Category: Saturday Study

Romans 16 & Judges 1-4  (7-30-22)

This week we will dig into the first four chapters of Judges. The book of Judges breaks down into three main parts. The first two chapters are an introduction of sorts and lay the groundwork for the rest of the book. Chapters 3-16 show the downward spiral of judges through this time in Israel’s history. What we see is the leaders or judges going from okay to bad to worse. Chapters 17-21 show the total corruption of God’s people and there’s a popular refrain that stands out in these chapters.

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

This very phrase will be repeated as the closing verse of the book of Judges. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. The people of God had desired to be their own rulers and therefore they played the part of God and did whatever they thought was right. This is in stark contrast to what God had commanded them to do. What we must see here is that when we give up God and His objective truth as found in His word, we end up taking the throne of our lives and in our utter foolishness we do what is “wise in our own eyes.” Oh, that we might repent of this foolish position and return to the one true God in submission and obedience to His word!

As we dig into the first two chapters of the book of Judges, we see an interesting, repetitive story. God’s people, the different tribes noted in chapter one, are living in areas and instead of totally removing the Canaanites, they have left a remnant in every location in which they have begun to settle. Joshua had won many battles, but there was still more left to be done. At this point in our journey, it is helpful to know why God had commanded His people to remove the Canaanites completely from their midst. You see, the Canaanites were a morally corrupted people. They worshiped their false gods and even did so by sacrificing their own children to them.

We see chapter two begin with a rebuke from God:

Judges 2:1-3 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

God punishes His people’s failure to keep their covenant by allowing the inhabitants of the Promised Land to become thorns and snares to His people. Now we see the people of God immediately weep and repent but this really does become the cry of the rest of the book of Judges until we reach the end. There is a familiar cycle shown in chapter two and lived out in the remaining chapters of the book of Judges. The cycle looks like this: sin, suffering, crying out to God in repentance, God providing deliverance, and peace for a short while, until the cycle repeats beginning back at sin again.

Does this cycle of Gods’ people in Judges look like the cycle of your own life? What we will unfortunately find throughout this book are the similarities it shows in relation to our world now and even our personal lives. I hope you see the beauty and design of God through this book to remind us of our desperate need for a savior. The only hope the book of Judges offers is that it’s pointing us to our failure (especially when we do life with a “wise in our own eyes” attitude) and to our only true hope, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ!

We will dig into this more in a bit, but for now let’s look back at chapter two. The people of God repent, and they live out the rest of Joshua’s days and the elders of Joshua’s days serving the Lord. However, we see the tragic lesson of either failure to teach the next generation about our God or the failure of the next generation to hear the teaching.

Judges 2:10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

You see, there was some breakdown here either in the elder generations to pass along the faith or the new generation to receive and treasure these truths. Whatever the case, we see that God’s people did not know Him or what He had done to rescue them. So they turned to the people who the previous generations failed to remove from the land, and they adopted the culture and its practices.

Judges 2:11-13 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.

Remember this was the reason God wanted His people to remove these inhabitants from His promised land, but what we see here is that cycle I mentioned. God’s people forget Him and turn to the culture to worship its gods. When this happens, God rightly punishes His people, as we see in the next verses.

Judges 2:14-15

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

So the cycle turns from sin to suffering and God graciously raises up judges to lead the people out of the hands of those who have plundered them, BUT Israel would not listen to their judges.

Judges 2:16-19 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

What we see happen is this cycle of sin: repentance, deliverance, returning to sin again. It can be easy for us to read this while shaking our heads at Israel’s failure; however, lest we become prideful, this is almost always the story of our lives on a personal level. We turn from God to sin, and the lies that tempted us prove to be dishonest, so we suffer for our disobedience. We, by God’s total grace and Holy Spirit-wrought work, see our sin and repent, and God reminds us of our security in Christ and the salvation He has already purchased through the good news of His gospel. By God’s grace, this cycle gets smaller and smaller, as we become more and more sanctified, but we will and must do battle till the end of our lives if we are in Christ. Sin will not be gone until Christ returns, so we have a battle ahead of us to turn from sin to repent when we fail, and to treasure God above all other things, that we may not be so easily falling into sin again.

