Posted on by Chris Moon

1 Kings 7:40-51 – Worship at its best

Here we have the completion of the temple in Jerusalem, finished by King Solomon, the son of King David. As you can tell, especially if you’ve been reading the whole of 1 Kings 6-7, this was an elaborate construction project. This was to be the “house of the Lord.” It was to be the place where God’s presence dwelt among His people. It was in the center of Jerusalem, at the very beginning of the reign of the house of David over the people of Israel. These were God’s people, and God would dwell among them.

In front of the temple were two pillars cast in bronze. They were more than 30 feet tall, topped with capitals with bronze latticework and bronze lilies and pomegranates all around them. On the north and south of the temple were bronze wash basins that were six feet square and three feet high. They were decorated with images of lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the southeast side of the temple was a huge basin called the “sea.” It was 15 feet across and more than seven feet tall. It sat on top of 12 oxen, three facing each direction. The sea held about 12,000 gallons of water.

Along with the pillars and the wash basins and the sea were pots and shovels for use in the operation of the temple, for the sacrifices. Those pots and shovels were also made of bronze. And no one knew how much bronze was used to make all of these objects. The Bible tells us “the weight of the bronze was not ascertained.”

Inside the temple were the furnishings and tools for the temple. These were made of gold – the altar, the table for the bread of the Presence, the lampstands, the lamps, the tongs, the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the incense dishes, and the fire pans. Even the sockets of the doors of the temple were made of gold. Again, this was an elaborate construction project.

So what was this text about? What do we have to learn? Are we just supposed to understand that Solomon’s kingdom was one of great wealth? They easily could make stuff out of bronze and gold because they had a lot of bronze and gold. I suppose that’s part of the point of this text. But I think there is more to it than that.

I think this text teaches us about worship. Specifically, this text reminds us how a person ought to worship God.

Worship is not made out of just anything. Proper worship is made with the best a person can offer. In 1 Kings 7, this was the best that God’s people could give to Him. And they gave it. Their worship – and their preparation for worship – cost them something. It was extravagant and over-the-top. It required work and effort on their part – years of labor and tens of thousands of workers. It required people of skill who used their skills. It required the most precious of metals the earth has to offer. And it required those precious metals in abundance. Everywhere you looked outside the temple – and even more so inside of it – you’d find shiny objects. Everything was shiny and bright and reminded you the glory and value of God. And all of this had to do with the worship of God.

And sometimes, I find it hard to get my sleepy head off of my pillow on a Sunday morning. It’s possible for our worship to feel cheap in comparison. And sometimes it is. When we’re slow to come to worship with our church family on the Lord’s Day as we’ve been taught in Scripture, our worship gets cheap. When we worship in a haphazard and half-hearted and distracted way, our worship gets cheap. When we keep all sorts of sin in our lives but give the impression to others that we are saints – all while refusing to repent – our worship gets cheap.

Be wary of that. Don’t do that. Give God your very best in worship. Prepare your heart for worship and then worship well.

In finishing his long letter to the church in Rome, the apostle Paul had an important request for the Christians there. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). Worship involves presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. It means we give everything. In the church age – in this season after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – it’s not gold and bronze that God wants us to place in front of Him. No, it’s you. You are the prize. You are the precious metal. You are the sacred object to God.

We visited our old church last weekend to help that church celebrate its 200th anniversary as a congregation. That little church in the mountains of east Kentucky was founded in 1825. It’s quite the milestone. As a former pastor of that church, they invited me to speak. I was one of four former pastors who were there for the celebration. They thought we would have something valuable to share with them as they remembered their long history that dated back to before the Civil War. It was a humbling experience.

I reminded them I was born in Kansas. My home state was founded in 1861. By the time Kansas became a state, that little church in Kentucky already had been preaching the gospel, baptizing new believers, and training people up in the way of the Lord for 36 years.

I told them I live in Colorado now. Colorado became a state in 1876. By then, that little church in Kentucky had been preaching the gospel, baptizing new believers, and training people up in the way of the Lord for 51 years.

I also told them that I now preach here. This church was founded in 1977. By the time the people here were having their morning coffee and thinking about starting a church, that little church in Kentucky had been preaching the gospel, baptizing new believers, and training people up in the way of the Lord for 152 years. The founders of that church had passed the gospel work to their children’s, children’s, children’s, children’s children – or something like that. That little Kentucky church is the oldest thing I know!

What makes a church like that last for so long – for 200 years? The grace of God, surely. It must be God’s doing. But how do you see the grace of God most clearly in a person’s life? I can tell you. You can see it in a person’s worship.

One of the pastor’s wives of that east Kentucky church told me she’d been to Colorado once. Went up on Pike’s Peak. She was determined to go up there and sing, at the top of her lungs, “How Great Thou Art.” But when she got up there, overlooking the eastern plains of Colorado, all she could do was sit on a bench with her head between her knees and whisper the words, “Then sings my soul …” It’s hard to breathe up there!

But that woman of faith sang, in spite of it all. That’s not cheap worship.

When it came my turn to speak to that old church, I reminded them of a time when a fierce old man in that congregation came forward to be re-baptized. My church tradition doesn’t believe in second baptisms, generally speaking. One is enough. But I re-baptized him anyway. That man wanted it because he wanted to show his grandchildren, who all were sitting in a row next to him, the way.

That’s not cheap worship.

I also told the church of an old man who had been well loved there but has since gone to be with the Lord. The man’s name was Philip. He was a blue-collar guy. Overalls and tractor grease. Plain-spoken. He used to mow the church grounds with this tractor at no cost. One day while Philip was mowing, he pulled me aside as I was walking from the church to the parsonage. He put a $50 bill in my hand. “Preacher, you may need this.” Philip wasn’t a man of wealth. Then he went on mowing.

