When we think of the word “wait”, what does that look like? If someone is waiting for someone or something, what are they actually doing? It is easy to think of waiting as doing nothing. Waiting can seem like inaction, waiting for a later time when you will act. But read the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. Read it all but the last verse.
Paul writes of their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,” they are imitators of Paul–who was no slouch, and they did this in affliction. The church has been an example all around Achaia and Macedonia, and beyond that, the word of the Lord has sounded forth from them everywhere. They welcomed Paul and his colleagues and they turned from idols to worship the living and true God. Does that sound like they’re doing nothing? This is how they wait, waiting for the the Son from heaven.
Waiting for Jesus’ return is not sitting on our hands. Later in his letter Paul explicitly tells them to admonish the idle. To wait upon Jesus is a vigilant life. It is active, for he did not leave us here to do nothing. We have a purpose and he has given us his Spirit! Why would we be blessed with the Holy Spirit if all we’re expected to do is nothing? Let’s wait, but do so in a way outline here in 1 Thessalonians.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. 2 Timothy 1 :8-9
As much as this is a letter to Timothy and about his ministry, it isn’t really about him. Paul wants to keep the focus on Jesus Christ and what he has done. It is not on the basis of our work that we are called, but because of God’s purpose and grace.
That doesn’t mean we aren’t called to do a work. We are. God has a plan for us and wants us to follow it. But just as it isn’t all about Timothy, it isn’t all about you or me. We are to make our work point to Jesus.
We do have a role to play, but Jesus deserves all the glory. We would have nothing if not for the grace given in him.
It reminds me a bit of this quote from Stacey King, a teammate of Michael Jordan.
I’ll always remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I combined for 70 points.
(Said after Michael Jordan scored a career high 69 points and Stacey King scored 1 point against the Cavaliers. )*
*But when it comes to the work of our salvation, we don’t even contribute that one point.
“The Vision of The Valley of The Dry Bones”, Gustave Doré, 1866
Our focus passage from this last week was the familiar passage (at least familiar relative to other parts of Ezekiel) of the valley of dry bones. God brings Ezekiel to a place full of death. There are bones that are long dead and have dried up. They appear to be hopeless, for who holds out hope that life can return to a corpse, let alone the bones that remain after years of decay? But God commands Ezekiel to speak this prophecy to the bones:
O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 37:4b-6
As God had described it so it happened. Ezekiel witnesses dry bones covered with sinews and then flesh. But just to have appearance of the living is not enough. God then breathes life, Spirit, into the bodies. Then they stood as a great army.
These bones represent the whole house of Israel that believed itself beyond hope, but God still had a plan for them. He would revive them and put his Spirit within them. Just as it was with the vision of the bones, the work God would do in Israel would be miraculous and therefore would cause the people to know whose hand was behind this. Then the people would know God is the Lord for only God could save them from death and gift them with life.
This chapter describes the work of God for a nation in exile and suffering from their sins, but the miracle of turning death to life is described as well in the New Testament. I find that Ephesians 2 parallels this in some ways.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1-10
Like the dry bones, we were dead. What could the bones do to restore flesh and life? Nothing. As a people dead in our sins, how could we save ourselves? We lived according to the sinful ways of the world, like the people of God in Ezekiel. They acted just like the nations surrounding them and suffered discipline for their disobedience. Likewise we are described here as children of wrath, just like the rest of mankind. But God rescues us in both situations and it is not because we deserved it. I see two reasons, first that God is merciful and loving to his people.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…
Imagine reading that passage and ending before this verse. It is a dire situation. That is a pretty big “but” that comes to our aid. The situation was dire as well for the people in exile. In both, all hope is lost if not for the intervention of a gracious God. It is and has always been “by grace you have been saved.”
The other reason that God would do such a thing is that it fits in with his perfect plan. In Ephesians we see lines like, “so that in the coming age he might show immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” and “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Ezekiel is full of the line, “that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” God’s work for the whole house of Israel is a testimony to his character and his grace and he wants the people to know, and he wants the world to know. We are chosen not to merely enjoy a blessing, but to also carry a great responsibility in God’s plan for this world.
God saves us from our sin and he raises us up with Christ. He does so because he has a plan for us. That plan is one of blessing, surely. But it blessing to be shared. His saving us is not a result of good works, but it is part of a plan that God prepared beforehand that leads to good works for his sake.
It is only because of God’s grace could we receive such mercy and love. Like dry bones, we could not bring back life. Even if we could somehow restore flesh and sinews, we still would lack life–the breath of God within us. Fortunately his plan did not call for us to remain dead. His plan was for us to have a life where we walk in his ways. This plan bought us back from death, restored us, and raised us to life with and because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus comes down hard on the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. They are guilty of hypocrisy as “they preach, but do not practice.” They lay heavy burdens upon the people, yet they will hardly lift a finger. These leaders love to soak up all the attention that their positions bring, presenting themselves outwardly as righteous. But in their hearts they are sinful. As leaders they are blind guides who close the doors of the kingdom on people, and under their leadership people fall further from the truth.
One illustration Jesus uses works perfectly as an object lesson, one that I remember as a kid helping my mom get ready for a youth group session. Jesus says, “you clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside they are full of reed and self-indulgence.” To recreate this, I went out in my backyard and was tasked to play in the dirt. A great task for a young boy. One cup was to be dirtied on the outside, but clean inside. The other was to look spotless externally, but filthy on the inside.
