Pastoral Resources

The year was 1920. The scene was the examining board for selecting missionaries. Standing before the board was a young man named Oswald Smith. One dream dominated his heart. He wanted to be a missionary. Over and over again, he prayed, “Lord, I want to go as a missionary for you. Open a door of service for me.” Now, at last, his prayer would be answered. When the examination was over, the board turned Oswald Smith down. He did not meet their qualifications. He failed the test. Oswald Smith had set his direction, but now life gave him a detour. What would he do? As Oswald Smith prayed, God planted another idea in his heart. If he could not go as a missionary, he would build a church which could send out missionaries. And that is what he did. Oswald Smith pastored The People’s Church in Toronto, Canada, which sent out more missionaries than any other church at that time. Oswald Smith brought God into the situation, and God transformed his detour into a main thoroughfare of service.

Situation

Interpretation

Reference

Slave Market

World System

1 John 5:19

Slave Master

Satan

John 12:31

Slaves

Humanity

Ephesians 2:2-3

The Problem

Sin

Colossians 2:14

Highest Bidder

Jesus Christ

Hebrews 2:14-15

Ransom Price

Blood of Christ

1 Peter 1:18-19

One animal sacrifice

per man

Genesis 3

One sacrifice

per family

Exodus 12:3-14

One sacrifice

per nation

Tabernacle in wilderness, Day of atonement

One sacrifice

per world

John 1:29, Heb 10:1-14

Literally, “at-one-ment,” the making at one of those who have been separated. The word is used of Christ’s dying to bring God and sinners together. Sin had separated them (Isa. 59:2) and made them enemies (Col. 1:2); it was thus a very serious matter. A many-sided act was required to remove that sin; words like redemption and reconciliation bring out significant aspects of Christ’s saving work. Whatever had to be done about sin, Christ’s death did, and thus opened up salvation for sinners.

A theophany is a visible manifestation of God usually restricted to the Old Testament. God has appeared in dreams (Gen. 20:3-7; 28:12-17), visions (Gen. 15:1-21; Is. 6:1-13), as an angel (Gen. 16:7-13; 18:1-33).

There is a manifestation known as the Angel of the Lord (Judges 6:20 f.) and seems to have characteristics of God Himself (Gen. 16:7-9; 18:1-2; Ex. 3:2-6; Josh. 5:14; Judges 2:1-5; 6:11). Such characteristics as having the name of God, being worshiped, and recognized as God has led many scholars to conclude that the angel of the Lord is really Jesus manifested in the Old Testament. This does not mean that Jesus is an angel. The word “angel” means messenger.

Other scriptures that describe more vivid manifestations of God are Gen. 17:1; 18:1; Ex. 6:2-3; 24:9-11; Num. 12:6-8. For further information on theophanies see the Plurality Study.

A visible and sometimes physical manifestation of God in the Old Testament. Some examples of theophanies are found in Gen.17:1; 18:1; Ex. 6:2-3; 24:9-11; Num. 12:6-8. (See also Appearances of God in the Plurality Study.) I believe all physical appearances of God in the O.T. were really of the pre-incarnate Christ because no one has ever seen the Father (John 6:46).

What other gods could we have besides the Lord? Plenty. For Israel there were the Canaanite Baals, those jolly nature gods whose worship was a rampage of gluttony, drunkenness, and ritual prostitution. For us there are still the great gods Sex, Shekels, and Stomach (an unholy trinity constituting one god: self), and the other enslaving trio, Pleasure, Possessions, and Position, whose worship is described as “The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Football, the Firm, and Family are also gods for some. Indeed the list of other gods is endless, for anything that anyone allows to run his life becomes his god and the claimants for this prerogative are legion. In the matter of life’s basic loyalty, temptation is a many-headed monster.

Years ago, the Salvation Army was holding an international convention and their founder, Gen. William Booth, could not attend because of physical weakness. He cabled his convention message to them. It was one word: “OTHERS.”

If God has called you to be really like Jesus, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their success, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants you to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He may let others get the credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater then Jesus comes.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.

Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the loving God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

1. We are absolved from all charges Acts 13:39

2. We have a position Eph 2:6

3. We have redemption Rom 3:25

4. We have salvation Rom 5:10

5. We are chosen Eph 1:4

6. We are delivered Rom 8:1

7. We have an endowment Phil 4:19

8. We are filled Col 2:9-10

9. There is happiness Phil 3:3

10. There is grace 2 Tim 2:1

11. There is an inheritance Eph 1:11

12. There is justification Gal 2:16

13. There is a keeping Phil 4:7

14. There is life Rom 6:23

15. There is sanctification 1 Cor 1:2

16. There is nearness Eph 2:13

17. There is oneness Gal 3:28

18. There is acceptance Eph 1:7

19. There is completion Col 2:10

Where our Captain bids us go,

‘Tis not ours to murmur no;

He that gives the sword and shield

Chooses too the battlefield.

Where we are to fight the foe.

