apostle to these people.

It all starts with Paul, Silas, and Timothy setting out to reach the people of Asia (the northwestern region of modern Turkey) with the gospel. They know God has called them to proclaim this message of grace, but they aren’t exactly sure where yet. Consider how the Holy Spirit sovereignly directs their steps:

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:6-10, NIV)

It can seem kind of strange at first when we read that they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia” (v. 6). We might think, Why wouldn’t God want Paul to preach the gospel there? And then we find out that they wanted to go to Bithynia, but again “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” (v. 7). We wonder, What’s the deal? Doesn’t God want those people to hear the gospel and be saved, too? Elsewhere, we read that God does not wish “that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV).

But we can forget at this point that God in His perfect grace is also sovereign. He is King over all, and He never acts arbitrarily or on a whim. And while we don’t understand all the reasons, what we need to see is that God had a sovereign appointment for Paul. It wasn’t in Asia, and it wasn’t in Bithynia. But it was in Macedonia, and Philippi was smack dab in the middle of Macedonia. This reminds us that ultimately the salvation of the lost is not up to us; it is up to God. He is the One who does the sovereign work of salvation, and He’s working out His perfect plan according to His timetable.

We aren’t called to debate with God about what is best. He alone is God. Scripture tells us that He is the Potter; we are the clay.[2] We don’t get to tell God what to do. He is the One in charge of this whole show, and the more we get on board with His plan, the better things will go for us in the long run.

It’s intriguing to me that God gets Paul’s attention here by appealing to his compassion. In Paul’s dream, he sees a man from Macedonia pleading with Paul, “Please, Paul. Come here and help us!” We know this is primarily about meeting their need for salvation, because verse 10 says that Paul immediately concludes God called them “to preach the gospel” to those Macedonians. So this man in the vision is saying, “Paul, we’re lost and without hope! We are doomed if you don’t come tell us about the risen Lord.”

All by Grace

When they come to Philippi, things initially go very well. Paul and his buddies find a group of women just outside the city meeting together by the river. And Paul begins to open the Word of God to these women, telling them the good news that forgiveness of sins is freely offered to them through the Lord Jesus. Wherever Paul goes in the book of Acts, he calls people to repent of their sin and trust in Jesus as their sin-bearing Lord and Savior. He nearly always gets a mixed response from people when he preaches the gospel.

But for whatever reason, the author Luke zeroes in on one particular individual, a woman named Lydia and her response. “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (Acts 16:14). Isn’t that beautiful? “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what” Paul said.

As Christians, we can wonder, Why does God have me where I’m at right now? Why this job? Or maybe, Why can’t I find a job? Why this neighborhood? Why this health issue? Why this hardship? But what if God has you exactly where He wants you right now? It may not be where you’ll be forever or for very long, but what if God has a purpose in putting you in the situations you face every day? What if God wants to use you where you are right now in a way that He couldn’t use you otherwise?

If we see nothing else from Lydia’s conversion, we need to see this: God is sovereignly orchestrating His plan in every person’s life. No one comes to Christ by accident. God is working out His plan. When you take a step back, it’s amazing to see how this all worked out. Remember, Paul wanted to go to Asia. God said no. Paul wanted to go to Bithynia. God said no. Finally, God gives Paul a vision to bring his band of merry men to Macedonia, and finally to Philippi.

And when they get to Philippi, it just so happens that they find a group of women meeting by the river outside the city. What a coincidence, right? What good luck! And it just so happens that God was preparing the heart of a woman in that group named Lydia who was about to receive the gospel. Amazing, isn’t it? All along, God was setting Paul up. He says, “I’m going to use you to bring My gospel to Lydia, Paul. And Lydia’s going to believe. Lydia’s Mine.”

There are no ultimate accidents. There are no coincidences in God’s mind. He is working out His perfect plan for the good of His people and the glory of His name. We serve a sovereign God, a God far more powerful and good and merciful than we could possibly imagine.

If you are a Christian today, it is because God worked out all the details for you to encounter the gospel of the crucified and risen Lord. He brought the light of truth into your heart, where before there was only spiritual blindness (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). If someone led you to Christ, it wasn’t sheer luck that you happened to know that person. God is in the business of rescuing people from their sin according to His perfect and sovereign plan. In evangelism, we have an essential part to play, but we didn’t write the script.

And when we share the gospel, we are simply jumping on board with His plan that is already in motion. We’re not the master engineers here. He’s the One who wrote the blueprint for His plan of redemption. So what does that mean? That means all the glory goes to Him for saving us. We don’t even get a smidgen of the credit. Because it’s all by His grace.

J. I. Packer points out that this is actually good news. When we share the gospel with others, we are participating in a mission that cannot fail. And the fact that we pray for the lost to be converted is proof that we really do believe He is sovereign in salvation. Packer writes:

“When you pray for unconverted people, you do so on the assumption that it is in God’s power to bring them to faith. You entreat Him to do that very thing, and your confidence in asking rests on the certainty that He is able to do what you ask. And so indeed He is: this conviction, which animates your intercessions, is God’s own truth, written on your heart by the Holy Spirit.”[3]

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5, NLT). You have been saved by grace! Not human effort.

Have you repented and trusted in the Lord Jesus for salvation? If not, I urge you to do that today. If you have, have you thanked God for your conversion?

Soli Deo Gloria.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, 23-24. As Packer explains, an antinomy is something in theology that has “an appearance of contradiction,” but “is not a real contradiction.”

[2] See Jeremiah 18:5-6; Romans 9:19-21.

[3] Packer, 19.

Why Thanksgiving Matters

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life, Why I Believe1 Comment

One might expect that when a nation is deeply divided, few blessings can emerge. Strongly held conflicting views spill over on social media and in the news media. It seems that some Americans have contempt for one another. Many more feel overwhelmed by rising costs, unsure how they will pay all the bills as the year draws to an end. Those with health problems feel that burden most acutely. Still others feel burdened by all the ways they’ve been mistreated, overlooked, and undermined in the recent past. But this week our nation celebrates a holiday called “Thanksgiving.”

The First Thanksgiving

When we think of the historical roots of Thanksgiving, we most often think back to our forebears who came across the Atlantic to create a life in the “New World” in 1620. Many who stepped off the Mayflower were seeking a new start. Some, known as Separatists, wanted to freely worship God according to their understanding of Scripture. Others, with an adventurous spirit, had high hopes of making a fortune in this land of opportunity. The Pilgrims suffered from hunger, scurvy, and other diseases. Only 50 of the original 102 Pilgrims survived the first winter. It was a trying time, and things could have ended very badly.

In November 1621, Governor William Bradford organized a feast for these early settlers, and they invited the local Wampanoag tribe, along with their chief Massasoit. The Pilgrims had overcome the odds with a bountiful harvest of crops, largely thanks to Squanto, a Native American who taught them how to catch fish and plant corn. In 1609, the young Squanto had been captured by Europeans and sold into slavery – much like the Joseph of the Bible. Although Squanto’s enslavement was a clear violation of Scripture (Exodus 21:16; 1 Timothy 1:10), he ended up in the care of a kind Spanish monk in Europe, who taught him the Christian faith. Later, Squanto was allowed to return to North America, only to find his tribe had been wiped out by an epidemic. Squanto later saw his role was to help these struggling Europeans establish themselves in his homeland. Because of his invaluable assistance, Governor Bradford called Squanto “a special instrument of God for their good.”[1]

Bradford understood that ultimately “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17), so he wanted to celebrate God’s provision with a meal. A meal was a beautiful idea, because food has a way of bringing people together, even if such people are quite different. Historian Robert McKenzie observes that these Separatists would never have dreamed they were starting a holiday, or “holy day.” But on the other hand, since nothing is ultimately secular in the Christian worldview, Bradford did see the importance of honoring God on this festal occasion.[2] This iconic meal, with the Pilgrims and Native Americans gathering together to feast in peace, is what we usually imagine at the first Thanksgiving.

