The salty church – part 3
The Church’s Mission
So the church is a called-out body of redeemed individuals drawn together in Christ as one family. Surely there are more articulate definitions, but hopefully this one will serve us well and guide us throughout our study and more importantly our pursuit of establishing healthy churches for the glory of God. Yet, there is more we need to know.
Okay, we are a called-out body, but why were we “called out”? This is a good question, and it has answer. To word the question differently, we need to ask, “What is the mission of the church?” This is more important that many realize. I fear that a lot of Christians will respond to this question with a resounding rolling of their eyes, as if to say the answer to the question is obvious. However, the state of the church reveals that the church at large may not affectively grasp what the mission of the church actually entails. In fact, it is entirely possible that we have begun to place the proverbial cart before the horse.
David Bosch phrases it this way. Speaking of the early church, he writes: “Mission was understood as being derived from the very nature of God…Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world…a movement from God to the world…There is a church because there is a mission, not vice versa.”[1]
Did you catch that? The task God has set before us, which is to be his ambassador’s in this world, does not exist because there is a church needing something to do. No, the church exists because there is a mission that must be fulfilled. This is huge. Every Christian and therefore every church which exists needs to grasp this concept, for it provides a constant reminder of who we are and what we have been commissioned to do.
Life is not about us. Ministry is not about us. Worship is not about us. Eternity is not about us. It is all about him. We exist for the glory of God, not the other way around. Moreover, we exist for the good of humanity.
It’s was a preservative
One of the best ways for us to understand our mission as Christians and therefore the church is to give our full attention and obedience to Christ’s words to us from the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus tells us that we “are the salt of the earth” (Matt 5:13a).
The metaphor is clear. For centuries man has been using salt as a means of preserving meat. Prior to the advent of modern refrigeration, the only way to preserve meat was to rub a great deal of salt into the meat and allow the salt to extract the moisture from the meat, thereby working to prevent the growth of bacteria and ultimately the decay of the meat.
Much the same way, the church has been sent into the world with a mission. We are to act as a preservative for this wicked world. Earlier I mentioned the need for the church to be infused into the world; this metaphor is what I was referring to. Just as salt is rubbed into meat so as to prevent decay, so too the church is to be rubbed into the meat of this world with the goal of being used by God to draw out the sin and wickedness that is present. But how do we do this? How can we as sinful individuals be affectively used by God to identify sin in others and preserve them?
First, we must understand the gospel and embrace it as truth, for only through the gospel of Jesus Christ can the wicked be forgiven and justified before God. Apart from the piercing power of God’s word we have no weapon and no ability to draw out sin from anyone. I can yell from the rooftops that cohabitation is wrong and evil in the sight of God, but unless the power of God through gospel is presented I am accomplishing nothing of eternal significance. For the church to be salt it must embrace and unapologetically proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Second, as Christians we should also be living in such a way as to attract people to God. I say this because we all know that our lives, even on our best days, fall drastically short of God’s righteous standard (Isa 64:6). Therefore, our goal is to draw attention to God through lives that are selflessly devoted to him. This is an attribute the early church exemplified. Think of Paul as he spoke with the Athenians. Through his teaching and witness he left them wanting more of God.
They said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean” (Acts 17:19-20). What a great example of being salt in a decaying world.
However, Jesus knew that not every Christian and therefore every church would live out their design. So he aimed the rest of this metaphor at them. He continued, “…but if salt has lost its taste” (Matt 5:13b). Now scientifically we know that salt does not lose its saltiness, but it can however be adulterated or spoiled. That means that we must conclude that Jesus was referring to churches who were meant to be the salt of the earth, but because of compromise and indifference have become infused with the world.
Of these churches we ask: “Is there any discernable difference between you and the world?” Yes, we are to permeate this world with the message of Christ’s atoning death and the freedom it brings, but if we look no different than the world around us we have failed. This painful reality led Jesus to conclude his metaphor by saying, “…how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matt 5:13c).
These words should scare us, for Jesus says quite bluntly that if salt is corrupted it cannot be restored (naturally speaking of course). In fact, from a human perspective it has been rendered completely useless and therefore must be cast out and destroyed. This means that a saltless church is a worthless church. Okay, that sounds really harsh, but Jesus made his point didn’t he?
It should be clear that Jesus takes the health of his body so seriously that he is willing to speak the truth in love and shock his body into reality when necessary. Thankfully, although this is impossible with man, all things are possible with God (Matt 19:26). Any Christian or any church who finds themselves having lost its saltiness can be restored by returning to the source of their saltiness, and Christ is the source!
Anytime we cut through the haze of life and see that our lives have been spoiled because of an infusion with the world we must return to the fountain of living water and ask God to restore to us his original intent for our lives. Again, we may not be able to re-establish the saltiness, but God can.
It’s was a beacon
A concluding thought by Jesus on this matter came by way of another metaphor. This time he teaches us that in him we are beacons of truth in a truth-denying world. Yes, we are salt, but we are also “the light of the world” (Matt 5:14a). Again, we are his ambassadors sent into this world with the purpose of magnifying Christ so that this world will be unable to deny his existence and power.
We are like a great city built high and magnificent upon a hill. When the light of God’s glory shines brightly through us we cannot be hidden or cast aside as irrelevant. When God chose to cause the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” to shine within our souls and through our lives (2 Cor 4:6), he worked to use us to cast the light of his truth onto the sin of this world. Therefore, it is foolish and utterly inconsistent for us to claim the name of Jesus and then stick our lamp under a basket (Matt 5:15). It just doesn’t make any sense! Rather, we are to let our lights “shine before others, so that they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:16).
