Glorify the power of God

 
The ending of today’s devotional reading is the beginning of a little more research. It says: “In the divine order, God’s working depends on our cooperation. During His earthly ministry, Jesus could do no mighty works in at least one city because of the people’s unbelief. It was not that He would not, but that He could not. We often think that God will not, when in reality He cannot because of our unbelief.”

I hesitate to agree because this contradicts a bigger picture. Both OT and NT say that no one seeks God. The Bible is clear that apart from grace and God’s mercy, no one would believe and all would have hard hearts against God and no faith. I see it in my own life every time my old nature tries to rise from the dead and listen to my I-wants instead of doing the will of God.

Yes, my part is trusting God, yet even as my trust wavers, God is faithful to accomplish His purposes, even in answering my prayers. The Bible says He is sovereign and omnipotent. What seems impossible to me is easy for Almighty God.

The devotional writer says my part is trusting God to do His part, but I know that even faith is a gift from Him. Some would call that hyper-Calvinism however I have reached the place in my life where I realize my total helplessness and how much I need Jesus for everything I do, even breathing.

My part is saying yes to the faith God gives. A word search for the phrase “would not” gave 144 hits in the ESV. Some of them pose a puzzle. For instance:

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said… But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. (Exodus 8:19; 10:27)

In most cases, the ‘would nots’ were simple: God told His OT people to do something but they would not obey. Yet verses like this suggest that God did not intervene but used their rebellion for His purposes. Here is another example:

If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death. (1 Samuel 2:25)

Other verses indicate that it was not God who could not but people who would not and in His grace, He did not force the issue:

For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen. (Jeremiah 13:11)

Jesus was able to stop even demons from doing their will, so He had control over their actions:

And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. (Luke 4:41)

Some verses even say that God hardened hearts so that His will would be done:

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” (Romans 11:7–8)

None of the rulers of this age understood this (the secret and hidden wisdom of God), for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

Some wonder why God tells us to just trust Him and then tells us to do impossible things. This is leaving out an important truth: we are not called to do the impossible by ourselves. Our power is in Christ who lives in us. Paul understood it. He said: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

PRAY: Jesus, You are fully God and fully man — a union that I cannot understand. And then You say I am a human with You living in me — another union very difficult to understand, but You are teaching me the self-me part is crucified yet I still live, but it is You who lives in me… sort of like a living hand in a dead glove. The world (and I) see the glove, but everything that it does is because of the hand that moves it. For this, I am in awe and fully realize why You are the One to be glorified.

Each obedience counts . . .

A beach was littered with starfish washed up by the surf then abandoned there as the water receded. A young man walked the shore, picking up starfish as he went and tossing them back into the ocean. An older man appeared and said to him, “With so many, what possible difference can you make by tossing a few back in the water?”

The young man reached down and picked up another starfish and as he threw it, he said, “It makes a difference to this one.”

Today’s devotional writer asks a similar question. He points out that during the trial of Jesus before Pilate, Pilate left it up to the crowd what to do with Jesus, thinking that because Jesus was so popular that they would set Him free. But they did not; not one person voted for Christ.

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

What was the “this” that they didn’t understand? This passage in 1 Corinthians says it is the mystery that had been hidden but was now revealed by the Holy Spirit to those who love God. Obviously Pilate did not love God, but neither did the people shouting “Crucify Him” for they didn’t get it.

But were there no others? Where were the people who did love God? Were they standing on the other side of the street thinking, “My voice will never be heard in that crowd” and so remained silent? Were they thinking this didn’t involve them? Or that rescuing Jesus was not their responsibility? Or that their to-do list was more important? Maybe some of them were worshiping in the temple, or they had seen Jesus walk through a riotous crowd in the past so figured He would do the same this time?

Jesus had to die. We know that from the Scriptures that reveal that this was the plan of God. His holy Lamb would be sacrificed for our sin. He was the One who would redeem souls and secure eternal life for all who put their faith in Him. If the situation before Pilate proved nothing else, it proved the need for the human heart to be redeemed. Jesus was innocent, but the crowd wanted Him silenced and dead.

Today’s reading says that Jesus died an unnecessary death. I do not agree. Because of sin, because of the great love of God for sinners, He had to die. There were no people who cared enough for the spotless and pure Lamb of God to intervene and rescue Him, and that alone proves that His death for sin was needed. If no one can love the most loveable person ever born enough to speak up for Him, then surely human hearts are corrupted beyond hope and God’s intervention must happen.