- Anonymous

When the apostle Paul wrote to Philippian Christians he was aware of how important their principle of re-creating a home in a foreign place was for them. Philippi was a colony of Rome—a part of the Roman commonwealth. This meant more than its being a subject city: Philippi was distinct from other cities in Macedonia in that it was made to be a model Roman city. In a colony one would find Roman customs, Roman architecture, Roman dress, and the prevailing language was Latin. It was, in a word, a fragment of Rome. If you were to walk into the city, you would have the feeling of entering an Italian suburb of Rome, even though it was nearly a thousand miles distant. So when Paul was writing those Philippian Christians, he knew they would understand him when he said, “Our commonwealth is in heaven.” (Phil. 3:20 RSV)

But there is an important difference between Paul’s calling Christians to be citizens of a heavenly commonwealth and the human tendency to make a home on foreign soil by imitating the customs of the homeland. The difference is simply that no matter how courageous and inventive our efforts, we Christians must never forget that this world is not home. There is a sense of alienation that must be taken into the heart of all experiences. Adaptation may be second nature, but it can also be the death of our first nature—that created in the image of God and then re-created by the grace of God in Christ.

There are Christians who, in effect, define righteousness by what they shun. They keep away from certain foods and drinks, from certain people, from certain places.

There certainly are occasions when Christians do well to keep their distance, but our Lord's emphasis was against that way of defining unrighteousness. He stressed one's internal attitude, regardless of the external surroundings: "What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness" (Mar 7:20-22).

It is convenient to focus on the sins of others; this keeps the spotlight away from oneself. And it is convenient to understand sin in terms of actions that can be physically avoided; one can thereby avoid disturbing thoughts about attitudes such as coveting, envy, and pride, which our Lord includes on his list of "evil things" right along with theft, murder, and adultery.

God everywhere shows a lot of concern about sin, and so should we. But it is the nature of sin to deceive us, even when we think we are being righteous. We must work at keeping our understandings and emphasis in line with what God has revealed.

We were in hopeless debt and Jesus paid the debt for us

Luke 7:41-50

Bank

We were slaves and Jesus came to the marketplace to redeem us from bondage

Eph. 1:7

Slave market

We were condemned criminals before the judgment seat of God and Jesus bore our penalty in order to set us free

Rom. 5:16

Law court

We were unclean Gentiles, excluded by our defilement of sin from the presence of God in the temple, and Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice to consecrate for us a way to the throne of mercy

Eph. 2:13-14

Temple

We were children in disgrace far from home and Jesus brought us back to the family circle

Eph. 2:18-19

Home

We were captives confined to the fortress of Satan and Jesus broke in to deliver us

Col. 2:15

Battlefield

Called by God to full-time Christian service, the man resigned a lucrative job, left a specialized career of 20 years, and took his family over 2,000 miles to a strange city to enter seminary.

He was able to obtain only part-time employment in his profession and his annual salary was barely one-third of what he had earned before God called him.

The costs of being in seminary and of keeping his two children in Christian elementary school became heavier and heavier. When things got too tight he stayed out a semester, but his children went to school. Finally, his wife, who had not worked since the first child was born, took a full-time job.

All the while the man's prayer was to share with God his heart's desire that he be given work in Christian service that would make ends meet while he went to school and served his Lord Jesus Christ.

Though he enjoyed many opportunities to preach and to minister without pay, full-time Christian work eluded him. He began to seek full-time employment at secular jobs, but he knew in his heart if he landed one that probably would be the end of seminary.

One day a series of unpredictable circumstances arose whereby in less than two weeks, without any effort on his part, the man was in a full-time job utilizing his specific talents, in full-time Christian service, and with an employer that insisted that he continue in seminary.

God faithfully prepares hearts in times of trial and temptation. And when His time is right, He delivers.

It is interesting that the Greek term for excellence is derived from the same root as the word meaning “to please.” There is a strong link between spiritual excellence and a desire to please God. The Lord Jesus always did what was pleasing to the Father (John 8:29). At the same time, He did not live selfishly, to please Himself (Rom. 15:3). His life was entirely determined by the will of God for Him, and doing that will, He found pleasure (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38) and pleased God.

The concept of pleasing God is especially important for the Apostle Paul. Indeed, it was the goal and controlling ambition of his life, for, as he writes to the church in Corinth, “We make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (2 Cor. 5:9, NIV). Only a believer indwelt by the Spirit can please God, for “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). A further prerequisite is faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him (God).” (Heb. 11:6). The ambition to please God determines a person’s commitment of life (Rom. 12:1; 2 Tim. 2:4), his daily walk (Col. 1:10; 1 Thes. 4:1), his spiritual priesthood (Heb. 13:15-16), and his relationships (Col. 3:20). The believer tests everything in life, “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5:10). A man who lives to please people by making their approval of more importance than God’s stands condemned (Gal. 1:10), as does an individual determined to please only himself, regardless of the impact on others (Rom. 15:1-3)

God's attention is attracted by our weakness. A mother responds in exactly the same way. She loves all her children, but if she has one who is weak and sickly, while the others are healthy and strong, her care and attention are lavished upon the one who has most need of her protection, most claim upon her love. Her other children are able to take care of themselves, but the little delicate one, whose life hangs almost by a thread, appeals by his very weakness to her strongest instincts of maternal love. So it is with our gracious Savior. He loves us, oh, so tenderly because of our very weakness.

