The Holy Spirit, through Paul, begins this letter by mentioning several significant names. Even today, these names apply to you and me in various important ways.

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1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians (1:1-2, ESV)

There is a great deal in just these two verses. I’m not sure that Paul himself knew how much significance would attach to this simple greeting, but it is the Holy Spirit who makes the Bible living and active, and the Spirit wastes no words. Paul’s words here are consistent with important truths that are found elsewhere in the Bible.

In the first half of my life, back when people actually wrote letters, they “signed” them at the end. If you didn’t recognize the handwriting, or if it was printed/typewritten, you looked at the end to see who it was from. In ancient times, however, it was the opposite. Letter writers in the first century A.D./C.E. stated who was writing at the very beginning of a letter. So Paul and Timothy identified themselves as the writers of this letter to the Philippians at the beginning. In fact, in a way, Paul begins the letter with a little bit of “name dropping.” I’ll explain.

Often, in his letters, Paul included his title as an apostle. It seems to me that he normally did that in situations where it was important that the senders recognize his calling, and therefore his authority to say what he said. He even does this in his letters to Timothy, his dear friend. However, I think he included his title in Timothy’s letters so that if Timothy got pushback when he taught and ministered as Paul urged him to, Timothy could say: “Look, the apostle Paul himself said this in his letter to me.” But here, Paul simply identifies himself as a servant of Christ Jesus (and Timothy also). There are several reasons. First, this letter speaks warmly and affectionately to the Christians at Philippi. Paul isn’t worried about their doctrine, and he doesn’t need to remind them of his authority in Christ. He’s writing as a friend.

By adding Timothy’s name, I don’t think he means to say that Timothy helped to compose the letter. The letter sounds like pure Paul, based upon his other writings. Instead, Timothy is included because he was well known to the Philippians, wished to send them his greetings, and surely he affirmed everything Paul was saying. It is possible that Timothy acted as a secretary, and took down Paul’s dictation of the letter.

I think Paul avoids the title of “apostle” because throughout much of the letter he speaks on the theme of humility. So, even as “Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, (2:6)” so Paul demonstrates that he doesn’t need to grasp at the title of honor: “apostle.”

Rather than “apostle,” Paul identifies himself as a servant of Christ Jesus. The word that the ESV translates “servant” is the Greek word “doulos.” (in this text it is actually “douloi,” the plural form of the word). We don’t really have a good English word for doulos (the feminine singular is “doule”). Literally, it means “slave.” But douloi (slaves) in the ancient Roman Empire were often very different from our modern idea of slaves. Many, if not a majority, of douloi were slaves only for a fixed period of time, often about twenty years. Many of them were paid. They often held very trusted positions, handling money and making business decisions for their masters. Many were allowed to marry, and their children did not automatically belong to their master. Even so, they were more than employees. A doulos/doule was considered a member of his/her master’s household. The upholding of the honor of the household was a serious business, and they were expected to be part of it. They could not seek other employment, and they were not free to leave unless given a certificate of manumission (manumission means “officially released from slavery”). Generally speaking, they had to do whatever their owner told them to do, and they could be physically punished if they refused.

So you see, they had more freedom and opportunity than, for example, the African slaves used by Southern plantation owners in America before the American Civil War. Even so, douloi were not exactly free. The closest equivalent I can think of in modern life would be an active-duty member of the military. An active duty Marine, for example, owes a certain period of his life to the Marine Corps. During that period, he must obey those who outrank him, and he must, generally, do what the Marine Corps tells him to do. He can’t simply say “I don’t want to,” or hold an outside job, or live wherever he feels like living. He can be punished for disobedience. The Marines “own” him for a period of time, even though he is paid, and might rise to a position of great responsibility within the Corps. For as long as he is a Marine, his mission in life is what the Marines tell him it is. Certainly, a Roman doulos/doule was worse off than a modern Marine, but somewhat comparable even so, and not nearly such a bad position compared to a plantation slave.

Here’s the startling thing: Partway into the letter, Paul says that Jesus Christ came as a doulos. So when Paul identifies himself and Timothy as slaves, he is doing so in imitation of his master, Jesus.

There’s another thing about Paul’s choice of words here. He wants us to understand that if we are Christians, all of us, also, should become douloi of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we have the best Master possible. But our position is one where we do not belong to ourselves. We belong to Jesus. We ought to do what Jesus tells us to do. We can end up with a lot of freedom and responsibility, but it should all be in service to Jesus. Our lives are not our own—they belong to Jesus.

Paul, after calling himself and Timothy douloi, now has some words that he calls the Philippians. First, he calls them “saints.” The literal Greek translation of hagiois is “holies.” The Latin translation of it is sanctus, from where we get our English “saints.” Unfortunately, church history and modern culture have combined to lead us to misunderstand what it means to be a saint. In the understanding of many people today, a saint is a particularly holy person; someone whose personal holiness is much greater than that of “ordinary Christians.” The Roman Catholic church even has created specific criteria, and an institutional process for deciding if someone was a saint. A saint, in these terms, is often someone who died for their faith. In addition, someone of heroic virtue might become a saint (think Mother Theresa here, who is now known as Saint Theresa). Finally, if well-attested miracles were attributed to a person, those might qualify them for sainthood.

However, none of that church tradition reflects what the New Testament clearly says about sainthood. In the New Testament, there is only one way to become a saint, and there is only one kind of saint. Saints are people who have entrusted their lives to Jesus and received his grace. To put it simply: according to the New Testament, every true Christian is a saint, a “holy.”

The reason for this is that all of the holiness that every Christian has within them is imparted by Jesus Christ. We have that teaching right here in Philippians. Paul writes in chapter 1, verse 11 that he wants his readers to be: “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” In other words, their righteousness comes not from their own works, but through Jesus Christ. In the same way, in chapter 2, he says:

13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13, ESV)

In other words, we are saints because of God’s good work in us, not our  own “personal holiness.” To the Corinthians, he wrote:

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)

Through Jesus, we are “the righteousness of God.” Along this same theme, Romans 8 says:

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4, ESV)

We dare to call ourselves “holies” not because we have any holiness we have gained for ourselves, but rather, because, through faith, God has included us in the holiness of Jesus Christ. If we say, “I’m no saint,” we are insulting the holiness of Jesus Christ himself, because that is what God has put into us. When we look at it that way, if we truly believe Jesus is who he claimed to be, we must agree that we are saints. Otherwise, we are saying that Jesus himself is not holy. On the other hand, the only way to boast about our holiness is to boast about Jesus Christ.

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Romans (3:27-28, ESV)

28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one can boast in His presence. 30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us — our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:28-31, HCSB)

So, for the sake of Christ, we ought to insist that we are indeed saints, which is to say, people who have been made holy. However, to say that is not to lift ourselves up, but rather it glorifies the Lord, who makes us holy. Part of the idea of holiness is that we are “set apart.” A holy thing is used for special purposes. So, we are set apart from those who reject Jesus. That doesn’t make us intrinsically better than others. But it does mean that there will always be some tension between us and the ways of the world. Because we are set apart by the holiness of Jesus, we don’t fully belong to the world. The ways of the world are different in many respects from the way we are called to live. Jesus put it like this:

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18-19, ESV)

Paul drops two more names, in addition to servants and saints: overseers and deacons. He writes to “all the saints who are at Philippi, with overseers and deacons.” He doesn’t mean that overseers and deacons are not saints. But he is mentioning two main types of church leaders during New Testament times.

Let’s start with overseers. This is the Greek word episkopos, from which we get our English word Episcopal. It also evolved, via Latin and Old English, into our English word: “bishop.” When Paul used it, however it simply meant “overseer,” or, in today’s language: “supervisor.” In the New Testament, it is used interchangeably with the word for “elder” and also “pastor.”

5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1:5-9, ESV)

In Acts 21:1 Paul called the elders of the churches in Ephesus to meet with him. In verse 28, he says:

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God (Acts 20:28, ESV)

1 Peter chapter 5 has all three terms together:

1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, (1 Peter 5:1-2, ESV)

The word “shepherd” in Peter’s letter is the verb form of “pastor,” and “oversight” is the verb form of overseer/episkopos. So we can see that all three words are used interchangeably in the New Testament.

Basically, churches were led in spiritual growth by a team of elders/overseers/pastors. Some of those elders might have been more prophetically-minded, others more teaching-minded, others more mission minded. But the people responsible for leading house churches, and groups of house churches, were known as elders, or overseers, or pastors. So Paul is making special mention of those were responsible for the spiritual leadership of the church.

Paul also mentions deacons. Deacons were people who were responsible for the financial and physical part of the church. The appointing of the very first deacons came about in this way:

1 At that time, as the number of disciples grew, Greek-speaking Jews complained about the Hebrew-speaking Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that the widows among them were neglected every day when food and other assistance was distributed.
2 The twelve apostles called all the disciples together and told them, “It’s not right for us to give up God’s word in order to distribute food. 3 So, brothers and sisters, choose seven men whom the people know are spiritually wise. We will put them in charge of this problem. 4 However, we will devote ourselves to praying and to serving in ways that are related to the word.” (Acts 6:1-4, NLT)

So, while elders/overseers imitated the apostles by focusing on prayer and teaching the word, setting the spiritual direction of the church, the deacons were involved in helping out with the practical concerns of the church: the distribution of money, service to the poor and elderly, and so on. The elders/overseers generally worked together with the deacons. I believe this is why Paul mentions both overseers and deacons. All of the house churches at Philippi got together and sent Paul some financial support—that is one reason he’s writing this letter. So Paul specifically mentions overseers, because they would have prayed about the gift, and then counseled the churches to go ahead with it, and the deacons would have been the ones who took the practical steps to make it happen.

