The Valley Church of Christ

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

1. Introduction: Ecclesiastes disrupts naive imaginations, and counsels the discouraged.
   1. Children have vast imaginations — any place or room can instantly become a stage, restaurant, zoo, hospital ward, battlefield, or dungeon. Problems are solved with a simple word or gesture. As children grow, they learn to see the world in a more realistic light.
   2. Ecclesiastes shows us that we too have creative imaginations about how life under the sun works (Gibson, 18-19). We repeatedly expect life to work in a particular way, but it doesn’t. Ecclesiastes disrupts our imaginations to spare us the pain of unmet expectations and to help us live in the real world with wisdom and the fear of God.
   3. But Ecclesiastes does offer a balanced perspective.
      1. The naive may complain that the preacher sounds like a pessimistic friend who annoyingly “sees through” everything.
      2. The discouraged may rejoice that the preacher “gets us.” And he does, but he is not content to give up and only complain. He would say:
         1. Yes, it would be better to have never lived; but we are alive, and failing to live would be the worst outcome. (11:1-10)
         2. Yes, the fall has messed everything up, but the fall hasn’t uncreated everything. (Gibson, 114)
         3. Yes, the pleasures of life are fleeting and won’t satisfy us. But shouldn’t we enjoy God’s simple gifts if he gives them? (6:1-6)
   4. His wisdom is clearly right and relevant. However, Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension introduces something “new” that needs to be accounted for. While the preacher anticipates the coming of a new day (12:14), wisdom is needed to interpret Ecclesiastes while we live in a time where that new day has been inaugurated, but not consummated.
2. Enjoyment — what might we enjoy in life?
   1. The preacher experienced what we might think is the best this world has to offer — bigger and better than we could ever imagine — yet it was vanity, the pleasure was fleeting. The best, he repeatedly says, is found in the simple things: good food, good drink, and good work — all with loved ones. There is nothing better than the family dinner table.
      There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.” (2:24-26)
      “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.” (9:7-9 ESV)
   2. But enjoyment is not inevitable
      1. Some work anxiously, gain a lot, and lose it all (5:13-17)
      2. Some work endlessly, gain a lot, and never enjoy it (6:1-6)
      3. Wisdom, knowledge, and joy are given to and savored best by those who please God (2:24-26)
   3. How to enjoy God’s gifts?
      1. The simple blessings — “eat and drink” — as gifts from God to those who please him, not achievements for those who work endlessly to get them. (3:13; 5:19; Webb, 93-4; 106-7)
      2. Enjoy your blessings with loved ones. (4:7-12)
      3. Work must be kept in balance. Laziness is no good, but overwork is no good either. Overwork is often driven by envy, and an insatiable craving for more… but do we enjoy what we have if our appetite continues to wander?
         Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. (4:4-6)
         Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. (6:9)
         1. On modern consumerism (online shopping, credit card debt, constant accumulation, etc.)
            1. The prophets would say this is idolatrous and is unjustly creating waste that is polluting our water, air, and soil. Also, our waste negatively impacts poorer nations.
            2. Ecclesiastes would simply ask: is this cycle of consumeristic accumulation gratifying? Does it allow you time to stop, savor, and enjoy?
      4. Great wealth, possessions, and power should not be pursued (the best things are simple), but God does give these things to some. If so, the preacher urges us to accept our lot and enjoy it.
         “Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.” (5:19)
   4. The eschatological significance of enjoyment now (see Gibson, 116-117)
      1. Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 imagery is reminiscent of a wedding: food, drink, white clothes, a husband, and a wife. Also, we are repeatedly told to eat, drink, be merry — which sounds like a banquet.
      2. This is one of the ways that the age to come is repeatedly described (Isa. 25:6-8; Mt. 8:11; Lk. 14:15-24; 22:14-18; Rev. 19:6-9).
      3. Gibson summarizes the significance: “We eat and drink now in anticipation of our feasting together then. Every meal is a foretaste, an appetizer, for the banquet yet to come…. Those without Christ often abandon themselves to eating and drinking because sometimes it looks as if that’s all there is to do before we die. But those who love Christ cherish eating and drinking because it looks a little like what we will do after we die. The gifts are from the real country. They smell and taste like home.” (Gibson, 116-117)
      4. What a shame it would be to not stop our work so that we can plant our wandering appetites to momentarily enjoy the simple gift God gives of the family table. This too is fleeting. Not everyone has it. For those that have it, it will not last in this age. But there is nothing better now, and we’ll all be given a seat at the table in the age to come.

We are constantly being sold “more” — lavish trips, expensive restaurants, rapidly changing clothing trends, constant home improvement, better furniture, and endless accumulation from online shopping. It costs us a lot and it disappoints us. And yet the marketing works because we feel we are missing out if we don’t participate. How all can we get Ecclesiastes’ counsel get into our lives?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Work — what might human work accomplish?
   “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (1:3; cf. 2:22; 3:9; 5:16 ESV)
   1. The situation: Work accomplishes nothing. God’s work endures, but in the end, human work doesn’t (3:14-15 — a curse, but also a blessing, for man’s darker schemes will not last).
      1. If we have grand imaginations about what our work accomplishes, the preacher tells us that human work makes little difference. Consider the stream: daily work is ultimately like pouring a little cup of water into a stream that flows to a sea that will never be full (1:7).
      2. Even great works—something similar has already been done and forgotten; our work, too, will soon be undone and forgotten (1:9-11).
      3. We may leave all our work and possession to someone who will not care for it (2:18-23).
      4. The preacher himself accomplished great things. Expecting work and its result to fill the hole in our hearts or to accomplish anything of lasting value was like trying to chase the wind (2:4-11).
      5. In fact, for many, work is a miserable thing.
         “What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” (2:22-23 ESV)
   2. The secret: Give up the prospect of gain, accept your lot, work hard, and rejoice in your toil
      1. The preacher did notice something in his experiment: The toil was pleasurable, and that itself was a reward even though the outcome was hebel (2:10).
      2. So, why is work so often a misery? Our hearts. “Striving of heart… vexation… even in the night his heart does not rest.” (2:22-23 ESV) Work is miserable when we have the wrong expectations — that it will fill us, that it will fix something, that it will provide lasting meaning or answers in the world.
      3. The preacher repeats that we actually can and should take pleasure in and rejoice in our toil (2:10, 24; 3:13; 5:18-19). How is this possible? When we accept that our work will mean nothing and amount to nothing — it frees us to enjoy God’s gift of being alive and doing work.
         1. To illustrate: who doesn’t enjoy building cities and castles out of sand on the beach, despite knowing that the ocean will destroy it all? The craft is enjoyable when we give up control of the outcome (similar to Newport, 91).
         2. When we accept that our work will fail to permanently move the needle of “progress” in this age, then we are freed to just enjoy the actual work we do. Go build sand castles.
      4. Similarly, the preacher encourages us to see that the simple work of the laborer is more fulfilling than the great work of the rich.
         “Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.” (5:12 ESV)
         1. This is tough, because we often imagine that only the great work of the rich and powerful is fulfilling because they do great things that seem to make a difference. The reality: the greatness of what they imagine themselves to be accomplishing keeps them up at night.

b) Cal Newport, commenting on Dreyfus and Kelly (university philosophers) who emphasize the enjoyable work of craftsmen:
“In our current culture, we place a lot of emphasis on job description. Our obsession with the advice to ‘follow your passion’… is motivated by the (flawed) idea that what matters most for your career satisfaction is the specifics of the job you choose. In this way of thinking, there are some rarified jobs that can be a source of satisfaction — perhaps working in a nonprofit or starting a software company — while all others are soulless and bland. The philosophy of Dreyfus and Kelly frees us from such traps. The craftsmen they cite don’t have rarified jobs. Throughout most of human history, to be a blacksmith or a wheelwright wasn’t glamorous. But this doesn’t matter, as the specifics of the work are irrelevant. The meaning uncovered by such efforts is due to the skill and appreciation inherent in craftsmanship — not the outcome of their work. Put another way, a wooden wheel is not noble, but its shaping can be. The same applies to knowledge work. You don’t need a rarified job; you need instead a rarified approach to your work.” (Newport, 90-91).

• This challenges those who long for more power, influence, titles (generally more tempting to Baby-boomers and Gen X). Ecclesiastes asks us, “Are you actually enjoying this work? Or are you deceived by the hope of progress? ladder climbing?”
  “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?” (5:10-11 ESV)
• This is also challenges Millennials and Gen Z who deeply want their lives to matter — especially their 9-5. This is well-meaning and has a place — more on that later. But for now, it is important to see that in the human sphere, these good intentions can make for naive expectations which will lead to sorrow and sleepless nights.
• A concerning trend (often explored by Wendell Berry, who I recommend): modern folks are dismissive of the work of simple laborers — farmers, craftsmen, bakers, seamstresses — and in favoring supposedly more meaningful work, we are sawing off the hand that feeds us.
  "Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense,” (Proverbs 12:11 ESV).
• This does not mean we should not work hard, or that we shouldn’t care about the quality of our work, or that we should make work more leisurely. Working with our might still matters.
  “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol to which you are going.” (9:10 ESV)
  "Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men." (Proverbs 22:29 ESV)

1. For the preacher, we ought not work hard because it will accomplish anything, but because we’ll be dead soon, and hard work done well is enjoyable and a gift from God — even if the enjoyment is fleeting.
2. We might rather be dead, but we are alive, so we might as well live in a wise and enjoyable way. The laziness of the fool with his unkept fields and self-consumption is only a misery and will be judged by God (Prov. 24:30-34).
3. In our “everyone wins” culture, some parents should be reminded by the passages above that our children will enjoy their pursuits more when they seek to excel in them.

IV. Eschatological Perspective: In the Lord, Your Labor Is Not in Vain

1. Futility remains… (Rom. 8:18-25)
   “For the creation was subjected to futility…”
   1. Apostolic work and the like is subject to the possibility permanent loss (1 Cor. 3:10-15; Gal. 4:11)
   2. God’s grace can even be “in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1)
   3. Humility about our work and plans is needed, for our lives are still a mist (like hebel; James 4:13-16)
2. … But not forever (Rom. 8:18-25; 1 Cor. 15; Gal. 6:9)
   “… The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Rom 8:21)
   “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality… 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 Cor. 15:53, 58)
   “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”  (Gal. 6:9)
   “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

How might it be that “in the Lord, your labor is not in vain?” How might this encouragement, if misunderstood, lead to discouragement?"

