Providential Afflictions
Providential Afflictions
By Breck Wheelock, April 7, 2020
Hello out there. My name is Breck Wheelock and I would like to warmly welcome you to today's podcast episode in which I will be discussing the doctrine of God's Providence, and we will be taking a particularly close look at providential afflictions. I think that this is a timely thing to study given that the entire globe right now is undergoing affliction with COVID-19. Why would God decree this global affliction? Why does God decree afflictions at all? How are we to respond to the afflictions that He has decreed for our own lives? These are the types of questions that we will consider in today's episode.
Let's begin our study of God's Providence by looking to the Heidelberg catechism. Question 27 of the Heidelberg catechism asks, “What do you understand by the Providence of God?” And the answer that it provides is as follows: “Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which He upholds as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things in fact come to us not by chance but from His Fatherly hand.
Following this, question 28 asks, “How does the knowledge of God's creation and Providence help us?” And again, the answer that it provides: “We can be patient when things go against us; we can be thankful when things go well; and for the future, we can have good confidence in our faithful God and father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will, they can neither move nor be moved.”
The answer to that first question (question 27 of the Heidelberg catechism) provides a fairly extensive and comprehensive definition of Providence, and it's really quite excellent. And then, the answer that is given in question 28 is meant to answer how this doctrine of Providence can be helpful to us, and it provides three reasons. It says: (1) We can be patient when things go against us; (2) We can be thankful when things are going well; and (3) for the future, we can have confidence in our faithful God, knowing that nothing can ever ultimately separate us from His love.
Kevin DeYoung, in his book, The Good News We Almost Forgot, provides some commentary on these questions and answers that we just looked at in the Heidelberg catechism. I'd like to read, just briefly, some of the comments that he makes. DeYoung writes:
For many Christians, coming to grips with God's all-encompassing providence requires a massive shift in how they look at the world. It requires changing our vantage point from seeing the cosmos as a place where man rules and God responds, to beholding a universe where God creates and constantly controls with sovereign love and providential power. We can look at providence through the lens of human autonomy and our idolatrous notions of freedom, and see a mean God moving tsunamis and Kings like chess pieces in some kind of perverse divine playtime. Or we can look at providence through the lens of scripture, and we can see a loving God counting the hairs on our heads and directing the sparrows in the sky so that we might live life unafraid. “What else can we wish for ourselves,” Calvin wrote, “if not even one hair can fall from our head without God's will?”
There are no accidents in your life. Every economic downturn, every phone call in the middle of the night, every oncology report, has been sent to us from the God who sees all things, decrees all things, and loves us more than we know. Whether it means the end of suffering or the extension of our suffering, God in His providence is for us and never against us.
Providence is for our comfort. (1) Providence is for our comfort because we can be patient when things go against us. Joseph's imprisonment seems pointless, but it all makes sense now. Slavery in Egypt, makes perfect sense now. Even killing the Messiah makes sense now. So maybe God knows what He's doing with the pain and suffering and afflictions in our lives. (2) Providence is for our comfort because we can be thankful when things go well. How often do we pray for safe travel, or for healing, or for a spouse, or for a job, and then we never get around to thanking God on the other side of that blessing? If we truly believe in providence, we will view success and prosperity not as products of a good upbringing, or of good looks, or of good intelligence, but ultimately as the unmerited favor of a good God. (3) Providence is for our comfort because we can have confidence for the future. The fact is, all your worries – they may come true! But God will never be untrue to you. He will always lead you and listen to you.
God does often work in mysterious ways. We may not always understand why life is what it is, but God’s providence helps us face the future unafraid, to know that nothing moves - however mysterious - except by the hand of that great Unmoved Mover, who is our Father in heaven.
Amen.
Kevin Young is exactly right, as are the answers provided by the Heidelberg catechism. The doctrine of Providence should provide us with tremendous comfort. What if the world was being governed by chance? (And yes, I know that this is a contradiction in terms. How can chance be governed? But just stick with me for a moment.) Things look bad enough now. We often look at the events in our own lives, or the events of the world, and we wonder what is the reason for this? What is going on right now? Indeed, is that not what many of us are thinking as we look out upon the world and see this global pandemic of COVID-19? What is the reason for this? But at least as Christians, we know that there is in fact a reason! Can you imagine a world in which there was no reason? A world that is governed by chance? (Again, a contradiction in terms.) This is the world of the evolutionary naturalist. And it's a hopeless world because there is no rhyme or reason as to why human beings go through suffering. In fact, there's not even a reason as to why there are human beings at all. But because of the doctrine of providence, as Christians, we know and take comfort in the fact that God is working all things according to the counsel of his own will. (Ephesians 1:11) Indeed, we know that for those who love God, all things are working together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) And again, if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
These promises and blessings that we take comfort in are a result of God's Providence. And in light of these great promises and blessings, we are to own the truth of God's Providence, not merely to acknowledge it. To quote Charles Spurgeon:
“Blessed is that man who is done with chance, who never speaks of luck, but believes that from the least, even to the greatest, all things are ordained by the Lord. We dare not leave out the least event. The creeping of an aphid upon a rosebud is as surely arranged by the decree of Providence as is the March of a pestilence through a nation. Believe this. For if the least thing is omitted from the Supreme government, so may the next be, and the next, until nothing is left in the divine hands. There is no place for chance, since God fills all things. When we own the truth of God's Providence, we are able to say with Job – the Lord providentially gives, and the Lord providentially takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
A very timely quote.
