Today is my 57th birthday. I plan to celebrate it by preaching the gospel at both Sunday services at WCC today. I can’t think of a better way to acknowledge this annual milestone than to offer the gift of eternal life to others. Perhaps someone will hear and believe today, and so this will become their birthday too.
What the evil one meant for ill, God used for good. The Jewish leaders that brought charges against Paul in Jerusalem actually ended up elevating his status, so that he preached before soldiers, centurions, governors, kings and even Caesar. His appeal to Caesar resulted in an all-expense-paid trip to Rome (albeit with shipwrecks and snake bites). Paul had a flourishing ministry at Rome while staying under house arrest in his own little “rented house.” He wrote several letters during this first “imprisonment” known as the Prison Epistles: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. It’s amazing how God can use difficult circumstances to increase gospel access and receptivity when we are willing to be used in spite of them.
The psalmist David wondered at the immensity and beauty of the night sky in comparison to the small stature of humanity. He posed a rhetorical question concerning God’s care for man, then answers it in the psalm with observations about man’s creation and authority under God. We can almost picture David gazing at the night sky and writing this meditation. Putting the words to music, he opened and closed the psalm with praise of God’s majesty. “O Lord, our Lord,” he wrote, moving attention from the great Creator (O Lord) to the personal Redeemer of Israel (our Lord). For the Lord God is both transcendent and immanent. He is omnipotent and holy, yet personal and present. The God who made everything cares for you.
Marriage was God’s idea. It is not a mere social construct, but a Divine creation. It is God’s provision for man’s need for companionship and oneness. This oneness is three-dimensional, involving the physical, the soul and the spirit. It is also God’s plan for having children and parenting. The Bible opens and closes with a wedding and God is intimately involved in both. This proverb describes God’s favor in the finding of a good wife. She is to be treasured and received as a gift from God. When a husband and wife view one another as a gift from God to be received and cherished, they begin to experience the oneness that He intended.
I am a man who has obtained God’s favor. Her name is Robin. And she is the greatest gift other than Jesus that God has given me.
Paul gave his faith testimony before the Roman governor Festus and the last of the House of Herod, King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice. In his testimony, he quoted the calling that Christ had given him. First, he was one “sent” (“I now send you”). The Greek word for this is apostolos. Paul was an apostle of Jesus. Second, his ministry was to lead people into the light of the gospel and set them free from Satanic lies, so that they might “receive” the forgiveness that Christ offers. Both Festus and Agrippa reacted to Paul’s testimony. Festus thought him mad, while Agrippa admitted that he was nearly persuaded. Both decided Paul was innocent of the Jewish leaders accusations. And both remained unchanged spiritually. Festus continued in spiritual darkness, failing to comprehend the light. And Agrippa continued in bondage to sin, incestuously loving his sister Bernice and idolizing Rome. Yet, Paul had fulfilled his calling. He had shared the testimony that Christ had commissioned him to give. Some people choose to remain in ignorance, while others willfully choose to love their sin over submitting to Christ as Lord and Savior.
This is how the Roman governor Festus responded to Paul’s appeal. God had already revealed to Paul that he would carry the gospel to Rome. But in chains? God often uses weakness to speak to strength. It would have been difficult to get an appointment with Caesar. Yet, Paul had an all expense paid invitation.
Paul’s defense before the Roman governor Felix was simple, yet profound. While it was aimed at showing that he affirmed the same Scriptures and God that his accusers did, it also had the effect of elevating even the governor’s awareness that there was a court higher than Rome’s. Paul’s hope was in God. Not in Rome, nor Jerusalem. But in God alone. The only judge in whom he hoped to find favor was the Lord and his hope was secured in Christ as his advocate.
Paul testified one last time before the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, but their hearts continued to be hardened. After being arrested by the Roman authorities, he heard Christ’s call to be encouraged and to set his sights on Rome. It seems that Paul’s final assignment was to testify of Jesus to those in authority in Rome. Paul had planted churches throughout Asia Minor and Greece, but his final mission was to represent Christ before the world’s greatest political leader, namely Caesar. If one viewed history only through a 1st-century lens, it would seem that Paul’s mission was a failure. Sure, he appeared before Caesar, but it ended with Paul’s execution. However, by the 3rd century, the Roman empire, including its emperor, had embraced Christianity.
This is a Messianic prophecy of Christ’s triumphal kingdom. It is a sober reminder on this day when we celebrate Independence Day in America that all the world’s nations exist at the Lord’s pleasure. Do our nation’s leaders and judges “serve the Lord with fear?” Do they bow and “kiss” the Son’s hand in obeisance? Or have they become wise in their own eyes, calling evil, good and good, evil?
Let us recognize our dual citizenship. As Americans, we are thankful for God’s blessing on America. We continue to pray for our leaders and judges that they will return to God. But as Christians, we are citizens of an eternal kingdom, one that was inaugurated at the cross and will be consummated at Christ’s return. We ultimately put our trust in Christ alone. He is the source of all blessing.
Yet, in the meantime we pray, “God bless America.”
King Josiah was crowned at age eight after his father, Amon, was murdered by conspirators. Both his father and his grandfather, Manasseh, were evil kings who had led the people into idolatry. Apparently, during the 55-year reign of Manasseh, the Book of the Law had been lost. How this came to be is not explained, but it was found in the Temple by the high priest when Josiah commissioned him to collect money for Temple repairs. When the Book was brought before Josiah and read to him, he tore his clothes in repentance. After inquiring of the Lord concerning His Word, Josiah cleaned house and publicly made a covenant with the Lord to keep His commands. According to 2 Kings 23:25 “before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.”
If only our government would rediscover the law of God…