The Birth of Christ Predicted in Numbers
Num. 24:17
This morning we are going to continue to look at some Old Testament predictions about the birth of Jesus. Last week I pointed out to you that like all good literature, the Bible has a story line. It has an overarching theme. In a single sentence, the essence of the Bible is that “man, originally in union with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator.” That story line starts in Genesis, reaches its climax at the birth of Christ, and is drawn to an end in Revelation when our enemy is thrown into the lake of fire and a new heavens and a new earth is created.
Last Sunday we were in the book of Genesis where the story starts, and we saw three specific predictions concerning the birth of Jesus. We started in Gen. 3:15 where we have the fall of man. As a result, God curses the serpent but assures Adam and Eve that eventually they were going to have a descendant who would deal a fatal blow to their enemy. Then we looked at the Abrahamic covenant where God reveals the scope of the promise in that “all the nations of the earth were going to be blessed” through this deliverer. And then we finished up in chapter 49 where Jacob is passing out blessings to his 12 sons. In the blessing he gives to Judah, he makes the point that the scepter, that instrument that indicates kingly power, was never going to depart from the line of Judah. This prediction introduced us to the concept of a kingdom being associated with the Messiah, it involves authority and submission. So as we worked our way through these passages we saw God giving more and more clarity, more and more depth and understanding to what started out as a somewhat vague prophesy concerning the birth of Jesus.
Now this morning we are going to be in the book of Numbers, which is where we see the next specific prophecy concerning the birth of Christ. I find it rather curious that there are three predictions in Genesis, none in Exodus and Leviticus, and then the next one is in Numbers. Is there something we can learn from this? I believe there is, and to help us see this, let’s think for a moment about the theme of each of these first five books of the Bible.
The theme of Genesis is “beginnings.” You have the beginning of humanity, the physical world, sin, family, human authority, etc. In Exodus, you have the book of “deliverance.” Just the name itself conveys this idea. The nation of Israel is in slavery in Egypt, and God delivers them. The book of Leviticus is the book of the “law.” Think about Levites, the tribe responsible for mediating the relationship between God and the nation. In our current study of this book you have seen chapter after chapter after chapter of rules and regulations concerning how God’s people were to relate to God as well as each other as well as how they were to relate to their surrounding culture.
But what about Numbers? What do you suppose the theme of this book is? The best way to understand Numbers is to think of it as the book of “failure.” It is basically a book that records episode after episode after episode of God’s people forsaking their God and engaging in blatant and defiant acts of rebellion. Interestingly, the golden calf incident isn’t in this book, that took place in Exodus, but other than that, Numbers takes the prize for bad behavior. This is why in the book of 1 Cor., when Paul makes the point not to act as bad as the children of Israel, he rattles off five episodes of particularly egregious behavior – and every one of them comes from the book of Numbers.
Now, to my way of thinking, if I were God, by the time I got to the end of the book of Numbers, I would be having serious second thoughts about this whole covenant with Israel thing. This nation has repeatedly demonstrated by their actions that they are more intent on pursuing their own pleasures than God’s promises. Yet it is in this context of repeated human failure that God chooses to give His people the next glimpse of their eventual Messiah.
That says something to me! That tells me that the promise of Gen. 3:15 is not dependent on man’s ability to live up to God’s expectations! Aren’t you grateful for that? Or as Paul puts it in 2 Tim. 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny himself!” This is the concept behind grace, and we see it in the book of Numbers, the book of failure in the desert, when God, using the prediction of a pagan fortuneteller, lets His people know that His plan is still on track. So let’s look at this prophesy in Num. 24:16-19.
Let me take a minute and give you the context of these verses. Moses and the nation of Israel are marching through the desert on the way to the Promised Land. In chapter 21, they come to the land of the Amorites, whose king is named Sihon. They ask for permission to cross his territory and promise not to touch anything in the country. All they want to do is use the king’s highway to cross his land – they even promise not to drink water from any of the wells. Sihon responds by drawing up in military array to do battle, and the Israelites soundly defeat him.
Next, Israel comes to the land of Bashan, ruled by a king named Og. Israel doesn’t even have an opportunity to negotiate with him, Og meets them with his warriors and is ready to do battle. They go to war, and Israel defeats Og and the armies of Bashan. In chapter 22, Israel comes to the land of Moab, and Balak, the king of Moab, is scared to death. He knew what had happened to Sihon and Og, so he hires a prophet by the name of Balaam to curse the nation of Israel. You’ve probably heard of Balaam, because there is a story about him and his donkey! But in Num. 22:6 we read, “Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse you is cursed.” So even though Balaam wasn’t a true follower of the God of Israel, he did have prophetic abilities and could curse and bless people.
At this point, God himself appears to Balaam and explicitly forbids him to curse the nation of Israel. And so at four different times, Balaam blesses Israel, which sends king Balak over the edge. As we read in 24:10, “Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing theme these three times! Flee to your place now.”
So this brings us up to verse 16 where we see Balaam’s fourth and final vision, and he says, “The oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. 17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth.” 18 "And Edom shall be a possession, Seir, its enemies, also shall be a possession, while Israel performs valiantly. 19 "One from Jacob shall have dominion, And shall destroy the remnant from the city."
Verse 17 is the one I want us to focus on, because Balaam, under the direct influence of the God of Israel, has a vision and sees a Person with a capital “P”. And even though Balaam has no clue about the significance of what he is saying, God is using this pagan prophet to flesh out His people’s understanding of their Messiah. Balaam makes six points about the Messiah, three of them had been previously revealed, but three are new.
The three familiar aspects of the Messiah are seen in the phrase, he “shall come forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth.” This tells us that the deliverer of Gen. 3:15 will come from the family of Jacob, he will rule as a king, and he will be victorious over his enemies. Each of these dimensions was revealed to us in Genesis.
But note the three new elements. They are seen in the phrase, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob.” What does this tell us about the Messiah?
1. First of all, He is still to come – “I see him, but not now.” In other words, the prophecy is still on track. The promise of Gen. 3:15 has not been rescinded, and even though there is all of the events in Exodus and all the events in Leviticus without a specific mention of this Messiah, a deliverer is coming, but He is not currently on the scene.
2. Secondly, He is from a different country – “I behold him, but not near.” This is similar to the previous point, but has the additional dimension that the deliverer will come from a different land. This is significant because there was a good chance that the people of Israel were looking at Moses or some other national leader as their deliverer. After all, Moses was a military man, he was a successful strategist, he had delivered them from slavery. And if they were looking to Moses, this prophecy of Balaam squelches the idea because their deliverer was not in the vicinity.
3. And finally, He will have a universal rule – “a star shall come forth from Jacob.” The significance of this point is that it is broadening the scope of the Messiah’s rule. Gen. 49 has already introduced us to the concept that the Messiah was going to function as a king, but kings have a limited realm, right? As Dr. Seuss tells us in the story of Yertle the Turtle, the king turtle was king over what? “All he could see.” That is why he kept building his throne higher and higher. That is the problem of kings, their realm is limited.
But now, we see that Messiah is a star that is coming forth from Jacob. The idea of an earthly, terrestrial kingdom is being supplanted now by a cosmic scenario. Whereas the earthly king had dominion over all people, and nations, and tribes and tongues to the extent that every person was going to bow and declare Him to be the Lord, now we see that the celestial beings as well are going to be under Messiah’s rule. This is why Paul says in Phil. 2:9-10, “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.” A star will come forth from Jacob.
So as we think about the significance of this prediction of the birth of Jesus that took place 1,400 years before Jesus was born, there are several things to focus on.
1. First of all, this is a tremendous testament to the supernatural nature of your Bible. Predictive prophecy argues strongly for divine authorship. If you are into statistics, the startling statistic is that there were over 300 prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus that were fulfilled when Jesus was born.
2. Secondly, as the Sovereign of this universe, God can use any instrument He wants to for His purposes, even a pagan fortuneteller. God did this with several pagan kings, most notably Cyrus and Artaxerxes, and here he is using Balaam. The lesson for us is not to despair in the face of our pagan surroundings. We would prefer to see godly people in positions of leadership and influence, but God is not limited to accomplishing His will only through godly instruments.
3. And finally, the fulfillment of God’s promises may be a long time in coming, but they are inexorable. They are certain. “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near.” Followers of Christ have been saying for 2,000 years now, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” What are we to do in the face of what we perceive to be the reluctance of our Lord to return and take us away to be with Him forever? We affirm with the Apostle Peter that 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation.
Our Messiah was born 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, just like the Bible predicted. And based on that fulfillment we can look forward with certainty to His second coming.
Prayer: Father, thank you for the certainty we can face life with. Thank you for the stability you bring us in the midst of turmoil and upheaval. In the very same way you accomplished everything you promised at your birth, we believe that you will accomplish everything you promised about your coming again to take us to be with you for all eternity. So as we think about Christmas, help us to see beyond the birth of Jesus and appreciate the scope and magnitude of fulfilled prophecy.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Birth of Christ Predicted in Genesis
The Birth of Christ Predicted in Genesis
Gen. 3:1-15
One of the things that sets the Bible apart from all the other works of literature ever produced is its unity. The “unity” of the Bible is the term we use to describe the single theme that starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation. If you were to summarize the message of the Bible, what would you say? In other words, if you had the ability to boil it all down, even distill it, what would you come up with?
When I think about this theme, what I come up with is this. “Man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator.” That is about as simple as it gets. Every chapter of the Bible, every book in the Bible, relates directly to this theme. And my point is that this singleness of theme sets the Bible apart from all the other works of literature that man has produced.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself that this idea of a single theme really is no big deal, that there are lots of books that have been written that have the scope of the Bible and contain as much information as the Bible, yet they all have a single theme as well (cf. any book written by James Michner). But what sets the Bible apart from all these other works of literature is three things.
1) The number of human authors – over 40!
2) The diversity of background of these human authors – from the highly trained, highly intellectual (Moses, Paul, Luke) to the modestly educated, blue collar laborers (Peter); from royalty (David, Solomon) to obscure (Obadiah); and from clergy (Samuel and prophets) to laity (Amos). A great variety of men from different walks of life.
3) The time span involved in writing – roughly 1,600 years.
So the question is, “What is the probability that you can get 40 different guys, from all different walks of life, writing over the course of 1,600 years – and have every one of them contribute independently to the single theme that man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator?
It’s statistically impossible! For this to happen, there would have to be an external, overarching, supernatural influence guiding the whole process, which we know is what happened as the Holy Spirit filled the various men and enabled them to write the exact message God wanted to convey to His people. Or as Peter puts it in 2 Pt. 1:21 – “No prophecy (Scriptural writing) was ever made by an act of human will, [rather] men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Now, as we think about the story line of the Bible, like most literature, it has a climax, or a high point. The narrative that starts in Genesis waxes and wanes, it swells and diminishes, it has its exciting parts as well as its dry parts. There are protagonists and antagonists and a variety of settings and points of view, but it is working towards a pinnacle. And for the Bible, that pinnacle is the birth of Jesus as recorded in Matthew and Luke (Mark and John don’t address the birth). The birth of Jesus is the pinnacle because it is Jesus who brings about man’s restoration. After that point, the story continues and finds its ultimate resolution in the book of Revelation with the judgment of Satan who is cast into the lake of fire, and the re-creation of the heavens and the earth.
This morning I want to show you the earliest stages of the development of this storyline (man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator), and we find three distinct prophecies about the birth of Jesus in the book of Genesis.
1. The Stage is Set – Gen. 3:1-15
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 And he said, "I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 And the man said, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 14 And the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life;15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."
So here in the third chapter of the Bible we have the stage being set for a drama that will be played out for many years to come. Let me quickly draw your attention to the first three elements of the story.
a. Note first of all the human vs. non-human dimension of this conflict. In verse 15 we see God say that there was going to be “enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman.” Does that mean that for the rest of time that women are going to be afraid of snakes? No. This really isn’t about snakes. The Genesis account doesn’t tell us explicitly that Satan was filling the serpent, but we can conclude from the content of the conversation, and it is confirmed in later scriptures, that it was none other than Satan, a non-human created being who was opposed to God and God’s plans that was going after Eve. This idea is fleshed out by Paul in Eph. 6:12 when he says, “Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the . . . spiritual [non-human, non-physical] forces of wickedness in heavenly places.”
b. Note secondly that there is an indeterminate timeframe. Verse 15 says that the enmity between these two factions was going to last longer than one generation, it was going to be carried on by the seed of the woman (a reference to all the generations that would follow her) and the seed of the serpent (a reference to all those other non-human created beings that rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven). But the text doesn’t tell us when this enmity will cease – there is an indeterminate time frame.
c. And note finally that humanity is the ultimate victor. We see this in the phrase in verse 15, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." In other words, one of Eve’s male descendents (“he”) was going to inflict fatal damage to Satan. That is the significance of a head wound. But in doing so, Eve’s male descendent was going to suffer as well. But a wounded foot isn’t fatal like a wounded head is.
So to sum up this first point of the stage being set, here we see that even though Satan scored a huge victory right out of the gate, and that even though the conflict seems unfair in that it pits man against powerful spiritual beings, a time was coming some day in the future when Satan would receive a death blow from “the Man, Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:15.
Now I’d like you to turn to Gen. 12:1-3 and let’s look at the second mention, and I’m calling this “the scope is revealed.” Once the stage is set and we know who the major players are and have a general idea of the time frame, God shows us how big this plan is and how one can get on board in the Abrahamic Covenant.
2. The Scope is Revealed – Gen. 12:1-3, 22:15-18
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoken to him.”
15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
Very quickly, note some new dimensions of the story. First of all, a human family is identified. In 12:3, God makes a powerful promise in that “all the families of the earth will be blessed in you.” The “in you” is a reference to Abraham. The significance of this point is that from the time of Adam and Eve to the time of Abraham, humanity has really expanded. Now, instead of there being a single family (Adam and Eve), there are hundreds if not thousands of families. And so God narrows the field to the family of Abraham and promises him that the scope of this covenant is huge – it will affect all the families of the earth. So the human family is identified, but a global family will be blessed.
Secondly, we see the concept of faith is introduced. We see it in 12:1 where God simply tells Abraham to pack his bags and start travelling. God doesn’t reveal the destination to Abraham, He simply says, “get going.” In chapter 22, Abraham responds in faith to another command of God, this one much more significant than the first one as he is commanded to sacrifice his son, his only son. Again, Abraham responds in faith to the command of God, and the Apostle James tells us in James 2:21-23 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.”
