sovereignty

Where Are You Looking For Help?

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

(Psalm 121:1–2, ESV)

Christian, where are you looking for help? Are you looking for it in the President? Honestly, are you? Are you looking for your help to come in the passing of “righteous laws?” Are you hoping in the Constitution? Have you placed your trust in political action and conservatism? Yes, I admit, the Lord can use these things, but are you placing your trust in them and not in the Lord? Have you become confused about where your loyalties lie?

Christian, where are you looking for help? Are you looking for it in a vaccine or medical cure that will keep you safe from the Coronavirus? Are you hoping in science and doctors? Are you panicked that you won’t have enough masks and gloves and hand sanitizer? Are you stockpiling supplies selfishly because you believe that you need to take care of yourself? Are you trusting in media reports, graphs and charts, medical “experts” and the word on the street from social media? Are your driven by fear for your life? Have you become so fearful that God has become small and you must help him along?

Christian, where are you looking for help? Have you become convinced of the thinking that overthrowing the world with angry rhetoric and supporting violent riots is somehow supposed to bring justice in a wicked and fallen world? Have you placed your hope in a Kingdom now, where human philosophy and effort can build a utopia that will somehow address the sin of man’s soul? Have you exchanged the gospel of the crucified Jesus for a gospel of equality and justice won through protest, political action, and evangelism of those who don’t think like you? Have you become so driven by the issue of injustice that you no longer look to Jesus as the one who loves and sent his Son to be the Savior of the world? Have you misplaced your zeal in a hope that things will change without Christ?

Christian, where are you looking for your help? Can you confidently say, “My help comes from the Lord”?

“But”, you say, “we need to exercise our rights as citizens…” Yes, but has your citizenship on earth overridden your trust that this world is not your home?

“But we must make sure that we protect those who are vulnerable. This sickness has killed people.” Yes, but aren’t we already vulnerable, like grass that is here today and gone tomorrow? Does not the Lord see your needs, and cares for you? Does he not already know the number of your days? Does not his love cast out fear? Aren’t we told not to be anxious, but by prayer and supplication make our needs known to the Lord? Will we not all die, even if we have placed our bodies in a vacuum-sealed clean room? But how will you have lived for Christ?

“But, there is racism and poverty in this world, and Jesus calls us to fight for the innocent and to call out sin.” Yes, and we must speak truth to those lies that would undercut the value of any human, whether because of the color of his skin or the money in his pocket. But, a poor man or a man who has hatred for his brother will still be cast into outer darkness when he has money and no longer hates those different than he is. This world is broken. It has been so since the beginning of mankind. Where does Christ fit in for you? Is he simply used to further your personal agenda? And how much are we seeking his help in overcoming the sin of this world, and how much of it is our drive to fix things in our own flesh?

Where does your help come from? It’s an honest question. The Sunday school answer is that “our help comes from the Lord.” But we need to assess our hearts and ask if that is really true. Look around you. Does your life, your actions, your words, reflect a person who trusts in the Lord, or have you placed your hopes elsewhere? He alone, the one who made heaven and earth, is able to overcome. Place your full trust in him alone.

The Glory of God in Saving Sinners- Psalm 106

/ Richard Bargas / 2 Comments

“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
but 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.” (Psalm 106:7–8 (ESV))

Reflecting on the rebellious heart of the nation of Israel, the psalmist freely admits that they did not deserve salvation. After seeing the amazingly powerful hand of God in the ten plagues, Israel still did not place its faith in the Lord.

In Exodus 14:10-12, we read of the response of the people:

“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.””

The Hebrew word which is translated by most Bibles as “yet” or “nevertheless” points to the Lord’s action in spite of Israel’s rebellious spirit. The reason for his decision to save them was “for his name’s sake…” Although this wasn’t the reason that these rebels surmised as why the Lord saved them. The commentator H.C. Leupold states,

“For the first reaction of the nation when danger began to threaten at the shores of the Red Sea was to raise the cry that God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt in order to slay them. That can scarcely be classed as gratitude for the mighty works that He had done in their behalf.”—H. C. Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1959), 746.