Now, since all things have been ordained by God, we are not to murmur or complain against His Providence. If God is in control of all the things that happen in the world and that happen to us, then to complain or murmur about our circumstances is really to complain or murmur against God. Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that when we're going through an affliction that we can't cry out to God and even at times say, “How long, Oh Lord, shall I have to endure this? When will you deliver me?” We see ample examples of that in the Psalms. What I am saying, is that we need to follow the example of our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” That is to be our mentality as Christians. We are not to be constantly ranting and raving about this, that, and the other thing. We should not be characterized as one who is always bitter, or angry, or grumbling, or discontent about our lot in life, and/or discontent about what's going on in the world around us. As ambassadors of the King. We don't want to give the impression that our King is impotent, or incompetent, or even aloof. This would be to misrepresent our sovereign Lord. We don't want to give the impression to others that our God lacks power, or lacks wisdom, or just doesn't care when it comes to His people or when it comes to the events that are taking place in the world around us. Again, that would be to misrepresent our sovereign Lord.
We are not to murmur or complain against God's Providence; indeed, we are to trust in God's Providence. To quote Thomas Watson:
“God is to be trusted when His Providences seem to run contrary to His promises. God promised David to give him the crown, to make him King, but then Providence turns contrary to that promise. David was pursued by Saul. He was in danger of his life, but all this, while it was David's duty to trust God. The Lord will oftentimes bring to pass His promise by what would seem to be a contradictory providence. Consider acts chapter 27, in which Paul was thrust into a violent storm at sea while being transported, along with many others, to Rome under a Roman guard. God promised Paul the lives of all that were with him in that ship, but now the Providence of God seems to run quite contrary to what He promised. The winds continue to blow, the storm continues to rage, the ship splits and breaks apart. But it was through this that God fulfilled His promise upon the broken pieces of the ship. They all came safely to shore. Therefore, trust God when Providence seems to run quite contrary to His promises.”
A great quote by Thomas Watson.
Not only are we to trust in God's providence, but we are actually told to rest in God's providence. We're not to be of the mindset that thinks, “Oh yeah, I know that God's in control. I get it. But I don't like this, and I'm going to stomp my feet and throw a spiritual temper tantrum. I'm going to kick against the goads.” No, that is not to be our mindset. Again, I'm not saying that we can't be frustrated when we're going through some kind of affliction, and I'm not saying that we can't bring those frustrations boldly before the throne of grace and ask that we would be delivered, and ask that He might give us a reprieve from our afflictions. Of course that's okay. We are free to vent our frustrations before the Lord, but we are always to lay them at His feet and say, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” That is resting in His providence. We are to cultivate a calm and resting temperament, a calm and resting disposition.
No matter what befalls us, our default mentality should be to accept whatever happens to us as the absolute best thing for us. Whatever God has planned for my life, it is good. Every single detail of it is good. In fact, it's not only good, it is the best plan. There could be no better plan for my life because God is the one who planned it. We are to implicitly assume that God is working all things to the maximum display of His glory, which is our chief end. This is the heart of Psalm 46 whatever our present providential circumstances might be, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. [Though the whole world is having to endure the plague of COVID-19.] Be still and know that I am God. [Rest in me, be still and know that I am God.] I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:1-3, 10)
And so we are to trust in God's providence, we are to rest in God's providence, but more than this, we are to improve upon His providences by remembering His faithfulness in the past. Often, we are so anxious about the future that we neglect to remember past providences when He has delivered us from affliction, time and time again. We want to hit the fast-forward button, when the doctrine of Providence would have us hit the rewind button. We would all like to hit the fast-forward button right now when it comes to this COVID-19 pandemic. When is it going to end? How much damage is it ultimately going to do? How many people is it going to kill? How much destruction is it going to wreak upon our economy, and upon the economy of the world? On and on the questions go. We find ourselves wanting to press the fast-forward button, but we should instead be pressing the rewind button. What do I mean by that? Look back upon your life and see how the Lord has delivered you over and over again when you were going through a trial or tribulation or an affliction. When you look to your past, you see that He has been faithful. He has been exactly what He says He is – faithful to His people. Thus, if we press the rewind button and we see nothing but faithfulness, why would we think that the future is going to hold anything different?
God has given each of us a memory – which is a tremendous grace – and He expects us to use it. How many times are we exhorted in the Psalms to remember what He has done in the past? Considered Psalm 77, a Psalm of Asaph. Asaph begins this Psalm very downtrodden and dejected, but then there's a shift in which he reminds himself to remember how the Lord has delivered him in past afflictions. He says,
“I cry aloud to God and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said, ‘let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.’ Then my spirit made a diligent search: [See, he's searching his memory to remember those times when the Lord was faithful and he continues.] ‘Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable? Has His steadfast love forever ceased? Are His promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His compassion?’ Then I said, ‘I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds. Your way, Oh God, is Holy. What God is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your might among the peoples. You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.” (Ps. 77:1-15)
Asaph began the Psalm downcast, but once he remembered the faithfulness of God in his own life, and the faithfulness of God to His people throughout history, it lifted his spirit and he was no longer downcast. He was comforted, and we are expected to do the same [to find solace in remembering past providential deliverances].
But let us also consider the flip side of this. What happens when we neglect to remember the past providences of God, the ways in which He has delivered us from past afflictions? David speaks of this in Psalm 106. Beginning at verse 7, David says,
Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider Your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of Your steadfast love, but they rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for His name's sake, that He might make known His mighty power. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and He led them through the deep as through a desert. So He saved them from the hand of the foe, and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. Then they believed His words; they sang His praise. But they soon forgot His works, and they did not wait for His counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and they put God to the test in the desert; He gave them what they asked for, but He sent a wasting disease among them…They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. Therefore, He said He would destroy them – had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him, to turn away His wrath from destroying them. (Ps. 106:7-15, 19-23)
Clearly, we see that when God delivers us in times of trouble, in times of tribulation, in times of affliction, He expects us to remember when He does these things and even to teach them to our children, and to our children's children! But He expects us to remember so that we can improve upon these providences; so that when the next affliction comes, we're not taken aback. We've “been there and done that,” and we’re ready to put our trust in the Lord once again.
