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Servants of God

Introduction
This is the start of the Christian Education year. Sunday School starts today and AWANA begins on Wednesday. During this time, some people put a lot of effort into trying to find workers for these various programs. Why would they have the nerve to ask us to give up a number of hours each week for the sake of these programs?
For the next 8-10 months those who teach will put in a lot of time in preparing lessons and spending time with their students. Over the summer a number of you have been involved in various ministries at camp. Some of you have participated in mission projects and others are planning for mission projects in the future. A whole bunch of people served at the MCC sale yesterday. Why do we so willingly give ourselves to all these efforts? Wouldn’t it be a lot easier just to go to our job, come home, watch TV and engage in the recreation that we enjoy? Why give your time away?
The word that is used in the Bible to describe this kind of activity is the word “servanthood.” This morning, I would like to invite you to examine four passages in the Gospel of Matthew which help us think about what it means to be servants of God.
We will look at Matthew 20:17-28; 24:45-51; 25:14-30; 25:31-46.
I. Servanthood Is the Ethic of the Kingdom
During the Rosenort Festival, which by the way was a great time, they had a very unique activity called a “ping pong ball drop.” Some 500 or 600 ping pong balls were dropped from an airplane onto the field at the arena grounds. Children and adults were running all over the field trying to retrieve these balls. Each ball had a number on it and when you turned in the ball you received a prize. Everybody got a prize, most of them were nice but inexpensive prizes, but some of them were more valuable prizes. I suspect that everyone who was out there catching ping pong balls wanted to have one of the valuable prizes. This is our nature.
In about half an hour, we will sit down to a meal together. Sometimes when we do that, the tables are called up by number. Some will eat first and some will have to wait. Does anyone ever say, “I hope our table gets picked last?”
Brent McAtee has written, “I think that the main problem with the church in America is that in most American's "self" is on the throne.......and it is hard for Jesus to elevate His Name in His church when man is trying so hard to elevate himself.”
A. Jesus Taught Servanthood
Jesus has taught us a different way in Matthew 20:25-27. In this passage, the disciples had expressed a desire for position in the kingdom of Jesus. They expressed the normal way of thinking which most of us have. But Jesus taught them a different way of thinking. He introduced the ethic of servanthood. In contrast to the normal ethic in which those with position and power are to be honored, Jesus taught that those who serve are most to be honored. William Barclay said, “…service alone is the badge of greatness; greatness does not consist in commanding others to do things for us; greatness consists in doing things for others.”
B. Jesus Exemplified Servanthood
This is the ethic of God. When Jesus said this to the disciples, it was not the first time that servanthood was expressed. If we do a search of the word “servant” in the Bible, we find that there are many who have been identified as servants of the Lord. In Joshua 22:4 we read about “Moses the servant of the LORD.” In 1 Samuel 3:10 the response of Samuel to the voice of God was, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” David is identified in both the Old and the New Testament as God’s servant. We have many such examples in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament where Paul, for example, identifies himself in Romans 1:1 as, “a servant of Christ Jesus.”
But in this text we see the pinnacle of servanthood in the person and work of Jesus. When Jesus calls his disciples to servanthood, he does so on the basis of His own example. He says in Matthew 20:28, “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
C. The Ethic of the Kingdom
The call to servanthood among the followers of Jesus, based on the Biblical examples of servanthood and seen particularly in the powerful example of Jesus, tells us that servanthood is the ethic of the kingdom. This is the way for anyone who is a part of the kingdom of God to live and act. It may not be the ethic of Wall Street or the stadium, but it must be the ethic of all those who follow Jesus.
II. Servanthood Comes From a Servant Heart
What does this servanthood ethic look like?
A. Inward Motivation
One of the most powerful passages on servanthood is Matthew 25:31-46. This is the parable of the judgment which is coming at the end of time. At that time, all will be judged according to what they have done. Those who have served Jesus will be rewarded and those who refused to serve Jesus will be punished.
There is much in this passage to think about, but I just want to pick up on two ideas. One of those ideas is that those who are rewarded are surprised that they have been servants to Jesus. They ask, “When did we…?” This tells us something very important about serving God. The true servant of God does so out of an inner motivation that is so natural to them that they don’t even know that they are doing it. They are not serving for show. They are not serving to gain points so that they will be received into heaven. Rather, their hearts have been changed by the grace of God and they serve God from an inner motivation. Myron Augsburger says, “…it appears that the righteous answer is innocent surprise, as though they had been doing these things out of inner transformation of grace without being legalistically bound to do so.” William Barclay writes, “Those who helped did not think that they were helping Christ, and thus piling up eternal merit…It was the natural, instinctive, quite uncalculating reaction of the loving heart.”
B. Other Orientation
The other internal characteristic of servanthood which we see in this passage is that it is other oriented. The king answers the surprise of those who have served by saying, “whatever you did for…” Those who are truly servants of God and who serve God out of inner motivation do so because they are not thinking about themselves and what they can gain out of any particular action or work. They are thinking about the other person. They see a need. Perhaps they recognize that there are children who need to know the Word of God or they understand that another person needs a word of encouragement. They see disorganization and realize that they can help. They see the hungry and offer food. They aren’t thinking that they are heroes or that they are gaining all kinds of points for their good deeds. They are thinking about what the other person needs and out of this understanding, they serve.
Gary Inrig in his book “A Call to Excellence” tells the following story:
“A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody's Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.
Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world's only famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.
When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never knew by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant's heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.”
How do we develop such a servant attitude?
At the root of it is the willingness to deny ourselves. But the difficult question is, “how can we deny ourselves?” Such self denial, which Jesus exemplified and to which Jesus calls us is possible when we know that everything belongs to God and that we have received so much from God. God has given us life and forgiven us and given us eternal life. How blessed we are! When we know who we are in Christ, it isn’t hard to give of ourselves because we don’t belong to ourselves, we have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus.
