Category: Saturday Study

Saturday Study

Joshua 10-14 (6-16-18)

The sovereign power and will of God is on full display in Joshua 10.

As we continue our study in Joshua and the Conquest Era of the biblical narrative, we see in this week’s chapters the power of God to fulfill His plans with great victory for Israel over their enemies.

As we look deeper today at chapter 10, let me give us a little context. Gibeon was an important city in the days of Joshua. Gibeon’s rulers had seen the destruction of Ai and Jericho and knew that they were no match for Yahweh (Joshua 9:22–27). Yet since the other kings of Canaan beyond the Jordan had formed an alliance against the Israelites (Joshua 10:1), they feared the loss of Gibeon’s might and took steps to regain it (Joshua 10:1–4). So, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon went up against Gibeon to regain the city for the Canaanite inhabitants (Joshua 10:5).

What followed was a great battle between the forces of Joshua and the Canaanites, a battle in which the Lord intervened on behalf of Israel (Joshua 10:6–15). God’s mighty hand of sovereign rule is seen in His wondrous miracle of causing the sun to stand still so that the army of the Lord could claim victory over their enemies. May we be in awe of the wondrous work of God to accomplish His will and to display His omnipotent power in the process. Having defeated their enemies, Joshua and the Israelites then put their feet on the necks of the defeated kings as a symbol of their utter defeat before putting them to death (Joshua 10:16–28).

The events of this chapter bring to mind Psalm 2 and its description of the kings of the earth warring against the anointed Davidic ruler. David goes on to proclaim the foolishness for anyone to think he could successfully fight the Almighty. The Lord laughs at the arrogance of mankind.

Stop and read Psalm 2.

1. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3. “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
4. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
5. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6. “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
7. I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
8. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
9. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10. Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

This psalm is fulfilled ultimately in the son of David who is also the only begotten Son of God. We too stand in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ and His ultimate reign over all things especially sin and death on our behalf. Praise God for His providence and might over all things.

Like Joshua, Jesus will put His feet on the necks of His enemies who will all submit to Him whether they want to or not. Some will honor the Son willingly and find refuge in Him, others will be forced into submission with His rod of iron but all people will bow to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Philippians 2:9-10 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When we call people to repent and believe in Christ, we are not offering them a choice that can be made with impunity. God commands all people everywhere to bow to His Son, and those who will not bow today will most certainly bow in the age to come. Let us strive to remind people of the dreadful consequences that await all those who will not submit to Jesus and let us endeavor each day to “kiss the Son, lest He become angry”.

Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all    who take refuge in him.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Joshua 5-9 (6-9-18)

I want to focus today on one of my favorite passages in Joshua. It is Joshua 5:13-15.

Let’s read it again and then look at our holy Lord and what holy servants look like.

Joshua 5:13-15 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

1. The Holy Lord: Who God Is and Why It Matters

As this scene opens, Joshua is out on the edge of the city of Jericho by himself, and he looks up. What is he doing?

Well, back up 40 years before. The Israelites are out of slavery and headed back to their ancestral land, but this land is now occupied by another people.

Which means if they are going to get it back, there is going to be a fight.

So, just like we still do today, they sent in spies or scouts before marching in, just to survey the enemy to see what they were up against.

Every one but two of the scouts said they would never overcome those huge fortified cities. They would die in there. The only two who had confidence they could do it were Joshua and Caleb.

Because the people rebelled against God and showed Him no confidence, God sent them back out into the wilderness for 40 years, until a new generation was ready to follow God.

Now an older Joshua who has been put in charge after Moses’ passing is ready to lead them into battle to claim the Promised Land.

So Joshua is standing outside the huge fortified walls of Jericho on the eve of their attack, and it is clear that the other scouts were right about one thing: The Israelite people did not have near the amount of needed resources to take that city by human effort.

Only with God’s mighty, divine provision and power would they be able to conquer the fortified walls of Jericho. During this time, Joshua is out there most likely seeking God for his battle plan, because Joshua knows his battle plan is already worthless.

But we read he looks up to find he is not alone but lingering on the shadow of an unknown man with a drawn sword lifted high.

Now when a man is in your space with a drawn sword, it’s probably not to offer you shade.

So, Joshua draws an immediate line and asks, “Are you for us or against us?”

Meaning, “If you are for our people, you will bow before me as your leader,

or if you are for the enemy and you have your sword drawn, it’s about to go down.”

The stranger’s response is unique. He says, “NO!” in verse 14.

