Author Archives: Cross Community Church

Father Knows Best was a 1950’s American radio and television comedy series that portrayed middle class family life in the Midwest. The title character, in both the radio and televisions versions, was played by Robert Young, who later enjoyed great success with another television series: Marcus Welby, M.D.The “Father” character was beloved throughout the country for providing wise, kindly advice whenever his children had a question or problem. At the end of each program, everything always worked out for the best.

The title of this show reminds me of a deep Gospel truth that anchors the life of the believer on solid rock rather than shifting sand:our Heavenly Father truly does know what is best for His children. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” Proverbs 3:5-6 advises us; “in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” If we ignore our Father’s guidance, we’ll stumble along a rutted and crooked path. He really does know best!

• ·His plan is better than our plan 
• ·His way is better than our way
• ·His path is better than our path
• ·His life is better than our life

Omnipotence is working on behalf of God’s children twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Now,if we assume a worldly perspective, some of the providences we face in life might not seem like they are the best, but they truly are! God has promised to use everything that happens to His children for their good.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:28-32)

Notice first what this passage does not say: it does not say that all things are good. There is a lot of bad that happens in this fallen, broken, sin-filled world. But our Heavenly Father knows best how to make all things, including the bad, work together for the good of His children.

The ultimate purpose of everything in life is that God uses it to conform us to the likeness of Jesus. And don’t miss this: what God started He will finish. All those who have been justified (saved), God will ultimately glorify (fully sanctify). You will not always be like you are . . . and I know that is good news for all of us who know just how much sin still remains on this side of the grave!

One more point before we close. If God is for us, who cares who is against us? Regardless of the waves of challenge you are facing today—at the office, within your family, around your neighborhood, in your health and finances—your Heavenly Father knows best and will bring the best out of you, no matter what you are going through.

And what is the best inside of every child of God? The Lord Jesus Christ! As God is conforming us to the image of His precious Son, we are decreasing and He is increasing in our lives. Our Heavenly Father is causing us to reflect more and more of the character of Christ with each passing day. He grows more and more visible as we display the fruit of the Holy Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).

And one day, in the not-so-distant future, we will be brought home into our heavenly rest where we will be with Jesus forevermore. To be sure, our Heavenly Father knows best!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Is there anyone reading this right now who doesn’t understand that sin is bad? We all know by way of personal experience that sin is bad. And the cross-work of Jesus Christ reveals to us how appalling sin is in the sight of God. But is that all there is to say? Do we know just how bad sin really is?

If we simply think of sin as a violation of some set of rules and regulations, our view of sin is not high enough. Impure thoughts, improper actions, and inappropriate words all come under the heading of sinful behavior, but to see sin as simply missing the mark of our moral code does not go deep enough. To leave sin there is to leave it in the shallow end of the flowing river of life.
King David refused to do this. After his adulterous encounter with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband, David confessed to the Lord,
Against you, you only, have I sinned. (Psalm 51:4)

David rightly saw his sin as something far greater than rebellion against a set of commands. He saw his transgressions as something far more grievous than a violation against a moral code. He saw his sin reaching all the way to God—where it always reaches, because sin at its deepest level is a violation against God.

To be sure, David knew he had sinned against Bathsheba and her husband and, as king, David had sinned against all the people of Israel. He rightly understood the nature of his sins as damaging countless horizontal relationships. But at the end of the day, the most important violation his sin had committed was the one against his vertical relationship with God. What makes sin so exceedingly sinful is that it is ultimately willful rebellion against a loving, merciful, and sinless God.

It is only when we keep this fact in view—that our sin is a personal affront to God—that we will seriously set our hearts against our sins. Knowing that our sin is ultimately directed against God is the fuel we need to fight against our tendency to keep sinning against others. Perhaps, in some twisted way, we may believe someone “deserves” the sinful treatment we are delivering to them. But we can never regard God in that way!

This is part of what I mean when I say we must preach the Gospel to ourselves every day. God’s glorious Good News tells us that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Do we really want to continue to sin and thus thumb our nose at the Savior who left heaven’s throne to take up our cross?

