The Gospel gives us freedom to hate our sin and creates in us a desire to expose and confess our sin, rather than hide it or pamper it or excuse it or lash out against those who confront us. Because the Gospel reconciles us to God, we no longer have to shrink back and hide or defend ourselves. Our life is now in Christ and not in our own works or failures. We no longer have to fix ourselves first and then come to God. The Gospel bids us to come as we are. It is as we walk into the light that his Word washes us clean. It is as we see the beauty of God that our idols become abhorrent and are cast off.

The natural consequence of coming near to God is that as we come into the light, we are seen. The Gospel is honest about who we are. It is not flattery or a false love. It is not fake. It sees us as we are, even at our worst. The Gospel lets us know we are seen and loved. And it is in His love that we find rest and healing. And even when we don’t get the Gospel, the Gospel still bids us to come near. Because it is only in coming near to God, the only source of life, beauty, goodness, and truth, that we are made whole. The Gospel is a powerful force that sets us free. Or better said, the Gospel brings us to a powerful God who sets us free.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:9–16, ESV)

God’s word gives us the confidence and the freedom to not feel shaken and be open minded and not be afraid. I have confidence that God’s word is absolutely true because it has been proven and I have experienced it to be stronger than the world. Do not think that the word of God is afraid of the arguments of the world. The word of God is a roaring lion, it doesn’t run away from the arguments of this evil age. It faces them head on and tears them apart, because of this we can be patient, kind, loving, and good listeners. We can rest in his might.

The Word and the Spirit conquers

Regardless of the myriads of eschatological positions and arguments that are out there, there are things we can know with certainty. We can know that his covenant love for his people will not fail. We can know that Christ is our conquering King, and he will put all his enemies under his feet. We also know that whether spiritually or corporally the means by which Jesus conquers his enemies is by the Word of God.

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (ESV) (Revelation 19:11-16, ESV, bold added)

In this passage whether symbolic or not, it is only the Word of God that conquers and destroys the enemies of God, although we are brought alongside Jesus as he accomplishes this. The sword in Revelation and in other scriptures are associated with the words of Jesus.

The Word of God conquers through the Gospel

When Jesus spoke of the end times, he said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14, ESV). When speaking with Pilate,

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:36–37, ESV)

And how did Jesus say this Kingdom would conquer. On his ascension, Jesus spoke to those around him and said,

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV)

Paul in Romans 10, states that it is through the proclamation of the Gospel, that the word of Christ is heard, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (vs 7). What Paul is saying here is not that they are hearing us speak the Gospel, but they are hearing Christ, himself, as we proclaim the Gospel. As we proclaim the Gospel the sword of the Lord goes out to conquer his enemies, and thankfully the hearts of those who have come to trust in Jesus and call upon the name of the LORD. It is through the proclamation of the Gospel that the Kingdom of God conquers the kingdoms of this world and Jesus puts his enemies under his feet.

The first proclamation of the church

Though we might find apprehension in speaking about apocalyptic scriptures, this was not the case with Peter. Peter understood the power of the Gospel both to save and put its enemies under its feet. And so, as he stepped out and preach the first message of the church. he knew the world would not be the same. And because of this, he begins his sermon by quoting of all things apocalyptic scriptures. Is it not interesting, with all the hubbub and confusion we have over these writings today, that the first words spoken in proclamation by the church were apocalyptic scriptures? And they were spoken with surety.

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,

              that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

                             and your young men shall see visions,

                             and your old men shall dream dreams;

even on my male servants and female servants

                             in those days I will pour out my Spirit,

and they shall prophesy.

And I will show wonders in the heavens above

                             and signs on the earth below,

                             blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;

        the sun shall be turned to darkness

                             and the moon to blood,

                             before the day of the Lord comes,

the great and magnificent day.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

(Acts 2:17–21, ESV)

Peter was bold, announcing that these scriptures were being fulfilled in the midst of them both in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and in the proclamation of the Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, who had been poured out on them in the wind and fire. For it had been so from after the fall when the sound of the LORD came in the spirit of the day, that it is through the power of the Word of God and the Spirit of the Lord that God both reveals himself and invades this world to conquer it. Peter understood, that as the Gospel is spoken to the world, just as the fire consumed the enemies of God in Revelation 20, the fire of the Holy Spirit conquers our own hearts and as the Gospel is preached the world is turned upside down.

Total Destruction of God’s enemies

When an army came in devastating force to utterly destroy a city, they would raise it and set it on fire. The dense smoke would fill the air billowing as a scroll being rolled up. As it spread the dense darkness would come over the land darkening the sun, the darkness being penetrated by falling ash with the appearance of falling stars. In the filter of this smoke the moon would appear blood red. This imagery made an indelible mark on the culture of the Biblical world. When the Bible uses this imagery within eschatology, it is speaking whether literally or symbolically of the total destruction of the kingdom of this world. The Gospel has not come to play nice with the kingdom of this world. The Gospel seeks out the utter destruction of the kingdom of this world. Peter in his proclamation of the Gospel was declaring no quarter no hope for those who continued to reject the message and hold on to the kingdom of this world. Paul does the same,

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14–17, ESV)

The Gospel message both brings forth the Kingdom of God in the hearts of those who hear and obey the Gospel, but also tramples under the feet of Jesus those who refuse to hear the gracious call and insist on holding to their own kingdom.

Enemies under His feet

In a letter to Hiram king of Tyre, Solomon describes the transition of the kingdom of Israel from David to Solomon and the building of the house for the name of the LORD.

“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ (1 Kings 5:3–5, ESV)

Paul gives a similar description of Jesus,

[22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. [23] But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. [24] Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. [25] For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. [27] For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. [28] When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:22–28, ESV, see also Hebrews 2:5–18)

Before the consummation of the Kingdom of God, Jesus who sits on the throne of David as our human representative (see more on this here) must put all his enemies under his feet. But also, as Peter says the purpose is also to bring the people of God into the Kingdom for “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV). Isaiah echoes this sentiment, “Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”

Two kingdoms

              When Jesus told to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world,” he was making clear that we are currently in a time of two worlds or two kingdoms and that the Kingdom of God would conquer as Christ speaks and bears witness to the truth. We spoke of how Paul in Romans 10 talks about how when we proclaim the Gospel it is Christ himself speaking. Luke confirms this. He starts of in Acts saying, “In my first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach . . . (Acts 1:1, ESV). In other words, the works of Christ are still active in our world both in Acts and in our world today.  When Peter stood before the crowd during the first proclamation of the church, he predicated all that he said on this fact, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Acts 2:34, ESV) This comes from Psalm 110:1 which is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament. Peter and the apostles had a boldness to proclaim the Gospel because they understood that Jesus sat on the right hand of God on the throne of David as the rightful king of God’s people. Christ is ruling over his Kingdom here and now and is turning the kingdom of this world upside down through the proclamation of the Gospel. So yes, we live in a world where there are two kingdoms that are at war with each other. God is both building his Kingdom and calling a people to himself and treading underfoot the kingdom of this world through the Word of God. And despite appearances at times, the war is not one sided, Jesus is both bringing people to himself through his word and through his word putting his enemies under his feet. Jesus only suffers his enemies long enough to bring us into his Kingdom.

