Morning Service – 22 Feb 2009

We Aussies love the weekend, and are constantly trying to find ways to make it longer. Two weekends ago began as many usually do apart from the heat, though perhaps with a greater sense of watchfulness. Real people were living real lives doing everyday events we take for granted. Then suddenly this typical weekend was anything but typical. Tragedy struck in the conflagration of the bush, farm and even towns resulting in not only great loss of property but of life as well. The morning of great promise turned violently into a day of morning.

A tragedy like this makes us stop in our tracks. Priorities are soon straightened out. You give your kids an extra tight hug. You kiss your wife longer. You call dad and say, “I love you.” You pray – for survivors, for the nation, for safety, for your family and yourself. It is now one of those days that though in future generations will be given a place in history books, is indelibly etched upon our souls, for we are involved and had to come to grips with it in real-time experience.

            In the midst and aftermath of this tragedy we learn there are no promises. We are not promised another birthday. We are not promised another month, day, or hour. We are not even promised a proper Christian burial. For some, occupational hazards make this truth very real. For others, unplanned tragedies fall upon us. In one day death claimed lives on a larger scale than normal.

But we also mourn. And such is the nature of the tragedy, and such is its impact on all Australians, our Prime Minister has called for a day of mourning across the nation for today. In calling it for today he gives tacit acknowledgement to Christian faith for it is on this day that professing Christians will be in church, and on the impact of the Christian faith for it is on this day that most Australians will benefit from the remaining elements of the Christian legacy God blessed this land with through white and particular British settlement in that they partake of a day of rest.

Sadly though there is no explicit reference to God, no humbling before God, no crying unto God in the midst of this tragedy. We have heard much of ‘our thoughts and prayers’ are with you, but without a direct reference to the God who has revealed Himself in the Bible this is to denude the concept and practice of prayer of all efficacy. It is political-correctness-speak, not God-speak or the language of biblical faith – speak which people fill with their own meaning, not respond to the meaning God gives through His Word. Though we do fill it with reality and substance as we do lift up our prayers for those grieving in the face of untold lose and suffering as well as for our nation, and in particular that God will be glorified in and through this event.

In speaking this way I am not seeking to criticise others, whether believers or unbelievers, with spiritual pot-shots. I am merely seeking to make our mourning of genuine value by directing it, and by God’s grace turn our thoughts so that mourning will give way to the morning, the Daybreak of God’s grace.

To that end I want to ask the question: How do we mourn? What characterises it?

And in answering we look to Habakkuk 3. Habakkuk had been given a prophecy for Israel about an impending national tragedy. God, in judgement against their continual spiritual and moral wickedness, was sending utter destruction by Babylon.

Habakkuk responds: “How long…?” He expresses his confusion as he tries to reconcile the justice of God with the fact that God is using a nation marked by greater wickedness to exercise judgement upon Israel for its wickedness. How could He uses such impure means? This is all the more vivid when we realise God is telling the prophet that he will have to live through it. In many ways his wrestlings were to help those who with him will also somehow come through the destruction, as well as those who will have to face suffering in the future.

Then in v.16 we see that this was a very personal experience. The news of the tragedy was affecting him physically. Here is a man in emotional shock, unable to control his physical reactions. Note, this is not a lack of faith! It is human. It is how we come to terms with and respond to these natural physical and emotional reactions that indicates the substance and clarity of our faith. Whereas some give themselves up to life-dominating fear, and others respond in terms of psychological detachment or geeing oneself up, true faith’s response is grounded in the presence and activity of God. It looks at the events by focussing on God not looking at God by focussing on the events. When that happens we see:

1 …humility before God

Chapter 2 begins with Habakkuk waiting on God, and ends with the Lord’s declaration in v.20,  “But the Lord is in His holy temple…”

Confronted by this ultimate reality of the holiness of God the distinction between Israel’s and Babylon’s sin became relatively unimportant. When things are seen from this spiritual viewpoint there can only be an acknowledgement of the reality that “all have sinned”.