It is only the power of the Gospel that will help us fight against the darkness of our sinful nature that still lives within us. We can never justify any wrongdoing against the perfect love and the perfect righteousness of God.

Joseph understood the sinfulness of sin and provided us with one of the best examples in all of Scripture to fight against sin when he asked, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9).

Joseph was sold into slavery and taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials and the captain of the guard, bought him as a slave. Joseph proved himself worthy and was elevated into a position of leadership and authority. When Potiphar’s wife repeatedly tried to seduce him, Joseph flatly refused.

Remember that it was Joseph’s own brothers who had coldly contemplated killing him before they sold him into slavery. He was far from his home and likely never to see his father or brothers ever again. At some level, he could have very well have been thinking that God had abandoned him. Whatever he might have wondered during those first awful days of realizing he was the property of another man, Joseph never forgot God’s love. He refused a moment of pleasure with Potiphar’s wife because he refused to sin against his God.

Trusting in God in spite of his circumstances kept Joseph doing the right thing when the wrong thing would have been so easy to do. And that is what we need to do too! Trust God and keep His amazing love and grace before our eyes always. Keeping the sinfulness of sin in view will go a long way toward helping us say what Joseph said . . . before we have to confess what David did.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When was the last time you set out in the direction of your “Tarshish,” rather than the direction God was calling you to go? I pray that today’s message will be a word of great comfort to you right where it finds you.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for the port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. (Jonah 1:1-3)

Jonah was so committed to his own agenda—rather than God’s—that he hopped a ship that was headed in precisely the opposite direction from where God had called him to go. Rather than surrender his will to God’s will and go to Nineveh and preach God’s word, Jonah headed off to Tarshish to satisfy his own selfish desires. To Jonah, the wrong way looked like the right way . . . but instead of looking up at God, he looked in at himself and chose to serve the advancement of his own little kingdom rather than God’s universal kingdom.

Because we are still sinners after we are saved, we all have to struggle with this same tendency to see the wrong way as the right way. We want what we want when we want it, and often we don’t care who gets hurt along the way. So the next time the wrong way looks like the right way . . . look up!

When you are feeling short-tempered with your children, look up. When you are filled with anxiety at the office, look up. When you are growing weary and impatient with the ones you love, look up. The wrong way so often looks like the right way, simply because it is the easy way. Often it’s easy to do what we want to do, rather than what God wants us to do . . . especially when we have no interest in doing what God wants us to do!

This was the case with Jonah; he would have been much happier to see the people of Nineveh cursed and crushed under the hand of God. The last thing he wanted to do was preach to them about the way of deliverance.

There is instruction here for you and me! We must remember that God is in the habit of calling us to things we would rather not do. He knows that in doing “the hard things,” we will be conformed more and more to the likeness of Christ. No one knows more about what it is like to do the hard things in life than our Lord Jesus Christ. He left the glorious throne room of Heaven to enter this fallen and broken world. He lived and He loved and He served a people who did not receive Him . . . who did not deserve Him! And they proved that by falsely accusing Him, betraying Him, beating Him and spitting on Him, mocking Him, denying Him, and nailing Him to a dirty tree.

But the hideous betrayal wasn’t the hardest thing He had to endure; not even the unspeakable agony of crucifixion was the worst thing.

The Bible tells us that from the 6th to the 9th hour, while Jesus hung upon that cross, darkness covered the land. For the very first time in all eternity, God the Father could not look upon God the Son. It was during that time of unimaginable horror that our Savior uttered His anguished, desolate cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And because of that period of time, you and I will never have to experience the unimaginable–being forsaken by God.

Jesus was forsaken for your sake and mine; if we have placed our trust in His atoning death, we will never have to experience the ultimate “hard thing” of being separated from God. So, no matter what God is calling you to deal with today, deal with it knowing that Jesus has gone before you and now goes with you.

