The Kingdom Perspective

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to the Kingdom Perspective.

Death and disease are unavoidable in this fallen world. And whether we like it or not, they are a stark reminder of both our frailty and the frivolity of our way of life.

The difficult reality of death can drive us to anxiety—for our health, our well-being, our loved ones, our way of life…the list goes on.

My friends, this is precisely where the hope of the gospel shines. Our whole gospel banks its hope not on a better, more comfortable, or freer life in the here-and-now. Rather, it banks its hope on the promise of a new life beyond the grave. It looks to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and the sure hope of eternal life in Him. And far from making us ineffective in the midst of crisis, this hope anchors us in the storm—“a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul”, as the writer of Hebrews puts it.

That’s why the Apostle Peter speaks of us being “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Indeed, we have an “inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, reserved in heaven for us”—protected by the power of God—even in the midst of these very real, earthly trials.

Indeed, the troubles and trials themselves work only to refine us for the beauty of His glory. Thus, the turmoil and tragedy of our lives becomes the opportunity for this hope to shine through us. Our tears become our triumph!

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…”

~ 1 Peter 1:3-7 (NASB)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

In His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that the church is to be a “city on a hill” (Matthew 5:14). By this He means that we are to be a new social arrangement visible for all the world to see—a community of redemption in an otherwise rancorous culture (Philippians 2:14). The church is a foretaste of heaven, pointing the way to the kingdom of God.

Thus, the way we live together, as the church, is to be the most distinct and attractive thing about us. We are to interact with one another in such a way that the unbelieving world takes notice. Our love for one another functions like a lighthouse, guiding the way to safe harbor.

Jesus put it like this in the gospel of John,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 emphasis added)

Note well, the repeated “one another” references. Jesus’s emphasis is on how we treat our fellow Christians. Certainly, we are to care for our unbelieving neighbors indiscriminately and this, indeed, is a witness to them. But the most distinctive thing about us, Jesus says, is how we delightfully and indiscriminately love and care for one another—regardless of our differences (ethnic, political, economic, etc.). Such a community is extremely attractive and outrageously rare. But, it is this kind of love that sets us apart as Jesus’s people.

Do you actively pursue loving like this?

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.’”

~ John 13:1-11, 31-35 (NASB)

“Do all things without complaining or arguments; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding firmly the word of life, so that on the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.”

~ Philippians 2:14-16 (NASB)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

For us as modern-day thinkers, one of strangest commands in the Bible is the command to “fear the Lord.” Everywhere in Scripture the fear of God is the presented as the very foundation of true religion— the very beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 9:10 and 1:7).

But what does this mean? How could living in fear of another, especially God, be good and psychologically healthy?

Well, we need to understand what we mean by fear. In the Bible, fearing God means to treasure Him above all else—to value and cherish His character, reputation and holiness above everything, even our own lives. The fear of God is not, at its core, a mere dread of divine punishment. Indeed, it is true that God is our ultimate judge and that one day each of us will give an account of our lives to Him. However, obeying Him merely out of a fear of punishment is not to treasure God at all. It is treasuring ourselves. In such case, we are merely looking out for our own well-being.

Rather, God calls us to a different kind of relationship with Him—a different kind of fear. Listen to Deuteronomy 10:

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to LOVE him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul...." [emphasis added]

Indeed, if God is our Maker (the very source of all reality!), then He must also be the source of all pleasure and goodness. And so, not to treasure Him above all else would be the very height of foolishness.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.”
~ Deuteronomy 10:12-16 (ESV)

Transcript:

Fear is a controlling principle. Its tactical maneuver is to intimidate and then dominate. And the greater the fear, the greater the ability to dominate.

It does this by promising us safety and security. It tells us that if we can control our lives tightly enough, then we can be assured we will be safe and sound. We will finally have the life we “need” and “deserve”, with “nothing to fear”. “Control is the path to blessing!”

