Patiently Awaiting the Coming Lord

Here is my sermon manuscript from Sunday's sermon (October 14, 2012).  I write a manuscript as a discipline of preparation.  I reduce the manuscript to an outline and then preach extemporaneously from the outline.  Sometimes folks request a copy of the manuscript.  I do not stick to it at every point, and there are bound to be grammatical mistakes and other stumbling blocks for English teachers.  Yet here it is.  Enjoy!   

"7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸ You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. ⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful."  James 5:7-11

The Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is presented in the Scriptures as a day of judgment and salvation.  When our Lord returns, he will repay the wicked for their sin.  Last week we looked at the first six verses of this chapter and learned about the coming judgment on rich unbelievers.  This week we see in our text that this coming judgment on rich unbelievers means salvation for poor Christians.  God’s judgment on the wicked brings consolation to the faithful.  James assures us that God’s judgment on rich sinners (vv. 1-6) and God’s consolation to poor saints will happen at the coming of the Lord.  The coming of the Lord is mentioned in verses 7, 8, and 9.  We are told that the coming of the Lord is “at hand” (or “near”) and James provides a picture of the nearness of our Lord’s coming by presenting him to us standing outside the door (v. 9).  The Judge is ready to open the door and come in at any time.  Despite the fact that the coming of the Lord is imminent, believers may grow impatient as they await his return.  We may tire of serving him or grow discouraged by suffering and persecution or become defeated by temptation.  Yet James tells us that we must be patient as we await the coming of the Lord as verse 7 says. “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.”  This word “patient” means to suffer long.  We must suffer long and hard through the trials of life before the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.  He says, “Be patient,” in verse 7.  He says, “You also, be patient,” in verse 8.  He says that the prophets are an example of suffering and patience in verse 10.  So we are here summoned to patient endurance as we await the coming of our Lord.  This is the main point that I want to impress on your conscience today.  We must be patient as we await the coming of the Lord.  Now as we consider this patience I want us to examine our text in two divisions.  1.  The Exhortations to Patience in vv. 7-9.  2. The Encouragements to Patience in vv. 10-11.

1.  The Exhortations to Patience (vv. 7-9).

James exhorts us to patience by exhorting us to three tasks: waiting like the farmer (v. 7), establishing our hearts (v. 8), and not grumbling against one another (v. 9).

1. a.  Wait like the farmer (v. 7).

 Patience means that we must wait.  James illustrates the way that we are to wait by telling us about a farmer.  “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”  This illustration would have been familiar to James’ readers who were living in an agrarian society.  Some of his readers were farmers.  Farming is an apt illustration of waiting on the coming Lord.  There are two main reasons for this.

          i.  The farmer waits actively. 

There is passive waiting and active waiting.  When we wait in line, we are passively waiting.  We are just standing there.  But this is not the way the farmer waits.  He plows the field.  He plants the seed.  He waters the crop.  He tends the garden for weeds and protects it from animals and other pests.  He is waiting for the plant to grow and bear fruit.  But he is not sitting around doing nothing.  He is actively waiting.  He works while he waits.  There have been some Christians who have gotten the idea that being patient and waiting for the coming of Jesus means inactivity.  This must have happened to the Thessalonians because when Paul writes to them about the Second Coming, he also warns them about idleness (1 Thess. 4:11-12; 5:13; 2 Thess. 3:6-12).  There have been cult leaders who have duped their unsuspecting followers into thinking that they should get together in a room and sit around and wait for the coming of the Lord.  This is not the teaching of our Lord.  Our Lord calls us to be ready.  He calls us to be prepared and watchful.  He tells us to be busy serving him until he comes.  “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Matt. 25:46).  We wait actively like the farmer who tends the crops as he waits for them to produce fruit.

ii.  The farmer waits expectantly.   

The second reason that the illustration of a farmer is an apt image of waiting for our Lord’s coming is because the farmer waits expectantly.  To be sure, he may tire of plowing or planting or tending his crops.  Yet he waits because he expects growth and fruit.  And why is the farmer willing to wait?  Because the precious fruit is worth the wait.  Sometimes we are willing to go to a nice restaurant and wait longer than usual because we know that the food is worth the wait.  We may become bored or tired or agitated.  Yet we are willing to wait because the wait is worth it.  In the same way, we should be willing to wait for the coming of the Lord because it will be worth it.  We shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.  Mortality shall put on immortality and death swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15).  The sufferings of the present time cannot compare with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  Rom. 8:18.  We should wait actively.  We should be busy reading God’s Word, praying, sharing our goods with others, telling others about Jesus, and serving faithfully in our earthly vocations.  And we should be expectant.  Our precious fruit comes at the Lord’s return.  Rest assured that it shall be well worth the wait! 