My prayer and hope for us is that while we read through Judges and see the failure of God’s people, we will be reminded of what happens when we depart from God and turn to sin instead. May we learn from those who have gone before us and cling to the trustworthy Lord of all!

As a summary and something to chew on, let me leave you with this similarity of the Canaanites and our current world. They worshiped false gods; this is never more prevalent in our world than when we see people worship the false god of SELF. Our current culture worships itself as god and does what is right in its own eyes. The Canaanites sacrificed their children to these false gods. The number one reason given for abortion today is if to allow the child to live, it would negatively affect the mother’s life. This category explains that the mother is unready for the responsibility, unable to afford the child, and concerned about how the baby would change their life. You see, when something endangers the god of this world (self) then people sacrifice their children at the altar of convenience for themselves. We are nearing (if not already passed) 60 million babies murdered in the womb since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, and this is in the United States alone. If we don’t see the similarities between the Canaanites in the book of Judges and the world we live in now, we are given to continually repeat this horrible history. We have become like Israel adopting the values and practices of the culture around us instead of trusting God and His word as given to us in the Scriptures. We must repent and lay our lives upon the solid foundation of God’s word!

Praise God for His forgiveness, but let us not take God’s grace for granted and go on sinning. May the love of God and the grace of God drive us to turn from sin and live for Him!

* Special thanks to a faithful pastor and gospel partner, Steven Obert, for his work on this week’s study.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Romans 11-15  (7-30-22)

Romans 12 is the turning point in Paul’s letter to the Romans. It is where Paul moves from our need for the gospel and the gift of the gospel to the application of the gospel in our lives. This chapter is chock-full of wonderful exhortation for the Christian life, especially around the topic of how Christians should love others.

To jump into our study today, read Romans 12:14-21 again.

First and foremost, we must understand that we cannot do these things if not for the Holy Spirit indwelling us, God’s grace enabling us, and Christ’s atonement for us.

To better understand the foundation Paul is building on, go back and read the opening verses of chapter 12 again, Romans 12:1-3.

It is God’s mercy that gives us access to a restored new life.

It is God’s power that transforms us from the inside out.

It is God’s grace that shapes our hearts to love others.

So, when the Apostle calls on us to do the things we read in verse 14-21, bear in mind that the Apostle himself understands that it is only God’s grace at work in us that enables us to live this way. The result of God’s work in us is found in verse 9. It says, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” With that under our feet, let’s go back to verses 14-21 and break them down more.

Love others means to love when offended.

Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

The biblical principle is that Christians who are walking in Christ will love as He loved, which is to love their enemies. We are saved and set free because Christ loved His enemies.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Jesus helps us see what truly loving others is in His teaching found in Luke.

Luke 6:32-35

If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Anyone can love that which is lovely, but it is extremely difficult to love those who are unlovely. Again, hear this clearly–you and I do not do this by our own strength. Loving our enemies is only genuine if it is out of the overflow of a life in Christ, where He is flowing through the believer to others. Loving others is a supernatural way of life; it is not a mandate to work really hard at keeping by your own power and might.

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Loving others is having empathy for people by meeting them where they are. It is a real mark of Christian maturity when one can rejoice with those God has blessed, because without Christ changing our hearts, pride and jealousy are our natural responses. When God has given someone wealth or talent or some other provision, it is difficult to rejoice with him because of our selfish heart’s petty jealousy.

Make it personal. How have you had resentment for someone else as you see them experience victory or success? Do you see your flesh motivating these feelings? God’s love causes us to rejoice with others, and their victory is our victory!

The second part of verse 15 says we are to weep with each other, too. When do we typically choose not to weep with others who weep? It is a common religious response to people who hurt or struggle to look down on them and say, “You deserved that.” We keep our empathy and pity to ourselves, because they do not deserve to have people join them in crying over something they purposely did. The key to this is found in verses 3 and 16 of this chapter.

