God's Painfully Perfect Plan
The Missio Dei • Sermon • Submitted
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Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1956 I Am the Door
A tourist in Syria observed with interest how a shepherd drove all his sheep into a sheepfold one evening. The fold was an enclosing wall with only one opening. On that opening he noticed that there was neither door nor gate. He remarked to the shepherd: “Can’t wild beasts get in there?” “No,” answered the shepherd, “because I am the door. When the sheep are in for the night, I lie down across that doorway. No sheep can get out except over my body, and no wolf or thief can get in except over me.”
The shepherd has a painful job. The ground is not soft, the wolves are not friendly, and the sheep are not always submissive. His plan to protect and preserve them is perfect, for it takes all these things into account, and the shepherd accomplishes his purpose.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Jesus is going to fulfill this portion of His mission, His vocation, of redeeming us through His own blood. He makes use of the time by teaching the disciples about the salvation that He is about to accomplish. Based on that teaching, someone asks a question:
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Two things are clear , at least to me, at this point. First, it is understood that salvation is a good thing. People will seek it. That is not the problem; rather, it is the ways they will seek it do not involve them being connected to Christ. They may involve good works, they may involve social engagement, but they do not involve going through the gate.
When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’
There is only one source of righteousness that the Master recognizes. Being around Jesus is not equivalent to being in Christ. Showing up at church events, being a part of church activities, even being socially active and acknowledging the goodness of Jesus’ teachings is not enough. As the old Gospel song says, “You must come in at the Door!”
God’s sending of His unique Son, the missio Dei, is the divine decision that makes everything else make sense. It is the reason why God chose Abraham, why He promised to give to him a son, why He chose Israel to be His Witness to the nations.
“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations.
Israel did not understand; as a nation, particularly among the religious leadership, they thought that God had chosen Israel because of it’s comparative goodness, or that God’s choosing was for Israel’s benefit because God liked Israel better than His did the Gentiles. God’s actions are not about our satisfaction: they are about His glory.
“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.
True worship is the response we give to God for His blessings. He initiates - we respond. God has preserved His Word in this city - His pure Gospel - and we receive His gifts with thanksgiving. If the Holy Spirit is working in us “both to will and to do for His good pleasure,” we will embrace what He wills.
Part of that process feels painful. Hebrews 12 addresses the notion that being conformed to the image of Christ is a picnic. We are told in Hebrews 12:3
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Jesus said
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
and
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
The notion that the world can be tweaked into being an ally is just as foolish as is the notion that the world hates the church because it is jealous of the Church’s health, wealth, and prosperity. Both are rooted in the notion that the world isn’t all that bad, it just needs a little tweaking. The world is fallen. It is at enmity against God, not allied with Him. Those who are of the world know the truth that God is Good, and they hate that, therefore, they must either redefine “good” or redefine “God.”
In order to deliver you from that false teaching, God disciplines you, purges you of those things that would blind you to God’s will, and make you deaf to His Word. It hurts the Old Adam, but it is good for you.
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
God disciplines us, not out of irritation or a thirst for vengeance, but in love and in the passion of His holiness:
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
God sent Jesus into the world to save us, and that involved suffering. Jesus sends us into the world to share that Good News with the world, and that involves suffering too. In the end, the purpose outweighs the pain as we are made partakers of His holiness, as we see the Kingdom established on earth as it is in heaven, now in part, but when our Lord Jesus returns, in the fullness of His glory:
And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
So we welcome the discipline of the Lord, we welcome the presence of the Lord, we welcome the goodness and loving-kindness of the Lord, because “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).
His Church knows that, the rest don’t know what they don’t know. God wants you to know His will, now in part, but soon, even as you are now known. So trust Him to continue to do good, to continue to be faithful, and to continue to keep you until that day.
And the peace of God, that passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.