Both of these metaphors are powerful. From the outset the church was meant to be a preservative for the world and a beacon to the world. In other words, we are to be in the world, living and interacting with others while doing all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). Withdrawing from society and seeking seclusion amongst fellow believers is not what God envisioned for the church.
That means that we who have been made new by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ are to take the treasure of Christ – the gospel – which has been deposited into us and share it to others (Acts 1:8; 2 Tim 2:1-2). This is what it means to be the church of the living God here on earth.
The question is, however, are we doing that? Now I understand the various temptations here. Some of you may be tempted to start listing ministries and quickly draw the conclusion that we are salt and light based on a logical deduction. Meaning that because we have this program and this program we are therefore salt and light. This approach is somewhat of a mathematical approach: A + B = C; therefore, A = C – B.
Please don’t fall into this trap. Jesus was not giving us a formula with these two metaphors. Rather, he was exposing the natural tendency of the heart to grow complacent. We don’t set out to lose our saltiness our hide our lamp under a basket. Yet, it happens to Christians and to churches everyday. So as you prayerfully and humbly ponder your own life and daily workings of our church, ask yourself where your heart is. We’re not salt and light if we have to force it. Now that is not intended to be a dogmatic statement regarding our salvation, but it is meant to reveal that if we find ourselves in that situation it means that we are missing something vital to our walk with Christ.
Granted, the early church was not perfect, but taken as a whole and contrasted with the words of Christ we can definitely learn a great deal about what the church was meant to look, act, and feel like. The imagery of a body and a family are two characteristics that must be present and define a God-called group of individuals claiming to represent Christ. A preservative and a beacon, these are two components of our missional mandate from Christ that likewise must be present and define a God-called group of individuals claiming to represent Christ.
Now if only it were as easy as I just made it sound. Regardless of difficulty, however, if we want to be the salty church God intended, we must take time and search for reasons these attributes are so hard to maintain. This study, which I have entitled, Vital Issues Facing the Church Today, is meant to highlight several important concerns that when misunderstood or misapplied can have drastic affects upon the church. In the messages which follow we will be discussing the root of our joy, the sovereignty of God, worship, the gospel, unity, godliness, ministry and evangelism.
Yes, there are many more concerns, but these are some of the issues that I feel are extremely vital to the church. They are important issues that we must get right.
So the question now becomes this: Will we as a body prostrate ourselves before God and ask him to grant us the grace we need to lament our short-comings, the humility we need to praise him for our strengths, and the courage we need to become a church which honors God through faithful ministry and biblical character? I pray that we will.
[1]David Bosch, Transforming Mission, as quoted by Milfred Minatrea in Shaped by God’s Heart, xvi.
The salty church – part 2
Being well into the twenty-first century, it is time for the church to do a little self-examination. Yes, this will not necessarily be fun, but if churches will approach God’s word with humility and desire to assess themselves in light of revealed truth, I’m convinced that God will grant us the grace we need to lament our short-comings, the humility we need to praise him for our strengths, and the courage we need to become churches which honor God through faithful ministry and biblical character.
The Church’s Character
Having said all of that, we need to actually begin by defining what the church is. From a linguistic perspective, the church is a group of individuals called out from the world. The Greek word behind our English word “church” is ekklesia, which is formed by two Greek words. The first part is ek which means “out” and the second part is kaleo which means “to call”. So the literal rendering of ekklesia is the “called out ones” or something close to that.
Although originally used in more of a political sense, the word became associated with the church because it communicated something about the assembly of individuals known as Christians. As the first century church began to spread by fulfilling God’s intention for them, it became clear that they were a people called out and set apart by God. Although not an exhaustive description of the church, consider a few characteristics of the New Testament church.
It’s was a body
In his work with the early church and his many writings to them, the Apostle Paul draws our attention to a vital characteristic of the church: The church of Christ is a body of believers. The first Christians took seriously their adoption into the family of God (Eph 1). They no longer saw themselves strictly as individuals; they realized that in Christ they were the parts which produced the whole. Challenging the church to draw together in unity, Paul reminded them of how ridiculous disunity is for the church.
He wrote to the Ephesians, “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16). Just as a human body only works as designed if all its individual parts are properly functioning, so too the body of Christ needs all of its parts doing what they were designed to do if it is to be what God intended. Elsewhere Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 12:14-20 – “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”
From the outset the church has been seen as a group, a body. We were never meant to live for Christ on this earth in a solo or maverick fashion. On the contrary, God designed human beings to thrive in concert with other people. We were always meant to be a body of believers.
It’s was a fellowship
Another attribute of the early church was that of family, or fellowship. They were a body; therefore, they were close to one another. In fact, Luke records that along with devoting themselves to important matters such as the apostles’ doctrine, worship and evangelism, they also devoted themselves to fellowship (Acts 2:42). I take this to mean that they were deliberately in each others lives and that they genuinely enjoyed one another’s company.
We all know that human nature being what it is, there were certainly members of this early body that did not “click” or necessarily see eye-to-eye on everything, but there is more to fellowship than merely agreeing on everything, and there is more to fellowship than enjoying a meal together (although that can certainly contribute to fellowship).