Moving on, let us now observe that providential affliction is one of the most efficient ways of producing the fruits of righteousness in the Christian. Psalm 119 verses 67 and 71 says, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.” Here David admits that it was good that the Lord afflicted him because otherwise he would have continued to go astray. But because he was afflicted, it caused David to stop wandering, to go back to the word of God and to learn His statutes. David was sanctified and made righteous through his affliction. Trials and tribulations, persecutions and provocations – these things are essential for producing the fruit of the Spirit. For instance, how is the Spirit to produce in us the fruit of longsuffering if we never experienced any suffering? How is the Spirit to produce perseverance, hope, patience, meekness, self-control, etc., apart from the means of conflict, apart from the irritating frictions of the world, apart from affliction? This is why James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Again, Romans 5:3-4, “But we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
The Lord uses abrasive experiences as a means of exfoliating the Christian’s flesh (his remaining sin) so that the radiance of the new man might be increasingly brought to the surface. As a skillful sculptor, God uses the chisel of trial to chip away at the Christian’s exterior so that the interior image of Christ progressively takes shape and comes into form. As the master potter, God uses the hands of affliction to press against the Christian’s clay body for the purpose of preparing him for glory as a vessel of mercy.
Furthermore, providential afflictions provide a healthy litmus test for the Christian who can easily become complacent, unsuspecting of the gaping holes that exist in his faith. To quote William Jay, “Afflictions are to the soul, like the rains to the house; we suspected no apertures [no holes in the roof] until the droppings through told the tale.” What William Jay is saying here is that if we were to imagine our faith as a house, we often think, “Oh yeah, the roof is sound, it's good.” But then an affliction comes our way and it starts pouring down upon us and suddenly we see how many leaking holes there are in the roof of our faith.
Peter remarks that the authenticity of our faith is like gold and it must be tested in the fires of affliction if the impurities are to rise to the surface and the dross is to be removed.
First Peter 1:6-7: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Trials have a unique way of revealing to us what is truly in our heart, who we really are, and what we really believe. Trials slap our faith in the face to see if our faith will turn the other cheek. Again, to quote William Jay, “I little thought that I was so proud, until I was required to stoop. I little thought I was so impatient, until I was required to wait. I little thought I was so easily provoked, until I met with such an offense. I little thought I was so rooted to earth, until so much force was exerted to detach me from it.”
Being confronted by affliction exposes our weaknesses so that we might grow in the faith and become more useful. Knowledgeable Christians are valuable, but Christians who have had their faith tried and purified are invaluable. Think of Job, or David, or Daniel, or Paul, how useful these men were precisely because they had their faith so severely tested. As David writes in Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and He heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth – praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.” Here David is saying that he was delivered from a horrible pit, a miry clay. He had been providentially afflicted, but the Lord delivered him. And what was the result of having gone through this affliction? He was now more useful to the Lord. A new song had been put into his mouth. He was praising his God in a new way so that others would see it and fear the Lord, and they too would put their trust in Him.
Consider also 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 where Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” By enduring affliction, we become more useful. God comforts us in our tribulation and it then prepares us to do the same for others who go through similar tribulations. Consider someone who has been diagnosed with cancer and has to go through extensive cancer treatment, yet the Lord delivers him through it. This person is now uniquely equipped to help his brethren who might undergo similar trials and testing. This cancer survivor has become more useful because he was afflicted, and the Lord delivered him through that affliction.
Undergoing distressing and trying experiences is a remarkably effective means of the Spirit for working out our sanctification. By faithfully enduring hardship, our usefulness is increased exponentially during times of affliction. As we exercise our faith (and I'm going to play on that word exercise here) during times of affliction, as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, our spiritual muscles are built up through the repetition of putting them to work against an opposing resistance. Being thus spiritually stout and able bodied, we become veteran Christian soldiers who are now well-equipped to share in carrying the load of others to assist in bearing the heavy burdens of our brethren.
Let's observe one last quote from William Jay, and this is one of my favorite quotes of all time when it comes to providential afflictions. William Jay writes,
“The oak that has been scathed with lightning attracts the notice of passengers more than all the other trees of the forest. [Let's just pause for a moment because I love the imagery here. He's saying, imagine you're walking through a forest and you see an oak tree that was struck by lightning – that's going to cause you to stop and take a closer look, isn't it?] Trouble awakens the attention and draws forth inquiry. [When people see someone who is troubled, it causes them to stop and take notice, just as in the case of the lightning-struck oak tree] The Christian is never so well circumstanced to glorify the Lord as when he is in the fires of affliction. There he can display the tenderness of God's care, the truth of His promises, the excellencies of the gospel, the support of divine grace. In the review of my own varied intercourse with society, I confess nothing so vividly and powerfully affects me as what I recollect to have met with from pious individuals exemplifying the spirit and resources of Christianity under bodily disease and the losses, bereavements, and disappointments of life. [What William Jay is saying here is that as a pastor, when he has had to go and visit people in his congregation who are suffering from disease, or they've suffered some tremendous loss, or they're undergoing bereavement or some disappointment in life, when he sees them being faithfully content, nothing so impacts him as when he encounters such faith.] Oh, when I have visited such a martyr, such a witness for God; when I have found him standing in the evil day like a rock in a raging current with sunshine on its brow; when I have observed him full of tribulation in the world and having peace in Christ; mourning more for his sins than his sorrows, afraid of dishonoring his profession by impatience and unbelief; more concerned to have his crosses sanctified than to have them removed; turning a tearful eye toward the Inflictor and saying, ‘I know Lord, that your judgments are right, and that You in faithfulness have afflicted me; just and true are all Your ways, oh You, King of saints; You have done all things well.’ When I have witnessed religion – and I have witnessed it – accomplishing achievements like these, I have said to it, as I withdrew, ‘I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.’ As the sky is only decked with stars in the night; so the Christian shines most in the darkness of affliction.