So in this second passage of Genesis that points us toward Christmas, we see the scope of the story. The final addition the book of Genesis gives us is found in Gen. 49:8-10. As you follow the genealogies of Genesis, after Abraham is chosen, he has two sons – Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is chosen of God to carry on the covenant, and he has twins – Jacob and Esau. God chooses Jacob, the younger of the twins, to carry on the covenant, and Jacob ends up with 12 sons. At the end of Jacob’s life, he calls his sons in to bless them, and in chapter 49 we have those blessings. The blessing Jacob gives to Judah is found in verses 8 – 10, and the new element being added to the story is that sovereignty is revealed.
3. The Sovereign is Revealed– Gen. 49:8-10
8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you. 9 "Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
The three things we see here are that first of all, another human family is identified. The covenant is going to be passed from Jacob to Judah. To use the wording of Gen. 3, the “seed” of the woman is now contained in Judah’s lineage. The second thing we see is the element of dominion being introduced. It is implied in verse 8 where his brothers are praising him and bowing down to him, but it is explicit in verse 10 where reference is made to a kingly instrument – the scepter. The scepter was the jeweled staff a king carried as a sign of his authority. This is why 640 years after this blessing, a young man from the tribe of Judah by the name of David became the King of Israel.
The significance of this point is that now our story takes on a new dimension of kingdom rule. This isn’t simply a one-on-one battle between the seed of man and the seed of the serpent, this isn’t simply a man blessing all the nations of the earth. This story line involves kingdoms, and dominion, and sovereignty, and obeisance. This dimension is referred to repeatedly in the gospels as Jesus emphasizes the importance of the kingdom of God. He tells Nicodemus that “unless a man is born again he won’t even see the kingdom of God.” Paul tells us that a day is coming when “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
So the blessing that Jacob confers on Judah introduces us to the idea of sovereignty, but there is a phrase there we don’t want to overlook because it shows us the terminus of the promise. Note the little phrase, “until Shiloh comes.” “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.” The word “Shiloh” means, “the one who brings peace.”
The point here is that the earthly rule of the tribe of Judah was going to come to an end when? When “the one who brings peace” comes. Who do you suppose that is? Right. It is Jesus. This is what Paul has in mind in Eph. 2:14 when he says – “He himself is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.”
Isn’t it amazing to realize that 1,500 years before it actually happened, the birth of Jesus was predicted? In three different places here in the book of Genesis we see direct information alerting us to the possibility of man being restored to his place of union with his Creator. It was somewhat vague and shadowy in Gen. 3:15, but it took on more shape in Gen. 12 and 49. And what we are going to see next week is that as we get to the book of Numbers, and eventually into Isaiah, the predictions become more and more crystallized.
But what does all this mean for us today?
First of all, I want you to appreciate the unique nature of your Bible, and in particular, its unity.
Secondly, I want to appreciate your place in history. We are incredibly privileged to have a completed Bible, full revelation, and insight based on 2,000 years of biblical scholarship.
Thirdly, I want you to appreciate that we can go to the end of the story and see how it all turns out. God has not left us in the dark wondering how it will all end. We don’t live lives of suspense hoping that we are on the right side in this battle between the seed of Eve and the seed of the serpent.
And finally, I want you to really appreciate the significance of the birth of Jesus. What a tremendous event it was as God miraculously brought about the culmination of 1,500 years of prophesy.
Gen. 3:1-15
One of the things that sets the Bible apart from all the other works of literature ever produced is its unity. The “unity” of the Bible is the term we use to describe the single theme that starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation. If you were to summarize the message of the Bible, what would you say? In other words, if you had the ability to boil it all down, even distill it, what would you come up with?
When I think about this theme, what I come up with is this. “Man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator.” That is about as simple as it gets. Every chapter of the Bible, every book in the Bible, relates directly to this theme. And my point is that this singleness of theme sets the Bible apart from all the other works of literature that man has produced.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself that this idea of a single theme really is no big deal, that there are lots of books that have been written that have the scope of the Bible and contain as much information as the Bible, yet they all have a single theme as well (cf. any book written by James Michner). But what sets the Bible apart from all these other works of literature is three things.
1) The number of human authors – over 40!
2) The diversity of background of these human authors – from the highly trained, highly intellectual (Moses, Paul, Luke) to the modestly educated, blue collar laborers (Peter); from royalty (David, Solomon) to obscure (Obadiah); and from clergy (Samuel and prophets) to laity (Amos). A great variety of men from different walks of life.
3) The time span involved in writing – roughly 1,600 years.
So the question is, “What is the probability that you can get 40 different guys, from all different walks of life, writing over the course of 1,600 years – and have every one of them contribute independently to the single theme that man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator?
It’s statistically impossible! For this to happen, there would have to be an external, overarching, supernatural influence guiding the whole process, which we know is what happened as the Holy Spirit filled the various men and enabled them to write the exact message God wanted to convey to His people. Or as Peter puts it in 2 Pt. 1:21 – “No prophecy (Scriptural writing) was ever made by an act of human will, [rather] men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Now, as we think about the story line of the Bible, like most literature, it has a climax, or a high point. The narrative that starts in Genesis waxes and wanes, it swells and diminishes, it has its exciting parts as well as its dry parts. There are protagonists and antagonists and a variety of settings and points of view, but it is working towards a pinnacle. And for the Bible, that pinnacle is the birth of Jesus as recorded in Matthew and Luke (Mark and John don’t address the birth). The birth of Jesus is the pinnacle because it is Jesus who brings about man’s restoration. After that point, the story continues and finds its ultimate resolution in the book of Revelation with the judgment of Satan who is cast into the lake of fire, and the re-creation of the heavens and the earth.
This morning I want to show you the earliest stages of the development of this storyline (man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator), and we find three distinct prophecies about the birth of Jesus in the book of Genesis.
1. The Stage is Set – Gen. 3:1-15
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 And he said, "I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 And the man said, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 14 And the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life;15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."
So here in the third chapter of the Bible we have the stage being set for a drama that will be played out for many years to come. Let me quickly draw your attention to the first three elements of the story.
a. Note first of all the human vs. non-human dimension of this conflict. In verse 15 we see God say that there was going to be “enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman.” Does that mean that for the rest of time that women are going to be afraid of snakes? No. This really isn’t about snakes. The Genesis account doesn’t tell us explicitly that Satan was filling the serpent, but we can conclude from the content of the conversation, and it is confirmed in later scriptures, that it was none other than Satan, a non-human created being who was opposed to God and God’s plans that was going after Eve. This idea is fleshed out by Paul in Eph. 6:12 when he says, “Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the . . . spiritual [non-human, non-physical] forces of wickedness in heavenly places.”
b. Note secondly that there is an indeterminate timeframe. Verse 15 says that the enmity between these two factions was going to last longer than one generation, it was going to be carried on by the seed of the woman (a reference to all the generations that would follow her) and the seed of the serpent (a reference to all those other non-human created beings that rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven). But the text doesn’t tell us when this enmity will cease – there is an indeterminate time frame.
c. And note finally that humanity is the ultimate victor. We see this in the phrase in verse 15, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." In other words, one of Eve’s male descendents (“he”) was going to inflict fatal damage to Satan. That is the significance of a head wound. But in doing so, Eve’s male descendent was going to suffer as well. But a wounded foot isn’t fatal like a wounded head is.
So to sum up this first point of the stage being set, here we see that even though Satan scored a huge victory right out of the gate, and that even though the conflict seems unfair in that it pits man against powerful spiritual beings, a time was coming some day in the future when Satan would receive a death blow from “the Man, Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:15.
Now I’d like you to turn to Gen. 12:1-3 and let’s look at the second mention, and I’m calling this “the scope is revealed.” Once the stage is set and we know who the major players are and have a general idea of the time frame, God shows us how big this plan is and how one can get on board in the Abrahamic Covenant.
2. The Scope is Revealed – Gen. 12:1-3, 22:15-18
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoken to him.”
15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
Very quickly, note some new dimensions of the story. First of all, a human family is identified. In 12:3, God makes a powerful promise in that “all the families of the earth will be blessed in you.” The “in you” is a reference to Abraham. The significance of this point is that from the time of Adam and Eve to the time of Abraham, humanity has really expanded. Now, instead of there being a single family (Adam and Eve), there are hundreds if not thousands of families. And so God narrows the field to the family of Abraham and promises him that the scope of this covenant is huge – it will affect all the families of the earth. So the human family is identified, but a global family will be blessed.
Secondly, we see the concept of faith is introduced. We see it in 12:1 where God simply tells Abraham to pack his bags and start travelling. God doesn’t reveal the destination to Abraham, He simply says, “get going.” In chapter 22, Abraham responds in faith to another command of God, this one much more significant than the first one as he is commanded to sacrifice his son, his only son. Again, Abraham responds in faith to the command of God, and the Apostle James tells us in James 2:21-23 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.”
So in this second passage of Genesis that points us toward Christmas, we see the scope of the story. The final addition the book of Genesis gives us is found in Gen. 49:8-10. As you follow the genealogies of Genesis, after Abraham is chosen, he has two sons – Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is chosen of God to carry on the covenant, and he has twins – Jacob and Esau. God chooses Jacob, the younger of the twins, to carry on the covenant, and Jacob ends up with 12 sons. At the end of Jacob’s life, he calls his sons in to bless them, and in chapter 49 we have those blessings. The blessing Jacob gives to Judah is found in verses 8 – 10, and the new element being added to the story is that sovereignty is revealed.
3. The Sovereign is Revealed– Gen. 49:8-10
8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you. 9 "Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
The three things we see here are that first of all, another human family is identified. The covenant is going to be passed from Jacob to Judah. To use the wording of Gen. 3, the “seed” of the woman is now contained in Judah’s lineage. The second thing we see is the element of dominion being introduced. It is implied in verse 8 where his brothers are praising him and bowing down to him, but it is explicit in verse 10 where reference is made to a kingly instrument – the scepter. The scepter was the jeweled staff a king carried as a sign of his authority. This is why 640 years after this blessing, a young man from the tribe of Judah by the name of David became the King of Israel.
The significance of this point is that now our story takes on a new dimension of kingdom rule. This isn’t simply a one-on-one battle between the seed of man and the seed of the serpent, this isn’t simply a man blessing all the nations of the earth. This story line involves kingdoms, and dominion, and sovereignty, and obeisance. This dimension is referred to repeatedly in the gospels as Jesus emphasizes the importance of the kingdom of God. He tells Nicodemus that “unless a man is born again he won’t even see the kingdom of God.” Paul tells us that a day is coming when “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
So the blessing that Jacob confers on Judah introduces us to the idea of sovereignty, but there is a phrase there we don’t want to overlook because it shows us the terminus of the promise. Note the little phrase, “until Shiloh comes.” “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.” The word “Shiloh” means, “the one who brings peace.”
The point here is that the earthly rule of the tribe of Judah was going to come to an end when? When “the one who brings peace” comes. Who do you suppose that is? Right. It is Jesus. This is what Paul has in mind in Eph. 2:14 when he says – “He himself is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.”
Isn’t it amazing to realize that 1,500 years before it actually happened, the birth of Jesus was predicted? In three different places here in the book of Genesis we see direct information alerting us to the possibility of man being restored to his place of union with his Creator. It was somewhat vague and shadowy in Gen. 3:15, but it took on more shape in Gen. 12 and 49. And what we are going to see next week is that as we get to the book of Numbers, and eventually into Isaiah, the predictions become more and more crystallized.
But what does all this mean for us today?
First of all, I want you to appreciate the unique nature of your Bible, and in particular, its unity.
Secondly, I want to appreciate your place in history. We are incredibly privileged to have a completed Bible, full revelation, and insight based on 2,000 years of biblical scholarship.
Thirdly, I want you to appreciate that we can go to the end of the story and see how it all turns out. God has not left us in the dark wondering how it will all end. We don’t live lives of suspense hoping that we are on the right side in this battle between the seed of Eve and the seed of the serpent.
And finally, I want you to really appreciate the significance of the birth of Jesus. What a tremendous event it was as God miraculously brought about the culmination of 1,500 years of prophesy.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
God and Google
This past week, Nancy and I were traveling in PA, and we had stopped for lunch at a little diner. While there, we were discussing where to go next, and since we didn’t have any good maps, we were somewhat frustrated. Then I remembered that I have a little program on my phone that finds restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and concerts. So I turned it on, it thought for a minute, and then on the screen there came up a very detailed map of the area, and right in the middle of the map was a little blinking light. I showed it to Nancy and said, “Guess what that little blinking light is? It’s this phone!” Does anybody else find that a little bit scary?
There is a reason these phones are called “smart” phones (my phone contains more computing power than the entire NASA program of 1969 when we landed men on the moon!), but sometimes they are a little bit too smart for my comfort – and this was one of those times! I found it very unnerving that there was a satellite out there somewhere that could pinpoint, to an intersection, the location of my telephone. That is a level of involvement in my personal life that is too close for comfort.
Technology really is a wonderful thing, but in the wrong hands, that technology can have very bad consequences. The scary thing about technology is that it has become predictive.
This morning we are going to be spending our time looking at Someone who has a level of knowledge about you, and a level of involvement in your personal life, that is going to blow you away. If you are impressed by what a smart phone can do, or what Google or Pandora Radio or Amazon can do, wait until you see what Psalm 139 teaches us about God’s involvement in your life.
In Psalm 138:8, David says, “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me, your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting, do not forsake the works of Thy hands.”
There are three distinct clauses here, and I want us to look at each of them very briefly as an introduction to Psalm 139.
“The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” Note the tone of certainty here. There is not a hint of question in David’s assertion. “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” There are at least two other passages that teach this idea, the first in Jer. 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” In the NT, we read in Phil. 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
The point of these passages is that God has a plan for your life, and He will bring it about. Both the good and the bad are a part of the plan. We need to be careful not to make the mistake of thinking that God’s plan is working when my life is running smoothly, and that God’s plan has gotten off course when my life is full of difficulty. That isn’t the way it works. “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” What this means in everyday language is that there is nothing random or arbitrary about your life.
So in the first phrase, we see what God is going to do. In the next phrase, we see how God is going to do it. David goes on to say, “your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting.”
I want us to think first about that word “lovingkindness.” It isn’t a part of our normal vocabulary, is it? The KJV uses the word “mercy,” “Your mercy, O Lord, is everlasting” which is a legitimate translation, but our perception of mercy is not nearly broad enough to encompass the meaning of the Hebrew word. “Mercy” in English is “not giving someone what they deserve,” which is true of God, but we limit mercy to a judicial / legal context. The Hebrew word here is much broader and entails the concept of faithfulness, especially faithfulness to the covenants God established with Abraham, Noah, and David.
This is why the ESV translates it as “your steadfast love, O Lord, is everlasting.” The word conveys not only kindness, and mercy, and love but also faithfulness to a promise. The point David is making is that the plan God is working out in your life is going to be carried out within the context of love, and kindness, and mercy.