That’s why he says in 3:2, “O Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid… in wrath remember mercy”. Mercy speaks of not being dealt with as one deserves. It is the person who knows his guilt who cries for mercy. Habakkuk has moved on from considering the sin of the attacker and now is conscious of the sin of those being attacked, of his own sin.

Do we not see here that this is how we should respond to tragedy, by using it as a mirror to expose our own sin? Jesus speaks in this way in Luke 13 stressing that the impact of such times for survivors should be to reflect on one’s life before God.

For what are we mourning? Though we are mourning over death, suffering and loss experienced by others, even as the Scripture exhorts us to do, “weeping with those who weep”, we mourn for more – and in prayer long that God will use this to deepen the mourning of this nation. What could or ought to bring out a deeper more solemn mourning than these things? The reality, allowance, and participation of sin.

If our attitude is still ‘Why does God allow this? What have we done to deserve it?’ we have obviously not learned the lesson Habakkuk learned. Has the world the right to complain? Where has been our repentance, our repudiation of sin? Whenever we see any manifestation of evil we of all people should be humbled before God, in repentance seeking His grace to drive it out of us as well as from among us collectively – both church and nation. Mourning should be characterised by humility before God.

2 …faithfulness to God

Habakkuk doesn’t pray for God to change His plan. Rather, as v.2 continues, his one concern is for God’s cause and work in his own nation and in the entire world.  In effect he is saying ‘It doesn’t matter what we may have to suffer so long as Your work is revived and kept pure!’

“Revive Your work..make it known… remember mercy!” he prays. But notice – “…in the midst of the years…” This must mean: ‘while these terrible things are taking place, …in the years of suffering and calamity’.

The question this confronts the church with today is, What really concerns the church today? Is it the terrible events of the world around us? Or is it the name and glory of our Almighty God, the health of His church, and the future of Gospel ministry? Do we not see that the whole destiny of the world is caught up in it? 

Confronted by the reality of God in the Temple – the seat of authority and mercy – the prophet saw things in perspective. He saw something of the meaning of history, its movement to a final redemption, and the centrality that the church was to have within that history and movement.

He earnestly cries then that God would revive His church – ie, to preserve, to keep alive, don’t let it be overwhelmed by what is happening in the world. But also “make (His saving work)known” – bring on that glorious day when the Messiah would come in all His saving glory. “Remember mercy” – prepare us for the deliverance that is to come; make all Your people worthy of Your blessings.

This is deeply personal! Lloyd-Jones rightly observed many years ago: ‘If we are not more concerned about the purity of the church than the fact that we are faced by the possibility of another war, that is a serious reflection upon our Christianity.’

He is expressing his faithfulness to God. ‘Your way, not mine O God, no matter how hard it be.’ ‘It alone ultimately will bring order out of chaos.’

That is the great need of the day. The best of people are caring for the well-being of the injured and grieving, and this is commendable. But ultimately it is tampering with the symptoms; it does not solve the world’s problem which is sin. Soon the lessons learned will be modified if not forgotten. Already it is happening as people are desensitised by the media coverage, and other issues suddenly seem more pressing. How soon we saw the shift in the media from raw news, of just trying to get information out, to packaging it with maintaining of interest and ratings in mind.

No, man’s only hope is in Christ and in His Gospel. The core matter is not social welfare but battling for souls with the gospel. We are driven, in other words to faithfully stick to God’s program! To pray that God will bless it!

Our mourning should not be characterised by rebellious thoughts, anger or bitterness, a raging against God and His wisdom and love in His providence… but by revived confidence and renewed commitment – it should be an expression of faithfulness to God, of trusting God. But even more, of concern for the greater needs of the people of this nation – that they hear the gospel and come to faith. As we mourn it is with revived interest in the expansion of the Kingdom, in the advance of the gospel. We should be praising God for His larger program that deals with the core needs of humanity, and deals with it where and in a way that neither politics, social welfare, education or technology ever can. So in our mourning we think of the Christians witnessing though their own suffering, of Christian pastors, chaplains and counsellors as well as one another in our various walks of life being given opportunity to bear witness to God’s special grace in Jesus Christ which is so needed by all and which is so freely available to all who believe. Neither fire, flood not any other disaster browbeats us into the silence of fear or shame with reference to God and His work, but draws out of us renewed urgency and confidence in making known the gospel of God’s grace. Sensitive but not silent! Gentle yet faithful!