III. Servanthood Is Exercised By Using What We Have
You would think that this understanding of blessing would naturally make us all people with servant hearts. But the Bible also reminds us that we are accountable to be servants. In the parable in Matthew 25:14-30, we are reminded of this accountability.
A. We Are Accountable FOR WHAT WE HAVE
The first lesson which we want to look at out of this parable is that each of us has been given something. The parable focuses on three servants and indicates that each of them received something. They did not all receive the same thing, but they all received something.
If we look at other passages in the Bible, particularly I Corinthians 12 we know that each person who is a follower of Christ has been given some gift. There are many different gifts and they are distributed for the good of the church. Some have more gifts and others fewer, but everyone has some gift.
One of the messages of this parable is that we will be held accountable for what we have. In other words, the person who has one talent will not be held accountable for five talents. God is not going to say, “What did you do with what I did not give you.”
This means that we need to be aware of what we do have. What have we been given? What are the resources we have from God? Since every believer has some gift, it is important to discover what it is that we will be held accountable for.
The question is not if we are called to serve, but where!
B. WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE For What We Have
Because the other message of this passage is that we will be held accountable for the way we have used what God has given us. The servant with five talents was rewarded because he used what he had been given. The servant with two talents was rewarded and blessed by the master because he used what he had been given. The servant who did nothing with the gift he had been given was condemned for his failure to use what he had. Myron Augsburger observes that the unfaithful servant – “was not interested in his Lord’s cause or advantage but rather in saving his own skin.”
Does it cost something to serve? Certainly it does. Is there risk and discomfort? Of course there is! But we cannot forget that we will be held accountable for the way in which we use the gifts we have been given.
IV. Servanthood Is Measured By Faithfulness
I heard someone this week say that, “There is no such thing as part time Christian service.” We are all fulltime servants of Christ. Therefore, we will be judged by how we continue in service to the end.
A. Jesus Taught Faithfulness
In Matthew 24:45-51 we hear the call to faithfulness.
One of the temptations of our work for God is that we sometimes forget that there is a final day coming. We get into the mindset that since Jesus return is delayed so long, we can invest more and more of our life in the present world. So we accumulate many things and we engage in many pleasures – none of them bad, but so many of them are only for this time and for this world. The call of this parable is a reminder that Jesus is coming back again and it will be a good thing if when He comes back, we are doing the work that He has called us to. Jesus has taught us that true servanthood is faithful servanthood.
B. Jesus Was Faithful
When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents lost him while they traveled home to Nazareth from Jerusalem. When they found him, he was in the temple debating with the religious leaders. When they expressed surprise at what he was doing and that he had stayed behind, he responded in Luke 2:49 that he had to be involved in the things of His Father. In other words, He was already aware that he was on a project for God and needed to be doing it.
One of the last words Jesus spoke while hanging on the cross, in John 19:30 were, “it is finished.” These two phrases are bookends to the purpose for which Jesus came to this world. Through temptation, through homelessness and wandering, through ridicule, being beaten and being crucified, Jesus was faithful in this task. From beginning to end, he stayed focused on the work which he had been given.
C. What Is Faithfulness?
From the teaching of Jesus and the example of Jesus, we learn that servanthood is characterized by faithfulness. Sometimes we get tired, sometimes we get discouraged and we wonder if there is really any value in the work. Sometimes we receive little support and no one really sees what we are doing. Perhaps our work is hidden; it requires continual effort and sometimes with no visible result. Yet if it comes from the servant heart which is given to us from God, then we will be faithful.
Wayne Manago identifies what faithfulness means. It means:
1). You can be counted on to do what is right.
2). You can be depended upon to do what is expected of you.
3). You can be counted upon to keep your word.
4). It means you can be counted on to fulfill your obligations and responsibilities even when no one checks up on you.
5). Bottom line—it is obedience to God and His word!
In his commentary on this passage, William Barclay includes a poem written by a slave.
“There’s a king and a captain high,
And he’s coming by and by,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
You can hear his legions charging in the regions of the sky,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
There’s a man they thrust aside,
Who was tortured till he died,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
He was hated and rejected,
He was scorned and crucified,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
When he comes! When he comes!
He’ll be crowned by saints and angels when he comes.
They’ll be shouting out Hosanna! To the man that men denied.
And I’ll kneel among my cotton when he comes.
Conclusion
This poem is a great expression of faithfulness, but it also alludes to the hope of all those who are servants of God and that is the eternal reward which we will receive.
In three of the passages we have looked at there is a promise of reward. Matthew 24:47 says, “I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” Matthew 25:28 says, “Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.” Matthew 25:34 says, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”
Last week we examined the church and that God loves the church and has promised, “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” We thought about how the church is going to exist into all eternity. We agreed that if we really want to invest in something of eternal value, we should give ourselves in service to God and His church.
Servanthood is the ethic of the Kingdom of God. It is the natural response of those whose hearts have been changed by Jesus and is focused on those in need instead of on self. Servants of God recognize the resources they have received from God and use them to bring glory to God and they continue in faithfulness. Such service will be rewarded.
How do we respond to the ethic of servanthood? Perhaps we have become filled with self. Is it time to repent and give our hearts back to our Savior? Perhaps we have been stingy in giving our time. Is it time to be generous to the one who has been so generous to us? Is it time to say yes to those who have asked us to serve? Perhaps we have become discouraged in our service. It is time to commit ourselves to faithfulness in hope of the eternal reward we will receive.
May our Lord find us serving when He comes back!