Obviously, the sentimentality tends to wear off when we recall that the European and Native American relationship was rarely so sweet and inspiring as this time. However rare it may be, historians have noted how the settlers’ harmonious relationship with the Wampanoag lasted a precious 50 years. Another important reminder is that the Pilgrims continued struggling to survive for the next two years after 1621. Indeed, during that time “it was typical for the colonists to go to bed at night not knowing where the next day’s nourishment would come from.”[3] But something about that first feast gives us a picture of what can happen in the sweet providence of God, even among those who hold conflicting worldviews.[4]

Something else often glossed over is that while the Pilgrims credited divine providence for that first Thanksgiving harvest, they said the famines of the next two years also came from God’s hand. “This was not the caprice of nature, but the handiwork of the Creator who worked ‘all things according to the counsel of His will’ (Ephesians 1:11).”[5] They recognized that sometimes God sends trials to stretch our faith and grow us. As Job asked, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10). It might seem strange to us that these Pilgrims saw that first harvest as a time to honor God with thanks, given that they had buried around half of their family and friends in the last year. But they rested on God’s promise, that God “causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Interestingly, Thanksgiving was not recognized as a national holiday until Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863, when he declared:

“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”[6]

Once again, this was a time of great trial and conflict for the nation. America was so deeply divided that it was smack dab in the middle of the Civil War, “a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity” in Lincoln’s words. Lincoln saw this as a time to also humbly repent of “national perverseness and disobedience” and to implore God “to heal the wounds of the nation.” [7]

In that address, Lincoln reminded Americans that even in the midst of great difficulty, we must remember the blessings of God.

“To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come… which are so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of God.”[8]

Lincoln’s point is that we must never take anything for granted. If nothing else, we can thank God for our most recent meal, for clean water, and for fresh air. All of these come from His generous and loving hand.

Gratitude for Divine Providence

Some people look around this world full of suffering and say there is no evidence for a good God. In some ways, I see their point. This world is riddled with wars, crime, disease, and death. But way back in the first century, when Paul proclaimed the gospel to a pagan crowd, he brought a different perspective.

“In past generations He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:16-17)

Weather and crop success is not subject to the meaningless whims of Mother Nature, but rather is under the providential direction of Father God. As the Pilgrims recognized, God “sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mathew 5:45, ESV). When we’re not in survival mode, as those Pilgrims were, we can tend to forget how good and gracious God is to provide us with food and drink each day. Paul said the fact that we have these basic provisions in life is silent testimony that God is good.

Later, when writing to the Thessalonian church, Paul urged his fellow believers to seek to live in peace even when they are often afflicted by persecutors.

“See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15-19, ESV)

Paul understood that for a community of Christ-followers to thrive, there must be an overwhelming sense of God’s goodness. No matter what your circumstances might be right now, Scripture says that there is cause for giving thanks. Why? Because this world is not run by the purposeless forces of blind nature, but by the providential hand of a good and wise God. Nothing happens apart from Him who does all things according to His good pleasure (Psalm 115:3; 135:6).

So because of that, Christians always have reason to delight in God’s goodness and should rejoice in His saving grace. After all, God did not have to send His Son into the world to save us from our sins, but in astounding mercy, He did. The fact that Jesus didn’t abandon us as the lost sheep that we were is reason enough for great thanksgiving and praise.

The Lord wants His people to have a calm confidence in His good sovereignty. This a supernatural peace that comes by the Spirit who indwells us. When Christians fail to “give thanks in all circumstances,” they are quenching the work of the Spirit, who wants to give us joy, love, and peace – even in the midst of heartbreak and affliction.

Both the Pilgrims of 1621 and the Americans of 1863 found reason to honor God with thanksgiving, even while facing the harsh realities of life in a broken world. Contemporary Christians need to recapture this strong confidence in the providence of God. What would it look like if Christians were known more for their gratitude and praise of God in all circumstances than for their finger-wagging and complaining?

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6, ESV)

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Robert Tracy McKenzie, The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us about Loving God and Learning from History, Kindle edition.

[2] Ibid. McKenzie writes, “[H]istorians generally agree that what we now remember as the First Thanksgiving was not a Thanksgiving holiday at all in the Pilgrims’ estimation, but rather a kind of autumn harvest festival. That contemporary Americans are disposed to see this as a distinction without a difference says a lot about our values, not the Pilgrims’.”

[3] Ibid.

[4] While the Pilgrims worshiped the God of the Bible, the Wampanoag were an animistic tribe, attributing parts of nature with having a soul.

[5] McKenzie, The First Thanksgiving.

[6] Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address and Other Works, 383.

[7] Ibid, 382-3.

[8] Ibid, 382.

True Manliness

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments

Have you heard of Moto-X freestyle motocross? It’s the sport where guys jump motorcycles over buildings and hang from the handlebars with their feet as they somersault their bikes 50 feet in the air. It’s incredible to watch some of the videos of these daredevils. Brian Deegan is the most decorated champion of Freestyle Motocross in X-Games history. But the most important thing about Deegan is that he is a follower of Christ.

In 1997, Deegan formed the Metal Mulisha, a freestyle Motocross team, which over the next 8 years became known for their wild success in jumping competitions, and also for their violent and rebellious spirits. Their focus seemed to be on motorcycles, alcohol, drugs, sex, and fighting. Then three things happened that forever changed Deegan’s life.

First, his girlfriend became pregnant and wanted to keep the baby. Second was a botched high-speed midair backflip in the 2006 X-Games that nearly killed Deegan and led to months of physical rehab. And third, Deegan finally agreed to go to church with his girlfriend. To his surprise, he didn’t hate it. In fact, before long, he came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. After this, he married his girlfriend and began to make some major changes in his life, like quitting drinking and drugs.

Beyond this, he even started a Bible study with the Metal Mulisha bikers. Before long, many in this rough and wild group were coming to faith in Christ. One of his buddies put it like this: “[Deegan] kept telling us how much the Bible changed his life… I felt like I had to listen.”[1]

The cool thing is that out of all this, Deegan has come to see the need to be the man that God has called him to be. In his words, “I had kids and I have to be a role model to represent to my kids… I had to grow up, had to be a man, had to be a father, and so I did it, dude.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a powerful thing, the very “power of God for salvation” according to the Bible (Romans 1:16). It can transform a foul-mouthed, alcohol-abusing drug user into a man who wants to be all that God has created him to be.

That brings up an important question for today. What is it that God calls men to be?

God’s Blueprint for Masculinity

I have a real passion for men’s ministry and encouraging men in their walk with Christ. My prayer is that the men of my generation would step up to be the men God has created them to be. I firmly believe that much of the chaos and corruption we see in our society today in the 21st century can be traced back to men failing to act like men.

There are many half-baked ideas out there about what true manliness looks like. Some guys think manliness is defined by how many pounds you can bench press or how many guns you own or how many mountains you’ve climbed or how many women you’ve slept with. When we think of manliness, Hollywood faces like John Wayne, Bruce Willis, and Harrison Ford come to mind.

In one John Wayne movie, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, the Duke portrays the rough n’ tough Captain Brittles. One line he repeats is, “Never apologize! It’s a sign of weakness.” Based on images like that, we could think that manliness is about never saying sorry.

But we as men need to come back to our Creator’s intent and design for manhood. Here’s something I know. As a man, you have a craving for significance. God put that desire in you. You know that as a man you have certain responsibilities that no one else can do for you. For many of us, that means being the husband that our wives need us to be.

Men are called to break free of those lousy stereotypes that our culture paints of men as irresponsible dopes who are incapable and incompetent.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

What are some things you notice about God’s creation of man here?

Men today need an identity, and that identity comes from God alone. We were made in God’s image, made to relate to Him, to know Him, and to lovingly lead and provide for others. From the very beginning, men have had a purpose: to bear the image of God, relate to God, and to rule over His creation. What so many men miss today is that apart from a relationship with God as Father, we will never know our true purpose.

Working and Keeping

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15)

What do you notice about man here? He has a calling to “work” and “keep”—or “protect” the garden. In other words, we as men are to work hard and cultivate the good. And remember, this is before the woman has even been created yet. So this is a charge specifically for the man. I’m not saying that women can’t garden. That’s not the point. This is about the responsibility God has given to men first and foremost.

Let’s examine those words. When you hear the word “work,” think of a gardener building up trellises, cultivating the soil, and planting seeds. That’s the picture here. The man is called to build up and develop the places God calls him to. That’s why you take so much satisfaction in seeing a project through to completion. That’s how God wired you. He designed men to be planters, builders, and growers. Whether it be at work, in the home, or in our relationships, God calls us as men to take the initiative to build up the places and people in our lives.

For starters, this means that we are not to be lazy. Wherever we are at in life, God calls us to excel. Christian men, of all people, should be the best employees. We shouldn’t be content with partial jobs. We should give our best effort day after day, and we should own it when we’ve messed up.

But this idea of working the garden extends to our relationships. In a marriage, it is the man’s responsibility to cultivate his relationship with his wife. In Ephesians 5, we see that the husband is called “the head of the wife” (Eph. 5:23), which simply means men are called to step up and be humble leaders in the home. The sad truth is that many men have been passive about their role in the home. But men are called to step up, take the hits when they come, and lead their wives and families.