3 …rejoicing in God

Tragedy sometimes brings out the worst in people – as we saw in some who looted and of others in the copy-cat starting of other fires, increasing the tragedy. These evidenced some perverse sort of joy in the tragedy of others.

But that is not what we see here in v.17-18. Here is a spiritual joy that gives strength. Looking at the events caused him weakness, looking at God despite the events, at God who works in and through even the most horrific events to accomplish His saving purposes, filled him with joy.

That’s the point he is expressing. He doesn’t pretend to be able to explain what God is doing and why, but he sees God and what He knows of God fills him with a quiet confidence and inner joy that helps him to transcend the tragedy and to look for its fruit in God’s hands.

The believer doesn’t bow in a mere resignation (No point in getting upset as there is nothing I can do about it!), nor adopt a practical detachment (I’m not going to think about this!), let alone merely pluck up courage and get on with it (I’m not going to let this beat me! I’m going to be a man!) No he enters a state of actual rejoicing as he contemplates God and what He has revealed of His sovereign purpose of grace.

Do you know something of this? Of the sense of triumph that comes through Christ’s victory over the cross and grave? When hell is let loose and does its worst we are to be ‘more than conquerors’ (Rom 8:37). Of being able to “grieve, but not as those without hope”? Of being able to “comfort one another with these words” of the gospel reality and promise? (1 Thess 4:13, 18).

What makes this joy possible? Habakkuk looked back on the great facts of God’s dealings at the Exodus, and began to think about God, His power, His grace. As he did this the prophet began to feel better. So will we! Are we not in a more wonderful position as we look back on the facts of God’s mighty salvation which He worked out in Jesus Christ? The final deliverance from evil and suffering in our lives and the world is certain!

So long as Habakkuk looked at Israel and those who would terrorise it, he was troubled. But now he has returned to the realm of spiritual truth – the holiness of God, sin in man and the world – and he sees it all in a new light, he can rejoice in anticipation for what God will do through this for His kingdom and glory.

We mourn, but with hope because we see God and rest and live within His purpose. And it is God who gives “the oil of joy for mourning” (Isa 60:20). The image of oil speaks of the soothing and encouraging, the restorative as well as refreshing properties of oil placed upon wounds and sores. God promises in Jer 31:13 “I will turn their mourning into joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.” The great saving work of God through Jesus Christ is the oil that brings joy, transforming even the most painful situation, refreshing even the most troubled soul. We mourn but because of God we yet rejoice. And it is to God that we must call our neighbours and fellow citizens if they are to know this true and lasting joy.

John Stasse

“He was the God-man. Not God indwelling a man. Of such there have been many. Not a man deified. Of such there have been non save in the myths of pagan systems of thought; but God and man, combining in one personality the two natures, a perpetual enigma and mystery, baffling the possibility of explanation.”

G. Campbell Morgan

At the start we said that we don’t really know who wrote this letter (some think Paul, some Barnabas, etc… but only God really knows). But one thing we know from the end of the letter is that the first readers knew him. Here as he finishes he gets personal, he speaks of mutual friends of whom he has information (Timothy – the details of who’s imprisonment are unknown (cf. 2 Tim 4:11,21); and of Christians from Italy).

This personal touch is important to note, especially as we have seen that this sermon-letter is not an easy one to receive, and may not have been kindly received by the first readers. Our writer clearly is very aware of this, and is obviously concerned that they receive his letter well, applying it to their hearts and Christian lives. But he knows it is not an easy letter, so he concludes saying four things about this letter which are calculated to get them to read it again and again.

1) Notice how he asks them to bear with it. The readers are encouraged to receive this message with open minds and warm hearts, in contrast to those who “will not endure sound doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:3).

