The Fog Factor (Matthew 16:21-17:8)

7/11/2010 CMC Sunday message

Florence May Chadwick was a U.S. long-distance, open-water swimmer. She was most famous for being the first woman to swim 23 miles across the English Channel between England and France in both directions.

On July 4, 1952, at the age of 34, she attempted to be the first woman to swim 21 miles across the Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the California coast. The weather was unfavorable, the ocean was ice cold, the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats that followed her, and the sharks prowled around her. But, for 15 hours and 55 minutes she swam over twenty and half miles. She had only a half mile to go. But, she gave up.

Later Chadwick told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.”^[1]

Can you imagine giving up the race after swimming for almost 16 hours, perhaps only twenty or thirty minutes left to go? Twenty and half miles behind you, and only a half mile to go, but she lost her heart, she lost her courage, she gave up, she sunk deep into her own despair and couldn’t climb out of it to finish the race.

Guys, we’ve been through so much together for this past year. By December of last year, we were about to be blown apart into many fragments. The dense fog descended upon us and we weren’t able to see where we were going. We got discouraged and confused. But, as a ray of light breaks through a dark cloud, God broke through our confusion and discouragement with his vision. We began to dream together that we don’t have to repeat the passionless and joyless church life. Starting with me and to you, God began to show us that our lives are to be the display of his glory, the display of what he can do and how he can change us through his Son, Jesus Christ. And, God began to awaken us to the life of church that is neither about you nor about me, but church that is all about what God can do through broken and massed up people like you and me to transform the world. We’ve come a long way together to be here.

But, the danger of fog remains, the fog that can easily rob our vision and courage and derail our journey together. My goal this morning is to help you deal with the fog factor. First, we are going to see how Jesus understood his identity and his mission with clarity and without the fog of confusion. And, later, we are going to see the fog factor through Peter’s response to Jesus’ mission.

God’s revelation of Jesus’ identity

Let’s get right to it shall we? Peter made the most amazing discovery about the identity of Jesus Christ. Peter didn’t make the discovery because he was a really smart guy. No, Jesus made it clear in Matthew 16:17 that it was his Father in heaven who revealed to Peter about the identity of Jesus Christ his Son. It was the Father who revealed to Peter about his Son that Jesus is the Christ (the anointed), the Son of the living God. The way Jesus fed thousands of people out of few bread and fish, the way Jesus healed the blinds, the way Jesus casted out demons, the way Jesus forgave sins… Jesus was the Anointed Son of the living God.

Jesus’ declaration of his mission

Now that Jesus’ identity was revealed by the Father in heaven, it was the right time for Jesus to let his disciples in on his mission. It was the time for Jesus to help his disciples understand how his identity would determine what he was going to do with his life. It was the time for his disciples to see the complete agreement between his identity and his mission, what he must do with his life.

Jesus understood who he was and what he must do early on. When he was twelve years old, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the annual pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. After they made the visitation, they left go home. Least Mary and Joseph thought it so until they discovered that Jesus was missing for a whole day. The amber alert went off and they searched for him for the next two agonizing days, worrying to death. Finally, they found him in the temple courts, mingling with the teachers of the law; twelve years old boy was discoursing with the teachers about the grownup issues. It was like finding a sixth grader talking to the professors of theology in a divinity school. People were amazed by how smart he was; but Marry and Joseph, they weren’t impressed because they’ve been half out of their minds looking for him. They questioned Jesus in bewilderment, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you” (Luke 2:48).

And, Jesus equally bewildered by their worries asked them, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) Do you see it the language of must in Jesus’ words? “Don’t you know that I have to be in my Father’s house?” Whenever you hear someone talking with “I have to” attitude, you know that person means business. It wasn’t that Jesus stumbled into the temple courts accidentally after losing his way. No, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem purposely because he was compelled to be in the presence of his Father, compelled with the Father’s business. He knew who he was, he knew to whom he belonged, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do in life.

Now coming back to our passage, Jesus revealed clearly what he must do with his life as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:21, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”[2]

Jesus’ language of “must” tells us that he meant business, he meant what he must do with his life, he meant his mission. And to Jesus the mission was not optional; it was not something he would do if he felt like doing it or something he could abandon in a heartbeat if things became too uncomfortable, uneasy, and unbearable. To be true to his identity meant to be true to his mission without deviation. That is why Jesus began his journey towards Jerusalem with the “must” attitude. It didn’t matter that false accusation, the illogical madness and rejection and ultimately the most horrifying form of execution waited him in Jerusalem. His journey towards Jerusalem that began with the “must” attitude ended in Jerusalem on the cross.

The crucifixion was the most feared forms of execution. Romans used it very effectively to deter any kind of rebellion or insurrection in their empire. The condemned was forced to carry a crossbeam to the scene of crucifixion. And, there at the execution site, the condemned was nailed to the crossbeam and also to the upright beam. Then the whole cross was lifted into place,^[3] so that the condemned would die most painfully.

His last words having accomplished resolutely what he set out to do nailed on the cross with the “must” attitude, were, “It is finished” according to John 19:30. With these words, Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Do you know what was beneath Jesus’ “I must go” attitude towards the cross? Romans 5:6-7 tells us what drove Jesus’ death wish. It says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus’ mission was determined by who he was. And, Jesus was the Son of the living God who was deeply in love with you and me, with the people. He loved so much that he had to do something about the predicament of humanity facing hell in sins. Out of that love, out of that compassion, the mission of God was born, to die the horrible death of crucifixion in my place, in your place, in our neighbors’ place, in our colleagues’ place, in our families’ place to be condemned for our sins; he died the death of crucifixion to display the power of God to raise him from the power of death and thereby to raise you and me to life from the power of death and sin.

For Jesus, the mission was very clear; the land was in plain sight for Jesus because he was driven by love for you and me, for the people. His “must” attitude toward the cross was continually renewed and fueled by his love and his compassion for the hell bound world. He wasn’t asking, “What’s in for me?” Instead, he poured himself out, he emptied himself out and became obedient to death even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).

Do you have the “must” attitude of Jesus? Do you have the death wish like that of Jesus? Is your life about pouring yourself out, emptying yourself out for God’s mission for the world because you love the Savior who did it for us and for the world? Or, are you asking, “What’s in for me?”

The fog factor

Jesus always knew who he was and what he must do, but there was a dense fog of confusion in Peter’s mind about Jesus’ identity and his mission.

When Jesus declared to the disciples that as the Son of the living God, his mission was to die the horrible death of crucifixion for the world and to be raised from the dead, Peter jumped and started rebuking Jesus.

Peter was so convinced that Jesus was out of his mind to talk about his death wish like this. Peter was convinced that he needed to shake Jesus out of this “must” attitude to suffer to and to die.

Peter thought he had to protect Jesus from the silly obsession with suffering and dying. Peter thought he was looking out for Jesus’ comfort and safety, but what he ended up becoming a stumbling block to Jesus who was determined to accomplish God’s mission.

A. B. Bruce wrote what is very perceptive about the situation here. He wrote, “Jesus recognizes here His old enemy in a new and even more dangerous form. For none are more formidable instruments of temptation than well-meaning friends, who care more for our comfort than for our character.”[4] So, here we see Peter, well-meaning friend, caring for Jesus’ comfort more than his character, caring for safety more that the mission of God. “Heaven forbid, Lord… This will never happen to you.” “Goodness sake, why are you talking about your death like this? Don’t you know that kind of negative thinking and negative talk about yourself will bring down the whole group? So, stop being so darn negative about it and think positively.”