This is an important point for us to remember because many times we have the misperception that our setting in life is outside of, or beyond the scope of God’s love, or God’s mercy, or God’s kindness. But this phrase tells us otherwise, doesn’t it? “Your steadfast love is everlasting, O Lord.” One of the surprising things I have learned in the prison ministry is that many of those men there have learned the truth of this, and many of the men in the prison church will tell you that prison is the best thing that has ever happened to them. It was actually an act of God’s kindness, even God’s mercy to them, that brought them to a conviction and sentence.
So as we follow the flow of thought in this verse David starts out by telling us what God is going to do, in the phrase “the Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” Then we have how God is going to carry out His plan for our life by telling us it will happen within the context of love and mercy. And finally, we have David’s plea in the phrase, “do not forsake the work of Thy hands.”
The reason I am calling this a plea from David is because God’s plan for our lives often involves difficulty if not outright hardship, pain, and even suffering. David knew a lot about things of this nature, and this is often where we find ourselves when God’s plan for our lives takes a turn in a direction we don’t want to go.
I remember Elisabeth Elliott telling about her conversation with God right after her second husband had been diagnosed with cancer. They were leaving the surgeons office and he had just described the hideous surgeries he was going to have to perform, and EE’s question to God was, “Again?” In other words, “I’ve already lost one husband, am I going to lose another one?” When we find ourselves at this point in God’s plan for our lives, we can identify with David’s plea, “do not forsake the work of thy hands.”
And it is at this point that we come to Psalm 139. It is like the Holy Spirit gave David a microscope and the ability to peer into God’s invisible workings in your life. And it is a sight to behold! Let’s just skim through the first six verses and note how God’s knowledge of us, and His involvement in our lives is so much deeper, even intrusive, that most of us are aware of.
1 & 2 O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar.
David’s point here is that God is aware of the mundane (“sitting and rising”) as well as the profound (“you understand my thoughts from afar”). The significance of God’s understanding your thoughts from afar is seen in that when a husband and a wife have been together long enough, they eventually get to the place where they can somewhat read each other’s minds. They can tell what the other person is thinking. But they can only do that when they are close enough to each other to see the face. God doesn’t have that limitation. He “understands our thoughts from afar.”
3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted with all my ways.
I want us to think about this word “scrutinize” for a moment (the KJV uses the word “compasseth”). The Hebrew word for “scrutinize” has the idea of “measuring,” but with the ultimate emphasis on comprehensive knowledge. Here’s how it works. How many of you are familiar with the old carpenter’s adage, “measure once, cut twice?” What’s the point? Before you commit to making a cut, you better measure, and then measure again. And if you are working with mahogany, or teak, you better measure one more time just to make sure. So the idea of scrutiny grows out of this activity of careful measuring. And when you are scrutinizing something, the net result is that you end up with a comprehensive knowledge of the subject.
Think about the the difference between having a “comprehensive” knowledge of something, and a “working” knowledge of something? For instance, I have a “working” knowledge of plumbing, but certainly not a comprehensive knowledge. The same with carpentry and mechanics. That old saying “a jack of all trades and master of none” fits me well.
David’s point is that God’s knowledge of us is not a working knowledge! It is a comprehensive knowledge, based on His scrutinizing of our lives.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all.
This verse is telling us that God’s knowledge of me is not limited to my ability to express / articulate my need. Several years ago we were babysitting several children for a couple of days, and one of the children had some kind of condition where she would become extremely agitated and incommunicative. When she got like this she would moan and groan and gasp and writhe – obviously in great distress – but she couldn’t talk. And one night at bed time, she was having one of these times and I remember saying to her over and over, “I want to help you, but you have to use words.”
David’s point is that we don’t have to use words! There may be times in our life where we are so agitated or hurt or disillusioned that we can’t even articulate what is on our hearts. That’s not a problem with God! “Before the word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all.” The N.T. teaching of this is found in Rom. 8:26 where Paul says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” So again, we see how incredibly deep God’s knowledge of us really is.
5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before,
The concept here is complete protection. I really like how the various versions translate this.
“I am shut in by you on every side” BBE
“You surround me – front and back” CEB
“You hem me in, behind and before” NIV
“You go before me and follow me” NLT
David’s point is that when you have protection on one side only, you are still very vulnerable. So God surrounds us! And then note what David says. Not only is God completely surrounding us, note how close He is to us. “And laid Thy hand upon me.” Have you ever noticed how comforting touch is?
Something I have learned about painting houses is that the higher up I go, the less comfortable I am standing on a walk board. I don’t mind being on a ladder because I hold on to a rung with one hand and paint with the other, but when you are on a walk board, there is nothing to hang on to! One time I was about 30 feet up painting the peak of a house. I was standing on an 18” walk board, which is more than sufficient – it shouldn’t have been hard for me at all. But I couldn’t hold my paint pot in one hand and paint with the other. I had to keep a finger on the side of the house! And as long as I kept one finger on the side of the house, I could lean out to the side and paint, and reach up high overhead and paint, but the moment I took my finger off the side of the house I felt like I was going to lose my balance and fall.
Which is completely illogical, when you think about it. Having my finger on the side of the house accomplishes nothing in the realm of reality when it comes to protection from falling. If I stumble, that finger on the side of the house isn’t going to do one single thing to help me out. But as long as the touch was there, I felt safe. That is the power of touch. So when David says “Thou has enclosed me behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me,” he is conveying not only protection but also tangible comfort.
And then in verse six we see David’s conclusion. I really like the way the CMV translates it. “I am blown away by all of this.” By the way, CMV stands for the Contemporary Murray Version, the way the NAS puts it is, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.” And so as David meditates on the level of God’s knowledge of him, and the depth of God’s involvement in his life – it blows his mind. He gives up on trying to wrap his head around it.
Isn’t this an overwhelming answer to the plea of Psalm 138:8 – “do not forsake the work of thy hands”? God’s response is “not only will I not forsake you, I will monitor your most mundane activities, I will predict your very thoughts, and I will comprehensively envelop you and keep My hand on you.”
Are you starting to see that God’s knowledge of and involvement in your life is a little bit deeper than we usually think? In our introduction this morning, I talked with you about how far our technology has progressed, and that it has even become predictive, but warned you that too much personal information in the wrong hands can be dangerous. Isn’t it comforting to know that God knows more about you than Google or Facebook will ever find out? But you don’t ever have to worry about how God will use that knowledge. You won’t ever lose sleep at night wondering about it, in fact, you’ll sleep better!
There is a reason these phones are called “smart” phones (my phone contains more computing power than the entire NASA program of 1969 when we landed men on the moon!), but sometimes they are a little bit too smart for my comfort – and this was one of those times! I found it very unnerving that there was a satellite out there somewhere that could pinpoint, to an intersection, the location of my telephone. That is a level of involvement in my personal life that is too close for comfort.
Technology really is a wonderful thing, but in the wrong hands, that technology can have very bad consequences. The scary thing about technology is that it has become predictive.
This morning we are going to be spending our time looking at Someone who has a level of knowledge about you, and a level of involvement in your personal life, that is going to blow you away. If you are impressed by what a smart phone can do, or what Google or Pandora Radio or Amazon can do, wait until you see what Psalm 139 teaches us about God’s involvement in your life.
In Psalm 138:8, David says, “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me, your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting, do not forsake the works of Thy hands.”
There are three distinct clauses here, and I want us to look at each of them very briefly as an introduction to Psalm 139.
“The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” Note the tone of certainty here. There is not a hint of question in David’s assertion. “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” There are at least two other passages that teach this idea, the first in Jer. 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” In the NT, we read in Phil. 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
The point of these passages is that God has a plan for your life, and He will bring it about. Both the good and the bad are a part of the plan. We need to be careful not to make the mistake of thinking that God’s plan is working when my life is running smoothly, and that God’s plan has gotten off course when my life is full of difficulty. That isn’t the way it works. “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” What this means in everyday language is that there is nothing random or arbitrary about your life.
So in the first phrase, we see what God is going to do. In the next phrase, we see how God is going to do it. David goes on to say, “your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting.”
I want us to think first about that word “lovingkindness.” It isn’t a part of our normal vocabulary, is it? The KJV uses the word “mercy,” “Your mercy, O Lord, is everlasting” which is a legitimate translation, but our perception of mercy is not nearly broad enough to encompass the meaning of the Hebrew word. “Mercy” in English is “not giving someone what they deserve,” which is true of God, but we limit mercy to a judicial / legal context. The Hebrew word here is much broader and entails the concept of faithfulness, especially faithfulness to the covenants God established with Abraham, Noah, and David.
This is why the ESV translates it as “your steadfast love, O Lord, is everlasting.” The word conveys not only kindness, and mercy, and love but also faithfulness to a promise. The point David is making is that the plan God is working out in your life is going to be carried out within the context of love, and kindness, and mercy.
This is an important point for us to remember because many times we have the misperception that our setting in life is outside of, or beyond the scope of God’s love, or God’s mercy, or God’s kindness. But this phrase tells us otherwise, doesn’t it? “Your steadfast love is everlasting, O Lord.” One of the surprising things I have learned in the prison ministry is that many of those men there have learned the truth of this, and many of the men in the prison church will tell you that prison is the best thing that has ever happened to them. It was actually an act of God’s kindness, even God’s mercy to them, that brought them to a conviction and sentence.
So as we follow the flow of thought in this verse David starts out by telling us what God is going to do, in the phrase “the Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” Then we have how God is going to carry out His plan for our life by telling us it will happen within the context of love and mercy. And finally, we have David’s plea in the phrase, “do not forsake the work of Thy hands.”
The reason I am calling this a plea from David is because God’s plan for our lives often involves difficulty if not outright hardship, pain, and even suffering. David knew a lot about things of this nature, and this is often where we find ourselves when God’s plan for our lives takes a turn in a direction we don’t want to go.
I remember Elisabeth Elliott telling about her conversation with God right after her second husband had been diagnosed with cancer. They were leaving the surgeons office and he had just described the hideous surgeries he was going to have to perform, and EE’s question to God was, “Again?” In other words, “I’ve already lost one husband, am I going to lose another one?” When we find ourselves at this point in God’s plan for our lives, we can identify with David’s plea, “do not forsake the work of thy hands.”
And it is at this point that we come to Psalm 139. It is like the Holy Spirit gave David a microscope and the ability to peer into God’s invisible workings in your life. And it is a sight to behold! Let’s just skim through the first six verses and note how God’s knowledge of us, and His involvement in our lives is so much deeper, even intrusive, that most of us are aware of.
1 & 2 O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar.
David’s point here is that God is aware of the mundane (“sitting and rising”) as well as the profound (“you understand my thoughts from afar”). The significance of God’s understanding your thoughts from afar is seen in that when a husband and a wife have been together long enough, they eventually get to the place where they can somewhat read each other’s minds. They can tell what the other person is thinking. But they can only do that when they are close enough to each other to see the face. God doesn’t have that limitation. He “understands our thoughts from afar.”
3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted with all my ways.
I want us to think about this word “scrutinize” for a moment (the KJV uses the word “compasseth”). The Hebrew word for “scrutinize” has the idea of “measuring,” but with the ultimate emphasis on comprehensive knowledge. Here’s how it works. How many of you are familiar with the old carpenter’s adage, “measure once, cut twice?” What’s the point? Before you commit to making a cut, you better measure, and then measure again. And if you are working with mahogany, or teak, you better measure one more time just to make sure. So the idea of scrutiny grows out of this activity of careful measuring. And when you are scrutinizing something, the net result is that you end up with a comprehensive knowledge of the subject.
Think about the the difference between having a “comprehensive” knowledge of something, and a “working” knowledge of something? For instance, I have a “working” knowledge of plumbing, but certainly not a comprehensive knowledge. The same with carpentry and mechanics. That old saying “a jack of all trades and master of none” fits me well.
David’s point is that God’s knowledge of us is not a working knowledge! It is a comprehensive knowledge, based on His scrutinizing of our lives.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all.
This verse is telling us that God’s knowledge of me is not limited to my ability to express / articulate my need. Several years ago we were babysitting several children for a couple of days, and one of the children had some kind of condition where she would become extremely agitated and incommunicative. When she got like this she would moan and groan and gasp and writhe – obviously in great distress – but she couldn’t talk. And one night at bed time, she was having one of these times and I remember saying to her over and over, “I want to help you, but you have to use words.”
David’s point is that we don’t have to use words! There may be times in our life where we are so agitated or hurt or disillusioned that we can’t even articulate what is on our hearts. That’s not a problem with God! “Before the word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all.” The N.T. teaching of this is found in Rom. 8:26 where Paul says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” So again, we see how incredibly deep God’s knowledge of us really is.
5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before,
The concept here is complete protection. I really like how the various versions translate this.
“I am shut in by you on every side” BBE
“You surround me – front and back” CEB
“You hem me in, behind and before” NIV
“You go before me and follow me” NLT
David’s point is that when you have protection on one side only, you are still very vulnerable. So God surrounds us! And then note what David says. Not only is God completely surrounding us, note how close He is to us. “And laid Thy hand upon me.” Have you ever noticed how comforting touch is?
Something I have learned about painting houses is that the higher up I go, the less comfortable I am standing on a walk board. I don’t mind being on a ladder because I hold on to a rung with one hand and paint with the other, but when you are on a walk board, there is nothing to hang on to! One time I was about 30 feet up painting the peak of a house. I was standing on an 18” walk board, which is more than sufficient – it shouldn’t have been hard for me at all. But I couldn’t hold my paint pot in one hand and paint with the other. I had to keep a finger on the side of the house! And as long as I kept one finger on the side of the house, I could lean out to the side and paint, and reach up high overhead and paint, but the moment I took my finger off the side of the house I felt like I was going to lose my balance and fall.
Which is completely illogical, when you think about it. Having my finger on the side of the house accomplishes nothing in the realm of reality when it comes to protection from falling. If I stumble, that finger on the side of the house isn’t going to do one single thing to help me out. But as long as the touch was there, I felt safe. That is the power of touch. So when David says “Thou has enclosed me behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me,” he is conveying not only protection but also tangible comfort.
And then in verse six we see David’s conclusion. I really like the way the CMV translates it. “I am blown away by all of this.” By the way, CMV stands for the Contemporary Murray Version, the way the NAS puts it is, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.” And so as David meditates on the level of God’s knowledge of him, and the depth of God’s involvement in his life – it blows his mind. He gives up on trying to wrap his head around it.
Isn’t this an overwhelming answer to the plea of Psalm 138:8 – “do not forsake the work of thy hands”? God’s response is “not only will I not forsake you, I will monitor your most mundane activities, I will predict your very thoughts, and I will comprehensively envelop you and keep My hand on you.”