What is the practical application?

There was a bible study on the end times, and when I heard of one approach they were going to take, I asked the person leading if it in if I could come in one of the days and present the alternative view and he agreed. As I was preparing for this study, God humbled me and completely changed my plans. He pointed me to those who were faithful when Jesus came to earth the first time as a baby and contrasted them with the leaders at this time. When the magi were brought before Herod, Herod “was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “’And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel’”’” (Matthew 2:3-5). The chief priests and scribes understood what scripture had to say on this topic and got it right! They understood the prophesy but missed the coming of their Messiah all the same. But there were two, who did not miss his coming, an old man named Simeon, and an old woman named Anna, who were described as faithful and waiting for the redemption and consolation of God’s people.

When Jesus spoke of the end times, he didn’t ask his disciples to have it all figured out, he called them to be faithful, to stand, to watch, to pray, and proclaim the gospel. In doing this we are the good and faithful servant, with whom Jesus will not be ashamed to call his own. Knowing the exact details of the end times will not get you closer to the Kingdom of God. Being a faithful servant with the treasure of the Gospel will. We must remember that the power of the Kingdom of God comes from the Word of God alone and the Word of God enters our world and the world around us through the proclamation of the Gospel. So, if we want to know what to do in this interim of two ages before the consummation, it is to be faithful to this and enter the work that Jesus is doing now in this world as our rightful king. And so, as we wait for Jesus’ coming, come close to Jesus, behold him, and walk with Jesus as he speaks to the world (for he is with us to the end of the age) through the proclamation of the Gospel.

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV)

Our king has told us what to do till the end of the age, so we don’t have to wonder. And more than that he has promised to be with us.

Does this mean we can’t talk about eschatology? As controversial as it is, it is when we can talk about our differences amiably that the love of Christ is shown. If we only talked as a church with those who agree with us, well even the pagans can do that. As we love each other in hardy disagreements the love of Christ is demonstrated to the world. But it is the solid commitment to the understanding that the Word of God alone conquers in the Gospel that can give us this stability to love one another, for this grand story is so bold and bright that all the different ideas on eschatology pale in comparison.

It is in our testimony that we conquer the devil, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11, ESV).

Finally, I will leave you with this, . . . in the Word of God, we will not be shaken. We are a part of a grand story of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

[18] For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest [19] and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. [20] For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” [21] Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” [22] But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, [23] and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, [24] and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

[25] See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. [26] At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” [27] This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. [28] Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, [29] for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:18–29, ESV)

We find safety in our pride.

It is in our nature to hold on to our view, our own version of “truth” or to be conformed into the world’s viewpoint around us. In Genesis, the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to find their “truth” outside of God, to determine their own version of good and evil. We have become wise in our own eyes. Sin corrupts our hearts desires and drives us to pursue our own glory though a self-centered world view.

Whatever we pursue and look to outside of God shapes our version of “truth”. It shapes how we think, how we look at the world, and who we are. We identify who we are with these “truths” and they become integral to our “self”.

We build a world surrounded by our perceptions and experiences. We trust our interpretations and our ideas of how this world works. Our “truth”, this “worldly wisdom”, becomes our sanctuary for it explains the world around us. It makes sense of the disorder and protects us. It becomes ingrained into who we are. It is a part of us. To stray from it is to walk on insecure ground, to risk your own heart, to be shaken. To stray from it is to lose one’s very self.

So, instead of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, we fight to hold on to our own “integrity”, our own “truth”, our own world view. “Worldly wisdom” becomes our refuge. Our interpretation of the world helps us to make sense of the world. It keeps us stable. It’s safe. It makes sense. And it’s comfortable. It doesn’t shake up our world. It doesn’t call us to die to our self.

It is a scary thing to have our world turned upside down, to find out that our “truth”, our world view has been a lie. To find out that who we are is a lie. However, that is what the Gospel does. It takes us into a world that is unknown, a world that strips away our “worldly wisdom” that strips the very essence of who we think we are and calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. Our view of the world has become not just a collage of ideas, but how we see ourselves in the deepest part of our being. So the Gospel call is a call that feels like we are losing the essence of who we are. This is often why we fight. We don’t want to lose our stability.

So, when God speaks His truth into our hearts, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”, we are shaken. We are rocked to the core. What we held on to for security becomes shaky ground. Our “self” is in danger. And we fight and stubbornly hold on to what we know.

How does this affect our relationships?

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. – James 4:1-4, ESV

We have chosen our own world view apart God and have become enemies of God, wallowing in our adultery and rebellion. And our muck is splashed around on ourselves and others. Now our passions, our desires, our world views rule our relationships causing us to covet, to fight and quarrel, and to murder. Even our best relationships are fractured by our pride, lust, and greed. We are damaged.

• Conversations and interactions with others are centered around my world and my interpretations of reality.
• We pursue protecting our world view above truth in our interactions with others.
• We pursue protecting our world above loving the other person.
• We don’t make Christ the center of our relationship because His light exposes our faulty world and makes us unstable.
• We refuse to be corrected and broken, for these things destroy our world view.

In our pride, we don’t realize how evil we truly are. Jesus called us to die to ourselves. If we are willing to choose our pride over our relationships and let our pride destroy our relationships, is it no surprise that we would choose the things of this world over God. It is this holding on to our world and our desiring it above God that brings hell. Thankfully, Jesus has come to destroy our world and in him we can die to ourselves.

Safety is found in brokenness.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. – Psalm 51:17

Thus says the Lord,

“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
“For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
“But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. – Isaiah 66:1,2

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.   – Romans 12:1,2

To know Truth, we must die; we must be stripped of our glory.