This was Peter who just made the incredible confession about Jesus’ identity with God’s help. How do you understand this dichotomy? Jesus’ identity compelled him to take the most difficult path as the way to fulfill his mission while Peter’s understanding of Jesus’ identity compelled Peter to stop Jesus from going after his mission. Jesus answers it for us in Matthew 16:23. “You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

When you have in mind the things of men while ignoring the things of God, you begin to ask, “What’s in for me?” instead of asking “What’s in for God?” You ask, “What can I do?” and feel insecure or feel overconfident instead of asking, “What can God do through me?” with humility. Jesus’ heart was breaking for Peter, for the disciples and for the whole world and he was going to do something about it. But the fog factor clouded Peter from seeing Jesus’ “must” attitude through Jesus’ incredible depth of his compassion.

You see this, “What’s in for me?” attitude in chapter 17. Peter, James and John were given the incredible privilege to the prescreening show up on a high mountain. The prescreening was about Jesus in post-resurrection glory; transfigured with his face shining like the sun, his clothes beaming with white light, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, two great figures of the Old Testament.

And, what was Peter thinking? Matthew 17:4, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Didn’t Jesus talk to Peter just a week ago about the fog factor of minding the things of men rather than minding the things of God?

But, here was Peter going after what was in for him. Why go back down to the miserable earthly existence, when I can stay here with Jesus and rest and be fed in his glory and hang out two of the most famous people in the Old Testament? Why go back to Jesus’ negative talk of suffering and dying when this glory can be the reality now?

A week ago, Peter heard mouthful from Jesus for being clouded with “What’s in for me?” question instead of “What’s in for Jesus?” question. Now Peter hears it from God the Father.

“Come on Peter, This is my Son, whom I love; with him and I am well pleased. So, stop questioning him, stop being a stumbling block to carrying out his mission. Instead, I want you to listen to him. I want you to participate in his mission.”

Matthew doesn’t tell us why the transfiguration took place. But, I cannot help but to think if Jesus allowed Peter, James and John, the leaders among the twelve, to the prescreening for his post-resurrection glory to comfort their hearts. They heard Jesus’ mission to suffer, to die and to be raised from the dead. And, he knew it was hard for them to get over his suffering and dying parts. So, here Jesus let them taste the victorious glory beyond his death in resurrection. But, even then, Peter couldn’t stop thinking what was in for him.

Rid of the fog

Guys, as long as you keep asking, “What’s in for me?” you are not going to see the finish line, you are not going to see the land that you’ve been swimming towards, you are not going to see clearly the vision God has for CMC. If you try to make the church exist for you, if you come with the attitude of demands, “What’s church going to do for me?” I guaranty you that you are going to crash and burn.

The way of the cross is pouring out, emptying ourselves for the cause of the Christ. The way of the cross is to stop asking “What’s in for me?” instead begin to ask “What does God want to do through me?” The way of the cross isn’t being afraid of holding back in fear that you are going to burn out. The way of the cross recognizes that being vitalized is to do the will of God as Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of God” John 4:34. The way of the cross means stop formulating your idea of Jesus as your genie and stop trying to fit Jesus into your life. No, the way of the cross demands that we fit our lives around Jesus’ life. We got to fit our lives into Jesus’ identity of love and compassion for the world, his mission to the world.

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[1] http://www.answers.com/topic/florence-chadwick

[2] After Jesus had undergone and victoriously emerged out of the devil’s temptation against him, it says in Matthew 4:17, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This marked the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the Galilean area. Matthew 16:21 marks the end of the Galilean ministry and the beginning of his mission to Jerusalem. It marks the final steps to accomplish what he came to do on the earth.

^[3]Wilkins, M. J. (2004). The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew (571). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[4] A. B. Bruce, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” 226.

Debt of love (Romans 13:8)

Sunday Sermon @ Cornerstone Mission Church

Romans 13:8, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love another for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law."

Back in the days when my wife and I graduated from colleges and when we were paying off our student loans after we were married, we felt this huge burden. When we were paying minimum payment amounts, it was hardly making any dent on the principle amounts. We felt this huge burden that we should pay them off as soon as we can. So, for about four years, we start paying extra hundreds of dollars and kept going at it without missing a single monthly payment. And, within five years of our marriage, we were able to pay them off our student loans and we remained debt free except the mortgage from the condo where we lived in Oak Park.

Many of you know exactly what I am talking about. Debt obligation is huge responsibility to anyone. If you are a responsible person, you have this desire to pay off what you owe to others. That's a good thing. And, the Bible commands it.

Paul likens loving one another to debt obligation. A difference from the financial debt obligations like student loans and mortgages is that this debt obligation to love one another is the continuing debt to love.
Another word, this love debt is something you cannot pay off in your life time.

So, paying towards this love debt becomes a way of life. Loving one another requires sustained and constant effort. Loving one another is not an option just like not paying off your financial debt is not an option. As Christians, loving one another is not something we do if we feel like it. It is something we do because we are Christians. Being Christians is reason we love one another.

Now, let's apply this to our church life. And, see how we are doing with this paying debt of love.  Tim Sanders, former chief solutions officer at Yahoo and author of Love is the Killer App illustrates how to set priorities in life. He said to take your life and all the things are important, and put them in one of three categories, glass, metal and rubber.

• Things of rubber… when you drop them, or I would say you throw them around, they will bounce back. No harms done when these things dropped. i.e.) my grass is getting taller. Now, with fresh rain last night, it will grow another inch or so to ankle deep. But, no sweat here... I will just pull out my trusted Honda lawn mower and I am good to go. No harm done, here.
• Things of metal.. when dropped, they create a lot of noise. But, you can recover from the drop… For example, if you missed a test, you can tried to retake them. If you fail a test, you can try to make up for it with other tests.
• Things of glass… when dropped, shatter into pieces and will never be the same again. You can glue back together, but they are altered forever. Sanders said that you're the only person who knows what those things are that you can't afford to drop. More than likely, they have a lot to do with your relationships with spouse, children, family, and friends.

When I consider relationships in our church, what I see is a lot of brokenness. We are nice and friendly to each other. We ask the routine question, "How are you?" and we give the routine answer, "I am fine." We are very familiar with each other for going to the same church for long time. But, beyond the familiarity, do you feel like you really know the others in CMC.

The reality behind the vague sense of familiarity and closeness is that many of our relationships have gone through quite of bit of stresses. We are more like cups that have been broken several times and someone has tried to repair them as best they could, but they remain fractured with many missing pieces. You pour into them, but the water doesn't hold in the cups because they leak through the cracks and holes. Relationships don't hold much in our church because we've been fractured as a church for too long.
For doing church together for over 3 years, 5 years, 10 years and for some of you for really long time, it saddens me to know that not many of you would think of each other as friends. When things are difficult for you, the first person pops in your mind to talk about your situation is not from this church, rather he or she exists somewhere out there, but not here.
I recently realize how ironic it is to preach about being the light in the world, to bring the gospel of reconciliation that turns enemies into friends, brothers and sisters. To tell you that we must envision making friends with the non-Christians in order to share them the gospel, while we ourselves don't even know how to relate to each other as friends, that's ridiculous. How can we befriend non- Christians when we don't even know how to be friends with each other in this church? It makes no sense, doesn't it? If we cannot even envision the gospel making any difference in our relationship right here in CMC, then how can we envision that the gospel can make any difference out there?