Powerful, powerful quote.
Finally, consider how the good shepherd uses the prod of pain and the goad of suffering to drive His sheep toward the heavenly pastures of the new Jerusalem; to remind His people that they are exiles, aliens, foreigners, sojourners; to avoid loitering on their pilgrimage to the Celestial City.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Trials and tribulations and suffering taught Paul to have an eternal perspective. He understood the importance of disciplining his body and bringing it into subjection lest he be disqualified from obtaining an imperishable crown.
Philippians 4:11-13, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Paul had learned to be content in all things; to rely on Christ’s strength to fight the good fight and press on to glory. And this is the example that every Christian is to emulate.
Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
In summary, we are to find comfort in God's providence; we are to own the truth of God's providence, the good, the bad, and the ugly; we are not to complain or murmur against His providences, rather, we are to trust and even to rest in His providence; we are to improve upon His providences by remembering His faithfulness in the past. Providential afflictions are a means of producing the fruit of the Spirit; testing the genuineness and the strength of our faith; sanctifying us and making us more useful; and keeping our eyes on heavenly eternal things, rather than on earthly temporal things.
Brethren, during this time of pandemic there has been much discussion over what constitutes an “essential business” – what should remain open and what should be closed for the time being. Well, I would submit to you that spiritually speaking, all of us as Christians have essential business that needs to continue. We are to be faithful to Christ, no matter what our circumstances might be.
I'll leave you with this. Even if our blood should be contaminated by disease and pestilence, the blood of Christ is perfect and pure, so as to conquer death and hell. Thus, we as Christians can say, “Where is your sting, oh COVID-19?
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (I Corinthians 15:53-58).
Amen.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. Thank you for listening. I hope this has been profitable for your soul.
Faith Over Fear
Our Christian Inheritance
Intro…
Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone Baptist Church in Wylie, TX.
It is April 2020 and we are one month in to the new normal of working from home, keeping our social distance from one another, trying to learn how to be the church when we can’t meetup and can’t gather together for worship. So far, 2020 has shaped up to be a very challenging year and we are just 3 months in.
But in the midst of this challenge the promises that God has made to those who trust in Christ has not changed. That’s what I want to talk to you about today. Actually, I want to follow up on last week’s podcast where we looked at the first half of Peter’s introduction to his first letter.
Last week, we talked about the living hope that we have in Christ and how this hope motivates our worship of God, even in the face of trials. But this week, I want to look at the future hope that Peter tells us about; a hope that takes the form of our Christian inheritance.
I Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice,
Transition…
Now, one of the things that is important to keep in mind as we read this passage is that the main idea is the living hope that we have as believers in Christ. That’s the main point of this passage and all the surrounding truths serve to explain the depth of our hope. Our Hope as believers is not affected by the circumstances of difficult days because it is rooted in God’s mercy.
COVID-19 has taken our world by storm and it has caused panic in some, fear in others, caution in most; but whatever the outcome of our current situation, nothing can take away the hope we have in Christ. Our hope extends beyond this life and looks to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Our inheritance is being guarded by God’s power and it will be revealed to us in the time to come.
What exactly does this mean and how does it strengthen our hope in the midst of this trial?
Podcast Focus…
Let’s talk about the Power of Hope
Hope is a powerful thing. Hope causes us to get completely emotionally wrapped up in the prospect of something great happening even despite evidence to the contrary.
With hope in our hearts we can not only live but also endure great difficulty. Cancer patients fight to live because they have a driving hope that health is just around the corner. Soldiers battle on against all odds driven by the hope that soon the bullets will stop flying and there will be peace. Hope fuels in us a powerful desire to face the trials of life because hope holds out the promise of peace and rest.
But what is hope? I can’t remember who said/wrote it, but somewhere along the way I picked up this definition of hope. Hope is faith in the future tense. When we talk about having faith, especially saving faith, we are saying that we trust that what Christ did for us on the cross is sufficient to rescue us from our sin, bring us to God, and keep us there forever.
Our faith as Christians, is based on Christ’s person, Christ’s work, Christ’s teaching, and Christ’s resurrection. All of these things are in the past, which means that our faith looks back and says, “I believe these things to be true and I accept these truths as the basis of my hope.”
But hope is faith carried forward. Our faith not only has a past element but also a future element. We have hope that what took place in the past is true and that what has been promised us in the future is true and both of these will help us to live in the present.
And that is exactly what Peter wants us to do, to live in light of our present suffering with hope that helps us to overcome. Peter wants us to live in this present life of sorrow with one eye on the past (The finished work of Christ) and with one eye on the future (God’s promise of future rest for His people).
So the question we have to ask is, “What has God promised us?” and Peter says that God has promised us an amazing inheritance.
I don’t know about you but the prospect of receiving an inheritance has never been part of my expectation. It’s a really exciting idea but it’s just not something that I have put much thought into. My family is not wealthy so it’s just not part of my expectation, but every one of us would have to admit that the idea is pretty powerful.
