The Marks of a Faithful Pastor (1 Peter 5:1-4)

This is a longer version of this message than I actually preached. Time constraints forced me to eliminate several lengthy portions of the message, but I retained them in the manuscript because I thought they were essential to the full development of the message. The audio of the shorter version is available through this link.

I was scheduled to meet with a pastor in a New England town about a mission project we were involved in in his city. I didn’t know what he looked like, and he didn’t know what I looked like. When I got to the church I asked a guy, “Are you the pastor?” He chuckled and said “No, but you’ll know him when you see him.” Several others said that to me as well. I really wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking for that would be such a dead giveaway. But suddenly, bouncing down the steps from an upper floor, I saw first the tennis shoes and black socks, then the bare legs and khaki shorts, then the black shirt with the white clerical collar, then an enormous cross that hung around his neck, then a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “Ah, you must be the pastor,” I said. Sure enough, I knew when I saw him. In contrast, almost daily people come to our office and I greet them at the door and they ask to speak to the pastor. I confess that sometimes I am tempted to say that he’s not in at the moment, but I never do. When I say that I am him, people regularly say, “Oh, I didn’t expect you to be the pastor.” I’m never quite sure if that is a compliment or not. I don’t know what they were expecting … an older man, perhaps; a suit and tie maybe; more hair care product; a collar or something like that? Traditionally Baptists have shunned the use of a collar among pastors, and even the robe to a large extent. I chose a number of years ago to begin wearing the robe on occasions that I felt demanded a higher degree of formality and gravity, such as today when we observe the Lord’s supper, or on significant occasions and ceremonies. But I do not presume to think that wearing a robe makes me more spiritually qualified or a more holy person. It is, for the most part, just for appearance and symbolizes the seriousness of the moment.

Policemen wear badges, doctors and nurses wear scrubs, soldiers have uniforms. Each of the identifying marks of the person’s respective vocation. But what are the marks of a pastor? Is it the robe or the clerical collar? Is it the big Bible or the heavily sprayed hair? No, according to Peter in our text today, the marks of a faithful pastor have nothing to do with how he looks or what he wears. Peter, who identifies himself as a pastor, here sets forth an exhortation to his fellow pastors about the marks that should distinguish them in their faithful service to Christ and his church. His qualifications to give these instructions are based in a description of himself that he provides. He is a fellow elder, perhaps having even been the pastor of many of the Christians to whom he is writing when they lived in Rome. He is also a witness of the sufferings of Christ, indicating his apostolic ministry that began as he walked with Jesus during His earthly life. We also have the confidence that he is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and can therefore say that this is God’s Word for the church in all generations.

These words are particularly relevant to us today for a number of reasons. First, they set forth, together with 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Acts 20:17-38, Ephesians 4:11-16, and Titus 1:5-9, the standard that pastors should be measured by. Second, we see from this passage and others that the biblical descriptions of pastors have far more to do with the kind of people they than the kind of tasks they do or results they produce. And third, we are on the precipice of a major crisis in pastoral ministry today. Fewer and fewer seminary graduates are entering traditional pastoral ministry, opting instead for roles as church planters, specialized church staff roles, missionary service or parachurch ministry roles. This means that small churches in particular will have a far more difficult time finding willing men to serve as pastors in the years to come, and if we do not have some sort of objective standard for measuring candidates, disaster could loom large over the church.

There may be some who would criticize me for addressing this subject here today for a couple of reasons. First, it may be said that we are not all pastors, and therefore we do not all have a need for this instruction. To that I would say that if it was important enough for God to record in His book, then it is important enough for our consideration in this setting. Additionally I would say that while we are not all pastors, we all need pastors (myself included) to shepherd us in the Christian life, and therefore we must know what the Scriptures teach about pastors. Second, some may suggest that it is self-serving for me to preach about the work of pastors. I would have to respond to that by saying, initially, that if it can be shown how this message is in any way self-serving, I will apologize for mishandling it. I would add that, on the contrary of being self-serving, I am actually setting before you today a standard that I hope you will use to judge my work as a pastor, and that of any other pastor. This passage and the others I have mentioned are ever before me as a lofty standard that I know, apart from the enabling of the Holy Spirit, I can never attain to. So daily I reflect on these as my own marching orders from heaven and seek His help to abide by them. And, though I have no intention of leaving Immanuel for another place of service, none of us knows what the future holds. If the Lord tarries, we can be quite sure that death, or the call of God, or some other unforeseeable circumstance will necessitate you calling another pastor someday. And if and when that day transpires, if I have not taught you the Word of God concerning the role of pastors, I will have failed to equip you in a matter of fundamental importance for the life and health of this church. My own pastor used to regularly teach the congregation on matters of pastoral ministry, saying, “If I don’t do this, who will?” I would echo that sentiment here today. And then of course, there are some who would be critical of this message today simply because they are critical people. In fifteen years of pastoral ministry, I have yet to discover the best way to deal with that kind of criticism, except to just pray for them, love them anyway, and press on in service of the Lord knowing that ultimately He is the one I have to please in the end.

Now, that said, let’s dive into this text and examine what God’s Word teaches us here through Peter’s letter about the marks of a faithful pastor.

I. The faithful pastor is marked by his titles.

I walked up on a church in another city and noticed that the sign indicated who the speaker was to be for the upcoming Sunday service. Since I have forgotten his name, we’ll call him John Doe. But what I have not forgotten was his title that was spelled out in full on the sign: The Very Right Reverend Monsignor John Doe. That sounds impressive doesn’t it? While I assume that John Doe did not select this title for himself, but rather it was granted to him by the denomination in which he ministers, I was taken aback that none of this impressive collection of titles is found in Scripture. In fact, most of the titles that are commonly used to refer to church leaders around the world are not biblical titles. Not Reverend, Priest, Father, Monsignor, or even the collective title “Clergy.” Rather, these titles come from centuries of man-made traditions and hierarchies. Any time you see the title “Reverend” in front of my name, you can be sure that I didn’t put it there. When I write a title before my name, I use “Pastor.” Pastor is found in the Bible; Reverend is not. When we turn to the pages of the Bible we find something far more simple, far more humble, and far more appropriate for those who would serve Christ in His church than all of these elaborate and honorific titles that have arisen through history.

There are, in the New Testament, only two “offices” or positions held within the church. They are the deacon and the pastor. When it comes to the office of the pastor, we actually find that there are three terms used interchangeably throughout the New Testament. First, the word pastor, which is the least frequent title used in Scripture, and which translates the Greek word poimen, which means literally, “a shepherd.” Second, we find the word presbuteros, which is most commonly translated as “elder” in our Bibles. And third, we find the word episkopos, which literally means “overseer” but which was translated in the King James and other English versions as “Bishop.” While some churches today hold that these three titles refer to three different positions, we find in the New Testament that all of them actually refer to the same position. Take this passage before us, for example. Here, Peter is addressing the presbuterous, the elders, and he exhorts them to poimanate, that is, to shepherd or pastor the flock of God, by exercising episkopountes, or oversight, of the congregation. The elders are admonished to pastor as overseers, or bishops. Turning to Acts 20, we find the same thing. There Paul calls together the elders (the presbuterous) of the Ephesian church and reminds them that God has made them overseers (or Bishops, episkopous) and that their responsibility is to shepherd or pastor (poimainein) the church of God. So, in at least these two passages, and others could be cited, we see how the terms are used interchangeably to refer to the same office in the church.