Based on the New Testament is seems clear that we are a fellowship of Christ. This means that we are ultimately to find our identity in the person of Jesus Christ. The church, or the body of Christ, is a called out group of people who have been redeemed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-9). As individuals we have been declared righteous because of Christ’s sacrifice (Rom 3; 2 Cor 5:21) and given a heart that is no longer reigned by sin, but rather love for God.
This means that as the children of God in Christ we have a new identity, the old lone ranger mentality is to be gone because it has been replaced with a unified and loving bond between people who have been united in Christ (1 Cor 1:9; Heb 2:11).
The salty church – part 1
The story is told of a man named Don who in early September of 2001 was methodically working his way down a river in Alaska.[1] The total trip took fifteen days and exposed him to some of the most unspoiled land in all of North America. There were no cell phones. There were no radios. There was only Don, a single client accompanying him, and the beautiful sights and sounds of the creation which surrounded them both.
So on the morning of September 11, 2001, they awoke from a peaceful night of sleep like so many other Americans. They quickly ate some breakfast, likely excited about what fresh adventure awaited them down river, and then broke down their camp and headed out. As they joyfully lived out that fateful Tuesday, they were completely oblivious to the throws of pain the world had been thrust into.
They did not have the wickedly cruel images of commercial airliners crashing into buildings filled with people who like them, had awoken that morning ready to live another day just as they had countless days before. They were not compelled to sit in front of a television for hours or even days and try to make sense of it all, nor could they try to comprehend what had happened.
They did not experience the immediate impact of September 11 simply because they were disconnected from the world. It would be another ten days before the two men completed their journey and were reunited with humanity. As the account goes, Don was forced to remain another night in the wilderness while his client and much of their gear were transported to a nearby city. He spent that night alone in the wilderness, lying awake and wondering how to make sense of all that had happened.
In much the same way, we as Christians should find ourselves lying awake at night, trying to make sense of the current state of the church, for the church, like Don, is disconnected in many ways from the world. Just as Don was oblivious to the sight of burning and collapsing buildings, people jumping to their death and the panic over the possibility of future attacks, many churches today seem to be coasting along in a state of disconnect from the world.
Too many churches seem to be unable to hear the cries of death and the pains of fear which emanate from scores upon scores of hurting and confused people throughout our communities. Too many churches seem unconcerned about the plight of orphans and widows and the homeless and the hungry. Even worse, too many churches seem unable to hear the heart cries of the spiritually dead people living in their neighborhoods. Just like Don was on that river in Alaska, the church is largely disconnected from the world, this must change.
Perhaps this is a startling, unfair comparison. That’s possible, but perhaps it is dead on. Perhaps we baulk at this comparison simply because it hits home so powerfully. Now don’t misunderstand me, my words here are not an attempt to heap ashes upon the church or condemn every church or even every Christian; that is not my point.
My desire in this study is to be a voice of truth, spoken in love, about the condition of many churches and God-willing to be used by him to bring about correction. I’m certainly no authority on the church. I don’t presume to have all the answers or even to have first hand experience in a vast multitude of churches. Instead, my words are from the perspective of a man who loves God and values the church he established some two-thousand years ago.
I’m personally convinced that we don’t need another statistical analysis concerning the number of professing Christians in America or the ups and downs of church attendance to admit that we are largely failing to accomplish our God-given purpose. We don’t need statistics to tell us that thousands upon thousands of people in neighborhoods across the country are not being reached by the church, to see that all we have to do is pay attention as we drive around throughout the week and then go to church on Sunday. The disparity between community population and church population will be obvious and hopefully alarming.
Now I understand that filled churches do not equate to redeemed lives, but when we understand the church correctly we have to admit that the church was designed to be composed of individuals reborn through faith in Jesus Christ. From an individual’s perspective we understand that the redeemed in Christ are called by God to align themselves with a Bible teaching, Christ-loving body of like-minded believers.
Therefore, it at least seems logical that if a church is successfully reaching its community more and more people from within that community will be found in church worshiping with their brethren. Granted, this sounds idealistic or perhaps a little utopian, but it cannot be denied that this is what Christ intended for his church from the very beginning.
So what are we as Christians to do? What are those of us who love the church of God supposed to do in order to be agents of change within our churches and within our communities? The answer is actually quite simple to verbalize: We have to reconnect with the world. The necessity of our infusion into[2] the world is most clearly understood in light of Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:13-16 – “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
If the church today is to have any hope of becoming properly infused within the ranks of our culture and the various communities that compose our world, it must endeavor to become what Christ designed it to be, a strong, vibrant ambassador for Christ on earth. The world must see our redeemer through redeemed lives.
The world must come face-to-face with the power of the gospel as a result of living beside us and witnessing undeniable fruit born from our faith in Jesus Christ. Clothing the naked. Feeding the poor. Adopting the orphan. Caring for the widow. Visiting those in prison. Paying bills. Giving rides. The list could go on and on, but the point is clear: The church is called to lead the way in meeting needs and demonstrating the love of Christ in tangible ways. But there is more. We are also called to work tirelessly, striving to meet the world’s greatest need – a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
[1]Milfred Minatrea, Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 1.
[2]As will hopefully be conveyed throughout this study, there is a profound difference being infused into the world and being infused with the world.
Legacy of sin – Genesis 49 (2 of 2)
Judah (49:8-12)
Although each son received a blessing from Jacob, two of them stand out as exceptional. The first to stand out is the prophecy concerning Judah. This prophecy can be summarized as a blessing of kingship, one which would ultimately be fulfilled in the Messiah (49:10). Jacob foretold of Judah’s dominance and importance. He described Judah as a “lion’s cub”, the phrase which spawned the magnificent Messianic title, Lion of the tribe of Judah. Clearly, God intended something special for Judah and his descendents. Of course, God is not obligated to share with us why he chose to place such a blessing upon Judah, but we can justly relate Judah’s blessing with the change that had been wrought in his life. Yes, he had sinned, even impregnating his daughter-in-law.
