Josh Benner

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  • Sermon: Crossing the Red Sea – Exodus 14:5-31

    5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 

    8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. 

    10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 

    12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” 

    15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 

    17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” 

    19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. 

    21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. 

    And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” 

    26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 

    29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 

    30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. 

                Prayer 

    Our gracious and heavenly Father, 

    We again come to you in a Spirit of praise and rejoicing. Lord, we continue to pray for our nation and all of the division that we face. Let us continue to honor you with our lives, our thoughts, our deeds. Let us live as living sacrifices to you O Lord. 

    We pray that you would bless our time in your word. 

    In Jesus’ name, amen. 

        Introduction 

    I decided to switch things up this morning. I like to do that every once in a while. We’re going through the Gospel of John. It’s a long book. And we’re going verse by verse and so it takes time to do. Last week was actually our 25thsermon in John and we’re about a quarter of the way through that gospel so it’s going to take a while.

    Now the last couple of weeks, I’ve made several references to the Exodus. I thought it would be edifying this week to look at the Exodus event itself. I would argue that it’s right there with creation, fall, the covenant with Abraham as being the most significant events in the Old Testament.

    For the rest of the Old Testament, it’s constantly referring back to the Exodus and the work of redemption which God had done for the Israelites.

    So we’re going to make three points this morning. As we begin to study the exodus, our first scene we’ll be studying this morning is when the beginning of the exodus, when God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and miraculously led them across the water Red Sea. 

    So what we’re going to do with our time this morning is to show how God freed the Israelites from slavery. How he led them across the water. And then we’re going to look at how this event is a picture of the gospel. And the main idea I want to make this morning: God delivers his people from slavery to freedom. 

    First part. God frees the Israelites from slavery. As I mentioned, they were enslaved by the Egyptians. As I begin this morning, I have a question. Why were they in Egypt? Biblically. Do you know why? They were there because in Genesis 15, God said that his people would be in a foreign land.  

    In Genesis 12, God first made the covenant promise to Abraham. Blessings, offspring, and land.  

    Then in Genesis 15, God restates the covenant and the promise and elaborates on the covenant, and there’s more of an emphasis placed on land. And in that context, God also says to Abraham:

    Genesis 15:13: “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.”

    God put them in Egypt. The book of Genesis ends with the story of Joseph.  A beloved classic story in the Bible.  Joseph is betrayed by his own brothers and enslaved in Egypt. But with a God given ability to prophesy dreams, he’s able to foretell a time of abundance and a time of famine. Joseph’s dreams actually save Egypt, because they’re able to prepare for the famine. Joseph’s brothers were struggling in the famine, and in spite of what they had done, Joseph was in a position to save them too. And he is reunited with the brothers who had betrayed him. 

    We often like to look at this story as pointing to the way how God works evil for good. It is that. But it’s also more than that. It’s what brings Israel into Egypt. The book of Exodus begins. And the Egyptian Pharaohs had become paranoid about the growth of Israel and so  they had enslaved the people. 

    In Exodus 2, God acts on the promise the he had made to Abraham (Exodus 2:24-25). We see the birth of Moses, who is called upon by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. 

    But there’s a problem…

    Pharaoh won’t let the Israelites leave. And so the Lord brings a series of plagues on the Egyptians for not allowing the Israelites to leave. Basically, they lived through 2020.

    The first plague is turning the Nile River red, hitting them in the very lifeblood of their economy.

    Now Egypt, like other societies of that time, believed in many gods. They had gods for many different important areas of life. And so part of what these plagues are doing is showing the powerlessness of the Egyptians gods before the Lord God. They’re powerless because they don’t exist! 

    The second plague is a plague of frogs. The Egyptians actually had a fertility goddess who looked like a frog. There was a plague on cattle and livestock. The Egyptians had a deity who was a cow and was believed to be an intermediary between people and the Egyptian pantheon. There was a plague where boils broke out on people’s skin. The Egyptians believed in gods of medicine and health. Isis, who was one of the major Egyptian goddesses was believed to be a healer. Hail reigned from the sky and killed the crops. Egypt had deities for the skies and for the crops. Plague of darkness, Egypt worshipped a sun god.