The trouble with the pharisees is that they work hard on the external appearances and do nothing in regards to their hearts. But Jesus has already taught that it is what comes from within that makes us clean (Matt 15:11). What is within them is unclean. If attention was paid to cleaning the inside, then the outside could truly be clean, as well. An even more severe description is then applied to these leaders. Jesus says that on the outside they appear freshly painted with new coats of clean, white paint. But this paint is only a thin facade that hides the fact that within is a tomb, full of bones and uncleanness. They are full of death, yet are tasked with helping the people live!
Their hypocrisy is the double standards that they apply and the two-faced life they live. They look one way, but act another. They instruct people to live in ways completely different from how they live themselves. They are hypocrites as they boast in themselves, yet they truly have nothing worthy of such boasting.
Certainly it is possible for Christians to be guilty of hypocrisy in just the same way. But Christians should not make claims about having attained righteousness on our own, nor having made ourselves completely void of sin. In a way we ought to know better than others just how sinful we really are. We then can’t boast in the ways the scribes and Pharisees do. We can only boast in Christ. Only he can make us clean. Only he can bring us to life, as though he were opening those tombs and giving life to dead bones. That’s what we boast in. Therefore it makes no sense to seek celebrity and fame for ourselves, looking for places of greater honor.
These woes are still warnings for us today. We should be on guard against such sinful tendencies we all have. We ought to preach and practice, humbly doing so with a gospel that is firmly rooted in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, not our own. And as God does accomplish his transforming work within us, we can’t allow ourselves to be puffed up with pride. From start to finish it is God. Pride only interferes with that. Humility opens a person up to his work.
Humility also confronts hypocrisy as it is not afraid to let others see our weaknesses, since humility is not concerned with receiving praise. Rather in our weakness, humility knows that it is only God who is seen as strong.
When I was on vacation after Christmas I went to church and heard a sermon that was on Matthew 23, with great focus on the image that comes at the end. Jesus laments for Jerusalem saying:
How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
The preacher referenced a mosaic that depicts this, so I wanted to track it down to share it with you. It is found at a church called Dominus Flevit, which means ‘the Lord has wept.’ It is located on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and its architecture designed to resemble a tear drop.
It is humbling to think of the care Jesus has for us and how it extends even to those who reject him. He is brokenhearted over Jerusalem and only desires to protect and love its people.
There is a short section in Matthew 19 that deals with children who were being brought to Jesus. The disciple rebuke the people then Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
How many of you find this to be a surprising text? Surprising not for the way in which Jesus reacts, but for the way the disciples seek to prevent the children from coming?
I was thinking about my own reaction to the story, and I think it is a great credit to the church today that so many are shocked at the disciples. We read it and say to ourselves, “Where do they get off trying to stop children, of all people, from coming to Jesus?” But we only say that because so many in the church have worked in the intervening centuries to do as Jesus did and welcome children. Children are to have a place in the church and we celebrate them. So many places in our society leave no place for kids. They are a nuisance or inconvenient. But in a church that seeks to follow Jesus here, the very opposite is true.
If churches were not a place that embraces children as a legitimate part of the community, but rather saw them as not-yet-important part of it, we’d read this passage and be more surprised that Jesus welcomes them. What the disciples did was probably not unexpected to their audience, but thankfully when I read it I’m taken aback and say, “What were they thinking?”
On many a Sunday I had the privilege to announce an “assurance of pardon” during our church service. We go through a confession of our sins and following that I draw attention to the fact that we can rest assured knowing that we are forgiven. But I’ve had the conversation a couple times about what it is I’m doing when I make such announcements. The point that I try to make explicitly clear is that I am not the one doing the forgiving. I can’t forgive someone for their sins. Nor can I make atonement for them, pardon them, nor cleanse them from those sins.
So why have this as part of a service at all? What am I doing? As I’ve written, I “announce.” Jesus Christ is the one who can forgive our sins, and I draw attention to the gracious work that he has done.
We’ve read this week in Matthew 9 that Jesus ruffles quite a few feathers when he tells a paralytic that his sins are forgiven. He is accused of blasphemy, as though he acting out of order. But Jesus truly is the one with the authority to do this. It says in Romans 8 that Jesus he has power to judge us, but rather than condemn, he came to this world to die for us, and even now he intercedes on our behalf.
That is a savior worthy of proclamation, and his work for us is something I have the privilege to announce. I cannot forgive sins, but Jesus Christ, Son of God, can and does, and the good news I share is that in Christ, we are forgiven.
If you know anything from the book of Esther, you probably know the line, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
You get the sense that God has a plan for Esther, and that was a plan to save the Jews from an evil plot. As we read from the front to the back of the Bible, you get that same sense. God always has a plan and has someone prepared for “such a time as this.”
Such was the case when Jesus Christ was born to us. We celebrate that God would even come to this world, at all. We marvel that it happened the way it did. But we should take note that not only did it happen a certain way, but it happened at a certain time. God had been orchestrating history to bring about all the right circumstances and preparing the world in just the way he wanted. Then, at the right time, he sent his Son. Jesus was sent to announce the kingdom at such a time as this.
We see this in passages like this:
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:4-5
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:7-10
Jesus Christ came at the right time to fulfill the will of God–to redeem us from our sins, to adopt us as his own children, and to bring all things to himself, reconciling the world.
It’s such good news that is the result of a real good plan, and it’s why we gladly proclaim, “Merry Christmas!”
Year in the Bible 