Why the wait?

At 4 a.m. last night I was sitting up in bed having a coughing fit from a left over cold.  Having time to think, I found myself trying to make sense of the terrible pain in Newtown, Connecticut and asking Christ to come back quickly. This Christmas has been a stark reminder of why Jesus had to come and save us.  Thankfully, my wife and I have devoted more time this Advent to prayer, Scripture, and discussion about what Christ accomplished in his first coming.  And so, in the middle of the night I wondered why, after coming to earth the first time, Jesus left earth and returned to heaven while leaving the world in such pain.  Why not usher in his Kingdom right then and there?  After all Scripture tells us he died for our sins and was resurrected for our justification.  But after his resurrection couldn't he have simply called down legions of angels and eliminated all evil and enemies just as Scripture tells us he will do when he returns the second time?  Why would he ascend to heaven and leave the world to suffer through agony like that in Newtown?

To answer that question we must know what will happen when Christ does establish his heavenly kingdom on earth.  Not long after Jesus ascended people began expressing impatience with Christ's return, even to the point of questioning whether he was actually going to return at all.  In response, the apostle Peter wrote, "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:8-9)  The implication is once Christ returns to establish his kingdom on earth the gig is up for evil in the world and all who have not repented will perish.  Jesus said of his return, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." (Matt 24:36-39)  Christ delayed the establishment of his heavenly kingdom on earth because the news of his death and resurrection and the forgiveness of sin needed to be carried around the world so people could enter his kingdom through faith in Him.  We, for instance, should be grateful that Christ delayed establishing his heavenly kingdom on earth because it opened the door for us and multitudes of others to be included.  There are still people left who will repent and they too must be included in his kingdom.

Jesus actually told his disciples that it was good for them if he left because the Holy Spirit would not come help them until after he ascended to heaven.

"7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." (John 16:7-11)

Jesus departure paved the way for the Holy Spirit to come and do its work in the world.  It is the Spirit's role to cause conviction for sin, reveal the righteousness of Jesus, and condemn Satan and his deceptions.  Those things cannot happen apart from the Spirit and the Spirit would not come unless Christ ascended.

The big picture here is that God is working out His plan for the salvation of all of His people.  God's salvation plan for the world includes peoples from every tongue, tribe, and nation on the earth.  After Jesus raised his beloved friend Lazarus from the dead, John tells us the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council together to figure out how to prevent people from believing in Jesus.  They were afraid if Jesus accrued too much power the Romans would come and take their nation from them.  The high priest, Caiaphas, encouraged the council to find a way to kill Jesus.  He told the council, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." (John 11:49-50)  John goes on to tell us, "[Caiaphas] did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad." (John 11:51-52 emphasis mine)  In Matthew 24, Jesus tells his disciples, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14)  Then just before Jesus ascended into heaven, his disciples asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)  Jesus responded, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8)

God's children are spread across the whole globe and every nation must hear the gospel because there will be persons from every people group included in God's kingdom.  Christ's death on the cross is the message people need to hear and that message takes time and people to carry it.  When Jesus commissioned Paul to be his missionary to the Gentiles he gave him this purpose: "I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."  As Paul later said, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? ...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:14-17)

We can be grateful that Christ has delayed the coming of his kingdom yet still eagerly await its arrival.  Indeed, this is what we should do.  For "just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:27-28)

How do you know if your faith is genuine?

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.  1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Someone once told me that if they were an insurance salesman they would insure chimneys.  On a couple of occasions I've witnessed the unfortunate sight of a house that recently burned down.  The only thing that remained intact was the chimney.  Chimneys, whether made of rock or brick, do not burn.  The wood inside burns, but the chimneys don't.  There's a good lesson here.  Spiritually, we need to make sure we're built out of stuff that lasts, not the stuff that burns up.  We need to be made of stuff that endures the fires of trial and hardship--even the harshest elements.

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is speaking to Christians about their teachers and pastors.  He says we Christians are "God’s building" (vs 9) and "God’s temple" (vs 16) which is being built by our teachers and pastors.  But Paul says some pastors are building temples of wood, hay, and straw while others are building temples of gold, silver, and costly stones.  When the Day--meaning the Day of Judgement--comes the quality of the building will be revealed and if it's built with poor materials it will be burned up, even though the teacher will be saved (though just barely).  What this means is some pastors and teachers are building up temples out of materials that won't last.  In other words, our churches are producing Christians with inauthentic faith.  And fire will reveal it.

This is a sobering reality.  So here is the question for you:  Is your faith built with wood, hay, and straw or with enduring materials like stone and precious metals?  Will your teachers find you are burnt up on that Day or gloriously resilient?