The Future of Our Church

Introduction

A while ago there was a lot on the news about an IKEA store coming to Winnipeg. As I saw what they were planning and the size of the investment in buildings and also in city infrastructure, I was thinking that it was a huge risk and a huge investment without any guarantee of success. How do we know that the store will make it? I know that some of you hope so, but we also know that there are large stores and even malls that have been leveled because they couldn’t make it. What was the name of the mall on the west end of Portage Avenue in Winnipeg? The only way that we will know that it succeeds is if after it is built there are lots of customers.

The church of Jesus Christ is in a much better position! Investing in the church of Jesus is also a risk and involves a huge investment. It is vulnerable in so many ways. The church could be destroyed by persecution and other enemies from without. It could be destroyed by affluence and apathy or other enemies from within. How do we know it will succeed? About this there is no doubt. We know that the church will succeed! God has promised that His work will not return empty. But as we contemplate that promise, we might well ask, “what about our church?” We know that the church of Jesus Christ will succeed, but we don’t know whether or not our church will continue to grow and be healthy.

This morning, I would like to invite you to look at a number of Scripture passages which encourage us with the assurance of God’s promise that His church will succeed and a number of other passages which show us the conditions under which our church can be a part of that promised victory. Our primary focus today will be on two passages – Matthew 16:13-18 and Revelation 2, 3.

I. God Will Build His Church

In both of these passages we have the great promise of God that His church will prevail!

A. Founded on Jesus

One day when Jesus was walking along with his disciples in the remote region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They were able to answer because they had been listening to what people were saying. Everyone agreed that Jesus was someone special. Some thought that he was John the Baptist come back to life. Others thought he was Elijah who had been one of the greatest prophets and miracle workers in their history. Others thought he was Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. They all recognized something unique in him.

When he asked them the same question it was Peter who answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus affirmed this answer and acknowledged that it did not come from human understanding, but from a revelation of God. He further indicated that the church would be built upon the confession which Peter made, as the first one to recognize who Jesus really was.

The confession of Jesus as Lord is the foundation of the church. With this confession we understand that Jesus is the one who has earned the highest position in all creation by his willingness to die and by the power demonstrated in His resurrection. What a solid foundation! Jesus is the one sent from God, the Son of God and the one who died and rose.

Anyone who has been involved in building knows that a solid foundation is critical and if the foundation is solid, the building will stand against anything. The foundation of the church is Jesus and that foundation is solid.

B. I Will Build My Church!

On that foundation Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

The gates of Hades is a reference to death and the power of evil. Jesus was saying that death would not overcome the project in which he was engaged. Death has stopped many projects, but death could not stop God’s project. When Jesus died, that was not the end. Resurrection demonstrated this power of God in Jesus Christ and because of that we have the confidence that the project of Jesus, to build His church, will not be overcome ever. If death could not overcome Jesus, there is nothing which will defeat the building of His church. What a guarantee! What a promise!

