Tuesday, April 16, 2013

When the Sermon is 'Over Your Head'



“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”
2 Timothy 2:7

Sometimes pastors are told not to preach sermons that are ‘over the heads’ of the people.  This advice is only partially true.  Certainly pastors should seek to preach plainly to their people (Colossians 4:4) and speak to them according to their varying spiritual conditions (1 Thessalonians 5:14).  And it is certainly the case that pastors should not make their sermons so academic and intellectual that the average Christian in the congregation cannot understand (1 Corinthians 2:1, 4).  And it is without question that pastors must give milk to those who are babes in Christ and give solid food to the mature (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).  The problem is that congregations are mixed assemblies.  Both believers and unbelievers are present, as well as both spiritual infants and adults.  So if pastors always address the lowest common denominator, they will spiritually starve those who are growing in their faith and moving on to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1).  In point of fact, if pastors seek to ensure that they never preach a sermon ‘over the head’ of anyone, then their sermons will become very shallow indeed!  Since unbelievers are present in the congregation, should we preach only evangelistic sermons?  Surely not!  We should also expose the problem that acting on this principle would pose for preaching expositionally through books of the Bible.  God has diversified his revelation so that we encounter both milk and meat in his Word.  What shall preachers do when they come to texts that contain subjects and themes that are ‘above the heads’ of the spiritual infants in the congregation?  Should they ignore those themes and not preach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27)?  Of course not!  So we can see how foolish this advice can be if it is taken to mean that preachers should never preach a sermon that might be over the heads of some of those present in the congregation.  What I am concerned about in this post, however, is how Christians should respond to sermons when they conclude that the sermon is ‘over their head.’  For I am convinced that many Christians will inevitably come to that conclusion in the context of a healthy preaching ministry, and I am equally convinced that Christians often respond to this reality in unhealthy ways.  So here are some pointers. 

First of all, if you are listening to a sermon and come to the conclusion that it is ‘over your head,’ please do not get discouraged.  The pastor must preach to all levels of spiritual maturity, and if you are a new Christian or have only been a Christian for a short period of time, then it only stands to reason that some of the subjects he addresses will be new to your understanding and may seem ‘over your head.’  This does not necessarily mean that you are sinning in some way.  Spiritual infancy is a natural stage of a Christian’s development.  A baby is doing nothing wrong when it does not understand a mother’s instructions.  Of course, encountering a sermon that is over your head could mean that you are sinning.  It would mean that you are sinning if you do not understand it because you have been forsaking the assembly or not reading your Bible on a regular basis.  It should come as no surprise to you that you do not understand the preaching of the Bible if you only read the Bible on Sundays.  The Bible is God’s Word and our food.  We need to read it prayerfully and carefully every day in order to profit from the preaching of it.  When it comes to the preaching God’s Word, the pastor has a responsibility to make it as clear as he possibly can, and God will hold him accountable for that.  But we must not forget that the listener has a responsibility.  The listener must be preparing for the message by reading the Word, praying for understanding, and keeping free from all distraction during the delivery of the sermon.  Understanding what we are to believe about God and what duty he requires of us does not happen automatically and effortlessly.  We must keep our minds and hearts engaged in order to benefit from the sermon. 

Secondly, if you conclude that the sermon is ‘over your head,’ do not give up.  Many Christians have never been rebuked for their intellectual laziness.  For some reason it is easy for us to recognize physical laziness, but we easily overlook intellectual and spiritual laziness.  Sometimes we simply need to confess that we lack the mental discipline to attend to the Word.  Again, I am not detracting from the fact that God made every person different and that he made some people smarter than others.  But God calls every Christian to use the mind that he has given him to understand his truth.  God blesses us when we think through what he has revealed.  “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7).  We may not understand everything all at once, but we ought not to get discouraged by that.  And in our feelings of defeat, we ought not to give up pursuing the truth to the best of our ability with the help of the Holy Spirit.  When Christians do not understand a sermon, they can get frustrated or anxious or apathetic.  But this is not the response that we should have as disciples of Christ.  We should write down our questions and confusions and seek clarity.  We might ask the pastor for other passages of Scripture that might help us or other Christian books that we might read or other sermons we might hear.  The key is not to give up.  Even in a sermon that is tremendously deep, most pastors will include something in the sermon for every level of listener.  So listen diligently for something that you do understand and cling to that.  Do not worry that you may not understand everything; give thanks that you understand something.  Over time your spiritual wisdom and understanding will grow.

