This week we once again have been barraged with revelations of the sexual sins of a major public figure, Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina. We thus have the opportunity to examine ourselves, to see if we are reacting rightly or wrongly to such revelations.

Here are some common reactions, with some words of evaluation about each one:

• When others sin, I find out all I can about it. All sorts of unnecessary information is available on Governor Sanford’s sin. Some mainstream newspapers read more like supermarket tabloids than serious journalism. A natural human reaction is to soak this up, to titillate our prurient desires by searching out the details of these illicit liaisons. Don’t do it. Such information does not make you love Jesus more, does not make you a better witness for Him, does not protect you from future sin, and does not make you a better citizen. The outline of the infidelity, and the possibility of misuse of state funds, is all we need to know.

• When others sin, I delight in relating the details to others. Paul writes, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). When you gossip, your speech is tearing down at least three people: yourself, the person you’re talking to, and the person you’re talking about. Don’t gossip.

• When others sin, I look for something to admire in those hurt by the sin. We all need examples. When public leaders sin, we often are let down by those we admired. Oftentimes, however, someone around the sinner acts in an exemplary manner. In such cases, our focus should move from the sinner to the example – so that we, and those we speak with, can indeed be built up. In this case, I commend to you Jenny Sanford’s public letter. In an incredibly difficult situation, she seems to be acting with grace and wisdom.

• When others sin, I think, “What an idiot! I would never do something like that!” The Bible is clear: Anyone who engages in adultery or fornication is a fool, ultimately destroying pleasure, not gaining pleasure. Proverbs 6:32 says, “He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself” (see my sermon on this passage). So the first part of the statement is correct.

But Paul writes, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). That is, be careful that you don’t fall into a similar sin – in this case, sins such as adultery, fornication, lust, or viewing pornography – and be careful that you don’t fall into the sin of pride, thinking more highly of yourself than you ought (Romans 12:3). Is your life free from sexual sin? If the answer is no, use the occasion of this man’s sin to confront your own: Seek forgiveness from God and from those you have wronged, seek counsel and accountability so that you might fight this sin in the future. If the answer is yes – if your sexual life and thoughts have been pure – use the occasion of this man’s sin to remind yourself of the dead end of this sin, and to strengthen your resolve and your methods of dealing with temptation in this area. And then cultivate the next response:

• When others sin, I confess that sin as if it were mine. If you have not committed such a sin, what has prevented you from doing so? Friend, it is certainly not your inherent goodness, your superior moral sense, or your high degree of self-control. Every one of us is guilty before God of sins so terrible that they demand a judgment of “Condemned!” (Ephesians 2:1-3). If I am free of a particular sin, God must have prevented me from committing that sin. Hear what John Donne writes:

O Lord, pardon me, me, all those sins which thy Son Christ Jesus suffered for, who suffered for all the sins of all the world; for there is no sin amongst all those which had not been my sin, if thou hadst not been my God, and antedated me a pardon in thy preventing grace.

If I have not committed any particular sin, God has, in effect, pardoned me ahead of time for that sin by extending His grace beforehand, protecting me from the sin. So the praise and honor go to Him. Sins of others thus should lead to greater humility on our part, not pride.

• When others sin, I ask God to search my heart. My friends, sin always deceives. Sin always destroys. Sin is always discovered. So may we take the occasion of great sins by great men to ask God with David: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24). When He shows you the sin in your heart, confess it — and know the joy of living a life blameless before Him. Confessed sin – Praise God! — is always forgiven, by the blood of Jesus.

(For more on this topic, see this sermon I preached 11 years ago at the height of the Clinton/Lewinsky imbroglio. The last lines of this devotion are taken from that sermon).

In many ways, I am impressed with the Great Commission Resurgence document, and believe the SBC should move in the direction it lays out. Here are some of the axioms that clearly resonate with our theology, vision, and values:

1: We call upon all Southern Baptists to submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in all things at the personal, local church, and denominational levels.

2: We call upon all Southern Baptists to make the gospel of Jesus Christ central in our lives, our churches, and our convention ministries.

3: We call upon all Southern Baptists to recommit to the priority of the Great Commandments in every aspect of our lives. . . .

4: We call upon all Southern Baptists to unite around a firm conviction in the full truthfulness and complete sufficiency of Christian Scripture in all matters of faith and practice.