This promise has been powerfully fulfilled already in human history. The persecution of Nero, the evil violence of Stalin and the restrictions of Mao have not been able to stop the growth of the church of Jesus Christ.

William Barclay says, “…this phrase triumphantly expresses the indestructibility of Christ and His church.”

C. Christ among the Churches

Similar promises are also given in Revelation 2, 3. In some ways Revelation expands on this promise. In these chapters we have letters from God written to seven churches in Asia Minor. Each message to these seven churches has a similar pattern and part of the pattern is a word of introduction from the one who speaks to them, from Jesus Himself.

If we look at the words used to describe Jesus we see once again the amazing truths which give us assurance that since the church is founded on Jesus Christ, it has a solid foundation.

Please turn to this passage in your Bibles and look at some of these statements. In 2:7 we read of the one who has the authority to “give the right to eat from the tree of life…” This is a reference to what happened in the Garden of Eden when because of sin Adam and Eve were removed from the garden and an angel guarded the tree of life so that no one would be able to eat from it and live forever in their sin. Jesus, however, has made eternal life a possibility and He is the one who can give that eternal life to all who come to Him. In 2:8 we read that He is “the First and the Last.” This same verse reminds us that Jesus is the one “who died and came to life again.” We see something of the authority of Jesus in the phrase in 2:12 which speaks of “him who has the sharp, double edged sword.” There are many other phrases including the powerful expression in 3:7 which speaks of “…him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens, no one can shut; and what he shuts, no one can open.” We see in these expressions all kinds of truths which remind us of the power, position and authority which Jesus has as the head of the church.

This Jesus who has such authority and power cares about the church and is most concerned for the building of the church. Revelation 2:1 encourages us that Jesus “walks among” the churches. And as He walks among the churches, we hear another comforting word when we read the repeated phrase, “I know.” Jesus knows what is going on in each church. Jesus knows what is going on in our church. But even more encouraging is the phrase in Revelation 3:9 which tells us the attitude with which Jesus knows what is happening in the church. It assures us, “I have loved you.”

The image which presents itself to us in Revelation 2, 3 is a practical illustration of the fulfillment of the promise, “I will build my church.” It is one of the most important truths that any Christian should know. The church is God’s project. The church is the bride of Christ. The church is His special love and He will do all that He can to build His church and we have the assurance that He will succeed. When all of history is over, the United Nations will not exist, the International Monetary Fund will not be needed, but the church of Jesus Christ will judge the nations and will rejoice in the great banquet which has been promised and will exist for all eternity in the presence of God.

Any person making investments is always looking for those investments which have the best chance of success. You can’t have any better promise of success than the church. Therefore, we are encouraged to give our lives for the building of the church.

II. Will God Build Our Church?

The first church in which I was pastor was called Neighborhood Life Group. We met across from the railway station in The Pas, Manitoba. That congregation does not exist anymore. Where is the promise which we have just looked at? If God says “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” why do we hear about church closures?

I think we understand that although the church of Jesus Christ will never be overcome, individual churches might be overcome. What about our church?

A. Warnings!

Both of the passages we are looking at today mention that there is an enemy of the church. Matthew speaks of the “Gates of Hades” and Satan is mentioned five times in these two chapters in Revelation. The promise of God is very clear that that enemy will not succeed in overcoming the church, but, what about individual churches? What about our church?

It is possible for an individual church to fail.

Several times in Revelation 2, 3 we hear such a warning. To the church in Ephesus the Spirit says in Revelation 2:5, “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” David Ewert says, “There is something ominous about this threat. It implies that no church is secure. When the lamp of love stops burning, there may still be a church building, but the church has ceased to exist, her lamp stand removed.”

A similar warning is given to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:16, which says, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

These are very scary statements. They show that although the church of Jesus Christ will not fail, individual churches may be in jeopardy. They warn us that we cannot rest on our history; we cannot rest on our wealth or our supposed faithfulness. It means that we must remain vigilant.

B. Causes

It should cause us to reflect very seriously on the possibility that our church may be in danger. It should cause us to ask what the conditions are which could result in a church being removed or being spit out of God’s mouth. In the messages to the seven churches we can very easily and quickly discover what kind of churches are in danger of failure.

In looking at what causes the failure of a church, it is interesting to see what does not cause failure. We note that persecution does not cause failure and we note that poverty does not cause failure. The church in Smyrna is one of the two churches which are not seriously warned. In 2:9 we read that this church was experiencing persecution and was also living in poverty. Although they were encouraged to be faithful, it is clear that the persecution and the poverty were not current dangers to imminent failure. What then are the dangers which could cause a church to fail? What we discover are four warnings in these chapters.

