"God Listens! God Listens!"

Are you listening?

We get asked that question a lot don’t we?

That’s what our high school teachers ask us when we’re nodding off in class. That’s what our boss asks us when we’re looking glazy eyed during that Monday team meeting. That’s what your wife asks you when she’s trying to tell you about her day and you – shoes off and beer in hand – have clearly tuned out to watch the game instead.

We’re often asked, “Are you listening?”  

But it’s not just a question we’re asked: it’s a question we ask, too.

That’s what you ask your doctors when you’re trying to tell them what’s wrong, but they don’t seem to understand. That’s what you parents ask your kids when their eyes are glued to their screens. And yes, it’s even the question we ask Alexa when we originally asked, “Alexa, turn on living room lights” and she responds, “Okay, playing ‘Living on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi”. We often ask, “Are you listening?”

Listening is a major theme in the first few chapters of 1 Samuel – including the section of 1 Samuel that’s before us today. And in chapter 3, we’re introduced to one character who is asked the question, “Are you listening?” And that is the question God, the Divine Questioner, asks of you and me today.

So, are you listening?

They Weren’t Listening

Our story picks up in the 11th century B.C. We’re at the end of the era of the Judges in Israel’s history, a time of significant moral and spiritual decline among the Israelites, “Where everyone did as he saw fit.”

This moral, spiritual decline was even evident among the priesthood who served at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phineas, two men who also served alongside their father as priests, had an M.O. of stealing from the offerings the people brought to the LORD; not only that, they were widely known as the priests who slept with women who came to the Tabernacle to worship. Just a chapter later, Hophni and Phineas would rip the ark of the covenant from the Tabernacle and parade it superstitiously into battle like a good luck charm.

And Eli? Their father? While his eyes certainly were bad, his ears seemed to work just fine.

He heard about how his sons abused their position as priest to rob the people who came to worship. He heard all about his sons’ sexual exploits. Yet, the Bible gives indication that their behavior wasn’t news to Eli. He knew. In fact, chapter 2 gives the impression that not just Eli’s sons, but Eli as well joined in “getting fat” off the choice portions of meat that his sons were skimming from every sacrifice – the portions that were supposed to go to the LORD.

Eli failed to train up his children in the LORD. He neglected to discipline them and they, in turn, ran all over him. That these two sons presided over worship to the LORD didn’t mean they were listening to what God was saying. Clearly, they weren’t.

So, go figure, when the spiritual leaders of Israel didn’t care about God’s Word and worshipping him, the people followed their lead and tuned out.

And, as a result of their contempt for God’s written, recorded Word, we’re told in the first verse of chapter 3 that the special, unique, direct, prophetic communication from God to people was rare.

That such immediate, prophetic communication from God was rare wasn’t because God ungraciously nor arbitrarily had turned off the tap of communication – as it was because the people didn’t care about what God had to say.

They weren’t listening.

“Speak, LORD; Your Servant Is Listening”

But oddly juxtaposed next to these faithless priests is young Samuel.

According to the Jewish historian, Josephus, Samuel was around 12 years old at this time. But we’re not sure; conceivably, the Hebrew word used to describe his youthfulness could mean he was as old as 17. What we do know is that Samuel was young. And ever since he was a child, he ministered before the LORD under the supervision of Eli. Since childhood, Samuel had served in Shiloh as a priest in training.

And like a faithful priest, Samuel didn’t miss a single custodial duty before he turned in for the night.

He closed the doors of the courtyard; he made sure the lampstand in the Holy Place had trimmed wicks and enough oil to burn throughout the night – just as the priests were instructed by God to do.

Samuel then headed to the outer courtyard to his shelter to call it a day. And that’s when the LORD called him. “Samuel! Samuel!”

God calls to him three times; each time, Samuel thinks it’s Eli who’s calling him, and each time, Samuel reports to Eli, “Here I am; you called me.”

Of course, Eli hadn’t; but Eli knew who had.

“Go and lie down” he told him, “and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’”

And that’s exactly what Samuel did. He ran back to his shelter and waited. This time, however, we’re told the LORD came and stood there when he called out a fourth time, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel, just as he was told, says, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

God Still Speaks

Wouldn’t that be awesome if God spoke to us?

Wouldn’t it be awesome if God stood before us night and day and poured out his heart to us?

Well, guess what? He does. In God’s Word.

The Bible.

39 books in the Old Testament. 27 in the New.

From the opening words in Genesis to the closing words of Revelation, there your God speaks to you.

No, God’s Word doesn’t work like some magic eight ball you shake when you want to know what kind of car you should buy or what profession you should pursue; after all, our relationship with God is far more personal than that.

No, God doesn’t talk to us immediately as he did to Samuel, but he talks to us nevertheless – though intermediately – through his Word. There, in God’s Word, he pours out his wisdom to us who desperately need it to navigate life. There, in His Word, he gives us timeless, guiding principles to inform our decisions so they are good and God-pleasing.

There, in His Word, our God teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains us – so we are fully equipped for the vocational callings he has prepared for us.

So, are you listening?

Are You Listening?

If we’re honest, there’s a temptation to see this – God’s written Word – as something less than what Samuel experienced. And so, we look at this book and think, “What good could come from reading this?”

We neglect reading it devotionally with our kids.

We neglect to meditate on it with our spouse – let alone by ourselves.

We’re literally living at a time when there are no shortages of ways for us to consume God’s Word. We can attend Bible studies from our living room couch! Worship services are on demand and can be watched again and again wherever you are, whenever you want!

And yet, even then, we still find ways to say, “My schedule is too busy.”

We know, as Christians, we are equally called to share the good news of eternal life in Jesus – actively and intentionally with those around us. And instead, we’ll hoard it or hide it from them – clutching it like pearls, but pearls we seldom wear.

Our sinful nature sees God’s Word, and busily devises ways to devalue it.

And while our Bibles sit unopened on shelves collecting dust, we, like trees, begin to feel parched and withered.

Those existential questions God graciously answers in and through his Word now are staring back at us again - questions of meaning, value, good and evil, purpose, origin, identity, and destiny – and we’re left speechless. We scratch our heads trying to make heads or tails of what is going on in our lives and in our broken, fallen world.

But instead of going back to sound answers in God’s Word, we run to Google.

We pour over horoscopes.

We get more excited opening a fortune cookie than a Bible.

We put stock in karma, thinking that, if I just do the right amount of good, then good things will happen in my life.

We cross our fingers and “wish upon a star” instead of taking God up on his offer to come to him in prayer.

We look to haphazard online personality tests to tell us we’re uniquely and wonderfully made, when God has already told us as much in his Word!

We derive self-worth from how many likes we got on our profile picture – all the while, our maker and Creator reminds us in his Word he’s the only one who knows how many hairs are on our head.

In seasons of worry, fear, and doubt, we ask what or why of God. And when it seems to us like we’re getting nothing but silence, we ask, “God, are you even listening?”

But maybe the problem isn’t that God’s not listening to us. Maybe the problem is, we aren’t listening to him.

“God Listens! God Listens!”

Do you know what the name Samuel means?

It means “Heard by God”.

In chapter 1, we’re introduced to Hannah, a woman who, after years and years of infertility, prays - with eyes full of tears - that God would listen to her and give her just one son.

And God did hear her cries, and he, in his grace, did give her a son! God listened to her! And, as she vowed, she gave that son right back to the LORD – but not before she gave him the name Samuel – because God heard her. Every year she would go up to Shiloh and see her growing son, she’d be reminded that the LORD, the God of the promise, was a God who hears.

That God, dear Christians, hears you, too – when you’re hurt, scared, weary, or frightened. Your God is a great listener!

But the LORD, the God of the promise, doesn’t just listen; he acts.

As God hears the dialogue unfold between Eve and Satan in the Garden of Eden, God had already devised the rescue plan. God would send a greater son than Samuel – a greater prophet, priest, and king.

That greater someone was the Son of God: Jesus.

Even young Samuel knew that sin required a blood sacrifice to be removed. Forgiveness required the shedding of blood. So, Jesus, our Great High Priest, would spill his blood on a cross for us to wipe away all of our guilt and shame and, in exchange, give us his perfection. God would die to give us life!  

But the real miracle isn’t that God hears us and listens.

The real miracle is that we hear God and listen.

And that miracle – the creation of saving faith in us – is something our gracious God had to work in our hearts through his Word! We did not choose him; he chose us!

As Paul writes, “For God who said, “Let the light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” The same Word of God that spoke the heavens and earth into being is the same Word that spoke faith into our hearts. The same Incarnate Word of God who spoke life into a man four-days-dead is the same God who speaks life into us – who were born spiritually dead!

Don’t wonder if your God is listening to you: he is.

And you don’t have to take my word for it. God says so himself!

God’s Word isn’t some mere compilation of stories where God talks to other people.

You were part of God’s intended audience!

Here in God’s Word, this is how God talks to you. Not later, but today!

God’s Word is powerful and effective! Because there, in God’s Word, God is present.

God stands before you in his Word – be it written, spoken, or personified in the person of Jesus. Here our God pours out his heart and unfolds his amazing story of the great lengths he would go to rescue you – because he loves you. Here God tells you exactly who he is. A God who listens.

May that God, through his Word, work in our hearts a daily response like that of Samuel’s. “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”

Who Would Catch a Grenade For You?

They were nearing the end of one of the most violent deployments they could remember.

It was September of 2006 – right in the thick of the Iraq War. Navy SEAL Team 3 had been tasked with liberating the Iraqi city of Ramadi – which was under the control of Al Qaeda insurgents. One of the soldiers of SEAL Team 3 was Michael Monsoor. He was assigned to a mission called Operation Kentucky Jumper. Monsoor, along with two other soldiers on a nearby rooftop, was to provide sniper cover for a ground unit clearing an insurgent stronghold.

During an intense firefight later that afternoon, an Al Qaeda soldier lobs a single grenade at the SEAL’s sniper position on the roof. The grenade bounced off Michael’s chest and fell at his feet – easily within killing distance of all three soldiers. Michael shouts “Grenade!” drops to the ground, and shields and smothers the blast with his body. He died – diving on a grenade to save his friends.

Such stories of self-sacrifice are rare. That’s why they make the headlines. That’s why soldiers are posthumously given the Purple Heart or the Medal of Honor. It was no different at the time of the Apostle Paul. He writes in Romans 5, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die” (Romans 5:7).

So, what’s Paul getting at? So, stories like Michael Monsoor diving on a grenade to save his buddies are rare. But what does that have to do with me? How is the rarity of such self-sacrificial heroism remotely connected to our universal need for real hope, real peace, and real comfort when we are suffering in our lives? Isn’t that what Paul was talking about just a moment ago? Why we can (and should) rejoice in our sufferings? So, what’s the connection?

When we we’re told these courageous, rare stories of self-sacrifice, there are two questions that always come to mind: 1) Would I do that for someone else? and 2) Would someone else do that for me? And the answer to that second question – Would someone die for me? – is intimately connected to why we can (and why we should) rejoice – even when we, as Christians, are enduring tremendous suffering.

So, who in your life would catch a grenade for you?

Would I Die For Someone Else?

You don’t have to be a Navy SEAL to see such real, rare, inspiring stories of self-sacrifice for the sake of saving others. I think of the 33-year-old mother from Missouri who died pushing her daughter out of the way of an oncoming vehicle. I think of the teachers from Sandy Hook Elementary School who turned themselves into human shields to protect their students from gunfire.