6: We call upon all Southern Baptists to focus on building local churches that are thoroughly orthodox, distinctively Baptist, and passionately committed to the Great Commission.

7: We call upon all Southern Baptists to affirm and expect a pastoral ministry that is characterized by faithful biblical preaching that teaches both the content of the Scriptures and the theology embedded in the Scriptures.

10: We call upon all Southern Baptists to build gospel-saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field.

Number 5 highlights the need for the confessional standards encapsulated in the Baptist Faith and Message, as revised nine years ago. While that is not a perfect document, it plays a necessary and valuable role in defining what those sent out by our cooperating agencies must believe.

Number 9 has led to the most controversy; it calls upon the denomination to “evaluate our Convention structures and priorities so that we can maximize our energy and resources for the health of our local churches and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.” The explanatory comments include these sentences:

We believe that North American church planting, pioneer missions around the globe, and theological education are three priorities around which Southern Baptists will unite. Our Convention must be examined at every level to facilitate a more effective pursuit of these priorities.

While this is simply a logical implication of the other axioms, some have seen this as an attack on much of what denominational employees do.

Axiom 8 rightly argues that there are many subcultures in North America, and if we are to reach them all effectively, our churches must look and feel different from each other, even while they are all Gospel-centered and Bible-saturated.

So for all ten axioms, I can either shout a hearty “Amen!” or at least say, “Sure, that sounds ok.” The website provides an opportunity to sign the document. Almost 3000 people have done so already.

But not me. Not yet, anyway.

Why am I reluctant to sign the document?

The problem is not really about what the document says, but about what it doesn’t say. It calls for a “Great Commission Resurgence” – but it never defines the Great Commission. And that lack of definition keeps the document from serving what could be a pivotal role.

Thirty-five years after Ralph Winter coined the phrase “people blindness,” and 20+ years after the Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) reoriented the agency to focus on unreached people groups, most Southern Baptists still have no idea what the Great Commission means. Too many think it means something like, “I should share the Gospel with my neighbor and give $25 each year to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.”

What does the Great Commission mean?

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are to disciple all nations. That is, Christ’s church must reach every culture with the Gospel, every people group, every language; that’s the biblical definition of “nation.” God’s design and command is for His church to plant a thriving, evangelizing church in every people group of the world. And after 2000 years, we can complete this task in this generation.

The Great Commission is thus a cross-cultural commission. We must reach those like us with the Gospel. That is a biblical mandate. But that is not fulfilling the Great Commission. Were all Christians to be fully mobilized and wonderfully effective in evangelizing those like themselves, a large percentage of the globe would still be without Christ. The Great Commission commands Christ’s entire church to mobilize herself, to pray, to send, and to go so that every culture has an effective witness to Christ within it.

Could we not use this moment in SBC history to have a genuine resurgence in the SBC, formulated around completing the very achievable task (and the IMB’s goal!) of planting multiplying churches in every remaining unreached people group in this generation? Could this in and of itself not serve to help explain to our churches why we must reorient our priorities and streamline our bureaucracies? Would this not act to unite us and to mobilize us?

There are a few other details that I find unhelpful in the document. Contact me if you’re interested. But if it included a solid definition of the Great Commission, similar to that given three paragraphs above, I would sign it with no other changes. Absent such a definition, I think it misses a unique opportunity to at long last communicate this central biblical principle to the SBC, and to rally the convention to the primary remaining task we must complete before Christ returns.

[See also this sermon on Romans 15:9-24, "Where Christ Has Not Been Named."]

Jesus, today, might have put it, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and your career will take care of itself.” . . . God may indeed reward you with a startling career – but you will probably not know the details in advance. . . . Lots of people would be glad to follow God if He would only tell them in advance exactly all the wonderful things He would do for them and what high sounding job titles they might one day hold. But, remember Genesis 12:1? It is characteristic of the Christian life that God asks us to go without telling us where! . . . When we walk in the little light we have, and keep going on and on taking steps in faith, the ways in which He leads us are almost always, as we look back, something we could have never been told in advance! Untold marvels lie beyond each step of faith. You don’t really have to know what is beyond the next step. And you can’t find out without taking the next step. (“Join the World Christian Movement,” p. 722-23 in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, Third Edition, edited by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne, William Carey Library, 1999.)

Make no mistake. God honors those who seek His work above their worries. One of our staff members once said, “Now I think I understand what faith is; it is not the confidence that God will do what we want Him to do for us, but the conviction that we can do what He wants done for Him and let Him take care of the consequences.” (same article, p. 722)

You can’t be any kind of a solid Christian if you are unwilling to do anything He asks. (same article, p. 723)

A famous missionary wrote back to fellow students and pled with them: “Give up your small ambitions and come East to proclaim the glorious gospel of Christ.” For me to give “My utmost for His highest” is no guarantee of health, wealth, or happiness . . . but that kind of crucial choice is, in the experience of thousands who have tried it, the most exhilarating and demanding path of all callings. You don’t lose if you go with God. But you have to be willing to lose or you can’t stick close to God. (same article, p. 723)

The shattering truth is that four out of five non-Christians in the world today are beyond the reach of any Christian’s [normal] evangelism. Why is this fact not more widely known? I’m afraid that all our exultation about the fact that every country of the world has been penetrated has allowed many to suppose that every culture has by now been penetrated. This misunderstanding is a malady so widespread that it deserves a special name. Let us call it “people blindness” – that is, blindness to the existence of separate peoples within countries. . . . In the Great Commission . . . the phrase “make disciples of all ethne (peoples)” does not let us off the hook once we have a church in every country – God wants a strong church within every people! (”The New Macedonia,” Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization, 1974; reprinted in Perspectives cited above, p. 346.)

The essential missionary task is to establish a viable indigenous church planting movement that carries the potential to renew whole extended families and transform whole societies. It is viable in that it can grow on its own, indigenous meaning that it is not seen as foreign, and a church planting movement that continues to reproduce intergenerational fellowships that are able to evangelize the rest of the people group. . . .  God will reveal the glory of His kingdom among all peoples. We are within range of finishing the task, with more momentum than ever before in history. Be a part of it–”Declare His glory among the nations!” (”Finishing the Task,” by Ralph Winter and Bruce Koch, Perspectives as cited above, p. 517 and 524.)

Obedience to the Great Commission has more consistently been poisoned by affluence than by anything else. The antidote for affluence is reconsecration. Consecration is by definition the “setting apart of things for holy use.” (”Consecration to a Wartime, Not a Peacetime, Lifestyle”, Perspectives as cited above, p. 705.)

We must learn that Jesus meant it when He said, “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required” (Luke 12:48). I believe that God cannot expect less from us as our Christian duty to save other nations than our own nation in wartime conventionally requires of us to save our own nation. (same article, p. 707. Emphasis in original.)

Ralph Winter died on Wednesday night, at the age of 84. I am confident that the Lord Jesus welcomed Dr Winter into His presence, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master!” In the new heavens and the new earth, when we recount the history of the greatest accomplishment of all time – God bringing all the nations to Himself – Dr Winter will be among the most prominent figures who by God’s power worked to fill the earth with His glory as the waters cover the sea.

I only met Dr Winter once. When he was about 80, after being diagnosed with an incurable cancer, during a period of remission, he came to Columbia to teach. He flew into Charlotte, and met with several of us that evening. Our conversation showed him to be what I already knew – an academic in the best sense of the word. Dr Winter was a man of ideas – and he was always looking for people to challenge those ideas, to engage him in debate over those ideas, to sharpen his thinking and to stretch him further. So when I thanked him for his profound impact on me and on the worldwide church, he brushed it off, and immediately began asking me questions. In short order, he discovered an area of disagreement: He believed each local church should be focused on one small slice of the demographic pie, in order to most effectively reach unbelievers like them; I believe God is most glorified when the local church transcends the cultural boundaries that so often separate believers. He wanted to debate the issue, and I gave him that pleasure, uncomfortable as I was – despite being a former academic myself, I was there that evening to honor him!

But that interaction displays the character of Dr Ralph D Winter: He was an incredibly creative man of ideas. He was always searching, always thinking. In my view, he propagated a few wrong ideas. But in God’s providence, he was the man most responsible for pushing the worldwide church to embrace a whole series of right ideas – biblical truths that had been overlooked, or not widely known. Here is a list of some of Dr Winter’s key ideas. See more of my favorite Ralph Winter quotes at this link.

