In this short video (Episode 14), I speak to the issue of brokenness. Why? Well, during the holidays, the message that most people wish to project is that all is well, that their families are paragons of glee, that all’s right with the world.
But if we are honest, we know better. All of our families are touched by brokenness.
Maybe it’s due to divorce, or death, or separation, or rebellion, or lies and deceit. The list could go on.
Therefore, I hope you find encouragement herein. Share with a loved one, with someone you’re trying to reach, or just enjoy it yourself.
Introduction: This morning, I was in Romans 8 as part of my reading. Romans 8 is one of those chapters that is often quoted. To be more precise, one verse of Romans 8 is often quoted. It is, of course, Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” That’s a line packed with solace and encouragement for believers. But verses are to be read in their proper context. Paul didn’t just plop that one line down in sacred Scripture devoid of context.
The Big Picture: The big picture of Romans 8 hinges on the work of God the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians. That life is contrasted with the lives of unbelievers who are, by definition, devoid of the Holy Spirit. As Paul writes earlier in the same chapter, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:6-8).
The Holy Spirit in Context: Like countless believers throughout the history of the Christian faith, I, too, love Romans 8. But the context is crucial if we’re to have an accurate hermeneutic, an accurate understanding of what is being taught. This is so vital when it comes to our prayer lives. Have you ever struggled to pray? Asked another way, have you struggled to articulate your heart’s cry properly? Here’s why I ask: the underlying assumption in this text is that even Paul struggled in this area. Why do I say that? Let us listen to Paul’s words again from Romans 8: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27).
Encouragement/takeaway: Over the next few days, families will gather across the table, will perhaps see the people most precious to them. But there will also likely be loneliness and emptiness felt over the holidays, too. For the Christian, he has God the Holy Spirit that is interceding for him. If there’s an empty chair at the table, if there’s a family ripped apart by divorce, if there’s been a death, hospitalization, or incarceration, etc. you may struggle to articulate what’s deep within your soul. But God is with you if you’re a believer. “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18). It can be so easy to say “Happy Thanksgiving,” but yet have sadness deep in your spirit, but let us remember the context of Romans 8 and what Paul was teaching: the believer is not alone and God the Holy Spirit intercedes for us to the God who came to seek and to save, even and especially when we cannot express what we so viscerally feel.
For over a year now, I have labored to teach the saints verse-by-verse through Matthew’s gospel. I don’t know how many times I’ve read through Matthew at this point, but it’s a lot. But the cliche remains true: you never know a subject until you can teach it well.
I don’t know that I’ve done well, but I’ve come to an appreciation for this gospel unlike I’d had years prior. Because I’m a fast reader, I can go through books somewhat quickly. But there’s a lurking danger when one does that, especially with Scripture. For me, at least, I am learning to slow down and read slowly. Meditatively. Read>pause>reflect>read again, etc.
Below is a short video where I try to summarize some of the “big rocks” and takeaways I’ve come away with over these many months in this wonderful gospel. I hope it is helpful for someone out there in interweb land.
Introduction: For over a year now, I have taught line-by-line through the gospel of Matthew’s 28 chapters. This Sunday, Lord willing, we’ll complete our study. What are some big takeaways from these many days, and weeks, and months of study in Matthew? I’ve chosen to crystallize the main themes down to the following:
Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises
The gospel is both outward-focused/missional and inward-focused/discipleship/depth
Truth divides believers from unbelievers
God knows all things and all people through and through; there is no hiding from God
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the hinge of history
Those who have ears to hear will hear (grace); those who refuse to hear receive justice. No one receives injustice. It’s grace or justice, but never injustice from God
As I’m working through the last parts of Matthew 27 and the brief Matthew 28, it all comes full circle:
Jesus has fulfilled his mission in precise, specific detail.
Jesus commands Christians to go both outward via missions and inward via depth and discipleship.
Believers are known by their fruit (they remain in Christ and among Christ’s people); unbelievers depart, just as Scripture teaches (1 John 2:19-21).
Christ is shown always and everywhere to be sovereign in knowledge and power. He knew who’d betray him; he knew Peter would have a horrible night replete with three denials; Christ knew he’d rise from the dead three days after his betrayal, crucifixion, and burial. He promised it would all happen and it did–in precise detail.
Jesus has received all authority because he rose from the dead. If one rises from the dead, he’s God’s warrant.
Many, many people believe the gospel and are saved. And many refuse to believe and receive justice (Mt 7:21-23).
