Born to Save Sinners

“The LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” –Genesis 39:21

Joseph was in Egypt, but not by choice. He was beaten by his brothers, thrown into a pit only to be pulled out of the pit to be sold into slavery. Yet, the Lord’s favor promised in dreams of his brothers kneeling before him remained on Joseph. He was appointed by his Egyptian master Potiphar to head the home, and his master prospered and had no worries under Joseph’s care.

Yet, Potiphar’s wife kept making sexual advances at the young, handsome Hebrew. Joseph remained faithful saying, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God” (Genesis 39:9)? The lustful woman kept advancing, one day trapping Joseph only to see him flee from evil. In the chaos, she held Joseph’s garment and deceived her husband into believing Joseph was the evil one. Potiphar then threw Joseph in the pit, though he did no wrong.

It is here Moses reminds us God’s steadfast love and favor remained on Joseph, and this time in the sight of the prison master. Moses inserts a short story about his brother Judah before returning to the Joseph narrative in Genesis 38, a chapter filled with sexual immorality. First, Judah took a Canaanite woman as a wife, something God prohibited. Then, Judah found a wife for his son named Tamar, who was widowed as both Judah’s sons were wicked and the Lord took their lives.

Tamar then dressed as a cult prostitute to seduce her father-in-law Judah, only to disappear with his belongings. When she was found to be pregnant, Judah judged her guilty and deserving death (Genesis 38:24). Yet, Tamar brought out Judah’s belongings which proved his culpability. It is here, Judah confessed Tamar to be more righteous than him, which in a way confesses his guilt and deserving more than death (vs 26).

Why does God’s Word tell us Joseph has God’s steadfast love and favor on him, yet he is imprisoned and suffers for sexual crimes he did not commit while Judah commits heinous sexual crimes, confesses guilt, and does not suffer as Joseph does? Read on, and we find Judah confessing he deserves punishment for his sin against Joseph (Genesis 44:16), only for Joseph to reconcile with his guilty brothers, draw them near to himself and tell them God sent Joseph ahead in suffering then exaltation to preserve their lives (Genesis 45:4-5). What the brothers meant for evil, God sovereignly meant for good (Genesis 50:20). By his sufferings, the brothers’ lives where preserved by God’s hand.

Think deeply what God is pointing us to in the favored Son Jesus Christ. He is perfectly righteous, yet treated as a great criminal. Suffering mockery and beatings. By His wounds we have inflicted on the Son of God, we sinners are healed. He suffered instead of us, and by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone we receive His benefits.

Think about the great evil of Judah and his brothers, plotting evil against their brother with intense jealousy. Jesus taught on this evil in His parable of the wicked tenants. The tenants were left the vineyard as the master went to the far country. Sending servants to receive his share, the tenants beat them all. Finally, the master sent his son, but the wicked tenants killed the son expecting to take his inheritance (Matthew 21:38).

Jacob, Joseph and the brothers’ father, passed away with a final request for Joseph to forgive his brothers all their sins (Genesis 50:17). On His cross, our Lord cried out, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). At Jacob’s funeral, Joseph gathered his brothers now forgiven and said not to fear twice, then a promise of good. He will provide for them.

Joseph was born to suffer, then be exalted to save his wicked brothers, all by God’s sovereign hand. Deeper still, the sinless Christ was born to save sinners as Joseph was told to name Him Jesus (Matthew 1:21), a saying trustworthy and deserving your full acceptance (I Timothy 1:15).

Dear sinner, think upon the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows. Jesus did this willingly. Christmas is the time we meditate on the Son of God taking on flesh, being rejected and despised, suffered and crucified as a criminal though He did not wrong, to save the wicked. Deeper than the weeping Joseph’s drawing his wicked brothers to himself with forgiveness, Jesus draws sinners to Himself to forgive us and reconcile us to our heavenly Father. Sinner, believe upon Christ and call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.

As Linus concluding in his reading of Luke 2, “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.”

This is what Christmas is all about. God sending His favored Son to suffer and die instead of you to save many, glorifying our God who is mighty to save.

Heavenly Father, as this season draws family and friends together, remind us why Jesus came into the world: to save sinners. A sinner like me. All praise be to our gracious God who placed our guilt on Christ and His righteousness on us that we may glorify our God and enjoy You forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Joy to the World

 “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice.” -Psalm 96:11

A popular song around Christmas time is Isaac Watts’ hymn, “Joy to the World.” Watts wrote this hymn regarding Christ’s second coming, which I do find appropriate to sing at a time remembering our Lord’s first advent. Watts writes, 

Joy to the World; the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King!

Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing.

The earth will receive her King when Jesus returns, and the heavens will be glad and the earth rejoice, as the Psalmist writes. We groan along with all creation until then (Romans 8:22). This groaning presses our faces to remain looking forward. No matter the levels of comforts and joys delighted in our brief time on earth, no matter the level of strides we make in maturing in Christ in our vapor-like lifetime, our deepest longings each day of our lives is for Jesus to return. For we assured by the rich mercies of our God that our Lord Jesus returns to us, His church, as Redeemer. 

Do you long for Christ’s return, to rejoice and to be glad with all of His Kingly rule in heaven and earth? His rule is as Prince of Peace, breaking the bow of war, crushing the rebellion of sin, and destroying sting of death forever. The history of redemption written by the sovereign hand of God is incomplete until Christ returns to finish His Kingdom. Let us wait we longing.

Isaac Watts’ hymn continues:

 

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love

The glories of His perfect righteousness, ruling the nations with His truth and grace, displays for eternity the wonders of His love. Beloved of Christ, remember this glorious truth today and always, no matter the anxieties and pains and joys of your brief life: our loving Bridegroom will return for us to redeem us to enjoy His presence forever.

Heavenly Father, my heart and flesh fail daily, stripping the motivations of obedience, growing weary in doing good. Forgive us, Lord. Strengthen us, Lord. Make us ready for our Savior’s return for His church that Your gospel goes to the nations that the heavens and all the earth rejoice. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our Worshipful Thanksgiving Together

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” –I Thessalonians 5:18

Thanksgiving is easy in those circumstances that meet our needs, or when people live up to standards we place upon them. The disciple of Jesus, however, is to have gratitude in ALL circumstances.

We gather each Sunday to sing songs making melody to the Lord with our heart (Ephesians5:20), yet these songs are filled with our thanksgiving to God (Ephesians5:21). Much like Psalm 69:30, “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving!”  Our grateful songs are to be a shared thanksgiving in all circumstances together.

What about those times our hearts feel low, or we just don’t feel joyful enough? We are tempted to use that to not attend Sunday services or, worse, to go and injure the church with our flaming tongues (James 3:6, 4:1). The temptation keeps us from God’s mercy, the very thing we need most. 

Grief and trouble comes in this life, and these things weigh heavy upon our hearts. I think the hymn writer Robert Robinson says it right, “tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” The prayer of a child to the Father, “Lord, my troubled heart feels low and troubled. Tune my heart to sing with the saints with a thankful heart.” We must be reminded of His rich mercy and goodness. We must hear the gospel. When we hear of the joys we wait for together, we rejoice with thanksgiving together.

Grumbling never builds up the church or encourages the faith; but thanksgiving in all circumstances magnifies the Lord. We can rejoice in God’s goodness, or we can complain about what did not meet our standards; either people or things. Paul told the church in Philippi whom he called “my joy and my crown” that he had learned to be satisfied in all circumstances (Philippians 4:10-13). If I am fully satisfied in Christ alone, I can rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians4:4) and let my thanksgiving and requests be made known to God (Philippians4:6).

When heavy hearts grumble or grieve, let us encourage joyful thanksgiving. When our own hearts need tuning to sing His praise, let us receive admonishment with gratitude before God. When we hear the call to worship, “O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3), let us resolve to enter Sunday morning with expectation to hear His gospel, tuning our hearts to rejoice, and magnify the name of God with thanksgiving together.

Heavenly Father, our hearts become burdened, pierced with griefs, or cold from our own pride. Help us to cast these weights aside, Lord. Tune our hearts to sing Your worthy praise, songs from the hearts of Your grateful people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What to do with negative people this year

Each New Year, we sing the old 18th Century Scottish poem for Hogmanay, "Auld Lang Syne" with these words:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?

This New Year has many people storming to social media with resolutions to keep negative people and negative vibes in 2016, resolved to keep 2017 positive and happy; resolved to forget old acquaintances. This type of self-righteous, judgmental thinking sounds so enticing to us. To think we deserve only comfort and positivity, and that negative people should be ignored and discarded is what our flesh desires, but it goes against walking in the Spirit.

Consider our Lord's words here: "If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" (Matthew 5:46). To only love those who give us positive vibes and positive thoughts is what worldly folks do. The Christian is to love differently than this broken world. We are commanded to love as Jesus loves.