1. Absence of Love

The church in Ephesus was in danger because, as Revelation 2:4 says, “you have forsaken your first love.” As we read this warning, we need to read it in the context of all the good things that this church was doing. They were a hard working church. They persevered under difficult situations. They hated “wicked men” and were against false teachers. These sound like good things, but the warning is so severe that for failure at this one point God was ready to remove the church from its place! Therefore we need to think carefully about what it means to lose our first love and to examine our church to see if perhaps we have also lost our first love.

Some suggest that the love spoken of here is love of the believers for one another. Others suggest that it is love for God that is meant. Beasley Murray, who believes that it refers to love of the believers for one another says, “Where love for God wanes, love for man diminishes, and where love for man is soured, love for God degenerates into religious formalism…” This is a point well taken. Is it really possible that if we do not love one another we are in danger of failure as a church?

I have always understood it to refer to love for God. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he indicated that the first was to love God and the second was to love others. There is no doubt that the two must be connected and both must be active, but in this context it seems that love for God is intended because of the mention of the “first” love.

It is possible for a church to get very busy in the work of the church, but to do so out of duty rather than out of a deep love for God. It is possible for a church to have a very clear orthodoxy, but desire truth for its own sake rather than because of a love for God. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between churches that have activity and orthodoxy without love and those that have these things out of love, but eventually it shows.

How do we know if we have that first love? David Ewert says that this, “…should not be read to mean that Christians should try to retain the feelings that accompanied that initial experience of committing their lives to Christ.” Moffat helps us by suggesting that “the way to regain this warmth of affection is neither by working up spasmodic emotion nor by theorizing about it…but by doing its duties.” These comments help us understand that love for God does not need to be the love of a newly married couple, but can be the love of a couple who have been married for a long time. Such love is characterized by faithfulness, commitment, passion, accompaniment and peace. Do we have such love for God in this church?

2. Absence of Truth

The second thing which could cause church failure is false teaching. The church in Pergamum was warned, in Revelation 2:14, “You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam.” They are also warned in Revelation 2:15 about those “who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” We don’t know exactly what these teachings were, but the warning against false teachers is worth thinking about.

What does it take to be certain that we are not in danger because of false teaching? There are three things which we need in order to avoid the danger of the absence of truth. We need to listen to the voice of the Spirit. When the church in Acts had a debate about theological truth, they came to the end of that debate by being able to conclude, “…it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” They watched what God was doing, they listened to what the Spirit was saying and they were able to discern the truth by that. We also need to wisely and carefully discern the Word of God. II Timothy 2:15 speaks about one who “correctly handles the word of truth.” We need to be careful that we do not use the Bible as a proof text for our ideas, but rather that we carefully listen to what the whole Bible is saying. We need to respect the Word of God as exactly that, the Word of God. Another way in which we can discern what is false is in conversations in the church. One of the great strengths we have as Anabaptists is the commitment to interpreting the Bible in community. May we learn to do that interpretation well, wisely and with grace just like the early church did in Acts 15.

Once again as we recognize that false teaching may be a danger for the church, we need to ask about our church, “how are we doing?”

3. Absence of Holiness

The third warning comes from the word to the church in Thyatira which was being influenced by someone whom the author calls “Jezebel.” This is likely a reference to the evil queen of Israel in the Old Testament who led the people into all kinds of immorality. The Spirit warns this church, “…she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”

Holiness means single minded purity. Idolatry is unholy because it divides the mind between worshipping God and worshipping idols. Sexual immorality is unholy because it divides human relationships. There are other things which could be described as the absence of holiness. Any church which is not walking in the holiness appropriate to a church which belongs to God is in danger. David Ewert says, “…if the church compromises with the world to the point where there is little difference between the church and the world, it can no longer exercise a saving influence on its culture.”

You may have seen the cartoon in the last issue of The Messenger. That is the kind of thing that we need to be careful of.

Is there holiness in our church body or are we in danger?

4. Absence of Life

The last two churches which are warned are the church in Sardis and the church in Laodicea. It seems to me that in both of these churches, which are very severely warned, the problem, although expressed in different ways is very similar. The church in Sardis is warned in Revelation 3:1, “you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” The church in Laodicea is warned in Revelation 3:15, “…you are lukewarm.” Many have suggested that cold means spiritually cold and hot means spiritually hot, but it is hard to imagine that God would prefer someone being spiritual cold to being spiritually lukewarm. A better interpretation is to understand that cold water is good and hot water is good, but lukewarm, tepid water is not good. The freshness of spiritual vitality and the zeal of spiritual passion are what God seeks, not the meaningless spiritual life which is careless and empty.