Encouragement/takeaway: I’m excited about teaching Sunday because it’s the greatest possible good news there is. Paul said it is the good news (εὐαγγέλιον) of “first importance” (1 Cor 15:3). That’s why believers gather together in homes and halls, schools and assemblies, congregations and gatherings across the planet, week in and week out. It’s of “first importance,” this truth of redemption.
Bottom line up front: Thankfulness Only Makes Sense If There’s a Benefactor
Introduction: Does anyone else remember these words: “God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands, we are fed. Give us, Lord, our daily bread. Amen”? Now is the season in American culture where we’re entering the week before Thanksgiving. Lots of homilies will be preached; lots of lessons will flow outward; lots of talks about “the attitude of gratitude,” etc. will abound. Those are appropriate and fitting. But in what worldview? Only if there’s a sovereign Benefactor from whom all blessings flow.
That’s what the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, meant when he penned these familiar words: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:17-18).
The Alternative: The alternative is that we’re just cosmic dust—soulless, pointless, and to quote a famous song of yesteryear, “dust in the wind.” If all we are is dust in the wind, Thanksgiving doesn’t make much sense, does it? If we’re just molecules in motion, gratitude is a meaningless term.
Encouragement: In the biblical worldview, however, Thanksgiving makes perfect sense. Why? Because mankind is not mere cosmic dust. In fact, all people everywhere, from conception to natural death, are created in the image of God (imago Dei). God is our Benefactor. To quote James, He “brought us forth.” In God, “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). As the Lord Jesus taught in Matthew 10:31, “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Thanksgiving makes perfect sense in the biblical worldview because the harvests we reap are due to the grace of God. The fact of seedtime and harvest is due to the grace of God. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). Thanksgiving makes perfect sense because we’re designed to acknowledge the One who provides it all, the means by which we can demonstrate gratitude, and the message of thankfulness for God’s grace towards us in the revelation of Himself and His salvation.
Introduction: I was camped out in Ecclesiastes 9. Solomon writes the following:
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.
The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good (Eccl 9:13-17).
Observations: We observe several fundamental images in Solomon’s words:
a vulnerable city
a powerful and devouring king
a wise man whose wisdom is used for deliverance
the abandonment of wisdom
the persistence of fools depsite the offer of wisdom
It reminded me of “The Fool On the Hill,” one of my favorites ditties from the Beatles.
Day after day, alone on a hill The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still But nobody wants to know him, they can see that he’s just a fool And he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head see the world spinning around
Well on the way, head in a cloud The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud But nobody ever hears him or the sound he appears to make And he never seems to notice
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head see the world spinning ’round And nobody seems to like him, they can tell what he wants to do And he never shows his feelings
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head see the world spinning ’round (oh oh oh) ‘Round and ’round and ’round and ’round and ’round
And he never listens to them, he knows that they’re the fools They don’t like him The fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head see the world spinning ’round
I went back and watched the video of the Fab Four and Paul singing this beautiful piano-laden melody with Paul grinning his impish little grin into the camera’s eye. So clever, wise even–how much wisdom is sown in a ditty for all who will hear.
Scripture’s Connective Tissue: I went back and again read Solomon’s words in the verses above from Ecclesiastes 9. The lessons were as clear as those from McCartney in “The Fool On the Hill,” namely, that wisdom is good but it is often suppressed, even when God has sent his truth-tellers into our midst.
The text says in verse 16 that “the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.” He’s treated like the subject in “The Fool on the Hill.”
In Matthew 12:42, Jesus said, “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
The wisdom, he said, was God’s wisdom. Jesus was delivering God’s wisdom. It was superior to Solomon’s wisdom or any man’s wisdom. Why? Because it was God’s wisdom, God’s revelation.
And if that’s not clear enough, it’s emphasized again in the letters. Paul writes, “And because of him[Christ] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” (1 Cor 1:30).
Takeaway: The fool on the hill in the Beatles tune saw the lay of the land, but few people listened. Solomon taught the same thing in Ecclesiastes, namely, that the wise man is occasionally consulted but, more often than not, discarded, so that the real agenda can continue, an agenda shot through with folly. And Christ and Paul taught the same thing, too, that Christ is the wisdom of God, and that if we are wise, we are wise only insofar as we follow him.
Bottom line up front: “The end depends upon the beginning.” Not necessarily.