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Only by the grace of God is my heart changed to look at others differently, to have sober judgment over them, and not to elevate myself to a position where I am better than they are. This affects why and how I love people.

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Loving others means loving people who are not like you, including people who are outcast. Again, Jesus models this for us all throughout His life. We see Him charged by the Pharisees for eating with outcast sinners in Luke 15 and showing compassion toward and fellowshipping with a prostitute in Luke 7. If ever we say, “I’m not going to waste my time on that rebellious man,” we have lost the true meaning of love. The only remedy is more of Jesus which is needed to change the heart.

Love others means to reject revenge.

Romans 12:17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Loving others means your heart is moving from self-centered to other-centered. Our sin causes us to want to hurt those who hurt us. Christ in us causes us to want to heal relationships with those who caused hurt. We counter their evil with God-honoring good and grace. This won’t happen if left to our flesh. We are desperate for Christ to fuel us with His selfless love.

Romans 12:17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Evil is God-dishonoring; righteousness is God-honoring. We are to be a righteous people who do good and not evil. In this, we honor God and put His name on high.

Love others means to pursue peace.

Romans 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Loving others means to pursue peace! Now it says, “as it depends on you,”and this is because it takes two to tango. So, the part of the relationship you can influence needs to be peaceful, but this doesn’t mean that you will have peace with everyone, because they can stir things up against you.

On this note, let’s move on to verse 19:

Romans 12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Only God can move other people’s hearts, and so we have to trust in His judgment to shape them and judge them and grow them, as He determines. Now, this rails against our flesh because the foremost trait of human nature is self-defense. If someone thrusts an object toward your face, your eyes close immediately by instinct. If an object falls toward you, your arm rises to ward off the blow. By nature, when we are offended, we automatically put up a defense mechanism and want to fight back.

In Christ, we do something contrary to our nature: We love and don’t fight back when offended. A person may ask, “Don’t I have the right to stick up for my rights?” Sometimes, the act of defending oneself or another is an act of love. But the supernatural work of Christ through us means that many times the answer is no. Christ’s love in and through you means you will not fight back.

Instead:

Romans 12:20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Loving others means loving your enemy the way God loved us when we were His enemies.

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

The only vengeance Christians can inflict on others is the red-hot coals of love.

This part of verse 20 is odd when read alone, but it makes sense when understood that it is a quote from Proverbs 25:21-22: If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

The coals on the head is a reference to a ritual in Egypt in which a person showed repentance by carrying a pan of hot burning charcoal on the head. So, when we respond with love and not hate, this can cause the other person to be repentant for his/her actions. Love is the only antidote for hate! When the Christian loves his enemies, they are either melted into repentance or hardened even more. It is up to God how they respond–not us. We are simply called to let love move—to love others!

Love others means to overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Paul is saying that in our personal relationships with the world, the cycle of evil can only be broken by good. The key to overcoming evil is to employ the good of Christ that is at work in us. The cycle of evil can only be overcome, can only be broken by good—the love of God.

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

It is the love of God that was made manifest in the flesh through the perfect life and sacrificial substitutional death of Jesus for a people that were against Him, but a people He would win over and make new. We–the church, the redeemed, the born again–are that people. May we love others as God intended every day for His glory and their good.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Romans 6-10  (7-16-22)

In chapters 1-5, we read Paul’s detailed description of our reality as spiritually dead and enslaved to sin. In chapter 6, Paul turns to our identity and reality when we have submitted our lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior.  

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Right out of the door, Paul is saying, “If you have received the forgiving, life-changing grace of God which frees you from the bondage and condemnation of sin, why would you still live in it?” This is like the butterfly who decides to wake up every day and, instead of flying, he crawls into his old, stinky cocoon and lives bound to the ground like he was in his old state. 