Sure, we can argue that he thought she was a temple prostitute, but that obviously does not help the argument! However, from the time he uttered those repentant words, “She is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26); we witness a change in his life. For example, he fought for Benjamin and the well-being of his family, even placing himself and his own sons in danger. It seems that somehow God had gotten through; Judah had become a God-fearing man (Gen 43:1-10; 44:14-34).
In an earthly sense this prophecy was fulfilled in men like David and Solomon, but more importantly it was fulfilled in the reign of Jesus Christ as the Lion of Judah. The New Testament speaks to this truth with sparkling clarity: “For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah” (Hebrews 7:14a) and “one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals’” (Revelation 5:5). But how exactly are we to see this in Genesis? For that answer we must focus on verse ten for a moment.
Jacob’s words in verse 10 are widely accepted as the third prophecy of the Messiah found in Genesis. The first is Genesis 3:15, which records God’s cursing of the serpent. The second is Genesis 22:18 when God promised to bless all the nations of the world through Abraham’s offspring. James Boice rightly summarizes: “In the first prophecy it is said that the Messiah would destroy the devil and his works. In the second it is said that he would redeem his people, thus bringing salvation to both Jew and Gentile. In the third prophecy it is said that all rule is his and that all peoples of earth will eventually bow before him.”[1]
However, there is some interpretive confusion surrounding this verse. The first portion of the verse is straightforward and all major translations are roughly the same, each call attention to the fact that the tribe of Judah would wield a scepter for a time.
Through Jacob’s words to his son Judah, God communicated to Israel as a whole, teaching them that from Judah a Messiah would arise. The ESV translates the next phrase as “until tribute comes to him”. The question is this: Who is the “him”? The easiest way to see this is by comparing it with other translations. The New King James Version says, “Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” The New International Version says, “until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.”
Another helpful translation is the New Living Translation, it says, “until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.” So the “him” is the one to whom dominion and authority rightfully belong. The “him” is none other than Jesus Christ, the lion of Judah and our savior. Judah was truly blessed. So here we see that just as sin negatively affects future generations, righteous positively affects those who follow us.
Zebulun and Issachar (49:13-15)
The prophecies concerning Zebulun and Issachar were short. Zebulun would dwell near the sea and border Sidon, which was a wicked city (1 Kings 16:31). We are told very little about Zebulun in Scripture, but we do know that Sidon (Zidon) proved to be a snare to Israel over the years (Judges 1:31, 10:6; Ezekiel 28:20-26). Throughout Israel’s history Zebulun was a strong nation numerically speaking (Numbers 26; 26:25; 1 Chronicles 7:5), but the mention of Sidon was a warning and their wickedness proved disastrous to this tribe. Later, Jezebel, a daughter of Sidon (1 Kings 16:31) would marry Ahab, the son of Asa and bring with her a host of sinfulness.
Jacob referred to Issachar as a strong donkey, which was actually meant to be a positive remark (Judges 10:4; 12:14; 2 Sam 16:1-2). He was also said to be satisfied and complacent. History reveals that this characteristic carried over to his descendents. The tribe of Issachar was also strong but satisfied and they were often invaded. Ultimately they fell along with the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria in 721 B.C.
Those Born to Bilhah and Zilpah
Dan (49:16-18)
Jacob prophesied that Dan would provide judgment for his people and strike like a serpent when necessary. The strongest fulfillment of this prophecy is seen in Samson. Samson was a judge in Israel for many years. He was a strong, bold man who is probably known more for his seemingly supernatural strength and military giftedness than wisdom. He certainly fulfilled all that Jacob foretold.
Gad (49:19)
Gad was to be raided, but in the end stand strong. We know little about Gad and his descendents, except that they were brave warriors (1 Chronicles 12:8), but by choosing to settle east of the Jordan and not partake of the Promised Land, they exposed themselves to some of the most deadly nations of their day, Ammon and Moab, and most certainly faced hard opposition from them.
Asher (49:20)
Asher would enjoy abundance to the point that their food would be fit for a king. However, their abundance caused them to wallow in themselves while their brethren fought for the kingdom. Deborah, a judge of Israel, and Barak called for Israel to stand and fight. Following their victory Deborah lamented the fact that “Asher sat unmoved at the seashore, remaining in his harbors” (Judges 5:17b). Apparently their wealth had gotten the better of them. On a positive note, once again we see that repentance and forgiveness can bring about change, for some where along the way the cycle was broken. As Jesus was presented in the temple, one of Asher’s descendents was present to worship him:
Luke 2:36-38 – “And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Naphtali (49:21)
Jacob prophesied that Naphtali would bear beautiful fawns. The King James Version translates this as “godly words” rather than beautiful fawns. There is interpretative difficulty with the original text here as well, but the idea seems to be that they would produce a people with an unchained spirit. Barak, the brave man who fought alongside Deborah (Judges 5) is a great example of one of Naphtali’s descendents who captured this sentiment well.
Those Born to Rachel
Joseph (49:22-26)
Jacob’s beloved Joseph garners the other exceptional prophesy. Essentially, Jacob’s words can be captured with one word – fruitfulness. Joseph was a fruitful bough, or limb in Jacob’s eyes and he believed that this quality would remain with his offspring for years to come.
