D. A. Carson, "Living in a Difficult Time" - 2 Thessalonians 1 (Session 2)

well you may know da Carson from his many books you may know that he's a professor as far as I can tell at least three full-time jobs he teaches in a seminary he travels the world at about a hundred and fifty thousand miles a year preaching and teaching as he's doing this weekend for us and he also oversees something called the gospel coalition and just as I said Fred that Fred may have had more influence on me than anyone living that relates actually to da Carson because one of the influences a fred is pointing me to da Carson my last year in college I was had a phone call with Fred and he said read everything by da Carson which isn't exactly easy because I think you have 60 some books to your name the Bible is 66 so just you might want to remember that that's it's hard to keep up and they're wonderful wonderful books in Fred was exactly right and I think I probably have read everything that you've written so far so so don't write any faster exciting enough trouble keeping up as it is I said earlier that he's one of the cofounders with Tim Keller of the gospel coalition and if you ask what the gospel Coalition is that's a very complicated answer isn't it it's very difficult to answer that question sometimes because it's a Council of about 50 men it's also a giant website that's probably the most visited Christian website in the world it's a conference it's a bunch of little conferences like this one regional chapters like the one we have here in Albuquerque are part of what makes up the gospel coalition but whatever else I could say about the gospel coalition let's turn it over to dr. Carson and he'll take just a little bit of time to tell us about the gospel coalition's work and and maybe how you can get involved he doesn't mention anything about that I'll mention it later on in our conference weekend but please welcome dr. Carson with me the Apostle Paul never had to remember to turn on a mic well the gospel coalition is something that is outstripped Tim and me we began it but then the thing is taken off beyond what we planned and it has become a set of different resources for encourage encouraging people to understand to preach to live out the gospel right at the center of all of human life and the web being what it is it goes all over the world so that the materials are constantly going into other languages and webpages are opening in different languages and conferences and so on are developing in other parts of the world that have centered on biblical exposition the centrality of the gospel trusting God's Word strongly and so on and and fellowships like the one that Ryan has been leading here of about forty eight pastors in Albuquerque and the surrounding areas to to encourage ministers in the gospel with with mutual prayer and a deep understanding of Scripture seeing what's really important and non-negotiable I sometimes say that I have learned after 40 years of teaching and preaching that most of my students don't learn most of what I teach them what they learn is what I'm excited about and what I keep reiterating that's what they learn and if they learn that and that's what they're excited about then they pass that on to their students but if they learn from me that the gospel is something to be assumed well what I'm really excited about is something that is relatively peripheral just because that's caught my fancy my students pick up that as being the center and you can lose the gospel not by denying it but by simply simply forgetting to make it central in about a generation and a half that's about all it takes and so we're looking to stir up generations of Christians who who love the gospel in its fullness and richness what you were hearing from Fred this morning this that this afternoon this evening whatever time of day it was I've Krauss too many time zones recently what you were hearing from him is really an exposition of some gospel emphases to understand how the gospel works out on the Christians life now this evening we're going to focus on 2 Thessalonians 1 2 Thessalonians and I shall read the entire chapter second thessalonians chapter 1 here then what Holy Scripture says Paul Silas and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ we ought always to thank God for you brothers and sisters and rightly so because your faith is growing more and more and the love all of you have for one another is increasing therefore among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring all this is evidence that God's judgment is right and as a result you'll be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering God is just he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well this will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed this includes you because you believed our testimo to you with this in mind we constantly pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith we pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ this is the word of the Lord in fact we're a mixed group tonight because we come from different traditions in keeping with a coalition diversity but one of the great liturgical formulas that many churches use around the world is precisely that one scripture is read and then as ever reading the scripture says this is the word of the Lord and the congregation responds thanks be to God isn't that a great a great bit of liturgy and so here after when I speak tomorrow or on Sunday I will finish the reading and I will say this is the word of the Lord and you will say yes a little bit of liturgy is a very good thing you must understand let us bow in prayer and now may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer through Jesus Christ in whose name we pray amen for two or three decades some philosophers