Pleading Against Spiritual Suicide
Yesterday at church, we heard a very powerful sermon preached by a long-time friend of the church, Pastor Wes Pastor. (yes, apparently, his last name is Pastor!). In a word, it was convicting. He spoke on one of my favorite passages of Scripture — 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2, in a sermon that was titled Pleading Against Spiritual Suicide. I highly recommend y’all have a listen!
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. [2] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling [3] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
The Time Has Come
Have you ever gone through a dry spell?
Or, maybe you’ve gone through an extended time of silence when it seemed like God was subtlely absent. Maybe it was something akin the inter-testamental period when the sons of Israel waited 400 years in silence for God to speak again, patiently expecting the fulfillment of the LORD’s covenantal promises, and anxiously hoping that the Ancient of Days would come forth and reign over the Kingdom of God. Have you ever felt like God Himself was putting you through a long period of deprivation?
Could it be that you are in the midst of this very time where God has deprived you explicitly of what you so desperately need. Certainly, you know there is a purpose to this divinely-imposed time of fasting, a reason why God has withheld from fulfilling His promises to you. May it be that the LORD was waiting until you finally got it, when you finally woke up from your slumber and finally realized that there is something greater and more important than that which you think you need. May it be that the Lord has sought to teach you ever so bluntly that desiring anything more than God Himself is idolatry.
And in this, we must confess our sin, repent, and return to the Lord.
I have gone through such times as that; and who knows, maybe I am still in the middle of that period of waiting and expecting.
If you are going through something like this right now or have experienced such in your past, may this be a reminder to all of us that God has spoken to us through His Son. Maybe Christ Jesus was not what you expected and did not come in the way that you had hoped. Nevertheless, be certain of this — all of your waiting, yearning, and desiring for God to manifest Himself to you in the most experiential way has already occurred. God has already spoken to us, and is speaking to us at this very moment. And He is here with us — right here, right now — working in us and through us by His Spirit, if only we would open our Bibles and hear what He would say:
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
Maybe it’s time for us to re-learn the discipline of deprivation.
Sermon by Dr. Hershael York, Victor and Louise Lester Professor of Preaching, School of Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from Exodus 16:1-18
Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology 2008 audio
The 2008 Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology was held recently (Feb. 8-10) and featured D.A.Carson, Steve Lawson, and Tim Challies. The conference serves as “an opportunity to rediscover the power of the Cross. NCCT 08 is a call to reformation. It is for preacher, leader and layman alike, all wrestling with the same questions. Can the church reach out without selling out? Can it address the culture without abandoning its core message?”
The sermon audio from NCCT’08 was just posted here, but since that page lacks direct links to download the mp3s, I thought I’d help and provide the direct download links here:
Session 1: D.A. Carson - Keeping Up With the Conversation
Session 2: Steve Lawson - The Power of the Gospel
Session 3: D.A. Carson - The Gospel and Postmodern Minds
Session 4: Steve Lawson - Bring the Book!
Session 5: Tim Challies - Loving God with Your Mind
Session 6: D.A. Carson - We Preach Christ Crucified
Session 7: D.A. Carson - The God Who Helps
I’m looking forward to listening to these conference talks over the next week. Don Carson gave some interesting talks on postmodernism/Emerging church apparently; Steve Lawson powerfully spoke the Word as always; and Tim Challies’ message should be discerningly enlightening!