 I don’t think this format of church leadership is necessary for all churches; the New Testament doesn’t command it. But I’m inclined to think that a Biblical way of doing church is a pretty good model.

There is a final name that Paul drops: that of Jesus Christ. He and Timothy are not just dulois/servants in general, they are servants of Jesus Christ. The Philippians (and us) are not sort of generalized saints. We are saints only in Jesus Christ. Finally, Paul declares grace and peace to us from God our Father, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Let’s change gears: how might this apply to your life? Do you know that you are a saint? Behavior follows belief. If you believe you are fundamentally sinful, you won’t be able to stop yourself from sinning. But if you trust that Jesus has imparted his holiness into your life, you begin to see things differently, and act differently. I don’t mean anyone gets perfect on this side of heaven, but I am convinced that we act as we believe. If we believe we are “holies” our behavior will look much more like that is true than if we don’t believe it. It helps to remember that we are holy in Jesus Christ, not on our own.

How about the name of “servant/slave?” Do you believe that you fully belong to Jesus, that your life is not your own, but his? From birth until death, God’s intention is that you are on a mission in this world, a mission that is from and with God. He supplies what we need to pursue that mission, but our lives are for him, not for ourselves. And Jesus is not asking of us anything he did not do himself. He came in human form, and became a servant/slave himself.

What about the way Paul honors church leaders? I have no big complaints about the people I serve, but there are many of you visiting Clear Bible whom I have never met. Do you honor your local pastors, elders and deacons? Do you let them know that you appreciate their service, which can sometimes involve self-sacrifice? Do you prayerfully listen to your overseers/elders/pastors when they teach, or give you personal counsel?

Finally, how do you remind yourself of all the treasures you have in Christ? Do you know, remember that you are in Christ? What difference does that make in your life? If it doesn’t make much difference, why not? Or, are you someone who is not yet in Christ? To receive him is simple. Turn away from your sins (you won’t be able to do it perfectly, but start with the intention to do your best). Lean on Jesus. Ask him, in your own words, to take your life, to bring you into his kingdom.

Let the Holy Spirit apply these names to your life right now.

Paul and his companions were a part of some very eventful happenings in the Roman Colony of Philippi.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Philippians/phil1.mp3

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We are going to begin a new series on the book of Philippians. I am excited for this. Philippians is one of my favorite books. It is a letter, written by the apostle Paul, to the Christians in the city of Philippi. Clearly, Paul had a warm relationship with the Philippian Christians, and the whole book is suffused with affection and joy.

Let’s start with a little bit of background on the city of Philippi, and some of the people and events associated with it.

In the book of Acts, we first hear about the city of Philippi shortly after Luke joins Paul and his companions. Luke was in a city named Troas on the western coast of Asia minor, not extremely far, as the crow flies, from Philippi. This is the first time that Luke, in his book of Acts, starts to write as if he himself were part of the events. Instead of writing: “they went and did this,” as he did for the first fifteen or so chapters of the book of Acts, Luke writes: “we went and did this.”

Luke traveled with Paul and his companions to Macedonia, after Paul had a vision in a dream that he was supposed to proclaim the gospel in that region. They landed at a Macedonian port (Neapolis), and then the companions traveled together to Philippi, which Luke describes as “a leading city of Macedonia.” After the events which took place in Philippi, it reads as if Luke is no longer accompanying Paul and his companions. In Acts chapter 20, Luke once again rejoins Paul—at Philippi—as he travels towards Jerusalem. The best guess is that this is after a period of about eight years. It seems clear that Luke made Philippi his home for that eight year period.

Paul’s first visit to Philippi was quite eventful. These events are described in Acts chapter 16:11-40. I will read these verses on the audio version of this sermon. If you are reading my words right now, I encourage you to stop for a moment, and go and read those same verses in your own Bible.

(I’m trusting that you have now read those verses). So, obviously, some major and unusual things took place with the beginnings of Christianity in Philippi. It was a very exciting time for the new Christians there.

Philippi was named after King Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. Later it was conquered by the Romans, and was the site of a decisive battle in the Roman civil war that took place as a result of the assassination of Julius Caesar (this was roughly 42 years before the birth of Jesus Christ). Twelve years later (30 BC), when Octavian/Augustus became Caesar, he made Philippi a Roman colony. This meant that citizens of Philippi, which is in Macedonia (north of Greece) had exactly the same rights and privileges as Romans who lived in Rome. City business was conducted in Latin, rather than Greek. Citizens were exempt from Roman taxes, and could own property just like Romans who lived in Rome. This was one reason that Paul’s status as a Roman citizen was such a big deal to the Philippians. They had violated his civil rights as a Roman in a Roman colony. To them, it was a shameful act, and they wanted it forgotten and covered up immediately.

I have done a little bit of ministry that sometimes reminds me of Paul and Silas (or Barnabas). My great friend Peter Churness and I have traveled to meet people we had not met previously, and stayed in strangers’ homes while we did some teaching, and eventually helped organize churches in those places. Some of you listening or reading are among those people. I have to say that staying in someone’s home, there is a closeness of fellowship that develops, especially if you keep in touch over a period of time. When we read Paul’s letter, we can hear the warmth he feels for these people.

So, when did Paul write this? It appears that he wrote it while he was awaiting trial in front of Caesar. In the book of Acts, near the end, we read that Paul, facing charges from local Jewish authorities who wanted him dead, made an appeal for Caesar to hear his case. This was his right as a Roman citizen. It appears that Paul wrote to the Philippians when he was in Rome, waiting for that trial. So, this would have been shortly after the ending of the book of Acts, in about 62 AD. Just from reading between the lines, it seems like the Philippians sent Paul a gift of money to support him while he awaited trial. It was delivered by a messenger named Epaphroditus and others. The others presumably returned to Philippi (about 800 miles away) but Epaphroditus was ill, and had to stay with Paul for some time. After he recovered fully, Paul wrote a letter to send with him back to the Philippians.

Some of you know how important I think it is to read the Bible the way it was written, that is, book, by book. You know that I also think it is vitally important to understand the textual context of any given verse. Happily, Philippians is a short book, which can be read quite quickly. So, I will complete this message by reading the entire book to you, so that we understand the context of the various parts. If you are a reader, more than a listener, please go and read the whole book of Philippians right now. It shouldn’t take much more than 20 minutes. Have some paper and a pen handy and briefly note down the verses that speak to you, and why. Next time, we’ll start in on the text in detail.

As usual, I strongly encourage you to listen to the audio rather than only reading this message. I said several things in audio that did not make it into the written version.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Lament/lam7.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

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Lamenters often feel unheard. Perhaps you have experienced God’s silence. Today, I want to explore the idea that God’s silence can be a gift. I didn’t arrive at this perspective easily. Before I share more about this, I think it’s important to understand that not hearing God’s voice should be unusual. I have come to expect that it is common for God to talk with us. Even Old Covenant saints sometimes had conversations with God. Some of those conversations are recorded in Scripture. God spoke with Abraham and David and psalmists too. Of course, we know that He spoke to and through prophets. In the New Covenant age, we can expect that God will speak with each of His kids.

     We sometimes have a hard time hearing His voice. I suspect that this is partly true because we haven’t been taught that God wants to have conversations with us, even though Jesus said,

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29, NLT)

Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit would speak to us:

12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’ (John 16:12-15, NLT)

Even so, it seems much easier to listen to Satan’s voice. The reason for this is because we have spent a lifetime listening to and unwittingly embracing his messages, which have often come to us through people of influence, like parents, teachers, coaches and even strangers. It’s the voice that accuses, condemns, shames, and discourages you. Even his name means “adversary.” Satan is, after all, identified as “the accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10). One of his chief strategies is to discourage you and influence you to live from a false identity and not from what God says about you.

     When God speaks, even if He is bringing a corrective word to us, He infuses us with hope. I remember when my high school wrestling coach saw me get virtually destroyed by an opponent. I was a freshman competing against upper classmen. I was new to the sport and my skill level was very rudimentary. About the only thing I had going for me was that I was scrappy and coachable.  After the match, he didn’t call me out, he called me up. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes and said, “Kevin, that kid took you apart, didn’t he? It’s okay. On Monday, you and I will be back in the practice room and I am going to show you some stuff that is going to make you a better wrestler. Kevin, you are on your way to becoming a champion.” My coach didn’t pretend I did well. I didn’t. But he delivered his concerns with hope. That’s what our heavenly Father does.

(Tom Here, for a moment) I want to emphasize this point that Kevin is making. If you are being influenced by the devil, you feel guilty, and you feel hopeless. The guilt plays in your mind over and over again. But it doesn’t help you. It doesn’t move you closer to God. The Lord does speak to us sometimes in order to correct and teach us. But, as Kevin says, when it is the Holy Spirit at work, even though we might hear that we are wrong, and that we need to repent, we feel a sense of “goodness” at work. We feel hope. We think, “Yes, that’s right. I’m so sorry. THANK you!” Conviction of the Holy Spirit motivates us. On the other hand, we can recognize when the devil is accusing us, because we are left hopeless, unmotivated, stuck in a loop of regret and shame.

(Kevin Again)     When you ask God questions, expect answers. Any voice that responds to you with shame and condemnation is not His voice. Ask your Father to silence those distracting and condemning voices and to help you get better acquainted with His voice. Over time, you’ll be able to tell the difference. This has been a beautiful and encouraging journey for me. So, when I don’t hear Him, when I can’t hear Him, I get scared. I wonder, “What’s happening, Lord?” What’s keeping me from being able to hear you?”