But what do these titles teach us about the faithful pastor? Is he faithful simply because he wears one or more of these titles before his name? Certainly not. Many have taken up these titles and abused the office that they held and failed to serve the Lord or the church faithfully. Rather, these titles give us insight into the kind of person who is to hold the office and the kind of work that he is to do. What does it mean that this person in this position is called an elder? Does it mean that he must be elderly? I think that is what some people think because often when people meet me they say, “Oh you are too young to be a pastor!” I still get that, even after doing it for so long. But we know that this cannot be the case, because in 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul actually tells the young pastor to not let anyone look down on his youthfulness. Rather, the idea of being an elder has to do with a person’s spiritual maturity. That is why, for instance, Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:6 that a pastor must not be a new convert. He must be seasoned in living the Christian life and wise according to the Scriptures in order that he might be able to teach and preach them faithfully. He must have walked closely with Jesus for a long enough time to be able to lead others to do the same.

The primary exhortation that Peter gives to the elders here is that they shepherd or pastor the flock of God. Throughout the Bible, the people of God are compared to sheep, and the comparison is not always complimentary. Sheep are meek, gentle, and tranquil creatures, but they aren’t very bright. They require the care of a shepherd to provide for them, to protect them, and to nurture them. But the pastor must be under no delusion in thinking of the church in this way, for he himself is first of all a sheep before he is a shepherd. I have often referred to pastors as sheep in shepherds’ clothing. We pastors are not immune to the challenges of life as sheep. Left to our own devices, we are just as spiritually dumb as any other sheep. That is why we must be anchored to the Word of God and desperately adhered to the power of the Holy Spirit in our ministry. Though we are shepherds, we are under-shepherds; Jesus is the Chief Shepherd, as Peter indicates in verse 4. We have to be guided by Him and by our fellow shepherds as we do our own shepherding. Shepherding sheep is a multifaceted task, as is pastoring a church. There is the element of guidance, the element of caregiving and nurturing, and the element of feeding, which in the spiritual realm occurs through the proclamation of God’s Word. His Word is the food for the Christian’s soul, and the faithful pastor must be committed to feeding the flock with a healthy diet of the Word.

Then, when we think of the term overseer, there seems to be some suggestion of the responsibility that the pastor has among the church. I prefer the term overseer to Bishop because it is a literal translation of the Greek word, and it is a much more descriptive term. In this passage, the phrase “exercising oversight” is adverbial, describing how the pastor is to shepherd the church. He does so while exercising oversight. The pastor has a responsibility before God to oversee the spiritual well-being of the church and its members. This means that there must be a certain degree of authority invested in the pastor’s position, but it is not unlimited or unaccountable authority. He is accountable both to the Lord and the church for the exercise of that authority and oversight. Hebrews 13:17 says that the leaders of the church will give an account for your souls before the Lord, and therefore, there should be some degree of submission and obedience given to them in light of this responsibility. If he leads the church astray, he will answer to God for doing so. But, should the members of the church make his work grievous rather than joyful, that same verse indicates that it will be unprofitable for the church. In other words, the pastor will answer to God for his leadership, but the church will also answer to God for their “follow-ship.” There are individuals in many churches who have gained reputations as “pastor-killers”, and Hebrews 13:17 stands as a warning to those individuals that they will be held accountable before God for their attitudes and actions toward their pastors.

So, as an elder, the pastor is to be a spiritually mature person who is able to lead others in their walk with Jesus. As a shepherd, he is to provide care to the flock, chiefly in the form of teaching the Word of God to them. And as an overseer, he is an administrative leader and a spiritual guide for the church. Paul summarizes these responsibilities in 1 Timothy 5:17 when he speaks of elders who rule well and work hard at preaching and teaching. These, we may say, are the biblical responsibilities implicit in the titles that the faithful pastor bears.

II. The faithful pastor is marked by his relationships

The Christian life is entered into individually. Each person must make his or her own decision to follow Christ. But the Christian life cannot be characterized by individualism; it must be lived out in the context of relationships. As Christians, we have a certain relationship with the Triune God: with our Heavenly Father, with our Lord Jesus, and with our indwelling Holy Spirit. We also have a relationship with other Christians: those within our own church family, those in other church fellowships, those who live all over the world, and even to an extent with those who have lived at all points of Christian history. We stand in a line with them, receiving much from those who have gone before us and leaving something behind for those who come after us. And then of course, we also have a certain relationship with those who do not know Christ, as witnesses and missionaries who testify in word and deed of the saving grace of Jesus to those who do not yet know him. And these same relationships also mark the life of the faithful pastor.

We see in this text something of the pastor’s relationship to the Lord. As an elder, we have already mentioned, he is a person of spiritual maturity that has been nurtured through walking with the Lord by faith over a period of time. But in his role as a shepherd, he has a somewhat unique relationship to the Lord Jesus. After all, it was Jesus who said, “I am the good Shepherd” (John 10:11). Since that is the case, pastors should seek to emulate the shepherding ways of Jesus as we serve Him. Peter actually makes the case here that we are “undershepherds.” In verse 4, when he refers to the return of Jesus, he calls Him the “Chief Shepherd,” using the word archipoimenos, the highest of all shepherds, in the Greek. So in a very real sense, Christ is our Lord and Savior first, but also our “boss” if you will, serving as our example in shepherding and our master to whom we will give account for our ministry as His undershepherds. Incidentally, this text is the reason why I despise the term “Senior Pastor.” This term “Chief Shepherd” is the closest thing we have in Scripture to “Senior Pastor,” and it is a title that belongs only to Jesus.

We also see in this text something of the pastor’s relationship to the church at large, throughout history. This is suggested in Peter’s description of himself as a “fellow elder.” We stand in line with a group of Christians who have served Christ’s church since the time of the apostles and include even some of the apostles. While we do not know for certain how many of the twelve actually served as church pastors, we do know that Peter did, and John did, and Paul to a great extent did as well. And we know that wherever in history and geography the church of Jesus Christ has been present, there has been someone called by God to lead and feed that church on the Word of God. On the one hand, there is honor in this reality. When we are tempted to think of our work as insignificant and meaningless, we are reminded by this that the calling of Pastor has been foundational to the work of God since the earliest period of church history. But there is also something humbling about this. Many of these who have held this office throughout history have suffered and died for their calling as pastors, and therefore we must not be surprised by suffering if it comes or way or think that we deserve something better. Also, we are reminded because of these relationships with pastors throughout history that we are not irreplaceable in the program of God. While the office of pastor seems to be a fixed reality for the church until Christ returns, no individual pastor holds the keys to the kingdom all by himself. Should he fail to exercise his calling faithfully, should he abuse his authority, should he mistreat the flock in any way, or should calamity fall upon him in the ordinary coming and going of life, he can and will be replaced. Therefore no pastor should think himself to be irreplaceable in the purposes of God, and no church should think of their pastor in that way. You will have another pastor some day unless the Lord returns before my death or before God calls me to serve elsewhere. And it is a fundamental part of my work as your pastor to prepare you to follow the next person to occupy this position. It has always been one of my goals as a pastor to make the job of my successor easier. Understanding our relationship with the church at large, throughout all time and over the span of the whole world helps us keep this fresh in our minds.