In the scripture, when men came in the presence of the glory of God, they trembled. Their world fell apart in the light and majesty of God. In Christ, we boldly come to the throne room of God. And in the presence of God, we become broken. Our dependency on ourselves dies; our world views crumble and fall away, and the veil that keeps us from seeing Beauty is stripped away. And as our world crumbles away, we are held in the arms of our Father. God is our refuge, and we are loved. And in His arms, we truly become who we are.

In His loving presence, our daily walk is one of having our man-made “security” stripped away from us and nailed to the cross. We no longer need to look to our own “integrity”. We no longer need to uphold our glory. We instead behold the Lamb of God, who takes away our sin. It is in the cross that we find our true identity. In this act of presenting our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, we rest in God as our refuge, and He boldly takes us into His arms and brings us close to Himself.

Therefore, let this false wisdom fall away, let my world be crushed and my heart broken as God calls me into His Holy presence and I am changed and conformed into the image of Christ and brought into a love that will consume me and make me truly me.

How does this affect our relationships?

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. –  Colossians 3:12-17, ESV

Adam and Eve’s relationship fractured when they pursued their own world view and no longer found their safety in God’s Word. They no longer encouraged each other to trust in God’s Word, but instead sought to defend their own definition of “good and evil”. They were at odds with themselves and God. Through the work and worth of Jesus, God is working in us to learn to intimately find our life in His Word, to rest in Christ’s glory and not our own. The Gospel strips us of our own glory, our own safety, our own righteousness, our own truth and gives us the royal robes of Jesus. It also equips us to speak the Gospel into one another’s life and makes us vulnerable to hearing the gospel spoken into our own lives. Through the brokenness of the gospel, we pursue intimacy with Christ together and in that pursuit our love for one another grows.

• When Christ rules, it is no longer about defending oneself or world view
• There is security in having an authority that is higher than our views on a subject, in conflict we can agree to pursue God’s truth and not our own.
• God’s will is “good and acceptable and perfect”. Our will is not so much. God loves us and his will is safe.
• When God’s will rather than our own desires rule, we can truly pursue each other in freedom.

If we stubbornly hold on and are unwilling to have our world views crushed and broken, and that on a continual and ongoing basis, we will miss out on the goodness and the joy of the Lord, that are found in the wonders of the Gospel.

Questions to Consider:

1. How do you respond to those who bring correction? Do you put up walls or get angry with others who confront you? Do you rejoice in and delight in correction? Do you thank and value those who are willing to bring correction into your life?
2. Do you require people to bring correction in a certain way or jump through hoops before you will listen, or do you value hearing correction regardless of how it is presented?
3. Do you attack those who confront you? Do you admit you were wrong?
4. Do you blame others for your sin? Are you unwilling to be honest about your pride?
5. Do you look for people to affirm you in the midst of your sin, or do seek people who will confront you with the horridness of your sin? Giving God’s command to cut off those things that hinder us from God, which is more beneficial regardless of motives?
6. Is the sin you hold on to so tightly and love, more important than the relationships around you? How long have you allowed it to destroy your relationships? If it is more important to you than those around you, how can you say that it is not more important than God as well?
7. Being broken means being near God, do you pursue safety rather than God’s presence?
8. In a discussion, is your goal to win an argument or to pursue truth? Do you care about winning an argument, if so, why? What does this say about your heart and your pride?
9. What are you willing to do to win an argument? How does this destroy relationships?
10. In a relationship, is it ok if you’re the one who is wrong and the one who needs correction every time or do you want there to be equal blame, equal correction? What does this say about what your worth means to you, your pride?
11. Do you actively pursue where you are wrong? Do you seek out others who will rebuke you or those who will make you feel confirmed?
12. When was the last time your world was shaken to its core? When was the last time you allowed the trembling in God’s presence to restore and heal your heart?
13. Will you take all this lightly, or will you allow these words to sink deeply into your heart and destroy your world? How tightly will you hold onto your sin?

Peter could remember that during his ministry, Jesus spoke of and warned Jerusalem with tears of the coming judgment that awaited them, for they had rejected the coming of God in their midst. Jesus had told him and the other disciples, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” As Peter stood there before the crowd on Pentecost, he knew the world would never be the same, Jesus was on his throne and a new age had come.

After the darkness had fallen over Jerusalem, Jesus resurrected, conquered death, and ascended to glory to sit at the right hand of God. And now forty days later, during Pentecost, the disciples had been gathered together in prayer, when tongues of fire fell upon them, and they began to proclaim the mighty works of God. Now, as those who were around them were astonished and sought to understand the things happening, Peter, in this first sermon, describes the coming storm and the coming of this new age,

      “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, 
      that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,  
                     . . .
       in those days I will pour out my Spirit, 
       and they shall prophesy. 
      And I will show wonders in the heavens above 
          and signs on the earth below, 
          blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 
      the sun shall be turned to darkness 
      and the moon to blood, 
      before the day of the Lord comes, 
      the great and magnificent day. 
               (Acts 2:17a,18b–20, ESV)

Peter declares to the men of Israel, now, what they are seeing before them, is this time Joel spoke of. Now are the last days of the old age. And though Jesus had been delivered over to death by lawless men, death could not hold him. Jesus not only conquered death but was now sitting on his throne. Jesus had begun his rule and had begun the work of putting his enemies under his feet. Peter quotes Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”, admonishing them “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:34-35, ESV). Those in the crowd were aware of the darkness that had fallen over Jerusalem and the rumors surrounding Jesus’ life and death. As Peter spoke of Jesus’ resurrection, and his ascension to the throne at the right hand of God, those who heard his words understood the implications of Peter’s words. A war was coming, and Jesus was going to conquer his enemies. Their judgment was near. Peter confirmed these fears, warning to the crowd, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). On hearing these things, “They were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

Acts begins with these words, “In my first book, O Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach . . ..” Luke is clear that Acts is a continuation of the works of Jesus. As Jesus sat on his throne, because of what he did at the cross, the Holy spirit was being unleashed on the world. Jesus, told his disciples, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:7–11, ESV). So as Acts opens, Jesus is on his throne, active in this world and has begun to put his enemies under his feet through the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel. The war had begun. Judgement was coming for Jerusalem and the old age. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and his perfect priesthood, the Temple was no longer needed. The old age was dying as the new age was taking over.

