Living Hope Overcomes Evil
Posted: March 19, 2023 Filed under: Bless, Blessing, evil, Good, goodness, Harmony, Humility, Jesus, Lips, Love, Peace, Sermons Leave a commentHow do you fight evil? Evil comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. From human trafficking to drug trafficking. From the tiniest of the laboratory-created viruses to massive atomic bombs that wipe out whole cities. Or to make it more personal – the bully in the schoolyard – evil is all around us. How do we fight evil? This the question for us today. Many attempts have been made in human history to eradicate evil using the pen and penitentiary, the sword and the statute, the lash and the law. Have they worked? Does might make right? No!
However, there is a way to fight evil. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 3:8-12. To give you context, let me quickly review starting from the beginning of this book. The book was written by Peter, one of Jesus’ key disciples. Peter knew about evil. He grew up under Roman occupation. He most likely saw tax collectors bilk his nation, his family and his business (Matthew 17:24-27). He had witnessed crucifixion – the most horrific torture device ever invented by humans. Peter had been on the run himself from evil. This is why he writes to a group of Christians and reminds them in the first verse of the book that they are “elect exiles” – homeless, but handpicked by God. Understanding one’s identity is key to fighting evil because it helps you fight for the right things. Fighting over land and loot should not be our focus as elect exiles because we understand that we are homeless and handpicked by God. If you understand that this world is not your home, you don’t fight over it as much. Think about that. Are you fighting for your rights? Your stuff? Your reputation? Embracing being an “elect exile” in Christ changes all that. Peter reminds his readers that they have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:4) That helps the next time people rob you of the temporal things God loaned you on earth. You can still go to the authorities because of the injustice, but the emotional attachment to things should wane. Remember eternal inheritance awaits because of the fact that God sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins and rise again to give us eternal life as born again believers (1:3). This will give you a living hope (1:3). God is so good. He is holy and has declared and made us holy. Our holiness means we are different than the world and are devoted to God (1:16). It means we are building a new spiritual house and royal priesthood, not just for ourselves, but to serve the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ (2:9). Out of this identity, we can submit ourselves to government, even if it acts evil at times, because our King is over the government and our time here is short (2:13). We can live differently as we labour and suffer unjustly (2:18-19). And we can live differently in our homes, winning over our families through submission and honour when they do not obey the word of God (3:1-7). These are in fact ways we fight evil. We fight evil at home first, then through the church and finally out there in the world. But let’s get more specific. Let’s read 1 Peter 3:8-12. Read 1 Peter 3:8-12!
How do you fight evil? Overcome evil with good. This is a repeated principle in Scripture – overcome evil with good (c.f. Romans 12:14-21). Let me summarise 1 Peter 3:8-12: Overcome evil by blessing others. Overcome evil by blessing others. We can explicitly see in verse 9, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” This is amazing! Did catch the revolutionary principle that Peter is proclaiming? Blessing those who hurt us leads to our own blessing! Yes, our primary intention is to bless our persecutors, but God is promising that we will receive a blessing in return. Where is Peter getting this? From Jesus! Jesus declared in Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus promised us blessing if we are persecuted and subsequently bless our persecutors. This is the way of the Kingdom because it was the way of the King. Did not Jesus come to earth as the Son of God and was persecuted? What did He do? He blessed His persecutors. He blessed us! And Jesus in return was blessed with glory. He was blessed by turning us, His enemies, into His forever family. “We are called to bless those who hurt us because we ourselves were blessed by God when we hurt Him through our sin.”[1] Overcome evil by blessing others and you yourself will be blessed (v. 9).
But let’s get into the how to bless others. I skipped over verse 8, but it is critical to fighting evil. It will also help us to understand that we fight evil first at home, then through the church and finally out in the world. Let me go back to the home for a moment. Pastor Kyle taught us last week on 1 Peter 3:1-7. Did you pick up that just like the rest of Peter’s letter that the instructions on marriage were written in the context of suffering and hostility? The wife is supposed to submit herself to her own husband (not other people’s husbands) so that her disobedient husband would be won over (v. 1-2)! This is a principle, not a promise, meaning that a wife’s submission does not guarantee the salvation of her husband, but it sure makes it harder for him to say “no” to God. Of course, this does not give men the right to abuse their wives. But their wives’ submission wins them over. This is not only subversive culturally, but spiritually. In other words, Peter’s instructions didn’t just open the door for women’s rights that many enjoy today, but it also opened the door of the heart of the woman’s husband to the gospel in that day and now. We here at Temple, believe the Scriptures teach that men should provide protective leadership for their family and church family, but that does not mean that women are not leading. Often wives are leading their husbands back to the truth of God through respectful and pure conduct. This is not weak leadership, but winsome leadership! It is the best leadership, because Jesus led from a posture of respectful and pure conduct. He won you and me through this humble approach. If you have a beloved unbeliever at home, do not neglect them. Respect them and win them over with your pure conduct and devotion to them. Women have a power way beyond their sexuality and beauty. Their power is their spirituality and submission to follow Jesus. They see Jesus as their Master and can serve lesser ones appropriately and accordingly. It is very winsome. It is the Kingdom ethic of the “weak” winning the strong. It goes with our theme for 2023 – eyes locked on Jesus. How do remain faithful in an ever-increasing hostile world? Eyes locked on Jesus! My wife Lori wins us over all the time in our home through her godly conduct and respect she demonstrates in our family. Husbands, you too can overcome suffering and hostility through living with your wife in an understanding way as a co-heir in the grace of life (v. 7).
