Tag: Grace

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Living Open-Hearted (Psalm 112)

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When I was in Egypt, I saw over and over again a spirit of generosity that really surprised me. Everywhere I went I had experiences like the ones I had in a restaurant one night. A guy had on a Star Wars shirt, and I really liked it. I told him so. Without any hesitation, he replied, you can have it, if it fits you. This was the sort of response I got everywhere.

Here’s another example. After going to two restaurants, I told our tour manager, this is just too much food. We cannot eat all of this. We can’t even come close! Here’s what he suggested. After you eat, he said, ask for a box. Then, ask them to give it to someone who needs this food or have your tour guide help you give it to someone in need. That way, you will bless someone who needs it, and it will help you build a relationship with the people who see you give.

Everywhere I went, I found this same sort of attitude. It was not just giving to the poor. It was welcoming people with gladness. It was truly valuing people. I came up with a name for this type of living. I call it open-hearted living.

Of course, as I reflected on what I saw, my mind went to many passages in the Scriptures. For example, Jesus said, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Mt. 5:42). It’s not easy to live open-hearted. We get wrapped up in our own activities. We have anxiety over our own things. We get preoccupied with our own problems.

So, here is the question I kept asking myself, how do we find the resources that will enable us to live in an open-hearted way toward others? How can we keep giving, when others don’t give to us? How can we remain gracious when times are tough? What resources do we have to enable us to show kindness when others are unkind? That’s the question that I think this Psalm answers for us. Let’s consider this answer in four steps. First, let’s consider the reaction that we should have to those around us. Second, let’s look at the resources we have to react that way. Third, we’ll look at how we should respond to the resources available to us. Finally, we will look at the amazing results that come from using this resource.

Our Reaction to Those Around Us
How does the blessed man live in relationship to those around him? He is a giver. “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor” (Psalm 112:9). The word used here for “freely scattered” indicates a wide variety and large quantity of gifts. It involves money and material resources but also encouragement, friendship, and emotional support as well.

Let me note on the side here that the person who is truly open-hearted is not only a good giver. He is a good receiver. You build community not only by giving to others, but you also build community by allowing others to do you good. In other words, you build community not only by loving but also by letting others show love to you. Continue reading “Living Open-Hearted (Psalm 112)”

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Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 10: The Blessing of Fellowship (1 John 5:13–21)

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Everything we do involves some administrative work. We have to make lists. We have to get things done. We have to organize. We have to prioritize.

Our society seems to be very, very busy. We always have things to do. People who are retired tell me that they have never been busier than when they are retired. They don’t know how they did everything before.

In the midst of all the busy-ness, we have to remember what life is all about. Christmas is a great time to remind us. First, it is about joyful fellowship with God. Second, it is about joyful fellowship with man, with other human beings. Christmas refocuses our attention on God. We set aside time from our hustle and bustle and enjoy our family and friends. It’s a chance to reset and focus on what is most important.

That’s what this letter from John is all about. The goal of this letter, which we call 1 John, is that we might enjoy that fellowship with one another and fellowship with God. These two are connected. We cannot ignore the one or the other if we want to experience joyful community.

In this passage, we have a sort of summary of what John has said in this letter with a few additional concluding thoughts. Let’s look at these through the lens of the blessing of fellowship.

Knowing the Fellowship
The key problem in our fellowship with God is, how do we know we can enjoy fellowship with Him? After all, how can an infinite God have fellowship with human beings? Even if he can, we know that we have not done what He has asked of us or become what we were supposed to be. How can such people have fellowship with Him? We all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. So, how can we know that we can have fellowship with Him?

Well, that’s one reason John wrote this letter. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). Eternal life here is fellowship with the Triune God. It is not just length of life, though that is also included. He writes to those who believe in the name of the Son of God that they might know that they have that eternal life, that fellowship with God.