Now, we also see something of the pastor’s relationship to the local church among whom he serves. I had just begun my first pastorate when an older man in the congregation came into my office to talk about some issues with me. He began to address thirty years of church problems with me, before I finally asked him, “Why are you telling me all of this?” He said, “Well, you are the pastor, and you are the head of the church, so you need to do something about it.” I agreed with him that perhaps there were some things I could do about some of these problems, but I said, “If anyone in this church thinks that the pastor is the head of the church, then THAT is the root of all of our problems.” We’ve already established that pastoral ministry involves some degree of accountable authority, but no pastor must ever think that he is the head of the church or that the church belongs to him. In the same way, neither the deacons, the church council, nor any other individual or group of people must think that the church belongs to them or that they are the head. Jesus Christ was very clear in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My church.” The church belongs to Jesus and, as Paul says in both Ephesians 5 and Colossians 1, it is Christ who is the head of the church. Here in this text, when Peter speaks of the church, he says that it is the flock of God. Though the pastor is called to shepherd this flock, he never becomes the owner of it or the head of it. The flock belongs to God. And as such, the pastor does not stand above the congregation, but alonside of them on level ground before the Lord. This is why Peter refers to the pastor shepherding the flock of God among you. They are not beneath him, nor are they above him. The pastor and the people are brothers and sisters under the Fatherhood of God; coworkers together under the Lordship of Christ; and fellow pilgrims indwelled and empowered equally by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has gifted each of us for the service of God in some avenue of ministry. Some are gifted and called as pastors, but those are not more important than those who are gifted and called to serve Christ as teachers, businessmen, stay at home mothers, plumbers, carpenters, or any other vocation. Whatever skills and gifts we have are to be exercised in the service of the Lord, and for some those gifts and skills are carried out under the divine calling of pastoral ministry. Pastors must remember that there was a gracious work of God going on in their lives when He set them apart for His service. I don’t deserve to do what I do. I haven’t jumped through certain hoops to earn this position. I stand here by God’s grace and nothing else. You didn’t call me to serve in this position because you couldn’t find anyone better to do it. It was because we both recognized that God was bringing us together in His sovereign grace for this purpose. Thus, Peter says that the pastor must always bear in mind that the church he happens to serve is one that has been allotted to his charge, as he says in v3, by the grace of God. And we must each recognize the sovereign hand of God in bringing us together in this way: His calling me to serve you as pastor; His allotting of you to my charge. This comes into sharper focus as we examine the third mark of a faithful pastor …

III. A faithful pastor is marked by his attitude

As we look at the New Testament passages concerning pastors and their service to the church we find that there is always more emphasis placed on who and how than what. That is, the priority in all of these texts are on the spiritual qualifications of the man, and the manner in which he conducts his ministry, rather than on the specific tasks listed under his job description. Every pastor is unique in his gifts and abilities. Some are better teachers and preachers, others are better counselors, others are more compassionate in their personal caregiving, and others more effective as organizational leaders. While all pastors must engage in all of these tasks on an ongoing basis, each one will excel at differing aspects of pastoral ministry. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.” Different gifts, different ministries, different effects; but all of it is empowered by the same Spirit, rendered unto the same Lord, and accomplished by the divine work of the same God. And this sovereign God who calls pastor and church together knows with perfect knowledge the strength that each pastor brings to his office, and the needs that each church has in that season of its history. So, we mustn’t begrudge the fact that Pastor Jones is a better preacher, but a worse counselor than Pastor Smith; or that Pastor Davis is a better leader, but a worse caregiver than Pastor Murphy. Rather, we trust that God knew what He was doing when He brought the pastor and people together, as it were, “for such a time as this.”

But, though there are great varieties among pastors in terms of their strengths and abilities, one thing must remain constant. There is an attitude that must pervade all pastoral work if the pastor is to be found faithful. That attitude is expounded here in this text in the form of three contrasts.

First, Peter says that the Pastor must shepherd the flock of God “not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God.” Essentially, Peter is here speaking of the difference between doing what you’ve got to do and what you get to do. The pastor must not engage in any of his duties with a begrudging spirit as if he is being forced to do something against his will. Rather, he must see all of the aspects of his ministry as part and parcel of what God has called him to do, as God’s will for him, and therefore engage in those tasks joyfully and willingly.

Then Peter says that this shepherding must be done “not for sordid gain, but with eagerness.” Here Peter is saying that the motivating factor in a pastor’s ministry must not be the power, privileges, prosperity, or other personal benefit that he would hope to gain from it. Moreover, the word that Peter uses actually goes farther to suggest that he must never resort to dishonest or manipulative means to acquire such benefits from the work of the ministry. Rather, he is to serve with eagerness, ready to do what God has called him to do, even if there is no reward or recompense this side of heaven at all. This raises the question of whether or not it is right, and to what degree, a pastor should be compensated for his work in the church. There are two issues here. First, the New Testament is clear that a church who benefits from the ministry of a pastor should compensate the pastor for his labors. And chief among these labors is the duty of preaching and teaching the Word of God. We see this in 1 Timothy 5:17 where Paul says that the elders (or pastors) who rule well are worthy of double honor, particularly those who work hard at preaching and teaching. He goes on to say that withholding compensation from such a pastor would be equal to muzzling an ox while it is threshing, thus preventing it from eating of the grain beneath his feet; or withholding the wages of a laborer. In 1 Corinthians 9:14, Paul says that the Lord has directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. So, there is a biblical expectation among the churches that they will financially support the pastors who serve them faithfully with the Word of God. But then, the other side of that coin has to do with what is right for a pastor to expect. First of all, according to this and other passages, we see that the pastor’s primary motivator is not to be his salary but his calling to proclaim the gospel. If that is so, then he will do it whether he is being paid to do it or not. As Paul says 1 Corinthians 9:16, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” If this is what God has called me to do, then a paycheck or the lack thereof will have no bearing on whether or not I obey that call. And then secondly, understanding the true nature of the church and the pastor’s relationship to it, each pastor must be willing to live on what the church provides, according to its means based on the giving of each member. And if that figure is unreasonably low, then perhaps the church needs to adjust its expectations of the pastor so that he may take up some other vocation to supplement his income, even as Paul did with tent-making. Think of it this way: if a church has a hundred members, and all of them tithe, and ten percent of that church’s budget is devoted to the pastor’s salary, then he would be receiving the average income of his congregation, without placing an undue burden on the church budget. When I met with your search committee in the summer of 2005, they asked me, “How much salary would you require?” And my answer was that I trust God to provide, so if He is calling me here, then whatever the church offers me will be sufficient to meet my needs. The committee was shocked by such an answer. They told me that they had met with numerous candidates who insisted on six-figure salaries. How many of you draw a six-figure salary? If you were supporting a pastor with that kind of salary, his standard of living would be far beyond that of the average church member, and this should not be. So, while the church has a biblical mandate to support the faithful pastor in his work, the pastor is to serve God in obedience to the call and trust Him to provide, with or without a church paycheck.