Now, the problem with such thinking from a Christian perspective is that God commands us to love, and love requires us to relinquish control and become vulnerable to God and others. Love demands risk. Love requires us to lose our lives for God and others.

C.S. Lewis exposes the fallacy of such fearful thinking in his classic work The Four Loves. Listen to what he writes:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

Now, Jesus put it this way: If you want to save your life, you must lose it. But if you lose your life—if you risk it and lay it down for God and others—you will find it.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you. The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what has happened that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. The one who does not love Me does not follow My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.’”
~ John 14:18-24 (NASB)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Nobody likes someone who boasts. We’ve all been at that dinner party where one of the other guests can’t stop talking about themselves and all their accomplishments. What a bore! Yet, if the truth were known we’re all private boasters in some way. It may be our good looks. Maybe it’s our superior education or intellect. It may be our money or social status. Perhaps we feel that we have fared better than others in raising our kids the “right way”. Then again, maybe we flatter ourselves that we’ve attained a higher standard of ethics or morality than most. Maybe even, it’s that we pat ourselves on the back for our “spirituality” or religious pursuits. Whatever it is, we all tend to be closet boasters.

But what does this boast gain us in our status before God? Well, the Prophet Jeremiah records these penetrating words. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD….” (Jeremiah 9). From God’s perspective nothing else really matters except knowing Him. Being in a loving and obedient relationship with your Creator is the very point of life.

So, what about you? What’s your private boast? Do you have God’s perspective on what really matters?

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“This is what the Lord says: “Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the mighty man boast of his might, nor a rich man boast of his riches; but let the one who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.”

~ Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NASB)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

What do you fear? What are you afraid of?

Fear is a very controlling emotion. And the goodness of or badness of any given fear is not so much the fear itself but the object of that fear. What are you afraid of?

Fear cannot be avoided. Life is a trade-off of fears. This is why two of the most common commands of Scripture seem so contradictory. On the one hand, we are commanded “Fear not!” But on the other hand, we are commanded to “Fear God!”

Well, which is it? Both! God commands us to not fear some things, so that we might fear the one thing that matters the most—Him! Again, fear can either be good or bad, depending on its object.

This means that having the right kind of fear (the fear of God) drives out the wrong kind of fear. So, the Bible tells us “Fearing people is a snare”—it’s a dangerous trap (Proverbs 29:25). When we fear others, we become slaves of what they think of us. However, to the degree that we “fear God” to that degree we are liberated from what others think. Thus, Proverbs tell us that “Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death” (Proverbs 14:27)

You see, the fear of the Lord liberates us. It puts our lives in the proper perspective, reorienting the fears of our hearts to their proper object—God Himself. We were made by Him and for Him.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“The fear of man lays a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.”
~ Proverbs 29:25 (ESV)

“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence,
and his children will have a refuge.
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
that one may turn away from the snares of death.”
~ Proverbs 14:26-27 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello. This is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Have you ever heard that old expression: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? Well, there is a mountain of spiritual truth in this little pebble of worldly wisdom. Absolutely nothing is more important in life than knowing the One who made you. Of all the relationships in your life, your relationship with your Creator is most critical. 

Look, this only stands to reason. If God is the very One who designed you and sustains you, then knowing Him is necessary to truly understanding yourself and your purpose in the world. Who am I? Why am I here? What’s the purpose of my life? What’s my destiny?

Jesus at the end of his earthly life had this to say, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). The implication is clear. If you want to have eternal life, then you must KNOW God and therefore KNOW Jesus. Life is about God. Indeed “eternal life” is synonymous with knowing Him. Being in relationship with Him is eternal life.

So, have you ever thought much about the state of your relationship with God? Do you know whether you know God at all? Nothing could be more critical if you desire the reality of true life.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Jesus spoke these things; and raising His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, so that the Son may glorify You, just as You gave Him authority over all mankind, so that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth by accomplishing the work which You have given Me to do. And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed.’”