1.b. Establish your hearts (v. 8).

After the illustration about the farmer, James says in v. 8, “You also, be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”  The phrase “establish your hearts” is translated “strengthen your hearts” in the NASB and even more loosely in the NIV as “stand firm.”  The NIV leaves out the Greek word for “hearts.”  As we await the coming of the Lord, we must tend to our hearts.  We must strengthen and establish them.  According to Louw-Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon of the NT, this word means “to cause someone to become stronger in the sense of more firm and unchanging in attitude or belief.”  So as we are tempted to doubt, despair, and discouragement as we await the Lord’s coming, we must strengthen our hearts.  We must make sure that our faith is firmly fixed on the truth that is in Jesus.  God strengthens and establishes us through the preaching of his gospel.  “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ…” Rom. 16:25.  Sitting attentively under Christ-centered gospel preaching is the most important means of heart-strengthening.  James tells us that we must establish our hearts because the coming of the Lord is at hand.  The phrase “at hand” could also be translated “near.”  The Scriptures teach us that the Second Coming of Jesus is imminent.  Some theologians prefer to use the word impending.  We are to live every day as if he could come today.  We are to be ready.  And we can see that the way we get ready is by establishing and strengthening and confirming our hearts in the gospel.  We must be confident in Christ and his inerrant word.  We must trust God’s promises and pray for the faith to rely upon them.  We are not to be shifting from one idea to the next, but we are rather to be fixed upon the truth of the gospel.  We establish our hearts by bearing fruit in every good work.  We must put our faith to work in obedience.  We establish our hearts by increasing in the knowledge of God.  We must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.  We establish our hearts by spurring one another to love and good deeds.  We establish our hearts by prayer.  We establish our hearts by fixing them on the Rock of Ages.

1.c. Do not grumble against one another (v. 9).

Verse 9 says, “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.”  Grumbling or complaining against one another is a sign of unbelief and gross ingratitude.  When the Lord delivered his people from slavery in Egypt through the leadership of Moses, his servant, the people later grumbled in the wilderness.  They grumbled against Moses.  They grumbled against Aaron.  They grumbled against the Lord for bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness.  They even grumbled about the manna that God provided from the Rock.  Grumbling and complaining are always out of place for God’s people.  We are to be patient on the Lord as we await his coming.  We must also be patient with one another.  Let us love each other and not complain about one another.  The motive here is that we may not be judged.  God sent a plague on his people for their grumbling.  Shall we fair any better if we share in their grumbling?  James adds: “the Judge is standing at the door.”  What an image!  Suppose a father tucks his two sons into bed and then tells them to stay in bed and not get up and fight as they are prone to do.  Then suppose he closes the door to their room and stands outside.  If they disobey his orders and get out of bed and begin to fight, then the father does not have far to go in order to enter the room and reprove them for defying his orders.  Suppose the sons’ know about the presence of their father outside the door.  Are they not less inclined to fight with one another?  Do they not fear the father coming inside the room and punishing them?  Similarly, when we consider that the Lord stands outside the door, this should make us cease our grumbling with one another.  Is this not a fitting image when we consider that much grumbling happens behind closed doors?  We ought to consider that our Lord stands at the door.  He is ready to enter.  He is ready to judge.  He can hear.  He is coming.  Again we see the impending nature of his coming.  It is “at hand” for he stands “at the door.”  Let us fear.

So much for the exhortations to patience.  Now let us turn to the encouragements to patience.

2.  The Encouragements to Patience (vv. 10-11)

Our Lord gives us exhortations to patience to show us what is involved in patient endurance.  He also gives us encouragements to motivate us as we patiently await his return.  There are three encouragements to patience in verses 10-11: the Lord’s suffering prophets (v. 10), the Lord’s sovereign purpose (v. 11a), and the Lord’s compassionate heart (v. 11b). 

2.a.  Consider the Lord’s suffering prophets (v. 10).

