Next Sermon - Matthew 20:1-16 on 11/08/09

Here is the text for this coming Sunday's sermon. Don't miss the connection to the previous chapter, the passage we addressed on October 25, which was Matthew 19:16-30.

Matthew 20:1-16

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Why WE Still Need the Reformation

Russell Moore:

For most conservative American evangelicals, "Reformation Day" is not a big deal. Many, if asked, might think it to be a special emphasis day for prison ministry.

Most of us know the day as Halloween instead (or something closely approximating it), even if we feel a little guilty about that. I'll be away travelling tonight, unable to indulge the trick-or-treaters, so maybe I'll just nail 95 Reese's to the door.

But as one who grew up in a half-Catholic, half-Baptist extended family, October 31st is an interesting time for me. What would Martin Luther have done on that thundrous road if he'd had a background like mine? Invited Saint Anne into his heart as his personal lightning rod? Pledged to start a "True Nuns Wait" campaign?

What I do know is that, whatever your view of the Reformation, it's obvious to see that some of the things that drove Luther to anger (and to despair) are everywhere present, to this day, often even in the most "Reformation-centric" evangelical churches.

Hardened rebels against God rest easy in a prayer said at Vacation Bible School, or a card signed at confirmation class. And guilty consciences stand paralyzed outside, fearful that Christ can only save those who look or dress or speak a certain way. And, through it all, American Christianity has become a vast conspiracy to sell one another products.

The combination of the damning power of cheap grace with the accusing agony of performance-based righteousness before God exists in every wing of the church. That's because it's not a medieval problem, but a primeval one.

Syncopated Luther

In honor of Reformation Day today, here is a video (more audio than video, really) of Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." It is sung in German in the original syncopated style. What?! You thought that syncopation originated 100 years ago with ragtime? Not so.

Stingy Jack

More from David Wayne on some of the history behind Halloween-- in this installment, the story behind the Jack o' Lantern:

The pumpkin, which many of us associate so strongly with Hallowe’en, is native only to North America, and grows nowhere else in the world. They simply did not have pumpkins to use as symbols, until about 300 years ago! The original Jack-O-Lanterns go back a little further, but were usually made from turnips or potatoes, and are a relatively recent European invention (c. 1200 A.D.).

According to tradition, the Jack-O-Lantern is the good-natured result of an old Irish-Christian wives-tale about a miser named Stingy Jack who refused his good wife’s exhortation to go to church. Jack instead frequented saloons, were he eventually met and tricked the Devil himself into paying for the drinks. A year later, on the eve of the Hallowed Day, Jack choked to death, eating a turnip. When he arrived at heaven’s gate he was turned away as an unrepentant sinner. At the gates of hell, Satan drove him off by throwing glowing embers of hell-fire at him, still angry over being tricked. Jack was doomed to walk between heaven and hell until the Judgment Day, still carrying his half-eaten turnip, in which burned the glowing embers he had caught. They called it Jack’s-Lantern, and Christians would put them up to mark the locations of their Hallowe’en parties. According to the legend, if Satan saw such a lantern he would turn and walk the other way rather than risk meeting Stingy Jack in such a gathering.

Isn't it interesting how a "Christianity" without an emphasis on the Scriptures fosters a folk religion that instinctively creates its own stories? And how, in this imagination, the Devil is always a more interesting character than, say, Jesus? And, not incidentally, that the gospel is absent?

At least it got a couple of things right: Unrepentant sinners don't go to heaven, and you can't swallow a whole turnip. So don't be a fool like Stingy Jack.

As Holy As Possible

Robert Murray McCheyne:

Lord, make me as holy as it is possible for a saved sinner to be.

Counting the Days

Psalms 139:16

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

Carolyn Nystrom:

God’s power, blended with his knowledge, has sobering implications. I remember well the day when I sat down and calculated the days that my own firstborn child had lived: a mere 8,175 days until a car crash on the way to work ended Sheri’s life as well as that of her own unborn child. At age seven, Sheri had completed nearly a third of her lifetime—and God knew. He had counted the days. When Sheri danced at her senior prom, she had completed more than three-quarters of it—and God knew. He had counted the days. At college graduation, she had completed all but seventy-one days. God had already counted them. I am grateful that those counted days were in God’s knowledge, not mine. It is comforting to know that the length of Sheri’s life did not somehow escape the knowledge and power of God, that her life (far too short by human measure), continues to this day in his presence. God the Creator shapes—conceives, constructs, connects, controls—all that he brings into any mode of being, and this shaping is his omnipotence in action.