In these early chapters of Acts we see this war taking place as the rulers of Jerusalem try to hold on to their kingdoms in midst of the conquering power of the Gospel. They try to prevent the preaching of the Gospel and the speaking of the name of Jesus. Later in Acts as the Gospel spreads to the Gentiles it is said that preaching of the Gospel has turned the world upside down. The Gospel had not come to play nice, but instead it had come to make war and to conquer and that war had begun in Jerusalem.

Before we meet Annanias and Sapphira, we are told that many who had come to faith had sold their land and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet to be distributed to any who had need. Jerusalem is the only place we see amongst the church where this was practiced. Though it does not explicitly give the reason for this, we do see in these early passages of Acts hints to that they were aware that Jerusalem was a ticking time bomb. Jesus had warned that judgement would come within their generation, and as Peter had said, they had witnessed the prophesied signs of that judgement. Jesus had warned that when that time comes, and they see the armies surrounding Jerusalem, they were to flee and not pause to take anything with them, just as Lot was rushed out and warned not look back as he fled Sodom. What they owned in Jerusalem would not last, especially the land. Israel throughout the wilderness narrative, though they were called out of Egypt for the Promised Land, longed to go back to Egypt. This looking back, this holding on to the old kingdom, was to their destruction and kept them from entering the Promised Land. For the early church, the physical Jerusalem was no longer their hope, but as with Abraham they were looking to a kingdom not built by human hands. The epistle of Hebrews speaks of this when warning those who wished to “look back” to Jerusalem and to the Law with its sacrificial system. Hebrews urges them to follow the example of those who have walked in faith before us, by “admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. And we are not to “return” or “hold on” to our former country, but as Abraham we are to leave it behind. And though there may be opportunity to return, instead we are looking for a better country – a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16, paraphrased). So, their selling of their lands though truly an act of charity, for the Christian faith certainly invokes such profound acts of love, was more than an act of charity, it was also an act of faith, rejecting the kingdom of this world that was fading away, and whose judgement was sure and declaring the surety of the promises of God in the Gospel to bring us into a Kingdom whose foundation is sure and everlasting.

So throughout Acts we see the Kingdom of God coming to conquer the world. Let’s look back at another time when Israel had come to conquer the Promised Land. When Joshua took Israel into the Promised Land, they were to completely destroy the pagan culture in the land, as they trampled under their feet the old kingdoms and brought the new kingdom under the rule of the God of Israel.

In their first battle with Jericho, this city, as Jerusalem would be in 70 A.D., had been given over to destruction. All that was within Jericho had been declared devoted to the Lord. Just as the church fleeing Jerusalem were not to stop to take things with them, so too Israel was not to take any of the spoils from the fallen Jericho with them. And yet after this first battle with Jericho, a man named Achan, in love with the things of this old world held on to a beautiful cloak and money, objects that had been devoted to destruction. Symbolically, when he held on to these things he was holding on to the old pagan kingdom. As in the story of Ananias and Sapphira, the LORD says of Achan that he had transgressed the covenant and kept for himself things that were devoted to the LORD, declaring that Achan lied and hid his actions and his possessions from the congregation. And based on the context, most likely with the full knowledge and consent of his family. Before Ananias and Sapphira sold the land it was theirs to do with as they pleased, when they sold it, the proceeds were still theirs to dispose of it as they wished. But when they came before the congregation and set it aside declaring it as fully devoted to the Lord, it was no longer theirs to do with it as they wished, it was the Lord’s. And as with Achan, they transgressed the covenant, stole from the Lord, and lied and hid their actions from the congregation. They lied to the Holy Spirit and the church. This was no small sin. Though they might fool the church, they could not fool the Holy Spirit. And as the Lord exposed Achan’s sin and he was put to death, so too their sin was exposed by the Holy Spirit, and they died. Both of Achan’s death and the death of Ananias and Sapphira serve as a vivid and concrete warning to all who desire to hold on to the things of this world. The Gospel is at war with this world and with our sinful hearts and separates us from this old kingdom. We cannot hold on to the old world for if we do, we will be destroyed with it.

We don’t know what the eternal state of Ananias and Sapphira was. Both with Achan and Ananias and Sapphira, their sin affected the congregation not just themselves and served as a vivid warning. This act symbolized more than greed, but a holding on to an age that Jesus was at war with, and God wanted to make clear that the old world must die. The most we can say for sure is that their deaths were a means to make this point clear. And there are other passages like this where God putting someone to death does not tell us of the person’s eternal state. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he says some have become ill and some have died because they have approached the Lord’s supper inappropriately and were profaning it. And on top of this the rich were taking advantage of the poor, something we know the Lord detests. But it also follows with this hope, “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). Or take the case of Uzzah who merely touched the ark when he saw oxen startled and probably with good intention and was struck dead. We cannot make any assumptions. But the warning in these stories is clear. And it is a warning we see throughout the Bible, flee the things of this world for it is marked out for destruction, do not hold on to them, leave them behind, don’t look back, flee the judgement to come, and come to Jesus.

Hebrews was written to address those who because of persecution were considering leaving Christianity and going back to the Law of Moses and the sacrificial system. The writer of Hebrews explains, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13, ESV). When Christ died and rose again the Temple and the sacrificial system was declared obsolete and could no longer bring them to repentance even if they sought it with tears and weeping. The only means for repentance was through Jesus. As the Gospel was being preached in the book of Acts the old Temple system was vanishing away, and would be finally destroyed in 70 AD. So yes, in the book of Acts, we see a war taking place within Jerusalem between the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God. Those who believed the words of Jesus and the judgment to come were choosing to leave the old Jerusalem behind, for a new Jerusalem that cannot be shaken. In Acts 5 this understanding consisted of realizing that the property they owned was fading away and they couldn’t take it with them and so they sold it and gave the proceeds to the church.  

So now what does this mean for us? This all may be true, but what is the comfort? If you are like me, this passage leaves you uncomfortable, trembling as fear creeps up and is difficult to shake off. And as seen in the passage, we are not alone. At the death of Ananias and Sapphira, great fear fell upon the church. I instinctively know that I am no better than Ananias and Sapphira. Doesn’t my own heart hold on to the things of this world? Surely it does. Or more honestly, with me, I know it does. Though I desire to put to death my flesh, I am like Paul in Romans 7, a wretched man failing every step of the way, still doing the things I hate, and not doing the things I love. When my pastor preached on Acts 5, he noted that Peter, who seems to stand tall in this scene, would later fail and once again act in a way contrary to the Gospel, when he, on coming to Antioch, “drew back” and chose to eat separately from the Greeks. He, like Ananias and Sapphira, allowed pride and wanting to be seen as great before men dictate his behavior. When he did this, he did not only compromise himself, but also the other Jews followed his example. Even Barnabas, who was singled out before the incident with Ananias and Sapphira as one who did indeed sold a field and brought all the money to the apostles, fell into sin with Peter. When this happened, Paul is not shy with his words; he states that Peter “stood condemned” and that “their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel.” So, tell me, if even this great man was prone to fail, what is my hope?