As long as, we remain acquaintances on Sunday, as long as we go through our routines of being nice and friendly each other, as long as we remain non-committal to each other, there is no need for the gospel in our church, and there will be no compelling reason to reach out the world with the gospel.
Tim Keller said that when the gospel penetrates us deeply, the way we look at ourselves change.

"I am more sinful and flawed than I ever dared believe."
"I am more accepted and loved than I ever dared hope."

Now, where in the world are you going to learn that you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe? Where in the world are you going to learn that you are more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope? Where is this safe place where we can let down our guards and be known in our ugliness of being liars, angry and violent, bitter, lustful, addicted, isolated, lonely, messed up people and at the same radically accepted and loved, and be called out with hope for transformation? Isn't church supposed to be that place where you can lose it, but you can still be loved?

But, here is the reality of our church. So many of us are just nice and friendly to each other, we don't even have the opportunity to sin against each other, not alone reasons to forgive each other and grow together. If I were to ask you when the last time was when you received forgiveness from someone in this church or you forgave someone in this church, I bet many of you would have difficult time to remember it. Why is it? It is because our relationship with each other is superficial at best.

I believe that my wife is one of the wisest people that I know. No kidding. Let me share you what she often tells me about her vision for our family. She wants our home to be a safe place where our children can lose their temper completely and receive face consequences like timeouts or even spanking, but come away knowing that they are forgiven, accepted and loved. Believe me in my home, we have six messed up people, dad who lose his cool and gets angry and resorts to shaming children in order get obedience from them, husband who emotionally neglects his wife, a wife who can tell you herself her own sinful behaviors, four growing children who copies the sinful behaviors of their daddy and mommy. And, we have the seventh child in the pipeline who has not yet able to verbalize her sinful will. But, believe me she is well on her way to join to make the family of seven where there is not a day when we don't sin against each other. But, do you know what holds us together? Do you know what hope we have as a family? It is in my family we know we are more sinful than we ever dared believe. And, it is in our family, we know that we are more accepted and loved than we ever dared hope. Another word, my wife's vision for our family is where the gospel makes differences… our sins are exposed like they are in the daylight, but we cover each other with forgiveness. My wife envisions our family to be a place where we experience God. I told you my wife is wisest person I know.

I never thought I would say this, but here I go. In order to love one another, I believe we need to become a church that sins more. What we need is not more of niceness, but more for you and me to sin against each other. Now, I don't mean we go out of our way to hurt each other. What I mean is committing to go beyond superficial niceness, committing not to hide behind fake masks, but be who we really are in all the ugly and the good, that we commit to create the culture where we can be ourselves because we are all sinners needing the gospel on daily base.

Can you imagine church as a safe place where you can be honest with others, where you can be accepted by others, where you can experience forgiveness and transformation? To create the culture of honesty, forgiveness and transformation, we need to freshly hear God's call to renew our commitment to love one another, to let no debt remain except the debt of love.

Hope against all hope (Romans 4:17-21)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Romans 4:17-21, “As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead- since he was about a hundred years old- and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

To ‘hope against hope’ is to have hope even when the situation appears to be hopeless…

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength. (G.K. Chesterton, Signs of the Times, April 1993, p. 6)

What causes hopeless?

· Powerless to dream… Hopeless sets in when you are just getting by and trying to be content with status-quo. But, you are aching because you know deep down inside of you that you are created for something more; you are created to dream beyond what seems possible because you know God. Yet, you have lost the ability to dream. You no longer think in what’s possible. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God “has set eternity in the hearts of men.” You are made for eternity, but you have lost your way and you don’t dream any more. Busyness, trying to survive and get through, even the entertainments bore you now... You no longer dream and you are hopeless.

· Powerless to know where you are going… when you feel lost, when you don’t know where you are going, when you cannot see the big picture, when you are not driven by God given purpose in life you lose meaning.

· Powerless to change… It’s been too long since you saw real changes. Nothing is changing and you’ve been slowly sinking into the deep hole of hopelessness because you feel powerless to see any meaningful change.

· Powerless against setbacks… When you are defeated, when you mess up, when life turns for worse, it also cause hopeless.

What causes you to feel hopeless about your life? What makes you feel hopeless about the state of your family? What makes you feel hopeless about our church, about our nation?

When God stepped into Abraham’s life, God spoke in the language of promise of what he was going to do. He was going to raise Abraham to be the father of nations, to bless all people, all nations through him. When God spoke in this language of promise, sure certainty, it was as though God set his eternity into Abraham’s heart. How could he an old man 100 years old, how could Sarah his wife beyond human possibility to get pregnant at 90, how could he, how could she dream the possibility to have a child, to dream the birth of many nations? … The present reality, the human impossibility, was so far off from what God said he was going to do through Abraham. One without faith would brush God off as making a cruelest and insane joke.

But, it was far worse in those and agonizing dark days when Jesus’ dead body was put away in the tomb. There is nothing in the world that can compete against the lethal power of death to destroy hope. Death is like great flood that wipes away anything and everything in its path. Death is like great fire that burn down homes with memories into rubbles and smokes. Death is like catastrophic engine failures and structural failures that impair an flying airplane to nose-dive to destruction. Death leaves casualties of hopelessness.

Yet, on this Easter Day, God has set eternity into the hearts of men and women like he has never done before. When death seemed to have the final say, when death seemed to have pronounce all is lost and gone, when death seemed to have destroyed any hope, God broke into the darkness moment of history. But, it was like the sun rising from the east and the darkness couldn’t hold it back.

Just like that God broke into the powerlessness to dream, powerlessness to make sense out of meaninglessness, powerlessness to change, powerless against setbacks. Just like that God broke into the dark present reality with his eternity. And, the history has never been the same since then.

I believe that just like the way God evoked Abraham and Sarah to dream that which was humanly impossible, just like the way God brushed Abraham and Sarah with eternity, he is doing that with you and me. God wants you to know today that he has power to do what had promised to do with your life, in your family, in our church, in our nation, in our world. You will not thwart God’s sovereign purpose. Your choice is either to yield to his purpose and welcome it in faith or you reject his purpose and descend into hopeless death. Romans 8:28–30 says,

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

God’s goal is that you share in his glory as Jesus shares in the Father’s glory. It is the purpose beyond time boundary. Before you were born, while you were little like the babies today, while you were children like my older girls, while you were teenagers, now as grownup adults, God’s purpose is that you be conformed into the likeness of Christ and lived for God’s glory, get on with the Father’s business!

Church, brothers and sisters in Christ, today God has set his eternity in your heart. So, set your heart on something far greater and far glorious beyond your present situations.  Don't be defined by powerlessness to dream, inability to see where you are going, powerlessness to change and powerlessness to fight against setbacks. It is time to rise and to march with Christ. Don’t let the present reality defines you. Let the Great I AM of eternity defines your today. Set your eyes on God’s purpose to conform you to the image of Jesus, to embark on his mission to bring glory to God.

So, as apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:14,

Church, I charge you today, “Wake up, O Sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

CMC Life Group: Yahweh Yireh, the LORD will provide!

