Fight for confidence in crisis (Acts 27)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon January 18, 2009

An article’s headline by Eric McClam from Associated Press reads, “Pilot’s life had prepared him for ‘miracle’ flight.” The article begins, “Chesley Sullenberger spent practically his whole life preparing for the five-minute crucible that was US Airway Flight 1549. He got his pilot’s license at 14, was named best aviator in his class at the Air Force Academy, flew fighter jets, investigated air disasters, mastered glider flying and even studied the psychology of how cockpit crews behave in a crisis.” His sister would describe him as “always professional and never cut corners.” She said, “I think Burnett is a very duty-oriented person… He is always looking to get better. He would be the one person who could land a plane in the water without any engines.” [1] 

I am talking about the US Airway pilot who crash landed Flight 1549 after being crippled by the engine failure because of bird strikes. He steered the airplane over the George Washington Bridge and down the Hudson River on Thursday, Jan. 15. Just few seconds before the plane hit water, Sullenberger told the passengers, “Brace for impact.” Mark Hood flying home after a work trip remembered this moment. “He said it in a calm, cool, controlled voice. It was a testament to leadership. Had he let any tension leak into his voice… it would have been magnified in the passengers.” It is reported that Sullenberger climbed out of the jet only after all 150 passengers and his four other crew exited safely and orderly.[2] The Major Bloomberg reported how the pilot walked the plane twice after everybody was off to verify no body else was on board and to be the last to get off the airplane.[3]

How would you be if you were the pilot trying to steer the seriously crippled jet on to water? Would you have fought for confidence in the crisis, in the most stressful situation to land that airplane safely? Or, would you have panicked and become incapacitated, unable to think with clear judgment and courage? Perhaps, if you and I were as prepared as this pilot was, we could have mustered confidence and courage to deal with crisis.

When I meditated on Paul’s voyage through the storms and finally the shipwreck that nearly killed everyone and the way he responded during this life-threatening crisis, I can’t help but notice how prepared Paul was in dealing the crisis confidently. And, in turn I consider my own responses to crises or it doesn’t even have to be crises, but simply stressful situations in my life.

And, I realize how easily I loose calm confidence and give into panic; lack of confidence and panic clouds my judgment and the ability to act courageously. So, I am determined this year to fight for confidence in crises rather than giving into clouded judgment, fear and debilitation. And, I want you to join me on this.

1. Observation about the details.

After the plane crashed into the Hudson River, if you watched news coverage, you would have come across a lot of eye witness accounts from the high rise buildings nearby. And, there were actual passengers aboard this airplane who gave their eye witness accounts.

The book of Acts is eye witness accounts of what took place in the first century as the church grew. In Acts 27, you notice the pronounce changes to we, first person plural. What this tells us is that Luke the writer himself was aboard this doomed ship. When people with knowledge about sailing especially around the region read Luke’s account of what happened they are amazed by the accurate details captured by Luke. What we read is not a made up story, but a real eye witness account by Luke in this doomed sailing along with Paul.

2. Fight for confidence through people who love you.

During my study and meditation, it was pointed out to me by John MacArthur the first ingredient in fighting for confidence in crises in life. MacArthur frames his point from a leadership perspective. He said,

“A godly leader has people who not only follow him but also love him. The difference between spiritual leadership and all other kinds of leadership is the element of love.”[4]

When Paul sailed to Italy he was not traveling as a tourist who wanted to fulfill his life time dream of traveling to Rome on a luxury cruise. He was sailing as a prisoner awaiting a trial before Caesar. And, what we find in Acts 27:1-3 is that he was not traveling alone as a prisoner. Along with him were his two dearest friends, Luke the writer of the book of Acts and Aristarchus a Macedonian from Thessalonica.

They subjected themselves to association with Paul, an accused prisoner. They also subjected themselves to a long and dangerous sailing. Why did they journey with Paul? It speaks to deep affection for Paul. When you read through Paul’s letters you cannot escape how much he cared for the people to whom he ministered. He was compelled by the love of Jesus Christ to care for people. He said in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

As Paul carried out the ministry of reconciliation, to call people to God who reconcile the world to himself in Christ no counting men’s sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19), he was surrounded by the likeminded people who too were compelled by Jesus’ love.