That’s not cheap worship.

At that 200th anniversary worship service, I got stuck on the stage with all the other old preachers and worship leaders. So I was looking out at the crowd. It was a mighty crowd. Midway through the service, they invited the “Church Street Boys” to the front for a few songs. It was a reunion for that old singing group in the church. Those “boys” were no longer boys. They were old men. But that didn’t matter. They sang. I didn’t know some of those old gospel songs. But I looked out at the faces in the congregation, and those people knew those songs – because they were singing. Young and old, men and women, they knew the songs. And they sang right along with the “Church Street Boys.”

That’s not cheap worship. This is the kind of worship to which Christ always has called people.

Three wise men came to Jerusalem looking for the King (Matthew 2:2). They found a man named Herod instead. So they asked Herod, as they held their boxes of gold, incense, and myrrh: “Where’s the King? We have come to worship Him.”

After Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again, the disciples found Him on a mountain in Galilee. Some of those disciples had their doubts, as you know. But some didn’t. “And when they saw him they worshipped him” (Matthew 28:17).

At the end of the book of Revelation, after the disciple John had been given the big vision of the end times, John saw the angel who was with him. John fell down on the spot to worship at the feet of that angel. The angel would have nothing of it. The angel said, “I’m just a fellow servant with you and prophets.” And then what did the angel tell John? “Worship God” (Revelation 22:8).

How is your worship?

Posted on by Chris Moon

2 Samuel 10 – The unlikely theologian

Read 2 Samuel 10.

You need to be careful about where you get advice. Don’t get advice from just anyone. Find an expert. Find someone who knows something or has experienced something you want to know or experience. You wouldn’t ask one of those panhandlers, holding the cardboard sign, looking sad down by the McDonald’s, for advice about how to further your career. No, that wouldn’t do. You wouldn’t ask an atheist up at the college for tips about how to draw closer to God. And you wouldn’t go to Joab – violent, vindictive, man-hunting Joab, the military commander for King David – for the finer points of biblical theology. It doesn’t make sense.

But here we are. The Bible takes us to strange places sometimes. A donkey talked once in the Bible. A prostitute did a noble thing one time. The Bible recorded it. And Joab teaches us theology. Who would have thought it?

It’s one reason you should come to Sunday School as often as you can. You won’t find any homeless panhandlers there, or atheists, or prostitutes, or donkeys – at least on most Sundays. But you won’t find any PhD Bible scholars either. Yet you may find wisdom and insight from the people who are there. God can speak to all of us through any one of us. It doesn’t matter who it is. God can speak through anyone, even the most unlikely.

The question is whether we are humble enough to listen. Some Christians aren’t.

Here, God speaks wisdom through Joab, an unlikely prophet. “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him” (2 Samuel 10:12).That’s good theology – particularly that last part. “May the Lord do what seems good to him.” It’s good theology because it acknowledges God is capable of doing anything He wants, and we ought to leave it to God to do just that. The business of this world is God’s business, whether it is in the affairs of the natural world or in the affairs of men and women. He is the potter, and we are the clay (Jeremiah 18:6).

Joab proclaimed this truth. Any properly functioning follower of God will know this to be true and will live as if this is true. You can’t worship God without believing this truth. Your faith life simply won’t work without it. To be a believer, you must believe that God owns everything and that He can do anything He wants and that He ought to do what seems good to Him – not necessarily what seems good to us but what seems good to Him.

It’s the only way you’ll be able to sleep at night – when your spouse dies or your child dies or your business goes under or you lose your job or your whole world is rocked in some crazy way. To be a believer, you must consent to these words, this theological prayer of Joab: “May the Lord do what seems good to him.”

Of course, it’s a wonder we find these words on the lips of Joab. Joab so far in this recorded history of 1-2 Samuel has been a man who preferred to take matters into his own hands. “May the Lord do what seems good to him.” Joab didn’t seem to live by that most of the time. No, Joab seemed to do what seemed good to Joab.

You recall the murder of Abner, the top military man for King Saul (2 Samuel 3). Joab sliced open Abner’s belly in vengeance – after Abner reluctantly had killed Joab’s brother in battle. Joab did not let bygones be bygones. He kept his knife hidden when he pulled Abner aside at the city gates of Hebron.

You also can recall Abner, when he was assassinated by Joab, was helping King David unite the tribes of Israel. Abner almost certainly was in line for a prominent place in the united monarchy, and Joab would have known this. Joab’s position might have been in jeopardy because of Abner’s success. Vengeance and self-seeking are terrible companions.

We get the sense Jesus would have been disappointed in Joab. Joab wasn’t a noble man who was accustomed to turning the other cheek or declining to seek the best seat at the table (Matthew 5:39; Luke 14:8).

So here we are in 2 Samuel 10. Joab’s army was caught in the middle of two hostile forces. The Ammonites were on one side, and the Syrians and others were on the other. Joab told his brother, Abishai, to take some of the troops to fight the Ammonites. Joab would take the rest to fight the Syrians. It was a simple strategy. What else could be done? If either Abishai or Joab were overwhelmed by the enemy, his brother would come to help – or try to help.

It is important to remember Joab had no guarantee of victory on that day. There’s nothing in Scripture and nothing in Joab’s words to his troops that indicate the Israelite army would prevail. In the dust and the blood of the battle that day, Joab and his army could have been overwhelmed. Joab didn’t know. The moment was filled with uncertainty, like so many of our own moments.

Joab knew the big picture, however. He knew God favored Israel and had promised to bring the nation into peace and prosperity. The promise was an ancient one that Joab likely had known since childhood. Israel was God’s treasured possession, and God always was true to His promises. But the fact was God didn’t need the Israelites to win the battle that day outside that Ammonite city in order to make the big picture come to fruition. Joab knew this, too.