Read Genesis 22:1-19

Genesis 22	Read the verses below and write down your own observation on how they relate to the Genesis account.
Genesis 22:6… the wood… placed… on his son Isaac…	John 19:17
Genesis 22:9…Isaac’s silent trust in Abraham and ultimately in Yahweh	Isaiah 53:7 Isaiah 53:10 1 Peter 1:19-20
Genesis 22:10… Abraham didn’t hold back his son Isaac from God.	Hebrews 11:17-19 Romans 8:31-32

• Yahweh Yireh tests you… Why did God test Abraham?
• Worship your Provider, Yahweh Yireh… Abraham to his servants in Genesis 22:5, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” In Genesis 22:10, you see Abraham drawing the knife to slay his son, not withholding Isaac from God. How does Abraham’s response to God’s command reflect the heart of worship?
• Trust your Provider, Yahweh Yireh… How did Abraham trust Yahweh Yireh? How did Isaac trust Yahweh?

Share & Apply…

• Share how Yahweh Yireh has tested you or is testing you to reveal your heart and what you are made of?
• Worship is matter of priority. How are you worshiping Yahweh Yireh, your Provider?
• Reflecting Hebrews 11:1, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” what does it mean for you to trust Yahweh Yireh, your Provider?
• Pray for each other that worship and faith in Yahweh Yireh is restored and revived.

Yahweh Yireh, the LORD Will Provide, Genesis 22:1-19

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, July 5 2009

During my college years, my summer job was painting. I remember having a conversation with one of the painters about Christianity. He not as a believer had real doubts about the Bible. And, I remember him citing the story of the binding of Isaac when Abraham was tested by God in Genesis 22. He was adamant in his belief that God of the Bible is cruel to order Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. And, he couldn’t believe in God who he saw as cruel and unjust. My goodness that was over twenty years ago.  I don’t remember what I told him as a young Christian. But, I am sure I tried to answer him the best I could.

The name of God, Yahweh Yireh, or popularly known as Jehovah Jirah, that I would like to introduce to you this morning comes from Genesis 22. Yahweh Yireh means the LORD will provide. The personal I AM, who was, who is and who will be, who is personally grieved by our sins, who redeems us from our sins, this Yahweh is God who provides. This morning my prayer is that you encounter Yahweh Yireh and walk in confidence in him that the LORD will provide!

1. Yahweh Yireh tests you.

During my family time in Michigan, I met Brian Hommel who was a former professional baseball player and has been the chaplain for the Arizona Diamonbacks. He gave me a little book he wrote, ‘dropping the fig leaves.’ In defining his struggle in his own life, he wrote, “It is human nature to want the greatest amount of happiness with the least amount of pain.”[1] This is twisted sin nature of self-serving that only knows “My life for my life.” When we try to know God as the Provider through the eyes of self-serving, “My life for my life” attitude, we inevitably reduce God to the one who exists to make us happy; our self-serving selfish attitude seeks to domesticate God to our likes and wants.

But, Yahweh, the Great I AM, who was, who is, and who will be, the LORD has never allowed and will never allow his creation to usurp his authority as the Creator, the LORD, the Master, the Owner, the King.

So, what we see in Genesis 22:1 is God, Elohim, testing Abraham. Do you know that God tests to reveal what we are made of? He doesn’t test us because he doesn’t know us, for he knows us better that we know ourselves. He tests us in order to show us what we are made of. Are we the kind of people who are willing to love God with all our hearts, minds and souls? When God tests us, what would be revealed as most important to us? When God tests us, are we going to be revealed as people who simply trust God because he is beneficial to us, or we trust him with our lives?

Now, we as readers know what’s going on since the narrator tells us what’s going on here, namely that Abraham is being tested in this chapter. But, Abraham didn’t know any of this. Job was put through the fire of test and just like Abraham, he didn’t know what was going on either. So, imagine the shock when Abraham heard from God, “Take you son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.” Do you notice how this is getting more personal for Abraham? “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains.” Ouch! Can you feel the pain Abraham must felt here?

This is Abraham who waited for 25 some years for Isaac to be given to him. In the previous chapter, there was this great joy of seeing beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise to make Abraham a great nation with his offspring as numerous as stars.

But, when Isaac was old enough to wean off probably two or three, things got ugly in Abraham’s household. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking and she would have none of it. She demanded of Abraham. “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac,” Genesis 21:10. 21:11 says that the matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But, soon he found that God’s was on Sarah’s side on this. God came to Abraham. God addressed first Abraham’s distress and told him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant.” And, he told him why he should listen to whatever Sarah told him, it was because it is through Isaac that his offspring would be reckoned. And, God gave Abraham hope for his son Ishmael for he had a plan for Ishmael, to make him into a nation. So, in Genesis 21:14, we see him sending away his firstborn son Ishmael and Hagar. Here, although in distress Abraham submitted to God’s will for Ishmael.

This is the backdrop of when God came to test Abraham in Genesis 22. He’d been through a lot, but God wasn’t done with Abraham, more testing was required. God was going after Abraham’s heart, you will see.

A commentator writes that God’s command to Abraham in Hebrew has the sense of unusual gentleness. So, the nuance in Hebrew would be something like, “Please, take your son.” God understood the difficulty of the test and he spoke to Abraham with gentleness.^[2]

Genesis 22:1... "Sometime later God tested Abraham..." This would be the answer to the doubt of the painter I mentioned earlier.

In later revelation, God clearly forbad in Leviticus 18:21 the Israelites from sacrificing of any of their children as offering to Molech for this would have profaned his name. He repeats this command in Deuteronomy 18:10 and 12, “Let no one be found among you who sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire,” for “Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD.” One thing that you can count on God is he is consistent. So, we must understand Genesis 22, the binding of Isaac as in God testing to reveal what was most important to Abraham as well as for his son Isaac. God’s purpose of testing was to confirm what he knew of Abraham and Isaac; his intention was never to sacrifice a child. No doubt this command to sacrifice Isaac consumed Abraham, but for God the command was only an instrument of his testing. [3] God is not cruel as my painter friend understood him."

God also tested later time during the wilderness. After three days into from escaping Egypt, when they arrived in the desert and found only bitter water they couldn’t drink, people began to grumble against God. There, he turned the bitter water into sweet and drinkable. Exodus 15:25 says, “there he tested them.” Victor P. Hamilton says, “Will the Israelites take freedom with all the insecurities that freedom brings, or will they take incarceration and the guarantee of regular meals? That is the test,” says in his commentary. God tests to reveal what we are made of, what is most important to us, whether we will treasure him over all others.[4] Are we going to be lorded over by gifts from God or by Yahweh Yireh, the Provider, the gift Giver?

Consider God’s testing. “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering” Genesis 22:2. Ouch! The burnt offering, Hebrew in ola, is translated as holokautoma in the New Testament where we get holocaust.[5] The burnt offerings of animals were to be completely burned except for the hide on the altar (Leviticus 1). I remind you that Isaac was the very fulfillment of God’s own promise to make Abraham into a great nation, to bestow him great blessing, to make his offspring numerous as stars. God was asking Abraham, “Abraham, will you give up your son whom I gave to you?

2. Worship your Provider, Yahweh Yireh

Please, look down to Genesis 22:5 to how Abraham responded to his two servants, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham did not understand that God was putting him through a test, but what he understood was that obedience was a matter of worship. I think Abraham understood that the demand upon him from God went straight to the matter of priority. What made Abraham truly happy, was it because God promised and fulfilled his promise and gave him a son? Was he happy because of the gift he possessed or was he happy because of the gift Giver?

Worship is matter of priority. What does it mean to love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength, all our soul? What does it mean to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, as our spiritual act of worship? Abraham understood this that worship is matter of priority. It is no worship to love gifts more than the Giver of gifts. So, Abraham, without understanding that God’s purpose was to test his heart, not the actual act of child sacrifice, Abraham understood that God was more important than his son, his only son, whom he loved. This is worship to love the Giver of gifts more than gifts he gives.