The third contrast concerning the pastor’s attitude is found in verse 3: not “lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” You want to know the must humbling, stressful, anxious part of being a pastor? No, it’s not moderating business meetings, but that comes close. Rather, it is this reality -- my spiritual leadership must never be that of just telling you what to do. I have to show you what to do by my own life. That means that when things in the church aren’t going in what I think is a good direction, the first place I have to look is at the mirror and see what kind of example I am giving you. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” It would be much easier for me to just say, “Follow Jesus and do what I tell you to do,” and you know, kind of boss people around in the name of Jesus. But this is not the calling of a pastor. Rather, the shepherd walks in front of the sheep, showing them the way to go by leading them along in his footsteps. If you are going to have a close relationship with Jesus, then I must make sure daily that I have a close relationship with Jesus. And that is really humbling when I think that I will answer to God not just for my sermons but for my example as well. Jesus told His disciples that the rulers of the Gentiles “lord it over” the people. They demand things of the people and insist on being served by the people. But Jesus said that this was not to be so of His followers. Rather, the greatest disciples of Jesus will be those who serve others. Jesus said that even He Himself did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. If I would be an example to you, then I must follow Christ’s example. I must not think of you as my servants, but of myself as your servant; and I must be willing to give even my very life for you. I have preached this sermon to myself for 15 years, and I have a long way to go in living it out. These words are ever before me, and I hope they will work their way into your hearts and minds as well as you consider your church and your pastor, whether that is me or any other pastor in the future.

Now, in closing, I want to point out what Peter says about what the faithful pastor has to look forward to. Throughout his ministry, he will have hard days, he will make hard decisions, he will bear heavy burdens, he will suffer, sacrifice, and struggle. But if he remains faithful, if he carries out the responsibilities that come along with the titles he bears, if he nurtures the relationships that God has placed him in as a pastor, and if he maintains the proper attitude, then the pastor can look forward to a great reward when we see Jesus face to face. When the undershepherds stand before the Chief Shepherd, those who have been faithful to their calling will receive the unfading crown of glory. It is not fair to call it a reward, because it is of grace. It will not have been earned or deserved, but freely bestowed by the One who freely called and freely empowered us to serve. I pray that I might be found among that number of pastors who receive that crown on that day. But if I am, don’t look for me to be wearing it in heaven, for it will be cast with all other crowns at the feet of Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, the Senior Pastor, to whom belongs all glory and honor forever and ever, Amen.

The Unexpected Christmas Gift (Matthew 10:34)

Audio available here

Snowfall created a crisis in our area last weekend. Not only did we have to cancel church, but the bigger news story was how the retail industry would be crippled because shoppers couldn’t get out on the day after Christmas. On that day, typically shoppers rush out to stores for two reasons. For one, they want to buy all of next year’s Christmas items at a reduced price; and they head out to return all the gifts they received but really didn’t want. I’ve been on both ends of that whole “unwanted gift” thing before. We gave some presents to a friend of our children, and when he had opened it, he said, “I really don’t like these; they’re not what I wanted.” And I’ve had those moments where I opened something and wanted to say that, but like a polite grownup I smile and say, “Oh, you shouldn’t have!” What I really mean is, “Seriously, you SHOULDN’T have.” Of course, sometimes you receive a gift that you really wanted, but once you unbox it and begin to make use of it, there is something unexpectedly disappointing about it. It doesn’t fit like you thought it would; the quality is poorer than you expected; it doesn’t have the features you were hoping it would have.

Now, we all know that Christmas is not about the gifts we give to each other, but about the Gift that God has given to each of us in Jesus Christ. And yet, it seems that as we acquaint ourselves with this wondrous Gift, we are sometimes disappointed, or at least surprised by something we never expected. Are you shocked to hear me say that? Don’t be, for God surely knows that we have all thought it; therefore it is no shame to just come out with it. Surely all of us have had those moments where we were faced with a reality that we never expected following Christ would entail. That has happened to every person who has ever begun to follow Jesus, beginning with the apostles and continuing on to this very day. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing wrong with Jesus; He is who He is, and He is glorious in all of His divine perfections. But sometimes there is something off-kilter in our expectations or understanding that gets whiplashed as we come to discover more about the Christ to whom we have pledged ourselves by faith. And so we come to realize that He is an unexpected Christmas gift.

In our text today we find an instance where we are perhaps taken aback by the words of Jesus. He says in Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth.” Peace? Where would we have gotten a silly idea like that? Oh I remember now, that is what we were told His coming would bring to the world! You remember how the angels said in Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” These very words were inscribed on precisely 72.8% of the Christmas cards I received this year (OK I made that part up to make it sound more convincing, but those words were on a lot of cards). Surely the coming of Christ means peace on earth. But no, Jesus says, “Do not think I came to bring peace on the earth.” Well, if He didn’t come to bring peace, He must have come to bring something similar to peace. Maybe it is one of those “Greek word” things where we translate it one way but it really can also mean something similar but different. So what did He really come to bring? He said, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Well, now if this isn’t the ultimate bait and switch! This is worse than my last visit to Best Buy. I went in to buy a computer that was listed in the paper, and was told that they didn’t have them and couldn’t get them but they could sell me one that was half as good for the same price. When I called to complain about that, they told me that the offer in the paper only applied to residents of Brooklyn, New York. That was bad, but this is worse. We were promised peace, but then Jesus shows up and says, “No, I didn’t come to bring peace! I came to bring a sword.” I think we’re going to need to talk to the Manager or something about this! This is not what we expected!

So in order to understand all this, we need to look at the peace that was promised and the sword that was sent and see how this Christmas gift that we never expected actually proves to be for our good and for God’s glory in the world.

I. Reexamining the peace that was promised.

Throughout the Old Testament, the people of God were promised a time of peace that was coming. The Hebrew word Shalom encapsulates so much more than just the absence of warfare. It carried the idea of completeness, wholeness, a state of perfect well-being in which all would be right in the world. It was clear that this day had been promised and that Messiah was the One who would bring it about. When Isaiah spoke of the coming of the Messiah, He said that he would be called the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and said that there would be no end to the increase of His government or of peace (9:7). Isaiah spoke of the days in which Messiah would reign, and the people would beat their swords into plowshares, and nations would no longer lift up swords against one another, and never again would they learn war (2:4). Surely the angels who made their announcement to the shepherds in the fields in Luke 2:14 were not lying when they said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace....”

Now, because of our familiarity with the King James Version, and moreover because we have memorized Christmas carols that are based on the King James text, we tend to think of Luke 2:14 as saying, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men.” But, in fact, this is not the best translation of that verse. Quite literally it means, “peace on earth to men of good will,” that is, “to those on whom God’s favor rests,” men of His good will; not peace and good will to all men everywhere. It is those who receive Christ and the promise of salvation who receive peace.

Jesus told His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” The kind of peace that Jesus gave to His followers in His first coming was a peace between God and man that results from deliverance from sin. Because of sin, humanity is at war with God, and it is a war that we cannot win. But Christ’s coming is the offer of peace. God Himself comes to dwell among us as a man in the person of Jesus to take the penalty of our sin upon Himself, so that in Christ we may be at peace with God. Paul says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith,” that is, having been made righteous through faith in Christ on the basis of His sinless life, His substitutionary death, and His glorious resurrection, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The sin that separated us from Him has been overcome by the blood of His cross and we have been reconciled to Him in this grace of salvation. So, indeed, Jesus came to bring peace to those on whom God’s favor, His saving grace, rests.