What he means is neither. What he is saying is, “You are asking the wrong question. I am the commander of the army of the LORD. The question isn’t am I for or against you; the real question is are you for or against me?”

Realizing who this is, Joshua falls to the ground in worship.

Joshua 5:14 … And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Now this is very revealing because faithful Israelites did not worship other men, nor did they worship the created angels.    àThey only worshipped God! Joshua knows who he is in the presence of.

Joshua 5:15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

What is cool about this is it is a very similar interaction that God had when He calls Moses at the burning bush.

Just like the burning bush, this mighty warrior is both breathtaking and scary all at the same time.

This is a picture of God’s holiness.

The question for us is do we really get the holiness of GOD?

The Holiness of God is the perfection of God. God’s holiness will be the attribute that we praise Him for, forever and ever.

Revelation 4:8 … day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

It is an essential understanding of God that He is holy, that His nature is holy, that He is infinitely and perfectly just, that He is morally flawless and perfect, that He is perfection. Everything in Him and of Him and for Him and from Him and by Him is perfect. And so whatever He says is what justice is.

“We must not think that God does a thing because it’s good and right, but rather the thing is good and right because God does it.” -William Perkins

The holiness of God is His unmatchable, majestic perfection and purity.

Do we really get the holiness of God?

If you do, then you, too, will fall face down before Him. Why?

• Because you have nothing to offer that comes close to matching Him.
• Because you are so stained with impurity in your sin in the brightness of His perfection.

For example: When Isaiah is given view of God high and lifted up and the seraphim cry out to God in song, shouting “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD God almighty”, Isaiah’s response is, “Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips.”

What is so profound about this is Isaiah was a prophet and preacher, and his lips were what he was most proud of. But in the presence of God, he admits his best attribute is garbage compared to God.

We must get the holiness of God.

We cannot “just say” Jesus is the main thing. We have to mean it by how we live!

Our utter speechless, humble, selfless, prayerful, faithful, obedient lives must bow before His utter holiness.

We need to get the holiness of God. We need to come face to face with how unmatchable He is, how perfect He is, how pure He is, how mighty He is! Why? Now it is so important we understand why.

Because only in light of His holiness will you and I see who we really are in His shadow.

Only then do you and I really begin to see our sin.

Because if you just look to your fellow man to see how you stack up, you will look hard enough and long enough until you find people that make you feel good about yourself compared to them.

This is why man’s love affair with the old adage, “I am a good person,” is so damning!

Because compared to man, maybe that is true.

But compared to the HOLINESS OF GOD, it is a laughable lie.

We need to see the HOLINESS of GOD, so we can see the fullness of our sin and the DEPTH of OUR DEPRAVITY. Not just so we can feel bad about ourselves or for ourselves!

This is the response of SOME and, oh, how they tragically miss it. They MISS THE GOOD NEWS!

We need to see the depth of our depravity in light of the holiness of God so that we see our need for one thing: THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST!

THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST is the only thing big enough to mend the enormous gap that rightly separates me in my sin from GOD in His glory.

Praise God for the cross of Jesus Christ! AMEN?

ONLY when God reveals Himself to you and shows you His unmatchable, majestic perfection and purity–His holiness—is your utter wickedness and weakness in sin thereby revealed.

Only then will you fall face down before Him and lay your deadly doing down and worship Him. 

Only then will you realize by none of our efforts will we ever conquer the fortified walls of those that are in front of this club that separate us from all that God has for us.

In light of this, it is the mercy of God on us that is the source of all our praise. WHY?

Because He should have righteously taken out His sword of justice and cut our guilty heads off.

But He didn’t! God’s people needed delivering, so God became human!

This leads us back to the text.

1. The Holy Servant Lord: What Christ Did and Why It Matters

In this encounter between Joshua and the man holding up his sword, who is the man holding the sword who claims to be the commander of the Lord’s army?

It is an “angel of the Lord,” who is both identical with us and also distinct in the most holy way. Does this remind you of anybody?

One who without abandoning the full essence and power of deity or diminishing the divine holiness is able to accommodate Himself to the company with sinners while affirming the wrath of God.

The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament can be appreciated only if we understand Him as a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ Himself.

This is another reminder to us of the grace of God who sends His Son to do the unthinkable.

He sends Him to take the sword on Himself in place of His people so that we can have His holiness!

And as a result, watch the walls of sin crumble at our feet, so we can march into the promised land and forever feast with the KING!