Thirdly, if the sermon is over your head, do not assume that the pastor is doing something wrong.  He may in fact be doing something wrong.  He has a responsibility before God to preach plainly and clearly and according to the different levels of the people.  He may be trying to be too academic.  He may be speaking in terms that only seminarians would understand.  He may be making intellectual assumptions of the people that are not true.  All of this requires prayer and care on the part of the preacher.  After all, he wants to be understood.  At the same time, it only stands to reason that at least some of his sermons, or some parts of his sermons, will be ‘over the heads’ of unbelievers and even spiritually immature believers.        

Fourthly, when you come to the conclusion that the sermon is over your head, seek out mature believers to help you understand the things of God more accurately.  Preachers are more than willing to answer questions about what they have preached or taught.  Other more mature Christians may be able to explain what was confusing to you.  The value of living in community is that we can assist each other in deepening our understanding of God’s truth.  “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).    

Spiritual growth begins when we recognize our poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:3).  This means that we must begin by acknowledging how much we do not know about God and his will for our lives.  When we come to God’s Word humbly confessing that we are ignorant of his truth, he will bless us with a deeper understanding throughout time.  We should not delude ourselves that it will happen overnight.  Nor should we give up and consign ourselves to failure, falsely thinking that we shall never move from milk to meat.  We should be patient as we develop and allow the Holy Spirit to continue his work in us by and with his Word in our hearts.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

More Resources on Revelation

     As we near the end of our study of the book of the Revelation at Grace PCA, I want to provide a few more helpful resources on the subject of the Millennium from Revelation 20.  Previously, I have provided Revelation resources here

     Here are some links to a series of excellent articles on Amillennialism by Dr. Cornelis P. Venema:    

The Millennium is Now

The Binding of Satan

The Believer's Reign with Christ

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Show Us the Father

“Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.’”  John 14:8-11

          Philip’s request represents the desire of every true believer in God.  “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”  Yet, at the same time, when this request is addressed to God incarnate, it is a case in missing the point.  Jesus responds, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”  Philip should have known that the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily (Colossians 2:9) and that although no one has ever seen God, he is the only God, who is at the Father’s side, who has made him known (John 1:18).  Jesus continues: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?”  Theologians call this reality the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son.  The oneness of the Father and Son does not obscure the distinction of their persons but highlights the union of their essence.  The Father and Son are one God; so they mutually indwell one another with regard to the union of nature between them.  To see the Son is to see the Father in the sense that they share the same divine essence.  Jesus is the invisible God made visible.  He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), the Word made flesh (John 1:14). 

          Jesus teaches his disciples that both his words and his works testify to his oneness with God the Father.  Verse 10b is key:  “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”  God the Father speaks through God the Son and confirms his own words with his supernatural works.  His miraculous works authenticated the divine origin of his message.  Although it is best to take the words of Jesus at face value, Jesus says, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (v. 11).  The works should strengthen our faith that the words of Jesus are the words of God.  This is why the miracles of Jesus are called “signs” in the Gospel of John.  They signify that Jesus is God’s Son and the source of eternal life.  John 20:30-31 says, “Now Jesus did many signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  Jesus shows us the Father.  If we want to know God the Father, then we must only look at Jesus Christ who makes him known to us.  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, who he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  This message of salvation “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:3-4). 