But, the coming of Christ which we celebrate at Christmas makes no such promise of peace and good will to all people everywhere on the earth. Christ made this clear, and the promises and prophecies made this clear. For every promise that had been made of a coming peace, there were also promises of vengeance and wrath, promises of hardship that would be endured by the faithful people of God, promises of strife that would arise for the sake of the name of Christ. So when Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace,” the word which is translated as bring in our Bibles is the Greek word ballo, from which we get the word “ball.” It means to throw, to cast, to hurl, if you will. Jesus is saying, “I did not come to cast peace over the whole earth.” Though such a universal peace has been promised, it is for now postponed until His second coming. This was not the purpose of His first coming which we celebrate at Christmas. There is a peace with God that can be experienced individually by those who call upon Him, a peace with God that issues forth in peaceful relations between men where His grace flows through those who belong to Him by faith. But that peace has not been comprehended or experienced by all, and therefore, universal peace will continue to elude our grasp until He returns. When that day arrives, all evil and all sin will be vanquished by His glorious power, and the perfect state of Shalom, the perfect peace of His eternal reign will be cast over the whole earth. But it is yet future. Do not think that He came to bring that kind of peace at Christmas. For that we still wait; but here and now we can have personal peace with God by believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ which says that He lived the righteous life we cannot, and died the sinners’ death in our place, that we might be forgiven, redeemed, made righteous, and adopted as sons and daughters in the family of God. And if we lose sight of the distinction between these two kinds of peace, we may become disappointed and find Christ to be a most unexpected Christmas gift.

II. Considering the Sword that was Sent

I am for better and for worse something of a creature of habit, and for the last ten years or so, one of my habits at this time of year has been to reread C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The land of Narnia sits under the control of the White Witch and she has made it so that it is always winter and never Christmas. But Aslan, the mighty lion who represents Christ, is coming to set things aright in Narnia. The ancient Narnian prophecy had foretold: “Wrong will be right when Aslan comes in sight; at the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, when he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, and when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”

Before the children of the story meet him, they meet Father Christmas, the preferred name among the British for Santa Claus. It is he who announces to the children that “Aslan is on the move.” The appearance of Father Christmas indicates that the witch’s spell is breaking and that Christmas will come to Narnia; Aslan will arrive on the scene at the perfect moment, just as Christ arrived on earth in the fullness of time. When Father Christmas gives the children their presents, to Peter, the eldest, he gives a sword and a shield. Lewis says that Peter “was silent and solemn as he received these gifts, for he felt they were a very serious kind of present.” Before peace could be established in Narnia, there would be a great battle, and Peter would have to make use of the gift he had received.

The biblical imagery of Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles is hard to miss. Just as Peter received the unexpected gift of a sword from Father Christmas, so Jesus says that He did not come to bring peace but a sword. And similarly, we understand this to mean that before there can be the universal peace of Messiah’s reign, there must be a battle to vanquish evil. That battle has been raging since sin first entered the world and it will continue until Christ returns. However, when Jesus came in His first Advent, the battle began to intensify. He came, He said, to bring a sword.

People will ask me from time to time if I interpret the Bible literally. That is really a misguided question, for the Bible, like all literature, contains passages that are literally stated and those that are figuratively stated. There are twin errors that arise when someone wants to interpret all of its passages with strict literalism or with strict figurativism. Usually, when figurative language is present, it is quite obvious, and this is one of those times. We know that Jesus does not mean that He came to bring a literal sword to the earth. First, the earth already had plenty of swords; second, we have no historical record of Jesus ever using a sword; third, when Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus rebuked him; we could go on, but it is plain to see that Jesus is using “sword” here in a figurative way. But what does this figure of speech mean? Like most figurative language, there are many possibilities. In the Bible, a sword is sometimes used to speak of war, and sometimes of violence and bloodshed. While the Quran uses the idea of the sword to teach these things, the teachings of Jesus clearly indicate that this is not what He means when He says He came to bring a sword. There are passages that speak of the sword as an instrument of judgment, wielded both by the state (in the sense of capital punishment) and by the Lord. But divine judgment is something that is promised for the second Advent, not the first. There are also some passages that use the figurative language of a sword to describe the Word of God, and certainly Jesus not only came to proclaim the Word, but He also IS the incarnate Word of God. Yet, context here does not point to this meaning either. The symbolism here seems to point to the idea of a sword that divides.

In 1836, Colonel William Barrett Travis stood in front of the Alamo and took his sword and drew a line in the sand, saying, “I now want every man who is determined to stay here and die with to come across this line.” This is the same idea that we find here with the sword that Christ brings to the world. He comes to divide those who are with Him and those who are against Him. He eliminates all potential for a middle-ground. In Matthew 12:30, He says, “He who is not with Me is against Me.” And here in this text, He gives a stern warning to His followers.

We who have chosen to be with Him, to believe in Him by faith, will feel the sharp slice of the sword that He came to bring as we find ourselves divided from even our closest relationships. He says in the very next verse, “I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.” The point here is not that Jesus calls us to make enemies with those people. No, the Bible is clear that the people of God are to love, honor, respect and care for their family members, even those who are unbelievers. Rather, Jesus’ point is that we must not be surprised when those family members cut us off from their company and turn away from us because of our faith in Him. We must understand that this kind of division is inevitable, and though it is as painful as the stab of a sword, we must endure it for the sake of His kingdom.

This is the point of what He says in verses 37-39. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy or Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Are we willing for the faith that binds us to Jesus to sever us from earthly ties? Does the threat of that sword cause us to want to shrink back from following Christ? If so, then Jesus says we are not worthy of Him, for we have not truly grasped the eternal severity of following Him, nor have we fully committed ourselves to Him. He says, “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Because we do not daily see crucifixion happening, these words have lost their sting in our day. Jesus’ original hearers understood full-well that when Jesus spoke of taking your cross, He meant death. If we are not willing to follow Christ to the point of death, suffering every earthly loss it may entail, including the loss of our very lives, then we have not comprehended the all-surpassing glory of Christ. The loss of earthly ties may seem mild compared to the bloody death of a cross that both Christ and many of His followers have had to endure. But we must be prepared to suffer both if we choose to follow Him.

But then He says, “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” If our existence is all about preserving our own luxuries and comforts so that we have a more enjoyable life here and now, then all that we seek to maintain in the present will be lost when this life comes to an end. What does it profit a man, Jesus said, to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? But if our faith in Christ is sincere enough to suffer the loss of earthly relationships, luxuries, comforts and privileges in order to hold fast to His name, then we will find that we have lost nothing in this life that is not more than compensated for in the life to come when we see Him face to face. The sword that Christ brings is much like the surgeon’s scalpel – it cuts us painfully and draws blood, but it cuts us to heal us. And when we awake to see His face in glory, our healing will be complete … First John 3 says that when we see Him, we will be like Him. And all the pain that the Christmas sword caused will fade from memory altogether, and there will be joy, glory, and ultimately peace like we have never known before.

Today I’d like to conclude by asking you if you have received this Christmas gift of Jesus Christ and the salvation that He lived and died to provide for you? As you follow Him, you may be surprised at what He calls you to and commands of you. The sacrifices you may be called to make may be quite unexpected; some of what He has promised may be postponed for a later day. But He will be faithful to His promises, and in Him alone is salvation found. So, though the bells of Christmas have ceased from ringing, the ultimate gift of Christmas is still available to all who will receive Him. We invite you today to receive Christ as God’s gift to you by calling upon Him as your Lord and Savior.

And in other news ...