What both of these images suggest is the danger of the absence of life. Ewert says, “There were works, but they were empty shells, routine duties without spirit.” Beasley Murray says, “The Laodiceans do not reject the gospel of Christ, nor do they affirm it with joy. They maintain it without conviction, without enthusiasm, without reflection on its implications for life.” The spiritual life of any church cannot and must not be lived out of the strength of human power or desire or the pleasure of human company. The church which will stand is the church in which the life of God is present. If the life of God is not desired and not present that church soon becomes lukewarm and eventually dies.

Conclusion

These are serious warnings written to the churches. I have wondered and don’t know the answer to the question, “where are these specific churches today?” That would be a matter to satisfy our curiosity but we have a much more important matter to attend to. We need to look at our own church and ask the Spirit what He would say to our church. Would the Spirit indicate that there is an absence of love, an absence of truth, an absence of holiness or an absence of life in this congregation? Do we really want to know? Do we have the courage to ask the Spirit these questions? Do we even have the courage to ask one another these questions?

The situation, however, is not hopeless even if we find that we are in danger. The path to life is through repentance and in Revelation 2:5; 2:16; 2:21; 2:22; 3:3; 3:19 such a call is given. To repent is to agree with God. It is to say, “Yes, there is an absence of love, truth, holiness or life in our church.” Repentance is no glib matter. It requires serious reflection, firm agreement with God and determined commitment to change direction.

Marva Dawn says, “His call to repentance is a sign of His continuing grace and constant opportunity to be restored in relationship with Him.” “The Spirit keeps talking with us and inviting us to hear Christ. Repentance cleans out our ears!”

The Spirit says in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

The Joy of the Lord

Introduction

You know the routine. Relatives have come from afar and it is time for a family picnic. Of course everyone wants pictures of the event and so the cameras come out and somebody takes charge and lines everybody up and then a few people begin to take turns with a whole tableful of cameras. With each picture the command comes, “Everybody smile!” Mostly that works, but when you get back home and look at the pictures you have taken, you notice some people with “pasted on” smiles on their faces. They just are not able to smile on command and it looks like it.

Have you ever felt that the command in Scripture which says, “Rejoice in the Lord” is like that? Does it feel like you are being told to put on an act for the camera, or for the rest of the church? You are supposed to have joy, but you don’t feel joy. How can God tell us to rejoice, when there is so little reason sometimes to rejoice? What is the joy of the Lord and how does it function in our lives?

I. What Is The Joy Of The Lord?

A. The Joy of the Lord

This summer I have had the opportunity on numerous occasions to attend concerts at Assiniboine Park. As some of you know, I really enjoy jazz and Winnipeg has some great jazz musicians who have performed at the Lyric. When I have attended these concerts, on a beautiful summer evening, with people whose company I enjoy, listening to the beautiful sounds made by very skilled musicians, I am happy. I can hardly keep my feet from moving. I truly enjoy it. Of course life can’t always be great concerts in the park.

When the Bible talks about the joy of the Lord, is it talking about the feeling and experience I have at the concerts in the park? I think we all know that that is not what the joy of the Lord is. When Philippians 4:16 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” we know that we do not always have those kind of feelings.

What then is the joy of the Lord?

As we look at Scripture we find some shocking things that are said about the joy of the Lord.

In 2 Corinthians 8:2, Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to fulfill their promise to take up a collection for the Jerusalem churches. In order to encourage their generosity, he points to the generosity of the churches in Macedonia and he says a most unusual thing. He says, “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” Please notice that these churches were experiencing “severe trial” and that they also lived in “extreme poverty.” However, they still were filled with an “overflowing joy.” They did not have the conditions of a concert in the park. They had great difficulty but still had great joy. How do you explain that? What does that say about what joy is?

One of the most powerful verses about joy in the Bible is Habakkuk 3:17-18. Habakkuk has just found out, by a revelation from God that his nation is going to be destroyed. The book of Habakkuk begins with a question by the prophet. He asks, “Why are your people so wicked and why do they seem to be getting away with it?” God answers him by saying, “I am aware of the wickedness of my people and I am going to punish them by bringing an evil nation against them to destroy them.” Habakkuk is shocked by this answer and wonders how God could allow a nation even more wicked than Israel to be the instrument of God’s punishment. God answers him again and by the end of the book, Habakkuk has heard something from God that allows him to say, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” That also is not the joy of a concert in the park, yet it exists in the most difficult circumstances and is present in the worst possible conditions. How do you explain that? What does that say about what joy is? What is joy? Let me suggest a definition and then explain it out of Scripture.

Joy is: A peace filled confidence about life because of the character, acts and promises of God.

B. Reasons for Joy

This is not about feelings, but it is about a choice we must make each day. Why can we make this choice?

1. Who God Is

A moment ago I mentioned that Habakkuk heard something from God so that he was able to “rejoice in the Lord” even in the midst of complete crop failure and an absolute disaster in the livestock industry. What had he heard from God that allowed him to rejoice in those situations?