3. Trust your Provider, Yahweh Yireh

Going back to his response to his servants, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” We as in himself and Isaac will worship and then we as again himself and Isaac will come back to you. Hebrews 11:17-19 interprets for us clearly what was going through Abraham’s mind. It says, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who received the promises was about to sacrifice his on and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”

When God tested Abraham, when God confronted his heart and mind for his allegiance, his love, his delight, his trust, he could only reconcile the fact God was demanding back the gift of his son Isaac God gave to him only through his belief in God’s power to raise the dead.

Already in Genesis, thousands of years before Jesus Christ, Abraham held on to faith of being sure of what he hoped for and being certain of what he could not see. He trusted Yahweh Yireh, the LORD will provide!

And, this is exactly what he believed and how he answered his son Isaac when Isaac asked him, “The fire and wood are here… but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” He answered Isaac, “God [Elohim] himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Abraham trusted in Yahweh Yireh, the LORD will provide!

Now, let’s look at Isaac. Back to Genesis 22:6, it says, “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac.” This image foreshadowed of what was to take place on the Golgotha in John 19:17 where Jesus carried the cross.

Isaac was young, but strong enough to carry the wood for the burnt offering. Genesis 22:9, we see Abraham binding (the aquedah) his son Isaac and laying him on the altar. And, there Abraham drew his knife to slay his son. What you don’t see is Isaac trying to fight the rope and escape the certain death at the hands of his own father. [6] Again, it wasn’t because Isaac was weak and unable to fight off, but Father like son, as Abraham trusted in Yahweh Yireh, Isaac too trusted in Abraham, and ultimately Yahweh Yireh. That’s what you see here.

And, what’s significant is that Isaac’s obedient silence is captured in Isaiah 53:7. It speaks of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ… “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

Isaiah 53:10 says, “it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering.” And, 1 Peter 1:19-20, “but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” The difference is that Isaac was redeemed and was not killed while the ram Yahweh Yireh provided was killed and was offered as the burnt offering.

In Abraham’s determination to carry out sacrifice his child which was stopped by God foreshadowed Yahweh Yireh who didn’t hold back his One and only Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 8:31-32, “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, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

4. Conclusion

Here is how it works. Yahweh Yireh wants to give himself, his One and only Son Jesus Christ to you and me. And, the only way to accept God Son into our lives is through worship and trust. Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 

God is testing you to see if you love him more than all the gifts he gives? God is testing you to see if you know him, Yahweh Yireh, the Great Provider, who demands everything from you, your life, your possession, all that you treasure, in return Yahweh Yireh gives you Jesus Christ.

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[1] Brian S. Hommel, A Search for Authenticity: dropping the fig leaves. Movement Publishing: Chandler, Arizona, 2008, p. 17.

^[2] Gordon J. Wenham, vol. 2, Word Biblical Commentary : Genesis 16-50, electronic ed., Logos Library System; Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 113.

[3] Sailhamer, John H. “4. The binding of Isaac (22:1-14)” In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 2. 167. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1990.

[4] Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Wm. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1995. p. 101.

[5] Ibid., p. 103.

[6] Ibid.. p. 110.

Elohim (Genesis 1:1)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, May 17 2009

One of the things I try really hard when I meet new people is try to remember their names because it feels terrible not to be able to remember their names next time I meet them. I guess I could do what little children’s do about this. One of my daughters often tells me about other kids in her school classes. She would go on and on and tell me all about a kid, how much fun she had with her and how she considers her a good friend. I would ask her, “Mikayla, what’s your friend’s name?” Most of the time, she has no idea. For children, this is appropriate since their friendships are formed and shared when they play together. But, I also know that soon or later, she will need to learn to remember names of people she gets to know. So I keep reminding her that it is important to remember other people’s names, especially the kids she would consider her good friends.

Here are some suggestions from a web site called www.businessknowhow.com. The article is written for business people in sales. People in sales they know how important it is to remember well the names of their potential and current clients; I am sure we can learn something about how to remember names well from sales people. Here are some suggestions.[1]

• Repeat their name as they introduce themselves.
• Use their name a few times during your conversation.
• Later, record that person’s information in your organizer along with any personal or business information you learned during your conversation.
• Picture their faces as you state their name aloud several times.
• Picture them in different settings – imagine where you could run into them and visualize what they would look like in that environment.
• Focus on remembering the person rather than their name.

Listen to some of these passages from Hosea about knowing God. Hosea 4:6, “my people are destroyed from the lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:14, “… a people without understanding will come to ruin.” Hosea 6:3, “Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him.” Having the knowledge, understanding about God, acknowledging him will require us to know God deeper and better.

My job as your pastor, as a preacher, as a teacher is to help you be fascinated, captivated, moved and inspired by who God is so that you adore and worship him, have plenty of good things to say about him. So, I’ve decided to explore who God is by studying the names he is known by in the Bible. The very first name that I would like to introduce to you is translated as God and in Hebrew is, <yhOa, Elohim. 

Let me show you a clip from National Geographic web site about creation. 

1. Elohim (<yhOa), The Creator

The Bible begins with Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The subject of this very first verse of the Bible is God translated from Hebrew word, Elohim (<yhOa). It is not the most common name for God in the Old Testament; Yahweh is the most common name for God. Nevertheless, Elohim occurs over two thousand times (2248 to be exact) in the Old Testament, making it the second most common name for God.

Elohim is plural form of El. And, El is the most common word for god, El, in the ancient languages group called Semitic languages which include Hebrew. But, Elohim is never translated as gods in polytheism when it is used for God of the Bible. Although it is plural in form Elohim is always used with singular verbs and adjectives in the Hebrew text to mean God, not gods. Scholars call this a plural of majesty or a plural of intensification meaning plural form is used to mean “great” and “highest,” and “only”[2] as a plural of absolutization or exclusivity as in God of gods.[3] Elohim although plural in form only is used to describe monotheistic God of the Bible.

When Elohim was used in the Old Testament to refer to God, it did not carry the theological understanding of God in three persons, Trinity. So, one cannot prove the theology of Trinity on the ground that Elohim is plural in form. Yet, as Christians looking back in hindsight, we can argue for a glimpse of Trinity in Elohim. In Genesis 1 in the beginning, God created by his word. “Let there be…” and there was. And, in John 1:1-4, in the beginning we see Jesus Christ as the Word preexisting already with God, and that the Word was God. And, “Through him [the Word] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has not been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” So, with the same phrase, “In the beginning” from Genesis and John, we see the unity of the Old and the New Testaments speaking for one reality of God in Trinity.

1 Corinthians 8:6 also speaks to this reality, “there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” So, in Elohim, we see the Father at work with his Son in complete unity.