For instance, imagine that you get a random phone call this afternoon from a number you do not recognize and rather than ignoring it you decide to answer the phone. Then as engage in conversation with the person on the other end you learn that you are the great, great grandchild of a very wealthy Texas oil tycoon who just passed away and left you a portion of his $5 billion estate.
The prospect of an inheritance like this is enough to completely change your outlook on life, but even if this was legit, how secure would such an inheritance be?
There are circumstances to life in this fragile and fallen world that would render this type of inheritance pretty worthless. For instance, what good is billions of dollars if you don’t have long to live? What good is money when what you need is a cure? Or to quote Jesus, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
The level of excitement and joy that wells up in our hearts at the prospect of an earthly inheritance should be magnified by billions as we consider the heavenly inheritance that God has promised us, because nothing can take His inheritance away from us.
Peter tells us that our Inheritance can never perish.
Have you ever had the opportunity to go back to a well-known place that you haven’t seen for 20 years or so, maybe a childhood home or something like that. When you were a kid it just seemed like that house was the most stable thing in the world. But after 20 years it just doesn’t look the same. The paint is dull, the roof is sagging, the vitality that was once there is now gone. It has succumbed to the slow decay of time like all things will.
But Peter tells us here that our inheritance as born again Christians is imperishable. This word means that it is impervious to corruption and death. Our inheritance cannot perish. Our future as Christians, the future that goes beyond life in this world, is pervious to every form of corruption and decay. It is imperishable.
Our inheritance can never spoil
To defile something means to take something pure and to make it impure in some way. The Prodigal son spoiled his inheritance when he spent it all on sinful pleasures that did not last.
Some of us have experienced a huge depletion of our retirement savings. In a matter of days, the market crashed and the money we had watched build up over a period of years/decades was just gone. In a sense, our earthly inheritance has been defiled.
But Peter says that the inheritance that God has promised us is free from such defilement. It cannot be tainted by the crash in the market, nor can it be affected by our own sinful choices. The inheritance that God promises to us is impervious to defilement of any kind. On the day that we receive it will be pure and it will remain pure for eternity.
Our inheritance will never fade
Isaiah 40:8 tells us, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” Peter quotes this verse at the end of the first chapter to show the fading quality of the earth in comparison to the unfading quality of God’s Word. Flowers die and their beauty is forgotten. Israel’s inheritance was subject to the slow fade, but ours will never fade away.
Like an early spring bloom our inheritance will never cease to be striking in beauty. It will always exist in its most beautiful and vibrant form. We will never tire of it and it will never run out. It will never lose its pristine quality.
But how is it possible for something to remain in such a perfect state?
Our inheritance is in Heaven
It is an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you. In this instance we see the true nature of the difference that exists between our Christian inheritance and a worldly inheritance. Ours is kept in Heaven.
There is a reason that sin cannot affect it, there is a reason that time cannot take its toll. It is in Heaven, in the presence of God, and it is being kept there until the time comes for it to be revealed.
When will that be? Well, we don’t know, but we do know that it is ready.
Our inheritance is ready
The term ready implies that there is no reason for delay save the Father’s purpose. He is not laboring to build something for us so that we have to wait until He finishes the job, no our inheritance is ready. It is finished. Nothing needs to be added to it.
So why is it not here? Because the appointed time has not yet come.
2 Peter 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The great mercy of God has not yet claimed all of His chosen people and so the day of the Lord has not yet come, but it is ready and it is being kept in Heaven for us.
Our inheritance is kept for us and we are being guarded for it.
1 Peter 1:5 By God’s power (we) are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice,
This word guarded gives us the idea that God has provided a type of security that shields us until the times comes for us to receive God’s gift. We are under protective custody. God has promised to shield us from anything that might cause us to miss out on the promise that He has given us.
(Illus…Think of Israel on their way out of Egypt when the army of Pharaoh began to follow them. They were certain that the day would end with them being slaughtered on the banks of the Red sea, but God had other plans. He fought for them. Israel was told to stand fast so that they would see God as a shield around them. They would make it to the Promised Land because God would protect them until they entered it.
God delivered Israel from their enemy. He freed them from their slavery. He promised to give them a land of their own as an inheritance and He guarded them until their obtained the promise.
All of this is but a shadow of the greater work of redemption that God has done through Christ. Christ has not simply delivered us from our enemies, but from our sins. He hasn’t freed us from an earthly oppression but a spiritual one. He has promised us an inheritance that is greater in every way and He has promised to guard us and protect us until we acquire possession of it.
Why is this important? The same power that keeps our eternal salvation guards us as well. What comfort would it be to know that something beyond our imagination was waiting for us, if there was no hope of our ever reaching it? God not only promises us an eternal inheritance, He will guard us so that we will get to enjoy it.
Last question, how? How has this inheritance become ours and how are we going to be guarded by God to enjoy it? Is this a bait and switch? Having heard about this amazing blessing are we now going to be told how much we have to pay for it? No. This blessing does not come on the basis of our works, it is ours by faith.
Ed Clowney writes…
“God who works for us also works in us. Our faith is his way of keeping us; it is His gift. Why does God use faith as the instrument of his keeping power? Because faith is not our achievement, but our trust in God’s achievement.”
All that God has given to us, all that God has promised to give us in the future is a gift to be received by faith alone.
As you consider all that is going on in the world today and how your life has been affected by it, remember that God has promised that the future for His people is brighter than we can imagine. This world is not our final home and the pains of this world will not follow us into the next. In fact, the brokenness of this world is going to end and when it does the future that we long for will no longer be our hope, it will be our reality.
Let the wonder of our inheritance as Christians give you comfort today and let it stir our hope for the days to come
Conclusion…
If you want to learn more about Cornerstone Baptist church, you can find us online at Cornerstonewylie.org. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @cbcwylie. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornerstonewylie. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or google play to stay up to date on all the new content.