I want to be the best husband to my wife and best dad to my boys I can possibly be. God is honored when we aim high and give our all, especially in these key relationships. Too many men have low expectations for themselves, and this should not be.

Humble Headship

Here’s what being the head of the home does not mean. It does not mean men get to be the ones who sit in the easy chair and bark orders like an insecure dictator. Instead, it looks more like the captain sacrificially leading the charge into battle. God calls husbands to love their wives even “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).  Leading doesn’t mean men have to have all the ideas. It can often sound like this, “Okay, here’s what I had in mind. What do you think?”  Being the head of the home means that you are called to initiate times of prayer, crucial discussions, and encouragement for your family.

If you’re married, this means taking care to spend quality time with your wife, looking for opportunities to pursue her romantically even in your marriage. This doesn’t mean being open to the idea of spending time with your wife; it means making time for your wife! She needs to know that she is a top priority in your life. God calls men to purity and faithfulness.

“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (Hebrews 13:4)

Let me say something you already know: women are a mystery. They are a wonderful, confusing mystery to us! Just when you think you have your wife figured out, she will do something totally unexpected. That’s part of the joy of marriage.

We are constantly trying to understand them, and they will continue to baffle us for the rest of our lives. But men, this is a relationship we cannot afford to neglect. We have to work at our marriage. This will involve love and sacrifice on your part. How willing are you to make sacrifices for your wife and family and others you love?

It also involves encouraging her with your words. If you are married, you have more ability to build up your wife than anyone. Your encouragements and compliments carry a lot of weight. I heard a story about a couple sitting at a wedding reception. As the music swelled, a woman’s hopelessly romantic husband put his arm around her, leaned in, and softly said, “You are more beautiful than half the women here.” Yeah, maybe don’t use that line. You might end up on the couch after that one. Use the right words to build up your wife.

We are called to cultivate other relationships, too. Men, in particular, play an essential role as fathers and father figures. I say “father figures” because sometimes children don’t have a biological father in the picture. So, there are times, when other men who love Jesus are called to the role of nurturing and encouraging like a father would for that child. But children need fathers. Studies continue to bear this out—when children grow up deprived of a father, it leaves a massive hole inside. Even if they don’t realize it, they continue to ache for the love that only a father can give.

And remember, we aren’t just called to “work” but to “keep” the gardens of our lives. That means we are called to be the protectors. We are to care for our loved ones and watch out when physical or spiritual danger is near.

Genesis 3 records the story of the fall when the serpent approached Eve. But you know something tragic? What we often miss is that Genesis 3:6 says that after Eve ate the fruit “she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” Did you catch that? Adam was right there “with her” when the tempter came.

Adam was failing in his God-given duty to step up and protect Eve. He was failing to be the head of the home and lead. He just passively watched everything unfold even though it was Adam that God had directly told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was told that “in the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Look, I’m not excusing Eve, because she knew what God said, too. But how tragic that Adam failed to be the man God designed him to be in that moment.

What are some other ways we “keep” or “protect”? We aren’t to let weeds grow in the gardens of our lives. We are to pull out the weeds of sin, lust, and anger. If you don’t actively work to protect your garden, weeds of all kinds will spring up.

So, to summarize: A man’s purpose is to live in relationship with God, to rule over creation under the rule of God, and that ruling involves working and keeping every area and relationship that God assigns us.

But here’s where we need to see something. Because we all know, none of us has been perfect in the areas of work, relationships, marriage, and parenting.

Restored Manliness

Before concluding, we need to consider Jesus Christ, because He is the Ultimate Man. Maybe you’ve never thought of Jesus as manly. You might have seen one of those old paintings where Jesus has a soft glow around his head, His eyes are sort of glazed over, and He almost looks like a little kid with a beard. But that’s not the Jesus of history. That’s not the real Jesus who is alive today. Jesus was and is the manliest Man you’ll ever meet. So because of that, we need to look to Jesus for our definition of manhood.

Jesus didn’t fail in the work God assigned Him. Not only did He show love to others and care for the sick and the needy, He did the ultimate work of going to the cross for us. Jesus loved us so much, He went through with the ultimate sacrifice of dying so that you could be forgiven. When you consider all the ways you’ve failed to live as the man God created you to be, you need to see that God never gave up on you.

As He hung on the cross, Christ willingly took all our failures and sins on Himself. He died to pay the debt we owed to God. And you know what Christ said in His final breath from the cross? “It is finished” (John 19:30). In other words, the work of salvation was finished. And because Jesus completed that work, we can be forgiven of our failures and made new creations in God’s sight. This is why it all begins with surrendering your life to Jesus.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

When men don’t get their identity from God, they will look in all the wrong places. They will find their identity in sports, career, or sexual encounters. But when we get our identity from Christ, we let Him define true manliness for us.

The world might say that manliness is about how many fights you’ve won, how reckless you are, and how much you can drink. That’s what Brian Deegan once thought. But now he understands that true manliness is about living a life yielded to Christ, taking your identity from Him.

True manliness isn’t about never apologizing to anyone. It’s about loving others, taking an interest in others, and making sacrifices for others. When we do that, we are pointing others to Jesus Christ. This is God’s calling for men.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] This story is given in Richard Phillips, The Masculine Mandate.

God, Government, and the King of Kings

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life2 Comments

Politics can be a tough subject to broach. Many of us know what it’s like to sit down for a nice family Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner when out of the blue, good ol’ Uncle Albert decides to bring up politics. And what happens? Suddenly, it’s no longer a quaint family meal with pleasant small talk. Instead, a current of emotions sweeps through the room. Blood pressures rise. Voices get a little louder. Tensions grow. Grandma makes sure the carving knife is safely out of reach.

And why is that? What is it about politics that makes the blood boil?

Well, in part, it’s because politics – especially lately – has become an identity marker. It’s a discussion about who you are as a person: what you believe, what you cherish, and, of course, what you utterly, absolutely oppose.

Clearly, we’re living in a very politically divisive time, but Christians must have a distinct approach to the subject, shining the light of grace and truth.

So, in the midst of the election fever that is sweeping America right now, I believe it’s important to see four biblical truths for the Christian to consider during this election season.

1. God, Not Government, Is Our Ultimate Authority.

This is evident in God’s display of power over the Pharaoh of Egypt. Pharaoh thought of his authority as ultimate, and God disabused him of this fallacy. When Pharaoh refused to obey Yahweh’s command to release His people from their enslavement, God brought the hammer of judgment. He did this by striking Egypt with ten devastating plagues, which demonstrated Yahweh’s supremacy over Pharaoh and all the Egyptian gods.

At the same time, He tells Pharaoh that God is the One who put this tyrant in authority. God says, “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Exodus 9:16, ESV). Pharaoh was put in power by God, but for his hard heart and rebellion, he was also judged by God. What does this tell us?

All political leaders, kings, queens, and governing officials, are ultimately accountable to God. That’s why the prophet Nathan can confront his king about his adultery with Bathsheba. He points his finger right at David and says, “You are the man who has done this!” Similarly, John the Baptist had the courage to call out King Herod for his adulterous relationship with his brother’s wife. What gave these prophetic voices such incredible audacity? They knew that, ultimately, all earthly authorities must answer to the highest authority of Heaven.

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve had a highly celebrated political career or you’re a relatively unknown janitor at the courthouse. One day, you will have to answer to the Judge of all mankind, who searches your heart and mind. Nobody is “hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Only the blood shed by Jesus can cover the sin that would otherwise leave us condemned in God’s heavenly courtroom.

2. Government Is a Fundamentally Good Institution Established by God.

This, for some, is the hardest principle to reckon with. When we think of government, we often think of all the ways it’s used to oppress others or the way it’s so imbued with political rivalries and petty attacks. But government, as an institution, is a good thing. Think, for example, how terrible life would be if there were no governments and instead the world was run by pure anarchy. No authority to answer to, no police, no law, no courts in the land. Everyone does whatever they want to others.

The book of Judges, after recording all the chaos and mayhem that happens when Israel is without a leader, repeats this famous line: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25, ESV). No government means no laws. And no laws means lawless behavior would rule the day.

Government is a good thing. It’s been established by God for our good – even if it is a good thing that can often be abused. But according to the Bible, no one ends up in office without God’s say so.

Romans 13:1 says something pretty incredible: “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” This doesn’t mean God endorses everything that authorities do. The point is that God is the One who ultimately put them in power.

So while those holding an authoritative office or position may misuse or abuse their authority, authority itself is a God-ordained good. Anarchy and rebellion are not inherently good. In fact, they make a mockery of the very authoritative structure that God has ordained for our benefit.

At the end of King David’s life, he shared this word from the Lord about the beauty of godly authority:

“The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth” (2 Samuel 23:3-4).

3. Don’t Put All Your Trust in Elected Leaders.

As Christians, we are called to respect the office of our governmental leaders, but not to give these leaders our ultimate allegiance.

In 1 Samuel 8, we see this foolish tendency to put our trust in human leaders rather than God. The nation of Israel looked around at all the nations that surrounded them and saw they all had kings. And, of course, like the kid who sees all the other kids with a toy, they want what these other nations have. So they go to the prophet Samuel, who has become the de facto leader of Israel and plead for a king.

Samuel tries to talk them out of it and says, “You know, a king will rule you with an iron fist. I’m not so sure you really want a king. He’ll take your sons and make them soldiers and your daughters and make them servants of the state. And He’ll tax you like you wouldn’t believe!” But they ignore his warnings.

God tells Samuel: “Okay, Samuel, give the people the king they are asking for. But understand something. They haven’t rejected you, Samuel; they’ve rejected Me from being King over them.”

It’s very easy to fall into this trap today. We can be so focused on our earthly welfare and earthly dreams that we can put more stock in a politician than in God Himself. But God says, “You can’t have it both ways. When you put all your trust in your leaders, you’re rejecting Me.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean we can’t support and advocate for certain candidates. But it reminds us to check our spirit and ask, Am I giving a mere man or woman the allegiance that only God deserves? Am I looking for security in this person or God?

Isaiah tells us that God alone should be exalted, and that the pride of man will eventually be brought low. He writes, “Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?” (Isaiah 2:22, NIV). God says, “Stop for just one minute with all the political frenzy going on and realize something. These guys running for office? They are mere men and women. The only reason any of them are alive is because I put breath in their lungs. So don’t give them your hearts. Find your security in Me.”

4. Make the Kingdom of God, not the Kingdoms of this World, Your Ultimate Priority.

In his book Political Gospel, Patrick Schreiner reminds us that since our gospel is a message about a King and a kingdom, there is inescapably a political dimension to the gospel: “The gospel message is a world-forming, public, and political reality. Jesus calls people to a new way of life, a new society, a new community.”[1]

Remember, ultimately we are not headed for an eternal democracy. It’s a great system right now. But in the end, we are headed for an absolute monarchy. Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world (having its origin in the world), but He never denied being a King or bringing a kingdom (see my post “What is the Kingdom of God?”). In that kingdom, all those who have placed their trust in King Jesus will thrive under His glorious reign. And we will be glad we are under His authority, because only then can everything be put right.

Psalm 2 is one of the most striking psalms in the Bible. Rather than simply offering praise to God, it’s as if the psalmist takes us up to Heaven and gives us God’s perspective on all the political affairs of this world, with kings setting themselves up on thrones and politicians listening to their own collective wisdom.

“The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
    the Lord scoffs at them.” (Psalm 2:4, NIV)

God scoffs at these rulers. We don’t normally think of God as scoffing at others, but God laughs at these pretentious rulers of the world. Why? Because they actually think that they can come up with a better ruler than God can.

The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed. (Psalm 2:2, ESV)

If you watched Saturday morning cartoons in the ‘90s, you may remember watching the one about two goofy mice called Pinky and the Brain. In every episode, Pinky says, “What are we going to do tomorrow?” And Brain says, “The same thing we do every day… try to take over the world!”

In Psalm 2, from God’s perspective, all these rulers plotting together is as ridiculous as two little mice trying to take over the world. And so it says that God actually laughs at them for thinking themselves so great and wise. He scoffs at them for thinking they can actually run the world better than He can.

And He says, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill” (Psalm 2:6).

Essentially, God looks at the political schemes and says, “You really think you can run this world better than Me? Better than My Son? Take a look at all the wars and greed and corruption that have happened when you people try to run the world. It’s a mess.”

God wants us to remember that there is ultimately only one leader worthy of all our trust, our devotion, and our allegiance. That’s the Lord Jesus Christ. So we should be more invested in building His kingdom than any of our own.

Jesus went to the cross for those on the Left, the Right, and everywhere in between. The Lion of Judah stands over all elephants and donkeys, even while He offers Himself to those of every political stripe. Jesus is the One who reigns supreme even now on His throne in Heaven. And where every other leader has failed, Jesus will succeed. Where every other leader’s heart has been tainted by sin, Jesus will lead with perfect righteousness.

Isaiah 11 tells us what it will look like when Jesus reigns supreme on earth:

“He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.” (Isaiah 11:3b-5, NIV)

Isaiah then says there will be perfect order and peace even in the animal world (vv. 6-9). And then he says this about Jesus:

“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.” (Isaiah 11:10, NIV)

This is what we have to look forward to as the people of God. We can know that no matter who wins this election, our God reigns.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Patrick Schreiner, Political Gospel, 12.

Why Should I Be Baptized?

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments
Jordan River Today

With the sun beating down on his head, a bronze-skinned man steps out onto the river bank. His lower half is still drenched and dripping with the Jordan River. He’s wrapped in a tunic made of camel’s hair. Hair and beard look unkempt. He seems to lack all sense of social convention. He is a portrait of a desert wanderer. The surrounding crowd on the shoreline cannot help but stare and listen to his brazen call to repent of wickedness. Having just emerged from the water, some are still soaked from head to toe.

He picks up his staff in one hand and raises the other toward the crowd. A knobby finger points like a dagger at a group of men in long clean robes: the Pharisees and Sadducees.

“Brood of vipers!” The desert man’s voice echoes off the stony river bank. All eyes are now staring at the religious leaders, who grimace with distaste.

“Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come!” the man bellows. While some are shocked, others recognize his boldness to confront sin is a clear sign of his prophetic calling of God. If John is a prophet, then he’s merely God’s mouthpiece. What he has to say truly comes from the Almighty. And yet, here he was confronting the religious aristocracy, the paragons of purity.

In one sense, these Pharisees and Sadducees carried an air of power and respectability wherever they went. The people noted their stringent piety and rigorous law-keeping. Nevertheless, the people so admired John the Baptist that these holy men looked like tongue-tied schoolchildren in his presence. They come only to observe, not to be baptized in the filthy river.

“Show fruit consistent with repentance!” John continued, eyes blazing like fire.

John’s Ministry of Baptism

Apparently, John didn’t have a public relations consultant. Why did he call these highly esteemed religious leaders a “brood of vipers”? Because they ignored the warnings of the wrath to come and led others to destruction. And, as John says, they didn’t bear fruit, showing they had not truly given their lives to the Lord.

This was John the Baptist’s entire ministry. He called people to repent of sin, return to faith in the one true God, and be baptized in the Jordan River.

John said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry” (Matthew 3:11).

This One “coming” was the Lord of the cosmos Himself. John the Baptist was always pointing others to look to Christ, not himself, for hope. He humbly confesses he’s not worthy to even carry the sandals of Jesus. But it’s not just humility; it’s a right view of how supremely worthy Jesus is.

Then he says of Jesus: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire…”

It’s important to realize that even though John says that he baptizes with water and Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, this doesn’t mean that water baptism is no longer necessary today. At the end of Matthew, Jesus Himself gives the command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19).

Though Christians don’t always agree on the purpose of baptism, Jesus seemed to present baptism as the inaugural event marking a new disciple of Christ.

Why Be Baptized?

It is important to understand that baptism does not save you. We are saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). Though Christians are called to good works, no good work—not even baptism—could save us from the tyranny of sin. Paul made the point that he was not sent with the primary objective of baptizing others, but of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17).

The thief on the cross had no opportunity to be baptized before he died, yet the Lord assured him of his place in Paradise with Him that very day (Luke 23:43). It is only repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ that reconciles us to God. Having said that, followers of Christ are commanded by God to be baptized. The Bible never treats it as an optional “extra.” Local churches are called to baptize new believers after the pattern of the New Testament (Acts 2:38-41; 10:47; 16:14-15).

Baptism pictures our need for cleansing and restoration. But it also pictures our identification with Christ. Going down into the waters, we are identifying ourselves publicly with Christ’s death and our own death to sin. Coming out of the waters portrays both Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection with Him to new life (Romans 6:3-4). As we are baptized individually and as we see others baptized, we are reminded that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was for us personally.

And, as John says here, when we trust in Christ personally, we receive the Holy Spirit.[1]

The Winnowing Fork of Judgment

Why are repentance and baptism so important? John says of Jesus: “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).