I got a call this afternoon from Kristin Nelson at WGHP FOX 8 asking for a comment about the threat of snow this weekend and how that might affect our plans for Sunday service, and what canceling a service means for a church's offerings. I thought it was a great question, and I responded by saying that our members' well-being is more important than the offerings, and we simply trust God to provide for what our church needs, even if we have to miss a Sunday from time to time. She asked if she could come by and do an interview on camera with me, and I agreed. She and the videographer with her were very pleasant and we had a nice chat in the sanctuary about these and other questions.

I reiterated in the interview much of what I had said over the phone. The point I wanted to make clear in the piece was that God controls the weather, and He is the one we trust to provide for us. Therefore, if the weather causes us to close for a Sunday, we don't believe that we will suffer financially for that. I hope that is what came across when the story aired. But I am not sure it does.

The frustration I have had with journalists over the years, and the reason why I usually don't grant interviews or return phone calls, is that the final product is in the hands of an editor. Like some preachers who take the Bible out of context to prop up a point that they want to make, so some journalists will cut and paste and splice a conversation to support the premise that they went into the story to advance. While this was one of my more enjoyable media encounters, there were a couple of misrepresented statements made by the reporter in the piece that aired. For starters, I never said that I was praying for little or no precipitation. I am not going to put God' response or lack thereof to my prayers on the hook for what does or doesn't fall from the sky. Personally, I love snow, and I love the idea of a white Christmas, but I confess that I do not look forward to having to make a weather decision for Sunday. Moreover, her voiceover in the piece in which she says, "...otherwise they'll have to cancel Sunday services and miss out on donations," reflects nothing of what was said in our interview. My point was precisely the opposite ... we don't mind canceling the service for the sake of the safety of our members, BECAUSE we trust God to provide.

I want to think the best of the intentions of those who put this story together, and not read anything into their motives, it does seem that there was a desire going into this story to paint a picture of a church that needs its people's money so desperately that the threat of bad weather instills panic in our hearts as we head toward the weekend. Where my statements failed to support that thesis, a voiceover had to suffice.

My desire here is not to begrudge or belittle hardworking journalists trying to put together a quality piece of news reporting. But I am disappointed in the finished product, particularly how it was edited to convey the exact opposite sentiment of what I said. If you are in journalism, please don't do this. Don't edit and voiceover in an editorialized way. But I am also reminded of the tendency that we all have to spin things the way we want them to be. I am certainly guilty of doing this from time to time as well I suppose.

Most of all, I am also reminded of the tendency that some have to do this with the Bible. When what it says doesn't correspond to the preconceived notion in our own minds, we may feel tempted to spin it, read something into it, insert a speculation or an opinion, omit certain key thoughts and words, so that we come away from it feeling like our presupposition has been validated. As frustrated as I am when this happens to me in the paper or on TV, I must think of the disappointment God must feel when we do the same to His word. If our opinions are not confirmed by the facts, our opinions need adjusting, but we mustn't spin the facts.

The FOX 8 story can be found online here: http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-story-christmas-snow-101222,0,7495312.story

The Fullness of Time

If you could be born at any time in history, when would it be? Perhaps we might say biblical times, or in the prime of some ancient empire, or during a period such as the Enlightenment, the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Victorian Era, Colonial days, etc. We might even look forward and choose the future, when perhaps there will be a cure for cancer, or even a better economy! Of course, though we can make many choices in our lives, we are not able to choose the time in which we were born. That was determined by the sovereignty of God. Acts 17:26-27 says, "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God." According to that truth, God placed us when (historically) and where (geographically) He chose us to exist for His own purposes, namely that we might be most sensitive to Him, and seek Him like we would in no other period of time. But it is fun to imagine what life would be like in another time or place, isn't it?

What about Jesus? If you could determine the time and place for Him to be born, when and where would that be? When it comes to the exact day and year of His birth, there is much uncertainty. The story of how Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25, and the year of His birth as Year 0 (Zero), is complicated and somewhat embarrassing. Most scholars are convinced that He was not born on this date, and many propose a more probable date of the fall season (perhaps in proximity to the Feast of Tabernacles), in the range of 4 to 6 BC. But, though we may never know this side of heaven (and it will hardly matter on the other side) the precise date of His birth, we know that when it occurred, it was the precisely perfect time in history. Just as God sovereignly determines our appointed times and the boundaries of our habitation, so He sovereignly determined the moment that the incarnation would occur. In Galatians 4, Paul says that God sent forth His Son "when the fullness of time came." It is as if all of human history was pregnant, and when it had reached full-term, the incarnate Christ was born to the virgin.

At that time, there was an unprecedented spiritual hunger and religious upheaval in the world. Because of the scattering of Israel across the nations, the idea of monotheism was gaining traction among multitudes who had been previously devoted to the worship of many deities. In most of the world's major cities, there were synagogues where Jews gathered for worship and teaching from the Hebrew Bible. But by this time, most were making use, not of a Hebrew Bible, but a Greek one. Because of the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Hellenization of the world (the spread of Greek language and culture), Greek was the lingua franca of nearly the entire world. By 200 BC, the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) had been translated into Greek (the Septuagint), so most of the world could read, hear, and know about this one true God whom the Israelites worshiped. Greek was also the language in which the New Testament was written, and the language by which the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus began to permeate the globe. To facilitate the spread of this message, God had providentially allowed the Roman Empire to unite the world under a common peace, the Pax Romana, and connect the world through an intricate system of roads and trade routes. So the time when Christ came was the ideal time in all of past and future times for Him to be made known in the world.

We might be tempted to think that the day in which we live would be more opportune for Christ to come. If Jesus was on the earth today, He could make use of the great technological advances that we enjoy today to spread His message. His birth, His teaching sessions, even His death and the events surrounding His resurrection could be simulcast via satellite all over the world. He could write a blog that could be read all over the world, and translated via Google services into almost any language. He could have a podcast that disseminated MP3s of His sermons globally. Can you imagine downloading the Sermon on the Mount onto your iPhone? He could have a Twitter account that would rival Conan O'Brien's in number of followers and buzz created. He could have a facebook page for all of His followers to connect on, and He could share pictures immediately. Think of it ... James could upload a picture of Lazarus coming out of the tomb! Peter could have uploaded video of the transfiguration to YouTube, or better, in High Definition on Vimeo! Surely God must see the technological tower that we have built for ourselves in this day and second guess His own timing of the incarnation! No, perish that thought. God's ways and His timing are always perfect, and when Christ came, it was the fullness of time.

When Jesus walked the earth, His message was heard by sometimes three, sometimes twelve, sometimes a few dozen, a few hundred, and at the apex, perhaps 20,000 or more. With the push of a few buttons and a few mouse clicks, today one can publish a message (like this one I am writing now) that can be seen, heard, and viewed by millions, if not billions! I maintain this blog which has been visited some 18,000 people on every continent since its inception. I have a facebook page with over 300 "friends," and a twitter account that is "followed" by 160 people, some of whom I don't even know. And my numbers are small compared to countless others who are far more important than me. But we, like all humanity, will be swept away in death one day. The keystrokes will fall silent; URLs will expire; a server will crash, something new will come along that renders the sites and services we use today irrelevant, and our words and ideas will turn to dust along with our decomposing carcasses. But, two-thousand years after Jesus walked the earth, He is still creating a buzz, though He made no use of any of these technologies.

