Most people I know are at least somewhat familiar with what is known as “The Serenity Prayer.”
Popularized by 12 Step programs – most notably Alcoholics Anonymous – It typically reads like the graphic above. And it is usually “prayed” to whatever one conceives of as the “higher power” they choose. Some don’t even use the first word of the prayer “God”. They simply recite: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
And one would be hard pressed to argue too much with those petitions – even as Christians. Or perhaps especially as Christians.
The original author, Reinhold Niebuhr, penned it somewhere around 1932. He subsequently used it in several noted sermons he preached. But it wasn’t until 1951 that Niebuhr actually had the prayer published. And in its published form, it is strikingly different than the way most of us have heard it. Especially in the second stanza. Here’s how it reads in full:
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
The things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen
Notice a few things.
1 – The very first line is directed to God, not some nebulous higher power.
2 – That the prayer is not just for serenity, but rather for “grace to accept with serenity.” There is recognition that grace is what is needed foremost, not just serenity. The serenity sought for isn’t deserved or earned, but granted by grace.
3 – That the courage needed is to change the things which should be changed, not just what can be changed. There is a presupposition that some things really do NEED to change, to be brought into their proper place. It is not courage to just change everything, but to bring things into a framework of what they ought to be. That there is an objective pattern to be restored to.
4 – That acceptance of hardship is a necessary facet of a healthy mind and soul. And this, in a society where all hardship is viewed as inherently contrary to our “rights.”
5 – To see the world as truly sinful, and broken.
6 – To live in this world knowing that its sinfulness and brokenness is to be expected, and will not be fixed – at least not now, not by us, and that it will not be conformed to our individual liking.
7 – That ultimate justice rests with God, not with us. While we must do justly, final justice must be left in His hands. He must be trusted to bring it to pass in due time.
8 – And that it is the surrender of our wills to His, that will make us “reasonably” happy now, but that supreme happiness will only be found in eternity with Him. In Christ.
If all we are praying for is serenity while accepting life’s limitations and doing what we can to make life better – we are aiming far, far too low.
And this is why only in the context of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Cross believed and lived – this prayer can really make any sense.
I pray, you can pray it – as it ought to be prayed.
The news has been widespread, disturbing, disheartening and tragic.
A rather full investigation has substantiated that Christian apologist and author Ravi Zacharias was guilty of having systematically and over a period of many years, sexually abused numerous women, and carried on illicit affairs with some, romantically, emotionally and physically. It is a grotesque story in every sense of the word.
And we need to reckon with the reality of it all.
To their credit, the leadership at RZIM has made their investigation available to all who will go to their website and access it. I’ve done so. And it is heartbreaking, infuriating and leaves you feeling very dirty.
But what are we to do with all of this? We can’t deny it. We dare not whitewash it. Ephesians 5:11 exhorts us not just to have nothing to do with the works of darkness, but to expose them. To bring them into the light so that they can be dealt with rightly. All of this is so very devastating to those he abused, his family, the ministry he founded and to the Church and cause of Christ. But we cannot hide from it. Prayers and provisions must be made for all who have been affected.
But it leaves us with the task of trying to put it all into some sort of context – and to forge a path forward.
I pray this short missive might help some in that regard.
Several years ago I had the opportunity to preach through the book of Proverbs. And one of the chief recuring themes in the book is the nature of how chosen courses of actions, lead to certain results. The wise person asks “where will what I am contemplating take me ultimately?” In contrast the “simple” man only asks “what will this mean for me right now?” And as well as Solomon knew and articulated that dynamic, his life bears tragic testimony to a failure to employ it.
The Wise (the truly wise. Not those who just know wisdom, but live wisely) think beyond the immediate. They are continually asking: What will this course of action bring in the LONG TERM?
True wisdom asks itself questions –
What will the outcome of this spoken word be – not just in this moment, but in the days or weeks ahead?
What path does this attitude take me down?
What will result from this act of disobedience, or revenge, or selfishness?
What will be the end of this affair?
What will the impact of my actions be on others? Wife, Husband, kids, co-workers, neighbors, The Church & the cause of Christ?
Like faith, wisdom has a forward look.
So for all of Solomon’s brilliance, his store of propositional wisdom, he lived, and apparently died – like a fool. He “knew” full well walking contrary to God’s ways brings: ruin; unfulfilled craving; shame and disgrace; being overthrown by sin; darkness; strife; lack; emptiness; destruction; harm and disaster.
But still, he persisted. And what we have in the record of Solomon’s life is the stuff of the deepest of tragedies. The stuff of Ravi Zacharias as well.