In ancient Israel, there was a practice called winnowing which allowed the farmer to separate the grain (or seeds) from the chaff, which were the husks that cover the seeds. When the farmer tossed the grain and the chaff into the air with the winnowing fork, the Middle Eastern wind would carry the lighter chaff to the side and the heavier grain would fall to the ground. He would gather the grain together to keep, and the chaff he would sweep together and toss into a fire.[2]

John is giving us a vivid picture of judgment. On the coming day of judgment, Jesus will gather the grain—those who are His own—to Himself. And the rest, He will cast into what He calls “the unquenchable fire.” This is a sobering and serious reminder that a judgment is coming, and if we don’t belong to Jesus, we are destined for eternal damnation (Matthew 10:28; Mark 9:43). John is making it clear that it is eternal by saying it is a fire that never goes out.

I want you to understand that the idea of eternal judgment was no more popular in Jesus’s day, 2,000 years ago, than it is today. While some may say that it is unloving to tell people about hell, John recognized that what would be truly unloving is not to warn people that a judgment is coming.[3]

God Himself pled with unrepentant Israel to return to Him and avoid judgment: 

“As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11, ESV)

This life is infinitesimally short in light of eternity. God says in His Word that your life is nothing more than a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). But eternity—that lasts forever! So where we spend eternity matters immensely.

This is why I, too, want to warn others. If Scripture is right that there is a coming judgment and that our own conscience testifies to this truth, then for me not to speak about hell would be unloving. I make a point to speak about it because I, too, am a sinner and have been rescued from judgment—Jesus has saved me. And so, I want to point to my Savior and say this offer of salvation is for all. No matter what you have done or where you have been in life, this free gift of salvation is offered to you!

Why Was Jesus Baptized?

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. (Matthew 3:13-15)

So, if water baptism represents cleansing from sin, why in the world is Jesus coming to the Jordan River be baptized here? After all, Jesus is the sinless Son of God in human flesh. Scripture always affirms that Jesus was and is “without sin” (Heb. 4:15). So why did He submit to baptism?

I think we see a clue as to why Jesus did this way back in the prophecy found in Isaiah 53:10. There we read that the sinless sufferer was “numbered with the transgressors.” Or, it could be translated as “[He] was counted among the rebels.”

Even though Jesus was perfect and sinless, He willingly chose, out of love, to identify with sinful mankind. Beginning with His coming at Christmas, to His baptism, and all the way to the cross, Jesus was humbly and lovingly saying, “I have come to identify with the very people who have rebelled against Me.” He came to die for the very rebels who were cursing Him, mocking Him, and crucifying Him. From the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In the context, He was speaking of the Jews and Romans that had Him killed. But in reality, He says that of all of us. We all have committed treason against the God who made us. We all deserve death. But Jesus was perfect. He willingly died in our place so that we could be forgiven and spared from all judgment.

In humbly consenting to water baptism, Jesus marked out a pattern for all His disciples to follow. In this way, He is not asking of us anything that He Himself did not willingly do.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17, ESV)

Scripture teaches that the one true God is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And here we see all Three in view. Jesus submitting to baptism, the Spirit descending upon Him to empower Him for ministry, and the Father’s voice from heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

If Jesus had never been baptized, this moment would have been missed. Now all who have repented and trusted in the Lord Jesus are reconciled to God, made new by the Holy Spirit, and are loved in the Beloved—even as Christ is loved by the Father (John 17:26). And if that’s you, friend, you are called to be baptized.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13, ESV). Also see Romans 8:9-11.

[2] Thanks to David Platt for his explanation of this process in his commentary Exalting Jesus in Matthew.

[3] See Ezekiel 33, where the Lord says that the watchman who sees the sword of judgment coming but fails to warn others will have their blood on his hands.

What Is Repentance and Why Does It Matter?

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life1 Comment

Charles Colson was once known as President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man.” He earned that moniker through his relentless, no-nonsense way of executing the president’s plans. Even if he had to use what we may call “ethically questionable tactics,” Colson made sure he carried out Nixon’s bidding. Colson’s fall from greatness made the headlines as the Watergate scandal of 1973 broke open to the public, and he became one of the chief scapegoats of the whole debacle.

During the fallout of Watergate, Colson visited his friend, Tom Phillips, who shared with him about how he had recently accepted Christ as his Savior and now had a relationship with God. At first Colson was skeptical, but as Tom read an excerpt from C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, he began to see his own pride in a new light. He recognized it was his arrogance that had led him to deceive, cheat, and disrespect others when it was politically expedient. After Tom prayed for him, Chuck said good night and went out to his car. Something told him that he should go back in and pray with Tom once more. Just then, the lights went out in the house. So he started driving home. But before long, his eyes burned with tears, and he pulled over. Right there, alone in that car, Chuck admitted to the emptiness he felt and asked God to accept him in spite of his failures. In that moment, Chuck cried out to God.

In the subsequent weeks, he read from Mere Christianity, eventually concluding that Jesus Christ had to be the Son of God. So he surrendered his heart to the Lord of the universe. From that point of conversion, Chuck’s life was transformed. His wife noticed it. His friends noticed it. Something was radically different about Chuck.

Still, most government officials were very skeptical that Colson had truly changed. When he was tried for his part in the Watergate scandal, Chuck was offered a plea bargain. He was told that if he pled guilty to a misdemeanor he didn’t actually do, he would avoid prison. Here was Chuck’s ticket to go free! All he had to do was lie about committing this misdemeanor. Astonishingly, Chuck refused the deal. He chose to tell the truth, even though it landed him in prison for seven months. The press couldn’t make sense of it. They didn’t understand how Nixon’s brutal “hatchet man” could suddenly have scruples over what seemed to be an easy decision. After being released from prison, Colson started Prison Fellowship Ministries, an organization with the goal of offering inmates the hope of life with Jesus Christ.

Eric Metaxas explained it this way: Colson “had worked hard, in his younger years, for President Richard Nixon—the most powerful man on earth,” but he “spent the second half of his life working even harder for the King of kings.”[1]

Colson’s transformation is not an isolated case. Across the world–for the last two thousand years–there have been countless persons, including myself, who have had their lives changed by Jesus Christ. His story provides a great example of what the Bible calls repentance.

The Call to Repentance

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:1-2, NIV)

The Bible portrays John the Baptist as an eccentric wild man. Matthew describes him as wearing camel’s hair and a leather belt and eating locusts and honey. Some of us imagine a modern day John the Baptist as some half-crazed man running around wearing a sandwich board that says “The End is near.” But John was a prophet – a spokesman – for God. He was commissioned by God to announce the long-awaited arrival of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus had been living a relatively obscure life in Galilee, but He was about to begin His three-year ministry, which would eventually lead Him to the cross. And John the Baptist was the Messiah’s forerunner. The great theme of John’s preaching was repentance.

In a sense, John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. His message of repentance matches what they all said.[2] And the description that we are given of him is meant to highlight the simplicity of his life. He didn’t seek worldly goods. But I think it is also meant to highlight his sold-out commitment to proclaim the Messiah and devote his life to that ministry alone.

John is announcing the arrival of the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. For the Jew who has been anxiously waiting for the kingdom’s arrival, this is startling news. But John says that one is not automatically admitted into the kingdom. A response is required from us. John calls all the people of Israel to repent – a word that needs to be carefully defined.

The root word (metanoia in Greek) means “to change one’s mind.” But whenever repentance is used in Scripture, it describes a change far more radical than a mere change of opinion. “I used to like plain chocolate, but now I’m more of a chocolate-and-peanut-butter guy” might be a change of mind, but repentance is a total shift in the gravitational center of one’s life. A reorientation of priorities and a renovation of character are the fruits of true repentance. That is why John told those who came to be baptized, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Repentance is like making a U-turn and going in a completely new direction in life—albeit imperfectly.

Chuck refused to take the plea bargain, because he was living in a new direction. Honoring the Lord now mattered more to him than a “get out of jail free” card. So he refused the easy path of deception.

Confession, Sorrow, and Conversion

First of all, repentance involves confession over sin. Those who “were baptized by [John] in the river Jordan” were “confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:6). So confession of sin, admitting you have done wrong, is one aspect of it. But merely owning up to sin is not enough.

Secondly, in the Bible, the truly repentant are always sorrowful over their sin. In Psalm 51, we witness the once confident King David humbly confessing to God his great sin of committing adultery with a woman named Bathsheba.

Listen to how broken David is over his sin:

“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 51:1-5, NIV)

Notice David says to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (v. 4). This is an astonishing statement when you consider that he sinned against a lot of people when he committed adultery. He sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, and even had him killed. He sinned against Bathsheba by luring her into the sin with him. He sinned against his family by dishonoring them. And he sinned against the whole nation by abusing his power and office as king. But David understands that first and foremost, his sin is against God, because it is God—and no one else—to whom he is most fundamentally accountable. It was God who had created him, given him life, and sustained his life for every moment of every day. It was God who had raised him up to be king over Israel. So, most importantly, by sinning at all, David was sinning against God.