These things should affect us deeply in several ways. First, we should become instantly aware of how unnecessary these things are. We are thankful for them, and we should steward them wisely, but God doesn't need them to carry out His task. Second, we should be reminded of both our own fleeting influence, and the ever-enduring influence of Jesus. Whatever splash we make in the world through our online presence and tech-savvy is microscopic (if that!) compared to the wake that continues to follow Jesus. Third, we must consider that God is able to work in "small things" perhaps even more than we imagine that He could in "big things." Our aim should not be for greatness in the world's eyes, but for the world to know the greatness of Jesus. If God could do that before electricity, internet, and air travel, He can still do it without us creating empires for ourselves today. Finally, we must be mindful to avoid what C. S. Lewis called "chronological snobbery." We must not think that we live in a utopian age because of all of our advances, nor must we daydream of returning to a simpler society in which we shun all of these advances. While God did not need the printing press, we are certainly grateful for its existence and we have made much good use of it for the spread of the Gospel. The same could be said of the technology we enjoy today. It has arisen under the providence and common grace of God, and if we would use it well, we would use it to spread the glory and fame of Jesus, not ourselves. Christ is the Word made Flesh. Heaven and earth, and all who dwell upon the earth, and Google and Facebook, and Twitter and YouTube, and HDTV and Skype, and all the rest will all pass away. But God's Word will never pass away. And the Word made Flesh in Jesus will continue to spread His glory in all the earth until He returns.

Longing for the Lord to Come Down (Isaiah 64)

Audio available here

A few weeks ago, I was at home alone, and decided to have a frozen meal for dinner. I opened the box and read the directions, and it said, “Microwave on high for five minutes.” And do you know what thought went through my head? “Five minutes?!? That is an awfully long time!” And instantly I caught myself in the midst of that complaint. Has it really come to this? Have the advances in our technology and society really spoiled me that much that a five minute wait seems unbearable? A couple of decades ago, that same meal I ate in five minutes would have taken hours to prepare. But today we live in a society of instant gratification, and I for one have grown impatient with waiting. Maybe you have too.

The Advent season has a lot to do with waiting. During Advent, we think back to the centuries that Israel waited for the coming of the Messiah who had been promised. Since the first sin of humanity, God had continually reminded His people that He would, in His own way, in His own time, bring about the deliverance of His people through the Messiah. Days, weeks, months, years, decades, generations, centuries, even millennia came and went, and no Messiah came. Some hardened their hearts in impatience, while others held onto hope that God would do what He said. They were longing for the Lord to come. And in God’s perfect time, and in God’s perfect way, He did not just send a Savior, but He became a Savior, taking human flesh upon Himself in the person of Jesus Christ to deliver humanity from the bondage to sin. He did this through His perfect life, His substitutionary death, and His glorious resurrection. During Advent, we look back and reflect on what it would have been like to wait with longing and expectation for the Lord to come.

But during Advent we also look ahead. The prophets foretold what the Messiah would accomplish when He came, and when Jesus died, there were things that had been promised which had not yet been fulfilled and still remain unfulfilled today. Jesus explained to His followers that there was more that would occur in the future. He spoke of a return, a second coming, in which the remainder of these things would take place. The Israelites who originally heard and read those Messianic prophecies did not understand that there was a first or second coming. It was all still future to them. It was like looking at a mountain range from far away, and you see several peaks in the distance. You don’t recognize until you get closer to them that they are miles apart. The Old Testament saints looked at the promise of salvation and the promise of final judgment that Messiah would bring, but they saw it from a distance as one thing, not two. It was not until His first coming did it become clear that there would be a second coming. So, though our longing for salvation has been satisfied in the coming of Christ into the world, still we wait for Him to return with that same sort of longing that they had. As we look at this broken world which is devastated by sin, we cry out with those Old Testament saints, “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down!” We cry with the martyrs of the book of Revelation, “How long O Lord?”

Today I want to focus on the first coming of Christ and the desire of Israel for the coming of the Messiah which had been promised and find in this text the reasons why there was such a longing for His coming. As we do so, we will also consider how the satisfaction of that longing in the coming of Christ affects us today as we live between the first and second advent of Jesus.

I. The coming of the Messiah means hope for the nations (vv1-4)

The second Psalm opens with a question concerning the state of global affairs that existed in ancient days: “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their their cords from us.’” Thousands of years later, we see that, in spite of all the changes in the world, this state of affairs remains unchanged. The nations continue to rage; tyrants continue to take bold stands and act aggressively toward one another, and conspire together to lead their people away from the will of God. They posture themselves as enemies of peace, enemies of justice, enemies of righteousness, which amounts to a warfare against the Lord Himself.

The longing of the people of God was that the Lord might come down from heaven and remedy this situation. Though they longed for judgment to come upon the enemies of the Lord “as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil” (v2a), there was also a note of compassion in their longing. They understood that the reason why these nations were adversaries of the Lord was that they did not know Him. They longed for the Lord to come, saying in verse 2, “to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence.” While Israel had known and experienced the power of God, while they had received the promises of the Word of God and the blessings of God’s favor, the nations warred against a God they did not know. Verse 4 says that they “have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.” It was not that they did not have gods of their own whom they worshiped and served. Every nation of the ancient world, just as every nation of our own day, had deities to whom they prayed and sacrificed and served. But their gods were false idols, figments of a depraved imagination, fashioned in attempt to quench their nagging spiritual hunger and their corrupted fancies. And it was with their gods’ seeming approval that they committed atrocities against humanity and blasphemy against the one true God. After all, their deities had not forbidden them from acting in such ways. They had not punished them for so doing. They had not warned them to change their ways. Their gods were of no help to them at all.

Psalm 115 says that “their idols are silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; they have eyes but the cannot see; they have ears but they cannot hear; they have noses but they cannot smell; they have hands but they cannot feel; they have feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them.” Isaiah 44 says that they cut down a cedar, and they take part of it and make a fire to bake bread and warm themselves, and the other part they craft into a god and worship it; they pray to it and say, “Deliver me, for you are my god.” Isaiah 45:20 says that “they pray to a god who cannot save.” Isaiah 46 says that they hire a goldsmith to craft gold and silver into a god, and they bow down and worship it. “They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it; they set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; it cannot deliver him from his distress.”

Why do they do this? It is because they have not heard of the name of the one True God; they have neither heard nor seen of Him. And they devote themselves therefore to hollow idolatry which cannot help them here and now, and which leads them into the pursuit of their sinful desires, and which will ultimately lead them to the destruction of judgment and hell. Now, in Israel’s cry of longing, there is a subtle confession, an indictment if you will. What they are crying for the Lord to come and do, God had already commissioned them to do! Surely it is accurate to say that Israel was God’s chosen people, but the question must be asked, “Chosen for what?” Israel was never chosen that they alone may the participants in the gracious favor of God in His covenant! They were chosen to be a light to the nations, that all nations may hear and know of this God who saves as Israel lived and testified before them. But they failed in that mission. They kept God to themselves, and they were surprised to find the nations resorting to idolatry, when in fact the nations simply did not know any better.