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator;

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist;

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist;

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer;

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

If an angel from heaven suddenly became visible to you as you were sitting alone, what would your reaction be? An ancient saint admonished Christians in these words: "In every area ... in every corner, pay a respect to your angel. Dare not do before him what you dare not do before others. Consider with how great respect, awe, and modesty we ought to behave in the sight of the angels lest we offend their holy eyes and render ourselves unfit for their company. Woe to us if they who could chase away our enemy would be offended by our negligence and deprive us of their visit."

“Our guilt is great because our sins are exceedingly numerous. It is not merely outward acts of unkindness and dishonesty with which we are chargeable. Our habitual and characteristic state of mind is evil in the sight of God. “Our pride and indifference to His will and to the welfare of others and our loving the creature more than the Creator are continuous violations of His holy law. We have never been or done what that law requires us to be and to do. We have never had delight in that fixed purpose to do the will and promote the glory of God. We are always sinners; we are at all times and under all circumstances in opposition to God. “If we have never loved Him supremely, if we have never made it our purpose to do His will, if we have never made His glory the end of our actions, then our lives have been an unbroken series of transgressions. Our sins are not to be numbered by the conscious violations of duty; they are as numerous as the moments of our existence.”

1. a labor of love (I Thes. 1:3).

2. a labor not in vain (I Cor. 15:58).

3. a labor known by Christ (Rev. 2:2).

4. a labor God does not forget (Heb. 6:10).

5. a labor which is to be done together (I Cor. 3:9).

6. a labor for eternal things (Col. 1:28-9).

7. a labor which is to reward (I Cor. 3:8).

8. a labor done to be accepted by Him (II Cor. 5:9).

9. a labor which doesn’t have an end (Luke 10:2).

- Glen Pierpoint

He doesn’t calculate what you did in ‘78.It’s not even on the record. Sure, there are lots of reasons why God shouldn’t have called us. But if we are magically in love with Him, if we hunger for Him more than our next breath, He’ll use us in spite of who we are, where we’ve been, or what we look like I pray that as Christians, we will step out of our limitations into the illimitable nature of who God is. Then our passion for God and our passion to communicate Him will make mincemeat of our limitations.

A woman who had recently returned from a trip to Europe was asked if she had seen the Rhine in Germany. "Oh, yes," she gushed, "and the view from the top was magnificent!" In the same manner, some Christians claim to know more than they actually do or even more than it is possible for a believer to know, especially about heaven and the life to come. They fail to recognize how imperfect our knowledge is in this life, even of revealed truth. Then they wonder at the rejection of Christianity by so many thoughtful people who try to arrive at the truth of God by their unaided intellect and hence fail miserably to discover a Christ who is so far beyond their mind's grasp.

God reminds us of an ancient king sitting with his council, deliberating on high affairs of state involving the destiny of nations. Suddenly he hears the sorrowful cry of his little child who has fallen down and been frightened. He rises and runs to his relief, assuages his sorrows and relieves his fears. This was not an unkingly act. It was rather a natural one.

Many things must be hidden from a child, and the more sensitive he is the stricter the concealment. We are so timid and unschooled that God has to often place the shadow of His hand across our vision, just as the Alpine guide will blindfold a nervous traveler so that he may guide him unharmed across some terrifying chasm. Many of God's mysteries are things that He has hidden from us to the glory of His pity and gentleness. He has to guide us over a great many of the perilous places of life.

To many, Jesus Christ is only a grand subject for a painting, a heroic theme for a pen, a beautiful form for a statue, and a thought for a song; but to those who have heard His voice, who have felt His pardon, who have received His benediction, He is music, warmth, light, joy, hope and salvation, a Friend who never forsakes, who lifts us when others try to push us down. We cannot wear Him out; we pile on Him all our griefs and troubles. He is always ready to lift us; He addresses us with the same love; He beams upon us with the same smile; He pities us with the same compassion.

There is no name like His. It is more inspiring than Caesar's, more musical than Beethoven's, more patient than Lincoln's. The name of Jesus throbs with all life, weeps with all pathos, groans with all pains, stoops with all love. Its breath is laden with perfume.

Who like Jesus can pity a homeless orphan? Who like Jesus can welcome a prodigal back home? Who like Jesus can make a drunkard sober? Who like Jesus can illuminate a cemetery plowed with graves? Who like Jesus can make a queen unto God out of a lost woman of the street? Who like Jesus can catch the tears of human sorrow in His bowl?

There is no metaphor with which to truly express Jesus. He is not like the bursting forth of an orchestra; that is too loud and it may be out of tune. He is not like the sea when lashed into a rage by a storm; that is too boisterous. He is not like a mountain wreathed in lightning, canopied with snow; that is too solitary and remote.

He is the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, a gale of spices from heaven.

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

The obligation of God’s creation to give to Him all honor, praise, adoration, and glory due Him because He is the holy and divine creator. Worship is to be given to God only (Ex. 20:3; Matt. 4:10). Jesus, being God in flesh (John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9), was worshipped (Matt. 2:2,11; John 9:35-40; Heb. 1:6).

Dr. Robert E. Speer tells the story of an old sculptor who was cutting a figure that was to stand in a niche in the wall so that its back would never be seen, yet he was working with the same painstaking care on the back as on the front. Someone asked, "Why are you working on the back of that figure? No one will see it." "Ah," replied the sculptor, "God will always be looking upon it." "I am not sure," continues Dr. Speer, "that it is not on the obscurities of our lives that God looks, far more than on what we regard as our real life, upon which men look. What He looks at, after all, is what is back of the life." That is the heart.

