Our Redeemer Lives
Posted: April 17, 2022 Filed under: Debt, Easter, Hope, Jesus, Redemption, Resurrection, Sermons Leave a commentHave you found redemption yet? Maybe some of you didn’t know you needed redemption? In fact, maybe we don’t even know what redemption is? So let’s start with a definition. Redemption simply means to “buy back.”[1] To purchase one’s debt. That may make a little more sense, especially when some of you walked in here or are listening online with a large burden because your loan and mortgage rates this week went up with the highest interest rate hike in years. You want somebody to purchase your debt. So let me ask you, have you found redemption yet? I should let you know that redemption is not just financial freedom. In fact, as our Staff learned this week from Jaya James, the Director of Hope House in Guelph, finances are the least of our concerns. Jaya taught us that our well-being is like a hand.[2] The thumb represents our physical well-being. Our index finger is our spiritual well-being. The middle finger is emotional well-being. The ring finger is our relational well-being. And our little finger is our financial well-being. It is the weakest. If the rest of our lives – the physical, spiritual, emotional and relational well-being are good, then finances usually take care of themselves. So today, as we talk about redemption, let’s remember that redemption must change our entire lives and our community. We listed a record of debts on Good Friday that encompass our whole lives and that Jesus nailed to the Cross (Colossians 2:14).
As I thought about a story of redemption, one that came to mind is what God has done here at Temple. It is one of my favourite stories of redemption. In fact, you and I wouldn’t be here today without this redemption story. The redemption story began before I got here. Most redemption stories have been in the works long before us. The redemption at Temple happened when a group of people decided to start a church in Preston. They wanted people to know the message of Easter that God sent His Son Jesus to come to earth and die on a Cross and rise from the grave so people could be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life. However, there was no outside money or loan from the bank. This was 1955. It was post-WWII and Preston’s economy was growing due to manufacturing. Workers were just starting to recover financially and they had some extra disposable income. The founders of this church decide to pool their money together through the sale of bonds. As the church grew, the church did what they always knew when needing money. They borrowed it.
Fast forward to 2012. I had only been here as your lead pastor for 13 days, when we were served with a lawsuit. There had been some abuse of children by a former leader and teacher in our Academy. The man had since been imprisoned for his horrific crimes. Why do I tell you that on a glorious Easter morning? Because one of the justifiable criticisms of the church is they cover up abuse. And as we will find out later, our Founder was abused and I want you to know how God redeems even abuse! As we learned on Good Friday, at the Cross Jesus cancelled our deaths, our debts and the demonic power and replaced them with the hopes of eternal life, forgiveness and power to live right. These hopes actually encouraged us to chase the truth and wherever it led, we would own and we would seek reconciliation. Two years into the lawsuit, the plaintiffs came back to us with a lower offer. Now, remember we were in debt. Our lawyer also said that there wasn’t much of a case against us. But we fasted and prayed as leaders. That evening as our Elders and Deacons met, we went back to the Bible to study what it said about forgiveness and lawsuits and reconciliation. It just so happened we received a letter that day addressed to our Treasurer. I explained the offer and meanwhile the Treasurer opened the envelope. The Treasurer asked me to repeat the number. I did. He said that the letter was for a cheque for the exact same amount as the offer. It was a Holy Spirit, spine-tingling moment. It was manna – provision from heaven. We believed that this money was to be given to these people who had been hurt as an act of love by God. He was bringing about redemption and reconciliation. You see, we had a relational debt with these people regardless of our legal debt.
Two months later, we had Forgiveness Sunday. It was an opportunity as a church to get right with people we had wronged both individually and corporately. We also decided to try to eliminate our bank loan of $90,000. Well, God provided $290,000 that took care of not just the bank loan, but all the money to cover all our debts. I think the Lord wanted us to be forgiven our relational debt before our financial debt. It was from there that we were able to expand the ministry here including training interns, sending out missionaries, adding staff, planting a daughter church in South Cambridge who is growing so well and building this building. God did this all through redemption! Redemption affects our entire lives and community.
This brings us another story of redemption. The story is about a man named Job. At one time, Job was the richest and the most righteous man in the ancient near east. “He had 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys and very many servants.” (Job 1:3) More importantly, Job had 10 children – 7 sons and 3 daughters. But then Satan came and wanted to attack God through Job. He asked God to cause Job to suffer so that Job would not trust in God but curse Him. God allows Satan to cause Job’s suffering. So in one day, Job lost all his business, all his employees and all his children except for three servants who reported back this bad news. Then Satan infects Job with painful boils on his skin. And if that weren’t enough, Job’s “friends” show up and start interrogating him believing that Job was the cause of all his suffering because of his sin. Job summarizes how he is feeling and how he believes God is the source of his suffering in Job 19:19-22, “All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you satisfied with me flesh?” Job is pretty downcast. But let’s read what Job says in Job 19:23-27 to find redemption. Read Job 19:23-27.