When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they were commanded to spread Eden over the face of the whole world. The Kingdom of God was to conquer the world. However, because of their desire for something more than God and his kingdom, they took for themselves what was forbidden, and attempted to hide their sin. When the LORD came, judgement was pronounced, and death came into the world. As Achan’s sin brought death to others, so because of Adam’s sin, death came to all mankind. So, this clinging on to the forbidden and hiding our sin is not just an issue with Adam and Eve, Annanias and Sapphira, or Achan, we too fall under the same condemnation.

One of the great hymns, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing describes this struggle I feel, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love.” I am so prone to be distracted by the beauty of this world, wanting to hold onto it, and not let it go. Thankfully, the song does not leave us in despair, it describes how grace, like a fetter, binds and seals are hearts to God. For we have been purchased by Jesus’ blood. And this is the theme of Hebrews as well as it warns us not to hold on to the old age. God through Jesus has accomplished our salvation once for all and He draws us to himself. After describing those who in the past walked by faith, the writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV). Paul in his struggles with holding on to sin states, Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 7:24-8:1). Jesus has conquered and sits on his throne and will accomplish his work in me.

The opposite of hiding and clinging on to our sin is confessing our sin and calling upon the name of the LORD to deliver us from our sin. As our hearts struggle with sin, do we hide our sin and shrink back, or do we come to the Lord with our sin and lay it down at his feet, trusting in the work and worth of Jesus alone? For as we lay down our sins, not trusting in our own works, but in the works of Jesus, we can come before the throne of grace and live. There is no need to hide, even in our most grievous sin. David experienced this, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away, through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin”(Psalm 32:3-4, ESV). And so, we are called to “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm 32:9, ESV). We are to come close to our Father.

Instead of death, as we come before God’s throne in Christ, the Father, as a parent washing their kid, lovingly washes us and brings healing through the blood of Jesus. The writer of Hebrews goes on to describe this comfort we have in the midst of God’s discipline in the church,

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

      “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

      nor be weary when reproved by him.

      For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

      and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:5–13, ESV)

In the first sermon of this war as the Gospel moves to conquer, Peter predicates our victory on the fact that Jesus is sitting on his throne. And it is because of this fact that we can run to Jesus, who is the founder and perfector of our faith. The victory has been accomplished. When Peter spoke of the judgement to come, the people “were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter gives us the answer to how we are to save ourselves from this crooked generation, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:37-39, ESV).

So, when we read these passages, there must be no doubt that these passages are anchored in the fact that Jesus is sitting on his throne, and will conquer our hearts, for he alone is the founder and perfector of our faith. He has made a covenant promise that he will save all those who call upon the name of Jesus. The passage about Annanias and Sapphire is sandwiched between statements of the church conquering Jerusalem, the gospel spreading, and many coming to the faith. Adam and Eve’s sin, Achan’s sin, Annanias and Sapphira’s sin, and even my sin are not enough to prevent the advancement of the Kingdom of God. This passage ends with, “The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed” (Acts 5:16). After this act of discipline, the war was now going out beyond the confines of Jerusalem and bringing healing. God’s discipline brings healing, therefore the writer of Hebrews can say in the midst of God’s discipline, “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” God’s discipline reminds us of and brings us back to the Gospel. And so, we see that the aftermath of the stark discipline in Acts 5 ushered in an expansion of the kingdom and healing of many through the power of the gospel.

Prayer: May the God who cherishes me guide me through his nurturing discipline, conquering my heart and putting to death anything inside of me that holds on to this age. For it is in his discipline that I am liberated from the sin that clings to me, overwhelms me, and weighs me down. And it is through his rebuke that my lamed feet are healed. It is my Father’s loving discipline that allows me to run faster to the one I love. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV).

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Foot note: We cannot say definitively what the motivations were behind those selling the land, but it is clear from these passages that the old kingdom with its Temple practices was passing away, and a New Kingdom, founded in Jesus, was taking its place. A seismic shift was taking place in the land just as occurred when the Israelites came into the promised land under Joshua. It is also clear that the gifts that were presented and laid at the apostles’ feet were declared fully devoted to the Lord, making their holding back a portion a serious offense, just as Achan held back a portion of the things devoted to the Lord. We see a similar situation with Saul, when he did not handle the things devoted to the Lord appropriately. And from epistle of Hebrews, we know there was this tension between holding on to the old Temple and its practices in light of the finished work of Christ.

– – –

Here is a link to the sermon my pastor preached on Acts 5. It is a sermon on the healing power of this passage as the Gospel is unleashed in the fullness of its power – The Law | Acts 4:33-5:16 (youtube.com).

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:1–4, ESV)

Have you ever been haunted by the feeling that you are unworthy? For me, no matter how long I have walked in the Christian faith, this feeling innately lurks and threatens to engulf me. As I look around, I see so many others who have it all together. I listen to sermons that talk about what the Christian life is supposed to look like. And I know that this is not a category I belong to. . .. Regrettably, it is true, I am unworthy, unable to meet this ideal of the Christian walk that I hear about. I am not the “Christian example” or “witness to the world” that I am told I am supposed to be.

We often hear of our need to grow in our walk as Christians to experience this thing called sanctification. We might hear someone expound on the disciplines of the faith or give us so and so many steps to growth or freedom, or this is what it means to be a Godly man or a woman, husband, wife, or parent. Or this is how to conduct business in a Christian fashion. We might be told how we must love those around us by others, with them following up, “oh, by the way here are some more practical steps on how to accomplish this.” Or we might be given a rousing sermon on the need for us to go forth into the world to preach the Gospel. And in this kind of preaching, we often see vigorous movement and passion. People take hold of this advice and apply it to their lives. There is church growth and a lot of great accomplishments. But if we are not careful there is a deeper hidden danger threatening to tear us apart.