God’s missionary mandate to the church is a cross-cultural mandate. Dr Winter’s address to the 1974 Lausanne International Congress on World Evangelization was perhaps the most important paper presented at any conference in the last century. At that time, almost every mission agency thought of the biblical missionary mandate as a command to reach every nation – that is, country – with the Gospel. Dr Winter argued persuasively that the biblical mandate was to reach every culture with the Gospel, every people group, every ethno-linguistic entity; that’s the biblical definition of “nation.” God’s design is for His church to plant a thriving, evangelizing church in every people group of the world. Thirty-five years later, almost every missions agency agrees with this analysis. This insight led to the founding of the US Center for World Mission and the development of the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course.

God’s cross-cultural mandate to His people permeates Scripture. Dr Winter emphasized that our God is a missionary God, calling all the nations to Himself, and that this has been His purpose from the beginning. The calling of Abraham in Genesis 12 is itself part of the cross-cultural mandate. Missions is thus not a mandate resting on a few, isolated verses here and there; it is the central part of the biblical storyline.

God has been working throughout history to fulfill this cross-cultural mandate. In telling the story of missions, many have written as if nothing happened prior to 1792, when William Carey sailed for India. Dr Winter emphasized that God has been at work in fulfilling the missionary mandate throughout time, using different methods in different periods of time. For pedagogical purposes, he broke history down into 400-year eras, and argued that one way of advancing the Gospel was prevalent in each era. I am not alone in rejecting some of those generalizations as too broad and thus unhelpful. But his emphasis was right: God has indeed been at work over the centuries, well prior to 1792.

God’s church needs bands of people focused on missions to assist in the fulfilling of the cross-cultural mandate. Building on the functioning of Paul’s missionary band, Dr Winter argued that such groups of missionaries are a vital part of the church. Indeed, he argued that each missionary band was fully a church in its own right – just a different type of church than the normal within-one-culture church. Here again, in my view Dr Winter took a valuable insight and went too far with it. By all means, mission agencies have a vital role to play in fulfilling the task. But each missionary should be part of a local, home church, living as one extended arm of that local church, as the local church plays its role in obeying the cross-cultural mandate.

Use all that you have, throughout all of your life, for God’s glory among the nations. Dr Winter exhorted others time and again to live this out, and then set a sterling example of what this means. He worked for God’s glory among the nations until the day before he died. He left a safe and secure job to start the US Center. He called all of us to a war-time lifestyle, and then he lived such a lifestyle, never accumulating possessions, always giving away much of what he received. Furthermore, he called the church to prayer for cross-cultural missions, and then prayed diligently himself.

For those of you who have been part of Desiring God Church for some time, these points may seem almost passé. You have heard me say them – as well as variations on these themes – time and again. That’s the impact of a man mightily used by God – His profound insights and ideas become so widely taught that we begin to take them for granted.

So let us thank God for this man:

I praise you, Lord God, for the gift of Ralph Winter to your church, and to me in particular. May you raise up many more like him because of his faithfulness to Your calling. And may we fulfill your cross-cultural mandate to the church in this generation – in part because of the faithfulness of Ralph D Winter. All glory and praise is Yours, O Lord.

(For more on Ralph Winter, see key quotes; John Piper’s tribute; another online tribute; and his autobiography. Best of all, take the Perspectives course!)

We all make mistakes in judgment. And we all sin. There are consequences to these mistakes and sins. Surely we must take responsibility for those consequences.

But every mistake, every sin, and every conflict is an opportunity for God to display His sovereign goodness. And thus every error and sin of ours provides us with the opportunity to trust in Him, and thus to glorify Him.

Consider present conflict in your family, among your friends, or in your workplace. Limit your thoughts to those conflicts for which you are in large measure responsible: Your sin, or your error of judgment, has led to this dispute. How should you respond biblically? How can these problems lead to God’s glory?

This is the situation David finds himself in at the beginning of 1 Samuel 30. King Saul has been pursuing him, trying to kill him, for some time. God miraculously rescues David again and again. But, tiring of the continual flight, David goes over to Israel’s enemies, the Philistines (1 Samuel 27:1-2). He even becomes bodyguard to a Philistine king, who has him settle in the town of Ziklag. There is no record of David praying about this decision, or of his asking God for guidance via the priest Abiathar. He’s tired of running, so he leaves Israel. To justify his position among the Philistines, he pretends to raid Judah, all the while slaughtering non-Israelite men and women indiscriminately – wrong even by the norms of his day. He then lies about his raids to cover his tracks (1 Samuel 27:8-11).