So we fight evil at home first, but then through the church. I am not talking about the church rising up as a collective to be a prophetic voice against societal ills, though sometimes that needs to happen. I am talking about how the church overcomes evil by blessing others through loving one another first. Verse 8 makes this clear, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind.” You cannot have unity of mind, sympathy, and brotherly love with the context of community. How could you have unity, sympathy and brotherly love if you didn’t have brothers and sisters in Christ? You can’t! “There can be no Christianity without compassion.”[2] This is why we must overcome evil by blessing others with a … harmonious and humble heart (v. 8). A harmonious and humble heart go hand in hand. You cannot have unity of mind without a humble mind.[3] You might have a good idea, but without humility and harmony, you won’t overcome. Fighting evil is a community project, but notice I am not saying that you are bringing others into the fight to escalate it to a war. You are deferring to others. You are submitting to others. Your training to fight evil happens in the church with unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and humble mind. To do this we need to understand why the world is in a state of disunity. It goes back to the rebellion in heaven when Satan sought power over God. He got kicked out. Then Satan tempted our first parents Adam and Eve to break God’s only rule, which was to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This led to separation from God and with each other. We humans too have pursued power. Fast forward to the Middle Ages when the aristocrats’ main task was to protect the territory they had and try to gain some more. They were knighted. Both religion and the state held power. Then as Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor explains, “The Reformation gave power to the individual and opened the door to naturalism and the world denuded of the supernatural. The buffered self allowed individuals to feel a greater sense of responsibility for the cultivation of personal, but it inadvertently created a self that is closed off, not just from magical forces, but the transcendent as a whole.”[4] And so without a pursuit of God, individuals try to determine their own lives and identities. The problem is that we live in community and each person pursuing their own way leads to disharmony. So now we look for a leader to lead us. We are back to the aristocrats where leaders are about fighting with others and calling their followers to protest and make war.[5] But when we bless others things change. Overcome evil by blessing others with a harmonious and humble heart.
Overcome evil by blessing others with a harmonious and humble heart, but also through loving lips. Overcome evil by blessing others with … loving lips (v. 10). This is what we read in 1 Peter 3:10 as Peter quotes Psalm 34:12-16 when David feigned craziness with the enemy king Abimilech (c.f. 1 Samuel 21), “For ‘whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.” Notice again the blessing of loving life by keeping their tongue from evil and lies. David speaks this psalm after learning about the danger of mimicking mental illness. A harmonious and humble heart is related to loving lips. A truthful heart evidences a tender heart. Yehiel Dinur understood this. “Yehiel Dinur survived the holocaust and was a witness during the trial in 1961 of Nazi Adolf Eichmann. Dinur entered the courtroom and stared at the man behind the bulletproof class – the man who had presided over the slaughter of millions. The court was hushed as a victim confronted a butcher. Then suddenly Dinur began to sob and collapsed to the floor. Not of anger or bitterness. As he explained later in an interview, what struck him at that instant was a terrifying realization, ‘I was afraid about myself,’ Dinur said, ‘I saw that I am capable to do this … exactly like he.’ The reporter interviewing Dinur understood precisely, ‘How is it possible for a man to act as Eichmann acted?’ he asked. ‘Was he a monster?’ A madman? Or was he perhaps something even more terrifying … was he normal?’ Yehiel Dinur, in a moment of chilling clarity, said, ‘Eichmann is in all of us.’”[6] Yehiel understood that evil starts in our proud hearts and quickly works itself into lying lips. Eichmann lied to so many people including himself. But when Yehiel looked in the mirror, he saw Eichmann. Overcome evil by blessing others with a harmonious and humble heart and loving lips.
But not only a harmonious and humble heart and loving lips but by pursuing peace. Overcome evil by blessing others by pursuing peace (v. 11). This is what we read in verse 11, “let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” Pursue peace. I am not talking about the peace a new born baby gives like my grand baby. Pursue peace even when persecuted. “Persecution can be a time of spiritual enrichment for us believers.”[7] Jamie Winship understood this and has blessed others by teaching this truth. Who is Jamie Winship? Jamie Winship was a former cop who was recruited by the U.S. State Department to work in the Muslim world, teaching people how to hear from God and live in His kingdom. He befriended a man named “Salim who needed a driver’s license to secure a profitable job to provide for his ailing parents. The challenge for Salim was that because he was a member of a discriminated ethnic minority, obtaining a government-issued driver’s license was nearly impossible … He would wait in long lines only to never have his name called after seeing his ethnicity. Jamie would use the stories of Gideon and Moses to remind him what to do when facing an impossible situation – they asked God for wisdom…”[8] Salim struggled to believe and felt like he was a real disappointment. Maybe you feel that way today? Jamie responded, “‘I think God wants you to know what the real hindrance is to you obtaining a driver’s license. It’s not unfair policies of the government. God can overcome any obstacle. What God will not do is lead you with a false sense or belief of who you are and who He is. And he wants you to love the people who work in the government office, whether they give you a license or not.’ Salim agreed to the spiritual exercise where he would spend time confessing each day his wrong belief that he was a failure and disappointment asking God to show his true identity. After several weeks, Salim confessed that he sensed the words ‘intellectual’ and ‘scholar’ from the Holy Spirit. So one day Jamie said to Salim to ask God about getting a driver’s license. Salim sensed God saying, ‘Go stand in line at the licensing office. I AM is with you.’ (I Am being the name God calls Himself.) Salim went to the licensing office. After a 6 hour wait, a police officer called his name. They went out to the car and the officer said, “Drive.” Salim had never sat this close to the ruling class and who had done so much to destroy Salim’s family. Jesus’ words, ‘Love your enemy and do good to those who hate you,’ came to mind. Salim drove on, becoming more relaxed with every minute. Then he saw a cat. The cat, lying injured on the side of the road, looked as if it had been struck by a car. Salim felt very strongly that the Lord wanted him to stop and help the cat. ‘I can’t, God. The policeman will become angry and will fail me.’ Salim stopped the car at a red light, but could not stop the words that burst forth from his mouth, ‘Sir, I think we should go back and help the injured cat.’ ‘What do you care about a stray cat?’ the policeman snapped. ‘I believe God wants us to help the injured animal.’ Salim winced at his own words, ‘God loves cats too.’ ‘Well, if your God is telling you to turn around,’ the policeman huffed, ‘you better obey.’ Salim whipped the car around a legal U-turn and returned to the injured, but still living animal. The officer asked, ‘What shall we do?’ ‘Do you have a box or something in the truck of your car?’ asked Salim. ‘I have a blanket. We could lay the cat on the a blanket and take it to the vet.’ ‘That sounds like a good idea, sir,’ Salim agreed. ‘But how do we pick up the cat? I don’t want to touch it with my hands,’ said the officer. Salim asked God for wisdom, ‘Can we use your hat?’ ‘What?’ said the policeman, incredulous. ‘Your hat. Can we scoop the cat up in your hat and lay it on the blanket in the trunk? I will clean your hat for you later. My cousin works in a laundromat. Many of my people work in laundromats because without licenses we cannot get good-paying jobs. I will get your hat cleaned for you.’ ‘You will clean my police hat?’ ‘Cleaner than it has ever been before. Let’s save the cat.’ Salim and the officer knelt-down and working together were able to scoop the skeletal-like cat into the policeman’s hat. They got back into the car. The policeman said, ‘Drive as fast as you can and disregard traffic signals. This is an emergency.’ Salim drove quickly and safely to the vet with his one-time enemy turned feline-rescuing compatriot. Bound together in a quest to save the life of a stray cat, Salim and the officer paced the waiting room of the veterinary clinic together, hoping against hope that their efforts were not in vain. When the vet burst forth and announced that the cat would live another day, Salim and the officer hugged and congratulated each other on a well-executed plan. They drove back to the licensing office with Salim driving more cautiously. Once parked the officer said, ‘Salim, you are a fine driver and I am happy to issue you a license. Congratulations.’ Six years later, during a dinner celebrating his graduation with honours from a university in the U.S., Salim asked to address the young Muslim students in attendance. When the room went silent, Salim pulled his driver’s license from his wallet and holding it out for all to see, he said, ‘I’d like to tell you the story of the true Messiah who, when you ask him how to obtain a license from a corrupt government, will not only help you drive, but also save a cat and cause you to love your enemy. Above all else, Jesus will call you into your true identity, He has given you before the foundation of the world.’”[9]
How do you overcome evil? Overcome evil by blessing others and doing good! This Jesus did and He won you and me! Keep your eyes locked on Him!
WRAP-UP – But what does one do with the injustice? You take that to God. This why it is so important to pray the Psalms and give full emotion to your prayers. This is why it is so important to gather with others for prayer like at our Prayer Encounter on Wednesday nights where we fight evil with weapons far better than the world does and where people don’t get hurt, but helped.
[1] R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. John (Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1945), 143.
[2] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible (Toronto: G.R. Welch Co. Ltd., 1976), 227.
[3] Craig S. Keener, 1 Peter – A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021, 252.
[4] Benjamin K. Forrest, Joshua D. Charrow & Alister E. McGrath, The History of Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 680.
[5] Present examples would be protests in France, Israel and former President Trump’s call to his followers to rise up to protect from his impending arrest. Another example is Russian President Putin’s war in Ukraine.
[6] Charles Colson, “The Enduring Revolution,” Contact, Volume 34, Number 3,
[7] Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary – Volume 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 412.
[8] Jamie Winship, Living Fearless (Grand Rapids: Revell Publishing Group, 2022), 97.
[9] Winship, 111-113.
The Hidden Cause of Suffering
Posted: February 13, 2022 Filed under: Angels, Communion, Demons, goodness, Jesus, Justice, Satan, Sermons, Suffering, The Divine Council, The Lord's Supper Leave a commentCOMMUNION: As we enter this Communion service, let’s turn to the often neglected passage of 1 Corinthians 10:14-22. Read 1 Corinthians 10:14-22! We are not to provoke the Lord to jealousy! God will not share us with our idols. He loves us that much. This is why we can say Communion is competition! Not that there should be competition for who gets to eat at the Lord’s Supper. There is room for all of God’s children. You don’t have to eat at the kids’ table! As a fully accepted and adopted child of God, you are welcome at the Father’s table. However, what our Father will not tolerate is competing with the father of lies (John 8:44). The Father God will not let a false father join us at the table. That false father is Satan and his family. Idols are anything that competes with God for our affections. If we turn to something other than God for comfort or satisfaction, then that “something” is an idol. This is why the Apostle Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.”Instead, whenever we take the bread and cup of the Lord’s supper, we are participating in the body and blood of Christ. Not only is Christ spiritually here through His Spirit at the Lord’s Supper, but we are proclaiming the gospel of the Cross. As 1 Cor. 11:26 teaches, “We proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” We find our hope in Christ and are fully united to Him. We are “aligning ourselves with Christ, sharing in His sufferings (Phil. 3:10), and receiving benefits from His death.”[1] The analogy from the sacrificial system is that when one brought a lamb to be sacrificed, they would put their hands on the head of the animal identifying with it (Lev. 1:4-5). They were in effect saying, “I deserve to die but this lamb is my substitute.” Neither the Jewish offerer or the priest ate the sacrificed animal, but let it be burned up, which is where we get the ancient term holocaust.[2] However, in contrast the pagans or Greeks ate their sacrifices.[3] This would have been why when Jesus said in John 6:53, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.” Many Jews left Jesus after hearing this because it was so appalling and against everything they ever learned about sacrifice. And for Gentile Christians to seek a sacrifice in something other than Jesus would have been equally appalling. For that was actually participating with demons as they sacrificed to idols. I have been to a temple in India where they practiced animal sacrifice. It was the darkest place I have ever been on earth and I felt like I had to flee from there. Communion is competition for our hearts. For our love! As the greater 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon said, “Consider how precious a soul must be when both God and the devil are after it.” Your heart is the battlefield and the prize! And that is why you need Communion. Has God won through Jesus in your life? If so, please join this meal. If you truly love Jesus and are trusting in Him as your Older Spiritual Brother who redeemed you into God’s family, then please take the bread and cup. “Participation at the Lord’s Table means solidarity and loyalty to God.”[4] Take a moment now to thank Christ for winning your heart, for saving you, and bringing you into God’s family. Read Matthew 26:26-28!