2) He calls it a word of exhortation – as we have seen not to depart from the living God (3:12), but to go on to maturity (6:1) and endure in the faith to the end (3:6, 14). He is trying to persuade a group of Jewish Christians not to give up on their allegiance to Jesus Christ. Two things appear to be contributing to their general slide away from a public allegiance to Jesus Christ:

a) their own theological confusion, for in chapter 6 we read that they were sluggish in learning, i.e. they had been slow to grasp some of the elemental truths of the faith.

b) the persecution of opponents, for in chapter 10 we read of how they have had property confiscated, been treated badly, some have been placed in prison.

He writes therefore to call them to keep going, giving a mixture of positive encouragement (based on a clearer and fuller understanding of biblical truth about Jesus and His work) and negative warning (based on the implications of any denial and unbelief). Now such words are not always easy to hear, as we all know when someone is trying to correct us; but by calling it an exhortation he is reminding them that it is meant in love and with their benefit at heart.

3) He further he calls it a brief letter – some 10,000 words, that could be read in an hour. This indicates his awareness that so much more could be said (letters naturally are bound by an economy of words). By saying this he is indicating that they need to tease it out where necessary (as we have sought to do these past months).

4) But also that they need to be understanding. He indicates he would rather be present (be restored to you the sooner) and be able to say all the things he wanted, and to respond to all their continuing and new questions (which letters can’t easily do, and at best can only anticipate). But he pleads with them, on the basis of what is written, to not write it off or delay because they still have questions, but give it due respect and a Christ-honouring response in their life.

So he commends to them both the letter’s contents and the benefits of coming to grips with what it is saying, and to that end he stresses that he wrote to them with:

1. A clear conscience

He assures them, as he encourages them to pray for him, that what came to them in his letter was written from a clear conscience. In other words, he is saying ‘I would’ve said the same things in the same way if I was actually with you face to face or preaching from your pulpit’.

It also means that he is saying that in no sense did he want to manipulate them of exploit them, even though it is clear that he has written some hard things to them. His ambition was simply this: that as a result of what he has written that they would persevere in the faith and therefore he talked about what he saw as necessary to bring that about.

From our own personal experiences we know that it is true that it is necessary from time to time to direct strong words to someone. But if we’ve ever been on the receiving end of that or witnessed it we’ve perhaps thought that that was overly harsh, even bordering on the point of exploitation. But he wants to distance himself from that and says, ‘Look, my conscience is clear. I felt I had to speak these strong words, that it was necessary because of your intransigence, your unwillingness to move.’

This is not manipulative or authoritarian leadership, but servant leadership at its best. He was putting them first.

On the contrary, he is saying that he was personally and inwardly governed by a commitment to act honourably, and to do always the right thing. So though like many of us his life was characterised by many imperfections he had repented of and prayed for forgiveness, it seems here that he doesn’t want those mistakes to characterise his life and his leadership.

Surely all of us can relate to that at some level. Those of us in leadership (elders in a congregation, leaders in a small group, or teachers in a Sunday School) need the prayers of others. ‘Church leaders are made of the same stuff as those they serve. They have sins, weaknesses, limitations, blind spots, and needs of all sorts, just as everyone else. They both need and deserve the prayers of God’s people, without which they cannot be the most effective in His work’ (MacArthur). It is a real blessing to know that you are praying regularly for my ministry, and be assured that this is a blessing to other ministry leaders also.

Do pray for your leaders, pray that they have clear consciences and pray that they would act honourably in all things. Pray also for their families and family life; and not only for our own church, but for leaders in all of Christ’s churches. Richard Coekin poses the concern: It may be going too far, but worth thinking through before God that if in some way we have been disappointed with our leaders in some point, then maybe we haven’t prayed for them.

2. A clear concern

Having asked them to pray for him, he tells them that he is praying for them. He not only speaks to them about Christ but speaks to Christ for them.

What a glorious picture of Christians, of people and leader: at the throne of heaven they are found to be praying together and for each other! May God always make it so for us, may He always help us to remember that this is what our leaders and people are doing. He is saying I will meet you at the throne of grace in prayer. Such is his genuine concern for them that he is praying for them.