How can they know it? They know it because of what Jesus has done. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). Out of His great love, God has done what is necessary to restore our relationship with Himself. Continue reading “Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 10: The Blessing of Fellowship (1 John 5:13–21)”

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Fellowship with God & Man, Part 2: What If We Sin? (1 John 1:4–2:2)

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I’ve seen it so many times. Someone has been struggling with sin for a long time, and then they make the resolution. They are going to walk in the light and turn away from the darkness. They know they have done wrong. They are committed to doing right. They are excited. It’s a new way of life. They are moving forward. They have put the old way behind them.

Only, that’s not how it works out. They go back. They fall into the same old sin. They are devastated and begin to despair. How could this happen when they had resolved to do what was right? They feel shame because they failed again. And again. And again. And again.

What are they supposed to do? How does such a person live in joyful fellowship with God and man? This person may sound familiar. If so, it’s because anyone who has been a Christian for a long period of time has probably experienced falling into sin in spite of his resolution. So, the question is, what is that person supposed to do when he falls into sin? What are we supposed to do?

I want you to fix this passage in your mind because it is a resource that you can go to again and again and again when you find yourself overcome by the darkness and falling into sin. This passage is a refuge for those who’ve failed and who feel shame and condemnation.

Walking in the Light
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). What a beautiful picture of God. It’s so clear that it hardly needs explanation. He is the one who is light without any darkness. It’s a powerful image that shows how blessed, how wise, how holy, and how joyful God is. God is absolutely perfect without any imperfection whatsoever.

So, what does this mean for fellowship with God? The conclusion should be relatively obvious. If we want to have fellowship with Him, then we must walk in the light as He is in the light. In fact, as John says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth” (1 John 1:6). It is one thing to claim to have fellowship with God. It is another thing to actually have it. Many people claim it, but not all of them have it. If we have this fellowship, then we must walk in the light as He is in the light.

Now, what does it mean to walk in the light? To walk in the light means something similar to what it means for God. First, walking in the light means that we find our light, joy, and life in God Himself and in His Son Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So, to walk in His light is to be enlightened by Jesus Himself.

Second, walking in the light means that we seek to know the truth that He has revealed to us and to walk in His wisdom.

Third, walking in the light means that we seek to walk in holiness and purity. We should try to have everything in our lives aligned with God’s purposes. That’s what purity means. That’s what holiness means.

Fourth, walking in the light means that we also have fellowship with one another. Notice: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another . . .” (1 John 1:7). Those who walk in the light not only enjoy fellowship with God but open up the door to fellowship with human beings. We will explore this more in later sermons.

Does walking in the light mean that we have no darkness in us at all? No, we still have sin, but Jesus cleanses us and purifies us from all sin. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all or every sin” (1 John 1:7). “All” here does not mean every sin intensively as if we have no sin at all, as we shall see, but rather all extensively. What that means, please note, is that there is no sin so great that the the blood of Jesus cannot cleanse it.

And from there, John leads us to a greater consideration of the darkness that still remains in us.

Confronting the Darkness
John believes that we can walk in the light and still have darkness present with us. In fact, if anyone say they have no darkness within them, they are completely deceived. Listen to what he says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. . . . If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10). John firmly shuts the door on any sort of perfectionism. Anything else we study in this book has to take into account this truth: sin still remains in the believer.

This is such an important truth for us to recognize. It should humble us, but we can easily forget it. People are always shocked to find that there is sin within the church as well as outside of it. Some of this comes from the fact that there are people who say they know God but actually are still in the darkness. However, even if the church was composed 100% of true believers, there would still be sin within the church. There is always some corruption in this life. We should never look at where we are and say that it can’t be better, but we should also never look at where we are and say that we have arrived. We are always on the way. There is always some imperfection and some sin remaining within us.

We have to especially be on guard when there is some obvious sin in the world like abortion, racism, or sexual immorality. It’s easy to look at clear sins outside of us and compare ourselves to other people. We must always remember that darkness remains within us, and the fact that others walk in darkness greater than our own in no way excuses our own darkness. That’s what we have to be really careful about in our polarized situation in our nation. It’s easy to become focused on the sins of the other side.