and some preachers have been introducing us to the notion of defeater beliefs my friend Tim Keller likes to talk about defeater beliefs have you heard it a defeater belief is a belief which if true means that certain other beliefs can't be true in other words that belief defeats other beliefs for example one common defeater belief in the Western world is the belief that there cannot possibly be just one true religion that's a very very widely spread belief but it's a defeater belief in that if you really hold that belief to be true then it defeats Christian belief because Christian belief holds that there is only one way to God so that you can engage with people in university missions or in personal one-on-one evangelism at work and and you give all your reasons for thinking that the gospel is true that might start with a the truthfulness of God's revelation and his matchless love on the cross and all kinds of things apologetics of different sorts your own personal testimony and and they will say very interesting what about all the Hindus and because they have bought into this popular cultural belief it is already defeated your belief and they don't have to listen seriously to what you're saying anymore one needs to recognize of course that these defeater beliefs are highly dependent on specific cultures across cultures they are often mutually contradictory for example in the Middle East where I like to spend time the defeat our belief that I've just described is almost unknown most people in the Middle East have no problem with the idea that there's only one true religion the only question is which one when a culture develops an array of defeater beliefs these defeat our beliefs taken together constitute what is sometimes called an implausibility structure that is you take these defeat our beliefs together and then outside anything of that structure everything appears implausible it's an implausibility structure did you say Christianity just looks silly it's not to be evaluated it's just dismissed it's dumb it's for right-wingers and Kooks and idiots and people you know and at this point then most people in the culture not only rely on their defeater beliefs to write christianity off but they come to the conclusion that christianity simply isn't worth a hearing it's simply too implausible I was brought up in French Canada so I try to spend time when I can in francophone Europe and not long ago I was in something in Geneva and I always go to the book shops to find out what students are reading and so on and I came across a book by Luke fili he's a he's a popular teacher writer philosopher in French University circles he had written a book it's about five years old now called upon high vivre learning to live and was reading for university students what he says is that the problem with philosophy today is that it focuses on this bitty question on that bitty question it's on but rasz philosophy properly understood is supposed to teach you how to live learning to live so he said that he would examine five major world philosophies try to outline them as carefully as he could in his book and then and then criticize them to see what their weaknesses were and one of the philosophies that he would present would be Christianity well I read that chapter with a great deal of care and you know his description of Christianity isn't bad there are some people who try to describe Christianity and it's not recognizable to me to me to be frank but but this this this wasn't bad and then he got to the critique session and I thought this will really be interesting he had only one criticism it was too good to be true reading it off but just like that implausibility structures win again tizzy now I wish I had time in another sort of address to challenge defeat our beliefs and implausibility structures and some things that Christian Christians can do to to answer them I think there are some things that can be done but what I want to do at the moment is show that ours is not the first generation to face these challenges the first century church faced those things they faced them hugely and in fact many of the challenges they faced have striking similarities to what we face today - now Christians are increasingly feeling a certain cultural alienation the difference is that go back 50 years 60 years 70 years in this country I've always been mixes of Christians and non-christians and people who couldn't care less and so on but there was more of a Christian heritage in the country so as a result as Christians watch changes in the culture we're in danger starting to feel sorry for ourselves and resentful for all those people who are changing things and we feel somehow as if everything's going going to hell in the teapot I mean it's it's just it's just wretched did you did you see where as in point of fact in the New Testament that's the way all the Christians felt when I was a young man starting out doing university missions as I've often said um if I dealt with an atheist he or she was a Christian atheist that is the God he or she disbelieved in was my god which meant that categories were still in my turf dude you see nowadays you can't even be suppose that the God that they disbelieve in may have no recognizable overlap with a Christian God we need to remind ourselves of Paul's experiences in his opening weeks of evangelism in Europe his first city that he hit was Philip I there it wasn't long before he was incarcerated run out of on a rail escaped only because God sent an earthquake and the prisoner was converted and then they he came to Thessalonica he lasted only about four or five weeks there as far as we can tell planted a church in four or five weeks and then had to move on again then down to Berea in Acts chapter 17 verses 10 to 15 where people were a little more noble