Because he was loved by people he loved, he was able to fight for confidence in the midst of storms and shipwreck. By loving people Paul gained people who deeply loved him. By willing to lay down his life for the gospel, he gained believers who would lay down their lives along with him to advance the gospel. When you are fighting, you don’t ever want to be caught in the line of fire alone. To fight for the confidence in life’s crises, you need be surrounded by people who love you. Paul was surrounded by his dearest friends, brothers. Can you count two who will take on a dangerous journey with you because they love you and they love the gospel?

There is this scene in the movie called Fire Proof where Caleb Holt tells a rookie fireman the old firefighter’s saying, “Never leave your partner behind.” We are in the business of plucking the burning sticks out of fire (Amos 4:11), snatching others from the fire and save them (Jude 23). It is a dangerous business that requires confidence on people you can count on. Do you have people you can count on? Can others count on you to never leave them behind in the line of fire?

3. Fight for confidence through integrity

Another source of Paul’s confidence came from the way he was respected for his integrity by non-believers. In Acts 26:32, we see what the officials Agrippa and Festus thought of Paul, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.” They knew Paul was innocent and all the accusations were false. He was a man of integrity.

Acts 27:3, we see Julius, the centurion who was assigned to bring Paul to Rome, treating Paul with kindness. The kindness was that Julius allowed Paul to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs. In the Roman world, if a guard allowed his prisoner to escape, he was to serve the remaining prison term of the escapee or even face worse consequence. Julius had one of his soldiers accompanied Paul. But still, Julius wouldn’t have taken this kind act unless he was convinced that Paul was trustworthy, a man of integrity.

We see it even later how Paul a prisoner took on a role of encouraging others to eat before the shipwreck and how Julius listened to Paul to prevent sailors from abandoning the battered ship and he stopped his soldiers from killing the prisoners in order to prevent Paul from death.

He earned Julius’ respect and trust because Paul was a man of integrity and sincerity. This winsome character of trustworthiness allowed non-Christians to have confidence in Paul.

Paul isn’t alone in this regard. Joseph from Genesis also earned the respect and trust of Potiphar, Pharaoh’s cub bearer and later Pharaoh himself. Nehemiah was also a man who earned the respect as cupbearer to the king Artaxerxes. And, Daniel and his three friends also earned the respect of the king as well.

When you fight for integrity, you can fight for confidence in crises because you will have people, non-believers, showing you kindness and favor to you as Paul experienced.

4. Fight for confidence through sound judgment

2 Corinthians 11:25 speaks of Paul’s experience in shipwrecks three times and in spending a night and a day in the open sea. Speaking from his experience and common sense, Paul knew that it would be a bad idea to travel out into the opened sea into the opened sea. So, he spoke up, “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also” (Acts 27:10). Apparently from mid September 14 through mid November according to Bible scholar F.F. Bruce was a treacherous season for voyage.[5] Paul knew this as well as the pilot and the owner of the ship.

As with the pilot of the crippled airplane struck by birds, his common sense and experience told him that he couldn’t steer the airplane to the nearby landing strip within six mile distance. If he ignored his own common sense and took the reckless risk, the outcome would have been disastrous.

Back in Acts 23:1, Jesus stood near Paul and told him, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” But this didn’t give Paul a license to be reckless and senseless. Paul was not out to prove himself to the world that he was a man of great faith by taking reckless risks and chances.

If he did, it would have been all about Paul, the hero, not about Jesus Christ, his gospel. God never calls us to purposeless and reckless adventures to prove ourselves to the world that we are great Christians. Following hard after God requires us to be shrewd and smart rather than reckless stupid.

Myron Augsburger has a great insight into this:

There is doubtless much that God would prefer to do for us and for society, but He limits His action to function where and when its results are recognized to be of God and not by our own achievements. To say that God moves where it brings glory to Him is to recognize the integrity of His grace.[6]

Reckless and senseless actions without sound judgment seek to make much about ourselves, but what God wants us is to move with him to where it brings glory to him, where much is made about him.

5. Fight for confidence through humble response to God’s promise

Acts 27:20 captured the gloom that shadowed the people on board. There are times when things get so hard no hope seems possible. “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.”

Now, this would have undoubtedly included Paul as well. Even the greatest spiritual giant like Paul experienced depression in life when confidence seemed to have evaporated. For fourteen days, they had been helpless tossed by the raging storms. I’ve had only one experience of riding a small boat on choppy water of Lake Michigan. It was no fun as you all know who’ve experienced motion sickness. Last thing you want to do while riding out storms is to have a full stomach especially you’ve given up.

