February 12, 2010

Genesis 45

God makes even the sin of man to praise Him! We’ve reached the climax of the Joseph chronicle. I love these sentences by Joseph:

5“But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. .. . .7And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. . . .13So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.

This is the value of focusing upon the glory of the Lord. So often when we are wronged by others, especially fellow believers, our brothers and sisters, we focus upon the wrong. The wrong is painful. It is discouraging. It hurts. But God has ways of taking that sin and turning it into something good. He makes even the sin to praise Him. That does not make the sin good; it just makes His glory greater. He can take vile sin and turn it to His praise. Witness Joseph and his brothers!

How could Joseph possibly not have wanted to take revenge? I submit to you that it is only because he focused on the glory of God and not the sin of his brothers. Even when he did not know how God was going to work in the depths of prison, he focused upon the glory of God. When we look upon His glory, bitterness cannot stick to us. It eventually slides off.

“Tell my father of all my glory in Egypt.” That is a human perspective. All the Egyptians would have discussed the success story of Joseph. He had risen from the depths of prison to the second most powerful man in the world at that time. Had it been today, the paparazzi would have been all over him like flies on honey. On a human level, that is glory! But look at Joseph’s perspective. Twice he says, “God sent me.” Once he says, “It was not you who sent me here, but God.” He also says of God, “He has made me a father to Pharaoh.” It was not just Joseph’s glory that was increased by the sin of man; it was God’s. On a human level, that was made possible because Joseph focused on the glory of God. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Matthew 26:26-46

Our hardest moments are often not our most public moments. So it was also with Jesus at this time. The crucifixion was very public. The Garden turmoil was very private. Jesus’ sharing of the Passover meal with the disciples is key to understanding the turmoil in the Garden. The text says, “He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Later in the Garden, twice He prays, ”Let this cup pass from me.”

What is the cup of His blood of the New Covenant? Jeremiah is the one who pronounced it first in 31:31-34. It is a Covenant that Yahweh (Jesus) makes with Israel, which Israel will be able to keep. These are the results of the Covenant:

He will put His law in their minds.
He will write it on their hearts.
He will be their God.
They shall be His people.
Everyone shall know the Lord.
He will forgive their iniquity.
He will remember their iniquity no more.


How will the Lord accomplish this? Jesus says that it is in His blood. The cup represents the blood of the covenant. A covenant was always inaugurated with the shedding of blood. As Jesus was praying this night in the Garden, the Father was showing Him what was going to happen to Him the next day. He was looking in to that cup. He was seeing the reason for which His blood was going to be shed in His beating and in His crucifixion. That blood was for the remission of sins so that God would no longer remember our sins.

As Jesus looked into that cup, He saw all the sins of all the people of all the ages. He saw the wrath that the Father felt for that sin. Most importantly for me, He looked into that cup and saw the sin of John Chaffin. He saw all my insolence against Him. He saw the pain that it would cost Him to bear my insolence as the Father punished that insolence so that He would remember it no more. But it wasn’t just my insolence. He saw every sin that I have ever committed and ever will commit. He saw every time I placed a god before Him, and He thought, “Isn’t there some other way?” He saw every time that I made an idol and the justice that God would pour out upon it, and He thought, “Do I have to go through this?” He saw every time I spoke His name in vain and was repulsed by my vulgarity, and He thought, “Isn’t there some other way?” He saw all the times when I was so caught up in my own work and pleasure that I could not honor Him even one day out of the week by ceasing my activities to seek His face, and He thought, “Must I die for this?” He saw every time that I failed to honor my parents with the great honor that they deserve. Perhaps He thought, “Why should I honor a boy who cannot honor his own parents, by dying for that boy?” He saw every time that I hated someone else or denigrated someone else’s value. He said, “Must I die for a murderer?” He saw all my lusts, my thefts, my lies, my covetousness. He thought, “Must I go through this for Him? Isn’t there some other way? Cannot this cup pass?” As He looked, it was not just the sin of John Chaffin that repulsed Him. It was that sin multiplied by billions of others. The sin wasn’t all that was there, but He also saw the wrath of a Holy God being poured out upon that sin. “Isn’t there some other way?” The answer was a simple, “No.” His reply, “Your will be done.” The struggle was over. It was now just a day of agony. And He did it for me, and He did it for you. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John