So, what are we to do? We should confess our sins. That means we should acknowledge our sinfulness in general and in particular. I have been using the Book of Common Prayer as an aid to my devotional life. I highly recommend it. There is a form for Morning and Evening Prayer services. At the beginning of each one, there is a confession of sin and a declaration of forgiveness of sins. Every morning. Every night. It’s worth thinking about. This is what Jesus encourages us to do when He tells us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

And what happens if we acknowledge our sinfulness and confess our sins? Here’s the glorious message: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What a glorious word!! Praise be to God. All we have to do is acknowledge it, and it will be dealt with. As one friend said to me when I confessed a sin to him one time, God will not bring it up again. It’s over.

Our Hope When We Sin
And how is it that God can forgive us so easily and readily? Because we have an advocate with the Father. We have someone who pleads our case.

Notice what John says so beautifully in 1 John 2:1. He says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.” We should do all in our power to avoid sin and constantly seek God’s grace that He would lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. We do not want to sin.

However, we know that we will fall into sins, sometimes terrible sins. Then, what are we to do? “But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” We have someone to plead our case. Now, I want you to pay very careful attention to these words. Fix them in your minds and hearts. Get what is said here. Think about it. What would we expect it to say? If anyone does not sin, THEN we have an advocate with the Father. That’s what would make sense. That’s the case that Jesus would want to argue, it would seem to us. But no, it says this: if we do sin, if we commit the crime, THEN we have an advocate! How in the world can this be?

The answer: because Jesus has taken it upon Himself to deal with that sin. He is a propitiatory sacrifice. His sacrifice turns away the wrath of God because the punishment He suffered is more than adequate as a substitute for the punishment we deserve. It is fully sufficient to cover our sin and indeed the sin of the whole world, as John says. There is no sin too great that it could be so bad that the blood of the Son of God could not cover it. That’s the amazing truth! He pleads our case. As Charles Wesley put it so well:

Five bleeding wounds He bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual pray’rs,
They strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive, ” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive, ” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

That’s what Jesus is doing before the throne of God.

And, so, dear friends, we are called to walk in the light. We do not want to sin. That should always be our heart.

But if we do? This is what I want you to do with this sermon. I want you to take the truths of this passage and keep them with you. When the weight of sin comes upon you, I want you to remember that when you sin, you have an advocate! Not when you don’t sin but when you sin! That advocate is Jesus Christ the Righteous One! I want you to remind yourself of this, and I want you to remind others of this truth when they confess their sins to you.

The glorious truth is that no sin whatsoever can keep us from walking in the light and experiencing God’s love because He is faithful to His promises and completely righteous. He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Hallelujah! Amen.

Benediction: My friends, our goal this week is not to sin. We want to walk in the light just as He is in the light.

But when the darkness comes upon us, and we sour sin, remember! We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One! He is pleading our case, taking into full account our sins against Him.

Because of His propitiatory sacrifice, we can stand completely forgiven and righteous before the throne of God! So, go in peace. Your sins are forgiven you. Your faith has saved you. Amen.

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The Sure Sign of God’s Forgiveness (Zechariah 3)

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The big question of the prophets was this. How does the world survive? How does the world survive when there is so much injustice, evil, and sin the world? This is a big problem because God is a holy and pure God. As Habakkuk puts it, He is of purer eyes than to look on iniquity. He is a God of justice and righteousness. He is the one who will deal with those who do wrong.

We often don’t appreciate that message because our tendency is to see injustice and wrong-doing as something that is out there in somebody else. However, the prophets realized that this was bad news for everybody, including themselves. They wondered, how can I stand in the presence of a holy God? Woe is me, I am undone! Said Isaiah. Until we get this perspective, we really will not appreciate the message of the prophets to us today. However, if we get it, if we see the wrongs that we have done and struggle with guilt, then their message is for you. It enters into your struggle and provides an answer.