Was obtained for us, at the cross Heb. 9:12

Was sent to us, in the gospel Psalm 111:9

Is known by us, in the present 1 Cor. 1:30

Will be accomplished in us, in the future Rom. 8:23

The 3-year old felt secure in his father’s arms as Dad stood in the middle of the pool. But Dad, for fun, began walking slowly toward the deep end, gently chanting, “Deeper and deeper and deeper,” as the water rose higher and higher on the child. The lad’s face registered increasing degrees of panic, as he held all the more tightly to his father, who, of course, easily touched the bottom. Had the little boy been able to analyze his situation, he’d have realized there was no reason for increased anxiety. The water’s depth in ANY part of the pool was over his head. Even in the shallowest part, had he not been held up, he’d have drowned. His safety anywhere in that pool depended on Dad. At various points in our lives, all of us feel we’re getting “out of our depth”—problems abound, a job is lost, someone dies. Our temptation is to panic, for we feel we’ve lost control. Yet, as with the child in the pool, the truth is we’ve never been in control over the most valuable things of life. We’ve always been held up by the grace of God, our Father, and that does not change. God is never out of his depth, and therefore we’re safe when we’re “going deeper” as we have ever been.

Scores of people lost their lives. The world’s mightiest army was forced to abandon a strategic base, property damage approached a billion dollars. All because the sleeping giant, Mount Pinatube in the Philippines, roared back to life after 600 years of quiet slumber.

When asked to account for the incredible destruction, caused by this volcano, a research scientist from the Philippine department of volcanology observed, “When a volcano is silent for many years, our people forget that it’s a volcano and begin to treat it like a mountain.

Like Mount Pinatube, our sinful nature always has the potential to erupt, bringing great harm both to ourselves and to others. The biggest mistake we can make is to ignore the volcano and move back onto what seems like a dormant “mountain.”

You have seen a cloud drifting across the pure blue of the sky, and as you watch it, it breaks up and disappears forever. You will never see that cloud again.

So God deals with your sins. You believe in His Son as your Lord and Savior. Then He blots out your transgressions just as He sweeps the cloud from your sight forever.

The Bible abounds in these assurances of utter removal of the penalty of sin from the child of God.

A beggar on the street sits asking for alms. Along comes a person who throws a quarter into the outstretched hand, and as he does, he is thinking, "You deserve what you are going through, but I'll help you anyway." Then comes another man who has no more to give than the first one, but says, "God certainly loves you, and your need gives me the opportunity of being a giver. I am not any better than you are, but I recognize it is more blessed to give than to receive. God's favor upon you may be as great as it is upon me. Our spiritual state cannot be measured by our temporal state of affairs."

We seldom weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves.

Those things that one cannot improve in himself or in others, he ought to endure patiently, until God arranges things otherwise. Nevertheless when you have such impediments, you ought to pray that God would help you, and that you may bear them kindly. Endeavor to be patient in bearing with the defects of others, whatever they are; for you also have many failings which must be borne by others. If you cannot make yourself be as you would like to be, how can you expect to have another person be to your liking in every way? We desire to have others perfect, and yet we do not correct our own faults. We would allow others to be severely corrected, and will not be corrected ourselves. We will have others kept under by strict laws, but in no case do we want to be restrained. And so it appears that we seldom weigh our neighbor in the same balance with ourselves.

The classic movie, A Christmas Story, is a nostalgic look at growing up in Gary, Indiana, through the eyes of a boy named Ralphy. One scene depicts a school recess in the middle of winter. Two boys surrounded by their classmates argue whether a person’s tongue will stick to a metal pole in below-freezing weather.

Eventually one of the boys succumbs to the infamous “triple-dog dare.” Hesitantly he sticks his tongue out and touches it to the school flagpole.

Sure enough, it gets stuck. The recess bell rings. Everyone runs into the school building, everyone except the hapless victim. When the teacher finally looks out the window, she sees the boy writhing in pain, his tongue frozen to the flagpole.

While few of us have been in that predicament, we all know what it’s like to have our tongues get us in trouble. When we suffer the pain that eventually recoils upon everyone who speaks boastful words, lying words, bitter and cruel words, hypocritical or doubting words, we learn the truth of the proverb, “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity” (Prov. 21:23).

A pilot was having trouble bringing his plane down to land. From the control tower, he was given instructions. "But there is a pole there," he objected. The answer came back, "You take care of the instructions; we will take care of the obstructions."

So with the child of God. In the Word, he or she has God's instructions. God will take care of the obstructions. It is ours to obey the instructions from God's Word.

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose. And it’s an unreliable guide to the future. What seems the perfect business plan or latest technology today may soon be as out-of-date as the eight-track tape player, the vacuum-tube television or the mainframe computer.