In this darkest moment, when people have given up for any hope, God comes through. We may give up because things get so hard, but God never gives up on his promise because he is faithful to keep his promises.

Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” And, Isaiah 55:11-11, “my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Even the spiritual giant Paul along his faithful spiritual friends Luke and Aristarchus were subjected to dark time when gave up all hope of being saved. No doubts we will be subjected to the dark times. The dark time in this case was brought upon them because the centurion, the pilot and the owner of the ship didn’t listen to Paul’s sound judgment, his common sense. At times we will be subjected to dark times because of our own or others’ stupidity or because of the reasons that are beyond our understanding.

Yet, in the darkest moments when all hopes seemed to have evaporated, confidence came not from soul-searching quest to draw out courage from within them, but from outside of them, from God. God broke into their darkest moment and revealed his will through an angel. “Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.” This revived the battered Paul. God’s revelation gave him courage, confidence he didn’t have. And, from this confidence, he spoke with authority, “So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.”

Hopeless person would say it is no avail to eat now. We are going to die anyway. But, for Paul it was now completely different game. He was no longer a hopeless person, but a person of hope in God’s promise. So, he told everyone who had given up, “Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” And, he demonstrates his trust in the faithful God who keeps his promise; “he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.” When the people saw him eat, “They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves… 276 on board… they had eaten as much as they wanted” (Acts 27:34-38).

Don’t you love this guys? Paul was a man who was gripped by God’s promise, God’s faithfulness to his own will. When he acted on God’s promise the result was all on board was affected and encouraged. Don’t you want to be like Paul? Instead of being a person who brings others down, but a person who encourages others out of despair because you yourself are touched by God’s faithful and sovereign promise?

6. Conclusion

My heart is that today you go through rigorous training, to be schooled by Jesus Christ to trust in God’s faithfulness to carry out his good will in your life. God makes no such promise to you that you won’t be caught in storms of life, or that you will have easy life. Rather, if you sincerely love and follow God, and carry out his will faithfully, diligently and courageously, chances are you will face many harsh storms of hurricane force; some brought upon you by others’ mistakes and sins, some by your own misjudgments and sins, some simply because you live in the fallen world.

What is important is not that you avoid storms in life, but rather how you will fight for confidence!

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[1] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h7pYcNngvuSNrWnBpIicznPetcbwD95OGSR08

[2] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h7pYcNngvuSNrWnBpIicznPetcbwD95OGSR08

[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJHlrxj-RE

[4] http://www.biblebb.com/files/mac/sg1799.htm

[5] F.F. Bruce, Commentary on the Book of Acts, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975, p. 50.

[6] Wilkins, Michael J. “Bridging Contexts” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Matthew. By Michael J. Wilkins, 522. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2004.

God the promise keeper! (Acts 13:13-52)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon July 13, 2008

It is no secret how housing market has been doing poorly. Just few years ago, it was a completely different story when the real estate boom was at its highest. I don’t know all the complexities behind the current real estate crisis, but one thing I understand is the current crisis is fueled by people unable to fulfill their loan obligation for various reasons. It might be lost of jobs, reduction in income, or illness, only hastened by the economic downturn and devaluation of their home values. And, the predatory lending practices that had approved loans with high interests and hidden fees to people who cannot fulfill their promise to pay off their debts have also fueled the crisis.

And, just yesterday, I read that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the giants of the mortgage finance industry are facing major crisis. Together, they “own or guarantee about half of the nation’s $12 trillion mortgage market.”[1] The crisis stems from increasing delinquency rate and increasing loss, and shrinking cushion to absorb losses. And, if the losses are too big for them to back up their guarantee for the mortgages, then the government would have to step it, which translates into taxpayers having to pay for the bailout, national debt increasing, and investors suffering. It’s bad news!

The promising real estate boom just few years ago is now unfulfilled promise that is hurting a lot of people.

Unfulfilled promise hurts people. We can easily think about the ways we all have been affected by the unfulfilled promises of others. We can also think about the ways we’ve hurt others by failing to keep our promises. Today’s passage speaks about God who never fails to keep his promise. God is God of his word. Unlike many unfulfilled promises that disappoint and hurt us, God never fails to keep his promise.