These stories are incredibly inspiring, but incredibly rare.

But what if the details of those heroic stories were turned inside out?

What if – instead of dying to save her daughter – that Missouri mother died to save the person who nearly killed her daughter?

Or what if a teacher from Sandy Hook died to save the school shooter?

What if Michael Monsoor had dived on a grenade to save – not his friends – but his enemies?

That changes the story quite a bit, doesn’t it? I mean, if stories of self-sacrifice for the sake of loved ones or those you’re obligated to protect are rare, how much more incredibly rare are stories where the hero dies for someone they aren’t obligated to protect – someone who isn’t their friend, but their enemy! “Well, of course such stories would be extremely rare!” you might be thinking. “Why would anyone die for their enemy?”

Well, would you?

Maybe you’d be willing to lay down your life for a good person – someone upright and upstanding in the eyes of our community – someone society deems deserving of such self-sacrifice; chances are, you’re significantly more willing to lay down your life for someone who is of tremendous benefit and blessing to you – like your friends or family.

But what about for someone who hates you – someone you’d consider your enemy? Would you die to save them?

Maybe you don’t feel comfortable answering that question.

Or, maybe you have no problem saying “No, I wouldn’t.” The very thought of laying down your life for your enemy scandalizes you. “I would never die for them! Don’t you know what they’ve said to me? What they’ve done to me? They don’t deserve to be saved! They deserve to die!” 

But what if that enemy was you?

What if you were the one who didn’t deserve to be saved?

Would Someone Else Die For Me?

“Why wouldn’t I deserve to be saved? I’m a good person! I mow my neighbor’s lawn and shovel my neighbor’s walk! I drive an electric car and drink only out of paper straws! I’m generous! I volunteer! I try to go to church regularly! Why wouldn’t I be worth saving? Why wouldn’t I be worth dying for?”

And in the eyes of the world, maybe you are. But maybe you aren’t. Maybe you’ve done your fair share of not so good stuff – and your dirty laundry is well known to the world around you. Maybe your rearview mirror reflects road rage and burned bridges. Maybe far more people than you’d care to admit would call you their enemy. And when you hear stories where the good guy dies to save someone else, you wonder, “Is there anyone in my life who would do that for someone as broken and messed up as me?”

The best of our good and righteous acts might be enough for the world to see and award us the title of “good” or “righteous” – and thereby deserving of their deliverance. But what about in the eyes of God?

Paul answers that question for us.

He tells us that we were powerless to save ourselves. We can kid ourselves all we want – but we aren’t strong enough to undo death; we aren’t strong enough to solve the problem of evil; we aren’t strong enough to put this broken, sinful, dying world back together.

Apart from divine intervention, we are spiritually lifeless. Already at birth, we were sinners – and we still are sinners. We’ve all inherited a hostile sinful nature that doesn’t submit to God’s will – nor can it do so. It hungers to do the exact opposite of what God says is good and right. Bluntly put, we weren’t born God’s friends: we were born God’s enemies. And before a perfectly good and righteous God, I – by myself – could stand neither good nor righteous before him.

I don’t have to imagine “What if I was the enemy who didn’t deserve to be saved?”

That was me.

That was you, too.

And yet, in God’s loving eyes, you were worth saving – but not because of you: you were worth saving in spite of you! How is that not more inspiring?

Jesus Caught A Grenade For You

Isn’t that the whole premise of that one Bruno Mars song – coincidentally called Grenade?

In that song, Bruno Mars catalogues his relationship with a woman who clearly doesn’t love him back.

“Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash; You tossed it in the trash, yes you did; To give me all your love is all I ever ask; ‘Cause what you don’t understand is – I’d catch a grenade for you; Throw my hand on a blade for you; I’d jump in front of a train for you; You know I’d do anything for you.”

He would “go through all this pain and take a bullet straight to [his] brain”, he sings. And, at first listen, you’re thinking, “Man, Bruno, that girl is bad news for you! She’s not worth the trouble. She’s not worth your love. She’s not worth dying for.”

But isn’t that the whole point of the song? He’s underscoring his undying love and commitment to someone who operates like his enemy! He would go through hell to save her – even if she only hated him in return.

In his eyes, she was worth saving not because of her, but because of his love for her in spite of her!

How that song pitifully pales in comparison to the love your God has for you!

And he didn’t just sing about diving on a grenade for you: he actually did.

When God’s holy Law drew its crosshairs on us, Jesus stepped in the line of fire.

When the grenade of God’s wrath should have blown us to oblivion, our God and Savior Jesus dove on that grenade – shielding and smothering the blast with his blameless body!

On the cross, God demonstrates his real, personal love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Jesus didn’t die for me because I was a “good person” or because I was his benefactor – as if he needed me. He didn’t! And yet, there, on Calvary, we see the glory of God’s amazing love shown in self-sacrifice! Your God literally went through hell to save you!

By his perfect blood shed on the cross, Jesus has objectively reconciled you to God! You, brothers and sisters in Christ, have peace right now with God forever!

Your God is Going to Get You Home

So, what’s the connection between the incredibly rare, incredibly inspirational self-sacrifice of Jesus for us and Paul’s encouragement that we, as Christians, can (and should) rejoice in our sufferings?

If you and I, in Christ, have peace with God right now – then I don’t need to wonder if God is punishing me when I’m suffering – because he’s not: Jesus has endured that punishment in our place. If the peace we have with God isn’t a peace that’s contingent on my performance or how peaceful I might feel, but a peace that’s anchored in the blood of Jesus – then of course the hope we have in God is unassailable! If our God, out of his amazing love for us, died for us while we were not his friends, how much more we can confidently expect him to continually and presently work all things for our eternal good – as his redeemed children? If Jesus went through suffering, death, and hell to win heaven for you, and that same Jesus – through his Word – created life in your heart and brought you to faith, we can be confident that he will bring that good work to completion – carrying us through our hurt and heartache – and take us home to be with him in heaven?

How is the rarity of such self-sacrificial heroism remotely connected to our universal need for real hope, real peace, and real comfort when we are suffering in our lives? Because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! God would work tremendous good from the tremendous evil of Good Friday – and not just for you and me, but for the entire world!

Would you expect God’s instrument of supremely expressing his love for us to be the cross? That he would bleed out and die to save you? No more than we would expect someone to die for the ungodly! And yet, that’s exactly what our loving God did!

And if your God and Savior loved you when you were his enemy, why would he stop loving you when you’re his child?

If your God would catch a grenade for you, you can bet he’s going to get you home.

Heart Rescue

Jon Taffer is an American entrepreneur and a consultant within the food and beverage industry – specializing in pubs, bars, and nightclubs.

He’s also the TV personality behind the reality show called Bar Rescue - where Taffer dives into dying, failing bars in an attempt to save them.

In every episode, he not only systematically highlights everywhere these bars have gone wrong, but he also strategically shows them a way out – giving them professional guidance on remodeling and rebranding their business in order to save them from shutting down.

If you have ever seen the show, these bars undeniably needed rescuing.

One bar, for example had kitchen staff who weren’t properly sanitizing their hands – handling cooked food immediately after handling raw meat. They had bartenders pouring beer from kegs that were a year expired. They served fried mushrooms with bits of dirt on them. They served salsa that was bubbling with bacteria. Grease was caked all over the kitchen. The deep fryers had not been thoroughly cleaned in years. Slabs of raw chicken sat unrefrigerated on countertops. And the walk-in freezer was covered with toxic black mold. The place was a health-code nightmare.

Jon Taffer’s reaction? The same as every episode: sincere, zealous, unbridled rage.

I’m sure you can understand why. Walk-in freezers full of black mold and unrefrigerated raw meat isn’t simply poor business protocol: it’s a serious health code violation. If left unchecked, it’s not just their bar that could get buried – but people. Customers and staff could get sick and die.

These bar employees were living in a deadly fantasy – and it was Jon Taffer’s job to bring them back to reality – to snap them out of their delusion and show them where they had gone terribly wrong – before it’s too late.

But the premise of Bar Rescue is nothing new. In fact, in today’s episode from the book of Acts, the apostle Paul embarks on a similar rescue mission. Except his scope is a tad bigger than just a bar, and the problem was significantly bigger than toxic black mold: Paul had entered a city in need of rescuing from rampant idolatry - a city drowning in a sea of false gods who could not save, and suffocating from empty philosophies that only emptied their followers.

Paul saw there were hearts in need of rescuing in Athens - and so, he preached the message that every heart needs to hear – a timeless and timely message that is for every time, every place, and every person: the good news of Jesus.

A Glaring Cultural Admission

That’s what we find Paul doing in Acts 17 at the Areopagus. Literally, the Hill of Ares or ‘Mars Hill’ – was a small rocky hill northwest of the Acropolis in Athens; historically, the Athenian Council would meet there, so they too were given the name “the Areopagus”. The Areopagus oversaw criminal courts, matters of law, politics, as well as discussions on philosophy and religion.

Meaning, they had the authority not only to demand a hearing of Paul, but even the authority to apply capital punishment – including execution.

While Athens prided herself in religious freedom and freedom of speech, the cultural pride and zeal of the Athenians didn’t tolerate every idea that was shared. The Greek verb used to describe how these philosophers took Paul to the Areopagus has an urgent, even a forceful connotation.

This wasn’t the first time in the book of Acts that Paul was dragged away to give an account for what he was preaching – and it wouldn’t be the last.

But that’s just it: it wasn’t really Paul under attack here – but his message, a message that directly conflicts with Athenian religion, philosophy, and culture.

Whether this assembly of Athenian councilmen and citizens was intended to be a preliminary hearing for a future trial, or just an opportunity to learn about Paul and his message, Paul seizes the opportunity to preach a Christ-centered sermon.

His starting point? An altar to “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”.

Ironically, the Athenians who were putting Paul and his ideas on trial, had made a fatal “cultural admission” – an admission that they didn’t have it all figured out – that they were missing something.

As Paul walked the streets of Athens, noting the many altars and shrines to a myriad of gods and goddesses, he had seen an altar “TO AN UNKOWN GOD.” These Athenians who put Paul on trial – they who were so certain of their own thoughts, ideas, and deities that they would poke fun at this foreigner for entering the Athenian arena with such silly ideas – and yet they are the one hedging their bets, worshiping an “UNKNOWN GOD” so that all of their bases were covered.

That altar was the glaringly obvious lose thread on the sweater that was the Athenian culture and religious system – and while Paul begins to make that “UNKNOWN GOD” known to them, he simultaneously grabs that lose thread in their religious and philosophical systems and begins to undo their sweater into a measly, idol-ridden pile of yarn.

Like any good apologist, Paul doesn’t simply give a defense of the Christian faith: Paul goes on the offense and puts Greek philosophy and religion on trial. Similarly, like any good evangelist, Paul’s objective is not primarily to win the argument: Paul’s objective is to win souls for Jesus – by proclaiming Jesus – the God who lived, died, rose, lives and reigns for you and gives you life!

To those who mocked his teachings as ridiculous, Paul fires back,

• “Isn’t it more ridiculous to, on the one hand, strive to live moral, virtuous lives, yet simultaneously dismiss the reality of an afterlife? If there is no afterlife, what we do or don’t do in this life has no real meaning or purpose! Our actions would have no eternal value or significance.”