2. Elohim (<yhOa), The Creator who created out of nothing.

The English translation of Elohim, God, is often abstract, impersonal, and static concept of deity in people’s minds. But, Elohim, God of the Bible as witnessed in Genesis is not an abstract reality, distant or uninvolved deity. What we see in Genesis 1 is God at work, actively creating through his spoken word.^[4] “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” begins Genesis 1:1. We see God Elohim creating cosmos out of chaos, light out of darkness, habitation out of desolation[5] and ultimately creating out of nothing. Let me give you a helpful illustration about God creating out of nothing from Colin Gunton. He said:

God is not to be likened, let us say, to a potter who makes a pot from the clay which is to hand; he is, rather, like one who makes both the clay and the pot. This teaching, which baffles understanding and is often rejected because there is no analogy to it in human experience, must be understood as an interpretation and summary of scripture’s witness to God as a whole.[6]

Paul Copan points the following scripture passages to speak to the reality of Elohim who created out of nothing.[7]

• Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
• Romans 4:17, “God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” God creating out of nothing is one of the cherish biblical understanding
• Romans 11:36, “For from him and through him and to him are all things.”
• Ephesians 3:9, “God who created all things.”
• Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
• Isaiah 44:6, “Israel’s King, and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and the last; apart from me there is no God.”
• Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega… who is, and who was, and who is to come.”
• Hebrews 1:10-12 (Psalm 102:25-27), “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain, they will wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

William Lane Craig asks, “Why does something exist instead of nothing?” He answers:

Unless we are prepared to believe that the universe simply popped into existence uncaused out of nothing, then the answer must be: something exists because there is an eternal, uncaused being for which no further explanation is possible.[8]

This eternal, uncaused being for which no further explanation is possible is spelled out for us from Genesis 1:1 as Elohim, God.

This is God Elohim whom Isaiah spoke in Isaiah 54:5, “For your Maker is your husband- the LORD Almighty is his name- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.” And, Isaiah 45:18, “for this is what the LORD says- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it, he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited.” Again, Isaiah 40:28-29, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LROD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” And, God asks in Jeremiah 32:27, “I am the LORD, the God [Elohim] of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”

God Elohim, who never gets tired or weary, who is strong and mighty, comes to you when you are down, weak and struggling, to strengthen you, to help you fight for the faith in your Elohim, your Creator.

3. Conclusion

When you come to God, Elohim, and when you call on him, you are coming to the presence of the eternal uncaused being who was before the creation which he created out of nothing, who is now, and who will be, beyond the confines of time, space, and material. It is this God, Elohim, who told Abraham and Sarah that they should expect a child to be given them in the impossible old ages. It is this God, Elohim, who did the impossible thing to deliver the Israelites out of the iron grip of Egypt. It is this God Elohim who sent his Word, his Son to us, to take the guilt, the consequence and the power of sin upon himself to die; and for nothing was too difficult for Elohim, he raised Jesus Christ, his Son from the dead.

To this God, who created out of nothing, who is all powerful, all sovereign, fully in control, all knowing, we now draw near in Jesus Christ. Should this change the way you and I pray to God when we call on him, God Elohim?

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[1] http://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/remember-name.htm

[2] http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=349

[3] New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis: Volume 1. 405. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1997.

^[4] Wenham, G. J. (1998). Vol. 1: Word Biblical Commentary : Genesis 1-15 (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; Word Biblical Commentary (15). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

[5] http://ldolphin.org/nathanstone/

[6] Gunto Collin, The Christian Faith, p. 17

[7] http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/article_exnihilo_copan.html

[8] William Lane Craig, Philosophical and Scientific Pointers to Creatio ex Nihilo, Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation. 32.1 (March 1980), p. 2.

Life Application: Redemption, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ephesians 1:7, 13-14)

To welcome, accept and appreciate the redemption in Jesus Christ, we must face the objective reality of about the human condition, our condition in captivity without the redemptive work of Jesus.

Consider the Israelites, their life in Egypt before God intervened in Exodus. When God met Moses at Horeb the mountain of God (Exodus 3:1), he revealed to Moses his reason for intervention. Read Exodus 3:7-10:

“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So, I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey… And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

The captivity of the Israelites illustrates the captivity of the humanity, our captivity apart from the Redeemer. Before the Israelites could turn to God, they had to realize that their lives were in shambles with misery, suffering and oppression needing redemption. Before you can welcome, accept and appreciate the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, there are two things you must do.

• You must believe in God’s objective assessment about your hopeless condition in bondage to sin and its terrible outcome to face God’s holy wrath and his judgment apart from Christ (Read Romans 1:29-32 & 2:5-8).
• You must believe Jesus Christ paid the ransom with his own blood, his suffering and death to break your bondage to sin and deliver you from the guilt and punishment of sin.

People who reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, do not realize they are in bondage to sin and that the terrible judgment awaits them. How about you?

How are you different from the majority of people who see no need for Jesus to redeem their lives?

Another aspect of redemption is its future orientation. Redemption began at the cross but it will be completed at the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:13-14). Considering this future orientation of redemption, to fully welcome, accept and appreciate the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, another thing must take place.

• You must let today’s failures and sins drive you to Jesus, your Redeemer. You must look at your current condition honestly without deceiving yourself by explaining away sin as something benign or acceptable or simply ignoring it as though it doesn’t exist; Be brutally honest about your sinful heart, conflicts, failures! But, don’t stay there with self-pity. You must let your failures and sins drive you to Jesus, the only one who can forgive you and perfect you. The complete redemption awaits you tomorrow in Jesus and you need to live today with the living hope and trust in God’s future plan to perfect you in his Son. Let today’s failures and sins drive you to Jesus, your Redeemer.  Redemption means we can now approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

How honestly do you examine the condition of your heart?

When you are confronted with your own inadequacy, failures, and sins, what do you do?

Redemption: Yesterday, today, tomorrow (Ephesians 1:1-14)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, May 3 2009

Today, I would like to focus on one of the many facets of the gospel, the good new of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our focus will be on redemption. You find this important term “redemption” twice in Ephesians 1:1-14.

• Ephesians 1:7-8, “In him [in Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

• Ephesians 1:13-14, “the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of his glory.”

To understand redemption, an important facet of the gospel, let me tell you a story of a baseball hero, Lou Johnson, better known as Sweet Lou Johnson:

Lou Johnson was the hero of the 1965 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the seventh game of the series against the Minnesota Twins, Johnson hit a home run that won the game, and the championship, for the Dodgers. That was the last time he was a hero for a long time.

Johnson became a drug addict and alcoholic. Within a few years of hitting the winning home run in the World Series, he had sold or given away his uniform and glove from that season, and the bat he used to hit that home run. In 1971, he gave his World Series ring to drug dealers in exchange for drugs.

Eventually, Johnson straightened out his life. He got clean and sober, and eventually his history with the Dodgers got him a front-office job with the club. But he was never completely free of his past. He had no World Series ring to show his grandchildren, nothing to remind him of his moment of glory. He tried to track it down and recover it, but wasn’t able to. A part of his life was irretrievably lost.[1]

The Major League championship Lou Johnson clinched for Dodgers was the shining moment for his career. All the hard and disciplined practices and countless games finally paid off big time for Sweet Lou; he fulfilled his childhood dream by not only winning the World Series championship, but winning it with his home run. And, his most fulfilling, shiniest moment of his baseball career was all captured in his baseball bat he used to hit a home run, his uniform, gloves, and most of all, his World Series championship ring. He had it all. But, he lost it all.

His shiniest baseball career moment was ever tarnished, irretrievably lost and overshadowed by his struggle with drug and alcoholic addictions. He tried to regain the big part of him he lost, but the captivity in addictions made it hopelessly irretrievable.

1. Redemption presupposes inescapable bondage in sin.

This real life story of Lou Johnson reminds me of the fate of humanity. When God created very first humans, Adam and Eve, he placed them in the Garden of Eden where everything was just right and plentiful. If there was ever a perfect environment, this was it! But, it was short-lived; the eternal perfection they enjoyed was abruptly and woefully interrupted when they decided that God given perfection wasn’t good enough for them. Trust, relationship, blessing, perfection, all were shattered when they fell into the temptation to mistrust God, that God wasn’t enough and all that he provided for them weren’t good enough.