Despite all the suffering and questioning whether God was just, Job put his hope in his Redeemer. He felt like God unjustly was against him and so he was bringing God to court. Interestingly, God was also put on trial by Satan. However, unlike Satan who thought he might be successful, “Job never believed he would be successful in his lament against God until his redeemer comes.”[3] And it was this Redeemer that Job wanted to write about. Look at verses 23-24, “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they engraved in the rock forever.” Unbeknownst to Job, his words were written in the Bible, which has outlasted an inscription on any rock despite so many trying to wipe the Bible off the face of the earth! What words would you write about your Redeemer? What would you say about Jesus?
Job says something in Job 19:25 that Easter Sunday fulfills, “For I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” Remember, Job was declaring this during the time of Patriarchs, maybe around the time of Abraham, so this was over 2000 years before Jesus Christ was born. And did you catch that weird phrase, “and at the last, he will stand upon the earth”? Why would Job say that? Don’t all humans stand on the earth? Where else would they stand? Well, this is why I believe Job was believing his Redeemer would come from heaven. Last week, I talked about what to do when people attack our faithfulness and accuse us of unfaithfulness. We need to cry out to God, seek the truth of God’s Word and the last response is to trust in the witness of heaven. The witness of heaven came from Job 16:19, “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.” This is more than a hint that Job thought his Redeemer would come from heaven. That makes sense because if you are bringing a lawsuit against God, you are going to need somebody from heaven to testify.
What Job didn’t realize is that the witness and Redeemer he needed and hoped in was God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Job wasn’t looking for somebody to deliver him out of bondage of sin because Job was a blameless man who feared God (Job 1:1, 8). “For Job, Redeemer has the broader sense of rescue from harm.”[4] Job needed rescue from suffering. He was essentially saying, “I know my champion lives.”[5]
However, Job not only needed rescuing, he needed redemption. He needed redemption from his sins. You can be blameless and yet still do wrong. You are doing it innocently. Our courts in Canada understand this when a minor commits a crime. They are not punished to the same extent, nor does their record usually follow them after they turn 18. But Job needed rescue and redemption. Why? We find the answer in the Bible in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” Some of you here today or listening online may not like to admit that you have sinned and are guilty, but you know you have not been perfect. Others of you are indifferent to your guilt. You believe that if there is no moral absolute truth, then guilt is just a feeling, not a legal verdict. If that is you, look at the second part of the verse again, “fall short of the glory of God.” This shows you are not living up to your purpose, identity and meaning. You were created in God’s image with emotions, intellect and will and with an ability to relate to others. You were meant to be good stewards and caregivers of the earth. And the sad news is all of us have failed. So whether we are not measuring up to God’s Law or God’s glory, we need rescue and redemption.
And here is where we move from Job to Jesus! The next verse in Romans 3:24 gives us great hope, “and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Wow! Like a courtroom drama scene that turns everything on its head, we find that God who is on trial with Job and with many of us, is actually the Judge. And we are on trial for our sins. We are guilty. But God in His grace as a gift, justifies us. We can’t justify ourselves by our own good deeds. God justifies us because of Jesus. Justification means to declare not guilty. However, that goes back to whether God is a good judge. He is truly just. If there was a crime, who should pay for it? There is a lot of talk about war crimes being committed by the Russians in Ukraine due to the horrific atrocities the Russian soldiers are committing. It would be wrong to let people who do wrong, face no consequences. Lots of minorities feel that at a profound level. So is God just? Is He a good Judge?
The answer is found in His Son Jesus Christ and in the whole concept of redemption. Notice the last phrase of Romans 3:24, “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Jesus paid the price for our redemption by His own blood. We were guilty, but He bought us back from the slave market of sin. Sometimes it is said of athletes that they redeem themselves by making a good play after a bad play. We can’t redeem ourselves. The cost was too great. The sacrifice had to be perfect. Redemption is great for us, but bad for Jesus, if we only stopped at Good Friday. However, it’s Sunday and the truth of what Job hoped for has been realized in Job 19:25, “My Redeemer Lives.” (Rip off Record of Debt)
Today, we can understand something that Job could not foresee. His Redeemer and our Redeemer is the same person. He came from heaven and stood on the earth. His name is Jesus and He lives. Jesus didn’t stay dead. He rose from the grave. This is the ultimate hope you and I have if we will trust in Jesus. And this is a matter of life and death for us. Job goes on to say in Job 19:26, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job knew he would die. He also knew that he would see God. There was no one else who he could trust in – not another. And despite all the suffering, Job was excited – his heart fainted within him. Let me say that again and personalize it for you. I know many of you are suffering. Suffering from death. Suffering from debts. Suffering from demons. Suffering from disease. There is hope. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, has risen from the grave. He was abused, beaten, mocked and crucified on a cruel cross for our sins and transgressions. But He rose from the grave! Do you believe this? Do you believe Jesus is your Redeemer and He lives?