From Praying: Finding Our Way through Duty to Delight, by J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom

The History Behind Halloween

David Wayne, with "just the facts" on Halloween (the numbers at the end of sentences refer to footnotes you can see at his original post-- follow the link):

Hallowe’en was created by the Early Christian Church during the 4th century.1 Originally celebrated on the 13th and 14th of May as “All Martyr’s Day,” it was instituted to remember those who had given their lives for the Faith during the Great Christian Holocaust, by Rome.2 It was, in other words, the Christian Memorial Day — the second most important holy-day in the entire Christian Calendar. Fact.

Somewhere along the way it apparently became customary to hold Church pageants on the preceding evening. Everyone, even the audience, came dressed as their favorite martyred saint.3 Those who chose Paul, came beheaded. Those who chose Matthew, came with a spear thrust through them. In skits, congregations would reenact the valor and passion of the Church-in-persecution. Others dressed as the antagonists of the stories — Satan, his demons, the wild animals of the coliseum, the soldiers and the Caesars. These were the defeated enemies, booed and hissed, while the victorious heroes were cheered. Afterward they would all spill out into the streets of the city, begging food for the poor among them.4 Fact.

Some three hundred years later, the city of Rome donated a building to the Church in memory of all the “martyrs” of the Great Persecution. The building had formerly been used as a place of torture and the execution of Christians. Now, it would be used to worship Jesus Christ. The irony was not lost on the Church, and many shifted their All Martyr’s celebration to the day the new building was dedicated — November 1.5 Within the next fifty years that change became official in the Western Churches (the Eastern Churches still celebrate in the spring, to this day6). The celebration was gradually expanded to include any who had been persecuted for the name of Christ, and many began calling it “All Saints’ Day.” Fact.

In the centuries that followed, the name was finally changed to the “Holy Day” – or more popularly, the “Hallowed Day.” The festivities traditionally began the night before, because until recent times both Jews and Christians began their day at dusk. This is not the result of culture or superstition, but because God made them that way (”… and the evening and the morning, were the first day”, etc.). So, to the early Church the evening of a Saturday, for instance, was the night before, not the night after — Saturday began with Saturday-evening (what you and I would call Friday night). In fact, what we call “Christmas Eve” today, was originally the evening of/before Christmas-Day. The same is true of New Year’s Eve. Similarly, the Hallowed Day began with the “Hallowed Even’,” which was ultimately contracted to the “Hallowe’en” we know today. Today, we still begin our celebration on the evening before – what appears on our calendars as October 31. Fact.

Here I Stand

As Reformation Day approaches (October 31), you can celebrate with a 24-minute audio dramatization of Martin Luther's famous speech, available this week as a free download here. This is the site's description of the program:

In the late afternoon of April 18, 1521, in the city of Worms, Germany, Martin Luther, a 37 year-old Catholic monk was called to defend himself before Charles the Fifth, the Holy Roman Emperor. The speech he delivered that day, Here I Stand, marked the beginning of the Reformation, a critical turning point in Christian history, that decisively altered the spiritual map of the world.

In this recording, Max McLean introduces the events leading up to the Diet of Worms: Martin Luther’s prayer the night before he delivered his speech; Luther's stirring defense; the Catholic church’s rebuttal; and, Luther’s final heartfelt response.

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True and Better

Here's Tim Keller on seeing Jesus in the Old Testament-- not in a Hidden Pictures or Where's Waldo? sort of way, but with a deep appreciation for the way the Scriptures point us to Christ:

Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar, and go out into the void, not knowing whither he went, to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac, who was not just offered up by his Father on the mount,but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “now I know you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me, now we can look at God, taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing Him, and say,” now we know that you love us, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold Him, and uses His new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses who was struck with the rod of God’s justice, and now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people’s victory though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace, but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out into the storm so we could be brought in.

He is the real passover lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so that the angel of death would pass over us.

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More Necessary, Not Less

A quotation on the topic of preaching for Saturday, from John Stott-- way back in 1982:

It is difficult to imagine the world in the year A.D. 2000, by which time versatile micro-processors are likely to be as common as simple calculators are today.

We should certainly welcome the fact that the silicon chip will transcend human brain-power, as the machine has transcended human muscle-power.

Much less welcome will be the probable reduction of human contact as the new electronic network renders personal relationships ever less necessary.

In such a dehumanized society the fellowship of the local church will become increasingly important, whose members meet one another, and talk and listen to one another in person rather than on screen. In this human context of mutual love the speaking and hearing of the Word of God is also likely to become more necessary for the preservation of our humanness, not less.