These kinds of teachings abound with tips and advice on living the Christian life. And while there is often some value and truth in the advice that is given, the central message of the Gospel is easily missed if we are not careful. When this happens it leaves me discontented and with the stark understanding of the contrast in my own life to the message being taught. I have not lived up to nor do I feel like I can be the man I am being asked to be. I am not the man I want to be. I flounder in my attempts to live up to these standards. My heart is there, but my flesh tumbles and falls making an obvious show of my failures. And if I am honest, and compare myself to the law of God, I am an utter failure, every day, every moment, every breath. Even if I can accomplish these tasks outwardly, in my heart, I am not there. I don’t love as I ought. I don’t spend time with God as I ought. In fact, I can say with Paul, “Wretched man that I am!” And as Paul knew, I know deep down those platitudes, steps, disciplines, programs, no thing can save me from my plight. Even if I were able to accomplish all this, they don’t satisfy the deep longings in my heart for something more. Living by these standards leaves me empty. So, is there hope for me? “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24, emphasis mine)

Most Christian’s understand that before coming to the faith, without Christ, we were hopeless and unable to save ourselves. We heartily confess that it is by faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved. But often after coming to faith in Christ, we forget how hopeless we are, and we try to muster up our own sanctification. We have this cognitive dissonance and become foolish as we comically try to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, forgetting our helpless state without Jesus. In our pride, we want something we can call our own. And having a law or steps we can follow makes life easy. But if you have been a Christian long enough, you have seen many who lived by these kinds of standards, only to either fall or be entrapped by it. And it becomes clear that this kind of life is not the life the Gospel has called us to. For in this pursuit of good works, we have turned aside and have been led astray from the sincere and pure devotion to Jesus. Paul fights this kind of understanding of the Christian life, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh” (Galatians 3:1-3, ESV)? The reason this kind of pursuit fails is because, “all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them” (3:10). If living the perfect Christian life is our goal, we will miss out on the Gospel, and we have left God to walk on our own, and we are standing on shaky ground. Tablets of stone or a set of guidelines cannot change a heart, only one who lives and acts and loves can have any effect on our hearts. When we come to him, Jesus’ love can overflow in our hearts because he lives, and he is the author and perfector of our faith. God has not called us to walk by good advice, he has called us to walk in the good news.

So how do we walk as Christians? What is sanctification? Does not Paul also say we are to turn away from sin and that we are not supposed to be like the world? Indeed, this is true, things like loving my wife and children, living in chastity, and practically loving others are good things and are important, but we do not accomplish “holiness” as the world does or as we did before we came to Christ. A man of the world can follow rules and steps to a good life, and some are quite remarkable at this, but this is not the walk God has called us to. We must take caution and not be deceived, for evil often appears to be good for us and a delight and necessary to make one wise. These steps and methods appear good, pleasant, and wise, but can lead to death. We think we are walking in good works, yet in truth these kinds of efforts are fruitless for instead of walking by the Spirit, we are walking in the flesh, in our desires, and in the pride of life. And with time this kind of “good fruit” if eaten will only become foul smelling rotten fruit and casts us away from the presence of God. What tasted good and seemed satisfying will only cause our stomachs to lurch. It will not last. And like I said before, if you have been in the Christian walk long enough, you will find that many who try to walk this way, fail. Martin Luther understood this and sang out with gusto, “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing” (A Might Fortress is Our God). The reason following good advice, rules, or steps in the Christian faith fail are because in the end it is your own work that you are relying on. When you rely on your own effort all that you are left with is yourself and what you have accomplished. And we don’t make good and lasting foundations. We in ourselves are as wavering as the sea. We need to be astonished and pushed outside of ourselves by something far greater. We must die to ourselves. If we want eternal fruit, sanctification must be built on a stronger foundation. Keep in mind, your good works were not enough before you came to Christ, they will not be good enough after we have come to Christ. We must be careful not to be lured by craftiness or what appears to be wise. We ought not go back to our own vomit and try to present them as delicacies. We don’t have to live a façade, trying to lift ourselves up in front of the world. The Gospel message is not showing the world a “good Christian life”. This is contrary to the Gospel of Christ. Thankfully, God offers us something far more beautiful than the wisdom of this world.

Jesus spoke to our shame when he spoke to the woman at the well in John 4, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” When approached with this understanding, we are often like the woman, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” For us this call is like trying to walk on water, it looks like it will end in utter failure. We will say, let’s be practical and keep our feet on the earth and not have our heads in the clouds. And so instead of coming to him, we continue to try to build ourselves up by our own methods and as Israel we look to others to defeat our enemy only to be pierced on the reeds we lean on. To this Jesus warns and gives assurance, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” So, what is sanctification? It is continuing our walk as we began it, completely and utterly dependent on Jesus as our source of living water. It is coming more and more to trust in the Gospel. Do we not know innately that this is the case with glorification as well.  Do we think we will be romping about around God’s throne boasting in our own merit. Of course not, we will all cast our crowns with great joy at the feet of Jesus and declare that these things we have are from him alone and to the glory of God alone. As our understanding of God’s Holiness increases, so also our understanding of our need of the Gospel and our unworthiness of it will also increase. And this understanding will fill our hearts with joy bursting forth in praise for all eternity.

And what does Paul say is the walk of a mature Christian. It is saying with Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith –”(Philippians 3:8-9, ESV) He later goes on to say, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you” (12-15). The walk of maturity is not relying on our works or holiness, but a walk toward relying on Jesus and what he has done for us in the Gospel more and more.

To those who want to stand on something more earthy or want to boast in methods they have achieved, Paul in Colossians 3 writes, “Put to death therefor what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). And what does Paul give as the power to put these earthly things to death. Is it our own efforts? Is it methods or steps? No, he tells us to look to Christ. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden in Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4, ESV)

It is when we behold Jesus our Teacher that are idols become an abomination to us.

your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!” (Isaiah 30:20b–22, ESV)

Ah yes, there is a famous scene paraded across many videos of two people in love, or perhaps a parent and a young child, running toward each other after having been apart. If they are carrying something heavy that is slowing them down they throw it off with abandon, so they can run faster toward the one they love. Is running toward Jesus practical? I believe it is the most practical method of defeating sin. The writer of Hebrews assures us of this, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,” (Hebrews 12:1-2b, ESV). It is only in looking to and running toward Jesus that our idols truly become repugnant and loathsome. Running after the love of Jesus through faith provides the highest repulsion for sin.