Solomon was a man uniquely anointed by God for his role as the King of Israel, and divinely endowed with wisdom that is so profound, his name has become proverbial in connection with wisdom. Celebrated even in Scripture for his wisdom and noted for his famous prayer for it in 1 Kings 3.
And would to God that were the whole of the story.
It is so sad to read later: 1 Kings 11:2–8 …”Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.
Alexander Whyte wrote: “The books of Solomon so-called—the Proverbs, the Ecclesiastes, and the Song—had a great struggle to get a footing inside the Old Testament. Each one of Solomon’s books had its own difficulty to those who sifted out and sealed up the Hebrew Bible. There was something in all the books that were in any way associated with Solomon’s name that made the Hebrew Fathers doubt their fitness for a place in Holy Scripture. There is one fatal want in them all. There is no repentance anywhere in Solomon. There is no paschal lamb, or young pigeon, or bitter herb among all the beasts, and birds, and hyssop-plants of which Solomon spoke and sang so much. There is no day of atonement, or so much as one of the many ordained sacrifices for sin, in any of Solomon’s real or imputed writings. Both the sense of truth and the instinct of verisimilitude kept back all those who ever assumed Solomon’s name from ever putting a penitential psalm, or a proverb of true repentance, in Solomon’s mouth. The historical sense, as we call it, was already too strong for that even in the deathbed moralisings and soliloquisings that have come down to us under Solomon’s name. There is no thirty-second, or fifty-first, or hundred and thirtieth Psalm of David in all the volume of ‘Psalms of Solomon’ that were composed in the century before Christ. No; there is no real repentance, real or assumed, anywhere in Solomon. There is remorse in plenty, and weariness of life, and discontent, and disgust, and self-contempt, bitterer to drink than blood. There is plenty of the sorrow that worketh death; but there is not one syllable of the repentance to salvation not to be repented of.”
As much as he would pour into his sons in Proverbs and elsewhere, as much as he was anointed by God for this amazing ministry, in the end – his own wisdom stopped short of Christ – and spelled his destruction.
Doesn’t this echo the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21–23“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Or Paul in Philippians 3:18–21“For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
You see, it isn’t how one begins life, but how we end it in Christ.
If we are not aiming at eternity – nothing gained here matters one bit.
Those who do not aim at entering Heaven intentionally, won’t get there.
What a picture then of Christ in contrast to Solomon.
One finished crushed by his own sins – The other crushed for ours.
Solomon ended at the altar of false gods with his many wives.
Christ was the Lamb sacrificed on God’s altar to purchase Believers as His sole wife.
Solomon gave his all to what he could experience in his body for a few decades.
Christ gave His body and his blood that He might experience the glories of God with us for eternity.
Solomon was dressed in finery and lies corrupt in his grave.
Christ took on the form of a servant and rose from the grave, victor over sin and death.
Solomon lived in a palace that took twice as long to build as the Temple of God.
Christ had nowhere to lay His head for several years and has spent 2000 building a Temple of living stones that will stand forever and ever.
Solomon’s wisdom was solitary without the will or the courage to live in it unto God and ended in shame and disaster.
Christ Jesus had a wisdom that embraced the whole truth, and was welded to the will and courage to endure the cross and win a glorious eternity for all who put their faith in Him.
Solomon died worse than he began.
Christ lived ever increasingly manifesting the glory of the Living God in unfathomable mercy and grace which culminated in His death, burial and resurrection.
Solomon, for the immediate and temporary joy set before him, ruined his life, his kingdom his family and his soul.
Christ Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2
As Spurgeon once preached: “Jesus lived entirely for other people; he had never a thought about himself. Solomon was, to a great extent, wise unto himself, rich unto himself, strong unto himself; and you see in those great palaces, and in all their arrangements, that he seeks his own pleasure, honour, and emolument; and, alas! that seeking of pleasure leads him into sin, that sin into a still greater one. Solomon, wonderful as he is, only compels you to admire him for his greatness, but you do not admire him for his goodness. You see nothing that makes you love him, you rather tremble before him than feel gladdened by him.”
So it is Jesus could remark about the wonder of the Queen of Sheba traveling “from the ends of the earth” to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but “behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
Indeed – The very Wisdom of God has walked among us – and redeemed us from sin through His blood.
And in like fashion, the recent revelations of the long-term, systematic sexual indulgence and abuse of others at the hands of Ravi Zacharias paints an equally bleak picture of this manifestly gifted man.
Called by God, gifted by God, used by God – but apparently ending in shame, disgrace and ruin.
We need to be clear: No one can state with absolute certainty whether or not Solomon or Ravi was truly saved.