So all Joab could tell those anxious soldiers was: “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” God can speak to all of us through any one of us.

Joab teaches us theology. An unlikely man has wisdom for us. It’s kind of surprising. Can we humble ourselves to listen to Joab – violent, vengeful Joab? Do you trust the will of God in your life? Do you leave room for it?

I was reminded what James, the half-brother of Jesus, told us (James 4:13-17). James said, “Don’t be so sure you’ll go over to that city and make a bunch of money or take that great vacation.” James called us a mist that’s here for a moment and then vanishes. No, James said, “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills …”

Leave room for God’s will. You don’t know what God’s will for you for today might be – even if you know that in the end, God works all things together for good for those who are called according to God’s purpose (Romans 8:18). We live our day-to-day lives in uncertainty even if the big picture is built on a cornerstone that cannot be moved.

So leave room in your life for God’s will. But don’t sit on your hands. That seemed to be the wisdom we get from our violent theologian, Joab. “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” Joab was saying, “Let God do what seems good to Him. And in the meantime – Get to work. Go and fight. Don’t worry, and don’t run. Fight – to the last drop of blood.”

Maybe there’s a fine line that we need to walk, a road between two ditches. We should believe in the will of God, the all-surpassing power of God to do what He wants with His creation, including ourselves. We should desire God to do what seems good to Him. At the same time, we ought not to sit on our hands because of that belief. We still have things to do. We know the right thing to do. We ought to do it. Go and fight.

It’s a road between two ditches. Don’t fall into either ditch if you can avoid it. Don’t drop to the one side thinking God won’t do what seems good to Him – or that He can’t. If you do that, you’ll have to take everything into your own hands. It’s a lot of work and a lot of worry.

At the same time, don’t drop into the ditch on the other side of the road, thinking if God is going to do what seems good to Him, then you don’t have to do anything at all. If you do that, you’ll play no part in the kingdom of God at all. You won’t serve others. It’s a loveless existence.

Stay out of the ditches. We know God’s promises. But life is uncertain today. Do your best, and trust God to do what seems good to Him. Joab, our unlikely theologian, teaches us this.

A college friend of ours is in the hospital right now, needing lung and liver transplants. It might not happen. Our friend is suffering alone in the hospital. They’ve told him he could go home and be on hospice, but all the needed medications would have to stop. It would be “giving up,” so to speak. But our friend needs to make a decision. What difference would it make in his life to be able to pray, “May the Lord do what seems good to him”?

We listened to a graduation speaker the other day – a sports broadcaster named James Brown. He’s a faithful Christian. One time, early in his career, James Brown interviewed a so-called Christian pastor, on Easter, about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The pastor said he thought the resurrection was a fable. At the end of the segment, James Brown turned to the camera and said, in essence, “Regardless of what this guy says, I do believe the resurrection is real.” James Brown made a decision. He did act. And it was risky for a journalist. Do you think he was able to pray, “May the Lord do what seems good to him”?

I talked to a Christian woman the other day whose son was applying for a job far from home. She didn’t want her son to move away. But her son was following his dream. Can a parent get on board with something like that? What should she say to her son? What difference would it make for her if she could pray, “May the Lord do what seems good to him”?

A man once was praying in a garden. “Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). Is it all that far off from Joab’s prayer? The cross was right at hand. It was coming just the next day, right over the hill. Excruciating suffering was staring our Lord in the face. He’d be abandoned by His disciples, His friends, His Father. Jesus knew it. But Jesus declared the preeminence of God’s will. “Father, do what seems good to you.” Can you hear Joab?

Our eternal lives depend upon this truth – “May the Lord do what seems good to him.” It seemed good to God to take on flesh, live a sinless life, and die on a Roman cross for our sins. It seemed good to God to offer the gift of salvation to us free of charge, by faith. It seemed good to God to grant eternal life to sinners like us.

It’s the big picture of our faith. But today? Life is uncertain. We don’t know whether we’ll live or die, whether we’ll get sick or be healed, whether we’ll enter bankruptcy or find wealth. We don’t know. We live in tension. But we can life by faith today. We can do the best thing we know to do right now. And we can pray, “May the Lord do what seems good to him.”

It’s good theology from an unlikely source.

Posted on by Chris Moon

2 Peter 2 – Very, very bad news

Some people are just “bad news.” That’s not a phrase you hear a lot, but it is one of those things we occasionally say – “That guy is bad news.” Of course, you can receive some bad news. “You have a flat tire.” That’s bad news. But sometimes, people are bad news. “The kid down the street came and slashed your tires last night. That kid is just bad news, I’m telling you.” You understand. You probably can think of people in your life who are bad news.

We like to think the Bible is full of good news. That’s what the word “gospel” means in Greek. It means “good news.” And the Bible has plenty of good news in it. You are saved from the wrath of God by the cross of Christ. Your sins can be forgiven by grace through faith. You can experience eternal life and resurrection from the dead and the new heaven and the new earth. It’s good news. The Bible’s main message is good news.

The Bible also has people in it who are “good news.” Jesus is good news. He’s the pinnacle of good news. But also, King David, generally speaking, was good news. So were Moses and Abraham and Noah. And Ruth, Elijah, Daniel, Esther, and Nehemiah. Eleven out of the 12 disciples were good news. One of them, of course, was “bad news.”

And that’s an interesting conversation. Doesn’t the Bible have a lot of people in it who are “bad news”? I suppose so. The story of Cain and Abel tells us that. If you kill your brother, you’re bad news. The Pharaoh of the exodus was bad news – refusing God’s command to let the people go. The giant Goliath was bad news, mocking the armies of the living God. King Saul was “good news” until he became “bad news” and slaughtered the 85 priests at Nob. King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, were bad news. King Manasseh, who authorized child sacrifice in Israel, was bad news. So was King Nebuchadnezzar – for a while anyway. Haman, wanting to kill all the Jews, was bad news. King Herod was bad news. Caiaphas was bad news. Pilate tried to be neutral news, but he was bad news, too.