I would rather not wait until that Day to find out.  So practically speaking, how do we know the quality and workmanship of our faith?  Answer this question: Will your faith endure the fire of trouble of today?  Today is the test of whether it will handle it on that Day.  The apostle Peter taught this when he wrote,

6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7  

Have you ever experienced a trial and wondered, "Why is this happening to me?"  Peter says all trials have purpose.  Ultimately, trials serve us by proving our faith is real and Peter says our authentic faith will result in praise, glory and honor when Christ returns.  Not all faith is genuine.  Sometimes it takes a trial to find that out.

I pray that you are being built into a temple of God that will withstand any trial.

6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  2 Corinthians 4:17

The world upside down

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23

The mark of the Holy Spirit in a person's life is not simply love, joy, peace, patience, etc.  It is love, joy, peace, patience, etc. when the circumstances demand the exact opposite.  Jesus said, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" (Matthew 5:46-47)  Instead, he calls us to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).  Anyone can have peace when all is going well, but the mark of the Spirit is having peace when all is going wrong.  The Spirit turns the normalcy of the world upside down.  While the world despairs in suffering we are called to "rejoice in our sufferings" (Romans 5:3).  When the world grieves without hope we have hope (1 Thessalonians 5:13).  Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil (Psalm 23:4).  Why?  Because we believe and embrace a truth the world does not.

This truth is that through Christ we are heirs to a treasure of unbelievable worth and everything else is miniscule in comparison.  Paul wrote, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21).  He meant Christ is better than everything life can offer and Christ is better than anything death can take.  Paul also wrote,

8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies....knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.  2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 14

The Holy Spirit enables us to hold loose to the things of this world because we know that our greatest joy now pales in comparison to the fullness of joy we'll have then and the deepest of sorrow now is but a "light momentary affliction" that prepares "for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17).

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:35-29

"Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last." (C.T. Studd)

Beauty and Danger

Every truly awe-inspiring thing in the world has two attributes: it's beautiful and it's dangerous.  As I stood on the edge of Niagara Falls I was amazed.  The waterfall in front of me was so large I could not comprehend what my eyes were seeing.  150,000 gallons of water goes over the falls each second.  That number still makes no sense to me, and yet as I watched the rush go by me I could understand what it meant.  The water hitting the rocks below created a cloud of mist that would soak your clothes.  It was truly, truly beautiful.  And yet, as I stood on one side of a fence gazing at the water going by I understood that if I were on the other side of that fence my life would be over.  Niagara Falls is wondrously beautiful but it is relentlessly dangerous.

When my wife gave birth to our son the miracle was too amazing for me to comprehend.  For nine months cells had multiplied in her womb.  Within weeks of conception the ultrasound clearly revealed there was a person in her belly.  When my son was born it was beautiful.  And yet, weeks prior to his birth we had visited the hospital and arranged our stay.  We were acquainted with the midwives and we intentionally decided to deliver our baby at the hospital which delivers more babies than any other in the entire United States.  We prepared because childbirth is dangerous.  It is dangerous for both the baby and the mother.  And so we wanted to give my wife and our new baby the best opportunity for survival and the least chance of complications.

The vista from the summit of Mount Everest is stunning but the view is enhanced because so few people are willing to risk their lives to see it.

We say love is beautiful.  But anyone who has ventured to love another knows of heartbreak.  Love is dangerous.

Beautiful and dangerous go hand-in-hand.  This reality is true for God too.  God is beautiful and yet He is dangerous.  In C.S. Lewis' masterpiece The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the children ask Mr. Beaver if Aslan the lion, the Christ-figure, is safe.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

God is not safe.  He is dangerous.  But He's good.  And He's beautiful.  Yet few want to talk or think about the danger of God.  In fact, as you read this it may feel like God's danger is a foreign concept to you.  Why is God dangerous?

Because His love for us means He will shape His children into His image through trial and hardship, sickness and even death.  He will make us holy, as He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-16).

Because His holiness requires that sin be punished.  The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23) and because God is holy that penalty must be administered (Hebrews 9:22ff).  And it was:  on Christ--a substitute available for everyone who has faith.

The danger of God is why God asked Judah rhetorically, "Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord.  "Should you not tremble in my presence?" (Jeremiah 5:22)  And why Isaiah, when he saw the Lord Almighty, "high and exalted, seated on a throne", where the train of God's robe filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1), exclaimed "'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'" (Isaiah 6:5)

Danger doesn't diminish beauty--it enhances it--because we respect things that are dangerous.