If so, you can have eternal life. And you can spread redemption like a super-spreader event. Redemption in your family, in your workplace, in your school and in our community. Relationships can be forgiven and healed like I described at the beginning of our message. You can find redemption from all your record of debts. So I ask you have you found your redemption in Jesus Christ? If you would like, please stand up because Jesus stood up for you. And maybe some of you have not been following Jesus lately? There are areas of your life that Jesus redeemed in your life and you have gone back to the slave market of sin. Today is the day to repent and find redemption once again. You too can find redemption will still work in that area of your life. Jesus rose from the grave and has the power to help you say no to sin and Satan in every area of your life. And some of you are experiencing redemption in your life, but you are demonstrating that redemption with others or affecting their lives. Today, you too can help others find redemption. As we sing, if you would like our Elders and and their wives to pray for you, please come forward and find redemption.
[1] For a fuller definition, “Redemption is Christ’s saving work viewed as an act of ‘buying back’ sinners out of their bondage to sin and to Satan through the payment of a ransom (though the analogy should not be pressed to specify anyone to whom a ransom was paid.)” Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 1253.
[2] Jaya James, “The Hand of Hope – The 5 Dimensions of Well-being,” TBC Staff Meeting, April 13, 2022.
[3] David J.A. Clines, Job 1-20 – Word Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 458.
[4] Daniel J. Estes, Job – Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2013), 118.
[5] Clines, 469.
What did the Cross Cancel?
Posted: April 15, 2022 Filed under: Communion, Death, Debt, Demons, Disappointment, Doubt, Easter, Good Friday, Jesus, Satan, Sermons, The Cross Leave a commentWho here has experienced a cancellation? Maybe your flight got cancelled? Maybe you had tickets to a play, concert or sporting event and it was cancelled? Maybe your surgery or a medical procedure got cancelled? These past two years, many things have been cancelled due to the pandemic. It used to be we lived with a comfortable level of certainty. But now we live in a time where things get cancelled and worse, people get cancelled. We live in a cancel culture. Our culture cancels people when they fail. I am not making a political statement nor am I am unsympathetic to those who have to be constantly reminded of their oppression by seeing a statue of racism or some other horrific event in history. I am saying that we can’t get rid of all the failures of the past because they tend to repeat themselves. Therefore, each generation will cancel the previous one. People need to understand that the same measure they use to judge others will be measured unto them. And we inside the church also need to be warned about canceling entire groups who do not align with us. We need to hear from these groups with all their pain.
In fact, Good Friday is a celebration of pain while also cancelling failures. Today I want to talk about what got cancelled on Good Friday. It will answer the question how do we cancel past failures and sins? Cancellations usually mean disappointment, debt and disruption. We are disappointed because our hopes are dashed. We can occur debt because we have to pay more for other arrangements and we are out of cash. And we are disrupted because our plans are smashed. With disappointments our hopes are dashed. With debts we are out of cash. And with disruptions our plans are smashed. If cancellations mean disappointment, debt and disruption, Jesus’ cancellation has the opposite effect. Jesus’ cancellation on Good Friday brought about good. So what did the Cross cancel?
We find out the answer to this question in Colossians 2:13-15! The letter of Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Colossae. Paul was a guy who at one time hated Christ and the Church and tried to kill many Christians. Then he met Jesus in a vision and everything changed for him. After meeting the risen Lord Jesus, Paul cancels his plans of being hostile to the church and becomes a help to the church. This letter to the Colossian Christians is an example of Paul being a help to the church. You see, Paul found out from his co-worker Epaphras about what was going on in the Church at Colossae. Epaphras was from Colossae and probably started the church in his hometown after hearing the gospel from Paul. That is what one does with the message of Jesus, when they embrace the good news, they cannot help but share it. I am praying and hoping you will share with others today what Good Friday is all about.
In Epaphras’ case, believing in Jesus and telling others in his hometown about Jesus transformed many people in that city. Colossae was like any other Roman city with its dead deities and idols. And lest we think that was an ancient problem, we have idols in our city too where seek to find our comfort and satisfaction in something other than God. Through Epaphras, Colossae was given the opportunity to hear and respond to the truth that God’s Son was alive. However, there was a problem. “There was a dangerous teaching in the church of Colossae that combined Jewish and pagan folk belief. That belief was to call on angels for help and protection from evil spirits.”[1] The Colossian Christians had forgot about the new covenant God had made with them through Jesus Christ and how Jesus was supreme to all other powers. And so let’s pick up what Paul says in Colossians 2:13-15 and notice what Jesus cancels. Read Colossians 2:13-15! (That word “uncircumcision” may sound weird to talk about at church, but it was a physical sign that God’s people belonged to Him as part of a covenant He cut with them. It was a daily reminder to every Jew that they belonged to God.)
