The Father’s Pleasure

Date: January 8, 2012         Scripture: Mark 1:9-11
Godliness means taking pleasure in Jesus Christ and in the people in our lives.

Title: The Father’s Pleasure by Pastor Myron Heckman

(Click to Listen to the Sermon Audio or Right Click for “Save As” Download)

What is your pleasure? That is a question that asks what your preference is. But in what do you find pleasure? You might be thinking it’s not a good question for a Christian. It sounds self-centered.

But there is a place for pleasure in the Christian life. After all, Jesus said in
Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Pleasure means pleased, delighted or gratified.

The Father is delighted and gratified to give you the Kingdom. Thank you, Father.

There is legitimate pleasure, and illicit pleasure. Illicit is when we take a shortcut around God’s will and way. It last for a season. Legitimate is when we are refreshed and not diminished as we walk with and obey God.

Where do we find that joy? It is interesting as we come to the brief story of Jesus’ baptism, that there is a revelation of where God finds joy. And it is a help to us as we pursue godliness.

I) When John baptized Jesus, His identity was made known.
A) He was a man from Nazareth of Galilee.
To put it in our New England geographical proportions – Boston is Jerusalem, and we’re in southern Judea. Boston is our regional hub for government and transportation and specialized medicine. John is baptizing somewhere in Plymouth. And Nazareth is somewhere north of Concord, NH. I’ve made the scale much larger than Israel, but the point is that Nazareth is the unlikely hometown of our hero. It’s outside the cultural mainstream. But that is where Jesus came from. He doesn’t draw His identity from man-made qualifications.
B) The Holy Spirit coming down from the parted heavens showed He was chosen and equipped. V 9
C) The voice identified Him as the Son of God. V 11
It was the voice of God the Father who affirmed the identity of Jesus as His Son.
Showing Jesus to be the Son of God is the theme of Mark.
Look at 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Near the end of Mark’s gospel, a Roman Centurion at the foot of the cross, who watched Jesus die, said: “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Being the Son of God means He carries the nature of God.
John said of Jesus “the Word was with God, and was God.” (John 1:1)
Paul said: “He is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:17)

Some say at this baptism Jesus, a human being, was adopted by the Father.
He was not born the Son of God, but was made the Son of God.

Adoption is one of our wonderful doctrines, that we are brought into God’s family, fully accepted and made joint-heirs with Jesus. It is a wonderful doctrine for us in our relationship with God.

But Jesus was not adopted – he is begotten. He is divine. We are children by adoption, He is a child by nature.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

II) But there is more to this identity – He is the Son beloved of the Father, and in whom the Father is well pleased.

This is a wonderful insight into the relationship of the Father and the Son – the Father made His Son a special object of His love and took pleasure in His Son. He used the word “pleased” – it’s the same root as the word pleasure. You like being pleased, don’t you? It’s pleasant, it’s pleasurable. You enjoy it. So the Father enjoys His Son.

Why was the Father pleased with His Son?
The answer is in Philippians 2:6-8:
Who, being in very nature God,   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself of no reputation,   taking the very nature of a servant,   being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself   and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Think about it. Jesus in His pre-incarnate state made everything — the entire Universe. Then He stepped down from the height of glory, down past the angelic ranks, to become man. He humbled Himself, even before other men, and lived by both the letter and spirit of the Father’s Law. And because He led a sinless life, Jesus was the only man every qualified to pay the price for the sins of the world. He was obedient even unto death. His reward was being raised from the dead and exalted as Lord, and now sits at the right hand of the Father. He has redeemed God’s creation. And the Father is pleased with His Son.

A) This is an example for us in our relationship to God.
We are to be pleased in Him, to find pleasure in Him.
Now this may be a new concept to you. We think of God as someone who made us, who deserves our respect; we will listen to him, and obey Him. But to count Him as beloved, one in whom we are pleased?
The psalmist said: Delight yourself in the Lord. Ps. 37:4
This is a new dynamic in our relationship with God.
Godliness is to take joy in Jesus Christ, like His Father did.

B) This is an instruction in godliness for our other relationships.
We know there are many challenges to satisfying relationships. We are sinners relating to one another, and we can be annoyed with another, and sometimes we encounter coldness, or evil. But we want to keep our attitudes positive wherever we can, and to acknowledge and appreciate the blessings we find in one another.
1) So parents, godliness is aiming to take pleasure in your children.
There is that saying: “Try to catch your children doing something right.” It’s easy to catch them doing something wrong, and our irritation can start to dominate.

Sometimes it’s a challenge to find enjoyment in a child.
I heard on a Focus on the Family Radio broadcast  the author of a book on strong-willed children – titled “You Can’t Make Me, But I Can Be Persuaded” (Surviving the Strong Willed Child: click for Part 1, click for part 2). She said she hears all the time from parents who are in a battle of the wills with their children. And some who say: “I don’t like my child.” That is a painful place to be.
If you are there, you don’t want to be, you’ve come to that place though many struggles, you’ve tried everything you can – so that leaves you with God. You want to pray for a turn-around.