1. God is the promise keeper.

Paul says in verse 32, “We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.”

This is what makes our God very different than anyone we know. Unlike the world that is filled with broken promises and heart sickening disappointments, in the kingdom of God where God’s will is effectively carried out, his promise is never uncertain, for he is the promise keeper.

You see this rock solid character of God in Isaiah 55:10-11 where God says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so it my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

What you see in Isaiah passage is that God’s promise rising out of his desire and purpose is what is best for humanity. And, the single greatest promise God made that is truly the best thing ever that could happen to us is his salvation plan through his Son Jesus Christ. And, he kept his promise. God is the great promise keeper.

1. God the promise keeper is God of the subject and the verbs.

For God to fulfill his salvation promise, for God to be the rock solid promise keeper, the history must know God as the God of the subject and the verbs. And, this is one thing that you cannot fail to notice in Paul’s passionate talk with the residents gathered in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. Verse 17 to 41 describes God in action; God is the subject and his activities are captured in the verbs. It is all about how God has moved and acted in the history to fulfill his promise.

• v. 17… It was God who chose the fathers, the generation of patriarchs, Abraham down to Isaiah, Jacob. God chose. It was God who made the Israelites prosper in Egypt. It was God who led them out.
• v. 18… It was God who patiently endured their rebellious and distrusting attitude for forty years in the desert following the great Exodus.
• v. 19… It was God who overthrew the Canaanite nations. It was God who gave their land to his people as their inheritance.
• v. 20… After some 450 years later, God gave them judges to rescue them out of distress, misery and oppression.
• v. 21… It was God who gave them what they wanted, Saul as their king, who proved to be unreliable, unfaithful, paranoid and unstable.
• v. 22… It was God who removed Saul. In place of Soul, God made David the king. It was God who found David, a man after his own heart who will do everything he wanted him to do.

God is the subject of each of these verses. And, it is God who is carrying out his will.

Knowing God means knowing God as the subject and the verbs in our lives. Can you look back in your history of this past year and speak passionately about how God did this and God did that? Is God the main subject and the verb? Or, are the main subject and the verbs all about you? Take time to listen to your own thoughts and your conversation with others and evaluate who or what are the main subjects and what the main subjects are doing.

1. God the promise keeper keeps his promise in Jesus Christ.

Again you cannot fail to notice Paul’s logic in his sermon to the residents of Pisidian Antioch that God is the great promise keeper who keeps promise in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is God’s one singular greatest promise. Many of the great promises of God in the Old Testaments get distilled into God’s singular promise in Jesus Christ.

v. 23… David was great but only as a precursor, a pointer to God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

v. 24… Jumping now all the way into the time of Jesus, John the Baptist was again a great man and a great prophet but only as a pointer to Jesus. John was in his element, he was most happy, not when he was on the front page, but only when he made much about Jesus Christ.

Can it be said about us that we are in our best element when we make much about Jesus Christ as John the Baptist made much about Jesus as apostle Paul did?

What does God promise? God promises salvation. How does he fulfill his promise of salvation? Verse 26 tells us it is by God sending the message of salvation. Jesus Christ is the message of salvation.

Yet, the tragedy was that the people of Jerusalem and their rulers not only failed to recognize Jesus as the salvation, but condemned him. But, even in this failing to recognize and condemning in part of the Jews, you cannot escape the fact that their action fulfilled the words of the prophets. Every Sabbath they read the words of the prophets, yet they failed to see Jesus as their long awaited Messiah. Not only did they fail to see Jesus as their Messiah, they conspired against him to execute him. But again, verse 29 makes it clear that they were not in charge of the history. It describes their actions against Jesus Christ as having carried out all that was written about him. And, it is always God who has the final say. Verse 30 begins with all important, “but” that vindicates Jesus Christ over the evil acts.

“But God raised him from the dead.” And, as any historical account is validated by witnesses, God’s great act of raising Jesus from the dead were evidenced by numerous eye witnesses of the risen Jesus.

Verse 32 to 37, you find the Old Testament promises fulfilled in Jesus’ resurrection.