To understand the story, we need to know that Jesus is God’s Son. He came to earth and lived a sinless and perfect life. He took care of the poor. He brought about justice for the oppressed. He befriended those who were forsaken. And He took on the religious establishment who had all these man-made rules that nobody, not even themselves, could live up to. Jesus became a threat to the authorities. So they decided to arrest and kill Him. As the Son of God, Jesus knew this all along. I have been reading the Gospel of Mark and here are a couple of examples of Jesus’ predictions about what would happen to Him. In Mark 9:12, “And He said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?” Jesus did suffer greatly. He was arrested, put in jail, whipped, and mocked. But even more mistreatment happened to Jesus. Again Jesus predicted this in Mark 9:31, “For He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.’” This is one of the greatest reasons for you and I to follow Jesus. “Jesus is the only person in history who predicted that He would die and then rise from the grave and He pulled it off.”[2] He pulled it off on the first Easter weekend. The Romans and Jews thought they cancelled Jesus when they killed Him, but they didn’t. They couldn’t. Jesus was stronger; He is the Son of God. And Jesus doing what He said is something I cling to in my darkest of days. I believe that Jesus suffered and died and rose again. It reminds me that the way of the Saviour is through suffering. Rebecca McLaughlin in her book Confronting Christianity says, “Suffering is not an embarrassment to the Christian faith. It is the thread with which Christ’s name is stitched into our lives.”[3]In the greatest of all power inversion, the Son of God let Himself be killed by those who created and loved. And so the next time you are suffering and feeling like you too are being cancelled remember that you aren’t being cancelled by Jesus. Jesus didn’t cancel suffering. That isn’t something you will hear from the TV preachers. Jesus didn’t cancel suffering … yet, but the good news is that He didn’t cancel you and me.
But Jesus did cancel some things. Jesus cancelled some powerful abuses in our lives. These abuses are so destructive in our lives and in society. The first abuse Jesus cancelled at the Cross was our death.This is what we discover in Colossians 2:13, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven all our trespasses.” When our first parents, Adam and Eve, ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it meant a spiritual death for them. They trespassed. And the consequence was a spiritual death that is realized in our bodies where each of us physically die. This is why every one of Adam and Eve’s offspring, including you and me, ever since has been spiritually dead and we physically die. Who here has not been touched by the loss of a loved one? I think of Ruth Caldwell mourning the loss of her sister. It is existentially abusive to be separated by death. You sense it every day. And yet our trespasses caused that abuse. But some of you might say, “Jon, I’m not dead spiritually. I’m a very spiritual person.” Please be honest with me. Is your spirituality about you and how you are feeling? Getting in touch with yourself so that you can become fulfilled? If yes, the problem is that our spirituality can become self-focused and when we get to the end of ourselves, there has to be something more. Something transcendent. Something beyond ourselves. Sam Harris in his book Free Will says, “Our actions are determined by our past experiences and neurological states. We are free to do what we want to do, but we cannot determine the wanting itself.”[4] Our wants often lead to a dead end. They don’t fully satisfy. This is why in Colossians 2:13, “Paul calls us ‘dead in our trespasses’ until we are ‘made alive in Christ.’ And we know that “corpses cannot choose.”[5] We were under a death sentence and on Good Friday Jesus cancelled it. He cancelled our spiritual death and though we may physically die, Jesus promised to one of His closest friends, Martha, in John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Meaning our spiritual death! Jesus cancelled our death by rising from the grave. We have been made alive with Him. We died with Christ, we were buried with Christ and we rose with Christ! (Colossians 2:12; Romans 6:3-4) When He rose: we rose!
But Jesus hasn’t just cancelled the abuse of death. Jesus also cancelled at the Cross the second abuse of our debt. We get a hint of this in the last phrase of verse 13, “having forgiven us all our trespasses.” Forgiveness is in part an accounting term. The debts get wiped off the books. This is what is clearly stated in Colossians 2:14, “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside nailing it to the cross.” Usually we think of two things that were nailed to the Cross – Jesus and the sign above His head, “King of the Jews.” (Matthew 27:37) But our record of debts was also nailed to the Cross. Our family came up with a number of sins. You can check them out after the service and add some more if you like. The Law burdened us down with more rules to keep and therefore was hostile to us. Yes, it showed us our wrongs (Romans 3:20). But it also becomes a heavy weight upon us that drags us down. We cannot keep up with its demands. You know and have lived this! COVID mandates, though many necessary, are hard to keep up with. And that is only one area of the law that affects our lives. Have any of us kept the Law perfectly? No! Your mind might quickly go a records of your personal debts – sins you committed against God and others! And because of that we are in debt. But this is not a guilt trip! It is a guilt-freeing offer! It is finding redemption. Jesus cancelled the abuse of our debt.