God’s grace has set us free from the bondage of sin. While we are still at war with sin and temptation while still in this life, we are NOT bound by it anymore. 

Paul goes on to stress who we are in Christ and what that means for us every day God gives us under the sun after our salvation.

Romans 6:3-4 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

The imagery of believers’ baptism is never clearer than right here. This is the ordained imagery God calls every believer to put on display by being baptized after conversion. When one goes under the water, it is symbolic of joining Christ, who went into the grave on our behalf. It is symbolic of the death of our old sinful self. As we are raised out of the water, it is like joining Jesus in His resurrection, by which He rose as the first born of many who would believe in and follow Him. It is raising to “walk in the newness of life” in Christ, and to no longer be bound by sin and condemned to death. In Christ, we are bound to Christ and blessed with new and eternal life with God.

How are you doing at waking up every day and putting on who you are in Christ and not who you were in your old, sinful self? It is critical that we live out who we are. If we don’t, we lie about the gospel and fail to enjoy the privileges of life in Christ.

Romans 6:5-11 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Paul makes it abundantly clear that in Christ, we are no longer condemned by our sin and no longer enslaved to sin. We have been set free from sin. We are, as he says, “dead to sin.” Do you know this? Do you live this? I know many people over the years who have said they know this is true, but their lives do not live it out. If this is you, then I would argue you do not really know it to be true. You say you understand, but that understanding is not taking root in your life. You are either set free and trust and obey Jesus or you are not. 

If we are bought by His blood, then He owns our life. That means we walk and talk in a way that glorifies Jesus; we live lives that honor God and that don’t give into sin and our flesh. This is where Paul goes next:

Romans 6:12-14 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Paul gets very practical here in saying that Christians “do not present [their] members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness.” Our instruments are our minds (thoughts), our eyes, our hands… essentially our lives. We do not engage or enjoy unrighteousness like we did when we were enslaved to sin in our former state.

Now, we have been bought and redeemed and set free to honor God with our thoughts, our eyes, and our actions. We fight sin and turn away from temptation to satisfy the flesh. We make war every day and all throughout the day. This means we reform our lives in order to not feast on the world. This means redeeming the music we listen to, the shows/movies we watch, and all the practices of our former way of living. 

Things that are good that we made idols of we begin to steward in a righteous way. One of the great ways to be encouraged and accountable is to invite in others who are mature in the Lord to help you evaluate your practices and daily diet of life, with the aim of not presenting our members to sinful or tempting things any longer. 

Instead, Paul says we are to “present [ourselves] to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and [our] members to God as instruments for righteousness.”  As one who is blood-bought by God through the costly atonement of His Son, what are each of us doing with our new lives in Christ? What are we doing with our days? We have been given new life in Christ for a reason: to honor and glorify God and to put on display the gospel and the new life that Christ alone brings. 

These are huge motivations and reasons for reformation and redemption in our daily practices and habits. How are you doing at reforming and redeeming these things? What a joyful privilege it is to belong to our good God. May we count it a great blessing to make war with the things of the flesh and to steward our lives in ways that honor God and point others to Christ.

May we repent of sin when we discover it and take up new practices or paths in light of the gospel.

May we head Paul’s wise clarity and instruction here and be who we are: “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Romans 1-5  (7-9-22)

I am very excited that we are now in Romans in our annual Bible reading plan. This has been considered by many scholars and historic theologians as one of the great pillars of the New Testament.

Paul starts in chapter one highlighting the sinful demise of mankind and that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. He then spends the majority of the next chapters making it abundantly clear about mankind’s condition apart from Christ’s saving work. This is what I want to highlight in today’s study–the spiritual state of mankind in our sin. Then next week, we will turn to chapters 6-10 and highlight the good news of the gospel and our spiritual state in Christ. 

Romans 3:10-12 speaks of our spiritual condition in our sin so well, so let’s start there: 

Romans 3:10-12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Scripture again and again points us to the overwhelming and damning reality that we are dead in our sin–not sick, not morally neutral–we are dead!