There was a story told me while I was in Philadelphia, by Capt. Trumbull. He said when he was in Libby prison the news came that his wife was in Washington, and his little child was dying: and the next news that came was that his child was dead, and the mother remained in Washington in hopes that her husband could come with her and take that child off to New England and bury it; but that was the last he heard. One day the news came into the prison that there was a boat up from City Point, and there were over nine hundred men in the prison rejoicing at once. They expected to get good news. Then came the news that there was only one man in that whole number that was to be let go, and they all began to say, "Who is it?" It was some one who had some influential friend at Washington that had persuaded the government to take an interest in him and get him out. The whole prison was excited. At last an officer came and shouted at the top of his voice, "Henry Clay Trumbull!" The chaplain told me his name never sounded so sweet to him as it did that day. That was election, but you can't find any Henry Clay Trumbull in the Bible. There is no special case in the Bible. God's proclamations are to all sinners. Everybody can get out of prison that wants to. The trouble is, they don't want to go. They had rather be captives to some darling sin.

A husband and wife didn’t really love each other. The man was very demanding, so much so that he prepared a list of rules and regulations for his wife to follow. He insisted that she read them over every day and obey them to the letter. Among other things, his “do’s and don’ts” indicated such details as what time she had to get up in the morning, when his breakfast should be served, and how the housework should be done.

After several long years, the husband died. As time passed, the woman fell in love with another man, one who dearly loved her. Soon they were married. This husband did everything he could to make his new wife happy, continually showering her with tokens of his appreciation. One day as she was cleaning house, she found tucked away in a drawer the list of commands her first husband had drawn up for her. As she looked it over, it dawned on her that even though her present husband hadn’t given her any kind of list, she was doing everything her first husband’s list required anyway. She realized she was so devoted to this man that her deepest desire was to please him out of love, not obligation.

John L. Swigert, Jr., the Apollo 13 astronaut who went to the moon in 1970, recalls how his job almost interfered with filing his federal income-tax forms: “On the second day of Apollo 13, April 12, I asked Mission Control to begin work to get me an extension of the filing date for my income tax. Since I had been a last-minute substitution on the Apollo 13 flight, things had moved so fast that I didn’t have a chance to file my return.”

The IRS didn’t have to make a special ruling to grant Swigert a two-month extension because of his I’m-on-my-way-to-the-moon excuse, though. There was already a regulation that provided an automatic extension for anyone out of the country.

Out of the dark forbidding soil

The pure white lilies grow.

Out of the black and murky clouds,

Descends the stainless snow.

Out of the crawling earth-bound worm

A butterfly is born.

Out of the somber shrouded night,

Behold! A golden morn!

Out of the pain and stress of life,

The peace of God pours down.

Out of the nails—the spear—the cross,

Redemption—and a crown!

Some years ago, musicians noted that errand boys in a certain part of London all whistled out of tune as they went about their work. It was talked about and someone suggested that it was because the bells of Westminster were slightly out of tune. Something had gone wrong with the chimes and they were discordant. The boys did not know there was anything wrong with the peals, and quite unconsciously they had copied their pitch.

So we tend to copy the people with whom we associate; we borrow thoughts from the books we read and the programs to which we listen, almost without knowing it.

God has given us His Word which is the absolute pitch of life and living. If we learn to sing by it, we shall easily detect the false in all of the music of the world.

I. Background

A. Others....believe in a literal return of Christ. But there will be no literal millennium. Millennial passages apply to the present reign of the Lord over his own or to the eternal state in the new heavens and earth. The conclusion of this present evil age will feature Christ’s return, the resurrection of all men and one final judgment. (Amillennialists)

B. Christ literally returns to earth after a long period of peace brought to pass by the success of missionary efforts. As Christians continue to preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, the great majority of people in the world will be Christianized. Peace naturally follows this universal acknowledgment of Christ’s lordship. Following the millennium will be Christ’s return, the resurrection of all men and the final judgment. (Postmillennialists)

C. Some anticipate Christ’s literal return before his literal rule over all the earth. Only the Jewish aspects of the millennium are figurative, for at his first coming Christ forever abolished the distinction between Jew and Gentile. Israel may be converted, but is not prominent. Christ’s present headship of the church and his coming rule of the nations are very similar. At his return the just are raised and judged. Only after the millennium will the wicked be raised and judged. (Historic premillennialists)

D. Others take literally, not only Christ’s return and subsequent reign, but also the prominence of Jewish aspects in his kingdom. These expect a restored Jewish nation with its twelve tribes, Christ ruling on the throne of David at Jerusalem, the fulfillment of blessings promised to Israel in the Old Testament and the reinstatement of worship by sacrifices. Christ’s present headship of the church and his coming rule of the nations are very different. As in historic premillennialism there is not one general resurrection and judgment, but two separated by the 1000 year reign of Christ. (Dispensational premillennialists)

E. A third type of premillennialism combines elements of the other two. Christ now reigns in the lives of those who recognize him as Lord and he will literally return to earth prior to the millennium. In agreement with historical premillennialists, Christ’s 1000 year reign will continue the spiritual oneness of Jew and Gentile in Christ. Spiritually, Christ’s present and future Lordship are similar. But in agreement with dispensational premillennialists, Christ’s 1000 year reign is administered outwardly, not like a church with pastors and deacons, but like the Jewish nation with its king. Christ’s present and future rules are quite different institutionally. The prominence of Israel is merely functional. (Some recent premillennialists)

II. Problem

Which view of Christ’s kingdom expresses the teaching of the greatest amount of Scripture with the fewest difficulties? (To be answered in IV only after examining the evidence in III)

III. Procedure

Subject these issues to the scriptural norm.