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Some Considerations

1. 1. 1. Though our work, our bodies, and all creation are doomed to perish, Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates that death will not have the final say.
      2. Somehow, in the Lord, our labor is not in vain. United to Christ, the labor we do for him and his kingdom — as for the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24) — will count. While work in the church is more directly focused on what will not be in vain, Paul wants even servants (who might cook, or clean, or do any number of “secular things”) to do their work as for the Lord, and to see that it is from the Lord that they will receive the inheritance as a reward.
      3. In addition, in Isaiah 1 and elsewhere, people and rulers are urged to change the unjust culture of their city — injustice from top to bottom, from government to business practices. They are to go about the practice of righteous and just work and culture building in Jerusalem and in the earth because God is making a New Jerusalem and a new heavens and new earth that will be full of that sort of righteousness.
      4. Even “secular” work is supposed to be done in love, joy, peace, etc. with an eye toward the day when we will inherit a heavenly city full of the things we have been laboring toward in our earthly cities.
   2. Harmonizing with Ecclesiastes
      1. The perspective that God’s kingdom is breaking into the world to ultimately redeem it and honorable human work is quite encouraging. (cf. Webb, 108)

2. However, caution is needed. Understood wrongly, this perspective will lead to disillusionment and discouragement. In this age, all our work is doomed to be undone (i.e., Neh. 13). We are not going to create a new heaven and a new earth or a New Jerusalem by our efforts (Postmillennialism). Things may even get worse before the coming of Christ, not better (Revelation 20). (Charles Taylor reflects on the pervasiveness and seriousness of this Christian disillusionment today in A Secular Age ch. 13, 15, 17; see Smith’s brief summary in How Not to Be Secular, pg. 90-96)

• We are to do work and do our part in God-honoring culture-building in our earthly cities because we long for a heavenly city of that will perfectly honor God and be full of this sort of justice (Isaiah 1). And if we are united with the risen Lord, our honorable labor for his glory is not in vain. In some way it will be rewarded, in some way it counts. But our labor in the Lord will only “not be in vain” when the Lord comes from heaven.
• Thus, we should still build sand castles on the beach, enjoying both the craft and the blessings it brings (ever grateful that we can earn a living building such sand castles). We shouldn’t worry about the outcome for two reasons. First, in this age, it will be undone or destroyed. Second, because we are joined to Christ and thus God — whose work endures forever — works in and through us. In the age to come, somehow the fruit will abide (Eccl. 3:14; cf. John 14-15).
• Conclusion.

1. Imagine a poor family eating a simple meal together. The meal consists of potatoes or a loaf of bread. They aren’t at Ruth’s Chris, or on a cruise. Their clothes aren’t stylish. The wife’s hair is simple. Their dishes are old. They drive an old car and live in an old, crowded home. How can they be so contented? They don’t want more than what they have. While everyone is trying to get more, they baked a fresh loaf of bread and sat down to enjoy it with the family they love. And because they are loyal to the Lord, they know this table will exist in the future world. (Imagine: Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters)
2. Imagine a simple craftsman, pouring hours into shaping a piece of wood. What he’s working on will not make headlines, and will be forgotten in a few decades, so how can he enjoy what he is doing? He loves the people he is making it for, and he knows it will bless them. Besides that, there’s just something enjoyable about his craft and a job well-done. His pay now won’t do more than buy food and clothing, but he has accepted that this life is short and bitter, and he’s okay with that, because knows his good work will be richly rewarded in the city of God. (Imagine: Van Gogh, Man at Work)

Works Consulted

Burkeman, Oliver. 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021.

Gibson, David. Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017.

Garrett, Duane A. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. New American Commentary, Vol. 14. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1993.

Newport, Cal. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016.

Smith, James K. A. How Not to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014.

Webb, Barry G. Five Festal Garments: Christian Reflections on the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Edited by D.A. Carson. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Series: Hebrews (Cling to Jesus in the Wilderness)

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

The Israelites had been brutally treated in Egypt. But God worked wonder after wonder to rescue his people. Now? God’s glory was constantly visible before them over the tabernacle. They ate bread from heaven. They drank water from the rock. But the way to the promised land was through the hot desert. And once they arrived at the border of Canaan, they discovered that the people living on the land God promised them were impossibly stronger than them.

In that moment, after all the horrors of slavery and after all the wonders of God’s salvation, Israel looked back on Egypt with nostalgic pleasure. “Why did the Lord bring us out here to die? We had it so good in Egypt! I’d rather die in Egypt than this wilderness!” And on the cusp of inheriting God’s rest, they made plans to stone Moses and Joshua, choose a new leader, and go back to slavery.

The Lord had been patient with Israel, but when they gave up on God and his rest, God gave them up to the wilderness. He swore in his wrath: the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord, but none of them will enter my rest. And so everyone 20 years and older died in that desert— except Joshua and Caleb.

It’s a tragic story. But the writer of Hebrews knows the Christians he is writing to are in danger of becoming like Israel. In the early years when they turned to Jesus, they suffered for his name — some had been imprisoned, some had their property plundered, and they all experienced the shame of being treated differently by society. Yet they endured it joyfully. But the years wore them down, and it’s plain as we read Hebrews that they were tired and sluggish. By this point they should have been mature and capable of teaching meaty truth — but they themselves wanted only milk. And like Israel in the desert, he sees they are in danger of giving up and turning their eyes back to the pleasures of Egypt, to the comfort of sexual immorality, and to the security of money. They began to lose sight of how great Jesus is, and of the need to fear God.

I have been longing and planning since last April to share Hebrews with you because I know that many of us are also tired and suffering for reasons that vary from family to family — some families are struggling with their physical health, others with mental health, others with economic difficulties. Some have even been treated poorly for being loyal to Jesus. Furthermore, there is just a lot of uncertainty in the air. It can be easy in such times to not receive this pain as God’s training, but instead to become discouraged and to wander away to false comforts.

Hebrews shows us how great and capable Jesus is by setting him next to things we already accept to be great — whether angels, priests, the old covenant, or the tabernacle and the sacrifices offered there — Hebrews tells us that as great as all these were, Jesus is greater. Whether we are struggling with sin, suffering, or exhausted, he can help if we will draw near.

Specifically, in our first two lessons in Hebrews, he pleads with us to listen carefully, because God is speaking to us by his Son.

We have all probably had the experience of realizing that we weren’t listening carefully to someone. This probably happens the most with the people we are most familiar with. Take a spouse for example — when we first start dating we hang on every nuance of every word as a revelation of their very being. But after some years, familiarity can breed boredom. You think you know them and what they will say and how they feel about this or that. And yet, every year, many couples suddenly wake up to realize they don’t know the very person they live with. They stopped listening carefully.

Similarly, Hebrews takes us down unfamiliar roads to that we are forced to take a second look at Jesus and appreciate him in a new light. But here’s how he starts: God has spoken to his people at many times, in many ways, by many different prophets — and not one of us would disregard the words God spoke through them. But now, God has spoken to us by his Son. The rest of this paragraph offers seven descriptions of God’s Son so we know why we should listen to him. We’ll sum up these descriptions of Jesus in three groups — The Son’s relationship to creation, the Son’s relationship to the Father, the Son’s relationship to God’s throne. Read Hebrews 1:1-4 with me.

1. The Son’s relationship to creation — the creator, sustainer, and heir of all things.

For our 5th anniversary, Ashley and I travelled to Hawaii. Our last night there we took a sunset cruise on the Nā Pali Coast. It was the treat of a lifetime. While we ate perfectly cooked steak and shrimp, our boat settled on clear blue waters, over us towered a 4,000 foot rocky cliff line blanketed in green, and off to the West the sun was setting as it radiated a dazzling array of colors across the sky. In our own state of Arizona, we can find wonders everywhere.

Don’t underestimate Jesus of Nazareth. Hebrews says he is God’s Son and that through him all this was made.

And yet created things have fallen on hard times. The world is warming up. Pollution is everywhere in the world and toxins are in our bodies. Animal species are dying off. Floods and hurricanes and illness are increasing.

And yet, in all this, our hearts are still beating, air is in our lungs, and the sun gives light and warmth. There’s still food and water and happy times around family tables. And yet, Hebrews says all things continue because Jesus the Son is sustains it. The sun rose this morning not because of mindless gravitational pulls, but because Jesus willed it to. We all just took another breath and our hearts beat one more time because he says so. He sustains all by the word of his power.

One thing that is unique about Jesus is he is eternally God’s Son by nature. That’s who he has always been. And yet, God promised that one day he would call an obedient human his Son and cause him to inherit the ends of the earth (Gen 1; 2 Sam 7; Psalm 2, 8, 72; Dan 7, etc.). But humans couldn’t live up to this position on their own. So the Divine Son is also unique in that he became that obedient human Son that God always wanted — and so now, God the Son who created all things and who sustains all things has become the Son who is the heir of all things.

If we had a father who appointed us to care for a wonderful property, with a beautiful house, and a lovely family — would we who are weak and sinful neglect it when we knew that one day it would be all ours? What if that inheritance encountered significant difficulties? Would we abandon it? Never! The Son who created and sustains all things has been appointed the heir of all things — we and the creation may groan in pain, but he will direct us and all creation towards the glorious goal that God planned from the beginning. The Son will free us and creation from our bondage to futility, God’s glory will fill the earth.

Jesus is creator, sustainer, and heir, so, he’s got the whole world in his hands… the mommies and the daddies… the itty bitty babies… you and me, brothers and sisters… He’s got the whole world in his hands.

2. The Son’s relationship to the Father — the radiance of his glory and exact imprint of his nature.

We have the benefit of the truth about Jesus’s identity being fought for, defended, and handed down for two thousand years. And so we are very used to statements like, “Jesus is fully God and fully human.” But it is places in Scripture like verse 3 that give us the basis to make such statements, and it helps to hear this as they heard it. This man named Jesus walked, slept, ate, drank, got sick, cried, and died, yet he was raised up, and reigns as God’s Son in heaven, and yet he has always been God’s Son from eternity? The first Christians struggled to know what box to put Jesus in — human? God? Demi-God? So, Hebrews says:

(a) He is the radiance of the glory of God. The relationship of the Son to the Father’s glory is kind of like the relationship of the sun to it’s radiance. The radiance of the sun gives us light and warmth. The sun always has a radiance. Even from the time we are children, we learn to draw the sun with lines coming out to demonstrate that with the sun always comes the radiance of light and warmth. There has never been a time that the sun did not radiate light and warmth. Similarly, the Son has always been there with the Father because he is the radiance of his glory. Jesus the Son is how we experience God’s light, warmth, love, truth, word, and power. God is glorious, and Jesus the Son radiates that glory to us.

(b) He is the exact imprint of God’s nature. We are all made in God’s image, to bear his likeness, and yet, we have all been corrupted and we must be renewed, remade into his likeness. How to understand this man God calls his Son? He’s the exact imprint of his nature. Life is so complex. Don’t you just wish you could always have the perfect balance of love, truth, wisdom, and all the things that make God who he is. Well, just like a seal might make a perfect imprint in wax, the Son is the perfect imprint of God’s nature, he perfectly embodies everything God is.

What does this practically mean? Today, we plainly know Jesus is God. But as we try to wrap our minds around who God is, do we know that God is Jesus?