• “You Athenians say my conception of God is strange. Isn’t the ubiquitous nature of your religiosity actually a testament to the fact that your gods are man-made? Manufactured? No more than glorified, venerated versions of yourselves?”

• “You talk as if the True God needs you to survive! You build temples as if God needs them to live! How does that make sense? Why would the God who made time and space need our time and space to live? Why would the God who made matter then need matter to exist? If God brought everything into being, isn’t it us who then need him to survive? Isn’t it more reasonable that we live, move, and have our being in him – our Creator – than he in us? Is this really all that strange and foreign to you when even your own poets have acknowledged this? That we are God’s children? That he created us?”

That glaring cultural admission looks and sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it? I don’t have to walk the streets of first century Athens to see the idols of first century Athens. In fact, in many ways, should Paul walk the streets of our cities and communities, he might just say the same thing.

But I don’t have to point to my culture or community to find the Athenian-esque idol factory closest to home. In fact, I can walk the streets of first century Athens within my own heart.

The Idol Factory in Our Heart

The created world bears all the hallmarks of a Divine Artist – that God is wise, powerful, ever-present, eternal, even personal. Our conscience bears witness to God’s commandments which are written on our hearts.

And yet, in spite of all of God’s invisible qualities being made clearly seen from the natural world and human experience, the Athenians – even in all their religiosity – still hadn’t found God. Why?

Because the Athenians were born with an idol factory in their heart.

And so were we.

We, like the Athenians, were born with an inherited sinful nature from our parents.

As a result, our consciences aren’t wholly reliable: sometimes they will accuse us when we do evil, and other times justify the evil we do – even calling that evil good.

Our sinful nature warps our view of reality – bending it inward onto ourselves. We project this inward bend onto the world around us.

And yes, our sinful nature would project this inward bend onto God, too.

Contrary to popular opinion, my heart can’t be the locus (i.e. the foundation, the source) of absolute truth, be it about who I am or who God is. Because of our sinful nature, none of us can find God on our own.

This is why Paul says in Romans, “ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)

God says that same good news has gone out into all the world. That was the same good news that Christ himself had commissioned Paul to compassionately carry to Athenian hearts. And while a handful came to faith that day, the wide majority of them rejected the gospel. Their hearts were crowded with idols they were unwilling to let go.

The idols that seek to find commonplace in our hearts may not be made of wood and stone, but they are no less dangerous - because they don’t want to share room with God. They’re looking to rule the roost.

• There’s the god of “my ego” who is always starving for attention, where it’s all about my glory, not God’s.

• There’s the god of our “pride” who tells me I’m never wrong, that it’s all about “my truth” not the Truth: God’s Truth.

• There’s the god of “convenience” who tells me to serve myself, not others.

• There’s the god of “consumerism” who generates an insatiable hunger for more stuff – and leaves us wanting more even after insurmountable credit card debt – but always helps us make excuses come time to give back to God.

• There’s the god of “nostalgia” who tells us to blindly fixate on the past and ignore the blessings God has given you in the present.

• There’s the god of “comfort” who leads us to fear picking up our crosses and following Christ and instead pursue that which is easy.

• There’s the god of “lust” who says it’s okay to just look! No harm, no foul, right?

• There’s the god of “routine” who encourages our inner control freak to bristle when things don’t go according to plan – instead of giving it over to God in prayer.

• There’s the god of our “busyness” and allocate time for everything but service to God in our families, church, and communities.

• There’s the god of “revenge” who tells us to justify our hatred towards those who have wronged us and withhold forgiveness from them – ignoring how much we have been forgiven in Christ.

• There’s the god of “fear” who beckons us to cower from gospel ministry opportunities, instead of creatively using our God-given talents to carry out the Great Commission.

Such manmade idols and manmade gods certainly sing us sweet nothings, but that’s just it: they amount to nothing.

Be it the false gods with names or the nameless false idols in my heart, they might as well be spiritual toxic black mold.

And these cancerous idols threaten our relationship with God, because they don’t want to share a heart with God.

And God doesn’t want to share a heart with them either.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul strength and mind,” God himself says.

I haven’t done that.

Neither have you.

Not only have we done what is evil, we have failed to do that which is God-pleasing. No one stands superior to another in God’s sight. We are all equally in need of a Savior – all equally sinful – equally in dire need of salvation – equally estranged from God as a result of sin.

And for the sins of idolatry in our hearts, we all were equally deserving of not heaven as our home, but hell.

But just as you and I have in common a sinful nature and a shared need for salvation – so also we share a common Savior. And through our common Savior – Jesus – our God and our salvation is revealed!

Christ, the Rescuer of Our Hearts

God didn’t save us because he needs us to survive.

God didn’t save us because we substantiate his existence either.

After all, our Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – could have existed completely sufficiently without you.

And yet, God, lovingly created you anyway.

Not because he was lacking something that you needed to give him; but because he freely desired to share all that is himself with you.

And he didn’t just uniquely and wonderfully create you: he’s uniquely and wonderfully saved you.

In Christ, we see our God living and breathing grace for us. Our God would, out of his love for us, be born. He came to serve, not be served. In Jesus, we see the Lord of all creation restore the lame, give sight to the blind, and raise the dead. We see our God ride humbly to Jerusalem to wage war against sin, death, and hell itself to win us heaven. We see the King of Kings wear a crown of thorns to win us a crown of glory. We see the blameless Lamb of God become a sin offering for us – so that we would become the righteousness of God. There, on the cross, we see the Son of God win for you a new identity as his redeemed child. We see the Lord of Life give up his life so you would live - just as we see that same Lord of Life rise from the dead on Easter Sunday morning.

In Christ, we see with contour and color exactly who our God is: the rescuer of our hearts.

That same God continues to pursue the people of this world through his Word - just as he pursued you and brought you to faith through his Word.

And just as that same God pursued you with his gospel, see how that same God graciously pursues the world as he commissions his disciples – including you and me today – to use our God-given gifts for his eternal glory and to share the good news of eternal life in Jesus with everyone - no matter where they are or who they are. Our God and his gracious promises are bound neither by time nor space. After all, he’s the same God who - through faith in Christ - sets up shop inside of you!

Hearts Rescued

At the end of every episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer, after all his renovation and remodeling, shows the bar employees their brand new space. It’s all new. New tables, new countertops, new glassware, a new kitchen. No more caked grease. No more toxic black mold. It’s all new – infinitely better than it was before.

How that picture pales in comparison to the newness of life that we have in Jesus!

• In Christ, you are completely, and totally forgiven; the “grease” of your guilt is gone forever; the “black mold” of even your most toxic sins has been scrubbed clean by the cleansing tide of Jesus’ blood.

• In Christ, you have an unassailable identity as God’s holy child; the world can call you what it wants: Jesus speaks a louder word than they do - and he says “You are forgiven.”

• In Christ, your life has eternal significance and purpose; your Savior hasn’t just grafted you into his family: he’s grafted you into his advancement of his divine, holy agenda.

• In Christ, you - right now - have the sure hope of heaven waiting for you; no matter what danger seems to lurk, our heavenly home is secured in who Jesus is and what' he’s done.

For a sin-stricken world living and dying for idols, our God would take on flesh and live and die for us. In the Crucified Christ we find both the power and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). We see the beating heart of God bleed to win a dying world life. May that timeless and timely message for every time, every place, and every person be proclaimed by us, too.

Prayer: Our Dust-Covered Serenade with God

It’s called the boombox serenade.

It’s where a guy stands outside his girlfriend or ex-girlfriend’s house with a boombox, blasting love songs at high volume.

It comes from the 1989 romantic comedy titled Say Anything, from the iconic scene where John Cusack’s heart-broken character is standing below his ex-girlfriend’s window, holding a boombox over his head, blasting Peter Gabriel’s song In Your Eyes.

Even though the “boombox” is so 1990s, the boombox serenade is ubiquitous throughout modern movies and TV shows.

Because the boombox serenade isn’t just a creative way of saying “I’m sorry” or “I love you”.

It’s an obnoxious, annoying, persistent way of saying “I’m not letting you go. You can’t give me the silent treatment forever. I’m going to keep blasting this music until you take me back. I’m not leaving until you talk to me face to face.”                      

Would you characterize your prayer life as persistent as a boombox serenade?

We see that kind of persistence in Jacob - as he would not let go of God.

Literally.

Not until he knew God wasn’t going to let go of him.

And in the story of that dust-covered serenade where Jacob wrestles with God himself, God shows Jacob - and us as well - that we can cling to our God with confidence.

Prepared for the Worst

When we meet up with Jacob and his family in our story for today, they’re on their way back home. But Jacob isn’t excited about this homecoming.

In fact, he’s terrified. Specifically, he is terrified of his twin brother, Esau.

And he had reason to be. Jacob had tricked Esau into giving up the birthright that he, the oldest son, should have gotten. On top of that, Jacob played another trick on his brother, disguising himself as Esau to fool their aged father – all to get a special blessing that their father intended on giving Esau – a blessing God intended to be given to Jacob; nevertheless, Jacob got it, but quite dishonestly. When Esau heard about this, he was furious. In fact, he started thinking of ways he might kill Jacob. So, Jacob ran away - fleeing to the northern country to hide out among extended family.

For over twenty years, Jacob lived with his uncle Laban and served him as a hired hand. During those twenty years, Jacob got married – twice for that matter (because Laban, ironically, played a trick on Jacob). Jacob now has eleven kids, and an abundance of flocks, herds, and camels.

But his time up north had come to an end. God told him it was time for him to head back home, so Jacob did; but he was terrified.

I’m sure you can imagine why. Imagine, the last time you saw your brother, he was ready to kill you – he had set it on his heart to tear you apart limb from limb – and now you’re heading back home, where he is!

When Jacob sends word to Esau that he was returning home, the messengers return to Jacob saying, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” This wasn’t a welcome party: Esau was coming to meet him with a small army.

Jacob then divides up the people who were with him – even the herds and flocks he owned - into two groups, thinking if Esau comes to attack one group, the other group might have a chance to escape. As he readied to start the final trek by crossing the Jabbok River, he instructs several servants to go on ahead and meet Esau with gifts of sheep and cattle – hoping these gifts might pacify his angry brother. But there was no telling any of that would work. Distressed and terrified, he prepared for the worst.

And that’s the state that we find Jacob in Genesis 32. That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone…”

Then, something really odd happened.

Wrestling with God

As Jacob was alone in his distress and terror, a man appears. And then, they start wrestling.

Literally, they were grappling with each other, rolling around in the dirt and dust.

Sometime during that scuffle, Jacob realizes that this man he’s wrestling with is God – God in the form of a man. They wrestled for hours – all the way until daybreak. But Jacob wouldn’t quit. He wouldn’t stop wrestling with God. Finally, the man dislocates Jacob’s hip, and then says, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

“So, what does Jacob’s restless night wrestling with God have to do with me?” you’re wondering.

Well, Jacob is not the only one wrestling with God.

You’ve spent countless mornings, afternoons, and evenings rolling around in the dust of prayer, because the challenges in your life have you feeling like you’re up against an army.