The Lord’s prophets are a great motivation and encouragement to patient endurance.  “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord” (v. 10).  The prophets suffered greatly for their faithfulness to the Lord.  They spoke the Lord’s Word and received the Lord’s reproach.  The prophets remind us that following the Lord is not a bed of roses.  Christ has promised us a cross of nails, not a bed of roses.  The prophets were ridiculed, ignored, maligned, beaten, and many of them killed.  Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because of the agonies he endured even from his own people.  Isaiah preached and the more he preached, the harder the hearts of the people became.  Elijah and Elisha were both persecuted mercilessly.  We are not prophets. Yet when we patiently endure suffering in this life, we join their company.  We have the blessed privilege of suffering with those great men of God.  “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12). 

2.b.  Consider the Lord’s sovereign purpose (v. 11a).

James moves from the prophets in general to Job in particular.  Verse 11 speaks of what we learn from Job.  “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.  You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”  James has already told us in 1:2-3 that our trials produce steadfastness (endurance) in the faithful.  He told us in 1:12 that those who endure trial will receive a crown of life.  Job is a great example of this.  He is one of the most well-known examples of righteous suffering. He did not suffer for his sin but for his righteousness.  That is why the devil wanted to afflict him and test him.  Job endured great suffering.  There are two aspects to the story of Job.  There is the human side, and there is the divine side.  The human side is Job’s steadfastness (endurance); the divine side is the Lord’s purpose.  When we finish the book of Job we realize that the Lord had a sovereign purpose for all that happened to Job.  God’s sovereign purpose is unstoppable.  Job 42:2 says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”  That’s what Job learned from all the evil that the Lord brought upon him (Job 42:11).  He learned that God has a purpose that no one can counter.  Satan has nothing to say about it.  Wicked men have nothing to say about it.  We have nothing to say about it.  It is God’s sovereign plan.  He works all things according to the counsel of his will. Ephesians 1:11.  No one can stay his hand or say to him, “What are you doing?”  Daniel 4:35.  He does all that he pleases.  Psalm 115:3; 135:6.  This is good news because it means that Romans 8:28 is true.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  God’s good purpose is to transform us into the likeness of his Son.  He seeks to make his people share in the holiness of Jesus. 

2.c.  Consider the Lord’s compassionate heart (v. 11b). 

The Lord’s sovereign purpose would not comfort us unless it was the sovereign purpose of the Lord who is compassionate and merciful.  Behind the purpose of the Lord is the Lord’s gracious plan for his people.  We must always remember that behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face.  The Lord has a good purpose for the tribulations that we must endure before he returns.  So let us face them with courage because we are in the hands of our compassionate Lord.  He is wise and good.  Or as we sing, “Jesus doeth all things well.”  Let us entrust ourselves to our Creator while doing good. 

The Lord Jesus is coming soon to judge the wicked and console the righteous.  We must be patient and endure suffering as we await his return.  We may grow weary in well doing or be burdened by suffering or pressed in by persecution or overwhelmed by temptation.  Yet we must be patient.  We must be like the farmer who waits actively and expectantly.  We must strengthen our hearts.  We must not grumble or complain about one another.  We must be encouraged by considering the prophets who suffered so.  We must think of the Lord’s perfect plan.  And we must know that behind it all is the Lord who is compassionate and merciful.  We are looking for the coming of the Lord.  It will be well worth the wait if we are patient.  Let us lift our heads for our redemption draws near.  Amen.

