In perhaps the most forgettable Indiana Jones movie “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”; Dr. Jones is lamenting the loss of loved ones. He turns to Dean Charles Stanforth and asks, “Brutal couple of years, huh, Charlie? First Dad, then Marcus”. The response has stayed with me from the first moment I watched , Dr. Stanforth replies:
“We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.” An interesting take, and a point well made. On the doorsteps of my 42nd birthday, I seem to have entered that part of my life. I lost my mother early on, but in the last several years I have lost my father and several others (friends and family) in my life and so, as a man, I struggle with my own mortality. The Apostle Paul wrote three things that come to mind when you consider mortality. Around 57 AD, Paul wrote to the Romans: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (12:1) Around five years later he wrote to the Philippians: “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all” (2:17) And about five years after that in 2 Timothy 4:6-22, an amazing passage of Scripture, most likely the last letter Paul wrote, and therefore this would have been the last passage he wrote before his martyrdom. In verse 6, he wrote: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come” Alistair Begg pointed out this process in Paul’s writing from the exhortation to offer your lives as a living sacrifice (Romans 57 AD), to the realization that martyrdom is a very real possibility (Philippians 62AD) to knowing that martyrdom is an imminent reality (2 Timothy 67AD). Again, Pastor Begg points us to the understanding that Paul had of death for the servant of Christ. Notice in 2 Timothy 4:6 he used the term “departure”. Paul defines what he means by departure 5 years earlier again in Philippians, in Chapter 1 verses 21-23, he says: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” “Depart and be with Christ” what a great promise, what great hope! And to summarize Paul’s words in Romans 8:18-25, he said:
There is coming a day, and on that one day, our Joy as Christians will be complete. Our bodies redeemed, our souls forgiven and free, Christ himself will put an end to our pain, suffering and tears. We will never again experience death. Thank you Jesus. Reference: Alistair Begg’s full sermon can be found at: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/death-and-dying/
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In my honest opinion, this has been the most head-scratching sister-kisser of an election season in the history of American democracy. I have to ask; no matter who your candidate is, even if they win, will it make you happy? Will your life be better? Is there any guarantee?
Romans 13:1-7 speaks to the situation for the Christian, though I am summarizing, you can also click here to read. As Christians, we need to:
Notice that Romans does not tell us we have to like the direction that our government is taking, and there might come a day where they tell us we can no longer proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, but in the words of Aragorn from LOTR, “but it is not this day”. For those who might say, “America is becoming immoral”, the Biblical response is….yes, that is what human governments do (see 1 Samuel 8). I know you don’t like many laws that allow things like abortion, gay marriage, etc. I understand these are sins allowed by the law, but they aren’t the only ones, most instances of lying, envy, and sexual immorality are legal. These were problems in Biblical times as well, and we still don’t see Paul lobbying for Rome to change the laws. Why do you think that is? Well, Paul knew that all sin is a heart problem. Unredeemed and unrepentant hearts are absolutely corrupt. The bible says it this way, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, ESV) And here is the Bible’s answer: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV). See, the unregenerate world is full of dead men (and women) walking. Ephesians chapter 2 reminds us that we all were once dead like them. Paul goes on to write that we have been made alive with Christ because our God is rich in mercy. Paul uses beautiful phrases about God like “because of the great love with which he loved us” and by this “he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”. In verses 8-9, we are reminded that none of this was accomplished by our works or effort, but only by the Gift of God’s grace through faith are we saved. So we have been made alive, but we are still walking in a world with those who are, in reality, the walking dead. Though we are saved and have been given a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17). So these immoral laws, they are not the problem. Our immoral leaders in government, they are not the problem. The problem is the total depravity of the human heart without Christ. I have been asked if I think Christian’s should take part in the political process, I think they can and they should. I have been asked if I think Christians should oppose immoral laws, my answer again is yes. However, when something becomes the law, we must submit even if it disturbs us, we don’t have to engage in sin but we must submit to our government all the way until the point we are told we cannot proclaim the gospel of Christ. Anything short of that leaves us with the fact that, as Christians, we should submit and pray for our leaders. Two quick stories When Jesus’ was teaching in Ancient Israel, it was under the rule of Rome. Rome was ruled with an iron fist by Caesar. Rome was immoral. Taxes were onerous. Pharisees asked Jesus whether or not a good law loving Jew should pay taxes to a corrupt government like Rome. After all, someone could try to reason that it was okay not to pay taxes in these extreme circumstances. Jesus’ response was awesome he said, “Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Matthew 22:15-22). When Jesus was arrested, Pontius Pilate essentially asked him if Caesar had an enemy who wanted to challenge his rule of Israel. Pilate asked if Jesus was the King of the Jews? Again Jesus’ response was earth shattering, he answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world”. When Pilate heard this he saw no threat to Rome or Caesar and he found no guilt in Jesus (John 18:33-40, ESV). Our examples in the Bible never exemplify the behavior that I see from so-called “Christians” today. The Anger, the heart of revolution, the hate that is spewed sounds more and more like “give us Barabbas” than “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:27, ESV). So, no matter who wins, no matter what happens I’ll give you this guarantee that was given to all of us as Christians, our sovereign God’s promise is that he “will never leave you nor forsake you” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13, ESV). |
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