Only the Lord knows that for certain.
But it is the very uncertainty of it – or in my estimation the un-likelihood of their being saved – that leaves us scratching our heads either way.
Many want to hold out the hope that a profession of faith at some point in a person’s life closes the case, for Solomon, Ravi, or anyone else.
But unfortunately, that is more the stuff of believing that people are saved by the mere repetition of certain words or a prayer – kind of a magic or superstitious approach to salvation, rather than by a life transformed by the Spirit and evidencing the life of Christ in some way.
Did Solomon, in spite of this great fall repent of his sin, and it is simply not recorded for us?
I would like to think so. I HOPE so.
But the fact that is it left in doubt and becomes a very poignant warning.
And as we have seen thus far in Ravi’s case – we have no reference to repentance at the end – even when he knew he was dying of terminal cancer.
Can one be genuinely saved, and end their life in ruin, given over to idolatry and sensual bondage? The Scripture will give no such assurance.
Sadly, alarmingly, Ravi’s true and final end is left in question.
And no one ought to comfort themselves by thinking they can live a profligate life, but cling to the hope of salvation just because they prayed a prayer, made a profession of faith, have been gifted or even used by God in powerful ways.
As Jesus reminds us: Matthew 10:22 it is “the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
So we are left with a couple of very nagging questions:
1. How could Ravi have been used by God in this way, and still ended as he did – possibly lost?
2. And, does his end (if indeed it was all tragic) negate the usefulness of what the Spirit said and did through him?
Let’s try to dispatch the 2nd question first so we can spend the bulk of our time on the 1st one.
2. Does Ravi’s end negate the usefulness of what the Spirit did through him?
No.
The truth isn’t any less the truth because it was spoken through Balaam’s donkey in Numbers 22.
Saul’s prophesying by the Spirit in 1 Samuel 6 was no less true prophesying because he died in sin and disgrace.
Caiaphas’ prophesy that it was expedient that one man die for the nation in John 11 – was still genuine even though the text says he didn’t do this by his own accord.
None of those touched by Judas’ ministry when he was sent out by Jesus with the 12 and the 70 to “heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons” were not truly touched or blessed by God.
None of these things are dependent upon the spirituality of the individual, but on the power of God and His Word.
This is why Jesus can warn that some will come to Him in the last day claiming to have prophesied, cast out demons and done “many mighty works” in His name. And yet they are not His.
It is a strange but necessary reality to digest, lest we are led astray by mere giftedness and not by the truth of God’s Word.
So, how could Ravi have been used by God in this way, and still ended as he did – possibly lost?
I think the answer may lay in Jesus’ parable of the soils in Matt. 13.
There we read of the Word of God, the Gospel, planted into people. Those people are compared to 4 kinds of soil. Some have hardened hearts like footpaths. Some are shallow. Some are like ground infested with thorns and weeds. And some are good soil.
And if I had my guess, it is into the 3rd category that Ravi falls.
The Word had had an impact. It had produced a genuine result of sorts. There was evidence of life to a certain extent at least striving to live at first, but never arriving at fruitfulness. Seed but no fertilized egg.
Calvin called this: “temporary faith, being a sort of vegetation of the seed”.
It is the Christianity of one who says “I CAN serve two master at once, no matter what Jesus says.” I can love sensuality and pursue the pleasures of sin in this life AND have Christ – no conflict – just dual tracks – dual majors.
It’s a lie.
The end result is without question: The vegetative life that has come through the impact of the Word will eventually be choked out. The light and the food necessary to sustain spiritual life will be cut off, because other things replace it.
Maybe that is someone reading this today as well.
You’ve imagined this double track – this dual focus in life is a sustainable reality.
But it will not survive. It will not remain. One must die. And it will.
Which will you give yourself to?
The fruit spoken of in this text is the fruit of the Spirit. Repentance towards God, faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, holiness of life and character, prayerfulness, humility, charity, spiritual-mindedness—these are the only satisfactory proofs that the seed of God’s word is doing its proper work in our souls. Without such proofs, our religion is vain, however high our profession. It is no better than sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Christ has said, “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit.” (John 15:16.)
There is no part of the whole parable more important than this. We must never be content with a barren orthodoxy, and a cold maintenance of correct theological views. We must not be satisfied with clear knowledge, warm feelings, and a decent profession. We dare not rely on our giftedness. We must see to it that the Gospel we profess to love, produces positive “fruit” in our hearts and lives. This is real Christianity. Those words of St. James should often ring in our ears, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22.)