3. The Son’s relationship to God’s throne — the one who purifies for sins and then sits down.

The reason why everything is so wrong in this world is because of sinners like us. We have vandalized and defiled our bodies, the church, the world, and God’s heavenly tabernacle. We cannot undo this. It’s like if you drop a baby on their heads — wanting to undo it cannot fix it. Forgiving ourselves doesn’t make it go away. With sin and uncleanness, an earthly priest with the blood of bulls and goats can cleanse what is on the outside… but only temporarily. But there is a magical substance that has extraordinary power, and anything it touches becomes clean forever: the blood of God’s Son. And we can be immersed in it. We can drink it.

His blood was obtained for us at awful cost. Then God raised him. And after 40 days he ascended to God’s throne. Earthly priests serve in a copy of God’s throne, maintaining its cleanness day after day. Jesus ascended to God’s true throne and offered to God the blood of God to permanently purify all things and all believers of sin and its defilement — inside and out. How awesome is Jesus!

But then, after Jesus offered himself, something shocking happened. Think in your mind of Moses who setup the tabernacle and who talked with God in the earthly copy of the Most Holy Place. Think of Aaron, the first high priest to go into the earthly Most Holy Place and to offer blood to cleanse the tabernacle and people. Think of David who made preparations for the temple. Think of Solomon who completed the temple. There is something none of them even dared to do. Can you imagine: what if Moses, or Aaron, or one of the priests, or Solomon — when the tabernacle or temple was completed — walked into the Most Holy Place, between the wings of the cherubim, turned around, and sat on the ark of the covenant? Some people did foolish things in the tabernacle and temple and some exalted themselves inappropriately and were punished. None have ever sat on God’s throne.

Jesus is so great that he did. As we try to grapple with all the ramifications of what this means, one author put it like this: “When Jesus sat down, a man began to reign as God.” (Jamieson, 125) The eternal Son of God who created and sustains all things became man and as a man was appointed as God’s Son that he might inherit all things on behalf of humanity. Angels are great, this God-man is greater.

Conclusion

The writer of Hebrews implores us to listen, because through this Son who sits on God’s throne, God is speaking one last time.

At many points I imagine many of us have been so burdened by sins or by trials that we have been left on the floor, bed, or couch, drenched in tears pleading with God that he would please heal us, heal our family, that he would please make everything right. For me, though I am blessed, much of what I ask for myself and my family has not come. And so maybe we beg him: if you choose not to heal us now, would you please just speak a few words of comfort?

At other times, we long for a few words about what is even true anymore. What do you think, God, about the state of the world, of our kids, of the divided church? How will you resolve it all? What of the future? Are you there now — confused or sad? Or has there been silence or difficulty for so long that you are sluggish, bored, bitter, or angry?

Hebrews says: church — God has spoken to us in his Son. As great as a word of truth or wisdom or comfort would be — of what use would it be if we then clung to that word, but did not seek all answers and comfort in the Son? He’s the answer to everything we ask or fear. Whatever we are going through — will we lean in closely throughout Hebrews and listen carefully? God has spoken in his Son: his is the final word that will carry us through this final wilderness.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Series: Daniel (Faith among Babylonians)

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

The majority of voters in the U.S. believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. The U.S. has been the most powerful nation on earth for the past century, but there’s some unsteadiness. Our country is wealthy, but prices keep climbing. We have food and medicine, but the number of children and teens dealing with chronic illnesses has skyrocketed. Families are fractured, there’s the drug crisis, pollution, cancer — wars and rumors of wars. And so, people around us are wondering — what’s on the horizon? How can we prepare?

Babylon had their troubles too. They conquered many peoples, but there were always rebellions. Nebuchadnezzar tried to stay on top of this by surrounding himself with the best counselors, and yet, when his head hit the pillow at night he continued to worry: what is coming next? (Daniel 2:29) It’s a stressful thing to be powerful because everyone else wants to take your power. The anxiety made Nebuchadnezzar so crazy that he was ready to rip his wise men limb from limb if they could not give him the answers he wanted. (Have you ever felt the same when your phone, computer, wifi, or electricity don’t work right? when our Babylonian control over the world slips?)

Yet God showed Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel the future he longed to see: his empire was valuable like gold, but it was just one of many kingdoms that would replace his. In the end, all kingdoms will be conquered by the kingdom of God. But proud Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t accept being a temporary kingdom of gold, he had to find a way to hold onto his power. And so, in Daniel 3, he builds an entire image of gold — 90 feet high.

1. Babylon pursues security by means of idolatrous trust, worship, and allegiance (3:1-7).

Nine times this chapter tells us that this is an image that King Nebuchadnezzar set up (vs. 2, 3a, 3b, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 18). To us it may seem ridiculous to worship what humans make. (Humorous) We would never make golden images today, right? (Show golden Trump image) And yet, humans have always faced personal, communal, national, and global threats that always send us looking for answers. And there’s only two places we can look — up or down. And if it’s too humiliating to look up to the God we cannot control in heaven — we will look down to our own hands. Sometimes it makes us feel strong to rely on our wisdom and innovations.

What does Nebuchadnezzar think this image can do for Babylon in her troubles? Notice: Nebuchadnezzar has invited all the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, justices, magistrates, and officials — everybody who is anybody — so they can worship this image. They, like Daniel’s friends, were chosen from all nations, and they’ll be an example so all the nations they represent will worship it too. Unless this image represents Nebuchadnezzar himself (possible), this image represents a Babylonian god like Bel or Nebo. Nebuchadnezzar likely did this because a god like that may be very impressed with a show of universal loyalty. And unless you demand that everyone bow, some people will skip out … and then the fickle gods we setup may not help us.

Nebuchadnezzar was likely worried about people rising up against him. Even if his gods couldn’t help him, when all peoples, nations, and languages bow before his image for fear of death, he makes a strong statement: would you dare risk your life challenging me?

Today, this is why all the global allies of the U.S. must adopt our latest military technology, or else; why every person on the field must adopt the right position towards the flag when the music plays, or else; why every child must receive every shot, everyone must stay home and wear masks, every church must shut down, or else. Humans powers only make up universal commands like that when we are insecure. We know the “gods” we trust in — our wealth, our government, military, technology, and medicine — only have as much power as we give them.

Just like Nebuchadnezzar, every nation would love to be globally united and invincible. We have been divided since Babel — imagine how good and safe it would be if we were all peacefully united again! In Revelation 13  the empire is pictured as a beast that tries to do this all over again — drawing all peoples, nations, and languages to worship itself. But it always fails: the languages were confused at the tower of Babel, the Persian empire took over Babylon, and Rome fell. Pursuing universal power and safety by human power turns us into a beasts, and beasts get killed. Global power, security, and unity will not come through Babylon’s towers, images, technology, medicine, or military. Peoples of all nations and languages will only be eternally united in love, joy, and peace when they bow before the throne of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9). We may hear “Pax Romana!” or “Life, liberty, and justice for all!” But only Jesus has good news of peace that we can rely on.

2. The faithful worship the true God alone even if it leaves them exposed and insecure (3:8-18).

Can you imagine what that must have been like? When the music plays, everyone hits the dirt and you are left standing? This is a great time to bend down and tie your shoe! How exposed they must have felt in that moment.

We know how this works around our friends, at work, school, or sports. There is this pressure to do what everyone else is doing. We must wear the brands everyone is wearing, listen to the music everyone says is good, watch their movies, read their romance novels. We have to spend money like our friends, travel where they travel. If our friend makes an inappropriate joke, we have to laugh. If they show us an inappropriate image, we have to say “nice!” If they live a sinful life, we have to say, “I respect you!” If they don’t want to pray, we should abstain. If they don’t fear God, we shouldn’t mention him. If the boss needs us to fudge some numbers — we had better do it. We must drink what they drink, smoke what they smoke, walk and talk how they walk and talk, or else we will be alone, exposed, and different.

We may fear, “They’re going to think I hate them! What friends will I have if I don’t go along here, or if I say that? What job will I get? How will I provide for my family?” Christians in Rome were accused of being atheists, unpatriotic, haters of the gods, country, and land for not confessing Caesar as Lord, joining the festivals in honor of him, and for not believing in the political hopes of their empire. We too may be misunderstood as hateful though we love and would be willing to give our lives for others.

Nebuchadnezzar was furious. Imagine what it would have been like to be summoned before him, the most powerful man on earth. They are standing before Obama, Trump, Biden, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, your boss, the principle, the most popular kid at school. And he asks, with a furnace burning nearby, “You’re going to bow right?” Imagine that heat. “What god can deliver you out of my hands?”

Sometimes it works differently today. Sometimes “Nebuchadnezzar” is more diplomatic. “Listen, Shadrach, I get it! We do not want you to stop worshipping your God in the privacy of your home! But help me out just this once?” In fact, today, people are so “pro choice,” sometimes there’s not even a cost to holding firm. No one may force us. They understand — we have issues of conscience. And that’s when we have to be very careful: when no one is threatening us, compromise is far more subtle and easy.

But for them, it was a furnace. Despite that, they are bold. There’s no, “We respect your decision to worship this image. We love that you’re a man of faith.” No, they say: “We have no need to answer you in this matter… our God … is able to deliver us… but if not… we will not worship the golden image you have set up.”

Hear this: these young men had the loyalty to not bow, the faith that God could deliver them, and the trust to accept God’s will if he chose not deliver them. They did not demand when or how God would rescue them. Babylonians will go to any length, worship any god, and pay any cost to have the longer life, peace, security, happiness, and freedom they want. But we believe in the resurrection of the body and eternal life in the world to come, so there is nothing you can threaten to take away from the faithful to make them bow before any god but the true God — cut out our tongues or take our jobs, money, reputation, children, and lives (2 Mac 7). We must refuse to “fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Rather, we must choose to “fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell,” (Mt. 10:28). Was this our steadfast resolve during the pandemic? Will it be our resolve when we feel the pressure to show support for godless choices around us? Fathers and mothers on the job, do we know who we are? Young men and women in school and sports, do we know who we are?

3. The God of heaven is able to secure those who trust him (19-30).

Nebuchadnezzar was mad with rage. Mighty men of his army cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire. The furnace was so hot that Nebuchadnezzar’s mighty men were killed by the flames. Their their screams echoed out. But then Nebuchadnezzar saw something: three men unbound walking around in the fire, plus a mighty angel with them. They walked out of the furnace without even the smell of smoke on them. Nebuchadnezzar was stunned and confessed that “no other god… is able to rescue in this way,” (3:29). How did God intend for this story to impact the Jews back then and us today?

Over the coming centuries, Jews and Christians alike would continually face the reality that our exile continues.

But in the midst of our exile, this story of these faithful men walking out of the furnace reminds us that the God who set Israel free from Egypt is still with us. As Moses reflected Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, he put it like this, i Egypt was like a furnace that God delivered them from, but now they were back in “the furnace” of exile in Babylon. Exile is when everything feels the exact opposite of how it is supposed to be. Exile is a place of longterm trial. It’s not peace at home, it’s a furnace of affliction. You wish you could just walk out of the furnace and leave Babylon behind.