Are you starting to see that God’s knowledge of and involvement in your life is a little bit deeper than we usually think? In our introduction this morning, I talked with you about how far our technology has progressed, and that it has even become predictive, but warned you that too much personal information in the wrong hands can be dangerous. Isn’t it comforting to know that God knows more about you than Google or Facebook will ever find out? But you don’t ever have to worry about how God will use that knowledge. You won’t ever lose sleep at night wondering about it, in fact, you’ll sleep better!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Church Leadership in the New Testament
Church Leadership in the New Testament
This morning we are going to be doing a quick study of church leadership in the New Testament. Several months ago, the trustees presented a revised constitution to the church that we voted on and approved, and in the near future they will be presenting a revised set of by-laws that we will discuss and vote on as well. One of the matters that is covered in the by-laws is this matter of church leadership, and in particular, what labels should we use to refer to the men who lead this church.
And to start us thinking about this, I have some questions for you. Why am I called a pastor, but in other churches the man filling my role in the church is called “Father?” Why are some men in a church called a “bishop?” Why do some churches have “elders,” and “teaching elders?” Why am I called “Pastor Murray?” Why is Nancy sometimes called “Mrs. Pastor?” What does the word “pastor” mean? Is it biblical? Is it the best word to use to describe my function. Let‟s see if we can answer some of these questions this morning.
Let‟s start by looking at 1 Peter 5, and what I want to show you is that there are five different words used in the NT to describe male leaders in the church, the first one is found in 1 Pt. 5.
1. Elder – 1 Pt. 5:1
Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
presbuteros – emphasis on age, wisdom, and maturity.
2. Deacon – Phil. 1:1
Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:
diakonos – emphasis on physical ministry to the body of Christ.
3. Overseer (the KJV uses the word bishop) – 1 Tim. 3:1
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
episkopos – emphasis on oversight and superintendence.
4. Pastor – Eph. 4:11
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers
poimen – emphasis on shepherding, tending, protection.
5. Teacher – James 3:1
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.
didaskalos – emphasis on instruction.
Summary: according to what we have just seen, there were five specific leadership roles in the New Testament Church: elder, deacon, overseer, pastor and teacher. I don‟t think every church had one of each, and there is evidence that some of these roles overlapped. For instance, in Eph. 4:11 shows us that the concept of pastor and teacher was a dual role. In Col. 1 Paul refers to himself as a diakonos.
What I want us to do now is look at a very instructive passage in Acts 20 where you see three of these words used in the same paragraph to describe the same group of men. In verse 17 we read, “And from Miletus [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders [our word presbuteros – what is the emphasis on? wisdom, age, and maturity – it was a clearly identified, select group of men] of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them . . .” From verse 18 through 35 Paul leaves his parting challenge with these elders.
Now, in verse 28 he says, speaking to this group of elders, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [episkopos – oversight, superintendence], to shepherd [poimein – tend, protect] the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
What do we see from this passage? First of all, we see that the “elders” and “overseers” refer to the same person, and secondly, we see that their responsibility is to shepherd. What this means is that the label to use for these men is “elder,” and the functions they perform are twofold: oversight and shepherding. So remember that the label is “elder” and the functions so far are “oversight” and “shepherding.”
Now, there is a third function an elder performs, and that is found in Eph. 4:11 and James 3:1 where we read that God has graciously given “teachers” to His church. In Eph. 4:11 we have the idea of the “pastor – teacher,” and in the James passage we have the admonition not to be too eager to become a teacher in the church because of the additional accountability you incur.
Summarize: so do you see that elder, overseer, pastor, and teacher are all synonyms for the same group of men. Only one of the terms (elder) is a label; the other terms (overseer, pastor, and teacher) are all functions. You can‟t “elder” a church, but you can “oversee / pastor / teach” a church.
Now, let me give you a curious note about elders: the word “elder” is used as a singular noun only four times in the NT.
“Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis . . .” 1 Tim. 5:19
“. . . as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ . . .” 1 Pt. 5:1
“The elder to the chosen lady . . .” 2 John 1:1
“The elder to the beloved Gaius . . . “ 3 John 1:1
Otherwise, the term “elder,” used in connection with the local church, is always used as a plural. Fifteen times the male leadership of the church is referred to as “the elders.” A quick sampling includes:
Acts 14:23 – “when they had appointed elders for them in every church . . .”
Acts 15:2 – “go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders . . .”
1 Tim. 5:7 – “Let the elders who rule well be considered . . .”
Titus 1:5 – “I left you in Crete that you might . . . appoint elders in every church.”
James 5:14 – “Call for the elders of the church . . .”
1 Pt. 5:5 – “. . . be subject to your elders . . .”
Now, something significant that I want to point out to you is that never once do you see the term “pastor” as a singular noun in the NT, as in “the pastor.” It is seen only once as a plural noun, in Eph. 4:11; and there, the context is the universal church, not the local church. One of the gifts God has given “the church” is “pastors.”
Where then does the idea of “a pastor” as the head of the church come from?
Turn with me to 1 Tim. 3:14. In these verses we have Paul‟s purpose for writing to Timothy, and he says, “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
Paul‟s intent / purpose in these two letters to Timothy was to give Timothy instructions on how a church was to function. This is why we have extended sections dealing with
prayer in the church,
the role of women in the church,
qualifications for bishops (church leaders),
qualifications for deacons (church leaders),
how to care for widows in the church,
the function of elders (church leaders),
In other words, 1 and 2 Timothy is all about what a biblical church should look like. But these aren‟t the only books in the NT that address this issue, because the letter to Titus contains the same basic information. Look with me at Titus 1:5.
“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” And as you read further through Titus you see many parallels to the letters to Timothy.
Now, here is my point. I‟m trying to answer the question, “Where does the idea of a pastor (as opposed to a group of men) as the head of a church come from?” and the answer is that when Paul was writing to a church to give them instructions on how they should function, he sent those letters to an individual, not to a board. Timothy and Titus were the acknowledged human leaders of the church in Ephesus and Crete.
In addition to this, when the Apostle John wrote to a group of churches in Asia Minor, he addressed his message to “the angel” of the various churches. In Rev. 1:20 we read "As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Then when you go into chapters 2 and 3, each section dedicated to a church starts with the phrase, “to the angel of the church in ________________.”
The word used here can be translated as either “angel” or “messenger,” and the context indicates that this “angel” was the human leader of the church. So the point is that when John had a message to communicate to a church, he did not write to a board, or a group of men, he wrote to an individual.
This is where the idea of “a pastor” comes from. But understand that it is a role. It is a function a man fulfils in the church. Technically, it shouldn‟t be used as a label. Now, is it wrong, or unbiblical to refer to me as Pastor Murray? Not at all. That is the role I fill in this church. But what am I? I am a presbuteros (elder) who episkopos (oversee), diakonis (serve), poimein (shepherd), and didaskolos (teach).
Summary: By far, the term used most often to describe the leadership of the local church is “elders.” And the fact that it is most often plural (15 out of 19) is significant. What this tells us is that it is the plurality of godly leadership in a church that provides the most comprehensive care and the most balanced leadership.
Now, what about deacons? In the New Testament, deacon refers to the men charged with the physical dimension of church ministry. Most Baptist churches mistakenly label these men as trustees. But when you study the scriptural accounts of how the work was carried out in the early church, you see there is a clear division of labor between spiritual ministry and physical ministry. We see this most clearly in Acts 6:1-6.
Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3 "But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." 5 And the statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. 6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.
Something interesting about this passage is that none of the terms under discussion are found in this passage, but what we do see is that there is a clear difference between “serving tables” (v. 2) and the “ministry of the word” (v. 4). The parallel between the work to which the apostles wanted to limit themselves, and the work of the elders / overseers / pastors / teachers is very obvious -it is the “ministry of the word.” What that leaves is the “serving of tables,” or the physical ministry of the church.
The word “deacon” (diakonos) means “one who executes the commands of another.” It is often used to refer to a servant, as in Mt. 22:13 – “Then the king said to the servants (diakonois), „bind him . . .‟” Mt. 20:26 – “It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant (diakonos).” John 2:5 – “His mother said to the servants (diakonois) „Whatever He says to you . . .‟”
Several times diakonos is translated as “minister” showing the spiritual dimension of the word. Col. 1:25 – “Of this church I was made a minister (diakonos) according to the stewardship from God . . .” Eph. 6:21 – “Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minster (diakonos) in the Lord.” Mt. 4:11 – “Then the Devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister (diakonoun) to Him.” His qualifications for the position are listed in 1 Tim. 3, but how he actually serves the church is found in how the word is used throughout the NT.
So that is a summary of what the NT teaches about church leadership – two clearly defined roles that overlap from time to time. What does all this mean for us? How closely do we want our church to follow the model for church leadership established in the New Testament? In a couple of months, you will be voting on a new set of by-laws that reflect this understanding. I look forward to your feedback and questions.
This morning we are going to be doing a quick study of church leadership in the New Testament. Several months ago, the trustees presented a revised constitution to the church that we voted on and approved, and in the near future they will be presenting a revised set of by-laws that we will discuss and vote on as well. One of the matters that is covered in the by-laws is this matter of church leadership, and in particular, what labels should we use to refer to the men who lead this church.
And to start us thinking about this, I have some questions for you. Why am I called a pastor, but in other churches the man filling my role in the church is called “Father?” Why are some men in a church called a “bishop?” Why do some churches have “elders,” and “teaching elders?” Why am I called “Pastor Murray?” Why is Nancy sometimes called “Mrs. Pastor?” What does the word “pastor” mean? Is it biblical? Is it the best word to use to describe my function. Let‟s see if we can answer some of these questions this morning.
Let‟s start by looking at 1 Peter 5, and what I want to show you is that there are five different words used in the NT to describe male leaders in the church, the first one is found in 1 Pt. 5.
1. Elder – 1 Pt. 5:1
Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
presbuteros – emphasis on age, wisdom, and maturity.
2. Deacon – Phil. 1:1
Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:
diakonos – emphasis on physical ministry to the body of Christ.
3. Overseer (the KJV uses the word bishop) – 1 Tim. 3:1
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
episkopos – emphasis on oversight and superintendence.
4. Pastor – Eph. 4:11
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers
poimen – emphasis on shepherding, tending, protection.
5. Teacher – James 3:1
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.
didaskalos – emphasis on instruction.
Summary: according to what we have just seen, there were five specific leadership roles in the New Testament Church: elder, deacon, overseer, pastor and teacher. I don‟t think every church had one of each, and there is evidence that some of these roles overlapped. For instance, in Eph. 4:11 shows us that the concept of pastor and teacher was a dual role. In Col. 1 Paul refers to himself as a diakonos.
What I want us to do now is look at a very instructive passage in Acts 20 where you see three of these words used in the same paragraph to describe the same group of men. In verse 17 we read, “And from Miletus [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders [our word presbuteros – what is the emphasis on? wisdom, age, and maturity – it was a clearly identified, select group of men] of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them . . .” From verse 18 through 35 Paul leaves his parting challenge with these elders.
Now, in verse 28 he says, speaking to this group of elders, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [episkopos – oversight, superintendence], to shepherd [poimein – tend, protect] the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
What do we see from this passage? First of all, we see that the “elders” and “overseers” refer to the same person, and secondly, we see that their responsibility is to shepherd. What this means is that the label to use for these men is “elder,” and the functions they perform are twofold: oversight and shepherding. So remember that the label is “elder” and the functions so far are “oversight” and “shepherding.”
Now, there is a third function an elder performs, and that is found in Eph. 4:11 and James 3:1 where we read that God has graciously given “teachers” to His church. In Eph. 4:11 we have the idea of the “pastor – teacher,” and in the James passage we have the admonition not to be too eager to become a teacher in the church because of the additional accountability you incur.
Summarize: so do you see that elder, overseer, pastor, and teacher are all synonyms for the same group of men. Only one of the terms (elder) is a label; the other terms (overseer, pastor, and teacher) are all functions. You can‟t “elder” a church, but you can “oversee / pastor / teach” a church.
Now, let me give you a curious note about elders: the word “elder” is used as a singular noun only four times in the NT.
“Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis . . .” 1 Tim. 5:19
“. . . as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ . . .” 1 Pt. 5:1
“The elder to the chosen lady . . .” 2 John 1:1
“The elder to the beloved Gaius . . . “ 3 John 1:1
Otherwise, the term “elder,” used in connection with the local church, is always used as a plural. Fifteen times the male leadership of the church is referred to as “the elders.” A quick sampling includes:
Acts 14:23 – “when they had appointed elders for them in every church . . .”
Acts 15:2 – “go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders . . .”
1 Tim. 5:7 – “Let the elders who rule well be considered . . .”
Titus 1:5 – “I left you in Crete that you might . . . appoint elders in every church.”
James 5:14 – “Call for the elders of the church . . .”
1 Pt. 5:5 – “. . . be subject to your elders . . .”
Now, something significant that I want to point out to you is that never once do you see the term “pastor” as a singular noun in the NT, as in “the pastor.” It is seen only once as a plural noun, in Eph. 4:11; and there, the context is the universal church, not the local church. One of the gifts God has given “the church” is “pastors.”
Where then does the idea of “a pastor” as the head of the church come from?
Turn with me to 1 Tim. 3:14. In these verses we have Paul‟s purpose for writing to Timothy, and he says, “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
Paul‟s intent / purpose in these two letters to Timothy was to give Timothy instructions on how a church was to function. This is why we have extended sections dealing with
prayer in the church,
the role of women in the church,
qualifications for bishops (church leaders),
qualifications for deacons (church leaders),
how to care for widows in the church,
the function of elders (church leaders),
In other words, 1 and 2 Timothy is all about what a biblical church should look like. But these aren‟t the only books in the NT that address this issue, because the letter to Titus contains the same basic information. Look with me at Titus 1:5.
“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” And as you read further through Titus you see many parallels to the letters to Timothy.
Now, here is my point. I‟m trying to answer the question, “Where does the idea of a pastor (as opposed to a group of men) as the head of a church come from?” and the answer is that when Paul was writing to a church to give them instructions on how they should function, he sent those letters to an individual, not to a board. Timothy and Titus were the acknowledged human leaders of the church in Ephesus and Crete.
In addition to this, when the Apostle John wrote to a group of churches in Asia Minor, he addressed his message to “the angel” of the various churches. In Rev. 1:20 we read "As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Then when you go into chapters 2 and 3, each section dedicated to a church starts with the phrase, “to the angel of the church in ________________.”
The word used here can be translated as either “angel” or “messenger,” and the context indicates that this “angel” was the human leader of the church. So the point is that when John had a message to communicate to a church, he did not write to a board, or a group of men, he wrote to an individual.
This is where the idea of “a pastor” comes from. But understand that it is a role. It is a function a man fulfils in the church. Technically, it shouldn‟t be used as a label. Now, is it wrong, or unbiblical to refer to me as Pastor Murray? Not at all. That is the role I fill in this church. But what am I? I am a presbuteros (elder) who episkopos (oversee), diakonis (serve), poimein (shepherd), and didaskolos (teach).