As we behold the beauty of Jesus the things of this world will begin to pale in comparison. Repenting and turning away from the kingdom of darkness becomes natural when you are entranced by the beauty of the Kingdom of God. Walking in holiness is like a king spreading a banquet before ones who are used to eating odious slop and filth. When we are entranced by beauty and the savory smell of the food, it is not difficult to give up slop to revel in God’s delicacies. The Bible is clear that we do not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, this word being Jesus. For, “this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). And Jesus is the object of this feast. Jesus made it clear, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35, ESV). For he had declared, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (6:29). And “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (6:40)

In the same way, a tree planted by water does not find it difficult to bear fruit, nor does not boast of its great ability. It is the natural outcome of its reliance on the water. When we come to Jesus, we are no longer planted in this world but are planted in Jesus. And we grow not by our own efforts, but as his love and the power of the Gospel sustains us. We are not perfect yet, nor will we be made perfect on earth, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV). Yet he has promised that one day we will see him face to face. And it is in seeing him face to face that we will be glorified. Perfection or glorification will not come by works but will like all else come only by seeing Jesus. It is in beholding the Lamb of God, and trusting in Him, that we will be made perfect, for it is from faith to faith. “Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2, ESV). To the world beholding someone is a foolish way to grow, give us a method give us some thing, but to those who wish to work to this foolishness, God says, cease your striving, while it is called Today, enter my rest, come to the one who gives life, come to Jesus.

 “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:27-31, ESV).

And this is the good news, because of what Christ has done, we can come to God and come near to the throne of grace. And Jesus cries out to all those who are enveloped with shame, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV).

God will not tolerate any god beside him, including self-righteousness. Do not think that the man who outwardly leads his family well and has amazing obedient children, but relies on his own effort, will have his works stand before God. No, give me a man utterly struggling in sin, but who knows his only hope is in Jesus. No one is without sin. We all struggle. There is no man, that does not fit this description. And it is the broken that understand this is who they are and their need of the Gospel. Jesus alone is the cornerstone, the sure foundation by which we stand. All things not built on this foundation will be shaken and destroyed. Let us not use the name of Jesus in vain, but solely trust in him and call upon him, trusting in his work and worth alone.

With this in mind, there is no shame, no boasting. Our greatest righteousness is filthy rags. You and I have nothing to boast of before our fellow man. Note this, Paul does not say maturity is obtaining some thing. This is important as we tend to look at outward appearances and deeds as a sign of maturity. He says maturity is our pursuit toward the goal of knowing our need for Jesus and a righteousness that comes from him alone. Maturity is pursuing someone. Jesus alone can satisfy our hunger and thirst. And Paul goes on and reveals that he has not even perfected this pursuit but is relying on the perfector of our faith to accomplish this kind of faith. This kind of walk does not cause us to focus on ourselves, evaluating whether or not we meet some standard of holiness or pursuit of Christ. We don’t have time for that, for we are looking at Jesus, trusting in him alone and not in ourselves. And the reality is as we come to know Jesus more, the more we come to understand God’s holiness, and the more we understand God’s holiness, the more we understand our unworthiness and our desperate need for the cross. It is never about us. We are fellow beggars pointing not to our goodness as an example to follow, but instead we point away from ourselves to Jesus. He alone is our hope. We no longer judge by outward appearances, nor do we concern ourselves with these trivial things. Instead in our desperate state we stand in awe of the beauty of Jesus.

Nor do we shrink back when our sin is exposed by others, but instead rejoice, for faithful and beautiful are the wounds of a friend. As there is no boasting, there is no shame. In this knowledge of our state as a “wretched man”, we can be vulnerable. Exhortation we receive, becomes an act of loving devotion, that like oil poured on the head brings refreshing and healing as it helps us to run faster toward Jesus (Proverbs 27:6, Psalm 141:5, also read more on this here). As someone running toward a beloved, I want anything that is hindering me from seeing Jesus to be exposed, pride is one of those things that just slow me down, and so let these precious wounds come, for I want to see Jesus more. Exhortation is not one man trying to lift another man up out of the pit. Exhortation is two men encouraging each other to trust that the rope, aka the Gospel message, pulling them up out of the pit is strong enough to not break and the one who is pulling them up, Jesus, is strong enough to complete the task. It is saying to one another don’t let go of your hope in Jesus.

After Paul says to set our minds on the things that are above, for our life is hidden in Christ, again with this in mind, he states,

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12–17, ESV)

So yes, though we do not strive like the world, or give advice like the world, we do speak into one another’s lives. We may even say similar things, for example, I might tell my brother, “Go love your children”, because I trust the Shephard who has called us to love others, but the core and the message are starkly different. I don’t push him toward himself, instead I call him to behold the Lamb of God, knowing it is in this alone that he and I can love our children as Christ loves us. We are both aware he and I are completely and utterly helpless to love our children without Christ, and we are only calling each other to take hold of Christ. Our Shephard is faithful to take care of his sheep. He will help me to love others, even when I completely fail to love others. And when I say this to my brother I don’t have any remote thought of, “I have obtained this” or “I am better or more spiritual”. On the contrary, I understand my need for my brother to likewise encourage me to trust in the Gospel of Christ for my own heart is so quick to wonder from the simplicity and sole devotion to Christ alone and instead look to the fruit as my hope, instead of feasting on Christ alone.

But here is also another benefit. Jesus is our Shephard and the one at work to accomplish what he has begun. Because Jesus is at work in us, and because we can trust in his work alone. We no longer have to look at ourselves for sanctification or good works. We have the freedom to jump out there and attempt to love our children and completely and utterly fail, because we know that even in our failure Christ will not fail. We don’t sit in a hole or put our head in the sand and hide, till we get things perfect, but have the freedom to run this race, because he who began his work in us promises to complete it. We are not bound by the law or perfection, but instead held by mighty hands. “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:8).

As sheep our goal is to know the Shephard’s voice for it is the voice of God that has the power to change our hearts. For we do not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, which is the Logos, Jesus. So, let us “be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm 32:9, ESV). Read Psalm 32, these words are not for one who is perfect, but for the sinner. For the one whom God does not count their sin against them. God is not looking for the perfect man, but one whose heart is after him. He desires us to simply come to him. O sinner!, let us run to and come near Jesus with all abandonment, for “whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25, ESV), knowing that “my flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (73:26). Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith, and he will complete the work he has begun, despite our shame, despite our foolishness, despite our failures. So come near without fear all who are weary.