I don’t know where Ravi Zacharias is today. And that ought to terrify you as it does me. To have preached, taught and wrote such valuable and useful things for Christ’s Church globally – and to end seemingly unrepentant, in disgrace, and having harmed so many.
One reason why I believe Donald Trump lost the Election: And it’s NOT political.
In Isaiah 55, when God addresses His people over how they have vainly sought fulfillment from the material world, He also extends a word of comfort to them regarding how willing He is to forgive and receive them should they repent. To find their delight in Him. And He won’t reject them if they do: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
And, we might rightly add, His priorities are not our priorities either – unless we have gotten them from Him in His Word. In fact, so much of what it means to grow in Christ is to begin to set aside our personal priorities in life, to learn and enter into His priorities. And it is in this regard that I am convinced of at least one reason why Donald Trump lost this recent election.
Let me state it this way: It was more important to God, that the current cadre of false prophets who are so influential in American evangelicalism today – be exposed for the liars and frauds that they are – than that Donald Trump occupy the White House.
For the spiritual exigencies far outweigh both the political and social exigencies.
It is the rampant abuse of the Church at the hands of this wave of false prophets and prophecies that is far more eternally critical than any social or political issue.
Nations rise and fall. Political movements come and go. Social trends ebb and flow. And none of them are as important as people’s souls, and walking with Christ in fidelity. And at no time in my lifetime has the heinous and dangerous confounding of Americanism and Christianity hit such a fevered pitch. So it is by God’s grace in the outcome of this last election, the Church is given a pivotal moment to be called back to Scriptural fidelity to Christ and His priorities in the Gospel, and away from the black hole of thinking the spiritual corruption of sin – of which our broken political and social conditions are but symptoms – can be met by any other means than the transformation of men and women’s souls through the preaching of the Gospel, bringing all to the obedience of Christ.
I believe this electoral disaster is God’s grace writ large – to bring the Church back to being the Church, and not a political tool to be wielded at the hands of unregenerate power mongers. Whatever good they may possibly do.
That said, and so as to get to the key issue here – let me move on to expose the prophetic snare that has cruelly entrapped so many in the Church today.
Lutheran Pastor Steven Kozar set about to do something I was looking at doing, but did not have the wherewithal to put together as he has. It is this compendium of video clips of all the so-called “prophets” who declared – as “the Word of the Lord” mind you, that Donald Trump would be elected for his second term.
The shamefulness of it all is almost too much to bear.
Why is it worth the viewing? That is the point of this opinion piece. And note, this is purely my opinion, NOT some word from the Lord. Although I believe God’s Word addresses the core issue very clearly and pointedly in passages like Jeremiah 14:13-16 / “Then I said: “Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ” And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.”
The context there is that God had pronounced judgment upon Judah for its sins, and that Babylon would come and devastate it. But there were a whole crew of “prophets” who told the people it would never come to pass. That they were God’s people, they had the Temple, and God would not judge them that way. Though their wickedness went unabated. So the “prophets” “prophesied.” And God said in no uncertain terms that the problem with their prophecies was that they were deceptions, and inventions of their own minds. They weren’t the Word of God at all.
Which brings us to the video I have referenced, and to a broader, more pervasive and perhaps even more problematic issue in the evangelical Church in America today: The increasing trend of people saying “God told me,” “I dreamed”, “I feel” and other such expressions – as though they are truly speaking God’s Word. And it is a dreadful lie. It is a dangerous lie. And for some, it is even a damnable lie. Feelings, impressions, dreams and what-all are not the Word of the Lord. The Bible is.
That is not to say God cannot and does not at times make impressions upon us by the Spirit. I would pray that it be a constant experience for all those in Christ that the Spirit reminds us of, refreshes our souls in and reimpresses upon our hearts and minds the truths, principles and implications of His true Word. Especially at critical moments. Which always leads back to His Word rightly interpreted and understood. There is no question He does that supernaturally all the time. The best part being we can go back to His Word to clarify and verify it all. My warning here is about extra-Biblical revelation, or misconstrued, twisted and misapplied Scripture. The likes of which has become rampant in the Church.
And there is no more blatant example before us right now than this entire “prophetic” debacle surrounding the 2020 Presidential election.
The Spirit emphasizing His eternal truths and their implications upon us directly is not one and the same thing as saying “God said” or “God told me” or “God showed me.” And stating it as something God said. For if it is “God’s Word” then it is infallible, and binding upon all Christians everywhere and at all times to believe. And to not believe it is a sin. And if you are going to make statements so binding upon others that not to believe you is a sin – you had better be right. Otherwise, it is blasphemy, plain and simple.