(Tom)When your usual way of hearing from God is disrupted, don’t try to figure this out without the benefit of your faith community. This means, among other things, that you should listen and consider carefully, what they say to you about God’s silence. We, who try to do life together through house church, should find this fairly easy. All you have to do is bring it up with a friend or mentor, or bring it up during a church meeting, in which we desire everyone to participate. You might want to write down and pray over the input that is given to you by your fellow believers.

(Kevin) You may learn that some unrepented of sin is keeping you from hearing Him. Sin can dull our senses, and deceive us. Or, your inability to hear God may have nothing at all to do with sin.

It may be that you are entering a season of the deep working of the Spirit to bring you to new levels of consecration. God likes to bring us to places where we don’t rely on our usual spiritual senses in favor of simply learning to lean into Him amid the chaos we are feeling. This will likely  mean that God will bring you, in your journey, to where it feels like you are entirely alone, abandoned and even forsaken– where hearing Him seems like a thing of the past. His silence can be scary. You may find yourself panicking. He has not abandoned you. He will not leave you alone, but in such a season you may feel entirely forsaken.

     I don’t know of anything that has been more difficult for me than the extended periods of time when I seem unable to hear from God as I normally do. If you are experiencing this, it is likely that it won’t be one of your favorite things. Consider though, that perhaps God is ordaining this time of silence. See this as an opportunity for you to lean into God. Ask Him to help you to trust Him with all of your expectations about what the Christian life should look like. Also ask Him, to orient you around Him, to help you surrender every hope and longing. Journal your feelings. Record your lament. How does this silence feel to you? Does this season of silence cause you to be disappointed with God? Frustrated? Angry? If so, write these things down. It is likely that what you are experiencing is not permanent. Again, I want to remind you not to make this journey alone. Some confidantes need to walk alongside you.

Let’s look at hero of the faith who walked in obedience to God even when it seemed to be tearing his heart apart. Look at Hosea 2:14,15 (NLT). You may know the story well. If not, let me summarize. The prophet Hosea was directed by God to marry a woman named Gomer. Gomer had been earning a living as a prostitute. Hosea married her and they had children together. Even so, she’d leave him and wander off to re-engage with her previous clients. Yet Hosea would take her back.

     God intended that Hosea’s relationship with Gomer serve as a living metaphor of His relationship with Israel. God wanted His people to know that even though they had been unfaithful to Him, He wasn’t giving up on them. He, through Hosea, delivered the following promise,

“But then I will win her back once again.

    I will lead her into the desert

    and speak tenderly to her there.

 I will return her vineyards to her

    and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.

She will give herself to me there,

    as she did long ago when she was young,

    when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.

     Israel, God’s covenant people, were known for regularly straying. God wanted them to know that in spite of this He was committed to winning them back. God is known as “the hound of heaven.” He does not easily give up either on His Old Covenant people (Israel) or on Christians, His New Covenant people. He only eventually and quite reluctantly gives up when we, after rebuffing him over the course of time, convince Him that we truly do not want Him. Because He is not intrusive (notice Revelation 3:20), non coercive (see 1 Corinthians 13:5 ESV) and can be resisted (see Acts 7:51), He will respect a decision which He recognizes as our permanent posture of rejecting Him. But if that is not the case, God stays on our trail. He works to “win” us back. He doesn’t force, but He woos. Look at the above passage: “I will win her back…”

This passage also tells us that God will lead His people to a particular place. Where? Into the desert! Yikes. A desert is a difficult place. Some translations translate this word as “wilderness.” These days, we think of the wilderness as a beautiful, positive place. But in ancient times, with very little of today’s technology, the wilderness was a terrifying, lonely, dangerous place. It can be a challenge to one’s very survival. A spiritual desert/wilderness is a place where you don’t feel His presence and often where hearing Him seems impossible. It’s a place where you are unable to maintain any sense of equilibrium. Confusion persists and unsettles you. It is a testing ground. It is in just such a place that God promises to “speak tenderly” to you and it is here that He returns your “vineyards,” i..e. your provision. Note also that it is in the “Valley of Trouble” that God promises you a “gateway of hope.” God loves to show that He doesn’t need to use a Hawaiian vacation or a week in the Bahamas to fill your cup. In your personal “Valley of Trouble” He will reveal His tenderness. He promises to enable you to give yourself to Him as you did at the beginning of your journey. This is restoration. This is what awaits you.

I remember hearing some teaching when I was young about what God would often do to prepare any of His followers for greater usefulness. A reference would be made to the story of Abraham and how God gave him a promise some 25 years or so before God delivered on that promise, the promise being the birth of a child. The idea that was conveyed was that God used those 25 years of waiting to prepare Abraham and Sarah to receive the promise, namely a son they named Isaac. Then, the preacher would tell the story of Moses. He would tell of how God had called him to be a deliverer of Israel from Egyptian bondage, but that it took 40 years on the backside of a desert to prepare Moses to lead God’s people. Then there would be a discussion about David– how he was anointed king at about 13 years of age but didn’t become king until he was 30 and how God used those years as a shepherd boy and then as a young warrior running from Saul to get him ready to lead Israel. Of course, no such sermon would be complete without a mention of Joseph and how as a teen he had dreams of himself in a position of authority and influence. He made the mistake of sharing those dreams with his brothers, who believed his grandiose dreams were simply delusions of grandeur. However, we know that Joseph’s dreams eventually came to pass, but only after years of hardship.

     The obvious lesson is that there is usually a gestation period between the initial delivery by God of a promise and the time that special thing God has promised actually arrives. The gestation period is recognized as a hard period of waiting followed by the birth of some vision or the materialization of some hope. It is often implied by those who tell these beautiful biblical stories that the waiting will be rewarded with something obvious and perhaps tangible, something circumstantial that will convince you that God’s favor rests on you. Perhaps we think of the fulfillment of this hope that has been deferred as some kind of spiritual gold that comes to those who endure necessary time in the crucible of suffering.

     What if the gold isn’t something circumstantial and tangible? What if it doesn’t include any recognition from people? What if the gold is intimacy with God? What if it is being more in love with Jesus? What if the gold is the pleasure of resting in being God’s beloved? Will that be enough? I submit for your consideration that you will find that there is nothing that is better. I believe that the suffering lamenters endure surely leads to this.

Once again, during this series I encourage you to listen to the sermon, rather than simply reading the text. My right arm is in a sling, and I cannot type effectively. I am using voice dictation software to type these words, as well as any other content that I add to pastor Kevin’s message. Sometimes the results are not entirely accurate. I add things in the audio message that I cannot type out.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Lament/lam6.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Lament Part 6

Today I want to explore the lament of Jesus from the cross. He is echoing the lament of David in Psalm 22. The Lord Jesus only quoted the first line, but it will be good to read the first two verses:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

    Why are you so far from saving me,

    so far from my cries of anguish?

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

    by night, but I find no rest.

(Psalm 22:1-2)

    Have you ever stopped to consider that Jesus actually felt forsaken, abandoned and alone in those moments when He was languishing on the cross? Or, is it your opinion that He said these words so we’d connect the dots back to this messianic psalm which predicted the events of the day He was crucified?

   To be entirely honest, until recently I (Kevin) never seriously considered that Jesus actually felt forsaken. I suspect that this is because I imagined that as God the Son He couldn’t possibly have felt that way. I don’t think I’m alone in this perception. However I remind myself that Jesus was not only God the Son, He was also an actual human being who felt psychological pain (“…he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”– Isaiah 53:3) and physical pain (he experienced scourging, the crown of thorns and crucifixion, an unthinkably brutal form of torture which inevitably ends in death– Matthew 27:27-35). 

Scripture shows us that during the course of His life, first as the son of Mary and Joseph and later as an adult, he sat at the feet of elders and learned (Luke 2:41-51), He experienced physical maturation (Luke 2:52), hunger (Matthew 4:2), thirst (John 19:28), exhaustion (Matthew 8:24) and such things as anger and frustration (Mark 9:19). Also, we know that He experienced the unsettling effects of being tempted “in all ways as we are” and yet He didn’t sin (Hebrews 4:15).

I have come to believe that Jesus truly felt forsaken while He was on the cross. I  base this perspective on some things Jesus said and some things that we observe about Him.

In the Garden, on the night of His betrayal, He admitted to His followers, “I’m overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). Note the word “overwhelmed.” Such a strong word. Dictionary.com defines it as “being completely overcome in mind or feeling.” Overwhelmed? Yes, that’s the word the scholars think best represents the Greek word which is used in this text. Too strong for your taste? Some translations use the words, “crushed,” or “consumed.” Much to think about. Then, there’s “sorrow” so terrible that it was lethal (“unto death”).

Then we have His famous prayer that ends with “Not My will, but Yours be done.” We love to give that our attention but it would be good for us to spend some time thinking about, maybe even camping on: “Father, if possible, let this cup pass Me by,” before saying, “Yet not My will…”

Jesus had a will that was independent of His Father’s. He clearly reveals, doesn’t He, that He wanted the cup of suffering to “pass Him by?”

Then if we go back in the narrative about Jesus’ suffering, in the days leading up to His time in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see that He acknowledges to His followers, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished” (Luke 12:50). Have you ever thought of Jesus being distressed? He was and He didn’t hide it from His disciples.

Then we see that His disciples observed, “And being in agony…his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Based on these things, can you consider that your Savior actually felt forsaken? Might this help you when you feel abandoned and alone in your suffering?