This is the good news of the HOLY LORD! It is so amazing!

In Genesis 3:24, after man sinned, we read that God drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden, He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The sword of eternal justice blocked the only way back to God. You could say then that to pass the sword of justice one would have to pay the ultimate price, or the only way back to God is to go under the sword.

The spotless Jesus, who was crucified in our place, is the promised One who was able to take on the sword for His people, and He did!

In John 17:19 (NLT) Jesus says, “I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”

Back to Joshua…

So, Joshua is rightly scared and full of reverence before God, and what does he then get up and do?
He leads his people in great courage up to the wall, and what do they do?

They don’t lean on the power of their flesh. They don’t lean on their best laid plans and great tools of war.

No. He walks them around while blowing trumpets so that when the walls fall down, the One who receives all the praise is only GOD Himself.

Joshua is a Christ-like servant leader that faithfully surrenders to his God and obediently serves his King.

And like Joshua, we, too, can faithfully surrender to our God and obediently serve our King in the battle He has put us in. This leads us to part three.

3. His Holy Servants: Who We Can Be in Christ and Why It Matters

There are two main things here that we must see to understand who we can be in Christ and why it matters.

In CHRIST, we can be:

1. Exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God
2. Different than the world

1. To be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God

Why does Joshua need to take off the sandals?

In Leviticus, there was holy use and common use.

The difference was things used exclusively for God were holy, and things used for man were common.

God calls us to be radically and exclusively for Him. The problem is we are really good at sometimes living for Him! We are good at saying, “God I will serve you if you do this or that!”

“I will serve you if …” Do you realize anytime you give God this ultimatum, you are highlighting the fact that it is not really God you are serving or living for? You are really living for the things you want Him to give you.

The IF is the rival against God for your greatest affections. But God will have no rivals.

The first commandment says, “Have NO OTHER GODS before me”.

If you have ifs that you put between you and God, you are placing conditions on Him.

The life of a HOLY SERVANT means you are wholly devoted to Him and not partially devoted.

“Partially devoted” is an oxymoron.

In Christ we must be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God

In order to be obedient to God, we must know what we are to obey.

Meaning devotion to God is stoked by the fire of His living word reigning in and through us.

Let’s first look at the other way in which we need to be in Christ:

1. To be different than the world

When rightly understanding the word “holy” in the Bible, it often means “separate.”

It is separate than other things used for common things. It is set apart.

This means holy people will be different than the world. We live set apart.

A good example of this is the early church that we see in the book of Acts.

Why was the early church so revolutionary in the Roman-dominated culture they lived in?

Why was the gospel so transforming in that day? Because their faith was truly radical!

There are four BIG areas where we can see how they lived very different than the world around them.

1. Integrity — In a “lie to advance yourself” culture, they were honest to a fault.
2. Sympathy – In a “quick to shame the guilty” culture, they were forgiving.
3. Chastity – In a “loose and hedonistic” culture, they were faithful to the covenant of marriage.
4. Generosity – In an “acquire wealth and personal success at all costs” culture, they were recklessly openhanded in sharing what they had.

The early church was an amazing example of what it means to be “holy servants.”

They were honoring God with their lives and generously serving those in need.

The key to this is who they were “IN CHRIST.”

The key is this phrase “IN CHRIST,” because apart from Christ, we will not be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God. We will not be different than the world.

Apart from Christ, we will look to all the stuff this world is selling for our hope and joy.

Paul says in Colossians 1:27 one of my favorite phrases in the Bible: “… Christ in you, the hope of glory!”

Notice that it doesn’t say it is Christ and you, like you make a good team.

Like sometimes I give Christ the ball, and sometimes I take it myself.

It also does not say Christ then you.

Too many Christians are out there trying their hardest to follow Christ’s example.

“Christ came 2000 years ago, and now it is up to me to carry on His work–to be all I can be for Jesus!” Do you realize without Jesus at your center in everything you do, you will never live up to His example? All of that is religion.

Paul reminds us it is not Christ and you or Christ then you; it is Christ in you, and that is your hope of glory.

Christ who is HOLY makes us HOLY!

Joshua got this and fell on his face in worship.

He surrendered it all for God. It wasn’t about him or his fame; it was all about GOD!

And when it was totally about God, God used Joshua to lead an army unto great victory.

So, I want to make it personal with the goal of being most helpful:

Is it Christ and you? Sometimes you are doing good enough that you don’t need Him, and sometimes you do?