When you are in the furnace of longterm trials, remember this story: where God is, and what God does.

First, God is with us in the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar was shocked that in the furnace there was a fourth, one “like a son of the gods” — an angel (vs. 28). I don’t believe this is Jesus as some may say. But God did send his angel into the furnace to be with them then. And we need to know that while we often are unable to see them, God has innumerable hosts of angels that he sends to serve on our behalf today. Furthermore, Jesus left his Father’s throne and joined us in our suffering and exile. He carried our sorrows, he bore our griefs, was pierced for our transgressions. He entered Sheol, the realm of the dead. And now he has assured us: “I am with you always, till the end of age.” Daniel 3 says to Christians who are now in the furnace of affliction: Jesus entered this furnace too, he understands it, he remains with us in it. Even the Holy Spirit within us groans while we groan.

Second, God will deliver us from the furnace. Isaiah offers this comfort to those in exile:

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you… Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.” (Isaiah 43:1-2, 5)

God brought Israel through the waters and he brought Daniel’s friends through the fire to signal to us all that we should not be afraid. It’s so hot in the furnace, but if we cling to him the flame will not consume us, he will gather us from east and west, north and south to be at home with him in his holy mountain.

He may deliver us now, or later. Hebrews reminds us that some “stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword…” But, “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated — of whom the world was not worthy — wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (portions of Hebrews 11:32-38; could eliminate reading, sum up passage)

Our hope is not in some idealized past or in some cutting edge technological future. Consider, where’s Nebuchadnezzar’s image now? You would think we could find a 90 foot tall image over there. And where will our walls, banks, tanks, policies, and technologies be in a couple thousand years? They too will be forgotten under the sand. Christ’s kingdom is everlasting, and his coming salvation is sure. Let’s not fear what Babylon fears or to fall down before each new “god” they setup as the answer. No other god is able to rescue like Yahweh.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

• Anger presents another challenge: anger is both a sin of man and an attribute of our perfect God.
  • How can this be? How can it be a sin we commit, and yet a good attribute of God?
  • This is because Anger is often the emotion we feel when we perceive something to be wrong or unfair; anger propels us to correct the perceived injustice.
  • The problem? James 1:19-20, “Know this my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
• Our structure today:
  • The Righteousness of God’s Anger
  • The Unrighteousness of Human Anger
  • Help for Battling Anger
  • Anger to Imitate with Wisdom

1. The Righteousness of God’s Anger

• Psalm 7:1-13 is a good example of the reason for God’s anger.
  • vs. 6 is the chief call: arise in anger. Why? Be angry for this injustice, the fury of my enemies.
  • vs. 9: end the wicked!
  • vs. 11: reassurance: God is righteous because he feels indignation every day. This is probably shocking to our ears. David actually comforts himself by reminding himself of the daily indignation of God. Why? Because he knows this indignation will lead God to work for justice.
• Isaiah 26:9-11 shows us what happens when God - due to his anger - dispenses his judgments on the earth.
  • vs. 11: wicked people don’t really see God.
  • vs. 9: but when God judges (i.e., acts on his anger), people learn righteousness.
  • vs. 10: without this anger/justice… favor toward the wicked would only cause more corruption.
• Psalm 103:8-11 shows us why God and anger work well together.
  • He is slow to anger.
  • He is not angry forever.
  • Towards the right people, he does not deal with us according to our sin [[though, in Isaiah, it is said that he gives full vent to his anger in the right situations (when people are unredeemable)]].
  • He knows when to do the right thing with his anger. He knows when to persist in anger and he knows when to relent.
  • vs. 11: his steadfast love (hesed) is as high as the heavens. God’s anger - like his jealousy - is motivated by his love for us and his desire for real justice.

2. The Unrighteousness of Human Anger (James 1:19-20; Genesis 4; Genesis 37)

• In contrast, is our anger always motivated by love? By a desire for real justice? When we express our anger, does it work righteousness in the earth? Do people learn righteousness? Probably, rarely. (Remember: James 1:19-20 — the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God).
• Evidence
  • Genesis 4: did Cain work righteousness in his anger? He killed the righteous.
  • Genesis 37: did the sons of Jacob work righteousness in their anger? They killed the innocent.
  • Cain wasn’t wronged, and his anger worked evil. The sons of Jacob were wronged, and yet their anger still worked evil. Their angry reaction was actually far worse than the sin against their sister. As so often happens, the oppressed became the oppressors.
• Think of the last time you were angry? What was in your heart? Often, not love. Often, the desire is “justice”… for me. This is why we need to slow down, to let our values catch up with our emotions.
• Because, think of the last time your expressed that anger, what did it produce?

3. Help for Battling Anger

• Ephesians 4:26-27, "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”
  • Be angry, but don’t sin with that anger. The world says, “You have to let your anger out, or you will explode!” God’s word says that expressing anger — bitterness, wrath, clamor — is what gets us in trouble.
  • Be angry, but don’t let the sun go down on your anger. By the end of the day, deal with the anger somehow. Step away, take a breather, return to speak with humility about the situation.

• Proverbs 16:32 (James 1:19-20), “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”
  • We can feel powerful when we express our anger. If you think about it, we actually are wielding a lot of power when we express anger. We can severely harm meaningful relationships in a matter of seconds.
  • Yet, we are more powerful when we rule our spirit.
  • Consider how often hurry and fast living leads to angry living (Jeff Wilson, John Mark Comer)
  • We need to S L O W  D O W N.  L I S T E N.

• We need to leave many of these things we become angry about to the justice of God.
• If we will slow down, and let our reason catch up with our emotions… if we are humble, wise, we may actually see that the action or inaction we perceived to be an injustice was actually not an injustice at all. No instructions of God were broken. We just didn’t like it. But there was no sin.
• Here’s a test: if we always believe our anger was righteous —  that the “injustices” and “wrongs” we perceive are actually injustices, our perceptions are likely off. We likely aren’t being humble.

4. Anger to Imitate with Wisdom (1 Sam. 11:6-7; Neh. 5:6-7; Mark 3:5; 10:14)

• “I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them…” (Neh. 5:6-7) Nehemiah’s anger over injustice against others led him to act with boldness and wisdom. Would a lack of anger and action be righteous here? Would not a lack of action from Nehemiah rightly lead to anger on the part of others?
• “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.’” (Mark 10:13-14) Imagine if something like that happened here. Would it not be wrong to be passive, unconcerned? Would it not be right to act with wisdom?
• But, take care, lest as those who perceive oppression, we become worse oppressors.

Conclusion

• Anger arises when we perceive something is not right.
• Our perception may be right… or wrong.
• Slowness helps us know the difference.
• Sometimes, we should be angry, should act wisely for the cause of God and others… but don’t.
• The more we seek God’s kingdom, justice, and glory first, the better trained our emotions will be.
• Slowness ensures we are in control, not the anger.
• Regular repentance is vital as we pursue perfection.
• “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19–20 ESV)

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Do you ever feel exhausted from wondering what in the world we are doing, where God is? Hoping for some sort of direction or action from God? That’s not uncommon for people of God, especially this time of year. The days are shorter. It’s darker and colder. The Scriptures are full of people who live in darkness and in the waiting — wondering, questioning, troubled, hoping God will act. Noah was in the rain and darkness a long time. Abraham and Sarah wandered without a home or a child for decades. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for generations, watching their children be massacred at times. But as we know, God has always acted.

Let’s look at a prayer of such longing for God to show up in Isaiah 63-64 and to see how God answers it in Mark’s Gospel. This will help us appreciate the meaning of Jesus’ first coming and build our hope for his second coming.(Credit to Richard Hays for his analysis of this text in Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels which inspired this sermon)

Isaiah: A Plea for God to Come

Isaiah 63-64 are written as a prayer from the perspective of the remnant of Judah. Judah once thrived, but they rebelled against God — refusing to trust him — so God sent Babylon to decimate them and their land. Isaiah has written this prayer from the perspective of these future exiles who sit in the rubble wondering what will come of the promises God made to his people. Let’s walk through this emotional prayer together.

Isaiah 63:7-14 — Where Is God? As Isaiah speaks from the perspective of people in exile, he recounts God’s steadfast love to his people in the past when his angel and even his Spirit led Israel out of Egypt and through the waters and through the wilderness. God was visibly, tangibly with his people and gave them rest. But, they look back and ask now — where is this God who did these mighty works? The questions and laments continue in 63:15-19.

Isaiah 63:15-19 — Where Is Your Zeal? They are wandering from God’s ways feeling as though God himself has hardened their hearts. Verse 16, their own fathers — Abraham and Israel (Jacob)  — would not recognize them now as their children. They are not a faithful people. They are not a blessed people. They appear to have no remnant of God’s presence among them. Verse 18: the sanctuary is decimated. Verse 15: God is all the way up in his holy habitation in heaven — so where is God’s zeal and compassion? Does he feel nothing for them? So, they plead with God to act in 64:1-5a.

Isaiah 64:1-5a — Rend the Heavens and Come Down. Verse 3: Isaiah remembers how God rescued Israel from Egypt and then came down from the heavens onto Mount Sinai in fire and smoke. Verse 4: he affirms that no one has ever heard or seen a God who acts for his people like Yahweh does. This is the God of all those stories of mythical proportions, yet he is in heaven. And to Isaiah the clouded heavens feel like this impassible barrier between God has his people. It’s like the veil or curtain in the Most Holy Place that barricades God from his people. So, in verse 1, he pleads: “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.” Don’t stay in your sanctuary any longer, don’t let the heavens keep you from us, tear up this barrier, act and make your adversaries and the nations tremble at your presence. They conclude by lamenting their sins and calling on God to forget their iniquities in 64:5b-12.

Isaiah 64:5b-12 —Will You Restrain Yourself? Isaiah does not pin this all on God; rather, he is disturbed by the uncleanness of his people. Even their righteous deeds are bloody and ugly. God has hidden his face, so no own wakes up  to call on God’s name. And so he begs: God, you are our potter and we are the clay (mold us!). God, don’t be angry forever.  Look at how your land has become a wilderness and your beautiful house a desolation. Will you restrain yourself? Will you keep silent?

We won’t look at it, but God replies in chapter 65: I’ve been holding my hands out to you all day, but you are a bunch of rebels who have not been returning to me.

This is not the only place in Isaiah where the prophet longs for God’s coming:

• Isaiah 7 - Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (God with us).
• Isaiah 9 - The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; … For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; … And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
• Isaiah 40 - ““‘Comfort, O comfort My people,’”…‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God…’ Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ Behold, the Lord God will come with might.”
• Is. 52:7–8, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.”