Remember, whatever God is calling you to do, and wherever He is calling you to go, know that it is for two promised reasons: your good and His glory. So when the wrong way looks like the right way . . . look up!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
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When was the last time you set out in the direction of your “Tarshish,” rather than the direction God was calling you to go? I pray that today’s message will be a word of great comfort to you right where it finds you.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for the port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. (Jonah 1:1-3)

Jonah was so committed to his own agenda—rather than God’s—that he hopped a ship that was headed in precisely the opposite direction from where God had called him to go. Rather than surrender his will to God’s will and go to Nineveh and preach God’s word, Jonah headed off to Tarshish to satisfy his own selfish desires. To Jonah, the wrong way looked like the right way . . . but instead of looking up at God, he looked in at himself and chose to serve the advancement of his own little kingdom rather than God’s universal kingdom.

Because we are still sinners after we are saved, we all have to struggle with this same tendency to see the wrong way as the right way. We want what we want when we want it, and often we don’t care who gets hurt along the way. So the next time the wrong way looks like the right way . . . look up!

When you are feeling short-tempered with your children, look up. When you are filled with anxiety at the office, look up. When you are growing weary and impatient with the ones you love, look up. The wrong way so often looks like the right way, simply because it is the easy way. Often it’s easy to do what we want to do, rather than what God wants us to do . . . especially when we have no interest in doing what God wants us to do!

This was the case with Jonah; he would have been much happier to see the people of Nineveh cursed and crushed under the hand of God. The last thing he wanted to do was preach to them about the way of deliverance.

There is instruction here for you and me! We must remember that God is in the habit of calling us to things we would rather not do. He knows that in doing “the hard things,” we will be conformed more and more to the likeness of Christ. No one knows more about what it is like to do the hard things in life than our Lord Jesus Christ. He left the glorious throne room of Heaven to enter this fallen and broken world. He lived and He loved and He served a people who did not receive Him . . . who did not deserve Him! And they proved that by falsely accusing Him, betraying Him, beating Him and spitting on Him, mocking Him, denying Him, and nailing Him to a dirty tree.

But the hideous betrayal wasn’t the hardest thing He had to endure; not even the unspeakable agony of crucifixion was the worst thing.

The Bible tells us that from the 6th to the 9th hour, while Jesus hung upon that cross, darkness covered the land. For the very first time in all eternity, God the Father could not look upon God the Son. It was during that time of unimaginable horror that our Savior uttered His anguished, desolate cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And because of that period of time, you and I will never have to experience the unimaginable–being forsaken by God.

Jesus was forsaken for your sake and mine; if we have placed our trust in His atoning death, we will never have to experience the ultimate “hard thing” of being separated from God. So, no matter what God is calling you to deal with today, deal with it knowing that Jesus has gone before you and now goes with you.

Remember, whatever God is calling you to do, and wherever He is calling you to go, know that it is for two promised reasons: your good and His glory. So when the wrong way looks like the right way . . . look up!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I related in Monday’s blog that I preached a sermon a few weeks ago, titled The Cosmic Cardiologist. The message was warmly received, and I decided to divide it into three parts—His Patient, His Prescription, and His Promise—to present to you this week on the blog. The message was based on Psalm 31:24—“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Today we’ll look at Part Two: His Prescription.

His Prescription: “Be of good courage”

Charles Spurgeon rightly observed, “They err from the Scriptures who make the grace of God a reason for doing nothing . . . for it is the reason for doing everything.” The Gospel sets the captives free (Ephesians 4:8). We are freed from the dominion of sin, Satan, and death, to be sure, but we are also freed to live the life God is calling us to live. Grace is the reason for doing everything, not because of what we might get, but because of everything we have already been given! You might say we march behind two banners: the first being the finished work of Christ, and the second is the promise of His return to make all things new. His finished work and His promised return combine to give us a glorious freedom . . . freedom to live the life we have been called to live, spurred on by a heart that overflows with thanksgiving.