A. Is there any sense in which Christ’s redemptive kingdom is already realized in the hearts and lives of believers? (Jn. 3:3-7; Acts 28:23, 31; Col. 1:13; Acts 19:8; Rom. 14:17; Summarize.)

B. Is there also a future sense of Christ’s kingdom which is not yet realized throughout the earth? (Isa. 11:9; Ps. 22:27; Rev. 20:4; Jer. 31:34; Mal. 1:11; Summarize.)

C. Is the future rule of Christ identical with the eternal state after the creation of the new heavens and earth? Or is the millennial reign (Rev. 20:1-4) on this present earth and prior to the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21:1)? Are Revelation 20 and 21 in chronological order? (Ps. 22:27; Zech. 14:9; Isa. 11:9; Summarize.)

D. Will Christ come after the church has Christianized the majority of people in the world? Or when Christ returns will unbelief and rebellion be prominent? (Mt. 24:3-31; Lk. 18:8; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Pet. 3:3-4; Rev. 19:11-16; Mt. 24:37-39; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Summarize.)

E. If the millennium is not begun by the Christianization of the world, is it initiated by Christ’s prior personal return? Does the return of Christ (Rev. 19:11-21) precede the millennial reign (Rev. 20:1-6)? (Zech. 14:1-11; Acts 3:19-21; Rev. 19:11-20:7; Jer. 23:5-6; Rom. 11:25-26; Summarize.)

F. Do others reign with Christ? (Lk. 22:28-30; 1 Cor. 6:2-3; 2 Tim. 2:11-12; Rev. 5:10; Summarize.

G. Are two distinct resurrections separated by the 1000 year reign? (Lk. 14:14; Lk. 20:35-36*; Phil. 3:11*; Rev. 20:4-5; Acts 4:2; Summarize.

H. Are Jew and Gentile one in Christ so that no spiritual distinction could be maintained between them during the millennium? (Rom. 10:12; Col. 3:11; Gal. 3:28).

I. Are animal sacrifices forever done away by the one sacrifice of Christ? (Heb. 9:28-10:14).

J. Is Israel as a literal nation, however, to enjoy a restoration as an instrument of God to bring even greater blessing to the world? (Does the spiritual unity of male and female, Gal. 3:28, exclude the husband’s distinctive role as head of the wife, Eph. 5:23?) (Mic. 3:8-4:4; Rom. 11:11-12, 15; Lk. 22:29-30; Zech. 14:2, 4, 11; Acts 1:6; Rom. 11:25-26; Lk. 1:32-33; Summarize.

K. Write out and memorize Rev. 20:4-5.

IV. Your Conclusion

Explain your view of scriptural teaching on Christ’s return to rule the world in peace.

V. Significance

A. If Christians cannot really hope to convert the whole world, have they any less responsibility to preach the gospel to every creature?

B. Although universal peace may not be permanent until Jesus returns, should Christians fail to pray and work for it?

C. Would a millennium of peace with justice on this earth be a fitting climax to God’s purposes in the world and an appropriate transition (gateway) to the eternal state?

A person on railroad tracks hear a train approaching, looks behind him, sees the train and then freezes on the tracks in fear. The train “outruns” its sound—which means that by the time you hear it, it is virtually on top on you. If a train engineer sees you on a track, he or she will blow the whistle. Often it takes more than one blast to get the average person’s attention, say train engineers. But trains can’t stop the way motor vehicles can. A freight train has about 100 cars, weights 12 million pounds, and takes a full mile to stop. An optical illusion happens with tracks. When you see a train coming, it looks as if it is traveling half as fast, and is two times farther away from you than it really is. For example, if it is going 60 miles per hour and is half a mile away, it looks as if it is traveling 30 mph and is one mile away.

Dwight L. Moody once saw a man freezing to death on the street in Chicago. Moody could not just talk this man into warmth. He pounded him with his fist and got him really angry. The man began to pound back and then got up and ran after Moody. That got his blood circulating and saved his life. Our loud and outspoken witnessing may make people angry, but at least it may awaken them from their spiritual stupor.

Anyone who has ever taught or attempted to lead others knows the tendency in all of us toward exaggerating our depth of character while treating leniently our flaws. The Bible calls this tendency hypocrisy. We consciously or subconsciously put forward a better image of ourselves than really exists. The outward appearance of our character and the inner reality (that only God, we, and perhaps our family members know) do not match.

Money magazine reported in its January 1997 issue that a group of people were asked which is longer, the Panama Canal or the Suez Canal, and then asked how certain they were that their answer was correct. Among those who were 60% certain, 50% of them got the answer right—meaning that this group was 10% too sure. But among those who were 90% certain, only 65% got the answer right, meaning that this group was 25% too sure.

Apparently, according to this reported study, the more convinced we are of our knowledge, the bigger the gap between what we actually know and what we think we know. Such overconfidence leads to an illusion of control. As we overestimate the value of our own skills and knowledge, it leads us to make mistakes.

One of the hardest challenges for people is to accept just how little they really know. An example of overestimated knowledge took place a few years ago when a Spanish national lottery winner was asked how he selected the ticket number. He answered that he was positive his lucky number ended in 48—because, he said, “I dreamed of the number seven for seven straight nights. And seven times seven is 48.”