they were willing to study the Bible to see if these things were true and then his emissaries his young men were going back and forth carrying things up the visit by Timothy was sent to who was sent back to Thessalonica to find out what was going on and give them some more Bible instruction and take a report back to the Apostle who by this time and moved down on to Athens and then he preached there that's recorded in acts 17 and and then he moves on to Corinth and that's when Timothy and Titus join up with him and when he's in Corinth he's writing back then to the Thessalonians that the first letter to the Thessalonians and probably a little farther on while he was still in Corinth and he wrote a second letter what are some of the problems that they're facing in Thessalonica well on the first letter they're questions about sexuality and about work and about Paul's integrity and emerging leadership and so on but but with it all is also an undergirding suspicion on the part of some that this exclusive claim of Christ is a bit narrow do you know the most difficult pressure that the Christian Church faced in the pagan world until AD 300 you know what the most difficult problem was from the pagan world all around it's what we would call pluralism there were so many different religions so many different nodes of modes of the salvation and and and all of them were arguing for their corner but none of them would dare say theirs was the only way then along comes the Christians and they said Jesus is the only way how narrow and bigoted and implausible is that and the New Testament writers don't flinch it's not because they're bigots it's because they really do see what the problem is alienation from the God who is their rebellion against him his wrath suspended over us righteously and we must be reconciled to him freed from our guilt freed from our chains freed from our broken minds and hearts from our contamination from what theologians call original sin and so transformed by the power of the Spirit of God that ultimately one day we will be transformed further in resurrection existence in the new heaven and the new earth until things so that such that things are absolutely perfect and and the created order is reconciled to God in all of the purposes of God brought to fruition with Christ at the center as the Savior and Lord what we find here in this chapter is really some interesting instruction Paul has received some additional reports that have come to his ears some of the themes that first Thessalonians are absent in second Thessalonians but some things are are even tougher the church is being persecuted more violently you can't read verses three and following without seeing it we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring there is more confusion about what happens at the end the Lord's return so the Thessalonians is going through a difficult time with pressures on it both from the surrounding culture and from its own immaturity its own lack of understanding of what the Bible says so what does Paul say to a church living in difficult times what are his emphases three things number one he talks about the perseverance of believers he talks about the perseverance of believers verses 3 and 4 we ought always to thank God for you brothers and sisters and rightly so because your faith is growing more and more and the love all of you have for one another is increasing therefore among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring now note carefully Paul does not thank God for the perseverance of the Thessalonians directly rather he thanks God he says for the Thessalonians increasing faith and increasing love from which he infers their perseverance now that turns out not to be a picky point it comes close to the doctrine of sanctification you need to remember that faith and love are two thirds of what is sometimes called the Pauline triad faith hope and love Paul talks about those three constantly for example he opens 1 Thessalonians his first letter to them with these words verse 2 we always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers we remember we remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ faith hope and love do you see or go back to the previous letter Colossians in the Canon what do we read we always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all God's people the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven do you see they're configured in various ways in Colossians it's it's your great faith and your great love which which have been grounded in your hope that is your anticipation of what is yet future because you're living in the light of the end that that empowers your faith and your love now in this passage in 2 Thessalonians you want to get two of them hope is introduced in the next chapter but we don't have time to pursue it here you'll find it in chapter 2 verse 16 at the moment however note that what Paul thanks God for or is the faith and the love that he sees in the Thessalonians from which he infers their perseverance in other words the marks of vitality that signal Christians are persevering are elements of the pauline triad but sometimes when we hear the word persevere we think hang on by your fingernails this is really so difficult and God knows sometimes when we go through hard circumstances chemotherapy two years of a job loss we can begin to feel as if as if we're just hanging on by our fingernails and these Christians are being persecuted and they're immature they're having some internal difficulties and some are are facing the dispossession of their goods and some undoubtedly are being beaten up or thrown in jail it's enough to discourage you there they're new Christians they're not more than months old Paul does not say I thank God that you're hanging in there not bad