The fulfillment of this prophecy is easily seen in what became the largest of the twelve tribes, Ephraim. In fact, this tribe became so large that at times Scripture refers to the entire nation of Israel with the name Ephraim. Through Joseph many great men arose and served God faithfully. Among them were five of the fifteen judges: Gideon, Abimelech, Jair, Jephthah, and Samuel.
Benjamin (49:27)
Jacob’s final prophecy was almost anticlimactic. Working off the great truths of God’s sovereign and gracious work in Joseph’s life, we are simply told that Benjamin was a ravenous wolf; he would be small but a leader. We see the fulfillment in different places. One is in Psalm 68:27 where we read, “There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead”. There were of course many mighty men from the tribe of Benjamin: Saul, Jonathan, Abner, Mordecai, Esther, Ehud and the apostle Paul. However, physical might can quickly turn into arrogance and strength into cruelty.
Toward the end of the book of Judges we read of a Levite man and his concubine traveling through Benjamin’s territory. While there certain Benjamites attacked and assaulted his concubine, ultimately killing her. As the word traveled throughout Israel anger and disgust was the common response. Israel as a whole was disgusted at how these men of Benjamin could allow their strength to consume them; truly they had become ravenous wolves.
“All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him” (Genesis 49:28). A dying Jacob had spoken his peace and provided a stern challenge to his posterity. As we have seen, they were slow learners for the most part. The question which we now face is this: Will we learn from them? Moreover, will we learn from them quickly enough so that we will be able to teach our children how to live for God before we find ourselves confined to a bed because of our rapidly approaching death? The choice is ours. We can either leave a legacy worth leaving, which of course is one that is saturated with God, or we can leave a legacy of sin.
Thankfully, repentance on our part and forgiveness on God’s is a means by which the course of our lives can be eternally changed. We do not have to wait until death knocks at the door. We can change now by surrendering to God’s call upon our hearts to forsake everything and follow him by faith. We can change now by pleading with him to rip from our chests the heart of stone we were born with and replace it with a compassionate, joyful, and God-fearing heart (Ezekiel 36:26). Yes, our testimonies can change. Like Jacob, we all have a certain legacy of sin, but it does not have to be our greatest legacy. Make the decision. Amen.
[1]Boice, 1197.
Fear and the promises of God – part 2 (Genesis 46-47)
I will go with you to Egypt
God’s second promise to Israel was that he would actually, or personally, go down to Egypt with him. For Israel this is comparable to Christ’s promise to us in the Great Commission where Jesus promised to be with us even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Just as Elohim went with Israel to Egypt, so too he is with us as we go to the ends of the earth or even just across the street. We need not fear – our sovereign God is right beside us. We see this promise completed in Genesis 46:28-47:12. There we read of Israel’s arrival in Goshen and the emotional reunion of Joseph and his father. The two embraced in a loving scene that describes Joseph as weeping upon his father’s neck for a good while (46:29). However, he quickly went to work in an amazing display of cunning and faith. Through Joseph, God revealed to Israel that he had surely kept his promise; he had gone with him to Egypt.
Desiring for his family to have the best land, he counseled his brothers on what to say when they stood before the Pharaoh. He was very clear. He wanted them to do everything right “in order that [they] may dwell in the land of Goshen” (46:34). As he took five of his brothers, likely the most articulate of the eleven, along with his father before the Pharaoh, Joseph’s adeptness as a faithful servant of God and a skilled politician shown brightly, a balance we all know is accomplished by few. Standing before the Pharaoh, everything went according to Joseph’s plan and hope, his family obtained Goshen and they were warmly received and even blessed by the Pharaoh (47:6). It was just as God had promised; he had gone with him to Egypt. Israel had had no reason to fear.
As we approach the remainder of Genesis 47, there is another aspect of God’s promise to go with him to Egypt which is important. Really, it seems to be implied within this promise, for not only did God go with him to Egypt, it is clear that he remained with him there. By this time we are told that the famine had gone from being severe to being very severe (47:13). In fact, Moses records that “the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine.” There was pain, suffering, and most certainly death as people struggled to find food for their families and livestock. The text reveals how God used Joseph to spare many lives, basically becoming a national hero through his wise actions and stewardship (47:13-26), but most important to us is the statement in verse twenty-seven which we discussed earlier. Listen to it once again:
Genesis 47:27 – “Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.”
Clearly, God was with Israel. His fears had proved unfounded and God was proven to be the all-knowing, all-powerful being that he is. As Genesis 47 draws to a close we are told that Israel was granted another seventeen years of life, a perfect match to the first seventeen years he had had with his beloved Joseph. We are not given any information about these seventeen years other than the fact that God blessed them mightily and multiplied them greatly. Perhaps God’s point in keeping this information from us is to draw our focus upon his promise to Israel to make him a great nation while sojourning in Egypt. After all, he certainly knows that we are a people who love to get bogged down with unimportant details when the power of his presence in our lives is staring us in the face. Therefore, Scripture omits the details and thrusts us headlong into the final days of Israel’s life on earth. The remaining chapters of Genesis do give us great detail into his last days, but for now we are left with a father’s single request of his beloved son.
Genesis 47:29-30 – “And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.’ He answered, ‘I will do as you have said.’”