In 2 Peter 2, we find people whom the apostle Peter described as very, very bad news. I can’t imagine it possible for Peter to have described these people in a more negative light. These were false teachers whom Peter said would come in among the churches to lure Christians away from the faith.

I compiled a list of the ways Peter described these false teachers. The words I came up with are quite negative. These people were false, destructive, apostate, sensual, blasphemous, greedy, exploitive, condemned, sinful, ungodly, lawless, unrighteous, lustful, defiling, rebellious, arrogant, unrepentant, irrational, destined for destruction, unapologetic, stains on humanity, deceitful, adulterous, hungry for sin, manipulative, accursed, gone astray, empty, short-lived, foolish, slaves of corruption, defiled, damned, and no better than dogs or hogs.

That’s a lot of negative descriptors. These false teachers were very, very “bad news.”

You surely noticed how Peter went on and on about how terrible they were. Sometimes, we can get excited about something and rattle on and on about it. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another place in Scripture where such a lengthy and vivid description occurs. This passage stands out in that way. Peter seemed to want us to sit up and take notice – to look around and see the danger that might be lurking just inside the church walls.

“There will be false teachers among you.” That’s what the apostle wrote. Peter is warning us that within the global church and, perhaps, within many local churches, false teachers will arise and spread deception about the gospel. These false teachers will try to deceive believers using the tools of sensuality, lawlessness, and pride. And they will be motivated primarily by greed.

The first thing I thought of when I considered false teachers were today’s prosperity gospel teachers. The prosperity gospel is a perversion of the gospel that declares you can have health and wealth if you have enough faith. It’s a false teaching, of course. God may desire a believer to live in poverty or poor health, and that believer can honor God and spread the gospel even while in poverty or poor health. But the prosperity gospel declares God wants to make you healthy and wealthy – if you have enough faith.

You’ll find many problems with the prosperity gospel. It has a lot of derivatives – a lot of spin-off varieties that emphasize one thing or another. Some prosperity gospel types fashion themselves as apostles or prophets or faith healers or ministers of “deliverance.” They claim to have powers and gifts that make them special – and definitely more special than you.

The prosperity gospel is destructive. If you don’t get rich and if you don’t get healed after professing your faith in Christ, you might give up on your faith. If your spouse or child dies despite your very heartfelt “prayer of faith,” then you might think you did something wrong and it was your fault, rather than the will of God. And if a faith healer comes and says he’s going to clear up your gout or your limp or your clogged arteries and then doesn’t, he might give you a suspicious look. It’s not his fault, after all. No, no. It’s you and your lack of faith. And so you can see the danger of the prosperity gospel.

But the prosperity gospel sells. Remember the false teachers Peter lambasted in his second letter? They were motivated by greed. “In their greed they will exploit you with false words. … They have hearts trained in greed.” The prosperity gospel has at its heart the desire for money – your money. And it’s relatively easy to get money from people when you promise them wealth or healing from God or special powers from the Holy Spirit.

And so when I considered Peter’s condemnation of false teachers, that’s what I thought about first – the prosperity gospel. There are other false teachers out there, of course. Think about the progressive church, which teaches you don’t really need to worry about sin – not adultery, homosexuality, transgenderism, etc. “I’m OK. You’re OK. What we’re doing is OK, no matter what.” It is false teaching – trying to wipe sin off the books.

These are people “who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. … They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. … They entice unsteady souls. … They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption.”

The apostle Peter goes on and on. These people are “bad news.”

And Peter has bad news for them. They will be judged. God always has judged the wicked – the wicked angels, the wicked people during the time of Noah, the wicked residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were condemned “to extinction.” Peter wants us to know this. He goes on and on about it to make sure we know these false teachers will be judged. Apparently, it is a heinous thing in God’s eyes to lead His church astray. “Their destruction is not asleep. … For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.” These people are bad news, and Peter gives them bad news.

At the same time, Peter in this passage gives us a glimpse of some “good news” people. Maybe they’re not entirely “good news” people. After all, what do you do with a man like Lot? But Peter said God judges the wicked and rescues the “godly” from trials. Noah was preserved in his wicked generation, and Lot was rescued from the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. So you do not need to worry about false teachers. God will deal with them. In fact, Peter announced, God already is dealing with them. Meanwhile, the godly will be rescued.

Peter wants us to know all of this. It is quite likely, during your Christian walk, that you will encounter people who will try to steer you away from God’s Word and from your faith in the One True God. They will seek to deceive. They will twist the gospel. They will attempt to lead you into an indulgence of your flesh and your pride. You need to know these false teachers exist. These people are “bad news.” And God has bad news for them.

What should we do? I suppose we simply need to stick to Jesus. Even some of the false teachers, they knew Him. Before they turned away and began teaching their falsehoods, they knew Jesus. Peter said they had “escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” So the difference between the false teachers and you is that you have not gone back to those old defilements. You haven’t been like the dogs returning to the scene of their sickness. You haven’t been like the sow returning to the mud pit. You are remaining “in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Remain there. Don’t turn. Keep your eyes on Scripture. You know God’s Word, by faith – that Jesus Christ took on flesh, lived as one of us, shunned all temptation and sin, died on the cross for our sins, in our place, rose on the third day to new life, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return someday in glory. This is “the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

It also is known as “good news.”

Posted on by Chris Moon

Romans 6:3-4 – New Life, an Easter Sunday message

Read Mark 16:1-8 and Romans 6:3-4.

