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Rebuking Who God Receives

Be honest. You met someone this week you don’t think God would accept. He smelled to bad. She talked too loud. She was unkept. He was uncouth. It never occurred to you to share the Gospel with them–you assumed they wouldn’t listen, or worse yet, were unworthy.

If you did, you’re not alone. So did Jesus’s close followers:

And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46-47 ESV)

The fact that Mark names Bartimaeus means that he was well known. He was blind. He was a beggar. He was the town nuisance, the unattractive welcoming committee of one to Jericho. Their response to him was probably no new experience. As a matter of fact his response showed his disregard for their contempt.

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:48 ESV)

They tried to quieten him. Little did they know they were interfering with an intervention.

And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. (Mark 10:49-52 ESV)

Jesus asked him what appeared to be an obvious question: What do you want me to do for you? I’m so glad Bartimaeus didn’t ask for money! He wanted and expected healing. The people who once rebuked him now revered him. He immediately recovered his sight.

Aren’t you glad Jesus receives those others often rebuke.

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Warring Through Worship

Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. (2 Chronicles 20:18 ESV)

The enemy is marching in–three mighty armies. A great horde is harassing Jehoshaphat and his people. After his honest prayer of remembering God’s character and God’s work, and begging God to intercede, he leads his people in a worship service! It’s easy to worship when things are good. It’s easy to sing God’s songs when our bills are paid, our families are healthy, and our work is prosperous.

How do you worship instead of worry?

And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” (2 Chronicles 20:20 ESV)

If you want to worship God when the enemy is marching in, you have to believe. Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established. The writer of Hebrews described faith as the assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen. Faith is convinced of God’s faithfulness in the face of life’s hopelessness. Faith rests in God’s presence in the midst of life’s difficulties.

And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (2 Chronicles 20:21 ESV)

They sang. With the enemy marching in, they sang. They didn’t have all the answers. The diagnosis was grim, the prognosis was worse. They sang anyway. They sang the character of God. They didn’t sing because God answered the way they wanted him to. They sang before God answered them. They sang.

This weekend at Grace Community Church, we are spending 48 hours in prayer. As you pray, worship. Worship God for who he is, not what he can do. As you march into battle this weekend, make war through worship.

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The Battle is Not Yours

Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s…You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17 ESV)

What a scene. Dads and moms holding children in their arms listening to king Jehoshaphat pray while the soldiers’ chants and horses’ stampede roar in the background.

Then God speaks. What God said to Judah is his message to you today. God gave two resounding negative commands:

Do not be afraid. Twice God tells his people not to be afraid. The word afraid here means to be in awe of, to revere, to respect. God is telling them not to give the enemy too much credit. This great horde is not so great after all. How can God’s people do this? For the battle is not yours but God’s. In other words, give God more credit than you give your enemy. Whatever you’re facing isn’t bigger than God!

Do not be dismayed. To be dismayed means to be broken, shattered, devastated. Dismay is fear gone viral, fear run amuck. Dismay is panic on steroids. Dismay happens when your mind devises the worst possible scenario for the challenge you’re facing.

Notice God’s message to his people: You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf. God’s answer for their fear and dismay is his power.  Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you. God’s answer for their fear and dismay is his presence.

Why are you fighting a cosmic battle with human weapons. Your predicaments do not threaten God’s power nor thwart His presence.

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The Deception of Disillusionment

And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. (Luke 24:17-20 ESV)

Jesus approached these two forlorn disciples on a long road back from what they thought was a failed mission. Their fearless leader had succumbed to the Jewish religious hierarchy and the cruel Roman torture called crucifixion. When Jesus found them, they stood still, looking sad. You can hear the biting sarcasm in Cleopas’ statement: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

He played ignorant. Jesus played ignorant! “What things?” he asked. Their answer to his question revealed the source of their disillusionment. Dictionary.com defines disillusionment as: disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be. They answered, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people…”

They were disillusioned because they expected too little, not too much! They thought of Jesus as a prophet, not the Prophet; as one who prophesied before God not as God. They were deceived by their low, incomplete view of Jesus.

What are your expectations of Jesus? Is it possible that His greatest accomplishment has fallen to the bottom of your list of expectations of him? Are you disappointed because the healing didn’t come you prayed for, someone else got the job you prayed for, the relationship you prayed for ended in an ugly breakup? I am not trying to diminish your suffering. I only encourage you to see Jesus for who He is, not who He isn’t. Paul had this in mind when he wrote:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32 ESV)

God is for you…even when He doesn’t make sense.

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If the Holy Spirit Raised Jesus, You’re No Challenge for Him!

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9-11 ESV)

Your body is dead—that old thing that caused you the sin problem is dead! Why are you serving a dead body? Why are you enslaved to a lifeless existence? Romans 8:5-8 is a description of your life before Christ. Look at it!

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 ESV)

Did you know that Jesus did not even raise Himself from the grave! The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the grave! If Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit to raise Him from the grave, then you and I must depend on the Holy Spirit to raise us up to live an entirely new life!

Chuck Swindoll states,

We have been sold a bill of goods. The enemy has made us as a body, so conscious of sin that we are inoperative as a body of believers righteous before God, ready and equipped to move on.

We focus way too much on our lives before Christ–rather than focusing on the fact that we have been raised with Him. We need to live under the awesome power of God! The  result of that kind of living: So then brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. We have an obligation, not to the flesh, but to the Spirit. We choose moment by moment whether or not we will respond to the Spirit or to the flesh.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:13 ESV)

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5 ESV)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24 ESV)

Your response to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to put to death the sinful deeds of the body. It is a relationship of incredible balance—where the Holy Spirit constantly works to rid us of sin in our lives. Through His work, we are empowered to say “No” when sin presents itself. Notice also the outcome. You will either live or die. You cannot ride the fence, here. You will either live according to your old desires before you came to Christ–and die. Or you will live by the power of the Spirit who indwells you–and live.