Now there are 3 questions we should consider

(1) To whom is He praying? The title God of peace is used 6 times in the New Testament (Rom 15:33; 1 Cor 14:33; 2 Cor 13:11; Phil 4:9; 1 Thess 5:23); and in each case some sort of difficulty existed among the recipients of the letter.

He is the God of peace because he is the one who desires and initiated the means as well as brought into effect peace with Himself through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is also the God of peace because He provides peace amongst those whom He has reconciled to Himself; such that instead of hostility peace should be a chief characteristic of a Christian congregation.

But the context raises the issue that it is not peace with the God of peace but with the world that these Christians have begun to value. They enjoyed the absence of hostility perhaps with their friends as a result of just being quiet about and even drifting away from a public allegiance to Christ – after all their unbelieving friends had been such a thorn in the flesh giving them such a hard time. And it is though the author is saying, He’s the God of peace – now which peace is it that you value the most? The world’s or with God? – because you can’t have both.

Being a Christian is to know but also to value peace with God above all other offers and experiences of peace.

(2) For what is he praying? For the full effect of his words in this letter, so that as a result they will remain faithful, living a life that is pleasing to God!

He prays that God will equip them (“make you complete in every good work”) to be the people He has called them in Christ to be. Look at the verse again, “to do His will.” He wants them to pursue lives in which they will obey God, and in so doing please God. This is what the writer has been encouraging his readers to do from the beginning of the book. He wants them to live for Christ and not to retreat from Him. So he is praying to God that He would give them everything needed to do just that.

Being a Christian is about living for God and not living for ourselves. It is to obey His will. But more it is to follow a Leader – Jesus Christ “the great Shepherd of the sheep”. Here he gives a final though brief view of Christ, drawing on language form the OT that highlights His divinity, for God is the Shepherd of Israel. Jesus Christ is our great Pastor, “the great Shepherd of the sheep”. He is this superlative and incomparable Leader who will lead and deliver us, who will care for and protect us. Indeed it’s because Jesus Christ is our Leader, leading us through the demands of the Christian life, that we can live the Christian life, that we can even begin to aim to please God so.

Being a Christian is about following our Leader, the exalted Christ, and when our ideas conflict with His ideas, accepting that He is the wise powerful Ruler who gives us His instructions because He is wise and because it is beneficial for us. Many of us are prone to being wayward sheep who when our ideas conflict with His ideas we think our ideas are better. We wander off and we end up distancing ourselves from our wise Shepherd, from His wise counsel. And if truth be known we end up putting ourselves at risk. He is a great Shepherd and we need to follow Him.

(3) Why is he praying this? On one level for them, for he knows that this is the path of blessing. But on a deeper level it is because of Christ: “through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

The risen Christ will make it possible, to Him then belongs all the glory.

Jesus will receive glory in the new creation when all His people will be gathered around Him adoring Him and praising Him for who He is. So when we are in heaven on that last day for all eternity our attention will not be on the people around us, but our attention and the credit will go to the one on centre stage, to Jesus Christ. In that day none of us will be getting out our scrapbooks to illustrate how impressive our Christian life was. None of us will be saying ‘Look at how I lived the Christian life!’ No, all the attention, including our own, will be Jesus Christ – not me – saying, ‘He is the One who made it possible; the fact that I kept going for Him throughout an existence that I found very demanding was only because of Him. I frequently fell on my face, but He picked me up. I may have done a number of things I thought were beyond me, but it was He who enabled me to do them. You need to pay attention to that God-man up there. He is quite extraordinary!’

Being a Christian is about bringing glory to Christ. If you want to sum up the Christian life it would be this: to bring glory to Jesus Christ. And our hope and our prayer ought to be that in some way our lives are used by God to bring glory and magnify the reputation of Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t that be great on our tombstone: ‘He brought glory to Christ’!

How encouraging this prayer would have been to the initial readers! Yet this lovely prayer is for us as well, since God is the true author of these words.

3. A clear confidence

Why is he so confident in praying? The answer always lies in God and in His grace. To call people to pray for you or to pray for them is not merely to say we need each other’s help – it is to say we need God’s help.