The apostle Paul said, “We too might walk in newness of life.” Like Jesus did. After Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, Jesus walked in newness of life. The women at the tomb were perplexed. “Where is Jesus’ body?” “Well, He has risen. He’s not here. He’s going before you to Galilee. That’s where you will see Jesus. He already is on His way. Go and tell the disciples.”

As Jesus was going to Galilee, He was walking in newness of life.

And Paul wrote, “We too might walk in newness of life.” That’s encouraging. When I was a child in our little Kansas town, I remember standing on our front porch watching the kids of the neighborhood ride their bikes up and down the street. One of the kids had a little device on his bike that made it sound like a motorcycle. I don’t know exactly what the device was. But his bike sounded like a motorcycle, revving up and down the street. All the kids were impressed. I was impressed. “I’d like one of those – whatever it is,” I said to my mother. “Nope.” I stamped my foot. “But I want it! What that kid is doing, I want to do that!” “Nope.” You know how ruthless a mother can be – so unkind and uncaring. What came next was my own childhood meltdown. You know how children do that.

Often when we consider Jesus, we just know the answer is “nope.” “I’d like to walk on water.” “Nope.” “I’d like to raise the dead.” “Nope.” “I’d like to show compassion to strangers like Jesus did.” “Do you really? Well, nope.” Jesus in the gospels seemed to have the ability to do things we simply cannot do – though we might like to do those things.

But here, in Romans 6, Paul said we can do something Jesus did. “We too might walk in newness of life.” It’s encouraging. “To walk in newness of life? I’d like to do that.” Paul isn’t like your mother. Paul said we can do it.

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Your baptism is the time when you begin walking in newness of life. That’s what Paul said – after you are buried in baptism, down in the water, in faith that Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of the world. If you are baptized in faith, you are baptized into Christ’s death. And after you are buried in faith, down in the water, the pastor will pull you up. You will be raised from the dead, so to speak, just like Jesus was raised from the dead. And then you too will walk in newness of life.

And so some of you – many of you – most of you, I suppose – are walking in newness of life. You already are doing it. You’ve been baptized. You’ve been buried and raised. And here you are – brand new. Do you feel new?

“New” is the operative concept here. “We too might walk in newness of life.” It is not old life. It’s new. God wants us to know that. Faith in Jesus Christ brings new life to us.

This concept was very important to the apostle Paul. He wrote about new life a lot.

The apostle Paul told the Corinthian church, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). It’s new – not old. The old life is gone.

The apostle Paul told the Galatians, “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15). It’s new. You aren’t part of the old covenant but the new. Don’t worry about those old laws.

The apostle Paul told the Ephesians, You are “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24). It’s new. It’s not the old sinful self, full of lust and selfishness and deceit and pride. It’s the new self that looks a lot like the character of God.

The apostle Paul told the Colossians, You have “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10). It’s new. That means constant renewal in knowledge. It’s not old and stagnant.

The apostle Paul told the Romans, “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6). It’s new. It is governed not by the old way of the old law but by the Holy Spirit. This “newness” was very important to the apostle Paul.

So there. Now you know I know more about the Bible than you. I am only joking, of course. Many of you are astute students of Scripture. However, I do have something over you: I attended Wednesday morning coffee time last week, and most of you didn’t. You really are missing something by not coming to coffee time. Wednesday morning coffee is a time for people to get together to talk. People want community, and you can find community at Wednesday morning coffee time.

The conversation on Wednesday morning can cover a wide range of subjects. Last week, the topic of Easter came up. One person remarked how Christians often serve ham at their Easter meals. It’s a Christian tradition. Someone observed, while sipping his coffee, that a ham on the table wouldn’t be very welcoming to any Jews who happened to come to your house for Easter lunch. Ham is a forbidden food for Jews. It’s unclean. The old covenant says so. “Wouldn’t a Jew be a little uncomfortable if you put ham on the table at your Easter lunch?”

Yes. And, I suppose, that’s the idea. It’s newness of life. The old is gone, and the new has come. The old covenant with its dead laws and regulations has been swept away by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled and abolished the old law. In Christ, there’s no distinction between Jew and Gentile. And so the people of God eat ham on Easter. We eat ham to remind ourselves that we can eat ham.

It’s newness of life. We are free in Christ. Do you feel new?

You really should think about coming to the Wednesday morning coffee. Sometimes, the people there talk about gardening. They talked about gardening last week. Did you know if you take a potted tomato plant at the end of summer and place it upside down or on its side through the winter, new sprouts will grow on that old plant? Put it in your garage or shed where it can stay warm. The old plant looks dead and lifeless. But if you are patient, you’ll see the new growth, small and green, sprouting out of the old. Even in the dead of winter.

It’s newness of life. God has built reminders into His creation. Do you feel new?

This was important to the apostle Paul. He would know. Paul had been baptized (Acts 22:12-16). For a portion of Paul’s life, he hated Christ and His disciples. Paul persecuted them. He ripped them from their families and threw them in jail. Then Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was left blind by that encounter, and he had to be led into the city where he spent three days in prayer and fasting, wondering what this was all about.

And then a Christian came to find Paul. Good old Ananias. Everyone loved Ananias. Ananias came to find Paul. “Brother Saul” – that’s how Paul was known in those days – “Brother Saul, receive your sight.” And Paul did. Then Ananias told Paul that Paul would be a witness to everyone of all that he’d seen and heard. Then Ananias said, “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”

And Paul did. And he walked in newness of life. Do you feel new?

Sometimes, we might forget we are new. We might feel old and tarnished. We might feel tired and frustrated. Sometimes, we lose sight of what we’ve been given. We lose sight of who we are. Sometimes, we are tempted to sin and fall back into the old way of life.

I think the apostle Paul is trying to tell us something important here: Don’t forget who you are. “Do you not know?” That’s what Paul said. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Paul is saying, “Remember your baptism!”