SERMON: Today we begin a new series on the Book of Job. How many of you have ever done a study or gone through a sermon series on the Book of Job? I don’t think a lot of us have. Gone are the days when preachers like John Calvin took 3 years to preach through Job.[5] We won’t take that long, but I don’t want us to miss out on this important book at such at time as this. I have been diving deep into this fascinating book this week and I am blown away by the things I am discovering! And I’ve created a sheet of some of the background of Job to help you as we study through this book together. You can pick it up at the Welcome Centre. But today let’s look the dual scenes of the earthly and heavenly realms that Job reveals to us. My hope and prayer is that we will all love God even when we can’t see His goodness and the underlying cause of our suffering. Read Job 1:1-12!
The Book of Job pulls back the curtain on the heavenly council like none other. But what is this divine council? Well, I found this video from The Bible Project that was so helpful in explaining this divine council! (https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/divine-council/)
Have you ever watched a movie or seen a TV program where there are two parallel stories happening – often one is happening in the physical realm and the other one is happening in another realm? In fact, some of the most popular movies have this parallel story phenomenon. Think about the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. You have the main character George Bailey wanting to leave his hometown but is always pulled back from leaving in order to do the dutiful and right thing for others. At mid-life he is miserable and wishes he was dead. Then an angel named Clarence comes along and grants him his wish so that Clarence can earn his wings. (And to clarify, It’s a Wonderful Life does not portray a correct angiology. Scripture doesn’t teach angels have wings let alone earn them. Cherubim, another group spiritual creatures that guard God’s presence, they have wings. So let’s not confuse the two.) Back to the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for you, but there is a parallel story of Clarence and George and their earthly and heavenly pursuits intersecting. Or think about the marvel series Thor with what is going on in the heavenly world of Asgard while Thor, the god of thunder, seeks to fight the titans on earth while falling in love with a human scientist named Jane. Greek mythology would be another example of a pantheon of gods interacting with humans on earth. Have you ever wondered why we create such stories? These myths and movies point to a greater reality of the intersection between the heavenly and earthly planes. They can be distorted and dismissed as fiction, but the Bible more than hints that there is a spiritual realm and we are affected by it. Art imitates life – both the physical and spiritual life.
Let’s dive into our story of Job. Here we are introduced to a man named Job. He lived in the land of Uz. Now, we are not sure of where Uz is, but here is what we do know. The story of Job takes place “in those days after the Flood of Noah and before the time of Moses”[6] as we read about in the Bible. “Job does not refer to any historical event – no allusion to the Exodus, Conquest or Exile,”[7] so we can presume Job lived before these events. He lived in the land of Uz,[8] east of Palestine. This is important because Job wasn’t an Israelite and makes the book relevant for the universal experience of suffering. We all suffer to varying degrees. Rich and poor! Black, Brown and White! Male & Female! Suffering is something we all have in common It is also important because “the east represented getting away from Eden and from God. It is where we get the term ‘East of Eden.’”[9] Job was the greatest man of all the men of the east and one of the few righteous. He is one of the first in God’s redemption plan to redeem people and bring them back from the east.
In verse 1, Job is described as blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. What a reminder for us today! In the sea of wickedness in our society, we can live an upright life. We can fear God and turn away from evil because of God’s Spirit is inside us and our position in Christ as God’s children. Don’t give up! It’s worth it! You may be the only one like Job to be living righteously at your school, workplace or neighbourhood. It’s worth it. Heaven is watching. We are called to live a blameless life. Of course, blameless does not mean sinless or perfect, but one who is morally whole. God will help us to be blameless as we turn to Him. This is the pathway to blessing.
Job was certainly blessed. He had 10 kids – 7 sons and 3 daughters (Job 1:2). In Job’s day, they had large families. They took God’s command “be fruitful and multiply” seriously (Genesis 1:28). It reminds me of Salt Lake City, where one can get reservations and tables for families of 20 or more (at least pre-COVID) because of the large Mormon families who live in Utah. Job and his wife weren’t just prolific, they were prosperous – 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys and very many servants (Job 1:3). Like a Texas rancher, Job owned a lot of land and livestock and employed a lot of people. We learn from later on in the book, Job was highly respected (Job 29:7–11), a fair and honest judge (29:7, 12–17), a wise counselor (29:21–24), an honest employer (31:13–15, 38–39), hospitable and generous (31:16–21, 32), and a farmer of crops (31:38–40).[10]
In the midst of all the busyness of making his business run, Job didn’t neglect his family though. He acted as a priest for them – balancing ministry and marketplace. Job would get up before dawn to intercede for his family just in case his family had sinned (Job 1:4-5). And Job did this continually. This is an important application for us to pray for our children daily, even when they become adults and seemingly get along after years of maybe fighting each other as kids. Maybe that is a commitment you and I need to start making of praying for your family each morning? I try to do this on the kneeling benches in our church’s prayer room each day. You are free to stop by the church and use the prayer room, but wherever you can, pray daily for your family. Jesus is in heaven interceding for us night and day as His family (Hebrews 7:25), so we should join Him in our prayers for us and our family.