Three things Paul highlights here that lay this most important foundation for our utter need for God’s saving grace:

1. No one is righteous.

We have no righteousness of our own that is satisfactory for God’s utter holiness!

We cannot stand in front of a holy God and attempt to do what the prideful Pharisee did, saying, “Compared to that guy, I am looking pretty good.” 

The Bible says everything we do apart from Christ is sin because it’s not done from a right heart to the glory of God, and that our best efforts at good deeds or righteous living are like filthy menstrual rags.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 

Understand this most critical reality. One day, you will stand in front of a holy God inquiring about His acceptance of you. Not anyone else’s acceptance of you–only the holy God. We must not miss this! We must see how absolutely grand the canyon is that separates us from God because of our sin.

2. No one seeks God.

The Bible-revealed reality is what man seeks on his own is not God but some form of religion–a man-made, self-salvation based on self-merit. It’s a pursuit of a lifestyle that attempts to put God in debt to him. The good deeds of man are ultimately not to honor or glorify God but are self-glorifying or self-satisfying. Without the gracious intervention of God, man only seeks to glorify man. Spiritually dead people don’t tend to spiritual matters unless first made alive or born again. 

3. No one understands.

This is not speaking to our ability to think or reason or understand many things in this life. It is speaking to our spiritual blindness, our utter lack of spiritual perception. We are totally absent-minded to the things of God in our sin. 

Ephesians 4:17b-18 in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Later in Romans, Paul will say “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).

The Bible says that even the demons understand who God is, believe He exists, and can talk about Him; but the spiritual discernment required to know Him personally is not in them. 

This is super important to understand. James Montgomery Boice says it so well: 

“This does not mean that an unsaved person cannot have a rational understanding of Christianity or of what the Bible teaches apart from the illumination given by the Spirit. A scholar can understand Christian theology as well as any other branch of knowledge. A philosopher can lecture on the Christian idea of God. A historian can analyze the nature of the Protestant Reformation and describe justification by faith very well. But left to themselves, people like this do not believe what they explain, nor are they saved or changed by it.”

Please understand rightly: Because we are dead in sin and all we do is sin, we are not due any gift of God. Especially one that restores us to a relationship with Him. A very important way to think about grace is that it is a gift that is undeserved. We must fully and rightly see that God’s grace is undeserved. In its simple reading, “undeserved” means you did nothing to deserve it. Undeserved is like showing up on the job site, and you just sit there your entire shift and don’t lift a finger to work at all. Any pay your boss might consider giving you, in that case, would be completely undeserved. 

But it’s worse than this, because we didn’t do nothing; we showed up on the job site and worked our entire shift to tear apart the work the boss wanted done, to hurt his company and to work against him. Surely when that is the way we performed, as an enemy and anti-agent, we, all the more, don’t deserve any pay or reward. So, what we must see is that undeserved here means we actively and holistically are against the giver. This is Paul’s emphasis in the early verses of Ephesians 2! 

Our death in sin meant we were …

… following the course of this world. That means we were actively not obeying the law and commands of God.

… following the prince of the power of the air (Satan). That means we were actively not following the holy God; rather, we lived in anti-God unrighteousness like Satan.

… the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. That means we were not righteousness unto obedience and honoring God.

… living in the passions of our flesh. That means we lived for ourselves and for our flesh–not for God and His glory. 

… carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. That means we were idolaters instead of worshiping and following God and His desires. 

We were His enemies in every way! This brings up another foundational principle that helps us rightly understand that God saves by grace alone: Because we are all fallen in Adam, we deserve God’s wrath. And we have increased the severity of wrath due us in living as Paul describes here in our passage. 

This is what Paul says next. Look at verse 3:

Ephesians 2:3 … were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Most people, and sadly even many Christians, have a low view of the righteous wrath of God. Please understand, at the end of human history, sin will be punished eternally. But this is so foreign, it seems like a fantasy to many. Many simply cannot imagine God to be a God of judgment–a God who would impart His wrath on us or people we have loved in this life. People like to see Jesus as a loving hippy who would not dare send anyone into eternal torment based on His sound judgment of them. 