Forsaking God and his gift of perfect world for a temporary fix for a piece of fruit, does it make sense to you? Sin never makes sense; it is illogical to choose flaws and dramas over perfection and peace. Sin of rejecting God and his gift of life in order to gain what we think would make our lives exciting, meaningful, fun, and fulfilling apart from God and his plan imprisons us.

We cannot fully appreciate what redemption means to us unless we face this ugly reality of human condition in captivity to sin, which we are all part of. Redemption presupposes that something has gone terribly wrong with us that even the greatest riches in the world would not be enough of payment or ransom to get us out of trouble.

Death epitomizes the inescapable depth of trouble. According to God’s word, the ultimate result of sin is death. Death came about because of sin, both physical death and spiritual death of separation from God. Romans 3:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” It is the powerful reality that even the richest person would not be able to pay his way out of death. Psalm 49:7-8 says, “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough.”

Do you feel this way about your life? Are there things about your life that binds you, chokes and suffocates you, things that keep popping up, keep you out of control, seemingly impossible to get rid of? You try your best, but it just is not enough. As Lou Johnson tried his best to recover what his lost, but it only seemed irretrievable, does it seem like you are stuck making no progress at all or worse digressing and feeling trapped with no way out. There is a good reason why solitary confinement is one of the worst punishments for crimes.

As terrible and depressing it may be to feel and think this way about your life as being trapped, confined, out of control, and irretrievable, it is actually far better than having no self-awareness about reality of sin. If you know what it is like to be oppressed by the force of sin, evil, broken and massed up world we live in, if you know what it is like to stare at death and smell the woeful stench of death and crushed by its inescapable weight, you are in better shape than many who march at the drumbeats of self sufficiency and self confidence. If you know what it is like to struggle through the spiritual desert of dryness with little motivation and relief in sight, if you know what it is like to struggle to fight for the faith even though you may find yourself defeated and dejected, you are in better shape than the people with little or no sense of urgency to fight. If you know what it is like to carry the heavy weight of oppressive guilt and shame, you are only few steps away from experiencing redemption.

When you are honest about yourself, your limitation or rather, inability to deal with the oppressive weight of temptations and trials in your life, when you are honest about the damages you sustain from exerting your self will against God’s will, thinking and acting as though you are smarter than God, you be well in your way to experience redemption.

2. Redemption- yesterday

Here are few verses from Isaiah out of many references in the Old Testament where God was known as the Redeemer of Israel.

• Isaiah 41:14, “Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you,” declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”
• Isaiah 43:1, “But now, this is what the LORD says-he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
• Isaiah 44:23, “Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into son, you mountains, you forests and all you trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.”
• Isaiah 54:5, “For your Maker is your husband-the LORD Almighty is his name-the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.”
• Isaiah 54:8, “In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.”
• Isaiah 59:20, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD.”

3. Redemption- today

Redemption speaks to gaining what would be irretrievably lost without a payment of ransom. Going back to Psalm 49:7-8 which says, “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough.” It means sins that mar our body, our soul, our spirit, sins that mar our whole being, who we are as a person cannot be dealt with any other mean than the payment of blood. Hebrews 9:22 speaks to this truth, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

One of the benefits of reading through the books of the Bible that deal with the sin offerings and guilt offerings for atonement of sin is understanding that atonement requires blood sacrifice. No amount of wealth can wipe way sin, only blood would do. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” What can make Isaiah 1:18 a reality?

Only the blood, not any kind of blood, but the blood of Jesus Christ can transform scarlet, crimson stain of sin to white as snow, as wool.

Jesus the ransom for atonement: Jesus said about himself in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45, “… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom (lytron) for many.” The Old Testament predicted Jesus as the suffering servant who gave himself as a ransom, a guilt offering. Isaiah 53:10-12 speaks of Jesus as the suffering servant, “Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” Psalm 130:8, “He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”

Here are more biblical references that speak to the reality of Jesus Christ as one who gave himself to redeem us from our sins. Paul describes Jesus in 1 Timothy 2:6 as, “who gave himself as a ransom (antilytron) for all men.” Galatians 2:20, Jesus Christ is “the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And in Ephesians 5:2 Paul exhorts us to live a life of love because Jesus giving himself as ransom sacrifice to set us free from our sins. He “gave himself up for us as fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Galatians 1:4, Jesus “gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Colossians 1:14, “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” which echoes our passage, Ephesians 1:7. Romans 3:24, “and are justified freely by his grace through redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Hebrews 9:15, “Christ is the mediator of a new covenant… he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”

Redemption of yesterday cannot be envisioned any longer today outside of the realm of Jesus Christ.

Jesus the ransom price: Ransom speaks to buying at a price. Jesus paid the price with his own life. Jesus is the price, the ransom to atone for our sins. 1 Corinthians 6:20 tells about us, “you were bought a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” And, 1 Corinthians 7:23, “You were bought a price; do not become slaves to men.”

Jesus the ransom for reconciliation: Jesus is the ransom that reconciles us to God: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, “God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ… that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them… God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus the ransom for deliverance from empty life: We are redeemed from the empty way of life and by the blood of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:18-19, “it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

4. Redemption- tomorrow

One of the important aspects of Christian life is that we live in between now and what is yet to come. It is true that we get to experience the redemption today. But, evidently we all know that what we have is not complete yet, because the call to fight for the faith assumes progression, growth and change. This is where faith defined by Hebrews 11:1 is required, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what do not see.”

I may not see the drastic effect and change from redemption today. I may have to struggle and fight for motivation in the climate of spiritual desert. I may fail and fall today. But, what God’s been pressing me lately is that I don’t loose my heart because of what I see today. So, I’ve been praying that I will be able to grab hold of God’s purpose, his plan, his path, his outcome for me, for my family, for our church, for our nation. And, as follow his lead to look to him and to consider his promises for his future kingdom, what I experience is hope rising and strength for today to fight harder. God of redemption for yesterday and today is God of redemption for tomorrow.

• Romans 8:23, “we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
• Ephesians 1:14, “[the Holy Spirit] a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”
• Luke 21:28, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
• Titus 2:13-14, “…we wait for the blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem (lytrousthai) us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

The history will be consummated by the return of Jesus Christ and when he establishes his kingdom. Then, full redemption will take place. No more spiritual desert, no more apathy, no more fights, no more struggles, no more temptations, no more trials, no more death… it will be as it should be, our hearts filled with ever deepening gratitude, praise, awe and love of amazing God, his Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is going to take us there. And, the day is drawing near. Your job is to learn to trust his promise, his plan, his leading for tomorrow. Your job is to trust that today God is working in your life although you may have hard time seeing God at work. God was at work yesterday, God is at work today and God will be at work tomorrow. This is the story of redemption. So, dream with me where God’s going to take us tomorrow in his Son. Let’s dream together how God is going to change our character, our relationships, our families, our church, our nation, our world tomorrow.