Speaking of heaven, there was a parallel story going on there as Job lived out his life. There is also a parallel story in heaven for our lives too. We read in verse 6, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD and Satan also came among them.” What is happening here? Who are the “sons of God”? These “sons of God” are not the same as the human ones we are more familiar with as described in Romans 8:14 who are believers and have the Spirit of God in them. These are not “sons of God” as you are a child or son of God. These “sons of God” are the divine council that we learned about from the video. They are created beings who rule under God up in heaven. Some may be good and some bad. They might be high level angels – both fallen and unfallen. You have both good and bad members of government. Think of Parliament or Congress – some good and some bad, right? The reason why I say that some are bad in the divine council because Satan also came among them. Now some scholars take Satan to mean just The Accuser – a divine council member who has to play the role of a prosecutor. I don’t buy into that theory because of what The Accuser ended up doing in taunting God and attacking Job. It is true though The Satan means the accuser or the adversary as “he was against everything.”[11] Satan showed schadenfreude. Have you heard of this word before? It’s a German word that means deriving pleasure from someone else’s misfortune. It was wicked for Satan to have schadenfreude against Job!
Verse 7 would also give credence to The Satan is the devil. When God asked where Satan had been (and remember that God never asks a question for His benefit but for the sake of the questioned), Satan replies he had been roaming the earth. This fits with the fact that Jesus later calls Satan the ruler of this world in John 12:31. We humans neglected to take dominion of this world (Genesis 1:28-30), and so often when there is a leadership vacuum, an evil ruler fills it. Satan has filled it. I hope you are noticing how bad a job Satan is doing in ruling the world.
If not, the story of Job will serve as a good reminder. I love this next scene. God puts forward Job like a proud father. Look at verse 8, “The LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” God promotes Job. Job went from the greatest in the east to the greatest on earth. But notice the position God declares about Job – My servant. Job had servants, many of them, but he was maybe one of the first servant leaders. It is reminder that no matter our role in life or how well off we are, we are called to be God’s servants and live a life of integrity and faith in God by His grace.
But Satan responds like a typical skeptic in verses 9-10, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land.” This is not only the words of a typical skeptic, but one who lacks understanding of the position of leader. Job led a blessed life, not an easy one. No one who has experienced leadership of a family and business would say it is easy. Joyful maybe, but not easy. And yet, the question arises: Is God just or is He just playing favourites? “Does He run the world according to justice?”[12]It will take us the whole book to discover the answer!
Satan then asks God to be the one to smite Job. In verse 11, we read, “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” Notice that Satan wants God to hurt Job. He wants God to be the cause of Job’s suffering as much as He was the cause of Job’s blessing. However, Satan wasn’t paying attention really well, because Job was a man who was so concerned to not curse God that he interceded and sacrificed for his children daily just in case they may have cursed God. The lesson is that Satan will still try to attack our strengths. And yet God allows this attack because God was doing something here for the divine council to see and I believe ultimately to worship Him.
God starts out by letting Satan do his own dirty work. God is not the cause of evil. Never has been and never will be. God tempts no one (James 1:13)! That is Satan’s domain! “Humans can trust Yahweh even when they cannot understand His mysterious ways.”[13] It helps to remember that there is a spiritual realm that is watching and affecting our lives. It is “only us the readers that know that God is trying to prove to the divine council that Job’s faith is genuine.”[14] And yet God is sovereign. Notice how “Satan is obedient to what he perceives as his master’s will, be it expressed as only ‘permission.’”[15] Martin Luther said, “Satan is God’s lackey.” Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the freedom convoy in our capital and border crossings serves as an example. The convoy that had to move their trucks from the Ambassador Bridge yesterday, did so because they a greater authority made them rather than they moving them from a submissive heart. Satan had to do what God wanted and not the over way around. God is the God of gods. He is supreme! Look at Job 1:12, “Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.’ So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.” We now see the hidden cause of Job’s suffering and much of the suffering in the world – it’s Satan.
But let me conclude with telling you the theme of Job. The theme of Job is in the form of a question: will we love God even when we can’t see the evidence of His goodness? God might even seem not good. Will we love God for God?[16] Will we love God just for who He is and not what He does? “Salvation in the Old Testament means love and faith for Yahweh alone.”[17] “The Book of Job is an invitation to trust in God.”[18] It is only by having this theological understanding that we will fight the common human perspective that my wife Lori summarized when we talked about Job, “We like to find a reason for suffering in somebody’s life so we can avoid it. We don’t like to think suffering is seemingly arbitrary or from an unseen cause.” “It is still today a natural human tendency to ask, when one is suffering, what have I done to deserve this?”[19] Is God truly just? And yet, maybe you did nothing to deserve the plight you are in. Maybe it is only because you live in a fallen world with a ruler bent on evil. Remember, “No one deserved suffering less than Job did in this story, and few if any have suffered more.”[20] “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Rabbi Harold Kushner famously asked that question and concluded that God may be loving but not all powerful to stop tragedy, a view called theistic finitism. We will find out as we study Job that Rabbi Kushner was wrong. God loved Job and is all-powerful! The better question is: will you love God even if you don’t see the underlying cause of your suffering? It’s a better question than what many will be asking this weekend, “Will you be my Valentine?” Instead, will you love God even if you don’t see what He is doing? Will you love God with that suffering loved one or that bad doctor’s report? Will you love God during a plague? Will you love God when the economy is in turmoil? Will you love God when you lose some freedoms? We too often let the concept of karma into our thinking. We think that when we are good, we deserve more good. However, “evil is not always – not often! – punished in proportion to guilt; good is not always – not often! – rewarded in proportion to merit!”[21] “Human suffering is more than a system of rewards and punishments.”[22] “No one’s suffering is ever completely private in either its causes and its results.”[23] Though our suffering is in fact noticed in heaven. The story shows that the spiritual world affects the physical world. Satan attacks us. This does not mean the devil is to blame for all our problems. As Pastor Jason says, “The devil is not paying for our sins.” We have a sin problem and a Satan problem. And this is why Jesus is the ultimate Servant. God put Him forward in a greater and better way than Job. Both were suffering servants (Isaiah 53), but only God the Son paid for our sins as a human. It is Jesus’ suffering and death that ultimately showed how God is good in the midst of evil. He overcame sin and the devil and won the victory. He won us communion with God forever!