(Tom now) And the Bible seems to tell us that we do not have to suffer complete abandonment by God, like Jesus did. In fact, Scripture teaches that through faith, we live in spiritual union with Christ. In fact the way the apostle Paul puts it is this:

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

The idea is that Jesus himself lives his life through ours. That means that when we suffer, Jesus himself suffers along with us. In other words we ourselves are never abandoned or forsaken in the way that Jesus was. He is with us even in suffering; perhaps, especially in suffering. So in the first place, as Kevin says, we can know that Jesus understands what we are going through. But even more, we can lean on him, trusting he is there even when we don’t perceive him, knowing that he is feeling the abandonment and hopelessness along with us.

I want to close with some words from the Gospel transformation study Bible. It comes from the note found at Luke 22:42:

 Jesus has previously given his disciples (including us) instructions on praying (11:1–13; 18:1–8). Here he models one of the most important and universal truths about what our prayer life should be like. Jesus expresses his desires and even laments before the Father with full honesty and humility (22:44). He desires to be delivered from the pain and suffering he is facing (v. 42). Yet there is something in his prayer that is even more important than his requests. It is his acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty and goodness in all situations and his glad submission to whatever God’s greater plan might be: “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (v. 42). This is the banner that should fly over all of our prayer requests. It is the heart of childlike faith that honors God and blesses us. We can pray bold prayers, knowing that God is our Father, through our adoption based on the work of Christ. Yet we can also rest in confidence that since he is our Father, even his denials of our requests can only be what is best for us—as can be his granting us “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).

Once again, during this series I encourage you to listen to the sermon, rather than simply reading the text. My right arm is in a sling, and I cannot type effectively. I am using voice dictation software to type these words, as well as any other content that I add to pastor Kevin’s message. Sometimes the results are not entirely accurate.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Lament/lam5.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Lament Part 5

“Where are You, Lord?” The psalmist in Psalm 10, seems to be asking this question.  Have you asked this question or even thought it? You’d be very unusual if you haven’t. Though early in the Christian life we learn that God is omnipresent, or “everywhere present,” it often feels like He is not present to us in our current circumstance, especially if those circumstances are particularly difficult. 

     Technically speaking God is simultaneously present everywhere. How? He doesn’t explain that to us. It’s part and parcel of His “Godhood.” It’s one of His attributes, spoken about in Psalm 139. Note the following verses from this psalm.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

     God is everywhere. Jonah experienced God even in the depths of the sea. While God is actually present everywhere, He is usually only manifestly present, or present in a way that we can experience Him, at certain times and locations. Almost unpredictably. People who have journeyed with God and are known to know Him well will tell you that you cannot manipulate or manufacture His presence. Either God will or won’t be present in a way that is obvious. And, when that happens, you know it. There’s nothing quite like His presence. David testified that in God’s presence, “there is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). When I have experienced the manifest presence of God on an individual level (as opposed to a congregational setting), and I can count on one hand the times that has happened in my 53 year relationship with Him, His presence satisfies every longing and infuses me with peace. It convinces me that there is no pleasure, no achievement and no material thing that can come remotely close to giving me what I have in Him. Asaph was a psalmist and he knew from his encounter with God’s manifest presence that there was nothing on the entire earth that could compete with it (Psalm 73:25,28– read this in a variety of translations).

     Even though you can’t have this variety of God’s presence on demand– in fact, demanding it is a sure way to guarantee you won’t get it— God doesn’t respond to our impertinence– it is still good to ask the question, “Lord, where are you?” It’s a way of saying, “Lord, I need your comfort. I need your embrace. I am aching for a hug from you. I need to know that You are near. Please, please don’t delay.”

(Tom here now, almost until the end). The Lord does come to us through our feelings and our thoughts. He sometimes comes in a way that is hard to describe. We might call his speaking to us as a “spiritual” experience. But sometimes all that can be a little bit vague. We can find ourselves chasing a certain set of feelings, or experiences, but not actually getting them. However, as Kevin said, God does not show up for us in an experiential way simply because we demand it. Perhaps we aren’t even being demanding, but we desperately want some kind of experience with God, and it doesn’t happen. As Kevin has been pointing out this can be extremely difficult.

Thankfully, we do not have to rely on only our feelings or experiences. The Lord has given us three objective ways of experiencing his presence. These three ways do not require any particular feeling on our part. The first way is through reading the Bible. I’ve preached extensively on the remarkable text that we call the Bible. I’ve even written a book about it (Who Cares About the Bible?). We can have confidence that when we read the Bible (which we also refer to as “God’s Word”) we are, in fact, hearing from God. When we read the Bible, we are not making something up in our own heads. The text is there for any human being to see. Thousands of generations before us have read these same words. But when we feel abandoned by God, it is especially important that we continue to read the Bible.

When I teach and preach on a passage of Scripture, one of my goals is to help us understand the original, objective meaning, that the Holy Spirit intended through the human authors of the text. Preachers should do that. But there is another, more personal way, of reading the Bible. And that is to pray before you read, asking God to speak to you through his word. And then read the text as if God is speaking it directly to you. It may have been something that God originally wanted Isaiah to say to the people of Israel twenty-seven hundred years ago. But Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is living and active. That means that we can receive what God is saying to us through the Scripture as intended directly for us. We shouldn’t build doctrines on reading the Bible this way, but it can be tremendously helpful in our sense of God’s presence and love in our lives.

I want to give you a quick example of what I’m talking about. When I was in college I went through a time of dark depression. During this time I went on a spiritual retreat. The leaders gave us a list of Bible verses to read. They told us to listen for the voice of God speaking through those verses. I went off by myself. I prayed before reading the first assigned passage. I asked the Lord to speak to me through the Bible. And then I read this verse:

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over
for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:1-2

This is a prophecy given by the prophet Isaiah. It speaks to the people of Judah after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and laid waste to the entire kingdom of Judah. The people of Judah were now in exile, far from their homes. So originally, this text was announcing to God’s people that their exile in the land of Babylon would soon be over. It was a reassurance to them that God was not angry with them, and he was going to bring them back into their homeland. If I was preaching on this text I would make sure that my listeners all understood this.

However on that day, when I was under the dark cloud of depression, the Lord spoke to me through this Scripture in a unique way. I felt that he was proclaiming comfort directly to me in my depression. He was saying to me that the time of depression was now at an end, that my “sad days,” were over. That was what it meant to me to me as I read it. Thankfully, I believed the message that the Lord was given me through that Scripture. And then, it was so. My depression was over. Now, I would never preach on that text, and say that the meaning of that text was that everyone who is listening to me who was also depressed would now no longer be depressed. But this of how God speaks to us through his word. This didn’t take place in my head. It came from words that I did not make up.

A second place where God meets us, regardless of how we may feel, is in the sacrament of communion. We are taking real, actual bread into our bodies; real, actual wine (or, grape juice). Communion is not some kind of vague emotional experience. It is real bread, and real wine, in which Jesus has promised to be present. So, if you are wondering where you can find God, communion is one place he promises to meet us. It is not necessary for you to feel anything as you digest the bread and wine.

The third objective place where God meets us is through the fellowship of other Christians. Everyone who trusts Jesus has the Holy Spirit within them. Therefore, in a very real sense, when you are with other Christians, you are in the presence of God in a way that is outside of your self. The Bible seems to tell us that there is a special thing that happens when we gather together with other Christians specifically to worship the Lord. You may or may not feel anything as you worship the Lord with other Christians. Even so, he is there with you and the others, whether or not you feel it. You can look at the other people who are with you, and see that this is not something you are making up. God’s presence is also outside of ourselves.

The words of the Bible are not dependent on how you feel. The reality of the presence of the Lord through communion is not some vague experience. This is also true of the reality of God’s presence when his people meet together for worship.

No doubt there are times when we would really, really like to have some kind of an emotional experience of the presence of God. But by giving us the Bible, communion, and the fellowship of other believers, he has made it so that we can reliably be in his presence, no matter how we feel.

(We’ll close with a final paragraph from Kevin)

  God sometimes uses silence and what appears to be aloofness to draw us to a deep longing for Him. When you are suffering, when you are confused, when you are desperate for His touch, ask “Where, Lord, can I find you?” And, be sure to include your faith community in your search for God’s incomparable touch. In time, He will provide a way to comfort you. He is faithful and He will not allow your despair to become permanent, if you turn to Him. Turn, turn to Him. Again. And again. Ask Him for the stamina you’ll need. He wants to do a deep work in you. Let Him.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Lament/lam4.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Lament Part 4

For the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?
2 How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
3 Turn and answer me, O LORD my God!
Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
4 Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
6 I will sing to the LORD
because he is good to me. Psalms 13

There is more to the spoken sermon than there is to the text here. My right arm is in a sling and will be for several more weeks, so I type these words through voice dictation. But when I record the sermon, I add in things that will not show up in this written version. That’s why I encourage you to listen to the audio versions of these particular sermons.

When you are facing a trial have you asked this? This psalmist, David, continues his lament with, “How long must I… have sorrow in my heart all the day?” (v. 2). Read more from this psalm and you will see some of what David was facing.

What are you facing? Illness/Chronic pain? Divorce? Conflict? Insomnia? Bankruptcy? Legal problems? Loneliness? Addiction? Depression? Abuse?

The problem with trials and suffering is that each new one can seem permanent and worse than the one which preceded it. Suffering is an inevitable part of life on this side of heaven (John 16:33). We’ve learned that some suffering comes simply because we are occupying space here on earth. Sometimes it comes because we have done something to make our situation worse. Sometimes someone else does something which makes our situation worse. Sometimes God is pruning us and bringing us into a “dark night of the soul.”

 When you experience a “dark night,” which typically lasts far longer than a single night, your circumstances may not change for the worse, but you will be exposed to a kind of purgation, a spiritual aridness that is exceedingly painful. In these seasons, it can seem impossible to go on.