Is it Christ then you? You are constantly trying to follow His example but somehow can’t seem to even conquer the armies that await you?

Is it just you?

Christ in you the hope of GLORY.

Our only hope for glory is Jesus! So, we truly live and lead for Him. We truly are enjoying Him more than anything else. Jesus is the key to holy living.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Joshua 1-4 (6-2-18)

This week we began our reading in Joshua, the book I have chosen to represent the Conquest Era in this year’s Bible reading plan.  I love the book of Joshua and not just because of my namesake; instead, I love that what God did in and through Joshua and the Israelites in the Conquest Era was awesome and very important in His overall redemptive plan.

The Lord God promised Abraham and his descendants four things:

• they would be blessed and become a blessing;
• they would grow to become a great nation;
• they would be given a land of their own;
• and these blessings would be enjoyed in the context of a close covenant relationship with God.

By the end of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), Israel (who is God’s chosen people) has been brought into the blessing of covenant relationship with the Lord and has become a great people.

But they remain outside the Land of Promise, on the plains of Moab.

Now, after so many years of wandering, Joshua, the new leader of God’s people, is ordained to lead God’s people into the land, take it, and divide it among them as their inheritance from the Lord.

The book of Joshua can be divided into four main sections; however, we will study it in five parts.

Guidance       Joshua 1-5

Conquest       Joshua 6-12

Dominion       Joshua 13-21

Service          Joshua 22-24

Today, we delve into the guidance that Joshua gave the people as they prepared to go into battle and claim their land.

Listen to God’s words:

Joshua 1:7-8 “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

This is counsel from the Lord to one of the truly great and godly leaders of the Old Testament. Notice that His emphasis is on a carefulness to do all that God has given to them through the law–to not even turn from it slightly to the left or right.

If you are honest with yourself, how critical is it that you know and follow God’s word? I believe that many will be quick to say they hold high this practice, but what does your life say? What do the priorities of your days say? Do you truly work to know God’s word and then to not depart from it even in the slightest? The book of Joshua is saying, “This is critical to a life of success.”

It is surely critical to a life that is honoring of God.

He goes on to say that the Book of the Law shall not depart from our mouths.

What does that mean? It means we are speaking the truths and wisdom of God and not the ideas and wisdom of man.

It means we value and speak of and bless others with God’s word. What better word is there than God’s word?

This leads into the next point, which is to “meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”

What does it mean to meditate on God’s word?

The word “meditation” in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter.

When this is done in the heart, it is called musing or meditation.

So, meditating on the word of God day and night means to speak to yourself the word of God day and night. So, it’s not just something you do for five minutes; it’s something you do throughout the day. This is why Bible memorization is so helpful, so we can mediate on it day and night. This is why it is so essential we are in the word of God every day, so it is fresh, and we are able to recall what we read and muse on it all day. This is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us–not with new revelation but with drawing to our minds and hearts the words of Scripture, of God’s word. The word of God is the Holy Spirit’s word to us.

Another Scripture that is very similar to Joshua’s exhortation here is found in the first Psalm:

Psalms 1:1-6 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalms 1:2 says “but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Delight means it gets priority time. You make room to give it priority in your days.

You don’t just try to squeeze it in; you hunger after God and want to hear from Him.

You want Him to shape you and grow you, so you DELIGHT IN HIS WORD.

The New Testament teaching is that we are to hold fast to God’s word.

To hold fast to God’s word is to get your roots deep into His truth.

To hold fast is to read His word daily, putting it deep into the soil of your heart so that your roots are deep, grounded, and secure in the truth of God. So, when then wind blows and the storms rage, you remain!

How do we delight or hold fast to God’s word? You have to get time in it!

Holding fast is regular time eating at the table of God, listening to Him speak life into you.

We make prioritized time to eat food, dress, and prepare ourselves for our day.

We even prioritize our “down time” to refill our tanks by watching TV, cruising the internet, or playing games, but we often neglect the true food of life, the true preparation of our day, and the true rest for our souls by not spending time fanning the flame of our faith by hearing God’s word.

The text goes on to say that only when we are mediating on God’s word day and night will we “be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

God’s word truly is the light to our path. We will not know the best way if we do not know His way. We will slip into sin and the ways of man if not regularly rooted in God’s word.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

So, when the word of God is in my life, it is now a “LIVING WORD” that brings me into the bigger story of God. It illuminates my understanding of who God is, and therefore who I am in relationship to Him.