    Throughout all of these plagues, it’s just wrecking life for the Egyptians. The Lord ultimately restores order after a plague, again showing his dominion and power. But throughout these plagues, throughout the various warnings, Pharaoh continues to oppose God. He doesn’t free the Israelites. 

    So again, these plagues are a battle between the fake Egyptian gods and the Lord God. They’re also a battle between the Pharaoh, who is the anti-god, and the Lord. Pharaoh is the leader of Egypt and throughout the plagues, he continues putting himself in direct opposition of the Lord. 

    It’s interesting in our society. Because so many want to act like it doesn’t matter what you believe about God. Some people say things like “all roads lead to God.” Some people say things like “all religions basically just teach that God is loving and we should just love others.” 

    Love is good. 

    Not all religions teach that however. Love was not the central aspect of Egyptian religion. Many pagan religions do not believe in loving gods. Religions like Buddhism don’t necessarily require a person to believe in god. To value a loving God, is to want the Lord God. He is true. He is real. He is mighty. He is good. And to want to pursue anything else is falsity. 

    To want to bow down to any other god is worthless, because any other god will do just as much for you as Egypt’s gods. Which is nothing. The Bible says that God is a jealous God. He wants people to believe in him. The plagues with the Lord showing his dominion over nature and over the non-existent gods of Egypt does not show an “all roads lead to God” or “just pursue your own truth” type of worldview. 

    This is the Lord. Follow and serve and trust in him, and him alone. After all of those plagues, God explains the ultimate and final plague that he will bring upon the Egyptians.

    Exodus 11:4-6: So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt,5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 

    God is going to strike dead the firstborn of all of the Egyptians. 

    This happens in Exodus 12. The Israelites are spared in an event called the Passover, when they were literally passed over. A mighty work of God. Even life and death are under the dominion of the Lord. 

    We talked about this a little bit a couple weeks ago, but for Passover, the Lord gave the Israelites instructions for how to celebrate and commemorate the work that God had done in redeeming the people from slavery. I mentioned that part of that Passover was a feast in commemoration for what the Lord had done. And it was something that the Israelites would go on to observe every year. 

    So after everything has happened, all the plagues, the firstborn struck down, in Exodus 12:29, Pharaoh calls Moses and his brother Aaron and tells them to leave Egypt.  And so the Israelites quickly make their preparations to leave Egypt. With the exodus, we’ll pick things back up in chapter 14. 

    And this is our second point this morning, the event where Israel crosses the Red sea. The Israelites are on their journey, they’re still in Egypt. After all that has happened to Pharaoh, he decides to pursue the Israelites.  

    Beginning in verse 5: When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

    After all that has happened to Pharaoh, he decides to pursue the Israelites. We see supreme pride and arrogance on display. God has continually shown his supremacy and Pharaoh won’t accept it. Now Egypt had a well-equipped and well-trained army. They have chariots which was the great military technology of that day. 

    The Israelites are unarmed. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

    I think the movie the Ten Commandments actually does a good job of capturing the drama. The Egyptians are in pursuit of the Israelites. With all that God had done for the Israelites, how do they respond? Do they respond in confidence and faith and trust in the Lord? 

    10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?

    The Israelites see the Egyptians coming for them and they’re scared. They ask if he’s brought them out into the desert to die. It’s the first time in their wilderness journeys that they’ll complain about the Lord’s goodness towards them. But it won’t be the last. 

    They lose confidence in what God can do. Again, it can be easy to be critical of that. But it’s tempting to lose sight of God when an army is coming towards you. It’s tempting to lose sight of God when a situation seems hopeless. 

    It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture of what God is doing, easy to forget what God has done and how he has blessed you. But how do we do it?

    Moses gives them a powerful word. We quoted this verse last week.

    13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. 

    What a great word that is from Moses. Fear not. The most commonly given command in the Bible. God had promised where he was bringing the Israelites. 

    Exodus 3:17, he says to Moses: and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey

    That’s the land to which God had promised Abraham. He promises again in Exodus 6:6 and 6:8. And after all the plagues, all the wonders that God had done, the Passover where the firstborn of the Egyptians all died and God spared the Israelites. 