David is an emotional train wreck. And yet, that is precisely what God looks for in true repentance:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

So, repentance involves both confession of sin—admitting guilt—and being brokenhearted over your sin. But this still isn’t everything that repentance is. Most importantly, repentance involves conversion of the heart. It involves turning from the sins we love to the God we were made to love.

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take with you words and return to the LORD;
say to him, “Take away all iniquity.” (Hosea 14:1-2, NIV)

Sin is what separates us from God, and it is only when sin is truly repented of—not just confessed—that we are brought into right relationship with God. It’s not enough to be brokenhearted or even devastated over our sin. We need to turn from that sin and toward God, trusting in Jesus Christ to free us.

Remorse versus Repentance

Many people confuse repentance with remorse. Remorse is a deep sense of grief and anguish over the consequences of sin. The classic example of remorse is Pharaoh. Time after time, Pharaoh says, “I have sinned!” Outwardly, he appears sorrowful, even asking for forgiveness (Exodus 10:17). He admits his failure, but he still isn’t ready to repent. Pharaoh is like the kid who is sorry that he got caught but not really sorry for disobeying his mom.

Consider what Paul wrote the church in Corinth about the necessity of true repentance:

“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10, NIV)

Paul is saying, “Yes, grieve over your sin, but that’s not enough. It must be a godly grief that produces a repentance leading to salvation without regret.”

The clearest example of this difference can be seen in Judas and Peter. Both were disciples of Jesus Christ. Both men ate with Him, talked with Him, and listened to Him teach for three years. Yet both sinned against Jesus in the final 24 hours before the cross. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss; Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. Judas sinned with false affection; Peter sinned with false ignorance.

Both had committed an unspeakable sin against their Lord. Both grieved over their sin. But Judas never repented. Matthew tells us he was so ashamed of what he had done that he went out and hung himself (Mt. 27:5). Peter, on the other hand, “wept bitterly” (Mt. 26:75), but then he repented. After Jesus rose from the dead, Peter returned to Jesus, and he was restored to fellowship with Him (John 21:7, 15-22). He went on to become the first great proclaimer of the risen Lord (Acts 2:22-36). We have every reason to believe that Peter is now in Heaven with Jesus, and that Judas, tragically, is destined for hell since Jesus called him “a son of destruction” (John 17:12; cf. Matt. 26:24-25). Two starkly different eternal destinies, and the difference between Judas and Peter was repentance.

No wonder Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). Repentance is essential, because we will continue to put ourselves at the center of the universe until we turn to the God of grace and forgiveness.

The biblical teaching on repentance and the examples of Chuck Colson, King David, and the Apostle Peter remind us that no one is beyond hope. As long as there is still breath in your lungs, there is still time to repent. It’s as simple and as hard as turning (or returning) to the Lord.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10, NIV)

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Eric Metaxas. Seven Men, 163

[2] See Isaiah 1:16-20; Jeremiah 4:4; 18:8; 26:13; Ezekiel 18:20-32; Hosea 5:4; 14:1-2; Joel 2:12-14; Amos 4:10-11; Jonah 3:10; Zechariah 1:3-6; Malachi 3:7; 4:6.

What Is the Kingdom of God?

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life2 Comments

If someone was to ask you what the main theme of Jesus Christ’s teaching was during His earthly ministry, how would you respond? Would you talk about His call to love our neighbors – even our enemies (Matthew 5:44)? Would you share His repeated message about His sacrificial death as a substitute for us (Mark 10:45)? No doubt these two themes are primary in Jesus’s teaching, not secondary. But the most prominent theme that Jesus spoke on was the kingdom of God.

This surprises many who grew up hearing about Jesus dying on the cross for their sin and rising again but don’t recall learning much about the kingdom of God. But it is pretty hard to dispute such a claim when you consider what Jesus actually said in the Gospels.

In the Gospel of Mark, the message Jesus first preached was:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15, ESV)

Likewise, in Matthew and Luke, we see Jesus constantly talking about the kingdom of God. He shares parables about the kingdom (Matthew 13). He tells His followers to pray “Your kingdom come” (6:10). He alluded to Himself in kingly terms, saying things like “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.” (Luke 19:12). He often prompted His listeners to consider, “What is the kingdom of God like?” (13:18-21). He said things like, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (11:20).

His famous Sermon on the Mount was all about what life in the kingdom of God looks like (Matthew 5-7). Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20).[1] Rather than being anxious about their daily needs, Jesus taught His followers to orient their lives around the coming kingdom: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (6:33). Matthew summed up Jesus’s earthly ministry like this: “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction” (9:35).

As you read through the Gospels, you can’t help noticing that Jesus loved to talk about the kingdom of God. The arrival of the kingdom was at the core of everything He did. It is no exaggeration to say that Jesus was either talking about the kingdom or showing the power of the kingdom.[2]

So what exactly is the kingdom of God? And why couldn’t Jesus quit talking about it?

God the King

In America, we often struggle with the concepts of king and kingdom. After all, we are a nation birthed through rejection of a king’s authority. The idea of a king reigning over us often sounds either quaint or tyrannical. We might resonate more with the peasant in the Monty Python film Holy Grail. When King Arthur tells him he should show deference to his king, the peasant responds, “Well, I didn’t vote for you.” To which the frustrated Arthur replies, “You don’t vote for kings!”

And yet, there’s just no getting around the fact that the kingdom theme is prominent in Scripture. I think Graeme Goldsworthy summed it up well when he said the kingdom is God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule.[3] When we talk about the kingdom of God, we are talking about God’s right and power to reign over His world.

The faithful Jew of the first century would recognize immediately what Jesus meant by “the kingdom of God is at hand.” The Hebrew Scriptures frequently refer to God as the King reigning over the earth (Exodus 15:18; Psalm 93:1; 103:19).

“Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord of hosts,
    he is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:10)

As Creator, God is the rightful King over His creation. He alone is perfectly righteous and capable of executing justice on the earth.

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness.” (Psalm 45:6)

Despite the privilege of having God as their just and loving monarch, the people of Israel continually pursued false gods and failed to submit to the Lord. When the people demanded a human king like the surrounding nations, God tells the prophet Samuel, “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). While there are flickers of hope throughout, the Old Testament can be summarized as the story of Israel rejecting God as her true king. At its core, sin is rebellion against the kingly reign of God (Romans 1:18-21).

In the words of R. C. Sproul, “Every sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in His sovereign authority.”[4]

Israel’s greatest human king, David, is said to be “a man after God’s own heart” who reigned in the power of the Lord (1 Samuel 13:14; 2 Samuel 5:10). God even promises David that one of his offspring shall build a temple and sit on the throne forever, saying, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).

David was understandably overwhelmed by this promise, often called “the Davidic Covenant.” While David’s son, Solomon does build the temple, he eventually dies. So the promise is not fully realized. From this point forward, the Jewish people look forward to the arrival of this messianic figure in the line of David. Through the prophets, God reassures the people that this son of David will come: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (Jeremiah 23:5). For justice to be executed and righteousness to fill the land, God would somehow have to deal with sin, putting down the rebellion that naturally springs from the human heart (17:9).

Over the centuries, we see a long line of kings descending from David who fail to be this “righteous Branch.” In fact, most of these men do not walk with the Lord. Eventually, God judges Judah (David’s tribe) by allowing the people to be conquered by Babylon and taken as subjects to live under the pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar. Things look pretty bleak now. Whereas before they were in the right land but didn’t have the right man, now they weren’t even in the right land!

And yet, God’s promise stood firm. The prophet Jeremiah assured them that his fellow Jews would only be in exile in Babylon for 70 years, at which point a godly remnant would return to land of Israel (Jeremiah 29:10). Hope remained!

A Kingdom that Fills the Earth

Not only that, but in Babylon, God showed His power to fulfill promises through Daniel, a young man who found himself standing before the mighty Nebuchadnezzar. The pagan king had threatened to kill all the “wise men” of Babylon unless someone could interpret a dream that deeply troubled him. So God used Daniel to deliver a prophetic message through the dream’s interpretation.

Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that in his dream he saw a terrifyingly massive statue. He then interprets the dream, explaining that the various portions of the statute (head, chest, middle and thighs, and legs and feet) symbolized Babylon and the three successive kingdoms (or empires) that will dominate the world scene in the future. These kingdom predictions align with what we know of the Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires.

In the dream, however, Nebuchadnezzar saw

“…a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:34-35)

Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that during the fourth kingdom “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).