I have had friends come to me with their struggles with sin, and I will tell them my main focus is not your sin but to point you to Jesus and I need the same from you in my own life. Our struggles with sin will never end till we see Jesus, face to face. So we should not be surprised or shocked that we or our fellow brothers and sisters struggle with sin. Repentance is walking away from the world and sin and yes our own good works, toward Christ. We must remember our hope is not in overcoming sin, but in the Gospel alone. We might “overcome” a sin, but this does not bring us closer to Christ. The Gospel alone brings us into the presence of God, and it is his presence that refines our dross as fire refines silver.

Nor is my hope in the fruit Christ has born in my life or the sin I have overcome. A tree bearing fruit does not rely on its fruit to stay alive, nor does it suddenly lose its desperate need for the water. Without Christ we are nothing. A strong motivation for me to speak Christ into others is because I realize I desperately need them to be speaking Christ into my own life. Though I have partaken of a delicacy another brother has not and want to share it with him, I can be assured he has probably partaken of many more delicacies that I have not tried that I will be the better for. And who wants to miss out on a glorious feast? How silly it would be for either of us to boast in something neither of us has prepared or be in awe of each other for sharing what has been given to us by Jesus.

And here is also a warning for those who love the world, you are not invited to the King’s banquet to leave it to go back and delight in refuse. You cannot presume you are planted by water when you refuse to drink from the river because you love the desert. Those who love this world will not come to Jesus, for they love the darkness more than the light. Those who refuse to come to Jesus and abide and rest in him alone, will continue to be thirsty and hungry. And those who try to get in through the gate by any other means than Jesus, including good works, will be cast out. And so the message of the church is to call everyone to Jesus alone as the wellspring and bread of life.

As is written, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16, ESV) We need each other, we are not built into Christ alone. I cannot do this without even the so-called least of my brothers. Since we will all be made perfected in Christ when we see him and are now being perfected in his timing and wisdom, on what grounds do we have to look down on another? Do we question the author and perfector of our faith or our brother’s faith? “On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” We don’t abandon each other even when it is rough. Even the heathen can love someone easy to get along with.  But we have come to a beauty far greater than what is known among the heathens. The beauty of Christ can only be known more fully as we live our lives together. It is the pursuit of this beauty that binds us to one another. For we become more like Jesus as we live our messy lives together and as we speak the Gospel into each other’s lives, exhorting and pointing each other to the enveloping beauty of Jesus, for Jesus has taken on our shame. So as we live our messy lives together, we rejoice because “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox” (Proverbs 14:4). Again like Paul made clear we are not yet perfect. We are all “wretched”. So we cannot expect a clean barn. But Christ is at work in all this and there will be a glorious harvest.

Good advice causes us to hide our failures, good news allows us to walk honestly without fear, and even gives us a longing for exhortation, for our worth is caught up in Jesus. We have died to ourselves. Our failures or the failures of others loses its luster in the beauty and light of the Gospel. God is near the broken hearted (Psalm 34:18, 51:17, 147:3; Isaiah 57:15, 66:2) and he holds us close to himself. There truly is no place for boasting in the body of Christ. And unlike methods and steps, Christ alone who is the cornerstone, our true foundation is the only one who can stand against the chaos of this world. So, may we to be found in Him and encourage each other in our pursuit of Jesus, the one who is the Lord of my shame, and the Lord of my sinful heart.

For “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:27-28, ESV).

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “the righteous will live by faith”. (Romans 1:17)

One day a farmer came
He took one of the trees
So withered, sprangly, and dearth.
Which one I don’t know
For they all looked the same.
And so He took the plant gently away
Delivering it from its woe
And brought it to a meadow
And placed it near a stream
It was a place of beauty,
Where the sun would beam,
And sweetly down, the rain would come.
In this place, this little tree,
Though withered, sprangly, and dearth,
Grew roots that went deep and deep into the earth.
It grew and grew,
And was not little any more.
And season after season much fruit did it bore.

This little tree became strong,
And though it was once withered
Its leaf withered no more.

“Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.” – Psalm 144:1,2

God has made us partakers in work that He has wrought in our lives. The work that God does by grace brings us in to participate with Him in the work that He is accomplishing. When David went to fight, He did it in God’s power, in God’s way, for God’s glory. That doesn’t mean he didn’t really fight. His fighting was real. Battle is very real, in your face stuff. God has called us to put sin to death and to fight the good fight of the faith. And this is real. The fact that God does it, does not mean that there is not a real struggle or a real fight. The message is not “because it is God, we can sit back.” The message is to fight, to “. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” It is because of Him we fight. And it is because He has accomplished the victory that have the confidence to fight. If we don’t fight, we don’t have faith in the work that God has done. Faith without works is dead.

It was because David didn’t have any confidence in himself that he could fight. His confidence was in God alone. The scriptures say that the Spirit of the Lord was on David. That is where His desire and strength came from.

And because of this, David did not boast in himself. . . In Judges 7:2, “The LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’’” In this fight, we must not declare, “My own power has delivered me.” You did not overcome, God alone did. Although He allows us to participate in the work that He is doing, God alone sanctifies us.

God will glorify himself. And yet we so often live in a way where we work to try to bring the glory of God about, instead of resting in grace and simply being faithful and obedient to the One who will bring His glory. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
We can rest in this. God has declared us righteous. He has made us kings and priests. But the Christian life is not “now that we are kings and princes, we walk out in our own strength and work to see God’s Kingdome come.” It is Grace from first to last. We are not kings and priests by our own strength or righteousness, and we never will be. We are kings and priests because of His word. And we stand and press into the kingdom not by our works, but by His word that makes it so. And so, we continue to press in by grace. But what a grace it is! And how mighty is our God!
And it is because of His word that we can face the gates of Hell and fight without fear.

Jeremiah 9:22-24
“23Thus says the LORD, ” Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.”

Do you believe in the work He has wrought in you?

To whom do you give your faith to in the battle?

Do you have faith to go to the battle, are you afraid?

Additional readings: Romans 8; Psalm 73:26; Psalm 20:7; Proverbs 25:14

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Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

It can be frustrating, not having obtained perfection, to still fail and let God down. Our walk on this earth is not one of perfection, but of being perfected –(aka: sanctification). When we become saved, God doesn’t take a huge fire hose and blast us with water. No, instead He comes close and gently washes us with the word. I don’t understand why God does this, why we aren’t made perfect. I hate the fact that I still sin. But I do know that this is romance, and somehow in all this, the romantic, gentle, loving character of God comes through. So, in this walk where I am not perfect there is beauty and intimacy; and I am falling more in love with my Beloved.