At a long ago church, I once forgot to turn on the heater in the baptistry. The water was cold. Ice cold. That was the Sunday an old businessman came to get baptized. He was a grouchy old man. But his grandchildren were in church with him that day. He wanted them to see it – to see his faith. So we went up to the baptistry. I remember him looking back at me when he stepped down into the water. He won’t forget his baptism.

Don’t forget yours. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Posted on by Chris Moon

Romans 6:3-4 – Raised by Glory, an Easter sunrise message

The apostle Paul wanted us to know every Christian is united to Christ. Paul must have been thinking back to Easter Sunday at the same time he was thinking of the life of the Christian. Jesus died; the Christian dies. Jesus was buried; the Christian is buried. Jesus rose; the Christian rises. The Christian’s death, burial, and resurrection is “with Him” – with Christ. So every Christian is united with Christ. Paul wanted us to know this.

In Romans 6, Paul used a certain phrase you may have missed. You might call it a throw-away phrase, tucked into the back pocket of that passage, barely noticed. Paul said, “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.” That’s a wonderful phrase – and not a throw-away phrase at all. Put it up to your ear and listen to it. “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.” The translators of the English Standard Version gave it a bit of a rhythm. “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.” It’s a phrase that bounces along all by itself. It doesn’t need your help. “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.”

How was Jesus Christ raised from the dead? How was He brought to new life? By the glory of the Father. If you needed to answer a question on a test, to name the reason why Jesus Christ still lives and reigns today, you could just say what Paul said. Your professor would have to give you a passing grade. “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.”

It means Jesus was raised from the dead by the decision and power of God. The “glory of the Father” encompasses a lot of things. The glory of the Father is Christ Himself (2 Corinthians 4:6). So we could say Jesus Christ, who is the glory of the Father, raised Himself from the dead (John 10:17). The glory of the Father also is the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 4:14). So we could accurately say the Holy Spirit raised Christ – and us – from the dead (Romans 8:11). The glory of the Father also is simply the physical manifestation of God’s power. When Lazarus was raised from the dead, Jesus told poor Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).

So I think it is safe to say God raised Jesus from the dead. All three Persons of the Trinity were involved. It was a physical manifestation of God’s power. God did it.

The women were worried about the stone. Mary, the other Mary, and Salome – How would they move such a large stone from the entrance of the tomb? They were asking each other that question on the road. “Who will move it for us? Are we just going to happen upon a group of burly young men, at the crack of dawn, in the cemetery, to roll the stone out of the way?” The women could not move the stone. And they knew it.

Of course they knew it. That’s not how resurrection happens. You cannot move the stone. You cannot effect your own resurrection by your own strength, cunning, skill, or “goodness.” Jesus’ resurrection was not the product of natural phenomena or human effort. Dead men don’t rise. It is not possible in a naturalistic sense.

No, resurrection only is possible by God. Jesus once told His disciples, who were perplexed by His teaching that rich people would have a very hard time entering the kingdom of God – Jesus said, “With man, it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). There are some things you simply cannot do. Have you discovered this in life? It is why you must throw yourself onto the goodness and grace of God. Trust Him.

“Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.” Listen to it again and again. Memorize it. It’s a phrase that needs no help from us. But we need it. Oh, how we need it. “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.”

Posted on by Chris Moon

Romans 6:3-4 – Dead and Buried, a Good Friday Message

Read Mark 15 and Romans 6:3-4.

We gather tonight on a solemn occasion. The reason it is solemn is because it is a night when we remember Jesus Christ being nailed to the cross. He died at a place called Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull.” That’s quite the name for a place. I wonder what kind of skull they were referring to when they named it “Place of a Skull.” You probably aren’t wondering. You know. You’ve been on the trails and up in the woods and happened upon the skulls of dead animals – deer, elk, coyotes. You don’t name a place after something like that. It’s too common. But if it was a human skull you found? That’s something to remember.

A dead human body ought to be buried. It should not be left out in the open to rot and deteriorate, and to be seen by all. Golgotha, the “Place of a Skull”, probably had seen a lot of that kind of thing. But a human body, including the skull, ought to be buried. We need closure.

After King Saul was killed in battle, the Philistines cut off his head and then hung his body on the wall of a nearby city. His body was left there to rot – to be seen by all. Saul’s exposed dead body announced that Israel’s king had been defeated and shamed. But the Bible tells us some brave Israelites took courage and took King Saul’s body down and buried it (1 Samuel 31). That was good. Human bodies should be buried. We never hear what happened to King Saul’s decapitated head. For me, the story is satisfying – but not perfectly so – because of Saul’s skull. What happened to it? But we do get partial closure. They buried what they could.

The people at the foot of Jesus’ cross, at the “Place of a Skull”, didn’t let anything improper happen to Jesus’ body. His body wouldn’t be left out in the open to rot and be picked at by birds. It wouldn’t be abused or mutilated. No, Jesus’s body would be buried. The Sabbath was coming. It would be a stain on Israel to leave the body unburied.

So Joseph of Arimathea, a good Jew, gathered his courage and asked Pilate if he could bury the body of Jesus. I think Joseph was a valiant Israelite – brave. Pilate agreed to Joseph’s request, and Joseph took down the body of Jesus, wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid it in a new tomb. Joseph rolled a stone over the front of the tomb. The two Marys saw all of this.

And that’s what we remember tonight. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was dead and buried. It would have been about this time of day, right around dusk, when all of this was taking place. And the people went home. They at least had some closure. This was especially so because the Sabbath was starting. It was a day of rest. In our own culture, we used to mark tombstones with the letters R.I.P. – rest in peace. People would mark the graves of their loved ones with those letters – R.I.P., carved into stone. Jesus, rest in peace. Israel, rest in peace.

It’s a solemn thing, like this night.