The Great Exchange

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  2 Corinthians 5:21

Martin Luther called this truth “the great exchange.”  It is the instantaneous transaction that takes place when we first believe in Jesus.  God transfers our sin to Jesus and his righteousness to us.  Our sin and death are exchanged for Christ’s righteousness and life!  This means that God the Father made his Son to be sin for us even though he was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:14).  The Father treated his Son as if he was a sinner.  He did this because he had imputed our sin and guilt to him.  God essentially made his Son a sin offering as in the prophet Isaiah, “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).  When the Father punished his beloved Son on the cross, he condemned him for our sin, not his own.  On the cross Jesus was bearing all our sin.  This is why he cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)  Ponder the sinless Son of God on the cross.  See him as he is made the idolater, the blasphemer, the liar, the thief, the prostitute, the adulterer, the whore, the murderer!  He is innocent yet by imputation he becomes guilty.  He is judged as if he committed our crimes; for he dies for our treason against our God and King.  We may ask, “Why did God the Father do this to his Son?”  Our text tells us the answer: “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Behold the entire gospel in a single verse!  Christ is made our sin; we are made his righteousness.  Christ is condemned; we are justified.  “Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood: Hallelujah!  What a Savior!”  Our justification before God consists not only in the forgiveness of our sins but in the imputation of the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.  His perfect obedience is imputed to us.  “For as by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).  He perfectly fulfilled the law for us.  “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:2).  When he obeyed, he fulfilled the law’s precept; when he died he fulfilled the law’s penalty.  His righteousness includes his whole life of obedience which culminated in his death on the cross.  He became “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).  This is how our God has made his beloved Son to be our righteousness.  The best biblical illustration of this truth is the third chapter of Zechariah’s prophecy where we find Joshua the high priest standing before the Lord in filthy garments.  There we see this great exchange in action.  On the one hand, God removes Joshua’s filthy garments; and, on the other hand, he clothes him with clean garments.  This reveals the double blessing of our justification in Christ.  God exchanges the filthy garments of our sin for the clean garments of the righteousness of Jesus.  What a glorious exchange!  This is cause for great rejoicing!  “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).  Today let us sing of this spiritual transaction that has taken place in our lives!  “Jesus, thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress; ‘midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.”  Christian, be assured today that all your sins are forgiven through the blood of Jesus and all his righteousness has been imputed to you!  “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

The Lord on My Side

“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”  Psalm 118:6

Here we have a comforting truth, a confident assertion, and a probing question.  The comforting truth is that the Lord is on my side.  From one point of view, the Lord sides with no one but himself.  When Joshua asked the commander of the Lord’s army, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”  he said, “No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord?”  The Lord is on his own side.  From another point of view, however, the Lord does side with his people.  He takes up their case and rises to defend them.  He has bound himself to them in covenant and promised to do good to them and their children.  The Lord’s defense is a promise to all those in covenant with God and is a promise that the individual Christian must personally apply  The psalmist says, “The Lord is on my side,” speaking not of the Lord’s defense of his people in general but of his defense of him in particular.  The Lord siding with us is an expression of his favor.  He is for us, not against us.  He loves us and is committed to our welfare.  Let us rejoice in this truth that the Creator and Redeemer of Israel has sided with us in Jesus Christ!  And we have here a confident assertion that follows from this comforting truth.  “I will not fear.”  If the Lord is on our side, what shall we fear?  Shall we fear the bitter providence that is in his sovereign hands?  Shall we fear the unknown future that we cannot predict or control but is governed by our Father's wisdom and goodness?  The Lord’s defense gives us courage.  We dare not shrink in fear when the Lord takes up our case.  We have no reason to fear when we walk in the shadow of the Almighty.  And this leads to a probing question.  “What can man do to me?”  At first glance this question seems absurd.  We know that wicked men have power to harm us greatly in this present life.  They can steal our possessions.  They can beat our bodies.  They can ostracize us from our earthly relationships.  They can kill us or those we love.  They can defraud us.  They can persecute us mercilessly.  Yet the psalmist asks, “What can man do to me?”  He must mean, “What can man ultimately do to me?”  If the Lord is on my side, then the Lord will vindicate me.  If the Lord is on my side, man may kill my body, but he cannot take my soul.  If the Lord is on my side, then man may take my treasure on earth, but he can never take my treasure in heaven.  If the Lord is on my side, man may separate me from my family and friends, but he can never separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.  So today we need to ask ourselves, Is the Lord on our side?  Are we in covenant with him?  And are we on his side?  And if he is our Defender, then let us not fear either God’s providence or man’s persecution.  For God is working all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.  And as for man, What can he do to me?  My help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth! 