Israel knew that Egypt was not his home, Canaan was. He knew that not only had God promised Abraham that his descendants would suffer in a distant land, he had promised to deliver them from the hand of their oppressor (Genesis 15:14). So he made Joseph swear that he would not bury him in Egypt, but at home beside his fathers. This brings us to the two remaining promises, the future promises.
The Future Promises
In the night vision God had promised Israel that he would one day bring him back to Canaan. There are two ways this promise was fulfilled. First, upon his death, Joseph led his family temporarily out of Egypt and they returned to Canaan and buried their father there (Genesis 50:4-8). Secondly, this promise was fulfilled in a broader sense as Joshua, Moses’ successor, led them across the Jordan River back into Canaan (Joshua 3). In his own perfect way and timing, God had kept his word. Israel was back in Canaan.
The last promise, the second “future promise”, assured Israel that when he died Joseph would be at his side. In other words, there would be no more separation; he would have the blessing of completing his life with his son near by. True to form, God kept his word, and when Israel died, Joseph was exactly where God said he would be, at his side (Genesis 49:28-33). Once again God proved himself faithful; he demonstrated to all that he truly works all things together for the good. Even when we cannot see it nor understand it, God’s invisible hand is at work for our good and his glory.
As you set your life in the context of this narrative, stop and think of how it applies individually to contemporary Christians and corporately to the American church. Individually speaking, we are a people who typically want ease and the blessing of material prosperity. We even pity Christians of distant lands because of how they suffer; yet, fail to realize how they often prosper spiritually because of their trials. Ironically, we often fail to realize how we suffer spiritually because of our material prosperity. Being that the whole is composed of many parts; the American church consequently suffers from our unbiblical understanding of pain and prosperity. On this subject, one writer comments about an American student who traveled to Hong Kong to serve. Prior to leaving America a friend of his asked him a poignant question. He asked, “If God loves the Chinese church so much, why did he allow so much suffering to come upon it?” By his own admission the young student did not know how to answer his friend. However, after serving in Hong Kong and witnessing the zeal of his Chinese brothers and sisters, he returned to America and posed a similar question to his friend. He asked, “If God loves the American churches so much, why hasn’t he allowed us to suffer as he did the church in China so that our faith might be strengthened, our lives purged and our relationship with Christ deepened to serve him wholeheartedly?”[i] Now that is a good question.
As we continue to find encouragement and strength from this passage, it will be helpful to think of Jesus’ metaphor about the rich entering the kingdom of God. Jesus said:
Matthew 19:23-26 – “‘Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’ 26But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
It may be our nature to seek the easiest, most comfortable lifestyle, but it is not always God’s way. There are times when suffering is needed in order to purge our lives and sanctify us before our holy creator. Now we all know that money and prosperity are not evil; it is our use of them that is evil. Likewise, pain and suffering are not evil in and of themselves; it is how we respond to them which determines their benefit. Therefore, if God sees fit to use a crucible to purge us, then we should take a lesson from Israel and trust and obey.
[i]Boice, 1138.
Fear and the promises of God – part 1 (Genesis 46-47)
“It is enough; Joseph my son is alive. I will go and see him before I die.” With those faithful words Israel (Jacob) stood poised to once again be seen as the strong patriarch of God’s people. As we have worked our way through Genesis, we have watched him rise and fall. At times Israel stood firm in his faith, at other times he failed miserably. Yet, as his sons shared with him all that Joseph had done and said, he silenced them and proclaimed that he had heard enough. He did not need all of the particulars as to how God had preserved Joseph, he only needed to know that he had been preserved, that was enough for him. We ended our last study with these same words and used them to challenge us to have a similar response to God’s providential rule. Rather than getting tripped up on the particulars, we should respond to God’s providence with simple faith and say, “It is enough, I will believe.” This challenge is true enough, but so too are them many difficulties of life and the pervasiveness of sin. Sadly, the reality of sin in our lives makes it difficult for us to fully embrace physically what we believe inwardly. Being that we are no different than Israel, Genesis 46 and 47 should be a welcome sight for our sore eyes, for here we see God interact very personally with him and help him to live physically what he believed inwardly.
Like many of us, when we get excited about something, perhaps a new job or a ministry opportunity, we jump up quickly and start working, sometimes before thinking through everything or even praying. This is exactly what Israel did. Verse one tells us that he loaded up all that he had, left the Valley of Hebron (Genesis 37:14) and traveled to Beersheba were he offered sacrifices to God. The three verses which follow provide us with a great insight into why Israel stopped in Beersheba. It was not because he needed some rest or directions. No, he needed guidance and assurance from God that the path he was on was the one God wanted him on. Israel had lived long enough and experienced enough in his life to know that he needed to walk by faith here, not presumption. So he stopped and he worshiped, offering sacrifices to God and thankfully, hearing a word from him.
This is one of the few instances in Scripture where we read of God audibly speaking to a person. We know that he spoke this way to Abraham (Genesis 22:1, 11), Samuel (1 Samuel 3:10), and Saul (Acts 9:4). Interestingly enough, each of these men faced a crisis, but after receiving a word of affirmation and assurance from God they proceeded to live powerful lives for his glory.[i] The story is no different with Israel. It is clear that Israel stopped in Beersheba because he was afraid to go any further. He desperately wanted to see his son, but the thought of Egypt made him hesitate. Perhaps he was thinking of pain, suffering, or even death. It is likely that each of these played a part as he began to recall God’s word to his grandfather many years before. As God worked to prepare Abraham for his calling, he informed him of great suffering to come upon his descendants when he said: “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13). It is not a stretch to believe that this prophesy weighed heavily upon the mind of Israel, for he had loaded all of his possessions along with all of his household as he headed south towards Egypt. Therefore, humanly speaking he was well within his right to fear what was to come.