So, why did the Lord save them? And even more important for us, why did he save you or me? Why does God save, not just these, but any sinful person? What is his ultimate purpose? It is not first and foremost for the relief of our misery or for our happiness. These are results, yes, but not the Lord’s primary concern. His ultimate purposes are doxological–that he might receive glory and that he would act according to his holy, merciful, and righteous character. His character is on full display as the powerful and merciful God, and this is seen in his saving grace.

We, who are saved in Christ, are trophies of his grace. We are the manifestation of the love of God. But even more so, we can look at what the Lord has done in salvation and stand in amazement at what an amazing God he truly is!

Don’t Forget to Look Up

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“But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.” (Psalm 102:12, ESV)

Psalm 102 begins with great misery and pain. The superscription on this psalms reads: “A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.”

As you read through this psalm one gets a great sense of his pain and anguish, which appears to be spiritual, emotional, and even physical. He groans, struggles with insomnia, weeps, and feels his body engulfed in fever and suffering so great that he cannot eat.

There are many of God’s people who can identify with such suffering. But what is the solution for the man or woman of God in such trying times? Here in America, it might be the time to see a physician or a psychologist. One might be given medications to help with the sleep and pain. Perhaps, a self-help group would be recommended so that the suffering might console one another.

But the psalmist has a different route. It stands out vividly beginning in verse 12 and begins with a strong contrast, “But you, O Lord…” In contrast to whatever is happening in our human experience on earth, there is another reality as well that is occurring in heaven: the Lord is enthroned forever. This is not simply about the duration of is reign, but about the permanency and the settled nature of it as well. The Lord has not been unseated. There has not been a coup in heaven whereby the demons have grappled control of the throne of God. No, he is still there.

The following verses build upon this hope-filled truth. If he is there, then he can hear. And if he can hear, he can answer. The Lord is glorious, and he will judge the wicked. He can see everything and he hears our cries. He still is worthy of praise and glorious. Although our suffering is difficult, this meditation on the fuller reality above our circumstances helps us to realize that the Lord God is fully aware, fully powerful to act, and still loves and cares for his people.

And even though our suffering may be prolonged, and even might usher us into the Lord’s presence, there is yet hope. The psalmist closes his song with these words that reach beyond this life and into eternity: “They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.” (Psalm 102:26–28, ESV)

One day, we will no longer experience the pains and trials of this life. One day all danger will have passed and every threat will be gone. One day, we will be with the Lord who is eternal, and we shall be like him. But even better, we shall be with him. So, the next time you’re days are dark and seem to be without much hope, don’t forget to look up, and remember that there is more happening than meets the eye.

Humble Submission to Christ the Lord

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“And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

Luke 1:38, ESV

This morning I read from the book of Jonah. I have been pondering the incarnation for the last several days and the wonder of Christ’s birth, and then I read Jonah. To put it lightly, Jonah had problems. Massive spiritual problems. I’ll come back to him in a bit.

All too often in Protestant churches, Mary, the mother of Jesus, has scorn heaped upon her because there are some who have taken this woman of God and have worshipped her. But that isn’t Mary’s fault! From my reading of the New Testament, Mary was a gracious and beautiful example of incredible faith that we should emulate–such as the passage I cite in Luke 1:38 above. Yes, Mary was a sinner, and she too needed a Savior. But look beyond this and see her humble submission as well.

I’ll let the scholars handle the age of Mary, but I think most agree that this woman was still very young. But her words, particularly in what has been called the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55), show a spiritually mature child of God. She is not a scholar, nor of the priestly line. She is a simple, humble woman from a back-woods town who is preparing to marry a humble carpenter. That is why her words should stop us in our tracks: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

She is saying through the angel to the Lord God, “I am yours. Do with me whatever you see is right. I am nothing, you are everything. Whatever you want, I will submit to you wholly.” O, how we need more people of God with this heart! But she isn’t alone in the Bible.

