Sovereignty, Responsibility, and Boldness

(This sermon on Acts 4:23-31was preached 11/9/08. The audio is available here.)

Imagine that you are engaged in a personal ministry. You are confident that you are following God, and it seems that you are having some success. Then, suddenly, there’s a huge obstacle in your path,

  • It might be a failure on your part,
  • It might be a rejection or betrayal by former colleagues,
  • It might be a financial barrier,
  • It might be opposition, or threats from others.

How do you respond?

In Acts 4, that’s the situation Peter and John and all the apostles find themselves in.

Jesus was killed just a few months ago. That itself had seemed to be the end of their hopes. But God raised Him from dead. Jesus opened their eyes to Scripture and to His own prophecies to see that the crucifixion had to happen, to see the role of Christ’s suffering in God’s plan. The apostles now know that Jesus is living, active, still at work.

He then sent the Holy Spirit on them with power at Pentecost, baptizing them and filling them for their special task. These apostles saw three thousand saved that day – and they themselves baptized every one. They’ve seen more come to faith day by day.

Then God worked through Peter and John to heal a man who was lame from birth. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached; once again, thousands more were saved.

It would be understandable if, at this point, the apostles thought, “Wow! Look at God work! What success! Everything is just going to get better and better!”

But things didn’t get better and better.

As we saw last week, the Jewish authorities arrest Peter and John. They threaten them, warning them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. Peter speaks boldly in their presence, saying there is no other name by which men must be saved, saying that they cannot but speak about what they have seen and heard, saying they must obey God rather than men. But the Jewish authorities just threaten all the more. They release Peter and John, but make their point absolutely clear: “If you continue to speak in the name of Jesus, watch out. We’re here. You know what happened to Jesus. If you love your families, if you want to see your children grow up, you had better keep quiet.”

This is the first serious challenge to the young church.

Put yourself in their shoes: These are not supermen. They have families, worries, and cares. If they are put to death, there are no food stamps, there is no welfare, there is no social security for their children. They must be facing a strong temptation to be quiet. Satan undoubtedly tempted them in these terms: “Think about how many are already saved! Let’s just teach them. Let’s just live together and enjoy each other, be family to each other. We can stop this proselytizing. For it’s this speaking in public that will get us in trouble. Indeed, maybe this is a sign from God –we’ve been spreading the Gospel, and we’ve had our success. Now maybe we’re supposed to stop and focus on deepening our joy in Christ.”

Imagine what would have happened if apostles had done that. That would have been the end of the church. Or, possibly, the church would have been a tiny enclave, a minor sect within Judaism. In other words, that would have been disastrous.

So how do the apostles fight this temptation? How can we, facing our own obstacles, fight the temptation to quit, to change, to adapt in ways that destroy our ministry?

Peter and John fight in four ways that are applicable to us:

  • Acknowledge your weakness
  • Know the truth
  • Trust the truth
  • Ask for God’s enabling (more…)

Prayer and Mission

The mission statement of this church is: “We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.” How can we be used by God to fulfill such a huge mission?

Isaiah 55:6-7 answers the question:

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Fred and I believe this is a clear call for Desiring God Community Church in 2009: Seek the Lord! Call upon Him! God invites us to do so, saying whoever seeks, finds!

But seeking Him means more than saying, “God, help me!” Note what the prophet says MUST accompany our seeking the Lord: Forsaking our wicked ways and wrong thoughts, repenting and returning to the Lord. We all need this regular examination of our own hearts, this regular turning to God, this taking account of where we are before Him. (more…)

A Prayer for the Inauguration

[President-elect Obama has asked Pastor Rick Warren to pray at his inauguration. Dan Phillips at the pyromaniacs blog asked several well-known pastors and theologians to let him know if they would pray at this setting if asked and, if so, what they would say.  The first (really excellent) response is from John Frame; the second is from our friend Thabiti Anyabwile. Dan did not ask me(!), but here is my prayer for the inauguration.  For a version of this prayer that is easier to print, follow this link. – Coty]

Faithful Creator, Holy Sovereign, Righteous Father:

To you belong all power and all might. You raise up rulers on this earth, and you bring them down. You enable governments to flourish, and you remove them from the face of the earth.

Although we knew this, we have turned away from You, the fountain of living water, and have sought to quench our thirst from our own stagnant, broken cisterns. We have looked away from Your glory and have delighted in our own. Though You have showered us with blessings and have shown us Yourself in all we see, we have suppressed our knowledge of You and pretended that we control our own destiny.

Yet despite our sinfulness, in Your mercy over the last two centuries You have granted this country increasing prosperity and unequaled power. You have blessed us with liberty and, with all our faults, have allowed us to stand as a worldwide symbol of freedom. You are healing, as pictured in part by the election of this president, much of the prejudice that once bound us. Though we deserve Your judgment, You have maintained and sustained this government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Through the prayers of many, You have provided widespread confidence in our electoral system – so that those who voted for and against our new president can share this stage. We thank You once again for this peaceful transition of power.