So Jesus at the Cross cancelled our death and our debt, but Jesus at the Cross also cancelled the third abuse of demonic power. This is what we see in Colossians 2:15, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him.” As the late pastor Warren Wiersbe said, “Jesus had the victories at the cross over Satan and his army by stripping them of their weapons, making a public spectacle of them of their deceit and vileness and triumphing over them giving the spoils to us (Eph. 4:8ff).”[6] Remember when the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Championship in the summer of 2019. There was a victory parade. Who here went to that parade? What Paul was describing was a victory parade with the losers on display. He was using as a reference to what happened in Rome after a Roman general led his army in victory. It wasn’t just the victors that were on parade, but some of the losers were kept alive as a reminder of what happens when nations tried to take on Rome. Jesus put on display Satan as a reminder of what a loser he is. Jesus took away his weapons so that no weapon formed against us can stand (Isaiah 54:17). He sank their battle ship! Sometimes we feel so overwhelmed by evil, but let’s remember that demonic power cannot defeat us. Jesus, like any good leader, has stopped our abusers and the evil one cannot touch us (1 John 5:18).
Do you see how Jesus cancelled death, debt and the demonic powers? But the best news is that Jesus just didn’t cancel, but replaced these with three hopes. With these three hopes, Jesus has given us a new culture. Instead of disappointment and death, Jesus gave us the hope of life. We no longer have to be a culture of death, but can be life-giving to each other. Life, 1) Eternal life is our first hope. This is why we try to be committed to life from the pre-born to the end of life. It is why we live not just for earth but eternal life in the new heavens and new earth. The first hope is eternal life. There is a second hope. Instead of debt, Jesus has given us the hope of forgiveness. This is the second hope: 2) Forgiveness We are no longer in debt (Col. 2:13), but have experienced forgiveness by God so that we can forgive others. Isn’t this what Jesus taught us in His prayer? “Forgive us our trespasses (debts) as we forgive others who trespass against us.” (Matthew 6:12) My friends, one can take down all the statues and reminders of evil, but the hurt will not go away until we forgive. We can try to forget, but it won’t work until we forgive. And the Cross is the only place where injustice is corrected. Jesus not only died for all the sins you committed, but all the sins committed against you. This is the only ultimate justice there is where the innocent Son of God pays the price for all sin. It is why Jesus has given us a new culture. We are now for each other. We can now belong. We can show each other grace. We can sacrifice for each other. Forgiveness is our second hope. But there is a third hope – 3) power! And we no longer have to be oppressed by the kingdom of darkness. We don’t have be overwhelmed. We now have the power to say no to the deceit, division and discouragement of the devil and his minions. And instead of disruption of our plans by the devil, our third hope is power over the devil’s deception. Eternal life; forgiveness and power! Jesus gave us these three hopes!
And all of this is demonstrated at the Lord’s supper. Jesus never cancels His supper invitation. He has invited us to His table. However, to go, we need to believe in Jesus. We need to acknowledge that Jesus has cancelled our death, debts and demons in our lives. Instead, we embrace the hope He gives us of eternal life and forgiveness. That forgiveness then means we forgive others before we eat at the Lord’s table. And we trust in Christ for His power over the devil. So do you believe in Jesus and that He cancelled your death, and your debts and the demons in your life? Trust in Him today!
[1] Clinton Arnold, The ESV Study Bible, Notes on Colossians, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 2290.
[2] Quote attributed to Andy Stanley.
[3] Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 205.
[4] Sam Harris, Free Will (New York: Free Press, 2012), 13.
[5] McLaughlin, 220.
[6] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary – Volume 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 128.
Responding to Discouragers
Posted: April 10, 2022 Filed under: Communion, Depression, Disappointment, Discouragement, Jesus, Prayer, Satan, The Divine Council, The Word of God, Truth Leave a commentWho here has ever been discouraged? It’s pretty much unanimous. We all get discouraged from time to time. Things don’t go as planned. You don’t get the grade you thought you deserved on an assignment or a test after studying so hard. Or think about that promotion you sought after and it was given to somebody else. The bid you put on a house was turned down … once again. You got a bad report from the doctor or from a COVID test. Those things are hard. What is even harder is when somebody reminds you of those hurts. They rub it in your face. Probably one of the most public examples of being beat down after going through a very personal time of suffering is Jada Pinkett Smith. Did you hear what happened at the 2022 Oscars two Sundays ago? It has been called “the slap heard around the world” and it caused the 10 year ban of a beloved actor whose reputation has been marred. Much talk and opinion has been given about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock to defend the honour of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith after Chris Rock made fun of Jada’s balding condition. We can all agree that it is right to protect one another’s honour, but not by slapping them. The Bible had a name for this long before labels of “toxic masculinity” have been put forth. The Bible calls it sinful vengeance and we know that we must leave vengeance in the hands of the Lord. Nobody gets away with anything eventually.
What I want to focus on from that night is the warning Denzil Washington gave Will Smith before Smith received his Oscar, “At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you.”[1] This warning proved true because often the devil, also called the roaring lion in 1 Peter 5:8, waits until you are at your pinnacle of success and exposed, and then he pounces. However, I will remind you that the lion will also come after you at your low moments too when you are weak, sick and alone. Job was alone. That is when Satan sent in his fourth wave of attacks on Job.