[1] Frank S. Thielman, ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 2205.
[2] Source: https://www.crossway.org/articles/the-provision-of-sacrifice-in-the-old-testament/. Accessed February 7, 2022.
[3] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sacrifice. Accessed February 7, 2022.
[4] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2015), 341.
[5] Francis I. Anderson, Job – An Introduction & Commentary (Tyndale OT Commentaries) (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976), 62.
[6] Paul Benware, Survey of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1993), 147.
[7] Francis I. Anderson, Job – An Introduction & Commentary (Tyndale OT Commentaries) (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976), 62.
[8] Uz has “often been identified with Edom, southeast of the Dead Sea. The Uz mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah in Jer. 25:20–21 is most likely another location. Other theories are that Uz was a “daughter” of Edom, that is, a possession or neighbor of Edom (Lam. 4:21). Some scholars suggest that Uz was in Bashan, south of Damascus; others say Uz lay east of Edom, in northern Arabia. The customs, vocabulary, and references to geography and natural history relate to northern Arabia. Whatever Uz’s location, it was near a desert (Job 1:19), it was fertile for agriculture and livestock-raising (1:3, 14; 42:12), and it was probably outside Palestine.” Zuck, R. B. (1985). Job. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 718–719). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 110-111. Before Manifest Destiny and American westward expansion was a thing, “Go west young man”[9] and woman was a call of God. Think about Bible history. Which direction did the Israelites come from when going into the Promised Land? They came from east of the Jordan River. This is odd because they were originally coming from the south after exiting Egypt. Or think about the Temple. The Temple in Jerusalem faced eastward so one entered from the east. They were symbolically leaving the wicked east to worship in a Temple that had many links back to Eden. Which also is why it was so sad when we read in Ezekiel 10 that the glory of God left the east when the Jews were exiled to Babylon. Praise God the where the glory returned from the east to the Temple in Ezekiel 43:4 ultimately fulfilled by Jesus when He triumphantly entered the Golden Gate (eastern gate) riding on a donkey from the Mount of Olives (Matthew 21). The east is where the wise men came from and so worshipped Christ in Bethlehem.
[10] Zuck, 719.
[11] Tim Mackie & Jon Collins, The Bible Project – The Satan & Demons. https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/satan-demons/. Accessed February 11, 2022.
[12] Tim Mackie and Jon Collins, Job – The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/job/. Accessed February 11, 2022.
[13] Daniel J. Estes, Job – Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2013), 5.
[14] Anderson, 15.
[15] Clines, 30.
[16] From conversation with Pastor Jason Elliotson, February 7, 2022.
[17] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2015), 169.
[18] Tim Mackie and Jon Collins, Job – The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/job/. Accessed February 11, 2022.
[19] David J.A. Clines, Job 1-20 – Word Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), xxxviii.
[20] Zuck, 719.
[21] Anderson, 65.
[22] Anderson, 67.
[23] Anderson, 69.
Instruct One Another
Posted: July 25, 2021 Filed under: goodness, Jesus, Knowledge, Sermons, The Word of God Leave a commentDo you remember the first time you had to teach something? Maybe it was a class assignment when you had to present your project? Maybe it was showing somebody how to fix something mechanical? Maybe it was showing your siblings how a toy worked? Or even showing somebody how to play a video game or get a meme to work on their phone? I’m sure that I taught others, like my baby sister, how to do something, but the time that sticks out in my mind as the first time I gave instructions was when I was a teenager as a camp counselor up in Northern Saskatchewan. I had never gone to camp myself, but this was a time to give children in this remote area an opportunity to learn about Jesus Christ. I remember picking wild blueberries being always on the lookout for bears. I remember catching northern pike when the fishing was so easy, the fish would bite almost anything. I remember eating delicious bannock bread. But the thing I remember the most is being able to explain the gospel to some kids who had lost a lot of hope.
Today, we are going to learn how to “instruct one another.” It is part of a new series that we begin today. We are going to be focusing on what someone has labelled the “One Anothers” in the New Testament. These “one anothers” could be defined as or = the practical out-workings of the gospel in our lives while in community. We need skills-building in how we love one another. We will cover topics liking honouring one another, accepting one another, welcoming one another, greeting one another, forgiving one another, encouraging one another and loving one another as we journey throughout the New Testament. I think this is very timely because as we come out from our cocoons that the pandemic has put us in, our time of isolation may have caused us to forget or at least be a little rusty on how to relate to another. I know we had somebody over recently and we had to think hard about how to be hospitable. Today’s focus will be on instructing one another is from Romans 15:14. Just one simple verse! Please turn in or turn on your Bible to Romans 15:14! Read Romans 15:14!
Here is the message from my heart to your heart: God is satisfied with you because you are full of goodness and knowledge so instruct one another! Let’s break this down further by starting with the first statement: 1) God is satisfied with you! Now immediately, you might ask why I am declaring that God is satisfied with you when it is the Apostle Paul saying to the Romans, “I myself am satisfied about you.” Other translations say, “I, myself, am convinced about you” (NIV, NLT, NASB, HCB, CSB) and still other translations say, “And I myself also am persuaded about you” (KJV) or “I am confident about you” (NKJV). We need to remember that there are always co-authors of any book of the Bible. The primary author is God Himself and the secondary author is the human author. So when Paul says “I, myself, am satisfied about you,” he is speaking with the voice of the Holy Spirit. This is especially true since Paul had only heard of the Roman Christians’ faith. When writing this letter, he had never visited Rome. This is why in Romans 15:22 Paul goes on to say, “This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.”