The prophet Zechariah received eight visions from the Lord about the same time as Haggai. These were meant to encourage the people in their struggles as they returned from exile. In the chapter you have read, we have the fourth vision of Zechariah. It provides one of the clearest answers to that question of how the world survives the wrath of a holy God in all of the Old Testament. It is a really beautiful passage that describes the way that God deals with sin and brings forgiveness and transforming grace to His people. Continue reading “The Sure Sign of God’s Forgiveness (Zechariah 3)”

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“Should I Not Have Concern . . .?” (Jonah)

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When someone has done us a great wrong or when we are in a great conflict with someone, it is easy to look at them only from that perspective. When we do, it is comforting to know that God is dealing with people. He will right all wrongs. He will bring justice. He will restore what was lost. That’s the lesson we learned from the book of Obadiah. We can give up revenge and leave room for God’s wrath. “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord.

However, it would be very wrong for us to think that this is the only perspective from which God views such people, as if He had no interest in them apart from us and our conflict with them. It would be wrong to completely identify our perspective with God’s. That’s the lesson that Jonah learned that he records in his book.

Jonah is one of the most famous characters in the Bible. He was told to preach to Nineveh, and he refused to go. A great storm came up on the sea, and Jonah told the sailors to throw him overboard to stop the storm. They were hesitant, but they were so scared that they did so. When he landed in the water, he was swallowed by a huge fish or whale. From there, he cried to God. God heard him in the depths and delivered Jonah. Then, God sent him back to Nineveh. That’s what I want us to think about this morning from chapters 3 and 4 of this prophecy. We will see Jonah’s preaching, Jonah’s complaint, and Jonah’s correction. This consideration will lead us to some important lessons as we think about God and the world..

Jonah’s Preaching
Once Jonah got back on land, God sent him a second time to the city of Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria. Assyria was the first of a series of land empires in the Middle East: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then Rome. Learning these empires is really crucial to understanding much of the Bible after the period of King David. The Assyrians were the first, and they were the most brutal. They did not live in a place of great security, so they built security by centralizing the state and making the military the first priority. They dealt with their neighbors by conquering them and brutally subjugating them. If you think of toxic masculinity, these guys would probably be the poster boys for it and proud of it. So, the nations around them did not like them at all but also feared them. Note: this is in contrast to the later empires who used carrots as well as sticks to keep people in line. Assyria basically just used sticks.

So, Jonah was going to walk into the capitol city of this nation and tell them that God was going to overthrow their nation in 40 days. So, that’s what Jonah did. It was a huge city. You can’t walk through it in one day. So, he went to the center of it and then began to preach. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). Continue reading ““Should I Not Have Concern . . .?” (Jonah)”

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The God of Hope (Joel)

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In 2016, fires from Chimney Tops sped down through the mountains into Gatlinburg, TN. All around the Parkway, the fire blazed and threatened to consume the town. The fire moved quickly toward Pigeon Forge. The result was thousands displaced, more than a dozen killed, and countless structures destroyed. People here had never experienced anything like it. By the morning of November 29, people were in shock and uncertain of what or who had survived.

In such times, we need comfort as we feel the loss of the normal things that support us. But these tragedies are the sorts of events that can transform us and shape our lives. These sorts of events can help us see beyond our ordinary daily lives and look to the end of life and eternity. They can help us think more seriously about who we are and what we are doing and should be doing.

That’s just what happened with the prophet Joel and with other prophets. They considered the tragedies of life deeply, and as they looked, they got a vision. They saw beyond the ordinary. They saw the big issues of life. We want to look at one particular vision today, that of the prophet Joel. I want you to see three things in this book: the God of wrath, the call to repent, and the God of Hope.

The God of Wrath
We do not know much about the prophet Joel at all. What we do know is that something terrible happened in his lifetime, an event like they had never seen. “Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?” (Joel 1:2). And what had occurred? Locusts or grasshoppers had come into the land and were eating everything. They were leaving nothing behind. “What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten” (Joel 1:4). These people depended on the yearly crops just to survive, and now the locusts were eating everything. “Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed” (Joel 1:11). This is a disaster on a scale that is difficult for us to imagine.