And he knows God has the power for He brought Jesus back from the dead. He knows that God will be faithful for the eternal covenant is established by the death of His Son and by which God is bound to His people. He knows that God has the resources. He knows that God knows what is good for them and has gifts with which to equip them. The writer’s hope in prayer is anchored in God.

And so he sums all that up in the last verse in the word “grace.”

Grace has been an important recurring sub-theme in this letter. There are 7 earlier references to grace (2:9; 4:16; 10:29; 12:15; 12:28 where it is translated “thanks”; and 13:9) in which the readers have had opportunity to recognise that yes living the Christian life is exacting and demanding, yet that at the same time we are not left to our own meagre and totally inadequate resources. A gracious God will meet His people’s needs.

That is the note of radiant confidence the letter ends on – and by it we are encouraged to see that our lives will continue to go on. The rich supplies of His unlimited grace are available to every believer (4:16) and they are ours forever. All these things are secured to us in the eternal covenant.

So as he closes, the writer’s look is from himself, to them, and then to God – drawing them and us with him! May the Holy Spirit in the light of this letter continue His work so that we always look to God and His grace through Christ.

This week has been a very dark week in the life of this State and our nation, and in the lives of thousands of people in particular as we face the reality of the greatest loss of life in a single event during our peacetime history.  I have been struck with the fact of how greatly people are having trouble to even express what is happening, let alone how to respond to it.

What about us as Christian people? How do we respond to this and any time of trouble or suffering? What makes the difference for us?

I draw your attention this morning to 2 Peter 1:3-4 in which Peter is introducing his letter which deals with the surge and impact of false teaching which was devastating the church. The trouble they were facing was a firestorm of false teaching, and Peter is answering the question of how we withstand and stand in the face of that pressure. His answer is that a right view of Christ and of what He is doing and what it in turn requires of us will enable us to withstand in a day of trouble. Before he embarks on the meat of his letter he reminds them of the basics concerning God and of His work in us by grace – and as he writes in v.12 this is a continual need.  This is always the starting point, where we must begin.

Now the trouble was different than we are facing here, but the principle and answer are the same. What makes a difference in facing any trouble in life as in the church is how we view Jesus and what God is doing through Him.

1.  A right view of God 

It is at a time like this that the world wants us to think less and less of God, to question the power of God and in time to doubt the very presence and ultimately the very person or being of God.

No says peter, we need to have a right view of God. And there are 4 things in particular he draws our attention to as he describes God’s activity in us:

a. His power.  Here is one of the clearest testimonies to the deity of Jesus Christ. Peter is unequivocal when he speaks of “His divine power”. In particular Peter is thinking of the power of Jesus Christ in redeeming us (v.2). That power which was evident in the creation and daily within the created world is seen also in our redemption. How else can we explain the change? We can’t. We have been made willing in the day of His power.

b. His goodness (NKJV – “virtue”). This describes that which disposes God to be kind, benevolent, full of good will to people, and of quick sympathy. This is the source of common grace whereby the rain falls on the wicked as well as the righteous, and especially of saving grace and special blessings God bestows on His people. A W Tozer rightly points out that it is this attribute of God that is ‘the source and secret of all blessing’  the greatest of which is the eternal Son of God becoming Man to dwell among us and die for us. Tozer also adds ‘Always God’s goodness is the ground of our expectation.’ In other words, not only that we would know no comfort now let alone hope before us apart from the immutability of God’s goodness, but because of this goodness of God we are full of expectation as we through faith in Jesus Christ look to His hand, to see what good He will be bringing out, even in such dark days of trouble.

            We of course rejoice to see these two harnessed side by side. For power without goodness is capricious at best and terrifying at worst. Likewise goodness without power is ineffective sentimentality that only gives temporary feelings of warmth at best, and a cruel hoax at its worst. But in God we find them fully and perfectly expressed and harnessed in perfect balance.

c. His wisdom – we are told that He “has given us everything we need to live a life of godliness”. There is nothing extra to be discovered or to gain access to in order to live the Christian life than what we have obtained through Christ. He has thought of it all, brought everything to us as required. Does this not testify to His wisdom? This is a further attribute that joined to the previous two that gives genuine encouragement and hope, for it tells us that both God’s power and goodness will be perfectly harnessed and directed to achieve the intended and perfect result.

d. His compassion – for we see also that He is a God who promises. Promises are needed while waiting for hope to be realised, they are supports along the road. He knows what He is doing. He is on track. He does not need promises to achieve the end intended, to keep Himself going. They are not given for His benefit but for ours, and that He gives them declares that He is aware not only of our situation but of our constitution. It is a display of His condescension, meeting us in our need. He is not only a God who is good and active, He is compassionate and caring.