    After all of that, at the beginning of Exodus 13:3-5, the Israelites were told: Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 5 And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month

    But notice that he again references the Lord’s deliverance, the Lord’s promise of the land. 

    God delivers his people from slavery to freedom. God’s promises are trustworthy! And yet the Israelites fall into fear. The Israelites were in a dire circumstance in the eyes of the world. I think all of us would be tempted to fear too. 

    But they had the promise of the Lord. I think fear, stress, worry, and anxiety are extremely common for us in our society. But so many of the fears we have are not necessarily even about life and death situations. They’re not usually fears where we are in imminent danger. 

    We so often live in our minds, and dwell on situations and fears. I can be terrible at this, by the way. So I don’t want to sound condemning. I am an over thinker. I play too much of the “worse case scenario game.” I don’t just play that game, I could be the world champion. 

    The problem is when we do that, and I know some of you know what I’m talking about, we can really go to some irrational places with our fears. 

    To some extremes that are never going to happen. 

    I’m not saying we need to be in denial if we’re fearful. I talked about lament a few weeks ago and how we can’t bury emotions. Keep an open and honest dialogue with God. But in the face of fear, let us also respond in gratitude to God for his goodness. 

    And again, it can be tempting in the face of fear to make up a story for how things could go that is terrible, everything goes wrong, it’s all bad. That type of worry is not productive. It robs us of joy. It wastes time. It distracts us from the promises of God. 

    God is a good and loving God who has a good plan for his people in the world. And he had a good plan for Israel. Let us respond with gratitude, faith, and trust in the Lord in the times where we’re fearful. The Israelites made a mistake when they jumped to the worst case and lost sight of what God had promised them. 

    Secondly, Moses says: stand firm. 

    We see phrases translated “stand firm” several places in the Bible, especially in Paul’s letters. In this instance, what it seems to be saying is to stand still. Stand and watch. Look and see. Especially as Moses continues this thought. 

    Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

    He was with them. They’d didn’t have to perfectly understand everything. They didn’t have to have control over everything. Again, I think these are temptations that we all face. Let us look at what the Lord is doing. At what he has done in our lives and in his church. 

    Verse 15: The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.

    Go forward? There are only two directions to go. Towards the army or towards the water. It’s a miracle that the people could never have possibly imagined. How could they? God does something that has never happened before or sense. But that’s what God does. 

    Verses 16-18 preview what God is specifically going to do. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

    God is leading his people. And the Egyptians are going to follow but it won’t go well for them. God delivers his people from slavery to freedom. 

    Verse 19: Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

    God had been leading the Israelites by a pillar of fire. He had been directing them but he had also been protecting Israel. And it says that the pillar moved before Israel. But verse 20 also says that it came between the Israelites and the Egyptians. 

    Some think that the crowd created some sort of darkness or fog around the Egyptians which temporarily prevented them from following the Israelites. 

    21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided

    The waters part. I think this is the mental image we probably most prominently have with the sea parting. It’s like in the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston. 

    It’s not Moses who does this ultimately. It is God, literally parting the water for his people to cross. 

    22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

    What must that have been like for the Israelites? All of the miracles that God had done. Being brought into the desert. And now they’re walking on dry ground with the parted waters of the sea on either side of them. Imagine that for a moment. 

    They had been given an incredible promise. And here it happens. God delivers his people from slavery to freedom. The Israelites make it across safely but then the Egyptians start pursuing them. They’re no longer being supernaturally prohibited. 

    23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

    It’s ironic. The wheels the Egyptians chariots were getting clogged. The chariot was their greatest symbol of military strength, but here it’s a weakness. 

    The soldiers of Pharaoh want to turn back. They say that God is against them. 

    26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.

    God had parted the waters. And now the sea is going to be closed back up. 

    27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.

    In verse 30, the story ends. 

    30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

    The Lord delivers his people from slavery to freedom. 

    The Egyptian army is defeated without Israel having to fight a war. Israel is now totally and finally and forever free of Egypt. 