I remember my first such experience with a dark night. I was pretty new to the faith and had just been baptized in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist describes that experience as “a baptism of fire” (Matthew 3:11). I was experiencing the fire of purgation, a terribly painful purifying process. I felt like I was being turned inside out. This has been experienced and written about by many who have gone before us, the most notable perhaps, would be St. John of the Cross.

     My circumstances were not more difficult than usual. I had some good friends and a budding relationship with the woman who became my first wife, Laura. Yet, internally I was in great distress (Sadly, Laura passed away just a few years ago). I was confused about what I was experiencing. I began to fall into despair and didn’t want to live. In my deepest pain, I heard, “John 15:2!” I didn’t know what it said, so I read that verse. It says, “…every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” Then I heard the same voice say, “You’ve been bearing fruit and now I am pruning you so you will bear even more…”

     When it appears that your suffering has a purpose, it helps. I found hope but the suffering continued. The writer of the book of Hebrews indicates that we should treat all suffering as God’s discipline and something that is useful for our sanctification (Hebrews 12:7, 10).

 Then I began to wonder, “How long?” I didn’t receive an answer. I think one of the reasons we may not get a definitive answer to this question is because we’re called to walk by faith, not by sight. God wants us to keep our eyes on Him and not fixate on what we are walking through. He wants us to learn to move forward putting one foot in front of the other, even when, especially when, we are confused, afraid and feeling alone. My first dark night lasted about two years. It was hard but it was an important season in my life. It helped me to know that God doesn’t remove His presence from us even though He sometimes will remove our awareness of it.

If you can get an answer to the “why?” question, ask “How long?” You may or may not get an answer. God’s silence is sometimes an answer. Sometimes it’s an invitation to trust Him when nothing makes sense. For now, perhaps it will suffice to acknowledge that God wants you to simply proceed without any assurances that your suffering has an end date. Ouch.

(Tom here, for a bit). In fact, there is a definitive end date for all of our suffering. We have the promise that when we leave this mortal life, if we have put our hope fully in Jesus, our sufferings are at an end. Sometimes I quail at the thought that I have another thirty years or so to suffer my kidney stone pain. At the same time, I know that it won’t be forever. The Lord has been faithful to me for these past ten years of physical suffering, and I can trust him to continue to be faithful to me, and walk with me, as long as my suffering endures, and in whatever other suffering I may experience. As it says in Hebrews:

For God has said,
“I will never fail you.
I will never abandon you.”
6 So we can say with confidence,
“The LORD is my helper,
so I will have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, NLT)

Our culture, now more than ever, is all about instant gratification. I find myself frustrated that when I order something from a place like Amazon sometimes it takes three whole days to get to me. It’s insane that that length of time bothers me. But the economy of the entire world has grown by providing what we want ever more quickly. It makes life comfortable, but it leaves us confused, and at a loss, when things don’t work out for us the way we want them to. The promises given to us in and through Jesus are so very worth waiting for. There is literally nothing better that we could have than the fulfillment of those promises. Can we hold on in faith, knowing that what we wait for far outweighs any of the struggles we might have here and now?

The spiritual practice of lament encourages us to recognize our feelings. It isn’t wrong to feel like our struggles are long and drawn out. It isn’t wrong to say that to God, and to wish for them to end soon. But in lamenting, we don’t simply complain. What separates it from grumbling is that we also turn our hearts towards God in faith. In lamenting, in a sense, we preach to our hearts. We remind ourselves of God’s promises, and his goodness, and his presence with us in every moment.

So, go ahead and ask “how long?” You may or may not receive a satisfactory answer. You will receive a satisfactory Presence, whether or not you perceive that Presence. For the entire length of your struggle, the Lord does, and will, walk with you, no matter how long. And though we may not know exactly how long we will have to suffer, we know that there is a certain end to the suffering, and a real beginning of an incredible life free from our struggles, infinitely longer than the amount of time that we may suffer here in this life.

Here’s a promise we can speak to our hearts today, any day in which we wonder “how long?”

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5)       

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Lament/lam3.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Lament Part 3

This week, I’ll start with some thoughts from Pastor Kevin McClure, but most of the message is my own, since I have wrestled a great deal with the main point he raises.

Lamenters, as you will see from a study of the psalms which are known as the psalms of lament (there is some lament in Psalm 12, 13, 22, 44, 86), eventually get to three questions: “Why?” “How Long?” “Where are You:” Today, I begin to explore the “Why?” question.

When we are suffering, even though we live in a world that is “fallen” and is actually a spiritual war zone, we wonder if there is a particular reason for our  suffering. In a moment we will turn our attention to some possible reasons for your individual suffering.

Though we wonder about a specific reason, it is good to remind oneself of the ramifications of living in a world where everything is fallen, meaning, everything has been influenced by the power of sin and Satan. Everything. Though redemption has been brought about through the Person, life, teaching, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, that redemption is  both “now and not yet fully.”

For example, God has given us infallible truth, and yet we are told by the Apostle Paul that even so, we know only in part and look at truth as if through a smudged window. Later, in the new age, we’ll see perfectly (1 Corinthians 13:9,12). Also, God provides miracles of healing and yet not even Paul the apostle was able to help all of his friends and ministry associates receive healing (1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20). God has revealed Himself as the Provider for our every practical need and yet Jesus acknowledged, “…the poor you will always have with you” (Matthew 26:11). 

If you were living in Ukraine right now, the likelihood of suffering injury or premature death would be greatly increased. Flying bullets, buildings being bombed and falling down around you, and shrapnel, all pose a threat. Similarly, we live in a world where there are sickness-inducing chemicals in the air, water and ground, where frustrated  people behave impatiently, people drive drunk and children are exploited. We do our best to make life work in the midst of such challenges, but we can’t control everything.  With God’s help we aim to experience God’s promises for health, deliverance, provision and joy while living in this fallen world. Yet disappointment and hardship remain part of this life.  Some of the suffering we experience is simply due to living and breathing on this planet. 

But, sometimes even in a war zone like the world we live in, there are additional reasons for suffering. It may be that I am suffering consequences for my sin. Maybe I’ve been sexually permissive and have contracted a STD. Maybe I’ve stolen and gotten myself arrested and have landed in jail. Maybe the reason for my suffering is that God is pruning me or perhaps I’ve entered a dark night of the soul. Each of these is very, very difficult. Asking God “why?” is okay, especially if you are truly confused about why you are suffering your particular hardship. It is good to ask God if He’d like to bring some clarity into your suffering that will lessen your confusion about it. When you ask, ask in the company of your faith community. Don’t try to figure this out by yourself. Yes, God can and often does speak to us personally, but sometimes He wants us to learn to lean into our brothers and sisters so they can not only pray for us in our suffering, but so they can walk alongside us in it. 

This is Tom, here, now, and it will be my own thoughts for the rest of this message. I want to add some things about the “why” question. In my own struggle with physical suffering, I’ve grappled with this in a very personal way. As Kevin says, it can be helpful to ask the Lord about your suffering. Is the Lord trying to teach you something, or trying to address something in your life? At times, that is indeed the case. At times, the Lord allows suffering because he wants to root out something in your life: a lack of faith, or a persistent sin, an attitude that completely unbiblical, a way of relating that hurts others, and so on. It is good to ask “Why?” and then listen for the answer.

But as Kevin also mentioned, there is a whole lot of suffering that simply defies explanation.

One of our most distressing and puzzling questions concerning suffering is the question of why we or our loved ones suffer, when there is no obvious answer along the lines that Kevin offered. My own suffering does not have any easy answers to the “why” question.

I’ll be honest with you: In all of my fifty-five years, with half of those as a pastor, I have never seen any real good come from this question when the answer isn’t already obvious. It is the question that often leads people to reject the God of the Bible. It leads to angst and anger and frustration. I’m not saying it is wrong to question God. The Judeo-Christian tradition has a very healthy attitude toward expressing all feelings – including anger and frustration – toward God. It is neither wrong or bad to question God. He is patient, and he can take it. However, I happen to believe that the question: “Why is this happening?” is not a particularly helpful question to ask, and I’ve rarely seen it lead people to greater peace. Other questions are more constructive.

I think we might find it more useful if we step back and consider why we ask why. I think that what most people are really looking for when they ask the “why” question is to find some reason to believe that their suffering has meaning and purpose, and will ultimately result in something good.

Human beings have a tremendous capacity to suffer when we know that it is for a worthwhile cause. Billions of women each year go through intense pain in order to deliver a child into the world. Many of them have done so multiple times. Soldiers will endure hardship, terror, anguish and pain if they believe in what they are fighting for, if they believe that what they endure is necessary, ultimately, to benefit others. Many soldiers say that what they are most willing to suffer for is each other. There is enough value in knowing that to sustain many.

So, it is natural to want to have a reason, some solid explanation we can cling to, so we can say, “I can endure this terrible thing, because it will result in something good or worthwhile. I can endure, as long as I know that this suffering is not meaningless.”

Some people are blessed to see why they suffer. But many people never find out why they, or their loved ones, have to suffer. Their struggles, pain and hardship all seem so pointless. This is often why people reject the Bible. The Bible reveals God as all-powerful, and all-good. If he has the power, why, then won’t he use it for good? Often times, we want him to do something that, as far as we can tell, God himself tells us is good, right in the Bible. Why then won’t he act? The “logic” continues: either God must not be good (not even by his own definition, as given in the Bible) or he must not be strong enough to make sure good happens instead of evil. Therefore the God of the Bible doesn’t exist.