In Matthew 22, our Lord gave a parable. There was once a great king whose son was getting married, so the king organized a great banquet. The king invited many to come to the banquet, but those who got the invite had other plans and refused to come. The king became angry and rejected the people who had turned down his invitation, calling them unworthy. The king sent his servants everywhere and invited everyone, both good and bad, positive and negative. The king's banquet hall was full.

Jesus came to a cold, broken world of sinners. Jesus saves "whosoever comes." Jesus knows our thoughts and our deeds, yet loves us anyway. He dined with sinners while the elites of this world only surrounded themselves with people they chose to make them feel good. The world calls this, "self love;" yet, it involves self-righteous hatred of others. This is how the Bible defines love: loving the unlovable with God's love to God's glory.

Jesus said that tax collectors (you know "bad people") only love those who love them. We are commanded to give the invite to the King's banquet to all (Matthew 28:19-20). There is not one person too ugly, too negative, too sinful to love with God's love. This does not mean accepting their sin, but to love and serve them despite their sin. God's grace has invited ugly, negative, hateful sinners like you and me to this banquet.

If Jesus took the world's advice and discarded negative people or anyone who gave negative vibes, you and I would have no hope. We need to be shown the way to eternal life, we ourselves need an invite to the king's banquet. So does everyone else! They will not know the way to enjoy God forever if we cast off and ignore people we don't like. My beloved, Jesus is the way.

Yes, unlovable people are hard to be around and serve and love and care for. I get that. I know my Savior was a suffering servant for me! But I also see in Matthew 22 that we need clothes to be in the king's banquet (Matthew 22:11-12). We ourselves don't get to come to the banquet just as we are. Whose perfect goodness am I clothed with? Jesus' righteousness alone. Same for all of those negative people out there. They, too, can enjoy God forever if they are clothed in Jesus' wedding garments.

We do not have the authority or the right to declare who is in our life, who we love and serve, who deserves to be around us. That is God's authority and right. Jesus has declared that our loving service and gospel call goes to ALL. To only allow positive people in our lives puts ourselves and our feelings at the center. To cast off negative people makes us the judge. A church that teaches this self-righteousness is unsalty salt.

Let us followers of Jesus be a city on a hill, a light for those in darkness to hear the invitation to the king's wedding banquet, to find sinners saved by grace who love and serve like Jesus. 

If you are reading this and you find God's love contradicting your view of love, but knowing full well that this condemns you as a hate-filled, judgmental, self-righteous, self-worshiping sinner, I have good news for you. Whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. Don't cast off negative vibes to feel good about yourself. That's a false peace. Cast off your thinking that you have the self-righteous authority to judge others and compare your goodness to the world. Seek the Lord while He is near. Jesus is Immanuel, "God with Us," and He is near. The "whoever" means you. Jesus invites you to the banquet, and He gives you the wedding clothes of His goodness. Jesus has proven this by taking your cross, dying your death, and defeating death by raising again.

God's Purpose in Christmas

Jesus said, "For this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." - John 12:27-28

Christmas time conjures up so many sentimental images and memories in our minds. A large family meal, red and green sweaters with little white snowflakes on them, and the family gathered in the living room to hear the Christmas story in Scripture. We hear of angels filling the sky singing to God’s glory. God is glorified in sending His Son Jesus into our world as an infant in humble settings on earth.

Jesus came to earth as an infant for God’s glorious purpose. Jesus explains in John 12 that His coming suffering and execution makes God look great: “Father, glorify Your name.” God is glorified in Jesus obeying God’s purpose in sending His Son into the world.

For what purpose did God send Jesus to suffer and die? How did this make God look great?

The Apostle Paul knew our heavenly Father’s purpose to send His Son: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” God is glorified, as the hymn “To God be the Glory” says, in Jesus saving “even the vilest offender.”

Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior, glorified God. Jesus was born for the purpose of the hour of His suffering and death to save sinners. God displays His greatness in saving sinners through Jesus, and by faith in Jesus we receive His peace on earth and goodwill; divine joy forevermore as children in God’s family.

So, as we gather with our families this Christmas, let us remember the purpose of Jesus’ birth: to glorify God by His suffering and death to save sinners that we receive the fullness of joy in God’s family, and life everlasting as Jesus defeated death by His resurrection. Just as the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending Jesus into our world, to bear our guilt and sin to the cross, to die our death. What glorious purpose, and what joy we receive in Your salvation! Glorify Your name in us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.