V. 33, “You are my Son: today I have become your Father,” comes from Psalm 2:7.

V. 34, “I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David,” refers to Isaiah 55:3.

V. 35, “You will not let your Holy One see decay,” was a promise from Psalm 16:10.

Sunday after Sunday, we come and hear the word of God, and is there tragedy among us who fail to miss it all together. Are you missing Jesus, are you opposing Jesus? Have you failed to experience God who raised Jesus from the dead? Have you failed to experience God, the great promise keeper? Today, don’t leave church, without having met Jesus, without being touched by God, the great promise keeper!

Think of all the ways you have been disappointed and hurt by the unfulfilled promises by others, think of all the ways you have hurt and disappointed others by your unfulfilled promises. The only way we can be promise keepers is by falling in love with the great promise keeper.

1. God the promise keeper promises you forgiveness and justification through Jesus Christ.

Those of you who’s been studying Galatians from Friday Bible studies will appreciate greatly what Paul said in verse 38-39. “… I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.” In Galatians, Paul further unpacks this great truth in detail.

It is crucial to notice that God’s promise of forgiveness and justification is through Jesus. No amount of trying to be good, no amount of moral effort will do. Being good is not good enough. Forgiveness is possible if you and I can pay off the debt. Being righteous would be possible if we can possibly be good all the time. The problem is that no one can pay off the debt; no one can be good all the time without sin. We have insurmountable debt of sins only the perfect righteous Jesus can pay off.

So, as we do Christian life, each day, every day, we must begin our journey at the cross where Jesus Christ paid our sin debts with his blood as the only perfect righteous one. Each day and every day we must begin our journey at the empty tomb where Jesus is no longer there. We must begin each day with the conviction that we serve God who raised Jesus from the dead. One who can raise Jesus from the dead has nothing too difficult, too impossible. We must begin each day, every day with Jesus. Through Jesus, we are forgiven and righteous.

1. God the promise keeper warns you against unbelieving and hardened heart.

Unbelief breeds contempt. The Jews failed to recognize Jesus as their Messiah because they were unbelieving. And, in their unbelief, they hated Jesus and became “scoffers” as in verse 41.

As Christians we would be hesitant to see ourselves scoffers who has contempt for Jesus. But, the reality is that when Jesus Christ makes no differences, no bearing in our action today, it speaks to our hearts that feel indifferent to Jesus. Indifference, not being moved and touched by Jesus, renders us ineffective and powerless against sin. The result is sin dominates. And, every sin is contemptuous act against Jesus.

So, this goes back to my last point that we need to begin each day’s journey at the cross and the empty tomb, with Jesus who died and shed his blood for us, who is raised from the dead.

The greatest cure for unbelieving and hardened heart happens in relationship with Jesus.

1. God the promise keeper seeks to reach the world with you.

Verse 47, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth,” comes from Isaiah 49: 6.

We must do all that we can to resist the temptation to reduce Christianity to strictly personal religion. The silent, unspoken, unshared faith is not what God has in mind when he appoints us for eternal life (v. 48). Verse 49 says, “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.” And, verse 52, “And, the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

Conclusion

Let me recapture what’ve learned from our passage.

• God is the promise keeper.
• God the promise keeper is the subject and the verbs.
• God the promise keeper keeps his promise in Jesus Christ.
• God the promise keeper promises you forgiveness and justification through Jesus Christ.
• God the promise keeper warns you against unbelieving and hardened heart.
• God the promise keeper seeks to reach the world with you.

Unlike us, God never disappoints or hurts by breaking his promise. He is the great promise keeper. If you’ve been disappointed by other people breaking promises to you, come to Jesus, God’s fulfillment to his promise. If you’ve been hurting others by breaking your promises, then come to Jesus, God’s fulfillment to his promise, will equip you to be a promise keeper.

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/07/11/business/20080711_FANNIE_GRAPHIC.html

Sunday Sermon: Judges 3:7-11, Aggressively pursue God's promises!

Last week, we focused on the spiritual truth about how we need to fight not to forget God. Forgetting God is not just a benign state of mind. God takes forgetting him very seriously that he calls it doing evil. We fight not to forget God by learning to dwell in his love and by being saturated in God’s word.

Today, we go back to Judges 3:7-11. There was a great lesson to fight not to forget God. Today, we are going to learn what it means to be men and women of godly pursuit.

Read Judges 3:7-11.

The judge in this passage is Othniel; he was not so famous, but he was considered an ideal Lord’s judge. When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help God raised up Othniel as their deliverer. God empowered Othniel by his Spirit. Being led by the Spirit of the Lord, he went to war against Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram. It is not too clear who this king actually was. Whoever he was, his name suggests he was a very powerful and intimidating king since the name meant “Cushan of double evil.”