These thoughts do point to another issue in my heart, the problem of “let someone else do it” and the excuse of “what difference can I make anyway?” As any city, ours is full of social problems, such as homeless people facing winter that can go to -40, children who are being abused, people without enough resources to eat properly, ill and elderly who languish alone without anyone to visit and cheer them, youth whose parents live in addictions leaving them to fend for themselves, and so on.

So easily I can be like those who claimed to love God but stood on the other side of the street when the important decisions were being made. So easily I can be like the man who said, “What difference can you make with so many” when God asks me to be like the other man who did what he could, one starfish at a time. 

Floating downstream?

God must not be finished with me on this issue of what Pilate did. Today’s devotional reading uses the same verse as the past several days . . .

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

While I understand that it was the plan of God that His Son would perish so I could have eternal life, I also realize that my sin put Him on that cross. This is a sober thing, yet I find myself taking forgiveness and peace with God for granted. Sometimes sin comes easy. That is, I don’t take it seriously enough to stop or even fight it.

Many Christians fall into this trap. Sins like gossip, complaining and covetousness are easily part of life. Instead of resisting them, we say something like I just said, “Everybody does it” and if not that, “It really isn’t so bad” or “This is just the way I am.”

That is rubbish. God says all sin is evil. He is in the business of changing who I am, and those excuses are not reasonable or biblical. However, I just realized a new one; fighting sin is hard work, deadly hard work. It means dying to self in that area of life where I still live for me and not for Jesus. That is, I have my own little kingdom and to be rid of sin means to abandon it for God and for righteousness. Since my enemy, the devil, does not want that to happen, a spiritual war begins. Actually, the war is not with him but with God for the Bible is clear about such things . . .

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

The order in this verse is no accident. If I am going to be free from all spiritual harassment, I must submit to God, meaning I must give up control over how I think, talk and act, and yield to the Spirit of God in every area of my life. This is the price of righteousness. It sounds desirable, even easy, until the battle to resist the devil begins and shows me that my desire to rule my life is much stronger than it first appears.

Part of the problem is the same as the problem Pilate faced. He was in a political pickle and had to make an on-the-spot judgment call. He took a long look at Jesus and knew that if he set this innocent man free, he would have a bloody riot on his hands. He decided that was too costly and to avoid a battle, he voted for peace which seemed the easier solution.

The devotional reading rightly says that those who have once seen war have no desire to see it again. He speaks of physical battle where warriors “hurl chunks of metal at each other” and that we do well to make it a bad dream and a forgotten horror. Normally war is a bad thing. Yet for a Christian, the pursuit of a comfortable peace can be in conflict with the pursuit of righteousness.

How much simpler to fight for a cause, or fight for justice, or fight for the rights of the down-trodden than to fight for personal righteousness. The former fights are easier, not because of the battle itself, but because winning the battle for righteousness means losing personal control. It means giving up the right and the ability to govern my own life, whereas those other battles involve gaining ground than yielding.

In the desire for righteousness, how far will I go? Can I give up that little and totally useless kingdom of “mine” without a whimper? Can I let God have everything? 

This sounds good, even easy in some things. I don’t want to rule in those areas where I am convinced that God is the better ruler and where my needs are fully met. But what about those things where it seems if yielded, I would be left feeling needy? Even that very question reveals that in those things, I am not trusting the provision of God.

Besides wondering what will happen if I lose control, I wonder if God does not care or leaves me without whatever I might want, can I live and be happy in such a state? Will I lose that wonderful sense of peace that He gives? Or am I confusing it with the personal satisfaction that is mine when all is right in my little kingdom — because I rule it? 

Ekken, a Japanese philosopher said, “If a man will not give his life for righteousness he does not know the relative values of righteousness and life.” That means Pilate was not right, and neither am I. Pilate ruled his little kingdom. For him, when the day came that he could not have both peace and righteousness, peace was more important. He let Jesus be crucified rather than do the right thing.

As  for me, each time the enemy challenges my status quo, it seems as if God is letting it happen so I might realize areas of my life where my rule has become more important than righteousness. My experience is that dying to my own rule means a fight. Giving up sin and selfishness is not without pain and scars. In name of easy, and peaceful and going with the flow, will I be like Pilate and just decide to let Jesus die? 

I am as guilty as Pilate

Does it happen today? Do judges decide a person’s guilt on whether or not they would lose their place at the bench? Pilate did. May that is one reason we have laws against such motivations. However, there is much more to what he did than that.