The first wave was when Job, the richest and most righteous man in the East, lost all his livestock, employees and children in one day. The second wave was when Satan infected Job with painful boils on his skin. The third wave was when Job’s friends come from afar to “comfort” him (painting of Gustav Dore of “Job and his friends”). These attacks originated because Satan wanted to prove that God was wrong about Job being blameless and would remain faithful to God. The debate up in heaven in the divine council meant all-out assault on earth for Job and his wife. Let’s remember as we study the Book of Job that “God is the one ultimately on trial.”[2] As God suffers attack, so do we! But it begs the question: will we love God even when we can’t see His goodness? [3] This is the theme of Job: Will we love God for God’s sake and not just His blessings? Warning: answering “yes” to such a question will know the prosperity gospel right out of you because you will go through a time of suffering and sifting. But when we come to the conclusion that we only have God, we will be able to better respond when people discourage us. Let’s find out how to respond to discouragers from Job 15-19. Job’s discouragers weren’t hating on social media. They were personally known by him. Their names were Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar. They come from other countries to be with him. They get close to Job! At first, they just listen to Job lament. Then Eliphaz starts to speak followed by Bildad and lastly Zophar. Job responds and then the cycle of “counsel” continues. Eliphaz followed by Bildad picks up the interrogation again like the bad cop in a tv show. “Eliphaz, instead of being a comforter, is a debater.”[4] Some people love to debate. It fans a flame in their soul. For others, like myself, debating is like leaving the door open on a cold Spring Day. It takes out all the warmth in your house and it’s costly. Debating for me causes my internal furnace to heat up without producing much light and if I’m not careful it could cost me something greater than my heating bill – my reputation. We need light and not heat. And this is why we will be focused on Job’s response today. I am going to only read Job’s friends attacks of discouragement from Job 15 & 18 for the interest of time, then I’ll unpack Job’s responses in our message and give us some actionable strategies to deal with discouragers. I would encourage you to read all of Job 15-19 on your own and prepare for your small groups. Read Job 15:1-16 & 18:1-6.
This week I had my son Luke help me study Job 15-19. He summed up the verbal beat downs of Eliphaz and Bildad on Job as, “Job, you are talking a lot of smack, and you’re acting really whack.” For those of us who no longer speak teenager, I would put the summaries in my own terms. I want to remind us that discouragers will 1) attack our faithfulness. Eliphaz accuses Job of not fearing God. Look at Job 15:4, “But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God.” Eliphaz goes on to question Job’s walk with God in verse 8, “Have you listened in the council of God?” This is why I think that Satan is behind Eliphaz’s discouraging remarks. Satan, not Eliphaz, had been in the council of God. We know this from chapter 1. Satan loves to attack our closeness to God. It is one of his favourites from his evil playbook. He used it first on Eve in Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say …” Satan tries to put a wedge between God and us and question God’s Word and wisdom in our lives. Satan uses doubt as the jab and discouragement as the hook in his boxing match with us. In other words, Eliphaz says, “Job, if God cannot even trust the divine council and angels, He certainly can’t trust you.” Discouragers will attack our faithfulness. “Eliphaz here directly attacks Job’s piety, which Yahweh Himself had praised in the prologue in Job 1:1 & 8.”[5] Recall both the narrator and God Himself declare Job as God-fearing! Sometimes people will discourage and attack us at the point of our strength or our faithfulness. It is Satan’s way of getting us to overly react like a slap across the face at the Oscar’s defending our spouse. This tactic of getting me to overreact has been used successfully on me by our Enemy many times. He will attack by having somebody question my theology – an area that I desperately want to be remain faithful in. I would actually rather be accurate than inspiring when proclaiming God’s Word. But one of the repeated lessons in this Book of Job, a book of wisdom, is that “sound” theology can be too narrowly applied or misapplied to the wrong person or situation. In other words, we may say something generally true, but not for this person. What about you? What area have you been faithful in and Satan has attacked you? Discouragers will attack our faithfulness.
But discouragers will not only attack our faithfulness, they will 2) accuse us of unfaithfulness. This was the point of attack by Bildad, but he does it in an indirect way. He speaks in generalities. Check out Job 18:5, “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine.” Job was the wicked person that Bildad was referring to. Bildad goes on to accuse Job of actually being deceived, and maybe even in bondage to demons. Look at Job 18:7-10, “His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh. A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare lays hold of him. A rope is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the path. Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels.” Bible scholar Michael Clines explains, “Traps should be to catch animals, but these supernatural and demonic animal forces are themselves the snares for the wicked.”[6]Demons are what is referred to as the terrors that frighten Job on every side. These “terrors” are what God promises to protect us from at night in Psalm 91:5. But Job was surrounded and Bildad’s conclusion was that Job had sinned and given the devil a foothold in Job’s life to borrow the language from Ephesians 4:27. Listen up Temple! We must be so careful of making accusations that people are unfaithful and therefore under the bonds of Satan. Bildad makes this assumption in Job 18:14, “He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors.” The king of terrors is not the King of kings – it’s Satan. Eliphaz thought Job was no longer fearing God. Bildad thought Job was fearing Satan. “It is ironic too that Bildad should think himself to be doing Job a favour by announcing that the fate of the wicked is something Job can choose to avoid, when the reality is that Job was the most blameless man on earth and yet suffered the fate of the worst sinner.”[7]Discouragers will attack our faithfulness and accuse us of unfaithfulness.