God’s word helps illuminate the depth of my depravity, my wickedness, and my rebellion from God, and at the same time, it raises within me a deep appreciation and gratefulness for His grace, love, and the new life that Jesus brings through His life, death, and resurrection.

Here is the key: When this deeper understanding and relationship happens, NOW I can make a deeper connection by faith and worship into Jesus–who is the vine, and who is life, and by whom the POWER for change comes!

Do you see it? When I hold fast to the Scriptures, it pulls me into Him. He is now at work in and through me; He is my power, He is my authority, He is my hope, he is my LIFE!

I worship Him, I trust in Him, I lean on Him, and I ENJOY HIM!

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

Proverbs 13:13 says, “Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.”

You will not prosper or be rewarded if you despise or ignore or deny the word of God.

The word of God is too central to your life and growth and focus to ignore it.

Please hear this teaching today. You cannot thrive in the Christian life without a steady diet of God’s holy word. This is what God wanted Joshua and his people to know and not miss. This was His linchpin emphasis before sending them into war and the land before them.

This is so critical for us still today. Why? Because we are so vulnerable to slipping into the ways of man and adapting to the things that seem to make sense to us or that our flesh longs for.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

Surely these times are among us, so let’s heed the counsel in the book of Joshua and make it an absolute and non-negotiable priority to “meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success”.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Exodus 35-39 (5-26-18)

Today we finish our reading through Exodus. These last 5 chapters are full of the details given for the building of the Tabernacle and the priestly garments. While it would be interesting to mine down into these details, I want to instead look at what to point us to. Jesus. In Christ, much of the Old Covenant system is fulfilled. So, today I want to take some time and show us how Jesus himself is the truer and better tabernacle and Priest.

Look with me at: John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.

The word “dwelt” here means Tabernacled.

Dwelt : to tent or encamp, to occupy, to reside (as God did in the Tabernacle of old).

When He took on flesh, God the Son (Jesus) pitched His tent on earth for thirty-three years. This is a key fulfillment in reference to the tabernacle of Israel we read about in Exodus. The Old Covenant tabernacle had a typical significance in that it foreshadowed God the Son incarnate. Let’s see how the Old Covenant Tabernacle is the type of the anti-type who is Jesus.

1. The “tabernacle” was a temporary appointment. In this, it differed from the temple of Solomon, which was a permanent structure. The tabernacle was merely a tent, a temporary convenience, something that was suited to be moved about from place to place during the journeying of the children of Israel. So it was when our blessed Lord tabernacled here among men. His stay was but a brief one—less than forty years; and, like the type, He abode not long in any one place, but was constantly on the move—unwearied in the activity of His love.

2. The “tabernacle” was God’s dwelling place. It was there, in the midst of Israel’s camp, He took up His abode. There, between the cherubim upon the mercy seat He made His throne. In the holy of holies He manifested His presence by means of the Shekinah glory. And during the thirty-three years that the Word tabernacled among men, God had His dwelling place in Palestine. The holy of holies received its anti-typical fulfillment in the Son of God. Just as the Shekinah dwelt between the two cherubim, so on the mount of transfiguration the glory of the God-man flashed forth from between two men—Moses and Elijah. “We beheld his glory” is the language of the tabernacle type.

Now look at the second part of John 1:14.

John 1:14b “and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father”.

The phrase “We have seen” here doesn’t translate deep enough in my opinion.

The word “seen” here is better translated “beheld”. To behold means: to look closely at; or intently at. John’s comment here is directly referring to the first disciples, yet it is the blessed experience of all who are in Christ today. In this, I want to be sure we grasp the fullness of the difference between just seeing something and beholding something. You see a lot of things in your daily life. But what are the things you stop and really behold? Just the practice of beholding is lost on us much of the time as we live in a fast paced, fast travel, fast food, fast download speeds, have it now and move on kind of culture.

One of the questions we could really stop and ask this morning is what are you beholding? Or what is worthy of beholding? The problem in our sin is that we often behold the wrong things.

I want you to think of the things you really slow down and behold. The things you don’t just see but the things you behold? Here is what is very sobering. Often the things we are guilty of making time to behold are sinful things. What are the images or scenes or people that you behold? That you look intently or closely at? I am not going to list what they could be because I think if you stop long enough and are honest enough you will see what I am talking about.

I want you to now consider this game-changing reality in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

We can behold his glory. Please don’t toss aside what this means for us.