Holding Back God's Word

“Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word.”  Jeremiah 26:2

Preachers may sin against the Lord by not declaring the whole counsel of God.  It is not that the preacher announces heresy but that the preacher simply does not proclaim all that God has commanded him to speak.  God directly revealed to Jeremiah all that he wanted him to speak to his people.  God reveals today to his preachers what he wants them to proclaim by the Spirit through the written Word.  Preachers are always under orders to proclaim only what God has said and all of what God has said.  We do not have the freedom of holding back a word.  Christians should learn from this that we must not only examine what a preacher says but also what he fails to say.  Many Christians are seduced by popular preachers because they do not hear any obvious heresy in what is preached, but this is only a part of our responsibility as discerning listeners.  We must also give thought to what might be missing.  What is the preacher holding back?  The most deceptive form of false teaching is distortion by subtraction, not addition.  Rather than preaching something false, the false teacher removes something true.  He holds back a word.  He may hold back a word of judgment.  He may speak, “Peace, Peace,” where there is no peace.  He may hold back a word of repentance.  He may heal the wound of God’s people lightly without calling for reformation of heart and life.  He may hold back a word of salvation.  He may preach the law but not the gospel.  He may strip sinners of self-righteousness and not provide the robe of Christ’s righteousness.  He may hold back a word of application.  Some preaching is all doctrine and no application.  He may speak in the lofty ideas of theoretical abstraction and yet not bring home the truth to people in front of him.  And yet he may hold back a word of doctrine.  In his zeal to be relevant he may not ground his exhortations in the instruction of the Word.  How preachers need to be on guard against the sin of selective preaching!  How Christians need to be on guard against the sin of selective listening!  When you listen to the preaching of the Word, are you selective in what you receive?  Do you take heed only to the doctrine and not to application?  Or do your thoughts wander during the preaching of sound doctrine only to come back again when the doctrines are applied to life?  Do you love to hear the booming thunderclaps of the law but not the trumpet blasts of the gospel?  Or have you only ears for good news while plugging your ears to the oracles of judgment?  May this never be!  Let us love to listen to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!  May we not diminish the glory of Jesus or the completeness of God’s perfect revelation by holding back one word of his precious truth!     

Weeping with Jesus

“Jesus wept.”  John 11:35

This is the shortest verse in the Bible and is easily overlooked in our reading.  John is describing Jesus’ response to Lazarus’ death.  The sight of the weeping Savior must have been a moving moment for the onlookers because upon seeing him the Jews exclaimed, “See how he loved him!”  Others sought to detract from our Lord’s grief by saying, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”  Nevertheless, our Lord’s grief was real.  He was truly troubled over the death of his friend.  Later John tells us that when Jesus came to the tomb, he was “deeply moved” yet again.  The tears of Jesus over the death of Lazarus are instructive for us.  They remind us that grief and sorrow are not unspiritual.  Jesus knew no sin.  We dare not think for a moment that Jesus’ tears are the result of sin or unbelief or lack of maturity or any such thing.  Our Savior was a man of sorrows.  The Bible tells us that Jesus wept.  It never once tells us that he smiled.  He may have smiled, but let us not think for a moment that being a mature Christian means that we are not allowed to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and grieve the loss of a loved one.  He was able to grieve even though he had perfect confidence in Lazarus’ future resurrection.  The hope of glory does not nullify the suffering of this present life.  Christians grieve but not as others who have no hope.  Our grief is real; yet it is tempered by the expectation of heavenly restoration.  We also learn from this that we have a sympathetic Savior.  He understands us when no one else seems to feel our pain.  He knows our suffering and temptation.  He knows the trials of life.  He knows what it is like to miss a loved one.  Jesus is not stoic and does not call his followers to stoicism.  We may talk all we want about a victorious Christianity where we have no struggles or sins or shortcomings or hardships, but this is not the way of the cross.  The theology of glory is not the Christian way.  We have a theology of the cross.  We have a way of sorrows.  The good news is that redemption and restoration are coming.  The Lord Jesus shall wipe every tear from our eyes.  But the coming restoration does not mean that our wounds are lightly healed.  Our Lord Jesus is not insensitive to our hurts.  If we come to him in an evening of weeping, he will assure us that joy comes with the morning.  He will rejoice over us with loud singing.  He will quiet us with his love.  No one weeps with those who weep better than Jesus.  He will not break the bruised reed or snuff out the faintly burning wick.  He will not kick us when we are down.  He will be there.  He will never leave nor forsake us.  Let us go to him with our sorrows.  Let us be confident that he understands.  Let us hear the voice of mercy calling.  As the hymn goes, “I will arise and go to Jesus.  He will embrace me in his arms.  In the arms of my dear Savior there are ten thousand charms.” 

Quenching the Spirit

“Do not quench the Spirit.”