          The only way to a deeper knowledge and communion with God the Father is through God the Son.  We sing, “O come to the Father through Jesus the Son!”  If our hearts say, “Show us the Father,” let us look to Jesus who is revealed to us in the Scriptures.  We have sure and certain knowledge of God the Father in him for the Father is in him and he is in the Father.  To see him is to see the Father.  There is no more of the Father to be found outside of the Lord Jesus.  May God open the eyes of our hearts to see the true revelation of God the Father in the Lord Jesus who remains a distinct person from the Father yet shares in his same single and undivided divine essence!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

When Jesus Opens Our Eyes

Here is my sermon manuscript from this past Sunday.  The sermon text was Luke 24:13-35 where the risen Jesus appears to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  

Sometimes we cannot see what is directly in front of us.  This often happens when we misplace our car keys.  We look on the kitchen table and do not see them.  So then we go searching on night stands, coffee tables, and perhaps even underneath the couch.  Later we realize that the keys were on the kitchen table all along.  We had overlooked them.  Have you had that experience? 
Sometimes the same thing happens with Jesus.  He is right in front of us, but our eyes are closed to his living presence.  That’s what happened to these two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Jesus was there with them, but they did not recognize that it was Jesus.  We read that their eyes were closed in verse 16, and it is not until verse 31 that their eyes are opened to see him for who he truly is.
The great cause of sadness and hopelessness in the world today is that the eyes of our hearts are closed to the resurrection of Jesus.  I am not talking about seeing Jesus physically, but I am talking about the fact that there are many who do not recognize the he is alive and able to give joy and hope.  The good news of this passage is that
Jesus opens our eyes to his resurrection 
and gives us joy and hope.
This morning I want us to look at this passage in two major sections.  First, I want us to look at verses 13-24 and see what we can learn about what life is like when our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus.  Second, I want us to look at verses 25-35 and see what we can learn about how Jesus opens our eyes and gives us joy and hope.

1.  When our eyes are closed (vv. 13-24).
Sometimes our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus.  This passage is a window into what life is like when we do not recognize that Jesus is alive. 

The first lesson we learn in this passage is that when our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we are sad (vv. 13-17). 
The narrative begins with two disciples who are on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  As they walk side by side they discuss all that has happened from Good Friday until Easter morning. 
Luke doesn’t tell us exactly what they discussed, but we might imagine them talking about the darkness of human depravity that casts its shadow over the end of Passion Week. 
Perhaps they spoke about the depravity of Judas’s betrayal of Christ for only thirty pieces of silver.  Or maybe they spoke about Peter’s three denials of Christ and how the rest of the disciples deserted him.  They may have discussed how the Sanhedrin had lied about him, how Pilate had refused to release an innocent man, and how the drunken Roman soldiers had mocked him and nailed his hands and feet to the cross. 
They had heard that the women discovered the empty tomb and claimed to have seen angels.  Perhaps they asked themselves, “Is it true?  Could Jesus really have risen from the dead, as he said?” 
What we do know is that when Jesus approaches, they do not recognize him (v. 16).  Some commentators suggest that they didn’t recognize him because he looked different in his resurrection body.  Others suggest that Jesus didn’t look different but that God kept their eyes from recognizing him in order to teach them an important lesson.  It may be that they simply didn’t recognize him because they didn’t expect to see him alive. 
When Jesus asks these two disciples what they are discussing, Luke tells us that “they stood still, looking sad” (v. 17).  They looked sad because they were still living in the darkness of Good Friday. 
We learn from this that the cross of Christ is only good news in light of the resurrection.  The death of Christ will only make us sad if he didn’t in fact rise again. 
Paul once wrote to the Corinthians and made the same point: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).  Many people in our culture today have their eyes closed to the resurrection of Jesus, and, as a result, their hearts are full of sadness.  For them, death is the end of the story.  Death gets the last word.  Death means, “Game Over.” 
When our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we are sad.  Are you sad today?  Are you living with the impression that death is the end?  Or you living as if there is no hope for tomorrow?  Are you still dwelling on the depravity of Good Friday?  Even as disciples, we can live like this at times.  But we see here in this narrative that closed eyes not only brings sadness.    