Habakkuk 3:19 is a partial answer to that question when he says, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.” Also in Habakkuk 2:20, God had said, “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”

What allows us to have a peace filled confidence about life is the character of God. These verses tell us that He is “the sovereign Lord” and that “the Lord is in His holy temple.”

When you take swimming lessons one of the things they teach is how to throw a buoy to a person who is struggling in the water. When I learned, I was taught to put my foot on one end of the rope then to gather up the rest of the rope and throw the buoy to the person and pull them in. They very specifically told us that if we did not step on the rope, it could very likely happen that the rope would go out with the buoy and we would have no rope with which to pull the person back in. Sometimes it feels like we are being tossed by the great waves of the sea and even if we might have a buoy to hold on to, no one has the other end of the rope and no one is able to help us. These verses assure us that God has the end of the rope and will never let go.

When we examine Scripture, we have declaration after declaration and story after story that tells us of the character of God. He is love, He is kind, He is holy, He is just, He is powerful, He is wise and the list goes on. When we know these things about God, we have reason to be filled with joy at all times.

2. What God Has Done

If God is like that, then there should be all kinds of experiences of God actually acting on behalf of His people to help them, and indeed there are. A second reason we can live in joy is because of all that God has done.

This idea is expressed in Psalm 28:7 where we read, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” This verse has an interesting order to it. The foundational confidence of the Psalmist is in the character of God when he says, “The Lord is my strength and shield.” The writer makes a decision about that truth, declaring “my heart trusts in him.” As he trusts in God, he has an experience of God’s acts. He says, “I am helped.” Because he has thus experienced God’s help, he has joy and declares, “My heart leaps for joy.” Joy is possible because he has experienced God’s gracious acts.

Isaiah also had a similar experience of God acting. He writes in Isaiah 61:10, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” In this verse the writer explains why he is able to have joy in the Lord. The reason is because of what God has done. Using beautiful poetic language, he explains that God has given him salvation.

Which acts of God do you recall?

I think about how God never lets go. Even when Adam and Eve sinned, God promised to restore His people. Even when things got so bad that He had to destroy the world in the flood, God promised to restore His people. Even when Noah and his descendents sinned, God still promised to save them. When Israel rejected God, when the Pharisees rejected Jesus, God continued to work out His plan of salvation in order to redeem His people and forgive their sins and give them eternal life. I rejoice in God because of these great acts.

We attended Faith Works on Thursday because our daughter was leading the worship in song. She sang a song which is a song about her life. It speaks about brokenness and emptiness, but also about how God guides and holds on in love. When I heard that I was rejoicing at what God has done in her life!

I think about the times when He has restored my soul, when He has provided wisdom and direction, when he has shown a path through a difficult situation, when He has protected and provided in ways that were beyond the bare necessities. As we meditate on the acts of God, we are encouraged and have reason to rejoice in Him.

The past acts of God assure us of His interest in us and give us reason to rejoice.

3. What God Promises

But joy also comes from the promises of God in which we can put our hope.

Isaiah 12:1-3 says, “In that day you will say: ‘I will praise you, O Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.’ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

This message was spoken at a time when Israel was in the deepest darkness. The prophets were warning of devastation to come. Enemy nations were threatening and things were looking pretty grim. But the prophets also spoke of hope. In this passage, Isaiah speaks about what will happen “in that day.” He promises that “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” These were not present realities for the nation of God at that time; they were the promises of God which pertained to a future day. We can rejoice because the promises of God are certain.

Similar thoughts are expressed in Isaiah 35:1-4, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” What a great promise to know that “God will come!”

When we are dragged down to discouragement and even depression because of our circumstances, it is hard to rejoice, even in the sense which I mentioned. We question the presence and care of God. But as we remind ourselves of the promises of God, which are as certain as the loving character of God, we can put our hope in those promises and find joy even in difficult time.

C. The Results of Joy

So, Joy is: A peace filled confidence about life because of the character, acts and promises of God.

What will happen if such joy is a part of our life?

After the Babylonian exile the Jews returned to the land. Under Ezra, they rebuilt the temple and under Nehemiah, they rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem. When the walls were finished, they returned to live in their own villages. After a time, Nehemiah called them together in Jerusalem. They set up a platform and with the people gathered around; Ezra began to read the Scriptures. They had not heard the Scriptures read for a long time and the ideas were new to them. The people listened attentively and the priests explained the meaning of the Scripture to them. As they listened they began to weep because they realized that they had not kept the law and that they had been disobedient to God.