what he says is I thank God when I hear all these reports of your love it's fantastic and your faith from which I infer there is perseverance do you see we ought always to thank God for you brothers and sisters and rightly so because your faith is growing more and more in the teeth of the opposition and the love all of you have for one another is increasing your constituting yourself a community this is terrific a different community an eschatological community a community of the Spirit of God a community of the Son of God a community of the Covenant over against this whole world against you which thinks that you are silly and stupid people and you just love each other the more an exercise greater hope and faith therefore among God's church as we boast about your perseverance do you see for Paul understands that the evidence of Christian maturity is not in the bigger building it's not in how wonderful the budget is it's not in how many PhDs you've got in your congregation it's not in the size of your offerings at the end of the day the greatest sign of Christian maturation is the multiplication of faith and love and add elsewhere hope there are even some churches that are doctrinally robust in a sort of cliquish argumentative sort of fashion where they don't love each other and they don't really trust God they trust their arguments now again don't misunderstand me that's not trying to undermine the truth in the Bible it is the truth that brings about faith and love truth genuinely understood and absorbed and lived out that produces faith and love but as Paul can write to the Corinthians there is a domain in church life where knowledge can puff up while love builds up and the evidence for this fledgling church churches spiritual maturation is in the teeth of opposition to display faith trust confidence in God God at his promises and his word and his truth and love among the believers from which Paul infers their persevering not just hanging on there they're persevering gloriously Paul boasts about their virtues not that he planted the church to boast about their virtues in this context is to boast about the power of the gospel look he says not I'm a great church planter don't I produce nice churches some what he's saying he's saying I see the grace of the gospel in your life and I boast about that so what does he talk about to a church facing difficult times he talks about the perseverance of believers what it signals and second he talks in this context about the patience and payback of God he talks about the patience and payback of God verses 5 to 10 all this paul writes is evident that god's judgment is right - what does the all this refer their suffering their endurance know all this both both their suffering and their victorious endurance testify that god's judgment about these things is right how so well in the first place one of the themes that is pretty common in paul is that if you follow jesus in this life you will face some perseverance is some persecution you will face some opposition remember what he writes to the Philippians in Philippians chapter 1 verse 29 to you he says it has been given on behalf of Christ not only to believe on his name but also to suffer for his sake do you hear that it's been given to you a gracious gift this is something God has given on behalf of Christ a gift God has given you secured by Christ to believe on his name and to suffer for his sake those are the gifts and the suffering in that context is not one more round of chemo the suffering in this context is opposition have you reflected on that verse in acts 541 the Apostles rejoice because they were counted worthy to suffer for the name I've read that verse countless times and I thought about it but I don't think I actually properly understood it until about five years ago when I was trying to think it through in the context of the book of Acts and what's going on here you you have to remember that this is not all that long since Jesus himself taught them on the night that the Lord was betrayed he taught them that the disciple is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will persecute you if they accepted me they will they will accept you you have to accept these things and of course there's quite a lot of emphasis along those lines in in Jesus teaching Matthew's Gospel for example blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for forever theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when men shall revile you persecute you say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake where great is your reward in him and you're aligned with the prophets who came before you don't you see this is what makes you blessed of God there's quite a lot of such theme and the Apostle started the night before Jesus was betrayed and then subsequently crucified then the resurrection takes place the resurrection appearances unpack and then eventually Pentecost and the descent of the spirit and great power and life is fun I mean they're preaching their courageous all this there's talk of opposition the authorities aren't too keen but they don't dare do anything I mean thousands are being converted thousands are being converted and home Bible studies are being set up all over Jerusalem and occasionally they have these big meetings in Solomon's colonnade the only place where they could all come together at the same time great hymns and songs and canticles no doubt and and and and still these Bible studies are multiplying and the Apostles are in such fantastic good odor with the people that some people in the streets are scrambling just to have Peters shadow fall over them life is good this is unbelievably good but I can imagine them beginning to say to each other uh John you know remember that stuff that Jesus said the night that he was betrayed