To correct this line of thinking, we simply turn to Jesus’ very own teaching, as He describes the judgment to come in Matthew 25 through three parables He shares. 

In the first story, the bridegroom returns suddenly, and the women who are not ready for his coming are excluded from the marriage feast (Matthew 25:10).

In the story of the servants, the master returns to settle his accounts, and the evil, lazy servant is condemned, as the master says, “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30).

In the final story, the king separates the sheep from the goats, sending the wicked “to eternal punishment” and the righteous “to eternal life” (v. 46).

According to Jesus Himself, there absolutely will be a future day of reckoning for all people. But many people love to argue, “God is so good, He could never send anyone to hell.” Yet, it is because of God’s goodness that He must rightly judge and condemn guilty people to hell. 

Exodus 34:7 says God “will by no means clear the guilty.” The principle in this Old Testament verse applied to final judgment is that all who stand outside of Christ will rightly be condemned and receive just wrath. His perfect justice means He must declare the guilty “guilty!” And the sentence is death–eternal death. If a human judge declared someone innocent who was clearly guilty, he would not be considered a “good judge.” In fact, he would be fired, because he is indeed a terrible judge. 

It is because God is a God of love that He must send people to hell for the same reason that letting a guilty person go free is not an act of love; it’s an act of great injustice. So, the presupposition that “God is good” is correct, but the conclusion that therefore, because He is good, means He won’t or can’t punish anyone is completely misguided, unbiblical, and dangerous.

The Bible proclaims the sentence for sinners in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death …” 

Jesus declared it in Matthew 7:13: “… For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction …” 

Hebrews 10:26-27 (NIV) says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth … [there is] only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

It is imperative that we note that none of our excuses will have any weight before God. You might get away with giving excuses to other people—your boss, your parents, your friends. But, you cannot excuse yourself before God. The apostle Paul wrote that in the day of judgment, “… every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19). When the Judge takes the bench, there will not be a single protest.

In our current day, man is in love with human “rights,” and most people wrongly assume that God owes us something good—salvation or, at least, a chance at salvation. God owes sinful man something; this is true. He owes unrepentant, sinful man His righteous and eternal wrath. Yes, we are owed and we are deserving … of His eternal wrath. But there is good news that Paul highlights in chapter five: 

Romans 5:6-11 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

While we were His enemies, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! What does this mean for us? It means we who believe into Jesus as Savior and Lord are “… saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9) He substituted Himself in our place. He died to pay our penalty. 

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus Christ substituted Himself in our place. 

This is the wonder and beauty of what Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary on our behalf. His bloodshed is the righteousness with which we who trust in Christ are covered. So, when God, in all His holiness, looks upon you and me to consider if we get to enjoy His glory and have communion with Him, He sees Jesus’ perfection and righteousness and declares us justified. We are justified by His blood. 

We are “… reconciled to God …” (Romans 5:10). This leads to the next huge point Paul tells us in Romans 5, verse 10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son …” There is not eternal life, there is no return to the garden of Eden, no all-satisfying enjoyment with God almighty, no being freed from sin and eternal suffering, no reconciliation to God if not for the death of His Son, Jesus Christ on our behalf. 

If you are reading this and are not yet saved, repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation, for reconciliation to God. 

And finally, 

Romans 5:11 … we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Habakkuk says it so well: 

Habakkuk 3:18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Even while standing downstream of absolute physical ruin and abject famine, the prophet realized that inner peace and joy did not depend on outward prosperity but only on the God of his salvation. Habakkuk did not state that he would merely endure in the hour of distress. He said he would rejoice in the Lord and be joyful. God is the inexhaustible source and infinite supply of joy. 

The phrase “the God of my salvation” is also seen in the Psalmist’s words:

Psalms 18:46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation

Are your feet firmly grounded on the rock of Jesus Christ, on the God of your salvation? 