Only a few years before she became the toast of the international literary community with her best-selling book The Shipping News, writer E. Annie Proulx was virtually unknown. She did not publish her first book of fiction until she was in her early fifties.

“I certainly don’t regret becoming a writer later because I know a lot more about life than I did 20 years ago, ten years ago,” she says. “I think it’s important to know how the water’s gone ever the dam before you start to describe it. It helps to have been over the dam yourself.”

Quoted in Current Biography, Reader’s Digest, January, 1996, p. 97.

Two pals are sitting in a pub watching the eleven-o’clock news. A report comes on about a man threatening to jump from the 20th floor of a downtown building. One friend turns to the other and says, “I’ll bet you ten bucks the guy doesn’t jump.”

“It’s a bet,” agrees his buddy.

A few minutes later, the man on the ledge jumps, so the loser hands his pal a $10 bill. “I can’t take your money,” his friend admits. “I saw him jump earlier on the six-o’clock news.”

“Me, too,” say the other buddy. “But I didn’t think he’d do it again!”

A philosopher said: "I was walking in a garden when I saw a tree whose branches were so loaded with fruit that they bowed down to the earth. Some of them broke under the heavy weight. 'Poor tree!' I thought. 'Here's one who was destroyed by the overabundance of his success.' " He continued his walk and saw a shepherd at whose feet lay a dead sheep. A wild dog had killed it. All the other sheep had run into the fold and were safe. They had managed to get through a hole in the fence. But the sheep that was killed couldn't get through because it was too fat, and the dog jumped on it. And the philosopher thought, "Another life destroyed by an overabundance of blessings." The philosopher went on until he met a man hobbling along on two wooden legs with the aid of two canes. "Tell me, sir, how did you lose your legs?" asked the philosopher. "I'll tell you. In my youth I served in the army. Some of my fellow soldiers and I attacked the enemy and put them to flight. Then we began helping ourselves to the loot. My comrades just grabbed a few things and left quickly. But I wanted to take as much as I could carry. Meanwhile the enemy overtook us. My friends escaped, but I was so heavily loaded down I couldn't run fast, and I was wounded. I escaped with my life, but I lost my legs." "Indeed," said the philosopher, "success, riches and greed can all equally destroy."

It's possible. Dr. Ralph Minear, of the pediatrics department at Harvard Medical School, thinks we modern parents have gone overboard with most everything else. In his book Kids Who Have Too Much, he warns, "A social epidemic is endangering the physical and emotional health of our country's children. 'Affluenza,'the Rich Kids Syndrome, attacks not only the children of the wealthy but also those of middle-class and low-income families. Parents are pressuring their children into becoming over-achievers, while giving them excessive amounts of freedom, money, food, information and protection."

But is there a way to affirm our children without overdosing them on overblown accolades? Here are five "don'ts" to guide us:

Don't praise the kids for routinely taking care of the everyday necessities of life.

Don't praise the kids in extravagant terms for average achievements.

You don't have to provide opportunities for your kids to do everything.

Don't console the kids when what they need is challenge.

Don't take responsibility for things that aren't a parent's responsibility.

1. Johnny Fulton was run over by a car at the age of three. He suffered crushed hips, broken ribs, a fractured skull, and compound fractures in his legs. It did not look as if he would live. But he would not give up. In fact, he later ran the half-mile in less than two minutes.

2. Walt Davis was totally paralyzed by polio when he was nine years old, but he did not give up. He became the Olympic high jump champion in 1952.

3. Shelly Mann was paralyzed by polio when she was five years old, but she would not give up. She eventually claimed eight different swimming records for the U.S. and won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

4. In 1938, Karoly Takacs, a member of Hungary’s world-champion pistol shooting team and sergeant in the army, lost his right hand when a grenade he was holding exploded. But Takacs did not give. up. He learned to shoot left-handed and won gold medals in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.

5. Lou Gehrig was such a clumsy ball player that the boys in his neighborhood would not let him play on their team. But he was committed. He did not give up. Eventually, his name was entered into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

6. Woodrow Wilson could not read until he was ten years old. But he was a committed person. He became the twenty-eighth President of the United States.

7. At the age of seven, he had to go to work to help support his family. At nine, his mother died. At twenty-two, he lost his job as a store clerk. At twenty-three, he went into debt and became a partner in a small store. At twenty-six, his partner died leaving him a huge debt. By the age of thirty-five, he had been defeated twice when running for a seat in Congress. At the age of thirty-seven, he won the election. At thirty-nine, he lost his reelection bid. At forty-one, his four-year-old son died. At forty-two, he was rejected for a land officer role. At forty-five, he ran for the Senate and lost. At forty-seven, he was defeated for the nomination for Vice President. At forty-nine, he ran for Senate again and lost again. At the age of fifty-one, he was elected President of the United States. During his second term of office, he was assassinated. But his name lives on among the greats in U.S. history--Abraham Lincoln.