In the following centuries, the Jews remembered this prophetic dream and eagerly anticipated the kingdom of God that would be established during that fourth kingdom (Roman Empire). They also anticipated the arrival of a “son of David” who would bring in this kingdom as the Messiah, who will deal justly with the poor, destroy the wicked, and bring in an era of righteousness and peace (Isaiah 11:1-5).

The Now and Not Yet of the Kingdom

The kingdom of God, then, is about God coming to reign as King over His people in His world. We cannot abstract the kingdom of God from the person of Jesus. To be in the kingdom and seek first the kingdom is to live for King Jesus. When Jesus announced that the kingdom was at hand, He was saying that the kingdom of God was arriving in and through Him. More specifically, it was in Jesus’s death and resurrection from the dead that the kingdom of God was inaugurated on earth, because in these events Jesus defeated sin (rebellion against the reign of God) and broke the power of death (the result of rebellion). The kingdom would not yet arrive in full until the end of the age when He returns, but His resurrection was the first installment of the powers of the age to come breaking into this age.

It is important for us to understand both the present and future reality of the kingdom of God – what theologians have termed the “already” and the “not yet” of the kingdom. In one sense, the kingdom is already present because all who repent of their sin and trust in Christ are born again and enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 18:4; 19:14).

Paul can say that already Christ has “rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14, NASB). Because of Christ’s resurrection, the kingdom truly is present on earth today as men and women surrender to the reign of Jesus and experience new spiritual life and forgiveness of sins. Like the nation of Israel, believers are called a “kingdom of priests” (cf. Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9).

On the other hand, Jesus also spoke of the kingdom’s future arrival as something we should pray for (Matthew 6:10). The fullness of the kingdom has “not yet” arrived in its final form. He also used parables that express both the growth of the kingdom from small beginnings and its future consummation on earth at “the close of this age” when evildoers will be cast into the fiery furnace while the righteous “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:24-43).

The Apostle Paul explains it this way:

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-26)

On Earth as It Is in Heaven

The kingdom of God is an essential theme of the story of Scripture. You could even say that the story of the Bible is the story of God’s kingdom coming in and through the redemptive reign of Jesus Christ. From all we’ve seen, one thing should be made clear in our minds. Jesus spoke of the kingdom’s arrival – here on earth. He said it is close “at hand.” Daniel said the stone that shattered the great image “became a great mountain and filled the earth” (Daniel 2:35). In describing the Messiah’s kingdom, Isaiah spoke of creation being restored to its original design, with animals living in perfect harmony under the kingly reign of the Messiah.

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)

It will be Eden restored: “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (v. 9).

When Jesus said “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God,” Peter asked about the disciples’ payoff for leaving all for the sake of Jesus (Matthew 19:24-27). Jesus responded that “in the renewal of all things” (v. 28), they would be more than rewarded for their sacrifices. This same Peter would later write that “we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).

It is no wonder that, in the Beatitudes, Jesus spoke of His people inheriting both “the kingdom of heaven” and “the earth” (Matthew 5:3, 5). In God’s great plan of redemption, His kingdom will be on earth, when all of creation is restored and rightly ordered under the reign of our Lord.

In that day, God’s people will be comforted because God Himself will be with them and wipe every tear from their eye. And death will be no more. “For… the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). Christ the King will reclaim His entire creation. As Abraham Kuyper put it, there is not one square inch of the universe, over which Christ does not exclaim, “Mine!”

Therefore, we shouldn’t think of God’s future kingdom as an otherworldly existence in a realm of pure spirit. Rather, followers of the risen King are now called to pray for the kingdom’s full arrival “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make His blessings flow,
far as the curse is found.”
– Charles Wesley

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Many scholars have noted that since “kingdom of heaven” is synonymous with “kingdom of God.” Matthew wrote his Gospel primarily to a Jewish audience, so his tendency to use “the kingdom of heaven” is explained by the reticence of Jews to use God’s name for fear of committing blasphemy.

[2][2] While John’s Gospel favors the phrase “eternal life,” he nevertheless includes Jesus saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

[3] Grame Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom (Homebush West, N.S.W., Australia: Anzea, 1992), 47.

[4] R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God.

The Quest for Happiness

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life, Why I Believe2 Comments

There are some pretty funny TV commercials out there. I’m sometimes amazed by the creativity of those marketing gurus. In one Kia car commercial from several years ago, a couple leaving a hotel is greeted by Morpheus from The Matrix at the valet desk. Morpheus tells them, “The world of luxury has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” He then offers them a choice. Take the blue keys, and they can go back to their delusion of luxury. Or, take the red keys and experience greater luxury than they ever imagined. Of course, they choose the red keys. The commercial ends with them astonished by their Kia experience, complete with surrounding explosions and Morpheus singing opera. The final tagline reads: “Challenge the luxury you know.”

This memorable commercial captures the essence of nearly every commercial out there. The message is simple: “There is greater satisfaction out there, if only you try our product.” The message remains the same because it speaks to the longing of our hearts. We are all on a quest for happiness.

Here’s how the famous French philosopher Blaise Pascal explained it:

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they use, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both – to be happy. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”[1]

We all want to be happy. Pascal says this is the driving motive behind our every action. With a little reflection, you can see this desire behind every pursuit in life – earning a living, finding a spouse, raising good kids, having fun, keeping fit. All of it is because we want to be happy.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon says he chased after happiness, too. And he went about it every way he could. He says, “I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven… to find out what is good” (Ecclesiastes 1:13, 2:1, ESV).

Like a lion going after his prey, he was on the hunt for true satisfaction in life. He then takes us through some of his endeavors to discover true happiness.

And he starts by giving us the summary of his findings: “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14, ESV). Solomon says, “Wherever you have searched for satisfaction in this life, I promise you I’ve already tried it. It’s all just a striving after wind.”

Happiness through Knowledge?

Solomon started at the university. He went there like a sponge ready to soak up every ounce of knowledge he could. He wanted to know everything about everything. He went to all the greatest minds of his time and learned what he could learn from them. Today, if you want to become an expert in a field, it’s truly amazing how much you can learn about science, history, math, the legal system, sports, crafts, cooking, and nature. God’s world is filled with fascinating bits of knowledge. Augustine said, “All truth is God’s truth.”

But the questions is, How far can such knowledge take us? Does it help us overcome death? Does it lead to everlasting life?

People can become brilliant scholars in any and all fields of knowledge, but Solomon concludes that this can’t give you true and lasting satisfaction. No matter how much you know, none of it ultimately matters apart from knowing Christ. We need God’s wisdom, found in His Book.

At the end of Ecclesiastes, he even warns us: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body” (12:12). And to that, every college and high school student says, “Amen!” “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief” (v. 18).

All that hitting the books never brought the satisfaction that Solomon longed for. The more he knew, the more miserable life seemed. Knowledge alone could never satisfy. That reminds me of the teacher who wrote on the boy’s report card: “If ignorance is bliss, then this student is going to be the happiest person in the world.”

Leonard Woolf, a man known for his countless scholarly achievements, had this to say after a lifetime’s pursuit of academic study:

“I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing. The world today and the history of the human anthill during the past five to seven years would be exactly the same as it is if I had played Ping-Pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memoranda. I have therefore to make a rather ignominious confession that I must have, in a long life, ground through between 150,000 and 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.”[2]

This is a shocking admission. Woolf was known for his brilliant commentary on economics, education, and politics. He wrote stacks and stacks of books and articles on many different subjects. And yet his own assessment of his life’s achievement was that it amounted to “practically nothing” – a chasing after the wind.

Happiness through Pleasure and Success?

Next, Solomon tries pursuing pleasure. He leaves the university and heads out on the town for some entertainment. He buys tickets to the greatest comedians, buys drinks for himself and everyone around him, and does his best to have a good time. He indulges in every form of entertainment you can imagine, getting drunk night after night with the finest of wines.

He is like “The Wanderer” in the song based on Ecclesiastes that U2 wrote, featuring Johnny Cash as lead vocals:

“I went out there/ In search of experience/ To taste and to touch and to feel as much / As a man can before he repents.”

Solomon says:

“I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees… I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!” (Ecclesiastes 2:5-6, 8, NLT)

He plants spectacular gardens and parks, then invites all the A-list celebrities over to his house for one pool party after another. He orders the most delicious foods imaginable. He hires Grammy-winning bands to come play music. And, of course, many beautiful women are there. Like Hugh Hefner, he lives the playboy lifestyle and denies himself nothing. He looks for pleasure wherever it may be found, leaving no stone unturned.

But once again, he sees where this pursuit of pleasure comes up short.