    That brings us to our third point for this morning. 

    We see the gospel in this story. 

    For the Israelites, God is using this miracle as an instrument of his grace. 

    The Egyptians have been evil. They have not submitted to God. They have persecuted and oppressed the people of God, the Israelites. 

    And so the miraculous event God used for the redemption of Israel, he used for the downfall of Pharaoh and the judgment of Egypt. 

    Every person is going to ultimately bring glory to God. Either you will bring him glory through being an example of the grace of the gospel. Or you will bring him glory as the righteous judge. 

    And that is the beginning of Israel’s exodus. God acting in mighty ways to redeem his people and fulfilling his promises. 

    There are a number of parallels between the exodus and the gospel. 

    The Israelites were in slavery in Egypt. We were enslaved to sin and Christ redeemed us. 

    The Israelites complain and rebel here. That’ll be a continual theme. We continue to struggle and rebel. But for the person who has faith, Jesus continues to be faithful. 

    God redeemed Israel to bring them to the Promised Land. And God is bringing us into a land too. To a new heaven and a new earth. 

    Both the exodus and the new covenant of the gospel are commemorated with meals. The Passover meal was celebrated annually, as a reminder for God’s deliverance in the exodus event and for him sparing the Israelites. With the gospel, we celebrate the Lord’ Supper, communion which is a reminder of Jesus body that was broken for our sin and his blood that was shed for our sin. 

    Exodus was in fulfillment of the promises of God to Abraham for land and to Moses for deliverance from slavery. The gospel is fulfillment of God’s promise of providing a Messiah, a king from the Davidic line, a perfect and spotless lamb to be sacrificed, of giving his Spirit to those who have faith. 

    In both stories, we see victory in a place where it appeared to be defeat. Israel was caught between an army and the sea. It seemed there was no way out. In the gospel, Jesus died on the cross, where it looked like that was the end of Jesus’ ministry, where it appeared that he had been defeated. 

    And piggy backing off of that idea, both the exodus 

    It was entirely the work of God in freeing his people from slavery in Egypt. And the gospel is entirely the work of the Lord in redeeming us from the penalty of sin. 

    The exodus and the gospel are both stories of intervening in a situation where there was no hope. Egypt between the army and the sea. And we were dead in sin, and hopeless apart from Christ. 

    Both events are undeniable, indisputable, irrefutable, unimpeachable proof of God’s love. God loved Israel. And God loves you. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have enteral life (John 3:16). God shows his love that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). 

    Soi Deo Gloria! Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to like and subscribe

  • The Supreme Court and LGBT rights – 2 major decisions in 5 years

    Tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision which guaranteed the right to marry for same-sex couples.

    In the years preceding the decision, state after state after state voted against it. 32 of 33 states where this was voted on, voted no. In 13 of those states, the vote wasn’t even close, with more than 70 percent of people voting to ultimately preserve the traditional American definition of a marriage. The will of the people was ignored and five justices -who are no more virtuous than the rest of us – declared the law by fiat.

    Many years ago, the argument for recognizing the legal validity of same-sex marriages and unions was the “what if two people are in a loving relationship for many years and one is in the hospital. Their partner can’t visit them?”

    We’re so far beyond that now. A celebrity says something critical of same-sex marriage and there’s a backlash, efforts to boycott and essentially destroy the person. If a business owner doesn’t want to support it, he’s a hateful and bigoted. The conversation has been crushed on this issue. In the popular cultural narrative, the only accepted response is enthusiastic support and affirmation. Dissent is not tolerated.

    Last week, the Supreme Court enshrined LGBT rights into federal employment law.

    This week, California banned state funded travel to Idaho due to Idaho’s transgender laws. In 2016, the NBA moved their all star game with Charlotte, due to a state law that disallowed transgender people from using the bathroom which corresponded to their selected gender. The World Health Organization, which had viewed gender dysphoria as a mental illness decided it no longer was last May. In several states, transgender identified females (biological males) have dominated women in athletic competitions. And this is all being seen as more and more normative.