Those who heard Jenny Lind, the sweet singer of Stockholm, have written of the wonderful quality of her voice and the charm of the songs she sang. Yet few realize that she owed as much to the school of suffering and sorrow as to the academy where her powers were developed. Her childhood was full of sadness. The woman with whom she lived locked her in her room each day when she went to work; the only means the child found of spending the long hours was to sit by the window and sing to herself. One day a music teacher in the city passing by heard the voice of the unseen singer and detected its possibilities. He called a friend to his side, and together they listened to the wonderful voice within. They got in touch with the child's guardian and made arrangements for the almost friendless girl to be given her chance. There were many difficulties to be overcome, but step by step she mounted the ladder of fame. She astounded London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and New York. Some say there never was such a voice, trilling like the thrush, pure as the note of the lark. But those who knew her best realized how the sorrows of her childhood gave a richness and depth to her song that otherwise would have been unattainable. She herself once wrote:

In vain I seek for rest

In all created good:

It leaves me still unblest,

And makes me cry for God.

And safe at rest I cannot be

Until my heart finds rest in Thee.

Dr. F. B. Meyer told the following experience to a few personal friends: "It was easy," he said, "to pray for the success of Campbell Morgan when he was in America, but when he came back to England and took a church near to mine, it was somewhat different. The old Adam in me was inclined to jealousy, but I got my heel upon his head, and whether I felt right toward my friend or not, I determined to act right. "My church gave a reception for him, and I acknowledged if it was not necessary for me to preach Sunday evenings, I would dearly love to go and hear him myself. Well, that made me feel right toward him. Just see how the dear Lord helped me out of my difficulty. There was Charles Spurgeon preaching wonderfully on the other side of me. He and Mr. Morgan were so popular and drew such crowds that our church caught the overflow, and we had all we could accommodate."

A man in a responsible position, entrusted with large sums of money, was tempted one day to put some of the cash into his own account. He knew that it would be a long time before his theft could be discovered. He resisted the temptation but felt that he must tell somebody the anguish of mind through which he had passed. He went, therefore, to the man who had occupied the position before him, told him all about the temptation, and how he had almost fallen. To his surprise, the man did not reprove him but put his hand on his shoulder in a fatherly sort of way. "I know exactly how you felt," he said quietly. "I went through it all myself when I occupied your position." It was, of course, humiliating for both of these men to admit the temptation of the heart, although it did not result in a crime. Realizing that whatever victories we score, we do so merely by the grace of God, how hesitant we should be to criticize others who may have allowed sins of the thought and will to materialize a little more than we have ourselves. Let us not, therefore, speak evil of our brethren, even in our minds, even to ourselves.

A research psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health was convinced he could prove his theory from a cage full of mice. His name? Dr. John Calhoun. His theory? Overcrowded conditions take a terrible toll on humanity. Dr. Calhoun built a nine-foot square cage for selected mice. He observed them closely as their population grew. He started with eight mice. The cage was designed to contain comfortably a population of 160. He allowed the mice to grow, however, to a population of 2200. They were not deprived of any of life’s necessities except privacy—no time or space to be all alone. Food, water, and other resources were always clean and in abundance. A pleasant temperature was maintained. No disease was present. All mortality factors (except aging) were eliminated. The cage, except for its overcrowded condition, was ideal for the mice. The population reached its peak at 2200 after about two-and-a-half years. Since there was no way for the mice to physically escape from their closed environment, Dr. Calhoun was especially interested in how they would handle themselves in that overcrowded cage. Interestingly, as the population reached its peak, the colony of mice began to disintegrate. Strange stuff started happening. Dr. Calhoun made these observations:

1. Adults formed natural groups of about a dozen individual mice.

2. In each group each adult mouse performed a particular social role…but there were no roles in which to place the healthy young mice, which totally disrupted the whole society.

3. The males who had protected their territory withdrew from leadership.

4. The females became aggressive and forced out the young…even their own offspring.

The young grew to be only self-indulgent. They ate, drank, slept, groomed themselves, but showed no normal aggression and, most noteworthy, failed to reproduce. After five years, very mouse had died. This occurred despite the fact that right up to the end there was plenty of food, water, and an absence of disease. After the research psychologist reported on his experiment, a couple of significant questions arose.

Q: “What were the first activities to cease?”

A: “The most complex activities for mice: courtship and mating.”

Q: What results would such overcrowding have on humanity?”

A: We would first of all cease to reproduce our ideas, and along with ideas, our goals and ideals. In other words, our values would be lost.”

In her memoir of a truly dysfunctional family, The Liar’s Club, Mary Karr tells of a Texas uncle who remained married to his wife but did not speak to her for forty years after a fight over how much money she spent on sugar. One day he took out a lumber saw and sawed their house exactly in half. He nailed up planks to cover the raw sides and moved one of the halves behind a copse of scruffy pines trees on the same acre of ground. There the two, husband and wife, lived out the rest of their days in separate half-houses.

Church attendance makes little difference in people’s ethical views and behavior with respect to lying, cheating, pilferage, and not reporting theft. For example, equal proportions of churched and unchurched admit to overstating income on tax forms.

We accompanied our son and his fiancee’ when they met with her priest to sign some pre-wedding ceremony papers. While filling out the form, our son read aloud a few questions. When he got to the last one, which read: “Are you entering this marriage at your own will?” he looked over at his fiancee. “Put down ‘Yes,’” she said.

Compare Deuteronomy 22:9-11

Principle - What God has joined, we must not separate. What God has separated, we must not join.

Unequal yoking is:

1. Unfitting - Different in size, temperament, strength. Ox clean, Ass unclean.

2. Unfair - Both would suffer pain, discomfort.

A poor working combination.