Summary: By far, the term used most often to describe the leadership of the local church is “elders.” And the fact that it is most often plural (15 out of 19) is significant. What this tells us is that it is the plurality of godly leadership in a church that provides the most comprehensive care and the most balanced leadership.
Now, what about deacons? In the New Testament, deacon refers to the men charged with the physical dimension of church ministry. Most Baptist churches mistakenly label these men as trustees. But when you study the scriptural accounts of how the work was carried out in the early church, you see there is a clear division of labor between spiritual ministry and physical ministry. We see this most clearly in Acts 6:1-6.
Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3 "But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." 5 And the statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. 6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.
Something interesting about this passage is that none of the terms under discussion are found in this passage, but what we do see is that there is a clear difference between “serving tables” (v. 2) and the “ministry of the word” (v. 4). The parallel between the work to which the apostles wanted to limit themselves, and the work of the elders / overseers / pastors / teachers is very obvious -it is the “ministry of the word.” What that leaves is the “serving of tables,” or the physical ministry of the church.
The word “deacon” (diakonos) means “one who executes the commands of another.” It is often used to refer to a servant, as in Mt. 22:13 – “Then the king said to the servants (diakonois), „bind him . . .‟” Mt. 20:26 – “It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant (diakonos).” John 2:5 – “His mother said to the servants (diakonois) „Whatever He says to you . . .‟”
Several times diakonos is translated as “minister” showing the spiritual dimension of the word. Col. 1:25 – “Of this church I was made a minister (diakonos) according to the stewardship from God . . .” Eph. 6:21 – “Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minster (diakonos) in the Lord.” Mt. 4:11 – “Then the Devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister (diakonoun) to Him.” His qualifications for the position are listed in 1 Tim. 3, but how he actually serves the church is found in how the word is used throughout the NT.
So that is a summary of what the NT teaches about church leadership – two clearly defined roles that overlap from time to time. What does all this mean for us? How closely do we want our church to follow the model for church leadership established in the New Testament? In a couple of months, you will be voting on a new set of by-laws that reflect this understanding. I look forward to your feedback and questions.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
How To Conquer A Critical Spirit
How to Conquer A Critical Spirit
Psalm 139
This morning we are going to be finishing up our little series on a critical spirit. Just to make sure we are all on the same page, we have defined a critical spirit as a negative attitude / perspective that focuses on real or perceived problems, with no thought given to a biblical or practical solution. The key phrase is the last one because what separates the critical spirit that God judges from genuine concern that God blesses is the presence or absence of a proposed solution.
So far in this series we have seen the danger of a critical spirit and the roots of a critical spirit. The danger of a critical spirit is seen in the severity of how God dealt with it [Miriam and Michal], and the roots of a critical spirit is usually either envy, pride, or hypocrisy. If you missed either of these two messages, please download them from my blog. All this leads us up to where we are today as we think about how to conquer a critical spirit. As I shared with you last week, there are four steps we can take to do this. Now, I need to point out that the title of this message isn’t “Four Easy Steps to Conquering A Critical Spirit.” It involves a lot of hard work and a humble spirit. And for the first one, I want us to turn to Psalm 139 as we consider the practice of rigorous self examination.
1. Practice Rigorous Self-examination – Psalm 139
O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. 3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, And art intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all. 5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, And laid Thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
In verses 7 – 12, David spends some time talking about the impossibility of getting away from God’s presence. You may try to hide from God or ignore Him, but it’s impossible! In verses 13 – 16 he addresses God’s creative involvement in the fetus. If you have ever wondered about a good passage dealing with life before birth, this is it.
In verses 17 – 22 there are some thoughts about the wicked, but then note how David ends the psalm with a request. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
What is interesting about this Psalm is that it starts with an acknowledgment of God’s intimate knowledge of us, but ends with an invitation for God to investigate his life. This needs to be our prayer. The first step to conquering a critical spirit is to humble yourself before God and ask Him to “probe” your heart. That is what the word “search” literally means.
When I was sanding our floor and got a huge splinter in the heel of my hand, it was broken off so deeply that I couldn’t see it. The doctor took a scalpel and cut the length of the bump, and then took a long needle and started digging around to find the splinter (which felt like a plank!). What was he doing? He was “probing.” It was difficult, and it was painful, but it was necessary to fixing the problem.
That is what David is asking God to do to his heart. Dig around. Probe a little bit. Pull away the layers of flesh and see if there are hurtful, grievous things in his life. And if you are serious about dealing with a critical spirit, this is where you start. You ask God to reveal to you if you are struggling in this area.
Next, I want you to turn to Mt. 23. In this passage we are going to see another important factor in conquering a critical spirit, and it is the discipline of distinguishing between gnats and camels. Look with me at verses 23 – 24.
2. Practice Distinguishing Between Gnats and Camels – Mt. 23:23 - 24
23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, but have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Here we see Jesus rebuking the religious leaders for a practice that is pretty familiar to us. In v. 23 we see how the scribes and Pharisees were punctilious, even obsessive in their tithing – even going to the point of separating out 1/10th of a portion of some of the smallest spices they had. Why would they be preoccupied with something so minute? It was because of their hypocrisy. One of the primary indicators of the hypocrisy / pharisaical spirit is a fixation on the visible. They pray on street corners to be seen of men, instead of in their closets. They mope and have long faces when they fast so that everybody will know they are fasting, instead of fasting in secret. They make a great show when they bring their offerings so that everyone will be impressed with their generosity instead of giving in secret so that only God knows of their generosity. Pharisees want to be seen, and their thinking was that if people saw them obsessing over something as small as their spices, surely the observers would conclude that the Pharisees were equally serious about big matters, and therefore quite spiritual.
But in verse 24 Jesus exposes them for their hypocrisy by mentioning two unclean animals, the gnat and the camel. In Lev. 5 God tells the nation of Israel that the swarming insects are unclean, and even if you inadvertently touch one, you are ceremonially defiled. In Lev. 11, God tells the nation of Israel that camels are unclean as well. So what we have here are the two extreme ends of the size spectrum of unclean things, gnats and camels.
The Pharisees, true to form, would put gauze over their drinking vessels to make sure they didn’t accidently swallow a gnat. But when it came to the huge issues that would defile a person, they couldn’t care less.
This concept has great application to a critical spirit, and if you struggle with this, it is important to learn how to distinguish between gnats and camels. Were gnats legitimately unclean things that could defile you? Yes. But all unclean things were not equal in their “badness.” How do we know this is true? Because the requirements for being restored were different depending on the infraction. For instance, sometimes when you became defiled, you were unclean until evening, sometimes you were unclean until evening and you had to bathe, sometimes you were unclean until evening and you had to wash your clothes, sometimes you were unclean for a week, but at other times you were unclean for a month, sometimes you just had to wait for a period of time but sometimes you had to bring a sacrifice.
All unclean things were not equal in their gravity, and the same is true with the issues we encounter in life that we are tempted to have a critical spirit about. Some things are gnats, and some things are camels, and a person with a critical spirit needs to develop the ability to distinguish between them.
I had a co-worker one time who continually bugged me because I ate ham. He told me I was violating scripture, that the swine was unclean (he couldn’t even bring himself to call it ham, or pork, or even pig – it was swine), and it was a huge issue to him. Yet he smoked pot every night because it acted as a sedative for him. In fact, he tried to argue that his smoking pot every night to get to sleep was no different than me drinking coffee every morning to wake up. Do you see the inability to distinguish between gnats and camels? The critical person needs to understand that all problems are not equal in gravity, and he then needs to give his energies to the big things and let the little things ride.
So as we think about the steps to conquering a critical spirit, we have seen that we need to practice rigorous self-examination, and secondly, we need to learn how to distinguish between gnats and camels. The third thing we need to focus on is found in 1 Thess. 5:18, and I’m calling this step practicing the discipline of gratitude.
3. Practice the Discipline of Gratitude – 1 Thess. 5:18
“In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
How many of you see the comprehensive nature of this command? The verse doesn’t say, “Give thanks in most things,” or “Give thanks in many things,” but “Give thanks in everything.” Something else I want you to note about this verse is the phrase, “for this is God’s will for you.” That is a very rare phrase in the Bible! In fact, I think the only other place you see the phrase “for this is God’s will for you” is in 1 Th. 4:3 which talks about abstaining from sexual immorality. What this tells me is that there are at least two issues where you will never have to worry about what God’s will is – being thankful and keeping yourself pure.
But I point this out because God takes gratitude very seriously. It is God’s will for you to give thanks in every situation. I don’t know of too many things that will cure a critical spirit as quickly as this matter of deliberate gratitude. I learned this principle in the context of my migraine headaches. I knew I could either lie in bed and stew and complain and gripe about my condition, or I could “give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” So I decided to give it a try one day and started thanking God for the chemists who have discovered codeine to deaden the pain, and a soft bed to lie on instead of being on a bumpy road, and for being self-employed which gives me the flexibility to lie down for a couple of hours. And it is amazing what the discipline of gratitude will do to improve your outlook on life.
Let me challenge you. The next time you find yourself about to complain or gripe about or criticize something (regardless of how legitimate it is), see if you can find ten things about that situation to give thanks for. And to make this really practical, let’s work through a situation that is facing us right now.
When I got home Friday night, I saw that our governor had signed this Marriage Equality Bill and I was very disappointed about it. I don’t know if you appreciate the magnitude of what happened in Albany on Friday, but it was huge. In the realm of culture, and society, and freedom – it was bigger than 9/11. 9/11 was simply terrorists who hate the United States, so they destroyed two landmark buildings and killed a lot of people. Without diminishing the grief of those who lost loved ones in the tragedy, 9/11 did not fundamentally alter our culture and set in motion a series of events that will eventually bring about the end of our freedoms as we know them today.
But my point is that as easy as it could be to have this critical spirit, is it possible to find ten things about this scenario to be thankful for?
1. Expressing my opinion without fear of arrest and torture.
2. I’m on the right side.
3. This world isn’t my home – no matter how bad it gets here I’m in heaven for eternity.
4. I can stand before God with a clear conscience in this matter.
5. It was a huge educational opportunity for my children.
See how that works? It takes our focus off the negative and onto the positive. We aren’t ignoring reality here, we are creating a spirit of optimism through the discipline of gratitude, even in the face of defeat or serious problems.
Now the final truth I want to share with you comes from the book of Nehemiah, and it is here we see the idea of focusing on solutions, not merely the verbalizing of the problem. So why don’t you turn to chapter one and we’ll skim through several chapters of this short book to look at how Nehemiah faced his problems.
4. Practice Focusing on Solutions – Neh. 2:17
If you aren’t familiar with the context of Nehemiah, here it is in a nutshell. The nation of Israel has been conquered and the people have been deported to foreign countries. The capital Jerusalem, and even worse the temple, have been destroyed.
In chapter 1, we see that Nehemiah is a Jewish official working in the palace of King Artaxerxes. The king graciously gives Nehemiah permission to go back to his homeland to start rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Starting in chapter 2 verse 12, you can read about Nehemiah’s survey of the damage.
In verse 17 we read “Then [Nehemiah] said to them, "You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach." That was all he had to say about the situation. He wasn’t asking “why” it had taken so long to start rebuilding, he didn’t try to analyze the work ethic of the people, he didn’t deride the people who had been living there for not starting the work, he simply said, “let’s get to work.”
So in chapter 3 you see his solution to the problem. Various groups of people were assigned to various sections of the wall to get the job done. Some worked while the others stood guard, but they had definite goals to accomplish. What I like about Nehemiah is that he was a doer, not a talker. He was not an armchair quarterback. He could see the problems very clearly, but his focus was on solutions, not merely verbalizing the problem! Anybody can verbalize about a problem, and many people excel at it, but few people are willing to go on and do the hard work of coming up with a solution.
I remember when God highlighted my tendency to do this. Several months ago, there was a bill in the senate that was granting broad powers to the Child Protective Services. Part of the bill established that if a parent refused to let a CPS worker into the home, that refusal constituted probable cause and immediately established grounds for a search warrant. This is a huge invasion of privacy, which is why so many people in NY were having fits about it. So I called the Senator responsible for sponsoring the bill, spoke with his administrative assistant and expressed my opposition to the bill. I pretty much repeated verbatim the little paragraph that had been sent to me, and the woman on the other end of the line said, “And sir, what do you suggest instead?” And for a moment, I was stunned.
I could see what the problem was. I felt strongly about the situation. I could have spent some time telling her the problems this was going to cause in the future, but I had given no thought at all to an alternative solution to the rampant child abuse that takes place in the homes in our state. Fortunately, I was able to recover and said something about finding different language that protected our freedoms, but it was a powerful lesson to me about this problem of focusing only on the verbalizing of the problem.
So what does it take to overcome a critical spirit? Rigorous self-examination, the ability to distinguish between gnats and camels, the discipline of deliberate gratitude, and a focus on solutions, not simply spouting out criticisms.
May God help us at Cornerstone Baptist Church / Greenville Center Baptist Church not to harbor critical spirits.
Psalm 139
This morning we are going to be finishing up our little series on a critical spirit. Just to make sure we are all on the same page, we have defined a critical spirit as a negative attitude / perspective that focuses on real or perceived problems, with no thought given to a biblical or practical solution. The key phrase is the last one because what separates the critical spirit that God judges from genuine concern that God blesses is the presence or absence of a proposed solution.
So far in this series we have seen the danger of a critical spirit and the roots of a critical spirit. The danger of a critical spirit is seen in the severity of how God dealt with it [Miriam and Michal], and the roots of a critical spirit is usually either envy, pride, or hypocrisy. If you missed either of these two messages, please download them from my blog. All this leads us up to where we are today as we think about how to conquer a critical spirit. As I shared with you last week, there are four steps we can take to do this. Now, I need to point out that the title of this message isn’t “Four Easy Steps to Conquering A Critical Spirit.” It involves a lot of hard work and a humble spirit. And for the first one, I want us to turn to Psalm 139 as we consider the practice of rigorous self examination.
1. Practice Rigorous Self-examination – Psalm 139
O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. 3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, And art intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all. 5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, And laid Thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
In verses 7 – 12, David spends some time talking about the impossibility of getting away from God’s presence. You may try to hide from God or ignore Him, but it’s impossible! In verses 13 – 16 he addresses God’s creative involvement in the fetus. If you have ever wondered about a good passage dealing with life before birth, this is it.
In verses 17 – 22 there are some thoughts about the wicked, but then note how David ends the psalm with a request. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
What is interesting about this Psalm is that it starts with an acknowledgment of God’s intimate knowledge of us, but ends with an invitation for God to investigate his life. This needs to be our prayer. The first step to conquering a critical spirit is to humble yourself before God and ask Him to “probe” your heart. That is what the word “search” literally means.