But there is something missing in this reasoning. The Bible does indeed tell us God is good. It tells us that he is powerful and loving. But it also tells us that we will never be able to fully understand him, or his ways. There is no logical reason for us to suppose that we will always be able to comprehend how God is making our suffering meaningful.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (ESV, Isaiah 55:8-9)

The Bible also reveals God as infinite in all ways. His power is infinite, his goodness is infinite, and his knowledge, wisdom and intelligence are infinite. He has no beginning, no end, no limit beyond those he sets for himself. It doesn’t take a Bible to realize that human beings are not infinite. As a race we had a beginning. As individuals we have beginnings, and so far, every human being that has ever lived, save one, also had an end, at least to this life. Our brains are finite both in physical size and in mental capacity, and in how long they last.

The finite cannot hold the infinite. It’s like turning on a garden hose and trying to contain all the water in a small shot glass. The shot glass can hold some of the water, but the water never stops coming. It is ridiculous to compare the capacity of a shot glass to that which comes endlessly out of a hose.

In the same way, logic compels us to conclude that if God is infinite, we will never be able to understand everything he does, nor why he does it. He has told us some of it, the most important parts, in the scriptures. But He is infinite. There is no book, no library, no collection of libraries, that can tell us everything about an infinite being.

If I believe in an infinite God, then it is not only likely, but probable, that something that looks like terrible suffering to me could actually be something that God is doing that will be better for me than anything I can imagine.

A few years ago a friend of ours brought her baby to stay with us while she went to the dentist. The baby was about nine months old. He was at that stage that most babies experience, where he was realizing that he was a separate being from his mother. Babies at that point tend to be very clingy, and they become very upset when separated from family members.

When his mother left, he was heartbroken. He sobbed – well, he sobbed like a baby. As far as he knew, he would never see his mother again. We took care of him, and tried to comfort him, but there was really no way we could make him understand that in reality, everything was perfectly all right. We spoke to him, and explained, but of course, he really was too little to understand our words, let alone the concept. We knew that his mother was going to come back, and neither he, nor she, would come to any harm.

This little baby boy was entirely safe. With our fully developed brains and much greater experience, we could clearly see that there was nothing whatsoever for him to cry about. But his still-developing brain did not have the capacity to understand our explanations and reassurances.

The truth is, it was entirely appropriate for the baby to cry. He thought he had lost his mother. He had no way of understanding that he hadn’t. Crying, based on his developmental level, was perfectly normal. We weren’t upset with him for crying; we understood that he couldn’t understand. To tie this with our current series, it was perfectly appropriate for this baby to lament.

At the same time, while his grief was entirely appropriate, in the big picture, there was nothing actually wrong.

Sometimes I think we are like that little baby. The grief that we experience is real and appropriate. It would be cruel to make light of our pain and suffering. It makes perfect sense, and it is even good, for us to lament. At the same time, I believe that we simply do not have the capacity to see the bigger picture. If God is infinite, it is entirely possible, even probable, that there is a deeply satisfying answer to why we suffer, but we simply cannot comprehend it.

This is exactly what the Bible tells us about pain and suffering.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18, ESV)

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV)

We can’t see it. We can’t quite grasp it in the here and now. But the promise is that when we stand face to face with Jesus, we will be more than satisfied with what we receive in return for our sufferings.

We may or may not ever know the reason why. But the All-Good, All-Powerful, All-Wise, Infinite God invites us not to understand, but to trust Him.

Abraham walked with God for many years, decades in fact. God made promises to him, and those promises were delayed for years and years. Abraham and his wife Sarah made many false moves and missteps during all this time. Finally, Abraham’s son Isaac was born. Isaac was the fulfillment of all of Abraham’s lifelong hopes and dreams. Thirteen years passed, years in which Abraham grew not only to love him, but feel for him the overwhelming combination of pride and gratitude that only a father can fully appreciate. On top of all of this, Isaac was God’s own answer to Abraham’s many prayers. I don’t think it would be too much to say that Isaac meant the whole world to his father.

One night God came to Abraham. He commanded Abraham to take his son, this object of fatherly-pride, and love and joy and promises, and kill him as a sacrifice to God.

Now, God is always God. He can always give whatever he wants, take whatever he wants. But the question for Abraham was this: “Do you agree that God has the right to do that in your own life? Will you trust that God is good and right and loving even while he takes away your lifelong dreams, your hopes of a future, you pride and joy, your fiercely beloved son?” It wasn’t just about whether or not God was capable of it. It was about whether Abraham would trust God while he destroyed Abraham’s life in front of his eyes.

Abraham answered the question with a resounding “yes.”

As it turns out, God did not make Abraham go through with it. The question of God’s right to ask everything of Abraham was settled for once and all.

Instead, God was the one who offered up his one and only Son, his fiercely, eternally-beloved son. It was Jesus who trusted even while God abandoned him, and withdrew the eternal sense of presence that had been the wellspring of his eternal joy. God turned his back while his Son was condemned, covered in sin and shame that were not his own, and sent to hell to pay a price he did not owe.

No matter what God asks of us, it will never be as much as what he himself has already done for us. No matter what we or our loved-ones suffer it will never be as unjust as the suffering of Jesus.

We can trust God, even when we don’t understand, because he has shown that he is trustworthy. He is not a God who sits distant in heaven and demands that we perform. He himself suffered on our behalf. He promises to be present with us in absolutely everything we encounter, including suffering. In my own experience, he is present in suffering in a particularly powerful way. Author Tim Keller puts it like this:

“So suffering is at the very heart of the Christian faith. It is not only the way Christ became like and redeemed us, but it is one of the main ways we become like him and experience his redemption. And that means that our suffering, despite its painfulness, is also filled with purpose and usefulness.” (Tim Keller, Walking With God through Pain and Suffering)

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Lament/lam2.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Lament Part 2

Once again, I will be adding things in the recorded audio sermon that may not show up in the written version. Please consider listening to the audio.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, the famous chapter on love, that among the many things that is true of divine love is this: “…love keeps no record of wrongs” (v. 5).

If you lament however, and pour out your complaint to the Lord, as David did in Psalm 142 (discussed last week), it may seem that you are doing exactly that. Yet, I am trying to make the case that there is a difference between lamenting, in which you identify the specific nature of your troubles, and in keeping a record of wrongs. The two can look very much alike, but what distinguishes them is your “why.” 

If you take offense and allow yourself to become bitter, you view everything in your life through the lens of what was done to hurt you. You become a victim. To everyone who will listen, you will recite in detail what various people did to hurt you. You do this in order to receive sympathy and support for your case against those who injured you. There is a tone of resentment that seeps through these discussions. This is evidence that your heart is unhealed and it is a clear indication that you need both healing in your heart and you need to learn to cancel the debt of the person or people who have hurt you. By the way, this is a bit different than processing your hurt with people who can help you heal. The person who has taken offense is someone who doesn’t plan to heal. They just want to complain.

 (Tom here, now, for this paragraph) We should remember that it is possible take offense at God, and even resent him. In such cases, we might complain to him, but our complaint to God has no trust, no hope. In such cases we are merely expressing our dissatisfaction, and we want to show not that we trust God, but rather, that it seems he has failed us. This was the kind of grumbling that the people of Israel did in their journey between Egypt and the Promised Land.

By contrast, the lamenter’s focus is one of trust in God. He or she has a purpose in verbally identifying the specific nature of his or her troubles in order to invite God into them. This process is very similar to asking God to heal your physical body. Usually when you do that you are very familiar with the particular ailment that you want God to heal. You mention it by name. When you are asking Him for healing, it is likely you will say something like, “Lord, I would like you to heal my back…” Or, “Please heal my skin cancer…” 

When you do that, you are not offended by the problem. You certainly don’t like the thing that afflicts you, but you want to identify it in order to bring it to the Lord for healing. That’s what we are doing when we are lamenting and pouring out our complaint to the Lord. This is why doing so is not grumbling or murmuring. 

What I’m recommending in this series is identifying to God the things that are creating misery, anguish, torment, grief, relational loss, anger, or even a sense of rejection in your life.

I am encouraging you to get specific in your lamenting to God about the particular nature of the pain you are feeling. Perhaps you have experienced a relational injury and you know that eventually, it will be to your benefit to get to a place of forgiving the person who hurt you. That’s good, but you won’t get there by pretending everything is okay. It’s much more authentic and beneficial to you if you talk to God about how you were injured. What was said that you find hurtful? Christians often make the mistake of prioritizing forgiving someone over receiving healing for the pain that sets them up for future resentment. If you attempt to forgive before you lean into your pain and bring it to the Lord, you short circuit the process. In order to be able to authentically cancel someone’s relational debt, you must not minimize what happened. It may be that there are a hundred other people who have experienced worse than what you experienced, but if what happened to you hurt you, it matters. So begin there. Feel your feelings. They are there to serve you. It was God who gave you the capacity to feel. Your feelings are like spiritual nerve endings which inform you of an injury. Pay attention to them. Identify them. Say out loud how someone’s actions make you feel. Did they make you feel shamed? Accused? Condemned? Judged? Insulted? Disrespected? Dishonored? Misunderstood? Rejected? Exploited? Victimized? Abused? Admitting them is an important first step to healing. Admit them and lament them. Grieve them. And, invite God in.  

Lamenting is good for your spiritual health. It keeps you from imploding. It helps you avoid fakery. Lamenters understand that you don’t have to “fake it till you make it.” Lamenters are not image managers. They get comfortable letting it all hang out because they know God is a God of big shoulders. He’s not fussy– not annoyed by the lamenter’s anger, frustration, hatred or by the raw language they may use to express their frustration. Why? Because a lamenter is turning toward God in his pain. 

