One of the greatest promises of Scripture is found in Paul’s letter to the Romans, those words that declare -
 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good
 of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose”
(Romans 8:28).

       This promise has helped people trust God through experiences that were painful and dark and seemingly unfair.  People have heldfast to the “all things” claim of these words and believed God’s Word that even the most awful things will turn out for good.  A children’s rhyme (children of all ages) teaches -
 

“When things don’t go the way they should,
 God always make them turn for good.”
 

      That’s the faith of a Christ-follower!  But does God really mean “all things”?  Yes!  The context of Romans 8:28 is the suffering and difficulties of the Christian life.  Bad things happen to people, regardless of their faith. For the believer, however, the good news is that God will use it for good.
 
       One of the best Bible illustrations of this truth is the story of Joseph.  For five Sundays Pastor Craig has helped us see the truth of Romans 8 in the life of Joseph.  For about 17 years of his life nothing seems to work together for any good for anyone.  He is abused by his brothers, sold into slavery, lied about, imprisoned, forgotten by a friend, and only then does he climb out of the pit that was his life.
 
       And why did he ‘lose’ 17 years of his life.  So that his family could be saved from a famine and that the whole world could be blessed/saved through his family (The promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3).
 
The point of Joseph’s story is found in 3 texts –
 

“He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food;

and he sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave” (Psalm 105:16-17).

“But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth

and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7).

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish

what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

       Joseph is an ancient example of how God uses all things.  Today’s example may be your life, even if the rest of the story has yet to be written.  Believe Gods Word!



       P.S. For a more detailed study of Joseph’s life go to our web page (www.gatewayepc.org ) to find Pastor Craig’s five part series which started on July 11th with the sermon title "What Passion Wins".

     Our youth pastor, David Rath, shared his mom's sex talk with her teenage son. She tossed David a condom and said, "If you are going to use it, make sure you wrap it up."  End of talk.  So much for the birds and the bees.

     That may sound a bit crude and rough around the edges, but it does line up with two modern ideas about human sexuality.  First, people, like dogs in the back yard, are going to have sex, whether they are married or not.  The second idea is that a good and wise person should practice safe sex.  In other words, wrap it up, take a pill, protect yourself.  That's our present-day world.

     There is another world.  A fourteen year old girl was talking to her her grandmother about the good old days, and being a modern child, she boldly asked her, "Back then, what did people use for safe sex?"  Grandmother's answer, "It's called a wedding ring."

     I like the sentiment and wisdom of a dear old saint.  But I also know that human beings have been sinful since that fateful day in a Garden, and sexual sins were not discovered in the last decades.  As a matter of fact, the Bible, a truly ancient document, has much to say about sexual immorality (I Cor. 6:12-20; I Cor. 7:1-9; Ex. 20:14; Matt. 5:27-28; II Cor. 12:21; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5; I Thes. 4:3 et al.).  There is, however, one characteristic of our present culture that may be different than previous eras.  It is the increasingly low view of marriage.

     Hebrews 13:4 tells us, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."

     The marriage bed is a rich and powerful symbol of physical intimacy as a joyful expression of love between a man and a woman who have a life-long commitment to one another in the covenant of marriage.

     When the image of the marriage bed is lifted high, all other sexual behavior seems poor and pathetic.  How can you compare the lovemaking of a husband and wife to a one-night stand, internet pornography, living together, an affair, etc.?  But when we devalue marriage, we lower the standard for sexual behavior.  Sex becomes just sex.

     Strengthening and honoring and affirming marriage is one of the most important ways to stand against sexual immorality and to protect ourselves and our children.  Building healthy marriages is the positive battle for healthy sexuality.  A wedding ring is better than a condom!

Seeking to love Him more,

Pastor Ben

Last Sunday, April 11, 2010, I talked about J.I. Packer's critical illustration of much modern Christianity as hot tub religion.  Listen to Packer:

     "The other day...as I sat there savoring hot tubness, cracking small jokes and adjusting to the feel of being bubbled over from all angles, it struck me that the hot tub is the perfect symbol of the modern route in religion.  The hot tub experience is sensuous, relaxing, floppy, laid-back - not in any way demanding...but very, very nice, even to the point of being great fun.

     Many today want Christianity to be like that, and labor to make it so.  The ultimate step, of course, would be to clear church auditoriums of seats and install hot tubs in their place; then there would never be any attendance problems...

     But if there were not more to our Christianity than hot tub factors - a self-absorbed hedonism of relaxation and happy feelings, while dodging tough tasks, unpopular stances, and exhausting relationships - we should fall short of biblical God-centeredness and the cross-bearing life to which Jesus calls us, and advertise to the world nothing more than our decadence."

Alongside Packer's words, we may consider a re-write of Scripture.

     "If anyone would come after me, he must climb into his hot tub and savor the sensual."  Luke 9:23 (The Newest Translation).

Thinking with you,

Ben

    Thomas Jefferson was not a believer.  We know that from his words. There is also the evidence of disbelief in his personal copy of the New Testament. He had gone through the gospels, deleting all passages that recorded the supernatural or claimed that Jesus was the Son of God. Jefferson's Gospel of Matthew ends with, "And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed." That's it. No resurrection. No risen Jesus. No truth in the disciple's remembrance of events.

    But if there had been no resurrection, the world would never have heard of Jesus Christ. There would never have been a world wide movement called Christianity.  There would never have been the life-transforming message of the gospel. There would never have been a bible for Jefferson to trim with the skeptic's scissors. And you would not be reading these words. A dead first century Jew would not have been able to so radically disturb the planet.

    The good news, however, is that Jesus rose from the grave.  That is the clear message of the early church, an enterprise where many who claimed to be eye-witnesses to Jesus' resurrection were willing to die terrible deaths  because they held to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. It was the truth. It is the truth. Christ the Lord is risen. He is risen indeed!

Ben

   One of the things I enjoy about preaching is the conversation that goes on after Sunday morning. Many of you contact Craig or me with questions, comments,objections,insights, even corrections.  And its all welcome. God uses Bible-based dialogue to strengthen and sharpen believers. 

    Here is a recent gem from one of you, a brother who was reading a book that touched on Genesis. In that book, the author pointed out that one aspect of the Fall was self-consciousness on the part of Adam and Eve. In other words, our ancient parents became keenly aware of "me". My brother made the following observation -

          "It was interesting to me ... sin tends to make us more 'self-aware' and less 'God-aware' ."

    Another way of saying that, perhaps, is that the first thing after the first sin is a couple who are concerned about how they look.  The fashion industry is born.

    Keep the conversation going. It adds more joy to preaching.

    Ben

god