But Ezra and the priests and scribes told them that they should not weep. They indicated that this was a day sacred to the Lord. It was not a day for weeping, but it was a day for rejoicing. In Nehemiah 8:10, we read the words of Nehemiah, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” He was saying to them that this was a day of great spiritual renewal and so should not be a day to weep. Rather, it should be a day to rejoice. What is interesting is the phrase, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

The word for strength can also be translated, refuge. If joy is our choice, then it is able to give us the strength to face all things. We are secure in the refuge of joy because it protects us from the debilitating effects of discouragement and depression. We are secure in the refuge of joy because it gives us strength to choose to follow God. When joy is our choice, we are able to interpret life with the knowledge of the presence and guidance of God. How important it is to choose joy! What strength for all of life!

II. How Do We Rejoice In The Lord?

So then, since joy is not a feeling, but a choice to have a peace filled confidence about life because of the character, acts and promises of God, it means that we can choose to obey this command. Forcing yourself to feel a certain way is deceptive and psychologically dangerous. Choosing to trust is a spiritual exercise of obedience. And that is what it means when Scripture commands us to rejoice. There are many verses which speak about joy in this sense. Among them, Philippians 4:4 which says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” We are called to make joy in the Lord a constant choice. How do we obey this command?

A. In Humility and Trust

In the story about Israel in the day of Nehemiah, which we just looked at, it might be well to ask, “Why was a day when their hearts felt like crying, to be a day of rejoicing?”

What was happening that day? As the Scripture was being read, a great dread came over the people. They realized, deep in their hearts that they had sinned against God. The whole picture suddenly became clear to them. They had a long history of disobedience, which had resulted in the destruction of their nation, first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians. Their city and their temple had been destroyed all because of their sin. The nation had just spent 70 years in exile in Babylon. Now, they had returned to the land and they had rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem and they were beginning to settle into the land once again. As the Scripture was being read, they realized that they were currently engaging in some of the same sins which had gotten them exiled in the first place. They were overcome by a deep and profound realization of how desperate they were. Their hearts were overwhelmed with guilt and sorrow and fear.

Why was that a day to rejoice in the Lord? The answer to that question teaches us an important thing about how we can obey the command to rejoice in the Lord. The answer is that this was a day of renewal. It was a day when they realized their own weakness, sin and helplessness and turned to the Lord. The weeping was appropriate because it showed that they had come to the end of their own self centeredness and had turned to God. The rejoicing was appropriate because they had, in humility turned to God and found in God one who would forgive and restore and bring them to life.

We can obey the command to rejoice in the Lord when we humble ourselves and turn to God. There is great rejoicing there because that is where we find that God restores and strengthens and provides. Humility and trust are the keys to obeying the command to rejoice in the Lord.

James R. Davis in a message on this text writes, “The joy of the Lord becomes our strength as we realize that we can only come to God from where we are. As they stand there with their lives in shambles they are mourning over their sins. They were not told "I told you so" or "you should have known better" or "look what a mess your life is in" or "the next time you had better do better." But they are told ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks . . . This day is sacred to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength’...It was the joy of the Lord that made this such a sacred day. God had deliberately led them to this moment in time...The Israelites were returning to God on this special day...The mourning of joy comes when we realize that we have put our lives together wrong and begin to discover God's instructions on how to take our lives apart and rebuild them.”

Paul made this same discovery in 2 Corinthians 12:8, 9 where he writes, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Paul desired God’s healing and asked for it, but instead was offered the strength of God’s grace. He humbled himself and accepted that answer and discovered joy in the Lord. To boast in weakness, is to rejoice that in our weakness we are able to experience the power of God in our lives. To humble ourselves is the path to joy.

B. With Thankfulness and Praise

We will also be able to obey this command through thankfulness and praise.

Thankfulness is a response to what God has done. Psalm 28:7 says, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” In this Psalm there is a connection between thankfulness and joy. Thankfulness is based upon awareness. It is not blind thankfulness or forced thankfulness. Rather it is keeping our eyes opened to see what God is doing and has done and responding with declared gratitude. When we choose to give thanks, we choose to rejoice.

We also obey this command in praise. Praise is a response to who God is. This also is a choice to open our eyes to who God is and to what He has done and promised. When we see who God is in all of these ways and respond in praise, we choose to rejoice. Notice how in Psalm 104:33-34 singing, praising and rejoicing are expressions of the same thing, a response to God. There we read, “I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord.”

Conclusion

Joy is: A peace filled confidence about life because of the character, acts and promises of God.

There was a pretty severe thunderstorm in Winnipeg one day this week. Our son was telling us that in the middle of the night their two little boys were frightened by the storm and came to sleep in their parent’s bed. It wasn’t long before the boys were asleep again because they were secure in the presence of their parents. That kind of peace is the posture we take in the presence of our Father when we choose to rejoice.

So I would encourage all of us to rejoice in the Lord and discover that the joy of the Lord is our strength.