Praise God for the good news of Jesus Christ which sets condemned sinners free. 

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Joshua 20-24  (7-2-22)

In our last stretch of reading in the book of Joshua, we encounter one of the more famous quotes of Joshua that Christians love and love to hold high. It is found in Joshua 24:15. To give you a reminder of the context, let’s look again at verses 14 and 15:

Joshua 24:14-15 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

That last part of verse 15 says, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” This is probably one of the most popular verses painted or hung on the walls of Christian homes that there is. It is a great proclamation of intent to join Joshua in his fervor to dedicate his life and family to the service of our good God. I can’t help but wonder if for the majority of the homes where that verse is posted, that’s where the fervor ends. In other words, to what extent are those households truly defined by and daily driven by serving the Lord God with their lives? How much of their making and spending their money looks like a family of servants to God, how much of their daily priorities and activities reflect a life of service to God? 

If you were to tour a multi-million-dollar American estate or a massive residence of a king in a foreign land, you would likely find the living quarters or home on site where the servants of that estate live. What would we find in daily priorities or activities of that servant family of the lord of the manor?

Hopefully you see what I am getting at. Is the proclamation that we will serve the Lord mostly a lofty idea of devotion, or is it the actual reality of devotion of our homes and lifestyle? Do we wake up with the mindset of a servant? Don’t picture a begrudging servant who hates his master; picture a servant who is elated to get to be in direct service of the King. But picture what that lifestyle would look like. It is not a daily pursuit to build one’s own kingdom, but a devoted pursuit to serve and build the kingdom of the King! The goal is not to become independent, but it is a goal that loves to be dependent on the King and His provision and His employment of our family. It is a mindset that says, “There is no higher calling or goal of my life than to be a servant of the most-high King.” 

The Apostle Paul joined Joshua in his fervor to be a servant of the King. Throughout his epistles, the Apostle Paul describes his relationship to Christ as one of servant to master (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 4:1; Gal. 1:10). 

In addition to the name Christian, the Bible uses a host of other terms to name the followers of Jesus: beloved, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the chosen, the Church, disciples, the elect, friends, heirs, household of God, saints, sheep, sons of God, and more. All these descriptions—each in its own unique way—help us to understand what it means to be a Christian.

But the Bible uses one metaphor and title more frequently than any of these above. It is one you might not expect, but it is absolutely critical for understanding what it means to follow Jesus. It is the title of a servant or slave. Time and time again throughout the pages of Scripture, believers are referred to as slaves of God and slaves of Christ. In fact, whereas the outside world called them Christians, the earliest of believers repeatedly referred to themselves in the New Testament as the Lord’s slaves. For them, the two ideas were synonymous. To be a Christian was to be a slave of Christ.

The New Testament understanding of the believer’s relationship to Christ is that He is the Master and Owner, and we are His possession. He is the King, the Lord, and the Son of God; we are His subjects and His subordinates. In a word, we are His slaves. The gospel is not simply an invitation to become Christ’s benefactor; it is a mandate to become His slave.

The word for slave we see used throughout the English Bible text we read from is the Greek word “doulos.” This is a primary title the Bible gives to Christians: doulos = slaves. The word doulos is used 124 times in the original Bible text, but often times it is unfortunately translated into English as the word “servant.” This shouldn’t be the case. What is off is “doulos” is not a primary Greek word for servant; rather, there are many words in Greek more specific for the word servant. While both servant and salve indicate service-hood, the difference between the two words is big in that servants are hired workers, but slaves are owned by their master.

So we can see why God inspired the title of duolos/slave to be so common; we are servants, but we are more than that: we are slaves—His slaves. He owns us; our lives are for Him. We need to embrace that a life of submission is much of what a godly life and the Christian life is about at its core.