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

Pilate was always having trouble with the Jews. Some say they had “touchy patriotism” and were quick to read offense in nothing at all, unyielding about even their smallest rights. For Pilate, the worst part was that his bosses in Rome laid it out — do not irritate those people.

Then Christ came into the scene. For Pilate, this man’s ministry could not have irritated the Jews at a worse time of the year. The city was overflowing. Multitudes came to the Passover, some say two million zealous Jews who were passionate to say the least and easily inflamed by their priests.

Pilate was in a pickle. He was ordered to avoid bloodshed and keep the peace. From his standpoint, it came down to this — let the riots happen or keep peace and set up a cross. 

The chief priest, Caiaphas, announced, “It is better for you that one man die for the people” (John 11:50), and Pilate, because of his personal dilemma, began to think that way also. Jesus was innocent, but if he set him free, far worse was bound to happen. Pilate hesitated. He was unwilling to condemn Jesus to death, but because of the Passover crowds, he could not risk his own position. He may have done it in the name of peace, but he was really protecting himself.

Martin Luther said, “Pilate took our Savior Christ to be a simple, honest, ignorant man, one perchance come out of a wilderness; a simple fellow, a hermit who knew or understood nothing of the world or of government.” 

Did Pilate really believe that? Or did he understand that Jesus was far more than a simple man? We cannot know for sure. All I know is that Caiaphas had it right; Jesus did die for the people, for their sins and mine. Pilate’s selfishness may have given the nod, but my own selfishness was there too, putting Jesus on that cross and making His sacrifice a necessary plan of God.

Yes, it was a terrible shame, but He had to die, not to keep the peace, but to bring forgiveness of sin and peace with God to all who believe in Him.

God’s plan overrides selfish decisions

Pilate is said to be one of the most pathetic figures in human history. He had a strong sense of justice and knew that the charges against Christ were faked. He could easily discern that those who accused Jesus were contradicting one another and twisting Jesus’ innocent words into something evil. He also hated the crowds. They had made a fool of him in the past, yet he also feared his own position. His job was to keep these Jewish people under control and his decision must make him look favorable to his superiors. Instead of listening to his conscience, he listened to the shouting mob. Instead of focusing on Jesus’ honest face, he turned to the accusations of a crowd that he despised and signed the order for the crucifixion of the only sinless person who ever existed.

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

As I read this verse and think of Pilate, I cannot help but think of the bigger plan. The crowds intended to destroy Jesus. Pilate intended to keep his seat of power. But God had another plan, and the plan of God overruled the plans of both. This plan was declared later, after the church was born and in the first sermon preached by Peter . . .

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:22–24)

The phrase in the middle and the affirmation at the end reveal that God not only knew what Pilate would do and the crowds would do, this was part of His plan for His only begotten Son. Jesus was crucified by human and lawless hands, but He was sent to that fate by His heavenly Father.

The Old Testament prophetically said that their Messiah would suffer. Jesus Himself repeatedly said that He would suffer and die. They were informed, but so deep were their desires for political deliverance that they missed the reality of sin and the need for a once-for-all sacrifice that would bring eternal forgiveness and eternal life. They wanted redemption from bondage to Rome, not redemption from bondage to sin.

This world today is not much different. When I first came to Christ, I wanted redemption from the pain of a marriage breakup. My personal sin was not on my radar (even though it was on His). Many people want prayer or even pray themselves when they are in trouble, but they forget God if the trouble goes away. This is temporary faith for temporary issues, not saving faith that leads to eternal life. For such, a dying Savior is pushed aside so that the living One can lift them out of their current mud.

Oddly enough, the verse that says the rulers of that age would not have crucified Christ if they had known what was really going on --- would have been in greater rebellion had they not. It was the plan of God that He should die. His death was a declaration of judgment against their sin. Had they realized that, would they have wanted to keep Him alive? If they did that, it would be like saying, “I don’t need a sacrifice for my sin; I am not seriously in trouble with God.”

Jesus died because He had to die so I could be set free from my sin, the sin that would otherwise hold me in bondage to itself and to the lies that go with it. If I ever denied sin being a bondage and a harsh taskmaster, I no longer do that. A prolonged battle against any sin convinces even skeptics that sin is like chains that will not let you go, chains that cannot be broken or loosened without divine help. I need a Savior, and so does everyone else.

Because these rulers were ignorant of Jesus’ person and mission, they crucified Him. In that ignorance, they actually fit into the will of God without realizing it. Because of their selfish and horrible decision, sinners can be set free, just as Jesus said. . .

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free . . .  (and) if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31–36)