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Still, My Soul Be Still

A few weeks ago, Katie and I saw Keith and Kristyn Getty in concert at Moody Church. Here's a video of a Canadian television appearance they made recently. We've been enjoying their new CD Awaken the Dawn quite a bit, but you can listen to the stream of the entire two-hour Moody concert here for free.

What's New about the New Birth?

Colin Smith describes a few ways that the "new birth" is new:

A new disposition
God created you. He made you with your own unique gifts, personality and temperament. The new birth does not violate what God has made. Shy sinners become shy Christians. Zany sinners become zany Christians. Cautious sinners become cautious Christians.

God's Holy Spirit will give you power to overcome the effects of sin in your personality, like pride or anger or greed. But God will not override His own work. He redeems His work by giving you a new disposition. God never makes two snowflakes alike and he certainly never makes two Christians alike.

God takes the personality that you were born with and moves it in a new direction. It is you - moving, desiring, thinking and feeling - in a new direction. That's what happened to Peter. Christ took this man - with his exuberance, his flair and his passion - and moved him in a whole new direction. Peter and Thomas were completely different before and after they met Christ.

A new appetite
Nature determines appetite. When you are born again God gives you a new appetite that reflects your new nature. Birds have an appetite for worms and slugs. Cats have an appetite for meow mix. I don't care for either because it's not in my nature.

Cats have an appetite for what cats love. Dogs have an appetite for what dogs love. Sinners have an appetite for what sinners love. Those who have been born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ have an appetite for what Christ loves.

This new appetite is not something that is imposed from the outside. God has created a desire to live a new kind of life that rises from within you. Real freedom is found when what you most desire turns out to be exactly what God commands.

A new capacity
Nature determines appetite, but it also determines capacity. Dogs can't fly; it's not in their nature. Fish can't run; it's not in their nature. Sinners cannot live in the presence of God or obey the laws of God.

That used to be your position. But when you were born again God's Spirit came to live in you, giving you not only the desire to live a new life, but also the capacity. Never underestimate the miracle God has done in bringing you to faith in Christ.

I, personally, do not have vivid recollections about my own birth. I've heard about it and gather that I caused a lot of problems by refusing to get into the right position, but I don't remember it! The evidence that I was born is that I am alive. The evidence that a person was born again is that they are living the new life.

Fizzy

Douglas Wilson on the spectacular failure of atheism:

So if the universe is what the atheist maintains it is, then this determines what sort of account we must give for the nature of everything -- and this includes the atheist's thought processes, ethical convictions, and aesthetic appreciations. If you were to shake up two bottles of pop and place them on a table to fizz over, you could not fill up an auditorium with people who came to watch them debate. This is because they are not debating; they are just fizzing. If you were to shake up one bottle of pop, and show it film footage of some genocidal atrocity, the reaction you would get is not moral outrage, but rather more fizzing. And if you were to shake it really hard by means of art school, and place it in front of Michelangelo's David, or the Rose Window of Chartres Cathedral, the results would not really be aesthetic appreciation, but more fizzing still.

If the atheist is right, then I am not a Christian because I have mistaken beliefs, but am rather a Christian because that is what these chemicals would always do in this arrangement and at this temperature. The problem is that this atheistic assumption does the very same thing to the atheist's case for atheism. The atheist gives us an account of all things which makes it impossible for us to believe that any account of all things could possibly be true. But no account of things can be tenable unless it provides us with the preconditions that make it possible for our "accounting" to represent genuine insight. Atheism fails to do this, and the failure is a spectacular one. Nor does atheism allow us to have any fixed ethical standard, or the possibility of beauty.

See his exchange with Christopher Hitchens here.

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A Bit of (Almost Local) History

Confirmation that Wheaton College was part of the Underground Railroad in the years leading up to the Civil War, as noted on the Christian History blog:

David Malone, head of Wheaton’s archives and special collections, explained to The Daily Herald newspaper that the discovery of a comment in an 1889 manuscript is actually quite significant.

"We've never been willing to say for ourselves that we were a stop on the Underground Railroad," Malone said. "Others were willing to say it for us. But we wouldn't confirm that. Now we're able to say with full assurance that this was a stop on the Underground Railroad."

Turns out the text isn’t massively hard to find if you know what you’re looking for: Google Book Search has a scanned, downloadable copy of The History of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Veteran Infantry (Yates Phalanx) in the War of the Rebellion 1861-1865. Here’s the passage, a first-person account of Ezra A. Cook:

In the fall of 1853 … we moved to Illinois and settled on a farm about twelve miles from Chicago. About four years afterward [my father] sold this farm and purchased another in Du Page county, about one and a half miles from Wheaton, his object being to give his children a liberal education; the oldest daughter having already spent several terms at Wheaton College.