Grumbling is not good for your health. Grumbling causes you to focus on your problems. The grumbler is stuck in a rut because He stopped inviting God in. He or she is actually keeping God at arms length. Grumbling is the breeding ground for resentment. The grumbler has an entitlement mindset and his temporary disappointment with God becomes permanent because He views God as someone who was supposed to help Him cope. He views God like an illicit drug– something to make him feel better. In their hearts, grumblers feel that God is a means to an end, and they feel he has failed to do for them what they expect him to do. In other words, the grumbler’s world is oriented around him/her self and not around what delights God. Perhaps it never was. 

It’s been occurring to me a lot lately that this way of thinking, that is, the one that is based on orienting my life around myself is a counterfeit version of real Christianity. The real disciple of Jesus is called to a life that is oriented around, centered in and based on Jesus of Nazareth. It’s normal for every person, including every genuine follower of Jesus to want things to go well. It’s normal to work hard at making life work, however we define that. BUT and this is a big “but,” but an actual follower of Jesus has embraced the idea that it is right, good and holy to forsake literally everything to follow Jesus, to surrender every agenda, every longing, every ache, every hope, dream and ambition in favor of living to please the Savior. He or she adopts and begins, over the course of time, to embody the motto, “not my will, but Yours be done.” He or she has come to the realization that he or she must be grounded in the value that God’s Kingdom is his/her first priority (Matthew 6:24). 

A lamenter can sound a lot like a grumbler. The thing that makes lamenting different is the reason behind your complaining. The lamenter is turning to God, not away from God and inviting God into his or her hardships. Doing this can lead to some questions, questions like “Why?” This question usually bubbles out of the profound confusion that disables the lamenter. The lamenter’s pain is profound, and his/her confusion is great. He or she simply must ask, “Why?” Next week we’ll lean into this question more fully.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: http://www.lifetogetherchurches.com/media/sermons/Lament/lam1.mp3

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. You can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Lament Part 1

When I was a young pastor, I used to meet weekly with another pastor who was about 18 years older than me. His name is Kevin McClure. We met almost every week for about seven years. Kevin and I encouraged one another, learned from one another, and became friends.  I don’t see him very often any more (2 times in the last two years) but I still consider him a dear friend, and precious brother in Christ.

Kevin writes a weekly email called the E-pistle. The E-pistles are generally fairly short and pithy. Kevin might take several weeks to offer short teachings on one subject, and then move on to another topic. Recently, he started an E-pistle series on the topic of Lament and Grumbling. I found his thoughts interesting and helpful.

For the next several weeks, I’m going to be laid up after rotator cuff surgery, which will add a layer on top of my “normal” pain. So, I got Pastor Kevin’s permission to use his E-pistles on Grumbling vs. Lamenting. I know that many of you prefer to listen. Kevin is retired, which means he is too busy to record these as sermons . So, with Kevin’s permission, I’ll read what he has written, and, at times, add a few thoughts of my own. I probably won’t mess much with what Kevin has written, because I won’t be able to type for a few weeks. So if you normally read, you might want to consider listening to this series instead; otherwise you might miss some of the sermon. Usually, I’ll probably use 2-3 E-pistle episodes as one sermon. In general, I would say that 80-95% of what I say in the recording will be Kevin’s words, and, depending on the message, 5-20% will be clarifications or other comments that I add.

If you are blessed by this series, please consider leaving a comment below, and I’ll share the comments with pastor Kevin McClure.

Ever grumble? If you are familiar with Scripture, you know that God doesn’t look kindly at it (Numbers 14:27). He was very upset by the grumbling and murmuring of some of the people whom He liberated from Egyptian slavery. In spite of what God had done for them when He provided a miraculous deliverance from Egyptian oppression, in spite of the way He led them through the Red Sea and demonstrated His presence quite supernaturally in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of loud by day– in spite of all of this, some of His people whined every time it looked like they’d be facing another trial. There seemed to be little trust in God. Grumbling and murmuring dishonors God and sets you up for additional trouble.

The New Testament isn’t soft on grumbling either. Check out the following words by Paul: “Do everything without complaining or arguing…” (Philippians 2:14,15). James takes a dim view of it too: “”Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged…” (5:9)

On the other hand, God seems to welcome laments. These have the tone of a complaint but they are different. How? The people who are recorded as lamenting are worshippers, psalmists, who like the murmurers are suffering, but unlike them, they turn to God in their pain. They ask the questions every suffering person will eventually ask if he or she is actually paying attention. They ask, “Why?” and “How long?” and “Where are You?”

Jesus Himself lamented. Remember, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” That’s a lament. Lamenting is an honest way to pour out your troubles and invite God into them.

Over the course of the next few weeks I want to address the upside of being absolutely honest with God about the pain you are feeling in your suffering– identifying it and presenting it to Him to invite Him into it. We’ll explore a number of things, eventually getting to the three questions the lamenting psalmists ask.

During the days of Moses’ leadership, grumblers incurred God’s wrath because they were ungrateful and because they did not invite God into their concerns. In essence, they spurned God, belly-aching, but not inviting Him in.  Lamenters also face pain. But in their suffering they cry out to God. Consider Psalm 142:

​

A psalm of David, regarding his experience in the cave. A prayer.
1 I cry out to the LORD;
I plead for the LORD’s mercy.
2 I pour out my complaints before him
and tell him all my troubles.
3 When I am overwhelmed,
you alone know the way I should turn.
Wherever I go,
my enemies have set traps for me.
4 I look for someone to come and help me,
but no one gives me a passing thought!
No one will help me;
no one cares a bit what happens to me.
5 Then I pray to you, O LORD.
I say, “You are my place of refuge.
You are all I really want in life.
6 Hear my cry,
for I am very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
7 Bring me out of prison
so I can thank you.
The godly will crowd around me,
for you are good to me.” (Psalms 142, NLT)

David probably prayed this before he wrote it. This “complaint” bubbled out of him when he was in a cave. When was he in a cave? He may have been in a cave a  time or two when he was shepherding his dad’s sheep, but more than likely, he’s talking about the time he was hiding from King Saul, who was trying to kill him (1 Samuel 24). In this psalm, he specifically mentions being in trouble. So, if he’s referring to the incident I think he is, his very life was at risk. That’s serious trouble. Unlike a grumbler who would simply harp about his situation, he talks to the Lord. Why? Because God had shown David  many times that He is trustworthy. David didn’t hide from God that he didn’t like his situation. It’s okay to do that, especially if  you invite God into it. 

     It takes faith to invite God into  your troubles. You might be low on faith at the moment. When you go through trouble, your faith takes a lot of hits and it can influence you to question whether God really cares. You might feel like you are really shaky. That’s okay. If you’ve never gotten to that place, it’s probably because you haven’t been tried to the extreme. When you  have faced extreme pain, pain that leaves  you feeling unstable, when you feel like your soundness of mind is hardly hanging on by a thread, you are probably not feeling strong in faith. That’s okay! It’s okay! That’s a great time to talk to God and ask Him to bolster your faith. Ask Him to help you find Him in the pain. It’s certainly fine to even ask Him  to deliver you out of your suffering– remember Someone saying, “Father, if possible, let this cup pass me by…?” Yes, even Jesus prayed that way. Yes, we know he also added, “yet not my will, but Yours be done” but we sometimes fail to linger in that place where our pain instructs us to cry for deliverance. This is another subject that I hope to explore some day in an E-pistle, but for now I just want to mention that Christians are far less in touch with their humanity than Jesus was. 

     If you’ve never done this, write out your prayer-complaint to God. What is it that you are facing that is so distressing? What would you like Him to do about it? Add that too. More on this next week.

The very end of the book of Samuel encourages us to put our hope in the only appropriate place: God’s mercy. We don’t need to waste time wishing for a great leader. We don’t need to waste our hopes and dreams on things that will always, eventually, let us down. Instead, the Lord is continually calling us to look to him for our greatest and most enduring hope. Sometimes that call from the Lord comes through judgment, but even then, the ultimate purpose is to bring us back to the Lord.

This is our very last sermon on the book of Samuel (which includes both 1st and 2nd Samuel). Remember it began with the prayer of a godly woman, who desperately wanted a baby, but, at the same time, she wanted it only on God’s terms. So the Lord gave her Samuel, who became a great prophet and leader for Israel. As Samuel grew older, the people began to fear. His sons were nothing like him, and the people were worried about what would happen when Samuel left. So, they asked for a king. In Saul they got the kind of king they wanted: Big, and impressive looking. But Saul had deep fears and insecurities, and time and time again, he refused to trust the Lord. Instead, when he was worried, he took control of things, rather than trusting the Lord, or doing things the way the Lord commanded. Then came David, and we followed his life from the time he was an unknown shepherd, through his slaying of Goliath, his many victories as a battle-leader for Saul, and then his trials and sufferings when Saul tried for years to have him killed. Then David became king, and in general, he was a good one, deeply concerned, above all, with what the Lord wanted. David failed horribly during his middle-aged years, but he returned to whole-heartedly following the Lord.

When we read 2 Samuel chapter 24, it seems like the whole book of Samuel ends rather abruptly. But when we understand that it is the final part of a six-part epilogue, it begins to make more sense.

Up through the end of the chronological narrative, in chapter twenty, David appears to be an inspiring hero, a wise and just leader. Yes, we learned of his failings during the years with Bathsheba, but following that, he returned to being the man whose one goal was to please the Lord. By the end of 2 Samuel chapter 20 (the end of the chronological narrative) readers are bound to be very impressed by David, because he really was an extraordinary and admirable person.