However, as always, God knows the heart of his children. He knew that Israel was fearful of what was to come, so he called out to him in a night vision. “Jacob, Jacob”. By referring to him as Jacob, God provided a subtle cue that his fear was to be associated with his old self, not the man God had called him to be. Having grabbed Israel’s attention, God provided him with several things: A reminder, a word of encouragement, and four promises. First, Israel was reminded that he served the same powerful, sovereign God which his father had served. He said, “I am God” (46:3a). He wanted there to be no confusion as to who was speaking to him in this dream; he wanted Israel to know that everything he was about to be told came from the highest source; therefore, he could trust him. Second, he was given a word of encouragement. Building upon the truth of his sovereignty, God said quite plainly, “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt” (46:3b). In other words, God was telling Israel that he had no reason to fear because in his corner was Elohim, the same being who called Abraham out of Ur and delivered a son to him in his old age. It was the same being who had preserved him while in Paddan-aram and brought him to Canaan. Israel was to fear God, not the Egyptians; therefore, his fear had to be dealt with.
Throughout our study of Joseph’s life we have made constant mention of a great New Testament promise found in the book of Romans. There Paul teaches us that God works all things “together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). We have made much of this promise because it impacts each of us on a very personal level. As the roots of this promise permeate our lives we find that its truth is never exhausted, for every event of our lives is bound up in the “all things” of Romans 8:28. With the four promises God provided for Israel here, the aging patriarch received a similar version of our New Testament promise, for God clearly promised to work in his life through a multitude of events and ultimately work them together for not only Israel the man’s good, but Israel the nation’s good.
Following his reminder to Israel and his word of encouragement, God made four distinct promises to Israel. He promised to make Israel a great nation in Egypt; he promised to go with him down to Egypt; he promised to bring him back from Egypt; and he promised Israel that he would die with Joseph at his side. Out of these four promises, two of them are fulfilled in these two chapters while the other two are fulfilled later in Israel’s history. With that in mind, the most beneficial way for us to study them is to set them against the backdrop of their realization.
I will make you a great nation in Egypt
God’s first promise to Israel was that he would make him a great nation while he was in Egypt. Notice in verse three the first reason God sites for Israel to be confident, “for there I will make you into a great nation.” Like us, Israel assumed that the best place on earth for God to accomplish his promise to Abraham was Canaan. After all, it was a safe place and the actual land which God had promised to them. Like us, Israel struggled to see how living in a pagan country amongst a pagan people would foster the growth and purity of a mighty nation for God. Thus, God had to startle Israel and reassure him that there was a great purpose in him moving his family to Egypt. It was not the safety and security of Canaan that would sanctify God’s children, in time it would prove to be the heat of Egyptian sun and the sting of the task masker’s whip that God would use to do this. As with so many examples from Scripture and from our lives for that matter, God’s way proved to be hard to understand and perhaps even to accept, but it would also prove to be the best way for everyone involved. It would prove to be for the good of Israel and for the glory of God.
Skip the three remaining promises for just a moment and focus on verses five through twenty-seven, for these verses help us to see that it truly took an all-powerful God to achieve all that he did with Israel while in Egypt. The first thing we note is that God’s word to Israel had accomplished its intended purpose, for we are told that “Jacob set out from Beersheba” (46:5). He believed God and set his fear aside, he was learning to trust and obey. The lengthy list of names which follows verse five highlights the fact that while in Canaan, God’s people had multiplied, but not at an overwhelming pace. While there are different reports as to exactly how many people started this new life in Egypt,[ii] the point is that while Israel lived in Egypt, God took a small band and grew them into a vast multitude that eventually frightened a new Pharaoh (Exodus 1:8-9).
Now focus on Genesis 47:27. There we are told that “Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.” Although we will not see the numerical growth until later in biblical history, here we see the hand of God at work as he planted his people in Goshen and blessed them abundantly. Like Israel, we would do well to trust and obey, especially when the particulars make no sense to our feeble minds. God promised to bless Israel while in Egypt and that is exactly what he did.
[i]Boice, 1099.
[ii]See Exodus 1:5, Numbers 26, 1 Chronicles 2-8, and Acts 7
The benefits of providence – part 2 (Genesis 44-45)
Joseph’s address to his brother reveals two truths that every Christian desperately needs to grasp. The first statement of Joseph’s which clearly reveals his understanding of divine providence is repeated three times. In verse five Joseph stated, “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Later in verse seven he repeated his belief: “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.” Finally, perhaps to ensure that his brothers understood his position, he repeated a third time his conviction: “So it was not you who sent me here, but God” (45:8). Joseph left no doubt that he fully believed it was God who had sent him to Egypt.
This means at least two things to Christians. First, it means that God is both willing and able to work through human suffering. Joseph undoubtedly suffered for a long season of his life; yet, this suffering failed to take from him his belief that God was working in his life. In fact, as we have noted before it seems to have done the exact opposite, actually working to strengthen his faith in God’s plan and purpose. We would do well to emulate Joseph here, for each of us suffer at some point in our lives; therefore, each of us are tempted to reject God’s sovereignty and refuse any notion that he is the God of Romans 8:28, a “working all things together for the good” God. Joseph suffered and Joseph rested in God’s providence. For him, the two were not mutually exclusive.