When the psalmist tells us to “Be of good courage,” he presupposes that there are times when our lives are marked by something less than good courage. We all know times of doubt, discouragement, fear, and frustration. So how are those who hope in the Lord to apply the exhortation to “Be of good courage” in their lives? The Scriptures tell us there is only One who can give to us the courage we need in every circumstance we face:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2 NIV)

One of the clearest examples in all Scripture that illustrates what happens to our courage when we focus on anything smaller than Jesus is found in the story of Jesus walking on the water:
In the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. (Matthew 14:25-32)
I’m sure many read this account and shake their heads indulgently at Peter’s failure. Big talk about walking on the water, but there goes Peter, sinking to the bottom of the sea! I read that story a little differently; Peter was the only one of the disciples who had enough “good courage” to step out of the boat and actually walk on the water! Peter wanted to experience the power of God in his life in a new way, and he was doing just fine until he took his eyes off Jesus and glanced anxiously around at the winds and the waves. When Peter focused on something smaller than Jesus his courage vanished and he began to sink.
So the key to courage is focusing on Jesus. Regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in, we need only to look to Christ and we will have all the courage we need to get us through whatever it is we are going through. And let me point out that when Peter failed, and looked at natural things rather than the Master of all nature—He to whom the wind and waves grant immediate obedience—at that moment when the waves were about to swallow Peter and he uttered his despairing cry, did our loving Lord hesitate? Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. What a gracious, patient Savior we have!
But let me utter a word of caution here: don’t wait until you are in the midst of a storm to fix your eyes on Jesus; we must also focus on Him in times of triumph. In spite of overwhelming evidence that God is our only hope, Satan is a master at getting us to focus on self rather than the Savior.
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. (1 Kings 19:1-8)
The account of Elijah running for his life is a great reminder not to forget our God in times of great victory, which is far too often the case with us! Proverbs 27:21 solemnly warns, “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.” To be sure, Satan comes after us when we are in times of weakness, fear, and doubt. But he also comes after us in times when we might least expect it: in times of great victory.
I’ll complete this message on Friday.

The wisdom of the world says we are most free when we do whatever we feel like doing.  “Just follow your heart,” the world whispers seductively, “and you won’t go wrong.” That was the promise Satan made to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: essentially, “If it feels good, do it!”  You remember how that turned out!

The Word of God warns us that this kind of license does not lead to freedom, but to slavery.  It is a counterfeit freedom that erodes your mind, empties your heart, and enslaves your will.  Real freedom is a life that has been liberated from the love of the self—idolatry—and redirected to the love of our Savior—glorious, unimaginable freedom!

You were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh . . .   (Galatians 5:13)

Counterfeit freedom promises a life of purpose and peace . . . control and comfort . . . affirmation and accomplishment; but it simply will not deliver the goods!  Sure, for a while you might feel good about yourself; you may believe you are truly free.  But before too long, you inevitably realize that you are locked inside a prison of idolatry, addiction, and degrees of dependence upon the very things that had glibly promised you independence.  The life these idols promised is sucked right out of you, leaving you empty, anxious, and wanting.

Only the Gospel can reorient the direction of our hearts away from self and toward our Savior.  Only the Gospel can free us from the tyranny of living for something smaller than Jesus and empower us to rise above the false promises of freedom the world dangles before us.  Only a clear view of the truths of the Gospel can make the attraction of our idols less attractive!  You see, the Gospel has already given to us everything these idols promised to give but cannot deliver:

• Approval
• Acceptance
• Meaning
• Significance
• Purpose
• Peace
• Forgiveness
• Fulfillment
• Success
• Contentment
• Comfort
• Happiness
• Joy

The list of blessings, of course, is endless because the love we have been given by God in Christ is endless.   “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .  has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3-4 NIV).  Everything we desire we already have in Jesus.  And because Jesus has secured for us everything we need, we can forsake every false god and fix our eyes upon the One who loved us more than we could ever love ourselves.  That God-sized void that yawns inside of each one of us was never designed to be filled by anything smaller than God.  God simply loves us too much to let us find soul-satisfaction in some worthless baubles that exist outside of our relationship to Him.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

(Ephesians 3:14-19)

The only real freedom is found in Jesus.  When Christ is dwelling in our hearts through faith, our lives are rightly centered.  A centered life is grounded on the Rock and will not be shaken by the winds and the waves of worldly wisdom.  Because of the love we have in Christ, we are no longer condemned for our sin . . . and when that truth sinks in, we live a freedom that truly makes us free.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!