of a persecution where's that I don't know are we doing something wrong well I don't know the Spirit is is working powerfully it's it's it's wonderful to see all these people convert and they're genuinely converted did you know that they're selling land and giving the money to the church for the sake of looking after the poor and the gospel is is is is is is bearing fruit it it's it's wonderful these are the fulfillment times of Joel and and of other prophets this is terrific but where's the persecution John then finally beat her and John for the first time get beaten up good and proper and they say yes yes about time terrific they count themselves worthy because they have now suffered for the sake of an a now imagine the transformation of the church in North America if every time we were slighted or got picked upon or rejected because of the character of our integrity and the quiet witness which we bear to Christ where people laugh at us or sneer at us at school or at work or maybe you don't get a promotion because your boss is a drunk and you won't drink with them every time every time that that happened you said to yourself yes it's wonderful to bury even the slightest reproach for Jesus sake instead of feeling this whole culture is going to hell I mean I mean undoubtedly it is but but but but but the trouble is you keep saying that and all you do start feeling self-righteous well they're going to elbow not me and then you feel a pity party coming over you and and people who are wallowing in pity parties never win anybody they're just ugly but here instead our Christians are rejoicing because because they understand that it has been given to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe but also to suffer for Jesus sake in fact the evidence that God's judgment about what's going on in the world is right is bound up first and foremost with a suffering of Christians do you want to see God's judgment being right go and look at the suffering of Christians in the dahle area of China go and look at Christians in Iran and I'll show you evidence that God's judgment is right the truth prevails and there will be opposition and in the midst of that opposition God raises up his people showing great love and great faithfulness and living in the hope of the end and a division is formed in the culture their suffering and their perseverance elsewhere we're told repeatedly that if we suffer with him we will also reign with him Colossians 21 121 223 Hebrews 3 we have been made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end all of this is evidence in advance of God's righteous judgment and as a result these folk will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God at the end for which they are suffering counted worthy this does not mean that they earn it look at where verse 12 goes after all we pray this so the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you and him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ no it's evidence valid evidence that they are qualified to enter at the end they're qualified it's all evidence that is the transformation of their lives the overflow of Christian faith the overflow of Christian hope the overflow of Christian love is evidence of the gospel has taken such deep root in their lives that they are counted worthy at the end in other words the presupposition is where the gospel takes root it's demonstrated in transform living is not what Jesus teaches by their fruit you shall know them why should we be surprised and all of this is part of the great reversal bound up with the Justice of God verse 6 God is just he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well and when will this happen 7 B this will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels and then the following verses talk about the return of the Lord in other words although the word hope has not yet been introduced what we are looking forward to is the anticipation of the end it is in fact Christian hope and the word itself is introduced in the next chapter now let me remind you of something that I'm sure people have said before to you hope in English always brings with it an element of doubt I hope to fly home tomorrow and I hope my bags will accompany me but as I'm flying to Chicago via Dallas because there's no direct flight to O'Hare then I fully recognize that my bags may not arrive the same time I do this has happened before it will happen again I hope that they will make it but I don't know so when we speak of the Christian hope are we really saying well we hope Jesus will come back but we really don't know no in English hope has an element of doubt built right into it but in the original hope is merely the forward anticipation it's the looking forward to what is coming and whether or not it is certain or not depends entirely on the context that's why some passages in the Bible speak of our certain hope in English a certain hope is an oxymoron it is a built-in mutual contradiction if you're certain you don't owe for it and if you hope for it it's not certain but you can have a hope that is a looking forward to something at the end that is certain because what we're looking forward to at the end is a certain as the promises of God the second coming of Christ is as certain as the first coming of Christ it's just that one has happen and the other is not yet happened do do do you see and that's why you can build your faith on your hope and you can build your love for the brothers on the hope that is still coming do you see that's that's the point in Colossians and without putting it quite that way it's what we're finding here our eyes are being dragged to the end and we live in the light of the fact that God will sort it all out in the end not only will justice be done it will be seen to be done and there will