But then the Philistines muster their troops to attack Israel. What will David do? Will he actually fight against the troops he himself has called “the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:26)? Or will he break his promise to the Philistines, fight with the Israelites – and thus almost certainly sentence to death the wives and families of him and his men, who are in Philistine-controlled territory in Ziklag?

God rescues David from this dilemma, raising doubts about his loyalty in the minds of some Philistine commanders (1 Samuel 29:3-4). Protesting but undoubtedly relieved, David and his men return to Ziklag. Along the way, some key Israelite commanders, having deserted Saul, come over to David (1 Chronicles 12:19-22). All seems to be going well.

Upon arrival in Ziklag, however, David and his men find the city looted and burned, their wives and children taken captive. Some Amalekites, knowing that the Philistines were gathering to attack Israel, have taken advantage of the absence of the troops to raid the area. The very event David thought was avoided by his being sent away from the Philistines has come to pass. He and his men weep until they have “no more strength to weep” (1 Samuel 30:4).

As happens so often, the general sorrow turns to bitterness as the men look to punish the person responsible. They understandably blame David; a murmuring arises, saying that David must be stoned.

Here David faces the situation described above: He has ignored God, doing what he thought was in his interest. He has sinned. He has made errors of judgment. He is indeed to blame. What does he do?

David does what you and I must do in similar situations. He does what he should have done when he tired of fleeing from Saul. He “strengthens himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

How does he do this? He fights the fight of faith to believe that God is indeed sovereign, even over such events. He reminds himself of God’s promises to him personally and to his people. So he speaks to himself words like our Fighter Verses for this week:

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds his people,
from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 125:1-2)

The Lord surrounds His people – even when they have been disobedient. Those who trust in Him cannot be moved – even when there are consequences of their sin.

David strengthens himself in the Lord as he does in Psalm 57. He is in great distress:

My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts – the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. (Psalm 57:4)

But as he prays, he moves to exaltation in the sovereign love of God for him and for his people:

⁷ My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! ⁸ Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!  ⁹ I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.  ¹⁰ For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  ¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! (Psalm 57:7-11)

Strengthened in the Lord, David then inquires of God whether or not to pursue the raiders. Under God’s direction, he does so, and succeeds. He ascribes that victory completely to the Lord (1 Samuel 30:23).

This is the biblical response to our wrong decisions. By all means, confess sin and repent. But don’t be hamstrung by past sin. It would have been wrong for David to say, “Oh, my sin and errors of judgment led to this tragedy! Go ahead and stone me!”

No. Jesus has paid the penalty for all the sin of all who trust in Him. So trust! Remember God’s promises. Look to Christ. Pray without ceasing. And then step forward, by His power for His glory – as a forgiven sinner.

Peter summarizes this lesson for us marvelously:

Having prepared your minds for action by being completely sober, set your hope fully on the grace being brought to you by the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).

We are completely sober when we see ourselves through God’s eyes: We see our sins, and we see our status in Christ; we see our inadequacies, and we see the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us; we see how little we know and understand, and we trust that God gives wisdom to those who ask.

Through such sobriety, we are strengthened in the Lord, as was David. Then we are ready to act – completely in dependence on God’s grace, given to us in Christ, to be fully realized when He comes again.

So, my friends, consider again your present conflicts. Will you be completely sober? Will you strengthen yourself in the Lord? And so will you use the opportunity of this conflict to glorify God?

In a speech on the economy this week, President Obama quoted from Matthew 7, Jesus’ closing words in the Sermon on the Mount. A house built on sand falls when the storms come, but the house built on the rock stands. He used this picture to contend that we must build our economic house on a solid foundation. While those from different political ideologies will disagree about whether or not the president’s economic policies provide a solid or shaky foundation for future economic growth, all will agree that our economy needs to be built on rock, not on shifting sands.

But Jesus is talking about something much more important than the US economy. He’s talking about whether or not you enter the kingdom of heaven – that is, whether you rejoice with Him or you suffer apart from Him for all eternity.