    This would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

    In coming years, I expect the popular culture to have more and more support for the LGBT community. I expect more court decisions to go in favor of the LGBT movement. As I look around and survey our current climate, I see destruction in our cities, statues coming down, calls to defund the police. I see people going after our fundamental institutions. These are attacks on our society, our history, and our system of law and order. But the church is another major institution in our society. The church and our religious tradition is fundamental to our history and worldview.

    There have already been attempts to force Christian businesses to go against their moral beliefs and provide services for same-sex weddings. We’ve seen more pressure on Christian adoption agencies to work with LGBT couples. With the latest rulings on employment law, churches and Christian organizations will continue to face opposition for their beliefs.

    I do expect the culture to more and more come to be at odds with evangelical Christianity. Instead of coexisting, I think the church and Christian organizations will increasingly become targets of legal action.

    I look at those who want to attack our society and institutions and see the LGBT movement more and more coming at odds with evangelical Christianity. Certainly there are members of the LGBT community who want to coexist and can agree to disagree, but as Marxist thought runs prevalent within the radical progressive movement, the LGBT movement will be used to undermine religious liberty while pushing a progressive ideology that runs contrary to the gospel.

    Thanks for reading! I welcome comments. Please like and subscribe.

  • The gospel is unstoppable in a world that is often hostile

    Paul was the greatest missionary who ever lived. When writing to the Philippians, he was in jail. That’s the last place he needs to be! Why would God allow this to happen? Wouldn’t it be better for Paul to be out in the mission field sharing Jesus?

    Regardless of what is happening in the world, God is still at work.

    In Acts 16, Paul was also imprisoned, yet in that passage, it was because God did not spare Paul from prison that he was able to witness to his jailer.And so it goes throughout the history of the church. Where God has been working in ways that people might not have expected. Powerful empires have tried to crush Christianity.

    It’s often been true that the church has faced oppression. The blood of the martyrs waters the seeds of the church. And in places where it’s easy, where it’s common to be a Christian, there can be complacency. It’s easy to just assume everyone around us is a Christian. Whereas in other parts of the world, you actually have to take risks to acknowledge Jesus.

    None of this is to say that we should want bad things to happen! But to be mindful that in the face of sin and injustice, noting stops God. The gospel is unstoppable.

    Sometimes it’s because God does not spare people from the difficulties that people are in positions to evangelize and share the gospel. Sometimes through the wickedness and evil of men, because of God’s immeasurable goodness, he graciously puts them in position to hear the gospel that they don’t even deserve.

    A modern example

    During the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian citizens were facing persecution from the government for transporting Bible across borders, sharing their faith, and even worshipping privately in their own homes.

    Virginia Prodan was a Romanian lawyer who defended Christians of these basic human rights. Prodan was a Christian. She had suffered much for her faith. She had been beaten and torutnred. She had been placed under house arrest. One day, when returning to her office, one of her assistants told her a man wanted to speak with her.

    The man was a giant, 6’10” which dwarfed the 5 foot tall Prodan.

    He pulled out a gun and told her he had come to kill her.

    WRITING IN CHRISTIANITY TODAY, SHE SAID:
    I CONSIDERED THE MAN BEFORE ME. BEHIND THOSE HATE-FILLED EYES WAS A CREATION OF GOD. HE HAD AN IMMORTAL SOUL, AND HE NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LOVE GOD HAS SHOWN IN JESUS CHRIST. AT ONCE EMBOLDENED, I MET MY KILLER’S EYES. “HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF: ‘WHY DO I EXIST?’ OR ‘WHY AM I HERE?’ OR ‘WHAT IS THE MEANING OF MY LIFE?’ I ONCE ASKED MYSELF THOSE QUESTIONS.” MY VOICE STAYED CALM AND DID NOT WAVER.

    HE SLID HIS GUN BACK INTO THE HOLSTER. I LEANED FORWARD. “YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE GOD PUT YOU HERE, AND HE HAS PUT YOU TO A TEST. WILL YOU ABIDE IN GOD OR IN THE WILL OF A MAN—YOUR BOSS, PRESIDENT CEAUSESCU, WHO REQUIRES YOU TO WORSHIP HIM? GOD HAS GIVEN YOU FREE WILL TO CHOOSE.”