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah is looking into heaven and he says, “Behold, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. The train of his robe filled the temple, and around him were angels crying out, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! Heaven and earth are full of his glory!’”

Fast forward. John 12:41 where John says, “Isaiah saw Jesus and spoke of his glory.”

So, the picture that Isaiah experienced of heaven being open was a glimpse into the majesty and the glory of the presence of Jesus, seated on a throne, ruling over all peoples, times, and places, and being worshiped as God.

The Old Testament celebrities only had occasional and passing glimpses of God’s glory. But, in contrast from these who only “saw,” we “behold” His glory. But more particularly, there is a contrast here between the beholding and the non-beholding of God’s glory.

This is good news because the Shekinah glory resided only in the holy of holies before Christ, and therefore was veiled or hidden. But now we behold His divine glory!

“The glories of our Lord are infinite, for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. No subject ought to be dearer to the heart of a believer. ” AW Pink

“We beheld his glory” refers to His essential “glory,” or divine perfections. This is clear from the words which follow: “The glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” From the beginning to the end of His earthly life and ministry, the Deity of the then Jehovah was again in Israel’s midst.

And it is a remarkable fact to which we have never seen attention called, that at either extremity of the Word’s tabernacling among men, the Shekinah glory was evidenced. Immediately following His birth we are told, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.” (Luke 2:8-9 KJV). And, at His departure from this world, we read “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9 KJV)—not clouds, but a cloud! We beheld his glory, then, refers, first, to His divine glory.

AWESOME! God is so good.

Now, let’s shift our attention to the passages we read about the priests and their holy garments. These, too, point us to Christ in such a powerful way.

A priest always denotes one who interceded and offered sacrifices on behalf of the people.

In Hebrews, it says, “where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:20) The priest was the God appointed office of intercessor for the people.

As Priest, Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for all our sin. In the Old Testament, the high priest was the mediator between the holy God and sinful people specifically those in the old covenant. As mediator, the high priest entered the holy place and offered a sacrifice to God on behalf of the people once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:34). He sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat “because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins” (Leviticus 16:16).

In the Old Covenant system, the priest did this year after year after year. In contrast, Christ, as our Mediator and High Priest, not only offered the sacrifice (once and for all his people), but He is the sacrifice. Like the high priest of old, Christ entered the holy place, but unlike the high priest, He entered to offer Himself. He had to enter only one time for He sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us:

Hebrews 9:11–14 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Why do we need a truer and better priest?

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Intercede = to appear on behalf of someone who is on trial.

I’ll explain with this example. I was randomly audited a few years ago by the IRS.

It was a random audit. Nothing illegal involved. They just pulled my number. All we had to do was prove that what we said were right offs were valid right offs by showing proof. So, if I prove these things I owe nothing. If I don’t, I owe thousands.

The problem is I don’t know how to rightly represent myself in these matters so I hired an intercessor. My tax accountant. Someone to represent me who knows what he is doing. Knows the technical jargon. The ins and outs.

Now, here is the key that we must understand if this makes sense. What do I look like in court?

I look like my intercessor. I didn’t even have to be there. He went before the judge and represented my case. The judge hears him while he thinks of ME! I AM IN HIM!

So, what it comes down to is if he is brilliant, then I am brilliant. And if he fails, then I fail.

Your intercessor represents you in the courtroom. You are in your intercessor.

Romans 8:34 says Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Jesus is the perfect intercessor for us because of his relationship with the rest of the trinity.

Now, look at this verse in Hebrews 7:26. Here we hear the understatement of the year!

Hebrews 7:26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. That is the understatement of the year!

Jesus alone can reconcile a holy God to a sinful people because He, as God, became a man and took upon Himself our sin. That’s why Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:5, “there is only mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God

Jesus took on flesh. He came here to be our great High Priest. His coming alone is amazing! But He didn’t just come. LOOK…

Realize: High priests were absolutely covered in gold and jewels. The net worth of a community was put into the robes of the high priest.

The other picture that is important to see is this: when you are in Christ and the Father looks up on you and sees Jesus, the HIGH PRIEST, He sees you as utterly beautiful. Completely accepted. Not because of ANY worth or work in/by you. Don’t get this mixed up. God doesn’t love you because you’re worthy, He loves you despite your unworthiness BECAUSE of Jesus– because of grace made possible by Jesus. You were marvelously brought into God’s family.