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” (Ecclesiastes 2:2-3, ESV)

Have you ever read the biography of a comedian? They often live the loneliest and saddest of lives. Solomon discovered that no matter what entertainment or pleasure he indulged in, it always left a gaping hole in his heart. He realized that it was really just a distraction from the pain and brevity of life.

In the end, even the most enjoyable earthly pleasures will leave us empty apart from God.

In our secular culture, it’s becoming more and more common to view human beings as merely material creatures. If Darwin was right and we’re just the product of unguided nature, then we are all just bags of molecules. And if you think we have no spiritual side to us – no immortal soul – but are instead just material creatures, then you’ll conclude that only material things could satisfy us.

But I think we all know deep down that there’s more to us than meets the eye. When you think about the choices you make every day — what to wear, what to eat, and what to do — that’s not just neural circuitry in your brain. That’s the freedom of choice coming from your inner self. When you think about a mother pouring out her blood, sweat, and tears to raise her children well, or a husband sacrificing career aspirations to care for his bedridden wife, that’s not just chemical reactions in the brain. That’s love.

The Big Tease

And since we are more than matter, material solutions will never fully satisfy. Happiness isn’t found where we so often look.

"The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, 'What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?' And I said in my heart that this also is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 2:14-15, ESV)

No matter how much fame, fortune, or fun he had, Solomon recognized that none of it lasts forever. It doesn’t matter how brilliant you are, the same event happens to us all. We all have an appointment with death.

"How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:17, ESV)

Solomon feels cheated. It’s like life is one big tease promising him the happiness he craves, but never fulfilling that desire. Why? Because life is still cut short by death. He says, “How pointless to work hard and have so much when eventually I’ll be gone and it will be left to someone else!”

It’s because of death that many have wondered, Can we really say that life has meaning?

Even atheists long for meaning in life. They too have been made in God’s image so they can’t escape this hunger for significance. They just talk about creating their own meaning. And in a sense, that’s what Solomon set out to do: create his own meaning under the sun.

But when we leave God out of the picture, we’re left with a pretty bleak picture of ourselves. The search for meaning and happiness becomes a chasing after the wind. Biology professor William Provine once bluntly stated: “Let me summarize my views… There are no gods… There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life.”[3]

That’s what Solomon is trying to show us: Life minus God is meaningless. That’s because apart from God, we cannot have lasting happiness (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25). When you receive all the joys of this life as gifts from our Maker, you can actually enjoy them more because you’re not seeking them as ends in themselves. They are meant to lead you to God Himself.

Joy Complete

Is it possible that we overlook the simple pleasures of life, like the beauty of a sunset or a delicious meal because we aren’t seeing them as gifts from our Father’s hand?

When Jesus came, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” and “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love… I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 11:25; 15:10-11, NIV).

For those who belong to Jesus, death is not the end of all joy. When we surrender our lives to Him, death becomes the door to the greatest of all joys: the glory of God’s presence in Heaven for all eternity.

We search for happiness in this life, but Jesus tells us, “In Me, you will have joy everlasting.”

Where is your search for happiness taking you? Are you ready to find it in Jesus?

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Blaise Pascal, Pensees (Loc. 2049).

[2] Leonard Woolf, quoted in Wireless Age (September/November 1998).

[3] Phillip Johnson & William Provine, “Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy? Philip Johnson vs William Provine,” IDquest, debate, 41:10, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7dG9U1vQ_U , emphasis added.

The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments

God clearly cares about our hearts. Throughout the Bible, we read about the significance of the heart. The heart is the seat of all human thought, emotion, and activity (Proverbs 4:23). God knows us so well, because His gaze pierces all the way through to our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). The heart is often portrayed as the secret inner storehouse or the deep well of a person’s soul (Proverbs 20:5; Matthew 12:35; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Hebrews 4:12).

The words on our lips are usually good indicators of what’s brewing within. Jesus wisely said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

King Solomon urges us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5, ESV).

A heart that is right with God is a heart that gladly leans on Him as a child leans on her father’s chest. It is not too proud to trust in His grace.

Pharaoh’s Hard Heart

The Bible records God telling Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Exodus 4:22, ESV).

This is the first time Pharaoh’s hard heart is mentioned. The Hebrew word chazaq literally means “to strengthen,” as in God strengthened Pharaoh’s heart in his rebellion. In 11 cases, chazaq is used to speak of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart (4:21; 9:2; 10:20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8) or more generally that Pharaoh’s heart “was hardened” (7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:35).

However, another word is also used to speak of Pharaoh’s hard heart – the Hebrew word kabad’, which literally means “to make heavy.” Three times, this word is used to speak of Pharaoh hardening his own heart (8:15, 32; 9:34), once with the general phrase “was hardened” (9:7), and twice to speak of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart (10:1; 14:4). It is a similar word to chazaq, but it has a special nuance worth noting.

Ancient Egyptians believed that in the afterlife a special ceremony took place called The Weighing of the Heart (pictured above). In this ceremony, overseen by the god Anubis, the heart of the deceased was placed on one side of a great scale and was weighed against the feather of truth. If someone had committed many sins, their heart would be weighed down, and they would be condemned to eternal restlessness. However, if they’d lived a virtuous life, one’s heart would be lighter than the feather. In this case, they would be granted safe passage to the Egyptian paradise, the fields of Aaru.

Because of this belief about one’s heart determining one’s eternal destiny, Egyptians would remove all the organs except the heart when burying their dead. Moses may be alluding to this ancient belief when he writes that Pharaoh’s heart was “made heavy” (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:7, 34; 10:1; 14:4).

This is a reminder that in nearly every age and culture, people have been religious. God has given humanity a universal sense of right and wrong, and because of this, we all know we are supposed to be good. And we all sense the scales of justice by which our lives will be weighed.

Our Hard Hearts

It is interesting how often Scripture connects salvation to the state of one’s heart. The Bible says that we need to be saved from sin, and Jesus said that all sin ultimately springs from a defiled heart (Matthew 15:18-20). When He saw the prideful religiosity of the Pharisees, Jesus asked them, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (9:4). Mark tells us He was “grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 5:3). Sometimes, even His disciples didn’t understand because “their hearts were hardened” (6:52). But Jesus also said the greatest commandment was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

It’s popular today for people to say, “Just follow your heart.” It’s cliché and catchy. But in the Bible, that sounds like generally bad advice, like something the devil would urge you to do. Instead, we are warned about the inherent dangers of following one’s heart, which is so prone to self-deception. A heart that is not directed toward God is foolish and darkened (Genesis 3:1-6; Ephesians 4:22; Romans 1:21). The prophet Jeremiah quoted God on the matter:

“The heart is deceitful above all things
    and beyond cure.
    Who can understand it?
I the Lord search the heart
    and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
    according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10, NIV)

It’s good to know that God is just and will reward people according to what they deserve, but what hope of reward do we have? The Bible also says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:10-11, NIV). This sounds pretty bleak. Thankfully, this isn’t Scripture’s last word on the matter.

The New Heart We All Need

The prophet Ezekiel records a divine promise about those who would receive a new heart:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness.” (Ezekiel 36:26-29, NIV)

This means there is hope for those who have hard hearts like Pharaoh. But it’s not a matter of having a new commitment to live a good life; it’s a matter of becoming a new creation in Christ. This can only happen through faith in His finished work on the cross and subsequent resurrection. Speaking of that time when Jesus was on the cross, the prophet Isaiah says, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5, NIV).

Jesus took all that defiles our hearts onto Himself so that we could be redeemed from the sin that had enslaved us. Salvation is about God cleansing our hearts by grace through faith (see Acts 15:9; Hebrews 10:22; 13:9). A new heart is a forgiven heart, a liberated heart.

Through faith in Christ, the burden of guilt is lifted, and our hearts become lighter than a feather. Jesus comforted His disciples when He was about to die for them, saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me” (John 14:1). A heart cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus is a heart reconciled to God. “For with the heart one believes and is justified” (Romans 10:10, ESV).

A new heart is soft and fleshy (Ezekiel 36:26). It wants more of God, not less. It desires His name to be famous, not our own. It craves to be filled with His love and His Spirit, not the fleeting pleasures of sin. It seeks His leading and direction, rather than wanting its own way. Though the battle of opposing desires still rages today (Romans 7:15-25), only the fruit produced in the new heart will last into eternity (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)).

And finally, Paul’s prayers for the church were continually about the state of their hearts, showing that the heart is a subject we should not neglect.

“May the Lord direct your hearts to God’s love and Christ’s endurance.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5, HCSB)

That is my prayer for you as well.

Father of mercies, my heart is so prone to wander after worthless pursuits that seem so urgent or attractive today. Give me fresh desires from Your heart of love, that I might live the life You’ve called me to. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!