We see also that when our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we have an imcomplete understanding of Jesus (vv. 18-20). 
Cleopas is the one who responds to Jesus’s question about what they were discussing.  His response to Jesus is certainly accurate, but there is something missing.  He says, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  Jesus entertains Cleopas’s question: “What things?” he asks.  The two disciples continue: “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him” (vv. 18-20). 
Now we all should agree that Cleopas’s explanation of Jesus is certainly accurate, but, at the same time, it is also inadequate.  It is an incomplete answer. 
Jesus is a prophet.  Jesus was condemned to death.  But he is so much more than a martyred prophet.  However, since their eyes are closed to the resurrection, they cannot see him as anything more. 
The same thing happens today.  There are people whose eyes are closed to Jesus yet they will affirm that Jesus was a good moral teacher.  They will affirm the Golden Rule.  We should follow the example of Jesus and be good people.  All of this is true yet we know that it is incomplete.  Jesus is more than a good moral teacher.  Yet when we remain in the darkness about the resurrection, that is all that we see of him. 

There’s more.  As we continue to read their response to Jesus, we see that when our eyes are closed to the resurrection, we are without the hope of redemption (v. 21). 
Verse 21 are some of the saddest words in the whole Bible.  Look what they say: “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.” 
We can hear the disciples's deep disappointment in these words.  We had hoped.  The book of Proverbs tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick.  Their hearts were sick with sadness because they recognized that a dead Jesus was no Savior at all. 
They were, in point of fact, correct about that.  If Jesus is still in the tomb, we all should say, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”  If Jesus is dead, then he is no Savior at all.  Long ago, Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25).  The God of Israel had promised a living Redeemer, not a dead prophet. 
Matthew Henry puts their disappointment in other words: “Our hopes were all nailed to his cross, and buried in his grave.” 
When our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, we have no hope of redemption.  We need a living Savior.  We need the One who has died, but is now alive forevermore.  When our eyes are shut to the resurrection of Jesus, we see our sins and have no hope that we will ever be delivered from them.  We are who we are.  There is no hope of new life or change.          

There is another aspect to having our eyes shut to Jesus.  We are unsure what to believe (vv. 22-24). 
We see this in the disciples’ report of the empty tomb.  They tell of the women’s story.  They had found the tomb empty.  They had seen angels.  Some of the disciples had gone to the tomb and fount it empty. 
Yet there is a hint of doubt at the end of all they say in verse 24: “…but him they did not see.”  They have not yet seen Jesus. 
An empty tomb does not prove that he is alive.  Someone may have stolen the body.  He may have been moved.  They do not jump to the conclusion that Jesus is alive simply because of the report of some emotional women. 
Here is where they linger: “him they did not see.”  That is what it is like not to see Jesus for who he is.  We are confused about what we believe.  We may linger between two different opinions.  We may look out and hear the claims that the different philosophies and religions are making and have no living faith in a living Christ. 
Is that what life is like for you?  Are your eyes closed to a living Jesus?  Are you confused about what to believe?  Do you feel like you cannot trust anyone?  That can change for you, but only if Jesus opens your eyes to his resurrection life.   

Now here enters the good news found in the second half of this narrative.  Jesus is able to open our eyes to his resurrection and give us joy and hope.  He is able to turn our sadness to joy, our despair to hope, our death to life, our darkness to light, and our confusion to clarity.  Look with me at the second half of this narrative at how Jesus opens our eyes.

2.  When Jesus opens our eyes (vv. 25-35). 
Jesus loves us so much that he opens our eyes to see him as he truly is.  Notice that he begins the Scriptures. 