~ John 17:1-5 (NASB)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Is fear good or bad? Well, that just depends on the context. The question is not so much whether we fear, but what drives our fears; and whether any given fear is appropriate to its object. A person that is deathly afraid of being struck by lightning, so much so that he hides out in his basement whenever a cloud appears in the sky is not experiencing fear that is appropriate to the circumstance. On the other hand, someone who has no fear of gravity— fearlessly jumping from an airplane without a parachute—is not in touch with reality; though, should he jump without the parachute, he’ll come in contact with reality soon enough.

All humor aside, bad fear always operates in the mere possibility—the endless “what ifs” conjured up by our anxious hearts. On the contrary, good fear operates in reality. It sees things for what they really are. It has a properly ordered set of fears. It recognizes that it’s only reasonable that the highest object of fear must be my Creator. I was made by Him and for Him. He sustains my being. He holds my next heartbeat. Knowing this puts so many of our other fears in proper perspective.

And so, Jesus warns His followers:
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”

And so, Proverbs tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” (Proverbs 9:10). When we begin with the fear of God, all our other fears find their proper place.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
~ Luke 12:4-7 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

We are easily tempted to both judge others and live under the judgment of others. This dynamic is toxic both to our souls and to our relationships.

However, in the gospel, we are called to live under God’s assessment of us, and not set ourselves or others up as the judge.

The theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells us that being a Christian means living under the judgment of Jesus alone. Bonhoeffer was referencing the fact that, as human beings, we can’t help but live under the assessment of some judge or law. And since we were made to live under the judgment of God’s gaze, when we reject Him, something else will take its place.

Often, in times of social tension, we will feel the heat of living under the gaze of others more intensely. Am I socially aware enough? Am I responding to this crisis or that crisis properly? Am I sensitive enough to this issue or that issue? What do people think of me?

Now, as a Christian you are free from the judgment of others and, perhaps even more profoundly, from the judgment of your own conscience. Why? Not because there is no standard to which you are called and by which you will be judged. No! Rather, because Jesus, the ultimate judge, was already judged for you. The true Judge has rendered His verdict, and He did so on the cross, where He died for you.

This is tremendously liberating, and when properly understood leads us not to dismiss others and their concerns, but to understand them and to serve them—just like Jesus did for us.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”

~ 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (NASB)

Transcript:

Hello. This is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

“Life stinks and then you die,” so says a very cynical bumper sticker I saw one time. It makes me ask the question: Why is life in the modern world characterized by such hopelessness and meaninglessness? Does life have a purpose, and if so, what is it?

A statement by some Christians from another era I think is helpful at this point. When asked what the meaning or purpose of life was, they said, “To glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever” (Question 1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, AD 1647). Much could be said regarding the richness of this statement, but at least one thing must be emphasized. To them meaning or purpose in life is found in relation to God. Our purpose as human beings is to maximize our relationship with the Supreme Being—to glorify Him, to know Him, indeed, to ENJOY Him!

We were made to enjoy God. You can’t enjoy someone you don’t know. Maybe the reason you don’t enjoy your relationship with God is because you don’t really know Him, or you don’t know much about Him. All relationships require investment. They require you to put in time. Only to the degree you put in time getting to know someone are you able to grow in that relationship. And if knowing God is the purpose of life, then only to the degree that you put in the time listening to His Word and talking to Him in prayer will you be able to know and experience your ultimate meaning and purpose.

Now that’s worth thinking about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You.

I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord’;

I have nothing good besides You.”

As for the saints who are on the earth,

They are the majestic ones; all my delight is in them.

The pains of those who have acquired another god will be multiplied;

I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood,

Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You support my lot.

The measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

Indeed, my inheritance is beautiful to me.

I will bless the Lord who has advised me;

Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

I have set the Lord continually before me;

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will dwell securely.

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

You will make known to me the way of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

~Psalm 16:1-11 (NASB)