We could summarize the cry of Isaiah in the word of a song: O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

Mark: The Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God

But, now, Mark says in 1:1-2 that he is proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God, according to Isaiah the prophet. The gospel of Caesar’s birth and ascendency to the throne was proclaimed in those days — the whole world had fallen into disorder and chaos, but Caesar Augustus (and other Caesars after him) was born Son of God, a gift from the gods to put all things right. But, again, Mark, writes of the gospel of Jesus Son of God — and after citing Isaiah 40, he’s not done proclaiming this gospel according to Isaiah’s prophecy. As prophesied, John comes to prepare the way for Yahweh, baptizing and proclaiming in the desert that one is coming who will baptize, immerse his people with the Holy Spirit. Notice what happens when Jesus comes to be baptized by John in Mark 1:9-11.

Here are the orphaned people of God spilling loads of water in the wilderness and repenting and the encouragement of this strange man who looks curiously like Elijah. And as they shuffle in and out of the water hoping in and preparing for the return of God, one man — Jesus of Nazareth — is baptized. Then, he looks up and suddenly, Mark says, the heavens were being torn open, and God the Spirit comes down like a dove and descends on Jesus. Then the Father’s voice booms from heaven.

“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!” In Jesus, God did precisely that. God ripped through the barrier separating himself from man, anointed the Son with his Spirit, and God came embodied to make right what sin and darkness had broken and corrupted. “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, til He appeared and the soul felt its worth. The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morning.”

Jesus goes out and shows himself to truly be the Son of God — he has the authority of God’s voice to cure diseases, calm seas, transform hearts, and to send the demons running. Satan is a strong man, Jesus will say later, but in Jesus God himself has broken into Satan’s house, bound him, and is plundering his goods (Mark 3:27). But, in Mark, Jesus quickly begins speaking of how he must go to Jerusalem where he will be rejected, condemned, and executed. He will give his life as a ransom for many. And that’s what happens.

But notice what happens when Jesus breathes his last in 15:38. The same word is used here. The heavens are torn open at the beginning when Jesus is baptized, and now the veil in the temple is torn open at the end when he breathes his last. And what is that curtain? It is the barrier separating God from his people. Behind the veil was the most holy place which represented the very throne room of God where priests could not go except once per year. That veil in the temple is like the heavens — barricading us from the Lord. (Also, L. Michael Morales who sees the veil as “the Levitical counterpart to the heavens,” Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord). As Isaiah saw that the heavens separated God from his people and he longed for them to be torn, they were torn at Jesus’ baptism and now, the curtain like the heavens which separates us from God is torn when Jesus breathes his last. God has ripped open the barrier to come to us and so that we may access him.

Concluding Reflections

Some days we feel like the people from Isaiah’s prayer.

• We look at the strength and arrogance of the enemies of God’s people and shudder.
• We look upon our own sins and at times the state of the church and weep.
• We recall the accounts of God’s activity in the past and we wonder where that God is, we wonder at God’s apparent lack of zeal to act for his people and his name, and we hope in his coming.

In light of this, consider what we have seen in Isaiah and Mark.

1. Consider, God holds out his hands. God’s reply to this plea for him to come is basically, “It’s a two-way street.” I have been holding my hands out but you are asleep and unclean and not returning to me. In a parallel passage in Isaiah 59 God replies: “my hand is not so short that it cannot save, but your sins have separated you from your God.” When we feel this darkness and discouragement as Israel did, God’s message to many has been: dear children, I have been holding out my hands, but it is dark because it is you who have walked away from me. He often holds out his hands to people who aren’t looking for him. It takes wisdom to see the times and to consider ourselves. At times we suffer and experience unanswered prayer because we are faithful, Satan’s trying to ruin us, and God’s testing and purifying us, putting us on the cross with Jesus. But at times, our suffering and the lack of answered prayer is because we individually or corporately have walked away from the Lord. John the Baptist’s response to this was to leave the city altogether and to unrelentingly call for the repentance of the whole nation until it got him killed.

2. Consider, God ripped open the heavens and the veil. I love all the lights out at night in this season. It reminds me that for thousands of years the weary world waited in darkness, but in what was historically one of the darker parts of the night, the true light of the world was born to dispel the darkness. And at Jesus’ baptism, the heavens were ripped open, God’s Spirit came down; the curtain was opened, and the way to the most holy place was opened. God is signaling to us that the time of our separation finally nearing its end — he is coming to us, and until then we can draw near to him to receive help. Pray! Pour your heart out to him! I don’t know if you feel what I feel, but Scripture says we receive God’s Spirit when we are baptized, and when I witness or participate in baptisms, I try to imagine those heavens being ripped open all over again for God’s Spirit to come and invade Satan’s dark territory with a little more light.

3. The Lord will come from heaven again. We are not to look back at God’s first coming in Jesus as a single occurrence, but this ultimately builds hope in the day when the heavens will be ripped wide open on the last day and when he will descend for our salvation — to change us, execute wrath on our enemies, to lay bare the earth, the unleash his Spirit to make all things new, to gather us to himself, and to set his presence among us fully and finally forever.

O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

How can we become mature, fruitful — fruit-bearing — humans remade into the image of God? That’s really what the technology series has been about — shining a light on the dark places where we have potentially accepted the darkness or even just the fruitlessness that has resulted from our use of technology. But the aim of this series has been to help us clear out weeds from our gardens, our lives, our families, so that we can become fruitful people who look like Jesus. But let’s be honest, do people really change?

In Frozen, the gnomes — the “love experts” — tell Anna not to marry Kristoff thinking she can change him, “Because people don’t really change.” And from one perspective, they are right. Don’t marry someone thinking, “They’ll change.” Bad idea. But it’s an interesting question: do people change? Well, change is what new creation is all about! Creating life and light where there was deadness and darkness. But how does change — new creation — happen? Consider Ephesians 4:17-24 with me — how people become wicked, and how people can be remade in the image of God. And let’s ask this: does change happen through our heads, or through our hearts? Do we change because of what we know, or because of what we love?

Notice why the Gentiles have become wicked in vs. 17-18 — they walk in the futility of their minds, they are darkened in their understanding, and they are ignorant. Thus, verse 23, we have to be renewed in the spirit of [our] minds. Knowledge and information and a transformation of how we think are very important. Faith changes our lives, and faith can only come by hearing what we did not know.

But is the only thing we need a change in our minds? Is God simply looking for people who think differently? Certainly, God wants that. But Paul tells Ephesians 4 he tells us not to walk — with our bodies, our lives — like the Gentiles walk. And notice how he says in verse 18 that their understanding is darkened and they are ignorant due to their hardness of heart. Here’s a crazy head-heart connection: the Gentiles’ heads are ignorant because their hearts are hard. Often times we think, “If they only knew…” But the reality is frequently that they don’t know God and his ways because they don’t love God and his ways. If we want to change, we don’t need to just work on our heads — on what we know — we need to work on our hearts — what we love.

Wrong knowledge is a problem, but loving the wrong things is at least as big of a problem. So, if we often don’t know God because we don’t love him, but we love wicked, fleshly, worldly things, why is that? Verse 19: the love, desire, and greed of Gentiles is towards every kind of impurity because they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality. When we repeatedly walk barefoot outside, callouses grow up on our feet and we stop feeling the pain. Our body grows used to it. When our habits are disordered, fruitless, ignorant, and worldly — we crave and become greedy for more. It’s like when Jesus said that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be too — where our habits are, there our hearts will be too. We love what we do. Thus, Paul’s instructions are not only aimed at our heads — be renewed in the spirit of your minds — he tells us that we must also put off our former manner of life and to put on a new self created after the likeness of God. Manner of life — to become new people we can’t just start thinking differently, we have to form new habits, rituals, and manners of living.

Let’s illustrate. Our health is poor. But we just read a few articles and we’re convinced: if we eat healthier we’ll likely recover. And yet, here we are today eating fried chicken with french fries and a cherry coke. Fast forward three years. We have now watched a couple movies, read 10 more articles and even half a book on healthy eating, but little has changed. But then our spouse comes to us: “We are going to eat healthier. We’re going to meet with a group who will hold us accountable and show us how to shop and cook healthier. We can’t eat with unhealthy friends for awhile. We’re shopping at a new store. And we’re starting a garden.” You say, “I’m in!” You go to the fridge and pantry and start tossing out every forbidden item… and suddenly realize how much you don’t want to do this. You love all these things you are throwing away. But you go with it. You start following healthy foodies on social media. But salads and Brussels Sprouts seem boring, this new stuff is expensive, and the garden is the bane of your existence. Your body is kicking and screaming for pizza and brownies. But your spouse reminds you to stick with it as they blab about the benefits of kale, raw milk, sourdough bread, and pasture-raised meat. You start checking labels. You become familiar with the new store. The healthy friends aren’t so bad. Slowly your cravings start changing until, a few months later, when you are getting lunch with your friends, you find that fried chicken doesn’t even sound good, but that seared ahi tuna salad with a fresh herb vinaigrette sounds amazing.

What just happened? Even though we rationally knew we shouldn’t, we loved unhealthy foods, and we loved them because our whole manner of life pushed us to the unhealthy foods — the food we habitually ate, our pantries full of junk, the low budget for cheap food, the places we went, the friends we had, and the pictures on social media kept the unhealthy love alive. But when we changed both our minds and our rituals, the places we went, the people we talked to, the pictures we saw — we gradually became health nuts who loved all things healthy. Our loves changed because both our minds and our habits changed.

We can tend to think of ourselves as primarily thinking beings, brains on a stick. I might be disordered, but a solid rational argument will change my mind and I’ll do better. But God didn’t make us that way. We need to be renewed in our minds, but our loves need to be transformed too. Part of the challenge is that we are often not aware of our loves. In my mind I think I hate sugar and what it does to me, but I don’t realize just how much my body loves it until it is time to throw it away — it’s the same with sin or even just fruitlessness.

We can’t just think our way out of sin or merely think our way into righteousness because  we didn’t only think our way into sin in the first place. Sin isn’t actually something that captures our heads so much as it captures our hearts and our bodies: our hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouths, and stomachs. Our minds need to be renewed and enlightened, but our hearts that have been hardened by sin need to be softened, transformed, and replaced altogether. And our bodies need to learn new ways too: to bow, pray, fast, read Scripture, sing, serve, give, rest.

Who does that? Renews and transforms our hearts and spirits? The Holy Spirit. You may recall Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” Every one of us has had and has disordered hearts and loves. However, God promises to cleanse us from our old ways, remove our hearts of stone, and give us fleshy hearts. He promises to put his Spirit within us and cause us to walk in God’s Law.How does he do that? The Holy Spirit is elusive like the wind and I refuse to put the infinite God in a box. But one theme we see in Scripture is that the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and bodies in the tangible habits and rituals of the church.