When I was sanding our floor and got a huge splinter in the heel of my hand, it was broken off so deeply that I couldn’t see it. The doctor took a scalpel and cut the length of the bump, and then took a long needle and started digging around to find the splinter (which felt like a plank!). What was he doing? He was “probing.” It was difficult, and it was painful, but it was necessary to fixing the problem.
That is what David is asking God to do to his heart. Dig around. Probe a little bit. Pull away the layers of flesh and see if there are hurtful, grievous things in his life. And if you are serious about dealing with a critical spirit, this is where you start. You ask God to reveal to you if you are struggling in this area.
Next, I want you to turn to Mt. 23. In this passage we are going to see another important factor in conquering a critical spirit, and it is the discipline of distinguishing between gnats and camels. Look with me at verses 23 – 24.
2. Practice Distinguishing Between Gnats and Camels – Mt. 23:23 - 24
23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, but have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Here we see Jesus rebuking the religious leaders for a practice that is pretty familiar to us. In v. 23 we see how the scribes and Pharisees were punctilious, even obsessive in their tithing – even going to the point of separating out 1/10th of a portion of some of the smallest spices they had. Why would they be preoccupied with something so minute? It was because of their hypocrisy. One of the primary indicators of the hypocrisy / pharisaical spirit is a fixation on the visible. They pray on street corners to be seen of men, instead of in their closets. They mope and have long faces when they fast so that everybody will know they are fasting, instead of fasting in secret. They make a great show when they bring their offerings so that everyone will be impressed with their generosity instead of giving in secret so that only God knows of their generosity. Pharisees want to be seen, and their thinking was that if people saw them obsessing over something as small as their spices, surely the observers would conclude that the Pharisees were equally serious about big matters, and therefore quite spiritual.
But in verse 24 Jesus exposes them for their hypocrisy by mentioning two unclean animals, the gnat and the camel. In Lev. 5 God tells the nation of Israel that the swarming insects are unclean, and even if you inadvertently touch one, you are ceremonially defiled. In Lev. 11, God tells the nation of Israel that camels are unclean as well. So what we have here are the two extreme ends of the size spectrum of unclean things, gnats and camels.
The Pharisees, true to form, would put gauze over their drinking vessels to make sure they didn’t accidently swallow a gnat. But when it came to the huge issues that would defile a person, they couldn’t care less.
This concept has great application to a critical spirit, and if you struggle with this, it is important to learn how to distinguish between gnats and camels. Were gnats legitimately unclean things that could defile you? Yes. But all unclean things were not equal in their “badness.” How do we know this is true? Because the requirements for being restored were different depending on the infraction. For instance, sometimes when you became defiled, you were unclean until evening, sometimes you were unclean until evening and you had to bathe, sometimes you were unclean until evening and you had to wash your clothes, sometimes you were unclean for a week, but at other times you were unclean for a month, sometimes you just had to wait for a period of time but sometimes you had to bring a sacrifice.
All unclean things were not equal in their gravity, and the same is true with the issues we encounter in life that we are tempted to have a critical spirit about. Some things are gnats, and some things are camels, and a person with a critical spirit needs to develop the ability to distinguish between them.
I had a co-worker one time who continually bugged me because I ate ham. He told me I was violating scripture, that the swine was unclean (he couldn’t even bring himself to call it ham, or pork, or even pig – it was swine), and it was a huge issue to him. Yet he smoked pot every night because it acted as a sedative for him. In fact, he tried to argue that his smoking pot every night to get to sleep was no different than me drinking coffee every morning to wake up. Do you see the inability to distinguish between gnats and camels? The critical person needs to understand that all problems are not equal in gravity, and he then needs to give his energies to the big things and let the little things ride.
So as we think about the steps to conquering a critical spirit, we have seen that we need to practice rigorous self-examination, and secondly, we need to learn how to distinguish between gnats and camels. The third thing we need to focus on is found in 1 Thess. 5:18, and I’m calling this step practicing the discipline of gratitude.
3. Practice the Discipline of Gratitude – 1 Thess. 5:18
“In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
How many of you see the comprehensive nature of this command? The verse doesn’t say, “Give thanks in most things,” or “Give thanks in many things,” but “Give thanks in everything.” Something else I want you to note about this verse is the phrase, “for this is God’s will for you.” That is a very rare phrase in the Bible! In fact, I think the only other place you see the phrase “for this is God’s will for you” is in 1 Th. 4:3 which talks about abstaining from sexual immorality. What this tells me is that there are at least two issues where you will never have to worry about what God’s will is – being thankful and keeping yourself pure.
But I point this out because God takes gratitude very seriously. It is God’s will for you to give thanks in every situation. I don’t know of too many things that will cure a critical spirit as quickly as this matter of deliberate gratitude. I learned this principle in the context of my migraine headaches. I knew I could either lie in bed and stew and complain and gripe about my condition, or I could “give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” So I decided to give it a try one day and started thanking God for the chemists who have discovered codeine to deaden the pain, and a soft bed to lie on instead of being on a bumpy road, and for being self-employed which gives me the flexibility to lie down for a couple of hours. And it is amazing what the discipline of gratitude will do to improve your outlook on life.
Let me challenge you. The next time you find yourself about to complain or gripe about or criticize something (regardless of how legitimate it is), see if you can find ten things about that situation to give thanks for. And to make this really practical, let’s work through a situation that is facing us right now.
When I got home Friday night, I saw that our governor had signed this Marriage Equality Bill and I was very disappointed about it. I don’t know if you appreciate the magnitude of what happened in Albany on Friday, but it was huge. In the realm of culture, and society, and freedom – it was bigger than 9/11. 9/11 was simply terrorists who hate the United States, so they destroyed two landmark buildings and killed a lot of people. Without diminishing the grief of those who lost loved ones in the tragedy, 9/11 did not fundamentally alter our culture and set in motion a series of events that will eventually bring about the end of our freedoms as we know them today.
But my point is that as easy as it could be to have this critical spirit, is it possible to find ten things about this scenario to be thankful for?
1. Expressing my opinion without fear of arrest and torture.
2. I’m on the right side.
3. This world isn’t my home – no matter how bad it gets here I’m in heaven for eternity.
4. I can stand before God with a clear conscience in this matter.
5. It was a huge educational opportunity for my children.
See how that works? It takes our focus off the negative and onto the positive. We aren’t ignoring reality here, we are creating a spirit of optimism through the discipline of gratitude, even in the face of defeat or serious problems.
Now the final truth I want to share with you comes from the book of Nehemiah, and it is here we see the idea of focusing on solutions, not merely the verbalizing of the problem. So why don’t you turn to chapter one and we’ll skim through several chapters of this short book to look at how Nehemiah faced his problems.
4. Practice Focusing on Solutions – Neh. 2:17
If you aren’t familiar with the context of Nehemiah, here it is in a nutshell. The nation of Israel has been conquered and the people have been deported to foreign countries. The capital Jerusalem, and even worse the temple, have been destroyed.
In chapter 1, we see that Nehemiah is a Jewish official working in the palace of King Artaxerxes. The king graciously gives Nehemiah permission to go back to his homeland to start rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Starting in chapter 2 verse 12, you can read about Nehemiah’s survey of the damage.
In verse 17 we read “Then [Nehemiah] said to them, "You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach." That was all he had to say about the situation. He wasn’t asking “why” it had taken so long to start rebuilding, he didn’t try to analyze the work ethic of the people, he didn’t deride the people who had been living there for not starting the work, he simply said, “let’s get to work.”
So in chapter 3 you see his solution to the problem. Various groups of people were assigned to various sections of the wall to get the job done. Some worked while the others stood guard, but they had definite goals to accomplish. What I like about Nehemiah is that he was a doer, not a talker. He was not an armchair quarterback. He could see the problems very clearly, but his focus was on solutions, not merely verbalizing the problem! Anybody can verbalize about a problem, and many people excel at it, but few people are willing to go on and do the hard work of coming up with a solution.
I remember when God highlighted my tendency to do this. Several months ago, there was a bill in the senate that was granting broad powers to the Child Protective Services. Part of the bill established that if a parent refused to let a CPS worker into the home, that refusal constituted probable cause and immediately established grounds for a search warrant. This is a huge invasion of privacy, which is why so many people in NY were having fits about it. So I called the Senator responsible for sponsoring the bill, spoke with his administrative assistant and expressed my opposition to the bill. I pretty much repeated verbatim the little paragraph that had been sent to me, and the woman on the other end of the line said, “And sir, what do you suggest instead?” And for a moment, I was stunned.
I could see what the problem was. I felt strongly about the situation. I could have spent some time telling her the problems this was going to cause in the future, but I had given no thought at all to an alternative solution to the rampant child abuse that takes place in the homes in our state. Fortunately, I was able to recover and said something about finding different language that protected our freedoms, but it was a powerful lesson to me about this problem of focusing only on the verbalizing of the problem.
So what does it take to overcome a critical spirit? Rigorous self-examination, the ability to distinguish between gnats and camels, the discipline of deliberate gratitude, and a focus on solutions, not simply spouting out criticisms.
May God help us at Cornerstone Baptist Church / Greenville Center Baptist Church not to harbor critical spirits.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Roots of A Critical Spirit
The Roots of A Critical Spirit
James 4:1
Last week we were in Numbers 12 where we were looking at the danger of a critical spirit. In this passage we saw that Miriam and Aaron were "speaking against" Moses. The nature of their speaking against him doesn't seem all that bad, does it (something to do with his Cushite wife)? Yet it was significant enough in God's eyes that He responded to that criticism very strongly. One of the thoughts I had this past week is that this kind of response on God's part may seem foreign to us because of our growing up in the United States where "freedom of expression" is one of those inalienable rights that we hold so dearly.
There are two issues here that come into play. The first has to do with speaking against duly ordained authority, and the second has to do with spreading dissension. We developed the spreading dissension aspect by looking at Prov. 6:16-19 where we saw that "sowing discord among the brethren" is an "abomination" in God's eyes, but what about this matter of speaking against your authority?
How many of you have ever heard a sermon taken from 1 Sam. 24:1-7. This is the story of David and Saul when David is on the run. Saul wants to kill him because so many of the nation of Israel are enamored with David. And even thought the people of the nation want David to be king, and even though God has already chosen David to be the next king, and even though the prophet had anointed David to be the next king, Saul is king. As such, he is David's duly ordained authority, and as such, David has to live under Saul's authority and treat him with due respect.
Well, the opportunity comes up for David to kill Saul. Saul is asleep, and David sneaks into his camp, but instead of killing Saul, he humiliates him by cutting off a part of his robe. In this little scenario, David articulates a timeless principle. When his soldier says, "The Lord has delivered your enemy into you hand, kill him," David says, "I will not lift up my hand against the Lord's anointed."
That is the principle that was being violated when Miriam and Aaron "spoke against" Moses. And that is why God responded so strongly. He publicly, visibly, disciplined her for a prolonged period of time. And so the entire nation of Israel sat in neutral for a week while God dealt with Miriam.
Today, we are going to be looking at the roots of a critical spirit. In other words, the critical spirit is a surface issue, there is something beneath the surface we need to address. The critical spirit is a manifestation of something deeper. And it is silly to treat surface problems, right? We don't put band-aids on basal cell carcinomas, do we? We get out the scalpel and treat it conclusively.
So let's look at this passage in James 4:1 where we see the root of all sinful expressions, especially a critical spirit. "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?" These two words, "wars" and "fights" refer to prolonged conflict, as well as smaller conflicts. They span the spectrum from armed conflict like we see all over the world, to the verbal conflicts that may have taken place on the way to church this morning! James is telling us that these things happen because in our heart, we have desires that are fighting for supremacy, or control.
"We want what we want, when we want it. And when we don't get it, bad stuff happens if the Spirit of God is not in control of my life."
Let's look at three heart issues that generate a critical spirit. The first is found in last week's text, Numbers 11 &12, where we see a spirit of envy in Miriam and Aaron. This spirit of envy isn't explicitly recorded for us, but when you look at the flow of these two chapters, you can see something interesting. Listen to this series of verses while I read them.
11:1 - Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord hear it, and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed, the fire was quenched."
11:16 - God gives Moses 70 assistants to help with the administration of the nation. "So the Lord said to Moses, "Gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone."
11:18 - when the people were complaining about not having meat to eat - "Then you shall say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat."
It is in the context of Moses stopping a plague simply by praying, and Moses providing meat for the nation simply by praying, and Moses having so much of the Spirit of God that he can share it with 70 other men who are going to help him with the nation, that we come to chapter 12:1 where we read, "Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses and said, 'Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses and not us also?" The envy is pretty obvious, isn't it?
Envy produces a critical spirit. I remember the first time I saw how this worked, and it was 43 years ago! I still remember it today! I was about 7 years old, and my older brother had just received his first shotgun, a .410, and I was so proud of him. In fact, I was so proud I immediately ran down the road to tell my friend Mark. And to this day I can still see Mark's face and hear his voice as he said, "I wouldn't have it." Even at that young age, I saw the dismissive contempt in his voice was really nothing more than envy. And that spirit of envy was producing a critical spirit.
What I have learned over the years is to look for envy at some level whenever I see a critical spirit. If it isn't envy driving the critical spirit, it's probably pride, which is what we see in our next source of a critical spirit. Look with me next at 1 Sam. 18:5-9.
"So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. So the women sang as they danced, and said: Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him: and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" So Saul eyed David from that day forward.
Do you see how Saul's pride had been wounded? And what did that wounded pride generate in his heart? A critical spirit.
We see another example of this in the life of David in 2 Sam. 6. This is the story of David coming back to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant, and he is so thrilled that the Ark is back in the Tabernacle that he sets aside his kingly decorum, and in verse 14 we read that, "David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 Now as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter [who also happens to be David's wife], looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart." How's that for a critical spirit? Now drop down to verse 20. "Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How glorious was the king of Israel today [just in case you can't see it, this is sarcasm], uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"
Do you see how her wounded pride as generated a critical spirit? Her husband was the king, and in her estimation, the King doesn't take off his ephod and dance in the streets. That is what the "underclass" does (she uses the term "base fellows"). And as a side note, God severely chastises her. Look in verse 21. So David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, bu them I will be held in honor. Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death."
Do you see the pride that has been wounded, which in turn generates the critical spirit? It is no coincidence that proud, or arrogant people are also very critical people. We don't have time to look at it this morning, but spend some time this afternoon in Luke 7:36-50 where you have the story of the Pharisee Simon and the woman who anoints Jesus' feet. As Simon watches Jesus' interaction with this woman, you can hear his critical spirit as he says to himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
The final heart issue that generates a critical spirit is a spirit of hypocrisy. For an illustration of this one, we are going to look into the New Testament, so let's look at Mt. 7:1-5.
"Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye?" Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
We see an example of this concept in action in the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:2-11.
Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery [This is significant that it was the Scribes and Pharisees, two groups of religious leaders known for their hypocrisy]. And when they had set her in the midst [this is a public humiliation], they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded that such should be stoned, but what do you say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear [I love this dismissive act on the part of Jesus]. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heart it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more."
Did you see how Jesus gets right to the heart of the pharisaical, hypocritical issue here? These men, because of the planks in their own eyes, couldn't see clearly enough to see the speck in the adulterous woman's eye. Which is really interesting when you think about it, because adultery is not small sin! But Jesus masterfully makes a statement that exposes the motives of these men when He said, " he who is without sin can cast the first stone."
Do you remember me saying last week in our definition of a critical spirit that a critical spirit is marked by a lack of a solution?
So what does all this mean for us this morning? A critical spirit is like a warning light on the dashboard of your car. When that little orange light comes on, you know there is something wrong under the hood. It may be that you are low on gas, or that it is about time to change the oil, or that you have a slow leak in your radiator and the engine is overheating - but the presence of the orange warning light means that something isn't right with the engine. That is what the presence of a critical spirit indicates. Either there is a a spirit of envy in the heart, or a spirit of pride that needs to be dealt with, or simply the presence of a hypocritical, judgmental attitude.
Whatever it may be, just understand two things. 1) It needs to be dealt with. You dare not let it go unchecked. And 2) remember that God takes the critical attitude seriously. He doesn't overlook it by saying, "Well, Michal was having hormonal issues, she'll feel better tomorrow." No, she was childless until the day of her death. He doesn't minimize the critical attitude by saying, "Miriam is really tired and has been stressed recently, she'll be more optimistic in another day or so." No, God struck her with leprosy and publicly chastised her. This is a serious matter in God's eyes.
And finally, let me challenge us to work together to deal with this matter. What I mean by that is, don't leave it up to your pastor to deal with critical attitudes! When somebody comes to you with that negative attitude and they haven't given any thought to a biblical or practical solution, would you stop them in their tracks? Remind them of what we talked about last week in spreading discord in the body. Remind them that they need to speak to the person who is the problem, or to the person who is a part of the solution to the problem. Another way you can help us work together on this is to get a copy of this message to those who weren't here last week or this morning. Now, do it in a gracious way. Don't hand the manuscript to them and say, "Here, you really need help with this. You're the most critical person I've ever met!" There are better ways to do it than that. But the idea is for all of us to get on board together with it so that we can be in a place where God will bless us.
James 4:1
Last week we were in Numbers 12 where we were looking at the danger of a critical spirit. In this passage we saw that Miriam and Aaron were "speaking against" Moses. The nature of their speaking against him doesn't seem all that bad, does it (something to do with his Cushite wife)? Yet it was significant enough in God's eyes that He responded to that criticism very strongly. One of the thoughts I had this past week is that this kind of response on God's part may seem foreign to us because of our growing up in the United States where "freedom of expression" is one of those inalienable rights that we hold so dearly.
There are two issues here that come into play. The first has to do with speaking against duly ordained authority, and the second has to do with spreading dissension. We developed the spreading dissension aspect by looking at Prov. 6:16-19 where we saw that "sowing discord among the brethren" is an "abomination" in God's eyes, but what about this matter of speaking against your authority?
How many of you have ever heard a sermon taken from 1 Sam. 24:1-7. This is the story of David and Saul when David is on the run. Saul wants to kill him because so many of the nation of Israel are enamored with David. And even thought the people of the nation want David to be king, and even though God has already chosen David to be the next king, and even though the prophet had anointed David to be the next king, Saul is king. As such, he is David's duly ordained authority, and as such, David has to live under Saul's authority and treat him with due respect.
Well, the opportunity comes up for David to kill Saul. Saul is asleep, and David sneaks into his camp, but instead of killing Saul, he humiliates him by cutting off a part of his robe. In this little scenario, David articulates a timeless principle. When his soldier says, "The Lord has delivered your enemy into you hand, kill him," David says, "I will not lift up my hand against the Lord's anointed."
That is the principle that was being violated when Miriam and Aaron "spoke against" Moses. And that is why God responded so strongly. He publicly, visibly, disciplined her for a prolonged period of time. And so the entire nation of Israel sat in neutral for a week while God dealt with Miriam.
Today, we are going to be looking at the roots of a critical spirit. In other words, the critical spirit is a surface issue, there is something beneath the surface we need to address. The critical spirit is a manifestation of something deeper. And it is silly to treat surface problems, right? We don't put band-aids on basal cell carcinomas, do we? We get out the scalpel and treat it conclusively.
So let's look at this passage in James 4:1 where we see the root of all sinful expressions, especially a critical spirit. "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?" These two words, "wars" and "fights" refer to prolonged conflict, as well as smaller conflicts. They span the spectrum from armed conflict like we see all over the world, to the verbal conflicts that may have taken place on the way to church this morning! James is telling us that these things happen because in our heart, we have desires that are fighting for supremacy, or control.
"We want what we want, when we want it. And when we don't get it, bad stuff happens if the Spirit of God is not in control of my life."
Let's look at three heart issues that generate a critical spirit. The first is found in last week's text, Numbers 11 &12, where we see a spirit of envy in Miriam and Aaron. This spirit of envy isn't explicitly recorded for us, but when you look at the flow of these two chapters, you can see something interesting. Listen to this series of verses while I read them.
11:1 - Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord hear it, and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed, the fire was quenched."
11:16 - God gives Moses 70 assistants to help with the administration of the nation. "So the Lord said to Moses, "Gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone."
11:18 - when the people were complaining about not having meat to eat - "Then you shall say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat."
It is in the context of Moses stopping a plague simply by praying, and Moses providing meat for the nation simply by praying, and Moses having so much of the Spirit of God that he can share it with 70 other men who are going to help him with the nation, that we come to chapter 12:1 where we read, "Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses and said, 'Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses and not us also?" The envy is pretty obvious, isn't it?
Envy produces a critical spirit. I remember the first time I saw how this worked, and it was 43 years ago! I still remember it today! I was about 7 years old, and my older brother had just received his first shotgun, a .410, and I was so proud of him. In fact, I was so proud I immediately ran down the road to tell my friend Mark. And to this day I can still see Mark's face and hear his voice as he said, "I wouldn't have it." Even at that young age, I saw the dismissive contempt in his voice was really nothing more than envy. And that spirit of envy was producing a critical spirit.
What I have learned over the years is to look for envy at some level whenever I see a critical spirit. If it isn't envy driving the critical spirit, it's probably pride, which is what we see in our next source of a critical spirit. Look with me next at 1 Sam. 18:5-9.
"So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. So the women sang as they danced, and said: Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him: and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" So Saul eyed David from that day forward.
Do you see how Saul's pride had been wounded? And what did that wounded pride generate in his heart? A critical spirit.
We see another example of this in the life of David in 2 Sam. 6. This is the story of David coming back to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant, and he is so thrilled that the Ark is back in the Tabernacle that he sets aside his kingly decorum, and in verse 14 we read that, "David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 Now as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter [who also happens to be David's wife], looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart." How's that for a critical spirit? Now drop down to verse 20. "Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How glorious was the king of Israel today [just in case you can't see it, this is sarcasm], uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"
Do you see how her wounded pride as generated a critical spirit? Her husband was the king, and in her estimation, the King doesn't take off his ephod and dance in the streets. That is what the "underclass" does (she uses the term "base fellows"). And as a side note, God severely chastises her. Look in verse 21. So David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, bu them I will be held in honor. Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death."
Do you see the pride that has been wounded, which in turn generates the critical spirit? It is no coincidence that proud, or arrogant people are also very critical people. We don't have time to look at it this morning, but spend some time this afternoon in Luke 7:36-50 where you have the story of the Pharisee Simon and the woman who anoints Jesus' feet. As Simon watches Jesus' interaction with this woman, you can hear his critical spirit as he says to himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
The final heart issue that generates a critical spirit is a spirit of hypocrisy. For an illustration of this one, we are going to look into the New Testament, so let's look at Mt. 7:1-5.
"Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye?" Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
We see an example of this concept in action in the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:2-11.
Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery [This is significant that it was the Scribes and Pharisees, two groups of religious leaders known for their hypocrisy]. And when they had set her in the midst [this is a public humiliation], they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded that such should be stoned, but what do you say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear [I love this dismissive act on the part of Jesus]. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heart it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more."
Did you see how Jesus gets right to the heart of the pharisaical, hypocritical issue here? These men, because of the planks in their own eyes, couldn't see clearly enough to see the speck in the adulterous woman's eye. Which is really interesting when you think about it, because adultery is not small sin! But Jesus masterfully makes a statement that exposes the motives of these men when He said, " he who is without sin can cast the first stone."
Do you remember me saying last week in our definition of a critical spirit that a critical spirit is marked by a lack of a solution?
So what does all this mean for us this morning? A critical spirit is like a warning light on the dashboard of your car. When that little orange light comes on, you know there is something wrong under the hood. It may be that you are low on gas, or that it is about time to change the oil, or that you have a slow leak in your radiator and the engine is overheating - but the presence of the orange warning light means that something isn't right with the engine. That is what the presence of a critical spirit indicates. Either there is a a spirit of envy in the heart, or a spirit of pride that needs to be dealt with, or simply the presence of a hypocritical, judgmental attitude.
Whatever it may be, just understand two things. 1) It needs to be dealt with. You dare not let it go unchecked. And 2) remember that God takes the critical attitude seriously. He doesn't overlook it by saying, "Well, Michal was having hormonal issues, she'll feel better tomorrow." No, she was childless until the day of her death. He doesn't minimize the critical attitude by saying, "Miriam is really tired and has been stressed recently, she'll be more optimistic in another day or so." No, God struck her with leprosy and publicly chastised her. This is a serious matter in God's eyes.
And finally, let me challenge us to work together to deal with this matter. What I mean by that is, don't leave it up to your pastor to deal with critical attitudes! When somebody comes to you with that negative attitude and they haven't given any thought to a biblical or practical solution, would you stop them in their tracks? Remind them of what we talked about last week in spreading discord in the body. Remind them that they need to speak to the person who is the problem, or to the person who is a part of the solution to the problem. Another way you can help us work together on this is to get a copy of this message to those who weren't here last week or this morning. Now, do it in a gracious way. Don't hand the manuscript to them and say, "Here, you really need help with this. You're the most critical person I've ever met!" There are better ways to do it than that. But the idea is for all of us to get on board together with it so that we can be in a place where God will bless us.
The Danger of a Critical Spirit
The Danger of A Critical Spirit
Num. 11
Several weeks ago we were studying the issue of contentment. I shared with you that as humans we have a tendency toward being discontent. It is part of our old nature, and when you grow up privileged, as we Americans have, this can really be a problem. We defined contentment as “a heart that was satisfied with Jesus because we could acknowledge His sufficient care for us in every realm; physical, emotional and spiritual.” This truth is taught repeatedly in the Bible. In 2 Pt. 1:3 we read that God’s “divine power hath given unto us all things concerning life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” In Phil. 4:19 we read, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” In 1 Pt. 5:7 we read that we can cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. And the list goes on and on - contentment in this life is possible.
What I want to speak about this morning is on the other side of the coin, and that is the danger of a critical spirit. And just like this matter of discontent, a critical spirit comes to us naturally. We don't have to be taught how to gripe, do we? Your parents never sat you down and said, "Here's how to whine about the humidity." This ability comes to us at birth, so let’s start right in with a definition of a critical spirit. “A negative attitude that focuses on real or imagined faults with no thought toward a biblical or practical solution.” Let me repeat that. "A negative attitude that focuses on real or imagined faults, with no thought toward a biblical or practical solution."
There are several things I want to point out about this definition. First of all, note that a critical spirit isn’t limited to perceived problems. We can have a critical spirit about genuine, real problems. Another way of putting this is that the existence of an actual problem does not justify a critical spirit. For instance, we have a genuine problem with our church cleaning system. We used to pass a clip board but that can be disruptive, so we went to a voluntary signup sheet. But for a variety of reasons, no one was signing up. So the church either doesn’t get cleaned, or the same person cleans it week after week. So then we went back to sending the clip board around, but we usually only get one family per week to clean, which isn't optimal. This is an actual problem, not a perceived on. The church still does not get cleaned on some weekends. But just because this is a real problem doesn’t mean that we can harbor a critical spirit. We can't gripe about the leadership of the church, or the policies of the church, or anything else.
And this leads us to the second half of the definition. How do you know if your feelings about a situation are a critical spirit or “righteous indignation?” I mean, even Jesus himself got angry from time to time, right? It has to do with where you go with your feelings. This is what we see in the phrase, “with no thought toward a biblical / practical solution.” This is a critical distinction. A critical spirit focuses on the problem only! What separates griping / complaining / whining / critical spirit from legitimate concern is the presence of absence of a solution. So let me challenge you right here at the beginning of this message to learn how to evaluate your concerns and focus on solutions, not simply the airing of your grievances.
So with this introduction to a critical spirit, let’s go to the book of Numbers and look at an example of a critical spirit and God’s response to it. Let's read chapter 12 verses 1 - 16 together. What we are going to see in these verses are the effects of a critical spirit. Then, as we have time, we are going to go to some other Scriptures and look at the roots of a critical spirit, and finally we are going to see the cure for a critical spirit.
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman) 2 and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said, “Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so, with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my household; 8 with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” 9 So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13 And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15 So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. 16 Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
In these verses, we see at least four effects of a critical spirit, so what I want to show you this morning is how a critical spirit can affect Cornerstone Baptist Church.
First of all, in verses 1 - 3, we see that a critical spirit separates us from our fellow Christians. Because of the envy Aaron and Miriam had toward Moses (and this is something we are going to develop further next week), there was division now between these family members. What is the purpose of the family? Turn with me to Prov. 17:17 where we see the answer. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” That does not mean that brothers are born to fight with each other, it means that a family is supposed to be a cohesive unit so that when adversity comes, you aren’t facing it alone. These three siblings were the recognizable leaders of the nation. Moses and Aaron were a team, and Miriam was a prophetess, and now at this critical point in the history of the nation, the unity had been jeopardized. And had this division not been dealt with the consequences could have been disastrous. This is why Jesus said in Mt. 12:25 that “a house divided against itself will not stand.”
That is how a critical spirit works - it separates us from our fellow Christians. If you have a chronic critical spirit, nobody wants to be around you! You will find yourself becoming a very lonely person. From time to time you will find another critical spirit who will give you an ear, but generally speaking, nobody wants to hear it. Over the years I have met multiple people who have church all by themselves, in their living room, every Sunday morning. Why? Because their critical spirit has made it impossible for them to have any significant level of relationship with other Christians.