Why? Why will discouragers attack our faithfulness and accuse us of unfaithfulness. So we will blame and doubt God! And Job starts to go down that path of blame and doubt. Look at what Job says in Job 16:7-15, “Surely now God has worn me out; He has made desolate all my company. And He has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face. He has torn me in His wrath and hated me; He has gnashed His teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me. God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, and He broke me apart; He seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; He set me up as his target;His archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with breach upon breach; He runs upon me like a warrior. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust.” These are all ascriptions Job connects to God. Job started to attribute the roaring lion of the devil with the One who would become the Lion of Judah. He saw God going after his jugular like this picture of an ivory art piece of a lion going for the throat of Nimrud (pic). But Job’s faith had enough elasticity to it that it snapped back to an orthodox understanding of God. That happened because what Job did and what I am going to recommend to us as three actions points or responses when people discourage us.
The first ACTION POINT is: A) Cry out to God! Pray! God is faithful and hears when our faithfulness has been attacked and we have been accused of unfaithfulness. This is exactly what we read in Job 16:16-17, “My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.” Pure prayer is often a heart poured out to God. Job knows just talking about it to his friends won’t fix the problem, but is making it worse. This is what Job says in Job 16:2-7 (look at it), “I have heard many things; miserable comforters are you all. Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. If I speak, my pain is not assuaged and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? Surely now God has worn me out; He has made desolate all my company.” Job’s lament is again an act of faith because he is turning to God in his pain and not to another person or pill or any other painkiller. We need to learn how to cry out to God. This is why I would encourage you to register your family and yourself to attend our Prayer Summit on April 22-23 (https://www.templebaptistchurch.ca/prayer-events). I recall going to prayer meetings at a young age and as I heard the prayers of those who had been walking with Jesus for a long time, I learned that prayer was the key because they took their discouragements to the Lord in prayer. After Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, apparently there were a few Christian actors who went into action? Denzil Washington told this past week what happened, “Fortunately there were people there. Not just me, but others. Tyler Perry came immediately right over there with me. [Said] some prayers. I don’t wanna say what we talked about, but for the grace of God go any of us. Who are we to condemn? I don’t know all the ins and outs of the situation, but I know the only solution was prayer, the way I see it.”[8] Our first action point is to cry out to God! It will help us to remember that “When God is silent; He is not absent.”[9]
The second action point is B) seek out the truth in God’s Word! When people are giving you counsel, can you find their counsel in the counsel of God’s Word? Eric Ortlund observes, “In Eliphaz’s theology, it is very strange how God is not mentioned in Job 15:17-35.”[10] Not one mention of God even though Bildad claims he is speaking for God. But contrast this with what Job does! He goes to God. Check out Job 17:6-9, “6 He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. 7 My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. 8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. 9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.” You can spend so much sideways energy trying to figure out and get a diagnosis for your problem, especially when you are discouraged. Or you can get stronger as Job says in verse 9. I love what Abraham Lincoln, one of the most beloved and yet also hated presidents in U.S. history said during the Civil War, “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.”[11] Temple, we need to read the truth of God’s Word rather than read the attacks of our critics. Let the Word of God be the lens we filter people’s comments and counsel. I was taught when I was a pastor in the Evangelical Free Church of America to process everything by this question, “Where is it written?” Meaning where is it written in the Bible. This is what I mean by encouraging us to seek out the truth in God’s Word.So we are to cry out to God and seek the truth in His Word. But we also need to take action and C) Trust in the Witness of Heaven. This is what we find Job doing in Job 16:19, “Even, now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.” Who is this witness in heaven? Job may not have fully known who he was pointing to. We find the answer later in the Bible in 1 John 5:6-12, “6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” So the witness in heaven that Job hoped for was realized in God the Holy Spirit, “the water of Jesus’ baptism and the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross.”[12] And this is the hope we also have. It goes beyond other heavenly witnesses. Remember what Abraham Lincoln said about ignoring his critics. Well, he went on to say in his speech, “I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would not make no difference.” Lincoln wasn’t just calling for perseverance when attacked, but showed a humility that he couldn’t defend himself. This is why we must trust our witness and advocate in heaven. Jesus can and will defend us! Bildad had falsely accused Job of unfaithfulness. Job knew that he was faithful. Look what Job says in Job 19:4-6, “And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace an argument with me, know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed His net about me.” Job never cursed God, but he was still wrong about God. Maybe today we have been wrong about God? If you have been thinking God was against you, when He is for you? Or you have sinned and cursed against God? I have good news for you today and that is Jesus’ blood covers all our sins. There is no greater reminder of this truth than the Lord’s Supper. Jesus shed His blood for you and me to cover up all our sins of the heart, head and hands. When you are most discouraged and suffering from that low grade depression because nothing, and I mean nothing, is going right. It is the Cross that we must go back to remember that the darkest day in history when the Son of God was killed became the greatest day so that we can have new life. God will lift us up when we are down. He is inviting us right now to eat with Him.