So it is with those in the videos. They are saying they had declared God’s Word.
No they haven’t.
They were not just wrong, they lied.
They lied because they said unequivocally that they had proclaimed God’s Word when it wasn’t God’s Word. For it had been God’s Word – it WOULD have come to pass.
Beloved, let me say without fencing, DO NOT LISTEN TO THE LIKES OF: Sid Roth, Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Chuck Pierce, Dutch Sheets, Kevin Zadai, Tracy Cooke, Hank Kunneman, Greg Locke, Marcus Rogers, Chris Reed, Jeremiah Johnson, Sadhu Selvaraj, Albert Milton, Robin Bullock, Steve Shultz, Bill Johnson (of Bethel Church), Lance Wallnau, Kat Kerr, Richard Lorenzo Jr., Robby Dawkins, Mario Murillo, and others who – declared and decreed that Donald Trump would be re-elected. And not because they were wrong about that – but because they lied in saying God said these things – when He manifestly did not.
They made God the liar. They blasphemed Him. Do not be party to such people and practices. For your soul’s sake – close your ears, hearts and minds to these deceivers.
Isaiah 8:20 – “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.”
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
With this 175th installment of Through the Word – the end of this year is upon us. Christmas is only a few days away. 2021 right after. And I am preparing to leave for a 2 month sabbatical in Texas. It has been one wild ride of a year.
The complications and impact of Covid-19 remain with us. Though by God’s good grace, some light is shining at the end of that tunnel. My wife and I both recovered, but many are still afflicted, and even some we know have lost their lives to it. And in 18 years of marriage I have never seen my wife more ill. It’s been a rough time.
Our nation has been more polarized than at any time in my remembrance. And the last election cycle proved to be more chaotic, divisive and filled with suspicion, animosity and rancor than any in my lifetime.
I’m Reid Ferguson – and you are listening to the final episode of Through the Word in 2020 for this year. I can’t very well call it that in 2021, can I?
There is no question most of us are ready for this year to end. Revelation 15 pictures some of what will be the end of this present age. It’s pretty bracing. Nahum 1:2-Habakkuk 1:4 speak to the end of Israel’s chastisements, judgments on pagan nations and the hope of the new Heaven and New Earth. John 18:19-24 finds Jesus standing before Caiaphas with the end of His earthly life but hours away, and the end of the entire Judaic system on the horizon. And in the midst of it all is Psalm 146 with its laser-light cutting through everything to give us clear vision for the present and the future. How incredibly timely.
It begins with its emphatic exhortation not to fail to praise our God in it all – as long as we live. As long as we have being. Irrespective of anything else going on around us.
And then it reminds us not to put any trust at all in princes – political leaders. They are all but fallen men and women. The best of them. And in time the plans of everyone of them will perish. Nothing they can do is forever.
Our eyes are then redirected to the real hope – the Lord our God. The one who created it all – including you, me and those still far gone in their iniquity.
Don’t forget – He has set us free from our sin and condemnation. He lifts us up in our heaviest times. He loves His righteous ones – righteous with the righteousness of Jesus. He watches over us in our sojourning here. Reminding us this isn’t home. And He upholds all those with no other visible means of support. We are held.
And He will bring all the ways of the wicked to ruin. He WILL reign forever. He is our God to all generations.
So – Praise the Lord!
That said, this will be the last installment for this year. I hope to return in March of 2021 with a revamped podcast. Changing frequency, perhaps adding some guest interviews, and some longer commentary on a host of things from a Biblical perspective.
At least that’s the plan. I’ve long since learned that God’s providence always limits our options. But if He allows, that’s the way we’ll go. Time will tell, but stay tuned.
It has been a very high privilege for me to share something with you most days over these past months.
From Sky and I, have the very Merriest of Christmases with all of its 2020 oddness.
And keep your eyes fixed in our true hope as you look to the new year in Him.
For the audio Podcast of this and every episode, find us on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or HERE
I got the call a little after noon this last Monday. It was the Monroe County Medical Examiner. My cousin Beverly had been found in her apartment – dead. Apparently from a heart attack.
Beverly never married, and never had children. After her parents passed some years ago, she lived alone in a small, 1 bedroom apartment. She was what we would refer to now as “mentally challenged.” “Simple” in my day. She really was more like a little girl though over 70. She had worked for many years on the assembly line at Kodak, and retired. Though almost illiterate, she nevertheless owned a car, paid her own bills meticulously and had a fierce loyalty to her family and small cadre of friends.
She was a big gal, and gave crushing hugs.
One cousin told me he will miss that the most about her.
And she loved Jesus.