Introduction: One of my all-time favorite movies is The Emperor’s Club. Why? Well, it strikes a lot of my bells. Mr. Hundert is a classics teacher. He’s steeped in Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Sophocles, Homer, Shakespeare, Dickens, and more. He loves teaching. He loves the best ideas of history. He loves precise language. He’s the stereotype of an old-school English/classics teacher.
And Mr. Hundert teaches his heart out–to young men, young men filled with ambition. A question pervading the film is, How will the students use and employ that ambition? Will they do it with honor? Will they turn out to be good men? Or will they turn out to be evil men? Will they grow to live lives of integrity? Will Mr. Hundert’s labors bear any fruit via the lives of his students as they go on to make a mark with their lives?
Kevin Kline is the actor who portrays Mr. Hundert. And one of the lines I remember as if etched upon my skeleton is this: “The end depends upon the beginning.”
Scripture’s Connecting Tissue: In Paul’s second letter to the saints of Corinth, he writes, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:4-5).
That’s strong language, is it not? Warfare, divine power, destroying strongholds, destroying arguments, and taking thoughts captive. That’s about as militaristic as you can get linguistically.
Teaching: But here’s the great irony. In The Emperor’s Club, the issue is integrity and honor, and how our beginning shapes and/or determines our ends. Does the beginning determine our end? Thanks to God, no; not necessarily. Paul’s beginning and early life were consumed by Judaism, law observance, spiritual pride, legalism, and putting Christians to death. But God. Christ gripped him and redeemed him. And Paul was utterly changed, redeemed, ransomed, and equipped to be the Christian church’s greatest evangelist, discipler, missionary, church planter, pastor, and theologian. Saul of Tarsus became the apostle Paul. His beginning did not determine his end. His end did not depend upon his beginning. Why? Because of God’s grace towards him.
Encouragement:I think I am going to see if I can stream The Emperor’s Club tonight in order to watch it again, to be reminded that sometimes folks turn out worse than we’d hoped, sometimes better than we’d believed, and sometimes, thanks to God, they turn out as vessels of redemption. Because of the gospel, we don’t have to be determined by our beginnings. We can overcome them via the gospel. And the ends are so much greater. We see that God uses even our crooked timber to build straight lines. And we can go back and thank the Mr. Hunderts of the world for sowing seeds of wisdom even when we were unwilling or stubborn recipients.
Introduction: Sunday, I had a long drive to speak at a church in my state. The location was near where I grew up. It’s in the farm belt section of our state, where there are more rows of peanut fields than there are apartment complexes and subdivisions. After I exited from I-75 south to take secondary state highways to the town, that 1.5 hours on those country roads fired my heart’s language. In the early morning, the sunlight fell like a benediction upon the fields—some fallow, some with cotton, some with tobacco, some with sorghum, some with corn that had been harvested. Deer were abundant, as were the turkeys. Tall pine plantations lined the highways at several stretches. At other places, hardwood bottoms held that mystery and beauty that pulls my soul’s strings like few other visions. I don’t miss the gnats, but I do miss the rural sights and sounds and scents and simplicity. Down there, the hustle of Atlanta’s aggressive drivers seems a world away, and the only gunshots one hears are one’s own because you’re an outdoorsman, or because your neighbors harvested venison that afternoon.
I preached the homily at the church, enjoyed fellowship with the saints, spoke to elders and deacons and saints of shared memories of fun times in the region. It was so good to be back–to feel again that pace of country life and country ways with country people. My spiritual cup overflowed.
As I packed up my POV to make the 4-hour drive back to north GA, I had lots of windshield time to think and reminisce. The section from 2 Corinthians 9 came to my mind: “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6). Now that I’m the older guy, I look back on the soil in which I was reared. Little country churches like that played a huge part in shaping my identity, my love of rural things, rural ways. And in this season of Thanksgiving, scores of faces washed across my imagination, of men and women who sowed seeds into my life. And Paul’s words were so viscerally true. Many, many seemingly small people were hugely impactful people. How? By sowing bountifully into a shy, introverted little boy in south GA decades ago, a boy who loved the land, the country ways, and the way the sun’s rays throw golden lances over alfalfa fields.
Encouragement: We never know the impact we might have upon people—sometimes years and years from now. That is, the ripples may not be visible for sometimes great spans of time, but they’ll eventually show. May they be ripples of blessing and gratitude for the seeds precious people sowed in loving ways, but ways that came forth as benediction.
MIND & MATTERS 