Christ has come into the world now, and in His life and ministry, He demonstrated that God is concerned for the nations as much as He is for Israel. Our longing for the coming of the Lord has been satisfied in Jesus, and He has brought hope for the nations. Yet today, of the world’s 11,588 people groups, more than half of them (6,426) are considered unreached, having less than 2% of their populations as evangelical Christians. Some 3,724 of these people groups are considered unengaged, that is, there is no access to the gospel at all among them. If we were to cry out like Israel did, “Oh Lord, that You would rend the heavens and come down!” it would mean destruction and judgment upon those nations where Christ has not been named. He has already come to bring hope to the nations and to bring the message of salvation to them. He will not come again for that purpose, but to bring judgment. But He has entrusted the mission of sharing the hope of His promise of salvation with the nations to His church, to you and me.

All over this world there are entire nations of people warring against God and against His anointed Christ. We see it on the news – the acts of terror and aggression that demonstrate no concern for humanity, no recognition that mankind bears the image of its Maker. We see images of idols to which people who can scarcely afford their basic life necessities make costly sacrifices. And they do this because they have no knowledge of the God who is there and the Savior we have in Jesus Christ. We say, “Oh Lord, come that these nations might know You!” And the Lord would respond to us, “I have come. You celebrate My coming for this purpose every December. But what have you done to share that message with these who are lost in ignorance of My saving power?” If the nations would know of the hope that the coming of Christ brings, it must be us who do something about it! We must pray! We must give to support the spread of the gospel! We must sacrifice luxuries and comforts so that the world may know of Christ! And we must be willing to go to the hard places, to send our children and our grandchildren when we cannot go ourselves, and to make Christ known among these nations who will otherwise never have the opportunity to know of Him before they stand before Him at His second coming in judgment. The coming of the Messiah means hope for the nations, but it is up to us to share that hope with them.

II. The coming of the Messiah means salvation for those who believe. (vv5-11)

As the Israelites cried out with longing for the coming of the Messiah, they did not just have the nations in view. They were also thinking of themselves. For the nations, there was a cry for judgment, but also an awareness of the ignorance of the nations concerning the Lord. But when they looked into the mirror and saw their own spiritual condition, they realized that, even though they were aware of the Lord and had received His blessings and His promises, they were also deserving of judgment. If God would come to bring judgment upon the nations who sinned because they had no knowledge of the Lord, what would He do to those who knew of Him and yet persisted in sin? Surely, verse 5 states a fact when it says, “You meet Him who rejoices in righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways.” But Israel was aware that these words did not describe themselves. “Behold,” they say, “You were angry, for we sinned. We continued in them a long time.” And so the question on their mind as they considered the promised coming of the Lord was not just, “What will You do to the nations when You come?” but also, “Shall we be saved?” (v5).

They recognized that they were radically corrupted by sin. Notice the description in verses 6-7: unclean, taken away by iniquity, no one who calls on the name of the Lord. Even their efforts to do right, they recognized, were totally corrupted by their sinfulness for they say, “All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” And their sin had corrupted not only themselves but their surroundings. Verses 10 and 11 speak of how the holy cities had become a wilderness and Jerusalem a desolation; the temple burned by fire and the precious things ruined. God had not preserved their cherished places and things while they continued in sin. Israel’s own sin that made their surroundings desolate. In such a pitiable state, the best that Israel could do as they called out for the coming of the Lord was to plead for mercy, and this they did in vv8-9. “We are the clay, and You our potter.” That indicates that they are aware of His sovereignty; they are aware that God can and will do as He pleases with them. But they pray, “Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever.” This is not what they deserve, but it is what they desire, and if God chooses to show mercy upon them, they may be saved.

Friends, in these words, we find a description of our own true condition. Like them, we too are radically corrupted by sin. It has affected us to the core, such that the best we can do is still filthy rags, unacceptable before a perfectly holy God. Our sin has corrupted our lives, our relationships and our surroundings. We are at the mercy of a sovereign God who can do with us as He pleases. And what has He been pleased to do? He has become one of us in the person of Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. He united our human nature to His divine nature in the virgin birth; He lived the sinless life that He requires of us but which we are powerless to live; He died the death that we deserve because of our sins; and He conquered death through His resurrection. As a result, our sins and their penalty have been dealt with fully and finally in this Christ whose coming we celebrate at Christmas, and we who believe upon Him have been covered in His righteousness. Thus, the great gulf that separates us from God has been bridged by Christ, and we who believe upon Him have been saved because He has come. The angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1:21, “You shall call His name Jesus (a name which means “salvation”), for He will save His people from their sins.”

The first coming of Christ into the world means good news for sinners. For those who persist in pretending that they have it all together, and do not need saving, those who would rather stand before God and boast of their own merits and their own righteousness, Christmas is a meaningless holiday. But for us who are willing to see ourselves as sinners in need of a Savior, we can rejoice that God in His mercy has rent the heavens and come down to save us.

III. The coming of the Messiah means that God’s silence has been broken (v12)

“Will you keep silent?” That was the question on the hearts of the Israelites as they considered their own state of affairs and that of the nations surrounding them. This world is in a mess; we are wrecked by sin. Oh God, will you keep silent in the midst of all this? God had not been silent before; He had sent His prophets calling His people back to Himself from their sins, but they had neither listened nor responded in repentance. And so came the final Old Testament prophet Malachi, and when God had spoken through Him, the heavens fell silent for centuries. Sin continued on in Israel and among the nations, but there was no new word from God – only silence. Four hundred years came and went with heaven being silent. But that silence was broken with the coming of Christ into the world.

The words of John’s Gospel are very familiar to us. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” And in Jesus Christ, we are told, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The writer of Hebrews said that God had spoken in the past in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son. The coming of Christ is the shattering of heaven’s silence as God spoke salvation to the world in Jesus. The longing of all the nations and every generation to hear a word of grace and mercy from God, to hear a word of promise concerning redemption and salvation, was satisfied in the coming of this child into the world, for He would not only speak salvation, but would accomplish it through His life and through His death.

And so today, when we look at our lives and the world around us, we too may ask, “Oh God, will You keep silent?” And the answer from heaven is a resounding “No!” God has spoken. And the Word He has spoken is Jesus. There is no need for us to wait for another Word to be spoken. The final Word is Jesus. The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us; the incarnate Word of God has borne our sins to the cross and conquered them forever. Heaven is not silent! Heaven and nature sings the name of Jesus, and the entire cosmos repeats the sounding joy, for there is salvation in no one else and no other name by which we must be saved than this final Word that God has spoken, the name of Jesus.

The long expected One has come. In Christ, Immanuel has come, God with us. He is the joy of man’s desiring, the satisfaction of all our longing. Humanity cries out to God, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and the come down,” that the nations may have hope, that Your people may be saved, and that the silence may be broken. And in Christ God has done just this. He has pronounced hope to the nations. He has spoken salvation to those who will call upon Christ to save them. And at Advent we remember that He has come, and that He is coming again. So our lives are lived between these two divine bookends of time. And we must live these days in the reality of His first coming, that we might be prepared for His second coming, and we must tell of His coming far and wide so that all may hear and believe, that all may be saved when He returns. That begins here, should there be anyone present who has never received the Lord Jesus as Savior. Will you this day receive the Christmas gift that God has given to you in the person of Jesus – salvation from sin, the covering of Christ’s righteousness, and life abundant and eternal? And it continues as we leave here. If you have received Christ, will you share the good news of His salvation with those whom you know, and will you do what you can in prayer, in giving, in going and in sending to make this news of Jesus known among the nations?