I always had a hard time visualizing what this sort of thing would look like until I lived in South Dakota. One year, the grasshoppers just kept multiplying. They covered everything. There were literally dozens of them per square foot in our backyard. Our kids didn’t want to go outside because they would be wading through grasshoppers. The spiders also multiplied greatly because they could eat the grasshoppers. I had never seen so many in my life. This was a small taste of what it was like to experience this terrible plague of locusts that the people of Israel experienced in the time of Joel.

So, what did they do with such an experience? The prophet Joel reflected on this event, and it enabled him to see the wrath of God coming on this world. He saw it as a vision of the final judgment where God would come back and settle all accounts and deal with every wrong in every human heart. Continue reading “The God of Hope (Joel)”

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Better Than I Deserve

Steve Bain was a man who loved to study the Bible and know more about God. But he wasn’t always that way. He didn’t grow up studying the Bible, and, for much of his adult life, he didn’t have much interest in God.

So, what led him to change? His wife. She came to a crisis that led her to realize that the only thing that could give her meaning was a relationship with God. It was really God working with her that led him to Norcross Presbyterian Church. When he got there, he found that there was more to the Christian faith than he ever realized. He saw that it was really meaningful and helpful. At Norcross, he gave his life to Christ and became a follower of Jesus.

After that, Steve wanted more and more. When he went to Perimeter Church in Atlanta, he enrolled in the multi-year course, Theological Foundations for Leaders. He told me many times how helpful this was in his life. He was always active in small groups. When I first came here, he was involved in a group that was studying Henry Blackaby’s book, Experiencing God. He kept going, though. He got involved with Bible Study Fellowship. I would often ask our elders at our meetings, what is God teaching you these days? Steve would give an insight from the book of Joshua or another book that he was studying. I always appreciated that about him.

One thing Steve understood, though, was that the foundation of the Christian faith was a simple message. You have it here in 1 Timothy 1:15. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” Now, I want you to see three things based on this passage: Steve’s Savior, Steve’s example, and Steve’s praise.

Steve’s Savior
All around the world, you will find a surprising symbol. A cross. It was an instrument of capital punishment and even torture in the Roman Empire. Yet millions upon millions look at it and see hope. Why? Because on that cross was the man whom Steve called Savior and Lord, Jesus.

Christianity begins with a message that God created the world good and created human beings for harmonious fellowship with Him and with one another. However, humans have gone their own way and become alienated from God, one another, creation, and even themselves. They have sought to make themselves the center of the universe rather than submitting to God. Continue reading “Better Than I Deserve”

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The God Who Sees Me (Gen. 16, Part 4)

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This passage is about two women struggling with significance. Do they matter at all? Sarah struggles with it because she has borne her husband no children. Hagar struggles with it because she is a slave. Today, I want to look at Hagar a little more closely. Through Hagar, we will see God’s solution to our struggle with insignificance and, by extension, the anxieties of life and our pride that tries to solve them on our own.

We have been considering how the Bible teaches that sin is a wrong response to our anxieties about life. We have anxiety over our prestige, position, and provision. We respond to this sinfully when we try to solve it on our own without reference to God. We try to make ourselves bigger or retreat into a smaller world where we can be in control. This is the pride solution. The result of wrongly calibrating our position in this world through pride is that it disrupts our relations with others and leads to injustice. How do we get out of this? Instead of trying to solve our problems on our own, we submit to God’s solution and trust Him.

The Bible teaches us the solution to sin, but it also teaches us about sin. It does this so that we can repent of our sin and turn from it to find grace, healing, and restoration in Christ. That healing is the primary focus of our message today.

Hagar Unseen
Hagar believed that she was not seen. She was invisible. She didn’t matter.

I remember visiting the Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana. Anna, David, and I took a tour of the home. They described the situation. While the people ate dinner, a black slave would fan the diners so that they could be cool. If someone came and waved a fan by you, you would probably think it a little awkward. However, after a while, you would get used to it. Eventually, the person would be virtually invisible.