I want to throw you one life line – that book by Cynthia Tobias, “You Can’t Make Me”. It might sound like your child who is locked in a battle to preserve his or her autonomy. But the other half of the title gives hope: “But I can be persuaded.”

She counsels to focus on the positive attitude of doing things together. Instead of saying: “We’re late! Stop what you are doing right now, stop that dawdling, and get in the van now.” She says try this:”The van leaves in two minutes. Let’s be in it.”

It isn’t: “Do your homework. You will not be watching your favorite program until you do your homework.” She counsels this approach: “Feel free to watch your program, and enjoy your program. Just do your homework first.”

Now the child sees the positive, and knows she has a choice. If she doesn’t do her homework, well, you’ve lowered the grim battle to a simple agreement. You parents are still in charge, but your approach is different. You’re searching for the joy of life.

Last week my two year old grandson was resisting what he was being advised to do. He changed the subject. “Grandpa, can you read this book?” This book is a Thomas the Tank Engine catalog he loves to have read to him.
I said: “Sure, I’ll read that book. I’d love to read that book to you. Just go do your task first.”
He said: “OK”. Wow, it worked.

2) Children, can you rejoice in your parents?
“What? They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. But they are a little obstinate and a little out of touch.”
Think it over, Mom, she’s the one who keeps you eating right, and dressing warm, and uses the right amount of bleach in the laundry so that if you get an accident and end up in the emergency room, your underwear will be presentable.

Dad has that toolbox from which he can fix a lot of things. He makes sure you get all the fast food you require.
But what it’s really about, for most parents, is they love you and want the best for you and want you to succeed.
You can be cool and wish they were too, but there’s a problem with being cool – you always a little detached. A little annoyed.
God says: “Honor your father and you mother.Aim at being pleased with them.”

3) Husbands and wives, it applies to you, too.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth. Proverbs 5:18
Rick Santorum gave a speech after showing well in the Iowa Caucuses. He began by quoting C.S. Lewis who said “A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.“

He said: “That friend who sings the words to me is my wife.” He’s good. If he gets elected, men, we’re going to have to shape up or he’s going to make us look bad.

Wives, it’s easy to see what your husband dos wrong. It jumps out at you. Remember to see and appreciate what your husband does right.

4) This applies to other loved ones and friends and neighbors, where possible. We have gifts from God in the fellowship of the church. We can see foibles and irritations.
But in his letters Paul thanked God for his fellow believers in places like Philippi.
This is part of our love for people, part of our love for one another.
It can get us down from our elevated position and simply to love God and love people.

I know there are plenty of relationships deeply damaged and deeply disappointing. People about whom the pleasure isn’t there, only tears and frustration and fatigue. This is a “as much as possible, as far as it lies within you” matter. But don’t let those make you detached from everyone. May God make us aware of the joy in relationships.

God the Trinity has a love and joy in the interrelationships between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That is our example and power for godliness.

Godliness takes pleasure in Jesus Christ and as much as it is possible, in the people in our lives.