[1] Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/denzel-washington-weighs-will-smith-slap-are-condemn-rcna22800. Accessed April 7, 2022.
[2] Quote from my wife Lori Stairs
[3] A great overview of Job can be found at Tim Mackie and Jon Collins, Job – The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/job/. Accessed February 11, 2022.
[4] J. Vernon McGee, Job – Through the Bible Commentary Series (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), 91.
[5] Daniel J. Estes, Job – Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2013), 93.
[6] David J.A. Clines, Job 1-20 – Word Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 411.
[7] Clines, 425.
[8] Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/denzel-washington-weighs-will-smith-slap-are-condemn-rcna22800. Accessed April 7, 2022.
[9] Craig Trierwiler, “You Are Dearly Loved” sermon, (Traverse City: New Hope Community Church, April 3, 2022).
[10] Eric Ortlund, Piercing Leviathan, (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021), 43.
[11] Abraham Lincoln, The Speeches and Letter of Abraham Lincoln: 1832-1865, Everyman’s Library (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907), 235.
[12] I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John (NICNT), (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), 237.
Charge to Temple Baptist Church for Aaron Naismith
Posted: April 3, 2022 Filed under: Bless Leave a commentIn Ephesians 4:11, we are told that “Christ gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers.” In other words, Christian leaders are gifts to the church that point back to the Giver, Jesus Christ. I think back to so many Christian leaders who have been gifts from God to me. Another of those is Aaron Naismith. Aaron you are a gift from God to Temple just like our other leaders in our church are gifts to us. It took us over a year of hard looking for you and we have been scouting for years to find somebody to serve in a specialized role of worship. God was gracious to provide multi-gifted people like Pastor Jason and others to carry the worship baton, but we want Jason to be in his sweet spot and be more focused on discipleship because we believe that making disciples is our primary mission. Temple, you should know that there were around 40 applicants for this role from all over the world. And so God chose you, Aaron and Jasmine, for us! And as you reminded us to be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, you and your family are gifts that point us back to Jesus. So Temple, how can we support Aaron, Jasmine, Layden and Declan? Let’s go back to how we started the year and remember we need to B.L.E.S.S. them.
To B.L.E.S.S. means to Begin with Prayer. We need to commit to praying for Aaron each day. Pray for him to walk so close with Jesus that others will want to love and worship Jesus. Pray that Aaron would be holy and pure. Pray that God would lead Aaron would know the songs, prayers and other worship arts that would cause heaven to come down and glory fill our hearts. Pray that Jasmine and Aaron would have a strong marriage. Pray that Layden and Declan would come to faith at a young age and love Jesus and His Church. Pray that Aaron would be able to disciple people in the worship & tech ministries, especially the next generation. So begin with prayer, but also listen to the needs.
Listen to the needs of Aaron. Listen to his heart. Aaron is very administrative and yet relational. In fact, ask each of staff members what their needs are. We are gearing up our ministry. We are in go mode. We are focused on developing leaders, making disciples and ramping up our Biblical Counseling led by Pastor Jason and as well increase our community outreach with liaisons who get into gospel conversations with others. Listen to Aaron and join him when he leads worship. He is not giving a concert each Sunday, but calling you to engage in worshipping our great God.
So pray, listen and also Eat together with the Naismiths. I know that there is still COVID cautiousness, but today begins a step toward greater fellowship with each other as we have a pizza lunch together in just a few minutes. One area that we could grow in our church is going from a friendly church to a church of friends. Our older and seasoned saints are friends. The next generations need to pick up that same love for one another. I am going to ask this as loving as possible, “When was the last time you invited somebody new to your home for a meal?” It doesn’t have to be fancy. We don’t get close enough to each other. We need to eat together more. I know I would love to eat with you more. Just be sensitive to one another’s aversions and allergies.
Serve the needs alongside Aaron. Serve alongside Aaron. Join the worship and tech ministries if asked. Aaron might tap you on the shoulder and ask you to join in the worship ministry in some capacity. Serve alongside him ways like you have served alongside me in ultimately serving our great God. This can mean in very practical helps to surprising me with meals or notes of encouragement.
Lastly, Share Jesus with Aaron. You might think that he already knows Jesus. And yes, Aaron gave his life to Christ when he was age 3 and got baptized when age 11. However, we constantly need to reminded of the gospel. Encourage Aaron by telling him your story with Jesus. You past story with Jesus and what Jesus is doing in your life right now. Nothing encourages us pastors more than to hear about you walking in the truth! BLESS Aaron, Jasmin and their children!
Now, I’m going to call on our Elders to come pray over Aaron and Jasmine.
Commissional 