David’s amazingness is one reason for the epilogue at the end of the book. The author of Samuel wants to make sure we aren’t confused. This book isn’t about David, it’s about the Lord. So the author is using this epilogue to show us that not even an earthly leader like David is the answer for our hopes and fears. He keeps pointing us back to the Lord himself. Remember that this epilogue is written in ancient chiastic structure, which involves sections that mirror one another. The very first part of the epilogue told of a famine that came upon the land because of a terrible sin committed by Saul. This last part, which mirrors the first, is about a plague that came upon the land because of a sin committed by David. In the first part, we learned that the only way they could atone for Saul’s sin was to execute seven men from his family. Now we learn that at some point, David also committed a similar sin that affected the entire country. I feel pretty confident that this was not at the end of David’s life, but rather some point when he was younger. Remember, this epilogue is not set out chronologically.

This same incident is also recorded in 1 Chronicles 21. I’ll be using some things from that passage to help us understand the situation. It says in this text that the Lord was angry at Israel, and stirred up David to take a census. In 1 Chronicles 21, it says that Satan, plotting against Israel, incited David to sin by taking a census. Either way, we can see that the consequence of David’s sin was that all Israel suffered. I think one of the first questions should be, “Was it God or was it Satan?” As I have mentioned in previous messages, there are several other places in the Old Testament where the Lord used evil spirits to accomplish his purposes: Judges 9:23-24, 1 Kings 22:18-23, 1 Samuel 16:14, and Job 1:6-12. In each case the picture we get is the Lord allowing an evil spirit to affect a particular person or group. In each case, the evil spirit wants to do the evil, but must get permission from God first. God’s permission to the evil spirit seems to be limited to what will accomplish his (God’s) purpose. In most of these cases, the purpose is to bring judgment, and if possible, repentance. [For a longer discussion of this issue please go to one of my previous sermons: Does God Send Evil Spirits?]

So it is entirely consistent to see God allowing a limited evil influence upon David in order to accomplish his purposes. It was Satan who tempted David, but it was ultimately God who allowed that temptation to happen. The answer to our first question then is: both. It was both God and the devil.

The next natural question is, “Why did God let this happen?” My most honest answer is, “I don’t know for sure.” I do have some ideas, however.

Clearly, the Lord felt that, at this point in time, there was something not right in David’s heart – and also not right in the hearts of the people. Again, we don’t know exactly when this happened. In fact, I suspect that this may have happened before David sinned with Bathsheba, during the time when he had begun to drift away from the Lord for a season.

Let’s start with a clear biblical understanding of sin and punishment and judgment. There is only one satisfactory and just punishment for sin. According to the Bible that one appropriate punishment is eternal separation from God. Since God is the source of all Life and all Good, that separation means death and unimaginable suffering. So if David and the people of Israel were not killed and sent away from God’s presence forever (that is, hell) then they were not being punished for doing wrong. They were being judged. There is a difference. It was God’s punishment for our sins that Jesus took upon himself.

In the Bible, God’s judgment establishes that his actions are right and good, and that ours are wrong and sinful. God uses judgment to try and get people to repent and turn to Him and receive life, hope and forgiveness through Jesus. Judgment always has this purpose: to turn people back to the Lord. It isn’t vindictiveness or anger or even righteous punishment. It is an extreme measure of love. It is like amputating a limb to keep the deadly cancer from spreading, or taking the car keys away from someone who drinks too much. It seems harsh, but it is intended for good, for love.

So God allowed the sin in the hearts of David and his people to be revealed through temptation, and then he brought judgment to turn them back to Himself.

When I was fifteen I tore open the back of my heel in an accident, and had to have stitches. It was in Papua New Guinea, and the healthcare I received was, unfortunately, typical for third world countries at the time. The wound became infected. It sealed up on the outside, but underneath, it was filled with pus and infection. Left alone, it would have looked all right, but eventually it would have developed gangrene and rotted my foot and leg, finally killing me. My dad realized what was happening. He made me lie down, while he clamped my leg to hold it still. He squeezed around the wound and it was incredibly painful. The wound burst open and what came out was truly disgusting. For almost a week afterward I had a gaping, weeping hole in my heel. I still have a scar there. But it was absolutely necessary that the infection be exposed and cleaned out.

So, the Lord exposed what was hidden in the hearts of David and of the people, and then cleaned the infection, though it was a painful, awful-seeming process. My dad inflicted pain upon me in order to bring about my healing. He didn’t cause the infection, but he did cause me pain in order to first expose it, and then eliminate it. So God did not cause the problem in the hearts of his people, but he loved them enough to engage in the painful process of exposing it and judging it, to bring them back to himself.

Now, another question that I have is: what was so bad about taking a census? Moses did it twice – because God told him to. So why shouldn’t David do it? How did the census expose the sin of David and of Israel? I think this is also an important question to ask.

I have to admit, this part is speculative. Here are some possible reasons. Perhaps it was pride. Maybe David wanted to know how great his kingdom was. Or maybe he was contemplating a new conquest that was not sanctioned by the Lord, and he wanted to know if his army was big enough to do it. Another possibility is that he was afraid of rebellion, and was using the census to ferret out any potential enemies. The men of Judah and those of the other tribes were recorded separately. So maybe David was afraid, and was trying to see if the men of Judah had enough soldiers to defeat the other tribes if it came to civil war again.

In any case, it did not arise from faith. Romans 14:23 says: “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” We want a book of rules, so we can just take care of things on our own, and not make the effort of staying close to the Lord. Rule 447, paragraph 8, section c: “Do not ever take a census.” But living that way actually separates us from God, because it allows us to function “righteously” without really interacting with him. Even if we do the right thing, it needs to be because we are living in right relationship. Taking a census is not always wrong. But David was not walking in faith.

Here is one other possible problem with this census, and it is the one I am inclined to think most likely. It could be that David ordered it to be conducted in a way that violated something the Lord said in Exodus 30:11-16.

The LORD spoke to Moses: “When you take a census of the Israelites to register them, each of the men must pay a ransom for himself to the LORD as they are registered. Then no plague will come on them as they are registered. Everyone who is registered must pay half a shekel according to the sanctuary shekel. This half shekel is a contribution to the LORD. Each man who is registered, 20 years old or more, must give this contribution to the LORD. The wealthy may not give more and the poor may not give less than half a shekel when giving the contribution to the LORD to atone for your lives. Take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will serve as a reminder for the Israelites before the LORD to atone for your lives.”  (Exod 30:11-16, HCSB)

The point of this was to recognize that the Lord owns all of the people. They don’t own themselves – they owe their lives to the Lord. In the same way, no leader (for example, like David) owns the people – they all belong to God. It may be that the people did not want to pay the census fee, nor did David want to require it of them. This exposed that in their hearts they were not serious about belonging to God as a people. This may be the sin in the hearts of the people that God was exposing.

With the sin exposed, God acted in judgment, to bring the people back to himself. Because David repented so quickly, the Lord gave David a choice about the form of judgment: three months of rebellion and battle, or three years of famine, or three days of a plague. David chose the last one, as I would have. He trusted God’s mercy (in the form of the plague) more than the “mercy” of a human enemy.

As the plague was coming to Jerusalem, David apparently had a vision of God’s angel striking the people. He cried out for mercy for them, pleading with God to limit the judgment to himself, to strike him and save the people. God did not do that—not yet—but he did end the plague at that point. The angel in the vision stopped. David’s plea to be punished instead of the people echoes the heart of the ultimate chosen one, Jesus, whom God did punish in place of all sinful people.

What follows is very interesting. The Lord sent the prophet Gad, who told David to make sacrifices and offerings on the spot where he saw the angel stop. If you remember, Jerusalem in David’s time was fairly small, maybe ten or fifteen acres. It was on the tip of a ridge, with deep ravines to the east and west and south. Behind David’s city to the north, the ridge rose to the top of the mountain. It was there, at the top of that ridge or mountain, where David went to offer his sacrifices. This was about 1/3 of a mile from the north wall. The picture below gives you a rough sense of the geography, though it is not 100% accurate.

David found the land was owned by a Jebusite, not an Israelite. Refusing to take it as a gift, David purchased the land, and made offerings and sacrifices there. This ridge-top was the very place where Abraham had taken his son Isaac, when he obeyed God’s call to sacrifice him. On that mountaintop, Isaac, not knowing what was to come, asked what they were going to use for a sacrifice. Abraham answered prophetically, saying, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Gen 22:8, HCSB). God stopped Abraham when he saw that he was willing to give up even his son. Instead, God planned to give his own son. And so on this same spot, almost eight hundred years later, the plague was stopped. On this same spot, David offered his life in exchange for his people, but again, the Lord refused that sacrifice, looking ahead to the time he would offer his own son. On this same spot, purchased by David, Solomon later built the temple of the Lord. This temple became a meeting place between the Lord and his people, a place where sacrifices were offered to reconcile the people with the Lord and each other. So, the author of Samuel, who lived in the next generation after the temple was built, is saying: “Don’t waste your energy wanting another king like David. Instead, pay attention to the presence of God among his people.”

The New Testament teaches us that those sacrifices were all a shadow, pointing toward the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus to save people from their sins. The writer of Hebrews writes about the temple, and its purpose:

9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. (Hebrews 9:9-12, NLT)

In other words, even though the writer of Samuel did not know it, this epilogue points beyond David, even beyond the temple, and to the eternal atonement that Jesus secured for us. The message is that we need atonement, and only God himself can truly provide it. And not only that, but God has provided it, through Jesus Christ, the descendant of David.

We human beings tend to make the same mistakes in each generation. Many people in our country are very focused on politics and on the “culture wars.” But our main focus should be on Jesus Christ, and reconciliation with the Lord through him.

What are the things you tend to put your hope in? A job? Your skill or experience? Your family? Your investments, your house? All these are good things when they are held in the right place of importance in our lives. But as good as it is to enjoy the blessings God gives us, our only hope should be found in Jesus Christ alone.

How has the Lord spoken to you through the book of Samuel?