She would often text me to say she was watching Billy Graham on TV, or the Gaithers. She LOVED Gospel music. When the quartet was together she was absolutely our most devoted and avid fan. And as I have been going through her effects, I have found page after page of Scripture references she had been reading. Though in all reality, she probably understood quite little of what she read. But she gave herself to it nonetheless.
She was horribly afraid of thunderstorms. Frightened she would lose power. And after selling her car sometime back, seldom left the apartment for over a year. And never recovered from the grief of losing her last cat and companion – Baby – 9 months ago.
And I could not help but think of her as I entered into today’s readings in Micah 6:1-Nahum 1:1, John 18:12-18, and especially Revelation 14:6-20 where we read: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
I’m Reid Ferguson, and you are listening to Through the Word in 2020.
It comforted me once again this morning to see this first: Blessed are those in the Lord, even in death.
Something the lost haven’t even the slightest glimmer of. But Bev knows in all of its fullness right now. All die, but all are not blessed in their dying. Only those who are “in the Lord” know such a thing.
Such blessedness is connected entirely with being “in the Lord.” Not with dying peacefully, painlessly, swiftly, comfortably or unaware – but by virtue of being “In the Lord.” By having trusted in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary alone for the forgiveness of their sins, and reconciliation to God.
What a hope Believers have. That dying “in the Lord” makes a mockery of the death that our sin brought into the World. And because it is being “in the Lord” that makes this true, I am reminded of the words of old John Flavel when he wrote: “the most eagle-eyed philosophers were but children in knowledge, compared with the most illiterate Christians.” And I could not help of think of Bev in that regard. Blessed is she indeed.
Even in her death.
Secondly, note how the text says Blessed ARE those, not WERE.
This is in the present tense.
Those who are “In the Lord” are blessed even now – for their lives are still in Him and they have entered into their eternal reward. They are blessed right now. They have passed through the dark waters and the valley of death’s shadow, and have emerged into the sunlight of the face of Jesus Christ on the other side. More blessed is the meanest and most humble saint who has died, than the most blessed and prosperous in every way in this present life. For each gift and privilege here, is but the very darkest of shadows compared to the glory of being in the presence of our Redeemer.
And thirdly, as Andrew Fuller wrote: “It has been a common observation on this passage, and for aught I know a just one, that their works are not said to go before them as a ground of justification, but to follow them as witnesses in their favour.”
The Believer’s good works do not go before us, so as to qualify us for blessedness. They follow us. To confirm that we are already blessed in Christ by faith.
My dear, simple, child-like cousin Beverly, stands now before the throne of her Savior, with every impediment she inherited in this fallen world removed – and perfected in her Christ forever more.
How glorious to be able to say today: Blessed is Bev, for she died in the Lord. Blessed indeed. She is at rest from her life of labor just to fit in and be “normal.” And her works, her simple trust in Jesus follow her.
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What would be most on your mind if you knew you were going to die soon? Regrets? Unfinished business? The anticipation of being with Christ and the saints who have gone on before? Family?
One thing is for sure – the things which are most important to you are what would find their way to the surface. What your real priorities are would crowd out everything else. And so it is with Jesus as we hear His prayer in John 17 just before His murder.
You’re listening to Through the Word in 2020.
I’m Reid Ferguson.
We have before us today Psalm 145, Micah 3-5, Revelation 14:1-5 and John 17-18:11. John 17 recording what might be better termed “The Lord’s Prayer” than what He taught us in Matthew 6. For this is His actual prayer. A prayer, that in these closing moments, capture how astoundingly we as Believers were on His mind in this cosmically critical hour.
I am caught by the 5 key things Jesus prayed for we Believers:
v. 11 – “Keep them in your name.” i.e. Father, preserve them in faith, as though you had sworn to it on the honor of your own name.
Father, swear to keep them until the time that they are joined with one another and with us, in the same way I am coming to be joined with you.
Keep them intact until the resurrection.
This is not be a prayer for present unity (as glorious and necessary as that is) but for the wonder of the completeness of things fulfilled in the resurrection.
He goes on to explain this keeping in terms of not having lost any yet (excepting Judas according to plan) – and so keeping all true believers to the end. And this He says, should mean to us that we have His joy fulfilled in us. It is so certain, that it ought to rejoice our hearts in the worst of times.
Now if Jesus prayed that for your Believer. It WILL be so.
v. 15 – “protect them from the evil one.”
Notice carefully here that He expressly says He does not ask that we be taken out of the world. He does not plead for a change of environment or circumstances – the things which most often occupy our prayers. But only that the plans of the Evil One against us would be thwarted.