Consider the verses immediately prior to Jesus’ story about the two houses:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23

There are many, says Jesus, who think they are His who are not; there are many who call out to Him, who pray to Him, who say, “Yes, Jesus is Lord,” who even seem to accomplish great things for Him – and yet He does not know them. He never has known them. They look like Christians. They call themselves Christians. Others think they are Christians. But on the Last Day, Jesus will say to them, “Depart from Me!”

What mark distinguishes those who enter the kingdom from those who do not?

This is the key criterion: Does Jesus know you? That is, are you in an intimate relationship with Him? Are you His family? Indeed, are you His bride?

Jesus says, “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life is not the endless extension of life as we know it. Nor is it an extension of this life, minus the pain. Eternal life is knowing God and being known by Him.

Furthermore, those in this intimate relationship with God will desire to do His will. They love Him, they live for Him, and so they will follow Him. Their greatest desire will be to show how great He is – just as the lover desires to proclaim the qualities of the beloved.

So the key question is: Do you love Him?

This brings us to Jesus’ story about the two houses:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27

Note that Jesus only says what the Father tells Him (John 12:49), so doing the will of the Father (verse 21) is the same as hearing Jesus’ words and doing them (verse 24).

Given our brief look at the preceding verses, consider these questions:

• What does the storm represent? Ultimately, the same Last Day Jesus was just talking about.
• What is the meaning behind the house standing or falling? Will you enter the kingdom of heaven or will you not?
• What determines whether our house stands or falls? Our response to Jesus’ words – that is, our response to the Father’s words. Do we love Him and thus seek to follow Him? Or do we hear Him and say, “Yes, Lord” – but then show that we don’t love Him – indeed, show that we don’t even know Him, and that He doesn’t know us – by acting contrary to God’s Word?

So the key point Jesus is making is this: Do you love Him, and thus agree with and submit to His Word? Or do you simply mouth words that appear to honor Him, but neglect to follow Him, and thus prove that you don’t love Him?

Remember what He says just in this sermon: We are to be poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3), knowing that we deserve God’s wrath; we are to mourn over our personal sin, and over the broader impact of sin in this world (Matthew 5:4); we are to be meek, not pursuing our selfish ambition, not trying to advance ourselves at others’ expense, but humbly serving God and others (Matthew 5:5); we are to hunger and thirst for the righteousness that only comes as a gift from God, that we can never achieve through our efforts (Matthew 5:6); we are to be merciful, knowing that we have been forgiven far, far more by God than we are called upon to forgive others (Matthew 5:7, 18:23-35); we are to be His light, His salt in this world, doing good works and letting others know that it is only by God’s grace that we do them (Matthew 5:14-16); we are to root out anger, and lust, and lying, and the desire for vengeance (Matthew 5:21-48); we are not to seek man’s approval but God’s (Matthew 6:1-18); we are not to set our hearts on earthly treasure but on heavenly treasure (Matthew 6:19-21).

We could go on and on. For Jesus here has summarized what loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength means – and the consequent implications of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. He thus shows each one of us how terribly short we fall of His perfection (Matthew 5:48) – and thus how desperately we need His grace and mercy, shown to us at the cross.

And that, ultimately, is our rock: The cross of Christ – the center of God’s eternal plan of redemption. Only there can we find God’s forgiveness for the multitude of our sins.

Have you built your house on that rock? Or are you relying on the shifting sands of a few good deeds here and there, some gifts in the offering box, and church attendance?

Whether the US economy comes out of this recession or sinks into depression is, in the end, of little importance. But whether your house is built on the rock or on the sand is of ultimate importance. Therefore, whenever you hear economic news, or arguments about economic policy, remember this story, and ask yourself: “Is my spiritual house built on the rock of the cross of Christ?”

Also, I encourage you to read or listen to an excellent sermon on the cross or the resurrection. I’ve compiled a list from various preachers at this link.

Why did Jesus have to die?

Tomorrow we remember the death of Jesus on the cross. There are many possible perspectives on this event: It was a tragedy, as an innocent man suffered horribly at the hand of His enemies; it is an example to us, as Jesus focused not on Himself but on others; it is a major event in world history, as Christianity was born at the cross.