• The massive workload that only seems to get heavier

• The insurmountable debt that only keeps piling up

• The gnawing feeling of loneliness, fear, and rejection

• The weight of your schedule that buckles your knees

• The heartache from the burned and broken relationships in your life

• The chemo that absolutely drains you

• The emptiness after losing a loved one.

That’s a lot on your heart.

And you know you can’t make it all better. You know it’s beyond your ability to control and beyond your ability to fix.

So, you wrestle it out with God in prayer.

You pray that God would take it all away, that he would fix it. You pray, and pray, and pray – like you’re banging on the doors of heaven itself, like you’re standing outside God’s house with a blaring boombox - and it seems like no one’s home. God, where are you when I need you? Why don’t you make this right? Don’t you care about your people? I can’t do this without you! I’m not letting you go!

And as the dust settles, your God asks you in His Word, “What is your name?”

What’s Your Name?

You see, when God asked Jacob that question, he’s drawing attention to Jacob’s identity. The name “Jacob” literally means “heel-grabber”, a name that also came with the cultural connotation of “the cheater” “the hustler” – a name Jacob had rightfully earned.

And Jacob remembered that.

He hadn’t forgotten he had screwed up. He hadn’t forgotten that, if God wanted, he could do far more than simply dislocate his hip: he’s wrestling God, after all!

But, Jacob remembered something else, too.

He remembered that the God he worshiped, the LORD, is a God of grace and compassion, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness. He remembered that it was only by God’s grace that he stood at the border of his homeland now a father of eleven and owner of an exceptionally wealthy estate. He remembered that God had given him some serious promises, one promise in particular – a promise not only that his offspring would inherit the land of Canaan, but that the Offspring through whom all nations would be blessed, the Offspring that would undo sin, death, and hell would come from his family.

Those hours of wresting with God was Jacob’s non-verbalized prayer: “God, you promised to make my family into a great nation. You promised Your Messiah would come through my family – the Messiah who would crush the head of Satan and restore our relationship with you forever! Fulfill your promise to your people! I will not let go of you until you assure me you will be faithful to your promise!”

And God lovingly says to the “heel grabber” “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

The God who formed mankind from the dust of the earth now deigns to roll around in the dust with us in prayer. And just as Jacob wasn’t the only one who would wrestle with God in prayer, he’s not the only one who has been given a new name: you’ve been given a new name, too!

On our own, apart from God, we were God’s enemies. We were born sinful, born spiritually dead, lost in sin, unable to save ourselves from our sinfulness, unable to meet the perfect demands of God’s perfect law, unable to undo the power of death – let alone control, even quarantine the chaos in our broken lives.

We are but a speck of dust, undeserving of God’s love and affection, unworthy to be called his child. But the God who made you is a God of boundless, abundant grace!

Though we are but dust and ashes, our God, in his grace, felt we were dust and ashes worth dying for! God the Father sent his Son, the promised Messiah, who was to come through Jacob’s family. That descendant was Jesus, the Son of God, God incarnate, who overcame the world for us! Jesus has conquered sin, death, and the powers of hell for you! Jesus has faced the the greatest adversaries you will ever face! He dragged them onto the mat of Calvary and won!

The same God who graciously allowed Jacob to tangibly cling to him and his promises does the same for you, at the tangible waters of your baptism, or through the giving of Jesus’ true body and blood in, with, and under bread and wine, the same God who preserved His Word throughout the ages so you could hold it in your hands. Because of Jesus, we too will stand before God one day in heaven and see him face to face, not with fear and distress, but with joy and confidence, the same joy and confidence we already have now in Christ! You, in Christ, are a redeemed, rescued, reconciled child of God!

Pick Up Your Boombox

Jacob limped away from his boombox serenade that day - a loving reminder from his wrestling with God that it would be God who would deliver him. And God did! Jacob would rename those wrestling grounds “Peniel” which means “the face of God” because, as Jacob exclaims, “I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” And can you see how that is a tremendous comfort?

Your God isn’t annoyed by your persistent prayer: he welcomes it.

You are not standing below God’s window: you, in Christ, stand before God himself! Because, in Christ, God’s face shines on you! In Christ, we see the very face of God!

We see the face of God weep over the lost sheep of Israel - just as we see his face weep at the funeral of a loved one. We see the face of God stricken and spat upon by the very people he came to save. We see the face of God muddied with blood from a crown of thorns. We see that face radiate with hope as our Risen Lord says to his followers, “Peace be with you!” And that’s the same face of God that now smiles on you as his dearly beloved, redeemed child and will smile on you when you see him face to face one day in heaven.

You’re not obnoxiously annoying God by the boombox serenade that is your prayer life. After all, he’s the God who delights in rolling around in the dust with his people.

So, don’t be afraid to take your God to the mat. Don’t be afraid to storm the throne of grace in prayer. Don’t be afraid to boombox serenade your God in heaven with your fears, worries, and petitions.

And do so with confidence.

Because God invites you to. Because your God knows you by name. You are His.

Cling to the God who clings to you - and cling to him with confidence.

Scandalous Grace

He had plenty of ‘trophies’ to validate how good he was at basketball.

He was signed right out of high school at 17 years old. He was the winner of the NBA Slam Dunk contest in ’97. He competed in two Olympics. He was the NBA MVP in 2008. He was the youngest player in NBA history to reach 30,000 points during his basketball career. He was a five-time NBA champion and widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players ever to set foot on a basketball court.

He was the “Black Mamba”: the late basketball legend, Kobe Bryant.

Generations, like mine, grew up watching Kobe sink that iconic fadeaway jump shot. We watched him square off against NBA giants like Lebron James and Michael Jordan. It won’t be long before we’ll see Michael Jordan present Kobe Bryant into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

It comes as no surprise that people all over the world are still grieving his death. And as we see Kobe Bryant’s jersey added into the Hall of Fame, we’ll rediscover how much we miss him all over again.

We’ll also rediscover our tendency to put such tremendously gifted people on a tremendously high pedestal.

And I’m not just talking about athletes enshrined in halls of fame whose retired jersey hangs on walls for the world to see. We put all sorts of gifted people on pedestals: politicians, movie stars, pop-icons, colleagues, classmates, and yes, even ourselves.

The Corinthian church thought they had every reason to sit on a pedestal, too.

The Pedestals in Corinth

First century Corinth was a wealthy, thriving metropolis within the Roman Empire – a city of around 600,000 people from all over the Mediterranean world.

Sure, Corinth had a bit of a reputation. But not all of it was good.

Sure, they saw themselves as a respected intellectual, philosophical epicenter – second only to Athens. But Corinth was also known for being a hotbed of vice and debauchery.

Corinth happened to be one of the leading locations for the worship of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Needless to say, their ‘worship practices’ were pretty raunchy. They were widely known as the ‘Sin City’ of Greece.

And that’s where God had sent Paul to plant a church. Pretty scandalous, huh?

Paul loved that church. He had lived and worked in the mission field of Corinth for 18 months. As you read his first letter to those Corinthian Christians, you can tell Paul is sincerely concerned about their spiritual well-being.

From what Paul writes, it seems like the cancerous parts of the Corinthian culture were starting to creep their way into this Christian congregation. There were reports of church members sleeping with temple prostitutes. There was a case of incest that had to be dealt with. They were abusing and misusing the Lord’s Supper. There were even some who were preaching that there was no resurrection from the dead.

But Paul doesn’t tee-off on any of these issues. Instead, he spends the first four chapters dismantling the pedestals the Corinthians had built in their hearts.

Including the pedestal they had built for Paul.

The Corinthians idolized their Christian leaders to a fault – to the point where factions had broken out in the Corinthian church. They compared their Christian leaders to Greek philosophers (after all, the ‘wisest’ philosophers of Corinth were outstanding public speakers, so if their Christian leaders didn’t have that kind of rhetoric skill, then, by Greek standards, they must not have true wisdom either); and Christian men like Apollos, Peter, and Paul measured up in their minds.

They had seen Paul throw down with the Cynics and Skeptics. They had heard him preach in synagogues throughout Corinth. The Corinthians had this attitude that, if you aren’t a Christian rock star like Apollos, like Peter, or like Paul, then you really a nobody.

But those weren’t the only pedestals Paul needed to tear down, because if the Corinthians weren’t busy venerating Apollos, Peter, and Paul, then they were busy venerating themselves.

They, after all, were a very gifted congregation, blessed with an abundance of spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities. They prided themselves on how talented they were. They started bragging and boasting, which undoubtedly led to feelings of entitlement towards God’s love. They were so infatuated with themselves, they couldn’t see they were spiritually sick. Not only that, they had forgotten who they were when God had brought them to faith.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:26, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.” But Paul doesn’t stop there. In chapter 6, he gets a little more candid with their background prior to coming to faith: they were once “adulterers, homosexual offenders, thieves, drunkards, idolaters, and prostitutes.” They weren’t entitled at all to God’s love and forgiveness. They were sinners – in desperate need of saving.

The Pedestals in My Heart

In the days after Kobe Bryant’s death, as I was scrolling through all the articles recapping his life and legacy, I remember seeing one article that was trending about a reporter from the Washington Post who was suspended for tweeting an article about Kobe from 2016. The headline of that article she tweeted was “Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser’s Story, and the Half-Confession.”

It didn’t take long before people everywhere were calling for this reporter to be fired, calling her cold-hearted, disrespectful, and insensitive.

I suppose there’s something to be said about knowing when to speak and when to be silent. There’s also something to be said about our desperate attempts to whitewash the ugliness in our lives.

We convince ourselves that we have to do something to be somebody in this world. We try to outweigh the bad we do with good. We constantly compare ourselves to others. We tally up the ‘noble’ things we do and broadcast them on social media. We’d like to think that we are somebodies because of how influential we are, by how many followers we have, by how many ‘Likes’ that one post got. We’d like to think our earthly treasures are evidence that we’ve got it made with God.

But just as we don’t like seeing evidence that our childhood heroes are sinners, we – who also want to be put up on a pedestal – don’t like being shown that we’re sinners, either. We don’t like being told that we are in desperate need of saving.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Paul had – so he once thought – every reason to boast in himself, be it his educational background, his profession, or his zeal as a Pharisee. And God turned his life completely upside down. That’s the beauty of the gospel. Paul could boast before the Lord – not because of who he was – but because of who his God is: the God who in love would die to save us.

Leaving the Pedestal For You

God didn’t bring you to faith in him because there was some quality in you that drew him to you. God didn’t call you to be his own because you stood on some pedestal above the people around you. “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus.”

God chooses the losers of this world to shame the winners, the poor to shame the rich, and the weak to shame the strong. The great scandal of the cross is that there – we find a righteous God and Savior, holy and blameless, dying for sinners deserving of death and giving them his perfect obedience! Your God is the true MVP who got down from his celestial pedestal to go up on a cross and die - all to rescue you and pull you up out of this sin-broken world. When we had nothing to give God, he gave us everything.

You are a somebody to God. Not because you have plenty of trophies to validate your somebody-ness in your eyes or the eyes of the world: you are a somebody to God purely because of who he is for you - a God of amazing, abundant, one-sided grace - his undeserved love for you.

Before they took the court the Friday after his death, the Lakers held a pregame tribute for Kobe Bryant. At it, Usher sang a spectacular rendition of the Christian song Amazing Grace. And while much of the world sees Amazing Grace as nothing more than a beautiful song sung at funerals, I found it incredibly striking that song was sung for this basketball legend.