Oh, how wonderful it is that Jesus is all these things to us. God is so good to provide for us such a perfect and all satisfying answer in Christ. Join me in praising God for his mighty plan. Praise Jesus for his perfect work while tabernacling here on earth now every day as He intercedes for us before the Father.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Exodus 30-34 (5-19-18)

In Exodus 32 we are given one of the most glaring offenses of idolatry in the early account of God’s people as they formed a golden calf to worship, despite all that God had done for then and the fact that He commanded them not to worship anything but Him. Many people, when they think of idolatry, think only of images that are formed by man like the golden calf. But idols that we often worship are so much more than formed figures; they can be just about anything God has made, which we over-elevate in our hearts and minds.

John Calvin, the 17th century Reformer, made this memorable point:

             “Our hearts are ‘idol factories’, and our words and actions are shaped by the pursuit of things our heart craves.”

Because God made us to worship and be satisfied, in our sin we have taken those two God-given longings and wrongly placed them on things God has created and not God Himself. Because our hearts long to be satisfied, they will always venture to be satisfied by something.

We see Paul speak to this well in Romans 1:18-25:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Man’s very rebellion is grounded in our worshiping things that are not God.

I believe this is why idolatry is the foundation of the 10 Commandments.

The first is, “You shall have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:3

Then the last talks about covetousness, which is craving something more than one should; this is a form of idolatry. So, God bookends the 10 Commandments with a focus on idolatry.

What you must understand is that the commands to avoid idolatry are not just confined to the Old Testament:

1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

1 John 5:21 “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

When someone says idol-worship or idolatry, what do we commonly think of?

Maybe what you picture is someone prostrate on the ground before an object for religious devotion or magical power. Or we might use “idolatry” to describe someone’s obsession with money or someone we “idolize,” like Michael Jordan.

Author Richard Keyes says, “We have, in effect, distanced ourselves from the whole idea of idolatry by pushing it out to the extreme cultural and psychological margins of life. “
We don’t see idolatry in our modern culture, because we only think of it in this tribal extreme way.

Or we don’t concern ourselves with idolatry as anything worth worrying about anymore.

But idolatry is very present in our lives. It is real. If not rightly understood and addressed, it will wreck us.

You and I are made to worship of the living God. 

But this worship is not meant to be a stale and distant exultation but from the overflow of our satisfied hearts in our relationship with God.

What this means for us is we have a rightly prioritized relationship with God out of which we have a proper mode in which to live life.

To live life in response to Him. To know God and be known by God.

Because of our right relationship with Him, we then understand who we are and arrive at our identity, personal  significance, sense of security, purpose for living, and we constantly find in Him our happiness and joy.

The problem:

When sin came into play, we tragically altered our relationship with God; instead of turning GODWARD and finding in Him all that we need in life, we turned away and to other things to try to discover those things God designed in us to be fulfilled by Him.

The way the Apostle Paul put it in our passage today is that instead of turning Godward, we turned away from God. We did not honor him as God!

Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him

We ceased to see God as fundamental and essential for the existence and fulfillment of our lives.

Because we are made to have relationship with God in which we are fulfilled and purposed and secure and with clear identity, when we no longer seek Him to be those things for us, we now have an active vacuum in our hearts that looks to find that fulfillment in other things.

So, we do not simply turn away from God; we actually have to find something to put in His place.

So, what Paul says is that people embrace a lie to exchange the Creator for the created.

Romans 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Because we are wired for worship, we will worship!

So, hear this: àWhen we turn from God, we find a substitute on whom we heap our worship.

We look to something else to give us identity, meaning, significance, purpose, security, and joy!

When we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we will worship anything.

So, it is these substitutes that become our idols.

The Word of Truth Catechism says this:

Idolatry is worshiping or finding hope, identity, significance, purpose, or security in anything other than in God, our Creator.

In other words, your idols are anything that have become more fundamental than God in your life for your hope, identity, significance, purpose, security, joy, and on and on.

So, likely, your idol is not a carved block of wood or shiny metal or formed stone, but a person, a place, a house, a car, a team, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, or a political party.

In fact, it’s not idol singular; it’s idols–plural. We have several things we seek for hope, identity, significance, purpose, or security.

In them you are putting your hope and your trust; you’re trying to learn from them. And you are trying to find from them your identity, personal significance, sense of security, purpose for living, happiness, and joy.

When we begin to understand this, we begin to really understand what God was asking for in the first commandment: “Do not have any other gods before me.”

