The Kingdom Perspective

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church.

I’m recording this in a cemetery, because today, in the United States, it’s Memorial Day. It is the day that we celebrate those who have given their lives for the service of others.

In a very profound sense, the reason why we are able to celebrate with family and friends today is because others have paid the ultimate price to protect our lives and secure our freedom. That should make us deeply grateful.

For those of us who are Christians such self-sacrifice points us to the gospel. At the heart of the gospel is a person dying for others, self sacrificially—dying, so others might enjoy the freedom of forgiveness.

It was Jesus on the night before he was crucified who uttered the immortal words, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 NIV)

You should take some time today to think about that and to thank God for those who even now are putting their lives in harm’s way for your freedom and security.

Likewise, I would encourage you to take a moment and think about Jesus. You see, Jesus is a God unlike any other god. He doesn’t just demand your life (every god does that—whether money, success, fame, etc.), but Jesus gives His life…completely…for you.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

~1 John 4:7 (NIV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

What is the cure for the anxiety brought on by the COVID crisis?

The cure is to fix our mind on the character and promises of God.

Listen to the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 26:3-4 ESV):

“You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

Isaiah calls us to fix our minds on God. God gave us a mind to think, and he wants us to use that mind to think about Him and not merely be driven by the endless anxieties of our heart. He wants our minds to be “stayed” on Him. This word “stayed” means to rest upon, to be supported by. Just as when you sit down in a chair you are resting your full weight upon the support of that chair, so too, when you direct your anxious thoughts to God’s character and his promises, you are learning to rest your life on Him. He is the support of your soul.

To help you grow in your trust in God, you should consider memorizing and meditating on verses like this one from Isaiah. Doing so takes your minds off your worries and puts them onto the wonder of God.

It gives us security and perspective, like standing on the solid, unmovable top of Mount Washington. You can be confident that God will uphold you, not only now, but also for eternity.

Something about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of the Kingdom Perspective.

What should you do in the face of the coronavirus?

We should prepare mentally for a long hard fight that we are confident we shall win.

This coronavirus pandemic has caught the world by surprise. We’re back on our heels in an unenviable defensive position. Nonetheless, the world has faced such challenges before. For example, we forget that for much of World War II the Nazis controlled nearly all of Europe with Great Britain left alone to fight Hitler and his followers.

On May 13th, 1940 with the fall of France imminent, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the UK and took a message of realism and hope to the airwaves. At his first speech before the House of Commons, he rallied the nation to sacrificial action:

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined the government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy…

He ended his speech with:

I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”

And it did not fail. The “monstrous tyranny” of Nazism was eventually overcome, but not without a long uphill fight.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—
As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—
Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;
To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,
The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;
To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.’”

~ Luke 1:67-79 (NASB)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

How should we respond to the divisions in our society sparked by the COVID crisis?

As with any national crisis, COVID has exposed and exacerbated social divisions. Class, race, politics are being pressed (and even manipulated), in order to further divide our nation, and even the church. As Christians, we must not allow this to be so. Jesus called us to be “peacemakers” (Matthew 5). Jesus Himself accomplished peace for us on the cross, by “swallowing” the animosity that divides us (Ephesians 2). Therefore, if we do not live into that peace in practical ways, we deny (even undermine) the peace He has secured for us (Ephesians 4:1-6).

But how exactly do we do this?

There are perhaps many things we need to do, but most critically we need to do the hard and sacrificial work of seeking understanding. We need to repent of our self-centered arrogance and become curious of other people’s perspectives—especially those that may be different from our socio-cultural experience. Don’t assume that you see it all. Don’t naively assume that your news source gives you the “objective perspective.” We need to become learners.

This is exactly what Paul commands us in Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV):

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

As Christians we are called to humble ourselves by empathizing and stepping into the experience of others. Why? Because this is precisely what God did for us in Christ.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.



“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”

~ Philippians 2:3-8 (NIV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

How should we respond to the coronavirus threat?

We should rejoice in the victory of Christ’s resurrection.

The experience of this pandemic has exposed our vulnerability. We are mere flesh, made from the dust of the earth. From dust we came and to dust we will return. As the prophet Isaiah put it: “All flesh is grass, and its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades” (Isaiah 40:6-7 ESV). It’s inevitable; someday, our loved ones will stand over our grave and weep.

We are what the philosopher calls “contingent beings”—we do not have life in and of ourselves. We are dependent for our life on forces that go beyond our control. Said another way, we are mortal, perishable, subject to death and decay.

However, in the face of this fact, the Apostle Paul inserts the amazing reality of the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus and the hope of our resurrection in him completely changes the equation. So much so, that Paul invites us to taunt death! In 1 Corinthians 15 (54-55 ESV), he writes:

“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

‘Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’”

Indeed, as Christians, we should draw on this hope all the time, but in times of crisis, it becomes all the more real and poignant.

“…[T]hanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV).

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.



“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

‘Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

~ 1 Corinthians 15 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

How should you respond, as a Christian, to the coronavirus?