So the first effect of a critical spirit we see in these verses is that it separates us from our fellow Christians. The second effect is found in verses 4 – 9 where we see that a critical spirit separates us from fellowship with God. One of the things this passage alerts us to is that God is aware of a critical spirit. Did you catch that at the end of verse 2? “And the Lord heard it.” Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Can you imagine how careful we would be in our conversations if God still worked this way today? God is the “unseen listener of every conversation,” and when He heard this critical spirit being expressed, He dealt with it strongly. Note especially in verse 9 where we read that the “anger of the Lord burned against them.” God was angry with them for their words about Moses.
When you are harboring a critical spirit, you can forget about having any kind of good relationship with God. Your fellowship with Him is gone, He isn’t going to be hearing and answering your prayers, He isn’t going to be communing with you through your Bible reading. The only thing you can expect in the relationship is to be “called out” (cf. vv. 4-5) and dealt with strongly. So in addition to a critical spirit affecting your relationship with other Christians, it also brings separation between you and God.
The third thing we see in this passage according to verses 10 - 15 is that a critical spirit brings serious consequences to the one practicing it. God struck Miriam with leprosy. This was a public, visible punishment. The entire nation was aware of it. It is similar to Paul’s advice to Timothy in 1 Tim. 5:20 that when you have a person in a place of leadership that continues in sin, he is to be “rebuked in the presence of all.” Why the public rebuke? “So that the rest also may be fearful of sinning.” That is the price of leadership, and as a leader in the nation, Miriam is publicly chastised by God.
This tells us that this matter is significant in God's eyes. It is no small thing to have a critical spirit! Please don’t dismiss these messages as “Murray is making mountains out of molehills again.” Let me share with you a very sobering passage from Proverbs. Turn with me to chapter 6, and let’s read verses 16 – 19. “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife (discord)among brothers.”
Proportionately, there aren’t too many things in the Bible that are labeled as abominations in God’s eyes, so when an activity gets that label, we ought to pay attention to it! Few things spread strife among the brethren more effectively than a critical spirit!
And finally, note in verses 15 - 16 that a critical spirit hurts the progress, of others. Verse 15 says that “the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again, and afterward, the people moved.” The entire nation of Israel had to sit there and wait until Miriam was done being disciplined by God before they could move on. For seven days, they were shut down and went no where. And what a sad reality it is that the entire nation, not just the guilty parties, suffered the consequences of Miriam and Aaron’s critical spirit.
So the four effects of a critical spirit are that a critical spirit separates us from our fellow Christians, it separates us from fellowship with God, it brings serious consequences to the one spreading the criticism, and a critical spirit hurts the progress of those around us. But what does all of this mean for us this morning? Let me give you several points of application.
• In a church setting, you are in the midst of sinful, selfish leaders; and sinful, selfish brothers and sisters in the Lord. Because of this reality, you aren’t going to have to look too hard to find problems. Some of them may be real problems, some of them may be perceived problems, but how are you going to deal with them? Are you going to harbor a critical spirit and spread dissension in the church, or are you going to deal with it in a biblical way?
• When you see a problem, deal with it the right way – don’t pull a Miriam and Aaron who spoke against the person they had the problem with. Let’s say that you don’t like how long I preach, or you don’t care for the music that Ray / Mary picks out for our choruses, or you think that some of the deacons are unqualified to be serving as deacons. How are you going to deal with problem? Well, keeping in mind our definition of a critical spirit let me give you two important reminders.
• There are only two people you can talk to in each of these situations: the person who has the problem (Murray, Ray / Mary, or the deacon), or a person who is a part of the solution to the problem. This is vital to keeping a critical spirit from spreading in the church. If you discuss your concern with anyone else in the church, and please hear me carefully here, you are demonstrating a critical spirit and spreading discord among the brethren, which God takes very seriously.
• The second thing to keep in mind is that what distinguishes a critical spirit and sowing discord from genuine concern is the presence or absence of a practical or biblical solution. Let me let you in on a little secret. I don’t need anyone telling me there are problems at Cornerstone Baptist Church. Do you know what I need? Proposed solutions. Do not talk to me about the sound system unless you are also prepared to talk with me about possible solutions. Make sense?
By way of conclusion, I want you to turn to Acts 20:28. Have you wondered why God dealt so severly with Miriam and Aaron? Or let me ask it this way. Was the punishment proportionate to the offense, or did God overreact (cf. how God dealt with the men making fun of Elisha)? The severity of the punishment tells us something. It tells us that God takes a critical spirit very seriously. Please understand that this is no small thing we are talking about this morning. And the reason He takes it so seriously is because of how precious the church is in His eyes. Look at the truth we see in Acts 20:28. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.” Think about this. This flawed church (your pastor, your deacons, your trustees, that person sitting next to you) that is so easy to have a critical spirit about is so precious in God’s estimation the God sent His Son Jesus to create it. And because of this, you don’t want to be found guilty of “messin’” with His church! Which is what a critical spirit does.
So let me leave you with this challenge this morning. If you have a problem with anything at Cornerstone Baptist Church, handle it in a way that is pleasing to God. The presence of problems is not a problem – that is a part of the human experience – how we handle them can be. We know how God feels about a critical spirit, and we know the effects of a critical spirit, so let’s each do our part in making sure we conduct ourselves in such a way as to generate God’s blessings on our church, not His judgment.
Num. 11
Several weeks ago we were studying the issue of contentment. I shared with you that as humans we have a tendency toward being discontent. It is part of our old nature, and when you grow up privileged, as we Americans have, this can really be a problem. We defined contentment as “a heart that was satisfied with Jesus because we could acknowledge His sufficient care for us in every realm; physical, emotional and spiritual.” This truth is taught repeatedly in the Bible. In 2 Pt. 1:3 we read that God’s “divine power hath given unto us all things concerning life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” In Phil. 4:19 we read, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” In 1 Pt. 5:7 we read that we can cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. And the list goes on and on - contentment in this life is possible.
What I want to speak about this morning is on the other side of the coin, and that is the danger of a critical spirit. And just like this matter of discontent, a critical spirit comes to us naturally. We don't have to be taught how to gripe, do we? Your parents never sat you down and said, "Here's how to whine about the humidity." This ability comes to us at birth, so let’s start right in with a definition of a critical spirit. “A negative attitude that focuses on real or imagined faults with no thought toward a biblical or practical solution.” Let me repeat that. "A negative attitude that focuses on real or imagined faults, with no thought toward a biblical or practical solution."
There are several things I want to point out about this definition. First of all, note that a critical spirit isn’t limited to perceived problems. We can have a critical spirit about genuine, real problems. Another way of putting this is that the existence of an actual problem does not justify a critical spirit. For instance, we have a genuine problem with our church cleaning system. We used to pass a clip board but that can be disruptive, so we went to a voluntary signup sheet. But for a variety of reasons, no one was signing up. So the church either doesn’t get cleaned, or the same person cleans it week after week. So then we went back to sending the clip board around, but we usually only get one family per week to clean, which isn't optimal. This is an actual problem, not a perceived on. The church still does not get cleaned on some weekends. But just because this is a real problem doesn’t mean that we can harbor a critical spirit. We can't gripe about the leadership of the church, or the policies of the church, or anything else.
And this leads us to the second half of the definition. How do you know if your feelings about a situation are a critical spirit or “righteous indignation?” I mean, even Jesus himself got angry from time to time, right? It has to do with where you go with your feelings. This is what we see in the phrase, “with no thought toward a biblical / practical solution.” This is a critical distinction. A critical spirit focuses on the problem only! What separates griping / complaining / whining / critical spirit from legitimate concern is the presence of absence of a solution. So let me challenge you right here at the beginning of this message to learn how to evaluate your concerns and focus on solutions, not simply the airing of your grievances.
So with this introduction to a critical spirit, let’s go to the book of Numbers and look at an example of a critical spirit and God’s response to it. Let's read chapter 12 verses 1 - 16 together. What we are going to see in these verses are the effects of a critical spirit. Then, as we have time, we are going to go to some other Scriptures and look at the roots of a critical spirit, and finally we are going to see the cure for a critical spirit.
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman) 2 and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said, “Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so, with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my household; 8 with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” 9 So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13 And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15 So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. 16 Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
In these verses, we see at least four effects of a critical spirit, so what I want to show you this morning is how a critical spirit can affect Cornerstone Baptist Church.
First of all, in verses 1 - 3, we see that a critical spirit separates us from our fellow Christians. Because of the envy Aaron and Miriam had toward Moses (and this is something we are going to develop further next week), there was division now between these family members. What is the purpose of the family? Turn with me to Prov. 17:17 where we see the answer. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” That does not mean that brothers are born to fight with each other, it means that a family is supposed to be a cohesive unit so that when adversity comes, you aren’t facing it alone. These three siblings were the recognizable leaders of the nation. Moses and Aaron were a team, and Miriam was a prophetess, and now at this critical point in the history of the nation, the unity had been jeopardized. And had this division not been dealt with the consequences could have been disastrous. This is why Jesus said in Mt. 12:25 that “a house divided against itself will not stand.”
That is how a critical spirit works - it separates us from our fellow Christians. If you have a chronic critical spirit, nobody wants to be around you! You will find yourself becoming a very lonely person. From time to time you will find another critical spirit who will give you an ear, but generally speaking, nobody wants to hear it. Over the years I have met multiple people who have church all by themselves, in their living room, every Sunday morning. Why? Because their critical spirit has made it impossible for them to have any significant level of relationship with other Christians.
So the first effect of a critical spirit we see in these verses is that it separates us from our fellow Christians. The second effect is found in verses 4 – 9 where we see that a critical spirit separates us from fellowship with God. One of the things this passage alerts us to is that God is aware of a critical spirit. Did you catch that at the end of verse 2? “And the Lord heard it.” Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Can you imagine how careful we would be in our conversations if God still worked this way today? God is the “unseen listener of every conversation,” and when He heard this critical spirit being expressed, He dealt with it strongly. Note especially in verse 9 where we read that the “anger of the Lord burned against them.” God was angry with them for their words about Moses.
When you are harboring a critical spirit, you can forget about having any kind of good relationship with God. Your fellowship with Him is gone, He isn’t going to be hearing and answering your prayers, He isn’t going to be communing with you through your Bible reading. The only thing you can expect in the relationship is to be “called out” (cf. vv. 4-5) and dealt with strongly. So in addition to a critical spirit affecting your relationship with other Christians, it also brings separation between you and God.
The third thing we see in this passage according to verses 10 - 15 is that a critical spirit brings serious consequences to the one practicing it. God struck Miriam with leprosy. This was a public, visible punishment. The entire nation was aware of it. It is similar to Paul’s advice to Timothy in 1 Tim. 5:20 that when you have a person in a place of leadership that continues in sin, he is to be “rebuked in the presence of all.” Why the public rebuke? “So that the rest also may be fearful of sinning.” That is the price of leadership, and as a leader in the nation, Miriam is publicly chastised by God.
This tells us that this matter is significant in God's eyes. It is no small thing to have a critical spirit! Please don’t dismiss these messages as “Murray is making mountains out of molehills again.” Let me share with you a very sobering passage from Proverbs. Turn with me to chapter 6, and let’s read verses 16 – 19. “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife (discord)among brothers.”
Proportionately, there aren’t too many things in the Bible that are labeled as abominations in God’s eyes, so when an activity gets that label, we ought to pay attention to it! Few things spread strife among the brethren more effectively than a critical spirit!
And finally, note in verses 15 - 16 that a critical spirit hurts the progress, of others. Verse 15 says that “the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again, and afterward, the people moved.” The entire nation of Israel had to sit there and wait until Miriam was done being disciplined by God before they could move on. For seven days, they were shut down and went no where. And what a sad reality it is that the entire nation, not just the guilty parties, suffered the consequences of Miriam and Aaron’s critical spirit.
So the four effects of a critical spirit are that a critical spirit separates us from our fellow Christians, it separates us from fellowship with God, it brings serious consequences to the one spreading the criticism, and a critical spirit hurts the progress of those around us. But what does all of this mean for us this morning? Let me give you several points of application.
• In a church setting, you are in the midst of sinful, selfish leaders; and sinful, selfish brothers and sisters in the Lord. Because of this reality, you aren’t going to have to look too hard to find problems. Some of them may be real problems, some of them may be perceived problems, but how are you going to deal with them? Are you going to harbor a critical spirit and spread dissension in the church, or are you going to deal with it in a biblical way?
• When you see a problem, deal with it the right way – don’t pull a Miriam and Aaron who spoke against the person they had the problem with. Let’s say that you don’t like how long I preach, or you don’t care for the music that Ray / Mary picks out for our choruses, or you think that some of the deacons are unqualified to be serving as deacons. How are you going to deal with problem? Well, keeping in mind our definition of a critical spirit let me give you two important reminders.
• There are only two people you can talk to in each of these situations: the person who has the problem (Murray, Ray / Mary, or the deacon), or a person who is a part of the solution to the problem. This is vital to keeping a critical spirit from spreading in the church. If you discuss your concern with anyone else in the church, and please hear me carefully here, you are demonstrating a critical spirit and spreading discord among the brethren, which God takes very seriously.
• The second thing to keep in mind is that what distinguishes a critical spirit and sowing discord from genuine concern is the presence or absence of a practical or biblical solution. Let me let you in on a little secret. I don’t need anyone telling me there are problems at Cornerstone Baptist Church. Do you know what I need? Proposed solutions. Do not talk to me about the sound system unless you are also prepared to talk with me about possible solutions. Make sense?
By way of conclusion, I want you to turn to Acts 20:28. Have you wondered why God dealt so severly with Miriam and Aaron? Or let me ask it this way. Was the punishment proportionate to the offense, or did God overreact (cf. how God dealt with the men making fun of Elisha)? The severity of the punishment tells us something. It tells us that God takes a critical spirit very seriously. Please understand that this is no small thing we are talking about this morning. And the reason He takes it so seriously is because of how precious the church is in His eyes. Look at the truth we see in Acts 20:28. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.” Think about this. This flawed church (your pastor, your deacons, your trustees, that person sitting next to you) that is so easy to have a critical spirit about is so precious in God’s estimation the God sent His Son Jesus to create it. And because of this, you don’t want to be found guilty of “messin’” with His church! Which is what a critical spirit does.
So let me leave you with this challenge this morning. If you have a problem with anything at Cornerstone Baptist Church, handle it in a way that is pleasing to God. The presence of problems is not a problem – that is a part of the human experience – how we handle them can be. We know how God feels about a critical spirit, and we know the effects of a critical spirit, so let’s each do our part in making sure we conduct ourselves in such a way as to generate God’s blessings on our church, not His judgment.
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