A second aspect of this belief is that God will use evil to accomplish good. Of course, this statement is not to be misunderstood with the false idea that God is the author of evil. God is not sinful or evil in anyway; however, he can and will deliberately use the evil actions of men to accomplish his eternal plan. For example, the evil manifested toward Joseph that dark day in Dothan did not reside in God’s heart but in the hearts of Joseph’s brothers. They were the evil doers, not God. Yet, God chose to use their action for his eternal purpose. In Joseph’s words, it was God who had sent him to Egypt for the purpose of keeping many people alive. It was this statement by Joseph which solidifies in our minds that this man not only understood God’s providence, he had also embraced it, for he knew that God had sent him to Egypt with a divine purpose in view.
This belief enabled him to recognize God’s hand in a host of circumstances. At this point in his life Joseph had not only survived some tremendous events, he had literally prospered in them. It is here were we as Christians need to embrace God’s providence as truth meant for life. Again, Joseph was a man who had been put through a tremendous amount of pain and suffering; yet, at the end of it all we find a man trusting God and teaching others to trust in him. Obviously, Joseph had learned some powerful lessons throughout his twenty-plus years in Egypt. God had certainly been good to him. In light of all this, consider three truths we should take from Joseph.
Comfort through hard times
The first life-impacting truth produced by God’s providence is comfort through hard times. Now we may not find ourselves in a dry cistern or an Egyptian prison, having been wrongly accused of a crime, but no person is exempt from tough times. We will all experience them at some point. However, with that said, have you not found that a trial is more tolerable when you know that there is a purpose behind it? For example, a new military recruit may count down the days until basic training is over, but in the recesses of his mind he knows that he will be better because of the training. Somewhere down deep he knows that there is a purpose in the pain. This is what the biography of Joseph is supposed to bring Christians – a constant reminder that God is at work through the difficult seasons of life. It may be sickness or financial woes. It may be depression or marital problems. Whatever the case may be, we are to remember that God has not abandoned us! We are still important to him and he still knows our names. Regardless of our personal situation, we must remember that God is at work completing what he began in us (Philippians 1:6). So find comfort in the hard times by holding onto God’s providence.
Humility through prosperous times
Joseph’s response to his meteoric rise to power illustrates a second life-impacting truth. God’s providence not only provides comfort through hard times, it supplies humility through prosperous times. Think about it. Joseph was one day in prison for a crime he did not commit, that same day he found himself second in command to the pharaoh. Rather than being told what to do he was telling all of Egypt what to do. We all know that this kind of prosperity all too often leads to pride. However, if we rightly connect with God’s providence and understand that he is the ultimate agent behind our prosperity we will reject pride and prostrate ourselves before God, much the same way Joseph’s brothers did before him. It is so easy and so common for us to think we are the cause of our success, but that is simply not the case. Yes, hard work does often payoff, but only because God chooses to bless it. Providence fosters humility.
Security through chaotic times
A third life-impacting truth we should take away from Joseph is that God’s providence provides security through chaotic times. By this we mean that an affirmation in God’s providential rule will strengthen and calm us while in the midst of tumultuous times. Take the aftermath of September 11, 2001 for example. That proved to be a chaotic season as we wondered what would come next. Anthrax? Dirty bombs? Another hijacking? All-out war? There were all sorts of speculation and fear mongering taking place; yet, no one actually knew what was going to happen next. Thus, there was a sense of chaos among the American people. However, by embracing the biblical teaching that God is constantly at work we are strengthened and can actually find hope and security even when the sky seems to be falling. Why? Because we know that God has a purpose in view, and that whatever is happening has not escaped his attention nor avoided his purpose. Again, providence is truth meant for life.
What Joseph was demonstrating, and what his brothers and father were discovering, is that God is a being that far exceeds are ability to completely understand. He works in ways that we cannot humanly comprehend; yet, blesses us in ways that at times we never see coming. Joseph never saw the vice-regency of Egypt in his future. After twenty years of suppressing their guilt over selling their brother into slavery, Joseph’s brothers could not have seen forgiveness in their future, but it happened. Likewise, after such a long period of absence from his beloved son, Israel would not have dared to hope for an earthly reunion with Joseph, but that is exactly what God brought about.
As Genesis 45 comes to a close, it is the pharaoh whom God uses to reunite Joseph with his father. He authorizes Joseph to send a great caravan after not only his father, but all of their families. Later we will read of how they prospered in Egypt in the land of Goshen, but they first had to walk through the fire. The same is true for us; the blessings will eventually come, albeit we may have to wait until heaven, but there are purposeful trials that must be traversed first. This is daunting, but the joy is that while we are walking through the trials, God’s invisible, providential hand has a firm grasp upon us. Just as he was present with Joseph in the pit, he will be present with us amidst the storm. Our responsibility is this: Trust in him and find hope in his sovereign purpose. Know that regardless of what happens God has a purpose and he will work through it. Is this hard? Absolutely. We can all think of hypothetical situations that we wonder how we would live through if they happened to us. No one is saying that embracing God’s providence is easy, we are just saying that it is practically beneficial and most importantly faith building.
As Israel’s sons tried to explain to him all that happened, he responded to them the way we should respond to God’s invisible hand: “It is enough…I will go” (45:28). Israel did not need all the particulars; it was enough for him to simply know that Joseph was alive. The same should be said of us. We do not need all of the particulars; we simply need to know that Scripture teaches us that God is working all things together for our good and his glory. To that we should simply say, “It is enough…I will believe”. Amen.
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