When the Lord raised Othniel up as a judge and empowered him by his Spirit, it didn’t matter how fierce, powerful, intimidating “Cushan of double evil” was. Othniel simply overpowered this evil king. Under Othniel’s leadership, there was forty years of peace.

What made Othniel an ideal judge was his attitude towards God and his promises. He was a man who aggressively went after God’s promises trusting in God’s unfailing steadfast love, faithfulness, and power. He was a man of godly pursuit.

To understand better how he aggressively pursued after God’s promise while trusting in God, let me take us back to Judges 1. The beginning of Judges chapter 1 chronicles the tribe of Judah’s effort to possess the land that was allotted by the Lord. This passage is parallel to Joshua 15, which gives little bit more detail. Joshua 15:13 says:

In accordance with the Lord’s command to him, Joshua gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion in Judah-Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.) From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites-Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai-descendants of Anak. From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). And, Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

Othniel, Caleb and his daughter Acsah all belonged to the tribe of Judah. The Lord allotted the southern portion of the Promised Land to Judah. And, it was the people of Judah’s job to attack and capture the remainder of the land that was yet to be possessed. Attacking and capturing all the allotted land required them to exercise their faith in God who promised them the land. What we see is not only Othniel, but his father-in-law Caleb and Caleb’s daughter Acsah, Othniel’s wife, were all ideal people of God because they all aggressively pursued after God’s promise. They were fully convinced of this: what God had for them was what was best for them.

When Caleb challenged the men of Judah to attack and capture Kiriath Sepher and to promise his daughter to the man who completes the task, what he was really looking for was a man who would not compromise, but go after God’s promise wholeheartedly and obediently. Othniel stepped up to the challenge. And, it demonstrated that Othniel was a man of faith in God’s power, faithfulness, unfailing love and his promise.

And for Caleb to have challenged in this way tells us that Caleb too was a man of deep faith.

Forty five years before Caleb gave this challenge, he and Joshua were the only two spies who were fully confident that they could attack and capture the land of Canaan because the Lord promised them to give it as their inheritance. Numbers 14:7-9 reveals Caleb’s confidence in God at that time,

The Land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.

How did the people respond to Caleb and Joshua’s plea to trust in the Lord? Verse 10 says,

But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Verse 2-4 reveals their hearts:

All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Was this true that God only brought his people out thus far only to destroy them by the sword, to have their wives and children be taken as plunder? This was not God’s promise. God’s promise was to give the land of Canaan to the Israelites as their inheritance. But, their utter lack of confidence in God for his promise grieved his heart deeply. Numbers 14:11 reveals God’s heart: The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?”

Because they treated the Lord with contempt and disbelief when they showed no confidence in God to deliver what he promised to them, God said in Numbers 14:21-23: as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fill the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt an din the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.

But, about Caleb, the LORD said this in verse 24:

But because my servant Caleb had a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

The Lord’s promise from this Numbers 14:24 to Caleb was fulfilled forty five years later when Caleb was eighty five years old. Forty five years later, Joshua 14:6-14 recorded what Caleb said at the age of eighty five years old:

Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb Son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my brothers who went up; with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’

Caleb continued in verse 10-14:

“Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. So Hebron belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.

This is the story of Caleb. At the age of forty years old, Caleb was more than ready to fight to possess God’s Promised Land. And, forty five years later, Caleb was passionate as ever before to pursue hard after what God promised him.

This Caleb as the father of his daughter Acsah, would not have any other way for his daughter except to give her into marriage to a man in his mold. Caleb witnessed what happened when the people of God gave into the fear of people, circumstances, when they walked by their sights instead of trusting in God’s promise and walking in faith. Forty years of wandering in the desert was the result instead of forty years of possessing the Promised Land with milk and honey.

The challenge to attack and capture Kiriath Sepher was to measure a person’s faith and devotion in the Lord. The man who would attack and capture Kiriath Sepher would have trusted that the Lord would enable him to possess the city, which the Lord himself promised to the tribe of Judah.