But there have been millions and millions of innocent people put to death. There are other ways for God to give us good examples, and other important events in history. These perspectives don’t answer the question: Why did Jesus have to die?

The third chapter of Romans provides us with the threefold answer:

• Jesus had to die because man is thoroughly sinful;
• Jesus had to die because God desires to display His perfect justice;
• Jesus had to die because God desires to display His perfect love and mercy.

Paul underlines man’s sinfulness in verses 9-12:

For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

God created man and asked of Him only the joyful obedience that comes from trusting his Creator. Jesus summed up God’s requirements this way:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37, 39.

Yet no man from creation to today has fulfilled these commands – except Jesus Himself. The rest of us have turned aside, as Paul says; we do not do good, no matter how much we may try to justify ourselves; in our thoughts, in our attitudes, in our actions we have violated the purpose of our creation.

Just as a potter can take a cracked, deformed bowl and toss it in the trash, God would be perfectly just to relegate all of failed and disobedient mankind to His garbage dump. God could, in that way, display His perfect justice. That would be fair. All men would be treated equally. All would get what they deserve. You. Me. All of us.

Do you see what we are saying? Man is thoroughly sinful. God desires to display His perfect justice. Condemnation of all men seems to be the logical result.

But instead, God condemned one man: His own Son. The only man who had ever fulfilled God’s commandments. The only man who did not deserve to be condemned. And He did this in order to display His love and mercy in a way nothing else could.

Romans 3:20-26 explains all this. Let me quote the text, and then provide my paraphrase of this, perhaps the most important paragraph in the Bible:

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it– the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

(Paraphrase) No one can stand before God and say, “I am righteous,” on the basis of the way they live, on the basis of their living up to any standard. (And God didn’t provide us with His law for that purpose – Instead, he provided us with His law so that we might understand who He is and how far short of His perfection we fall.) Every one of us sins, every one of us fails to acknowledge who God is and to respond accordingly, every one of us violates the law of God. Thus we deserve God’s condemnation. Indeed, God would not be just, He would not be righteous, He would not be the perfect moral authority if he failed to condemn our sin. But God, instead of condemning us as we deserve, has offered us a way for sinners to receive the verdict “Righteous!” instead of the verdict “Condemned!” This way – foretold and pictured and hinted at in the Old Testament – does not depend on our living up to a set of rules or our doing some great deed. Here is the way: Believe in Jesus Christ. Quit trying to prove to God that you are worthy of His favor. Turn away from yourself and look to Him. The only way – the only way – any sinful human can receive the verdict “Righteous!” is as God’s gracious gift, through the payment made for our sin by the Messiah Jesus on the cross. God Himself sent His beloved Son for this twofold purpose: To display His perfect justice, in that every sin receives just punishment, and to display His mercy and love in declaring righteous all condemned sinners who believe in Jesus. This is our God: Supremely just and supremely loving.

Do you see? God is not satisfied with displaying His perfect justice through the condemnation of all men, guilty as we were. He also desires to display His mercy, grace, and love. He still must display His justice – and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). So Jesus had to die – it was the only way for God to display both His perfect justice and His perfect love, given man’s pervasive sinfulness.

• Jesus had to die – because you are a sinner.
• Jesus had to die – because God desires to display His perfect justice.
• Jesus had to die – because God – Praise Him! – desires to show the riches of His kindness to YOU!

Will you then quit trying to prove that you’re not a sinner? Will you quit trying to maintain that you are actually worthy of God’s favor? Will you look away from yourself and to Jesus, dying on the cross – to Jesus, risen and exalted?

He had to die – so that you might live. Marvel at His grace!

• Twenty-something young men who love, encourage, tease, laugh with, play soccer with, teach Sunday School to, and just generally enjoy the teen guys at church.
• Our precious Congolese teen girls, three sisters, here on a visit from Raleigh and the happy news that they are moving back.
• A Chinese man sitting at a table with an American man poring over Bible and sermon notes.
• An elderly African American couple, bulwarks of this little church, who have been away traveling and were back and receiving lots of hugs and warm “welcome home’s”.

Read the whole thing – and rejoice in our Savior whose death and resurrection free us from the sins that separate us, and unite us in one Body for His glory.

THAT’S EASTER Life to Death from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

THAT’S EASTER Death to Life from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

HT: Justin Taylor