You and I might not go down as legends in the eyes of the world - but our trophies aren’t the reason we’re a somebody to God: we’re a somebody to God purely because of God’s amazing grace.

When you feel you’re unlovable, your God loves you.

When you say “I can’t forgive myself”, your God’s mercies are new every morning.

When you’re ready to give up because life seems too much to handle, your God is there to guide you and give you strength.

And when you feel like you just can’t keep going, he’ll carry you through it.

Because he’s a God of grace.

Scandalous grace.

You Can't Stop the Word of God

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Sacred Scripture or by evident reason – since I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for it is evident that they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against my conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me.”

These were the words spoken 500 years ago, on April 18, 1521 - by a lowly German monk before the heavy-hitters of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V himself. Martin Luther walked away from that imperial assembly in Worms, Germany, but he did so branded a notorious outlaw, a heretic, guilty of high treason.

The emperor signed a warrant for his arrest: anyone who would help turn Luther in would be compensated. Anyone who would protect him or speak well of him would be punished.

For the next year, Luther was forced to lay low, locked up in the Wartburg Castle - fearing for his life.

King Hezekiah knew the feeling.

Feeling Not So Big

Hezekiah was the king of Judah in 701 B.C., a time when the most powerful Empire in the Middle East – the Assyrian Empire – was sweeping throughout the region, subjugating and destroying any nation in its path.

Put yourself in his sandals.

Your Northern neighbor, the Kingdom of Israel, had already been defeated. And now Assyria was headed your way. One by one, the surrounding cities fall under Assyrian control. And now Assyria’s king, Sennacherib, set’s his sights on the heart of your kingdom – the capital city and your home – Jerusalem.

You have nowhere to run.

You’re locked up, too, “like a caged bird” surrounded by Assyrian battlements and fortresses.

You’re hopelessly outnumbered, and the enemy is closing in.

And if the city wasn’t restless enough, Sennacherib sends word to Jerusalem to taunt and terrify them even further:

“Who are you relying on, that you – nation of Judah – rebel against me, Sennacherib, the King of Assyria? Is it the LORD your God? Where were the gods of every other nation Assyria has conquered? Their gods made promises, too. How helpful were they when we invaded their lands? Do not let the god you depend on deceive you. His words are empty: they are pointless, and powerless to save you.”

We know exactly what it’s like to be externally besieged with these kind of questions.

But sometimes, but battle starts internally - waging within our hearts.

Is God Not So Big?

Every Sunday, we are reminded of the loving, saving, gracious promises our God makes us in His Word; but when we feel uncertain, when problems invade our routine, when our lives start to fall apart, when we are tired, guilt-ridden, afraid, weak, and weary, when things are far beyond our ability to carry or control, we start to wonder: Will God really keep his Word? Can God really keep his Word?

I think one reason these questions sometimes gives us pause is because we project who we are onto God.

In psychology, projection is when one incorrectly imposes “internal realities (what you think and feel)” onto “external realities (what’s actually real or true).” This phenomenon is clearly demonstrated through the most famous projection test to date, otherwise known as the Rorschach test.

The Rorschach test works like this: the psychiatrist shows the patient a series of ambiguous inkblot paintings. The patient studies the pictures and states what he or she sees. There really is no right or wrong answer, but the answers the patient provides paint a picture what is going on inside his or her mind. The patient must project the self onto the uncertainty of the image in order to make sense of it.

Maybe you feel like your life is just one big, frustratingly painful Rorschach test.

You see all this “bad” and “unpleasant” stuff happening in your life and the lives around you and you can’t make sense of it. So, we project – we impose our thoughts and ways onto God.

When things don’t go according to our plan, we say, “God, wouldn’t things be so much better if things happened my way instead?” When challenges and hardships come, we say, “God, how is this fair? I’ve faithfully served you my entire life, and this is how you repay me?”

When illness and tragedy assault the routine of our everyday lives, we wonder “What good could possibly come from this? Would a God who loves me really allow this to happen? Could this really be part of any plan for my spiritual well-being? For my eternal good?”               

We challenge the why behind what God does – because we feel our thoughts on goodness, fairness, justice, and control are better. We think our ways are more beneficial. And the further convinced we are of this, the more often we find ourselves highlighting the ways our Christian faith inconveniences us, the times we’ve been cornered by ridicule and even persecuted because of our faith.

We may start to wonder, “Is it really worth it? Are the thoughts and ways of God really that much better than that of the world?”

But that’s not the only way we project ourselves onto God.

We tally up the towering obstacles we daily face, all the challenges that prove our thoughts and our ways are insufficient. Yet, we’re often reluctant to give it over to God in prayer. And when we do turn to God, we wonder if he can even fix it – if he really is a Mighty Fortress.

When we are besieged with worry and stress about financial problems, when the bills keep piling up, we wonder, does God really provide? As you sit on a hospital bed, you ask, can God really restore my broken body? Has God really conquered death?

When we struggle to forgive ourselves for the sins of our past, we wonder, can God even forgive me then?   Instead of letting God be big, we project ourselves – our inability, our weakness – onto him and – thus – make him small.

Your God is Way Bigger Than You

As he watched the Assyrian Empire drawing closer to Jerusalem, Hezekiah felt small, too.

So God, through the Prophet Isaiah, gave Hezekiah big words of comfort and promise – assuring Hezekiah that the LORD would fight for Judah – and Assyria would never enter the city.

And God, through the Prophet Isaiah, has words of comfort for you, too. Our God, in Isaiah 55:8-9, reminds us that there is purpose in everything he does.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Find comfort in how big your God is.

Our knowledge is limited, but God knows all things!

Our perspective is rooted in the now – but God is timeless!

You and I can only see what is in front of us. God sees all things! He’s present in all places!

And where you and I are slow to forgive, he’s ready to forgive.

We deserved eternal punishment for our sinfulness; yet God, in his grace and mercy, won salvation for us by sending His Son! All our sins are forgiven! Believe it! Your all-knowing, all-present, all-loving God is always working all things for your eternal good! There is power in that promise! God’s big promises keep rolling out in 55:10-11,

 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

When God speaks, there is not only purpose, but there is power!

Your God is Way Bigger For You

This is the God who spoke to total nothingness and brought the world and everything in it into being, the same God who breathed life into inanimate clay and made man – the same God who spoke those words of gospel promise only moments after man fell into sin; that same God who carefully advanced all of history to fulfill that promise, so when the time had fully come, God sent his Son.

Jesus, the Word Incarnate, with a word, calmed the storms.

With a word, he drove out demons, healed the sick and restored the lame.

With a word, Jesus spoke life to a dead man.

This same Jesus lived a perfect life and died in our place, the same Jesus who took all our sin and carried it to the cross; and as he died, he shouted words of life to the world, “It is finished!” – your sins are freely, and fully forgiven! You have a right relationship with God forever!

That same God rose from the dead – just as he promised! And that same God will return to bring all those who believe in him home – to heaven.

Not because of who you are or what you’ve done – but because our God is a gracious God who saves!

No One Can’t Stop the Word of God

As Luther hid in the Wartburg Castle, he began one of his most important tasks: translating the Bible from Latin – the exclusive religious language of the Catholic Church – into the language of everyday people. Because of the Reformation, God’s powerful words of gospel comfort and promise can be held in the hands and hearts of people all over the world in their language.

The Edict of Worms in 1521 couldn’t stop the Word of God.

The threats of popes and councils couldn’t stop the return to the biblical teaching of by grace alone, by faith alone, and by Scripture alone.

Emperor Charles V couldn’t stop the Word of God. And neither could the armies of Assyria. They never did enter Jerusalem. The Angel of the LORD went into the camp of the Assyrians and 185,000 of them died. And Sennacherib tucked tail and ran home.

Because God keeps his promises.

Because there is power in God’s Word.

You see, it wasn’t Luther’s words that ultimately reformed the Christian church. If anyone thought otherwise, Luther would say, “I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends...the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.”

That same Word that was preached to you, the same Word of God spoken at your Baptism, the same Word the Holy Spirit used to create faith in your heart and give you new life! And like a tree planted besides streams of living water, God plants you by his Word so you will grow and stand firm in your faith when challenges come.

God is no Rorschach inkblot test. If you want to know who your God is, go to his Word to hear his voice.

And when your God speaks, when he makes you promises, believe it. Because your God speaks with power and purpose.

Your God Talks a Big Game. And Delivers.

It was promoted as “The Money Fight.”

Two world famous heavy hitters would go head-to-head in the boxing ring.

In one corner, you had mixed martial artist, boxer, and UFC former featherweight and lightweight champion, Connor McGregor; in the other corner, you had boxing world champion, 1996 Olympian, winner of three Golden Gloves championships, a boxer who had retired with an undefeated record – and is said to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, Floyd Mayweather.

Not surprising, then, this fight was billed as “The Biggest Fight in Combat Sports History.”

But what really got audiences excited for this super-fight was the trash-talking – the trash-talking between Mayweather and McGregor. You know what I’m talking about, right? Where they line up these two fighters – face to face – and they’re looking all menacing and intimidating at each other, and then they start trash-talking.

McGregor bragged that he’d take Mayweather out in just four rounds. Mayweather called McGregor “easy work”. They get up in each other’s face, to the point where their respective entourage have to separate them.

But the trash-talking between Mayweather and McGregor wasn’t just on camera: it was all over Twitter. And the media and the masses ate that up. But that’s how it is with every fight: the more savage the trash-talking, the better. It intensifies the tension. It gets the crowd rowdy. It generates interest - and loads of revenue. It’s all part of billing the epic showdown.

And then the time finally came for them both to put their money where their mouth was.

McGregor started strong in the first few rounds, landing several impressive hits on Mayweather. But as the fight went on, McGregor’s fatigue began to show. And that’s when Floyd Mayweather really went on the offensive. Blow by blow, Mayweather landed several devastating punches to McGregor’s face – to the point where McGregor was so dazed, he struggled to defend himself. The ref called the match by technical knockout – declaring Floyd Mayweather the winner.

McGregor trash-talked a big game, but he didn’t knock out Mayweather in four rounds like he said. In fact, he didn’t knock him out at all.

But “The Money Fight” doesn’t come close to the cosmic significance of the showdown painted for us in Isaiah 45:20-25. And like any good showdown, there’s some serious trash-talking, too.

But the trash-talking recorded for us here in Isaiah 45 is coming only from one direction - from someone you wouldn’t expect talk trash to come from:

It’s coming from God!

“Gather together and come;
assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who pray to gods that cannot save.
Declare what is to be, present it—
let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me.”

God is calling for an epic showdown, and he doesn’t just talk a big game: he says and delivers.

So, who is God calling to go toe-to-toe with him in the ring?

Before we answer that, we need to look at the beginning of Isaiah 45.

Pursued and Subdued

God, through Isaiah, is speaking of a time yet to come – a time when the nation of Babylon would no longer be the reigning champion. As hard as that might have been for Isaiah’s audience to believe, God would, on his timeline, raise up a new nation who would not only be God’s chosen instrument to bring judgment upon the wickedness and unbelief of Babylon, but also would be God’s chosen instrument for bringing his children out of exile. That nation would be Persia, led by Cyrus the Great.