Thanks for listening.
Our Living Hope
Intro…
Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone Baptist Church in Wylie, TX.
It is still March of 2020 and we are in week 2 of shelter-in-place orders as a result of COVID-19. Things around us continue to be up in the air and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can use a little gospel encouragement right about now. So, this week I want to talk to you about the hope that we have as Christians, or as Peter refers to it in the first chapter of his letter, Our Living Hope.
I Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice,
Many of you have heard of or even read the opening section of John Piper’s book Let the Nations Be Glad. There’s one powerful paragraph that goes like this,
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.”[1]
The worship of God is the ultimate goal of the church and it is also the goal of our life. When Peter writes in verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” he is calling us to worship. The word bless means to worship or praise. It means to express gratitude toward God and to express joy in what He has done.
Then Peter goes on to tell us what God has done. In other words, he tells us why we should worship God.
Transition…
We should worship God because of who He is and because He is the One who has given us hope in Christ. We worship Him for His mercy, for causing us to be born again, for giving us a living hope and we worship God because of the inheritance that He has promised us.
Let’s look at each of these things in turn.
Podcast Focus…
1. We worship God because He has given us hope in Christ.
"A man can live three weeks without food, three days without water, and three minutes without air, but he cannot live three seconds without hope”
Hope by itself is a powerful thing, but our hope in Christ is the most amazing hope there is. Our hope is made up of flesh and bones that came back from the dead. Our hope is in Christ himself who lived and died and rose to live again. But we need to remember that we didn’t always have this hope.
Ephesians 2 reminds us that at one time we were without hope in this world. Before God brought us to Christ, we were dead in our sins and we had no hope of saving ourselves from the wrath to come. But now in Christ Jesus we have a living hope.
He is our Lord, Peter says, which indicates that we aren’t simply dabbling in religion, but we are submitting to Jesus Christ as Lord. We worship God because He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. We Worship God for His Mercy
V. 3 - According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again
The definition of mercy is a kindness shown to someone when it is within one’s power to punish them. For God to show us mercy means that He withholds from us the wrath we rightly deserve. He owes us nothing but judgment, and yet He holds back that judgment from us.
God’s mercy is the divine restraint that keeps Him from unleashing the righteous wrath our rebellion demands.
Notice in the text that God’s mercy toward us is great. We are the recipients of His abundant mercy. Our God is merciful and this means that His desire and ability to withhold what we deserve is like a storehouse so full that it is constantly overflowing the top (Lam 3:23). God is full of mercy toward us, the mercy He has for His people will never run out and we praise Him for this.
But there is another side of the coin when it comes to mercy.
Divine justice demands that our sin be punished, which means that for God to withhold punishment is to short-circuit His justice, unless the punishment we deserve is poured out on another. That is where Jesus steps in. Friends, this is what makes the gospel so beautiful.
You see Jesus stepped in to receive the justice of God that we deserved. He bore the wrath for you and me, so that we could be free. So, we worship God for His great mercy.
3. We Worship God for Our New Birth (3)
On account of God’s great mercy, He has caused us to be born again. The first time we heard about the new birth it came from Jesus in John 3. He told Nicodemus that in order to see the Kingdom of God one must be born again. In our first birth we were stamped with the image of Adam, but the new birth emblazons us with the image of Christ. This new birth is given to us as a gift from God. He is the cause of our new birth.
But why do we need to be born again? The Bible teaches that by nature we are dead in our sins and children of wrath. This is what our first birth in Adam has afforded us. We need to be brought from death to life and Paul tells us how this happens in Titus 3.
Titus 3:4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit
We weren’t born again because of our good works; it was God’s mercy that fueled our new birth. The new birth is not the result of your prayer, or your baptism, or your trip down the aisle to talk to the pastor. The new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit in you.
The Spirit brings life where there was death. He opens our eyes to see the truth of the gospel that we hadn’t seen before. He gives us a new heart of flesh replacing the heart of stone, and the result is that those who possess new life will respond with faith and repentance.
Faith and repentance are not the cause of our new birth; they are the evidence of it meaning that we praise God for our new birth.
4. We Worship God for Our living Hope
What does Peter mean when he tells us that we have a living hope? What He means is that the source of our hope is not an idea it is a person. This would have been especially important to Peter, because of his own life experience.
Perhaps you remember that before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter had boldly claimed that he would stay by Jesus’ side even though all the other disciples ran away. But the reality was that Peter ran away as well. He denied Jesus. He failed His best friend. He failed to keep his promise and then Jesus died before Peter had a chance to make it right. The crucifixion robbed Peter of hope.
But the resurrection of Jesus was a life-changer for Peter. When the girls came in from the tomb on Sunday morning and told Peter that it was empty, can you imagine what this did to his heart? His hopes had been dashed to pieces, but this news was enough to cause hope to flicker in his heart again.
Peter heard this news and then flew out of the door to go and see for himself and when He saw Jesus His hope was restored. But it was a new kind of hope. It wasn’t a false hope, a misplaced hope, a blind hope, a fond hope; it was a living hope.
Peter’s hope was not based on an idea it was based on a person, a person that was and is alive and for whom death has no hold. So, when Peter writes to us about our living hope he writes from personal experience. His hope is alive because his hope is in Christ and Christ is alive.
Sure, there’s so much going on in our world right now that it is easy for us to forget what God has done for us through Jesus. It’s easy for us to let our hope fade a little bit, or even a lot. But passages like this put our real-world difficulties into eternal perspective.