A slave is not “seen.” They rarely get the respect and honor of human beings. That’s no doubt how Hagar felt. She was not seen. She was invisible. She was just a cog in the household machinery.

Then, something changed. She was chosen by Sarah to bear a child for her master. She probably looked up to Abraham as a significant man and a leader. It seems like she would have been deeply moved to be chosen for this special role. Now, she would be seen.

Then, she got pregnant. Now, for sure, she must have thought, she will be seen! I am significant! She began to like this new role. She began to think that she was seen. In fact, this dramatic shift began to go to her head, and she started to look down on Sarah.

Well, Sarah did not like that very much. In fact, she was furious at the situation and relieved her anxiety first by taking it out on Abraham.

Think about things from this perspective. Hagar was now noticed. She was no longer invisible. She was seen by Abraham. Then, Sarah brought her complaint to Abraham. How did Abraham respond? “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best” (Gen. 16:6). He only saw Sarah. He did not see Hagar. She was unseen again.

Sarah then mistreated Hagar. Then, Hagar fled into the wilderness.

Hagar Seen
However, someone did see Hagar. Someone noticed her and cared about her. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert. . . . “And he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?'” (Gen. 16:7—8). Someone took an interest in Hagar and what she was doing. The “angel of the Lord” wanted to know about her. She was seen!

Let me say something here about “the angel of the Lord.” Sometimes in the Bible, an angel refers to a spiritual being that is intelligent and powerful that performs the work of the Lord. Some of these angels turned from the Lord and are often called “demons.” Angels and demons play an active part in the history of this world.

However, “the Angel of the Lord” is sometimes an appearance of God Himself, as it is in Gen. 18, for example. In Exodus 23, the Lord says, “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him” (vv. 20–21). This Angel of the Lord was none other than God Himself. He speaks of Himself as God, is worshipped as God, and is obeyed as God. I believe this is actually the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, Jesus taking on a human or other form before His incarnation. We call this a Christophany, an appearance of Christ before the incarnation.

I believe the Angel of the Lord here is God Himself, though, even if it is an angel, I still think the passage works. I think it makes more sense, though, to see it as a Christophany.

At any rate, God saw this slave woman and took an interest in her. She responded, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai” (Gen. 16:8).

God told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her” (Gen. 16:9). How can she do this when Sarah treated her so badly? The answer is that God would be with her and bless her. Her significance was not in what Sarah or Abraham thought of her but in what God thought of her. In addition, God had a big plan for her and the child in her womb, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count” (Gen. 16:9).

Notice that the Lord was not unaware of the challenge of her predicament. He said, “You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery” (Gen. 16:11). Ishmael means “God hears.” Her challenges and difficulties were not unnoticed. God hears. God sees. God sees and hears Hagar.

Hagar was deeply moved by all of this. She finally knew that she was seen. She responded with a deep acknowledgement of this blessing. She “named” or “praised” the Lord: “You are the God who sees me.” “I have now seen the One who sees me” (Gen. 16:13). She knew she was significant. Others may not have seen her, but the Lord, her Creator, saw her and believed that she was significant.

After this, Hagar returned. How did she get the strength to show respect and honor even when it was hard? She saw the God who saw her. She found her significance in the fact that God valued her.

Conclusion
And that, my friends, is the way out of the disruption and dissolution of the pride solution. God shows up, and we see Him. That means more than mere intellectual awareness. We actually see Him, believe Him, and trust Him. We find the solution to the basic challenges of life in Him. That is the trust solution that overcomes the pride solution to anxiety. We trust God with our anxiety because above the problems we see the God who sees us.

When we see the problems of life that cause us so much anxiety but also see the Lord who is above them, we can experience a peace and joy that transcends those problems. This faith-filled vision of reality enables us to re-engage in our families, communities, and churches in a way that brings healing and restoration rather than disruption and dissolution.

Like Hagar, we can go back to our daily lives in confidence because we know the One who rules over all things and has all problems in His hand, and we know that He sees us and values us. I see the God who sees me. Amen.