As we look at what is happening about us, at what is confronting us, at what is exposing our weakness and frailties, we need to look to God first and above all and to remember that this is what He is like and especially in relation to us.

The mistake we often make is to look at God through the situation, when we should be looking at the situation through what God has already revealed of Himself.  We are to see a God who is not only loving but holy and just, who sovereignly yet graciously uses such events.

‘When we know God well enough, we will have found Him to be so consistently wise and full of love in all His dealings with us, that our faith in that love and wisdom cannot be shaken, no matter what He permits to come into our lives.  We will be utterly sure that even if we don’t fully know the answer to our “Why?” – God has good reasons for permitting our trouble.  And we will be unswerving in our belief that God’s reasons are the wisest and most loving reasons possible.  We will be convinced that if we could know what He knows and love as He loves, we too would permit what He has permitted.’  (Ken McFarland) In short by having a right view of God we see we can trust Him.

2. A right view of God’s Word 

Peter speaks of the promises God has given us, and he calls them precious.

Where do we find these promises? In God’s Word, the Bible. In drawing attention to the promises he is drawing attention to the Word, and calling us to go and live with the promises. Far from being unprofitable and a relic of the past, the Bible is profitable and helpful to the present situation we find ourselves in.

That they are precious tells us that we should hold them in high regard. To help underscore that it is worthy to notice that Peter likes this word precious, and he uses it frequently with reference to Jesus Christ – 1 Pet 2:4 believers are ‘precious to Him’ because they are part of His spiritual house, the church; that Jesus Himself is its “chosen and precious cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6); and here in 2 Pet 1:1 he says that every believer has received a faith as precious as his own.

That he is using it with reference to the Bible surely tells us how important we are to regard the Bible. It is precious because it is the Word of Christ to His church. As a result it is precious because these words are not and cannot be hollow words, for He who promises is faithful and will fulfil it.

What Peter is doing is calling our attention to the great resource that God has given to us, highlighting that here as we read it we find Christ speaking to us, guiding our path as we step confidently from one promise to the next, strengthening our faith as we take these promises to heart, and supporting our hope as we find these promises lifting our attention to the eternal realities to which we are coming.

We therefore should read, study and meditate upon the promises of God’s Word and apply them to ourselves and our own situations. Calvin talks about the Bible as being spectacles which one with distorted eyesight might be able to correctly see read and understand God’s book of nature.  It is the map that helps us untangle the twisting paths of the maze we see as we look at life around us. It is this Word that cries out to us “Comfort, yes Comfort O My people” (Isa 40:1) and declares “So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:11).

This is not the time to jettison the Word, or spend more time poring over the paper than the Word. It is in the Word that we will receive understanding as far as God would have us understand. It is here in the Word that we will find comfort as well as renewed faith and stimulated hope. In short by having a right view of God’s Word we see we can trust what He says in it.

3. A right view of God’s Purpose

As we noted earlier the very existence of promises”” is a declaration that God is aware of our situation, but also it tells us that he is responding to our situation. You give promises with an objective in mind, they point you somewhere. What is God’s purpose?

Jesus speaks of coming to give abundant life (John 10:10). What does this abundant life look like? Paul talks about the “good” to which all things are working towards for those who love the Lord (Rom 8:29). What is that good?

How we would answer that? For many inside the Christian church it would be the same as those without: packing my life full of pleasant experiences, in terms of present, personal happiness. The only difference perhaps being that as Christians we should have more of it because God really loves us, doesn’t He? Have we too forgotten today that the Gospel is more about the coming of Christ’s Kingdom than our individual enjoyment?