And so it will be.
Satan is to be resisted (James 4:7) but in the full confidence that because Christ has prayed for us, he will never have final victory over us. We are protected.
v. 17 – “sanctify them in the truth” The Word. Sanctification and the Word are inseparable. One cannot grow in sanctification if one fails to search, learn and treasure God’s Word. That which truly separates us from the world – is the truth we cling to. Believing His Word and ordering our lives according to what we know to be true in Him. We live like people who believe everything He has said to us is true. We, the world and the universe are as He describes it. And His Word is what separates us from the judgment to befall all mankind.
v. 21 – That all who believe in Him now, and who will believe through the Gospel we preach, may be truly one.
And what makes all Believers one? That we share the same Spirit of Christ. This is our unity. The unity of “the faith” – the Gospel truth delivered once and for all, and the indwelling Spirit that quickened those truths to our souls, and unites us to Christ. A union as extraordinary and unbreakable as that between the members of the Godhead themselves.
v. 24 – to “be with me…in order that they may see my glory.”
What must this vision of Christ in His resurrected glory be, if Jesus places it as the ultimate desire of His soul for our blessing? We have never yet begun to dig into this sufficiently. The “beatific vision” as it was called in older times is truly that which must be both thoroughly and eternally transforming, transfixing, blessing, engaging, delighting, satisfying, exciting and overawing with ultimate joy.
That we might SEE Him!
These things occupied His heart and mind at this critical moment.
In Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, He used 2 powerful terms describing Believers in His economy: Salt, and Light. Two word pictures pregnant with implications.
In order to be salt and light – we must uncompromisingly live as those who know our blessedness does not come from this world – but rests in being citizens of Christ’s Kingdom.
Salt loses its “saltiness” only one way – mixture. Salt crystals never lose their essential property. But when salt becomes mixed with other substances, the salt no longer does its work. The question is, what are we mixing with our devotion to Christ? When we value what the world values. When we fear what the world fears. When we reason the way the world reasons.
God is light and life. All things left to themselves are decay and darkness. As His, Christians bring His light and life giving presence into this world. We are this way because He is this way. He alone stands contrary to sin’s entropy. He alone brings light. Apart from Him – all is darkness and deconstructing chaos. But when we fail to live as salt and light, it isn’t just that we fail – we actually bring trouble to the world around us.
We’ll catch a glimpse of that today on Through the Word in 2020.
Whiny. Cowardly. Running from God. Shirking responsibility. Uncaring for the souls of others. Placing his own comforts, desires and opinions above the needs of those God called him to.
Booking passage on a boat to get as far away from obeying God as he could – in his rebellion, he brought the life-threatening storm that would have consumed the others in the boat with him. But at that point, he didn’t care if he was salt or light to a bunch of pagans. He just wanted to serve himself. No one else.
As the account progresses, among others, I note these things:
We are all responsible for the Word revealed. To make its “light” known. Before anything else, how do we respond to what we KNOW God has said?
It is costly to run from God’s commands. The text implies he booked the entire ship to get away as quickly as possible.
God’s presence is neither situational nor geographical. He cannot be fled from.
How God arranges providences to deal with us
.In rebellion, we become grossly insensitive to truth. Even to the point of missing what the unsaved see. Look at how the crewmen were more merciful and compassionate to the one bringing them these hardships, than Jonah was to the Ninevites.
And note how graciously the Lord uses even our failures in bringing others to Himself.
And the key point? We must consider the effect our disobedience has even on the unbelieving souls around us. We put them in the path of great harm in God’s having to deal with us strongly. Who knows how much of the World’s troubles flow from the Church’s failures?
Read the Old Testament and count how many wars, famines and other disasters were the direct result of God’s dealing with His people’s rebellion.
So as I said, I used to disdain Jonah.
Until.
Until I really studied the book.
Until I came to realize that the only reason we know so much about Jonah, his weaknesses, sins and follies, is because he is the only one who could have related all the details.
He wrote the book, telling on himself.
In the end, he was more interested in bringing to light the unfathomable riches of God’s mercy and grace than how he looked to anyone.
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Constantly Abiding – it’s the title of a hymn I’ve heard and sung since childhood. Though I hear it very little any more. Probably not sophisticated enough for some, too – sing-songy. Not deep enough for others. And too old fashioned I’m sure. But the chief sentiment is drawn directly from the teaching of Jesus. And it’s a truth all too neglected in our day. Constantly abiding will be our theme today, from John 15:1-16:4. And of course we have Amos 9:11-Obadiah 1:18 and Revelation 12:1-6 on our reading list as well. And while circumstances prevented our being together yesterday, I pray there will be something here for your soul today.