You should be motivated all the more to grow in your understanding of science and perhaps even consider a career in science or medicine. Why? Science and medicine are two wonderful and biblical ways to worship God and serve our neighbor.

You see, the Bible makes sense out of the enterprise of science. It tells us that this world is created by an all-powerful and rational Being. Therefore, it is not surprising that when we put our rational minds to work, studying this world, we not only find that we can understand it, but also improve it.

And, indeed, this world does need improvement. According to the Bible, it is not the way God intended it. Rather, it is fallen—corrupted because of our sin. It’s like a highly technical piece of equipment that is broken and needs repair. And as we use science to do this, we can both worship God and love our neighbor.

The 17th century thinker Francis Bacon summed up this Christian worldview from which at his time modern science itself was emerging. Listen:

“Man [i.e. all of humanity] by the Fall [into sin] fell at the same time from his state of innocence and from his dominion over creation. Both of these losses, however, can even in this life be in some parts repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by the arts and sciences.”
~Novum Organum Scientiarum (1620) by Francis Bacon

This is God’s world, and he gave us the gift of science, as a way to worship him and care for his world.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.”

~ Psalm 111 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

What should the church do in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

We should not be gullible and accept everything that comes to us in the name of “spiritual truth.” Rather, the Bible calls us to investigate whether something is truly from God.

And how do we do that? Let me give you a test of three questions:

First, are you merely being told what you want to hear? The Bible warns of teachers “tickling” people’s ears. However, the truth is often hard. Therefore, we should be skeptical of those suggesting otherwise. Remember that line from The Princess Bride: “Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling you something.”

Second, is it true to the whole of Scripture? You see, it does not matter that someone is touting a Bible verse as proof. The devil came at Jesus with Bible verses. The question is: How does this verse fit with the whole of the what the Bible teaches? The Bible’s a big book and so any part must be understood in terms of the whole. A text without context is pretext.

Finally, does it make much of the person and work of Jesus, the Creator God who came to save us? Is Jesus the center and orienting principle of all else? As the Apostle Paul put it in his letter to the Colossians:

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority…”
~ Colossians 2:8-10

Jesus and his work for us is always the bottom line.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”

~ Colossians 2:6-10

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

How should we respond to the coronavirus epidemic?

We should be all the more eager to weep over our worldliness and put our trust in God alone.

This feeling of brokenness—of knowing our neediness as sinners before a gracious but holy God—should characterize the whole of our lives; but all the more so when we see the kingdoms of our world—even our own health and wealth—crumbling all around. This crumbling should remind us that God never intended us to trust in ourselves. He never intended us to trust in our riches. All we have is a gift from God and it exists for the service of God and others. That’s why the New Testament writer James presses us:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
~ James 5:1-3

What’s the remedy? James tells us: Repentance—turning our trust away from ourselves to God. Listen to what he says:

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
~ James 4:8-10

Note that well: “Humble yourself and God will exalt you”. You see, repentance never ends with sorrow but always moves through it. In the Kingdom of God, the way up is always down.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.”

~James 4 & 5 (ESV)

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

How should the coronavirus affect the way we think as Christians?

We should be all the more determined to be driven by truth and not mere emotions.

One of the primary commands of the Christian life is Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2).

So much of the Christian life is a war that is waged from the neck up—a fight for the ideas that drive our deepest thoughts. The Scriptures command us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Now, winning this battle is more easily said than done. It doesn’t just happen with the flip of a switch. Rather, it requires the nurture of a whole new way of thinking and living. It is a day by day fight—a moment by moment discipline to reprogram the thoughts and intentions of our hearts according to the Word of God.

The wise old saying goes:

“Sow a thought and you reap an act; sow an action and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Said another way, you practice what you ponder, and then you perfect what you practice.

Now, this path goes both ways—one way to death and other to life. And God promises that those who drive their thoughts toward the truth of the Gospel will be transformed into the character of Christ, which is the way of life.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of The Kingdom Perspective.

What should we do in the face of the coronavirus?

We should let this time of reflection and suffering drive us all the more to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Therefore, we should be all the more vigilant to seek out spiritual teachers and church communities that drive us to our eternal hope in Jesus Christ.

Listen to the great leader of the early church Ignatius of Antioch as he gives spiritual direction to Christians suffering persecution and trial.

“Turn a deaf ear to any speaker who avoids mention of Jesus Christ who was of David’s line, born of Mary, who was truly born, ate and drank; was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, truly crucified and died while those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth beheld it; who also was truly raised from the dead, the Father having raised him, who in like manner will raise us also who believe in him—his Father, I say, will raise us in Christ Jesus, apart from whom we have not true life.”

~Ignatius, an early bishop of Antioch in Syria (c. 110). Ignatius, Letter to the Trallians, in The Early Christian Fathers, ed. Henry Bettenson (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 60-61.

I love the Christ-centeredness of this, because Jesus is the sum and substance of all biblical truth. And he is your only hope of eternal life. Cling to him.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

~ John 14 (ESV)