So was Paul just buttering the Romans up before he came as an act of goodwill? Paul was not “insincere.”[1] This was not the precursor to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. No, Paul’s satisfaction or certainty about the Romans’ goodness and knowledge was second hand from God and from other believers. This is really important because rather than having a cynical mindset and not trusting the believers, many of whom he may not have met in person, Paul trusted God for what God had been doing in their lives. And Paul went by their reputation. I think this is counter-cultural in our day. We are suspicious of everyone and everything. There is a lack of trust in our society. Let’s fight this and give people the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. As Charles Cranfield reminds us, “It is courteous to assume that one’s fellow Christians are moderately mature until they have been given positive evidence of their immaturity.”[2] I had a good friend who had been hurt by people and yet, he taught me, “It is better to assume positive intent!” Do we trust that God is producing goodness and knowledge in others?
On the other hand, it is such a testimony that our witness can be heard and known around the world. “Paul emphasizes his confidence in the Roman Christian’s maturity.”[3] But let’s be clear, our witness is not promoting our own goodness. Behind Paul’s confidence in the Roman’s spiritual maturity was the Holy Spirit. As Robert Haldene has stated, “In our flesh, there is nothing good; but from the work of the Spirit on our hearts we may be full of goodness.”[4] We therefore can boast about the Lord and Him making us good!
But before we go on, let’s be very careful in what the text says because my summary statement may appear different by one word than what Romans 15:14 says. Is there a difference between Paul being satisfied ABOUT the Romans and God being satisfied WITH the Romans? The difference between “about” and “with” could be distinguished between satisfied “about” as a person’s past actions whereas “with” describes the person’s character. Think of it like this: you hire somebody to build a deck for you and they do a good job on time with no over-runs on the cost. You are satisfied about the work. But if you hire a person permanently and they learn the job well, and they show themselves to be faithful over the long haul, then you would describe them as being satisfied with them because of their goodness and knowledge. In Romans 15:14, the Roman Christian’s actions seem to be known by Paul, but he is more speaking to their character in their goodness and knowledge. And their good and knowledgeable character is time-tested. Bible Scholar Leon Morris explains, “I am convinced translates a perfect tense which points to a continuing state of confidence in the Roman Christians.”[5] Now let’s bring this forward to today and your life. God is satisfied with you as a person and He will be continued to be satisfied with you as one of His dearly beloved children.
All of you are created in His image. But it gets better. If you trust in His Son Jesus, then you are His child. Sure, there are areas of improvement, but God loves you and is satisfied with you because of Christ. Period! Full stop! No “ifs”, “ands” or “buts” about it. I think this will help many of us when the doubts come and we ask whether we are liked and accepted. Fight those Satanically seeded doubts with the words, “GOD IS SATISFIED WITH ME.”
This is also the reason why we welcome everybody and accept everybody here at Temple. However, though we welcome and accept everybody, we love them enough to want them to change so that they become all they can in Christ. We don’t affirm behaviour that goes against God’s Word, but we welcome, love and accept everybody. Again, God is satisfied with you as a person!
But it begs the question, why is God satisfied with you as a person? 2) Because you are full of goodness and knowledge. This is exactly what we read in the second phrase of verse 14, “that you yourselves are full of all goodness, filled with all knowledge.” Wow, what a statement! Wouldn’t you like somebody to say that about you? Of course, Paul wasn’t saying the Romans were perfect and equal to God in their knowledge being all-knowing or omniscient. To do so would have contradicted what he said earlier in Romans 3:12, “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one,” or maybe a more famous verse Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” However, in Romans 3:22 Paul had already reminded the Roman Christians and actually anybody who reads this today, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”Righteousness or goodness comes from God when we trust in His Son Jesus. This is why Paul calls the Romans “my brothers” in Romans 15:14. It goes without saying that not all people are full of goodness and knowledge. Only the redeemed by Jesus Christ and are a part of His forever family. It is through this lens of seeing Christ that God can be satisfied with you and declare you are full of goodness and knowledge. In fact, when Paul says the Roman Christians, “are full of goodness, he is not speaking of an occasional virtuous action; full means plentiful supply.”[6] God provides a constant source of goodness that reaches to the brim of our beings.
And this goodness and knowledge shows itself in both motives and actions. I am going to ask you to do something that may be difficult, especially for some. I am going to ask that you recall how you were before knowing Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Maybe you were selfish, prone to lying or stealing, given to excess sexually, were proud or angry? Now think about how Christ has changed you. How the Lord replaced the bad in your life with good! How He replaced your ignorance in regard to your sin and a lack of awareness of God to becoming knowledgeable of what is right and more importantly, knowing the Lord. It is not that you know all about God because that is a life-long pursuit. However, you know and have experienced Jesus Christ and His love for you. And you gain “practical discernment of every kind.”[7] This is what it means to be full of goodness and knowledge.
And since you and I have been given such goodness and knowledge, what should we do with it? Instruct one another! God is satisfied with you because you are full of goodness and knowledge so instruct one another! 3) So instruct one another. This begs the question, what are we to instruct one another in? ANSWER: To live according to the Word of God! This is a call to not just know or memorize the Word of God, as good as that is and probably one of the best ways to use your time. No, this is a call to know and live out the Word of God. And often for us it is more like a coach giving instructions to those who are already good like an Olympic swimmer rather than teaching somebody who does not know how to swim at all.