Peter says God’s purpose, the chief purpose He offers to us, is to deliver us from our bondage to our own evil desires and to make us partakers in His divine nature (v.4). The former phrase speaks of our escape from the power which the rottenness in the world has over us through our fallen, sinful nature. The latter phrase is the same as that of being born again, born from above (cf. John 3:3; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23), and of being in Christ (cf. Rom. 8:1). We are new creations now (2 Cor 5:17) and have the Holy Spirit living in us (1 Cor. 6:19,20). ‘He is changing my heart – how I live and what fruit I bear. His focus is eternal and spiritual’ (Paul Tripp).

Peter says God has given us everything that is needful to live a godly life. But everything doesn’t mean everything to fulfil our definition of happiness. As we read the Bible (eg James 1; 1 Peter 1; Romans 5; 2 Cor 4; etc) that God will actually put hindrances and difficulties in our lives to produce godly character.

A failure to see this will leave us unable to cope in this fallen world. We need to have a right view of God’s purposes, to see what God is doing. The trials, troubles, the sufferings are not some divine mistake, but crucial parts of God’s plan. Yes we may look to God in prayer to remove or minimise them, but never to the degree of dictating terms to Him. Instead we are to trust Him that somehow this will help fulfil His purpose of creating eternal changes in my heart, and glorifying Himself through it.

When we see it this way, these things, despite being so severe to us, are nonetheless not capricious let alone out of control events. They are being carefully managed by God in the exercise of His sovereignty. We must be careful here, in speaking of God’s sovereign will and its outcome we must ever keep first and foremost to our mind as Peter does here the goodness and compassion of God who so wills and works.

When we see things this way we will start to look for the “good” that God is in the business of bringing about. Instead of confusion and despair, there will be anticipation and direction, an ability to move forward.

When we see things this way we will rest content in His will, trusting Him as it unfolds in our lives, leaving the immediate as well as its eternal fruit to Him. Like Daniel’s 3 friends as they faced the threatened fire, we will say, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-19).

By having a right view of God’s purpose we see that we can go forward with Him, under His hand, and that with a sweet confidence. Let us not live day by day without this sense of our eternal destiny and its implications for today’s events.

There are no slick or simple answers to suffering, and in responding to the bushfire’s sufferings we are not to be simplistic. Suffering is complex, related to sin but over-ruled by God for good to those who love Him (Rom 8:28). But we can also trust God. Christians don’t pretend to be able to explain all God is doing and why, but he sees God and what he knows of God and His revealed will fills him with a quiet confidence and inner joy that helps him to rise above the tragedy and to look for its fruit from God’s hands. At the same time both doubting believers as well as unbelievers are encouraged to look to God in His coming to us in the person and work of Jesus. Here is where the real difference is found.

One of the reasons God rarely gives micro reasons for his painful providences, but regularly gives magnificent macro reasons, is that there are too many micro reaons for us to manage,namely, millions and millions and millions and millions and millions.

God says things like:

• The bad things happened to you because I intend to work it together for your good ( Romans 8 )
• These happened so that you woould rely more on God who raises the dead ( 2 Corinthians 1 )
• This happened so that the gold and silver of your faith would be refined ( 1 Peter 1 )
• This thorn is so that the power of Christ would be magnified in your weakness ( 2 Corinthians 12 )

But we can always object that there are other easier ways for God to accomplish those things. We want to know more specifics: Why now? Why this much? Why this often? Why this way? Why these people?

The problem is, we would have to be God to grasp all that God is doing in our problems. In fact, pushing too hard for more detailed explanations from God is a kind of demand that we be God.

… God cannot make plain all He is doing, because there are millions and millions and millions and millions of effects of every event in your life, the good and the bad. God guides them all. They all have micro purposes and macro purposes. He cannot tell you all of them because your brain can’t hold all of them.

Trust does not demand more than God has told us. And He has given us immeasurably precious promises that He is in control of all things and only does good to His children. And He has given us a very thick book where we can read story after story after story about how He rules for the good of His people. Let’s trust Him and not ask for what our brains cannot contain.