I often want to say, “Alright, Holy Spirit, I’m ready — come at me! Make me new!” And we should do that — see Acts 1-2. But what if that’s not the only way the Spirit works? The Spirit is frequently mentioned alongside very tangible practices. Consider:

• The Spirit works in the Word preached by men (John 16:8) and the sword of the Spirit is said to be the word of God (Ephesians 6:17) — voice and paper.
• The Spirit is given to those who hear in faith and who are baptized in water (Acts 2:38; Gal. 3:2).
• Miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit were often given through the laying on of hands (Acts 8:17-19; 1 Tim. 4:14)
• Prayer is to be at all times in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18) and the Spirit intercedes for us in our prayers (Rom. 8:26-27).
• When the believers gathered to fast, pray, and worship, the Spirit filled them and spoke to them (Acts 4:29-31; 13:2).
• We are told to be full of the Spirit by addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another (Eph. 5:18-19).
• And where is the hot spot where we encounter the Spirit and these practices the most — baptism, the word, prayer, singing, fasting? The church! “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:22 ESV)

You have heard the story of the man who asked God to save him from the flood? The waters rise and he begs God to save him. A canoe, a boat, and a helicopter all come to rescue him, but he tells them all, “No! I’m waiting for God.”  But the man eventually dies in the flood. In heaven, the Lord exclaims, “I sent you a canoe, a boat, and a helicopter — what more did you want?”

This reminds me of Elisha and Naaman in 2 Kings 5. Naaman had leprosy, but he went to Elisha the prophet for healing. But Elisha didn’t even come out to see Naaman. He sent a servant out to tell Naaman to dip himself in the dirty Jordan River seven times to be healed. Naaman went away furious. “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.” (2 Kings 5:11) Fortunately, his servants urged him to get in the water. And no matter how foolish he felt, he dipped in those waters seven times and only after the seventh time did he find God had cleansed him.We long to be whole, alive, free, and fruitful. Imagine, the next time you are bored, stressed, or scared, your first impulse being to seek the Lord for comfort… not new clothes, more money, new stuff, a bigger retirement, a bigger home, more fame and attention, alcohol, sugar, sex? Can you imagine not constantly craving the next show, movie, ballgame, super bowl, election cycle, amazon box, explicit photo or video? Can you imagine not craving the praise and acceptance of the world?

Can you imagine instead loving and craving Jesus, the presence of the Spirit, the word of God, time to pray, the assembly, to serve, to tell others, to give, to fast, to be in the fullness of God’s heavenly kingdom — can you imagine trusting the Lord with all our hearts and seeking his kingdom first? Can you imagine being full to the brim of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, discipline, knowledge?

The Holy Spirit often transforms our hearts and bodies in the tangible habits and rituals of the church practiced in faith. And when the assembly is the hotspot of these practices done together by the Spirit of God, is it any wonder that the one time our English New Testaments use the word “habit,” it is with respect to our assembling together. Heb. 10:24–25 ESV, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Assembling to do these things is the right habit — yet it can seem like such a mundane ritual. Maybe we are more like Naaman and the man drowning in a flood than we think: maybe we demand God work out of thin air when he wants to take our hearts and wills and animate our bodies to participate together with him. In the illustration of the flood and the man, the canoe, the boat, the helicopter, and dipping in the Jordan are illustrative here of the rituals of reading and hearing the word, praying in faith, fasting, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, singing, giving, and assembling together — these are practices and places where we encounter the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

We love what we habitually do, worship, serve with our bodies.  We become not merely what we know in our brains, but what we listen to with our ears, where we go with our feet, look at with our eyes, serve with our hands, bow before on our knees, give to with our wallets, who we spend time with, and what we eat and drink in honor of.

Let’s ask ourselves right now, what disordered practices, what vices are we struggling with? Pick one. Is it greed? lust? anger? pride? laziness? gluttony? deceit? fear? vanity? What embodied person, place, practice, habit, ritual, or app is re-enforcing our hunger, love, attraction to those vices? What is stopping us from the joy and freedom that comes from cutting it off?

Let’s ask ourselves right now, what virtues are we struggling to grow in? Pick one. Love? joy? peace? patience? kindness? goodness? faithfulness? gentleness? self-control? discipline? knowledge? What practice, habit, ritual could you take up to grow your love for that?

Let me make a habit recommendation. If Scripture reading and prayer are not daily parts of your life — daily places where God’s presence is meeting you and shaping you — consider joining me and others in this church in daily bible reading and daily prayer. We are going to work through the Bible in two years. And all you need to do that is to read about two chapters a day, six days a week. The plans for this year are on the back table. It starts two weeks from today. One recommendation here: set a regular time that you do this. Whether it is as soon as you get up, during lunch, or before you go to bed, or maybe you read a chapter at the dinner table, or read earlier and talk about it and share a favorite verse at the dinner table.

Let’s not be like Naaman, insisting that God must work in our time, in our way, and just wave his hands over us to transform us — let’s meet him in the disciplines where he the Spirit has promised to meet us.

Series: Christians and Technology

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

(Credit: Daniel Broadwell's Sermon on this topic)

Genesis 2:5 rewinds to back before the creation of humans to present a problem. Plants are not growing abundantly in the land not only because there is no rain, but also because there is no man to work the ground. But, God forms man from the dust of the ground, breathes his Spirit into him, and puts him in the Garden — Genesis 2:15 — “to work it and keep it.” “To work” is a productive word (to tend, to serve, to cultivate good fruit). “To keep” is a protective word (to guard). This is man’s purpose: to be productive in the earth and to protect what God has entrusted him with. We are kings and queens tasked by God to rule the earth and fill it like a temple with fruit and with the image of God for the glory of God.

But the Scriptures tell the story of how we have failed in that task. Isaiah 5 reflects on this tragedy in Jerusalem. Isaiah 5:1–2, 7 (ESV): “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill… and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes… The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel… and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!”

We have failed like Adam and Eve, and have produced useless sour grapes. But Isaiah saw a day when God would slay the dragon and have the vineyard, the people, and the world that he intended. “Israel shall… fill the whole world with fruit.” (Isa. 27:6 ESV) Jesus is the new Adam and we are his offspring who have been given God’s Spirit so the church will be filled with the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Hebrews 12 says God disciplines us so we will be fruitful. Jesus says God prunes us so we will bear more fruit (John 15). The garden imagery of fruit-bearing is across the New Testament.

And so, let’s use our imaginations to consider ourselves as both a garden and as gardeners in it. Our purpose is to protect our garden and to cultivate good fruit within it so that our lives and our families bless the nations and bring glory to God as others see his love and truth blossoming in us. How do we do this? Cast a vision, set boundaries, and cultivate goodness. I intend this to be a sort of conclusion to the technology series for now, but also as a transition into a time where we will occasionally reflect from time to time on spiritual disciplines.

1. Cast a Vision for Fruitfulness

The Eden model gives us the broad vision of who we are and our place in world. But we also need to have a specific vision for our lives and our families.

Let’s start with ourselves: What do I want to become as a Christian? What do I want said at my funeral? What do we want to be remembered for when we die? That’s our vision. Now, we all have limitations—circumstances that we work within. Paul says in 1 Cor 7:17, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him.” I may be single or married, or I may have a family situation that restricts me, a physical limitation that isn’t going to change, or I may have opportunities that others do not have. We’re not talking about changing circumstances outside our control, but asking who we want to be within the life God has assigned us.

Do I want to be an elder, preacher, deacon, servant, giver, encourager, or one who excels in spreading justice and cheer by doing acts of mercy? A Titus 2 woman who mentors younger women because she is respected for her knowledge and maturity? Do I want to teach Bible classes? Foster or adopt children? Bring food to the hungry or babysit for overburdened families? Show hospitality to those who need a home and a family?

Now, let’s think about our kids and grandkids. What’s our vision for them in their various contexts? Imagine your son is 25, living on his own, what kind of young man is he? Solid in his faith, mature in his understanding of Scripture, involved with a local church, making wise choices in terms of spouse, job, etc.? Imagine your daughter at 35, what kind of woman, perhaps wife and mother, do I see? Able to teach kids the Bible, an asset of work and service in the church, skilled and strong like the Proverbs 31 woman? Imagine your son at 50. Is he equipped and qualified to use the abilities God has given him to serve the church — whether as an shepherd, deacon, preacher, teacher, servant, encourager? Is he respected for his devotion, wisdom, and reverence? What sort of daily and weekly rituals are they keeping in their old age with respect to the Scriptures, prayer, and the church? As the world continues to change dramatically over the coming century, is it important to us that they have the wisdom and maturity to to remain anchored?

Let’s be bold and far-reaching in our vision casting. Within the limitations we may have, let’s not settle for what is expected, or what our history has been. Let’s imagine what God can do in our life and the lives of our kids.

Proverbs 29:18 says “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; But he that keeps the law, happy is he.” This is primarily talking about prophetic vision, the revelation of God that directs our paths. But there’s a point here that with no view of where we’re going, we wander aimlessly. But with a vision given by God’s law, we find happiness, blessedness. And notice the connection between vision and restraint. We cannot be or do everything. Once we know where we are going, we can use wise restraint — start ruling out other pathways that will distract us from our goals.

2. Establish and Protect Boundaries

On one hand, boundaries are necessary to avoid sin. Paul counsels us to “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom 13:14). But we’re talking about setting boundaries that help us bear God-honoring fruit. The thorny ground in Matthew 13:22 offers a helpful model here. (ESV) “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Thorny ground is one of the largest challenges facing families today. Success, money, screens, hobbies, sports, and school are not inherently wrong, but in the U.S., they quickly become invasive weeds that choke out a family’s energy and desire for God’s kingdom.

Jeremiah 35 offers a good example of a family that set solid boundaries. God tells Jeremiah to go to the Rechabites, descendants of a man name Jonadab (and from the line of Jethro the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law), and ask them to drink wine. Consider their response in Jer. 35:6-10 ESV, “But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,  and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.”

Notice that these prohibitions (no wine, no owning land, only live in tents) are not commands of God, but commitments made by the family. In particular, they are commitments to preserve the identity of the Kenites who were allowed to live in the land but didn’t inherit it themselves. We might be tempted to mock these Kenites as Pharisaical or legalistic, but God commends them.

Like Jonadab, fathers and grandfathers have the opportunity and responsibility to lead our family. We are to cast a vision that we hope will shape our family for generations.

Now, as we establish boundaries, spiritual infants will only ask: is it a sin? Like the Corinthians: “All things are lawful for me.” But we want to ask mature questions: What is wise? best? How can we bear more fruit for God’s glory? Be willing to keep it weird! Consider some examples. And they are simply examples, not mandates.

Example 1: We’re not going to miss worship or Bible class.

Vision: My family and I are going to be active, depended upon members of this local congregation of Christians, encouraging and encouraged by others.

Commitment: We will not miss an opportunity to gather with God’s people—Sunday, Wednesday, or other opportunities that come up. If the doors are open, we are here. (And, actually, Hebrews 10:24-25 tells to not habitually miss these gatherings, so this is an no-brainer to adopt)

Example 2: We’re going to strictly limit screen time.