In the Old Testament, we find Abram willing to leave everything he has ever known–land, family, language, comfort, safety, the familiar, the safe. He leaves it all because he is following his God (Gen 12:1-4). Again, the spirit of Father Abraham is that the Lord is Sovereign. He commands, and we joyfully follow; even into the unknown darkness. Later, when he has received his son Isaac after many years of waiting, Abraham is asked to sacrifice this beloved gift (Gen 22:1-19). There is no argument, or pleading with God to reconsider what he is asking. Genesis 22:3 simply says that Abraham rose early in the morning and set out to obey his Master.

I saw this same commitment to humble submission when I recently re-read the book of Hosea. In Hosea 1:2-3 it says:

“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” 

(Hosea 1:2–3, ESV)

We can understand the purpose of God in doing this because the Bible is clear about the reason for this request–to be a shockingly visible illustration of the way that Israel was toward the Lord God. But that didn’t make Hosea’s obedience and heartbreak any easier. The shame he endured as God’s man must have been unbearable at times as his unfaithful wife continued to bear children fathered by other men. Yet, Hosea continued to faithfully and humbly submit to all that the Lord asked of his servant.

That brings us back to Jonah.

Mary endured shame, scorn and great pain in order to bring the Savior into the world. Abram left everything and was willing to sacrifice his most beloved son. Hosea walked his entire life in the darkness of a broken relationship for the cause of illustrating the enduring love of God in the face of rebellious and idolatrous Israel.

And Jonah…he sulked and ran and was enraged because he wanted to be the master of his life. Jonah wouldn’t rejoice at the repentance of the lost. He wouldn’t rejoice at his salvation from the fish’s belly and a new opportunity to be used by God. He wouldn’t even enjoy life, but would rather be struck dead because he was such an angry little man.

John Paton

I recently read the biography of the great missionary to the Pacific, John Paton. In Paton’s day, the church had taken on the attitude of Jonah. They loved their comfort and ease. They didn’t like it when men and women of God wanted to take the gospel to the world because they didn’t want their comfort to be unsettled. Some were bribed with money to stay. Some were belittled and treated with contempt–being told that God would’t use them because they were ungifted. Some said that the primitive people would never be able to appreciate the fine education they had earned, so why waste it? Others were so fearful of the dangers of cannibalism and disease that they forbid anyone from going to these people. Serve Jesus in England, where it is safe. You can serve Jesus here. WE need him too!

But Paton, and a few others accepted the call and braved the hardship and ridicule heaped on them back home and face the dangers in the Pacific. They humbly submitted their lives to the Sovereign they loved more than life itself. Most died, but the Lord raised up many more servants until the Pacific was won for Christ.

But the Jonah spirit is alive and well in many hearts and churches today. I take comfort in the fact that there are also still in Christ’s church Mary’s and Abraham’s and Hosea’s among us. Those who will submit to the Lord their God with joy and humility. If that is you, don’t allow the Jonah spirit in the church to dissuade you. See the joy in the hardship. Know that the Lord is greater than any hardship you may endure. As Luther wrote,”Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever!” 

And if you see too much of Jonah in your own heart, then Jonah’s message to Ninevah is God’s message to you too. Repent. This life isn’t for you. It isn’t about you. It’s about Jesus. Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, and he will lift you up (1Pet 5:6).

The Deepest Need in Preaching: A Majestic View of God

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“There are always two parts to true worship. There is seeing God and there is savoring God. You can’t separate these. You must see him to savor him. And if you don’t savor him when you see him, you insult him….The greatness and the glory of God are relevant. It does not matter if surveys turn up a list of perceived needs that does not include the supreme greatness of the sovereign God of grace. That is the deepest need. Our people are starving for God.”—John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching