Bro. Matt’s Blog

(If you want to listen to this sermon in its entirety, click here. This sermon was preaching on Sunday, April 13, 2008, at the Boone’s Creek Baptist Church, Lexington, KY. Click here for the archive.)

The introduction continues: “He went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him” (Matthew 5:1b). Jesus didn’t just see the crowds and then give a simple gesture or a nod. He went up to a place where he could be seen, sat down as if he planned on staying a while a communing with them, and the people came to him.

Do we have this Kingdom longing? John Piper in his book The Supremacy of God in Preaching wrote:

“People are starving for the greatness of God. But most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is an unknown cure. There are far more prescriptions on the market, but the benefit is brief and shallow. Preaching that does not have the aroma of God’s greatness may entertain for a season, but it will not touch the hidden cry of the soul which cries, ‘Show me thy glory!’

Jesus understands this longing — and Jesus is the only one who can satisfy that longing. Over and over, they were stunned by an authority coupled with compassion. The Pharisees wouldn’t give those the time of day! They were more interested in their traditions than in God’s creation!

All of us, dear friends, are looking for something we can count on. And the world is searching and scraping to fill a void that nothing in this world can fill. But for you who are Christians, let me ask you: do you long for God’s kingdom to be a reality within you and within this church and within this community? To put it another way, do you and do I long for God’s rule and will to be done, regardless of the pain or cost?

Art Azurdia in a sermon I heard on the radio this past week that the biggest turnaround in our churches over the past fifty years is that the average person looks at the church and asks, “How can the church serve me?” What has happened? We have fallen into the trap of our selfish flesh in that we desire to be our own kings where everyone around us caters to us.

What has happened? Does this not sound like Jesus’ words? Mark 10:42-45

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. [43] But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [44] and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Do you have a kingdom longing this morning? Do you long for false idols that try to capture your attention to be knocked over by the one True and Living God?

(If you want to listen to this sermon in its entirety, click here or here to read the Introduction. This sermon was preaching on Sunday, April 13, 2008, at the Boone’s Creek Baptist Church, Lexington, KY. Click here for the archive.)

The first portion of this introduction is three simple words: “Seeing the crowds… .” There is a difference between seeing a crowd and seeing a crowd. When I first moved to Lexington, I was warned right away, “If you plan on driving on Nicholasville Road, do not drive when there’s a ball game letting out, or when it’s rush hour. Why? Because of a crowd of cars filled with a crowd of people. You can see that crowd and get annoyed.

Or you can go out to eat and find yourself avoiding certain places because of a line rolling out the door. Or you can be the head of a company or a department and see the crowd of people working under you, but you can use those people simply to advance your own agenda.

I’m glad Jesus doesn’t fit into this category. While this little portion seems to convey a simple looking at the crowds, we get a glimpse into the heart of Jesus as he looks at the crowd in Matthew 9:36, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” The key word to all of that is “compassion.” Sympathy. Having pity. He put himself in their place and began taking time to see life through their eyes.

It reminds me of a story I read about a man who put up a sign in his yard that read: “Puppies for Sale.” Among those who came to inquire was a young boy. “Please, Mister,” he said, “I’d like to buy one of your puppies if they don’t cost too much.” “Well, son, they’re $25.” The boy looked crushed. “I’ve only got two dollars and five cents. Could I see them anyway?” “Of course. Maybe we can work something out,” said the man. The lad’s eyes danced at the sight of those five little balls of fur. “I heard that one has a bad leg,” he said. “Yes, I’m afraid she’ll be crippled for life.” “Well, that’s the puppy I want. Could I pay for her a little at a time?” The man responded, “But she’ll always have a limp.” Smiling bravely, the boy pulled up one pant leg, revealing a brace. “I don’t walk good either.” Then, looking at the puppy sympathetically, he continued, “I guess she’ll need a lot of love and help. I sure did. It’s not so easy being crippled.” “Here, take her,” said the man. “I know you’ll give her a good home. And just forget the money.”

The situation for the people in Jesus’ time was one perpetual limp after another. John MacArthur noted that the religious factions of the day were leading the people astray. The Pharisees believed in keeping all the law and traditions in great detail. The Sadducees were religious liberals who rejected all things supernatural and changed the Scripture and tradition to fit their worldview. The Essenes separated themselves from everyone, like the monks. The zealots were activists who sought to overturn the political system. MacArthur wryly notes, “The Pharisees said, ‘Go back”; the Sadducees said, “Go ahead”; the Essenes said, “Go away”; and the Zealots said, “Go against.” They truly had no shepherd they could count on.

Let me ask you: when you see the people around you, what do you see? Do you see people as a way to be avoided, exploited, changed, or as many churches and cults do and aim to indoctrinate? It’s time to see people where they are. It’s time to take time to see the crowd around us. And many, whether they realize it or not have a longing for something more. No matter how hard they try, this world cannot meet their true longing for more, for better, for something to grant them purpose.

After a wonderful Comeback Churches conference in Bowling Green, KY, this past March 25th, I received a call at my house from a reporter from the Western Recorder, our state Baptist newspaper for a small interview gathering my impressions from the conference. Why they called, I don’t know. I was likely a name drawn out of a box. But here is the article. This conference was so very helpful, that I would recommend Ed Stetzer’s website, blog, and books.

From the parking lot of the First Baptist Church, Bowling Green, Kentucky!

Ed Stetzer

Me and Mark Combs, Pastor of Salem Baptist Church, Salem, KY!

Recently, in response to a letter submitted to our Kentucky state Baptist paper’s Baptist Forum section that seemed to say “No creed but the Bible,” I felt the need to respond to this mindset. Given how many Southern Baptists are straying to other cults such as Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses because of the lack of biblical depth they possess, I wrote the following.

I am saddened and stunned at the outcry of those who lament how Southern Baptists seek to clarify doctrinal issues concerning the Scriptures, God, Christ, the church, and family. And yet all of us show the same type of shock when we see that of all the denominations from which the cults steal their sheep, Southern Baptist are their primary source of growth. Why is this?

It is because we Southern Baptists define ourselves more by what we do than by what we believe. Look back over older Western Recorder editions: they spent more time teaching what the Scriptures say rather than talking about missions and church growth almost to the exclusion of doctrinal beliefs. In fact, when Southern Baptists take a stand, they are derided as uncaring, academic, and divisive.

I am all for loving Jesus, but I believe creeds are just as valuable as the deeds. Both must be present — both the content of Scripture as well as the fruit of obedience to the Scriptures. I am for loving the Jesus of the Bible who has clear attributes and had a clear mission for His people. Until Southern Baptist rigorously study who Jesus is, what He has done, what the implications are for us who claim to be Christ-followers, what he expects from His Church and its individual members, we will continue to be fodder for those who deny the faith as we will cease to grow in any significant and spiritual way. Numbers are not the only way to grow a church — we need to be sure there are enough faithful in the church already as well!

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(Be sure to read the Introduction, Part I , Part II and Part III to this blog series.)

In Exodus 4:10-12, we read:

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” [11] Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? [12] Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

First, Moses doesn’t know what to say, now he claims he cannot say it! Was he afraid that he forgot how to speak the courtly language with which he grew up in Egypt? I don’t know. Did he have a speech impediment? Possibly, although we don’t know for sure. We do know that he felt quite inadequate and did not possess the necessary gifts.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard a similar reason by many well-meaning Christians who, when confronted by a task of great importance, will often say, “That’s just not my thing — I’m really not gifted in this area.” We tend to be well aware of our weaknesses and shortcomings — and if we aren’t, others have a way of making us quite aware. Many understand the need to learn how to evangelize and tell people about the Gospel, but too often the fear or just the lack of desire to do this makes us says, “That’s just not my thing.” Same with singing in the choir, working with us in the community, working in an area of ministry such as working with children, youth, or adults; or even coming to Sunday School. These are things that we may believe that these things are important, but we just don’t think we have what it takes to pull it off.

How did God respond? In Exodus 4:11-12, he says, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” Moses was hoping that this reason, this excuse, would be legitimate. After all, what boss would send someone to do a job unless that person was gifted to do so. Sometimes, we feel as if we have to remind God of who we are and where our strengths lie. We think we know where we should be and what we should be doing. We draw our own little box and say, “I know me — I really do!”

Tomorrow, we are going to start going over not just an evangelism course but a great discipleship class called “Two Ways To Live.” This training is so different because it starts at a point where it should have — with God as Creator. This doctrine of God as Creator must be recovered in our churches. For if God created us, then he wired us and knows best how we operate. And when He calls us to do a task and be obedient, we know that since He made us in His image, He knows what we are capable of — especially when He leads and strengthens us.

You don’t have what it takes, you say? That statement is rife with unbelief in Creator God. He has what it takes to work through you!

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
[26] For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [30] He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:25-30, ESV).

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(Be sure to read the Introduction, Part I and Part II to this blog series.)

Read with me Exodus 4:1-9:

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” [2] The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” [3] And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. [4] But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— [5] “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” [6] Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. [7] Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. [8] “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. [9] If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

Before we think Moses was being too harsh on his people, keep in mind that if you and your family had been in a certain situation for as long as they had, you may question some sheepherder showing up on the scene (and a fugitive at that) saying that he’s from God and will be the instrument of deliverance. We may understand this. Some of you who are followers of Christ may have family back home who do not know Christ. Remember Matthew 13:53-58?

And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, [54] and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? [55] Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? [56] And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” [57] And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” [58] And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

But God then issues three miracles: the staff-into-the-snake, the leprous hand, and the river into blood. The question is, is there any significance to these signs? Of course!

First of all, why a snake? This snake, likely a cobra, was held in high esteem in Egypt. It represented the Cobra Princess. In fact, as you may have seen in pictures and movies, the leaders’ headdresses depicted … a cobra. Moses was to take the snake and grab it by … the tail?!?! Moses was getting a lesson in trusting God, for everyone knows that we should grab a snake where? Some would say, “No where!” But the best place is as close to the back of his head — and the furthest away from the fangs — as possible! The point: God was more powerful than their symbol of power!

Secondly, why the leprous hand. The leprous hand had no cure found here, it left one isolated, and once leprous there was no turning back — you were cut off. God is sovereign even over the most debilitating disease on earth!

Lastly, why the river turned into blood. This river, the Nile, is considered the longest river in the world. It starts from Ethiopia and goes all the way through Egypt and empties out into the Mediterranean for a total of 4,132 miles. To the EgyNile was the life-giver. For God to have the ability to turn this into blood shows that God is sovereign over all things — HE IS THE TRUE LIFE-GIVER.

Consider this: these three signs (the cobra, the leprosy, and the Nile) all were very imposing obstacles. By human perspective, there was no overcoming those obstacles. With God, those obstacles turn into opportunities to show His sovereign glory.

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(Be sure to read the Introduction and Part I to this blog series.)

Moses’ concern shifted here. God was calling him, but now he had to convince his people that God sent him to deliver them from this oppressor. Here’s the nature of his inquiry found in Exodus 3:13-15:

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

The first question we would ask is, “Why did they want to know his name so badly?” For the Jews, the name held and reflected an individual’s essence. We know of many different names by which God revealed himself — each dealing with a different character, but here we see where the name Yahweh comes from. This shows that God is one who was and is and is to come, the Almighty. He is the God of the past (Abraham, Issac and Jacob) and the God of the future (“remembered throughout all generations”).

Again, the reliance on the nature of God! Once again, he shows us his eternal presence among the universe in general and among his people individually. You see, we grow in despair when we believe God has abandoned us. We grow in despair and grow callous and cold to the things of God when we begin not to “feel” him nearby. And most certainly that was the case with the people of Egypt in 430 years of bondage. The surrounding circumstances seemed to dictate God’s absence — but the reality is that God was quite involved.

So who is God? God is there, and he is not silent.

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(Be sure to read the Introduction to this blog series.)

Look at Moses’ first response: “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’” (Exodus 3:11). When God calls you to do something, what is your first response? For the majority of us, instead of us looking to the one who calls us and enables us, we begin to look at ourselves and our particular status in life. How many people fail to come to Christ simply because they are more concerned with exalting themselves rather than “denying themselves.” If they get past that point, they would struggle with the fact that they could never be worthy enough to follow Christ. Moses saw God’s holiness, and initially we see our own unworthiness when stacked up against His holiness. That can be a good thing when we use it to rely on him — but if we react by using God’s holiness as an excuse for disobedience, we must repent.

Look at what Moses said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” You see, Moses first looked at himself, then he looked at Pharaoh! When he compared himself to Pharaoh, he nearly melted at the weight of that prospect right then and there.

How did God respond? “But I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). Given all that we know about Moses, I doubt that Moses found very much comfort in this. Why? Because I’m sure Moses wanted to see something more upfront. Notice what the sign was — “when you have brought the people out of Egypt … .” I’m sure he was thinking, “Uh, God, you’re acting like this is going to happen.” Which is exactly the point! God does not call us in hopes we have the wherewithal to accomplish the task — he calls us to use us in our weakness to accomplish his task and receive the glory.

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Too often, our prejudices get in the way of our compassion in Christ. Jonah was in the same spot, wasn’t he? Look at Jonah 3:10

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

What was Jonah’s reaction? Jonah 4:1-3 says:

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. [2] And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. [3] Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Do we have people in our personal lives or people with different belief systems where we would rather die than see God have mercy on them? Are there people on earth, dear Christians, with whom you wish to see God send his unrelenting justice?

Remember when I mentioned Randy Newman’s shock to man who requested prayer for Al Qaeda? Newman serves with Campus Crusade for Christ and has for more than twenty years. He’s a tremendous man of God with a passion to see college students come to Christ. But here was his honest reaction to this prayer request:

Pray for the members of Al-Qaeda? I don’t think so! Knowing God, he’ll be “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and bounding in loving-kindness, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2). Then what? He’ll answer our prayers and those so-and-so’s will get off the hook!

Newman quickly repented and found the need to pray for himself!

Jonah went out to sulk. And isn’t that the point? He went out of the city and gave up on the city and said, “Let God do to that city what he will — they are vile!”

Have you considered that Jesus never did this? I remember that time in John 11 when he set his face to Jerusalem, the center of Israel’s religion and culture (which at that time were inseparable). He knew that he had to return there. There the corrupt court system would try him, the cowardly Pontius Pilate would turn him over to the city rabble who would then turn him over to execution.

Yet Christ went to the city out of love! He loves those whom he created in His image. Jonah loved his plant and had compassion on it — and his heart broke over his plant. Do our hearts brake more over material possessions, traditions, lifestyles, than over the people whom God created?

But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”

But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

God is — and so should we. We should have more compassion for those made in God’s image than for those things which bring us material comfort.

Here in Lexington, we have our city council, we have UK, Bluegrass Community College, we have EKU down the road, we have a number of businesses, financial institutions, horse industries, and many other businesses which not only have our future leaders, but also train our future leaders. It’s been said that ministering in rural sections, you’ll win the lawyer — but ministering in the cities, you can win the law practices. In rural areas, we minister to the doctor and win him — but in ministering in the cities, we can win the medical profession. Same with finances, race relations, and numerous others.

If we delude ourselves to thinking that Jesus is only good for us in the spiritual realm, and think that John 10:10 only means eternal life in heaven and not the fact that the Gospel transforms all of our thinking and living — we are missing the great understanding of being salt and light in our community and our world.

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One inner city pastor was asked, “Why do you stay in the city?” His response sounded humorous at first — he said, “In rural areas, they have more plants than people. In the city, they have more people than plants. God loves plants, for sure — but he loves people more.”

Randy Newman, in fact, compared the Ninevites to a group that’s around today. He noted that during a time for prayer requests, someone stood up and said, “Pray that the members of Al-Qaeda, those responsible for the September 11 attacks on America, hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan, will be convicted of their sin, come to faith in Christ, and forsake their ties to this terrorist organization.” Some will find it hard to pray such a prayer.

Now you know how Jonah felt. Nineveh had a “well-deserved reputation as heartless rapists and unrelenting murderers. The similarity between Nineveh and Al-Qaeda might be closer than you think.” Do we find ourselves being more like Jonah who was reluctant and rebellious in reaching the city? Do we really believe that Christ wants us to vacate the city? Do we see what Christ has for the city?

Matthew 23:37-39

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! [38] See, your house is left to you desolate. [39] For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ “

If this awaits for the people of God who have, as Romans 9:4-5 says, “the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever” — what will the doom be for those who have not this understanding? Well, look at Matthew 11:20-24:

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. [21] “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. [22] But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. [23] And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. [24] But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Those who know God’s promises and have a country laid on the foundations on God’s Word will be held more accountable than even Tyre and Sidon — and even moreso than Sodom and Gomorrah! Why? Because we know the principles on which the this country was laid — the Word of God. It’s the same rationale as to why James 3:1 says that teachers of God’s Word will be judged more harshly — because teachers know what God’s Word says. Judgment comes first and harshest to those who know God’s Word, but choose to ignore it!

Some say that our nation and our nation’s founders did not begin this nation on the tenets of God’s Word and God’s principles. In 1620, when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Bay, William Bradford drafted the Mayflower Compact which says,

“Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together…”

John Adams, our first Vice President under Washington and our second President, said this:

The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.

Adams also delivers this warning on October 11, 1798:

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Some will say that the government should not be influenced by Christianity, but what the constitution says is that the government shall not promote a national religion! A big difference!

With this being our beginnings, what will happen if the United States continues its downward spiral? What will happen is a great and terrible judgment — the likes of which we could scarcely imagine! And, again, since the cities drive the culture through people, power, and influence, we need to find ways to minister the name of Christ in the cities.

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