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The Intentional Christian Life (1 Thess. 5:12–28)

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Human beings tend to react in certain sensible but often unhelpful ways. We recoil when people try to lead us. We retaliate against those who do us wrong. We notice the negative and quickly forget the positive. We gravitate to that which is easy and away from that which is hard. We love those who love us and distance from those who hate us. We accept uncritically what fits our preconceptions. We scrutinize critically anything that opposes our interests.

The Christian life calls us to move out of all these natural reactions and to live a life that is entirely different. It calls us to live a life where we honor our leaders, are patient with people, and do not react to wrongs committed against us. It calls us to live a life where we see the good and embrace it. It calls us to take our concerns and lift them up in prayer. It calls us to think critically about all things and embrace all good and reject all evil. It calls us to seek what is good not only for ourselves but for all people. This is the intentional Christian life.

Now, you might say to me, how can anyone do all this? How is it even possible? Well, let’s remember that Christianity is a religion of grace. It is a religion of God’s gifts. It is a religion where God enables us to live a new life. We work hard, but even our work is a gift of God. Work out your own salvation, Paul says, with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do (Phil. 2:12–13).

This letter began with grace, and it ends with grace. Paul took the common greeting of the Roman world, charis, grace, and filled it with new content, the content of God’s grace. He went on to say immediately that the Thesslonians believed, but they believed because of the work of the Holy Spirit, God’s grace and God’s gift.

As the letter ends, God teaches us that it is grace that brought us safe thus far and grace will lead us home. He says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (v. 28). What this means is that he wants their whole spirit, soul, and body to be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ. He assures them, “the one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

It is important to recognize that this grace is not just ours to make us feel good or have peace. It leads us outward to serve those around us and to react differently in the world. Wherever the grace of God is operative, you will see what we have in these final instructions in this letter, an intentional Christian life of love and service rooted in God’s love and grace. I want to look briefly at how God’s grace leads us to four intentional ways of living the Christian life.

1. Intentional Submission. Our natural tendency is to love those who love us and seek the good of those closest to us. Instead, God’s grace calls us to “always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else” (1 Thess. 5:15). This is in line with what the Apostle Paul prays for in 1 Thess. 3:12: “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else . . .” Instead of thinking just about ourselves or those closest to us, we should ask, what is good for everyone? We keep sending our thoughts higher and higher to align our thoughts with the Lord’s thoughts. He cares for all, the just and the unjust.

As we think bigger thoughts, we recognize that the good of everyone will require organization and leadership. This means that the general attitude of the Christian is one of respect and honor for leaders and cooperation with leaders. This includes being patient with their failings. Particularly, in the church, we should honor those in authority and those who work hard among us. He says:

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live at peace among yourselves (1 Thess. 5:12–13).

It’s so easy to join in the general disrespect for authorities in church, home, and state that characterizes our society. We need an intentional attitude that empowers us to live differently than our culture. Submission to and cooperation with leadership should be our basic stance, even if at certain times, we have to choose to obey God rather than men.

2. Intentional Relationships. The way we relate to others is deeply programmed into us. Our tendency is generally to attack or distance when relationships feel strained. When we feel like we are on the outside, we want to make alliances with other people that make us feel better. This goes back and forth in a whole lot of interesting and often unhelpful ways. This is true for everyone, including leaders. It’s easy for the leaders to make a leadership position about making themselves comfortable rather than seeking the general welfare of the communities they serve. What this looks like is that we talk to people whom it is easy to talk to, and we avoid those who are difficult.

The Bible gives us a whole different perspective here. It teaches us that we should pursue the general good. This means there are times when we have to do the hard thing. We have to warn the unruly. We have to say, “no.” It also means that we have to meet people where they are. People have trouble moving forward for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they are recalcitrant but at other times they don’t know what to do or are timid. We need to strengthen the weak and encourage the timid. In all of this, we recognize that moving forward together involves patience. Community is a process. When we enter into relationships, we need to embrace the lengthy process that working together involves.