be payback I don't see how else you can read these verses that's not going to be very popular in a world that loves pluralism but it's what the text says this will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels this is the day of the Lord to use the language of 1-10 and of - to the day of the Lord brings about an absolute disjunction of persons and of their respective ends look at verses 8 and 9 over against verse 10 he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus there's the gospel the gospel that is to be believed or you can put it another way it's to be obeyed that is you bow to the claims of the gospel you come under the lordship of Christ you obey it you trust yourself to it you believe it it's all part of the same matrix there is a reprehensible Ness to not accepting this gospel it's not merely an optional extra for certain people with religious inclinations of a Christian sort did you see this is the gospel of God it's the great good news and Paul yearns that people will believe it but if they do not he is under no illusion whatsoever of the outcome for these people if they disobey it they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might there are many many images of hell in the Bible as there are many many images of heaven and I do think that sometimes we are so restricted in our knowledge of those images that we sometimes have slightly cartoonish visions of both heaven well it's like those little drawings where you sit around in a white nightgown on a puffy cloud and play a harp after the first six billion years or so I bet you that to get boring but but when you actually look at all the things the Bible says about what heaven is like you know the parable of the talents it's a place you're going to be giving a lot more work to do and we're going to be really busy Revelation chapter 5 it's a place where these fantastic choirs around the throne it's a place of resurrection existence it's its place of universal joy it's a place where where all the harps come down and the harps in the ancient world where instruments of choice like saying it's a place where all the banjos break out you know it's pretty hard to be sad when there a lot of banjos breaking out you know and and and and all of these images of what of what glories like and at the heart of it all is him who sits on the throne and the land him who sits on the throne in the land him who sits on the throne on the land is constantly referring phrase in the book of Revelation and how it's a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth it's a place characterized by fire or conversely another image is a place of darkness it's a place where there is no repentance have you ever considered the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in that respect when the rich man opens his eyes in Hades in hell and he sees in this parable Abraham and and Lazarus a long long way off what do you think should be the first thing that he would say once you expect him to say something like Lazarus I'm so sorry did I get that one wrong oh please forgive me would you expect him to say that he doesn't he still wants to treat him as a menial uh father Abram sent him some sentence in that chap send Lazarus to send me some water to cool my tongue he still thinks in hell that he's the center of the universe and can tell the patriarchs where to send the menials there is not a hint anywhere in the Bible than anybody repents in Hell hell is a place for people to go on being bitter thinking they're at the center of the universe cursing everyone else out hating it and suffering without God in an endless cycle a downward spiral of abysmal sin and damnation for which they're responsible with no hope listen biblical Christianity is not just about being nicer American citizens it's not just about getting your life sorted out so that you raise happy well-adjusted children it's being reconciled to the Living God to whom we must give an account by the sole means that this goal is provided and it shapes absolutely everything such that we live in the light of the end in the light of the end we're passionate to build a community of the faithful here we love one another we learn to trust this God was given us so much we live in hope that at the end justice will be done and will be seen to be done and we'd learn to cry with a church in every generation yes even so come Lord Jesus no there's an absolute disjunction of persons and of their respective ends he will punish those who do not know God do not obey the gospel it's the same thing they do not know God precisely because they do not obey the gospel they will be punished with everlasting destruction shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might and over against that this takes place on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed this includes you because you believed our testimony to you here there is a vision of the Shearer God centeredness of those who believe the Apostles testimony he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at I've been doing university missions now for 30 years or more in the last 10 or 15 years I've begun to hear a question that I never heard in the first 20 years there never did now I can't do University mission at any university in the Western world without having somebody ask me this question in one form or another the question runs something like this according to the Bible God always wants to be at the center of everything wants to be praised wants to be glorified whatever that means in our past and she wants to be marveled at but in our relationships with one another anybody who wants to be praised all the time and glorified and marvel that is megalomaniac we don't like people like that we want people to walk with a certain amount of confidence maybe but still with a