Vision: I want to be at peace, to rest well, and to be thoughtful and focused, and I want to enjoy real life in the presence of my family.

Commitment(s): Screens have been dominating our lives (1 Cor. 6:12), so no TV in the main room of our home, we only allow screen use or data use during certain hours, no screens in the kids’ bedroom (very common among tech executives), no phone until my child is 16, 17, 18 or whatever, in the morning we will adopt the motto “Scripture and supplication before screens.” By the way, I met a family in Georgia last year with kids who were 13, 18, and 21 — none of them had cell phones and they told me away from the presence of their parents they were so grateful to them for that. In case you think those kids were socially awkward, they were the only young people that spoke to me that weekend — and I spent an entire evening with teenagers at a teen devo. Two other teens here in high school and college recently told me, away from the presence of their parents, that they have no wifi or cellular data access on their phones until 5pm, and that while it makes things more difficult, they are glad their parents have made this restriction. But we aren’t just talking about teens. For me, I asked Ashley a long time ago to setup strict password protected time and content restrictions on my phone and computer. Other families declare a weekly Sabbath, and from 6pm on one day to 6pm another day, their phones go in a lock box.

Example 3: We’re not going to have debt.

Vision: I want to be in the financial position (especially as I get older) to be a generous giver, someone who in a moment can help a person in need.

Commitment: We may have a mortgage, but no other borrowing for anything. If we have debt, we are in a full-court press to pay it off so it does not dominate our lives (1 Cor. 6:12). As Dave Ramsey says, “live like no one else, so that you can give like no one else.”

Remember, we’re not making arbitrary rules. Hebrews 12:1 which urges us to not only set aside every sin, but also every weight. Why? So we can run the race. So we can bear fruit. And these boundaries will make us weird, different from others. And that’s okay.

Cultivate Goodness and Virtue

Our goal is not to merely have a field with no weeds, but to fill our lives, families, this church, and the world with fruit. With boundaries set, we fill up our lives with profitable, God-honoring things.

Jesus talks in Luke 11 about the man from whom one unclean spirit departs, but when it returns it finds a clean house and moves in with seven of his friends to terrorize the man worse than before. So, we set boundaries to keep the demons out, but why? what fruit are we aiming to bear? Once we set boundaries to get away from, say, work or screens or cut out materialistic shopping — what are we going to do with our time and resources?

What should we fill our lives with? You know: the Word, prayer, God’s people—these are the pillars of the fruitful life. Consider Jesus. The Scriptures said nothing about celebrating Hanukkah, but he went to Jerusalem for it. The Scriptures said nothing about going to the synagogue on Sabbaths, but it was his custom to go every week. Why? To put himself in a place to hear God’s word and to kneel before God’s throne with God’s people.

But even beyond these, let’s make mature decisions to replace worldly, empty things with good, wholesome things that enrich our lives. Move from okay habits to good ones; from good habits to better ones.

Maybe we start with, instead of eating in our rooms, we eat together as a family. Then, instead of only eating together as a nuclear family, we regularly invite others into our home.

Or, we start by shifting from isolating ourselves on our phones with headphones to, if we’re going to watch something, doing that with the family. But, maybe we move away from screens towards walks together, or reading good books together, or to singing hymns together, or to learn a new skill that will better our lives and the lives of others. Establish new traditions, stick to them, then re-evaluate and adapt them, but stick with it.

A note here. Sometimes when we have these conversations there are two pitfalls we might make. First, wisdom and experience teaches us that everything is not the same. Playing video games is not just as good or wise and a family walk. A movie is not the same as a book. A romance novel is not the same as high fantasy. Second, we want to encourage each other towards wisdom, but there is no need for judgmentalism. Leave judgmentalism for insecure people who have logs in their eye. Let’s allow one another to stand and fall before God our judge.

Conclusion—Not Easy, but Worth It

Proverbs 14:4 says, “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” (or… the easiest way to have a clean kitchen is to always eat out…) Real life, and often the better way of doing things, is harder, less efficient.

We can take the easy way, with no mess and no hassle:

• Not stop to ask tough questions and make tough decisions.
• Fathers, just let the wife take care of it.
• Keep kids pacified on screens: no one argues or fights, and they leave me alone.

By contrast, the fruitful life is much more difficult.

• It means hard conversations and tough decisions and messy kitchens.
• It means as fathers we step up and take responsibility for our garden.
• It means doing things that are sure to cause pushback (like family devotions)

But the more difficult way provides so much lasting value to our families and kids—value that will bear fruit for generations, as it did with the Rechabites. Where will we start today?

Series: Christians and Technology

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Psa. 119:37 ESV, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”

Heb. 12:1–2 NIV, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles… fixing our eyes on Jesus…”

Luke 23:47–48 ESV, “Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, ‘Certainly this man was innocent!’ And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.”

Col. 2:15 NIV, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

1 Cor. 1:22–24 ESV, “Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom (and Americans crave spectacular entertainment) but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles (and a bore to Americans), but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (and the spectacle of God).

We live in the age of the spectacle. By spectacle I do not mean glasses through which we see, but a thing we look at. Tony Reinke, whose book Competing Spectacles inspired this lesson, defines a spectacle as “A moment of time… in which collective gaze is fixed on some specific image, event, or moment. A spectacle is something that captures human attention, an instant in which our eyes and brains focus and fixate on something projected at us.”

As we celebrate Christ, the cross, and the empty tomb today, I want to put a pebble in our shoes with an assertion:  The cross is spectacular, but if we continually put worthless yet awe-inspiring spectacles before our eyes, we can desensitize our awe and veil our faces so that we struggle to see the glory of the Lord in the greatest spectacle ever devised — the cross event.

We can constantly consume all manner of visual wonders through our media. Streaming services, sports providers, social media outlets, and the gaming industry continually pump out hilarious, ridiculous, dramatic, and seductive photos and videos. Everything can be turned into spectacle — even politics, war, and local disasters are sensationalized for our shock and viewing pleasure. We have never had such a visual buffet available to us: eighty-two years worth of video are uploaded to YouTube every single day. “Never satisfied are the eyes of man.” (Prov. 27:20 ESV)

But, does partaking in this visual feast have any effect on our appetite as we come to feast on the Lord’s body and blood? on his word? on our hope in his coming? Consider how difficult it has become to listen to sermons as our attention spans continue to decrease.

“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed…” (Matt. 13:14–15 ESV)

At their best, the right spectacles — like the temple in Jerusalem, the cross, baptism, the assembled saints, song worship, or the Lord’s Supper — can draw us closer to true glory and true worship. At their worst, flashy worldly spectacles blind us from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, while winning our cheers for something fleeting and worthless.

“If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:3–4 ESV)

Spectacles are not new. The ancient world had pagan temples and idols which were crafted to be visually spectacular to win people’s worship. Imposing images of kings were scattered in strategic locations throughout the ancient world to remind those who lived there to be faithful in their allegiance. Ancient Greece was known for their spectacles in the amphitheater: plays, comedies, tragedies, performances of various sorts. Sporting competitions were also popular: people ran, wrestled, and boxed one another bloody. The arena of the Roman Empire was especially gruesome. Animal hunts, gladiator fights, and public executions all took place before the cheering and booing of the crowds who gathered to behold a spectacle.

We are not alone trying to figure out what relationship Christians should or shouldn’t have with the world’s entertainment. Around AD 200, Christian author Tertullian wrote a short book called On the Shows. In it he rebukes Christians for returning to the shows they had previously left behind — the plays, the circuses, the fights, and so on. Three of the reasons he gives for this stand out to me. First, the things the actors and fighters do are sinful. “He condemned violent sports that disfigured the bodies of God’s image bearers.” (Reinke, pg. 71) He reasoned that if it is sinful to do on the streets, then it is sinful to watch on the stage. Second, the chief sign to pagans that someone has adopted the Christian faith is their rejection of these amusements. According to Tertullian, the first public thing a new Christian stopped doing back then? Going to the shows.

But Tertullian offers a third objection that relates to our topic the most: Christians are longing “for goal-posts, the stage, the dust, the arena” when they should long for and be satisfied by the numerous spectacles God has given us in Christ. Where is that same hunger for Christ’s body and blood? energy to conquer sin? anticipation over the return of our Lord? eagerness to worship? to hear God speak?

We have the challenge of coming back to the table week after week and being awed at the spectacle of the cross that never changes. We know the story — it’s not new. But worldly spectacles are are always fresh and new. We can fill our hunger to feel like we are part of an exciting story full of wonder and meaning with a quick tap. But does it dare satisfy our hunger and thirst for the Lord? our wonder over the cross? or our anticipation of his coming?

There is an exciting story full of wonder and meaning in the cross if we will continually press into it, meditate on what Jesus has done, and wonder. In fact, the Scriptures themselves say that the cross was a spectacle devised both by the Romans and by God himself.

The Romans made a public spectacle of thousands of runaway slaves and insurrectionists by stripping them naked, pinning them to a tree or a cross at eye-level by a busy road with their crimes written above their head so everyone could see and be warned: Rome is in charge, stay in your place.

Jesus’ crucifixion carried an irony that made it especially eye-catching. He made himself out to be a king, so they adorned him with a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns. They put a reed in his hand, bowed before him and cried, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they took his “scepter” and struck him over the head and spit on him. Then, as with others who were crucified, they paraded him through the streets as a walking spectacle. When he was crucified, the charge written above his head read, “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Crowds gathered for the spectacle and mocked him. There was something about the sight of a would-be king nailed to a cross. So will the Lord Caesar — Son of God — do to the man who makes himself out to be Lord and Son of God!

But, two people saw right through this show of power. First, the criminal crucified next to Jesus (Luke 23:42). Before this criminal’s eyes is a beaten and bloodied Jesus; yet, he asks, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The cross is supposed to expose Jesus as a fraud, but somehow he saw through the world’s spectacle to something far more spectacular: the man dying next to him is the Son of David prophesied to come in kingdom power and rescue us all. And what a spectacle — as Jesus dies like a sinner, this criminal receives a divine pardon.

Second, Mark’s account highlights the centurion, the Roman soldier in charge of ensuring Jesus died (Mark 15:39). Again, Jesus on the cross is proof: Caesar is Lord and Son of God, Jesus is a fraud. And only when we see how Jesus is raised from the dead, do we have eyes to say, “Jesus is Lord!” But, like the criminal, when the centurion saw how Jesus died he exclaimed, “Son of God!” Here there was no miracle. The humility and grace with which Jesus died was a spectacle of its own that created faith in these two men. My richest gain I count as loss, and pour contempt on all my pride when… I survey the wondrous cross. At the cross, at the cross is where I first saw the light.