That this historic detail is recorded in Isaiah 45 is – at face value – amazing for two reasons:

God would move the heart of Cyrus to decree not only the release of the nation of Israel from captivity, but would ensure their safe-passage home AND bankroll the rebuilding of their temple, and – get this – God reveals this detail over a hundred years before any of that would even happen; Isaiah’s years of ministry were roughly 740-680 B.C. Cyrus the Great wouldn’t overthrow Babylon until 539 B.C.! With exact, prophetic accuracy, God reveals to Isaiah not only how God would deliver the captives from exile, but who he would use to get it done. And that’s exactly what happened – just as God had promised.

But these words of prophetic promise weren’t just intended for the people living in the Southern Kingdom of Judah (Isaiah’s immediate audience). After all, by the time Cyrus would rise to power in 539 B.C., the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah would already be divided and dispersed across the recently knocked-out Babylonian Empire. Other nations would feel the chokehold as Persia rose to power. Isaiah 45:20-25 are words of conviction and comfort for all of them – every person of every nation that would be pursued or subdued by the nation of Persia.

A ‘Champion’ Made from Wood and Stone

But the common thread isn’t just the fact that they were oppressed by Persia: the common thread that tied this audience together is unbelief – a lack of faith in the one true God – the LORD. This specific audience is tied together by their misplaced trust in idols – manmade ‘gods’ of wood and stone – gods made from their own imaginations.

But God isn’t just talking to these people, either – and here’s where it get’s interesting!

God humors these unbelieving people and ‘speaks’ to these ‘gods’ of wood and stone and invites these idols to square off with him.

And the words that God has for these idols is nothing but straight up trash talk.

“Go ahead! Give me your best shot! Make your case! Show me what you’ve done! Tell me what will happen! You idol worshippers: show me what your idols have done for you! In fact, go ahead and let ALL of your idols take counsel together! I’ll take them ALL on! Do you really want to throw your hat in with gods made by your own imagination? How can you, the created creature, create your Creator? How can creation become creation’s god? How can a god that you need to carry then carry you? How can what is deaf hear your prayers? How can what is blind and dumb give you wisdom and show you the way? How can what is dead possibly give you true, everlasting life?”

And on the day of the big fight, these ‘gods’ never show.

Not because God’s trash-talking scared them away – but because they were never there to begin with.

God’s been telling us why all throughout Isaiah Chapter 45: “There is no God beside me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. There is no other Savior. There is none but me. I AM WHO I AM…and they are not, because they are not!”

And while it’s been 2,700 years since Isaiah wrote these words, the reality and exclusivity of this message hasn’t changed.

A ‘Champion’ Made within Human Hearts

Sure, false ‘gods’, through their many, many prophets, will certainly talk a big game – but time and time again they are exposed for what they truly are: nothing more than deaf, dumb, dead pieces of wood and stone – whose prophets work them like a master ventriloquist – a ventriloquist who’s gotten so good at his craft, he’s convinced the entire audience it’s no longer him doing the talking, but the puppet.

The LORD, however, marries his plan of salvation to real time, real space, real events, in real history. He’s a God who invites you to fact check him. And why wouldn’t he? “I, the LORD, speak truth; I declare what is right,” he says.

Have you seen Google’s “Year in Search 2020” video? It starts this way: “The most human trait is to want to know why – and in year that tested everyone around the world, why was searched more than ever.” I don’t know if I’d agree that the most human trait is wanting to know why – but that is a trait that clearly distinguishes human beings massively from the rest of the created world – and yet people still insist we are nothing more than highly evolved primates as a result of time, plus energy, plus chance.

Evidence matters when it favors our preferred narrative, but what about when the evidence doesn’t?

We say that life is more than money, cars, and clothes, but the people we idolize, the shows we watch, and our credit card statements would say otherwise.

Objective truth matters when counting election ballots, but does objective truth matter when counting X and Y chromosomes?

We want others to treat us with respect but justify the disrespect we show others.

We’re all about silencing the dissenters, until that voice is ours.

A ‘Champion’ Made in Our Image

Sure, it is human nature asks why – but our sinful nature won’t leave the vacuum of ‘why’ alone or empty for long. Because – believe it or not – our hearts are an idol factory – and if we’re not manufacturing gods outside of ourselves to worship, then we worship ourselves as ‘god’.

We have a sinful nature that is all about what I want, what I feel, what I think is right. Our sinful nature turns a blind eye to the fact that God has written eternity on our hearts – or that he’s written his Law on our hearts, and our consciences bearing witness to that fact; and where our sinful hearts fail to bear witness, God gives us a more clear, reliable, trustworthy testimony – his divinely inspired Word, a Word whose promises have been proven to be true.

But then it sits on a shelf collecting dust.

It’s rarely read together by a husband and wife.

It’s neglected when we’re impressing values on our children.

We would roll our eyes during the commute from our homes to church; now we roll our eyes now during our commute from our beds to our living room couch for church.

Our sinful nature doesn’t see God’s law as a guide to a life of thankfulness to God – but some arbitrary, joy-robbing list of prohibitions.

In fact, our sinful nature would idolize ourselves and demand God bend a knee to us – not the other way around. And to set ourselves up as god against God is a fight we won’t win. God says so right here in Isaiah. God says and he delivers.

And yet, when our world was ensnared and enraptured by idols – when our God had every reason to clean our clocks and knock us out – our God responds with truth and grace.

A Champion Begotten, Not Made

When you and I couldn’t save nor deliver ourselves from this sin-filled, dark, dying world, our God took on humanity. Our God didn’t give us a self-help book to ascend to him and get at his level. He, instead, made his dwelling among us, to live a totally perfect life as our substitute because we couldn’t.

He, to save the world from their idolatrous hearts, became a sin-offering and died on a cross to give us his righteousness and forever reconcile us to a holy, righteous God. The same Almighty God who died is the same God who was born that first Christmas. There, in the manger of Bethlehem, there on the cross on Calvary is our God: Jesus.

But that the Savior would be born, that he would die, that he would rise from the dead, that he would be God was no surprise.

That’s what God had been saying for centuries!

“Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
are deliverance and strength.’”
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
But all the descendants of Israel
will find deliverance in the Lord
and will make their boast in him.”

With the same exact, prophetic accuracy, God revealed to Isaiah not only how God would deliver the captives from exile, but who he would use to get it done. From exile in Babylon, that someone was Cyrus. From greater exile in a dark and dying world, that someone was Jesus. And in him alone is our righteousness and strength.

Your God doesn’t just talk a big game: he puts his money where his mouth is.

The false gods of this world will never show up to square off with God. And that’s not the only fight they’ll never show. The fight against sin, death, and hell demanded a champion, too – a Savior. And when no other religion, no other deity, no other worldview could possibly meet the challenge – Christ, our Divine Champion, stepped into the ring for us.

There is No Other Champion

True, this is a radically exclusive message. There is one God and Savior – and that’s the LORD.

But this is a radically comforting message, too – because the LORD your God defines himself to be who he has always demonstrated himself to be for you: a God of grace who saves.

He’s not like idols of wood and stone that need you to carry them: he carries you.

He’s not a God who needs you to shape and mold him: he’s a God who desires to renew and reshape you in his image.

He’s not a God who speaks in hidden secrecy but speaks to you through his Word with transparent integrity.

Your God isn’t some aloof, distant, divine observer, passively foretelling what will or won’t happen: he’s a God who actively speaks to our world through his Word – calling all to himself – for he truly came to seek and save all who are lost – including you and me.

He came to win for you and me a joy, hope, and peace that the worst of this world can never knock out.

In Christ Jesus, your life has been redeemed. You, in Christ, are heaven-bound. Believe it! Because your Savior has already won the title!

He’s earned the right to talk a big game. He delivers.

Every time.

Why "We're All in This Together" Isn't Enough

You’ve read it on billboards; you’ve heard it from celebrities; you’ve seen it painted on the windows of local businesses. It’s the hallmark sentiment of 2020: “We’re all in this together.”

This past year was inescapably brutal – yet, nevertheless, leaves us all needing to say something in terms of comfort and encouragement – something other than the run-of-the-mill commentary on how brutal 2020 has been. And for millions, that ‘something’ is “We’re all in this together. We faced 2020 together, and we’ll face 2021 together, too! Whatever comes our way, we’ll tough it out together and together we’ll get through it! We’re all in this together!”  

Sound familiar? And maybe you’ve even said things like this. And I think the folks who say it mean well. They’re trying to comfort and encourage neighbors, friends, and family who are struggling and suffering.

But how encouraging, how comforting are expressions like “We’re all in this together”?

How much “togetherness” did you feel this past year?

Distanced and Divided

We spent the last nine months trying to get together but not really being able to get together. And even if we did get ‘together’, there was always a mask between us. No hugs. No handshakes. Doing that for nine months makes a six-foot distance feel like six miles - and then we were told that six feet might not be distant enough. We distanced ourselves from friends. We distanced ourselves from family. We didn’t see family for Easter. We didn’t see family for Thanksgiving. We didn’t see family for Christmas. And we didn’t get together to celebrate the new year.

But we’re not just distanced; we’re divided. We were divided over elections. We were divided over election results. We were divided over advocation for police reform. We were divided over racial reconciliation. We were divided over tactics of how best to make one’s voice heard. We were divided over pandemic statistics. We were divided over strategies to curb the spread. We were divided over whether to keep our doors open or keep them closed. We were divided over masks, vaccines, mandates, and lockdowns. We were divided over whether this pandemic is even real!

The headlines showcase our politicians striving for control - not bipartisanship. Faulty logic and false dichotomies abound online. Nuanced conversations are pitifully reduced to nothing more than 140-character Tweets and twenty-second Tik Tok videos. It seems like the objective isn’t to have civil, personal conversations anymore, as it is to impersonally drown out any dissenting voices – and if you can’t shout them out, then shut them down. Why expect otherwise when we endorse the “my truth/your truth” rhetoric? How isn’t that inherently divisive? All the while, the Truth is washed over in the drowning, toxic sea of subjectivity.

We saw homes turned upside down. We saw neighborhoods set ablaze. We saw injustices done by those called to uphold justice – and we saw injustices done in the name of injustice. This past year, we saw firsthand the collateral damage done to communities when hate fills the hearts of humanity. We saw firsthand the relational and informational breakdown when people are more committed to pushing a particular narrative than pursuing the actual truth.

I don’t have time to catalogue all the heartache of 2020. But you get it. Our relationships are showing significant wear and tear - because we spent the last year wearing each other out and tearing each other to pieces. “But take heart! We’re all in this together!”

How comforting is that sentiment when we are so tangibly not together? When we are people distanced and divided from one another? How comforting is “We’re all in this together” when we can’t even hold ourselves together – let alone even convince those around us that we have it all together? Togetherness – real togetherness – was the last thing people felt in 2020. So, is “We’re all in this together” really the best we can say in such a distanced, divided time as this?

“We’re in this together” isn’t enough

We are distanced. We are divided. We are desperately in need for a solution to the problem – but painfully in denial over the fact that we are not it. Don’t get me wrong: calls for unity are commendable. But our solidarity together ultimately won’t save us. Think about it: if you were deathly ill and you went to see a doctor, would you ask your doctor to contract the same deathly disease as you?  Would you ask your doctor to hop on the hospital bed next to you? To moan and groan in solidarity with you? I doubt it. You want your doctor 1) to know you, your symptoms, and your pain, 2) to care about you, and 3) and ultimately to fix the problem. Sentiments of solidarity like “We’re all in this together” are about as comforting as “Misery loves company.” That we have solidarity in being inherently a part of and living in a fallen, broken, dying world is neither comforts us, nor fixes the problem.