certain kind of humility help the little guy you know there's God insisting that he get praised all the time why don't we just dismiss him as a megalomaniac I have not done the University mission in the last ten years where people haven't asked me that question and of course you you can give some obvious answers good God is not just like us did you know there's only one of him there are a lot of us and and we don't have the right to pretend that we're superior to all the rest of us that God is God he he's our maker he's our Redeemer he's he's our judge think what what he has done in the gospel by the giving and of his own sunnah you can talk about all of those things but there's more to it than that there's a deeper thing don't you see it is for our good that we adore him that's the way we've been made we are creatures we cannot enter into a right relationship with him apart from glorifying him the sign indeed that our hearts have turned and are no longer self-absorbed but they're focused on the God of our Redemption the sign is precisely that the one whom we hated or pushed off or despised or resented now becomes the one whom we love and so when he comes to be marveled at it's not because he's got deep psychological needs and the poor guy somehow needs to be stroked that's appalling in eternity past he didn't need to be stroked God is the God that the older theologian spoke the God of a saya t-that is he is so much from himself ah say in Latin he is so much from himself that he he has no needs it's not as if God gets to Thursday afternoon and says boy I can hardly wait till they break out the guitar as a desert springs church on Sunday it's getting pretty lonely up here do you know I I need my weekly I might my weekly stroke of praise it's ridiculous God does not need our praise you know he just need it he may demand it he may want it both for his glory and for our good but he doesn't need it he doesn't need it he doesn't need anything he's entirely self-contained and and entirely happy in and of himself but he also knows that it is for are immeasurable incalculable eternal good that we love him with heart and soul and mind and strength that we adore him that we fasten our gay so unflinchingly upon him we see him for who he is if we are God centered Christ centered gospel centered we see him for who he is and there in lies our sanctification are growing conformity to Christ our anticipation of the glory yet to come our hour for taste our first taste our our anticipation of the perfect transformation the glorification that will be ours on that day when he comes to be glorified and to be marveled at amongst those who have believed and all of this transparently because of the gospel the alternative is those who do not obey the gospel versus those who have believed the gospel and finally the prayer of the Apostle verses 11 and 12 with this in mind that is with this day of the Lord in mind with this future with this ultimate reversal with this final judgment with all of its terror and glory with this in mind we constantly pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith we pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you and him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ so what does Paul pray for in the light of all of this he prays that our God may make us worthy of his calling now the call for Paul is regularly the effective call of God to become a Christian to be a believer to be saved to be converted to be justified sanctified that is the call and now Paul prays that we may be worthy to live in line with that call to live a life worthy of being a child of God redeemed accepted with sins forgiven already those who have received the Holy Spirit to live a life worthy of that that's what I pray for Paul says so the question becomes then for us in our prayer lives and for us in our churches public meeting small group meetings house meetings how often do we pray for prayers like that as opposed to praying that the bank will accept mortgage mortgage application or we'll get a better grade on the next physics test or whatever all of which may be legitimate prayers but Peter can tell us to cast all our cares on him because he cares for us and yet at the center of apostolic pray is for this kind of the word isn't used but as the point sanctification that is to live a life worthy of being a Christian I pray for that and that in that framework by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith that you'll live a fruitful life you see this is not some barely hanging on Christianity nor is it some avocational Christianity that you plug into on Sunday morning because it's eleven o'clock again what else you going to do it's nothing like that this embrace is absolutely everything don't you see this is a life that's worth living and it anticipates the end and it is characterized by obedience for the gospel and already it's full of marveling at God in anticipation of the way we will marvel at him without any restraint or limitation on the last day how countercultural is that now we've created our own plausibility structures and they all turn on the revelation of God we pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you and him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ amen let us pray so increase our vision we beg of you most holy father so that we see many many of the wonderful trailers that flow out from the cross the entailments in understanding in glory and transform reformed living in perseverance that is attested to by increasing faith multiplying love and an eager anticipation of the return of Christ and whose name we pray amen

Channel: DESERT SPRINGS CHURCH

Views: 22,717

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Id: 71Wux028yIE

Length: 55min 44sec (3344 seconds)

Published: Tue May 01 2012