Satan and the rulers of this age planned the cross as a spectacle of rebellion and to declare that “God is dead.” But Paul tells us in Colossians 2 that in the cross Jesus disarmed the evil forces of heaven and that he made a public spectacle of them. When the Greeks asked to see Jesus, Jesus said he would he cast down the god of this world and draw all men to himself when he was lifted up on the cross. The whole cross event was planned by God as a spectacle for the ages to cast down Satan, put sin to death, exalt his Son, demonstrate his love, power, and wisdom, and to draw all nations to himself.

Do we crave long-form media? to see a carefully crafted story full of irony, foreshadowing, highs, and lows? Look to the Scriptures and see the climax of history at the cross. Do we want to see the ultimate upset? The powers of earth made a spectacle of Jesus and sealed the tomb — but death could not keep its prey, he tore the bars away. Do we want to a messed up family finally come back together? Try the table of the Lord. Are we thirsty for blood? Here, we have the Lord’s. Do we want to see a love story that ends with a wedding? At the cross the Son heroically sacrifices his life to win back his lost and captive bride — and a wedding feast to end all others is coming. Greater than any 10-season show, 2 hour movie, or overtime football game, at the cross and the empty tomb Satan and his forces are cast down, captives are set free, a bride is won, the war of all history reaches its climax in a decisive victory, and the greatest love ever known is put on display.

Let’s conclude by considering three spectacles that put Jesus on display today.

First, the assembled body of the Lord. Paul teaches in his letters that the church is the body of Christ (Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 12:12, 27; Eph 4:12; 5:23; Col 1:24). As we gather today, if we have eyes to see it, we experience — in a sense — Jesus incarnated. This is his body. Touch and see — here are his hands, his feet, his heart, his eyes, and mouth. 2020 was terrible. Pandemic or not, we can’t ever again lose out on the body of Christ being made flesh all around us. There is something powerful about being part of this assembly in whom God the Father, Son, and Spirit have made their dwelling. And being in this assembly deserves for our attention to be completely undistracted by screens.

Second, the suffering church. God put Jesus on display at the cross to send a message to the world, and he puts Christ on display in our suffering too. When Rome conquered other peoples, they brought back prisoners and held a parade — a triumphal procession — in the city of Rome. The Roman general would lead a train of chained captives in procession through the streets to demonstrate the power of Rome. Paul says this is an example of how God uses him — and by extension us all. 1 Cor. 4:9 NLT, “I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.” 2 Cor. 2:14 NLT, “But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.” As we suffer and endure, Christ leads us along in his triumphal procession demonstrating the power of his death and resurrection.

Our media loves the story of how weak, submissive people become self-sufficient masters of their own fate and take revenge. And yet, as we take up our cross, self-determined rebels become weak for Jesus. We don’t seek our own glory. And certainly not revenge. We sacrifice ourselves for God and for one another. We accept suffering when God sees fit to discipline us for our good. And yet we are full of the life, joy, and power of the risen Jesus — serving God through the pain.

We cannot see Jesus crucified and risen and neither can the world, but see the power of the cross and the empty tomb as we watch one another endure various trials by the power of Jesus. “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Cor. 4:11 ESV)

Third, the table of the Lord. As Isaiah invites the hungry to a feast in Isaiah 55, he chastises them: Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? It is too easy to use our screens to dine at the table of demons and spend our time and give our attention to that which does not satisfy. Isaiah asks, “Why?” If we are dissatisfied with our media usage, if we keep ruining our appetite for the Lord, why do we keep going back? I wonder if it’s because we’re a bit more like dogs than we care to admit. Try training a dog to not eat their own vomit — it’s not easy. The food in the bowl later will be more substantial, but the vomit is easy.

Like dogs, we’re always hungry and on the lookout for nourishment. But what did we do this morning? We gathered to consume the Lord at the table of the Lord. They say that taste and smell affect us powerfully. We forget about a person, we forget about a place — but then taste and smell jogs our memory and awakens our hearts. Here our Lord tells us to remember him — not with some hyper-focused intellectual exercise — but to remember him with our noses, mouths, and stomachs. Here we remember Jesus by eating Jesus. Here we come hungry and broken to be filled and healed. Here we are reminded that the promises of the world hold no hope and that the table of demons will never satisfy. Here our restless hearts and bodies are taught to taste and see that the Lord is good. Here our mouths, minds, hearts, and guts are trained to wait for the Lord to fill us. Here we are reminded that the cross is the answer for us all. Here we touch, drink, taste, and have fellowship with Jesus at his table.

Are we hungry? Restless? Tired? Until that final day, Jesus has said to us, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and who ever believes in me shall never thirst… Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life… For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:35, 54-55) We cannot yet see him face to face, but he invites us now to consume him. This supper is one way we can do that. And it is a foretaste of the feast in the final day — when the new wine flows in his kingdom at his coming. When we come to the table, let us receive the training to be satisfied in and to wait for Jesus. One day he’ll come in the clouds in a great show-stopping spectacle. And if we’re satisfied in him now, we won’t cower in fear then but rejoice with confidence.

May we have the discipline to set aside the continual visual feast of our culture more often so we can develop better appetites for all the wonder of Jesus and the cross.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Most all of us know the story of Judas Iscariot. He was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus, one of Jesus' closest followers with whom he entrusted much. When the religious leaders wanted to execute Jesus quietly by night but no one knew where he stayed at night, Judas stepped forward and led them straight to Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. When Judas awoke to the reality of what he had done, he changed his mind and tried to return the silver. But it was too late. Judas went out and hung himself. It is a tragic story, what does Scripture have to say about it?

1. Judas acted for his own gain, but Satan took advantage him.

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death,” (James 1:13–15 ESV). Notice this — we are tempted when we are enticed by our own desire. Evil is making a promise that sounds good to something inside us. But the temptation to sin is not sin. Don’t feel guilty for being tempted. We can say “no.”

But why did Judas say “yes”? Simple: Money had a hold on his heart. He had been trained well in this desire. He had charge of the moneybag and had been helping himself to the money there for quite sometime. And clearly, he got some sort of fleeting pleasure from being a thief because he kept doing it. And when the opportunity came to give intel on Jesus' whereabouts, for the right sum, it seemed good to him. So, before I say anything else, let me be clear that Judas had a decision in the matter. He had free will.

And yet, Judas also made himself Satan’s puppet. Judas probably felt like a independent agent acting for his own ends, doing what he wanted. And yet, notice John 13:2. This was not his idea. He was not an independent agent on his own team simply doing what he wanted. The devil put the idea in his heart. Notice John 13:27. Judas probably thought, “The things I could do with this money…” But he wasn't alone, acting for himself and himself alone, for at that moment Satan entered him and used him like a puppet for his own purposes. He unknowingly gave over his free will to the will of Satan.

Do we ever feel independent like that when we are tempted by sin? Do we ever feel tired of God's demands and burdens — all these lines keeping us from so much? Do we ever feel like your tired of constantly being watched, told what to do, controlled — just let me breath and do what I want, what I think is best!

But we are not independent agents acting for ourselves alone in that moment. Satan plants the thoughts, leads us to obsess over this desire to be free from God’s chains, our parents’ chains, the chains of wise counselors… so he can put us in a choke hold himself for his own purposes. Satan makes sin seem like freedom, but he has his own agenda: he gains more power over this world the more God’s image bearers act like irrational beasts.

God tells Judah, “For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down…” (Jer. 2:20 ESV). I trimmed this quotation because it is pretty explicit, so let me paint with a broad brush here — God set Israel free from slavery so they could become his slaves. But they refused, “We will not serve you!” And yet, God says, “You are bowing for someone else and you are being taken advantage of.” We like to say, “No rules! I serve no one but myself!” Yet, God’s laws are protecting us from becoming the the slaves of someone who will chew us up and spit us out. Where do we think God’s laws are too restrictive? Where do we wish there was a little more leniency? What slavery could he possibly be protecting us from?

2. Judas was blinded by desire and lost far more than he stood to gain.

Thirty pieces of silver was the temptation for Judas. It wasn’t a substantial amount of money, but probably a few months wages for a laborer. This isn’t scientific, but let’s just say it’s like $25k. It was not enough to set him up for life, and yet, imagine how nice it would be for a lump sum like that to hit your account overnight. And yet, ironically, 30 pieces of silver is also what Exodus said you should be paid if someone was responsible for the accidental death of your slave. What a lordly price for the prince of peace: the cost of a single slave.

To us, right now, that 30 pieces of silver — $25K — for some of us, it may not seem like a big deal. But that’s only because we aren’t the captive audience of that sin at this exact moment. Change the sin, change the situation, and we all know how sinful plans and ideas can take up residence in our minds. What if it was $50K on the line? $500K? $5 million? At what price would we take a second look? What party would we trade him for? What friends? What pleasure? What drink or drug? What girl or boy would we trade him to have?

Is it worth it? Consider what Judas traded away: “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life,” (Matt. 19:28–29 ESV). Based on this text, here’s what Judas could have had: (1) A place in the new world; (2) a throne judging the 12 tribes of Israel; (3) receive what he you lost for Jesus a hundred fold; (4) eternal life. Greed blinded Judas from seeing the wonder of eternally ruling with Jesus in a world where all things are new.

Consider how sin did the same thing to Israel. Idolatry caused them to give up way more than God would have ever asked of them. “And they have built the high places of Topheth… to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.” (Jer. 7:31 ESV)

It is amazing how the smallest, most pathetic amount of pleasure seems worth it to trade away our God and king… or even our first born child. Why does this happen? It’s simple. The god of this world — Satan — blinds our minds from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4 ESV). We can’t see how wondrous the Father, Son, and Spirit are, how beautiful God’s plans are for us in the gospel, the wealth we will have in his kingdom: all we see is desire and freedom… the very things he lost when he walked away from Jesus.

But consider the other opportunity we have. If we let God “take control,” “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” (Gal. 5:22–23 ESV).

Judas wasn’t willing to become a slave of Jesus, so he became the puppet of Satan, and he ended up hanging from a tree. It reminds me of Simba in The Lion King. He was sick of his father’s rules. “Oh, I just can’t wait to be king.” And his “no rules” adventure led him and Nalla away from the protection of his father straight into the domain of the hyenas who were all too happy for them to become dinner for the evening. Ironically, Disney now glorifies that same mindset with Elsa: “No right, no wrong, no rules for me: I’m free.”

Next time we feel the desire for freedom, we need to ask: is this freedom to invest our lives in the goodness, truth, and beauty of the kingdom of God? Or is it freedom to do what I want? That’s the path to slavery. There is but one all consuming rule in the domain of Satan: obedience to our animalistic impulses. Run like a dog to every - single - bell - that - rings. But when Satan rings the bell and we run, just like Judas, we are leaving a lavish feast and running toward an empty bowl in a locked cage. But at God’s right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Judas couldn’t see that, but the similarly named Jude, the brother of Jesus — he saw it. He humbled himself. And was willing to call his brother “lord” and himself “slave.” And for that, Jude will gain everything, while Judas lost it all. Let’s choose life.