We can brainstorm together all we want – we can invest in healthy measures to curb or eliminate pandemics, create treatments, wear masks, and social-distance – but our combined ingenuity will never solve the problem of death – all we can do is kick the can down the road. We can huddle together all we want – but no collective warmth we could possibly generate from within ourselves could deliver us from the hypothermia of sin. We can rally all our benevolence and kindness, all the ‘good things’ we’ve done as a society – but we’ll never meet God’s standard of absolute perfection; we could collectively craft a never-ending list of self-justifications – but not one will hold up in the courtroom of heaven; we can reach as deep as we want into our own pockets – but we could never pay God the infinite debt our fallen world owes him. We’re not entitled to God’s love: as a matter of fact, we’re entitled to the complete opposite. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

That we have in common together. Sin – our sin unites us together in our equal need for a Savior – just as sin separates us from one another – just as it separates us from God.

So, if my word of comfort is “We’re all in this together” – if that’s the best thing I have to offer – I’m being grossly dishonest.  

I can’t help but think of an interesting exchange between Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, and his beloved wife, Katharina (a frequently overshadowed hero of the Reformation, might I add). As bold and brilliant as Martin Luther was, he frequently underwent seasons of deep depression – some lasting for days. He also knew the pain of grief: he would bury not one, but two children – first his daughter, Elizabeth, and then his daughter Magdalene. On one occasion, his depression had gotten so bad, it was absolutely debilitating. Martin left to get some fresh air, and returned home to find his wife Katie dressed as if she were about to attend a funeral – clothed in all black, wearing a sad expression on her veiled face:

“Katie, what’s happened?”

“Oh Martin, our dear Lord is dead!”

“What are you talking about, our dear Lord is dead? He’s not dead! He’s risen and reigning!”

“Are you so sure, Martin?” Katie said. “Then why do you act as if he’s not?”

This past year was inescapably brutal – and leaves us all needing to say something of real comfort to each other. It’s sad enough that our world would settle for “We’re all in this together” as a ‘satisfying’ slogan to carry them through this year – in spite of how painfully distanced and divided we all are.

Dear Christian, will you settle for it, too?  

Is that really the best we have to offer? Or have we, like a depressed Martin Luther, forgotten our God and Savior Jesus has already – in real space and time – objectively overcome sin, death, and hell for us? Is Christ Jesus still on his cross? No! Then why do we speak as if he’s still suffering to save the world? Is Jesus still in the grave? Of course not! He’s risen! Then why do we act – why do we speak as if he’s not? Why speak empty words of comfort to others as if you have nothing greater to give – when you totally do?

Solidarity < Sacrifice

God desired that we forever dwell together with him in perfect harmony. And when humanity fell into sin, every aspect of God’s once perfect creation was marred and tainted by sin – including our relationships with one another. Families fall apart. Infidelity ends a once happy marriage. Best friends betray each other. We, because of sin, don’t rejoice in but are afraid of ethnic diversity. What’s more, our once perfect relationship with God was shattered, too. And ever since the fall into sin, our world – united in sin – has together tried to fix the problem. We try to hide our sinfulness. We self-medicate to forget those things we did. We work harder to weigh the scales in our favor. We try to cover up our crimes and bury our guilt. And none of it works. So, our gracious God reached out in love to save us. When we couldn’t mend the broken relationship between us and God, he, in Christ, did.

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:21-25a)

We didn’t need another person to ‘get sick’ with us: we needed a divine doctor to cure the disease. Yes, Jesus – true God from true God – is our brother in suffering, and that is a tremendous comfort; but solidarity in suffering is not what delivers us eternally from sin, death, and the powers of hell. True, to love anything in a sinful world necessitates suffering; but because the wages of sin is death, love necessitated not just suffering, but sacrifice.

God’s loving plan of salvation would intimately entail him suffering and dying. Jesus suffered what we never have so that we never will. And he did that because he loves you – not just so that your life would have a plan and purpose here and now, but that your life would be spent together with him forever in heaven. In Christ, your life has heavenly trajectory. And not just you – but all who cling to Christ in faith.

True togetherness with one another is impossible outside of and apart from Jesus. True at-one-ness with one another won’t happen outside of Jesus, just as being at one with God is impossible outside of and apart from Christ’s atoning work – his perfect life and death for us on the cross – where he took on our sin, he suffered, and died. So he could be our word of good news today.

Dear Christians, don’t settle for sentiments of hopeless solidarity as the best thing you have to say. Your greatest gift to give isn’t your solidarity: the greatest gift you have to give is your Savior. Pithy slogans like “We’re all in this together” isn’t what’s going to carry you through 2021. Jesus will. And the comfort we have to share isn’t that God, in solidarity, undergoes suffering alongside us: the comfort we have now to share is that he already has – he’s already drank the cup of suffering down to the very last drop. He’s already endured hell to save you! And the same God who worked tremendous, eternal good from the tremendous suffering and evil of the cross of Calvary continues to work good from suffering and evil every day, including in your life, all to bring us to himself and bring us all safely home to be with him. Let that be our word of encouragement. This new year let that be our good news.

What Does it Mean to Love One Another?

Is ‘love’ really all you need? If John Lennon were still alive, he’d probably tell you “yes”. He, after all, cowrote the Beatles’ hit “All You Need is Love”.

Do you know how many times the word ‘love’ is used in that song? I stopped counting at forty.  

Do you know how many times the word ‘love’ is defined in that song? Not once. The definition is never given; it’s assumed. And modern expressions like “Love wins” and “Choose Love” do the exact same thing. In such songs and slogans, the definition of love is never given; it’s assumed.

You might be inclined to think such an assumption is safe. After all, it sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? To love one another? But is it? It begs the question, that we know what ‘love’ means. Well, do we? What does it truly mean to love one another?

A Need for a Greater Definition of ‘Love’

In this season of great division, we desperately need a greater definition of love; because ‘love’ is not merely predicated upon an impersonal definition: it presupposes a personal definer – a greater someone upon whom this definition is objectively built.

This is why Jesus says “Love one another, as I have loved you.”

If Jesus had only commanded “Love one another” Christians would be left with no referent of ‘love’ to reference. Without an objective reference point, we’d all be left wondering:

• How are we to love one another?

• Why should we love one another?

• What does the word ‘love’ even mean?

If Jesus’ command only said “Love one another”, then you and I would be in a position to define the terms as we see fit. If Jesus’ command only said “Love one another”, then we could define who ‘others’ are - and who ‘others’ are not. Apart from any objective reference point, then we would be in a position to not only define how we are to love, but also the very definition of ‘love’ itself! We could define ‘love’ to mean whatever we want.

Without a reference point, we could define ‘love one another’ as never offending other people – even at the expense of living and telling the truth. We could define ‘love’ as whatever seems en vogue and trendy – even it meant compromising our convictions. We could define ‘love’ as something I only extend towards those who make me happy – or towards those who are like us – those who look like us, think like us, and talk like us. We could define ‘love’ as endorsement of all kinds of lifestyles. We could define ‘love’ as whatever feels good – “because if it feels good, it must be good.” Without an objective reference point, ‘love’ is whatever we want it to be.

Defining What Love Isn’t

And such a relative definition of love might sound attractive. But if you get to define what ‘love’ means, what’s to stop anyone from loving others conditionally? Quid pro quo? If love’s definition ebbs and flows with cultural convention, why, then, not just love conveniently? When it’s easy – and then give up when it’s hard?

What happens when your definition of love conflicts with mine? Or your friend’s? Your spouse’s? Who is right? Whoever gets their way? Whoever shouts the loudest? Whoever doesn’t end up on the couch? Whoever doesn’t get cancelled?

We can insist all we want that “Love is love is love is love.” But such insistence isn’t evidence for what ‘love’ is - just more question begging. What does the statement “Love is Love is Love” even mean? Semantically, it means absolutely nothing. What it does mean is that meaning has been evacuated from the word ‘love’.

But that’s what happens when we define what ‘love’ is: we invariably discover what ‘love’ isn’t.

Would a loving wife cling to a relative definition of love when her husband gets black out drunk every night? Or a loving husband when his wife has an affair? Would a loving parent insist love is relative when their two-year-old is running towards a busy street? Would we really say in those circumstances, “Who am I to impose my definition of love on them?” No, we wouldn’t. Because no one truly believes that ‘love’ is relative – that love is whatever we want it to be.

We desperately need an objective foundation to define love, and it can’t be us. And if we double down and insist that we get to define who we should love, how we should love, and what love is, we’re building a castle on a cloud, with our feet planted firmly in midair.

All poetries aside, we’re going to get wrecked.

Defining What Love Is

Notice, Jesus doesn’t say “Love one another, as you see fit.” He doesn’t say, “Love one another, as you define what love is.” Jesus says in John 15:12, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” You catch that? God is the reference point. Love, real, true love – not a mere romantic, erotic love – but a warm, sacrificial, selfless regard for someone, an affection for someone that visibly expresses itself in actions – that love is anchored in the very being of God. He’s not like love, nor merely loving. God IS love. God is the standard of love.

The love Jesus showed never delighted in evil, nor was he afraid to call out ‘evil’ for what it was - even at the risk of offending someone. Why? Because to say nothing would be unloving; because love rejoices in the truth. Christ defines who we are to love: everyone, the people like you, and the people not like you, your friends, your enemies, your family, and your spouse. Christ defines how we are to love: “as I have loved you,” he says.

And such an objective definition of ‘love’ might sound intimidating. Why? Because we know we are messed up sinners. We hear Jesus say, “Love others, as I have loved you,” and so often we warp that command inwards: “You hear that world? Love me as I define what love is!” Our love is impatient. Our love is unkind. Our love is boastful, it is proud, it is rude. Our love keeps record of wrongs. Our love fails. We slap catches and conditions on our love. We justify our lack of love! We say things like “I don’t have to like them; I just have to love them,” Well, what does that love look like? And would I want God to love me that way?

Do we really want God to love us how we love others? Our love is so often petty, fickle, and fleeting. We make people earn or deserve our love – and then we deny people our love when they fall short. In fact, we even justify our unloving actions. Do I really want to be the definition of who and how God loves when I, on average, can only meaningfully maintain 150-250 relationships – and even then I struggle to love them faithfully? Do I really want to be the definition of who and how God loves when we even struggle to love someone with whom we share the same house – or even share the same bed?

Do we really want God to love us the way that we love others? No. I don’t. I want to love as HE has loved me!

Love as Christ has Loved Us

And how has our God loved us? Jesus told his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” Did you catch that? God loves you as much as he loves himself! When our love would be limited, God’s love is limitless! “No one has a greater love than this: than to lay down one’s life for their friends.”

Jesus, out of his undying love for you, laid down his life to save you! Because you are precious, dear, and valuable to him! We were born with the deadly disease of sin – born spiritually lost, spiritually blind, and spiritually dead – only deserving of God’s eternal wrath! And when God’s righteous justice drew its crosshairs on you, Jesus selflessly stepped in the line of fire.