5. Conclusion

Going back to the story of Lou Johnson:

Sweet Lou had no idea that someone was working behind the scene to recover the irretrievable piece of his identity. He had no idea that his World Series ring had come up for auction on the internet. It is the ring that 30 some years ago he traded in for a quick fix. When Dodger president Bob Graziano learned about the auction of Lou’s ring, he wrote a check for $3,457 and bought the ring before any bids were even posted. When he presented the ring to Lou Johnson, this 66-year-old ex-baseball player broke down and cried. “It felt like a part of me had been reborn,” he said. [2]

This is what redemption is all about. What you and I could not do yesterday, cannot do today, or will be able to do tomorrow, God has done it through his Son paying the ransom with his life on the cross. God has set the history in motion for full redemption in Jesus’ blood. God will accomplish what he has started; nothing can thwart his purpose, his will, his plan. Whether you know it or not, God has redeemed you yesterday, is redeeming you today and will fully and completely redeem you in Christ Jesus.

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[1] http://www.faithsite.com/content.asp?CID=28005

[2] http://www.faithsite.com/content.asp?CID=28005

Fight against unresponsive and insensitive heart (Ephesians 4:17-21)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon March 1, 2009

We are in a season of God addressing our sin of hypocrisy, the disconnection from what we know and what we do, the disconnection between how we do life in public and how we live in privacy. We talked last week about how we need to fight for grace over shame because unhealthy response to shame such as hiding, shaming and blaming can worsen hypocrisy. As long as our aim is to hide behind the façade of saving face and pretense, shaming others or blaming others without taking responsibilities for our own actions, our spiritual growth will be stunted and we will suffer deeper hypocrisy.

Today, I am going to talk to you about two things. First, I am going to deal with the progression of sin of hypocrisy and shine some light on its cause. Second, I am going to point you back to Jesus to deal with this cause of hypocrisy.

1. Fight against mindless thinking and insensitive heart

When Paul said in Ephesians 4:17, “I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking,” he was addressing the way of life embraced by the majority of the Gentiles in the first century. Here is a remarkable thing about Paul’s address to the Ephesians. It is close to 2000 years old writing that spoke powerfully to the Christians of the first century. Yet, it not only spoke to them back then, it still speaks to us relevantly if we would hear him. The way of life embraced by the Gentiles back then is equivalent to the way of life embraced by the world today.

Paul describes the way of life embraced by the Gentiles as living in the futility of their thinking. You and I tend to think that the problem is in the specifics of sins, but for Paul the big problem is that which gives birth to the specifics of sins. What causes hypocrisy? What causes sin? Paul would answer; it is caused by the unresponsive mind characterized by futility, which is synonymous to meaninglessness, uselessness, worthlessness, ineffectiveness. Eugene Peterson paraphrases “the futility in thinking” as “the empty-headed, mindless.”

For Paul, the fight against hypocrisy must deal with this empty mind that doesn’t respond to God. Paul in Ephesians 4:18 lays out how mind becomes futile and unresponsive to God.

• Paul explains that the reason the thinking of the world is ineffective and worthless, unresponsive is because of it s understanding is darkened.
• And, understanding gets darkened because one is separated from the life of God.
• And, the reason for this separation from the life of God is because of the ignorance.
• And, the ignorance is due to the hardening of heart.

Uncritical, empty, mindless and unresponsive thinking is caused by the hardening of heart. Klyne Snodgrass describes this hardening of hearts as “hearts made insensitive to God.”[1] This mind and heart that is unresponsive and insensitive to God is what gives birth to sin. Paul spells out what happens to heart and mind that is unresponsive to God in 4:19, “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”

One of the infamous persons in the Bible whose heart was insensitive, hardened, ignorant, separated from God, darkened in understanding, and whose thinking became futile, unresponsive to God was Pharaoh who opposed Moses and God in Exodus.

When Moses and Aaron showed up to demand for the release of the Israelites so they might worship God in the desert, Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them according to Exodus 7:13. Each time, Pharaoh refused to relent to God’s demand to release his people, Pharaoh’s heart became hardened even more.

God said to Moses in Exodus 7:3-5, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” God responded to Pharaoh’s hardening his heart by allowing his heart to become even harder. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart by giving him over to the sinful desires of his heart (Romans 1:21-24) because although he witnessed God’s power he refused to submit to God. And, the result was that his thinking became futile thinking that he could outwit God.

According to Ephesians 4:19, Pharaoh lost all sensitivity to God because his heart became hardened and his thinking futile.

Here is another example from recently of one’s mind and heart becoming insensitive to God. Sean Penn won the best actor Oscar in his role of a gay politician and activist Harvey Milk in “Milk.” He said this during the prime time broadcast of the Oscar night,

for those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support.[2]

When he said this during his acceptance speech, there was a thundering clap from the audience packed with Hollywood powerhouses of actors, actresses, directors, speech writers… and average Americans.

He was speaking against Proposition 8, a California ballot that sought to overturn the California Supreme Court decision that favored same-sex couples to have a constitutional right to marry. Proposition 8 ballet passed added a new section to the California Constitute that reads, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid of recognized in California.”[3] In Sean Penn’s opinion backed by the leading star powers of Hollywood is that anyone who views marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman is a bigot filled with hatred against the gays and lesbians who and should feel great shame.

I was thinking about Sean Penn’s speech and the scene of the roaring clap from the audiences to his speech at Oscar. Who would you listen to Sean Penn, Brat Pitt who donated $100000 to thwart the Proposition 8, and other Hollywood stars or Paul from the first century?

If it is just the Hollywood, well, maybe we can dismiss it as the opinions from the worldly people. But, when you listen to the discourse from the mainline Christian denominations, you come away confused not knowing if you just heard from Sean Penn or from a professing Christian.

What happens when mind and heart become unresponsive to God’s word? You begin to call sin not as sin but something else benign and even good. Homosexuality is not a sin, but it is now an epic struggle for the civil rights of gays and lesbians just like the fight against slavery and the fight for the voting rights of blacks and women. All that matters now is love. If two people love each other, regardless if it is between men and women or between the same-sex, why should the old idea of marriage restrict the freedom of gays and lesbians, unmarried heterosexual boyfriends and girlfriends to express and experience emotional, physical, sexual intimacy? We may call self-pity as humility, angry and rough manner of speech as righteous anger or zeal, lie as a simply a matter of different perspective, lust as disease…

When you and I begin to call sin as something else, when you and I begin to justify our actions that betrays the truth of God’s word, when the disconnection between what we know and how we live widens, when our mind and heart stops responding to God, we must stop and think soberly for we have gone back to the worldly way of living.

We must fight against mindless thinking that accepts the worldly culture and propositions as how it is even though they contradicts God’s prescribed way of life. We must fight against apathetic unresponsiveness of our mind and heart to God. We must stop calling sin as something other than sin.

2. Fight to hear Jesus and learn from him.

The way we are going to fight against unresponsive mind and heart to God’s truth and his voice is to fight to hear Jesus and learn from him.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:20-21, “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.” Paul understood very well that the problem of the futility in thinking and hardening of heart can only be solved by pointing our mind and heart to Jesus.

I want to point you to Jesus. We are now in the season of lent, a forty day period leading to Good Friday and Easter. It is a season when you and I need to pause and soberly come before the cross of our Lord Jesus and acknowledge our unresponsive and insensitive mind and heart. When we turn to Jesus and begin to hear him again, he can move our minds and hearts to learn from him again. Let’s fight to hear Jesus and learn from him.

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[1] Snodgrass, Klyne. “The Old Life of Futility (4:17 – 19)” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Ephesians. By Klyne Snodgrass, 231. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 1996.

[2] http://entbiz.blogspot.com/2009/02/sean-penn-wins-best-actor-for.html

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)