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By the Glory of the Father

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4 ESV)

Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. 

God’s glory is difficult to define. Glory is an ambiguous term. Let me try to illustrate it. Let’s say Lebron James goes to play for the Chicago Bulls. He walks into the United Center as a Chicago Bull and demands to wear jersey #23. What would happen? The place would go crazy, the fans erupt! Why? The number 23 has great significance in Chicago…it belongs to Michael Jordan and no one else will ever wear it as a Bulls player–no one. As good as Lebron James is, to insist on wearing #23 would insult Jordan and steal his glory.

God’s glory is what distinguishes him from all of creation. He stands alone as God. You can say that, when Jesus died on the cross, his jersey was retired. No one has ever done nor ever will do what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross. But that wasn’t enough. When Jesus went into the tomb, God’s glory was on the line. Would he raise? Would he live again? If he didn’t, God’s reputation, His distinctiveness, would be marred forever. What kind of Father leaves his Son in a borrowed tomb. Three days later, God defended his glory by raising His Son. God defended His honor by making good on his promise. The dead Christ would come to life again! Nothing, not even death, would steal God’s glory.

Here’s the catch. Romans 6 asserts that, when God saved you, He put his glory on the line. He is committed to getting you home and with joy in the journey. Your holiness is His project. Your sanctification is His aim. Your righteous living is His objective. His glory is on the line. The result is this: just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Your new life is a display, not of your own dogged determination to get it right, but of God’s ability to get it right. His glory is on the line.

Just as death had no power over Jesus in the tomb, sin has no power over you. As a new believer you get to live a new life. And God will see that you do–He will raise you by His glory.

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When God Proves You Wrong

He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” (Ruth 4:15 ESV)

“He shall be to you” are words of hope. Naomi came back to Bethlehem looking in the rearview mirror. And all she saw was heartache, disappointment and a judgmental God. Don’t forget Naomi’s words to the women when she came back to Bethlehem:

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:19-21 ESV)

This “angry God” never gave up on Naomi. Don’t miss that. Sometimes you and I are prone to give up on the untouchables, the unreachables, the incorrigibles. God doesn’t. He had a plan for Naomi’s life and it included a boy who would love her and tend her land…who would nourish her in her old age.

Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet once said,

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Naomi mistakenly thought her past dictated her future. God proved her wrong…thankfully.

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God Will Supply All Your Needs

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! (Ruth 4:13-14 ESV)

The Lord gave her conception. We’re not sure why the author of Ruth pointed out God gave her conception. One wonders if it was a stretch because of Boaz’s age for him to father a child. Whatever the challenge, it is clear that Ruth had a child because God wanted her to have one. The second miracle is that the child was a boy. A boy was necessary in order to preserve Naomi’s line and tend her land. Naomi needed a boy and God gave her a boy through Ruth’s marriage to Boaz.

But the surprising turn of events in the story is that this boy ultimately became the redeemer. No one saw this coming! Up until this point Boaz has been the hero of the story…the man who reached out to a Moabite stranger gleaning in his field and directed his field workers to leave her extra food. He is the man who waited at the city gate anxiously looking for a redeemer who was closer kin to Naomi.

But Boaz, with all of his heroic acts, was upstaged by a baby boy. Who would have thought that a baby boy would burst onto the scene and redeem Naomi! What Boaz couldn’t do, the boy would do. What Boaz couldn’t feel for Naomi, her grandson, Obed, would. Through Obed, God promised to meet every need Noami had.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 ESV)

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God’s Reward for Unrequited Faithfulness

Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.” (Ruth 4:11-12 ESV)

What Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion could not do (because they were dead!), God did. The people invoked His blessing on Ruth and Boaz.  “Make Ruth like Rachel and Leah!” they declared. Rachel and Leah were the matriarchs of the Israelite people. This was quite a blessing to pronounce over a foreigner named Moabite.  The blessing was qualified by the designation that Rachel and Leah “together built up the house of Israel.”

Then the people turn their attention to Boaz. Remember this is Boaz who had practiced unrequited faithfulness. He did something knowing he would get nothing in return. The elders of the town speak: May you act worthily…and be renowned. Boaz, may you make a name for yourself. Here’s what is interesting: we never know the name of the other kinsman-redeemer, the one who was more closely related to Naomi. He goes through history unnamed–Boaz’s name went down in the annals of history and is known today in Christian circles all around the world. God reward unrequited faithfulness.

The elders made it clear that God was about to give Boaz a gift: his name would be Obed, a baby boy who would come screaming into the world of Boaz and Ruth. Obed would grow up and have a son named Jesse who would himself have a ruddy teenager called David whom God would choose to be king of Israel!

God rewards unrequited faithfulness.

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Unrequited Faithfulness

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” (Ruth 4:9-10 ESV)

It is one thing to do something for someone who can return the favor. People do it everyday. Kids do chores so they can get an allowance. Employees work to get a paycheck. Friends do favors because they hope for one in return. In stating his purpose, Boaz clearly communicated his reason for buying the property: to honor three dead guys. That’s right. He did what he did for someone who would never be able to say “thank you.” Boaz practiced unrequited faithfulness.

Unrequited means unreciprocated, unreturned. There is no way Boaz can get any return on his investment. Elimelech, Chilion and Mahlon have died. They can’t say “please” nor can they say “thank you.” Boaz is practicing unrequited faithfulness.

Today you will most likely encounter someone who will never know the sacrifice you’re making, the burden you’re carrying, the pain you’re enduring–to help them. In those interactions, know that there is an unseen Observer who initially commands and ultimately rewards. It is He whom you are serving. Serve Him today.