Our world today faces numerous difficulties that will test this man deeply. So we ask that you give to President Obama a heart that fears You and trembles at Your Word. In this way grant him wisdom to discern the right choices, and strength of character to stand firm when those choices are questioned. Yet together with that strength, grant him humility of spirit to consider others more highly than himself. Protect him from the arrogance that so often comes with power. Give him faithful friends and advisers who will love him enough to reprove him and rebuke him. Prepare him for the unexpected challenges ahead – challenges that You alone know are coming.

Though we pray for our president, we know that ultimately, You alone are the answer to our problems. So we ask You to work in the lives of our brothers and sisters who have lost jobs, who have lost homes, who have lost loved ones, who suffer from oppression and poverty. Use even these tragedies for their good through Your great wisdom. We ask for strength and endurance for our sons and daughters fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for those fighting AIDS and malaria in Africa – but we ask all the more for the light of Your Gospel to shine in these dark places, ending these wars and overcoming these diseases. We pray similarly for perseverance for those serving the homeless in our cities, and those working with migrant laborers in our farms – and ask that there too, and in every place of pain and suffering, the love and mercy found only through Your Son might be declared verbally and lived out practically.

Thank you, O Lord, for Your undeserved mercy on this people. Bring us to repentance, O Lord. Open our eyes to our sinfulness and to Your great power to save. Enable us to call upon the mercy found only in Your Son. Forgive us by His blood, for You are the God of grace.

To you is due all glory, all praise, and all honor.

In the Name of Jesus I pray,

Amen.


What Do You Pray For?

Last week, we considered the crazy idea of fasting in 2009, looking at John Piper’s summary of some topics to pray for while fasting. This week, consider more generally what topics we should pray for.

What do you normally pray for? What topics do you focus on more than others?

For many of us, the bulk of our prayers concern three topics:

  1. health for ourselves and those we know and love
  2. guidance and direction in school, careers, and love life
  3. wisdom in dealing with problems in our families, our workplaces, our schools, and our churches.

Now, we should pray for these topics. There are numerous biblical examples of prayers on these themes (see, for example, Genesis 20:7, James 1:5, James 5:13-16, and Jeremiah 42:1-3). Indeed, we should pray for anything that is potentially worrying (Philippians 4:6-7).

But while these three themes are biblical, they constitute only a tiny portion of the prayers offered in the Bible. I encourage you to look at some of the great prayers in the Bible, and then use some of that language as your own as you pray. Then look at some of the themes prayed about at various other points in Scripture, and include those themes in your prayers this week.

To help you in that regard, I list below some of the important Biblical prayers, followed by a list of themes. Neither list is nearly comprehensive; in particular, nearly every psalm is a prayer, and I haven’t referred to that book at all. But if you spend some time contemplating these themes and prayers, you will enrich your prayers – and you will be that much more effective and productive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your joy in Him will grow, to His glory.

So pray on these themes – and let others know the impact on you. (more…)

How Do I Respond to God?

In the sermon text for this coming Sunday, God says that missionaries will bring “all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD” (Isaiah 66:20 NAS). In this context, the grain offering is a particularly powerful symbol. Unfortunately, I doubt that I will have time to bring out the rich imagery of this offering on Sunday. So here is an excerpt from a sermon I preached ten years ago on this offering. You can see the entire sermon – about twice as long – here. May we present ourselves – all of ourselves – as this type of offering, holy and acceptable to God – Coty

How should we respond to God’s love? The grain offering described in Leviticus 2 pictures our proper response beautifully.

In this offering, God shows us that we should respond to His love by offering our entire lives back to him. And He shows that a life holy and acceptable to God is not the result of our naturally sweet disposition; there should be no self-glorification, no pride in our status before God. Instead, a life offered to God needs to be characterized by prayer, infused with the Holy Spirit, and based on the promises of God

This is the picture of the grain offering. Let’s look at now in greater detail. (more…)

Responding to Natural Disasters

On May 2, Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, leaving tens of thousands dead. Many more lost their homes and all their possessions. Today survivors remain in grave danger in the absence of shelter, clean water, and food.

Ten days later, a huge earthquake shook Sichuan Province in China, again leaving tens of thousands dead and many more homeless. In addition to lack of clean water and exposure to the elements, the aftereffects of the quake continue to threaten residents; dozens of would-be rescuers have died as buildings collapsed around them.

Yesterday morning, an aircraft laden with relief supplies worth over a million dollars took off from the Charlotte airport, bound for China. The supplies, purchased by donations to Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, include material for temporary shelters, water filtration systems, blankets, and medical supplies. I had the privilege of attending a gathering of local pastors prior to takeoff. I encourage you to give to these efforts, as we have done.

Why? Some might say, “Many, many others around the world give to help those who have suffered from natural disasters. Christians are the only ones who will give to spread the Gospel. Therefore, all our efforts should focus on the Gospel.”

What is wrong with this argument? (more…)

What is Your Task?

What has God called you to do? What should be the aim of your life?

  • Not to have an easy life: As Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Luke 9:23-24).
  • Not to amass earthly wealth: As Paul says, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim 6:9).

Surely one aim of your life should be to become holy, to be sanctified, to become like Christ: “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

But while our sanctification, our becoming like Christ, begins with change inside us by the power of the Spirit, it does not end there. For as Paul says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

What are these good works? (more…)