Jesus interprets the Scriptures to these disciples (vv. 25-27).  He first rebukes their unbelief (v. 25), not their unbelief in the testimony of the women, but their unbelief in the testimony of the Word.  They should have known that the Old Testament Scriptures foretold that the Messiah would suffer and die before rising again and entering into glory (v. 26).  He teaches them in verse 27 that the entire Old Testament is about him.  He explains to them that the Old Testament is a revelation of Jesus. 
When our eyes are closed to the resurrection of Jesus, the Bible can be a confusing book.  “What is it really all about?” we may ask.  But when Jesus uses the Scriptures to open our eyes, he shows us that the whole Bible is about him. 
St. Augustine said, “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”  There is a scarlet thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation, and the scarlet thread is salvation through Jesus. 
I wish I could have been there when Jesus explained how the Old Testament was all about him.  Perhaps he spoke to them of that ancient promise in the Garden of Eden where God said that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.  Or maybe he took them to the call of Abram and spoke about how God said that one of his descendants would spread the blessing of forgiveness to all the nations of the earth.  Maybe he related to them the story of Abraham who almost offered his one and only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice, but God stayed his hand and provided another lamb to be the sacrifice in Isaac’s place.  He may have walked them through the days of King David and the covenant God made with him that one of his own sons would sit on the throne and rule the world.  Or perhaps he took them to the specific prophecies, like Isaiah 53 that we read in our service this morning, and spoke about how he was the One who would be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.  Or maybe he simply walked through the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, pointing out each and every object and ritual and showing them how it was all about him.  He may have showed them how he was the temple where God’s presence dwells, and how he had said that if they destroyed the temple, that he would rebuild it in three days.  Or maybe he pointed to the Passover Lamb and said that he was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He would die, and God’s wrath would pass over all who believe in him. 
What a joy it would be to hear the Incarnate Word explain the written Word!  When Jesus opens our eyes, he shows us that the Bible reveals that he is our Savior.  He is the One who died for our sins.  He is the One who rose again to give us forgiveness, life, joy, and hope. 
But even though Jesus explains all this to them, their eyes are still closed.  He has not yet opened their eyes.  That doesn’t happen until they reach their destination. 

When they finally reach their destination, they invite Jesus to stay with them, and Jesus reveals himself in the breaking of bread (vv. 28-35). 
They were not celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  It was a common meal.  Yet when Jesus took the bread, broke it, and blessed it, they would have been reminded of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. 
On that dark night, he had taken bread, blessed it, broken it, and said, “This is my body, which is broken for you.”  He had also taken a cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the remission of sins.” 
They make the connection in verse 31: “And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.”  Then they knew their Lord!  Then they knew that he was alive! 
Verse 31 tells us that he then vanished.  One might conclude from this that Jesus was a ghost or a spirit, but Luke clarifies later in verse 39 where Jesus says, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me, and see.  For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”  Jesus was not a ghost or a spirit.  He was physically resurrection from the dead.  He touched the bread.  He blessed the bread.  He broke the bread.  This was no phantom. 
Yet we do see that his resurrected body was capable of things that we cannot explain naturally.  There is mystery here to be sure. 
When their eyes are opened, they say something amazing in verse 32, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”  They knew that this was Jesus.  They now had open eyes and burning hearts.  So they return to Jerusalem in time to see that Jesus has also appeared to Simon Peter (v. 34).  And they relate to the rest of them that Jesus had made himself known to them in the breaking of bread (v. 35). 
Jesus uses his Word to open our eyes, but he also uses the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  For disciples, when we come to the Lord’s Table, we see that Christ is yet again opening our eyes to Good Friday and to Easter Sunday.  He is showing us that his body was broken for us and his blood shed for us.  He died in our place.  And he rose again to reign over us in heaven. 
And when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we are also reminded of the hope set before us because he shall return to drink the fruit of the vine anew with us in his Father’s kingdom. 

Jesus is able to open our eyes.  He is able to reveal himself to the eyes of our heart.  We do not see him with the eyes of flesh, but we are able to see him with the eyes of faith.  When Jesus opens our eyes to his resurrection, our lives change.  We have life, forgiveness, joy, and hope.  He died, but he is alive forevermore.  He has the keys of Death and Hades.  He is the Lamb of God, standing as though it had been slain.  He is the Living One who shall never die again.  He is the Resurrection and the Life.  Whoever lives and believes in him, though he die, yet shall he live.  Do you believe this?  Are your eyes opened?  “Turn your eyes to Jesus!  Look full in his wonderful face!  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”