Throughout history, Christians have found it important to note Jesus had been buried. Not just dead, but buried, too. The most ancient creed we have, dating back at least to the fourth century, is known as the Apostles’ Creed. It starts like this, “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born from the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.” Jesus’ body was buried. The early creed says so. Remember it.

Even more important than the Apostles’ Creed is what the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. Paul’s was a “creed” that’s actually in the Bible. It starts like this: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

I suppose it is important to know that among the things that happened to Jesus was that He was crucified – and buried. We get a certain amount of closure to know a person who has died also has been buried. That’s the end of the person – Dead and Buried. It’s over. I once watched a family in the green mountains of East Kentucky bury the matriarch of their family. They dug her grave by hand in the family cemetery. They lowered her casket by hand. And they buried her by hand – one shovelful of dirt at a time back into the grave. It was closure.

That reminds me of you. To the Roman church, the apostle Paul wrote: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death …” Paul said if you have put your faith in Christ and gone down into the waters of baptism, you were buried, too. You were baptized into His death. You were buried with Jesus by baptism into death.

It gives us quite the picture, doesn’t it? You put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You believe in Him. You trust Him to forgive all of your sins and to bring you back into a right relationship with God. You trust Him to remove your filthy garments and to make you white as snow – holy and pure. So you wade out into the lake, or you step down into the baptistry. The pastor stands in the water with you. The pastor already had his own burial. This is about you. It’s time for you to be buried. And the pastor takes courage, like Joseph of Arimathea, and he buries you with Christ. You are plunged down into the water. Humans can’t live down there. You can’t breathe in the water. It’s the end – Dead and Buried.

It’s closure. A good church knows it when it is time to bury a person. The old man just couldn’t keep going in his old ways. He just couldn’t keep up the charade of self-determination and self-acceptance. At some point, he just gave up. Living like that is just too hard. Round and round a person goes. Sin after sin. No satisfaction. No peace. No joy. No love. No hope. That old woman just couldn’t keep it up. The wear and tear of life was just too much. The bitterness and worry was too much.

She died. He died. The church knows. And we buried them. The old has gone …

It’s closure. Don’t you want to bury the old, dead, sin-stricken man or woman? And not just part of him or her but the whole thing, head to toe? The word “baptism” in Greek means to dip, immerse, or submerge. The whole thing gets buried. You’re plunged down into the water. Dead and Buried. It’s over. Your sins are forgiven, paid for by Christ on the cross. By faith, you aren’t a slave to sin and death any longer – because you were buried with Christ by baptism into death. By faith, you were buried in His death. That’s good news on a solemn evening.

And what was it again that Paul said? “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that …” Ah, there’s more. But that’s a sermon for Sunday. You’ll have to come back then for the rest of it.

Posted on by Chris Moon

Mark 12:41-11 – Take note!

Read Mark 12:41-44.

Jesus saw something interesting that day in the temple treasury, and He made sure the disciples took note. Every now and then in Jesus’ ministry, we see Jesus taking note of something He thought was remarkable – either good or bad. On one occasion, a Roman centurion came pleading help from Jesus. The centurion’s servant was lying at home paralyzed, suffering greatly, and the centurion was absolutely certain the Jewish Messiah could heal him. The centurion was a Gentile, a pagan. Jesus marveled at the man’s faith (Matthew 8:10). That was notable. On another occasion, Jesus went to His hometown, to people who knew Jesus and His family. It was a good Jewish town, surely. But Jesus couldn’t do many miracles there. The people had no faith. Jesus found that amazing (Mark 6:6). It was notable.

Here in Mark 12, Jesus watched the rich people of the community drop their big offerings into the shofar chests in the temple treasury. Scholars think these chests, shaped with a trumpet bell on top, made a clanking noise when money was deposited into them. Big clanks here and there. Rich men walking with chests puffed out. They’d be noticed for their gifts. If nothing else, they could feel good about themselves. Not many people could make such large donations to the work of the temple.

And then the poor widow came in. Among the rich, I picture her as small and quiet. She had at least two things running against her in life. She was poor. That’s not a good thing, usually. If you are really poor, you are going to be insecure in things like food, clothing, and housing – the necessities of life. A day may come when you can’t afford to buy those things. The other thing running against this woman in life was the fact she was a widow. That was a vulnerable place to be in those days. Really, it’s a vulnerable place to be today. You are on your own as a widow. We might hope the poor widow had children who could assist her, but we aren’t told that. She simply is identified as a poor widow.

So this woman was different than some of the others in the temple treasury that day. A lot of them were rich. Mark tells us: “Many rich people put in large sums.” And this one poor widow came in an dropped in two small copper coins. They amounted to a penny. A bit of nothing, really. Barely a clink.

But Jesus found it notable. He knew that woman. He knew what her gift meant. Perhaps Jesus had met her earlier in the day. Or perhaps He simply was using His divine knowledge. Regardless, He knew her and her situation. It was notable enough He called his disciples over to have a look. He wanted them to take note, too. He found something He wanted them to see. I imagine Jesus pointed her out of the crowd as she left the temple treasury. “That woman, right over there. Do you see her?”

Jesus saw what she had done. Of course He did. Jesus is the divine Son of God. He sees everything. Every small act of faith, Jesus sees it. It’s comforting when you think about it. And it’s a bit discomforting. Jesus sees every small sin, too.

But Jesus seemed impressed by what He saw from the poor widow. It was notable. Jesus wanted the disciples to see it. What the poor widow had done was a big thing – bigger than the gifts of all those rich people who made their big donations, with their big coins clanking into those offering boxes, making such a big racket. Jesus told the disciples, as he pointed her out from across the temple treasury, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more …”

I wonder what that poor widow had been thinking. She gave everything she had. That’s what Jesus said. And Jesus would know. Who would do such a thing? What was she going to eat? What was she going to drink? What would she wear? Where would she live? She gave everything she had to live on. She just threw it into the offering box without so much as a sound. No one likely even noticed her. Except Jesus.