The outbreak of the war in the spring of 1861 found myself and two sisters attending Wheaton College, which had a national reputation as an Abolition school in an Abolition town. So strong was public sentiment that runaway slaves were perfectly safe in the College building, even when no attempt was made to conceal their presence, which was well known to the United States Marshal stationed there. With hundreds of others, I have seen and talked with such fugitives in the college chapel. Of course they soon took a night train well-guarded to the next station on the U. G. R. R.

When Sumter was fired on, I did not doubt that it was the death-knell of slavery, and my heart was in the battle for freedom from that moment.

Unforeseen Circumstances

My blog could stand a little more humor. So, here you go...






My monitor had some trouble with the darker side of the sign. It reads, "The class on prophecy has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances."

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An Idle Attempt

This quotation goes well with our text for this week. Can you see this reality in Jesus' response to the rich man?

Charles Spurgeon:

It is an idle attempt to heal those who are not wounded,
to attempt to clothe those who have never been stripped,
and to make those rich who have never realized their poverty.

Next Sermon - Matthew 19:13-30 on 10/25/09

Here is the text for our next sermon from Matthew. We covered 19:1-12 back in February with Jesus' teachings on lust, adultery, and divorce from the Sermon on the Mount (5:27-32). We also covered 19:13-15 with the first section of chapter 18, but I'm including it again here because the contrast with what follows is significant.

Matthew 19:13-30

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Perspectives

This goes well with our text from last week. It may seem a little slow, but stick with it.

Perspectives from Peacemaker Ministries on Vimeo.

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Enthralled

Thirty years ago, John Piper sensed God leading him away from his career as a college professor (teaching Bible) to serve as the pastor of a local church. Here is a portion of his journal entry from October 14, 1979, that inspires and challenges me on this Saturday as I finish my sermon for tomorrow.

The urge is almost overwhelming [to resign from position as professor to pursue the pastorate]. It takes this form: I am enthralled by the reality of God and the power of his Word to create authentic people.

He later writes, imagining God speaking to him and contrasting the role of the academician from the shepherd:

I will not simply be analyzed; I will be adored.

I will not simply be pondered; I will be proclaimed.

My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized; it is to be heralded.

It is not grist for the mill of controversy; it is gospel for sinners who know that their only hope is the sovereign triumph of God’s grace over their rebellious will.

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ENCOURAGE

Continuing with themes from Matthew 18, here is a model for biblical confrontation, by Paul David Tripp, using the anacronym ENCOURAGE:

Examine your heart. Confrontation always begins with you. Because we all struggle with indwelling sin, we must begin with ourselves. We must be sure that we have dealt with our anger, impatience, self-righteousness, and bitterness. When we start with our own confession, we are in a much better place to lead another to confess.

Note your calling. Remember that confrontation is not based on your opinion of the person. You are there as an ambassador and your job is to faithfully represent the message of the King. In other words, your goal is to help people see and accept God's view of them.

Check your attitude. When you speak, are your words spoken in kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, forbearance, compassion, and love? Failure to do this will hinder God-honoring, change-producing confrontation. We need to examine both our message and our attitude as we speak.

Own your own faults. It is vital to enter moments of confrontation with a humble recognition of who we really are. As we admit our own need for the Lord's forgiveness, we are able to be patient and forgiving with the one to whom God has called us to minister.

Use words wisely. Effective communication demands preparation, particularly of our words. We need to ask God to help us use words that carry his message, not get in the way of it.

Reflect on Scripture. The content of confrontation is always the Bible. It guides what we say and how we say it. We should enter moments of confrontation with a specific understanding of what Scripture says about the issues at hand. This means more than citing proof texts; it means understanding how the themes, principles, perspectives, and commands of Scripture shape the way we think about the issues before us.

Always be prepared to listen. The best, most effective confrontation is interactive. We need to give the person an opportunity to talk, since we cannot look into his heart or read his mind. We need to welcome his questions and look for signs that he is seeing the things he needs to see. We need to listen for true confession and the commitment to specific acts of repentance. As we listen, we will learn where we are in the confrontation process.

Grant time for a response. We must give the Holy Spirit time to work. There is nothing in Scripture that promises that if we do our confrontation work well, the person will confess and repent in one sitting. Rather, the Bible teaches us that change is usually a process. We need to model the same patience God has granted us. This patience does not compromise God's work of change, but flows out of a commitment to it.

Encourage the person with the gospel. It is the awesome grace of God, his boundless love, and his ever-present help that give us a reason to turn from our sin. Scripture says that it is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance (Rom. 2:4). The truths of the gospel--both its challenge and its comfort--must color our confrontation.

From War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles
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