    The assassin didn’t kill her that day. He acknowledged that he had needed Jesus in his life. The power of the gospel had penetrated his heart.

    But it was because God had not spared Prodan from that persecution that she had been enabled to witness to that man.

    And there are other stories we can find in modern times from almost every empire that has cracked down on Christianity, that has persecuted Christians, of the gospel working through the cracks of the walls that empires have built up. The gospel is unstoppable. Because God is unstoppable at achieving his purposes. Even in oppressive regimes that try to totally crush Christianity, the gospel still takes root. The truth finds a way.

    In our world, persecution and challenges shouldn’t be a surprise when the gospel is that Jesus came into a fallen world to redeem people to himself. It’s a message that’s offensive because it confronts people with the reality of sin. It points to the narrow way.

    In America, we’re often times too comfortable.

    If we think that we always need ideal conditions to share the gospel; if we think that the gospel always needs receptive environments to thrive: it doesn’t. Because the spread of the gospel, is not about our abilities and talents and planning. Not suggest this things are irrelevant. God does equip and gift people in different ways.

    But even when it seems to be against all odds, it is the power of God through which the gospel reaches people. The gospel is unstoppable.

    What does that mean to you?

    It makes sense people would be hostile to the gospel. When Jesus came to redeem a world that was dead in sin. A world that was so sinful the it killed its savior.

    And it’s not a shortcoming of God that he doesn’t do more to make the way to share the gospel easy. It’s his grace that he came to earth and made the gospel possible to be proclaimed at all. It displays his power and glory that the gospel still goes forth when people try to thwart his work.

    People have tried to stop the gospel’s advance. And those people are dead and gone, but the gospel message continues because Jesus lives on.

    Originally published February 6, 2018 

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

  • Writer calls some depictions of Jesus racist and calls for their destruction

    It was only a matter of time. Activist and writer Shaun King has taken aim at images and sculptures which depict Jesus as white. 

    On Twitter, King said: 

    Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been. In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went?EGYPT!
    Not Denmark.
    Tear them down.

    There are a few issues with that. For starters, in Matthew 2, when Joseph and Mary take the newborn Jesus from Bethlehem to Egypt, it was not because they would “blend in.” They left their territory to go outside the jurisdiction and influence of Herod, so he’s wrong on that front. 

    King is also making the absurd argument that art which depicts Jesus as white is ALWAYS an example of white supremacy. 

    The roots of Christian art go back a long way. There are artistic depictions of Jesus which go back to the early centuries of the church. Hundreds of years. 

    And across cultures, throughout the centuries, people have often depicted Jesus as looking like them. European art depicted a European Jesus, Japanese Christian art depicted a Japanese Jesus, Ethiopian Christian art depicted an Ethiopian Jesus. 

    King assumes the worst and calls it an example of white supremacy. Isn’t it possible that you have centuries of artists who had no idea what Jesus looked like, who didn’t have the internet, or TV, or photos and who didn’t always necessarily know what an Israelite would have looked like and that the artist just painted what they knew? That strikes me as the more reasonable conclusion. And artists in earlier generations influenced the artists of later generations. King says that depicting Jesus as white has always been an example of white supremacy.

    Are other cultures also being cultural supremacists when they depict Jesus within their own cultural context? 

    Who is King to assume the motives of centuries of artists? 

    King later doubled down on that Tweet: 
    Yes. All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down.


    Is the key to a better and more tolerant world to tear down the past and destroy art? To erase history? In the last few weeks, too many people are becoming too accepting of censorship as if that’s going to bring us to utopia. Should we also burn books, Shaun? 

    I’m not disputing that a European looking Jesus is historically inaccurate. And over the years, I’ve become more and more uncomfortable with artistic depictions of Jesus in any format. But that doesn’t mean the mob should be able to dictate what churches and museums can depict. 

    King has made a mockery of himself with this ridiculous argument. 

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  • Institutions under attack – progressive politics are not the answer

    Racism is a terrible scourge upon humanity and a sin that is in the hearts of way too many of our fellow citizens.