Maybe someone manipulated that poor widow. You know how there are certain people in this world who prey upon the vulnerable, the elderly, the uneducated. Jesus knew about evil people like that. Just a moment earlier, He had warned people about the scribes. They were a proud, greedy bunch. The scribes liked it when people greeted them in the market and gave them the best seats in the house. They also, Jesus said, “devour widows’ houses” (Mark 12:38-40). Perhaps the scribes manipulated poor widows into giving up what wealth they had. “Give it to God. You don’t need it.” Pretty soon, those widows would have nothing to live on. Maybe that was what happened to that poor widow. Maybe she had been manipulated.

Or maybe she just was a woman of faith. You know people like that. “Grandma, where is your next meal going to come from? Where is your next rent payment going to come from? How will you pay your bills?” Grandma is resolute. “The Lord will provide. Child, you just have to trust.” Perhaps that is it. Maybe the poor widow wasn’t manipulated. Maybe she simply trusted the Lord to take care of her every need.

Maybe. We don’t know exactly. Jesus didn’t declare that poor widow was a great woman of faith, although we’re pretty sure she was. Jesus also didn’t say she was a victim of those greedy scribes. What we do know is Jesus said the poor widow gave “more.” She gave more than the rich people who were there. How can that be? It is hard to give less than that poor widow gave. What’s less than a penny? But you know this. You know the teaching.

Jesus was saying the poor widow gave proportionally more than those rich people did. Jesus said, “They all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Those rich people gave their big gifts, and then, we assume, they went home. They had homes to go home to. Food still was in the pantry. Their closets still were full of clothes. The car still was in the garage. The kids’ college tuition fund still had money in it. The 401(k) still was growing. Everything was pretty good. They were living with “abundance,” as Jesus said.

The poor widow, meanwhile – What was going to happen to her? How would she live after giving up those two small copper coins – “all she had to live on”? Mark’s Gospel doesn’t tell us what happened to the poor widow. We don’t have Jesus rushing out after her – to turn a few loaves of bread into an “abundance” for her – or to miraculously make her next rent payment. The poor widow just walks into and out of the Bible.

I think we are to assume the poor widow would be just fine. God would take care of her. Is that a safe assumption? Are you comfortable with that? After all, Jesus had said, “Do not worry about what you will eat …” (Matthew 6:25).

But what about you? Are you going to be fine? “Oh, yes, yes,” we’ll say. “After this, we’re going to go home to have lunch. There’s a roast in the crockpot right now, just simmering away, covered in salt and pepper and one full stick of butter. It’s been there since 4 a.m. That’s when you have to start the Sunday roast – at 4 a.m. Kick off the covers, walk through the house in your pajamas, start the roast, then head back to your warm bed. But make sure you plug in the crockpot. Don’t forget that part. The whole family might be coming over after church. It will be a good afternoon. Yes, yes, we’ll be fine.”

Some of us have our systems. We have so much to give, and we give it. Everything else is in its place. Money in the bank. Bills paid. Tithe in hand. A little savings. A little fun money. Everything is good. But don’t upset the system. The system keeps things in balance. The system is good.

So we will be OK. But are we going to be fine because of our abundance – or because of God? The Lord is not looking for big gifts in the offering box. The precise size of the gift doesn’t seem important to Jesus. He is looking for faith – in you. He wants to know you trust Him, and that you are willing to act on that trust.

I think we need to be careful. This text is a warning. Jesus in the temple treasury, after watching that poor widow deposit her two copper coins into the offering box, made the connection between what we give and what we have left over. We ought not to disconnect the two – because Jesus didn’t. The amount we give has meaning in relation to what we still have left over. Those rich people gave a lot, but they had a lot left over. That poor widow gave a little, a penny, and had nothing left over. Her gift was “more.”

I don’t know that Jesus is telling us to give everything away like that poor widow did. Of course, Jesus did tell some people to do that (Mark 10:21). But I think Jesus is telling us we aren’t measured by what we have or, necessarily, by what we give. No, I think Jesus is telling us we are measured by our faith. And what we give and what we have left over can tell Jesus an awful lot about our faith.

Where do you put your trust? Is it in Christ, or is it in your abundance? You’ll be fine, I’m sure of it. But do you know you will you be fine because of your abundance – or do you know you will be fine because you know you have a Savior who cares for you and who sees you even when you become small and insignificant in the world’s eyes, even when you are down to your last penny?

I once had a church elder tell me, “Preacher, don’t tell the people to give. Never tell them to give.” I gently noted that giving is in the Bible. But that church elder said, “Don’t tell them to give. They don’t want to hear it. And …” – now this is important – “there are some little old ladies in the church who will hear you and give. They’ll do it. I know they will. And they shouldn’t. They are widows. On fixed incomes. And they’ll hear you say, ‘Give to God,’ and they’ll do it. So, preacher, don’t tell the people to give. Because some will. And they shouldn’t.”

For better or worse, I took that elder’s advice. I’ve not preached much on giving over the years. Maybe that elder was right. Maybe some of you, widows or not, shouldn’t give to the work of the kingdom of God. Who am I to say? But whether you give a lot or a little or nothing at all, I do know this: Christ knows your faith – and what you give and what you have left over can tell Jesus an awful lot about it. “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more.”

It is Palm Sunday. The people laid their palm branches and their cloaks on the road in front of Jesus. They cried, “Hosanna!” They welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem as king. He had everything in the palm of His hand. But by the end of the week, Jesus was hanging on the cross – for the forgiveness of your sins. Truly, I say to you, He put in more. What more could Jesus give? The old prophet said, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace” (Isaiah 53:5). That is notable.