Yes, our lives have been sort of turned upside-down due to Coronavirus, but God truly turned our lives upside-down when He began to work in our hearts through the gospel. Yes, there is much for us to think about and plan for with all that is going on, but we can’t forget about God’s mercy.
We can’t lose sight of the fact that we were born into this fallen world, but we have been born again in order to prepare us for the world to come. This world and all of its trials are not the ultimate expectation for us, we have a living hope in a living Savior, who died but rose again.
And we have an inheritance that is to come that we can hardly imagine. We will look at that next week, but I hope this little bit of encouragement has been helpful to you today.
Conclusion…
If you want to learn more about Cornerstone Baptist church, you can find us online at Cornerstonewylie.org. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @cbcwylie. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornerstonewylie. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or google play to stay up to date on all the new content.
Thanks for listening.
[1] J. Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad (Baker Academics) pg. 17
Making the Best Use of the Time
Intro…
Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone Baptist Church in Wylie, TX.
It is March of 2020 and we are our city, our country, our world is in the grip of the Coronavirus. This has been unlike anything that I have experienced in my 43 years of life and I’m guessing that you can probably say the same thing. This is truly an unprecedented experience for me and as a result I’m asking a lot of questions to try and figure out what I should be doing.
I think it is wise for us to stay calm and remember that God has not been taken by surprise by all of this and if we are familiar with Scripture, we shouldn’t be all that surprised either. Disease is a common feature of life in this fallen world. When Adam and Eve sinned they unleashed a corruption upon this world that has thoroughly affected every molecule of our existence so that plagues, disease, sickness and even death are normal.
But living in self-isolation, self-quarantine, and not being able to buy toilet paper or bottled water is not all that normal for us. So, what are we to do?
Transition…
As Christians, how are we to live out our day to day lives in the midst of this Coronavirus outbreak? Last week on the podcast, Breck, Jeremy and Mark joined me and they helped us to gain a basic understanding of how we should think about this virus and our immediate response to it as Christians.
Today, I want to continue down that same path but I want to get a little more specific. I want to look at Colossians 4 with you and I want us to consider how we should approach our days in the midst of this current health crisis.
Col 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Podcast Focus…
This is what our day to day life as a Christian should look like.
I. Devote Yourself to Prayer (v. 2)
Col 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
There is quite a bit for us to consider in just this one verse. But the imperative, the word of command that Paul gives us here is that we should be praying. Yes, I know that you are frustrated about people hoarding resources at the grocery store, and I know you might be frustrated with people who appear to not be taking this virus all that seriously, but don’t spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about that, spend more time in prayer and while you’re praying be thankful.
Just last night as our family gather together for prayer, I asked my kids what they were thinking and how they were feeling about all that is happening in our lives right now. One of my sons mentioned that he missed his friends and that he was sad that he wasn’t going to be able to play baseball. Now, he doesn’t fully understand all that is going on in the world, but he knows that his world has been shaken up quite a bit. So, we spent some time talking about that.
But we also spent a few minutes talking about all the things that we should be thankful for. Most of us should thank God that we aren’t sick. We should thank God that we still have food to eat. We should thank God that we have generous neighbors who love us and care for us. We should thank God that mom and dad still have jobs, and if that doesn’t hold up, we will still have roof over our heads.
We should be thankful that we have a church family who loves us, misses us, prays for us and who is eager to serve the needs of our church body. We should be thankful that we have God’s Word in our hands. We should be thankful that through technology we have the ability to worship with our church family from home, the ability to see our loved ones faces, and to continue to minister to one another.
Brothers and sisters we have much to be thankful for. So let’s heed the instruction from God here to pray steadfastly and to do so with thankfulness. Perhaps, you should turn off the TV news for a little while, pick up your bible, and spend some time in the word and prayer. I don’t think you’ll miss anything.
That fear of missing out is real but we should take some instruction from Jesus on that. There was never a busier man in the history of the world than Jesus. He was the Savior of the world but that didn’t keep Him from walking away from everything in order to pray.
Let me give you a couple of examples of this from the life of Jesus.
Mark 1:35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Luke 5:15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would often withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Over and over, we see in Jesus’ life that the demands on his time are growing but He withdraws from all the demands and busyness in order to pray? Does it surprise us that Jesus withdraws from the crowds to pray?
I don’t know all the reasons why Jesus prayed so much, even in the face of great demands but we can probably put together a short list:
1. Jesus prayed this way because He loved communicating with the Father
2. Jesus prayed this way because He needed guidance and comfort which He received from communion with God.
3. Jesus prayed this way because His task was great and He needed spiritual help which He gained from fellowship with God.
4. Jesus prayed this way to set an example for us to follow and the example is that prayer is as common to the life of God’s people as singing is to a mockingbird.
Prayer was as common to Jesus as our morning coffee is to us. It’s the way he started the day and the way he finished the day. Deadlines didn’t get in the way of prayer; they drove home the need for more prayer.
The pace of our lives is set to constantly try and make us hurry up, but God wants us to slow down. He wants us to remember that He is God and we are not. He wants us to rest in the fact that though we do have weighty responsibilities we should also remember that we can’t do it alone.
John Piper writes:
“The very spirit and essence of prayer is dependence. So, even when we are not speaking consciously to God, there is a deep, abiding dependence on him that is woven into the very essence of our faith. In that sense, we are praying. We are experiencing a spirit of dependence continuously, and that kind of disposition is, I think, right at the heart of what God creates when he creates a Christian. There should be a spirit of dependence that permeates all we do.”
So here’s the first application for us in how to live for Christ today; rather than allowing your schedule, your iPhone and your inbox to drive you toward irritability, selfishness and stress; allow those things to drive you to prayer. Build prayer into the rhythm of your morning as consistently as coffee. Voice your dependence upon God. Ask for His help in keeping a watch on your heart and life.