He is saying, “Do not make anything more necessary, fundamental, or valuable than Me. Keep Me as your hope, identity, significance, purpose, and security.”

Martin Luther has said it this way:

Every breaking of the commandments is at its core a breaking of the first commandment …

Here is why breaking any commandment is really breaking the first:

Why do we lie? Because we want the approval or the thing that lie gets us to fulfill us … replacing God.

Why do we steal? Because we think we NEED that thing to fulfill us … replacing God.

Why do we covet or envy? Because we think, “If I had that, I would be happy. It would satisfy me.” … replacing God.

An idol is not simply a statue of wood, stone, or metal; it is anything we love and pursue in place of God!

This brings to light a key thing to understand:
An idol, in its essence, isn’t necessarily something evil; it commonly is something very good.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

He says these things to point to idolatry in our lives. We get how covetousness is, but often we overlook the term “evil desires.”

The phrase “evil desires” here is an effort of the English translators to get across a single Greek word, which is Epithumia.    Epithumia is both an evil desire and an over desire–an excessive desire.

It is desiring something evil OR it is an over or misplaced desire for what it good.

In this way, it is essentially addiction or lust for something God has made.

John Calvin clearly says: 

          “The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much.”

So often the object of desire is good, and the evil lies in the lordship of the desire.

So, the good thing of “caring for your body” can become an ultimate thing (an idol) in your life in an effort to find your personal significance.

So, the good thing of your “career” can become an ultimate thing (an idol) in your life in an effort to find your sense of security.

So, the good thing of “raising your kids” can become an ultimate thing (an idol) in your life in an effort to find your purpose for living.

Idolatry happens when you and I try to find our identity, personal significance, sense of security, purpose for living, happiness, and joy in these things or people or status INSTEAD OF IN GOD!

So, how do we restore what is broken in our relationship with God and remove idols from our lives?

James 4:6-8 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

–God gives us undeserved grace!

Ohhh, how we need a Savior–One who can set us free, so we might truly be satisfied in the only One who can satisfy and who is worthy of our eternal praise.

Realize religion is lying to you when it says, “You can save yourself by trying really hard to shut the idol factory down yourself!” Only One can do this for us: the God of grace!

Turn with me to Isaiah 42:5: “Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it”

Who is the One who puts air in our lungs?

Who is the One who sets us in motion and numbers our days?

Who made everything around us so that it might all point to us to Him and cause us to revel in and worship Him? God.

The answer to, “Who can set us free and satisfy our deepest longing to worship?” is God, and not only can He, but He has!    Now, read verse 6-8:

Isaiah 42:6-8 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”

The Idol Factory must be closed, and the good news we read here today is it can be, for He declares, “I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

How does Jesus do this?

Be giving us Himself. By giving us the expulsive power of a greater affection!

Thomas Chalmers said, “There is not one personal transformation in which the heart is left without an object of ultimate beauty and joy. The heart’s desire for one particular object can be conquered, but it’s desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.”  

You might be able to temporarily remove one idol, but your heart still must cast its affections on something. So, you will simply pick up another to fill its place.

Chalmers is saying idols of the heart cannot be removed; they can only be replaced.

So, the question then is replaced with what? The only thing that can ultimately satisfy and bring joy and life and identity and security and purpose: JESUS!

Temporary fixes and/or helpful habits do not cure the deepest disease and self-inflicted pain we struggle with in life: our idolatry.

Only the expulsive power of a bigger and better target for our affections can eliminate the failed idols the heart has tried to cling to.

This is why we are mainly focused on stirring your affections toward the gospel: THE GOOD NEWS! To understand the fullness of the beauty and wonder of Christ, to fall deeply in love with Jesus alone–above all else.

The key to being rid of the idols we worship is not really to love them less but to love Christ more.  And in doing so, if the heart truly is that taken by Jesus, our clinch to over-elevate God’s created things is rightfully adjusted. In treasuring Jesus above all else, we can spot idolatry temptations and make war with them, we can joyfully hear from our brothers and sisters in Christ’s concern over idol temptations in our lives, and be thankful for their help to avoid idolatry, and so on. Treasuring Christ above all else is the key; the gospel is the key.

If my children are my idols, He is not calling me to love them less; He is calling me to love them rightly.

The only way I can do that:

is to be satisfied in the one thing that can truly satisfy;

is to be saved by the one and only thing that can save me;

is to be secured by the one and only person who can keep me secure;

is to be purposed by the only one who can give me eternal purpose–Jesus!

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church