On the cross of Calvary where Jesus died, God’s love and justice converged. The blameless Lamb of God was slain as the sin offering once and for all for the entire world! And from the blood that Jesus’ shed for you and me, there we find forgiveness! There, our peace with God is secured! There, we are reconciled to God forever! Christ got everything we deserved, and gave us everything we didn’t! Scandalous love? Yes. Amazing love? Absolutely!

Your God and Savior Jesus carried the brokenness and dysfunction of every relationship, every family, and every marriage to the cross – so we would be family with him forever. He, in love, became a servant for you. He, in love, submitted for you!. He, in love, laid down his life for you. He rose for you. He reigns for you.

You and I aren’t in relationship with God because we were worthy of his love! Quite the opposite! We weren’t! God’s undeserved love for you isn’t because you possess some inherent quality that makes you desirable to him, nor is it because you did something to win or woo our way into his heart. You didn’t choose him. He, in love, chose you.

That is love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to save you. Jesus’ love is not only your model, but your motivation for the love you will show and share in your lives, in your community, in your families, and in your marriage. And when your love falls short – when you struggle or fail to love as Christ has loved you – run back to the cross, and see and hear your God assuring you of his abiding love for you and the forgiveness you have in Jesus. In Christ, we are no longer called God’s enemies, but his friends! God’s family! That’s love!

Do we really want God to love us the way that we love others? No. I don’t. We want to love as HE has loved us! So, do just that. Love one another – as Christ has loved you.

He Holds the Field Forever

You and I have arrived at “the election of our lifetime”, one where “the very soul of America is at stake!” And words like these demand that they be heard. And they are. Every single election cycle.

You hope the presidential candidate you like will win. You hope they will exemplify honesty and integrity as a leader of the free world. You hope they will usher in an era of nationwide prosperity. You hope they will take seriously the growing concerns regarding our climate. You hope they will solve crippling issues of poverty, unemployment, and healthcare. You hope their policies will curb – if not conclude the ending of unborn lives. You hope they will bring about peace, correct injustices past, and do justice in the present. You hope they combat racism and heal the racial divide in our country. You hope they will lead us and our nation’s economy out of this pandemic. Our lives, like America, are broken. And we find ourselves voting for someone not just to pick up the pieces, but to put those pieces back together.

We invest so, so much hope in our politicians, don’t we?

But what happens if that candidate you’re hoping will win loses? Or, what happens if they win and fall through on the promises they made during their campaign? What if their presidency is a complete train-wreck? What happens if they get impeached? What if your life is just as broken after their time in office? Or even worse than before? Then what?

There’s always next election, right? And when that new election cycle rolls around, we’ll be struck with the same amnesia all over again, eyes glazed over with near (if not, entirely) utopian promises from a new array of politicians. Some pan out to be power-hungry, or pocket-padding, or mere panderers. The best of them will bring about change that won’t truly last, while others will never actually finish painting the picture they sold you at the auction.

Called to be a Citizen

While our government (no matter the party) is one that God himself established to be a blessing, that doesn’t mean our leaders and their platforms are exempt of or without fault. Even the best politicians aren’t perfect. They are still sinners. Yet, the imperfection of our government isn’t license for Christians to punt their God-given civic duty to their neighbor in apathy or resignation. Christians are citizens of two kingdoms, after all: a citizen of heaven first, and then a citizen of the state.

We, as Christ commanded, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” We, as citizens of the state, have a God-given privilege and civic responsibility to individually participate in our political process – as it is a means for us individually as citizens of heaven to steward and care for the world God has given us – and, more importantly, a venue for us individually as citizens of heaven to be salt and light for a dark and dying world.

That dual citizenship is unavoidably uncomfortable for the Christian – notably every election season. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. Followers of Jesus traverse a narrow walk of lifelong cross-carrying and daily death to self. It comes with the territory when your leader claims to be God Incarnate. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus says. “There is no entry into heaven nor rightness with God except through me.”

Christ’s platform isn’t just countercultural: it’s inherently politically incorrect. As Christ-followers and citizens of heaven, we won’t sit comfortably in any political party.

Giving Caesar What is God’s

Yet even now, Christ calls us to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. And American Christians have really struggled with that recently. It’s hard for Christians to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s – notably when we are belittled, bullied, and even beaten by him for believing in Jesus. But I suspect the struggle for American Christians isn’t failure to give Caesar what is Caesar’s. With how politicized everything has become, we’re plenty eager to give Caesar his due, if not even more. No, the ditch American Christians are diving into is giving Caesar what is God’s.

On the one hand, we allow Caesar, in all his dishonesty and duplicitousness, to tell us how we are to carry out our Christian duty to our neighbor – not the Triune God of grace and truth. We, at Caesar’s command, vote uninformed. We resonate our echo chamber. We lazily reduce the entirety of a given candidate’s platform to a single issue. On the other hand, we let Caesar, in all his self-righteousness and scandal, become the ontic referent and foundation for what is objectively moral and good – not a divine, personal, loving, just, righteous Creator. We, at Caesar’s command, condemn with brazen bias the moral failings and illogicities of one side of the aisle, yet are completely numb to and unphased by the utter nonsense and moral atrociousness of the other. Instead of all arguments being made captive to the will and Word of God, our convictions are made captive to a political platform. Little by little, our political preferences start to engender our Christianity, and our understanding of the gospel starts to sound more Red or Blue rather than biblical.

And if the unique mission and message of the Church isn’t being cancelled or coopted by Caesar, we might be trying to outsource it directly to him – convinced that voting the right someone into office will magically translate America into a “more Christian” nation – that manmade legislation will somehow legislate Christian faith into the hearts of Americans. And while it is true that a nation’s laws can shape the moral fabric of society and inform conversations on morality, moral conformity to manmade laws doesn’t make someone a Christian. Manmade legislation can’t create faith in people’s hearts. Not even God’s perfect Law does that. The letter kills, the Bible says. It’s the gospel that gives life.

Do we, as Christians, still have the right to get mad when people call for the removal of “God” from schools and courtrooms when we Christians have already evicted God from our everyday conversations?

Do we, as Christians, still have the right to lament the rampant secularization of our society when our own social media and front lawns plastered with picket signs shout to the world not “In God” but “In POTUS we trust”?

Do we, as Christians still have the right to decry the insipid, political vitriol on the news and social media when our own speech is neither seasoned with salt, nor full of grace? When we, too, are maliciously mocking a presidential candidate in one breath and insulting the IQ of their followers in another?

How is any of that a win for Christ? How does any of that not affirm what millions of Americans already think about the Christian Church – that we’re a bunch of morality-policing, unloving, hypocritical lobbyists?

When we, as Christians, give any and all of what is God’s alone to Caesar, we give the world the impression we have nothing better or greater to give them than they already could give themselves.

A Need for a greater message

God has entrusted the universally needed message of the gospel uniquely to the Church to proclaim both corporately and individually to the world. The beating heart of the gospel is that we, in Christ, are justified – made right with God – purely by God’s grace alone, on account of Christ alone, made ours through faith in him alone. And when cardinals and councils demanded Martin Luther take such teachings back, Luther couldn’t. He was willing to stake his life for the freedom that is in Christ by grace through faith. Because that central teaching, Luther contested, is the one by which the Church stands or falls. Without it, the unique “Christian” flavor is indistinguishable from the world around us. The “light” of the gospel gets snuffed out.

If we hinge all our hopes and dreams on any earthly leader, we're bound to be devastated. Whether we feel our politicians are gone too fast or not gone soon enough, we betray a desperate hope we have in sinful, broken people - that they will somehow make this sinful, broken world completely better. They won’t. Because they can’t. The best presidential cabinet can’t remotely tackle this dying world’s greatest existential problems. Our greatest politicians don’t anchor the answer to questions of meaning, purpose, identity, and destiny. Our greatest leaders can’t undo death. Our greatest legislators can neither legislate us into God’s heart, nor into his heaven. They can never make real heaven a reality for you.

And that’s why we need Jesus – all of who he is, and all of what he’s done.

A need for a Greater King

The eternal Son of God didn’t come to compete with Caesar. Jesus came because Caesar couldn’t possibly fix this dying world’s greatest problems – let alone, give you what you were literally dying without. Christ came to win you life, and life to the full – to give you a new identity, and with it, a life of meaning and purpose. Your life has value, because God gives it value. You were bought with the price of God’s very own blood! You, in Christ, are set free from your guilt, your shame, your regrets, and all of your fears – including fear of death. The triumphant song of gospel victory still reverberates in Christ’s empty tomb. And in Christ, you have an eternal citizenship in heaven with him.

When true freedom, peace, and joy couldn’t be found in Caesar’s kingdom – our Heavenly Father sent his Son to win us that freedom. And the freedom and peace that Jesus gives is nothing like the fleeting, hollow peace the best of this world could muster: the peace Jesus gives is peace forever with the Almighty God himself, a peace bought with his own blood. You aren’t just a number to him: you are fearfully and wonderfully made by him! He didn’t die for you because there was something about you that rendered you worthy or deserving of his love: no, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! He didn’t pursue you because you voted for him: you didn’t chose him; he, in love, chose you!

You didn't have to write in "Jesus" on your ballot for him to be King: he already is. And he reigns and rules all things in love for you. No matter how this election shakes out, your King remains in control. He’s the gracious King who didn’t cast aside, but died for broken sinners such as you and me. He’s the King who, by his Spirit and through his Word, created faith in your heart. He's a King that will never disappoint. He's a king that says and delivers. And you're living proof of that, because he's delivered you! And he will deliver you through poverty, sickness, this pandemic, and even death to be with him in paradise. And he doesn’t just rule over us – he walks beside us and dwells within us. He doesn’t call us his servants: he calls us his friends.

That’s the kind of King I want to reign. And that’s the King I want to share.

You see, you have something greater to give this hurting, dying world than your tears, your solidarity, your raised fist in protest, and even your vote in the ballot box. You have someone far greater in whom to rest your hope than whoever will occupy the White House next week. That something is the gospel. That someone is Jesus.

“He Holds the Field Forever”

Our true citizenship and better citizenship is a heavenly one. And when we seek first that heavenly kingdom, it’s easier to exercise our citizenship of the state. So, let’s serve our God and our neighbor as citizens of the state and citizens of heaven. Let’s get out of our echo chambers and listen. Out of love for God and neighbor, let’s strive to be informed.

Let’s pray for our government - and pray against any evil it may cause. Let’s pray for the courage to speak out against sin and injustice - protesting peacefully if necessary.

Exercise your civic duty. Serve within the government, even! At the very least, go vote! Ask yourselves: Which of these leader’s platforms best corresponds with God’s moral law? Which of these leader’s policies will best promote an environment for sharing Christ and his gospel – what alone changes hearts and lives forever? Let’s pray that God be glorified in our individual involvement with American politics - be it in an office or by our ballots.

But don’t just be ready to vote; be ready to give people Jesus. Just as your Christian faith isn’t confined to an hour on Sunday, your Christian voice as a dual citizen isn’t confined to a ballot, either.

Be ready to give the reason for the eternal hope you have in Jesus – and do so with Christ-like gentleness and respect. Let your conversations be seasoned with salt and full of grace. Be an agent of gospel change.

Shine and showcase your Savior. He holds the field forever, just as he holds you forever.