http://ccbacsmallgroups.wordpress.com/2012/01/

Universality and Singularity

Date: January 1, 2012                   Scripture: Isaiah 45:22-25

Proposition: Christ’s salvation is found in Him alone, but offered universally.
Title: Universality and Singularity by Pastor Myron Heckman
(Click to Listen to the Sermon Audio or Right Click for “Save As” Download)
We’ve celebrated Christmas, with a crescendo of preparation and planning, decorating, shopping, cooking, gathering, eating, opening, and…returning. Now things are winding down – and today can feel like an aftermath, an anti-climax. It’s as if the flames have burned high, and now we have embers.
But we still have something to complete about Christmas – Christmas has consequences – wonderful consequences. It is our salvation to take hold of and live out.
We have a text today that tells us two important things about the salvation Christ brings. These are two things that give a great focus for our faith.
“ Look to Me, and be saved,
      All you ends of the earth!
      For I am God, and there is no other.
       23 I have sworn by Myself;
      The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
      And shall not return,
      That to Me every knee shall bow,
      Every tongue shall take an oath.
       24 He shall say,
      ‘ Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.
      To Him men shall come,
      And all shall be ashamed
      Who are incensed against Him.
       25 In the LORD all the descendants of Israel
      Shall be justified, and shall glory.’”
I) There are two rails upon which the train of God’s salvation runs.
We see them in this passage –
A) One rail is the singular way of salvation – it is in Yahweh God and in Him alone.
B) The second rail is the universal nature of the Gospel call –it is for all people, and for all the nations.
Let’s review these two rails that run through this text:
V 22 Look to me, and be saved – singularity (look to Me)
Salvation means deliverance. It’s deliverance from our just condemnation. It’s deliverance from the domain of Satan and death. It’s deliverance into the Kingdom of God.
All the ends of the earth! – universality. (all the ends)
For I am God, and there is no other. Singularity.
Vs 23 “I have sworn by myself” – God says, because there is no one else by whom He might take an oath. So He takes an oath in His own name.
“That to me” – singularity
Every knee shall bow, every tongue take an oath – universality. (every)
The themes continue on in vv 24-25
“Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength
To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him.”
The Lord is the dividing line for the destiny of all.
“In the Lord all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified, and shall glory.”
God has a particularity –“I am God and there is no other.”
And He has universality: “Look to me, all the ends of the earth.”
Those two declarations give a focus and a power to our lives, our faith and our message.
II) These two dynamics continue in the New Testament
A) The Christmas story told of both these truths.
The Christmas angel said to the shepherds:“I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.” Right from the start the idea was good news of deliverance to all people.
And the angel went on to say: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior.” There was a specific Savior born to us.
B) Jesus gave us the Great Commission – Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. It is not restricted by ethnicity, by sex, by age, by geography.
And He narrowed down the means of salvation in John 14:6, “I am the way the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except though me.”
C) The Book of Acts is a record of the Gospel breaking out of the confines of one ethnic group, the Jews, and being offered to all. God has mercy for the Gentiles, too.
That message brought an explosion of response among Gentiles.
But the Apostles also affirmed the way is Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
D) The New Testament ends in Revelation with the same dual dynamic:
Revelation 22:13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
Revelation 22:17 “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
This free offer is not to lose sight of God’s sovereignty, God who says:
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” But we do not presume to know how and why and when God chooses – we simply take what he says: Go and make disciples of all nations.
III) There are two major considerations in these two truths.
A) The universality of God’s salvation is not universalism, the belief that all will eventually be brought into heaven.
The Bible does not teach that – it teaches heaven and hell as eternal places. Everlasting places.
While universalism has enormous appeal to our sentiments, as evidenced by prominent evangelical pastor Rob Bell’s recent adoption of that doctrine, universalism does not have staying power. It will flourish for a time and then fade because it means that what happens in this life does not have ultimate meaning.
The “one per center” who bribed his way to riches and crushed the laborer uncaring under his feet – he’s going to heaven.
The “99 per center” who lied and cheated his way through life – he’s going.
The elite celebrity who mocked the ways of Jesus Christ and led millions in her path– she’ll make it eventually. The common woman who maintained respectability but whose goal was her own glory – she too will make it. What happens in this life affects only what is in this life. It is not of ultimate meaning. And that is the weakness of universalism.
But here we are talking about something different – universality. God is God for all the nations. For the whole earth. His claim is on all.
B) That the Gospel of salvation is in Jesus Christ alone is a controversy.
It is a singularity. That raises a controversy in the human heart, it is a scandal – “It’s too narrow, too bigoted, too arrogant”. Can this claim stand among the tall trees of the world’s religions? Can it stand against the prevailing modern philosophy of Rationalism – that is, that human intellect is the arbiter of all truth?
Why is salvation only in Jesus? It’s because Jesus is uniquely the Savior.
Only He died on the cross that we might be forgiven.
Only He rose from the dead that we too might rise to eternal life.
Who else has done that? No one!
Only He is the one and only Son of God and Son of Man.
He fully human, like you and me, but also fully God.
Who else is like that? No one!
And so in the name of Jesus Christians find their identity. The most basic belief of Christians is the belief in His name (I John 5:13)
We are baptized in His name, we gather in His name, we receive others in His name, we do mighty works in His name, we must be ready to be persecuted for His name’s sake.
One day every knee will bend at the name of Jesus.
And there is no better statement of the commitment we are to make that that which Peter gave on the day of Pentecost:
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. (Acts 2:26)
That is still our message today.
Your salvation is in Christ alone.
The old formulation of the Reformers stands – Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
And the word “alone” is crucial to the meaning. It is not simply salvation by grace though faith in Christ, but salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Application: This understanding of the universality and the singularity of salvation in Jesus Christ gives a focus and power to your own faith.
1) It is a focus for your own salvation:
The offer is to you.
You are not somehow outside the circle of God’s gracious offer.
You say you are not worthy? Of course you aren’t. No one is worthy.
But you are a “whoever” and the invitation extends to you.
And where do you find your salvation?
It is in Christ alone.
2) It is the focus of our mission –
The offer is to all- we send the message to all kinds of places – to our children, to our friends and family, to strangers we don’t know. We send it to Truro in our church plant sponsorship there and to Cana Segura in our church planting partnership there.
We are delighted to support and pray for and be interested in our Alliance missionaries in many countries, including in places that don’t welcome it.
This is a call to worldwide missions.
And the message of missions is always Jesus Christ as Savior.
One Savior, with an invitation to the world.