Othniel was that man. Just like his father-in-law Caleb, Othniel was courageous, confident because he wholeheartedly trusted in God for what he promised to him as inheritance. God allotted Debir as an inheritance to the tribe of Judah. Othniel belonged to Judah. And, as such when Othniel responded Caleb’s challenge successfully, it demonstrated that Othniel didn’t forget God. God he served was the God who gave Hebron to his father-in-law at the age of eighty-five years old. Othniel was courageous, strong, and confident man because he didn’t forget to look straight ahead, to fix his eyes directly before him on God and not to swerve to the right or to the left, but to do the will of God. Othniel walked by faith, not by sight. He was an ideal judge because he pursued courageously after God’s blessed promise. He was a man of faith.

Now, let’s look at Othniel’s wife, Caleb’s daughter Acsah. Father like daughter, Acsah too was a woman of convictions. After getting married to Othniel, she urged her husband to ask Caleb, her father for a field. When Caleb asked her what he could do for her, she responded in Judges 1:15 and Joshua 15:19: “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” And, Caleb gave her the upper and the lower springs.”

Acsah’s asking for more could be mistaken for greed if we don’t understand what the land meant for the Israelites. Acsah was not a greedy woman. Far from it! She was an ideal of woman of God, just like her father Caleb was, just like her husband was. She was an ideal woman because she didn’t shy away from God’s promise. She pursued God’s promise aggressively. When Acsah asked her father for springs of water for the land, she was acting on her confidence in God’s promise to give good things to his people. She wasn’t going to sit on the sideline on this. She trusted in God’s promise and actively sought after what God promised as inheritance. This is why she was an ideal of woman of God.

In the Old Testament theology, not to desire, not to fight to possess the land the Lord promised is what made a person undesirable. The ideal people of God were people who didn’t let the fear of people and circumstances direct their actions. They trusted and acted confidently in God’s promise for them, in God’s faithful, loving, and good character. In trusting God’s faithfulness, they obeyed God’s command to enter into the Promised Land to possess it.

How does this relate to us Christians? Othniel, Acsah, and Caleb portray for us the ideal picture of what it means to follow Jesus.

1. Aggressively pursue love relationship with Jesus

For Christians, the promise of inheritance is not the physical land as it was for the Israelites. Instead, our inheritance is the promise of rest as Jesus talked about in Matthew 11. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Hebrews chapter 4 talks about entering this rest. Hebrews 4:8 says, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”

Few observations from this passage: 1) Entering and possessing the land was not the ultimate rest. 2) A paradox exists between the call to enter God’s rest by resting from our own work and the call to make effort to enter that rest.

This Hebrew passage and the Matthew passage both point to the same conclusion. It is all about love relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In order to rest from our own work, we need to focus on love relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And, focusing on love relationship isn’t a passive actively; it means aggressively pursuing love relationship.

How do we pursue love relationship with Jesus? Psalm 75:1 says, “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds.” We pursue love relationship with God when we retell again and again how God has saves us. And, we do this by mediation in God’s word. Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.” How do you aggressively pursue love relationship with God? This psalm tells us that it happens when we call on him, when we cry out to him for his sustaining, empowering grace.

Now, ask yourself this question. How are you making every effort to enter the rest Jesus gives that is enter into love relationship with God through Jesus? Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Elizabeth P. Prentiss wrote a beloved hymn called More Love To Thee. She wrote during a time of deep personal surrow of having lost a child in 1850’s and a short time later her youngest child also died. In her diary, she wrote, “Empty hands, a worn-out, exhausted body, and unutterable longings to flee from a world that has so many sharp experiences." What did she do? She sought comfort not passivley, but aggressively by meditating on the scripture. And, from that, she wrote this hymn.

More love to Thee, O Christ, More love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee. More love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, Give what is best;
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee! [i]!

2. Aggressively pursue to become a person tested and approved in Christ.

The story about Othniel, Caleb, and Acsah is relevant to how we need to approach relationship between a man and a woman.

Don’t let this escape your attention. What made Othniel, Acsah, and Caleb ideal people of God was their conviction about relationship between a man and a woman.

One of the things that grieve the Lord was that the people of God didn’t obey God who told them they were not to marry the people of another faith or no faith.

For Christians, there should be no negotiation on this. If you are a Christian, you marry a Christian. But, it is not enough that a person calls himself or herself a Christian these days.

For Caleb, he wanted his son-in-law to be a person who demonstrated deep faith in God through concrete action. He raised his daughter up Acsah to trust in God and to pursue God’s promise. He wanted a godly man for her.