“True Christianity is not about adding Jesus to my life. Instead, it is about devoting myself completely to Him — submitting wholly to His will and seeking to please Him above all else. It demands dying to self and following the Master, no matter what the cost. In other words, to be a Christian is to be Christ’s slave.” ^—John MacArthur, Slave, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010) 22.

Philippians 2:6-8 [Jesus] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came to serve us and sacrifice Himself—to pay for our freedom, our ransom.

I love how Pastor David Platt says this: “He took on a robe of human flesh and took all of your sinful filth, guilt and shame upon Himself. He went to the cross, and He paid the price. He stood in your place as your servant, so that you could be redeemed. This word ‘redeemed’ is a picture of slavery. When we talk about redemption, redemption is to buy something, to pay a redemption price.”

The truth is, before Christ was Savior and Lord, you and I were slaves to sin. We were in “the snare of the devil.”  We were in his grasp, and Christ our God came, and He set us free from the bondage of sin. This is the good news; we are empowered to honor God in righteousness in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 6:17-18 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Before we are given saving faith, we are enslaved to sin, and we will choose to sin, because it is all we know; it is all our nature is inclined to. After we are given saving faith, we are enslaved to Christ, and we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to grow in obedience to God and fight sin. The key is we are no longer enslaved to sin in Christ. Look at Romans 6:18 again! We “have become SLAVES of righteousness!” Slaves of Jesus Christ, the righteous One!

He paid the price with His life, with His death on the cross, with His resurrection from the grave, so that you could be set free from sin and become a son, a daughter of God. That’s THE good news! Our Master humbled Himself!

Now watch this: Our Master humbled Himself, so in Christ, we gladly become His slaves. Paul got this, Peter got this, and so must we! It is our utter joy to be mastered by Jesus our LORD. Romans 1:6 says basically that the heart of Christianity is “to BELONG to Jesus!” We belong to Him! For His glory!

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT) You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your life.

This means my money is Jesus’ money, my time is Jesus’ time, my days are Jesus’ days, my body is Jesus’ body! My whole life—everything about me—is owned by and under the Lordship of Jesus!

All you are, all you have is God’s. My kids are God’s kids; my house is God’s house; my days are God’s days. And when we really begin to get this, we begin to understand the amazing, undeniable privilege it is to BE HIS, and it changes how we manage our time, our talent, and our treasures—everything. We begin to understand why it is a great thing to be slaves of Jesus. It helps me begin to realize I am not building my kingdom; I am building His Kingdom for His GLORY!

Now, you must see that while He owns us and all of our lives are for Him and His glory, this is the opposite of being owned by sin and death and addiction and anything else. We are loved. We have been fought for and bled for, and the pages of history are about our rescue by God.  Listen to Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:

1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 

We are His people—a people of His own possession. Church! This is a greatest privilege in this life.

Now, one last emphasis on the life we are to live as slaves, and we find it in the next few verses. If we are the joyful slave, then God is the loving master! A slave lives his/her life for the master. The master’s purposes have become the slave’s purposes. The master’s desires have become the slave’s desires. The master’s plans have become the slave’s plans. This is a key part of our growth and maturity in Christ. Are you more and more in love with the ways and commands of God and less and less interested in driving your own life by your own desires? It becomes our joy to totally submit to God as Master! Is this your view of who He is and who we are in response? This submission spills over into the way He commands us to be submissive in our exile time on earth, too.

Look at how we are to live free within our slavery and service to Christ:

1 Peter 2:16-20 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Christians, we are to wake up every day and get to work on time and bring our very best, because we represent Jesus! This is not something we get to just shirk. This is His purpose for us in this time and place! Let me show why:

1 Peter 2:21b because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

What is the example Jesus has given us? To live honorable, submissive, slave lives! The gospel is not just about setting you free; it is bigger than that. It is about empowering you to live your entire life for HIS GLORY forever. To PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES of GOD!

I pray that this study gives you a sweet and potent reboot in how you see this verse in Joshua 14:15, but more importantly, how you live it every day that the King gives you on this earth to serve His mighty name.

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church