    Much has been said over the last few weeks on the subject of race in America. 

    There’s been a vocal group (who’s small relative to the size of our population) who’s called to defund police, some have called to disband police forces. And while it’s not the view of most people, these radical views are dominating the public discourse and national conversation. As have been the vocal fringe who’s justified rioting and looting and those who are calling to bring down statues. 

    These people are a threat to our institutions and while they do not speak for most Americans (they don’t even speak for most democrats), far too many people make excuses or ignore this behavior. It is not helpful or constructive towards building a better world. It’s destructive towards our current world and society.

    I don’t support tearing down statues because I don’t believe it makes a difference in anyone’s actual life. I think there are actual things that can be done which will make life better for all people, and that’s not it. I think it’s better to be aware of our history than to ignore or rewrite it. 

    I don’t support the rioting and looting because I think it’s immoral but also because I think that the consequences of it are the exact opposite of what is desired. I don’t think it wakes people up, I think it turns people off. I don’t support it because it disproportionately impacts urban communities. It disproportionality impacts minority groups when businesses within their communities are damaged and destroyed. It disproportionately impacts minority business owners. It makes these urban areas less appealing to other businesses and investment. It doesn’t make life better, it makes it worse. I don’t think the rioting is righteous, it’s immoral and foolish. 

    I don’t support defunding the police for many of the same reasons. A narrative is being pushed that the police are going to war on minority groups. The statics don’t bear that out. Are there injustices? Yes. Are there bad cops? Yes, and those issues need to be dealt with, but I again fear that diminishing law enforcement is not the key to a utopia with less crime. It increases crime and will cause more death and again those who are most severely impacted are minority groups. It causes more crime in areas which already have high crime rates. 

    I see the browbeating. I see the woke people. I see the social justice warriors who paint a utopian picture of tearing down a system, undermining authority, erasing history. And they twist the narrative as if you don’t care about minorities and you’re a racist if you don’t wholesale buy their version of reality.

    There are too many progressives who are willing to tolerate a lot of collateral damage to push a political agenda. I find that unacceptable. I think you can be a conservative and have black lives matter more to you than they do to many on the other side of the political spectrum. I look at the destruction of progressive polices and rhetoric and think of how many more minorities are going to die as a result of the rhetoric and policy decisions, and find myself asking if Black Lives truly Matter to those groups? 

    Social justice has become a quasi-religion. The social justice warriors have their public atonement rituals, they proselytize to their “gospel,” they have their affirmations (article I is that America is bad and systemically racist) they have their scriptures as I see person after person giving lists of books. 

    I don’t agree that progressivism and liberalism are the solution to these issues. Because they’ve largely caused these issues. We hear how racist the city governments and police forces are in our major cities. Who runs almost every major city in America? Democrats. Year after year. Minneapolis, Baltimore, Detroit, and San Francisco haven’t had republican mayors since the 60s, Philadelphia hasn’t since the 50s, Chicago hasn’t since the 30s, Atlanta hasn’t since the 1880s. 

    It was democratic politicians who created redlining. It was a democratic president who engined the major crime bill of the 90s which led to stricter sentencing. And it was a democrat who pushed the Great Society and the unintended consequences of that bill have been dire for many in minority communities and led to catastrophic erosion of the family.

    As I said in the beginning, tearing down history; riots and looting; and withdrawing law enforcement are not the solution. It’s the solution that progressives want but there are actual things that can be done. We should all want reforms that will make life safer for all citizens. Police unions should not be as powerful as they are. Qualified immunity needs to be scaled back. There should be a national order for officers to wear body cams. 

    Families should have more options with school choice, especially in areas with failing public school systems. While we’re taking power from police unions, we need to also take power away from teachers unions. 

    And what society needs most is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not a social gospel. Not a social justice gospel. Not a Marxist gospel. But the gospel. It is the gospel which changes hearts. It is the gospel which calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It’s the gospel which points to true justice. It’s the gospel which gives us reason to hope. It’s the gospel that lifts up the worth of all mankind as those created in the image of God.

    Thanks for reading. I invite comments and don’t forget to share and subscribe.