I’m Reid Ferguson and you are listening to Through the Word in 2020.
“Abiding.” Not a word we use much in conversation is it? In English as well as in Greek, it carries with it the idea of settling down, remaining in some one place. Not wandering. Being committed to and sticking to one place so as to make it home. And being content to be there, and go no further or any place else. And Jesus appeals to abiding as relates to Him 3 separate times in the Gospel of John. 2 of Which are in today’s passage, and even the 3rd referred back to – though it is stated more fully earlier.
And it is a lack of such abiding that I cannot help but think undergirds so much discontent, fear and instability in the lives of many Christians today.
In 8:31 Jesus says to those who professed belief in Him, “If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples.
”Now this cannot be overlooked. In order for one to truly be a disciple of Christ, we must abide in His Word. We must hear it, know it, treasure it, let it inform every part of our thinking. We cannot move from His word to some other source of authority to shape and inform our hearts and minds regarding reality.
In a conversation yesterday with several pastors, a recurring element was their concern that even many professing Christians today are more versed in the U.S. Constitution and the nature of what they perceive as their “rights” – than they are abiding in Christ’s Word in how to think and respond to life in all of its complexities. They’ve gone beyond the Word. As though it isn’t sufficient. As though we need something else to anchor our souls in troubled times. We give lip service to the Word. But abide there? Not so much. For it doesn’t seem to scratch where we itch.
Abiding in His Word – being people of His Word will shift our priorities. It will create new objectives, desires and goals. It will be the means whereby the Spirit of God makes us more like Christ Himself. But for many, that is not enough for them. They want to move on to bigger and better things. Abiding in His Word is too restrictive.
Then in 15:4 Jesus simply says: “Abide in me, and I in you.” Don’t go beyond Jesus. Stop there. Make Him your homeland. Make serving Him and His interests your chief pursuit. Look to no other prophet, revelation or authority. Seek Him. His Kingdom. His righteousness. He is not just the starting point in God’s cosmic plan, He is the end of it as well – the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. You never outgrow Jesus. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. If you think you have exhausted Him and need more – then you have not truly met Him. And you are not abiding in Him.
And lastly, in 15:9 He says: “Abide in my love.” Never let any one or any thing shake your confidence in the steadfast love of Christ. The love that endures forever. Abide in it. Live there. Settle down there. Be content there. Put your roots down there. Trust and rest in His abiding, all transforming love.
Abide in His Word. Abide in Him. Abide in His love.
And war against anything and everything that would make you less than fully content to simply, sweetly, confidently, abide in Him.
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I was still a young Christian when someone told me that the chapter and verse divisions we have in our Bibles were not inspired like the text itself. They are a human means devised to help us locate things easily. Most of the time they are just what we need and do not make a huge difference in how we read the text. Until we get to a portion like John 13:36-14:14. Noting it here, will lead us into something truly spectacular.
The rooster will not crow before you deny me 3 times, Jesus told Peter. And if you put a chapter break here, you miss the rest of what Jesus was saying in context. Yes, you’ll deny me Peter, but let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Wow!
In the same breath with which Jesus foretells Peter’s fall, He also comforts His petulant child. And if that was all we had to consider today, it should be enough. Our Savior knows full well every rebellious thought and sin we will ever commit against Him Beloved.
And loves us no less.
More, that is just where He meets us by His grace. Indeed, He was perfectly aware of every sin you and I would ever commit BEFORE He came and died for those sins, shed His blood to cleanse us of them, and rose again for our justification.
He is never taken off guard by our failings.
Never shocked.
Never moved to think He made a mistake in saving us.
Never thrown.
Never discouraged.
For the One who began this work in us has committed Himself to see it all the way through to completion. He counted the cost ahead of time. He knew what He was in for. He will not fail. And so He can say to even you today, weary, failing Christian, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”
And then, as though that is not enough to be too good to be true – He goes on to promise the eventual goal of His saving, rescuing power: That He has left to go and prepare a place for us. For we, His fumbling, sinning, grievous, foolish sons and daughters who believe. So that when His work in us is complete, we may be with Him and He with us in such unbroken intimacy and sweetness that our minds are unable to comprehend it now.
Another thought.
Some wag, years ago quipped that if God created the world in only 6 days, then what must this place be like He’s been working on for 2,000 years? No wonder the Scripture says that no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, in fact, no one has even imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.
Prepared not for those who showed themselves to be stellar disciples and worthy of it: but for those who love Him.
ResponsiveReiding 