1 Thessalonians 5:19

Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  Let us never quench the Holy Spirit’s fire!  There are several ways that we can do this.  We quench the Spirit when we put out his graces.  The Spirit seeks to produce fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  He breathes his holy fire by means of the Word of God.  He causes us to put sin to death and offer our bodies as instruments of righteousness.  Whenever we leave unattended the fire of our sanctification because it calls for too much stoking or whenever we snuff out the embers of holiness because we fear the cracklings of repentance, we quench the Spirit’s graces.  We can also quench the Spirit by snuffing out his gifts.  The Holy Spirit has given every Christian a gift for the common good.  Although all Christians possess spiritual gifts, many Christians never use their gifts for the edification of the body of Christ.  This happens because Christians are timid or lazy or selfish or uninformed or for some other reason.  Yet we are called to use our gifts.  Our lives burst into holy flames when we are active in the service of King Jesus.  May we not allow the holy fire of Christian service burn out in our lives!  If the Spirit has given us the gift of generosity, let us share this gift with others in the body.  If the Spirit has given us the gift of hospitality, let us invite one another into our homes and enjoy Christian fellowship.  If the Spirit has given us the gift of faith, let us pray for one another and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.  Do not bury your talents beneath the earth only to find your Master disappointed for your lack of investment!  Employ your gifts in the service of Jesus and for the good of his Church!  We can also quench the Spirit by putting out his guidance.  The Spirit of God leads the sons and daughters of God.  We know that revelation has ceased and that the canon of Scripture is closed.  We are not deluded into thinking that God is still revealing new truth to his people.  The ancient paths are sufficient for us.  Nevertheless, let us not suppose that our God is no longer communicating with us by way of illumination and guidance.  Revelation is complete; guidance continues.  The Spirit of God will remind us of the truths of Scripture at just the right time.  He will prompt us to apply a promise or to obey a commandment in a specific situation.  He will lay another person and his needs on our heart.  He gives us holy impressions that are always within the confines of the Holy Scriptures but enable us to understand and apply those truths to our everyday lives.  When we sense the leading of the Spirit to obey some commandment of God in a particular way, let us not snuff out the burning within us.  This is not the mysticism of seeking visions and dreams and extraordinary experiences.  This is nothing more than sensitivity to the working of God within you.  The working of God within you is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Have you not had moments where you had an idea for obedience that seemed to descend upon you straight from Heaven?  You may have had a sudden desire to talk to a family member about Jesus.  You may have felt the need to give a little more money to the work of the kingdom.  You may have sensed that something needs to change in your devotional life.  Perhaps you find that you need to spend more time reading the Word or more time praying.  All these matters are subject to the Spirit’s guidance and direction.   Mark well that he never works independently of the Bible, but he takes the living Word and makes it a living reality in our daily walks with God.  God is not giving new revelation, but he is still speaking through his previously given revelation.  He is still communicative.  The Good Shepherd still leads his sheep.  His sheep still hear his voice and follow him.  So let us covenant together to stop putting out the Spirit’s fire!  May we not leave the flickering embers of holiness unattended!  Let us use our gifts!    Let us stay sensitive to the leading of the Spirit!  Let us seek to be filled with the Spirit!  May the Spirit of the living God descend upon us and purify us with his holy fire and fit us for his holy service!

Eternity

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:17-18

God wants us to have an eternal perspective.  Temporal affairs cannot compare with eternal realities.  Without question our earthly life is beset with light momentary afflictions, but, when our minds are fixed on eternal truth, God is able to make our sufferings fit us for heaven.  God’s Word makes it clear to us that we can look to one of two different realities.  One is the physical and temporal world of this present life; the other is spiritual and eternal world of the life to come.  While it is certainly true that Christians cannot and should not ignore the present life, we are called to view our lives in light of eternity.  We are called to see all of life in proper perspective.  There are extremes to avoid.  Focusing on eternal life to the exclusion of this present life is escapism; focusing on this present life to the exclusion of eternal life is worldliness.  Escapism may be used to shirk responsibilities that we have in this present life.  An eternal perspective must not be used to justify this sort of self-serving attitude.  Worldliness may be used to justify an obsession with the world’s possessions, pleasures, power, and praises.  We may live in this world but not of this world.  But what does that really mean?  It means that we must live in the present for eternity.  This eternal awareness brings meaning to our life now because now matters forever.  Our present life has eternal implications.  This understanding lifts us from mundane meandering through the monotony of life into the realm of purpose and significance.  We should remind ourselves every day that forever is coming and coming soon.  Soon we shall be in either heaven or hell.  Soon we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  Forever is soon.  Are we living with this perspective?  It gives meaning to our light momentary afflictions.  It gives unending hope and purpose and joy.  This day let us live in light of eternity.  Let us seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.