But some of your Bibles translate that word instruct as “admonish” one another (KJV, NJKV, NASB). A few others may translate the word as “teach” one another (CEV). That may be a little misleading if you think of “teaching” as just what happens in a classroom between a teacher and student. “Instruct” has a better and broader understanding. This is because it was less teacher to student and more student to student or better put, disciple to disciple. It was a two-way street. Our Staff recently updated our Staff Covenant with the statement in this same vein, “We will foster a community where we speak lovingly into each other’s lives to tell and receive uncomfortable truths and explore them together.” This is our attempt to live out Romans 15:14! One Bible scholar writes that this was not just for pastors or staff but the whole church, “The reciprocal brotherly ministry of the members exercising pastoral oversight with a sense of congregational obligation to each other.”[8] In other words, as someone has said, “If you see something, say something.” But say it kindly and correct with the full invitation to be lovingly corrected as well. That is easy to say, but hard to do. Biblical Scholar Leon Morris, actually believes that the word should be translated “admonishment”: “The Romans also had the ability to instruct one another, where instruct means more than ‘teach’; it has rather the idea of ‘admonishment’ with the thought of correcting what is amiss.’”[9] Therefore, if you see something that is amiss in people’s lives, pray about it and then gently say something about to them, not to others. It would be of the utmost help if you can point the person back to the Word of God that cuts between our motives or what the Bible calls “soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12). We need this more than we realize in our lives. I’ll say that again, we need this more than we realize in our lives. It is interesting that Paul says in a different letter, this time to the Ephesians’ pastor Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Notice how the cousins of admonishment – reproof and correction – are mentioned just as much as teaching and training. But this is always done with love! It is not like the t-shirt I saw a guy wearing recently that said, “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” Part of how the Romans became full of goodness and knowledge was letting the Word of God, whether read or spoken, both teach and correct them. And that should be true of us as well.
So how do we instruct one another? Here are some steps that may help us instruct one another(and in order to remember it, I have come up with the anacronym INSTRUCT):
- INTERCEDE – Pray for the person you are instructing! (e.g. Lord, give them ears to hear what you want to speak into their lives)
- ‘NCARNATE- Think and pray how this person would best receive this instruction. (When? Where? How?) Like Jesus did for us, when He come into our lives and taught us the truth about Himself. The “when” means that there might be a time when they are not deflated or tired if at all possible. The “where” means that it might not be best to confront somebody in an environment where they might feel threatened, disrespected or that their reputation was on the line. Here is where I have messed up at times in my drive to deliver the truth. The “how” might take the form of a metaphor such as when Nathan the Prophet told a story to King David about how a rich man stole a little lamb from a poor man in 2 Samuel 12:1-15. It cut to the quick of David’s shepherd heart. Pray that God gives you a story or scenario that this person can identify with.
- SCRIPTURIZE – Make the instruction tied to a verse, passage or story in Scripture. This animates the active, living Word of God that divides soul and spirit in our lives.
- TALK – Be specific and clear about the issue. Ask the person if they have any questions.
- REVIEW – Ask the person what they plan on doing with what they have learned and get them to be specific about what and when they are going to do it. (NOTE: You may offer to go with them to do it.) You want them to agree to an action by a certain timeline.
- UNITE – Pray for and with the person again.
- CIRCLE-BACK – Follow-up to see how it went with applying the instruction the person was given.
- THANK – Thank and commend them for trying to apply the instruction to their lives.
This describes an intentional effort at instruction where there might be unexpected instructional moments. Often instruction and admonishment comes in the moment! However, our intentionality trains us to be ready for “in and out of season” instruction.
And let’s gospelize that instruction. For example, when you are encouraging somebody to tell the truth, remind them that Jesus declares He is the truth (John 14:6). When you are encouraging somebody to not give way to fear, point them to the only good object of our fear, which is the Lord. That type of fear is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom (Prov. 1:7).
This is why it is so important to remember Jesus is Your Saviour, Lord and Teacher! He instructs us in the way we should go!
I’ll end with some very practical instructions from Jim Cymbala, Pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle, “One Sunday, back in our days in the YWCA, I said something impromptu while receiving new members into the church that has stuck with us ever since. People were standing in a row across the front before me, and as I spoke, the Holy Spirit seemed to prompt me to add, ‘And now, I charge you, as pastor of this church, that if you ever hear another member speak an unkind word of criticism, or slander against anyone – myself, another pastor, an usher, a choir member or anyone else – you have authority to stop that person in midsentence and say, ‘Excuse me – who hurt you? Who ignored you? Who slighted you? Was it Pastor Cymbala? Let’s go to his office right now. He will get on his knees and apologize to you, and then we’ll pray together, so God can restore peace to this body. But we will not let you talk critically about people who are not present to defend themselves. New members, please understand that I am entirely serious about this. I want you to help resolve this kind of thing immediately. And meanwhile, know this: If you are ever the one doing the loose talking, we will confront you.”[10] Brooklyn Tabernacle has been blessed immensely by God in part for trying to live out the “one anothers.” Can we adopt such a practice here? At Temple, we are mission with Jesus to turn broken people into whole people who multiply Christ-followers. I’m broken and need instruction. Let’s speak into each other’s live with love and truth. Instruct one another!
[1] John Stott, Romans – God’s Good News for the World (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1994), 378.
[2] C.E.B Cranfield, Romans – A Shorter Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985), 364.
[3] Cranfield, 360.
[4] Robert Haldene, Romans – The Geneva Series of Commentaries (London: The Banner of Truth Trust Company, 1966), 618.
[5] Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 508.
[6] Morris, 509.
[7] William Hendriksen, Romans – New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981), 484.
[8] Behm, 1022.
[9] Morris, 509.
[10] Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 160.
Commissional 