In addition, we don’t react with wrong to those who do wrong to us. Instead, we seek everyone’s good. If others do wrong, let that be their issue, since it hurts primarily them. We continue to respond with a disposition of gentleness and love pursuing the good.

This is all very hard. It takes intentionality, and it requires the grace of God. It is the Spirit of Christ that did not retaliate but did what was good for all, even to His own hurt, that animates us.

3. Intentional Devotion. The power to live well with others is rooted in a life lived before the face of God. That’s what God calls us to. Many people are seeking to heal relationships, but they are too focused on the other person. They make the human relationships too large in their lives, whether looking for too much fulfillment in them or seeking to blame them for the evils and difficulties they experience. To counteract this tendency, we must seek the Lord and place Him above all human relationships.

Here is a brief summary of what that looks like: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.” We are to seek joy, and our chief joy is found in God Himself and the loving communion that we enjoy with Him.

We pray continually. This means that we are ever in an attitude of prayer, ready to go to Him, referring all things to Him. We should also continually seek His goodness to us in every situation. We generally remember the bad and quickly forget the good. We need to work to even out this tendency. Don’t ignore the bad, but see the good. When you see the bad, pray. When you see the good, give thanks.

We must not quench the Spirit. This means that we think of the work of the Holy Spirit as a fire that should always be burning brightly in our hearts. We recognize that all our devotion to God is a result of God’s work in us, but we also cooperate with the Lord in living a Christian life. We should not quench the fire but do all that we can to to keep it burning brightly. Presbyterian commentator Albert Barnes says that quenching the Spirit is “anything that will tend to damp the ardor of piety in the soul; to chill our feelings; to render us cold and lifeless in the service of God.” Instead, we should put fuel on the fire by meditating on God’s love, singing praises, praying, and giving thanks. In this way, we will not quench the Spirit.

4. Intentional Thinking. All of this involves careful thinking. The command to test all things here is similar to what Paul says to the Corinthians, “Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Cor. 14:20).

He begins by telling them that they should not despise prophecies. There was probably a tendency here as there was in Corinth to look for the spectacular miracles and look down on the simple preaching of God’s truth. That is wrong. The simple preaching of God’s truth is the general nourishment God uses to build us up in the intentional Christian life.

However, he didn’t want them to blindly accept what people told them. He wanted them to become mature. He wanted them to test all things. He wanted them to put it in the refiner’s fire and test it to ensure that it was consonant with reason and God’s truth. This is the job and duty of each Christian, critical thinking. We should do this with the ideas of others and with the ideas of ourselves, all those thoughts we have imbibed consciously and unconsciously through the years.

Once we see the differences between the good and the evil, we should cling to all that is good, wherever we find it, whoever teaches it. We should also reject the bad, wherever it comes from, including me, including you! We’ve got to think! It’s an absolute necessity for intentional Christian living that glorifies God, blesses others, and blesses ourselves.

Conclusion
How can we do all this? The answer is clear. The grace of God. That’s why the Apostle Paul asks God to make them pure and blameless. He asks for the grace of God in their lives.

But note one more thing here. Throughout this whole letter, we have seen that we grow, even in suffering, but we help each other. The grace of God is the source of our blessing, but we also show this grace to one another. Paul offers the very un-Covid advice to greet one another with a holy kiss. I do not think that we have to embrace this particular cultural practice in order to fulfill this command. We may not need to actually kiss, but we do need to show warmth. How we relate to each other shows God’s grace. When we walk in to this sanctuary, how we greet each other communicates something about God. When we have an open attitude towards others, we demonstrate God’s grace. We show each other grace. We show that God is willing to receive others by grace.

And that’s the message we all need. We have high ideals and much work to do to attain them. How comforting to know that we are simply joining what God is already doing. How comforting to know that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion, in the face of all opposition. How comforting it is to know that we have brothers and sisters here who will help us, encourage us, and show grace to us. With all this, we can join in a hearty prayer: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And all God’s people said, Amen.