But there is something specific that we should also be praying for…Gospel Advance.
II. Pray for the Gospel’s Advance (v. 3-4)
3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Now, one thing that we need to know about this particular letter of Paul is that he is in prison while he is writing it. He is in prison for preaching the gospel and here we see him asking the church to pray for God to enable him to…preach the gospel. This man lived with a sense of gospel urgency that was incredible.
Paul is asking the church to pray for one of two things: either he is asking for God to open the door of his prison cell so that he can take the gospel out into the world. Or, he is praying for God to open the hearts of his hearers so that they will see their need of Christ and will repent and believe. Either way, he is calling on the church to pray for the gospel to advance and bear fruit, and he wants to be a part of that.
Do you find yourself at a loss for what to pray for right now? Probably not! We are praying for healing fo the sick. We are praying for protection for our loved ones. We are praying for God to remember His mercy in the midst of all the panic, and disease and death.
But if you haven’t thought to pray for an open door for the gospel, you should. Pray that the gospel would be declared and that more people would be born again. The heartbeat of the Christian life is the gospel, that we are saved from our sin and the wrath of God because Christ took our place on the cross. We deserved death and judgment, but in His mercy God applied the blood of Christ to our account. We are saved by faith in Him and when we truly come to an understanding of this gospel reality we want others to know it as well.
So let’s be faithful to pray for the gospel’s advance and let’s also be faithful in our part to advance the gospel. Don’t neglect to preach the gospel. Teach it to your children. Share it with your friends. Comfort your family with the truth in the hopes that all will see their need of Christ and believe. Pray for God to make the gospel clear and undeniable. Pray for your lost loved ones and ask God to open their eyes and hearts to the gospel truth.
Yes, there are many things going on in your life that you should pray about. There are big decisions in front of you and you should be praying for God for wisdom, guidance, patience, and confidence. There are things going on in the lives of others that you should be praying about: sickness, uncertainty, marital problems, struggles with sin, etc. But there is one major thing going on in the world that we should be praying about all the time and it’s the need for folks to hear the gospel and be saved.
1. Devote Yourself to Prayer, 2. Pray for the Gospel’s Advance…
III. Live Wisely (v. 5)
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
Be wise in the way you act, especially toward outsiders/unbelievers. Paul assumes that we are going to encounter unbelievers in our daily lives and because of this he wants us to make the most of our time with them. How are we supposed to do that? By conducting ourselves with wisdom.
Now this is going to be a challenge for us because at a foundational level we are more prone to feeling than we are thinking. And wisdom requires that we think our way through life more than we feel our way through life. Most of us, not all, but most of us have more of a tendency to elevate the importance of how something makes us feel over the importance of whether or not it is right and wise. There is room in our lives for both but notice that Paul doesn’t say that we should walk in emotion toward outsiders. He calls for wisdom.
Christian Wisdom is the mental capacity to understand and function according to Biblical truth. As Christians we should govern our conduct with unbelievers on the basis of Biblical wisdom.
So, what constitutes Biblical wisdom?
First, it begins with a proper fear of God which means we stand in awe of God and we give appropriate respect to His Word. Our lives are oriented around our Creator God as the center and source of all things.
Second, we let the word of God/Christ dwell in us richly, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another. We read the Bible. We study the Bible. We listen to sound teaching and we let all that we learn shape our view of the world, of family, of others, of life.
Third, process through the decisions in your life with the fear of God and the Word of God as the guiding principles. Some decisions are simple because the Word of God is clear.
Let me give you a few questions to help us make decisions when it’s not so clear what to do.
1. Is this spiritually beneficial to me personally and to the gospel generally?
2. Will this decision make God look glorious or will it slander His name?
3. Will my actions be affecting others in a sinful way or a godly way?
4. Does this violate God Word? Is it illegal?
5. Can I do this in a way that glorifies God?
6. Can I do this in a way that shows love and concern for others?
7. Am I following the example of Jesus to help reconcile sinners to God?
Christ calls us to walk in wisdom with outsiders and not waste our time with them. In other words, we should make use of every opportunity to magnify Christ in our relationships.
And when we do speak up we should speak of grace and with grace…
IV. Speak Graciously/Powerfully (v. 6)
6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
The way we feel or think in the moment is typically going to come out of our mouths because the primary way that we communicate is through speech. One component of the command for us to walk in wisdom is to exercise self-control in the area of our speech. Paul says that we need to let our speech be filtered through grace and seasoned with salt.
To speak graciously means that we speak with care and concern for others. We aren’t simply wanting to be heard or to get our words out, we actually long to show grace to others in our speech.
There is a connection between the attitude of our hearts and the way we communicate with others. For instance, if you are an angry person it is going to come out of your mouth. If you are a bitter person, the people around you know it because of the way you talk. If you are a person who has come to understand and enjoy the grace of God, then that grace should flow out of your mouth to others.
For our speech to be salty means that we should speak in a way that makes an impact. This doesn’t mean that we master the art of the one-liner but that our words have an impact on a person’s heart. I think the best way that we can do this is to be so thoroughly familiar with the rudimentary truths of the Christian faith that when we open our mouths, we speak the truth in love.
So, devote yourself to prayer with thankfulness. Pray for the gospel to advance in the world and through your witness. Live wisely and speak the truth with love and grace.
Conclusion…
If you want to learn more about Cornerstone Baptist church, you can find us online at Cornerstonewylie.org. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @cbcwylie. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornerstonewylie. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or google play to stay up to date on all the new content.
Thanks for listening.