If you are interested in dating someone and if you are dating someone now, but you don’t know the person that well, your primary goal should be to find out what kind of love relationship the person has with Jesus Christ. And, if you are interested in introducing someone to your friend, make sure you know that person is really in love with Jesus and loves people. Otherwise, don’t even bother!

God wants you to pursue for the best in relationship. And, the best is a person who is in love with Jesus. People talk about chemistry between a man and a woman. I say that the best chemistry you want in relationship is not between a man and a woman, but it is the chemistry each of them has with Jesus and how that person loves other people.

When I was in the season of pursuing marriage relationship, what attracted me the most to my wife besides her beauty, humor, wisdom, was her love for Jesus and love for people.

I know that some of you feel frustrated because you want to be in relationship, but is not yet happening yet. God knows your heart. Be patient! Hope in Jesus for he wants what’s best for you.

In the mean time, instead of focusing on finding or getting that special someone, focus on becoming a special person who is deeply in love with Jesus.

For Othniel, the foremost challenge was not finding that someone to get married, to be in relationship. His foremost challenge was becoming a man of God who acted in deep trust and confidence in God’s character, God’s promise.

In Romans 16:10, Paul talks about a person named Apelles. He speaks well of this person by saying tested and approved in Christ.

Men of the church, women of the church, your goal ought to become a person tested and approved in Christ. This is what I mean when I tell you to focus on becoming a special person. Let the reviews about you give you the stamp of approval as a person of deep love, faith and action! Let your attraction be your love for Jesus and love for people!

This goes for me and those of you who are married as well. Our primary focus ought to be becoming men and women tested and approved in Christ, who are deeply in love with Jesus.

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^[i] Logos Hymnal, 1st edition. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995).

Yahweh’s grace is bestowed on individuals like Caleb, Othniel, Acsah and the Kenites. In each instance, this grace is specially given to non-Israelites… This theme… that God gives grace to non-Israelites- is developed through the Old and New Testaments. Those who are not expected to evince faith do, and those hwo should show faith do not (cf. Rahab contrasted with Achan [Joshua 6-7], Elijah and the widow of Zarephath [1 Kings 17.7-24], Elisha and Naaman [2 Kings 5.1-19], Luke 4-16-30). Such a lesson is great encouragement to “Gentiles” especially in the church age.

It is important to remember that the land in the Old Testament carried spiritual overtones. This is true here as well as in the story of the daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27.1-11, 36.1-13, Josh. 17.3-6). The actions of all these women are strongly commended. The story demonstrates that the claim of the descendants of Othniel and Acsah to this land is based on a legal bequest by the original recipient of territory. Acsah’s request is not transitory but generational in its impact. She emerges as “an image of ideal Yahwist womanhood.” In the more extended context of the book of Judges, Acsah served… (1) as a positive paradigm of a daughter being given to an ideal hero, she is juxtaposed to the notice of Israel’s apostasy of intermarriage with the inhabitants of the land (3.6). These Israelite daughters (in contrast to Acsah) are, in a sense, dispossessed since the gift of the land will never be theirs because of their intermarriages. (2) The contrast between Acsah and Deliah could not be more stark! Acsah was the wife of Othniel (who will be described later in the book as the ideal judge). She took the initiative to procure greater blessing for her husband’s progeny through her request for more land and springs. In contrast, Delilah was the consort of Samson (the worst of the judges). She used her initiative to bring down her man, all for filthily gained money. P. 68.

Acsah’s request is also analogous in certain ways to that of Ruth. Both are non-Israelite women who have been “grafted” into the community of faith. Both have men who are outstanding in their personal qualities. Both make requests that involved God’s blessings of inheritance (as connected to the land). Both received their requests.

For the Christian, Acsah represents a woman who will not be denied her full inheritance. She is a model resembling the women of the Gospels, who sought out Jesus refused to be turned back by the crowds and by Jesus’ own disciples. As a result, they found salvation, healing, and blessing for themselves and their families (Matt 9.20-22, 15.21-28, 26.7-13, Mark 7.24-30, 14.3-9, Luke 2.36-38, 7.11-15, 36-50, 8.43-48, 13.10-17, 18.1-5). K. Lawson Younger, Judges, Ruth (The NIV Application Commentary), p. 93.